SODERBERGH AND HDNET PACT

By Admin

The Oscar-winning director of Traffic has signed a groundbreaking deal with Todd Wagner and Mark Cuban’s HDNet for a series of six pictures to be shot on high-definition video that will be released simultaneously in theaters, on DVD and television.
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FILM THREAT DVD

By Admin

Film Threat is taking the best of indie cinema into retail chains across North America through its newly launched Film Threat DVD line.

The first two Film Threat DVD titles, Glenn Rockowitz’s Hacks and Nick Clark’s The Ultimate Truth, will ship May 31 and sell for the suggested retail price of $29.99 each.

“Film Threat DVD is the creation of Chris Gore, founder and publisher/editor of Film Threat and an independent filmmaker himself. ‘I was tired of seeing great indie movies made by emerging filmmakers simply languish in the market without distribution,’ says Gore, who is also celebrating Film Threat‘s 20th anniversary. ‘There are literally thousands of these ‘cine-orphans,’ movies without distribution. I have the luxury of being able to see these movies by traveling to film festivals and because of tapes I receive through Film Threat. But the average consumer and even the hardcore indie movie geek won’t get to see any of them.’

“Film Threat had previously distributed titles on VHS in the 1990s, most notably Jorg Buttgereit’s feature Nekromantik and Gore’s own Red, starring Lawrence Tierney (which will debut on Film Threat DVD later this year). … ‘I felt the time was right for a new kind of distribution,’ says Gore. ‘But it took me about a year to put all the elements into place and work out the details of this unusual business model. And, frankly, elements of this plan are not very smart for me since it puts most of the power in the hands of the filmmaker, as opposed to me, the distributor. However, I feel that this unique form of distribution could have a very positive effect on the industry — mainly exposing new filmmakers to audiences hungry to see the next generation of indie filmmakers.’”

Film Threat DVD recently signed a distribution deal with Niche Media Ventures to distribute 24 titles a year.

Upcoming Film Threat DVD titles include Ligeia, Frontier, Living in Missouri, Sorority Girls’ Revenge, Jerkbeast and Joyful Partaking.
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WHAT ARE YOU COMING HERE FOR, MR. GODARD?

By Scott Macaulay

From an interview with Jean-Luc Godard in The Guardian today:

“To illustrate the point, he tells a story of how he recently flew from Montreal to New York. When he arrived, the customs officer asked him: ‘Mr Godard: what are you coming here for? Business or pleasure?’ Godard indicated the former. The officer asked what business he was in. ‘Unsuccessful movies,’ Godard replied.
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25 NEW FACE ALUMNI WIN AT TRIBECA ALL ACCESS

By Scott Macaulay

As we begin putting together our annual “25 New Faces” issue of Filmmaker, in which we identify and profile the filmmakers who we believe will the independent stars of tomorrow, we also check back on the successes of our past selections. So, when a press release from the Tribeca Film Festival arrived in my in-box this morning I noticed that of the three winners of the Tribeca All Access Award, two — Dennis Lee (a member of the company Kulture Machine) and Mario de la Vega (pictured) — were directors spotlighted in last summer’s issue.

From the press release:

“The Tribeca All Access Connects (TAA) program, which fosters relationships between U.S.-based filmmakers of color and the film industry, announced today the winners of the second Tribeca All Access Creative Promise Awards. At last night’s Tribeca All Access Connects Awards and Closing Party at the Tribeca Grand, sponsored by the Playboy Foundation:

Dennis Lee won the award for the narrative section prize for his current screenplay The Life & Times of H.J. Hermin. Dennis has previously directed a short film entitled Jesus Henry Christ.

Usama Alshaibi won the award for documentary section prize for his documentary proposal Nice Bombs.

Mario de La Vega won the award for the screenplay section prize for his screenplay The Undeniable Charm of Sloppy Unruh.

The winners were selected upon the strength of their vision and filmmaking promise. The TAA Creative Promise Award offers a prize of $10,000 for narrative and documentary and $5,000 for screenplay. All of the filmmakers participating in the program have scripts or documentary proposals for which they are seeking funding.

Narrative winner Dennis Lee is set to direct The Life & Times of H.J. Hermin (which he also wrote) which tells the story of 13-year-old genius and college freshman Henry James Hermin on his quest to solve an unbreakable computer code and find his biological father. Lee previously directed the short film Jesus Henry Christ.

Screenplay winner Mario de Le Vega’s The Undeniable Charm of the Sloppy Unruh tells the dramatic tale of charismatic 1950s con artist Sloppy … Read the rest

ASPARAGUS! (STALKING THE AMERICAN WAY OF LIFE)

By Admin

“The oversized, obstinate title character in Vladimir Radunsky’s latest picture book, The Mighty Asparagus (Harcourt/Silver Whistle, May), surely lives up to this appellation,” writes Sally Lodge in Publisher’s Weekly. It refuses to budge when a king, queen, princess and even the ruler’s rhino try to remove it after it suddenly appears on the monarch’s lawn. And as the subject of a forthcoming documentary film, Asparagus! (Stalking the American Life), it has consumed the lives of two filmmakers for nearly two years. The vegetable clearly has drawing power.”

Anne de Mare and Kirsten Kelly’s feature-length film Asparagus! “takes viewers to the small town of Oceana, Michigan, the self-proclaimed asparagus capital of the world. After 30 years, Oceana is facing the destruction of its farming base because of a little known provision in a trade bill resulting from the ‘war on drugs’ [which has inadvertently created a a strong Peruvian asparagus competitor]. Faced with economic ruin and the loss of their beloved vegetable, the community decides to fight back.”

The filmmakers were recently awarded $5,000 in seed money from American Documentary, Inc., producer of the PBS documentary series P.O.V., as the winners of its first emerging filmmaker award at the popular workshop “The Art of the Documentary Pitch” at the annual Television Documentary Festival at the Museum of Television and Radio in New York.

The directors expect to debut the film at the National Asparagus Festival… “We’ll roll out the green carpet,” says Kelly, “and see who comes!” After that, “we plan to go to Sundance and bring a busload of folks from Oceana dressed as asparagus if we need to.”
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SUNDANCE LAB PROJECTS ANNOUNCED

By Scott Macaulay

If you pick up the new issue of Filmmaker, you’ll notice by reading our cover articles on Miranda July and her first feature, Me and You and Everyone We Know, the large role the Sundance Institute had in developing that film and supporting its production. July’s film was a Summer 2003 Sundance Lab project and it went to become a hit at the Sundance Film Festival and will open from IFC Films this June. And then there’s another Lab project I’m very interested in — David Jacobson’s Down in the Valley, which I thought was an amazing script and which will premiere in Cannes next month.

Now, Sundance has just announced its 2005 Summer Lab projects. (Off the bat, I’m excited to see Annemarie Jacir on the list as she was one of Filmmaker‘s “25 New Faces” of 2004.) From the press release:

“Over the course of the Filmmakers Lab, the selected eight filmmakers collaborate with professional actors and digital production crews, shooting and editing key scenes from their scripts. Through this hands-on process, the directors can do a ‘dress rehearsal’ of their material in an atmosphere where experimentation is encouraged. Filmmakers Lab participants also take part in the week-long Screenwriters Lab, when writers involved with five additional projects join the group to participate in one-on-one story sessions with established screenwriters.

“‘We’re excited to be supporting such a unique group of emerging filmmakers who bring their authentic voices to stories that are bold in content and aesthetic,’ said Michelle Satter, Director of the Feature Film Program. ‘We look forward to joining them on their creative journeys and see the June Lab as a centerpiece of our year-round program. Our commitment to including international work at the Labs continues with filmmakers from places as diverse as South Africa, New Zealand, the Middle East and Pakistan.’

“During the Labs, participants work with a group of accomplished creative advisors as part of a month-long mentoring process. Gyula Gazdag returns for his 9th year as Artistic Director for the Filmmakers Lab. This year’s creative advisors include: John August, Walter Bernstein, … Read the rest

FOLLOW THE MONEY!

By Scott Macaulay

I met with a young filmmaker the other day who told me that she couldn’t decide whether she should try to make her film for $2 million, $1 million, $500,000 or even do it no-budget at $150,000. She said she wanted to make sure that whatever she did, her film would make its money back.

My response was to recommend that she construct her budget based on the creative and production needs of the film as well as the resources she’s able to tap into. But to bring in the specter of profitability? Well, as I explained, a $150,000 film can turn out to be a terrible investment, losing all its money, while a bloated Hollywood blockbuster that careens over-budget can still be a good investment for its studio. When it comes to smaller films, there is just no equation between the lowermost end of the budget and profitability. Either a film sells or it doesn’t, and you just have to make sure that your budget and your creative development process allows you to make the best and most sellable version of your film.

In this fascinating article in Slate, Edward Jay Epstein walks you through the new Hollywood accounting, explaining why films like Tomb Raider and Gone in Sixty Seconds are virtually no-risk propositions for the studios. Epstein is the author of The Big Picture: The New Logic of Money and Power in Hollywood, a book I’m going to pick up after reading this Slate piece.
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PERSONAL DOCUMENTARIES

By Admin

“Personal documentaries — films being made by people about their own lives or those very close to them — are more prevalent than ever, and if the programming at the recent doc festivals around the world is any indication, the trend isn’t slowing down.” Via indieWIRE.
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ALL YOU’VE LEFT

By Admin

Cam Archer, who was kind enough to interview Mysterious Skin co-stars Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Brady Corbett for Filmmaker while he was at Sundance earlier this year to premiere his short Forgetting Jonathan Brandis, wrote via e-mail to let us know he has just completed a new music video for the band Six Organs of Admittance.

The gorgeous, lyrical video for the song “Eighth Cognition/All You’ve Left,” from Six Organ’s new album School of the Flower (Drag City), can be viewed on Cam’s Web site.
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DIRECTORS’ FORTNIGHT LINEUP

By Admin

The Directors’ Fortnight (Quinzaine des Realisateurs) of the Festival de Cannes announced its lineup today. Among the films debuting in the festival sidebar, begun in 1968, are: Factotum (Germany), an adaptation of Charles Bukowski’s eponymous story, from the Norwegian director Bent Hamer, and starring Matt Dillon; American director Lodge Kerrigan’s Keane, produced by Steven Soderbergh and featuring a breakthrough performance by Damian Lewis; and two films which debuted earlier this year at Sundance, Kyle Henry’s Room and Greg McLean’s Wolf Creek (Australia).

I am also thrilled to see Joao Pedro Rodrigues’s second feature Odete in the lineup. Joao Pedro’s controversial first feature O Fantasma debuted at Venice and was subsequently released in the States via PictureThis! Entertainment. (You can buy it on DVD through TLA Video.) I met Joao Pedro through our mutul friend Ian Birnie, and he and his partner Joao Rui took me on a tour of Lisbon’s nightlife during a memorable trip to Portugal some years back. (Full disclosure: I was on the jury of the New Fest in NY the year O Fantasma was named Best Feature, but I didn’t meet Joao Pedro until after this.)

According to the Directors’ Fortnight Web site: Odete features two interlocking stories: “Odete works in a hypermarket in Lisbon. She dreams of having a child with her boyfriend, Alberto, who works in the same hypermarket as a night watchman. But when Odete tells him about her desire for a child, Alberto runs away. Left alone, Odete becomes obsessed with her dream. Two youths, Pedro and Rui, are kissing outside a bar. They have been together for a year now and exchange engagement rings and oaths of love. Pedro goes home by car and Rui returns to the bar where he works at night. A few streets away, and a few minutes later, Pedro has a car accident. He dies in the arms of Rui, who comes running to help him. Rui, forlorn and hopeless, loses the desire to live. But the love between Pedro and Rui is eternal. Strangely, their destiny will meet that of Odete, who … Read the rest