Sean Durkin
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Trust Issues
A dark character study of a girl escaping a cult, Sean Durkin’s feature Martha Marcy May Marlene is an impressive debut that also highlights the talents of this year’s Sundance breakout actress,
by Jason Guerrasio on Oct 23, 2011
Elizabeth Olsen. By Jason Guerrasio | Photograph by Henny Garfunkel -
SEAN DURKIN, ELIZABETH OLSEN AND JOHN HAWKES ON “MARTHA MARCY MAY MARLENE”
In the below video: Martha Marcy May Marlene writer/director Sean Durkin on Altman, Polanski and why he’s fascinated by cults; Elizabeth Olsen on her character, scripts, and what attracted her to this part; and John Hawkes on why his cult leader wasn’t another dark creepy dude. Photographed by Jamie Stuart, edited by Daniel James Scott and with music by T. Griffin. Shot at Sundance 2011.
by Scott Macaulay on Oct 20, 2011 -
THE POSTER AS STREET ART
Okay, I’m weird — I’ll stop and notice a movie poster when I have no idea what it’s advertising. Like this wall of one sheets in Manhattan’s East Village for Sean Durkin’s Martha Marcy May Marlene, that makes street art out of giant QR codes. By the way, this controlled and eerie film, which boasts a riveting performance by Elizabeth Olsen, is highly recommended. It comes out October 21 from Fox Searchlight. (If you blow this picture up on your desktop you can scan the codes and go to trailers and clips of the film.) (Post amended after the perceptive […]
by Scott Macaulay on Aug 21, 2011 -
CANNES 2011 LINEUP ANNOUNCED
The line up for the 64th Cannes Film Festival was announced today in Paris. Some of the familiar faces headed to the South of France this year include the Dardenne brothers, Nicolas Winding Refn, Pedro Almodovar and Terrence Malick who all have films in competition. Jodi Foster‘s The Beaver and Rob Marshall‘s installment of the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise will play out of competition. While Gus Van Stant, Bruno Dumont and Sean Durkin will have films in Un Certain Regard. The complete list of titles are below. The Cannes Film Festival will take place May 11-22. Competition: “La […]
by Jason Guerrasio on Apr 14, 2011 -
ALISTAIR BANKS GRIFFIN, “TWO GATES OF SLEEP”
American independent films of the narrative variety are rarely hard art films. But in the case of Alastair Banks Griffin’s Two Gates of Sleep, which bowed at last year’s Directors’ Fortnight in Cannes before finding its way to AFI Fest last Fall, one should be ready to enter a long-take heavy, unspeakably gorgeous dirge that is sure of its influences and even more sure that it has something deeply resonant to express to you. It’s the type of movie that, as the cliche goes, requires the audience to “do some work,” that isn’t going to bend over backwards to entertain […]
by Brandon Harris on Mar 30, 2011 -
IFP’s ANNUAL SCRIPT TO SCREEN CONFERENCE
Ah, there’s nothing quite like the smell of pitches in the morning. This past Saturday, the IFP kicked off its annual Script to Screen Conference with five brave writers pitching their scripts to a panel of producers and agents. Although all the panelists agreed that it was useful for writers to compare their projects to other films (a practice known as “using comps”) Peter Van Steemburg, the Director of Acquisitions at Magnolia Pictures, warned against using obvious ones such as “Juno or Napoleon Dynamite,” recommending that if you are pitching something that’s a lot like another movie, you should […]
by Mary Anderson Casavant on Mar 7, 2011 -
Jamie Stuart’s Sundance Masterpiece
From the shards of our experience shooting interviews and seeing movies at Sundance 2011 comes Jamie Stuart’s “Masterpiece.” With appearances by: Miguel Arteta, Alrick Brown, David Carr, Paddy Considine, Nekisa Cooper, Phife Dawg, Danfung Dennis, Andrew Donsunmu, Sean Durkin, Liz Garbus, Paul Giamatti, Megan Griffiths, Colin Goddard, Rutger Hauer, John Hawkes, Azazel Jacobs, Miranda July, Tom McCarthy, Peter Mullan, Adepero Oduye, Elizabeth Olsen, Jessica Oreck, Lindsay Pulsipher, Michael Rapaport, Calvin Reeder, Dee Rees, Amy Seimetz, Kim Wayans, Vilmos Zsigmond. Shot on the Canon 7D. Download the Quicktime here. (Contains adult language — NSFW.) Look for the longer edits of these […]
by Scott Macaulay on Feb 7, 2011 -
SUNDANCE ’11 WINNERS ANNOUNCED: “LIKE CRAZY” & “HOW TO DIE IN OREGON” TOP LIST
The Sundance Film Festival announced its jury prize winners this evening with Drake Doremus‘ examination of a long-distance relationship, Like Crazy, taking home the Grand Jury Prize. The film’s lead actress, Felicity Jones, also won a Special Jury acting prize. Other top winners include Peter D. Richardson‘s documentary, How to Die in Oregon for Grand Jury doc prize; Circumstance won the dramatic Audience Award while Buck won the audience award for documentary. Sean Durkin won the narrative best directing prize for Martha Marcy May Marlene and best doc directing went to Jon Foy for Resurrect Dead: The Mystery of the […]
by Jason Guerrasio on Jan 29, 2011 -
“MARTHA MARCY MAY MARLENE” ACTORS ELIZABETH OLSEN AND JOHN HAWKES
With two movies — Sean Durkin’s Martha Marcy May Marlene, which sold to Fox Searchlight; and the one-shot horror picture Silent House — Elizabeth Olsen was one of Sundance 2011’s breakout stars. And while at the festival, Durkin’s fellow lead John Hawkes was nominated for an Academy Award for his role in last year’s festival Grand Jury Prize-winner Winter’s Bone. Here, from Jamie Stuart, are both actors discussing their roles as, respectively, cult follower and cult leader in Martha Marcy May Marlene. Look for Durkin to appear in our mammoth wrap-up video next week.
by Scott Macaulay on Jan 28, 2011 -
25 NEW FACES – PART 2
Jason Byrne When we caught up with filmmaker Jason Byrne to include him in this year’s “25,” it was via e-mail from Tanzania. At the sa me time Byrne’s hypnotic experimental documentary Scrap Vessel winds its way along the festival circuit, he is working as an audio/visual archivist for the United Nations Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda. “Living in East Africa for the last two years has been a deeply rich experience, and this job has been fascinating but psychologically difficult at times, especially when listening to the many graphically explained testimonies from witnesses to the genocide,” he writes. Byrne has […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Jul 20, 2010
