Sundance Film Festival 2011
-
Family Portrait in Black and White — A Hammer to Nail Review
(Family Portrait in Black and White is being distributed by First Pond Entertainment and opens theatrically at the AMC Empire 25 in New York City on July 13, 2012. It world premiered at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival. Visit the film’s official website to learn more.) The mere fact that I’m writing these words about Julia Ivanova’s Family Portrait in Black and White means something has gone right. That is to say, on the occasion of its theatrical release, no longer is this film one of those special little treats that bounced around the American festival circuit for over a […]
by Michael Tully on Jul 12, 2012 -
THE “PARIAH” TEAM TALK
Just before its Sundance premiere, the team behind Pariah — writer/director Dee Rees, producer Nekisa Cooper, and actresses Adepero Oduye and Kim Wayans — sat down with Jamie Stuart and me to discuss their film’s path to the big screen. Check it out, and make sure to see the film itself, which opened yesterday in limited release from Focus Features. (Note: video contains one mild spoiler.) [jwplayer config=”FM Player” file=”https://filmmakermagazine.com/videos/PARIAH_FINAL_CUT.mov” image=”https://filmmakermagazine.com/news/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/Adepero-Oduye-Still.jpg”]
by Scott Macaulay on Dec 29, 2011 -
“BEING ELMO: A PUPPETEER’S JOURNEY” | director, Constance Marks
Originally posted on Jan. 23, 2011 as part of our annual question we ask directors attending the Sundance Film Festival. Being Elmo: A Puppeteer’s Journey is nominated for the Audience Award. [PREMIERE SCREENING: Sunday, Jan. 23, 3:00 pm — Temple Theatre] The most surprising thing I found while making BEING ELMO: A Puppeteer’s Journey was how insanely popular this furry red monster has become. For the past year I’ve carried a bright red Elmo messenger bag. I would get spontaneous feedback every day from almost everyone: old men, teenage girls, postal workers and especially mothers. Hundreds of times I […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Nov 9, 2011 -
AZAZEL JACOBS ON “TERRI”
Originally posted on July 6, 2011. Terri is nominated for Breakthrough Actor. Azazel Jacobs’ idiosyncratic and homespun Terri is caring riff on the alienated teenager film, making its plus-size hero a stand-in for the trepidations we all fear when our slow-motion lives begin to move just a little too fast. Here, in this video shot at Sundance 2011, Jacobs discusses how he moved from his previous feature, Momma’s Man, to Terri, and why he’s not like Alfred Hitchcock. Photographed by: Jamie Stuart. Edited by: Daniel James Scott. Music: T. Griffin. For more, read Nick Dawson’s longer interview with Azazel […]
by Scott Macaulay on Nov 3, 2011 -
DITO MONTIEL, “THE SON OF NO ONE”
Punk rocker turned memoirist turned auteur, Dito Montiel has lived a life that has strayed far and wide from his Astoria, Queens upbringing, but especially in his motion pictures, he can’t help but go home again time after time. In his newest film, The Son of No One, he circles around half a dozen or so New Yorkers caught in the throes of the NYPD’s culture of malfeasance and brutality, even in the aftermath of 9/11. Montiel’s film, despite having the trappings of a police procedural and a high wattage cast, has the rhythms and authenticity of a smaller scale, […]
by Brandon Harris on Nov 2, 2011 -
The Catechism Cataclysm — A Hammer to Nail Review
(Distributed by IFC Midnight, The Catechism Cataclysm opens theatrically at the IFC Center on Wednesday, October 19, 2011. It becomes available on VOD beginning October 26th.) At the heart of Todd Rohal’s work is a very basic concept lost on today’s major theatrical audience who are hypnotized by the tired routine of familiar narrative structure. It’s so simple that it could be lost in the ether of the week’s releases comprised of cults and the continued ascension of the Catfish crew, but I’ll lay it out: Anything Goes. It’s a mindset that will definitely help you take on The Catechism […]
by John Lichman on Oct 20, 2011 -
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 -
Gun Hill Road — A Hammer to Nail
(Gun Hill Road world premiered in the U.S. Dramatic Competition at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival, which is when the original version of this review was first published at Hammer To Nail. It was picked up for distribution by Motion Film Group and opens theatrically in New York City on Friday, August 5, 2011, and Los Angeles on Friday, August 12th. Visit the film’s Facebook page and official website to learn more.) A late work by the Cuban director Tomas Gutierrez Alea called Strawberry And Chocolate is one of the few films I’ve ever seen to confront the strange relationship […]
by Mike S. Ryan on Aug 4, 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 -
WHAT’S IN MY INSTAPAPER: SUNDAY MORNING LINKS, 2/6/2011
Here’s what’s in my Instapaper this week. At Hammer to Nail, Mike Ryan returns from Park City and declares, “Indie is back!?!” Specifically, he sees the festival embracing a wider spectrum of the independent community and jettisoning its reflexive propensity towards cinematic naturalism: First off, what is great about Sundance 2011 is not only the selection of unusual, formally inventive films, but the near total absence of corporate engineered, market driven, faux indie high-budget QUIRK CRAP (although there were some more offbeat versions of the old style quirk like My Idiot Brother and Terri, there was not an Answer Man […]
by Scott Macaulay on Feb 6, 2011
