25 New Faces
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Our Top Ten Posts of 2011
As 2011 comes to a close, here, based on Google Analytics, are this site’s top ten posts of the year. 1. 25 New Faces of 2011. I mean, of course — what else would have been our top traffic-getter of the year? As it does every year, the unveiling of our 25 New Faces list outpaced everything else on the site by almost three to one. And one thing I’m especially proud of — at the time we pick them, the people on this list are real discoveries. As I look at lists with similar ambitions on other sites, I’m […]
by Scott Macaulay on Dec 31, 2011 -
Sleeping Beauty Writer/Director Julia Leigh
When Filmmaker chose Australian novelist Julia Leigh for our 25 New Faces list of 2008, the author of such books as The Hunter and Disquiet was teaching at Barnard while establishing herself as a screenwriter of provocative, nuanced dramas for directors like Walter Salles and production companies like Plan B. She said when I interviewed her that screenplay writing was originally a form of “diversion therapy” while working on Disquiet, but that she grew to appreciate the form. “I actually find scripts hard to read — ugly,” she said in 2008. “I got my head around the very basic conventions […]
by Scott Macaulay on Nov 30, 2011 -
25 NEW FACES: “WITHOUT”‘S MARK JACKSON
Originally published in our Summer 2011 issue. Without is nominated for Best Film Not Playing At A Theater Near You. Trained as a cinematographer in Italy, Brooklyn-based Mark Jackson says he doesn’t watch many movies. “My grandfather is the reason I make films. He introduced me to the magic of observation and that’s where the vast majority of my inspiration comes from. People watching, followed by embellishment,” says Jackson, whose feature debut Without is currently making the festival rounds. “The other bits come from reading the news.” Comprised of shots that make you feel as if you’re glimpsing the most […]
by Brandon Harris on Nov 4, 2011 -
Alma Har’el, Bombay Beach
Stunningly shot and formally audacious, Bombay Beach, the first feature of Israeli-born music-video director and cinematographer Alma Har’el, is a rare bird, the type of film that seems to be building its own cinematic language from the ground up. Sure, it embraces some stylistic and thematic similarities with a whole host of filmmaking luminaries, but it is dancing to its very own tune, both literally and figuratively. Har’el, as we discuss below, quickly entered the lives of various people living around the California hamlet of Bombay Beach, a derelict precinct that was once a haven for zealous developers in the ’60s, […]
by Brandon Harris on Oct 12, 2011 -
“25 NEW FACES” SERIES AT TACOMA’S GRAND CINEMA STARTS FRIDAY
Last year we were flattered when The Grand Cinema in Tacoma, Washington asked if they could put together a screening series of our 2010 25 New Faces of Independent Film. It was an amazing turnout with The Grand screening films from 22 of the 25 and 11 of the filmmakers making the trip to attend. Well, The Grand is doing it again! Beginning this Friday and running until the 25th, The Grand Cinema will screen 20 works from this year’s 25 and it sounds like they will once again have a bunch of the filmmakers on hand. If you live […]
by Jason Guerrasio on Aug 15, 2011 -
SUMMER ’11 ISSUE ONLINE
Select stories from our Summer issue are now available, including this year’s 25 New Faces of Independent Film. You can also read online our interviews with Steve James on his new film The Interrupters, Evan Glodell talks about Bellflower and doc filmmaker Paul Devlin looks at the battle between documentary filmmakers and the IRS. Plus, columns Culture Hacker, Industry Beat and more. The issue hits stands next week, but you can read it now on your desktop by subscribing to our digital issue. Learn more here. Enjoy.
by Jason Guerrasio on Jul 20, 2011 -
JASON BYRNE COVERS SOUTHERN SUDAN INDEPENDENCE
A 2010 25 New Face, filmmaker Jason Byrne has been based in Tanzania, where he’s an Audio-Visual Archivist for the U.N. International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda. He recently sent an email to his list about a new project, and, with permission, I’m reposting it here. Over the weekend, I was in Southern Sudan to witness the country’s independence. I made a film within the celebration, which included two actors. One actor plays the “North” and one actor plays the “South.” The history of the two countries will be captured through the telling of the characters experiences. Here are some images […]
by Scott Macaulay on Jul 15, 2011 -
TRAILER WATCH: “PARIAH”
Dee Rees’ powerful gay-themed drama has been one of our favorite film projects of the last few years. The film went through the IFP Narrative Lab, and two of its principals — writer/director Rees and d.p. Bradford Young — appeared on our “25 New Faces” list. So, we were thrilled when the film was picked up at Sundance by Focus Features and Rees was given a development deal. Focus has just released the trailer, which I’ve embedded below. And see my piece on Rees from the 2008 25 New Faces list and Jason Guerrasio’s on Young from the 2009 list.
by Scott Macaulay on Jun 13, 2011 -
PARK CITY CRITIC’S NOTEBOOK #3: GEMS FROM THE OTHER FESTIVAL
While introducing a screening one afternoon this week in the Treasure Mountain Inn’s cramped banquet hall that the Slamdance Film Festival converts into its main cinema every year, Slamdance Co-Founder and expert hat-wearer Dan Mirvish remarked with a bit of awe that this was the 17th annual event, meaning that Slamdance, once referred to pejoratively as Sundance’s “parasite” by Robert Redford, had now been around for over half Sundance’s life span. Continuing, Mirvish claimed that “about a third” of the participants in Sundance’s 2011 lineup were Slamdance alumni. “The inmates have taken over the asylum,” Mirvish joked. Someone sitting behind me […]
by Brandon Harris on Jan 28, 2011 -
PLINKETT (AKA MIKE STOKLASA) ON STAR WARS: EPISODE 3 — REVENGE OF THE SITH
Mike Stoklasa made Filmmaker‘s “25 New Faces” list in 2010 with his brilliant feature-length critical vivisections of George Lucas’s Star Wars prequel series. First there was The Phantom Menace, and then Attack of the Clones, and now Stoklasa, in his “Mr. Plinkett” persona, tackles Revenge of the Sith. Watch, marvel and enjoy.
by Scott Macaulay on Jan 1, 2011
