Sundance Film Festival
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“THE D WORD: UNDERSTANDING DYSLEXIA” | director, James Redford
[PREMIERE SCREENING: Friday, January 20 6:00 pm –Screening Room, Sundance Resort] As a storyteller, I suppose I have that spark that makes me think that I might touch people, and the power of film is exponential in that regard. It is not just ideas, images, words and sound. It is all of these things simultaneously, and therefore the sum is much greater than the parts. I also happen to love production. Yes, it’s too rare. It’s chaotic and things go wrong. But it is exciting as hell to solve problems if you work with good people like I do. It […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Jan 20, 2012 -
Your Sister’s Sister | Writer/Director Lynn Shelton
[PREMIERE SCREENING: Friday, January 20 8:30 am –Library Center Theatre, Park City] In 2005, on the set of We Go Way Back (my first feature film as writer/director), I remember having the distinct feeling that I’d finally found what I was always meant to do. It was an electrifying and completely transformative revelation. As far back as I can remember I always knew I wanted to be an artist. Finding myself smitten with nearly every creative medium in existence probably made the fact that I ended up deeply exploring a variety of them before settling on narrative filmmaking unavoidable. I […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Jan 20, 2012 -
“ABOUT THE PINK SKY” | writer-director, Keiichi Kobayashi
[PREMIERE SCREENING: Friday, January 20 3:00 pm –Egyptian Theatre, Park City] 1. Why are you a filmmaker? I was working on a TV show in Japan and was busy working insane hours everyday, when one night Akira Kurosawa came to me in a dream. He said, “Is there a reason for that particular shot? You need to watch my films more!” The next day, I turned on the TV and they were announcing Kurosawa’s death. I thought it must be a sign from heaven. Since then, I’ve been storing up all the strength, will and energy I need to make films. And now that […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Jan 20, 2012 -
“ROBOT AND FRANK” | director, Jake Schreier
[PREMIERE SCREENING: Friday, January 20 6:30 pm –Rose Wagner Performing Arts center, SLC] I got into film because I was spectacularly mediocre at everything else. I loved art and performance, but wasn’t much of an actor, was a pretty bad keyboard player and couldn’t draw at all. When I got to try out filmmaking at an NYU summer high school program, it was the first time where the things I made vaguely resembled the ideas I had in my head. That doesn’t really explain why Robot & Frank had to be a film, except that in my hands it would […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Jan 20, 2012 -
TEN MINUTES. DOESN’T SEEM LIKE MUCH RIGHT?
Written in collaboration with Clay McLeod Chapman Our short film—Henley—had been back-burning in our brains for over five years. Clay had published a novel back in 2003 called Miss Corpus. Craig, it turns out, was the only person who read it. There’s a chapter in the book, The Henley Road Motel, which is all about a boy growing up in a family-run roach motel. Think lil’ Normie Bates before donning mom’s summer dress. When business begins to dwindle, our 9-year-old hero cracks a pretty devious scheme to bring customers back to the family business—and poof: A short film is born. […]
by Craig Macneill on Jan 17, 2012 -
PORTRAIT OF THE ARTIST (ENTREPRENEUR): CORY McABEE
As 2012 dawns and the conversation in the film (and greater artistic) community shifts from ‘DIY’ to the advent of the ‘artist-entrepreneur’, I find myself pondering the meaning of all this in my own career and life, while thinking about one of my most enduring inspirations to go it my own way, my friend Cory McAbee. The bulk of this post was originally drafted in the fall of 2009 right after the release of Cory McAbee’s film, Stingray Sam, and was written simply as a fan of Cory’s work and aesthetic. I was first introduced to Cory’s work when The American Astronaut garnered some […]
by Gregorybayne on Dec 31, 2011 -
IFP LABS: A BRIEF GUIDE TO PLANNING YOUR FESTIVAL PREMIERE
There was an elephant in the room during day one of IFP’s annual Marketing and Distribution Labs, and that elephant’s name was Sundance. The majority of the Lab’s 21 attending filmmakers submitted applications earlier this year, each one hoping and secretly sort of expecting an acceptance letter. What they all received instead was a courteous but crushing rejection. Today’s afternoon session started out as something of a venting session. As the lab leaders tried to reassure these first-time filmmakers that their careers were not over, that they had many options still on the table, the mood in the room only […]
by Jane Schoenbrun on Dec 9, 2011 -
IFP Labs: Ten Things Every Filmmaker Should Know About Distribution Deals
I’ll be blogging this week from the 2011 IFP Filmmaker Labs, which are in their third and final session at 92Y Tribeca. This year’s 21 participating documentary and narrative projects, are nearing completion of the grueling post-production process and are now turning their attention towards the marketplace. Things kicked off this morning with a sobering discussion about sales and rights, led by Jon Reiss, co-author of Selling Your Film Without Selling Your Soul (presented by PreScreen and Area 23, also written by The Film Collaborative and Sherri Candler). Alongside the other lab leaders, Reiss stressed that filmmakers should always use […]
by Jane Schoenbrun on Dec 7, 2011 -
The Microbudget Conversation: The Journeymen
As most of us receive our early morning Sundance rejection email (which literally makes us the 99 percenters…again.) we should all take a moment and reflect: what drove us to this? What brought us to this moment where a single email is either enormously heartbreaking, or just another bump on the dirt road of DIY/micro filmmaking? I’ve asked fellow columnist, and bi-coastal filmmaker, Gregory Bayne to shed a bit of light on his practice of treating each project as the first uphill battle of many, and how that journey is essential for the career independent filmmaker. We have an almost […]
by John Yost on Dec 2, 2011 -
SUNDANCE ANNOUNCES ARTISTS AND PROJECTS FOR THEIR 2012 NEW FRONTIER PROGRAM
Sundance announced today the lineup for their annual New Frontier program, taking place Friday, January 20 through Saturday, January 28 as part of the 2012 Sundance Film Festival. This year’s lineup features installations from multimedia artists such as Gravity Was Everywhere Back Then director Brent Green, 0100101110101101.org creators Eva & Franco Mattes, and indie gaming company Molleindustria. Now in its sixth year, New Frontier provides a venue for innovative media installations, multimedia performances, transmedia experiences, and panel discussions. For the first time, the program will be taking place simultaneously at two locations: The Yard (1251 Kearns Blvd.) in Park City […]
by Jane Schoenbrun on Oct 31, 2011
