Paul Harrill
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The Soul that Remains: Paul Harrill on Light from Light
Paul Harrill’s Tennessee-set Light from Light, which premiered this year at Sundance, stars Marin Ireland as a paranormal investigator who may or may not believe in ghosts and Jim Gaffigan as a recent widower who still feels his wife’s presence in their house. Harrill is quick to point out that it is definitely not a horror film, and anyone expecting scares will be disappointed. Instead, Harrill investigates seemingly more mundane day-to-day Southern living (as he did in his previous effort, Something, Anything), and in it finds a delicate balance between reality and spirituality. I saw Light from Light at the […]
by Graham Carter on Sep 4, 2019 -
Sundance Film Festival 2019: Cold Case Hammarskjöld, Light From Light
I’m not at Sundance this year but, thanks to a generous smattering of pre-screenings, still playing along from home. Of the six titles I saw in advance, I was most curious about what kind of reception Mads Brügger’s Cold Case Hammarskjöld would receive. Based on his first two films, I’d pegged Brügger as a sort of more self-serious Sacha Baron Cohen; both blur the lines between journalist and satirist, parachuting themselves into definitely nerve-wracking, potentially dangerous situations under false pretenses in service of (at least aspirationally) a larger social agenda. Both Brügger’s The Red Chapel and The Ambassador placed the undisguisably Danish-accented, seemingly unflappable director/”star” in, respectively, North […]
by Vadim Rizov on Jan 28, 2019 -
The Art of the Possible: Charles B. Pierce’s Arkansas Cinema
Remembering her filmmaker father Charles B. Pierce, Dallas designer Amanda Squitiero first mentions the place he called home. “Arkansas claims him and he claimed Arkansas,” she says, having recently marked the seventh anniversary of his passing. Emerging regional filmmakers now see more opportunity than ever to achieve the most ambitious of visions on skid-row budgets. Before the digital revolution, one might strain to remember a time when independent cinema could exist outside of the New York and Hollywood ecosystems. In this regard, Pierce realized cinema as the art of the possible, which could exist and even thrive in a place like […]
by Daniel Kremer on Apr 17, 2017 -
Why Make a Microbudget Film? Five Questions for Director Paul Harrill on the Virtues of Ultra-Low Budgets
Is there a business in microbudget filmmaking? The question is begged by the title of an upcoming class at the IFP’s Made in New York Media Center titled, yes, “The Business of Microbudget Filmmaking.” The program copy reads: In this class, you will learn proven, cost-effective filmmaking and business techniques for producing a $50,000 (or less!) film project. We’ll go step-by-step through the filmmaking process to discover tips and tricks for developing, planning, producing, and distributing a microbudget film. The class — a two-parter taking place February 13 and 20 — is taught by filmmaker Paul Harrill, which is itself […]
by Scott Macaulay on Feb 12, 2017 -
Big Ears Opens Its Eyes: The Public Cinema at Knoxville’s Big Ears Festival
Since its first edition in 2009, the Big Ears Festival in Knoxville, TN has earned a reputation as a daring music festival whose eclectic lineup is unfettered by commercial or corporate concerns. Artists run the gamut: avant garde jazz (Anthony Braxton), experimental hip hop (Shabazz Palaces), electronic (Nicolas Jaar), modern classical (Philip Glass). All of this takes place in remarkable indoor venues within walking distance of each other in the city’s downtown center. Governed by the idiosyncratic taste of its founder, Ashley Capps of AC Entertainment, Big Ears has attempted to expand its scope into film and video. In the 2015 edition, there was a […]
by Adam Cook on Apr 12, 2016 -
Spirituality in the South: Something, Anything‘s Paul Harrill and Ashley Maynor
An alum of the 2013 IFP Filmmaker Labs (an experience he wrote about here), Paul Harrill’s Something, Anything is less saccharine than truthful. A quietly meditative, regional production, Harrill’s debut feature follows Peggy (Ashley Shelton), a young Southern woman who, after a series of tragic personal events, begins a spiritual quest to better herself as an individual with altruistic intentions. Ethereal throughout, Harrill’s film displays an assured, contemplative expressiveness behind the camera. The writer/director and his producing partner, Ashley Maynor, are as much advocates for strong storytelling in their own work as they are for encouraging it in the films of […]
by Erik Luers on Jan 8, 2015 -
Trailer Watch: Paul Harrill’s Something, Anything
Best not to spoil the twists and turns of Paul Harrill’s Something, Anything, and the trailer for his drama is accordingly cagey. All you need to know: Harrill’s well-received debut drama follows a newlywed bride in the wake of tragedy as she tries to rebuild her life through a program of ascetism. The next film in IFP’s “Screen Forward” series starts screening January 9th; more information here. For a little more background, check out the essay Harrill wrote for us last year.
by Filmmaker Staff on Dec 16, 2014 -
IFP Announces its New Theatrical Platform “Screen Forward” and its First Five Theatrical Screenings
The Independent Filmmaker Project (IFP), Filmmaker Magazine‘s parent organization, announced the first five projects to get weeklong theatrical runs at the state of the art Made In NY Media Center’s theater as part of the Screen Forward program. Starting October 17th, the program will give filmmakers in the process of self-distribution the unique opportunity to gain a much-coveted NYC theatrical week-run, with IFP working with each filmmaking team on comprehensive audience engagement and grassroots outreach strategies, publicity support, coverage in Filmmaker Magazine, and a revenue split to all participating filmmakers. The fall slate includes: Josephine Decker’s Butter on the Latch and Thou Wast Mild and Lovely; Paul Harrill’s Something, […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Sep 18, 2014 -
This Film Was Made For You and Me: Thoughts from the IFP Narrative Lab
In my office hangs a blue and green woodblock poster that features an image of Woody Guthrie and a lot of hand-carved text. The text is a quote — an exhortation, really — adapted from Born To Win, Guthrie’s autobiography, about why he writes songs and who his audience is. I’ve had this poster as long as I’ve been making films, and — not coincidentally — that poster’s been on my mind for the last week while I had the honor of workshopping my debut feature, Something, Anything, through the first week of IFP’s Narrative Lab. Throughout the week, our […]
by Paul Harrill on Jun 19, 2013
