The struggles of outer borough working class folks is nothing new to NYC-set dramas. But, in the outsider eyes and busy hands of director/writer/producer/editor/actress Isabel Sandoval, one of the newest auteurs of Filipino cinema—who makes her English-language debut in her adopted city with her third narrative feature Lingua Franca—classic tropes are updated to reflect our current intersectional reality. The Venice International Film Festival 2019-premiering movie follows live-in caregiver Olivia (Sandoval), who, in the course of looking after an elderly Russian resident of Brighton Beach (Lynn Cohen), becomes romantically entwined with the woman’s ne’er-do-well grandson Alex (Eamon Farren), who labors under […]

Before IFP Film Week fades too far in our rearview mirror, we’re elaborating upon several of our snaps from our Instagram feed with further comments by the filmmakers, speakers and panelists. View all of Meredith Alloway’s Instagram diaries here at the link. Laura Poitras and Charlotte Cook talked their visual journalism platform, Field of Vision, on an IFP Film Week panel called “Creative Tag-Teams” last month. Poitras, of couse, shook the world with her Oscar-winning doc, Citizenfour, in 2014. Cook, who was Director of Programming at Hot Docs, is an executive producer and co-founder of this new creative platform with […]

Before IFP Film Week fades too far in our rearview mirror, we’re elaborating upon several of our snaps from our Instagram feed with further comments by the filmmakers, speakers and panelists. View all of Meredith Alloway’s Instagram diaries here at the link. The financiers are the wanted. The people looking for financing are the ones who want. That’s always been the dynamic, the power play. And no matter how genius you are, how many people support you creatively, how many outstanding New York Times reviews you get, you still someone to believe in your next film and give you money […]

Before IFP Film Week fades too far in our rearview mirror, we’re elaborating upon several of our snaps from our Instagram feed with further comments by the filmmakers, speakers and panelists. View all of these Instagram diaries here at the link. “There’s a huge power today in building a following.” — Mark Lieberman, Above Average On Monday, September 19, at “The Faces of Comedy: Platforms that Look for (and Bring) the Funny,” IFP Film Week panel it was clear that having an audience is crucial. When you find out who that audience is, well that’s another thing. And for these […]

“Life is not a ladder. It’s a lattice.” — Amy Emmerich outside panel in the street, via Instagram On Sunday, September 18, Refinery 29’s CCO Amy Emmerich and comedian/author Jacqueline Novak discussed their creative partnership at IFP Film Week. Refinery29’s new YouTube channel, Riot, is home to Novak’s series “How to Weep in Public,” which deals with mental health and sharing positive advice around topics like weight, anxiety and depression. Oh, and it’s super funny. In one of her articles, kicking off the series on Refinery29’s website, “How to Take Car of Your Body When You’re Depressed,” Novak advises on a workout […]

Before the recently-completed IFP Week fades too far from memory, we’ll wrap up our coverage with something new: an IFP Instagram Diary. We’ve already clocked how many times the words “branded,” “followers” and “content” were used at the event, and apparently social media is the future. Who knew? When Refinery29’s CCO Amy Emmerich urged during a panel, “Paramount Pictures should not be above Snapchat,” well, we figured we should hop on the social media bandwagon too. No, we don’t have a Snapchat yet – we will? The tag line for the conference, “Everybody Gets Creative,” acknowledges the way we’re all […]

For me, IFP Film Week fell at a serendipitous time. It was the week leading up to the final Sundance short film submission deadline — the looming September 23rd — that also happened to be my birthday. I told myself that if I could finish this damn movie I’d have the best birthday I’ve ever had in my life. I was one audio mix and one color session away from sending this butt naked baby off into the frigid forest that is the larger industry. How cute, how hopeful my film is! Yes, it is time to actually do something with […]

By the sound of it, “languish, from the Latin “languere,” meaning loose or lax, is sexy. It’s old-timey yet coolly sexy: Monica Vitti staring down giant waves in an Antonioni film. Except when used to describe a feature or series in development, that is, when it becomes trouble. Past the giddy rendezvous of filmmakers and industry types at the 2016 IFP Film Week, “languish” is a dirty dirty word no one would touch with a 10-foot boom pole. As participants head back to the trenches and roll up their sleeves, we wonder: will the new connections lead to a walk […]

Is virtual reality beginning to be embraced by the mainstream? The question was raised last weekend at IFP Film Week’s Cinema in the Age of VR panel. Roughly 50 people had gathered at the Made in NY Media Center by IFP in Dumbo to hear from four pioneers working at the forefront of VR. Every year at Film Week, IFP programs The Screen Forward Conference, a six-day event that dissects the current state of independent film. Located this year in Brooklyn’s DUMBO neighborhood for the first time, the event features panels that serve as micro think tanks for the film […]

Like many of you, we’ve spent years making our film, 306 Hollywood. (Years!) And most of that time, it felt like we were crafting our project underground, without much notice, as if it was a film just for us. But now, here we are. IFP Film Week is upon us and finally we are bringing the film out into the world. Over the course of the week we will meet with over two dozen members of the film industry including sales agents, distributors, producers, and funders. Obviously we have big hopes. But everyone knows the problem with big hopes… It’s […]