6576 Results for “production”
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Building a Christmas Tree Stand to Make a Movie: Charles Poekel on Christmas, Again
From day one there wasn’t much about the making of Christmas, Again that you could describe as “traditional.” So, when it came to releasing the film, it only felt natural to explore the less “traditional” routes. I use “traditional” in quotes because in 2015 I can safely say that non-“traditional” strategies are the new norm, if not the only viable option for any film, big or small (we’ve seen quite a few high-profile, big-budget “traditional” releases tank this year). So moving forward, I’ll refer to our strategy as “individualized,” which I think is a more accurate way of describing this norm. […]
by Charles Poekel on Nov 25, 2015 -
“Always Give Exposition While Running From a Bear”: Drew and John Erick Dowdle on No Escape
For the past few years I’ve been bemoaning the decline of the mid-range genre film, the action movie or horror flick that is neither a contained micro-budget opus straining against its resources nor an oppressive studio behemoth in which all sense of character, theme, and nuance is suffocated under the weight of its own scale and CGI. That mid-range has always been the source of many of America’s best, most enduring films; it’s the arena where masters like Don Siegel, Nicholas Ray, and Anthony Mann plied their trade under the classical studio system, and in more recent decades auteurs like […]
by Jim Hemphill on Nov 24, 2015 -
“As Far as I’m Concerned, We Are Making the Movie Version”: Sam Esmail on Mr. Robot
It remains unclear at what point this century cyberpunk — a science-fiction subgenre that emerged largely from the pens of William Gibson and Philip K. Dick — leapt from the realm of speculative to historical fiction; everywhere one looks, it seems that moment has arrived. Many (if not most) westerners live connected to a cyberpunk meta-narrative of their own making these days. We can all be certain, in the era of Edward Snowden, that our digital lives are being recorded. A dystopian view of computing and information technology’s potential, along with a skeptical eye toward vision of “technological as social progress” that corporate propagandists hurl […]
by Brandon Harris on Nov 24, 2015 -
A Holistic Approach to Documentary Success: Four Key Takeaways from DOC NYC
With more than 200 films and events, DOC NYC has become the largest documentary film festival in the United States. It has also become a must-stop for emerging and established filmmakers who want to deepen their craft through DOC NYC PRO, a series of panels and master classes with industry leaders. I attended the festival this week and my colleague Cheree Dillon and I live-blogged every panel for The D-Word, the worldwide online community for documentary filmmakers. What I came away with were four important things emerging documentary filmmaker should learn (and every veteran should remind themselves of as well!) in […]
by Erica Ginsberg on Nov 23, 2015 -
From Ida Lupino to Reese Witherspoon: Female Representation Onscreen at the Viennale and BFI Film Festival
“Hard, Fast, and Beautiful” is the title of a dedicated Ida Lupino program at the recent 53rd Vienna International Film Festival. The program is named in honor of Lupino’s film, which New York Times critic Bosley Crowther reviewed in 1951. “It simply recounts the quick parabola that a girl tennis player describes in becoming a tennis champion and then chucking it all for love,” he wrote of the “trite and foolish” script. Hard, Fast, and Beautiful was Lupino’s third directorial attempt. Well, technically, it was her fourth. When director Elmer Clifton had a heart attack in 1949 during Not Wanted, Lupino […]
by Taylor Hess on Nov 19, 2015 -
Cinema Eye Honors Announces 2016 Heterodox Award Nominees
Cinema Eye, which presents the Cinema Eye Honors for Nonfiction Filmmaking as part of the annual Cinema Eye Week, today announced the five nominees for its annual Heterodox Award. The Heterodox Award honors a narrative fiction film that imaginatively incorporates nonfiction strategies, content and/or modes of production. The five films nominated this year for the Cinema Eye Heterodox Award are: Arabian Nights: Volume 1 —The Restless One directed by Miguel Gomes God Bless the Child directed by Robert Machoian and Rodrigo Ojeda-Beck Tangerine directed by Sean Baker Taxi directed by Jafar Panahi The Tribe directed by Myroslav Slaboshpytskiy With the announcement of […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Nov 18, 2015 -
“I Have Four Days to Edit My Director’s Cut”: Bethany Rooney on Directing TV
I first became aware of director Bethany Rooney’s work via her episodes of two of the most visually arresting series on network television, Arrow and The Originals. On each of these series – specifically, the “State vs Queen” episode of Arrow and the “When the Levee Breaks” episode of The Originals – Rooney exhibited a sophisticated sense of composition, lighting, and color surpassed only by her deft hand with actors. As I dug further into Rooney’s oeuvre while catching up on several other series this fall, I learned that those two shows were the rule, not the exception — performers […]
by Jim Hemphill on Nov 17, 2015 -
“Do You Mind If I Finance the Rest of the Film?” Tom DiCillo on Living in Oblivion
In Living in Oblivion, Tom DiCillo’s 1995 triptych of the agony and ecstasy of indie film production, Murphy’s cinematic law is in full effect. Prima donna actors. Uncooperative smoke machines. Blown lines. Soft focus. Booms in the frame. However, the film’s most soul-crushing moment comes when the camera isn’t even rolling. It arrives when the faux film’s director, played by Steve Buscemi, takes a moment to run lines with his two lead actresses. And of course — with the camera sitting idle and the cinematographer off set vomiting out-of-date milk from the meager craft services table — the scene comes […]
by Matt Mulcahey on Nov 12, 2015 -
Cartel Land Leads the 9th Annual Cinema Eye Honors for Nonfiction Filmmaking Nominations
Here we have the full list of nominees for the 9th Annual Cinema Eye Honors for Nonfiction Filmmaking. Cartel Land leads the pack with five nominations; the winners will be announced at the 9th Annual Honors Ceremony on January 13, 2016 at the Museum of the Moving Image in New York City. For more information, visit the Cinema Eye Honors website. Outstanding Achievement in Nonfiction Feature Filmmaking Amy Cartel Land Democrats Listen to Me Marlon The Look of Silence The Wolfpack Outstanding Achievement in Direction Matt Heineman, Cartel Land Kim Longinotto, Dreamcatcher Laurie Anderson, Heart of a Dog Frederick Wiseman, In Jackson […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Nov 12, 2015 -
“To Make an Independent Movie is Delusional in a Way”: Alaska is a Drag‘s Shaz Bennett and Melanie Miller at US in Progress
US in Progress is a biannual event held in June during the Champs-Elysées Film Festival in Paris and in October during the American Film Festival in Wroclaw. It’s a five-year-old industry event that aims to strengthen transatlantic film collaborations and partnerships between European industry and emerging American filmmakers. The fifth US in Progress recently held in Wroclaw featured six films in various editing and post-production stages. The participants included: Mike Ott and Nathan Silver, Actor Martinez Shaz Bennett and Melanie Miller, Alaska is a Drag Zachary Shedd and Daniel Patrick Carbone, Americana Benjamin Kruger, It Had to Be You Joel […]
by Taylor Hess on Nov 11, 2015
