Mira Nair
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The Story Women Have Been Trying to Tell for Years Now
Recently, I had to correct a friend of mine who referred to Thelma & Louise as an independent film. “Actually,” I said, “Thelma & Louise was 100% Hollywood, incredible as that may seem today.” It is not surprising that the Callie Khouri-penned story of two women escaping the law after killing a man for his attempted rape has developed an outlier reputation considering Hollywood’s response to it. Despite its critical and box office success, there were no copycat films made, no new genre emerged, no film movement was sparked. Since then, Hollywood has come nowhere close to producing another such […]
by Jennine Lanouette on Nov 15, 2017 -
Maris Curran Interviews Mira Nair about the Job of the Film Director
Filmmaker Maris Curran, who we talked with about her Toronto premiere, Five Nights in Maine, last Fall, forwarded this interview she did with a director she admires, Mira Nair. Nair (Salaam Bombay, Monsoon Wedding, The Reluctant Fundamentalist) is one of the most articulate directors out there when it comes down to unpacking the process of being a director. Curran, whose own feature should reach theaters this Fall, asks Nair direct questions about the job of the director, ambition, budgets, and knowing when a project is the right one to develop years of one’s life on. “Never do anything as a […]
by Scott Macaulay on Mar 7, 2016 -
Mira Nair, Debra Granik To Screen Their Films and Speak at Made in NY Media Center
As part of the “Gothams Classics” event series celebrating the Gotham Independent Film Awards awarded annually by IFP (Filmmaker‘s parent organization), directors Mira Nair and Debra Granik will be in conversation at the Made in NY Media Center following screenings of two of their films. Tonight, Mira Nair will be speaking in between screenings of two of her best known films, Monsoon Wedding and The Namesake; more information on that event can be found here. Tomorrow night, acclaimed narrative and documentary filmmaker Debra Granik will speak after screenings of Down to the Bone and Winter’s Bone; more information on that event can be found here. […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Oct 26, 2015 -
The Making of The Reluctant Fundamentalist
Courtesy of our friends at IFC Films, Filmmaker has posted a short documentary about The Reluctant Fundamentalist on our YouTube page. The film, which opens tomorrow in NYC and LA, tells the story of Changez (Riz Ahmed), a Pakistani man whose life in America was inexorably altered by 9/11. At the time of the World Trade Center attacks, Changez was a fresh Princeton grad seeking his fortune on Wall Street and, with his American girlfriend Erica (Kate Hudson) at his side, the American Dream seemed imminent. But following the attacks, a cultural divide opens between the couple and Changez’s life turns for […]
by Billy Brennan on Apr 25, 2013 -
Alchemy at Emerging Visions
It’s been nearly two weeks since my participation in IFP’s Emerging Visions Program and now that the dust has settled, I can see clearly how valuable this experience was, not only in a practical sense, i.e., the nuts and bolts of filmmaking, but also in more intangible ways. I was lucky to have the opportunity to participate in the Emerging Narratives and the Emerging Visions Program, back to back, with my feature film script The Whispering Giant. Both IFP programs offer filmmakers a chance to pitch their projects in a “safe” environment, where they can be critiqued by an industry […]
by Kim Spurlock on Oct 18, 2012 -
Transparency & Emerging Visions
An older filmmaker friend of mine recently told me about his first experience with Kickstarter. He hated it. It wasn’t that he didn’t get his money–his campaign was actually successful. No, It was something else. As he put it, it was “transparency.” He really didn’t like having to be so open about his needs, about the status of his project, about his desperation to raise money. Transparency can be uncomfortable for filmmakers–too much and you seem like you don’t know what you’re doing, too little and you don’t get the help you need. I guess it’s about finding the right […]
by Musa Syeed on Oct 9, 2012
