For those who didn’t attend film school, the learning curve when it comes to the technical aspects of filmmaking can be a largely solitary process. Reading up on manuals, trial and error with editing suites, blog browsing and other self-taught measures are often conducted without reaffirmation, encouragement or collaboration. Should you seek the company of others, the following are a few New York organizations whose doors will open for fellowships and workshops in the ensuing weeks. Yes, I am shortchanging 97.35% of the American population, so additional suggestions are more than welcome. Brooklyn Filmmakers Collective Deadline: September 6, 2013 The […]
The author of this guest essay is a filmmaker whose most recent film is Between Us. He is also the co-founder of the Slamdance Film Festival. — Editor Okay, you didn’t get into Toronto and you’re crushed. Guess what? You also didn’t get into Telluride, Venice or the New York Film Festivals either. But I’ve got news for you: You probably didn’t stand a chance with any of those festivals anyway. It’s not you, it’s them. Don’t get me wrong: They’re all perfectly good festivals run by nice – frequently Canadian – people. The problem is the so-called big Four […]
In the year of our Lord, 2013, the chances are that if you stand in any one place for long enough, some or other cultural product bearing traces of the involvement of prolific polymath James Franco will drift into your orbit. This general rule of thumb goes treble for festivals, and this year’s Venice has been no exception. Unfortunately (or fortunately, if my festival flatmates’ vituperative reactions were anything to go by) I missed the Franco-directed, necrophilia-laced Cormac McCarthy adaptation Child of God, and I also spotted his name in the written credits, presumably as a talking head, for the […]
In a saturated festival landscape, SXSW has long distinguished itself through a grounding sense of community and accessibility. The ever-expanding conference put this notion to the test with the implementation of the SXSW PanelPicker, which calls upon the public to curate its panel programming. Originally launched for the Interactive Festival in 2007, before successfully spilling over to the Film and Music arms in 2011, the PanelPicker invites interested parties to upload presentation, conversation, and panel proposals for broad consideration. Weighing the public vote at 30%, alongside 30% for the festival staff and 40% for its advisory board, SXSW will invite […]
In This is Martin Bonner, Chad Hartigan’s second fiction feature, Martin (the wonderful Australian-born, Seattle-based actor Paul Eenhoorn), is heading into life’s third act and attempting to make something of it. Post-divorce, he moves West to Reno, Nevada, where he takes a job as an outreach counselor, offering spiritual guidance to recently paroled ex-cons. Enter Travis (Richmond Arquette), who, rejoining civilian life after doing time for a hit and run, finds himself adrift, unable to fully assimilate and to connect with his now-grown daughter. In Martin he finds an awkward but needed companionship. This is Martin Bonner‘s narrative is a […]
In Our Nixon, director Penny Lane explores the Nixon administration by juxtaposing secret White House discussions from the infamous Nixon tapes with incredibly intimate Super 8 footage taken by avid amateur cineastes H.R. “Bob” Haldeman, John Ehrlichmann and Dwight Chapin. The fact that these men also happened to be the chief of staff, special advisor and assistant to our much maligned 37th President is one thing; that they were also three of Nixon’s closest aides and the key conspirators jailed during the aftermath of the Watergate scandal is another entirely. Despite what Ben Stein might say, Our Nixon has little to no polemical […]
While international film festivals, especially those of the calibre and history of Venice (this year celebrating its 70th edition), are most commonly seen as a golden opportunity to catch new cinema from contemporary filmmakers, many offer meaty and mightily tempting repertory programmes loaded with restorations. This year’s Cannes festival, for example, featured restored prints of Vertigo, Hiroshima Mon Amour and Borom Sarret (the first film by a black African: Ousmane Sembene), among sundry others. Venice, as ever, has its own Classics strand, with 29 restorations (and documentaries on cinema), including works by Chantal Akerman, Nagisa Oshima and Satyajit Ray. However, the […]
Here, according to Google Analytics, are our ten most popular posts of August, 2013. 1. “5 Lessons on Making a ‘Bigger’ Movie.” Drinking Buddies producer Alicia Van Couvering’s advice for directors stepping up to larger budgets was our top post of the month. 2. “In the Same Way Painters Used Their Paint: D.P. Bradford Young on Ain’t Them Bodies Saints and Mother of George.” Anthony Kaufman’s in-depth interview with Young, in which he talks about drawing inspiration from Renaissance painters and how he lit Rooney Mara, was our runner up for most-trafficked post of the month. 3. “Ten Lessons on […]
IFP’s Made in NY Media Center is now accepting membership proposals for their inaugural year. The MINY Media Center is a community workspace and incubator program that seeks to connect all kinds of mediamakers and tech startups with each other and provide education, mentorship, and entrepreneurship. So if you have an idea for a transmedia project that you’d like to develop and monetize, this is a great opportunity to be on the ground floor as the media center kicks off its inaugural year in October with a brand-new space in DUMBO. At the “Community Workspace” level, you get access to […]
Nestor Almendros has quite the filmography: most of Eric Rohmer’s films, a good amount of Francois Truffaut’s, Kramer vs. Kramer, Sophie’s Choice, and Days of Heaven (often considered one of the most beautiful films ever made). No big deal. You’d think that a cinematographer of his pedigree would be technically proficient and incredibly exacting in his approach. This couldn’t be less true. His approach to cinematography was incredibly intuitive. Directors and cinematographers alike could learn a lot from Almendros’ process, particularly when working on lower budgets and tighter schedules. Lighting Must Be Justified. Almendros believed that lighting exists for the actors, […]