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Trailer Watch: Paul Verhoeven’s Benedetta
Here’s the first teaser trailer from IFC Films for Benedetta, Paul Verhoeven’s long-awaited “lesbian nun” movie. Verhoeven’s characteristically provocative drama about a 17th-century nun who claimed to experience visions of Jesus premiered at this year’s Cannes (where Blake Williams reviewed it). The movie’s in theaters and on demand on December 3.
by Filmmaker Staff on Sep 24, 2021 -
“Once It Exists Conceptually, It’s Just Problem Solving”: Writer-Director Jonathan Mostow on Breakdown
In the summer of 1997, a season characterized by gargantuan spectacles like The Lost World, Con Air, The Fifth Element, and Batman and Robin, a modest thriller by an unknown young director surprised audiences, critics and probably even its own financiers by becoming a sleeper hit thanks to its classical virtues and relentless determination to put the viewer in the palm of its hand and squeeze. The film, Breakdown, began when Dino de Laurentiis hired low-budget filmmaker Jonathan Mostow to write and direct a new adaptation of Stephen King’s short story “Trucks,” which King had already directed himself as Maximum […]
by Jim Hemphill on Sep 23, 2021 -
Remembering Melvin Van Peebles, 1932 – 2021
Melvin Van Peebles, revolutionary independent filmmaker whose credits include Sweet Sweetback’s Baadasssss Song, Watermelon Man and La Permission, died Tuesday in Manhattan. He was 89. On this sad occasion we’re reprinting Brandon Harris’s profile of Van Peebles from Filmmaker‘s Fall, 2008 issue. It isn’t the first thing you notice when you walk into Melvin Van Peebles’s Columbus Circle South digs, but very few items within his intimate, eclectically appointed apartment — one that sports the back end of a VW bus jutting out of one parlor wall and a giant sculpture of a hot dog near the window — speak […]
by Brandon Harris on Sep 22, 2021 -
Back to One, Episode 170: Alessandro Nivola
The last time Alessandro Nivola was on Back To One (Ep. 37), he had just landed the role of Dickie Moltisanti in The Many Saints of Newark, the feature film prequel to The Sopranos, and had nearly six months to prepare for the role. On this episode, he takes us from there, detailing the extensive research, geographical immersion, voice and body work that went into the preparation process for the biggest role of his career. He talks about the importance of authenticity in every aspect of the character, how Raging Bull played a big part in keeping him on track, […]
by Peter Rinaldi on Sep 21, 2021 -
“The Terms ‘Diversity’ and ‘Inclusion’ Inherently Center Power and Privilege….”: Elle-Máijá Tailfeathers on Her Camden International Film Festival-Debuting Doc Kímmapiiyipitssini: The Meaning of Empathy
Winner of both the Emerging Canadian Filmmaker Award and the Rogers Audience Award at this year’s Hot Docs, Kímmapiiyipitssini: The Meaning of Empathy is the latest documentary from multifaceted artist Elle-Máijá Tailfeathers (The Body Remembers When the World Broke Open, which was picked up by Ava DuVernay’s ARRAY after its 2019 Berlinale premiere and is available to stream on Netflix). A writer, director, producer and actor – she currently stars in Danis Goulet’s Night Raiders, which just debuted at TIFF – Tailfeathers is also a member of the Kainai First Nation in Alberta. It’s a community that continues to be ravaged by […]
by Lauren Wissot on Sep 18, 2021 -
“We Had to Come Up with Whole New Protocols”: DP Jeremy Mackie on Making Zoom-Recorded Pandemic Film Language Lessons
On a microbudget feature with a skeleton crew, you often end up wearing multiple hats. But a different metaphor is required to describe cinematographer Jeremy Mackie’s contribution to Language Lessons. It’s more like Mackie made the hats from scratch, then mailed them to the actors with instructions on how to wear them. The film stars Mark Duplass as a grieving Angeleno who platonically bonds with his Costa Rican tutor (Natalie Morales, who also directed) via Zoom during weekly Spanish immersion lessons. Though the movie—which debuted at this year’s Berlin International Film Festival before playing South by Southwest—never mentions Covid, it’s […]
by Matt Mulcahey on Sep 17, 2021 -
“I Don’t Think Black People Should be Expected to Carry All the Weight of Grappling with America’s History of Racism and White Supremacy”: Rachel Boynton on Civil War (or, Who Do We Think We Are)
Civil War (or, Who Do We Think We Are), the latest doc from Rachel Boynton (Big Men, Our Brand Is Crisis) unfolds in a series of revelations. The project was sparked in the wake of the slaughter of Black parishioners at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, SC during President Obama’s last year in office,and continued right through the domestic terrorism of the Trump administration. During that time Boynton took a historical journey, traversing the US from Massachusetts to Mississippi, with a singular question in mind: What’s the story of the Civil War? Or more precisely, What’s your story of the […]
by Lauren Wissot on Sep 17, 2021 -
“Someone Needs to Shed Light On This Issue”: Justin Chon on His Adoptee Deportation Melodrama, Blue Bayou
Justin Chon first came to the world’s attention playing Eric Yorkie, a supporting character in the Twilight movies. The global success of that young-vampires-in-love franchise helped Chon land lead roles in films such as 21 & Over, Revenge of the Green Dragons, and Seoul Searching, but all the while, the freshly minted movie star was honing his craft as a writer and director. First came 2015’s little-seen Man Up (“That was my film school”), then the breakthrough of Gook, which won the NEXT Audience Award at Sundance in 2017. A bracing look at the 1992 Rodney King riots from a […]
by Nelson Kim on Sep 16, 2021 -
SFFILM and Kenneth Rainin Foundation Announce 20 Narrative Films Winning SFFILM Rainin Grants
SFFILM, in partnership with the Kenneth Rainin Foundation, announced today the 20 projects that will receive SFILM Rainin Grants totaling $490,000. The grants will support the makers’ screenwriting and development activities, with these grants remaining among the very few that fund narrative filmmakers in the development stage. Additionally, two projects have been awarded SFFILM Rainin Filmmakers with Disabilities Grants — a new initiative supporting applicants whose films specifically address stories from the disability community. According to the press release, “SFFILM Rainin Grants are awarded annually to filmmakers whose narrative feature films meaningfully explore pressing social issues and/or have significant economic […]
by Scott Macaulay on Sep 16, 2021 -
Back to One, Episode 169: Dominic Burgess
When Dominic Burgess is not stealing scenes as a guest star, he’s getting raves as Jerry Summers in Dr. Death, Ember in The Magicians, and Victor Buono in the Ryan Murphy miniseries Feud. On this episode, he talks about why the vibe on a set is a big factor in his work, his struggles lately gauging what exactly “gay” means as a descriptor in heteronormative projects, why he appreciates when actors don’t let their unsettling methods infect others on the set, and how nearly every golden opportunity he’s had recently can be traced back to something that will forever force […]
by Peter Rinaldi on Sep 14, 2021
