Brian M. Cassidy
-
FRANCINE AT THE BERLINALE
We made it to Berlin and back in one piece. Melanie and I were at the Berlinale for the world premiere of Francine, our first narrative feature starring Melissa Leo. We couldn’t have possibly predicted the response to the film, which has been overwhelmingly positive. Francine showed in the festival’s Forum section, and sold out all four of its screenings before we even premiered. Melissa made the trip out to Berlin, and we were fortunate enough to have had several lively and very engaged Q&A sessions. Seeing the film together for the first time with an audience, especially after a […]
by Brian M. Cassidy and Melanie Shatzky on Feb 21, 2012 -
NAVIGATING OUR ROTTERDAM PREMIERE, PART 2
It’s hard to believe that IFFR is already coming to an end. Having now been here for a full and very active week filled with films, parties, new acquaintances…we feel simultaneously exhausted and rejuvenated. It is an honor to bring a film to Rotterdam. The Patron Saints screened three times at three different venues. At the start of our first screening, there was a technical issue that threw us into a bit of a panic. It was really our fault for not showing up a few minutes early to do a tech check, but… live and learn. To our great […]
by Brian M. Cassidy and Melanie Shatzky on Feb 6, 2012 -
Five Questions with The Patron Saints Directors Brian M. Cassidy and Melanie Shatzky
Photographers-documentarians Brian M. Cassidy and Melanie Shatzky use dark humor and unconventional storytelling techniques to look at patients living in a nursing home for their debut feature, The Patron Saints. Known for their Hurricane Katrina short God Provides and their photography highlighted on their site, piegonprojects.com (two reasons why we selected them for our 25 New Faces of Independent Film in 2007), Cassidy and Shatzky’s unique eye of making the ordinary look extraordinary has us excited in seeing this premiere at TIFF. Filmmaker: Tell us a little about what your film is about? Cassidy/Shatzky: The Patron Saints is a hyperrealistic […]
by Jason Guerrasio on Sep 14, 2011 -
TORONTO: THE PATRON SAINTS
The second shot of The Patron Saints is a slow pan across a wide swath of no-man’s land, the sad sound of a prairie wind reinforcing the impression of emptiness. Suddenly the camera stops moving at the sight of a building, several stories high, looking as if it were plunked down on Auntie Em’s farm in Oz after the tornado. There are no signs: This feels like the middle of nowhere. Thanks to five years of work by filmmakers Brian Cassidy and Melanie Shatzky, we are able to experience what is inside, meeting and observing the residents whose privacy, like […]
by Howard Feinstein on Sep 9, 2011
