Upstream Color
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Hits & Misses
By the end of 2013, the most pressing question facing Hollywood was already old news for indies: multiplatform viewing is here, and particularly for independents, it’s here to stay. A significant source of revenue, in most cases, and a crucial method of finding an audience, the iTunes-Cable VOD and direct-to-consumer release has increasingly become an integral, if not principal, part of filmmakers’ distribution strategies. And yet, the irony of the past year in indie film is that much of the business was reliant on that hoary, old-fashioned, windowed release. For every VOD breakout surprise such as Drinking Buddies or Only […]
by Anthony Kaufman on Jan 17, 2014 -
12 Years a Slave Leads 2013 Gotham Award Nominations
IFP this morning announced the nominations for the 2013 edition of the Gotham Independent Film Awards, with Steve McQueen’s Oscar front-runner 12 Years a Slave leading the pack with nods in three categories, Best Feature, Best Actor and Breakthrough Actor. Receiving two nominations were Alexandre Moors’ Blue Caprice, Stacie Passon’s Concussion, Ryan Coogler’s Fruitvale Station, Joel and Ethan Coen’s Inside Llewyn Davis and Shane Carruth’s Upstream Color. Commenting on today’s release, Joana Vicente, Executive Director of IFP and the Made in NY Media Center, said, “The Gotham Awards celebrate and showcase the very best of the vibrant, entertaining, challenging, and innovative films presented by our community, and help new […]
by Nick Dawson on Oct 24, 2013 -
Too Much of a Good Thing?
Digital cinema has afforded independent filmmakers many benefits, one of which is the ability to achieve something previously only the province of big-budget films: very high shooting ratios. However, the resulting mass of footage can overrun the typical understaffed, underfunded, low-budget edit room. “You’re shooting more footage, and usually with two cameras,” says Paul Frank, editor of the recent Maggie Carey comedy The To Do List. While he notes that there are many pros to this way of shooting — it benefits performance, it allows for more improvisation and, ultimately, more options in the edit room — he also notes […]
by Shaun Seneviratne on Oct 21, 2013 -
Misremembering Only God Forgives
Of all the transformations cinema has undergone since the rise of affordable home viewing in the 1970s, perhaps the most ephemeral, difficult to quantify is this strange result: the difficulty of falsely remembering movies. Whether it was mixing up and remembering out of order a series of shots, or conflating scenes from different movies that happened to star the same actor, or simply forgetting portions of a film, it was difficult to recall a film correctly, accurately. Which isn’t the same thing as not recalling a film truthfully. This became apparent after watching Only God Forgives recently on the big […]
by Nicholas Rombes on Aug 12, 2013 -
Shane Carruth Explains Upstream Color in 528 Words
Shane Carruth’s Upstream Color opened this weekend, and it’s gotten great reviews as well as prompted a certain amount of head scratching. The film is the cover of our current issue, and in it I spend about 5,000 words talking with Carruth about the movie, his DIY distribution plan, what he’s up to next, and why he stepped out of the Hollywood development mill. For those who’ve seen the film and want to know a bit more, here’s Carruth’s answer to my question about the film’s inspirations. I was surprised at how voluble he was and interested in unpacking some […]
by Scott Macaulay on Apr 6, 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 -
Amy Seimetz Breaks Through
Collaboration may well be Amy Seimetz’s favorite word. Some derivation of the noun weaves its way into the multihyphenate’s emphatic speech when discussing any facet of her decade long career. It’s how she found her footing, and how she has been able to surmount an impressive and far-reaching presence in independent film, and now, television. Seimetz began making films when she was 18, at home in the Tampa-St. Petersburg area, a place she frequently returns to in life and work. Following a short-lived tenure at film school, Seimetz made her way to Los Angeles, where she met the experimental filmmaker […]
by Sarah Salovaara on Apr 3, 2013 -
Shane Carruth Releases Upstream Color Soundtrack via Soundcloud and iTunes
Shane Carruth’s score for Upstream Color is one of the film’s standout elements, working hypnotically with the equally strong sound design to anchor the picture’s tumbling cascade of images. In advance of the film’s early April release, Carruth has released the entire score on Soundcloud and made it available for purchase on iTunes. Check it out below, and read my cover story interview with Carruth in the new Filmmaker, which you can subscribe to digitally here on the site or get for the iPad on the App Store.
by Scott Macaulay on Feb 27, 2013 -
Sundance Recommendations: Andrew Sensenig
At the 2013 Sundance Film Festival, Filmmaker magazine asked a series of directors to talk about the films they were excited about at this year’s event. Here Andrew Sensenig, the actor who plays The Sampler in Shane Carruth’s Upstream Color, offers his recommendations.
by Nick Dawson on Jan 26, 2013 -
Morning Star: Shane Carruth on Upstream Color
Nearly a decade after winning Sundance with his startlingly original Primer, SHANE CARRUTH returns with a haunting and powerful look at love and regeneration, Upstream Color.
by Scott Macaulay on Jan 24, 2013
