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 November 20, 2008 FIRST PERSON | Basil Tsiokos: The Challenging State of Film Fests Today
At the end of October, after 12 years with the organization, I officially stepped down from my position as the Artistic Director of NewFest: The New York Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, & Transgender Film Festival, which just celebrated its 20th Anniversary. Within the last year, three of the other best-known U.S. LGBT film fests have also experienced significant staff changes, beginning with the departure of Outfest's Executive Director Stephen Gutwillig, followed by Frameline's Artistic Director Michael Lumpkin, and, most dramatically, by the wholesale staff restructuring of the Miami Gay & Lesbian Film Festival. While some of these changes were simply career shifts after long tenures, others were unfortunately borne out of economic necessity. [ read more in People ] [ 0 comments ] [ filed under First Person, Lead Story, Queer Cinema ] November 19, 2008 DISPATCH FROM GREECE | The Young and Chill: Thessaloniki Spotlights Balkans and Itself
Called the gateway to the Balkans, the city of Thessaloniki (aka Salonica) is perfectly situated in southeastern Europe to host the region's key film event, the Thessaloniki International Film Festival, which kicked off November 13. This northern port city in Greece is in close proximity to countries with burgeoning local cinemas from Croatia, Romania, Serbia, Turkey and more. [ read more in On The Scene ] [ 0 comments ] [ filed under Festival Dispatches, Lead Story ]  "Mary and Max" to Open 2009 Sundance Film Festival
The world premiere of "Mary and Max," a clay animation freature from Academy Award-winning short creators Adam Elliot and producer Melanie Coombs will kick off the 25th Sundance Film Festival on January 15th in Park City, Utah. The feature stars Philip Seymour Hoffman and Toni Collette with narration by Barry Humphries. [ read more in On The Scene ] [ 0 comments ] [ filed under Festival News, Lead Story, Park City ]  SHORTS COLUMN | An Unlikely Partnership Results in Short Films with Something to Say
Back in May 2008, eight UCLA graduate students were given good news: the nonprofit organization AARP wanted to give each of them $10,000 to make short films on the hot-button topics of healthcare and financial security. The bad news was the students had only three months to shoot and edit their pieces, which had to be completed by an August 1, 2008 deadline. The eight shorts made under the Stolen Dreams competition umbrella were then whittled down to four finalists, which were shown on October 23, 2008 to AARP's Emilio Pardo and industry heavyweights Steven Bochco, Curtis Hanson, and Reggie Hudlin. After an intensive morning spent screening then deliberating, the four-man jury awarded a $7,500 cash prize to Anthony Onah's "The Cure." Onah's short will go on to be integral part of AARP's bi-partisanship Divided We Fail initiative. [ read more in Movies ] [ 0 comments ] [ filed under Lead Story, Monthly Short Film Column ] November 18, 2008 Launching New IFC Series, Pundits and Writers Ask: Is Modern Journalism About Truth?
If the mainstream media suffers from attention deficit disorder, bloggers have obsessive compulsive disorder, posed Arianna Huffington this afternoon at Michael's Restuarant, mecca for Manhattan's media elite. Ringleader for the leading left-leaning water cooler Huffington Post, she moderated a spirited conversation about the state of today's news media pegged to tonight's launch of The IFC Media Project. [ read more in On The Scene ] [ 1 comments ] [ filed under Biz, Lead Story ]  "I Don't Live On This Planet": Tilda Swinton On Her Post-Oscar Career and the Evolution of Independent Film
A short time ago in Los Angeles, actress Tilda Swinton had a very busy few days. She was there promoting her work in Erick Zonca's "Julia," screening at AFI Fest 2008. But in the two nights preceding its screening, she continued her newfound role as a staple honoree with back-to-back fetes: a tribute at AFI, and an award of excellence at the 2008 BAFTA/LA Britannia Awards. "It's very strange this getting awards," Swinton said upon accepting her award from BAFTA/LA. "I have to confess until so recently that the only thing I'd ever won was a raffle when I was twelve. I got a bottle of aftershave I gave my brother for Christmas and he still has it." [ read more in People ] [ 0 comments ] [ filed under Lead Story, Profiles ] November 17, 2008 AWARDS WATCH '08 | Academy Shortlists 15 for Best Doc Race
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences have named 15 films that made the short-list in the Documentary Feature category for the 81st Academy Awards, whittling the number down from a record 94 that had originally qualified. Documentary Branch members will now select the five nominees from among the 15 titles on the shortlist. The Academy Awards nominations will be announced on Thursday, January 22, 2009, at 5:30 a.m. PT in the Academy's Samuel Goldwyn Theater, and the awards for outstanding film achievements of 2008 will be presented on Sunday, February 22, 2009, at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood. [ read more in Biz ] [ 10 comments ] [ filed under Awards Season, Awards Watch, Lead Story ]  indieWIRE INTERVIEW | Taking it all On: Ellen Kuras Directs "The Betrayal"
Documentary coverage sponsored by SnagFilms. [ read more in People ] [ 0 comments ] [ filed under Documentary, Interviews, Lead Story ]  iW INSIDER | Eugene Hernandez: The Battle for Marriage Equality and the Intersection with Indie Film
For a full week now, many friends, colleagues and co-workers have asked me if and when I'd write more personally about the intensifying fight for marriage equality and its intersection with the indie film community. Last week brought calls for a Sundance Film Festival boycott and then the focus shifted slightly to Film Independent and its Los Angeles Film Festival. Folks are clearly at odds over how to deal with the two festivals, arguing that each has some link to the Mormon church, which aggressively funneled some $20 million into the campaign to defeat Prop 8. But, the situation isn't black and white. Like most issues, it is complicated. There are no simple solutions and even at the indieWIRE office we've had passionate debates on the matter. It goes without saying that I don't speak for any of my colleagues here. [ read more in Biz ] [ 37 comments ] [ filed under Advocacy, Lead Story ] November 16, 2008 iW BOT | Weekend Estimates: "Slumdog" Scores Huge Numbers
Box Office coverage presented by Rentrak Theatrical [ read more in Biz ] [ 0 comments ] [ filed under Box Office, Lead Story ] November 14, 2008 AWARDS WATCH '08 | Back and Forth: Buzzing Best Picture, Underdogs
Continuing this year's awards season coverage in indieWIRE, editor-in-chief Eugene Hernandez and assistant editor Peter Knegt chatted yesterday via instant message about the ever-evolving race. Topics for this installment include a look at emerging best picture contenders, from "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button to "Milk," and potential dark horses that might play a larger role in this race than people are expecting. [ read more in Biz ] [ 0 comments ] [ filed under Awards Season, Awards Watch, Lead Story ]  indieWIRE PROFILE | "A Christmas Tale" Director Arnaud Desplechin
Fresh on the heels of 2005's critical hit "Kings And Queen," Arnaud Desplechin is returning to American screens this fall with his new film, "A Christmas Tale" (Un Conte de Noel). Already a hit on the international festival circuit, "A Christmas Tale" is also Desplechin's most successful release to date; international box-office receipts for the film have exceeded $4,000,000. indieWIRE caught up with Desplechin after his recent New York Film Festival screenings to discuss the film and his thoughts on the prospects for commercial success in the United States. The film launched its VOD release earlier this week and debuts today in theaters (and a retrospective of Desplechin's work opened recently in New York City). [ read more in People ] [ 0 comments ] [ filed under Interviews, Lead Story ] November 13, 2008 DISPATCH FROM ENGLAND | Sheffield Doc/Fest: Born Again and Joining Forces
The Sheffield Doc/Fest in Sheffield, England just wound up its fifteenth incarnation, yet the air of it feels new, emerging, and in a way, it is. Director Heather Croall took over three years ago and under her leadership, this five-day event is expanding its horizons and gunning to be one of the top international documentary festivals. Croall said, "I feel like this year we really got into gear, our organization is better than ever." Evidenced by the energy and good will present despite the damp November weather, it is well on its way. [ read more in On The Scene ] [ 0 comments ] [ filed under Festival Dispatches, Lead Story, On The Scene ]  "Milk" and the Movement: Visibility, Politics and Writer Dustin Lance Black
While attending a party with both gay and straight members of the film and music communities last weekend in Los Angeles, I was struck by the parallels between the current post-Prop 8 environment and the anti-gay Prop 6 that late San Francisco Supervisor Harvey Milk campaigned to defeat in the '70s. "There were no gay people shown in the early anti-8 commercials," one attendee told me over the weekend. "They made it an abstract rights issue, while the pro-8 people made it personal. It was only after [the Yes vote] went up in the polls that they started rolling out Ellen [DeGeneres] on TV." As seen in Gus Vant Sant's new film, ""Milk," Harvey Milk advocated way back in the 1970s that gay people need to make themselves visible in order to change perceptions in society, a subject I discussed with "Milk" writer Dustin Lance Black recently in California. [ read more in People ] [ 2 comments ] [ filed under Lead Story, Profiles ] November 12, 2008 indieWIRE INTERVIEW | Going Full Frontal: Yair Hochner's "Antarctica"
Director Yair Hochner's "Antarctica" is set in Tel Aviv and centers on an interconnected group of friends and their various relationships. At the crux is the adorably bookish Omer, about to turn 30, who still hasn't found himself, and his free-spirited best friend Miki, who both end up inadvertently dating the same handsome journalist, Ronen. Frozen in place, they and their assorted family members and lovers all seek the same thing--a guiding light to show them that love is still out there. Regent Releasing opens "Antarctica" in Los Angeles Friday, November 14 with other cities to follow. [ read more in People ] [ 0 comments ] [ filed under Interviews, Lead Story, Queer Cinema ]  REVIEW | Yawn of the Dead: Vadim Glowna's "House of the Sleeping Beauties"
[An indieWIRE review from Reverse Shot.] Intended as a meditation on mortality and morality, Vadim Glowna's adaptation of a Yasunari Kawabata novel simultaneously strives towards portentous poeticism and thriller intrigue, but falls more into tawdry B-movie territory instead. Written, directed, and produced by the German filmmaker, who also stars as protagonist Edmond, "House of the Sleeping Beauties" follows a man in the literal and figurative winter of his life. Edmond begins to visit the titular maison upon the advice of longtime friend Kogi (Maximilian Schell), who creepily persuades him by saying, "I only feel really alive when lying beside someone somnolent." [ read more in Movies ] [ 0 comments ] [ filed under Lead Story, Reviews ]  iW PROFILE | "Eden" Director Declan Recks
In Irish director Declan Recks' remarkably tense romantic drama "Eden," actions speak louder than words -- or, at least, more coherently, as far as American audiences are concerned. For those inexperienced in the careful discernment of regional accents, "Eden" offers no subtitles, but the central themes are thankfully not lost in translation. Recks relied on visual lyricism as much as dialogue when translating Eugene O'Brien's devastating 2002 play about an estranged young married couple from the stage to the screen. As a result, he doesn't mind if a few lines remain unintelligible to certain viewers. "It makes them pay attention more," Recks told indieWIRE. "People might not get every single word, but they know what's going on from the performances. It's not a very heavily plotted film; it's a character study." [ read more in People ] [ 0 comments ] [ filed under Lead Story, Profiles ] November 11, 2008 indieWIRE INTERVIEW | "The Dukes" Director Robert Davi
Robert Davi's "The Dukes" stars Davi and Chazz Palminteri as a Doo Wop group struggling for survival. Their manager (Peter Bogdanovich) is trying to get them work but things aren't working out, leading them to attempt to pull of a heist. The film screened at last year's Rome International Film Festival and has since won the Coup de Coeur at the Alpe d'Huez International Comedy Film Festival. CAVU Pictures is opening the film in New York on November 14th, and then nationwide on November 21st. indieWIRE spoke to Davi about the film and its upcoming release. [ read more in People ] [ 0 comments ] [ filed under Interviews, Lead Story ]  REVIEW | Trivial Pursuit: Danny Boyle's "Slumdog Millionaire"
[An indieWIRE review from Reverse Shot.] A noisy, sub-Dickens update on the romantic tramp's tale, "Slumdog Millionaire" zips around a boy's hard-luck life with a strange verve. Ragtag children run through a labyrinthine Indian shantytown with a police officer in hot pursuit. Two boys ride atop a moving train, hanging upside down over the side to steal food from a wealthy family. The same boys arrive at the Taj Mahal and give bogus tours to German tourists. Later they guide an American couple around a scenic village by foot while locals strip their fancy car for parts. The kids are cute, shots are stylishly skewed, cuts are whip-quick, and rousing remixes of M.I.A.'s ubiquitous "Paper Planes" pop-pop and ching-ching throughout. Poverty can be so much fun. [ read more in Movies ] [ 4 comments ] [ filed under Lead Story, Reviews ] November 10, 2008 PARK CITY '09 | In the Wake of Prop 8, Film Community & Fest Organizers Defend Sundance Amidst Talk of Boycott
With about a week to go before programmers internally lock the lineup for the 2009 Sundance Film Festival, organizers are carefully navigating calls for a boycott of the annual event. Talk of a boycott emerged via blogs last week, including Huffington Post and AmericaBlog, in the wake of anger and frustration over the passage of California ballot Proposition 8 halting same sex marriages in the state. Members of the indie film community immediately came to the festival's defense today, including filmmmaker Allison Anders ("Mi Vida Loca," "Gas, Food Lodging"), who said, "To boycott the festival which has been the home for all diverse voices to be presented on the screen is dangerously backward thinking." [ read more in On The Scene ] [ 19 comments ] [ filed under Festival News, Lead Story, On The Scene, Park City ]  French Cinema at BAM: A Gem, Multiculturalism and Even Comedy
In 1954 then-critic Francois Truffaut wrote the influential essay, "A Certain Tendency of French Cinema," for Cahiers du Cinema. In it he pejoratively lumped together France's most gifted screenwriters and directors in a single, literary "Tradition of Quality," destroying a few careers in the process. (As a filmmaker, he became what he knocked.) A five-title exhibition at New York's BAM, New French Films (November 12-16), is skewed 180 degrees in the opposite direction. The series brilliantly highlights the multiple tendencies at play in contemporary Gallic movies. Most important, the BAM show includes what is, for me, the finest film of the past year, Tunisian-born Abdellatif Kechiche's "The Secret of the Grain," which was ignored at Tribeca. [ read more in On The Scene ] [ 3 comments ] [ filed under Festival Dispatches, Lead Story, New York ] November 9, 2008 DISPATCH FROM LOS ANGELES | "Acne," "Dream" Lead AFI Fest Winners
"What a week this has been," AFI Los Angeles International Film Festival Artistic Director Rose Kuo said as the introduced Sunday's festival awards presentation at the Roosevelt Hotel in Hollywood. "Just over a week ago, we didn't know what [AFI's] opening film would be, or who would be leading this country." But without a doubt (and with "Doubt"), AFI Fest, and the American people, have come to a decision. And regarding AFI Fest's 2008 awards, that decision fell on to Frederico Veiroj's "Acne," which won the Grand Jury Prize for narrative feature, and Kief Davidson's "Kissim The Dream," which won both the Grand Jury Prize for documentary, and tied for the documentary Audience Award. [ read more in On The Scene ] [ 0 comments ] [ filed under AFI Fest, Festival Dispatches, Lead Story ]  iW NEWS | IFC Adds Honore Film to Growing Fest Direct Slate
Christophe Honore's "La Belle Personne," the final film in the French director's Parisian youth trilogy, has been acquired for U.S. distribution by IFC Films. The acquisition marks the latest in a string of deals for the company's Festival Direct VOD label and the third time that IFC will distribute an Honore film (following "Love Songs" and "Dans Paris"). The news at the of the deal came on Saturday night at the American Film Market, one day after IFC announced a ten film Festival Direct pact with sales company Celluloid Dreams. [ read more in Biz ] [ 0 comments ] [ filed under Acquistions, Lead Story ] November 8, 2008 AWARDS WATCH | With "Gomorrah" and "Il Divo," Italy In Spotlight at 21st European Film Award Nominations
Matteo Garrone's "Gomorrah" and Paolo Sorrentino's "Il Divo," both from Italy, lead the nominations for the 21st European Film Awards which were announced this morning at the Seville European Film Festival. Each film received five nominations today. The complete list of nominees is available now. Winners will be chosen by the 1,800 members of the European Film Academy and announced December 6th in Copenhagen, Denmark. [ read more in Biz ] [ 0 comments ] [ filed under Awards Season, Awards Watch, Lead Story ] November 7, 2008 DISPATCH FROM LOS ANGELES | "Skin," "Marriage" Look For Sales as Sun Sets on AFI
Though many of the 2008 AFI Los Angeles International Film Festival's most high-profile screenings have long found distribution, some films are on the look out for pick ups as the festival enters its busy final days. So far, two sales have gone through. Thursday, Strand Releasing picked up U.S. rights to Pablo Trapero's "Lion's Den," Argentina's Oscar submission, and last week, MSNBC Films finalized a North American television deal for Dana Nachman and Don Hardy's "Witch Hunt." indieWIRE spoke with two filmmakers who haven't been so lucky - yet. [ read more in On The Scene ] [ 0 comments ] [ filed under AFI Fest, Festival Dispatches, Lead Story ]  PRODUCTION REPORT | "Cartoon," "Company Men," "Entre," "Happy," "Last Job"
[EDITOR'S NOTE: indieWIRE's monthly production report looks at independent films in various stages of production. If you'd like to tell us about a film in production for future columns, please contact us.] In November's edition of indieWIRE's production column, Jason Guerrasio profiles five new films in various stages of production. This month's group includes Tara Wray's "Cartoon College," Raul Sanchez Inglis's "The Company Men," Paola Mendoza and Gloria La Morte's "Entre Nos," Stephen Burke's "Happy Ever Afters" and Sinohui Hinojosa's "The Last Job: Redemption." [ read more in Movies ] [ 0 comments ] [ filed under In Production, Lead Story ] November 6, 2008 HBO Scores Obama Doc
Documentary coverage sponsored by SnagFilms. [ read more in Biz ] [ 1 comments ] [ filed under Acquistions, Documentary, Lead Story ]  iW PROFILE | "Otto; Or Up With Dead People!" Director Bruce LaBruce
"Honestly, I started getting tired of movies that treat zombies like worthless, homeless people who can be cruelly annihilated for sport," "Otto; Or Up With Dead People!" director Bruce LaBruce told indieWIRE. "I thought it was high time for a zombie uprising, so to speak. I also thought it was time for a new homosexual revolution, so it made sense to combine the two uprisings." Perhaps Canada's best known and most controversial contributor to queer cinema, with films like "Super 8 1/2" and "The Raspberry Reich," LaBruce's "Otto" makes its way to US theatres this Friday at New York's IFC Center. [ read more in People ] [ 0 comments ] [ filed under Lead Story, Profiles ] November 5, 2008 indieWIRE INTERVIEW | Apartheid and Woman Love in Sarif's "The World Unseen" and "I Can't Think Straight"
Director Shamim Sarif's "The World Unseen" is adapted from her novel, and is set in 1950s apartheid South Africa amongst the Indian community. The themes are universal - that whatever family, societal or even political constraints you find around you, you can question those constraints, and then take small steps to change them. Her other film, "I Can't Think Straight," meanwhile is a contemporary urban romantic comedy set in London and Jordan. It is a love story between two women of different Eastern cultures and whether or not they can come to terms with the implications of accepting their own sexuality. Sarif describes it as "a light-hearted piece." Regent Releasing opens "I Can't Think Straight" on November 21 and "The World Unseen" this Friday, November 7 in limited release. [ read more in People ] [ 1 comments ] [ filed under Interviews, Lead Story ]  REVIEW | Hack Attack: Darren Lynn Bousman's "Repo! The Genetic Opera"
[An indieWIRE review from Reverse Shot.] A helpful shortcut for negotiating the heaps of texts in this modern world: all attempts to give something familiar or antique a self-consciously edgy, gritty makeover can be, de facto, written off as terrible. Reassuring American songbook standards ("Over the Rainbow," "What a Wonderful World," etc.) performed in breakneck pop-punk style? Terrible. Movies set in centuries past where actual rules of comport are ignored and everyone acts like frisky undergraduates with ruffled collars? Terrible. Steampunk? Terrible, terrible, terrible. [ read more in Movies ] [ 3 comments ] [ filed under Lead Story, Reviews ] | |
