THIS WAS MTV IN THE '90s

Scott Macaulay
It didn't used to be all reality shows. In 1990 MTV aired Buzz, an experimental video art collage show by director Mark Pellington. Genesis P-Orridge, William Burroughs, RU Sirius, David Byrne, and other transgressive thinkers (oh yes, and Jon Bon Jovi) were all featured in the debut show, which was openly inspired by Bruce Conner and other experimental filmmakers. Boing Boing noticed that the [continue]

OSCAR DOC SHORTLIST: THE COVE & FOOD, INC. IN; TYSON & CAPITALISM OUT

Jason Guerrasio
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences have announced the 15 films that have made the shortlist for Best Documentary. Two of the most prised docs of the year made the list: Louie Psihoyos's The Cove and Robert Kenner's Food, Inc., as well as a few lesser known titles like Anders Ostergaard's Burma VJ and Matt Tyrnauer's Valentino: The Last Emperor. But surprisingly excluded were Michael [continue]

READY TO RECord

Jason Guerrasio
The Sundance Institute announced today the 13 artists selected for the New Frontier section at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival. These works will be shown at New Frontier on Main, open to the public Thursday, January 21 through Saturday, January 30, 2010. (The full list of artists are below.) One of the artists chosen this year is actor Joseph Gordon-Levitt (pictured), who we discovered last [continue]

THINGS TO DO IN DENVER WHEN YOU'RE DEAD

Howard Feinstein
The mountain came to Mohamed. I picked up a bug that lingered and made me miserable. But I had accepted the honor of being a juror for the Kieslowski Prize at the 31st Starz Denver Film Festival, which began last week and runs through November 22. Only six foreign-language films were competing for our votes, and, either at other festivals or through the kindness of European sales agents, I had [continue]

TWO TAKEAWAYS FROM JON REISS @ THE IFC CENTER

Scott Macaulay
Thanks to everyone who came out tonight for the first in our series, "A New World: A User's Guide for Filmmakers and Audiences" at the IFC Center. The speaker was Jon Reiss, who gave listeners an accelerated yet detailed overview of his thoughts on DIY distribution and what a theatrical release means today. (Some of these thoughts can be found in this article in Filmmaker.) There was a lot to [continue]

JON REISS AT THE IFC CENTER TONIGHT

Jason Guerrasio
After a great week of discussions on our Weekly Player forum, Jon Reiss will be at the IFC Center tonight in NYC to conduct our first in a series of events at the Center on new, digital-era ways of financing, distributing, marketing and building an audience for independent films. Reiss's seminar will teach how to create unique distribution and marketing plans for independent films. He will also [continue]

CARA MERTES

Filmmaker Steve James (Hoop Dreams, Stevie) speaks to the Director of the Sundance Institute Documentar Program about her plans in her new position at Sundance.

MICHELLE SATTER

Scott Macaulay speaks with the Founding Director of the Sundance Institute’s Feature Film Program about, among other things, the rhythms, rituals and successes of the Sundance Filmmaker Labs.

KEN BRECHER

Scott Macaulay speaks with the Executive Director of the Sundance Institute about Sundance the institution, its programs, and the future of its audience.

GEOFF GILMORE

Holly Willis speaks to the Director of the Sundance Film Festival about the Festival, the future, and the press’s “scorecard mentality.”

JOHN COOPER

Sundance’s Director of Festival Programming tells us what to expect at this year’s fest. By Holly Willis. From the Winter 2007 issue.

Click here for a digital version of our special section on Sundance’s 25th Anniversary. Featuring essays on Sundance from key figures in the industry, a behind-the-scenes look at the creative process of the Sundance Labs, and profiles/interviews with many of the top people in the independent film community. This special section was made possible with the support of Hewlett-Packard.

WHITE PLASTIC FLOWER

1/29/07
Jamie Stuart takes on the Sundance Film Festival in his latest short. Click above to watch. Click here to download.

SNAKE EYES

Visualizing the world of Black Snake Moan.
By Bob Fisher
1/25/07
In Black Snake Moan Christina Ricci plays Rae, a nymphomaniac wracked by vivid memories and dreams of being sexually abused during her childhood. Also in Craig Brewer’s follow-up to his Sundance-hit Hustle and Flow is Samuel L. Jackson, who plays Lazarus, a God-fearing farmer who picks at his guitar, sings blues songs about sin, and, after a chance encounter, attempts to oversee Rae’s salvation. [continue]

CHRISTOPHER ZALLA

writer/directors: PADRE NUESTRO.
By James Ponsoldt
1/25/07
Padre Nuestro exemplifies the modern, international face of American independent cinema: the first-time director, Christopher Zalla, was born in Kenya, raised overseas (and is fluent in Spanish), schooled at Columbia, and created a stylish thriller that begins in Mexico and winds up in New York City. A smart film that — one could argue — uses its border-hopping protagonist’s stolen identity as a metaphor for globalization, Padre Nuestro will certainly spark debate at Sundance. [continue]

DAVID KAPLAN

writer/directors: YEAR OF THE FISH.
By James Ponsoldt
1/24/07
A veteran of Sundance with his short films — including the cryptic, menacing fairy tales, Little Red Riding Hood (starring Christina Ricci and Quentin Crisp!), Little Suck-A-Thumb, and The Frog King — which are regularly shown to film students as examples of exemplary short-form filmmaking, David Kaplan returns to the festival with his first feature, Year of the Fish. [continue]

DAN BUSH/DAVID BRUCKNER/JACOB GENTRY

writer/directors: THE SIGNAL.
By James Ponsoldt
1/24/07
Making a feature film, independent or otherwise, isn’t easy (understatement of the century). The seemingly impossible hurdle of gaining financing — not to mention the tiny details of actually executing the film and then seeking distribution — seem Herculean enough to scare off most would-be filmmakers.
Now imagine directing a feature film with two other directors. [continue]

ANOCHA SUWICHAKORNPONG

writer/director: GRACELAND.
By James Ponsoldt
1/24/07
Anocha Suwichakornpong, known by her friends as Mai, is at home on a film set. Case in point: while most filmmakers would kill to watch their film screen in front of a Sundance audience, Mai is on the other side of the world, shooting her next short film, Days and Days and Days and Days. [continue]

JAMES C. STROUSE

writer/director: GRACE IS GONE.
By James Ponsoldt
1/20/07
Certain films arrive at Sundance with a special type of anticipation, whether it’s due to star presence, subject matter, timeliness, or some ineffable quality that is the stuff of buzz. At Sundance 2007, Grace is Gone is one of those films. The directorial debut of James C. Strouse, who wrote Lonesome Jim (the Steve Buscemi-directed film screened at Sundance in 2005), the film tells the heart-wrenching story of a father, played by John Cusack, who must find a way to tell his children that their mother has been killed in Iraq. [continue]

CHERIEN DABIS

writer/director: MAKE A WISH.
By James Ponsoldt
1/20/07
Supported by numerous prestigious grants — including the Jerome Foundation’s New York City Media Arts Grant, the New York State Council on the Art’s Electronic Media and Film Distribution Grant, and National Geographic’s All Roads Film Project Seed Grant — Itmanna (Make a Wish), the most recent short film by writer/director, Cherien Dabis, will quickly follow its Sundance bow with screenings at Berlin and the Clermont-Ferrand Short Film Festival. [continue]

FELLIPE BARBOSA

writer/director: SALT KISS.
By James Ponsoldt
1/19/07
Salt Kiss, the second short film by writer/director Fellipe Barbosa to screen at Sundance (following last year’s La Muerte Es Pequena), has none of the tropes commonly associated—by Americans—with “Latin American” cinema. That means no knife-fights, gambling, gang violence, or overt poverty. Yet Salt Kiss is absolutely a Latin American film—Brazilian, to be exact—because its creator told a film straight from his heart, and yes, he happens to be from Brazil. [continue]

NANOBAH BECKER

writer/director: CONVERSION.
By James Ponsoldt
1/19/07
Conversion, the ambitious second short film by Nanobah Becker, clocks in at only nine minutes, and is described simply tantalizingly as: “Christian missionaries make a catastrophic visit to a Navajo family.” Becker’s first short, Flat, has screened in festivals internationally, and she is a recipient of a 2005 Sundance Institute Ford Fellowship and a 2006 Media Arts Fellowship for her feature screenplay, Full. [continue]

HOPE DICKSON LEACH

writer/director: THE DAWN CHORUS.
By James Ponsoldt
1/19/07
Hope Dickson Leach’s short film, The Dawn Chorus, tells the story of two siblings who annually reenact—with other survivors—the plane crash that killed their parents. An MFA thesis film for Columbia University’s Film program (where Hope graduated with honors), The Dawn Chorus explores the process of grieving and, hopefully healing. [continue]

IAN OLDS

writer/director: BOMB.
By James Ponsoldt
1/19/07
It isn’t easy to glean a sense of Ian Olds’ identity from his films — they’re too diverse, too global. From Occupation: Dreamland (short-listed for an Academy Award), a breathtaking documentary that avoids simple political interpretation by opting to tell the story of the Iraq War from the perspective of the entire city of Fallujah — including both native Iraqis and U.S. troops — to Bomb, his most recent film, which explores teenage heartache against the backdrop of a decrepit bombing range and junkie malaise, Olds seems to be imbued with an unusual sense of humanism and empathy for individuals stuck in agonizing situations. [continue]

LILAH VANDERBURGH

writer/director: BITCH.
By James Ponsoldt
1/19/07
Bitch, the kinetic, black-and-white, Harold Lloyd-meets-Jello Biafra love story, is one of the most visually sophisticated and stylized films to emerge from that Sundance short film-factory, Columbia University’s MFA Film Program (eight shorts screening at the festival this year!). The film’s director, Lilah Vanderburgh, is obsessed with skater culture, punk-rock, underground comics, and displays the hip film literacy of another director with an encyclopedic knowledge of pop culture.[continue]