Festival Strategy
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VIDEO: “ARBITRAGE” DIRECTOR NICHOLAS JARECKI
Stephen and Patrick from the National Film Society are back with one last Sundance interview. And they’re going in style, sitting down with Nicholas Jarecki, director of the hedge-fund thriller Arbitrage, for what Jarecki refers to as “without a doubt the weirdest interview I’ve ever done.” One of the big hits of this year’s festival, Arbitrage sold to Lionsgate and Roadside Attractions for a deal reportedly in the $2.5 million range. Video Highlight: Jarecki hilariously describing some unexpected sexual tension during his first meeting with actor Richard Gere. Watch that, and more, below:
by Jane Schoenbrun on Jan 31, 2012 -
“BEASTS OF THE SOUTHERN WILD” TOPS SUNDANCE AWARD WINNERS
With Sundance wrapping up tomorrow, this year’s award winners were announced at a ceremony tonight in Park City. Perhaps unsurprising considering the amount of critical acclaim it’s been garnering this past week, Benh Zeitlin’s Beasts of the Southern Wild took home the Dramatic Grand Jury Prize. Meanwhile, Eugene Jarecki’s War on Drugs critique The House I Live In won this year’s Documentary Grand Jury Prize, and Mark O’Brien’s crowd-pleasing drama The Surrogate took home the Dramatic Audience Award. The full list of winners: Grand Jury Prize, Dramatic: Beasts of the Southern Wild Grand Jury Prize, Documentary: The House I Live […]
by Jane Schoenbrun on Jan 29, 2012 -
Five Questions with The Surrogate Director Ben Lewin
Strictly speaking figures, The Surrogate has been the big Sundance winner thus far. Scooped up by Fox Searchlight for a massive $6 million, the film is already reportedly being groomed for next year’s Oscar race. The first narrative feature from filmmaker Ben Lewin since 1994’s Paperback Romance, The Surrogate tells the true story of journalist Mark O’Brien, a polio stricken man who, after living most of his life in an iron lung, decides to try to lose his virginity. Starring John Hawkes as O’Brien, The Surrogate received a standing ovation at it’s premiere, and it’s already being praised by critics […]
by Jane Schoenbrun on Jan 26, 2012 -
An Innovative Launch for Joffrey: Mavericks of American Dance
For the past four months, my company Hybrid Cinema has been working on the release of Bob Hercules’s new film Joffrey: Mavericks of American Dance, about the history of the Joffrey ballet. I will be writing a number of posts outlining the unique path that I and my partner on this release, Sheri Candler, have taken to release this documentary about the history of the groundbreaking dance company, The Joffrey Ballet. In my book Think Outside the Box Office and in subsequent blog posts, I have written about the advantages and challenges of launching a film after its world premiere […]
by Jon Reiss on Jan 18, 2012 -
TOP 11 FESTIVAL FILMS 2011
The International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam marked the 11th film festival (across two continents and five countries) that I covered in 2011. Which means that not only do I probably deserve an Independent Spirit Award for journalistic insanity, but also that I’ve been under a rock when it comes to what’s been playing in actual art-houses and multiplexes for the past 12 months. So with this in mind I’ve compiled a list of my personal greatest fest hits (arranged by festival of discovery, though in no particular order, complete with quotes from previous posts) – from those that have played […]
by Lauren Wissot on Dec 21, 2011 -
DOC NYC: Interview with Festival Directors Thom Powers & Raphaela Neihausen
The living room-sized lobby of the IFC Center was teeming with people over the past two weeks as DOC NYC concluded its second year. With more days, more films, more panels and more filmmakers in attendance, the festival was a veritable feast of documentaries. Among the faces passing through the crowd — including Albert Maysles, Werner Herzog, D.A. Pennebaker and Barbara Kopple — were those of festival directors Thom Powers and Raphaela Neihausen. Wearing the titles of artistic director and executive director, respectively, the husband and wife team conceived DOC NYC from their Manhattan apartment. Though involved in their own […]
by Daniel James Scott on Nov 10, 2011 -
DANFUNG DENNIS: FROM AFGHANISTAN TO SUNDANCE
Originally posted in the Web Exclusives section on February 11, 2011. Hell and Back Again is nominated for Best Documentary. “At first my view of war was boyish and romantic,” Danfung Dennis told me in his Brooklyn loft five years after we initially met in Kabul, “but that view of war was based on video games and Hollywood.” In the spring of 2006, Danfung flew from Beijing to Kabul and was driven to the Le Monde Guest House. I remember when he arrived. His clothes were neat, his hair stylish, he wore an easy smile and had soft brown eyes. […]
by Stewart Nusbaumer on Nov 2, 2011 -
ALL OVER BUT THE PAELLA: EVEN MORE IFW SNAPSHOTS
Independent Film Week wrapped up last night with a closing night party swankier than most of us in the non-profit indie film world are used to. There were lobster rolls. There was paella (seriously, more paella in one place than I’ve seen over my entire life.) And there were three-hundred underfed indie filmmakers. Not a bad deal This was my third time at Film Week, and easily the best. Over five days, we hosted 2,200 filmmaker/industry meetings, as well as a conference, a screening series and a boatload of other special events. Here are some final photographic highlights: Writer/Director […]
by Jane Schoenbrun on Sep 23, 2011 -
SEE YOU YESTERDAY: MORE IFW SNAPSHOTS
We’re halfway through Independent Film Week, and time has started to play tricks. Days seem to stretch on forever, but at the same time, hours go by like minutes. Today I accidentally said to someone, “I’ll see you yesterday.” Here are some more snapshots of Film Week in action: The creative forces behind IFP’s 2011 Narrative and Documentary Lab projects share the stage at the end of Tuesday night’s Lab Showcase at the Walter Reade Theater. Writer/Director Gillian Robespierre discusses her screenplay Obvious Child with the Sundance Institute’s Rachel Chanoff. Writer/Director Harrison Witt (Sister Sarah) helps actor […]
by Jane Schoenbrun on Sep 21, 2011 -
PLATFORMS, PMD’S & PERPETUATING OBSCURITY
Our innovation is stagnant. Stagnant and boring. Really. Boring. The movies themselves are one thing having long been locked into a race to the bottom with their Hollywood counterparts in an often times futile effort to just be noticed, but most stagnant and boring is the proliferation of new ‘platforms’ on which filmmakers can ‘launch’ their careers. Everywhere I look there is some new upstart looking to get into the digital distribution realm touting how their platform puts the power in your hands and provides a direct gateway for your film to reach an audience. A claim which, of course, […]
by Gregorybayne on Sep 19, 2011
