Because it’s laid out at the bottom of the home page, you may have missed Rak Razam’s interview with French director Jan Kounen. Razam’s was a fascinating over-the-transom submission that explains what the talented Gallic director has been up to the last few years. I first came across Kounen’s filmmaking many years ago when I saw his short Vibraboy. A friend and aesthetic colleague of directors like Gaspar Noe and Marc Caro, Kounen attracted international buzz with the film and then went on to make a hyperviolent and stylish crime movie, Dobermann, that starred Vincent Cassell and Monica Bellucci. The […]
by Scott Macaulay on Nov 12, 2007THE LATE, GREAT JOE STRUMMER IN JULIEN TEMPLE’S JOE STRUMMER: THE FUTURE IS UNWRITTEN. COURTESY IFC FIRST TAKE. For 30 years, Brit Julien Temple has combined his dual passions of film and music, and worked with greats in both fields along the way. He first came to prominence with The Great Rock ‘n’ Roll Swindle (1979), the Sex Pistols’ madcap cinematic offering, and from there went on to become an important figure in the fledgling pop video medium as well as pioneering the feature-length promo with the Human League’s spy-themed Mantrap (1983) and Mick Jagger’s Running Out of Luck (1987). […]
by Nick Dawson on Nov 2, 2007Jan Kounen is a French music video and feature film director who has specialized in bringing the spiritual world to the screen. On locations in Peru and Mexico to film the psychedelic spaghetti western, Renegade (2004, released as Blueberry outside the U.S.), an adaptation of the French comic book by renowned visionary artist Moebius, he discovered Shamanism, fell in love with the indigenous Shipibo-Conibos culture and later spent several months learning the ways of their plant medicine, ayahuasca. He even filmed a documentary about it, Other Worlds, which will be re-released as a DVD box set in October. His latest […]
by Jason Guerrasio on Oct 26, 2007DAVID LYNCH IN DIRECTOR blackANDwhite’S LYNCH. COURTESY ABSURDA. Contrary to popular belief, many directors are genuinely modest and can honestly maintain that they make movies for the love of cinema (rather than the money, stardom, hedonistic lifestyle, etc.), but it is still surprising to find one who is unwilling to reveal their identity. This is the case with the director of LYNCH, the new documentary about David Lynch, who is choosing to remain anonymous behind the pseudonym blackANDwhite. He (for blackANDwhite is a he) initially drew attention to himself with this refusal to stand in the limelight, and prompted the […]
by Nick Dawson on Oct 26, 2007The appealingly designed, crisply minimal Motion Design site describes itself as “a research blog on the subject of Motion Design. It serves as a means to discuss, share and develop ideas that will be used for a feature length documentary film.” I came across the site because it just posted an article about Pablo, director Richard Goldgewicht and producer Jeremy Goldscheider’s animated documentary on title designer Pablo Ferro. (You may remember this film and these filmmakers — they were featured in our 25 New Faces this year.) From the piece: Back in March of this year, a short teaser popped […]
by Scott Macaulay on Oct 25, 2007IFP‘s 17th annual Gotham Awards nominees were announced this morning. Among the hopefuls are some of the most talked about films of the year, many of which are certain to find more recognition as awards season builds. Highlights include Craig Zobel (one of our “25 New Faces of Independent Film” this year) receiving three nominations for his debut Great World of Sound (Best Feature, Breakthrough Director and Breakthrough Actor for Kene Holliday); a strong list of noms for Best Doc that includes The Devil Came on Horseback and Sicko; and some worthy performances are vying for the Best Ensemble Cast, […]
by Jason Guerrasio on Oct 22, 2007In Jamie Stuart’s final episode of his shorts series from the New York Film Festival, things have gotten a little out of hand for our video reporter. But he manages to get an interview with John Landis, whose documentary Mr. Warmth: The Don Rickles Project premiered at the fest. Approximate running time: 4:01. Download the short here by right clicking and choosing Save Target or Save Link. (26M) Please visit Jamie’s site at www.mutinycompany.com.
by Jason Guerrasio on Oct 22, 2007I walked into the Filmmaker office yesterday and Ben Crossley-Marra and Jason Guerrasio were bent over a computer monitor, excited to come across the news that Fax Bahr, George Hickenlooper and Eleanor Coppola’s documentary Hearts of Darkness is set for a DVD release from Paramount Home Entertainment. As our post didn’t include the studio and director Hickenlooper is a friend of Jeff Wells and a regular poster at Hollywood Elsewhere, Wells posted a skeptical post about the release, wondering why he hadn’t heard it about from George first. Hickenlooper posts in the comments thread below Wells’s piece the news that […]
by Scott Macaulay on Oct 19, 2007From commercial crab fishing in Alaska, to learning how to become a filmmaker in Peru, Aaron Woolf’s worldly experience makes him an ideal documentarian for PBS. His previous films — Dying to Leave: The Human Face of Global Trafficking, Greener Grass Cuba and Baseball and the United States — all aired on public television, but Woolf is proud to have his latest film, King Corn, get theatrical distribution. “I never wanted to be anything,” Woolf says. “I only knew things I wanted to accomplish in my life. I wanted to build a house, drive cross-country, run for office, shoot a […]
by Jason Guerrasio on Oct 15, 2007Josh Welsh over at Film Independent forwarded me this info about a cool new documentary project that’s unfolding on YouTube. Two filmmakers, Eric Byler and Annabel Park, are making a film about the politics of immigration in Northern Virginia. They are posting short clips of their film on a channel they have set up on the site and are soliciting viewer feedback about the future direction of the project. “We will respond to viewer feedback, including requests for more coverage on certain storylines, contextual clarifications, and even perhaps on-site production excursions,” the filmmakers write on their YouTube page. Here’s a […]
by Scott Macaulay on Oct 13, 2007