George Bernard Shaw’s famous adage, “Those who do do, those who can’t, teach. He can do, does. He who cannot, teaches,” fails when it comes to film schools. Scratch the surface of most film school faculty lists, and you’ll find filmmakers who not only do but are also doing. Developing scripts, raising financing and shooting while on sabbatical, university-ensconced independent filmmakers have one foot in the ivory tower and one foot in the shape-shifting world that is today’s independent film production. Inevitably, then, they bring their hard-fought wisdom into the classroom, which means they must also grapple with one tough […]
by Scott Macaulay on Jun 16, 2017There were movies. Some, like New York Times film critic (and my fellow SUNY Purchase Film alum) Manohla Dargis, said there were too many — even before she saw any of them. Sales, at least during the festival, weren’t robust; perhaps some of the weary execs, including a couple she overheard dishing on their inability to sit through American Hustle while in line for a theater, are taking her advice and sitting on their pocketbooks. Perhaps we’ll find some of these movies on VUDU or Seed&Spark or NoBudge. Maybe someone will tap an unexpected and unforeseen audience outside of the […]
by Brandon Harris on Jan 26, 2014A Tribeca Film Institute Panel at the New School this week mulled over just this topic. From the program: You’ve completed your school work and made a few films in school, and now you need to figure out your next steps. What career options exist for filmmakers? How can you develop and raise money for a film project and still cover your living expenses? This panel addresses these questions and provides examples and answers relevant to all makers of film and other media. The panelists: Sharon Badal (Moderator) is head short film programmer for the Tribeca Film Festival. Sandi DuBowski […]
by Scott Macaulay on Mar 8, 2011One of my favorite short films of the last few years is Moon Molson’s Pop Foul. I loved it so much I put Moon in our “25 New Faces” list of 2007. Wrote Brandon Harris, “Short films are rarely as devastating as Pop Foul, the lyrically mounted, subtly acted debut of Columbia University’s Moon Molson. The film tells the tale of a confused young boy who struggles with his reaction to a beating his father endures at the hands of a local thug following a Little League baseball game. Pop Foul stingingly depicts the emotional violence that follows the physical […]
by Scott Macaulay on Aug 4, 2010