Europe
IDFA 2011 - Int'l Perspectives on Digital Distribution and Doc Financing
Courtney Sheehan reports from Amsterdam.
November 28th, 2011 | Courtney Sheehan
Even though funding and distributing your doc can feel like a confusing quagmire, to some it's the new sexy. IDFA panelists have their say on the evergreen questions, including an announcement of a new source for financial support: BRITDOC.
Rembrandtplein, Amsterdam - A square crowded with coffee shops and clubs (and therefore crawling with tourists) is the proud center of the International Documentary Festival Amsterdam (IDFA), the world’s largest doc fest and the beating—and oftentimes bleeding—heart of the documentary industry.
Casting His Bell
Personal documentary maker Nedžad Begović intermixes images and sound from his cell phone in "Mobitel (A Cell Phone Movie)."
October 4th, 2011 | Courtney Sheehan
The premise sounds like either a miracle or a gimmick: thousands of hours of visual and audio footage off a cell phone turned into a meaningful personal documentary. Yet Bosnian filmmaker Nedžad Begović's Mobitel (A Cell Phone Movie) manages to make cell phones ring like they're centuries old.
Bosnian filmmaker Nedžad Begović has a knack for taking his own life as a point of departure for films that end up being about much more. And he’s not shy about his intent or the company he wants to keep.
State of the Film Industry in Southeast Europe
Courtney Sheehan reports from the third annual Cinelink forum at the Sarajevo Film Festival.
September 19th, 2011 | Courtney Sheehan
Tax incentives. Public and private funding. Transnational co-productions. During a year abroad to study regional film festivals and exhibition, Courtney Sheehan takes in Southeast Europe through the lens of presenters at the third annual industry Cinelink forum during the Sarajevo Film Festival.
For the past three years, film professionals from all over Southeast Europe have gathered at the Sarajevo Film Festival (SFF) to discuss the state of the regional film industry during the Cinelink forum, the track of the festival established for that purpose.
Rendez-Vous With French Cinema - Critic's Choice
Kurt Brokaw reviews his top choices from the Lincoln Center's 16th annual showcase of contemporary French film.
March 2nd, 2011 | Kurt Brokaw
Rendez-Vous With French Cinema starts its 16th year at Lincoln Center March 3-13 with 22 premieres. Senior film critic Kurt Brokaw checks in with his batch of critic's choices, including Potiche, Mozart's Sister, The Big Picture, and What Love May Bring.
Potiche
(François Ozon. 2010. France. 103 min.)
How an Innovative Web Doc Secured Traditional Distribution
French filmmakers David Dufresne and Philippe Brault used web engagement to stir interest in American prison reform.
July 15th, 2010 | Courtney Sheehan
Led by two French filmmakers, the web doc Prison Valley addresses prison reform in the US with an interactive online format, making a splash in the world of digital journalism and securing distribution with Arte TV in France.
Prison Valley, a multimedia prison reform project, tells the tale of Fremont County, Colorado: a tiny patch of the Southwest packed with 13 prisons and a local economy that revolves around the incarceration of 7,735 people—many of whom are the county’s own residents.
Tribeca 2010: Michael Creagh on "The Crush"
Michael Creagh took a break from the ad world to direct his first film, "The Crush," a short that screens at Tribeca 2010.
April 28th, 2010 | Michele Meek
Filmmaker Michael Creagh, a native of Belfast, takes the plunge into writing and directing with his debut film The Crush, a short featured in the 2010 Tribeca Film Festival.
As an “ad man by day," filmmaker Michael Creagh had been “tinkering with ideas and scripts” for several years before acting on his dream. His debut film The Crush tells the story of an eight-year-old boy (played deftly by Creagh's son) in love with his teacher. When the boy's gift of a toy ring is outdone by an engagement ring, he plots his revenge against his nemesis.
Feverish Ambitions: Northern Ireland's First Independent Film Festival
Filmmaker George Clarke starts Northern Ireland’s first independent film festival—and sets out to change his country’s attitude towards independent filmmaking.
May 18th, 2009 | Dante A. Ciampaglia
The Independent goes behind the scenes of a start-up film festival in Northern Ireland as the director tries to revive independent filmmaking in the country. The Yellow Fever Independent Film Festival is the first independent festival in Northern Ireland, and founder and filmmaker George Clarke (view the trailer for his kung fu zombie film Battle of the Bone here) faces some large hurdles to get the festival up and running for its August debut. The Independent's Dante A. Ciampaglia discovers Clarke's motivations and hopes for YFIFF and how it can bring change to the indie-deprived nation.
Kung fu zombies are rarely catalysts for film festivals. Rather, they’re the stuff of cult canons and film student fever dreams. Rarely seen together, the two B-movie genre standards are a mother lode of midnight movie possibility and it’s amazing more filmmakers haven’t mined it.
Werner Herzog Made Me Do It
An interview with filmmaker Lee Kazimir about his film "More Shoes"
August 1st, 2008 | Michele Meek
Legendary filmmaker Werner Herzog once said in an interview that he believed the best way to become a filmmaker would be to go on a long walk -- say, from Madrid to Kiev. So Lee Kazimir took his advice literally. His journey resulted in his first feature documentary, More Shoes (see the trailer). As the film makes its way through the festival circuit, Lee stop to talk with The Independent about the film and the people he met along his journey.
Stuck in a dead-end job and worried he'd never make it as a filmmaker, Lee Kazimir decided to take Werner Herzog's advice. Legendary filmmaker Herzog had once said in an interview that he believed the best way to become a filmmaker would be not to practice filmmaking but to walk -- say, from Madrid to Kiev.
Exploring Her Formative Years
British filmmaker Hope Dickson Leach reflects on schooling—in fiction and real life—and the shift from making shorts to her first feature
November 2nd, 2007 | Mariel Lynn DiSibio
Todd Solondz protegée Hope Dickson Leach has set several of her films at British boarding schools. Having attended one herself, she says a boarding school is an interesting venue for a film because it is a "strange and terrible place." As Leach works on her first feature English Rose (set where else?), The Independent's Mariel Lynn DiSibio talks with her about why her educational experience has followed her from project to project as a focal point.
As a young girl, Hope Dickson Leach dreamed of becoming a painter. She attended boarding school in England from the ages of 9 to 17 and earned an undergraduate degree in philosophy from the University of Edinburgh. But after interning for the likes of Mario Kassar and Todd Solondz, she convinced Columbia University's film department to give her a chance.
Film Festivals: Arte
December 1st, 2000Since its first broadcast in 1992, Arte has become the most innovative television programmer in Europe. Its attraction is due to a creative programming philosophy unhampered by commercial considerations. Apparently simple issues are presented in depth from original perspectives and, conversely, complex matters are made comprehensible without undue simplification.
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