6560 Results for “production”
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The Blue Velvet Project, #147
Second #6909, 115:09 Detective Williams arrives, too late. Everyone dead is dead. Jeffrey is alive, but not because of the Law. Sandy, behind her father, behind the gun, swoons, electrified and ready to be taken by Jeffrey. This post is as good a post as any to suggest that, just beneath its surface, Blue Velvet is a “trash” film. It’s so overloaded with references to Hollywood’s traditions that always threatens to implode in on itself, perhaps nowhere else more poignantly than in this frame, which evokes everything from noir to the “woman’s picture” to the classic crime film. In Avant-Garde […]
by Nicholas Rombes on Aug 6, 2012 -
The Cult Appeal of the Creative Capital Retreat
“Creative Capital is a cult,” said Phillip Andrew Lewis at the end of his presentation at the art funder’s semi-annual retreat this past weekend at Williams College in Williamstown, MA. “But it’s a good cult.” Lewis’s was both a good line and an appropriate capper to his presentation, which shocked right from the outset. The installation artist began his talk by saying he had been held captive as a child for two years within a radical drug treatment program sponsored by the U.S. government. “I consider my work a form of deprogramming,” he told the stunned audience. For the record, […]
by Scott Macaulay on Aug 2, 2012 -
Director Aurora Guerrero on Mosquita Y Mari
Though Aurora Guerrero made Filmmaker magazine’s “25 New Faces of Independent Film” list in 2006, the director behind this year’s Sundance-premiering, award-winning Mosquita y Mari – which most recently took both Outstanding First U.S. Dramatic Feature Film, as well as Outstanding Actress in a U.S. Dramatic Feature Film for its lead Fenessa Pineda, at Outfest – was a welcome new face to me when I caught the film earlier this year. A tale of two Chicanas coming of age in working-class L.A., Guerrero’s feature debut is breathtaking in its understatement, less your typical “queer flick” than a continuation of the […]
by Lauren Wissot on Aug 1, 2012 -
THE 17TH ANNUAL STONY BROOK FILM FESTIVAL
Falling under the umbrella of the Staller Center for the Arts at Stony Brook University, and still run by its original founder Alan Inkles (whose praises I’ll sing a bit later), the Stony Brook Film Festival is a breath of fresh Long Island air in a sea of desperate-to-please fests. Now in its 17th year, the event runs like a well-oiled machine – with screenings starting promptly on time and technical glitches nonexistent – yet feels more like a 10-day family retreat, complete with marina lodgings in nearby Port Jefferson. It’s also one of the warmest, most accommodating festivals I’ve […]
by Lauren Wissot on Jul 31, 2012 -
Movie Business Shrinking
A curious occurrence took place in the wake of the Aurora, CO, mass killing on the opening night screening of the latest Batman release, The Dark Knight Rises. Revenue from opening weekend ticket sales was $211.8 million, slightly less than the $222.2 million for The Dark Knight. This was the highest box office gross for a conventional 2D movie for 2012. While the large turnout for the movie can be linked to a response to the shootings as much as the appeal of the movie, the numbers hide a darker truth. The movie business is shrinking. Ticket sales and DVD […]
by David Rosen on Jul 30, 2012 -
CORY MCABEE LAUNCHES NEW “CAPTAIN AHAB’S MOTORCYCLE CLUB” PROJECT
Cory McAbee, the ingenious, idiosyncratic talent behind The American Astronaut and Stingray Sam, is on the festival circuit at the moment with his most recent film, the 50-odd-minute Crazy and Thief. (This sweet portrait of childhood, starring McAbee’s children, Willa Vy McAbee and John Huck McAbee, premiered at LAFF last month, moving on to BAMcinemaFest shortly afterwards.) Despite having just put one new work out in the world, McAbee has already launched his next creative project, the very intriguing Captain Ahab’s Motorcycle Club. Here’s how its website describes it: Captain Ahab’s Motorcycle Club was conceived by filmmaker/musician Cory McAbee. The club […]
by Nick Dawson on Jul 26, 2012 -
“25 NEW FACE” IAN CLARK DEBUTS TWO MOVIES ONLINE
A few days ago, Scott posted on the blog about Julia Pott, one of our new crop of “25 New Faces,” putting her wonderful, latest short, Belly, online. (On that subject, you should also check out a really excellent article on Pott and Belly over at Motionographer.) Also now showcasing work online is another of this year’s “New Faces,” Ian Clark. Until August 13, you can watch Clark’s gorgeous 25-minute film Searching for Yellow (which I described in his “25 New Faces” profile as “hauntingly lovely, simultaneously intimate and expansive”) and his naturalistic 64-minute portrait of small-town life, Country Story. […]
by Nick Dawson on Jul 26, 2012 -
Five Questions with Searching For Sugar Man Director Malik Bendjelloul
When Swedish director Malik Bendjelloul first came across the story of ’70s singer/songwriter/cult-hero Rodriguez, it must have seemed too good to be true, especially for a music-focused documentarian. Sixto Rodriguez, the Detroit-based troubadour who blended street-savvy folk, rock, and socially conscious soul on two under-the-radar early-‘70s albums, was completely unknown in America (and almost everywhere else) for decades. But in a twist worthy of an O. Henry story, Rodriguez (who has always worked solely under his surname), somehow ended up an iconic figure in South Africa, where his reputation assumed Bob Dylan-esque dimensions. The catch: most South Africans have long […]
by Jim Allen on Jul 25, 2012 -
Mikkel Norgaard, Klown
Long considered one of the funniest shows in Scandinavia, the television series Klown features Danish comedians Casper Christensen and Frank Hvam playing Curb Your Enthusiasm-style variations on themselves, getting into hysterically awkward encounters with friends and strangers, loved ones and frenemies, including other Danish celebrities such as actress Iben Hjejle (High Fidelity, The Boss of It All) and Jørgen Leth (the co-director, with Lars von Trier, of The Five Obstructions). Running for six seasons, it propelled the comic duo to the heights of Danish celebrity and mainstream popularity. Now there is a film version of Klown directed by Mikkel Nørgaard, who conceived and directed much of […]
by Brandon Harris on Jul 25, 2012 -
HELP 25 NEW FACES ORNANA KICKSTART THEIR NEXT TWO MOVIES
Last week we announced our 2012 list of “25 New Faces,” a group that numbered 37 as a result of a large number of filmmaking duos, but was expanded even more by a six-man production collective. Ornana, the collective in question, made the playful and funny SXSW-winning animation (notes on) biology and are in postproduction on Euphonia, a live-action narrative feature that is radically different from biology and further underlines the talent as well as the versatility of these young men. (You can read more about both films on their 25 New Faces page.) The gang are currently looking ahead […]
by Nick Dawson on Jul 24, 2012
