Obviously if you’re a young film lover growing in Park City during the go-go 1990s, there are going to be certain advantages. From celeb sightings to gift bags to open bar premiere parties, Sundance provided plenty of opportunities for sloppy teenage adventuring. Also, every now and then I managed to watch a movie or two. There are too many good times to count, but below please find my top five favorite memories from those days....
The old adage says it’s not what you know, it’s who you know. Both are important, but what’s really crucial is the strength of your relationships with the people “you know.” Being a filmmaker has a lot to do with building up a great network of collaborators, supporters and hopefully people that inspire you. But it’s not enough to just go out and network. You have to find your team–the people that see you, know what you can do, trust you and want to help you get to where you’re going....
Long praised for his fantastical and macabre approach to storytelling in such films as Pan’s Labyrinth (2006), The Devil’s Backbone (2001) and Crimson Peak (2015), Del Toro was a jovial conversationalist—cracking near-constant jokes as his collaborates earnestly attempted to discuss their roles in the film, arguably the best-reviewed of Del Toro’s entire critically-acclaimed career. But it all started years ago with The Creature from the Black Lagoon. A six-year-old growing up in Mexico, Del Toro was captivated by a broadcast of the 1954 Universal horror classic on local TV....
Burns was on the forefront of the online video trend, starting with 2003’s Red v. Blue, the longest-running web series to date. He started in the independent film world and his company’s current focus is on scripted content. Rooster Teeth operates out of Austin, Texas with 250 employees, producing a whopping 45 shows. Fine’s company isn’t far behind, with 12 years of operation. Rafi and his brother Benny started making content in high school, trying to get into festivals....
Thus begins two action-packed days of panels, screenings, special events and networking opportunities designed to arm you—the working filmmaker—with the tools needed to better understand and navigate today’s increasingly complex film industry. Saturday highlights include panels devoted to creative financing, career sustainability for documentary filmmakers, a legal case study of HBO’s recent docu-series The Defiant Ones and the booming world of episodic TV. Plus networking luncheons, works-in-progress screenings and more....
But don’t worry, you don’t have to be the founder of revolutionary website to lend your support to Film Independent. Giving at any level is appreciated. But time to make a tax-deductible contribution for the year 2018 is running out. So please consider helping us in all that we do to support filmmakers worldwide. We recently spoke to the UK-based Needham about his love of film, IMDb’s humble origins, his company’s historic partnership with Jeff Bezos and just why, exactly, right now is such an exciting time to be an independent filmmaker....
Say a special prayer or secular incantation, then, for our robust roster of 2023 Sundance filmmakers who are also Film Independent Fellows. And by “Fellows” here we of course mean filmmakers who have been directly supported by Film Independent’s Lab Programs, Project Involve, Fast Track and Fiscal Sponsorship programs, as well as Emerging Filmmaker Award winners and grant recipients. Remember: stay warm and traverse slowly! Below, please find the 41 Film Independent Fellows with projects—across all programming categories—currently loosing their chapstick and gloves on the Sundance and Park City Transit shuttle systems....
Name: Miguel Arteta Discipline: Writer-director Film Independent Member since: 1997 What first inspired you to want to become a filmmaker? Initially it was the language barrier—I come from Latin America. I didn’t speak English when I came to the United States. I was 16. My English was pretty bad and I hid at the movies, and it was a visual medium and I fell in love with it. I picked up a camera at 17 and very quickly I felt at home....
‘Tis the season to be indulgent. From mall shopping to football obsessing to cookie eating to—our favorite pastime—movie watching, the holidays present the perfect excuse for a more is more approach to all the good stuff in life. And for those who love independent film, there’s no better way to get your fix over the holidays than by catching up on the best of the best movies made this past year: Film Independent Spirit Award nominees....
In college, I wrote my first one-act play. Our professor said the only requirement was for each play to be about 10 pages. Mine was over 30. Looking back, it makes sense that I ended up directing a web series that’s nearly two hours long. A few years ago, I was in a creative slump. I’d lived in LA for six years, and in that time, I hadn’t made much (or any) progress toward my dream of becoming a director....
The Meyerowitz Stories addresses the dysfunctional—but relatable!—dynamics of a blended New York family, as three adult siblings (Ben Stiller, Adam Sandler and Elizabeth Marvel) struggle to negotiate their relationships in the face of the (possibly) impending death of their complicated, failed-sculptor patriarch (Dustin Hoffman). The result is a slew of emotional and witty moments that are well in line with the rest of Baumbach’s filmography. The movie is currently available to stream on Netflix, which acquired the film following its Cannes premiere....
Delpy observed how Jesse and Celine’s relationship in Before Midnight is still at the core, although it has evolved in the third film of the series so that audiences see their weathered love affair in the context of young and older couples who now occupy the frame. Meanwhile, Nelson cited Louis Malle’s classic My Dinner with Andre (1981) as an inspiration for his father-son road-trip drama and the type of minimalist storytelling he hopes to emulate, and Neustadter emphasized the challenges in getting smaller pictures financed as well as the ultimate reward in bringing personal, character-driven stories to the screen....
The panels featured Jason Michael Berman (Burning Sands, The Birth of a Nation), Effie T. Brown (Dear White People, Real Women Have Curves); Jordan Horowitz (Fast Color, La La Land) and Heather Rae (Tallulah, Frozen River) and was moderated by LMU School of Film & Television Dean Peggy Rajski. The discussion touched on variety of topics, including how streaming platforms are shaking up the industry, film financing and answering difficult questions like: “How do independent film producers actually, y’know, make a living?...
In 1967, just six months after the Loving v. Virginia civil rights decision struck down interracial marriage bans across the US, Stanley Kramer’s Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner? became a critical-and-box-office hit. The film revolves around John Prentice, played by Sidney Poitier, as a successful black doctor meeting his white fiancé Joey’s (Katharine Houghton) parents for the first time. Fifty years later, The Big Sick—directed by Michael Showalter and produced by Judd Apatow—centered on yet another culture-clash relationship, this time set in the present day....
Pitching is a critical skill for any independent filmmaker to develop—and arguably the critical skill. Sure, having good material is important. But unless you can sell yourself in the room (or elevator, or bathroom stall) your chances of actually getting that passion project off the ground are all but DOA. But learning to pitch doesn’t have to be quite so intimidating. That’s where Charles Howard comes in. Howard is an Executive Producer and Account Director at Inhance Digital and member of the Producers Guild of America Diversity Committee....
Time may be short, but that doesn’t mean you should throw your hands up and say “oh well, maybe next year.” No! Slam a can or two of your energy drink of choice and push through. Because whether your movie is an insightful social issues documentary, low-key character study or gory genre flick, the fact is: we want to see your film. Don’t believe us? Well, just let LA Film Festival Head Programmer Roya Rastegar and her team explain the festival’s selection process and what they look for when selecting which films play in the festival....
Which films made the biggest impression on you? Whiplash is outstanding. I also enjoyed Obvious Child, which features some great female comics, and I was surprised in the best way possible by midnight movie The Guest. -Lee Jameson, Film Education Coordinator Whiplash was, by far, my favorite film I saw at the festival. Who knew drumming could be so thrilling? -Maggie Moe, Director of Marketing Boyhood. It’s the best movie I’ve seen in a while....
This home-viewing Renaissance has run concurrent with the decline of the movie-going experience in general. And no, I’m not one of these sad grandpas shaking my fist in the air and complaining about “kids today.” People are the same as they’ve always been—we just have cell phones now. But happily, the modern American theater-going experience is far from dead. Even as the suburban mega-multiplex continues its incremental transformation into Dante’s Inferno, film lovers nationwide are discovering (or re-discovering) the joys of the IRL art house—local, independent, brick-and-mortar theaters with their own unique quirks and personality....
As we discussed last month, it’s impossible to do everything one wants to with the time one is given. So one must make choices. The typical modern-day creative person’s life is crammed full with day jobs, meetings, pre-production, development, sketching out new ideas, reading the trades, networking… and maaaaaybe (just maybe) having some sort of social life, too. So who on earth has time to sleep? As Mozart put it, “Schlafen die kleinen Scheiben des Todes, wie ich verachte sie....
Having debuted on Netflix to great reviews—and, according to the filmmaker, great viewership totals—Things is just the latest chapter in Kaufman’s long and imaginative career as auteur storyteller, following a string of celebrated screenplays (Being John Malkovich, Confessions of a Dangerous Mind, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind) and two previous directorial efforts—2008’s Synecdoche, New York and the stop-motion animated Anomalisa in 2015. His third feature as director, Kaufman adapted I’m Thinking of Ending Things from Canadian author Iain Reid’s 2016 novel....
