TAXI RIDERS: ALRICK BROWN

If you’ve taken a ride in the back of a New York City taxi cab these last two weeks, you may have heard the stories of seven of New York’s most distinctive independent filmmakers of the moment. In partnership with Royal Bank of Canada and the Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment, the IFP has produced six spots that are playing not only in cabs but on NYC Life. Jamie Stuart directed, T. Griffin scored and I produced these pieces, and each one, in addition to profiling a person, highlights a different aspect of the independent filmmaker’s current creative, production or marketing brief. All the filmmakers were veterans of the IFP Labs and also selected for Filmmaker’s 25 New Faces.

Today I’m posting Alrick Brown, whose Kinyarwanda won the Audience Award in Sundance’s World Cinema Competition this year and is forthcoming in theaters this fall from the AFFRM.

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TAXI RIDERS: DEE REES

If you’ve taken a ride in the back of a New York City taxi cab these last two weeks, you may have heard the stories of seven of New York’s most distinctive independent filmmakers of the moment. In partnership with Royal Bank of Canada and the Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment, the IFP has produced six spots that are playing not only in cabs but on NYC Life. Jamie Stuart directed, T. Griffin scored and I produced these pieces, and each one, in addition to profiling a person, highlights a different aspect of the independent filmmaker’s current creative, production or marketing brief. All the filmmakers were veterans of the IFP Labs and also selected for Filmmaker’s 25 New Faces.

Today I’m posting Dee Rees, whose Pariah opens from Focus Features in December. She’s also featured in the upcoming Filmmaker in an interview with Brandon Harris.

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TAXI RIDERS: JESSICA ORECK

If you’ve taken a ride in the back of a New York City taxi cab these last two weeks, you may have heard the stories of seven of New York’s most distinctive independent filmmakers of the moment. In partnership with Royal Bank of Canada and the Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment, the IFP has produced six spots that are playing not only in cabs but on NYC Life. Jamie Stuart directed, T. Griffin scored and I produced these pieces, and each one, in addition to profiling a person, highlights a different aspect of the independent filmmaker’s current creative, production or marketing brief. All the filmmakers were veterans of the IFP Labs and also selected for Filmmaker’s 25 New Faces.

This week I’ll post them all on the blog, starting with Jessica Oreck, director of Beetle Queen Conquers Tokyo.

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MICHAEL RAPAPORT AND MALIK TAYLOR ON “BEATS, RHYMES AND LIFE”

Opening today is Beats, Rhymes and Life: The Travels of a Tribe Called Quest. Actor and longtime fan Michael Rapaport stepped behind the camera to both introduce a new audience to the seminal hip hop group but also to answer an aficionado’s longtime questions. Here’s a short interview filmed at Sundance, 2011. Photographed by Jamie Stuart, edited by Daniel James Scott, music by T. Griffin.

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“PAGE ONE”‘S ANDREW ROSSI AND DAVID CARR

Filmed at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival, where their documentary Page One: Inside the New York Times premiered and received rave reviews, here are director Andrew Rossi and Times writer, subject, and soul David Carr (pictured above) discussing both the film and journalism in the age of the Internet.

Originally posted Jan. 31, 2011.… Read the rest

DIRECTOR MIGUEL ARTETA ON “CEDAR RAPIDS”

I love what director Miguel Arteta has to say about comedy at the end of this short, unedited interview conducted during this year’s Sundance Film Festival. The director of such Filmmaker favorites as Star Maps and Chuck and Buck is in theaters today with his new comedy, Cedar Rapids, starring Ed Helms.

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JAMIE STUART’S SUNDANCE “MASTERPIECE”

From the shards of our experience shooting interviews and seeing movies at Sundance 2011 comes Jamie Stuart’s “Masterpiece.” With appearances by: Miguel Arteta, Alrick Brown, David Carr, Paddy Considine, Nekisa Cooper, Phife Dawg, Danfung Dennis, Andrew Donsunmu, Sean Durkin, Liz Garbus, Paul Giamatti, Megan Griffiths, Colin Goddard, Rutger Hauer, John Hawkes, Azazel Jacobs, Miranda July, Tom McCarthy, Peter Mullan, Adepero Oduye, Elizabeth Olsen, Jessica Oreck, Lindsay Pulsipher, Michael Rapaport, Calvin Reeder, Dee Rees, Amy Seimetz, Kim Wayans, Vilmos Zsigmond. Shot on the Canon 7D. Download the Quicktime here. (Contains adult language — NSFW.)

Look for the longer edits of these individual pieces throughout the year.

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ROBERT REDFORD AND KENNETH COLE DISCUSS VOLUNTEERISM AT SUNDANCE 2011

Last week from the Sundance Film Festival Filmmaker ran a series of videos sponsored by Kenneth Cole highlighting the work of volunteers at the festival. Each year, 1,600 volunteers descend on Park City and help make the festival a good experience for both filmmakers and audiences. And each year Cole, a Sundance Institute board member, designs and donates a sleeveless down vest to the volunteers. This year those vests are for sale at Kenneth Cole stores and at Sundance’s online festival store. A percentage of the net profits from the sale is donated to the Sundance Institute.

Below, in this final video, Redford and Cole discuss the spirit of volunteerism and how it relates to the specific job of running the Sundance Film Festival.

And here are our previous video portraits of the volunteers:

Christine Ioannides

Rhys Southan

Brenda Berliner

Knar Kitabjian

Jeff Aguirre… Read the rest

“MARTHA MARCY MAY MARLENE” ACTORS ELIZABETH OLSEN AND JOHN HAWKES

With two movies — Sean Durkin’s Martha Marcy May Marlene, which sold to Fox Searchlight; and the one-shot horror picture Silent House — Elizabeth Olsen was one of Sundance 2011′s breakout stars. And while at the festival, Durkin’s fellow lead John Hawkes was nominated for an Academy Award for his role in last year’s festival Grand Jury Prize-winner Winter’s Bone. Here, from Jamie Stuart, are both actors discussing their roles as, respectively, cult follower and cult leader in Martha Marcy May Marlene. Look for Durkin to appear in our mammoth wrap-up video next week.

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LEGENDARY DP VILMOS ZSIGMOND AT SLAMDANCE ’11

Vilmos Zsigmond, the Oscar-winning cinematographer of such films as Close Encounters of the Third Kind, The Deer Hunter, McCabe & Mrs. Miller, The Sugarland Express and The Long Goodbye, dropped by unexpectedly to discusses his work and a special screening of Summer Children at Slamdance. Here is the uncut footage. Shot by Jamie Stuart.

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