Open | Filmmaker Magazine

SUNDANCE CREATIVE PRODUCERS LAB DIARY: AMY LO

Here is the first of two filmmaker reports filed from the just-finished Sundance Producer’s Lab. Reporting back here is Amy Lo. The Sundance Lab was my rehab. In the most transformative, astonishing way. Here we are, Day One, four fellow Fellows and me gathered up from parts east, west and south, hurtling up the hill, forward-pressing and fueled by anxious hope. We come to a sudden stop, a moment to inhale and exhale. High-elevation, low-oxygen. Rising disorientation. The Sundance Creative Producing Lab spans five days of project-focused tough love, naked honesty, catharsis and renewal. All framed by breath-taking mountainous isolation. […]

by Scott Macaulay on Aug 25, 2010

FILMMAKER FLASHBACK: SPRING, 1996

Spring, 1996. It’s so strange now to look back at a piece in this issue by David Leitner on the new digital camera technology and read this bit of breaking news: 1996 will witness the inauguration of prerecorded films on CD-sized Digital Versatile Disks or “DVDs” (you and I will call them Digital Video Disks). DVDs not only doom VHS but also CD-ROMs as we know them for the mere reason that single-sided DVDs store 8.5 gigabytes compared to the puny 680 megabytes of CDs while manufacturing costs are the same. Also in this issue was filmmaker John Landis (yes, […]

by Scott Macaulay on Aug 17, 2010

ROONEY MARA IS THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO

Rooney Mara — profiled in Filmmaker last summer when we selected her for our “25 New Faces” list — has won out in the most public casting process I can remember in years for the lead role as Lisbeth Salander in David Fincher’s adaptation of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. It’s interesting to read some coverage that has called her an unknown and then to compare the comment to my lede in last year’s profile, reprinted below. She talks about why she got into acting, her love of John Cassavetes, and her non-profit organization, Faces of Kibera. The careers […]

by Scott Macaulay on Aug 17, 2010

150 FILMS SLATED FOR IFP’s PROJECT FORUM

Project Forum, part of IFP‘s Independent Film Week which will take place Sept. 19-23, is the centerpiece of IFW, designed specifically as a place for industry to meet with new talent, as well as discover fresh projects from emerging and veteran filmmakers. 150 projects have been selected for this year’s Project Forum, and will be spread out over its four section — Emerging Narrative, Independent Filmmaker Labs, No Borders International Co-Production Market and Spotlight on Documentaries. Some of the established names showing new work this year include producers like Howard Gertler & John Cameron Mitchell (Shortbus), Lynette Howell (Half Nelson), […]

by Jason Guerrasio on Aug 15, 2010

FILMMAKER FLASHBACK: FALL, 1994

Steve James’ Hoop Dreams, Darnell Martin’s first feature, I Like it Like That, experimental filmmaker Eric Saks, and a report on non-linear editing, which was new at the time — those were all in our Fall, 1994 edition. But our big story was our cover — Hal Hartley’s interview of Jean-Luc Godard. Godard was in town for an exhibition of his work, including his new “self-portrait,” JLG BY JLG. Hartley met with Godard at 9:00AM in his suite at the Essex Hotel, and d.p. and photographer Gabor Szitanyi snapped the smoky shot of Godard we ran. Nothing from this issue […]

by Scott Macaulay on Aug 10, 2010

FILMMAKER FLASHBACK: SUMMER, 1994

Quentin Tarantino’s Pulp Fiction was our Summer, 1994 cover. The film won the Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival in May and was nominated for a Best Picture Oscar. I didn’t go to Cannes and saw the film with only a few other people a couple of weeks later at the Magno screening room. I completely loved it, wanted it for the cover, but, for reasons I can’t remember, we couldn’t get an interview with Quentin. Nor could we get good original art. So, we commissioned a cover from Mark Zingarelli , interviewed the producers (Lawrence Bender and Stacy […]

by Scott Macaulay on Aug 9, 2010

WHAT’S IN MY INSTAPAPER: MONDAY MORNING LINKS

I normally try to post my links-fests on Sundays, but here’s a one-day late compendium of articles in my Instapaper. If you read our newsletter, you’ll have seen my link to novelist Stacy D’Erasmo’s essay on the writer’s life, “The Long Haul,” over at The Rumpus. For any artist struggling to figure out not how to make work, but how to live a life that involves the perpetual making of work, including films, this is an essential read. In its clarity and wisdom I found it inspiring. An excerpt: Over the long haul, whether you ever intended to or not, […]

by Scott Macaulay on Aug 9, 2010

LOU YE, “SPRING FEVER”

When officials at the state-controlled Film Bureau levelled a five-year filmmaking ban on Chinese writer-director Lou Ye (Purple Butterfly) in 2006—a harsh reprimand for unveiling his politically charged drama Summer Palace at Cannes that year without their approval—he did what any determined artist would under the circumstances: he went home and made another feature, right under the nose of the censors. It was a brave and headstrong move, considering Lou’s previous encounters with the bureau. His debut feature, Weekend Lover (1995), was banned for two years, and Suzhou River (2000), a moody, Shanghai-set twist on Vertigo that won top honors […]

by Damon Smith on Aug 4, 2010

FILMMAKER FLASHBACK: FALL, 1992

As Filmmaker approaches its 18th birthday, I thought I’d fill the dog days of August with a series of posts taking you through our history. For the next few weeks I’ll be revisiting an issue a day, pointing towards significant pieces from our archive and commenting on interesting correspondences between independent film’s past and its present day. Of course I’ll start with our debut issue: Fall, 1992. Filmmaker was actually the spawn of two magazines, The Off-Hollywood Report and Montage. The OHR was the IFP’s publication, Montage was published by IFP/West (then IFP/Los Angeles and now Film Independent). The original […]

by Scott Macaulay on Aug 2, 2010

VENICE COMPETITION TITLES ANNOUNCED

The Venice Film Festival have announced their slate of competition films vying for the Golden Lion. Included in the list is the opening night film, Darren Aronofsky’s Black Swan as well as Kelly Reichart‘s Meek’s Cutoff and Sofia Coppola‘s Somewhere. Also announced are out of competition titles The Town, directed by Ben Affleck; little brother Casey Affleck’s documentary on Joaquin Phoenix, I’m Still Here; and Robert Rodriguez’s Machete. The festival runs Sept. 1-11. The full list of titles are below. “Attenberg,” Athina Rachel Tsangari, Greece “Barney’s Version,” Richard J. Lewis, Canada/Italy “Black Swan,” Darren Aronofsky, USA “Black Venus,” Abdellatif Kechiche, […]

by Jason Guerrasio on Jul 29, 2010

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