Hell and Back Again
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JANUARY 2012 VOD TITLES
Now on our VOD calendar are titles available for the month of January 2012. Some highlights: Nicolas Winding Refn‘s ’80s flavored pulp thriller Drive, Danfung Dennis‘ fantastic doc Hell and Back Again, Tim and Eric’s Billion Dollar Movie (which will also be at Sundance), Moneyball, The Ides of March and Steven Soderbergh‘s disaster movie Contagion. For titles from previous months go to our VOD Calendar homepage.
by Jason Guerrasio on Jan 1, 2012 -
DANFUNG DENNIS, “HELL AND BACK AGAIN”
Originally published in the Director Interviews section on Oct. 6, 2011. Hell and Back Again is nominated for Best Documentary. Perhaps the most viscerally harrowing documentary account of the war in Afghanistan yet, Danfung Dennis‘ Hell and Back Again is an intense visual experience, one that with the dynamism and fluidity of a narrative film takes you into the heart of the conflict in this troubled corner of the globe. Dennis, who left behind a career in economics to become a war photographer in the middle of the aughts, focuses on Sargent Nathan Harris, a Marine infantryman in Echo Company […]
by Brandon Harris on Nov 15, 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 -
CONDITION ONE REINVENTS WAR JOURNALISM IN LIBYA
At the end of my profile of filmmaker Danfung Dennis in our 2010 “25 New Faces” feature, I touched on what was then his next project. After completing Hell and Back Again — winner of the World Cinema Jury Prize and World Cinema Cinematography Award at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival — Dennis embarked on Condition One, which he told me “will use a network of journalists, filmmakers and servicemen to send a stream of high-quality video to millions of mobile devices.” Danfung’s new venture now has a website, a Facebook page and a proof-of-concept video that’s also 90 seconds […]
by Scott Macaulay on Mar 27, 2011 -
When Is It Okay To Walk Out Of A Movie ?
Sundance is over. Ditto, Rotterdam. With Berlin right around the corner, it seems a good time to ask the question: When is it okay to walk out of a movie? I saw over 25 features at Sundance this year. Many of those films will receive serious releases in 2011 and wind up on “Best of” lists at the year’s end. Some of my favorites are still seeking distribution. I interviewed directors of a number of films. Of the features I haven’t already written about, personal favorites include Pariah, Terri, Catechism Cataclysm, The Mill and the Cross, Hell and Back Again, […]
by James Ponsoldt on Feb 9, 2011 -
DSLR-Shot Films Win Prizes At Sundance
With a hat tip to Photo Cine News, here are clips from two Sundance 2011 prizewinners shot on DSLR cameras. The first, the Grand Jury Prize-winning Like Crazy, was shot on the Canon 7D. (Felicity Jones, featured in this clip, also won a Special Jury Prize for her acting.) The second, Hell and Back Again, won the World Cinema Grand Jury Prize as well as the World Cinema Cinematography Award. It was shot on the Canon 5D with custom-built rigs. Hell and Back Again clip from Danfung Dennis on Vimeo.
by Scott Macaulay on Feb 1, 2011 -
“HELL AND BACK AGAIN” | director, Danfung Dennis
[PREMIERE SCREENING: Sunday, Jan. 23, 12:00 pm — Holiday Village Cinema IV] “Down, down, down!” yelled a U.S. Marine as bullets whizzed overhead and machine-gun fire rattled. We had been drawn into a coordinated ambush deep behind enemy lines. In these difficult situations, I use intense concentration to keep operating my camera system. As we ducked to the next mud berm for cover, I focused on keeping my movements smooth and my distance to the Marine ahead of me constant so I would have a steady tracking shot that would remain in focus. Pinned down by incoming fire, the insurgents triggered […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Jan 23, 2011
