“SLEEPING BEAUTY” WRITER/DIRECTOR JULIA LEIGH

By Scott Macaulay

When Filmmaker chose Australian novelist Julia Leigh for our 25 New Faces list of 2008, the author of such books as The Hunter and Disquiet was teaching at Barnard while establishing herself as a screenwriter of provocative, nuanced dramas for directors like Walter Salles and production companies like Plan B. She said when I interviewed her that screenplay writing was originally a form of “diversion therapy” while working on Disquiet, but that she grew to appreciate the form. “I actually find scripts hard to read — ugly,” she said in 2008. “I got my head around the very basic conventions — by that I‘m referring to things like present tense, introducing characters in ‘All Caps,‘ minimal parentheticals… the rules of presentation. The loss of interiority — or explicitly entering into thoughts and feelings of the characters — was a challenge. I pay a lot of attention to the transitions between scenes: How will this scene ‘cut‘ against the next scene… I visualize it. So it‘s very organic: One scene leads to another. The film expands; it grows and deepens. I put myself in the shoes of the audience; [viewers] don‘t look at a film in retrospect, they don‘t anatomize overall structure. But that said, I appreciate a sense of ‘wholeness‘ in a film so that when I get to the end I realize that the ‘ending‘ was in fact there in the film all along.”

In the above quote, one can sense the director lurking beneath Leigh’s screenwriter persona. And, indeed, the original script that propelled Leigh onto our list, Sleeping Beauty, became, after a few twists and turns, her directorial debut. It’s the story of a young student who drifts into a highly specialized form of prostitution, entering each night a “sleeping chamber” and drugged somnambulance while her clients do to her what she cannot remember the next morning. (Leigh is quick to point out to me, however, that the rule of the house is “no penetration.”)

Sleeping Beauty, executive produced by Jane Campion, continued its charmed life when it became one of the rare … Read the rest

ALMA HAR’EL, “BOMBAY BEACH”

By Brandon Harris

Stunningly shot and formally audacious, Bombay Beach, the first feature of Israeli-born music-video director and cinematographer Alma Har’el, is a rare bird, the type of film that seems to be building its own cinematic language from the ground up. Sure, it embraces some stylistic and thematic similarities with a whole host of filmmaking luminaries, but it is dancing to its very own tune, both literally and figuratively.

Har’el, as we discuss below, quickly entered the lives of various people living around the California hamlet of Bombay Beach, a derelict precinct that was once a haven for zealous developers in the ’60s, after scouting the place for a music video shoot. She found undocumented lives of great wonder and choose to make artwork out of their struggles and eccentricities, their dreams and failures, their prejudices and their grace. Dispatching the term “subjects” for “collaborators,” Har’el creates a visual, highly narrative tone poem concerning a number of snake-bitten but essentially decent and partially victimized people living on the margins of the California desert. With characters that include bi-polar, overmedicated child and his explosives-addicted parents, a mildly racist, trailer-dwelling octogenarian with an ear for poetry and a lovesick football prospect who seeks to escape the ghettos of the Salton Sea through an athletic scholarship, Har’el casts a warm but unforgiving eye on a forgotten corner of America.

Bob Dylan and Beirut both contributed music to the highly atmospheric, oddly touching film, which premiered in Berlin’s Panorama section before making its North American Premiere at Tribeca, where it won the International Documentary Competition’s top prize. While it wears the influence of Harmony Korine, Larry Clark, Lynne Ramsay, David Gordon Green, Charles Burnett and Gus Van Sant (just to name a few), it announces a major new directorial talent in Har’el who is working in a key all her own.

Bombay Beach opens at the IFC Center on Friday.

Filmmaker: Watching your film again I was struck by the notion that this film was made by someone who had an intense connection to this place. How did you first discover Bombay Beach and … Read the rest

“25 NEW FACES” SERIES AT TACOMA’S GRAND CINEMA STARTS FRIDAY

By Jason Guerrasio

Last year we were flattered when The Grand Cinema in Tacoma, Washington asked if they could put together a screening series of our 2010 25 New Faces of Independent Film. It was an amazing turnout with The Grand screening films from 22 of the 25 and 11 of the filmmakers making the trip to attend.

Well, The Grand is doing it again! Beginning this Friday and running until the 25th, The Grand Cinema will screen 20 works from this year’s 25 and it sounds like they will once again have a bunch of the filmmakers on hand. If you live in Tacoma or are close by we hope you head on over to check it out. And a very special thanks to The Grand’s executive director, Philip Cowan, for orchestrating the series for a second year.

To find out who will be attending and get a list of what films are screening and the schedule, head over to The Grand’s website.… Read the rest

SUMMER ’11 ISSUE ONLINE

By Jason Guerrasio

Select stories from our Summer issue are now available, including this year’s 25 New Faces of Independent Film.

You can also read online our interviews with Steve James on his new film The Interrupters, Evan Glodell talks about Bellflower and doc filmmaker Paul Devlin looks at the battle between documentary filmmakers and the IRS.

Plus, columns Culture Hacker, Industry Beat and more.

The issue hits stands next week, but you can read it now on your desktop by subscribing to our digital issue. Learn more here.

Enjoy.… Read the rest

JASON BYRNE COVERS SOUTHERN SUDAN INDEPENDENCE

By Scott Macaulay

A 2010 25 New Face, filmmaker Jason Byrne has been based in Tanzania, where he’s an Audio-Visual Archivist for the U.N. International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda. He recently sent an email to his list about a new project, and, with permission, I’m reposting it here.

Over the weekend, I was in Southern Sudan to witness the country’s independence. I made a film within the celebration, which included two actors. One actor plays the “North” and one actor plays the “South.” The history of the two countries will be captured through the telling of the characters experiences.

Here are some images from the film. The collective energy and excitement among the Southern Sudanese was something I never thought could exist anywhere. I hope I captured something of this feeling on film. — Jason Byrne

Actors:

Finishing touches on the statue of John Garang, the original leader of the Sudan People’s Liberation Party (SPLA), who fought for the South’s Independence.

We had journalist accreditation so we were able to get on a media platform. Everybody on the platform was doing live feeds — except for me..
… Read the rest

TRAILER WATCH: “PARIAH”

By Scott Macaulay

Dee Rees’ powerful gay-themed drama has been one of our favorite film projects of the last few years. The film went through the IFP Narrative Lab, and two of its principals — writer/director Rees and d.p. Bradford Young — appeared on our “25 New Faces” list. So, we were thrilled when the film was picked up at Sundance by Focus Features and Rees was given a development deal.

Focus has just released the trailer, which I’ve embedded below. And see my piece on Rees from the 2008 25 New Faces list and Jason Guerrasio’s on Young from the 2009 list.

… Read the rest

PLINKETT (AKA MIKE STOKLASA) ON STAR WARS: EPISODE 3 — REVENGE OF THE SITH

By Scott Macaulay

Mike Stoklasa made Filmmaker‘s “25 New Faces” list in 2010 with his brilliant feature-length critical vivisections of George Lucas’s Star Wars prequel series. First there was The Phantom Menace, and then Attack of the Clones, and now Stoklasa, in his “Mr. Plinkett” persona, tackles Revenge of the Sith. Watch, marvel and enjoy.

… Read the rest

“25 NEW FACES” FEATURED AT THE GRAND CINEMA IN TACOMA, WA

By Jason Guerrasio

Attention film lovers in or around Tacoma, Washington: Beginning this Friday, The Grand Cinema will be presenting projects from this year’s “25 New Faces of Independent Film.”

Nowhere else in the country will you be able to see the works from this year’s 25 New Faces in a concentrated program at the same venue. The six-day event will include 21 films and 12 of the “25″ will be making the trip to be in attendance, including New Low‘s Adam Bowers, Babyland‘s Marc Fratello and The New Year‘s Trieste Kelly Dunn.

We here at Filmmaker would like to give a special thanks for to The Grand Cinema’s executive director, Philip Cowan, and his staff for reaching out to Filmmaker with this idea and putting this event together. We hope this is the start of an annual film event in Tacoma for years to come.

Click here to learn more about the event, how to get tickets and a PDF version of the schedule.… Read the rest

SPARROW SONGS LAUNCHES KICKSTARTER CAMPAIGN

By Scott Macaulay

I was happy to see Adam Daniel Mezei on his new PMD for Hire blog respond to the work of the Sparrow Songs team of Alex Jablonski and Michael Totten from this year’s “25 New Faces” list. Like me, he found something special in the tone and execution of these monthly short documentary pieces. (Check out Mezei’s post for detailed musings on five of the episodes.)

Now, Jablonski and Totten are launching a Kickstarter campaign to allow them to cover the expenses of the project and to shoot three particularly ambitious final episodes. Check out their work on their own site and please consider supporting them.

… Read the rest

25 NEW FACES

By Filmmaker Staff

The 25 new faces of independent film.