6582 Results for “production”
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Jim Hemphill’s Top Ten Blu-ray Releases of 2021
Compiling my annual list of the year’s ten best Blu-ray releases (or, to be more accurate, my ten personal favorites), I have come to the conclusion once again that reports of the death of physical media have been greatly exaggerated – there were easily another three or four dozen titles in 2021 worthy of placement on the list, and I can’t even begin to claim familiarity with more than a small percentage of everything that was released. But these are ten titles I can confidently recommend, not only for the fine transfers of superlative films but for the lovingly produced […]
by Jim Hemphill on Dec 27, 2021 -
Rivers and Eyes: The 41st Hawai’i International Film Festival
An indigenous filmmaking focus and the ever-blossoming local film scene helped the 41st edition of the Hawai’i International Film Festival Presented by Halekulani return to an almost-normal state of in-person bliss this November. After a year and more of pandemic uncertainties and isolation, attendees shook off the social rust with varying degrees of success, while fears about being amidst crowds were somewhat abated by Honolulu’s vigorous vaccine requirements and HIFF’s strict 50%-capacity limits. The festival fittingly opened with the world premiere of Isaac Halasima’s documentary Waterman, on the astounding life of Native Hawaiian surfer/Olympian/celebrity Duke Kahanamoku; hit its stride with […]
by Jason Sanders on Dec 22, 2021 -
“The Best Way to Fight the Sun is With the Sun”: DP Ari Wegner on The Power of the Dog
In The Power of the Dog, a Montana rancher (Benedict Cumberbatch) who compensates for his repressed desires with hypermasculine cruelty has his isolated domain punctured by the arrival of his brother’s new wife (Kirsten Dunst) and her son (Kodi Smit-McPhee). Based on Thomas Savage’s 1920s-set novel, the film is director Jane Campion’s first feature in 12 years. As a condition of shooting Campion’s welcome return, cinematographer Ari Wegner committed to a full year of prep with the director. They spent weeks on location on the remote South Island of New Zealand, getting to know the light during the season in […]
by Matt Mulcahey on Dec 21, 2021 -
“Boyz N the Hood Meets Moneyball“: Reinaldo Marcus Green on King Richard
With three features and several shorts and episodes of television series under his belt, director Reinaldo Marcus Green’s filmmaking career has quickly accelerated since the premiere of his debut feature, Monsters and Men, at the 2018 edition of the Sundance Film Festival. After directing three episodes of the British Netflix series, Top Boy, and a second feature, Joe Bell (starring Mark Wahlberg), Green’s latest film is King Richard, the Compton-set true story of Richard Williams, his wife Oracene Price, and their five daughters, most notably future tennis icons Venus and Serena Williams. As parents who want the best for their […]
by Erik Luers on Dec 21, 2021 -
“I Went From $1 Million and a 30-Person Crew on Location in Vegas to Maybe 88 Grand, a 12-Person Crew, and My Producer’s Apartment as a Set”: Bryan Wizemann on You Mean Everything to Me
Bryan Wizemann’s You Mean Everything to Me is the first feature film I worked on as an A.C in New York. Before principal photography, production sent me the script and the lookbook, which introduced me to the abusive relationship at the center of the film. Nathan (Ben Rosenfield) comes off affable and attractive enough on the surface, but is dangerously worn inside from lying to others and himself. Perpetuating his particularly gangrenous insecurity, he habitually coerces partners into his ring of control. Cassandra (Morgan Saylor) just happens to meet him while she’s down on her luck,and finds herself spiraling into […]
by A.E. Hunt on Dec 20, 2021 -
Trailer Watch: Robert Eggers’s The Northman
The spectacular first trailer for the anticipated third feature of Robert Eggers, The Northman, just dropped. About a Viking prince avenging his father’s murder, the film reunites the director with Anya Taylor-Joy, the star of his debut, The Witch, and Willem Dafoe, the star of his sophomore film, The Lighthouse. (And that’s in addition to Alexander Skarsgard, Nicole Kidman, Claes Bang, Ethan Hawke and Bjork). In a Filmmaker interview on the film’s production, DP Jarin Blaschke promised that the film will be “accurate as hell”: Well, at least as accurate as 1,000 years ago can be. I don’t want to […]
by Scott Macaulay on Dec 20, 2021 -
“Burnout and Fatigue and a Loss of Sanity”: Matthew Heineman on Making COVID-19 Documentary The First Wave
Mass confusion and panic infected much of the world at the outset of the COVID-19 pandemic as the deadly virus spread from country to country at an uncontainable rate. As many governments put temporary lockdown and quarantine orders in place (in addition to urging hospitals to boost patient capacity), New York City found itself the epicenter of the pandemic, ambulances constantly roaring as they raced to prevent the next round of deceased patients stored in meat trucks and disposed of in mass graves on Hart Island. With some distance from that horrific spring of 2020, new variants and vaccine hesitancy […]
by Erik Luers on Dec 13, 2021 -
Sundance Announces 2022 Sundance Film Festival Shorts And New 40-Film From the Archive Selections
The Sundance Institute announced today the 59 shorts that will comprise the Short Film Program for the 2022 Sundance Film Festival. In addition, this year there’s a new “From the Archive” section — 40 films that are online exclusives playing for all pass holders during the festival, January 20 – 30. Kim Yutani, the Festival’s Director of Programming, said in a press release, “Short films are such a vital part of the independent storytelling culture that Sundance Institute has consistently put its full support behind. We’re all happy for the opportunity this year’s hybrid in-person and online Festival model is […]
by Scott Macaulay on Dec 10, 2021 -
Michael M. Bilandic on His Unhinged Pandemic Satire Film, “Project Space 13”
One of the final scenes of director Michael M. Bilandic’s fourth feature, Project Space 13, involves a delusional Manhattan gallerist wearing yellow knockoff Balenciaga sneakers and a ridiculous polka-dotted blazer at the shoreline of his beach house. He’s talking on the phone, via Airpods of course, to one of the two private security guards hired to protect the solo exhibition of an equally delusional artist named Nate in the midst of lockdown and protests. Throughout the night, every storefront on the downtown block has been looted except the eponymous white cube, where the artist and armed guards have been sitting […]
by Zach Sokol on Dec 10, 2021 -
Sundance Announces Feature, Indie Episodic and New Frontier Categories for Its In-Person and Virtual 2022 Sundance Film Festival
The Sundance Institute announced today the full Feature Film, Indie Episodic, and New Frontier categories for the upcoming 2022 Sundance Film Festival. Returning from last year’s purely virtual festival, this year’s Sundance will be a hybrid edition, with in-person events at Park City, Salt Lake City and the Sundance Mountain Resort in Utah as well as on an enhanced online platform for remote attendees. Additionally there will be The Spaceship, a “bespoke immersive platform.” Continuing from last year’s experimentation, in-person screenings at seven Satellite Screens venues will occur across the country during the Festival’s second weekend. Films this year — […]
by Scott Macaulay on Dec 9, 2021
