SXSW Film Festival 2016
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The Arbalest, TOWER Win Top Prizes at the 2016 SXSW Film Festival
While screenings continue throughout the week, 2016 SXSW Film Festival had its official awards ceremony last night, with director and comedian Mike Birbiglia — whose Don’t Think Twice was well received at the festival — hosting. Awards went to features about a famous mass shooting, a misfit romance and the KKK while, as always, the festival gave prizes as well to shorts, music videos and poster designs. In addition, Austin favorite Lee Daniels, well known for his work with Rick Linklater, received a special cinematography award for his lensing of Laura Dunn’s The Seer. Our friends at Keyframe have assembled […]
by Scott Macaulay on Mar 16, 2016 -
“Start Budgeting for Everything You Can’t Do”: Five Questions for Donald Cried Director Kris Avedisian
An acclaimed short that developed into the filmmaker’s first feature, Donald Cried, a buddy comedy set in director Kris Avedisian’s home state of Rhode Island, had its world premiere last weekend in the Narrative Feature Competition section of SXSW. Jesse Wakeman and Avedisian (as the title character) reprise their leading roles as the odd couple pairing, friends reunited in their hometown thanks to the death of a grandmother. Taking John Hughes’ Planes, Trains & Automobiles as its road trip, structural inspiration, the film finds the two men sharing a van as tensions from their past arise. Donald Cried will next screen in the Film Society of […]
by Erik Luers on Mar 15, 2016 -
SXSW: Teenage Cocktail DP Justin Kane on Capturing “Raw Youth”
In his directorial debut Teenage Cocktail, director John Carchietta examines the plight of best friends Annie (Nichole Bloom) and Jules (Fabianne Therese), who just want to get out of their small town and move to California. Nothing is off the table, including webcam modeling, which places the adventurous young women in danger. In advance of the film’s premiere at SXSW, DP Justin Kane talked about his work on the project, going deep into the technical aspects. Filmmaker: How and why did you wind up being the cinematographer of your film? What were the factors and attributes that led to your being […]
by Scott Macaulay on Mar 15, 2016 -
“Time, and How to Manage It”: Miss Stevens DP Sebastian Winterø
Building on eight years of pedagogical experience, Julia Hart’s debut feature Miss Stevens tracks a troubled teacher (Lily Rabe) and three of her high school students as they attend a statewide acting competition. Victory means possibly forestalling the closing of their cash-strapped school’s fine arts division, but Hart focuses equally on the complicated relationship between the teacher and her charges. Here, DP Sebastian Winterø (who recently shot Sia’s “Umbrella” video) discusses the importance of making sure the director has enough time, being fascinated by California’s light as a European, and how much work should be done for the DI. Filmmaker: How and why […]
by Scott Macaulay on Mar 15, 2016 -
SXSW: Career Opportunities in Organized Crime in 360-Degree Virtual Reality
Billed as “the first ever feature-length film shot with 360-degree virtual reality cameras,” Career Opportunities in Organized Crime will premiere at the VR/AR Experience Expo at SXSW from March 16-18. The debut film from Alex Oshmyansky, Career Opportunities is a mockumentary that follows the filming of a recruitment video for the Russian mafia. Oshmyansky isn’t your typical first-time filmmaker. An inventor, entrepreneur and radiologist, he earned a PhD in mathematics from Oxford and a medical degree from Duke before completing residency training at Harvard Medical School and Johns Hopkins. When writing the script for Career Opportunities, which he also produced, Oshmyansky always had VR in mind. “The VR […]
by Paula Bernstein on Mar 15, 2016 -
Capturing Sweet Innocence: DP Ellie Ann Fenton on the Cinematography of Slash
Expanded from his 2013 short of the same name, Clay Liford’s Slash is a comedy of youthful sexual awakening set against the backdrop of slash fan-fiction, the amateur writing pursuit that places beloved pop culture characters in previously-undreamed-of erotic situations. In his first feature since 2011’s Wuss, Liford gives himself an extra challenge by committing to filming the sci-fi universe of Vanguard, a fictional character made up for the film (to duck the cost of obtaining intellectual property costs to existing characters). We interviewed Liford prior to the film’s premiere; below, DP Ellie Ann Fenton discusses being equally inspired by the cinematography […]
by Scott Macaulay on Mar 15, 2016 -
Styling the Comedic Horror Film Another Evil like My Dinner with Andre: DP Drew Bienemann
For his feature debut Another Evil, writer/animator Carson D. Mell tackles the risky horror-comedy genre. A husband and wife discover that their vacation home may be populated by malign spirits, bringing in two separate exorcists to deal with the problem. Comedy is courtesy of a cast of familiar TV presences (including Togetherness‘ Steve Zissis and Veep‘s Dan Bakkedahl), horror courtesy of the tone established by Mell and DP Drew Bienemann. Prior to the film’s SXSW premiere, Bienemann talked about being guided style-wise by My Dinner with Andre, getting a recommendation for the job from Jody Lee Lipes and the importance of shooting on an Alexa. […]
by Scott Macaulay on Mar 15, 2016 -
SXSW: Asperger’s Are Us Director/DP Alex Lehmann on Being “In It for the Story”
DP Alex Lehmann leaps to the director’s chair with Asperger’s Are Us, a documentary about an unusual comedy troupe. With one of its members soon leaving Boston to study abroad, the improv group consisting of four young men on the spectrum prepares for what may be its final performance. Executive produced by the Duplass brothers, the documentary was quickly purchased by Netflix for worldwide distribution. Ahead of Asperger’s Are Us‘s premiere at SXSW, Lehmann discussed acting as his own DP, scrounging for enough cameras to film the climax and following the story. Filmmaker: How and why did you wind up being the cinematographer of your film? What […]
by Scott Macaulay on Mar 15, 2016 -
SXSW: Tree of Life Plus the Doors — Rainbow Time DP Nathan M. Miller
In his follow-up to Manson Family Vacation, director Linas Phillips turns his attention to the troubled relationship between Todd (Timm Sharp) and his sex-obsessed, developmentally delayed older brother Shonzi (Phillips). A Duplass brothers production with Melanie Lynskey as Todd’s girlfriend, the film premiered this weekend at SXSW. Before, DP Nathan M. Miller spoke about using The Doors (not the movie!) as a reference point, working with a small crew and integrating VHS into the production. Filmmaker: How and why did you wind up being the cinematographer of your film? What were the factors and attributes that led to your being hired for […]
by Scott Macaulay on Mar 15, 2016 -
SXSW: Hunter Gatherer DP Jon Aguirresarobe on Shooting Fast, Shooting Super 16mm Dissolves and Emulating Fuji Stocks
Ashley Douglas (Andre Royo) gets out of jail eager to start over, but nothing goes as planned; his girlfriend is now his ex, he’s living with his mother, and it’s hard to find work. Josh Locy’s feature debut Hunter Gatherer (we interviewed the director here) was shot by Jon Aguirresarobe, whose attentive eye brings south Los Angeles neighborhoods to life. Prior to the film’s SXSW premiere, Aguirresarobe discussed the difficulties of production on a tight schedule, shooting dissolves on Super 16mm and attempting to emulate Fuji film stock. Filmmaker: How and why did you wind up being the cinematographer of your film? What were the factors […]
by Scott Macaulay on Mar 14, 2016
