Sundance Film Festival
-
The Fog of War: Shaul Schwarz on Narco Cultura
A war on drugs, or specifically on the drug cartels that profit from them, a war separate from the 40-year-old campaign waged by the United States (though, of course, intricately tied to it) was declared by the Mexican government in 2006. With over 60,000 known murders in the country directly tied to the drug trade since then, what good is this war doing, one is tempted to ask? The Federal Police and the Mexican military’s joint operation, Michoacan, has proven toothless in its attempt to stop either the flow of dope through Mexico or the violence that surrounds this insatiably […]
by Brandon Harris on Dec 16, 2013 -
A More Perfect Union: Joe Brewster and Michele Stephenson on American Promise
In the increasingly tony Fort Greene neighborhood just east of downtown Brooklyn, filmmakers Michele Stephenson and Joe Brewster raised a son named Idris. Very early on in his youth, just as their son was about to become one of the few young black males to enroll in The Dalton School, a vaunted Upper East Side prep school that either trains young masters of the universe in the ways of maintaining their hegemony or educates a diverse set of the city’s best students in a humane and liberal environment (all depends on your outlook), the couple decided to make a documentary. […]
by Brandon Harris on Oct 18, 2013 -
Kyle Patrick Alvarez on How C.O.G. Wrapped in Mid-November — and Still Got into Sundance
It’s every independent filmmaker’s dream to have their film have its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival, but realistically the chances are very slim. The festival gets over 12,000 submissions annually, and only around 200 of those are chosen. However, when the deadline to apply for the 2013 Sundance Film Festival came around this time last year, writer/director Kyle Patrick Alvarez faced a much steeper challenge than most. His sophomore feature, C.O.G., based on an autobiographical essay by David Sedaris about a formative summer spent in Oregon after graduating college, hadn’t even started production. Delayed from its original August […]
by Nick Dawson on Sep 19, 2013 -
Outlaw Country
David Lowery made waves last year in the independent film world with the news that Ain’t Them Bodies Saints — the follow-up to his little-seen $12,000 feature film St. Nick (2009) — had attracted the stellar cast of Rooney Mara, Casey Affleck and Ben Foster. It quickly became one of the year’s most anticipated independent films, premiering at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival and Cannes Critic’s Week. The film begins with a robbery and shootout, and a young couple torn apart. Bob Muldoon (Affleck) is sent to prison, leaving his pregnant girlfriend Ruth Guthrie (Mara) to raise their daughter alone […]
by David Barker on Jul 18, 2013 -
Sundance Announces Next Weekend, New L.A.-based Mini Festival
Today the Sundance Institute announced the full program for Next Weekend, the L.A.-based mini festival spun off from Sundance’s NEXT strand, which spotlights emerging filmmakers. Running August 8 – 11 at the Sundance Sunset Cinemas and other venues throughout the city, Next Weekend’s lineup is mostly culled from the Park City program, but there are also new additions from Tribeca (Stand Clear of the Closing Doors) and SXSW (12 O’Clock Boys). There are also a couple of world premieres: Madeline Olnek’s The Foxy Merkins and Chadd Harbold’s How to be a Man, the directors’ followups to Codependent Lesbian Space Alien […]
by Nick Dawson on Jul 16, 2013 -
Which Film Festivals Accept Online Shorts?
Is your short online and your heart is set on premiering it for audiences at the Cannes, Berlin, Edinburgh, Maryland or Chicago International film festivals? Well, kiss those dreams goodbye as those five festivals are among a number of fests that disallow shorts that the filmmakers have previously placed online. The good news, however, is that an increasingly number of important festivals, including Sundance and SXSW, accept online shorts. The folks at Short of the Week have compiled the Essential List of Festivals and Online Eligibility, a list that concludes that two thirds of today’s fests welcome such submissions. View […]
by Scott Macaulay on May 31, 2013 -
Upstream Color — A Hammer To Nail Review (and Interview)
(Upstream Color premiered at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival in January. It opens theatrically in New York on Friday, April 5, and will roll out to other cities in April and May before becoming available on DVD, Blu-ray, and VOD on May 7. Visit the film’s official website to learn more.) Here’s the plot of Shane Carruth’s new film Upstream Color, for all the good it will do you: A young woman named Kris (Amy Seimetz) is kidnapped by a man named in the credits only as the Thief (Thiago Martins). The Thief has been conducting secret experiments in mind […]
by Nelson Kim on Apr 4, 2013 -
Festival Cinematography Notes – At Sundance, Alexa Rising
The day Sundance began, Daily Variety’s lead article kicked off with: “In this brave new indie world of VOD, shifting release windows, RED cameras [italics mine] and social media marketing…” I was struck by how little any of this has to do with indie filmmaking alone. As a token of digital revolution, RED cameras are so five years ago. It’s hard to storm the ramparts when last year’s #5 and #7 box office hits were shot with RED Epics (The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, The Amazing Spider-Man). In fact, not only were last year’s #1 and #4 hits filmed with […]
by David Leitner on Feb 5, 2013 -
Video Streaming & Indies
Now that the 2013 Sundance Film Festival is underway, it’s an opportunity to remind indie filmmakers that, sadly, their future is on the web and not in movie theatres. Park City screenings, parties and other get-togethers are great fun and a good chance to meet other makers and distributors. However, don’t expect to make a deal! This year Sundance will screen 119 feature-length films from 32 countries, including works from 51 first-time directors. These works were selected from 12,146 submissions, including 4,044 feature-length films and 8,102 shorts. One can only wonder if the odds for having one’s feature selected (2.9%) […]
by David Rosen on Jan 18, 2013 -
Five Tips for Approaching Festival Press
For much longer than I care to think about I’ve been hitting the road and traveling the friendly skies far and wide, covering film festivals both nationally and internationally. And yet it never ceases to amaze me how often paid publicists and filmmaker-publicists shoot themselves in the proverbial foot when it comes to obtaining coverage for their indie endeavors. So with Sundance nearly upon us, I thought it might be helpful (and in my case, cathartic) to go over a few dos – and two definite don’ts – when it comes to working the PR machine. DO everything in your […]
by Lauren Wissot on Jan 9, 2013
