Reporting from the fest, Belle Burke sends this dispatch on what’s in store this year. VFF begins today and wraps Sept. 12. Stay tuned to the blog for more reports from Venice. Do all film festivals begin with disclaimers, denials, and disappointments? In Venice, where discussions can be as heated as the weather, they often do, but maybe it clears the way for the bragging rights of the world’s oldest film festival. Marco Muller, back again as the festival director, still somewhat apprehensive as last-minute plans evolve, emphasizes that it will not be a “provincial festival” even though it has […]
We’ve envied the Brit’s public funding for feature films, government support for new talent, and innovative tax schemes supporting production. They’ve envied our culture of private equity investment for film. Now we’re both about even… or maybe not. From a worthwhile read by Killian Fox in today’s Guardian entitled “Digital: Take a Short Cut to the Cinema”: In [London Film School Director Ben] Gibson’s view, funding opportunities for first-time film-makers are desperately limited, and the lucky few who receive support are being hobbled by the whims of commissioning bodies, who place more weight on “the availability of a certain actor […]
PATTON OSWALT IN WRITER-DIRECTOR ROBERT SIEGEL’S BIG FAN. COURTESY FIRST INDEPENDENT PICTURES. For someone who says his main creative motivation is boredom, Robert Siegel has done rather well for himself. Born and raised in the Long Island town of Merrick, Siegel graduated from the University of Michigan 1993 with a B.A. in History, after which he followed his then-girlfriend to Madison, Wisconsin, where she was studying for a PhD. In addition to working for the local newspaper and volunteering at Madison’s public radio station, Siegel started writing for a small satirical rag that was given away free in the town’s […]
A connoisseur of longing and remembrance who brings great sensitivity to each of his reflective fables, Japan’s Hirokazu Kore-eda should be better known in the States, as his films extend the tradition of world-class artists like Naruse and Ozu. Enthralled with the operation of memory and the impact of grief on the lives of everyday people, Kore-eda has created a body of work that’s as rich with feeling as it is modest in tone. In Maborosi (1995), Kore-eda told the story of a quietly devastated young widow struggling to move on after her husband commits suicide. He then departed from […]
MARÍA ONETTO IN DIRECTOR LUCRECIA MARTEL’S THE HEADLESS WOMAN. COURTESY STRAND RELEASING. Over the course of the past decade, Lucrecia Martel has established herself as one of the most gifted and original filmmakers around. The Argentine auteur was born in Salta, a city in the northwest of Argentina, in 1966, and spent her teenage years capturing much of her family’s daily life on film. In 1986, she studied Communication Science and had stints at two film schools, Avellaneda Experimental, studying animation, and the National Experimentation Filmmaking School in Buenos Aires. However because she never finished her film studies (one of […]
Recently the Pacific Northwest’s venerable Northwest Film Forum, which has been behind not only the exhibition but also the production of some of our most striking independent features, issued an urgent plea for financial assistance. By August 15, the organization requires $70,000 to forestall severe changes in the organization. With two days left to go, the NWFF is not quite half way there, helped by both its members and audiences but also companies like Sub Pop, which matched donations. There is still time to close the gap, though, in the next 48 hours. Here is executive director Lyall Bush’s latest […]
As my brief interview with Cherien Dabis in festival coverage of the Dubai International Film Festival (in our Spring, 2009 edition and which I’ve just posted online) noted, some of the financing for her debut feature Amreeka was found at the DIFF’s Dubai Film Connection, a CineMart-like financing market aimed at films from directors of Arab nationality or origin. Producers (who can be of any nationality) have until August 15 (that’s one week from now) to submit projects for this year’s edition. Here’s the official word: The DFC is open for documentary and feature film projects that are currently in […]
In “A Filmmaker’s Glamorous Life,” online and in our latest print edition, Esther Robinson surveyed a number of filmmakers about the jobs they’ve taken to support themselves when they are not making films. In this blog series we’ll run the unedited responses we received that were then condensed for the piece. Below: Barry Jenkins. Filmmaker: How did you support yourself during the production of your last movie/movies? Jenkins: I had this job at Banana Republic that was more or less essential to getting my last movie done. Was a great job, I was the shipment supervisor at the largest Banana […]
At DIY Days in Philadelphia this weekend I moderated a panel on creative collaboration. Just before heading down I came across this post by filmmaker Zak Forsman on our new message boards entitled “Using Test Screenings to Shape Your Film” and made a note to post it on the blog. Now, Forsman and Sabi partner Kevin Shah, who were both on my panel, have elaborated on the post with an article at The Workbook Project and a video in which they discuss the process of test screening. They have great advice for anyone putting together a feedback screening. One tip […]
In “A Filmmaker’s Glamorous Life,” online and in our latest print edition, Esther Robinson surveyed a number of filmmakers about the jobs they’ve taken to support themselves when they are not making films. In this blog series we’ll run the unedited responses we received that were then condensed for the piece. Below: Jake Mahaffy. Filmmaker: How did you support yourself during the production of your last movie/movies? Mahaffy: I’m an Associate Professor of Art & Film at Wheaton College in Massachusetts so I have a full-time teaching position. Filmmaker: What is good/not good about this kind of job? Mahaffy: It’s […]