our film culture

“Our entire film culture remains structured around antiquated concepts of cinema, audience and engagement,” -- Ted hope

Does it? Do you agree?

I do. I certainly do. Real indie films hardly ever make it to the big screen, and most of what does it void of real characters wanting real things, thus evoking real feelings in us. Instead we get a story that splinters in a million directions because the "filmmakers" are worried we'll get bored. Characters who look more like cartoon characters than real ones, and such pedestrian, over-the-top direction - I'm talking about the dozens of camera angles on two people taking, the camera always moving for no apparent or aesthetic reason, the machine-like editing, and worst of all, now so many films look like video games! Horrible.

To read the full article go here:

http://www.pastemagazine.com/articles/2014/01/fandor-the-netflix-of-independent.html

Berlin Film Festival 2014

Berlin Film Festival 2014

The great festival is underway. Below is a link to a fantastic source which covers the festival:

http://www.filmfestivals.com/blog/berlin

The Golden Bear is the top award or best film, and here's some past winners:

1957  Twelve Angry Men

1961  La Notte

1964  Satyajit Ray  - Best Director

1978  Gena Rowlands - Best Actress (Opening Night)

1984  Love Streams

A Word Or Two

Saw this over the weekend. Fantastic. Highly recommend seeing it. Extremely well written and CP's performance is amazing.

Academy Award, Tony Award and Emmy Award winner Christopher Plummer will star in a Center Theatre Group special event, A Word or Two, written and arranged by Plummer and directed by Tony Award winner Des McAnuff at the Ahmanson Theatre.

Plummer, who confesses to being “hooked on the intoxication of words,” spent much of his time growing up in Montreal reading Ben Jonson, George Bernard Shaw, Shakespeare, Rudyard Kipling, A.A. Milne, Lewis Carroll, Lord Byron, Dylan Thomas, W.H. Auden and Stephen Leacock and others. His personal take on these literary giants forms a journey from childhood to old age.  

https://www.centertheatregroup.org/tickets/2014/A-Word-or-Two/

Crowdfunding

How Did the 2014 Sundance Film Festival Filmmakers Crowdfund (If At All?)

Just a few years ago, it was nearly unheard of for filmmakers to seek funding on crowdfunding platforms such as Kickstarter (of course, Kickstarter didn't even exist until 2009) -- and even more unusual for those projects to screen at film festivals. Now, according to Kickstarter, 20 Kickstarter-funded projects -- from narrative features to docs to shorts and more -- screened at the 2014 Sundance Film Festival, representing over 10% of the festival slate (for the third straight year). Of course, some films used crowdfunding for finishing funds while others used the platforms to raise the entire budget -- and projects' goals varied dramatically. For instance, "Cesar's Last Fast" raised $22,000 on Kickstarter (surpassing its $21,000 goal), while Zach Braff's well publicized (and criticized) campaign for "Wish I Was Here" raised more than $3 million ($1 million over its goal).

And while Kickstarter eclipses IndieGogo in numbers, some of the most lauded films at the festival, including "Dear White People" and "Life Itself," used IndieGogo to raise funds. Meanwhile, now that IndieGogo raised $40 million in financing, it's likely they'll be giving Kickstarter a run for their (crowdfunding) money at next year's festival.

Want to read more and see a list of films which used crowdfunding and played at Sundance, read the full article at Indiewire:

http://www.indiewire.com/article/how-did-the-2014-sundance-film-festival-filmmakers-crowdfund-if-at-all

12 Angry Men

12 ANGRY MEN

Watched this again the other night. I don't know how many times I've seen this film, over a dozen? And every time I do I get totally sucked in. Why? Amazing story. Great acting. Simple, but perfect cinemaphotography. Most of all, for me, incredibly well written characters. 

Anyone out there want to make their first indie feature film? Watch this movie and learn how to do it. One location. Don't need a lot of money, just well written characters and good acting. 

In the definitive version of Reginald Rose's timeless script, an all-white jury decides the fate of a youth accused of murder. This tightly constructed searing exposé of prejudice in the American legal system stars Henry Fonda and a pantheon of great character actors.


Release date: January 1, 1957 (USA)
Director: Sidney Lumet
Running time: 96 minutes
Screenplay: Reginald Rose

Wong Kar Wai's "Fallen Angels"

Here's a link to a blog which I really like:

http://depthsofcinema.blogspot.com/2012/09/cinematography-fallen-angels.html


This particular post is:

Cinematography: Fallen Angels

Some great pics from the film, which was mainly shot at night. And yes, for all you indie filmmakers out there, this was a film mainly shot handheld and with available light. All on location. Treating the city of Hong Kong as a third character!

Films That Inspired This Year's Sundance Filmmakers

A.J. Edwards ("The Better Angels"): The work of Terry Malick, to whom I owe so much. Sergeant York, Mrs. Miniver, How Green Was My Valley, Pather Panchali, The 400 Blows, The Wild Child, Kes, Ken Burns' The Civil War.

Gillian Robespierre ("Obvious Child"):  Walking and Talking, Annie Hall, The Graduate, Crossing Delancey, Louie 

Justin Simien ("Dear White People"): So many! Some perhaps more obvious influences would be "Do The Right Thing" and "Hollywood Shuffle" but I also found major touchstones in films like "Barry Lyndon," "Persona" and Fritz Lang's "Metropolis."

Jennifer Kent ("The Badabook"): David Lynch’s films inspire me. I am amazed by their combination of beauty and violence. Also, he’s not afraid to be abstract. Lost Highway is probably one of my favorites of his and Mulholland Drive too. Also, there is a beautiful heart running through the strangeness of The Elephant Man. All round brilliant films. He stays true to his vision 100%.

Tracy Droz Tragos and Andrew Droz Palermo ("Rich Hill"): So many films inspire – whether they are films that are being made along side ours, like at the Sundance Edit & Story lab this summer – or classics that I revisit time and time again. For this film, “Queen of Versailles” was in some measure an inspiration. Our subjects embrace the American Dream just as in that film – but from a very different social and economic perspective. “Grey Gardens” and “The Graduate” are two personal all-time favorites; “Elephant Man” and “The Deer Hunter” made me want to be a filmmaker. 

For more, read the full article at Indiewire:

http://www.indiewire.com/article/the-graduate-do-the-right-thing-and-other-films-which-inspired-this-years-sundance-filmmakers