Sundance Film Festival
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Sundance Film Festival Announces 2017 Competition and NEXT Lineup
Here’s the first lineup for the 2017 Sundance Film Festival, with more to come in the days ahead regarding Special Presentations, Midnight Madness et al. Some highlights from the group below: new films by Alex Ross Perry (Golden Exits), Gillian Robespierre (Landline), and David Lowery’s recently revealed “secret feature” (A Ghost Story). Also: the sophomore feature from Dustin Guy Defa (Person to Person), Dayveon, the first feature by one of our 25 New Faces of Film, Amman Abbasi, and the documentary Casting JonBenet, on which Filmmaker‘s editor Scott Macaulay is a producer. U.S. DRAMATIC COMPETITION Presenting the world premieres of 16 narrative feature films, […]
by Vadim Rizov on Nov 30, 2016 -
“Shorter is Better”: Sundance Programmer Mike Plante Offers Advice on Short Film Strategy at the Sundance NEXT Festival
A calling card to showcase proficiency and ambition, a vehicle to find resources for a larger project, or simply the most appropriate, or simply cost effective, way to tell a story, short films continue to be crucial for the development and discovery of emerging storytellers. The lack of access to more substantial budgets and the relative democratization of the medium via new technologies are major reasons why filmmakers continue to rely on short form narratives to fine-tune their craft at a lower risk. Today, festivals are receiving more and more short film submissions, making standing out from the pack increasingly […]
by Carlos Aguilar on Aug 23, 2016 -
Upstream and Downstream: 5 Observations about Independent Film Distribution at the 2016 Midpoint
The following article appears in our Spring, 2016 print edition and is appearing from behind our paywall today for the first time. Will 2016 be remembered as the year that Amazon and Netflix gobbled up the indie film market? Probably. While the two online behemoths could always change their strategies in the next several months, the ramifications of their first quarter dominance stretched far and wide, sending shockwaves through the business. But there were other changes afoot, as well. Here are five industry trends that continue to linger long after Park City. 1. The Enduring Impact of Amazon and Netflix Okay, Amazon […]
by Anthony Kaufman on Jun 16, 2016 -
Dispatches from Sundance, Berlin, True/False and Rotterdam
Sundance Film Festival 2016 by Adam Cook Few film festivals carry inscribed connotations the way that Sundance does. For this newcomer to Park City, a visit to this beacon of American indie cinema came loaded with preconceptions about both the nature of the “Sundance film” (part myth, part truth) and the tendency for the collective critical response to hyperbolize and rush to proclaim the year’s early favorites. Given the calendar-based approach of looking at movies in the context of their year, Sundance emerges on the heels of last year’s best-of lists, nearly 12 months ahead of when its own lineup will […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Apr 21, 2016 -
“A Poor African-American Woman in the Jim Crow South”: Maggie Greenwald |Sophie and the Rising Sun
In every film, there is the story that you knew you were telling, the story the audience perceives. But there is always some other story, a secret story. It might be the result of your hidden motivations for making the film, or, instead, the result of themes that only became clear to you after you made the movie. It might be something very personal, or it might be a story you didn’t even know you were telling. What is your film’s secret story? As the screenwriter as well as director of Sophie and the Rising Run, I didn’t believe there […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Feb 5, 2016 -
Five Questions for Newtown Director Kim A. Snyder
Kim A. Snyder’s Newtown examines the current spate of gun violence by presenting the families who have been most affected by it. Three years removed from the horrific school shooting at Newtown Elementary School that took twenty-six casualties in Connecticut, Snyder’s film gives a much-needed face to the community. As discussions revolving around the accessibility of firearms seem to get obscured and buried by politicians with a not-so-secret agenda, Newtown seeks to make the political personal. Filmmaker: Your previous film, Welcome to Shelbyville, was also about the residents of a small town reacting to a major event in their community. What brings you to a location? Are you first […]
by Erik Luers on Feb 2, 2016 -
Five Questions for How to Tell You’re a Douchebag Writer/Director Tahir Jetter
Having made his Sundance debut with the short film Close. in 2011, filmmaker Tahir Jetter returned with his debut feature, How To Tell You’re A Douchebag — a film that, as he discusses below, he wasn’t sure would bring him back to Park City. After his web series Hard Times was picked up for distribution by Issa Rae Productions in 2014, Jetter set his sights on a feature film about dating in the modern world. To raise awareness of the project, Jetter published a blog, Occasionally Dating Black Women, written in a voice that would turn out to be his fictional main character. Inspired by films that handle […]
by Erik Luers on Feb 2, 2016 -
Five Questions for Jim: The James Foley Story Director Brian Oakes
Developing a documentary about the murder of an innocent photojournalist at the hands of ISIS would be an emotional experience for any first-time feature filmmaker. Now imagine that the slain journalist in question, Jim Foley, is someone you’ve been friends with since childhood. This is the situation filmmaker Brian Oakes found himself in when making Jim: The James Foley Story, a film that looks at his friend’s death as well as the chilling aftermath the Foley family had to endure stateside. An intensely personal experience, Jim will air on HBO next month following its world premiere in the U.S. Documentary Completion section of […]
by Erik Luers on Feb 2, 2016 -
Five Questions for NUTS! Director Penny Lane
A medical doctor in name only, John R. Brinkley became famous in the ’20s and ’30s for claiming to have found an unusual cure for male impotence: all it would take was the transplantation of goat testicles into his human subjects. A hundred years removed from “discovery,” documentarian Penny Lane (whose Our Nixon was about another very larger-than-life public figure) dives into the life and times of Brinkley, a man whose entire history was based on lies and false acclaim. Filmmaker: Your first feature documentary Our Nixon is compiled from archival footage clearly relevant to American history and politics. Did you set out for your follow-up to be a […]
by Erik Luers on Feb 2, 2016 -
“The Idea of the Mother Who Leaves”: Rebecca Daly | Mammal
In every film, there is the story that you knew you were telling, the story the audience perceives. But there is always some other story, a secret story. It might be the result of your hidden motivations for making the film, or, instead, the result of themes that only became clear to you after you made the movie. It might be something very personal, or it might be a story you didn’t even know you were telling. What is your film’s secret story? For me, starting with a story, I like there to be a strong theme or idea at […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Feb 1, 2016
