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AN IRAQI ROLE PLAYER IN TONY GERBER AND JESSE MOSS’ FULL BATTLE RATTLE. COURTESY MILE END FILMS. A strong partnership always relies on both individuals bringing different things to the table, and documentary filmmakers Tony Gerber and Jesse Moss certainly draw on diverse backgrounds for their creative collaboration. New York City native Gerber began his career directing alternative theater and making films for theatrical productions, and went on to work with conceptual artist Matthew Barney on Cremaster III (2002) and Drawing Restraint 9 (2005). He directed the short film, Small Taste of Heaven in 1997, and his debut fiction feature, […]
I’m blogging from Paris where, the other night, I had dinner with two Palme d’Or-winning French producer friends. “What did you think of the Mark Gill article?” one wanted to know. Yes, Gill’s speech is dinner conversation across the Atlantic. In fact, the producer had printed it out and circulated it among her staff. I’ve commented before on the Gill piece, which I mostly agree with. Now we’re seeing a second wave of responses to the article, and one must-read for indies is by writer/director John August, who blogs about the release of his Sundance film The Nines and relates […]
At Stream, Jamie Stuart muses on the possibilities of theatrical for one’s first feature. An excerpt: More and more independent producers and distributors with years of experience are trying to convince indie filmmakers that theatrical distribution isn’t that important. This isn’t because these people in the know dislike the theatrical experience. It’s because they understand that the costs of going theatrical are becoming a legitimate burden, and that the real revenue streams lie in the ancillary markets, especially for small movies. Unfortunately, the thing that most filmmakers understand — and this has nothing to do with advocating the communal experience […]
Artforum reports that filmmaker Bruce Conner has died. Here is their notice: Bruce Conner, a San Francisco–based artist known for his assemblages, films, drawings, and interdisciplinary works, passed away Monday afternoon. Conner moved to San Francisco in 1957 and quickly found his place within the city’s vibrant Beat community. His gauzy assemblages of scraps salvaged from abandoned buildings, nylon stockings, doll parts, and other found materials gained him art-world attention, as did A Movie (1958), an avant-garde film that juxtaposed footage from B movies, newsreels, soft-core pornography, and other fragments, all set to a musical score. (In 1991, A Movie […]
Ryan Nakashima reports in the AP on a Lehman Brothers report that downgrades the entertainment industry because of what it sees as lower profits in the age of digital distribution. An excerpt: “Shifts from physical to digital will disrupt the marginal economics of the TV and movie businesses, just as it did for music,” analyst Anthony DiClemente said during a conference call. DiClemente argued that the average profit the companies see from new DVDs, including higher-priced Blu-ray discs, is $10.59. Selling the same movie through Apple Inc.’s iTunes online music and video store nets them $9.29, 12 percent less, he […]
Canada’s Patricia Rozema has had an eclectic career, spanning films as diverse as her 1987 debut Cannes feature, I’ve Heard the Mermaids Singing to her Yo Yo Ma feature, Six Gestures: Suite No. 6 for Unaccompanied Cello to her 1999 Jane Austen adaptation, Mansfield Park. The themes and approaches of these films — Rozema’s concentration on adult eroticism, feminism, religious skepticism, and social revolution — would not seem to be the kind of interests which would speak to the upright members of the American Girl enterprise, protectorate of the indomitable Kit Kittredge and her wholesome doll sisters. Yet, the sweetly […]
In an announcement this morning, the IFP‘s 18th Annual Gotham Awards will take place at the posh Cipriani Wall Street on Tuesday, Dec. 2. Last year the event was housed at Brooklyn’s Steiner Studios. The Gothams is the kick off to the awards season each year and honors independently-distributed American features. This year’s nominees will be announced on Oct. 20. For more on the Gothams go to gotham.ifp.org
i was saddened to read today that writer and poet Tom Disch committed suicide in his New York apartment on July 4th. I’ve always been a big fan of Disch’s classic intellectual science-fiction novels of the 1970s: the amazing Camp Concentration, 334, and On Wings of Song, as well as his great collections of short fiction, Getting into Death and Fundamental Disch. Following my teenage years, when I read a lot of science fiction, Disch was one of the few writers, along with J.G. Ballard, Philip K. Dick, and Stanislaw Lem, who retained a space on my bookshelf. I met […]
Here’s part two of Diann Borshay Liem’s report from the Sundance Documentary Edit Lab. (For those who missed Part One, you can read it here.) It’s Day 5 at the Sundance Doc Edit/Story Lab. For me, the lab started where our film ends. During our first work day, editor/advisor Mary Lampson shared a personal story about duality and living a false life. We laughed, I cried. Scott (our assistant editor) cued up “Getting to Know You” and Vivien and I danced around our edit trailer. Amazingly, through this odd process we uncovered what I think will be the ending to […]
SCOTT PRENDERGAST AND CHRISTINE TAYLOR IN KABLUEY. COURTESY REGENT RELEASING. Like his much buzzed shorts, Scott Prendergast’s debut feature brings to the screen his poignant outsider’s perspective and talent for creating vivid comic characters. Born in Galveston, Texas but raised in Portland, Oregon, Prendergast attended Columbia University and then pursued a career as a comic writer and improviser at L.A.’s Groundlings Theater. He went on to develop his own one man comedy improv show, UNman, which had a two-year run in NYC. In the late 90s, he started making short films – grounded as much in performance comedy as cinema […]