1 Webdocs With the official partnership of entities as ahead-of-the-curve as IDFA DocLab and Power to the Pixel, among a dozen others, Belgian director Matthieu Lietaert (whose own online project We R Democracy nabbed the BIPS at Sunny Side of the Doc 2010) has put together an offline guide to navigating the field of Web-based documentaries. Titled Webdocs, it covers everything from crowd sourcing to storytelling in a format that includes interviews with 30 cross-media makers and producers, as well as in-depth analysis of six highly successful webdocs. The book is jam-packed with practical information and advice from those on […]
Rome fell. Athens fell. Unelected representatives of European banks were installed in Italy and Greece, elections distant down the road. Interesting times in the south of Europe, with a rush of drama in the outside world to match the 100-plus films slated during 10 eventful days of November’s 52nd edition of the Thessaloniki International Film Festival. The event was trim, yet taut, light wind in its sails from a two-year budget infusion from the European Regional Development Fund. Photo exhibits, publications, masterclasses and retrospectives still accompanied the international competition, the Balkan Survey and Open Horizons programming sections. If one weren’t […]
Will 2011 be remembered as the year the indie film biz rebounded after nearly two years of contraction, consolidation and caution? Or was it merely a brief minor upsurge, hardly enough to sustain the numerous companies, executives and filmmakers trying to make a go of it? The beginning of the year started bright, even dazzling. Independent films like Black Swan, The King’s Speech, The Kids Are All Right and Winter’s Bone were big at the Oscars and the box office. And at Sundance, more than 40 films were acquired during and immediately after the fest. It looked like independent films […]
With conventional theatrical distribution deals harder to come by, independent filmmakers are increasingly looking towards DIY, or do-it-yourself, releasing strategies for their movies. But the truth is that there is no one, sure-fire way to distribute a movie. Certain platforms accessible to self-distributing filmmakers work beautifully for some movies while being terrible for others. Each film possesses its own specific DNA, and to determine its most appropriate strategy requires an analysis of a film’s goals, assets and realistic potential. For some, a goal will be to recoup investments. For others it will be to get a modicum of renown, and […]
One year ago in this spot I cautiously heralded “signs of life” in the independent film world, citing, among other things, all the independently financed features (Black Swan, Winter’s Bone, The Kids Are All Right) headed for the Oscars. A month after I wrote my piece, Sundance 2011 concluded with a record number of acquisitions, which included films like the tough, defiantly independent Martha Marcy May Marlene and the no-budget Another Earth by none other than Fox Searchlight. And while American independents didn’t sweep the Oscars, they did figure prominently, with a Best Actress win for Natalie Portman. But, as […]
The problem with so many horror films today is that you feel like you’ve seen them before. I’m not talking about their plots or characters because ghosts, vampires and serial killers have been and will be dramatized again and again. No, I’m talking about the feeling of watching these films, the internal clock that prepares you for this jolt by minute three, that one by minute 10 and a final shocker just before, or after, the closing credits. Among the many excellent qualities of writer-director Ti West’s filmmaking is its refusal to be straitjacketed by the more programmatic notions of […]
The Canon C300 had a coming out party in Boston last week where Larry Thorpe of Canon presented the camera at an evening event hosted by Rule Boston Camera. A large crowd turned out to hear Larry speak about the camera, and to play with the four demo units that were present. When the camera was first announced I asked some local DPs for their reaction to it, and I took advantage of this opportunity to get their reactions after seeing the camera in person: Jeremy Traub is a DP based in Boston who is very familiar with RED […]
For many years Welt am Draht, Rainer Werner Fassbinder’s 1973 three-and-a-half hour, made-for-TV science fiction opus was one of the late German directors’ most underscreened films. Dazzlingly stylish, and with narrative and thematic concerns anticipating the cyberpunk themes that would take root in science fiction more than a decade later, the film was only shown in America once in 1997 — that is, before it was restored and received a short run at MoMA in 2010. Fassbinder was quoted in MoMA’s catalogue as saying the film, translated as World on a Wire, is “a very beautiful story that depicts a […]
Here’s the just issued press release announcing the nominees for the 2011 Heterodox Award, given by Cinema Eye Honors and sponsored by Filmmaker. New York – The Cinema Eye Honors for Nonfiction Filmmaking today announced the five nominees for its second annual Cinema Eye Heterodox Award, sponsored by Filmmaker Magazine. The 2012 Heterodox Award will be presented at the Cinema Eye Honors for Nonfiction Filmmaking on January 11 at the Museum of the Moving Image in Astoria, Queens, New York. The Cinema Eye Heterodox Award honors a narrative film that imaginatively incorporates nonfiction strategies, content and/or modes of production. These […]
The Kickstarter campaign for Iranian basketball documentary The Iran Job ends next Monday, but the project has already passed its ambitious $50,000 goal. In production for several years, The Iran Job (which is fiscally sponsored by IFP) is seeking finishing funds to prepare for a 2012 release. The documentary follows Kevin Sheppard, an American basketball player who has become an unlikely spokesperson for reform while playing ball in Iran. Per the project’s Kickstarter page: With tensions running high between Iran and the West, Kevin tries to separate sports from politics, only to find that politics is impossible to escape in […]