production | Filmmaker Magazine

SAG ON A SUNDANCE ACQUISITIONS SHUT-OUT

Michael Cieply had a provocative piece this morning in the New York Times’ Carpetbagger blog in which he wondered: An interesting question — and at this point, it’s only that — has been floating among the people who buy movie rights for big studios and their specialty divisions at festivals like Sundance, which begins on Thursday: Can they, or should they, buy films that were produced under waiver agreements with the Screen Actors Guild? Because these waiver agreements oblige filmmakers to adhere to the final terms of the SAG-AMPTP contract, and that contract has not been negotiated, the thinking goes […]

by Scott Macaulay on Jan 14, 2009

QUICK READS ON SOME SUNDANCE FILMS

I tend to be a check-in, sit on my hotel or condo bed and go through the catalog kind of person. I don’t really plan my schedule way in advance. This year I’ve taken a longer look at the catalog than usual and jotted down a few thoughts on some films I want to see and a couple that we know a little bit more about. Consider these the equivalent of notebook scribblings and reminders-to-self — more coherent (and substantive) writing on many of these films will follow later. Dramatic Competition Amreeka: I saw the first 18 minutes of this […]

by Scott Macaulay on Jan 13, 2009

SEARCHING FOR THE SUNDANCE SHORTS

On this blog we’ve posted the line-ups of the various Sundance sections, but we forgot to include the shorts. So, to make up, Max Friend in the Filmmaker office has compiled this exhaustive post listing not only all the shorts but also hyperlinks taking you to info on the films, the filmmakers and sometimes the films themselves. Enjoy. U.S. Dramatic Shorts Abbie Cancelled (Directors: Dumb Bunny) — Two couples who have never met find themselves engaged in an awkward dinner after their mutual friends cancel at the last second. Acting for the Camera (Director: Justin Nowell; Screenwriter: Thomas Nowell) — […]

by Scott Macaulay on Jan 13, 2009

VAULTING ACROSS SUNDANCES By Scott Macaulay

Independent filmmakers like to think that they are creating works of art that contribute to an enduring American culture. There’s just one problem: these works of art are disintegrating. Literally. More concerned with life rights than half-life, filmmakers are allowing their films to crumble and dissolve into analog blurs and forests of digital glitches as formats change, materials are uncared for, and elements are left forgotten on lab floors. Enter the Sundance Collection, a collaborative program with the UCLA Film and Television Archive. It is the first archive to be devoted exclusively to the preservation of independent cinema. This year, […]

by Scott Macaulay on Jan 10, 2009

“JOHNNY MAD DOG” writer-director, Jean-Stéphane Sauvaire

[PREMIERE SCREENING: Friday, Jan. 16, 8:30 am — Prospector Square Theatre, Park City] Johnny Mad Dog is based on a novel by Emmanuel Dongala. At first, I wrote a faithful adaptation of the book following the same narrative construction, which was centered on two main characters: Johnny, a 15-year-old child soldier, and Laokolé, a 13-year-old girl who runs away with her family. They are in the same situation in the last days of a civil war in Africa. The same unit of time, place and space. Two roads which cross paths, two different points of view, two destinies. Once this […]

by Jason Guerrasio on Jan 8, 2009

FINDING YOUR VOICE (AND BUDGET) AT NETFLIX

From a press release I just received from Film Independent: Today Film Independent and Netflix announced the immediate launch of the Netflix FIND Your Voice Film Competition, which will award one aspiring first-time feature filmmaker the means, guidance and resources to make a full-length, narrative film. The winner of the competition, who will own all rights to his or her film, will be determined between now and July 2009. In addition to production resources needed to make the film, the winner will receive a $150,000 cash production grant funded by Netflix, plus turnkey resources like film stock, processing, camera rental, […]

by Scott Macaulay on Jan 8, 2009

GIVE US YOUR TIRED, YOUR POOR, YOUR HUDDLED MASSES

It seems whenever the economy is down you’ll hear some rose-colored-glasses wearing producer saying, “Great, now that stocks and real estates are no longer offering investors a return, they’ll turn to film!” Well, for those of you waiting to see how the economic collapse will affect independent filmmakers, Hannah Seligson in The New York Times offers one possibility: there may soon be more of us. From the piece: With Wall Street hemorrhaging jobs, bonuses disappearing and the financial sector going through a seismic shift, some bankers and lawyers are switching lanes to more creative career paths. They are putting down […]

by Scott Macaulay on Jan 1, 2009

NOW COMING TO A COMPUTER NEAR YOU

Matt Dentler of Cinetic Rights Management sent word of two films now online that will be of interest to Filmmaker readers. The first is Randall Sharp’s fascinating indie period film Henry May Long, which Alicia Van Couvering covered here on the site in an interview with the writer/director. From Van Couvering’s interview: Filmmaker: How did the film come together? Sharp: I made up the story on a car ride to Woodstock one day. I thought, what would happen if someone was willing to do anything to get someone else to pay attention to them? What if that decision led to […]

by Scott Macaulay on Dec 31, 2008

John Walter, Theater Of War

MERYL STREEP IN DIRECTOR JOHN WALTER’S DOCUMENTARY THEATER OF WAR. COURTESY WHITE BUFFALO ENTERTAINMENT. In the field of documentary, John Walter has emerged as the medium’s most eloquent and entertaining cultural historian. The Detroit-born director, who is also an unpublished poet, began his career in the film industry as a boom operator and worked in that capacity on Sam Raimi’s Evil Dead II. In the mid 90s, he became an editor, beginning with Norman Reedus’ Messenger (1994), and in 1995 he directed Edison’s Miracle of Light, an episode of PBS’ television series The American Experience. In 2002, Walter made his […]

by Nick Dawson on Dec 24, 2008

FILMMAKER YEAR IN REVIEW: BRIAN CHIRLS

Brian Chirls, who contributed the piece on Soderbergh’s RED camera post-production in the current issue, weighs in with some of his ’08 personal bests. Best Foreign Film About Food That I Saw at a European Festival Of Which No One I Know In the States Has Ever Heard:Estômago Best Film About Zombies in High SchoolDance of the Dead Best Film of the Year/Best American Film About FoodPoultrygeist: Night of the Chicken Dead Best Film About Pistachios That I Never Heard From After Its Sundance Premiere (Even Though It’s Not About Cannibalism)Anywhere, USA Best Film That I Never Actually Got Around […]

by Scott Macaulay on Dec 24, 2008

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