6301 Results for “Open ”
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Closed Circuit Giveaway: Win a Focus Features DVD Set
Focus Features’ latest release Closed Circuit, the taut legal thriller starring Eric Bana and Rebecca Hall, comes out this Friday, and to celebrate we have a package of Focus DVDs to give away to two lucky winners. In order to win copies of Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy and The Debt, send the answer to the following question to nick AT filmmakermagazine DOT com: Which previous Focus Features release was also written by Closed Circuit screenwriter Steven Knight? N.B. This contest is only open to residents of the U.S. and Canada.
by Nick Dawson on Aug 26, 2013 -
Be Natural: Interview with documentary filmmakers Pamela Green and Jarik van Sluijs
Filmmakers Pamela Green and Jarik van Sluijs have worked on documentaries in various roles including as co-producer of the Emmy-nominated documentary Bhutto. Their company, PIC Agency, has produced titles for movies including 42 and The Kingdom, and they have also produced content for award shows, commercials and other productions. “People come to us to add to the story when you can’t turn the camera back on,” says Green. They have specialized in creating new content by combining graphics, stock footage, new footage and editorial. These techniques should be especially useful for their first documentary, Be Natural, about the first female […]
by Michael Murie on Aug 26, 2013 -
Developing Original Horror: Jeffrey Grellman on Writing Mermaid Down
Writing in a genre like horror is a balancing act between striking all the traditional chords and finding a new way to engage — and frighten — your audience. There are certain plot points that more or less must be reached, but how that’s done is where the audience gets all its enjoyment and where all the writer’s creativity comes into play. There’s been lots of engagingly original horror films coming out lately — The Conjuring, You’re Next, etc. — but to specifically discuss the writing process I wanted to talk with someone who’s still at the development phase. Jeffrey […]
by Randy Astle on Aug 26, 2013 -
Destin Daniel Cretton, Brie Larson, John Gallagher, Jr. and the Cast Talk Short Term 12
Winner of the 2013 SXSW Narrative Grand Jury Prize, Destin Cretton’s Short Term 12 is the entirely successful feature expansion of the writer/director’s excellent 2009 short about counselors and youth at a residential facility for at-risk teens. Flipping the gender of his protagonist from the short to the feature, Short Term 12 stars Brie Larson (a recent Actor winner at the Locarno Film Festival) as a savvy counselor whose spirit hasn’t yet been crushed by the bureaucrats above her. Of course, she’s challenged, not just by troubled teenagers but also by life changes and self-worth issues, the latter stemming from […]
by Scott Macaulay on Aug 23, 2013 -
Joe Swanberg talks Olivia Wilde, CAA and Going Bigger on Drinking Buddies
The confident and funny Drinking Buddies is Joe Swanberg’s first picture with a real budget (above five figures) and real stars (Olivia Wilde, Jake Johnson, Anna Kendrick and Ron Livingstone), but don’t jump to the conclusion that it’s some kind of rom-com sell-out. The emotional messiness, generational indecision and loose-limbed storytelling of Swanberg’s previous work are all present here, honed and amplified by a terrific cast and sharp production team. The film has traditional elements: two couples, flirtations and one weekend in the country. But then there’s alcohol — specifically beer — and not just flowing during one climactic meltdown […]
by Scott Macaulay on Aug 23, 2013 -
Lucy Mulloy on Una Noche
As sweltering as it is unforgiving, Havana is a tough place. Tourists rarely travel beyond the district that give the impression of faded tropical glory, but much of the city more or less resembles the Bronx or Newark of the ’80s. Black markets thrive and people have to hustle to survive; especially after their families have poured through there food rations. The nightclubs that fueled a vibrant Western tourist culture are a remnant of their former selves. Cigar salesmen keep busy, but like everyone else, they live with a thinly disguised fear. Lucy Mulloy’s magnificent debut film Una Noche, adapted […]
by Brandon Harris on Aug 23, 2013 -
A Strange Baby in the Machine
After winning the Austin Film Festival, your producers tell you that you’ve gotten picked up for distribution by Tribeca Films. This is good news. Almost the best case scenario for a small art movie made with a $150,000 budget in 2013. Your weird little movie will get a limited theatrical release, coupled with a wide VOD online release. Great. But when the jig is up, and the wine has worn, the celebration turns back into reality. The next week, you get on a conference call with six distant voices from Tribeca. They’ll be the ones putting out your film. They […]
by Noah Buschel on Aug 23, 2013 -
IFP Announces Filmmaker Conference Highlights
Independent Film Week is less than a month away, and today IFP announced some highlights of the event Filmmaker Conference, which will take place at Lincoln Center between September 15 and 19. The keynote speakers this year include Leviathan director Lucien Castaing-Taylor and musician and filmmaker DJ Spooky while there will be case studies of Ryan Coogler’s Sundance-winning Fruitvale Station, Penny Lane’s archival doc Our Nixon, Dave Grohl’s Sound City and Elaine McMillion’s web doc Hollow. From the press release, here’s the info that was unveiled today: Each day of the conference guides filmmakers in the art, technology and business of […]
by Nick Dawson on Aug 22, 2013 -
Jake Price on Unknown Spring and Documenting the Japanese Tsunami
Jake Price may primarily be known as a photojournalist, working for outlets like the BBC and the New York Times. But with his latest project, Unknown Spring, he’s strengthening a new identity as an immersive, interactive documentary filmmaker. As his thoughts below illustrate, however, he sees photojournalism, traditional film, and online interactive media all as an extension of nonfiction storytelling–different tools to explore In March 2011 he journeyed to the Tohoku region of Japan to document the devastation left in the wake of the Pacific tsunami. That project eventually became an html5 website featuring photographs, audio recordings, full-motion video, and […]
by Randy Astle on Aug 22, 2013 -
Sadly, No Surprise: GLAAD Report Finds Hollywood Films Lack LGBT Representation
GLAAD, formerly the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation released its first annual Studio Responsibility Index (SRI) this week, reporting on the representation of LGBT people in major Hollywood films released by six major movie studios in 2012, including 20th Century Fox, Paramount Pictures, Universal Pictures, Walt Disney, Warner Bros. and Sony Columbia. The results are not very good, and sadly not surprising: – In 2012, of the 101 releases from these major studios, only 14 of them contained characters identified as lesbian, gay, or bisexual (and not a single movie released contained a character who identified as transgender). – Of […]
by Katie Carman-Lehach on Aug 22, 2013
