It’s rare, if not unheard of: a first-time feature film director who is also an Olympic athlete. Such is the case with competitive long distance runner Alexi Pappis, who, along with her boyfriend Jeremy Teicher (one of Filmmaker‘s 25 New Faces of 2013), co-wrote and co-directed Tracktown, a new feature film which will have its world premiere at the Los Angeles Film Festival on June 4. In addition, Pappas, who will compete for Greece at the upcoming Summer Olympics in Brazil, stars as Plumb Marigold, a young Olympic hopeful trying to find balance in life. Filmed and set in the real-life “Tracktown,” […]
by Paula Bernstein on Jun 3, 2016The following is a guest post by Jeremy Teicher, who debut feature, Tall as the Baobab Tree, landed him on Filmmaker‘s “25 New Faces” list in 2013. A documentary-narrative hybrid, the film was shot in Sinthiou Mbadane, Senegal – a small rural village with no running water or access to electricity – with nonprofessional actors and a four-person crew. Tall as the Baobab Tree premiered a year ago at Rotterdam and is out now on VOD through iTunes, SundanceNOW, YouTube and a host of other digital platforms thanks to Sundance Artist Services and IFFR in the Cloud. I thought the […]
by Jeremy Teicher on Jan 24, 2014With its famously catholic tastes and sprawling slate, the International Film Festival Rotterdam is a place to get lost. A week into its 10-day run, a fairly subdued 42nd edition of the International Film Festival Rotterdam has unfurled a smattering of buzz-worthy world premieres and its usual mix of budding talents from unusually farflung spots on the globe, high-art provocations, exhaustive considerations of an emerging national cinema or two and obscure auteur retrospectives. However, I’ve found that it’s always the surprises here that grab you, little films you’d otherwise never see except in this context, that make the trip worthwhile. I […]
by Brandon Harris on Jan 30, 2013