Profiles

Struggle and Triumph for Haiti's Ciné Institute

cristina — Thu, 06 May 2010 00:00:00 -0500

On January 12th, Haiti’s only professional film school, Ciné Institute, lost its main building in the massive earthquake that devastated the Port-au-Prince region.

Three Approaches to Marketing an Independent Film

Nikki — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 09:22:48 -0500

Independent filmmakers don’t have the luxury of the publicity divisions employed by studios. Yet smart filmmaker know that a film’s marketing is crucial to its success or failure—and doing it well requires an enormous amount of time and effort.

Digging In: An Interview with Eugene Rosow and Bill Benenson of "Dirt! The Movie"

Nikki — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 16:50:23 -0500

Independent filmmakers aren’t afraid to get their hands dirty.

At least, Eugene Rosow isn’t. Rosow recently teamed up with fellow filmmaker Bill Benenson to create Dirt! The Movie, a funny, socially relevant, award-winning documentary about dirt.

Distributor FAQ: Udy Epstein of Seventh Art Releasing

Nikki — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 23:11:35 -0500

Seventh Art Releasing is a distributor and sales company founded in 1994 by Jonathan Cordish and Udy Epstein. The company is known for distributing award-winning documentaries and fiction films, many dealing with Jewish culture, lesbian and gay issues, human rights, music, and popular culture.

Feverish Ambitions: Northern Ireland's First Independent Film Festival

Nikki — Mon, 18 May 2009 12:55:25 -0500

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.

Funder FAQ: Roy W. Dean Film & Video Grants

Nikki — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 17:26:30 -0500

Carole Dean, founder of the the Roy W. Dean Film & Video Grants and From the Heart Productions, talks with The Independent about her foundation.

What are the Roy Dean Film & Video grants?

These grants are designed to support documentary and independent filmmakers by giving them the goods and services to get their films off the ground.

A Little Money, a Long Way: An Interview with Joseph Cashiola

Nikki — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 17:08:49 -0500

Joseph Cashiola says that there has to be “exploration” in his life, or he’s not happy. This is the result of traveling around in an Army family as a kid. Fittingly, Cashiola, 27, continues on a self-taught, road-tested, and successful spiral into independent filmmaking and is not short on ideas.

Distributor FAQ: Vanessa Domico of Outcast Films

Nikki — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 15:01:31 -0600

Vanessa Domico was tired of seeing too few LGBT films, so she drew on her expertise as a film distributor and founded Outcast Films.

After the Oscar: An Interview with Cynthia Wade

Nikki — Sat, 07 Feb 2009 22:23:22 -0600

As a sophomore at Smith College, Cynthia Wade found herself witness to a small scandal: a friend discovered she was pregnant and decided leave college, marry her boyfriend and have her child, going against the feminist attitude many of her classmates held. So, in true documentarian form, Wade’s first instinct was to get it on film.

10 Filmmakers to Watch In 2009

Nikki — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 12:18:09 -0600

From first-time directors to Fulbright Scholars and Oscar nominees these filmmakers should not be missed in 2009. With a flood of suggestions from peers, film scholars, critics and organizations such as the Sundance Institute and the Alliance of Women Film Journalists, The Independent has compiled a list of "10 filmmakers to watch" with films slated for a 2009 release.