Archive for September, 2009
Wednesday, September 30th, 2009
Nick Dawson at FilmInFocus picked up on this Levi’s commercial directed by Sin Nombre director Cary Fukunaga. Writes Dawson:
Susan Hoffman, the executive creative director of ad company Wieden + Kennedy, described the campaign as aiming “to refresh and reinvent the idea of a pioneering spirit for the times in which we live.”
Fukunaga’s commercial, entitled “America,” uses the Walt Whitman poem of the same name and juxtaposes the rousing, patriotic words of the poem with lyrical images of a young and untamed country. Fukunaga has great eye for detail and a strong sense of style, and his black and white images here beautufully convey a sense of wildness and freedom. Music is provided by Owen Pallet of the band Final Fantasy (and also a member of Arcade Fire).
… Read the rest
Tuesday, September 29th, 2009
Overall Independent Film Week was a great experience for
Radio Unnameable. No, we weren’t handed a distribution deal in our first meeting. But that’s OK, most people aren’t. We did receive some positive feedback and encouragement and there may be some potential partnerships in the future. That was our goal. Now it’s all about follow up, brainstorming, and more meetings. We can walk away feeling optimistic that our film will find a home in this ever changing market.
Radio Unnameable is a character based story that touches on some bigger issues: the changing landscape of radio, free speech, and how one individual can inspire others by giving them a platform to speak out. Outreach for our project and hooking up with a potential audience is something we’ve been thinking about for some time. For a film like ours, a big factor to whether it will be successful is how forward thinking we are. One thing that all of our meetings, discussions with filmmakers over cocktails and panels seemed to drive home is to start this process now. We couldn’t agree more.
The Panels: between the two of us we made it to five or so. It was the first time either of us attended IFW panels and we focused primarily on the topics of financing, distribution and outreach. By and large, most panelists were able to offer fresh and interesting ideas. The dialogue was constructive and amongst the doom and gloom of the film climate there was an equal amount of optimism. Probably our main criticism is that we would have liked to have heard from more working filmmakers amongst the participants. But again, we only watched a handful.
One random aside. During our screening we had the pleasure of having one of our film’s participants (and fellow Spotlight on Docs filmmaker)
Robert Downey Sr. in attendance. Of course it helped that his time slot was immediately after ours, but nonetheless, he was there. Bob Downey is a filmmaking hero for both of us,
Putney Swope,
Chafed Elbows,
Greasers Palace, so on, all are tremendous. Mr. …
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Monday, September 28th, 2009
Terence Nance was in the IFP Rough Cut Lab with his very original How Would You Feel in 2008. Now he’s raising finishing funds using a crowdsourcing approach. He only needs five grand. Donate up to $40 and you get a DVD of the film. From $40 – $250 you get a DVD and T-Shirt. From 250 – $1,000, all of the above, a “Special Thanks” credit, and a one-night stay at the filmmaker’s home. More than a grand? All the above, a producer credit and your investment treated as an equity investment.
Here’s how Nance describes the movie:
HOW WOULD YOU FEEL? is a narrative(ish) feature by Terence Nance. The film documents the story of a quixotic artist and mysterious “it” girl, who, unbeknownst to her, was cast to play herself, in this loosely fictionalized account of real life events. These events document their relationship, which teeters at the edge of platonic and romantic. The ambiguity of their rapport is fed by the inhibitory melodrama of their individual romantic pasts and present. The parable plays out in seven volumes and four appendixes composed of meticulously constructed dramatizations of the actual events, animations, and interviews with the subjects.
What’s more, you can check out Nance’s imaginative fundraising trailer below or, if you want to do a bit more due diligence, check out the first 15 minutes of the movie.
… Read the rest
Sunday, September 27th, 2009
The New York Times reports that former Nixon speechwriter and columnist William Safire has died. While I disagreed with most of his politics, he had a great run at the Times with a column that was always witty, well-reasoned and well-written — a far cry from much of current right-wing discourse. I thought his final column was spectacular, and I saved a copy on my hard drive to refer to periodically. It’s called “Never Retire,” and it’s about the necessity of keeping the synapses active and continuously adapting to and participating in cultural change. Obviously, it’s even more relevant today than when Safire wrote it in 2005, and I recommend you keep a copy too and use it to periodically recharge your own sense of purpose.… Read the rest
Saturday, September 26th, 2009
While construction of a new Palazzo del Cinema is under way in the center of the film festival venue, causing some dislocation and confusion, Venice’s 66th edition (Sept. 2 – Sept. 12) produced a festival it can be proud of, diversified enough to offer something of quality for everyone but catering to no one. Among 75 official selections from 25 countries (the largest number in Venice’s history) featuring 71 world premieres, there is a deliberate mix of what Marco Muller, the festival director, calls highbrow and popular art. Films that pleased, offended, or were remakes of previous films engendered debate and emotional reactions, which is what I believe a film festival should do.
The official sections included Venezia 66, whose jury, headed by Ang Lee, awarded the Golden Lion for Best Film to Lebanon, based on Israel’s invasion of that country in 1982, in which the director, Samuel Maoz, participated as a young soldier, and for the past 20 years has been trying to come to terms with the experience. He is the third Israeli director to deal with the horrors of that war, after Ari Folman (Waltz with Bashir) and Joseph Cedar (Beaufort), and can expect a mixed reception in Israel.
Six U.S. films competed for the prestigious Golden Lion, among them Michael Moore’s Capitalism: A Love Story and Oliver Stone’s South of the Border. As disparate as they appear, there were perhaps inevitable comparisons, e.g., two American documentaries exposing the flaws of capitalism, Moore’s receiving clamorous applause for its content and courage while Stone’s became a media event as Hugo Chavez appeared on the red carpet (just another celebrity?), smiling, waving, and signing autographs. The press and the public were out in force in a surreal scene (think Fidel Castro at a film festival!) as Chavez basked in an incalculable amount of free publicity. Orchestrated by Stone, who insists that Chavez is misunderstood and unjustly criticized in the U.S., ignoring his decision to remove term limits on his presidency and other annoying facts that didn’t fit his script, the film also includes … Read the rest
Saturday, September 26th, 2009
In my last post on our distribution strategy for Kirt Gunn’s Lovely by Surprise I mentioned that I’d try to write a follow-up post when appropriate. It seems that time has come sooner than expected, and for one particular reason.
Part of our DIY release for Lovely By Surprise has been focused on digital messaging platforms, particularly Twitter and Facebook. They have been great tools for aggregating fans and followers and keeping them informed about various topics, from trivia about our actors and crew, to release dates and special screenings.
Twitter in particular has proven to be a great device for communication amongst our followers. It has also become a tool for evil, I’ve discovered. On Saturday, August 8th, one month after our official release date, there was a spike in tweets related to LBS. We wondered why and took a look. It appeared that people were tweeting and re-tweeting a URL that linked to a pirated version of the film. It was being hosted by a free file sharing network like Rapidshare or SendSpace. We downloaded it to confirm our fears. It was a 700MB file and took twenty minutes to download (the filesharing network restricts the bandwidth of downloads to users without a premium account). The colors were a bit off, the aspect ratio seemed to be askew and the frame was overcropped by a few lines. Other than that, it was a pretty high-quality image. In twenty minutes. On my computer. For free.
Wow, this brings up a bunch of issues! First, I spoke to Brandon at Indigenous (our distribution partner) about it. Needless to say, he was apoplectic. Worse than that, I don’t think there’s much we can do about it. It’s not like he’s Warner Bros. with the staff and resources to send cease and desist letters to file sharing sites and to prosecute piraters. Even the studios are rarely successful in those endeavors. Plus, with instant digital copies being created online, there isn’t really a way to stuff it back into the box anyway.
I know this part of the story isn’t … Read the rest
Saturday, September 26th, 2009
Indiewire and MoMA jointly organized a summit at MoMA on September 25 to discuss independent film and its future direction in a time of economic crisis and technological change. That the two groups could assemble a fairly astonishing collection of about 70 distributors, producers, directors, festival reps and others from the community at one place at one time is testament to the strength of the organizations but also the widespread sentiment that our business is changing and that what is yet to come will be defined by our collective actions — or, possibly, non-actions.
Some of the attendees, listed here in no particular order, included: Rick Allen (Snag Films), Michael Lynne (Unique Features), James Schamus (Focus Features), Ted Hope (This is That), Tom Barker (Sony Classics), Ira Deutchman (Emerging Pictures), Tom Quinn (Magnolia), Ryan Werner (IFC), Arianna Bocco (IFC), John Vanco (IFC), Jason Kliot (Open City), Joana Vicente (Open City), Michelle Byrd (IFC), Paola Frecerro (B-Side), Geoff Gilmore (Tribeca Enterprises), Eileen Newman (Tribeca Film Institute), Robin Bronk (Creative Coalition), Pam Koffler (Killer Films), Anne Hubbell (Kodak), John Sloss (Cinetic), Victoria Cook (Cinetic), Dina Kuperstock (CAA), Josh Braun (Submarine), Raj Roy (MoMA), Josh Siegel (MoMA), Peter Broderick (Paradigm Consulting), John Penotti (Greenestreet), Ira Sachs (director), Chris Eigeman (actor/director), and Peter Saraf (Big Beach). (Apologies to the many, many other people who attended and who I have not listed here.) Anne Thompson and Eugene Hernandez acted as moderators.
The ground rules were that the event could be written about, attendees could be listed, but that quotes could not be attributed without permission. Although I’m sure that many of the people there wouldn’t mind if I quoted them directly, I’m going to adhere to the rules and paint a broad-strokes picture of the event by listing some of the questions that were raised.
1. Crisis, What Crisis? Less funding available for independent film; a retreat from the market by private equity for at least three years; no new mini-major start-ups on the horizon; the inability of any of the “old” indie companies to remain independent over time; studio emphasis on and audience acceptance … Read the rest
Friday, September 25th, 2009
Earlier this week I wrote about Werner Herzog’s Guerilla Film School, which consists of a long weekend soaking up the wisdom of the great German director. Well, here’s another chance for one-on-one auteurist mind meld. The Pablove Foundation, which raises money for and awareness of children’s cancer, is auctioning off a visit to the set of Chris Nolan’s next film and lunch with the director. You and a guest can watch him film and ask him stuff about The Dark Knight, Memento, or for a little more clarity on the ending of The Prestige. The set visit will occur the week of October 12. Visit the Pablove Foundation’s eBay site for more info and for other auctions. This auction closes September 30, and bidding is up to just over $500.
… Read the rest
Friday, September 25th, 2009
According to indieWIRE’s Eugene Hernandez, The Weinstein Company’s president of theatrical films Tom Ortenberg has asked to be released from his contract after eight months on the newly created post. Ortenberg tells iW that his last day at the company will be Sept. 30. He had no other comment on his decision.
Ortenberg came over from Lionsgate where he had spent the last 12 years.… Read the rest
Friday, September 25th, 2009
From Jon Taplin’s blog, his conversation with Peter Chernin, former President of News Corp and Gordon Crawford, the Managing Director of Capital Group, “the most important media investor.” It’s titled Art of the Long View; The Media Company of 2020.
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Some notes on the presentation are available at Paid Content. Their lede:
For investors wondering if there are still any opportunities in media, former News Corp (NYSE: NWS). COO Peter Chernin has some advice: focus on digital and look to developing countries. In a panel discussion with Gordon Crawford, managing director of The Capital Group Companies, at the USC Annenberg School for Communication, Cherin also offered a warning—not that most investors needed it. “You stay out of the U.S., you stay out of western Europe, and you stay out of broadcast, newspapers and traditional media.”
… Read the rest
