Alrick Brown
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Pre-Course Work
With most incoming film students being required to make shorts during their undergraduate or graduate studies, what exemplars of the form should they look to for inspiration? Filmmaker asked a number of friends—all filmmakers—who teach filmmaking at a cross-section of institutions to list the short films they think all incoming students should check out and be inspired by. Howard A. Rodman, professor, USC School of Cinematic Arts: I consistently recommend to my students—whose films often lead with cinematography, visual effects and sound mix—that they see Andrea Arnold’s Academy Award–winning 2003 short film Wasp. Adequate direct sound, wobbly cam, minimalist VFX, yet […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Jun 11, 2018 -
ALRICK BROWN MEETS THE “FINAL WITNESS” TOMORROW NIGHT
As we put the finishing touches on our “25 New Faces” list — which comes out this week — I’ll note the latest project of one of last year’s selections, director Alrick Brown. Last fall he had his Sundance hit Kinyarwanda arrive in theaters, and now he’s directed an episode of a new ABC series, Final Witness, that airs tomorrow night, July 18 at 10PM EST on ABC. The Wall Street Journal covered this show this past weekend, describing the style as “Sundance-era poetic indie film”: Over seven Wednesdays each stand-alone true crime story dramatized and documented on “Final Witness,” […]
by Scott Macaulay on Jul 17, 2012 -
ALRICK BROWN: BREAKING IN IS HARD TO DO
Last night I moderated an IFP panel at DCTV, co-sponsored by the New York Television Festival, on transitioning from film to TV. It consisted of two TV execs — Colleen Conway (VP of Reality and Alternative Programming, Lifetime Networks) and Erin Keating (Director of Development & Production, IFC TV) — and one filmmaker, Alrick Brown. Filmmaker readers will be familiar with Brown as he was one of our 2011 25 New Faces and won an Audience Award at Sundance for his debut feature, Kinyarwanda. Brown recently broke into television by directing an episode of the upcoming ABC documentary crime series, […]
by Scott Macaulay on Jun 6, 2012 -
The Forgiveness of Blood — A Hammer to Nail Review
(The Forgiveness of Blood is being distributed by Sundance Selects and comes to theaters on February 24, 2012. It world premiered at the 2011 Berlin International Film Festival. NOTE: This review was first posted at Hammer to Nail in conjunction with its screening at the 2011 Toronto International Film Festival.) The future of American independent filmmaking may not lie in America at all. In recent years, a number of filmmakers have turned their eyes away from the complexities of 21st century American life and toward the world beyond our national borders. The decision to engage another culture through filmmaking, to […]
by Tom Hall on Feb 23, 2012 -
“KINYARWANDA” OPENS, SCORES 4-STAR EBERT REVIEW
25 New Face filmmaker Alrick Brown’s Kinyarwanda, a project of the IFP Narrative Lab, opens today via the AFFRM and Visigoth Pictures, and I urge you all to see it. Brown has made an extraordinary and ambitious independent film that tackles one of the gravest subjects of the 20th century: the Rwandan genocide. He does so with an intimate, character-based approach, evoking details that add up to full, human picture of the conflict. Writes Roger Ebert, who gave the film four stars I thought I knew something about Rwanda, but I didn’t really know very much. I was moved by […]
by Scott Macaulay on Dec 2, 2011 -
TAXI RIDERS: ALRICK BROWN
If you’ve taken a ride in the back of a New York City taxi cab these last two weeks, you may have heard the stories of seven of New York’s most distinctive independent filmmakers of the moment. In partnership with Royal Bank of Canada and the Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment, the IFP has produced six spots that are playing not only in cabs but on NYC Life. Jamie Stuart directed, T. Griffin scored and I produced these pieces, and each one, in addition to profiling a person, highlights a different aspect of the independent filmmaker’s current creative, production […]
by Scott Macaulay on Oct 12, 2011 -
Alrick Brown
Asked when he realized he wanted to become a filmmaker, moments quickly came to Alrick Brown’s mind. The first time was while taking a summer course in college on Hitchcock. Another was when, while substitute teaching at a middle school in his hometown of Plainfield, N.J., he realized the only thing his kids paid attention to were movies and music videos. But the defining moment came in the early 2000s during his time in the Peace Corps when he was brought to the slave castles in Ghana. Setting foot in these atrocious landmarks, Brown realized what his calling was. “I […]
by Jason Guerrasio on Jul 17, 2011 -
Jamie Stuart’s Sundance Masterpiece
From the shards of our experience shooting interviews and seeing movies at Sundance 2011 comes Jamie Stuart’s “Masterpiece.” With appearances by: Miguel Arteta, Alrick Brown, David Carr, Paddy Considine, Nekisa Cooper, Phife Dawg, Danfung Dennis, Andrew Donsunmu, Sean Durkin, Liz Garbus, Paul Giamatti, Megan Griffiths, Colin Goddard, Rutger Hauer, John Hawkes, Azazel Jacobs, Miranda July, Tom McCarthy, Peter Mullan, Adepero Oduye, Elizabeth Olsen, Jessica Oreck, Lindsay Pulsipher, Michael Rapaport, Calvin Reeder, Dee Rees, Amy Seimetz, Kim Wayans, Vilmos Zsigmond. Shot on the Canon 7D. Download the Quicktime here. (Contains adult language — NSFW.) Look for the longer edits of these […]
by Scott Macaulay on Feb 7, 2011 -
“KINYARWANDA” | writer-director, Alrick Brown
[PREMIERE SCREENING: Monday, Jan. 24, 9:00 pm — Egyptian Theatre] One of the biggest surprises while shooting Kinyarwanda on location in Rwanda is something that we may have just taken for granted. Frankly, it could have been a surprise in the U.S., in a community not familiar with low-budget or independent filmmaking. The community, many of our crew, and local officials seemed to have a really strong grasp of the work of big budget films — situations where, as a solution, money is often thrown at a problem. Many were also very familiar with the other extreme: people picking up […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Jan 24, 2011
