Short Film
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The Back Nine At Cannes
Greetings from the back nine of Cannes! Our adventures continued with a second screening of Shorts Program 1 on Sunday in front of another packed house. It was a real pleasure to re-watch the other films, especially after having gotten a chance to meet the filmmakers – they’re a really amazing and talented bunch. Later that evening came one of the highlights of our trip when we got to meet two of our favorite DJs, Gesaffelstein and Brodinski, whose music is prominently featured in The Opportunist. They invited us to come see their live show at Club Access just off the […]
by David Lassiter on May 28, 2013 -
Premiere Day at the Cannes Critics’ Week
Well, the big day has arrived. We woke up early to heavy rain and made a quick run for our morning pastries before putting on our Sunday finest for the screening. After trying to find a cab for the better part of an hour, we called and last-minute audible and decided to walk, torrential downpour be damned! We arrived mostly intact and a little worse for the wear, but were warmly greeted by the Semaine staff who whisked us back to the green room where we got to meet the other Critics’ Week filmmakers. At the theater, which was almost […]
by David Lassiter on May 20, 2013 -
The Opportunist on the Road to Cannes
My name is David Lassiter, I’m the writer and director of a short film called The Opportunist, and over the next few weeks, my team and I will be documenting our adventures on the road to Critics Week at Cannes where our film will have its world premiere. We are big fans of Filmmaker so we’re super excited to share our experiences. To begin! It’s only been two weeks since the Critics’ Week line-up was announced and already it feels like we’ve lived a lifetime. First things first: the film’s not even finished! We submitted a work in progress to Critics’ […]
by David Lassiter on May 13, 2013 -
Genre at the 2013 Oscars: Live Action Short Death of a Shadow
The Oscars are not generally considered a crucial event for genre lovers; the inclusion of such films is often limited, and often ghettoized, relegated to technical awards only. This year there are several films in requisite categories like Makeup and Hairstyling, and Visual Effects (whose nominees include The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, The Avengers, Snow White and the Huntsman, and Prometheus). Another good category where one can snoop out genre fare is in Best Animated Film, and 2013 doesn’t disappoint, with the lovingly crafted and decidedly Gothic take on suburbia in ParaNorman and Tim Burton’s tale of a boy and […]
by Farihah Zaman on Feb 22, 2013 -
Zach Wigon’s Someone Else’s Heart Wins Hammer to Nail Short Film Contest
Congratulations to Filmmaker contributor Zach Wigon, who won this month’s Hammer to Nail Short Film Contest with his cyber-age paranoid romance, Someone Else’s Heart. From Michael Tully’s post: Is our increasing dependence on virtual communication deforming the way we interact with others in our real, everyday lives? Isn’t there something inherently strange about all this “how many friends and followers do you have” business of late? While the internet is without question an incredibly useful contribution to our modern world, on the other side of that coin, take a few steps back and watch someone “interacting” with their computer. Whether […]
by Scott Macaulay on Dec 27, 2012 -
Made in Bolivia, Short-listed for the Oscars: The Story Behind Salar
We had just lost all of our locations in one fell swoop the day before, and I was walking along the train tracks that cut through the sun-baked adobe village of Chita, pretending to measure the light, but really just trying to re-convince myself that coming all the way to Bolivia to make a short film was a good idea. Since arriving, we had somehow eased our lenses through airport customs, protected our camera from torrential rain and endless sun, teamed up with a film school, and learned to love rice and potatoes with every meal. But that was before […]
by Nicholas Greene on Dec 14, 2012 -
Sheldon Candis explores The Subculture of Real Life Superheroes
We’ve seen the RLSH phenomenon explored in dramatic films like Kick-Ass and Super, but now Filmmaker 25 New Face director Sheldon Candis looks at it in the form of a documentary short. Here, executive produced by Ashton Kutcher for Thrash Lab’s Subculture Club series and based on San Diego’s XTreme Justice League, is The Subculture of Real Life Superheroes. From the press release: “Superheroes are for both children and adults. With so many varying characters there is at least one superhero everyone can take a liking to. We heard about these guys that live their lives playing the role of […]
by Scott Macaulay on Dec 12, 2012 -
Dreams from a Petrified Head Director Dan Ouellette
Dan Ouellette has had a long career in the New York independent film community, starting with his work as a production designer for Hal Hartley in 1990 with Trust and then, in 1992, with Simple Men. He’s also an accomplished visual artist (examples of which can be seen at his Neurotica Divine site) and has directed stylish music videos for the bands Android Lust and The Birthday Massacre. Dan is also, full disclosure, an old friend who I’ve also worked with professionally many times. (Films he’s production designed that Robin O’Hara and I produced include What Happened Was…, Saving Face, […]
by Scott Macaulay on Oct 10, 2012 -
DONAL FOREMAN IS “OUT OF HERE”
If you’ve read the current print issue of Filmmaker, on stands now, you undoubtedly came across “The Shooting Parties,” Donal Foreman’s fascinating compare-and-contrast visit to three low-budget film sets. Stepping onto a truly microbudget set (i.e., virtually no budget and a one-day shoot), a film budgeted in the low six figures, and then one in the mid-six figures, Foreman discusses how money shapes one’s filmmaking philosophy. Money and filmmaking philosophy are two things on Foreman’s mind now as our correspondent, who also happens to be a writer/director, is gearing up for his first feature back in his home of Ireland. […]
by Scott Macaulay on Aug 14, 2012 -
BLOOD AND TAKE-OUT: “MISSION CHINESE”
Adele Romanski, producer (The Myth of the American Sleepover) and director (Leave Me Like You Found Me), passed along this link to her latest short production: Mission Chinese, a stylish and bloody revenge fantasy directed by Cole Schreiber and David Parker. The short is a branded-content piece for the New York/San Francisco men’s store, Freeman’s Sporting Club, and is a collaboration between Freeman’s, Mission Chinese (the New York/San Francisco-based restaurant) and Sunday Paper, Schreiber and Parker’s start-up production company, whose work you’ve seen on this site before. It was shot by James Laxton (The Myth of the American Sleepover, Medicine […]
by Scott Macaulay on Jun 18, 2012
