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Indiewire is reporting that Arianna Bocco is moving to IFC. The former acquisitions exec at both Miramax and New Line has, for the last couple of years, been an agent at the Gersh Agency. She’s now been named IFC Entertainment’s New VP of Acquisitions and Production. From Brian Brooks’s report: In her newly appointed role, Bocco is charged with “identifying and pursuing finished feature films that support the company’s overall motion picture acquisition strategy of aggressively growing its theatrical release slate with larger, commercial films,” in addition to “new projects that contribute to a diverse new production slate.” Bocco will […]
Over at The Mutiny Company Jamie Stuart has posted the second episode of his hardboiled take on the 44th Annual New York Film Festival. With appearances by Helen Mirren, Stephen Frears and others… Don’t miss it.
Today our friend S.T. Van Airsdale premieres the relaunch of The Reeler, his blog/website devoted to New York City cinema and cinephilia. Stu is now on his own and he’s enlarged the site by adding two new blogs, film reviews and other news to a now bustling main page. From today’s editor’s letter: As mentioned previously, nothing much has changed except that I have accrued extra piles of crap that I will never get done. But it all still pertains to the sphere of New York cinema that you have (hopefully) been following here for a while now, where the […]
Over at Indiewire Eugene Hernandez has an appreciation of and excerpts from Christine Vachon’s new book, A Killer Life. There are many film books out there these days, but Vachon is one of the few people writing them who actually has the real-world experience and successes to back up her advice and opinions. Here’s an excerpt from the book: My strategy is to stay a moving target. I’ve got a reputation for “edgy,” “dark” material — the kind of movie where you’re maybe rooting for the bad guy. I’m also frequently accused of operating with a political agenda. A gay […]
There’s a great point/counterpoint going on over at The Onion’s A.V. Club Blog having to do with whether or not Kelly Reichardt’s Old Joy and Andrew Bujalski’s Mutual Appreciation (pictured) are the future of independent cinema. Or, actually, whether we should be scolded for not ensuring that they are considered as such. First Scott Tobias’s original post, which is entitled “Mutual Appreciation, Old Joy and the Current State of American Independent Film.” An excerpt: …If you care at all about American independent films, you’re required to see these movies…. Watching these movies in short succession was a pretty bracing experience […]
Here at Crooks and Liars is the Fox News Bill Clinton clip, which Ray Pride says this about: Why does Fox News’ Chris Wallace hate America? (Rhetorical question.) Every writer who’s been on a beat for years or decades has a few tropes, fixations and straw men they fall back upon on a morning with a touch of the flu: pudding-headed political commentators love to describe dark turns in a pol’s career as “Shakespearean,” which, unless it’s coming from a studied, articulate, passionate former theater critic like Frank Rich, is usually so much bumf drawn from a dip into the […]
Over on the main page Annie Nocenti interviews the directors of Jesus Camp,, the incredibly fascinating documentary that opened this weekend from Magnolia Pictures. In the piece, co-director Heidi Ewing discusses Magnolia’s strategy to position the film as something of interest to both Christian evangelical audiences and godless hipsters in the big city: Ewing: Eamonn wants to bring the film to Christian strongholds before it hits L.A. or New York. Colorado Springs, Kansas City — they get the movie first. Magnolia is withholding the film from the secular world for one or two weeks. The Evangelicals have time to embrace […]
Over at Ticklebooth Ajit Anthony Prem gets ready for Martin Scorsese’s The Departed by trolling YouTube for homemade renditions of Robert DeNiro’s classic scene from Taxi Driver. From Prem’s post: There are were many impersonations of De Niro on Youtube, mostly of the notorious “You talking to me?” scene. The scene was largely improvised by De Niro who clearly was “living the role.” The scene is not as powerful as it once used to be. When Taxi Driver was first released, films resisted getting into its character’s head, to spend alone-time with someone. Before Taxi Driver, scenes were clearly part […]
At a luncheon celebrating the end of the IFP Market and Filmmaker Conference at NoHo’s Chinatown restaurant this Thursday, a number of awards were given to films and filmmakers who were part of the IFP’s various programs. The winners are: The Fledgling Fund Award for Emerging Latino Filmmakers ($10,000): Vivian Lesnik Weisman. IFP Market Emerging Narrative Screenplay Award ($5,000, presented by Artists Public Domain): I Hate to See That Evening Sun Go Down, Scott Teems. IFP Market Documentary Completion Award ($5,000, presented by Artists Public Domain, and $25,000 in-kind support from Alpha Cine, Analog Digital International, Mercer Media, Showbiz Software/Media […]
If you’re in the habit of just bookmarking this blog page, check out the main page for two new online features of films opening this weekend: American Hardcore and Jesus Camp.