TRUST NO ONE

By Jason Guerrasio

The plot thickens in Jamie Stuart‘s second episode, NYFF6 Part 2, from the New York Film Festival. In this short, Jamie finds his contact at the festival, sits in on the Steven Soderbergh press conference and rescues a woman being harassed in a dark alley with some slick Bourne Identity moves. Tune in next week for Part 3.… Read the rest

QUOTE OF THE DAY

By Scott Macaulay

“Examining the record of past research from the vantage of contemporary historiography, the historian of science may be tempted to exclaim that when paradigms change, the world itself changes with them. Led by a new paradigm, scientists adopt new instruments and look in new places. Even more important, during revolutions scientists see new and different things when looking with familiar instruments in places they have looked before. It is rather as if the professional community had been suddenly transported to another planet where familiar objects are seen in a different light and are joined by unfamiliar ones as well. Of course, nothing of quite that sort does occur: there is no geographical transplantation; outside the laboratory everyday affairs usually continue as before. Nevertheless, paradigm changes do cause scientists to see the world of their research-engagement differently. In so far as their only recourse to that world is through what they see and do, we may want to say that after a revolution scientists are responding to a different world.” — Thomas Kuhn, The Structure of Scientific Revolutions.… Read the rest

NYFF46 PART 2

Jamie Stuart continues his series of shorts from the 46th New York Film Festival with an appearance from Steven Soderbergh and a chance encounter with a woman in distress… or is she?

Approximate running time: 6:02.

Download the short here by right clicking and choosing Save Target or Save Link. (35M)

Please visit Jamie’s site at www.mutinycompany.com.

To see all the videos in this series please go to
http://filmmakermagazine.com/nyff46.php. … Read the rest

WITHIN OUR GRASP

By Admin

Film Indepenent’s fourth-annual Filmmaker Forum, kicked off with a rally call for a “truly free film culture.” Ted Hope’s keynote encouraged a move from the competitive trappings of the indie industry to a collaborative future. At the core of a “truly free film culture” is the internet. Hope warned that if filmmakers didn’t take an active stance in the net neutrality debate, this window of opportunity would close. Without action, the heart of a new potential film community could stop beating as controlling interests tier bandwidth, create walled gardens, and shut the open gates that enable filmmakers to interact freely with audiences.

But is it so bad to have your feet firmly planted on the ground?

While we wastefully debate if an industry’s sky is falling, we are missing the true opportunity to shape a new one. Gatekeepers become a mute point when a filmmaker has a direct and meaningful relationship with an audience.

During a panel that I moderated with Alex Johnson and Micki Krimmel, the focus was on how filmmakers can build their own audiences, but It wasn’t something that was said in the room that stuck with me. As I was leaving the DGA, I was stopped in the hallway by a filmmaker who had attended the panel. She explained that her approach to the internet was being dictated by someone else – that she was trying to imitate what she saw the studios do. After the audience panel, it had become clear to her that the internet wasn’t just for marketing but in fact another … Read the rest

A THOUSAND PHOENIX RISING
By Ted Hope

Following is the text for Ted Hope’s keynote address at the Film Independent Filmmaker Forum on September 27, 2008. Thanks to Ted for allowing us to reprint his speech.

A THOUSAND PHOENIX RISING
How The New Truly Free Filmmaking Community Will Rise From Indie’s Ashes

I can’t talk about the “crisis” of the indie film industry. There is no crisis. The country is in crisis. The economy is in crisis. We, the filmmakers, aren’t in crisis.

The business is changing, but for us –us who are called Indie Filmmakers — that’s good that the business is changing. Filmmaking is an incredible privilidge and we need to accept it as such – and accept the full responsibility that comes with that priviledge.

The proclamations of Indie Film’s demise are grossly exaggerated. How can there be a “Death Of Indie” when Indie — real Indie, True Indie — has yet to even live?
Yes, there’s a profound paradigm shift, and that shift is the coming of true independence. The hope of this new independence is being threatened even before it has arrived. Are we going to fight for our independence and can we even shoulder the responsibility that independence requires? That is: will we ban together and work for our communal needs? Are we ready to leave dreams of stardom and wealth behind us?

When someone says “Indie is dead”, they are talking about the state of the Indie Film Business, as opposed to what are actually the films themselves. They can say “The sky is falling” because for the last fifteen years, the existing power base in the film industry has focused on films fit for the existing business model, as opposed to ever truly concentrating on creating a business model for the films that filmmakers want to make.

This is where we are right now: on the verge of a TRULY FREE FILM CULTURE, one that is driven by both the creators and the audiences, pulled down by the audience and not pushed onto them by those that control the apparatus and the supply. We now have the … Read the rest

TED HOPE ON A TRULY FREE FILM CULTURE

By Scott Macaulay

Over on our Web Exclusives page I’ve posted Ted Hope’s just-concluded keynote address at the Film Independent Filmmaker Forum. Please read at this link and post comments if you have them.

Here’s how he opens:

I can’t talk about the “crisis” of the indie film industry. There is no crisis. The country is in crisis. The economy is in crisis. We, the filmmakers, aren’t in crisis.

The business is changing, but for us –us who are called Indie Filmmakers — that’s good that the business is changing. Filmmaking is an incredible privilidge and we need to accept it as such – and accept the full responsibility that comes with that priviledge.

The proclamations of Indie Film’s demise are grossly exaggerated. How can there be a “Death Of Indie” when Indie — real Indie, True Indie — has yet to even live?

Read the full address here.… Read the rest

PAUL NEWMAN, R.I.P.

By Scott Macaulay

With so many great performances to choose from, I’m selecting this late-career classic: The Verdict, written by David Mamet and directed by Sidney Lumet.

… Read the rest

MATT WOLF, “WILD COMBINATION: A PORTRAIT OF ARTHUR RUSSELL”

By Nick Dawson

A REENACTED SHOT OF ARTHUR RUSSELL ON THE STATEN ISLAND FERRY FROM DIRECTOR MATT WOLF’S WILD COMBINATION: A PORTRAIT OF ARTHUR RUSSELL. COURTESY PLEXIFILM.

Some people age more quickly than others, and Matt Wolf – both in person and in his work – displays a confidence and maturity that belie his tender years. Twenty-six-year-old Wolf was born and raised in San Jose, California, and spent much of his teenage years watching movies. He won a full-tuition fellowship to study film at NYU, where he made a number of shorts including Smalltown Boys (2003), an experimental biopic about AIDS activist David Wojanorawicz. During this period, he also interned for and became friends with documentarian Sandi DuBowski, the director of Trembling Before G-d. He currently produces short films for both the New York Times and the Sundance Channel.

Wild Combination: A Portrait of Arthur Russell, Wolf’s highly assured debut feature, is a biographical documentary about Russell, the late cello-playing disco pioneer and avante garde musician whose work was relatively unknown during his lifetime but now, 15 years after his death from AIDS, has attained cult status. Initially conceived as an experimental response to Russell’s music, Wolf’s film evolved into an exploration of Russell’s life as well as his work when the director met Tom Lee, Russell’s lover, and Chuck and Emily Russell, his parents. Though it has the usual music doc tropes of archival footage and talking head interviews, Wild Combination distinguishes itself both by its selective focus and Wolf’s use of experimental techniques. Rather than being exhaustive and heavily fact-based, Wolf dwells on people’s emotional response to Russell and his music, and complements songs with imaginative images that at times blur the line between fiction and reality.

Filmmaker spoke to Wolf about his distinctive documentary approach, his plan to eat his way through Queens, and working in a gay coffee shop run by heroin addicts.

MATT WOLF, DIRECTOR OF WILD COMBINATION: A PORTRAIT OF ARTHUR RUSSELL. COURTESY PLEXIFILM.

Filmmaker: From what I’ve read, you were interested in Arthur Russell before you ever heard his music.

Wolf… Read the rest

DECONSTRUCTING THE POLITICAL AD…

By Scott Macaulay

… or, what you hear in the political ad.

… Read the rest

BUSH’S DARK NIGHT

By Scott Macaulay

Here’s mash-up commentary on last night’s Bush speech titled “The Dark Bailout.” Nolan’s The Dark Knight continues to resonate. Hat tip: Hollywood Elsewhere. Source: Matthew Belinkie at Overthinking It.

… Read the rest