The Film Society of Lincoln Center and Museum of Modern Art have announced the films selected for this year's New Directors/New Films.

In its 39th year, the series, taking place March 24 - April 4 at the Walter Reade Theater at Lincoln Center and the Roy and Niuta Titus Theaters at MoMA, will screen 38 films from emerging filmmakers.

Richard Press's documentary Bill Cunningham New York will be the opening film, while acclaimed Canadian writer-director Xavier Dolan will close ND/NF with the New York premiere of I Killed My Mother (J'ai tué ma mère).

For tickets and more on ND/NF, click here.

The full list of films are below.



OPENING NIGHT
Bill Cunningham New York
Richard Press, USA, 2010; 84 min.
In a city of dedicated originals, New York Times photographer Bill Cunningham stands out as one who both captures the essence of the singular personality and clearly represents one himself. Entering his ninth decade, Cunningham still rides his Schwinn around Manhattan, putting miles between his street-level view of personal style and what the titans of fashion will come to discover down the road. This heartfelt and honest documentary turns the camera on one who has so lovingly and selflessly captured the looks that have defined generations, and the events and people that captivate our beloved New York.
Wednesday, March 24 - 7:00 p.m. (MoMA)
Thursday, March 25 - 9:15 p.m. (FSLC)

CLOSING NIGHT
I Killed My Mother (J'ai tué ma mère)
Xavier Dolan, Canada, 2009; 96 min.
Director Xavier Dolan's cri de coeur bracingly exposes the limits of love. Dolan himself plays the lead character, Hubert, a fiery creature full of lust and venom. His burgeoning (homo)sexuality is distinctly and intensely at odds with his mutually parasitic maternal relationship. The more Hubert and his aggravatingly conventional mother (Anne Dorval) realize they cannot continue to live as child and parent, the more they are drawn to each other. Their intimacy can only manifest through vicious arguments, lending an Albee-esque absurdity to their encounters. Dolan brilliantly situates the violence of the relationship within an exquisite filmic structure, allowing the humor and the pathos of his tale to emerge. A Regent Releasing Film
Sunday, April 4 - 7:00 p.m. (MoMA)

3 Backyards
Eric Mendelsohn, USA, 2010; 85 min.
Eric Mendelsohn (Judy Berlin, ND/NF 1999) returns with this exquisite, unsettling trio of life-changing episodes set in a leafy, tranquil corner of Long Island suburbia. After his business trip is canceled, John (Elias Koteas) finds himself minutes from home yet lost and distanced from everything familiar. Part-time painter and full-time mom Peggy (Edie Falco) is delighted when asked by a celebrity neighbor for a lift to a distant ferry, but the trip has a trajectory profoundly different than what she'd expected. And when 8-year-old Christina (Rachel Resheff) runs to school after missing the bus, the journey takes her to places she never imagined existed. Endowed with the mystery of a John Cheever short story, 3 Backyards is a beautifully composed film, with light, color, sound, and action blending together to create the vibrant sense of a world full of interior and exterior secrets.
Looking at Animals
Marc Turtletaub, USA, 2009; 25 min.
After a lifetime photographing animals in the wild, Raymond retires to a small town and starts observing his neighbors.

Amer
Hélène Cattet/Bruno Forzani, Belgium/France, 2009; 90 min.
The title is the French word for "bitter" but this provocative and sensational debut is anything but. An oneiric, eroticized homage to 1970s Italian giallo horror movies reimagined as an avant-garde trance film, Hélène Cattet and Bruno Forzani's pastiche tour de force plays out a delirious, enigmatic, almost wordless death-dance of fear and desire. Its three movements, each in a different style, correspond to the childhood, adolescence, and adulthood of its female protagonist-and that's all you need to know. Drawing its stylized, hyperbolic gestures from the playbooks of Bava, Leone, Argento, and De Palma and taking them into a realm of near-abstraction, Amer has genre in the blood. Its bold widescreen compositions, super focused sound, emphatic music (lifted from original giallo soundtracks), and razor sharp cuts make for an outrageous and intoxicating cinematic head trip.
Catafalque
Christoph Rainer, Austria, 2010; 13 min.
For two boys locked in a basement, boundaries become blurred between dream and reality, light and shadow, life and death.

Beautiful Darling: The Life and Times of Candy Darling, Andy Warhol Superstar
Written and directed by James Raisin, USA, 2010; 82 min.
Born James Slattery in Massapequa, Long Island, in 1944, Candy Darling transformed herself into a stunning blonde actress who in the mid-Sixties became an active player in New York's "downtown" scene. In her passionate act of self-creation, Candy Darling mesmerized. A party fixture, she appeared in Warhol films, and Tennessee Williams cast her in a play. She was seen and written about, and then, before she turned 30, cancer claimed her life. Using vintage footage and interviews old and new, and anchored by the presence of Candy's very close friend, Jeremiah Newton, director James Rasin creates a critical and loving portrait of a singular and audacious life. With Jackie Curtis, Holly Woodlawn, Penny Arcade, Paul Morrissey, Fran Lebowitz, John Waters. Candy's letters and diaries read by Chloë Sevigny.
Slate
Carmen Vidal, USA/Spain, 2010; 15 min.
A film editor working late finds himself mysteriously drawn to the raw footage he is cutting.

Bilal's Stand
Sultan Sharrief, USA, 2009; 83 min.
For almost 60 years, Bilal's family has run a taxi business-known to everybody in the neighborhood as "the stand"-started by his grandfather. But times are getting tougher: there's more competition, and Bilal is thinking of leaving the stand and going off to university. Based on a true story, Bilal's Stand is a delightful and moving look at a world rarely seen: a stable, loving, black Muslim family, struggling to keep a business alive amid both internal and external pressures. For his crew, debut director Sultan Sharrief used many of the students from EFEX, the inner-city outreach program he founded in his native Detroit, as well as many nonprofessional actors, some of whom even play themselves.

Dogtooth
2009. Greece. Directed by Yorgos Lanthimos. A Kino release. 96 min.
The most perverse film of the year-you'll be scratching your head when you're not laughing it off. In an inscrutable scenario that suggests a warped experiment in social conditioning and control, Dogtooth presents scenes from the life of a not-so-average family that inhabits an idyllic villa compound sealed off from all contact with the outside world. In a new spin on home schooling, the head of the household has taught his adolescent children a drastically rearranged vocabulary: a salt shaker is a "telephone," an armchair is "the sea" and-you get the idea. Moreover, to attend to the teenagers' sexual needs, he arranges occasional visits from a female employee. With echoes of Buñuel, Arturo Ripstein and early Atom Egoyan, this is a deadpan satire on patriarchy and the sexual Pandora's box concealed within every family.
Quadrangle
Amy Grappell, USA, 2010; 20 min.
An unconventional look at the director's conventional parents, who lived in a group marriage in the '70s.

Down Terrace
Ben Wheatley, UK, 2009; 89 min.
Mike Leigh meets The Sopranos in this extraordinary family crime drama, shot in eight days largely in one location. Fresh out of jail, Bill (Robert Hill) is obsessed with finding out who snitched on him. His son, Karl (Robin Hill), also just released, is similarly concerned but has other things on his mind-namely, what to do about his pregnant girlfriend. Bill, eager to ferret out the informer, lays out a series of traps and ruses for his associates-that is, when he's not singing old Fairport Convention songs while accompanying himself on guitar. Director Ben Wheatley (BBC's The Wrong Door) makes a powerful feature-film debut, creating an astonishing sense of normalcy laced with jet-black humor. A Magnolia Pictures/Magnet release.
Break a Leg
Jesse Shamata, Canada, 2009; 7 min.
You talking to me? A tightly wound hit-man meets his mark for breakfast.

The Evening Dress (La robe du soir)
Myriam Aziza, France, 2009; 95 min.
Juliette lives with her two siblings and mother, and while a bit shy, seems to lead an average life. Then she develops a crush on her French teacher, Madame Solenska (Belgian-Portuguese singer Lio), who at first seems to appreciate her pupil's admiration. Juliette becomes convinced that she's as special to Madame Solenska as she feels the teacher is to her. But the crush veers off into obsession, as Juliette starts to follow Madame Solenska around town and even to her home. Myriam Aziza beautifully captures the stifing small-town atmosphere, as well as the complex, contradictory emotional life of this twelve-year old: even if Juliette's feelings are misguided or naïve, they are no less susceptible to being hurt. Lio is terrific as the teacher, a proud woman comfortable with her beauty.

Every Day Is a Holiday (Chaque jour est une fête)
Dima El-Horr, France/Germany/Lebanon, 2009; 90 min.
A stunning first scene immediately establishes the highly charged atmosphere in Dima El-Horr's carefully controlled first feature, filled with absurd moments and symbolic gestures. Three women (Hiam Abbass, Manal Khader, Raïa Haïdar) with very different motives board a bus on the Lebanese Day of Liberation to visit their husbands in jail. When the bus is stopped short by a stray bullet, the women are left to find their own way in the hot sun through mountains full of mines, amid sounds of muffled explosions, throngs of refugees, and rumors of massacres. Their perilous journey becomes an internal one towards liberation, as individual life and collective memory blend, and the personal and political are blurred.
Felicità
SaloméAleksi, Georgia, 2009; 30 min.
A Georgian woman working in Italy finds a very modern way to uphold a custom from her old homeland. A microcosm of relations in the global economy.

The Father of My Children
Mia Hansen-Løve, France/Germany, 2009; 110 min.
Inspired by the life and death of the late, legendary French film producer Humbert Balsam, Mia Hansen-Løve's film is a work of two halves. The first follows the business dealings of Grégoire (Louis-Do de Lencquesaing), frantically shuttling between office and home, juggling the demands of artistic egos, lawyers, and bankers and the needs of his beloved family-not to mention his surrogate family at work. Then the focus shifts dramatically to Grégoire's wife Sylvia (Chiara Caselli), who together with her three daughters, must cope with devastating loss and struggle to keep Grégoire's company going and preserve his legacy. If the first half of this moving yet never sentimental drama is among the most convincing depictions of life in the movie business ever filmed, the second is an incredibly tender look at picking up the pieces after heartbreaking bereavement. An IFC Films release.


Frontier Blues
Babak Jalali, Iran/UK/Italy, 2009; 95 min.
Iran's northern border ranges from mountains to plains to the Caspian Sea; Persians, Turkmen, and Kazakhs share the landscape. Filmmaker Babak Jalali presents an assortment of hometown stories that evoke the potential and diversity of this unfulfilled gateway between Europe and Asia. Alam is in love with a girl he has never spoken to; Kazem owns a clothing store but can't seem to stock anything that fits; and Hassam, at age 30, counts a pet donkey and a tape player as his only companions. Meanwhile, a minstrel who claims his wife was stolen by someone in a green Mercedes years ago is chronicled by a Tehran photographer. With a cinematic style that is a study in elegant simplicity, Frontier Blues is a sweet, slightly absurdist snapshot of desperate men, absent women, and waiting for whatever the future may hold.
The Bizarre Friends of Ricardinho
Augusto Canani, Brazil, 2009; 20 min.
A weird trainee. A stifling job. In the midst of corporate oppression, a worker passively fights back with stories from home.

The Happiest Girl in the World
Radu Jude, The Netherlands/Romania, 2009; 99 min.
Romanians are back with another bone-dry, pitch-black comedy-this time bearing a particularly cynical view on happiness, the cruelty of families, and the making of inept television commercials. In his feature-film debut, Radu Jude is already a master of uneasy hilarity. When a plucky provincial duckling of a young lady wins a contest, she must travel with her parents to the buzzing metropolis of Bucharest to claim her prize. But there's a catch-in fact, there are several, the most troublesome aimed straight from home... Jude's film is a bittersweet experience that's as nasty as it is enjoyable, and as true to life as fiction can get over one hot summer afternoon. And as "the happiest girl," Andrea Bosneag is a breakthrough discovery.
Logorama
François Alaux, Hervé de Crécy, and Ludovic Houplain, France, 2009; 17 min.
Cops and robbers and wild animals, oh my! Brought to you by every possible sponsor under the sun.

How I Ended This Summer
Alexei Popogrebsky, Russia, 2010; 124m
Immersing us in the frozen wilds of the Russian Arctic, writer/director Alexei Popogrebsky makes an impressive addition to the canon of films about man's extraordinary ability to cope with harsh nature and extreme isolation. Young Pavel (Grigory Dobrygin) arrives at a remote research station for a summer of adventure under the tutelage of the wise and crusty Sergei (Sergei Puskepalis), whose multi-year assignment to the post is coming to an end. Misplaced confidence and youthful immaturity lead to a string of potentially deadly deceptions. The deliberate pace of life in the Arctic, combined with the disorienting round-the-clock sunlight, sets the stage for a thriller infused with equal parts psychological trauma and physical endurance.

Hunting & Sons
Sander Burger, Netherlands, 2010; 93 min.
Newlyweds and childhood sweethearts Tako and Sandra lead a cute suburban life. Tako relocated from the city to marry Sandra and runs the family bike business; she seems happy working at a small employment agency. Both the couple and their apartment look ripped from this season's Ikea catalogue-everything is perfectly lovely. Then things get even better: Sandra is pregnant. But the good news starts a small tear in the adorable façade that grows as the characters pull at it. Tako decides to take this opportunity to grow up, while Sandra, suffering from an eating disorder, starts to slim down-and the pretty scenery of their life starts to fall away. Panicked about the future, Tako takes measures that become more and more drastic. In his second feature film, director Sander Burger paints a sharp and biting portrait of the pitfalls of happiness.
Rob and Valentyna in Scotland
Eric Lynne, USA/UK, 2009; 23 min.
Long-lost - and just plain lost - cousins travel from the Ukraine to the Scottish highlands.

I Am Love
Luca Guadagnino, Italy, 2009; 120 min.
Luca Guadagnino's third narrative feature is a thrillingly melodramatic story of family business-in more ways than one. Set in the haut bourgeois world of modern-day Milan, the film ushers us into the seemingly perfect world of sumptuous elegance inhabited by the Recchi dynasty, whose fortune is built on its successful textile manufacturing business. After the firm's founder and patriarch transfers co-control of the business to his son Tancredi and grandson Edoardo, Tancredi's wife, Emma (Tilda Swinton), feels pangs of empty-nest syndrome and a growing sense of living in a gilded cage-until she finds herself led down an unlikely path by unexpectedly stirring desire. This compelling yet oh-so restrained drama of the eternal conflict between family ties and personal fulfillment unfolds with dazzling visual style, propelled by John Adam's distinctive staccato score. A Magnolia Pictures release.

Last Train Home
Lixin Fan, Canada/China, 2009; 88 min.
Each year the largest migration of people in human history happens over New Year's when city workers leave en masse for their homes in the countryside, often traveling days by train. For the first half of this remarkable documentary, you'll wonder how the filmmaker even shot it. But as that wonder subsides, an absorbing drama develops-a drama that plays out among families all over China yet is universally intense, powerful, and heartbreaking. With his 35mm camera, Lixin Fan follows one couple (out of one hundred and thirty million travelers!): the Zhangs, who make the long and crowded journey to their rural village. Sixteen years ago, they left their now-teenage rebellious daughter with her grandparents-and their welcome is not a happy one.
Snow Hides the Shade of Fig Trees
Samer Najari, Canada, 2009; 21 min.
Six immigrants eke out a living with humor. The bitter cold weakens the resolve of one, but not for long.

The Man Next Door (El hombre de al lado)
Mariano Cohn/Gastón Duprat, Argentina; 2009; 100 min.
The star of this dry and wicked black comedy is a building: The Curutchet House in La Plata, south of Buenos Aires-the only residence designed by Le Corbusier in the Americas. In this Argentine satire about class, the love of beautiful things, and violent urges, the landmark structure plays the fictional home of world-famous interior designer Leonardo and his wife and daughter. All cherish the privileged status conferred by living in the house. Then, horror strikes: a neighbor who wants more sun puts a window in the wall facing the family's courtyard! Suddenly, aesthetic symmetry is destroyed, and the neighbor-too friendly, too crude, and too insistent-can now peer into their pristine and elegant abode. With scalpel-like precision, filmmakers Mariano Cohn and Gaston Duprat chart the ebb and flow of this dramatic disturbance.
Suha
Robby Reis, Canada, 2009; 8 min.
A young graffiti writer marks her way through Montreal's graffiti art subculture.

My Perestroika
Robin Hessman, USA/UK, 2010; 87 min.
The history of the 20th century was bookended by the Bolshevik Revolution and the collapse of the Soviet Union, and in between came the era-defining Cold War. But for Russians who grew up during this history and now live beyond it, what does it mean to be Russian today? Robin Hessman's thoughtful and beautifully crafted documentary explores the lives of a group of former schoolmates who are finding their ways in a brave new world: two teachers, a businessman, a single mother, and a famous rock musician. Their stories, and the fabric of their lives, reveal a Russia that may or may not be worlds away from the Soviet model. Using propaganda films, home movies, and incredible access to her subjects, Hessman's film creates a touching portrait of ordinary people living through extraordinary times.

Night Catches Us
Tanya Hamilton, USA, 2009; 90 min.
The debut feature from Tanya Hamilton exposes the realities of African-American life during the final days of the Black Power movement, as potluck suppers, run-ins with the authorities, and lingering radicalism threaten to set off a neighborhood teetering on the edge. Set in Philadelphia in 1976, Night Catches Us focuses on two former Black Panther activists (Anthony Mackie and Kerry Washington) who reunite during the summer before Jimmy Carter's election. Through two people drawn together despite their past, the film paints a fresh perspective of the era and gives an allegory for our own times in the age of Obama. As friends forced to confront personal and political demons, Mackie and Washington give spectacular performances, while Hamilton's use of an intense soundtrack (by The Roots) and moving archival footage bring to life the history of black resistance.

Northless (Norteado)
Dima El-Horr, France/Germany/Lebanon, 2009; 93 min.
Cinema's fascination with illegal border crossings between Mexico and the United States is given a totally fresh take in Rigoberto Perezcano's delicately poised film. Focused on how life is lived precariously between desperate attempts to cross over, the story follows Oaxaca-born Andres (Harold Torres) as he bides his time in Tijuana. He finds a little work at a convenience store and gets friendly with the two women (Alicia Laguna and Sonia Couoh) who run it. As their friendship deepens and their individual stories emerge, the emotional costs of the ties that bind are explored with great sensitivity. The sincerity of the minimal story line is balanced by a liberating humor and breathtakingly beautiful images that give life and dignity to Andres and his fellow travelers.

The Oath
Laura Poitras, USA, 2010; 95 min.
Filmed over a two-year period, The Oath interweaves the stories of Abu Jandal, Osama bin Laden's former bodyguard (now driving a cab in Yemen), and Salim Hamdan, a Guantanamo Bay prisoner charged with war crimes. Filmmaker Laura Poitras (My Country, My Country, ND/NF 2006) takes us deep inside the world of Al Qaeda, Guantanamo, and U.S. interrogation methods through a dramatic structure filled with plot reversals, betrayals, and never-before-seen intelligence documents. The second in a planned trilogy on America post-9/11, The Oath is an intricately constructed work that keeps the viewer off balance and works on several levels. Shading the complexities of her subjects in the manner of great novelists, Poitras delivers an intimate portrait that precludes easy conclusions as it builds to question the methods of America's war on terror with uncommon eloquence.

La Pivellina
Tizza Covi/Rainer Frimmel, Austria, 2009; 101 min.
Looking for her lost dog, a middle-aged circus worker, Patti (Patrizia Gerardi), instead finds an abandoned two-year old child near her trailer. In this engaging unsentimental tale of human decency and solidarity, the little orphan finds home and family with circus folks in a trailer park on the outskirts of Rome. As they look for the mother, Patti and her friends and neighbors slowly but surely fall in love with the kid. Drawing on their background in documentary, filmmakers Tizza Covi and Rainer Frimmel naturally depict the easygoing rapport among generations in a small community where everyone depends on one another. The superb acting brings us close to a marginalized group rarely depicted with such unpretentious dignity, displaying a joie de vivre and infectious family vibe.

The Red Chapel
Mads Brügger, Denmark, 2009; 87 min.
Denmark launches an all-out attack on North Korea in this has-to-be-seen-to-be-believed documentary that ventures into territory somewhere between Michael Moore and Borat. Bankrolled by Lars von Trier's Zentropa production company, the aptly named Mads Brügger travels to Pyongyang on a feigned mission of cultural exchange, bringing a camera crew and the Danish-Korean slapstick-comedy team Red Chapel. The duo consists of Simon, who aims to perform an acoustic rendition of Oasis's "Wonderwall" accompanied by a choir of Korean schoolgirls, and Jacob, a self-described "spastic" whose mangled speech is incomprehensible to the minders assigned to "assist" the troupe. And while the duped hosts get more than they bargain for-a lot more-the Danish visitors find things aren't as ethically clear-cut as they'd prefer them to be.

Samson and Delilah
Warwick Thornton, Australia, 2009; 101 min.
Samson (Rowan McNamara) and Delilah (Marissa Gibson) are two young people struggling to find themselves and each other. Set in the aboriginal communities of Australia, what might have been an age-old love story explodes cliché and convention through unvarnished and unyielding authenticity. Director Warwick Thornton-who, like the principal cast, hails from aboriginal background-plunges us into red-dirt landscapes that serve in equal measure as oasis and prison. Traditions both nourish and entrap, and as boy and girl wrestle with a fate that may seem inevitable, love shows the way forward. Winner of the Caméra d'Or for best debut feature at the 2009 Cannes Film Festival.

Tehroun
Nader T.Homayoun, Iran/France, 2009; 95 min.
A man holds a sickly child in his arms, begging passersby for money with a tale of how his wife has recently died and he desperately needs help. We soon learn the man is Ibrahim, a recent arrival in the big city, and that the child isn't really his-the boy's actually rented from a local gang-lord to make Ibrahim a more effective beggar. Welcome to Tehroun, as Iranians call their capital city. Nader Homayoun's debut feature presents a searing portrait of the city's hidden, seamier side, a world of child trafficking, smuggling of just about anything, and assorted other criminal activities. A sensation in the Critics' Week at last year's Venice Film Festival, where it won the audience award, Tehroun marks a new chapter in the fascinating evolution of Iranian cinema.

Women Without Men
Shirin Neshat, Germany/Austria/France, 2009; 100 min.
Directed by Shirin Neshat in collaboration with Shoja Azari. Winner of the Silver Lion for best director at the 2009 Venice Film Festival, Shirin Neshat's feature-film debut represents an assured shift from the gallery-based moving images for which she is known, to the grand screen of the cinema. Devotees of Neshat's earlier work will recognize her signature visual virtuosity and narrative grace in the story of four women in early 1950s Iran, played by Pegah Ferydoni, Arita Shahrzad, Shabnam Tolouei, and Orsi Toth. Then as now, the ambitions and actions of these women from across the spectrum of Iranian society inform and affect the course of events-public, private, and often political. With history as a backdrop, and imagination extending the limits of lives lived under oppressive conditions, Neshat offers an exquisitely framed window onto these women's world. An Indiepix release.

# posted by Jason Guerrasio @ 2/25/2010 10:04:00 AM Comments (0)

FEBRUARY - shot on the Canon EOS 550D / Rebel T2i (preprod unit) from Nino Leitner on Vimeo.

From filmmaker Nino Leitner.

This short film, FEBRUARY, was shot on a pre-production unit of the new Canon EOS 550D / Rebel T2i. This is UNGRADED footage straight off the camera (converted to ProRes LT first for easy editing). I used a "flattened" picture style as outlined by Stu Maschwitz on his blog.

Check out his blog for a detailed review of the camera, which comes out next month and is priced at $799.

# posted by Scott Macaulay @ 2/25/2010 09:59:00 AM Comments (0)

Big news out of Sundance tonight: Keri Putnam, former President of Production at Miramax Films and Executive Vice President at HBO Films, has been named the new Executive Director of the Sundance Institute. The position was previously held by Ken Brecher, who left Sundance last April.

Keri is well known to many of us in the independent community for her leadership at Miramax and HBO, where she opened the door to both new directors as well as established veterans looking to explore new ideas that wouldn't fly in the mainstream studio system. Among the films she has been involved with are Elephant, There Will Be Blood, Adventureland, The Laramie Project, Lackawanna Blues, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly and If These Walls Could Talk. Keri, who I have worked with, is smart, passionate and dedicated, and this is, I think, a great choice for Sundance. Congratulations to both Keri and the Sundance Institute.

The complete press release is below.

Los Angeles, CA – Wally Weisman, Chairman of the Board of Sundance Institute, today announced the appointment of Keri Putnam as the Institute’s new Executive Director. Putnam, who recently served as President of Production for Miramax Films, the Walt Disney Company's specialty film division, has an extensive background in independent film production and acquisition, as well as years of experience in programming. Based in Los Angeles, Putnam is expected to start her new position in mid April reporting directly to the Institute’s Board of Trustees.

“Keri Putnam has a passion for the arts, a leading profile in the film community, and a stellar reputation for her intelligence, creativity, collaboration and leadership at the highest levels of business,” said Robert Redford, President and Founder, Sundance Institute. “Working together to expand our international presence, connect to new audiences, and experiment with emerging areas of artist support, I have every confidence Keri’s knowledge and talent will be critical to the fulfillment and expansion of the Institute’s mission and vision in the years ahead.”

Added Mr. Weisman, “The exceptional health of Sundance Institute afforded the Board the opportunity to take its time selecting the right person for this key position. With Keri ours was a unanimous, enthusiastic decision.”
As Executive Director, Putnam will oversee all programs of the twenty-nine year old, non-profit Sundance Institute, which include its Feature Film Program, Documentary Film Program, Sundance Film Festival, Film Music Program, Theatre Program, and Native and Indigenous Program. She will also be responsible for continuing the Institute’s international work, initiating strategic partnerships, cultivating relationships with foundations and corporate sponsors, and growing the Institute’s annual operating budget.

“Throughout my career I have witnessed the breadth and impact of the many programs of Sundance Institute, and I am both thrilled and privileged to become a part of this organization’s leading work,” Putnam said. “Sundance is truly unique not only for its mission but for its entire culture, brand and influence. This is an incredible opportunity for me personally and there is also tremendous potential for all of us -- staff, trustees, alumni and friends alike -- to explore new opportunities and expand on our global reputation. I can’t wait to get started.”

Well known throughout the independent and commercial film communities, Putnam has spent her career forging relationships with top producers, writers, directors and financiers worldwide. As President of Production, Putnam was responsible for all production, acquisitions, co-production and development at Miramax Films. During Putnam’s tenure there, Miramax Films won or was nominated for multiple Academy Awards, including the Best Picture Academy Award for the Coen Brothers’ No Country for Old Men and multiple nominee Julian Schnabel’s The Diving Bell and the Butterfly. Putnam was involved with several Miramax films with ties to Sundance artists such as Paul Thomas Anderson (There Will Be Blood), Greg Mottola (Adventureland), John Patrick Shanley (Doubt), Scott Frank (The Lookout), Ben Affleck (Gone Baby Gone), Stephen Frears (The Queen) and Lasse Hallström (The Hoax).

Putnam has worked closely with international artists from North America, Europe, Asia and Africa, focusing on discovering and supporting new talent, and has worked with a myriad of Sundance Institute alumni including Julian Jarrold (Becoming Jane), Moisés Kaufman (The Laramie Project), Taika Waititi (Eagle vs. Shark), and Allison Anders (Mi Vida Loca). She also came to the Sundance Film Festival with films she supervised directed by George C. Wolfe (Lackawanna Blues), Mira Nair (Hysterical Blindness) and Jane Anderson (Normal), among many others.

Prior to joining Miramax in 2006, Putnam was Executive Vice President, HBO Films, responsible for overseeing the development and production of films for both the cable network and for theatrical release. Among the theatrical films she supervised at HBO was Gus van Sant’s Palme d’Or winner Elephant. Putnam is credited for numerous HBO Emmy Award winners including Warm Springs, directed by Joseph Sargent and featuring Kenneth Branagh; The Life and Death of Peter Sellers, directed by Stephen Hopkins and starring Geoffrey Rush; Something the Lord Made, directed by Joseph Sargent and starring Alan Rickman; Empire Falls, directed by Fred Schepisi and co-starring Ed Harris and Paul Newman, and the Humanitas Prize winning The Girl in the Café written by Richard Curtis and directed by David Yates.

From 1996 to 1999, before being named Senior Vice President, HBO Films, Putnam served as Vice President, HBO NYC Productions. Under the HBO NYC banner, she was responsible for some of the division's most successful projects, including HBO's highest-rated original movie If These Walls Could Talk, directed by Sundance alumna Nancy Savoca; In the Gloaming, Christopher Reeve's directorial debut starring former Institute Trustee Glenn Close, and Subway Stories, executive produced by Jonathan Demme and Rosie Perez.

A graduate of Harvard, Putnam studied theater and began her career working for Williamstown Theater Festival, McCarter Theater, Arena Stage, the ART, and others. She lives in Los Angeles with her husband and two children.

About Sundance Institute: Founded by Robert Redford in 1981, Sundance Institute is a not-for-profit organization that fosters the development of original storytelling in film and theatre, and presents the annual Sundance Film Festival. Internationally recognized for its artistic development programs for directors, screenwriters, producers, film composers, playwrights and theatre artists, Sundance Institute has nurtured such projects as Angels in America, Spring Awakening, HOWL, Trouble the Water, Boys Don't Cry and Sin Nombre. www.sundance.org.

# posted by Scott Macaulay @ 2/25/2010 12:01:00 AM Comments (0)

Of all the people I know — artists, musicians, filmmakers — who make dark, dark things, the French director Philippe Grandrieux is the sunniest. In person, he projects a passionate joy about his filmmaking craft, and the disturbing events contained within his films are not projections of surface-level angst or garden-variety emotional torment but rather philosophical inquiries into our relationship with Nature, our bodies, and our selves. To hear him talk about his work is to realize that he comes from a line that includes De Sade, Blanchot, and Bataille as well as later post-structuralists like Gilles Deleuze. (Grandrieux's bloody work puts a different spin, in fact, on Deleuze's concept of the "body without organs.")

And then there's the other side of Grandrieux's work, one that, these days, is dominant. (In fact, my last paragraph's fixation on physical violence is perhaps unfair, because after his debut film, Sombre, which is about a serial killer, the violence in Grandrieux's later films, La Vie Nouvelle and Un Lac, has been growing more abstract and metaphoric in its presentation.) I'm speaking of demanding optics of his films, his interest in pushing the extremes of what is visible on the film screen. Sombre, which has what I can honestly say may be the best opening of any film ever, is photographed several stops under, and his latest, film, Un Lac, is also a literally dark film in which the projected image has the density of a sculptural object.

Here, at The Auteurs, is Glenn Kenny on the challenges of Grandrieux's work:

The sure-to-be controversial centerpiece of sorts of this year's Film Comment Selects screenings is a three-film retrospective comprising fiction features by French director Phillipe Grandrieux. So exacting and precise is Grandrieux with respect to the creation and projection of the cinematic image that he's been known to try to have the exit lights in theaters blacked out at screenings where he's in attendance. The immersion in total darkness is said to be particularly crucial to his latest picture, 2008's Un lac. The Grandrieux immersion occurs on Wednesday, February 24—a separate admission triple feature of sorts. It seems that each of the director's fiction films is less specific than the last in terms of time and place; Un lac is set in a forest in a territory somewhere in, we suppose, Europe...and features Russian actors speaking in heavily accented French. The film begins with its lead character, a young, rather pasty-faced young man, hacking away almost hysterically at something, with a tool of some sort. Given that Grandrieux's Sombre, the first of the troika screening at the Walter Reade, is an unusually harrowing picture about a serial killer, one cannot be blamed for being a little relieved that the object being hacked away at by the boy is a tree.

After the hacking, the boy falls into an epileptic seizure that proves, among other things, to be a not-particularly-efficient way of making a snow angel. Later, a handsome, non-epileptic fellow happens along and announce that he's here to "chop wood." He's also pretty attentive to the other young man's sister, for whom the epileptic boy seems to have something like an incestuous attraction.

Does this sound like a compendium of old-school art-cinema commonplaces, or, to use a less nice word, clichés to you? I'm not trying to create that impression, honest. And for all that Grandrieux is one of the most critically revered filmmakers working today. I'll tell you one thing: I can't hazard even trying to render a verdict here. (Aside from saying that Grandrieux is obviously a deliberately difficult, demanding auteur.) One could counter that the "story" isn't what Grandrieux is about; that with each successive film he has strove to make his imagery literally palpable, and that is finally what is important. But in order for the imagery to be palpable it has to be beautifully projected. (And another question: once the imagery is palpable, do the clichés of the "story" and "characters" become irrelevant? Or are they transcended?)

Here is a long and thoughtful interview with Grandrieux by Nicole Brenez. And make sure to check out his amazing website, which is an art object all its own. Grandrieux's films screen beginning today at 4:00PM at Lincoln Center. For the open-minded, adventurous lovers of challenging cinema and, yes, dark, dark things, they are are recommended. Click here for more info.





(Above: Grandrieux photographed by me at Newark airport, 2001).

# posted by Scott Macaulay @ 2/24/2010 11:00:00 AM Comments (0)

Here's the just-released trailer for Elijah Drenner's American Grindhouse, which plays SXSW next month.

# posted by Scott Macaulay @ 2/23/2010 12:00:00 PM Comments (0)

American Hardcore filmmakers Paul Rachman and Steven Blush have a new project: Lost Rockers, a documentary "about great musicians overlooked by pop culture." From the project's Kickstarter page:

LOST ROCKERS... offers insight into what it takes to “make it,” and why so many of equal talent to famous stars fall through the cracks. The film tells the life stories of these forgotten artists — of different eras, genres, creeds and orientations — from their doomed paths to fame to their ultimate redemption. You’ll experience amazing music you can’t believe you never heard.

LOST ROCKERS has only just begun. We’ve shot our first four interviews (Gloria Jones, Jake Holmes, David Peel and Dr. israel) with many more to come, including famous rock stars commenting on their lesser-known contemporaries. Completing our research and moving into the post-production phase will require travel across the US, UK and Europe.

I don't know whether it's the subject matter, the success of American Hardcore, or the fan base of the filmmakers, but they are already 38% of the way towards their goal of $15,000 just after the start of their campaign. You can join up with them by clicking below.

# posted by Scott Macaulay @ 2/23/2010 10:22:00 AM Comments (0)

The Wall Street Journal-hosted Venture Capital Dispatch blog linked to my article yesterday about the closing of independent film distributor and festival website service business B-Side Entertainment. Scott Austin's piece focused on comments made in the piece by CEO Chris Hyams and President of Distribution Paola Freccero about the company's fate at the hands of the VC funding model. The executives said that B-Side was on the road to being profitable but couldn't deliver large enough returns in the time period desired by financier Valhalla Partners.

Austin points to another B-Side investor: original Series A-funder Mike Maples, Jr. and his VC firm Silverton Partners. Maples and his firm invested $3.1 million in B-Side in 2006. Last week, Maples gave a talk at the Future of Funding conference about "Thunder Lizards," companies who, he said, "think different than other kinds of cmpanies. They exist to be huge in a very important future market, and there is no Plan B." The talk has generated a lot of buzz in the VC community.

From TechCrunch :

The talk is highly entertaining and thought provoking. He argues against the notion that startups that want to have a huge exit need to raise big money, noting that Microsoft raised just $1 million and eBay just $5 million, in venture capital.

He says small startups can be hugely disruptive, and have proportionally huge exits. he calls these companies Thunder Lizards. He’s talking about Godzilla, which eats his competitors and disrupts like crazy. These are the market leaders, he says. Second place is boring.

This is an entertaining talk, and it's a great window into the priorities and desires of a certain type of tech investor. Among the things Maples talks about are the imperative for new companies to be different than their competitors and for companies to have huge potential markets.

Venture Capital Blog recommends the talk for entrepreneurs. I'll recommend it to those who are seeking investment from these kind of entrepreneurs. It's just under an hour long and you can watch it below.

Thunder Lizard by Mike Maples Jr. from Adeo Ressi on Vimeo.

# posted by Scott Macaulay @ 2/23/2010 09:00:00 AM Comments (0)

B-side Entertainment, the Austin-based tech and distribution company that provides website services to film festivals, is closing. The company, which launched a New York-based distribution arm just 13 months ago, lost its funding from venture capital fund Valhalla Partners in late 2009. “We have spent the last four or five months looking for a [financing] alternative,” B-Side CEO and founder Chris Hyams told Filmmaker. “But we reached the end of our cash before we could secure new investment. We had to shut the company down.”

B-Side laid off the majority of its staff last week and throughout the weekend notified its filmmakers and festival partners. In the coming weeks Hyams and core staffers will seek new homes for B-Side’s films and its online festival scheduling service, Festival Genius.

In an interview, Hyams, President of Distribution Paola Freccero, and V.P. of Marketing Liz Ogilvie discussed the history of the company and recent events. Hyams launched B-Side in 2005 after working in the software industry as V.P. of Engineering at Trilogy. “I had spent 15 years in the software business, building huge websites for Fortune 500 companies,” he said. “At the end of 2004, Wikipedia was taking off and showing how groups of fans could create the largest encyclopedia in the world. I believed something like that could work in the film business. The goal was to build a business that connected directly with audiences — to help films be financially successful, and to do so in a way that was fair and transparent to filmmakers.”

B-Side’s first round of funding came from an early-stage VC fund in Austin, Texas. Said Hyams, “The [funders] said, ‘We don’t know anything about the movie business, but we think the idea of applying information science to a business with no access to that is intriguing.’”

The company’s initial thrust was in developing online festival guides that added social networking functions — audiences would rate films and trade recommendations — to a fest’s traditional assortment of informational and schedule materials. Said Ogilvie, “By doing the back-end of film festivals, B-Side used technology in order to explain how films connected to their audiences.”

The company did not charge festivals for running these sites. “The idea behind our business was to connect with audiences and filmmakers through the online program guides,” Hyams said. “[The festival business] gave us a direct line to audience opinion. We collected audience ratings and reviews for over 40,000 films on the festival circuit, and we built up a dedicated mailing list of people who love indie film.”

B-Side's user base was four million people annually, and the company ran websites for over 250 festivals, including the Sundance Film Festival, Silverdocs and Fantastic Fest.

B-Side also offered distribution and marketing services to filmmakers like Doug Benson, whose Super High Me was an early success. B-Side organized a grass-roots “Roll Your Own Screening” program for the marijuana-themed doc. Marshalling demand from viewers who connected to the film through B-Side’s site, the company coordinated a “peer-to-peer theatrical” release for Super High Me in over 1,000 alternative venues in a single day in 2008. B-Side partnered with Netflix’s Red Envelope and Screen Media, and Hyams says the entire campaign cost $8,000. “Every screening was planned, booked, and executed by the venue or an individual, not by us,” he said. “It was a ‘no P and no A’ release, but it had the impact of [traditional] theatrical. Super High Me grossed $3.5 million on home video.”

Encouraged by this success, B-Side raised second-round financing from Virgina-based Valhalla Partners in Fall, 2008, and hired Freccero, formerly of the Sundance Channel and Tribeca Enterprises, to head a New York-based distribution division. Said Hyams, “Our film distribution strategy was to use our market research to identify films [to be acquired] and then use our audience to help market these films. The distribution side of business looked almost like a straight-to-video business where the primary revenue was coming from DVD, VOD and television. But we were also handcrafting grassroots alternative theatrical releases.”

B-Side quickly acquired nine films, paying no advances but deducting no expenses and splitting revenue with the filmmakers 50/50. The diversification away from pure service work, however, had its challenges. Said Freccero, “On a tactical level, there were barriers. Every filmmaker wants to see their film distributed to traditional theaters. We believe in the power of people in a dark room, but we didn’t want to fall into the old trap of spending gargantuan amounts of money. When filmmakers heard that we didn’t do traditional theatrical distribution, they’d say, ‘Maybe I want to go with IFC or Magnolia, where I know my film will open in a traditional theater.’”

The company’s most recent release, however, did open in a traditional theater. Still Bill, a documentary about soul singer Bill Withers by directors Damani Baker and Alex Vlack, played the IFC Center in January where it grossed $12,500 in its first week. “It was our first opening in New York with a New York Times review,” said Hyams.

Freccero says the specialty film business’s fixation on the traditional theatrical release was ultimately detrimental to B-Side. “When it comes to the DVD world and to some extent VOD, statistics drive sales, so when you have a film that is not reported on Rentrak, it doesn’t matter that it had 900 engagements across the country. Video buyers just know it is not on Rentrak.” Hyams also points out that B-Side’s acquisitions have played traditional theaters alongside alternative venues. “Lots of arthouse theaters around the country have been embracing our model all along,” he said. “Tim League at the Alamo Drafthouse has played all of our films.”

Still, B-Side’s films were never heavily advertised in traditional media, and its opt-out of traditional P&A spends, while curtailing costs, made it hard for the company to achieve the visibility of its distributor competitors. “I don’t think quarter-page ads in the New York Times make that big a difference when you are targeting small niche audiences,” Freccero said. “But from a perception standpoint, sure, if we had spent more money on films we would have closed contracts faster and caused some bigger films to come our way. But it wouldn’t have made our films more profitable.” “We would have had an easier time getting covered in the trades,” said Hyams, “but our financials would have been worse.”

In the last few months, Hyams says the company’s prospects were encouraging. “We were in the process of translating our festival business from a free model to a pay model,” he said. “It would have paid for itself in another year. And on the services side, we were making money. We established B-Side as an entity that people could understand, and we had a lot of demand from other distributors looking for ways to connect directly with audiences. Distributors are realizing that in a VOD world they need to be in direct contact with their audiences, but no distributors today are. B-Side has something to offer them.”

Freccero said the mainstream success of Paranormal Activity, which relied on fans to spread the initial word and to request screenings, has also stoked recent interest in B-Side’s model. “People initially wrote us off as a kooky distribution attempt to digitalize the film distribution world,” Freccero said. “But recently people were saying, ‘Wait, you guys are onto something.’ Younger filmmakers, who grew up experiencing film content in a different way, have been more open to our model, and in the last couple of months they have started to come to us first, before their films were even finished.”

Ultimately, though, the revenue being generated wasn’t enough to satisfy B-Side’s funders. Valhalla had invested $2.5 million but in November, 2009 declined their option to continue financing the company. Said Frecero, “The VC world is one that looks for astronomical success in short amount of time, but the film business has never been about quick success. It’s about who can stay in the business long enough to become profitable. There is just a big discrepancy between what a traditional VC [fund] wants to see as a success and what is possible in independent film’s new world order. It’s not anyone’s fault — just unfortunate timing.” “It takes 12 to 18 months to release a film and begin to collect,” Hyams said. “Everything we know about the films is that they would have been profitable, but we had yet to collect 80 percent of the revenue.”

In recent months, B-Side, represented by William Morris Endeavor Entertainment, has met with potential new funders. “We have gotten in front of everyone,” said Hyams. “However, the larger companies have longer decision-making processes. The independent film business is in some kind of freefall, and there is tightness in the capital markets. Quick deals are not getting done. We haven’t been getting ‘no’s,’ but, instead, ‘We could put in ‘X’ in six months’ or, ‘This is a perfect fit for us but we’d like to be in business with you for a year first.’ The clock just ran out.”

Concludes Hyams, “We find ourselves at a time of great upheaval in the film industry. We are somewhere between the old and the new world. Technology is altering the way films are being made, and there are new avenues for how films can be consumed. How audiences discover and find films — that’s what’s we have been focused on. We have proven an amazing amount of things about how audiences become engaged and how to connect with them, but we were not able in that time to build a business that would sustain itself.”

Now, Hyams says, “We are wrapping up the distribution business, working with different partners to find the best homes for the films. We want to make sure the filmmakers are being taken care of. Lots of times when companies go out of business, the films go into limbo, and it’s important to us that that not happen. We are also looking to find a home for the festival technology we have been building for five years. Lots of people have been interested — there’s been a tremendous outpouring. This festival technology will be back.”

# posted by Scott Macaulay @ 2/22/2010 10:25:00 AM Comments (0)

Congrats to Kathryn Bigelow and the whole team behind The Hurt Locker for winning Best Director and Best Film at this year's BAFTA Awards.

# posted by Scott Macaulay @ 2/21/2010 10:16:00 PM Comments (0)

I saw Russian director Alexei Popogrebsky’s How I Ended This Summer only near the tail end of the festival, at a screening an expensive cab ride away from the usual venues and with German subtitles. Thankfully, I studied just enough German in school to follow it, but it was a strain. The projection was late at night as well, and I was exhausted. But I smelled an excellent work, in part from a critics’ grid at the back of the daily issue of Screen (where I review) that gave it multiple stars, and in part from the intuition of a programmer (Sarajevo Film Festival). I only recite these boring details because a) I was right in my hunch; and b) I think that we often suppress accurate feelings on account of tiredness, or competing activities, or laziness, so we need to push ourselves to go with them.

The Berlin prizes may have been announced by the time you read this, but there is no question here for any of the trustworthy film journalists that How I Ended My Summer is so far superior to anything in the festival that it deserves the Golden Bear. But juries are juries, and are often comprised of the wrong people to judge the quality of films. This year’s jury president, however, is Werner Herzog, so our hope is that he, as a filmmaker, would appreciate its unique aesthetic and influence the other jurors, with “experts” such as Renee Zellweger.

The film’s plot is simple. Two men work taking readings from their partly radioactive surroundings at an isolated meteorological station in the Arctic, at the far east of Russia, near Alaska. Sergei (Sergei Puskepalis) is in his fifties and has adjusted to this life where 24-hour daylight is the norm, and the only connection to the rest of the world is radio. Pavel (Grigory Dobrygin) is his new partner, a young, eager man who surrounds himself with video games and other technologies foreign to Sergei. One day Sergei goes fishing, and Pavel screws up the daily report, then covers it up. He also gets a tragic message for Sergei that he does not have the strength to convey. Tension builds between the two men.

Simple, in terms of narrative, but an incredibly complex film in which rugged wintry landscape and industrial parts, often abstracted, embedded in the mise-en-scene are the prime movers. Not to mention skillful editing and manipulation of sound. As one critic here put it, it may be a cliché, but nature really is a character in the film.

Sitting in a café in a modern Hilton in the middle of what was East Berlin, the gentle, 37-year-old Popogrebsky explains his working methods. He speaks almost perfectly accented English. I nearly plotzed when he told me he had studied psychology at the University of Wisconsin at Oshkosh, but dropped out of a post-graduate program. “My dissertation subject was ‘The Meaning of Life,’ but I realized it would have to be the project of a full lifetime,” he says with a grin. He then went on to become a Russian/English interpreter. He never went to film school, never even applied.

I asked him if he worked from a screenplay, because the film, though controlled, is so unconventional in its structure. “I wrote a 30-40 page script, but I don’t do it the American way. Mine reads like a cross between a play and a novella. I took a very detailed script to the polar station. But life and nature were dictating things, so I would rewrite and give the rewrites to the actors daily.” He adds that after visiting the island (Valkarkai) with his d.p. and art director, he had rewritten the original script.

Popogrebsky has a master’s control. I asked him if he were tough to work with (meaning, dictatorial). Sipping green tea, he answered, “No, I’m very nice to work with. You can achieve amazing things with trust and friendship. And I get involved with every aspect of the film. I sat behind my composer for six months.”

Necessarily using a small crew, he shot on digital, and later transferred it to 35mm. For scenes like the one in which Pavel slides down a snow bank, he went through 30 takes (and no stunt doubles). The film’s very last scene is hypnotic, a vista that changes color over several minutes. “That was a five-hour single take,” he says. With some postproduction manipulation, he produced magic.

-- Howard Feinstein

# posted by Howard Feinstein @ 2/19/2010 07:22:00 PM Comments (0)

Variety reports that the IFP fiscally-sponsored documentary Chosin will be made into an $80 million 3-D narrative version with Journey to the Center of the Earth's director Eric Brevig taking the helm and Chosin director Brian Iglesias coming on as one of the executive producers. The film will be the first war epic made in digital 3-D.

Titled 13 Days of Winter, the film will follow the 1950 Battle of Chosin Reservoir, where United Nation troops, including 12,000 US Marines, fought against the Chinese as well as the North Koreans. Film will be shot in New Zeland and Korea. South Korea -- which is preparing for their 60th anniversary of the war -- will provide equipment, weapons, locations and military assistance for the film.

The film is slated for a winter 2012 release.

# posted by Melissa Silvestri @ 2/19/2010 05:00:00 PM Comments (0)

IFP has announced its recipients of its annual IFP Independent Filmmaker Lab Finishing Grants totaling $90,000. Congratulations goes to Stranger Things' Eleanor Burke and Ron Eyal and War Don Don's Rebecca Richman Cohen. Both will receive a package valued at $45,000, that includes post-production services from Goldcrest Post New York, post-graphic services from Edgeworx, Inc., legal consultation from Gray Krauss LLP, publicity consultation from International House of Publicity, test screening space courtesy of The Tank, and promotional materials from 4over4.

Additional award finalists included narrative projects Amy Seimetz's City on a Hill and Russell Costanzo's The Tested, and documentary projects Luisa Dantas's Land of Opportunity and Anna Farrell's Twelve Ways to Sunday.

Applications for 2010 IFP Independent Filmmaker Labs are available now. The Documentary Lab Deadline for submission is February 12; Narrative Lab Deadline for submission is March 26.

# posted by Melissa Silvestri @ 2/18/2010 10:57:00 PM Comments (0)

The film must-read of the moment is Chris Jones' beautifully written profile of Roger Ebert in Esquire magazine. Of course the article chronicles Ebert's recent health problems — cancer operations that have wound up removing much of his lower job and eliminated his ability to eat, drink, and speak. But the piece also succeeds in capturing the strange and inspiring mix of sagacity and serenity that Ebert is projecting in late career through not only his reviews but also his Twitter page and blog. I was talking to a colleague not too long ago about which traditional media types had managed to maintain their relevance in the digital age and which hadn't. When it came to Ebert, we both said, "His voice is stronger than ever."

An excerpt from Jones' piece:

There are places where Ebert exists as the Ebert he remembers. In 2008, when he was in the middle of his worst battles and wouldn't be able to make the trip to Champaign-Urbana for Ebertfest — really, his annual spring festival of films he just plain likes — he began writing an online journal. Reading it from its beginning is like watching an Aztec pyramid being built. At first, it's just a vessel for him to apologize to his fans for not being downstate. The original entries are short updates about his life and health and a few of his heart's wishes. Postcards and pebbles. They're followed by a smattering of Welcomes to Cyberspace. But slowly the journal picks up steam, as Ebert's strength and confidence and audience grow. You are the readers I have dreamed of, he writes. He is emboldened. He begins to write about more than movies; in fact, it sometimes seems as though he'd rather write about anything other than movies. The existence of an afterlife, the beauty of a full bookshelf, his liberalism and atheism and alcoholism, the health-care debate, Darwin, memories of departed friends and fights won and lost — more than five hundred thousand words of inner monologue have poured out of him, five hundred thousand words that probably wouldn't exist had he kept his other voice. Now some of his entries have thousands of comments, each of which he vets personally and to which he will often respond. It has become his life's work, building and maintaining this massive monument to written debate — argument is encouraged, so long as it's civil — and he spends several hours each night reclined in his chair, tending to his online oasis by lamplight. Out there, his voice is still his voice — not a reasonable facsimile of it, but his.

"It is saving me," he says through his speakers.

Read more: http://www.esquire.com/features/roger-ebert-0310-4#ixzz0frg9vHyL

# posted by Scott Macaulay @ 2/18/2010 12:58:00 AM Comments (0)

Filmmaker and frequent Filmmaker contributor Jamie Stuart sent a link to a simply gorgeous suite of 22 photos he shot around Central Park and other locations during New York's recent snowstorm. Take a moment and head to his site to view the photos, which were all done, astonishingly, on his iPhone camera using the Old Camera app.

# posted by Scott Macaulay @ 2/18/2010 12:32:00 AM Comments (0)

At Filmmaker we've been on top of the DSLR story — the use of small digital SLR still cameras by filmmakers — in a series of articles beginning last year. (See "Shutterbugs" in Spring, 2009, and "Pimp your DSLR" in Summer.) That said, Ryan Bilsborrow-Koo has just posted an astonishingly detailed and useful article on his No Film School site called "The DSLR Cinematography Guide." It's got a huge amount of information in it with tons of hyperlinks to other articles, posts on user forums, and the blogs of various d.p.'s working with the format. I highly recommend it if you are considering buying a DSLR. Bilsborrow-Koo gives buying advice, compares brands, and obsesses about things like stuck pixels so you don't have to.

From his introduction:

Digital cinematography is changing so rapidly these days that a printed book on the subject will likely be outdated by the time it reaches store shelves; this is especially true when it comes to the rapid release cycle of DSLRs. Up-to-date information can be found on online forums, but forums lack the organizing principles of a book, and as a result it can take a ludicrously long time to piece together reliable information (I spent months forum-surfing to assemble my own camera package). Thus, this guide: I hope it saves readers money they would’ve otherwise spent on an out-of-date book, and I hope it saves forums from so many newbie — sorry, “n00b” — questions.

DSLRs are a great enabler on the “no film school” front, as they are priced to own and allow aspiring filmmakers to follow the “buy a camera and learn” lesson plan. But as with any creative tool, a DSLR is only as good as the person using it. While these cameras offer a world of advantages, they also come with considerable drawbacks. However, these drawbacks that are worth dealing with in order to get the kind of amazing images possible with an imaging sensor that has twenty to thirty times more surface area than that of a similarly priced, dedicated video camera. To emphasize: these cameras are not designed to shoot movies. Their primary function remains to shoot still photos, but it just so happens that they shoot amazing video very inexpensively, and for that they are worth tinkering with, hacking, and jumping through a lot of hoops to use. And make no mistake: to modify these still cameras to behave like “real” movie cameras, there are a lot of hoops to jump through (thus the length of this guide), but you will be rewarded by using a camera that many of us could only dream of a few years ago, for cheaper than any of us imagined.

Among the many links is this one to his own blog post highlighting ten films shot on DSLRs. Here's one I hadn't seen before: "Hecq Vs Exillion – Spheres Of Fury," by Tim.Chris.Film. Shot on the Canon 7D with, as Bilsborrow-Koo writes, "a wonderfully low-contrast, bleached seventies aesthetic, along with great editing and titling." Check it out and block out an hour in your calendar to read and absorb the article.

Hecq Vs Exillion - Spheres Of Fury from Tim.Chris.Film on Vimeo.

# posted by Scott Macaulay @ 2/18/2010 12:00:00 AM Comments (0)

It’s more than a little odd that The Ghost Writer, Roman Polanski’s best film in 30 years, is in the official Berlin competition. Yes, the 76-year-old veteran is up against a few other prolific filmmakers such as Zhang Yimou and Michael Winterbottom, but many of the others have only one or two features under their belts. And, at the end of the day, as beautifully executed as The Ghost Writer is by Polanski and his cinematographer, fellow Polish native Pawel Edelman, it is a conventional genre film—a fusion of classical Hitchcock and the Bourne series--about a Tony Blairish British former Prime Minister (Pierce Brosnan), now residing in the U.S., whose in-office participation in a nasty scandal becomes public knowledge, thanks to the sleuthing of the ghost writer nicely downplayed by Ewan McGregor.

The film’s moving camera and its mild jolts are, however, a pleasure to experience. Unfortunately, Martin Scorsese proves with his out-of –competition Shutter Island that you can surround yourself with Dante Ferretis and Robert Richardsons and still end up with a heavy-handed load of clichés. Once the film takes a turn from cop thriller into horror territory, the director just accelerates the speed of his tracking shots and the pounding on the sidetrack. Giving a remarkable double-edged performance, Leonardo DiCaprio looks like he’s acting in a vacuous collage of extrasensory stimuli.

Some lesser known and less experienced directorial talents registered with well integrated films that perhaps lacked the expensive polish that comes with a Polanski- or Scorsese-helmed project. The Norwegian filmmaker Hans Petter Moland, best known in the States for Aberdeen and Zero Kelvin, made a splash with A Somewhat Gentle Man (competition), starring Swedish jack-of-all-trades actor Stellan Skarsgard. Moland directs this dark comedy in a deceptively simple fashion, the film’s subtle use of sound and image forcing the slightest door creak or fade to take on special resonance.

And in the Mexican portmanteau Revolution (Berlinale Special), the two finest of the 10 assembled shorts are by Fernando Eimbcke (Duck Season, Lake Tahoe), who impressed with his black-and-white, minimalist segment featuring an out-of-tune tuba player who persists in puffing away while others in the village orchestra give up on a welcoming reception that never happens; and L.A.-based Rodrigo Garcia (Things You Can Tell Just by Looking at Her, Nine Lives), who opted for a 180-degree opposite approach. He made his section in rich color and, with a Phantom camera shooting at 450 frames per second, haunting slow motion. With a melancholy look in their eyes, rebels on horseback from the 100-year-old Mexican Revolution gallop through a contemporary Los Angeles barrio, with people walking past discount stores, cell phones in hand. The fighters appear horrified as they observe the legacy of their battle against dictatorship and theocracy.

The American indies were a mixed bag. The best was Lisa Cholodenko’s Sundance entry The Kids Are All Right, in competition here, its comic observation of a lesbian couple and their two teen children inspired. Cholodenko has come a long way since the amateurish High Art. The only problem this writer has with it is ideological: The film comes across as enlightened and inclusive, but then the kind if awkward heterosexual male played by Mark Ruffalo, who is the biological father of their offspring and who becomes the lover of Julianne Moore’s gay mommie, is unceremoniously dispensed with before a denouement in which the couple decides to repair their marital problems. It feels like he is being punished not only for being a nice guy but for possessing a large penis that clearly wowed Moore’s Jules.

Debra Granik’s Sundance winner Winter’s Bone (Forum) was politely received but without the hoopla that greeted it in Park City. It’s an interesting study of a messed-up family occupying the lowest rung of society’s ladder, with Jennifer Lawrence’s performance justifiably applauded. Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman’s Allen Ginsberg biopic Howl, which got savaged by many critics at Sundance, did stand out in the competition for its formal chutzpah, although many here felt the animation extraneous (I don’t agree). James Franco’s portrayal of the poet was strongly praised, deservedly so.

As was Greta Gerwig’s spacey twentysomething in Noah Baumbach’s Greenberg, also in competition. It was probably the only element of the film that was appreciated. Baumbach is a consummate New Yorker, but he unwisely locates this film in Los Angeles. Casting Ben Stiller as a typical New York neurotic who moves back to L.A. (one doesn’t become that way by spending a few years in the Big Apple as Stiller’s character did) might be an attempt to leaven the inert L.A. proceedings with an infusion of Manhattan mania, but it doesn’t work. Greenberg lacks the veracity of Baumbach’s earlier New York-set work, especially The Squid and the Whale.

All around, however, despite its lack of any budget to speak of, Colombian director Oscar Ruiz Navia’s Crab Trap (Forum), a first feature, is more organic than any of the films described above, with the possible exception of A Somewhat Gentle Man. Ruiz Navia lived for three years with a community of black ex-slaves on the coast. These people have been ignored by the larger society, and certainly not been made into the subject of any films. He brought in two relatively inexperienced white actors, but all except one of the locals are nonprofessionals.

The plotline: For an unexplained reason, a city fellow desperately needs to leave the country. He ventures to this remote region to find a boat. While waiting for the fishermen to return, he witnesses an interloper’s attempt to exploit these people, gets involved with the girlfriend of the community’s leader, and befriends her sweet young daughter. Shooting in super-16, with just the right dose of handheld camera, over a long period of time as he waited for funds to come his way, Ruiz Navia achieves a level of intimacy with his cast rare in cinema. Crab Trap is as successful as cultural anthropology as it is as cinema at its purest.

Howard Feinstein

# posted by Howard Feinstein @ 2/17/2010 11:40:00 PM Comments (0)

A couple of weeks ago I blogged about Matt Porterfield's Kickstarter campaign for his film Putty Hill. He needed to raise $10,000, and with 30 hours left to go, he is still collecting funds over and above his goal; he's currently at $18,926. Undoubtedly, the film's high-profile premiere — in the Berlin Film Festival's Forum section — helped. You can follow his adventure there over at the IFP blog, where Porterfield has been blogging. Here's an excerpt where he talks about some of the people he has been meeting:

I saw Claire Denis (pictured) speak to the Talent Campus today and knew I was in the right place. To quote: “Retain the essential. Script and budget work parallel — otherwise there is always frustration. Organize one’s self mentally, to need things you can afford and to keep what you feel the film will be made of — your secret story, what you really want, what you can do in case your budget is in danger: a little secret of your own.”

Coincidentally, I talked to Amos Poe this morning and then watched him in a film tonight (Blank City). Nick Zedd was in it, too. And John Waters. What does this mean? We’re all connected, those of us who work outside the system. And the strong ones survive, despite the incredible odds. That’s what the Forum’s all about,supporting new visions and new talent, and establishing a venue where even little films and independent filmmakers have access to the world’s stage.

# posted by Scott Macaulay @ 2/16/2010 05:55:00 PM Comments (0)

In the Fall of 2008 filmmaker Jeff Deutchman asked his friends from around the world to record their feelings and experiences on the day Barack Obama was elected President. The resulting material comprises his feature 11/4/08, which premieres at SXSW next month, and Deutchman is still in post raising money. He has a Kickstarter page and is looking to raise $3,500 for color correction and the preparation of various marketing materials.

Here's how he describes the project:

Two weeks before the election of Barack Obama, filmmaker Jeff Deutchman asked his friends around the world to record their experiences of 11/4/08, a day that had become “historic” before it had even taken place. In Phase One of this transmedia-project, a feature vérité documentary, we witness a global canvas begin to unfold: in St. Louis and Austin, idealistic volunteers think they can turn their states blue; in Chicago, voter lines are made even longer when Obama shows up to cast his own vote; in Alaska, children seem to be as invested in the election results as their parents; in Paris, an organization discusses whether there could ever be a black President of France; in Dubai, Berlin, Geneva and New Delhi, expatriates express their emotion from a distance; and in Harlem, a felon casts doubt on whether any of this will actually affect his life. As we approach the final announcement of Obama’s victory at 11pm EST, what emerges is a portrait of how people choose to live through “history”: the celebration of a new future remaining entangled with the universally visible tensions of the past. The premiere of this documentary will coincide with the launch of a website that will mark the beginning of Phase Two: an effort to accumulate the most comprehensive collection of non-news footage shot on 11/4/08. The original version of the film will be updated on the website as a living document, but the footage will also be made available for users at home to edit their own versions of that day and then upload for all to see.

The trailer is below along with the Kickstarter widget.

11/4/08 trailer from Jeff Deutchman on Vimeo.

# posted by Scott Macaulay @ 2/16/2010 10:00:00 AM Comments (0)

Returning to the Anthology Film Archives following an opening night event at Kush Lounge is Cinekink NYC. No rebel posturing here, just an eclectic selection of docs, fiction and experimental works dealing with some form of alternative sexuality. This year's fest kicks off tonight at Kush Lounge with an opening party and screenings of JX Williams 1964 short, The 400 Blow Jobs. According to the catalogue, "While banished to the Hollywood blacklist, JX Williams wrote and directed over 200 stag films in the 1950s and 60s, including this wicked homage to Francois Truffaut." Also on the bill: Loretta Hintz's Sheep and the Ranch Hand, about a woman who dreams she's transformed into a sheep. Screenings during the body of the fest range from Zach Clark's SXSW premiering indie drama Modern Love is Automatic (pictured) to Body Modification Freaks (a doc on the Japanese body mod community) to Bring it!, a collection of work from the mainstream adult industry.

I asked CineKink's founder, Lisa Vandever to comment on this year's fest and recommend some titles for Filmmaker readers, and here's what she wrote back:

What’s been most striking for me this season is how much great material we were able to choose from in putting together the schedule. In past years it seemed like there was always a last-minute scramble to flush out the program with works that have both a sex-positive focus and good production values. This time the difficulty came in having to make tough decisions and pass over some really engaging possibilities.

Another sign of growth and maturity for both CineKink and the sex-positive filmmaking community, while we’ve always had a good offering of shorts and documentaries, this year we also have a number of very strong feature-length narratives. Our opening film, S&M Judge, a drama about the controversy one couple provokes when they begin to explore sadomasochism, does a wonderful job of presenting with empathy and nuance what is generally depicted in a salacious, exploitative way. And our closing film, Stories of Sex(es), represents a bit of the Holy Grail for me, a funny and sexy farce that somehow manages to balance both narrative drive and explicit sexuality, with neither getting in the way of the other.

For more details on the fest, which runs through the 21st, visit its B-side site.

# posted by Scott Macaulay @ 2/16/2010 09:00:00 AM Comments (0)

Hot off the hard drive, here is the latest episode of the New Breed's Park City series. This one pulls together producers and directors to talk about the strategic, pro-active steps they are taking to connect their films to audiences.

The official word:

SABI filmmakers Zak Forsman and Kevin K. Shah pick up with Ted Hope where he left off in the last episode to further explore the solutions that are emerging for independent filmmakers. He is joined by Mynette Louie (Children of Invention) and new interviews with Sultan Sharrief (Bilal's Stand), Lance Weiler (HiM), and Scilla Andreen (IndieFlix).

NEW BREED PARK CITY - Exploring The Solutions, Part 3 from Sabi Pictures on Vimeo.

# posted by Scott Macaulay @ 2/15/2010 09:46:00 PM Comments (0)

UPDATE 2/16: Screen reports that the remake rumors are just that.

The biggest news so far to come out of the Berlin Film Festival is on a film that was made 36 years ago.

Spreading all over the blogs, Lars von Trier and Martin Scorsese are supposedly mulling over the idea of remaking Taxi Driver with Robert De Niro to reprise the role of Travis Bickle. In Variety, Gunnar Rehlin reports:

The idea behind the project is similar to the film The Five Obstructions that von Trier and Danish helmer Jorgen Leth made in 2003. In that film, von Trier challenged his colleague Leth to do a remake of his own 1967 film The Perfect Human. Von Trier gave Leth the taks of remaking five times, each with a different obstacle, such as making the film animated.

Now don't head over to the ledge just yet. So far no one is talking but that should change as both Scorsese and von Trier are in Berlin and there's supposed to be a statement coming out shortly.

Scorsese has always toyed with the idea of making a sequel to Taxi Driver, but I don't know how a remake could be (dare I say) watchable. To be continued...

# posted by Jason Guerrasio @ 2/15/2010 03:18:00 PM Comments (0)

One independent film I've been aware of for some time (it's described in the press materials as "a labor of love five years in the making") and was happy to see in the SXSW line-up is David Robert Mitchell's The Myth of the American Sleepover. It's Mitchell's feature debut, it was produced by Adele Romanski, and it was shot on the RED One by Medicine for Melancholy's James Laxton. Check out the trailer below.

The Myth of the American Sleepover - Official Trailer from Strike Anywhere on Vimeo.

# posted by Scott Macaulay @ 2/15/2010 10:00:00 AM Comments (0)

Film titles? If you're like many independent filmmakers, by the time you get to them you are low on post funds and you suddenly wind up with a newfound artistic appreciation of Woody Allen's career-long white serif font on black approach. To inspire you to set aside some money during budgeting for a title sequence that will be as groundbreaking as your movie, check out Forget the Film, Watch the Titles, a website devoted to the art of title design. There are articles and videos about 130 different titles sequences and 70 different designers, including star title designer Kyle Cooper, which I've embedded below.

Kyle Cooper interview (1/2) - Forget the Film, Watch the Titles from SubmarineChannel on Vimeo.

# posted by Scott Macaulay @ 2/15/2010 09:00:00 AM Comments (0)

Beautiful Darling, James Rasin's documentary on the life of actress and Warhol superstar Candy Darling, premieres at the Berlin Film Festival this week. In it, actress Chloe Sevigny voices Darling. From the film's website:

Beautiful Darling, a documentary film, pays tribute to the short but influential life of an extraordinary person -- the actress Candy Darling, born James Slattery in a Long Island suburb in 1944. Drawn to the feminine from childhood, by the mid-Sixties James had become Candy, a gorgeous, blonde actress and well-known downtown New York figure. Candy's career took her through the raucous and revolutionary Off-off-Broadway theater scene and into Andy Warhol's legendary Factory. There she became close to Warhol and starred in two Factory movies that still shock and amuse today: Flesh and Women in Revolt. Candy used her Warhol fame to land further film roles, and her admirer Tennessee Williams cast her in his play Small Craft Warnings. She dreamed of becoming a Hollywood star, but tragically died of lymphoma in the early Seventies, at only twenty-nine.

Candy's beauty, humor, and early death, the guts it took to live as a woman, the glamorous parties and the famous friends -- most of all the strength of will she demonstrated in her remarkable act of self-creation -- moved those who knew her in her lifetime and continue to gather fans today. It's a story of wild, creative times and of audacious people, but one that has a theme inspiring for anyone, anywhere: whatever the obstacles, be true to yourself.

The film uses both current and vintage interviews, excerpts from Candy's own diaries and letters, as well as vintage footage of Candy and friends.

# posted by Scott Macaulay @ 2/12/2010 05:20:00 PM Comments (0)

I've written before that I think alternative forms of currency may provide benefits for not just filmmakers but many niche content creators and also social interest vendors. Peter Sunde, one of the founders of the torrent site The Pirate Bay, has launched his venture, Flattr. Basically, on a monthly basis you commit to an amount of money that you'll disperse to content creators. Then, as the month goes by, you click on their Flattr buttons and at the end of the month the service divvies up your funds and gives an equal amount to each person you've clicked. Watch below, as Sunde says what I just did.

Flattr - How Flattr Works from Flattr on Vimeo.

# posted by Scott Macaulay @ 2/10/2010 11:12:00 PM Comments (0)

At Filmmaker we've been interested in the use of the new DSLR cameras — the Canon 5D and 7D, and the Nikon D90 -- by filmmakers. Now, if ProLost's Stu Maschwitz is correct, a lot more filmmakers will be experimenting with these video-recording still cameras. He dubs the Rebel T2i (also known as the 550D) the "no more excuses" camera due to its combination of price -- $799! — and features carried over from the more expensive 7D. He writes about it in reference to the Canon HV20 video camera:

I marked the Canon 7D as the real arrival of HDSLR cinema. The price, the frame rates, and sensor size all made great sense, and video finally earned it’s own button, more or less. There are still big problems with it of course, but they can be worked around. I’d hate to be working around them with a paying client over my shoulder, but for my personal work, I don’t mind. And if I get really stuck, I do have an actual video camera lying around here somewhere.

It seemed to me that no sooner had the HV20 come out that it was rendered obsolete by subsequent models, and its priced dropped from affordable to ridiculous. We went from “no more excuses” to “seriously, what more do you want” in a matter of months.

With the Rebel, HDSLRs just hit that point. If you have any interest in what they can do, there’s now a camera that you can buy for less than the cost of a decent tripod.

In fact, depending on how it performs, the Rebel may just be the new sweet spot. In the same way that the 1D Mark IV’s $5,000 price tag accounts for a bunch of pro stills features that don’t net much for the filmmaker, the shortcomings that put the Rebel at half the 7D’s price are most likely all in the stills department as well. If video is your primry interest in a DSLR, the Rebel could well represent the most bang for the buck.

# posted by Scott Macaulay @ 2/09/2010 09:19:00 PM Comments (0)

Filmmaker Miao Wang, a Beijing native now based in Brooklyn, is currently racing to finish her feature doc Beijing Taxi in time for SXSW, where it's scheduled to world premiere. She needs to raise $11,000 to cover post-production expenses and is just under half way there with five days left to go at Kickstarter. From the Kickstarter page:

BEIJING TAXI is a feature length documentary that vividly portrays Beijing undergoing a profound transformational arch. Through a humanistic lens, the intimate lives of three taxi drivers connect a morphing city confronted with modern issues and changing values. With diverse imagery combined with a contemporary score rich in atmosphere, we experience a visceral sense of the common citizen's persistent attempts to grasp the elusive. Candid and perceptive in its filming approach and highly cinematic in style, BEIJING TAXI takes us on a lyrical journey into fragments of a society riding the bumpy roads to modernization. Though the destination is unknown, they continue to forge ahead.

Wang has a great list of pledge rewards, including, for $5,000, a 7-day tour of Beijing (including airfare) with the cab drivers featured in the movie. A grand less gets you Wang's services as a website designer. Yes, for $4,000 towards her film she'll design you a professional portfolio website. Check out more from the artist at the site linked above. To donate, click on the widget below.

# posted by Scott Macaulay @ 2/09/2010 12:28:00 AM Comments (0)

Most movie-moment montages work an A-B-A structure in which "A" is sentimental uplift. This montage by Paul Proulx goes for something different. (Hat tip: Anne Thompson.)

the films of the 2000s from Paul Proulx on Vimeo.

# posted by Scott Macaulay @ 2/08/2010 11:02:00 PM Comments (0)

# posted by Scott Macaulay @ 2/08/2010 10:35:00 PM Comments (0)

Indie film champions are often fond of comparing what we do to indie music. If bands can tour, why can't we? If bands can sell merch, then we should too. If recording artists can form boutique labels, then why can't film distributors? Like, for example, Oscilloscope, the film label of Beastie Boy Adam Yauch.

At Flavorwire, Judy Berman takes this assumption to task in a piece called "Why is Indie Film Dying While Indie Music Thrives?" She bases her assessment of indie film's slow-motion death on Edward Jay Epstein's "Can Indie Movies Survive?", which I found to be a pretty reductive piece. The central question — how can indie movies survive in an event-based moviegoing culture? — is a good one, but Epstein's article uses one very specific model of independent film production to speak for the whole field. (On this point about indie films and their event-fullness, check out Ted Hope's newly redesigned Truly Free Film — he wrote about just the issue and came up with ten solutions in a post titled "What Defines an Event: 10 Thoughts on Transforming Small to LARGE.") Nonetheless, Berman's article raises some points and perhaps touches a nerve or two. She boils it down to five points, the last two of which speak to broader issues involving our art:

4. Community
This is a simple one: Music fandom is generally a very social activity. Friends dance at shows together and trade tips on (and share the music of) artists they like. While much has been made of the internet’s power to attract fans around the world, local scenes — especially in smaller cities — remain vital. More established bands help promote their newer, more obscure brethren, kids move into warehouses that they quickly convert into DIY show spaces and great performers (many of whom haven’t even recorded an album yet) become well known and loved in their home city, generating momentum that will eventually help them garner the attention of a label.

Film just doesn’t have nearly as many outlets. Yes, there are small groups of experimental and underground filmmakers working together around the country, watching and critiquing each other’s work, volunteering to hold a light on the set of their friends’ project. But this community is much smaller and attracts few fans who aren’t filmmakers themselves. Film just isn’t social the way music is; sure, you go to a movie with friends — and then you sit there, silent, in the dark.

5. Coolness
This point is something of a corollary to the one above. Independent music has a built-in fanbase: young, urban, largely white, middle-class kids — otherwise known as hipsters. That isn’t their only audience, but it’s a major one, and it’s also a group with a lot of cultural capital. They are the trendsetters, the early adopters and (perhaps most importantly) the unencumbered young professionals who spend a ton of money on their own entertainment. For better or for worse, they’re who marketers spend untold amounts of cash trying to win over, and their allure is such that a new shipment of post-college 20-somethings arrives every year in cities around the country to get some freelance graphic design gigs and drink cheap beer at loft parties. Indie music is at the center of this social life.

Contrast that to your stereotypical film geek: unwashed, anti-social, constantly spouting quotes from cult movies you’ve never heard of at inopportune times. (Perhaps the best examples can be found in the documentary Cinemania.) Of course, most indie film fans (ourselves included) aren’t eccentric loners: They’re everyone from the same hipsters who make the underground music world go ’round to, well, our 55-year-old dentist dad who single-handedly keeps Netflix in business. But the fact remains that indie music is an essential element of a certain, increasingly popular, lifestyle, while its film counterpart just isn’t.

Ouch.

In terms of responding to Berman, perhaps the first thing to do is to take issue with her definition of participation in independent film. If it's just holding a boom on a cold set, going on an awkward first date, or talking to your cineaste dentist while you wait for the novocaine to kick in, then, yes, maybe it's not an activity you are going to be super passionate about. But independent film should offer more, and the palpable difference between it and mainstream media should create its own need for a certain segment of the moviegoing population. Hope addresses this in the first item on his list as he talks about the imperative of independent film to inspire conversation:

A conversation that inevitably will continue after the screening is over. It is an event if you are compelled to discuss it afterwards. Is that a memorable scene? A relationship to the world we live in? Truth? Understanding? Passion? Beauty? Transcendence? What? What is the return the audience gets on their 90 minute investment? It’s the after-effect, the conversation.

I have a few more thoughts about this that dovetail into another post I've been writing that will go up later today. For now, though, I'd be curious your thoughts on Berman's piece.

# posted by Scott Macaulay @ 2/08/2010 01:03:00 PM Comments (0)

In the new issue of Filmmaker, Esther Robinson penned "The Big Art/Little Debt Plan," which discusses the relation of filmmakers to risk, their films, and their money. She reached out to several filmmakers by email, and their responses helped shape her article. We are running several of the responses Esther received here on the blog. Below is the one from Paola Mendoza, director of Entre Nos.


What strategies did you employ to stay no/low debt during your production?

My strategy was pretty simple: I refused to go into debt. While making art is the essence of who I am, I cannot make art at the expense of my future and my family’s future. If I cannot find a creative way to tell stories without spending my money irresponsibly than I shouldn't be telling stories or making movies. The same creative energy I put into writing, directing, acting I put into making movies with little or no money. In the case of Autumn's Eyes (feature doc) that meant borrowing cars, tape stock, asking people who loved me for their ez passes, asking huge favors from friends and colleagues to work for free or very little money. We built a community around the film, that believed in the story, they believed in us, they believed in our vision. In the end it was that community that allowed us to finish the film for under 4k. My co-director Gabriel Noble and I split the cost over two years of production, which means that I never didn't pay my rent to make our movie...

In the case of Entre Nos (feature narrative) again I was very clear that I would not go into debt to make the film. I made a deal with myself if I couldn't raise the money I would not make the film. I think this ultimatum with myself actually made me work harder to find the money because I knew the only way to make the film was to find the money. Yet again the success of Entre Nos was building our community...from our investors to our PA's we all sacrificed we all worked hard and we were all part of the film.

In what ways did it effect your production positively? Negatively?

As anything else in life when you have very little at your disposal you have no other choice but to be creative. I just returned from Cuba and the Cuban people are the most creative people on the planet... they have a saying there "lo resolvemos" which translates to we'll resolve it which is very frequently followed by "no es facil" it's not easy... words to live by as an indie filmmaker.

Did it change your attitude or options going into post? Fest circuit? Distribution negotiations? How will this approach affect you going forward?

Committing to making a certain type of movie and committing to making sure I don't go into debt can be exhausting and sometimes very frustrating. At times the fast money from a credit card can seem so easy but since I have made three movies without going into debt I now KNOW I can't do it any other way. I can't trick or lie to myself...so this is the path I have chosen...this is where I will remain through the good and the bad.

What limitations/possibilities could you see it having for other filmmakers?

I never studied film so I don't have any idea of how your supposed to make a movie... I only know how I make movies. Meaning some filmmakers can't imagine making a film without a 2nd AD or even a 3rd AD but to be honest I don't even know what a 3rd AD does... So in my ignorance I have found a lot of freedom to be creative on HOW to get my movies MADE. I'm very lucky in that respect because so often I have heard directors say I can't make my movie without XY and Z meanwhile all I need is X cause Y and Z are luxuries. I understand this will not work for all filmmakers or for all movies...so you have to know your story and know what type of filmmaker you are.

What advice would you give filmmakers in this regard?

The same creative energy you use when writing and directing use when dealing with money... and somehow someway find the joy in it... you'll be happier for it.

(Photo: Richard Koek)

# posted by Scott Macaulay @ 2/07/2010 09:40:00 AM Comments (0)

Bristol's Massive Attack return this week with a new album, Heligo Land, and word has it that the band that once invented trip-hop and now is probably best known for providing the theme music for House may be revisiting the former glory of their classic albums Blue Lines and Protection. Preceding the album is this website, Massive Attack Tweatre, which is unveiling seven music videos commissioned for the album. Three are up so far, and the grabber is "Paradise Circus/Life of a Pornstar." It's a beautiful downtempo song sung by Hope Sandoval, and the video, directed by Toby Dye, is truly something. It features Georgina Spelvin, the now 70-something star of Gerard Damiano's '70s porn classic The Devil in Miss Jones, discussing her work on that film, her emotions at the time, her thoughts on sexuality, and, finally, her love of the camera. "We are our own devils," she says somewhat chillingly at the end. Intercut with the interview are scenes from the film itself. It's the most arresting video I've seen in some time. I haven't embedded it because it's explicit, adults only and NSFW, but you can find it at the link above. (The "tweater" requires you to sign in with your Twitter account; when doing so, you send a tweet out telling people you are watching the videos.) Or, various sites are uploading it, including this Vimeo page.

# posted by Scott Macaulay @ 2/07/2010 12:31:00 AM Comments (0)

As Scott posted earlier today, 3-D is not just on the minds of the majors. And with the news that JP Morgan has raised millions to finance the digital conversion of around 12,000 screens, it's a first step for one day indie filmmakers to share their own 3-D projects with studio fare in theaters.

According to the Los Angeles Times piece, the investment bank raised close to $700 million. The funding was delayed over a year due to the credit crunch. This comes three years after a consortium was formed by three of the largest exhibitors (AMC, Cinemark and Regal) to pay for digital conversion.

Currently, there are only 3,500 digital 3-D screens in the country.

# posted by Jason Guerrasio @ 2/06/2010 04:09:00 PM Comments (0)

# posted by Scott Macaulay @ 2/06/2010 02:38:00 PM Comments (0)

Baltimore director Matt Porterfield's (Hamilton) latest film Putty Hill premieres this month at the Berlin Film Festival's Forum. On the film's nicely-done website, Porterfield describes coming up with a five-page treatment that would use 15 locations when financing for a larger project, Metal Gods, fell through. About the result, he writes:

Putty Hill is not quite like anything I’ve ever seen. On a most basic level, it is an amalgam of traditional forms of documentary and narrative realism. But it is an approach to realism in opposition to the anthropological, lyrical, and romantic currents present in most of the genre. More importantly, though the structure of the film was plotted, the details of individual scenes were largely improvised, breathing life into the dialogue and bringing an enhanced degree of naturalism to the relationships between characters. I had already established firm bonds with my cast working with them on Metal Gods, so they trusted me enough to take risks and bring a level of emotional honesty to the material that will resonate with audiences.

There's a lot more on the site, including photos and behind-the-scenes video. The site also has a Kickstarter page that, with 11 days to go, has reached its goal of $10,000 to help defray post-production expenses and travel to Berlin. But, that number won't cover it all, and monies are still being collected.

Below is the trailer for a film that's synopsized like this:

A young man dies of a heroin overdose in an abandoned house in Baltimore. On the eve of his funeral, family and friends gather to commemorate his life. Their shared memories paint a portrait of a community hanging in the balance, skewed by poverty, city living, and a generational divide, united in their pursuit of a new American Dream

PUTTY HILL trailer from Matt Porterfield on Vimeo.

# posted by Scott Macaulay @ 2/06/2010 11:02:00 AM Comments (0)

Okay, it's not Avatar, but if you have a pair of those old red and blue cardboard glasses lying around you can check out Gray Miller's proposal for Sea Monster, which is being billed as a "3D stereoscopic web series exploring new film grammar." He's raising money for the "pulp sci-fi hard science mix" through Kickstarter and is about a third of the way towards his $5,000 goal with 37 days left. From his proposal:

We're launching a sci-fi 3-D web series inspired by Moby Dick. It's designed to be shot in our own DIY stereoscopic 3-D, around Coney Island and Brooklyn next summer, and the budget for the pilot is $5,000. It's going to be a lot of work, but a lot of fun. I have a group of talented New York actors that I've worked with on my previous films, and we've shot test footage showing our new approach to 3-D storytelling.

What makes this 3-D web series unique is a completely new film grammar for 3-D stereoscopic filmmaking that I've been working for the last two years called Stereo Expressionism. You can watch the test footage above (we'll mail you 3-D glasses for a $1 pledge) or a HD quality version and some tests from an early version of this project here.

The main idea of Stereo Expressionism is this: 3-D filmmaking works by sending a slightly different image to your left and right eye. Your brain puts those two images together when you wear the 3-D glasses and interprets it as depth. But no one has thought to explore the creative storytelling potential in having the option to slightly tweak the difference between what the left and right eye are seeing. It's exciting because it's actually new film grammar-- for the first time, a story is being told by two images that aren't 1) shown in a sequence through editing, and not 2) shown through being double exposed or composited together with visual effects, but 3) by being literally juxtaposed and combined in the audience's brain.

For more, visit the project Kickstarter's page. For more of Gray Miller's work, visit Daydream Glacier. And for his SXSW-winning film, Visit, click here.

# posted by Scott Macaulay @ 2/06/2010 10:41:00 AM Comments (0)

In the new issue of Filmmaker, Esther Robinson penned "The Big Art/Little Debt Plan," which discusses the relation of filmmakers to risk, their films, and their money. She reached out to several filmmakers by email, and their responses helped shape her article. We are running several of the responses Esther received here on the blog. Here is Jonathan Goodman Levitt's.


What strategies did you employ to stay no/low debt during your production?

I've had to take on a lot of more roles myself than would be ideal for the film, or for me personally. Life has been pretty much on-hold during the course of making this film, which has been an ongoing struggle. I had a colleague/friend shoot a few interviews so that I could focus on engaging with subjects, but was a one-man-band on over 90% of shoots out of necessity, which sacrificed some sound and picture quality overall. And it makes it all a more lonely process than I'd like it to be. There are benefits on shoots themselves in terms of intimacy and ease of scheduling — and you'll see that in real terms at times in the film -- but on balance it would have been better for me and the eventual film to have at least one colleague involved consistently.

Because it was also going to be a long production — 2-3 years shooting, with an overlapping edit that I knew would last over a year in all — producing on my own was a separate issue that was more consequential than working alone on shoots themselves. It would have taken a lot of time pressure off me if someone else was helping to schedule and finance everything. But there wouldn't be money to pay someone unless they were able to raise more money than I have; so it's unclear whether this was the right choice or not. In the recession especially, financing has become a lot more time-consuming than it would otherwise be; so to keep from sinking too far into debt (which I know from experience on a previous feature, which luckily sold to BBC Storyville and others in Europe -- a rare happy ending 7 years after production began) the process has also taken longer. Instead of everything happening at once, I've taken time away from directing or editing to spend time financing — for instance, going to a European festival or market followed by a couple of other trips within Europe for meetings — and our schedule has shifted rather more than I or already invested broadcasters would like.

In what ways did it effect your production positively? Negatively? Did it change your attitude or options going into post? fest circuit? distribution negotiations?

(With reference to above) The time and effort it's taken to raise money has been more than I would have dreamed with what is in fact a 'sale-able' film, and increasingly bad as the recession has hit public broadcasters internationally — so it's certainly affected our schedule. Having to take time to raise money made meetings deadlines for Sundance and Berlin an impossibility, and meant that we wouldn't be competitive for premiering at top festivals until later in 2010. Having less money has also meant that I'm editing on my own, which is less than ideal and has the same delaying effect. Even now, we are at the mercy of a handful of people, who may well decide whether the film can be finished by late Winter, early Spring, or later. In past years, I might have been more optimistic about sales prospects following completion — whether those ideas were realistic or not — and might have been willing to take greater risks financially. But with sales prospects clearly diminishing, I have to be more conservative in how leveraged my company becomes; unfortunately have to disappoint broadcasters by delivering later than we would all like; and have to sacrifice what might be better festival launches for the film because I need to spend more time raising money, in the knowledge that it is worth more to buyers before it is done than after. On the positive side, we will have a better film in the end; but it would have been better had it come out earlier, so this too cuts both ways.

The ideal world probably only existed for less than 1% of filmmakers before the reality check of the recession, but when I started this film I was shooting for that sort of happy ending. Mid-way through the goals became more modest — namely, making a strong film that would last; having a lot of people see the film; and not ending up in debt like the last time. And I think we have more than a 50% chance now at meeting those relatively modest but by no means small goals. We're looking to be the film that provokes and promotes intelligent dialogue surrounding the 2010 US midterm elections too, and the film aside, we'll still need a good portion of luck to achieve this new definition of success.

How will this approach effect you going forward?

I think I'll be hesitant in the future to go into production on an observational documentary that follows characters over time. This type of film is my passion, and the motivation for naming our company Changeworx in fact, but being a third-funded going into a years-long shoot isn't something I'll probably take on again for a long time. A more contained shoot might be different, and so this experience will probably lead to less 'ambitious' work in the future, which isn't necessarily a bad thing. American filmmakers in general have a habit of being too ambitious, even when making 'small' films that are essentially about domestic life as I do, and some scaling back is probably good.

And for me personally, I'll be working for other people more in specific roles rather than taking close to 100% of my time to work on my own films. This shift has already happened as I've been helping produce and finance a film for other directors that's being made for ZDF/Arte. Manageable involvement in others' work is certainly more fulfilling and predictable in terms of both commitment and reward.

What limitations/possibilities could you see it having for other filmmakers?

I think the recession is going to make people more realistic overall, which (again) isn't a bad thing. Maybe there will be less films made in the coming years for the first time since production became so "cheap" because anyone could afford the basic tools even before they knew what they were going to do. And I think the recession is already having an impact on creating community within the industry...struggling is more common, and therefore cooler to share in a way, and you can see that happening in meaningful if also less meaningful ways... — Jonathan Goodman Levitt


Jonathan Goodman Levitt is a documentary filmmaker who also works as a cameraman, editor, journalist, and teacher. In Spring, 2010, he will finish Follow the Leader, a coming-of-age story about three conservative teenage boys growing up during a time of “change” in America, for Channel 4, VPRO, & SVT. His company Changeworx has a second film currently in production with Germany’s DreamTeam Media, Rebel with a Cause, about the Chilean eco-conservation work of American former clothing magnate (founder of Esprit & North Face) Doug Tompkins. Jonathan’s last film, Sunny Intervals and Showers (2006), played festivals including Sheffield, Chicago, & One World; aired on BBC and other European channels; and was nominated for Grierson & Mental Health Media Awards. Other credits include consulting on Best Documentary Emmy-winning BBC Series The Secret Life of the Manic Depressive featuring Stephen Fry, effects editing on art installations, and short films. Jonathan studied psychology, painting & political theory at Stanford before a Fulbright Scholarship allowed him to attend the UK’s National Film and Television School (NFTS) in 1999. Native to New Jersey, he moved “home” to New York from London in 2008.

# posted by Scott Macaulay @ 2/06/2010 09:34:00 AM Comments (0)

In the new issue of Filmmaker, Esther Robinson penned "The Big Art/Little Debt Plan," which discusses the relation of filmmakers to risk, their films, and their money. She reached out to several filmmakers by email, and their responses helped shape her article. We are running several of the responses Esther received here on the blog. Below is the one from Dan Cogan of Impact Partners.


What drives most filmmakers, and especially documentary filmmakers, is their deep passion to tell a story. It's not about money or about a career for many filmmakers — it's about the story. This is very much a good and a bad thing. The passion is the good part — the refusal to think about money or budgets in a practical way is a bad thing.

Many filmmakers, especially first-time filmmakers, are definitely unrealistic about financing. The thing is, it's easy to write a budget for a film. The problem is, that budget is irrelevant if you can't raise the funding.

When we finance films at Impact Partners, we start from the point of passion — do we think this could be a great film? And if the answer is yes, then we quickly move to the most practical question: what is the revenue that we can project for the project? After all, if we invest money, we need to know how we can earn it back. We think about the state of the U.S. and international TV markets — the most important sources of revenue for docs — and then also if there are educational and niche markets that can be served by DVD, downloads, etc. We then work backwards from the revenue that we think the film can generate to figure out how much we think we can invest.

Filmmakers can do the same thing. They can and should write budgets, but then they also have to look at what they can realistically think they can earn at the back end. If their budget exceeds their projected earnings, they need to figure out sources of soft money to close the gap. If they don't think that can be done, they need to consider bringing the budget down.

Of course, none of this is easy for filmmakers who are near the beginning of their careers. How do they figure out what the market will bear? The answer is: get help early on. Knock on doors of experienced producers, sales agents, and directors whose films you like. Submit your project to Independent Film Week, the IDFA and Hot Docs pitching forums. As you approach filmmaker for help, maybe you'll even find an EP who can help you put it all together. You may also find crucial bad news early on — such as the film you want to make was just made last year by someone in France and all the int'l buyers bought it, so you'll never do any sales outside the U.S. This isn't fun to hear, but better to learn it now than when you're done and have sunk all your own money into a film you can't sell.

Depending on the film, I do think it's possible to self-finance and then come out with manageable personal debt — but you need to think from the point of view of "earnings", not just what your dream budget says you need. When push comes to shove, independent filmmakers can figure out how to do things cheaply — that's what we do. But it helps to do this from the very start. — Dan Cogan

# posted by Scott Macaulay @ 2/05/2010 09:07:00 AM Comments (0)

In the continuing series of videos by SABI Pictures executive produced by Filmmaker and the Workbook Project, here's part 2 on the subject of exploring solutions:

SABI filmmakers Zak Forsman and Kevin K. Shah speak with Dan Mirvish, Brian Newman, Ira Deutchman and Ted Hope to further explore the solutions that are emerging for independent filmmakers – featuring a proposal for a new relationship between filmmakers and festivals as outlined by Peter Baxter at the 2010 Filmmaker Summit.

NEW BREED PARK CITY – Exploring the Solutions, Part 2 from Sabi Pictures on Vimeo.

Watch New Breed videos.

# posted by Jason Guerrasio @ 2/05/2010 09:06:00 AM Comments (0)

With Super Bowl Sunday a few days away you may be getting ready by watching the old NFL Films of Super Bowls past. But how would they come out if they were directed by famous filmmakers? The Herzog one is my favorite.

# posted by Jason Guerrasio @ 2/04/2010 08:47:00 PM Comments (0)

The South by Southwest Film Festival unveiled its lineup for this year's fest, which will take place in Austin, Texas March 12-20.

Out of the 119 titles shown this year some of the highlights will be the opening night film, fanboy fav Kick-Ass, as well as Mark and Jay Duplass’s Cyrus, Steven Soderbergh’s And Everything Is Going Fine, Michel Gondry’s The Thorn in the Heart and Bernard Rose’s Mr. Nice (pictured).

The full list of films are below.


HEADLINERS

Cyrus
Directors and Screenwriters: Jay and Mark Duplass
With John’s social life at a standstill and his ex-wife about to get remarried, a down on his luck divorcee finally meets the woman of his dreams, only to discover she has another man in her life – her son. Written and directed by Jay & Mark Duplass, the iconoclastic filmmaking team behind The Puffy Chair, Cyrus takes an insightful, funny and sometimes heartbreaking look at love and family in contemporary Los Angeles. Cast: John C. Reilly, Jonah Hill, Marisa Tomei, Catherine Keener, Matt Walsh

Get Low
Director: Aaron Schneider, Screenwriters: Chris Provenzano and C. Gaby Mitchell
A film spun out of equal parts folk tale, fable and real-life legend about a mysterious, 1930s Tennessee hermit who plans his own rollicking funeral party... while still alive. Cast: Robert Duvall, Bill Murray

Kick-Ass
Director: Matthew Vaughn. Screenwriters: Jane Goldman and Matthew Vaughn
A twisted, funny, high-octane adventure, based on the comic written by Mark Millar and John S. Romita, Jr. The film tells the story of average teenager Dave Lizewski, a comic-book fanboy who decides to take his obsession as inspiration to become a real-life superhero. Cast: Aaron Johnson, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Mark Strong, Chloë Grace Moretz and Nicolas Cage. (World Premiere)

MacGruber
Director: Jorma Taccone. Screenwriters: Will Forte & John Solomon & Jorma Taccone
Will Forte brings his clueless soldier of fortune to the big screen in the action-comedy MacGruber.
Cast: Will Forte, Kristen Wiig, Ryan Phillippe, Powers Boothe, Maya Rudolph and Val Kilmer (World Premiere)

Micmacs / Micmacs à tire-larigot (France)
Director: Jean-Pierre Jeunet. Screenwriters: Jean-Pierre Jeunet and Guillaume Laurant
Drawing on one of France's most popular screen stars, the incorrigible Dany Boon from the comedy megahit Bienvenue chez les Ch'tis, as well as a cast of some of the country's best-known actors, Jeunet turns on the afterburners in this searing piece of romantic filmmaking set against the storm clouds of warring arms dealers. Cast: Dany Boon (U.S. Premiere)

Mr. Nice (United Kingdom)
Director and Screenwriter: Bernard Rose
The true story of Howard Marks. He was Britain's most wanted man. He spent seven years in America's toughest penitentiary. You'll like him. Cast: Rhys Ifans, Chloë Sevigny, David Thewlis, Luis Tosar, Crispin Glover, Omad Djalili. (World Premiere)

The Runaways
Director and Screenwriter: Floria Sigismondi
The Runaways follows two friends, Joan Jett (Kristen Stewart) and Cherie Currie (Dakota Fanning), as they rise from rebellious Southern California kids to rock stars of the now legendary group that paved the way for future generations of girl bands. Cast: Kristen Stewart, Dakota Fanning, Scout Taylor-Compton, Michael Shannon, Alia Shawkat, Tatum O'Neal.


SPOTLIGHT PREMIERES

Audrey the Trainwreck
Director and Screenwriter: Frank V. Ross
Audrey the Trainwreck is a comedy about attempting to keep life simple, and the beauty of such an absurd pursuit. Most men live lives of quiet desperation – Ron’s desperation is about to get loud. Cast: Anthony Baker, Alexi Wasser, Danny Rhodes, Rebecca Spence, Joe Swanberg, Jess Weixler & Nick Offerman (World Premiere)

Barbershop Punk
Directors: Georgia Sugimura & Kristin Armfield (Co-Director). Screenwriter: Georgia Sugimura
Keeping the independent/punk spirit alive, barbershop quartet fan Robb Topolski takes on the nation’s largest cable company, only to find himself at the center of a federal investigation, inspiring a larger story of censorship, individual voice and access. Featuring interviews with Ian MacKaye, Damian Kulash of OK Go, Henry Rollins, Janeane Garofalo, John Perry Barlow among others. (World Premiere)

BARRY MUNDAY
Director and Screenwriter: Chris D’Arienzo
Barry Munday wakes up after being attacked to realize that he's missing his family jewels. To make matters worse, he learns he's facing a paternity lawsuit filed by a woman he can't remember having sex with.
Cast: Patrick Wilson, Judy Greer, Chloë Sevigny, Jean Smart, Malcolm McDowell, Cybill Shepherd, Billy Dee Williams (World Premiere)

Cold Weather
Director and Screenwriter: Aaron Katz
A former forensic science major and avid reader of detective fiction, who, after making a mess of his life in Chicago, returns to his hometown of Portland, Oregon. There, he, his sister Gail, and new friend Carlos become embroiled in something unexpected. Cast: Cris Lankenau, Trieste Kelly Dunn (World Premiere)

Elektra Luxx
Director and Screenwriter: Sebastian Gutierrez
A convoluted day in the life of recently retired porn superstar Elektra Luxx as she tries to make it in the straight world. Cast: Carla Gugino, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Timothy Olyphant, Malin Akerman, Adrianne Palicki
(World Premiere)

Greenlit
Director: Miranda Bailey
It ain't easy bein' green. (World Premiere)

Hood to Coast
Directors: Christoph Baaden and Marcie Hume (Co-Director)
Hood to Coast follows four unlikely teams on their epic journey to conquer the world's largest relay race. Winning isn't everything in a documentary that takes a celebratory look at personal motivation and attempting the extraordinary. (World Premiere)

Le Donk & Scor-zay-zee
Director and Screenwriter: Shane Meadows
In this unpredictable, irrepressible ode to spontaneous filmmaking, Paddy Considine stars as rock roadie and failed musician, Le Donk. Along the way he's lost a girlfriend but he has found a new sidekick in up-and-coming rap prodigy Scor-zay-zee. With Shane Meadows' fly-on-the-wall crew in tow, Donk sets out to make Scor-zay-zee a star...with a little help from the Arctic Monkeys. Cast: Paddy Considine, Dean Palinczuk, Olivia Colman
(North American Premiere)

Leaves of Grass
Director and Screenwriter: Tim Blake Nelson
Tim Blake Nelson’s Leaves of Grass is a comic thriller that weaves together the diametrically opposed lives of identical twin brothers, both played by two-time Academy Award® nominee Edward Norton.
Cast: Edward Norton, Keri Russell, Tim Blake Nelson, Melanie Lynskey, Richard Dreyfuss (U.S. Premiere)

Lebanon, Pa.
Director and Screenwriter: Ben Hickernell
Philly ad man Will travels to Lebanon, Pa. to bury his father. He meets his teenage cousin CJ and they form an unexpected bond, as both try to find their place in a splintered American landscape.
Cast: Josh Hopkins, Samantha Mathis, Mary Beth Hurt, Rachel Kitson, Iain Merrill Peakes (World Premiere)

Lemmy
Director: Greg Olliver and Wes Orshoski
This documentary delves into the personal and public lives of heavy metal icon and Motörhead frontman Lemmy Kilmister. Nearly three years in the making, and featuring appearances by such friends/peers as Metallica, Dave Grohl, Billy Bob Thornton and pro wrestler Triple H, the film follows Kilmister from his Hollywood bedroom to the hockey arenas of Scandinavia and Russia. (World Premiere)

Man On A Mission
Director: Mike Woolf
Man On A Mission is a feature length documentary that follows gaming millionaire Richard Garriott as he becomes the first second-generation American astronaut. (World Premiere)

No Crossover: The Trial of Allen Iverson
Director: Steve James
Steve James returns to his hometown of Hampton, Virginia to examine the 1993 bowling alley brawl that landed Allen Iverson, the nation’s top high-school basketball player, in jail and divided the community along racial lines. (World Premiere)

One Night in Vegas
Director: Reggie Rock Bythewood
On the evening of 9/7/96, Mike Tyson attempted to regain the WBA title in Vegas. Sitting ringside was his friend Tupac Shakur. This ESPN Films documentary tells not only the story of that infamous night but of their remarkable friendship. (World Premiere)

The People vs. George Lucas
Director: Alexandre O. Philippe
A no-holds-barred cultural examination of the conflicted dynamic between George Lucas and his fans over the past three decades. (World Premiere)

The Ride
Director: Meredith Danluck
A journey into the heart of America through the rough and tumble, rock and roll world of bull riding Cowboys. (World Premiere)

SATURDAY NIGHT
Director: James Franco
With unprecedented access to the behind the scenes process of the writers, actors and producers, Franco and his crew document what it takes to create one full episode of Saturday Night Live. (World Premiere)

The White Stripes: Under Great White Northern Lights
Director: Emmett Malloy
A visual and emotional feature length film documenting The White Stripes making their way through Canada and culminating with their 10th anniversary show in Nova Scotia. The film documents the band playing shows all over Canada; from local bowling alleys, to city buses, and onward to the legendary Savoy Theater for the 10th Anniversary show.


NARRATIVE FEATURE COMPETITION

Brotherhood
Director: Will Canon. Screenwriters: Will Canon and Doug Simon
When an initiation ritual spins dangerously out of control, one young man must stand up to save a friend's life. Cast: Jon Foster, Trevor Morgan, Arlen Escarpeta, Lou Taylor Pucci (World Premiere)

Dance With The One
Director: Mike Dolan. Screenwriters: Smith Henderson and Jon Marc Smith
An emotionally explosive thriller set in the troubled heart of Texas. Tragic family history rises to the surface when a teenager races to protect his family from a lethal drug-runner.
Cast: Gabriel Luna, Xochitl Romero, Gary McCleery, Mike Davis, Dana Wheeler-Nicholson (World Premiere)

Earthling
Director and Screenwriter: Clay Liford
Tragedy aboard the international space station triggers a discovery that some lives have been a lie.
Cast: Rebecca Spence, Peter Greene, Amelia Turner, William Katt, Matt Socia (World Premiere)

Helena from the Wedding
Director and Screenwriter: Joseph Infantolino
Newlyweds Alex and Alice Javal host a New Year’s Eve party at a cabin in the mountains for their closest friends and an unexpected guest in this nuanced and often funny portrait of marriage and anxiety in the late blooming professional class. Cast: Lee Tergesen, Melanie Lynskey, Gillian Jacobs, Dagmara Dominczyk, Paul Fitzgerald, Dominic Fumusa, Jessica Hecht, Corey Stoll (World Premiere)

The Myth of the American Sleepover
Director and Screenwriter: David Robert Mitchell
Four young people cross paths as they navigate the suburban wonderland of Metro-Detroit looking for love and adventure on the last night of summer.
Cast: Claire Sloma, Marlon Morton, Amanda Bauer, Brett Jacobsen (World Premiere)

Phillip The Fossil
Director and Screenwriter: Garth Donovan
Centering around an aging party animal chasing the endless summer, Phillip The Fossil is an uncompromising and raw, portrait of everyday people who struggle in all their blemished glory for a life of meaning.
Cast: Brian Hasenfus, Nick Dellarocca, Ann Palica, Angela Pagliarulo, J.R. Killigrew (World Premiere)

Some Days are Better than Others
Director and Screenwriter: Matt McCormick
Why do the good times go by so fast while the bad times always seem so sticky?
Cast: Carrie Brownstein, James Mercer, Renee Roman Nose, David Wodehouse (World Premiere)

Tiny Furniture
Director and Screenwriter: Lena Dunham
22-year-old Aura returns home after college to her artist mother’s loft with the following: a useless film theory degree, 357 hits on her YouTube page, and no shoulders to cry on. Starring Dunham and her real-life family, Tiny Furniture is tragicomedy about what does and does not happen when you graduate with no skills, no love life, and a lot of free time. Cast: Lena Dunham, Laurie Simmons, Grace Dunham, David Call, Alex Karpovsky
(World Premiere)


DOCUMENTARY FEATURE COMPETITION

Beijing Taxi
Director: Miao Wang
Through a humanistic lens, Beijing Taxi vividly portrays China undergoing a profound transformational arch in an era of Olympic transitions. The intimate lives of three cabbies connect a morphing cityscape and a lyrical journey through fragments of a society riding the bumpy roads to modernization. (World Premiere)

Camp Victory, Afghanistan
Director: Carol Dysinger
Using almost 300 hours of footage shot over the course of three years, Camp Victory, Afghanistan tells the story of the Afghan officers charged with building a new Afghan National Army and the U.S. National Guardsmen sent to mentor them. (World Premiere)

The Canal Street Madam
Director: Cameron Yates
An FBI raid on Jeanette Maier’s infamous family-run brothel in New Orleans destroyed her livelihood. Stigmatized by felony, fearing recrimination from powerful clients and determined to protect her children, Jeanette sets out to re-invent herself. (World Premiere)

Dirty Pictures
Director: Etienne Sauret
Dirty Pictures is an intimate portrait of the life and work of Dr. Alexander "Sasha" Shulgin, one of the world’s most renowned chemists who is considered by many to be the "Godfather of Psychedelics." (World Premiere)

For Once In My Life
Directors: Jim Bigham and Mark Moormann
The film takes an inspiring journey with a unique band of musicians with the common goal of making and performing music. Their story tells of the fine balancing act of taking on new challenges while living day-to-day with disabilities. This documentary shows what people can do when given a chance. (World Premiere)

Marwencol
Director: Jeff Malmberg
After a vicious attack leaves him brain damaged and broke, Mark Hogancamp seeks recovery in “Marwencol,” a 1/6th-scale World War II-era town he creates in his backyard. (World Premiere)

Pelada
Directors: Luke Boughen, Rebekah Fergusson, Gwendolyn Oxenham and Ryan White
Away from the bright lights and manicured fields, there's another side of soccer. (World Premiere)

War Don Don
Director: Rebecca Richman Cohen
The war is over, a trial begins. (World Premiere)


EMERGING VISIONS

11/4/08
Director: Jeff Deutchman
Weaving together footage recorded throughout the world on the day Obama was elected President, this vérité documentary explores how people choose to live through “history.” (World Premiere)


A Different Path
Director: Monteith McCollum
In an automobile dominated society, a cast of characters uses ingenuity and wit to forge a new way to commute. One by foot, one by bike, two by boat. (World Premiere)

American: The Bill Hicks Story (United Kingdom)
Directors: Matt Harlock and Paul Thomas
At last the true life story of the outlaw comic who tried to save the world. Three years in the making, using a stunning new animation technique, American: The Bill Hicks Story finally brings the amazing tale of one of modern culture's most iconic heroes to the big screen. (North American Premiere)

Bear Nation (Canada)
Director: Malcolm Ingram
What if your biggest perceived flaw became you greatest asset? Bear Nation is a thorough and stylistic examination of the sub culture sweeping gay culture, the sexualization of fat and hair. From the director of small town gay bar and Exec Produced by honorary bear Kevin Smith. (World Premiere)

Cherry
Director and Screenwriter: Jeffrey Fine
A college freshman gets a different kind of education when he falls for an older woman who has returned to school and her teenage daughter develops a crush on him.
Cast: Kyle Gallner, Laura Allen, Britt Robertson (World Premiere)

The Happy Poet
Director and Screenwriter: Paul Gordon
Bill, an out of work poet, puts his heart, soul, and last few dollars into starting an all-organic mostly-vegetarian food stand. Complications with the business jeopardize his dreams for a hot dog-free future. Cast: Paul Gordon, Jonny Mars, Chris Doubek, Liz Fisher, Amy Meyers-Martin (World Premiere)

Les Signes Vitaux / The Vital Signs (Canada)
Director and Screenwriter: Sophie Deraspe
The Vital Signs: the amount of life beings have... or lack thereof. Cast: Marie-Hélène Bellavance, Francis Ducharme, Marie Brassard, Danielle Ouimet, Suzanne St-Michel (U.S. Premiere)

Mars
Director and Screenwriter: Geoff Marslett
Set in 2014, Mars is an interplanetary animated feature about mankind's first mission searching for life, love, and adventure on the red planet. Told in the playful style of a graphic novel, MARS explores why we explore.
Cast: Mark Duplass, Zoe Simpson, Paul Gordon, Howe Gelb, Liza Weil, James Kochalka, Cynthia Watros, Michael Dolan, and Kinky Friedman (World Premiere)

NY Export: Opus Jazz
Director: Henry Joost and Jody Lee Lipes. Screenwriter: Jody Lee Lipes
This scripted adaptation of a 1958 jazz ballet by Jerome Robbins (West Side Story) takes the original choreography and returns it to the streets that inspired it in this tale of disaffected urban youth. Shot on 35mm on location all over New York City with dancers from the New York City Ballet. Cast: Dancers with New York City Ballet, Jerome Robbins. (World Premiere)

The Parking Lot Movie
Director: Meghan Eckman and Christopher Hlad (Assistant Director)
“It’s not just a parking lot, it’s a battle with humanity.” The Parking Lot Movie is a documentary about a singular parking lot in Charlottesville, Virginia. The film follows a select group of Parking Lot Attendants and their strange rite of passage. Something as simple as a parking lot becomes an emotional weigh station for the American Dream. (World Premiere)

Passenger Pigeons
Director and Screenwriter: Martha Stephens
Set among the Eastern Kentucky Coalfields, Passenger Pigeons quietly interweaves four separate story lines over the course of a weekend as the town copes with the death of a local miner.
Cast: Kentucker Audley, Brendan McFadden, Bryan Marshall, Caroline White, Martha Stephens (World Premiere)

Putty Hill
Director and Screenwriter: Matthew Porterfield
A young man's untimely death unites a fractured family and their community through shared memory and loss. Cast: Sky Ferreira, Zoe Vance, Dustin Ray, Cody Ray (North American Premiere)

Red White & Blue (United Kingdom)
Director and Screenwriter: Simon Rumley
In Austin Texas, the lives of three young people “Erica, Franki and Nate” intertwine in a fateful, tragic way and head down a rocky and violent road to heart-rending oblivion.
Cast: Noah Taylor, Amanda Fuller, Marc Senter (North American Premiere)

Skeletons (United Kingdom)
Director and Screenwriter: Nick Whitfield
Skeletons is a surrealist comedy about two traveling salesmen in the business of cleaning skeletons out of people's closets. Cast: Andrew Buckley, Ed Gaughan, Paprika Steen, Tuppence Middleton, Jason Isaacs
(North American Premiere)

We don’t care about music anyway… (France)
Directors: Cedric Dupire and Gaspard Kuentz
"We don't care about music anyway"...In other words, "we make it and that's all". Beyond the music and beyond its performance, the future and mode of existence of a city, and society as a whole, are in motion.
(North American Premiere)

World Peace and other 4th-Grade Achievements
Director: Chris Farina
World Peace and other 4th-Grade Achievements portrays John Hunter, a remarkable public-school teacher who has dedicated his life to teaching children the "work of peace." (World Premiere)

World's Largest
Directors: Amy C. Elliott and Elizabeth Donius
Desperate for tourism, hundreds of small towns across the U.S.A. claim the "world's largest" something - from 15-foot fiberglass strawberries to 40-foot concrete pheasants. World's Largest visits 58 such sites and profiles Soap Lake, Washington’s five-year struggle to build the World’s Largest Lava Lamp. By documenting these roadside attractions, World’s Largest captures the changing, perhaps even vanishing, culture of small-town America. (World Premiere)


LONE STAR STATES

Citizen Architect: Samuel Mockbee and the Spirit of the Rural Studio
Director: Sam Wainwright Douglas
In Alabama, Samuel Mockbee’s radical design/build program brought architecture to the rural poor and a new set of ethics to architecture. His legacy has inspired a generation of architects dedicated to design for social good. (World Premiere)

For The Sake Of The Song: The Story of Anderson Fair
Director: Bruce Bryant
A devoted community of artists, volunteers and patrons transforms a politically subversive little coffee house and restaurant into a unique American music institution... a small place where big things happen.
Featuring Lyle Lovett, Lucinda Williams, Nanci Griffith, Guy Clark and Townes Van Zandt. (World Premiere)

Thunder Soul
Director: Mark Landsman
In the 1970's, Kashmere High School band director Conrad Johnson turned his band into an international funk sensation. Now thirty years later, his students return to pay tribute to the man who changed their lives.
(World Premiere)

Wake
Director and Screenwriter: Chad Feehan
Driving to a wedding in Los Angeles through the Mojave Desert, Paul and Adrienne pull off the highway and into Roy’s Motel and Café. This roadside artifact proves to be a strange and surreal place with an unsettling mix of travelers, who force our couple to discover the secret hidden between them and ultimately, the horrifying reality of their current situation. Cast: Josh Stewart, Jamie-Lynn Sigler, Chris Browning, Angela Featherstone, Afemo Omilami, Trevor Morgan (World Premiere)

When I Rise
Director: Mat Hames
When I Rise is the powerful story of Barbara Smith Conrad, a gifted University of Texas music student who becomes a lightning rod for civil rights and ultimately ascends to the heights of international opera.
(World Premiere)


24 BEATS PER SECOND

Ain't In It For My Health: A Film About Levon Helm
Director: Jacob Hatley
In Ain't In It For My Health Levon Helm finds himself thrust into the musical spotlight for the first time in a quarter century, but a Grammy nomination and ever-growing audiences force him to confront the dark times that have haunted him since The Band's demise: Throat cancer, bankruptcy, drug addiction and the tragic loss of bandmates Richard Manuel and Rick Danko. Win or lose, Levon is an artist who will not go quietly into the night.
(World Premiere)

No One Knows About Persian Cats
Director: Bahman Ghobadi. Screenwriter: Roxana Saberi
Two Persian teens jump through hoops doing what in many other countries is relatively simple: forming a rock band. Together they search the underworld of contemporary Tehran for other players, forbidden by the authorities to play in Iran. Cast: Negar Shaghaghi, Ashkan Koshanejad, Hamed Behdad

REJOICE AND SHOUT
Director: Don McGlynn
A documentary that explores the power and long lasting influence of gospel music. (World Premiere)

RIDE, RISE, ROAR
Director: David Hillman Curtis
A David Byrne concert film that combines riveting onstage performances with documentary footage that explores the creative collaborations that make the music happen. (World Premiere)

Strange Powers: Stephin Merritt and The Magnetic Fields
Directors: Kerthy Fix and Gail O’Hara
Ten years in the making, Strange Powers is an intimate documentary portrait of songwriter Stephin Merritt and his band The Magnetic Fields. (World Premiere)

TAQWACORE (Canada)
Director: Omar Majeed
Taqwacore: The Birth of Punk Islam follows a group of Muslim Punks as they travel across the U.S. and Pakistan, challenging Muslims and Non-Muslims with their punchy and provocative anthems. (U.S. Premiere)

The Weird World of Blowfly
Director: Jonathan Furmanski
The Weird World of Blowfly tells the provocative and revealing story of musician Clarence Reid and his alter ego Blowfly, the original dirty rapper. The film follows Blowfly as he tours the world, explores his 50-year career, and celebrates his influential and incendiary work as a music legend. (World Premiere)


SX GLOBAL

The DeVilles (Denmark)
Director: Nicole Nielsen Horanyi
The love between the American burlesque stripper Teri Lee Geary (aka Kitten DeVille) and her punk rock singer husband Shawn Geary is strong but rather complicated. They live in their own time bubble, hers from the 1950's and his from the 1980's. (U.S. Premiere)

Erasing David (United Kingdom)
Director: David Bond
Just how much of our personal information is floating around in government and corporate databases? Filmmaker David Bond decides to find out, by disappearing for a month and setting two of the world’s top private investigators the task of tracking him down, using only publicly available data. (North American Premiere)

The Erectionman (Netherlands)
Director: Michael Schaap
How one little pill changed the course of sexual evolution. (North American Premiere)

IDFA DocLab (Netherlands)
A curated program of new media and web documentary from the International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam's DocLab, bridging the gap between filmmakers and interactive storytellers.

Iron Crows (South Korea)
Director: Bong-Nam Park
Against a harsh environment of constant danger and toxic gases, workers here at the world's largest ship breaking yard in Bangladesh, risk their lives to feed their family on barely 2USD per day. (North American Premiere)

Like a Pascha / Som en Pascha (Sweden)
Director: Svante Tidholm
Welcome to the biggest brothel in Europe, a clear blue eleven story high house in the middle of Cologne, Germany. Around 200 women from all over the world work here. If you ask them why, they will tell you it’s the way it’s always been. Svante Tidholm filmed at Pascha for more than three years, looking for an answer to the eternal question: why are men so obsessed with sex? (North American Premiere)

The Living Room of the Nation (Finland)
Director: Jukka Kärkkäinen
The Living Room of the Nation opens a portrait-like view into six Finnish living rooms. A collage of everyday events the film is a story of changes, loneliness, responsibilities and the unavoidable passing of time.
(North American Premiere)

The Other Side of Life (Germany)
Directors: Stefanie Brockhaus and Andy Wolff
Being arrested for murder, two brothers exist between modern township life, gangsterism and ancient African culture. (North American Premiere)

Phantom of Liberty II (Czech Republic, Germany)
Director: Karel Zalud
A documentary about time which explores its physical quantity as well as its crucial impact on our actions, behavior, perception, social rituals and our outlook on the world. (North American Premiere)

Presunto Culpable / Presumed Guilty (Mexico)
Director: Roberto Hernández and Geoffrey Smith
The heart-wrenching story of a man who happened to be in the wrong place, at the wrong time. Through his struggle to regain freedom, two lawyers document the system’s contradictions. (U.S. Premiere)

Reel Injun (Canada)
Director: Neil Diamond
Cree filmmaker Neil Diamond takes an entertaining and insightful look at the Hollywood Indian, exploring the portrayal of North American Natives through a century of cinema. (North American Premiere)



FESTIVAL FAVORITES

And Everything Is Going Fine
Director: Steven Soderbergh
And Everything Is Going Fine is an intimate portrait of master monologist Spalding Gray, as described by his most critical, irreverent and insightful biographer: Spalding Gray. The film pulls from some 90 hours of material to fashion a new narrative exploring, among other things, art-making, mental illness and the sometimes thin line between the two.

Crying with Laughter (Scotland)
Director and Screenwriter: Justin Molotnikov
Comedian Joey's act is drawing interest from people in high places until he tells one little gag about an old school pal, who just happens to be in the audience and things begin to unravel...
Cast: Stephen McCole, Malcolm Shields, Jo Hartley, Andrew Neil, Laura Keenan, Michaiah Dring (U.S. Premiere)

Dogtooth
Director: Giorgos Lanthimos. Screenwriters: Efthymis Filippou and Giorgos Lanthimos
Winner of the Un Certain Regard prize at the 2009 Cannes Film Festival, Yorgos Lanthimos’ Dogtooth is a darkly surreal look at three teenagers confined to an isolated country estate and kept under strict rule and regimen by their parents — an alternately hilarious and nightmarish experiment of manipulation and oppression.
Cast: Christos Stergioglou, Michelle Valley, Aggeliki Papoulia, Mary Tsoni, Hristos Passalis

The Freebie
Director and Screenwriter: Katie Aselton
A young married couple decides to give each other one night with someone else.
Cast: Dax Shepard, Katie Aselton

The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo (Sweden)
Director: Niels Arden Oplev. Screenwriters: Rasmus Heisterberg and Nikolaj Arcel
40 years ago, Harriet Vanger disappeared from a family gathering on the island owned and inhabited by the powerful Vanger clan. Her body was never found, yet her uncle is convinced it was murder and that the killer is a member of his own tightly knit but dysfunctional family. He employs a disgraced financial journalist and a tattooed, ruthless computer hacker to investigate. The film is based on the trilogy of books by Stieg Larsson.
Cast: Michael Nyqvist, Noomi Rapace, Lena Endre, Sven-Bertil Taube,

The Good Heart
Director and Screenwriter: Dagur Kári
A homeless boy (Lucas) meets a grouchy bar-owner (Jacques) whose unhealthy lifestyle has resulted in five heart attacks. Jacques takes Lucas under his wing with the intention of having him continuing his legacy. Everything is going according to plan until a drunken stewardess (April) enters the bar.
Cast: Brian Cox, Paul Dano, Isild Le Besco (U.S. Premiere)

Google Baby (Israel)
Director: Zippi Brand Frank
In India, the latest form of outsourcing is surrogate mothers who carry embryos for couples who can’t have a child. Director Zippi Brand Frank follows an entrepreneur who proposes a new service – baby production for western customers. (U.S. Premiere)

Harry Brown (United Kingdom)
Director: Daniel Barber. Screenwriter: Gary Young
Set in modern day Britain, Harry Brown follows one man’s journey through a chaotic world where teenage violence runs rampant. As a modest, law abiding citizen, Brown lives alone. His only companion is his best friend Leonard. When Leonard is killed, Brown reaches his breaking point. Harry Brown is a powerful, character driven thriller starring two-time Academy Award® winner Michael Caine in a tour-de-force performance.
Cast: Michael Caine, Emily Mortimer, Charlie Creed-Miles

His & Hers (Ireland)
Director: Ken Wardrop
Seventy Irish women offer moving insights into the relationships between women and men.

How to Fold A Flag
Directors: Michael Tucker and Petra Epperlein
We were asked to believe that the war was over. We laughed, for we were the war.

Jean-Michel Basquiat: The Radiant Child
Director: Tamra Davis
An intimate portrait of the artist Jean-Michel Basquiat and the downtown New York scene, as told by his friend filmmaker Tamra Davis.

Last Train Home (Canada)
Director: Lixin Fan
Getting a train ticket in China proves a towering ordeal as a migrant worker family embarks on a journey, along with 200 million other peasants, to reunite with their distant family.

Life 2.0
Director: Jason Spingarn-Koff
More than an examination of new technology, the film is foremost an intimate, character-based drama about people whose lives are dramatically transformed by the virtual world called Second Life.

Lovers of Hate
Director and Screenwriter: Bryan Poyser
The shaky reunion of estranged brothers takes a turn for the worse when the woman they both love chooses one over the other. Cast: Chris Doubek, Heather Kafka, Alex Karpovsky, Zach Green

The Oath
Director: Laura Poitras
Filmed in Yemen, The Oath tells the story of Abu Jandal, Osama bin Laden’s former bodyguard, and Salim Hamdan, a prisoner at Guantanamo Bay Prison who is the first man to face the controversial military tribunals at Guantanamo.

The Red Chapel / Det Røde Kapel (Denmark)
Director: Mads Brügger
A journalist with no scruples, a self-proclaimed spastic, and a comedian travel to North Korea under the guise of a cultural exchange visit to challenge one of the world’s most notorious regimes.

The Taqwacores
Director: Eyad Zahra. Screenwriters: Michael Muhammad Knight and Eyad Zahra
When a Pakistani-Muslim engineering student moves into a house with punk Muslims of all stripes in Buffalo, New York, his ideologies are challenged to the core. Cast: Bobby Naderi, Noureen DeWulf, Dominic Rains, Rasika Mathur, Tony Yalda, Anne Marie Leighton

The Thorn in the Heart
Director: Michel Gondry
Michel Gondry’s newest film, further propels his groundbreaking filmography into the realm of the unvisited with a personal look at the life of Gondry family matriarch, his aunt Suzette Gondry, and her relationship with her son, Jean-Yves. Michel examines Suzette’s years as a schoolteacher and her life in rural France. During the course of filming the documentary, new family stories are unearthed and Michel uses his camera to explore them in a subtle and sensitive way.

Trash Humpers
Director and Screenwriter: Harmony Korine
A film unearthed from the buried landscape of the American nightmare, Trash Humpers follows a small group of elderly “Peeping Toms” through the shadows and margins of an unfamiliar world.
Cast: Rachel Korine, Travis Nicholson, Brian Kotzur, Harmony Korine

Winter’s Bone
Director: Debra Granik, Screenwriters: Debra Granik and Anne Rosellini
A 17-year-old must track down her father after he puts their house up for his bail and then disappears. If she fails, she and her family will be turned out into the Ozark woods.
Cast: Jennifer Lawrence, John Hawkes, Lauren Sweetser, Dale Dickey


MIDNIGHTERS

Amer (Belgium)
Directors: Hélène Cattet and Bruno Forzani. Screenwriter: Bruno Forzani
Ana is confronted to Body and Desire at three key moments of her life. Cast: Bianca Maria D’Amato, Cassandra Forêt, Charlotte Eugène-Guibbaud, Marie Bos, Harry Cleven (U.S. Premiere)

Cannibal Girls (Canada)
Director: Ivan Reitman. Screenwriter: Robert Sandler
They do EXACTLY what you think they do! Second City TV regulars Eugene Levy and Andrea Martin star in Ivan Reitman’s Canuxploitation classic as a couple on a romantic holiday who settle into a quaint little bed-and-breakfast run by a trio of flesh-eating ladies who fancy them for tomorrow's menu.
Cast: Eugene Levy, Andrea Martin, Ronald Ulrich, Randall Carpenter, Bonnie Neilson

Cotton
Director: Daniel Stamm. Screenwriters: Andrew Gurland and Huck Botko
After a career spent helping the devout through prayer and trickery, Rev. Cotton Marcus invites a film crew to document his final fraudulent days as an exorcist. Soon his faith is truly tested when a desperate plea from the father of a possessed girl brings him face to face with the devil himself.
Cast: Patrick Fabian, Ashley Bell, Iris Bahr, Louis Herthum, Caleb Landry Jones (World Premiere)

Enter the Void
Director and Screenwriter: Gaspar Noé
Oscar and his sister Linda are recent arrivals in Tokyo. Oscar is caught in a police bust and shot and as he lies dying, his spirit, faithful to the promise he made his sister that he would never abandon her refuses to abandon the world of the living. It wanders through the city, his visions growing evermore distorted, evermore nightmarish. Past, present and future merge in a hallucinatory maelstrom.
Cast: Nathaniel Brown, Paz de la Huerta, Cyril Roy, Emily Alyn Lind, Jesse Kuhn

Jimmy Tupper VS. The Goatman of Bowie
Director and Screenwriter: Andrew Bowser
Jimmy Tupper is no one, he's nothing, until one night he sees something in the woods that can't be real. It becomes his mission to prove its existence and find his purpose.
Cast: Andrew Bowser, Pedro Gonzalez, Chris Jones, Michael Eller, Tim Kuczka (World Premiere)

The Loved Ones (Australia)
Director and Screenwriter: Sean Byrne
Brent, a 17-year-old student grieving after the recent loss of his father, politely declines an invitation to the school formal from Lola, the quietest girl in school. Devastated by the rejection, Lola and her overly protective father kidnap Brent and force him to endure a macabre Formal of their own creation…
Cast: Xavier Samuel, Robin McLeavy, Victoria Thaine, Jessica McNamee, Richard Wilson

Tucker & Dale vs. Evil (Canada)
Director: Eli Craig. Screenwriters: Eli Craig and Morgan Jurgenson
Two West Virginian hillbillies go on vacation at their dilapidated mountain cabin, but their peaceful trip goes horribly awry. Cast: Tyler Labine, Alan Tudyk, Katrina Bowden, Jesse Moss


SX FANTASTIC

Higanjima (Japan/Korea)
Director: Tae-Kyun Kim. Screenwriter: Tetsuya Ôishi
Two years after losing contact, Akira discovers that his long-lost brother may be found on Higanjima Island. He may also find on Higanjima an army of blood-sucking vampires.
Cast: Koji Yamamoto, Hideo Ishiguro, Dai Watanabe, Asami Mizukawa (North American Premiere)

Monsters (UK)
Director and Screenwriter: Gareth Edwards
Six years after a NASA probe crashes, bringing alien life forms to Earth, a journalist agrees to escort a shaken tourist through an infected zone in Mexico to the safety of the US border.
Cast: Scoot McNairym, Whitney Able (World Premiere)

Outcast (Ireland)
Director Colm McCarthy. Screenwriters: Colm McCarthy and Tom McCarthy
Mary and Fergal live their lives on the run, using an ancient form of magic to hide from a terrifying hunter.
Cast: James Nesbitt, Kate Dickie, Niall Bruton, Hannah Stanbridge (World Premiere)

Serbian Film / Srpski Film (Serbia)
Director: Srdjan Spasojevic. Screenwriters: Aleksandar Radivojevic and Srdjan Spasojevic
Facing financial difficulties, a retired porn star is lured back for one final film by a wealthy, eccentric producer. This experience, however, will be vastly more taxing than his previous shoots.
Cast: Sergei Trifunovic, Srdjan Todorovic, Katarina Zutic, Ana Sakic (World Premiere)

Super Secret TBA (World Premiere)


SPECIAL EVENTS

All My Friends are Funeral Singers with Live Soundtrack by Califone
Director and Screenwriter: Tim Rutili
Zel, a fortune-teller, is aided in her prognostication by a band of ghosts, but when a mysterious light appears, she may have to give up the only family she knows. Cast: Angela Bettis, Emily Candini, Reid Coker, Kevin Ford, Joe Adamik, Jim Becker, Ben Massarella, Tim Rutili

Hubble 3D
Director: Toni Myers
Narrated by Leonardo DiCaprio and through the power of IMAX® 3D, Hubble 3D will enable movie-goers to journey through distant galaxies to explore the grandeur and mysteries of our celestial surroundings, and accompany space-walking astronauts as they attempt the most difficult and important tasks in NASA’s history. (First Public Showing)

The Lost World (1925) with Live Score by Golden Hornet Project
Director: Harry O. Hoyt. Screenwriters: Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (novel) & Marion Fairfax (screenplay)
In Hoyt's sci-fi classic, claymation dinosaurs came to spectacular life 70 years before Michael Crichton's modern retelling. Wyatt Brand helps to present Austin's premier alt-classical Golden Hornet Project and their new chamber-rock score. Cast: Bessie Love, Lewis Stone

The Passion of Joan of Arc (1928) with Live Score by In The Nursery (England)
Director: Carl Theodor Dreyer. Screenwriter: Joseph Delteil
One of the finest achievements of the silent film era, Dreyer's portrayal of Joan of Arc uses extraordinary, expressive close-ups to create a moving, intense and flawless work. With a new score by In The Nursery, who utilize state of the art music technology with a unique symphonic style, to produce a hauntingly evocative soundtrack. Cast: Maria Falconetti

The Unknown (1927) with Live Score by The Invincible Czars
Director: Tod Browning. Screenwriter: Mary Roberts Rinehart
Wyatt Brand helps bring a film/music convergence event to SXSW Film with The Invincible Czars screening and live, original score for the 1927 silent classic The Unknown starring Lon Chaney as an armless sharp-shooter. Cast: Lon Chaney, Joan Crawford

# posted by Jason Guerrasio @ 2/04/2010 09:53:00 AM Comments (0)

In the new issue of Filmmaker, Esther Robinson penned "The Big Art/Little Debt Plan," which discusses the relation of filmmakers to risk, their films, and their money. She reached out to several filmmakers by email, and their responses helped shape her article. We are running several of the responses Esther received here on the blog. Below is the one from Thomas Woodrow, producer, Bass Ackwards.


With the current environment/budgets you are seeing, do think there will be more financing gaps than usual? If yes, do you think this might create an uptick in personal debt (both for you and the filmmaker) to fill the gap? If no, how are gaps traditionally-weathered/weathered-in-this-moment?

The most straightforward solution is simply to make better movies for less money. People have an antiquated notion of what it is to "make a movie," believing that somehow it involves HMIs or a bond company or huge "stars." It can, but it doesn't have to. Really, making a movie involves four things: an actor, a camera, an environment and something like a story. if we are truly imaginative, that is more than enough.

Do you think filmmakers are realistic in their expectations of financing?

I think expectations are changing. The fact is that nobody is really getting "financed" in the way they used to. Or, rather, so few people that it's not worth talking about. My own conversations with filmmakers suggest that people are starting to be deeply empowered by the technology that is now available. Red cameras. Final cut pro. It is possible to make a film of amazing scope, both texturally and thematicaly, for almost nothing. To me, the invention of the Red is the key new component here. It is constantly being improved, but it represents a radical step forward: high value, low cost.

Do you think filmmakers are realistic about the amount of personal debt they acquire on behalf of their films?

i think going into personal debt is an extremely dangerous proposition. Going into debt tends to lead to less personal freedom down the line if you accept the responsibility to pay it off. We should focus on doing things that will allow greater freedom in the future rather than less. If we make movies of substance and value for very little money, then we have the possibility of monetizing them down the road. This influx of resources can then pave the way for further freedom and greater creativity. I call this the "Mark Duplass effect."

Are you realistic about the debt you acquire on behalf of the films you produce?

I have made the mistake of leveraging more capital than turned out to be really necessary to make films in the past, but actually most filmmakers I know do that when they take their first swing at bat. Because they've never actually made a movie, they don't know what is most integral to the process. It would be cool if young filmmakers could realize from the start that that wasn't necessary (learn from others' mistakes) and feel secure in the capacity of their own imaginations to enthrall. Perhaps this is the province of producers.

Has your relationship to this kind of personal debt changed over time?

I have a fair amount of student loan debt, which used to cause me great anxiety. Now, less so.

Would you categorize the average filmmaker's relationship to money as: healthy; slightly unhealthy; troubled; oblivious?

We all have anxiety about money, not just filmmakers. It is important at such times to take a step back and ask ourselves: what do i really need? The answer is, actually, not a lot. If you think you need something, i would challenge you to be like a child and relentlessly ask: "why." And when you get to the answer, whatever it is for you, then ask yourself: is that more important than making my movie? If not, give it up. Or, having discovered that it really is important (probably having to do with being responsible for another person), find a way to address that and your movie. And give up everything else. Or be willing to. The acknowledgment that you could if you had to is very freeing.

What are your thoughts on going into a film with a "no personal debt/ coming out with manageable debt" plan? Do you think this is realistic? Provide details if you can!

Nobody should go into substantial personal debt to make a film. A small amount might be necessary, but no more than you think you can pay off with a few weeks back at a job. If your lifestyle is too expensive to sustain while making an inexpensive movie, then scale down. If you've scaled down as far as you think you can, scale further. Move in with a friend. A relative. Good food and water are not expensive. And if you are not willing to go that far, then i would ask how badly you want to make films. I make the point very extremely for the sake of argument, but thinking this way can help set our priorities.

To be clear: I do think that filmmakers should be rewarded for their work and that a system is needed to help finance, distribute and monetize the work they do, so they can actually be paid. Not primarily to get rich, although that may be a side effect, but more importantly to enable the making of more work. We are working on this. — Thomas Woodrow

# posted by Scott Macaulay @ 2/04/2010 09:00:00 AM Comments (0)

Here's the latest in the continuing series of videos by SABI Pictures executive produced by Filmmaker and the Workbook Project. The official word:

SABI filmmakers Zak Forsman and Kevin K. Shah speak with Ted Hope, Jon Reiss, Mynette Louie (Children of Invention) and Linas Phillips (Bass Ackwards) to explore the solutions that are emerging for independent filmmakers – featuring some of the insights and actions that came from the 2010 Filmmaker Summit.

NEW BREED PARK CITY – Exploring the Solutions, Part 1 from Sabi Pictures on Vimeo.

Watch all New Breed videos.

# posted by Scott Macaulay @ 2/04/2010 04:58:00 AM Comments (0)

In the new issue of Filmmaker, Esther Robinson penned "The Big Art/Little Debt Plan," which discusses the relation of filmmakers to risk, their films, and their money. She reached out to several filmmakers by email, and their responses helped shape her article. We are running several of the responses Esther received here on the blog. Below is the one from Mynette Louie, producer, Children of Invention.


With the current environment/budgets you are seeing, do think there will be more financing gaps than usual? If yes, do you think this might create an uptick in personal debt (both for you and the filmmaker) to fill the gap? If no, how are gaps traditionally-weathered/weathered-in-this-moment?

Gaps are definitely tougher to fill these days because everyone is tighter with their money. I think this will definitely result in more personal debt for directors and producers, who are eager to make and finish their films. Most of the filmmakers I know don't have the means to fill a financing gap with cash, so what will probably end up happening is that they'll fill it by sacrificing their own fees. But then they have to figure out how to pay rent while prepping, shooting, editing, finishing, and now distributing their films. Also, even if producers and directors don't sacrifice their fees at the outset, budgets are so low these days that there is very little contingency, so then our fees become the contingency.

Do you think filmmakers are realistic in their expectations of financing?

I think those who have made a feature in the last few years are definitely realistic about financing. They've seen what the the other side (distribution) looks like, and know how tough the road ahead is. They're more willing to rethink how to shoot things for cheaper. I've even seen a shift in attitude in those who haven't made a feature in the last few years — I think everyone's expectations have become more sober in this new environment. I think directors and producers now have a better understanding about the greater personal responsibility they have to take to recoup the investment in their films, so when we
ask for a number, it's a number we take very seriously as one that we can realistically pay back.

Do you think filmmakers are realistic about the amount of personal debt they acquire on behalf of their films?

This varies from filmmaker to filmmaker, but in general, yes, they are realistic about how much debt they can carry for their films. And if they aren't, then I remind them that they need to be. We have to approach our personal living budgets in the same way we approach our film budgets — we have to be responsible with them, preserve contingency, balance them fairly among line items, etc. I often have conversations with directors in which I present cheaper alternatives, and sometimes they'll say to me, "I really want that, so I will cover the overage myself," at which point I'll remind them how unwise that would be. In the days where indie films could be snatched up by buyers at festivals, it wasn't so scary to personally cash flow financing gaps, but now, we have to be prepared for the investment recoupment cycle and the director/producer commitment to the film to
be so much longer than it ever was.

Are you realistic about the debt you acquire on behalf of the films you produce?

Yes — I will not go into personal debt for a film. That doesn't mean I've never sacrificed portions of my producing fee to cover financing gaps, but it's foolish to go into debt for a film because you end up restricting your own ability to keep producing indie films.

Has your relationship to this kind of personal debt changed over time?

I've become more adamant about not going into debt for a film due to a combination between the longer recoupment cycle of a film and simply getting older and requiring more stability.

Would you categorize the average filmmaker's relationship to money as:healthy, slightly unhealthy, troubled, oblivious.

Hard to say — varies so much from filmmaker to filmmaker. But I personally like working with directors who are financially responsible in their own lives, because more than likely, that will translate to being financially responsible on a film.

What are your thoughts on going into a film with a "no personal debt/ coming out with manageable debt" plan do you think this is realistic? provide details if you can!

Yes, it is definitely realistic, and I wholly advocate coming out of a film debt-free.

# posted by Scott Macaulay @ 2/03/2010 08:38:00 AM Comments (0)

Here's District 9 director Neil Blomkamp's TED Talk in which he discusses life on other planets and the fate of our human civilization.

# posted by Scott Macaulay @ 2/03/2010 06:27:00 AM Comments (0)

# posted by Thomas Woodrow @ 2/03/2010 12:01:00 AM Comments (0)

Back in New York after a week at the Rotterdam Lab. That week went fast! Here are a few highlights:

One of our first sessions was Ido Abram's master class in pitching. Ido is the Managing Director of the Binger Filmlab, a prestigious Amsterdam-based feature film and doc development center open to international filmmakers. Binger seems like a Euro version of the various Sundance Labs, only each Binger lab goes on for months at a time, and are located in a city that is pretty much the polar opposite of Utah.

Ido has thought a lot about pitching, and has broken down the principles in a useful way. For this lecture, he tailored his spiel for the audience - producers. The heart of his lecture was about the many layers of a successful pitch, which for a producer should sell more than just the story of the film. A producer must also sell him or herself: as a creative force; as a knowledgeable professional; and as someone who can follow through. And all in 3-4 minutes.

How to accomplish this? Don't ever pitch from need -- pitch from the point of: You have just what they are looking for! Research who you are meeting and tailor your pitch to their needs - how does your project fit into their future slate, expansion strategy, TV output deal etc. Understand the needs of the people you are pitching and know that if they like the project, they will need to pitch someone higher than them -- so give them the tools to succeed.

All of us at the lab certainly had ample opportunities to try these principles out during the five days of speed dating sessions with distributors, financiers, financing brokers, foreign sales agents etc.

More than anything, the lab opened my eyes to the world of European state run co-productions and the relative unimportance of the US market to this established and complicated system of funding. As one UK-based film funder told us: when they work up sales estimates for their films, they assume the US will provide them the same revenue as Indonesia -- that is, zero.

To take full advantage of all these different state funding schemes, European producers must serve a different function than American independent producers. It is more about international diplomacy and mastering the labyrinthian rules and regulations necessary to cobble together deal after deal, funding entire slates over the course of years. One French financier even suggested a film producer should never waste their time being on set or attending a film festival. Their time should be spent setting up deals for future films. I hope he wasn't right!

# posted by Jason Orans @ 2/02/2010 06:06:00 PM Comments (0)

'Theatrical Launch," Paul Devlin's account of self-distributing his documentary Blast!, ends with his post-mortem on that release, a self-examination that takes into account not only box office but the press and further bookings the film received. I asked Devlin if he could update us on what's happened since the article, specifically how he approached the educational market. (He had received offers from non-theatrical distributors.) Here is his response. And, if you haven't read the article, you can pick it up on the stands or receive it immediately as a PDF when you subscribe to Filmmaker.


We turned down the distribution offers. In the educational/institutional market at least, they are truly ridiculous from our point of view. Instead we hired someone in-house to book the film and promote and sell the DVD. This is working out much better (of course you have to find the right person). This gives us complete control over distribution (and the money!) without signing away rights for 7 or 10 years. Nicole Potter works for us two days a week, one day at home and one in our office. She is motivated, effective and has more than paid for herself so far with many bookings.

If you take a look at our screening page, upcoming and recent screenings really represent a national run for the movie. (Chicago was great, reviews to die for posted below). But not all are running a full week in traditional art houses. However, I agree with Jon Reiss that we should still consider this a “theatrical” run. Most of these screenings are in theaters so “non-theatrical” is a misnomer.

So I also agree with Jon that the word “non-theatrical” should be abandoned. It has a negative, diminishing connotation which is misleading — some of those theaters in the museums and planetariums are much bigger and nicer than traditional art houses that used to constitute a traditional theatrical run. If a distinction must be made, I prefer the term “alt-theatrical.”

The other thing about some of these screenings is that they often pay BIG money. High-fee screenings require myself or my brother or both of us to show up and speak. Last week’s screening at OSU paid $10K! Nicole booked that – part of an endowed lecture series. I’ve never heard of a higher single screening in the alt-theatrical market, so big props to Nicole for her legendary booking. We have several others that have paid or will pay $5K and $3K.

We successfully booked these high-fee screenings for my last film Power Trip. Early on, we hoped to find the same success with BLAST! but it didn’t work. Then we did the theatrical run in New York and these fees became possible with BLAST! as well. Very tangible payoff and we’re hoping to book many more.

We released the DVD to the educational market in mid-November at a price of $250. We sold around 25 almost immediately. (Twice as much revenue as the best advance we were offered – a deal which would have tied up all additional revenue for at least 6 months to a year). Now we are working with mailing lists, reviews and social networking avenues to reach our goal of selling 200 within the next year before we release to the home DVD market. Lot’s of opportunities still to tap, such as cultivating direct sales to the National Science Teacher’s Association.

We were unable to obtain a U.S. national broadcast for BLAST!. After the NPR Science Friday and The Colbert Report exposure, Discovery Channel, The Science Channel and NOVA, all re-considered BLAST! and all rejected it again (Discovery for the 3rd time I think). My sour grapes response is – BLAST! is simply way too sophisticated and unconventional for them. Instead we have signed a deal with American Public Television (APT) to distribute to regional PBS stations. We have already sold 6 markets and plan to sell many more.

In summary, things have been going very well for BLAST! since the theatrical run. We’ve grossed something like $50K since the summer from our various sales efforts, which has sustained the operation (if I don’t have to dip into savings to keep the business running, I consider it HUGELY successful). I expect there is much more potential revenue. I’m not saying it’s easy or we’re getting rich. Sales is always a struggle, but without the national exposure I don’t think we could have sustained the effort – it would have been so much more difficult to do what we’re doing now.

By hiring other people to do the outreach work, I’m preparing to start post-production on my next project, Super Star Dumb. It’s a musical comedy about the broken promise of middle-class rock and roll stardom, following the story of a man punished by his talent in a society where anything short of celebrity is failure. I’ve been shooting off and on for over 8 years now and it’s time to wrap it up.

"Fast, fun, and beautiful to look at, Blast! (2008) communicates the joys and heartbreaks of scientific creativity." — Chicago Reader

"The intelligence on screen thrills rather than bewilders, a tribute to both Devlin brothers." — New City

"Enjoy this look at a group of obsessive, brilliant people pursuing their passion. It’s like an extreme-sports doc for science nerds.” — Time Out Chicago

# posted by Scott Macaulay @ 2/02/2010 11:00:00 AM Comments (0)

Moments ago the nominations for the 82nd Academy Awards were announced. Though most of the obvious choices did come through, there were some nice surprises on the indie side, including multiple nominations for The Messenger, including Best Supporting Actor for Woody Harrelson and The Last Station (Helen Mirren for Best Actress and Christopher Plummer for Best Supporting Actor). Colin Firth received a nomination for his moving lead performance in A Single Man, and another surprise was Maggie Gyllenhaal receiving a Best Supporting Actress nomination for Crazy Heart.

And for the first time since the late 30s the Academy is recognizing ten Best Picture nominees.

The Oscars will air on March 7 @ 8:00pm on ABC.

Read the full list of nominees below.


MOTION PICTURE OF THE YEAR
Avatar
The Blind Side
District 9
An Education
The Hurt Locker
Inglourious Basterds
Precious
A Serious Man
Up
Up in the Air

ACHIEVEMENT IN DIRECTING
James Cameron, Avatar
Kathryn Bigelow, The Hurt Locker
Quentin Tarantino, Inglourious Basterds
Lee Daniels, Precious
Jason Reitman, Up In The Air

PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE
Sandra Bullock, The Blind Side
Helen Mirren, The Last Station
Carey Mulligan, An Education
Gabourey Sidibe, Precious
Meryl Streep, Julie & Julia

PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE
Jeff Bridges, Crazy Heart
George Clooney, Up In The Air
Colin Firth, A Single Man
Morgan Freeman, Invictus
Jeremy Renner, The Hurt Locker

PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
Penelope Cruz, Nine
Vera Farmiga, Up In The Air
Maggie Gyllenhaal, Crazy Heart
Anna Kendrick, Up In The Air
Mo’Nique, Precious

PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
Matt Damon, Invictus
Woody Harrelson, The Messenger
Christopher Plummer, The Last Station
Stanley Tucci, The Lovely Bones
Christoph Waltz, Inglourious Basterds

ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
The Hurt Locker
Inglourious Basterds
The Messenger
A Serious Man
Up

ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
District 9
An Education
In The Loop
Precious
Up In The Air

ANIMATED FEATURE FILM
Coraline
Fantastic Mr. Fox
The Princess and the Frog
The Secret of Kells
Up

FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
Ajami
The Secret of their Eyes
The Milk of Sorrow
A Prophet
The White Ribbon

DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
Burma VJ
The Cove
Food, Inc.
The Most Dangerous Man In America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers
Which Way Home

ACHIEVEMENT IN MUSIC (ORIGINAL SONG)
“Almost There” (The Princess and the Frog)
“Down In New Orleans” (The Princess and the Frog)
“Loin de Paname” (Paris 36)
“The Weary Kind” (Crazy Heart)
“Take It All” (Nine)

ACHIEVEMENT IN MUSIC (ORIGINAL SCORE)
Avatar
Fantastic Mr. Fox
The Hurt Locker
Sherlock Holmes
Up

ACHIEVEMENT IN EDITING
Avatar
District 9
The Hurt Locker
Inglourious Basterds
Precious

ACHIEVEMENT IN CINEMATOGRAPHY
Avatar
Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince
The Hurt Locker
Inglourious Basterds
The White Ribbon

ACHIEVEMENT IN ART DIRECTION
Avatar
The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus
Nine
Sherlock Holmes
The Young Victoria

ACHIEVEMENT IN COSTUME DESIGN
Bright Star
Coco Before Chanel
The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus
Nine
The Young Victoria

ACHIEVEMENT IN VISUAL EFFECTS
Avatar
District 9
Star Trek

ACHIEVEMENT IN SOUND EDITING
Avatar
The Hurt Locker
Inglourious Basterds
Star Trek
Up

ACHIEVEMENT IN SOUND MIXING
Avatar
The Hurt Locker
Inglourious Basterds
Star Trek
Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen

ACHIEVEMENT IN MAKEUP
Il Divo
Star Trek
The Young Victoria

DOCUMENTARY SHORT SUBJECT
China’s Unnatural Disaster
The Last Campaign of Govenor Booth Gardner
The Last Truck: Closing of a GM Plant
Music by Prudence
Rabbit a la Berlin

ANIMATED SHORT FILM
French Roast
Granny O’Grimm’s Sleeping Beauty
The Lady and the Reaper
Logorama
A Matter of Loaf and Death

LIVE ACTION SHORT FILM
The Door
Instead of Abracadabra
Kavi
Miracle Fish
The New Tenants

# posted by Jason Guerrasio @ 2/02/2010 09:22:00 AM Comments (0)

Fred Wilson runs the blog A VC. NYC 3.0 is a blog about tech start-ups in New York. The latter interviewed the former in this video, which works its a way towards Wilson's recommendations about pitching new media and the mistakes people make.

Fred Wilson talks trends, advice for startups from Vadim Lavrusik on Vimeo.

# posted by Scott Macaulay @ 2/02/2010 09:00:00 AM Comments (0)

I didn't know documentary film editor Karen Schmeer, but I certainly knew her work. Her first credited feature, Errol Morris's Fast, Cheap and Out of Control, is one of my all-time favorite documentaries and a Filmmaker magazine cover story. Brilliantly constructed, it weaves portraits of four oddball individualists and dreamers into a single meditative essay on creativity, self-worth and man's desire for legacy. The film would be an incredible feat for even the most seasoned of editors; that she cut it early in her career is astounding to me. She also edited The Fog of War and Mr. Death (again, both excellent), and she won the Documentary Editing Award last year at Sundance for her work on Greg Barker's Sergio.

As many of you know, Schmeer was killed in Manhattan on Friday night in a hit-and-run accident — struck by the car of three men apparently pursued by police and fleeing from a robbery attempt. "In a business full of huge egos — and believe me, she’s worked with a few of them — she was completely modest and incredibly self-effacing about her immense talent," Barker was quoted as saying in the New York Times article linked above. "She has that quality that the best editors have. It’s a kind of magical quality,” director Rob Moss said. "When she cuts a Lucia Small film, it looks like Lucia Small’s; when she cuts Errol’s films, they look like Errol’s; when she cuts mine, they look like mine.” In a tribute at The Oregonian, director Liz Garbus said of the Portland native, "She got inside the heads of the subjects of the stories that she was telling and brought out their humanness their humor and their darkest moments; (they) kind of commingled in this symphony. She was an intellectual, but she was funny. She just combined all of these qualities that made for the best type of storytelling."

At All these Wonderful Things, A.J. Schnack posts more comments by Barker, issued at the Sundance Awards ceremony when he gave the award to this year's winner.

# posted by Scott Macaulay @ 2/02/2010 05:53:00 AM Comments (0)

An apology for this brief plug, but now that Sundance is over I wanted to write this short blog post on the difference between Filmmaker in print and Filmmaker online. As most of you know from reading this site, we make about 50% of each issue available online. (We also put up a lot of stuff — this blog, the Director Interviews, our Videos, our Web Exclusives — which is not in the magazine.) Here's a breakdown of articles in the current issue that aren't available online:

1. The longest article we've ever published -- almost 10,000 words -- is by Paul Devlin, and it's a tremendously helpful blow-by-blow of his efforts to self-release his feature documentary Blast! We originally planned to run this in two parts, but the cliffhanger in the middle seemed unfair for a magazine that only comes out once a quarter. So, we went New Yorker-style and let it run. Devlin walks you through his decision to self-release, his plans to raise the money through foundation funding, what he did when his plans went awry, his work booking theaters and publicists, and his self-critique about what he did right and wrong. It's one of those rare articles that contains both practical advice as well as a kind of psychological counseling. If you want to know what you're in for in terms of work, finances and emotions after you decide to self-release your film, you need to read this piece.

2. "Slumpdays," in which Alicia Van Couvering looks at five films that found financing and went into production in 2009. It's our corrective to all the doom 'n gloom stories out there. In this piece you'll find practical advice on crowdsourced financing, non-profit financing, and using public money to kickstart private investment.

3. "Rewind," my look at ten business and cultural trends related to independent film that I've noticed in 2009.

4. "Confronting the Plight of the Mainstream Indie," Ryan Gielen's (The Graduates) advice to those of you who have made a mainstream-spiring indie — in other words, one that isn't arty enough to get into festivals.

5. And, finally, our cover story, in which filmmaker Ramin Bahrani interviews The Exploding Girl's Bradley Rust Gray. It's a long and candid conversation about artistic inspirations and methods, and there are two sidebars. One is my interview with lead actress Zoe Kazan. And then there's producer Karin Chien's "No Budget Cookbook," her explication of how she and producer Ben Howe got the film made for their five-figure budget. Again, solid advice for those heading into production on a low budget feature.

If any of the above interests you, please pick up the magazine on the stands. Or, you could subscribe... With the print subscription you start with not the current issue but the next one (in this case, Spring '10), but we've just made a change to our subscription system. Now, when you subscribe, you get the current issue free as a PDF immediately upon your order. And then, of course, you get the next year's worth of the magazine, four issues, in print form. (We also offer on the subscription page a digital subscription.) So, if you only know Filmmaker online, try the print version and see what else we offer.

# posted by Scott Macaulay @ 2/01/2010 09:17:00 AM Comments (0)