The SXSW Film Festival, unspooling in Austin, Texas from March 13 – 21, has just announced its line-up. Without further adieu… NARRATIVE FEATURE COMPETITIONThis year’s 8 films were selected from 737 submissions. Films screening in Narrative Feature Competition are: Artois the GoatDirector: Kyle Bogart. Writer: Cliff and Kyle BogartLab technician Virgil Gurdies embarks on an epic quest to craft the greatest goat cheese the world has ever known and reclaim the heart of his beloved Angie. Cast: Mark Scheibmeir, Sydney Andrews, Stephen Taylor Fry, Dan Braverman (World Premiere) Bomber Director/Writer: Paul CotterA bittersweet comedy about love, family and dropping bombs […]
by Scott Macaulay on Feb 1, 2009I discovered while in Rotterdam that Karina Longworth at Spout tagged me to take part in the Sundance 8 Favorites Meme. So, I’m a bit late with this, but here it goes. First, the rules: 1. We have to post these rules before we give you the facts.2. Players start with listing their Sundance favorites, separated into 8 categories.3. People who are tagged write their own blog post about their 8 favorites and include these rules.4. At the end of your blog, you need to choose 8 people to get tagged and list their names. Don’t forget to leave them […]
by Scott Macaulay on Feb 1, 2009Documentarian Doug Pray has made films about grafitti artists (Infamy), an iterant surfing family (Surfwise), Seattle punk scene (Hype!) Hip Hop DJ’s (Scratch) and truckers (Big Rig), and now, with Art & Copy, he profiles the living legends of corporate advertising. Advertising has a complicated relationship to filmmaking — for one thing, many feature and documentary directors make a living doing commercials. The men and women profiled in Pray’s film have been responsible for most revolutionary campaigns of the ad business — VW’s “Lemon” and “Think Small” were by George Lois, who also provoked controversy with his Esquire Covers and […]
by Scott Macaulay on Jan 25, 2009The award winners of the 2009 Sundance Film Festival were announced this evening and Lee Daniels‘s Push: Based on a novel by Sapphire was the big winner as it took not only the Dramatic Grand Jury prize but also the Audience Award and Special Jury prize for actress Mo’Nique. Ondi Timoner‘s We Live In Public was awarded the top Documentary prize. The full list of winners are below. Dramatic Grand Jury Prize:Push: Based on a novel by Sapphire, Lee Daniels Documentary Grand Jury Prize:We Live In Public, directed by Ondi Timoner Dramatic World Cinema Jury Prize:The Maid, directed by Sebastian […]
by Jason Guerrasio on Jan 24, 2009Closing its 15th year, the Slamdance Film Festival announced the winners of its 2009 edition Friday night with Mo Perkins‘s A Quiet Little Marriage winning the Best Narrative Feature Award. The full list of winner are below. Best Narrative FeatureA Quiet Little Marriage, directed by Mo Perkins Special Jury Mention for Best Performance: Larry Fessenden in I Sell the Dead Best Documentary FeatureStrongman, directed by Zachary Levy Special Jury Mention: Second Sight, directed by Alison McAlpine Best Narrative ShortPrincess Margaret Blvd, directed by Kazik Radwanski Best Documentary ShortRare Chicken Rescue, directed by Randall Wood Best Animated ShortUndone, directed by Hayley […]
by Jason Guerrasio on Jan 24, 2009Over on the main page, select stories from the Winter issue have been posted. Steve McQueen talks about his amazing first feature, Hunger; Greg Mottola chats about his return to indie films with Adventureland; and the always talkative James Toback reveals how it was to get inside the mind of Mike Tyson for his documentary, Tyson. Also, Jon Reiss continues his series of pieces on self-distribution, this time focusing on the home video aspect, and Lance Weiler gives tips on how to build a film industry via the Web. And much more, enjoy. Don’t forget: You can get the latest […]
by Jason Guerrasio on Jan 23, 2009For Terence Davies, his youth — his early years in Liverpool, his relationship with his mother, and his feelings about being gay in that working-class town — have always provided the raw material for his filmmaking. His celebrated “Terence Davies Trilogy,” a collection of shorts, and later features like Distant Voices, Still Lives and The Long Day Closes summon up for the viewer an interior life with a rare combination of lyricism and heartache. These films cemented Davies’s international reputation, but after two more, non-autobiographical features (The House of Mirth and The Neon Bible), he became less active, a development […]
by Scott Macaulay on Jan 20, 2009Writer, director and producer Edward Boyce sent us this blog post about his experience attending Sundance this year as the producer of a short film. Short. Film. Bitter. Sweet. I’m four days into my life as a Sundance anointed short film producer. I’ve felt obliged to schmooz and glad-hand so much that I feel like a reluctant student-council candidate. And good luck trying to wash off some of the weird tinsel-slime that seems to linger on the fringe of the artistic core at Sundance. (Festival resolution #12: never willingly enter a “gifting suite” again.) It’s a big deal and it’s […]
by Scott Macaulay on Jan 20, 2009Leading up to the Oscars on Feb. 22, we will be highlighting the nominated films that have appeared in the magazine or on the Website in the last year. Nick Dawson interviewed Waltz With Bashir writer-director Ari Folman for our Fall ’08 issue. Waltz With Bashir is nominated for Best Foreign Film. It’s been said that the job of the filmmaker is to put on screen things that have never been seen before. And while cinema is essentially an infant art form, these days there are still relatively few films that move into genuinely new territory. Waltz with Bashir, which […]
by Jason Guerrasio on Jan 19, 2009Leading up to the Oscars on Feb. 22, we will be highlighting the nominated films that have appeared in the magazine or on the Website in the last year. Brandon Harris interviewed The Class co-writer-director Laurent Cantet for our Fall ’08 issue. The Class is nominated for Best Foreign Film. Starting with 1999’s Human Resources, Laurent Cantet has quickly built an international reputation as France’s most socially engaged narrative filmmaker, crafting films that highlight the ever lingering issues of race and class in both France and, as in the case of his 2006 film Heading South, its former colony of […]
by Jason Guerrasio on Jan 19, 2009