Short Film
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Recommended Short: Brandon LaGanke’s Playhouse
I’m a fan of Brandon LaGanke’s short film Play House, writing in my print magazine SXSW report, “Play House is an elegantly disturbing suburban horror short in which the defeated apathy of a wife, daughter and son is revealed to be sickeningly explicable.” The short has just gone up on Vimeo where it is a Staff Pick. Check it out above.
by Scott Macaulay on Nov 6, 2013 -
What Would You Do with Daniel Radcliffe and Ten Minutes?
Director Joe Connor was recently given ten minutes to make a short film with actor Daniel Radcliffe. The 26-year-old director and the star of the current Kill Your Darlings met for just a few moments, quickly tossed around some ideas and settled on the theme of fear. The resulting short, Wait, is a nicely pitched essay about stage fright that will resonate with anyone who has felt their heart pace as they prepare for public speaking.
by Scott Macaulay on Oct 14, 2013 -
Indie Film Truly Underground: The 2013 Toronto Urban Film Festival
TIFF isn’t the only festival opening in Toronto this week. For the last six years, the high-profile screenings along King Street West have been accompanied by a cadre of short silent videos screening on monitors in the city’s underground subway stations. The Toronto Urban Film Festival (TUFF, a nice titular contrast with TIFF) draws submissions from all over the world and — due to its restricted format as much as in spite of it — elicits some of the most innovative filmmaking on show in the city. It’s also seen by thousands more viewers than its above-ground counterpart. This year’s […]
by Randy Astle on Sep 5, 2013 -
25 New Face Brent Bonacorso’s West of the Moon Premieres Online
Filmmaker selected director Brent Bonacorso for our 2011 25 New Faces list on the basis of his absolutely stunning short, West of the Moon. After playing the festival circuit, it recently premiered on Vimeo, where it became a Staff Pick and quickly scored over 65,000 views — “WAY more views than in the festivals,” Bonacorso notes with amusement in an email. The film is above, and below is Eric Kohn’s write-up on the director from the Summer, 2011 print issue. — SM When asked to cite their influences, many filmmakers reference icons. Brent Bonacorso avoids that tendency. True to his […]
by Eric Kohn on Jun 9, 2013 -
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
