Sundance Film Festival
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“MARGIN CALL,” “CIRCUMSTANCE” BOOKEND 40th NEW DIRECTORS/NEW FILMS
In a release sent out today the Museum of Modern Art and the Film Society of Lincoln Center announced the full lineup for the 40th edition of New Directors/New Films, which will take place March 23 – April 3. Highlighting 28 feature films (24 narrative, 4 documentaries) from 22 countries, ND/NF will open with J.C. Chandor‘s investment banker drama, Margin Call. His debut feature stars Kevin Spacey, Paul Bettany, Demi Moore, Stanley Tucci and Jeremy Irons. Closing the festival will be Maryam Keshavarz‘s Circumstance, which looks at today’s Iranian youth culture through the eyes of two teenage girls. The film […]
by Jason Guerrasio on Feb 16, 2011 -
MORE THOUGHTS ON WALKING OUT OF MOVIES
Every Thursday we do a weekly newsletter that includes links to that week’s content, festival deadlines, and an original letter from me which I usually don’t repost on the blog. (And if you don’t get this newsletter, why not? You can subscribe here. It’s free.) But I’ll reprint this week’s because it’s a response to James Ponsoldt’s blog post about walking out of movies. “When is it okay to walk out of a movie?” James Ponsoldt asked on the Filmmaker blog yesterday. The post was inspired by his sitting through at Sundance a film he loathed; it was his attempt […]
by Scott Macaulay on Feb 10, 2011 -
When Is It Okay To Walk Out Of A Movie ?
Sundance is over. Ditto, Rotterdam. With Berlin right around the corner, it seems a good time to ask the question: When is it okay to walk out of a movie? I saw over 25 features at Sundance this year. Many of those films will receive serious releases in 2011 and wind up on “Best of” lists at the year’s end. Some of my favorites are still seeking distribution. I interviewed directors of a number of films. Of the features I haven’t already written about, personal favorites include Pariah, Terri, Catechism Cataclysm, The Mill and the Cross, Hell and Back Again, […]
by James Ponsoldt on Feb 9, 2011 -
My 10 Favorite Festivals Of 2010
It was a grueling and exhilarating year. Last year from January to December I road-ripped in my van, the “Red Devil,” occasionally flew on airplanes, a few times rode on trains, sprinting across and around America, then over and around Europe, parachuting in on nearly 50 film festivals. It was a manic-depressive trip on the rollercoaster-roadway. One minute I was kissing the stars and the next I was eating asphalt. It was madness, but madness that made complete sense. To understand America today, non-fiction books are giving fewer and fewer clues. Literature has become passé for making sense out of […]
by Stewart Nusbaumer on Feb 4, 2011 -
ROBERT REDFORD AND KENNETH COLE DISCUSS VOLUNTEERISM AT SUNDANCE 2011
Last week from the Sundance Film Festival Filmmaker ran a series of videos sponsored by Kenneth Cole highlighting the work of volunteers at the festival. Each year, 1,600 volunteers descend on Park City and help make the festival a good experience for both filmmakers and audiences. And each year Cole, a Sundance Institute board member, designs and donates a sleeveless down vest to the volunteers. This year those vests are for sale at Kenneth Cole stores and at Sundance’s online festival store. A percentage of the net profits from the sale is donated to the Sundance Institute. Below, in this […]
by Scott Macaulay on Feb 3, 2011 -
The Microbudget Conversation: What Are The Festivals Good For ?
Sorry to all for the week off. A little festival called Sundance was happening, and this column would have been lost in the hustle and bustle. PLUS, I’ve become agoraphobic after editing Orphaned for three weeks straight now. I no longer possess social skills and hygiene. (But the movie looks good so far!) After our second article posted, Blake Eckard contacted me and thought I needed to talk to someone ASAP. It could only be one person, Jon Jost (pictured below). Jon is one of Blake’s favorite film directors and he is a legendary indie filmmaker. It was a no-brainer. […]
by John Yost on Feb 1, 2011 -
Pioneer Director David Lowery
To create a feature with a genuine sense of mystery pulsing beneath the filmed veneer is a rare accomplishment, but to achieve that in a short film? Next to impossible. However, Pioneer — David Lowery’s tender, moody short — is an absolute cryptogram. Little more than a father (well-played by musician/actor Will Oldham) telling a tall and violent tale about an absent mother to his young son, Pioneer manages to stay within the confines of a bedroom yet utterly transports the audience to the high altitudes of childhood imagination. Lowery’s facility to direct children was on fine display with his […]
by James Ponsoldt on Jan 28, 2011 -
GREGG ARAKI, “KABOOM”
One of the key figures in the New Queer Cinema and ever youthful at 51 years of age, Gregg Araki is a director who is increasingly hard to pigeonhole. After the critical success of 2004’s Mysterious Skin, the film which confirmed that Joseph Gordon-Levitt was a movie-star and that Mr. Araki could direct delicate drama as well as exploitation and cult cinema, it seemed that the director of such indie LGBT classics as The Living End (1992) and The Doom Generation (1995) was moving on to a new, more conventionally respectable, middle-aged portion of his career. Now Mr. Araki is […]
by Brandon Harris on Jan 28, 2011 -
“HERE” DIRECTOR BRADEN KING
Known for his stunning 1998 documentary, Dutch Harbor: Where the Sea Breaks Its Back, as well as countless music videos for musicians including Bonnie “Prince” Billy, Sonic Youth, and Dirty Three, director Braden King arrives at Sundance in Dramatic Competition with HERE. Set in Armenia — and in many ways starring Armenia — HERE is a love story camouflaged as a road movie, or perhaps it’s the other way around. The atmospheric film follows Gadarine and Will (played by Lubna Azabal and Ben Foster), an Armenian art photographer and an American satellite-mapping engineer, from the exact moment they notice each […]
by James Ponsoldt on Jan 28, 2011 -
Ex-Sex Director Michael Mohan
2010 was a big year for Michael Mohan. His first feature, One Too Many Mornings, premiered at Sundance (and can now be watched – in its entirety – on Hulu). He directed a music video for Fitz and the Tantrums that was blogged about by Justin Timberlake (no, really). And one year later he returns to Park City with a short film, Ex-Sex. Mohan’s short about ex’s hooking up is gorgeous to look at, totally relatable, and so pitch-perfect in its bitter-sweetness that the only logical question would be: Couldn’t you make it as a feature? Please? Characters […]
by James Ponsoldt on Jan 26, 2011
