The Rider
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Can Critics’s Awards and Top Ten Mentions Boost Revenues for Independent Films?
Do critics matter? Maybe. But do critics’ top ten lists matter? There’s little doubt within the industry that an Academy Award nomination (or win) can provide an extraordinary boost to a film’s profile, especially smaller independent films who need the long tail of awards recognition more than most. Think of last year’s The Florida Project or Faces Places. But what about all those year-end numerical rankings and lists, proffered by that dwindling professional entity known as the film critic? He’s no Oscar, but when the New York Times’ A.O. Scott puts your little film at the top of his year-end […]
by Anthony Kaufman on Jan 14, 2019 -
2018 As a Year in Double Features
Every year, when looked back upon in its final days, reveals patterns. For the past four years, I’ve capped the holiday season with a list of 10 double features from the year in film here at Filmmaker. Each capsule review is, in essence, a mini-thinkpiece on a cinematic trend from the year. This past year gave us many such boomlets: the year of the horse movie, the year of the “white voice” movie, the year of the movie set entirely on digital screens. A delightful interplay emerges when you watch, or think about, films in pairs. One movie brings out […]
by Soheil Rezayazdi on Dec 31, 2018 -
The Rider Tops the 2018 Gotham Awards
The 2018 Gotham Independent Film Awards are in the can and The Rider, Chloe Zhao’s stunning second feature, emerged at the top of the heap, beating out the more bookie friendly bets in The Favourite and First Reformed. Those films did not go home empty handed: Ethan Hawke and Paul Schrader won Best Actor and Best Screenplay, respectively, and Rachel Weisz was on hand to accept her Actress Tribute and an Ensemble Award for The Favourite. Read on for the full list of winners. Best Feature “First Reformed” “The Favourite” “Madeline’s Madeline” “If Beale Street Could Talk” “The Rider” Best Documentary “Bisbee ‘17” “Hale […]
by Sarah Salovaara on Nov 26, 2018 -
Rodeo Dream: Chloé Zhao on The Rider
The Rider, Chloé Zhao’s miraculous second feature, possesses a narrative that feels both as old as time and riveting in its newness: A young rodeo star has a tragic accident and must battle adversity on his way to recovery. You know this story. Except, through Zhao’s eyes, “redemption” looks different from what we’ve been conditioned to expect in a culture built on stories of success and celebrity. Every character on screen in The Rider is a real person, playing a version of themselves. But this is not a documentary. The performances in The Rider are exhilarating and deep and true. […]
by James Ponsoldt on Mar 8, 2018 -
Pingyao Year Zero: A Report from China’s First Authority-Approved, Privately Operated Film Festival
Much has been written on the proliferation of film festivals over the last two decades or so. Tentacular events in whose midst commercial imperatives and nobler intentions (or alleged such) dialectically coexist, festivals can be many things, but rarely do they feel as vital and unprecedented as the first edition of the Pingyao Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon International Film Festival (PYIFF). Unprecedented indeed it was, for the festival founded by the Chinese director Jia Zhangke is the first ever in China to be approved by the authorities but operated by a private company. This organizational set-up allowed its founder and […]
by Celluloid Liberation Front on Jan 2, 2018
