Filmmaker Magazine | The Magazine of Independent Film

“King Kelly”
Director Andrew Neel and actress Louisa Krause on their edgy comedy about a webcam porn queen … Read the rest
“The Invisible War”
Kirby Dick on his shocking new documentary about rape within the armed forces … Read the rest
POV @ 25
Celebrating POV’s 25th season, Jennifer Fox and Cristina Ibarra go in-depth on doc filmmaking … Read the res...
“Your Sister’s Sister”
Lynn Shelton talks about her acclaimed relationship drama … Read the rest
“Marina Abramovic: The Artist is Presen...
Matthew Akers on his new film about the iconic performance artist … Read the rest

The Guide

READ: Nacho Vigalondo on Extraterrestrial
WATCH: Pavilion Trailer Featuring New Sam Prekop Track
IN THEATERS: Kumaré, The Invisible War and To Rome with Love open this week.

THE BLUE VELVET PROJECT

THE ‘BLUE VELVET’ PROJECT, #125
Mon Jun 18, 2012 Nicholas Rombes
Second #5875, 97:55 André Bazin once wrote, in “The Life and Death of Superimposition” (1946), that the fantastic in the cinema is possible only because of the irresistible realism of the photographic image. It is the image that can bring us face to face with the unreal, that can introduce ...read more

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DIRECTOR INTERVIEWS

KIRBY DICK, “THE INVISIBLE WAR”
Wed Jun 20, 2012 Damon Smith
Over two decades, Oscar-nominated filmmaker Kirby Dick (Twist of Faith) has explored edge territory in sex, art, and philosophy with films like Private Practice: The Story of a Sex Surrogate, Sick: The Life and Death of Bob Flanagan, Supermasochist, and Derrida, a playful portrait of the impish ...read more
MATTHEW AKERS, “MARINA ABRAMOVIC: THE ARTIST IS PRESENT”
Wed Jun 13, 2012 Brandon Harris
The self-described “grandmother of performance art,” Marina Abramovic has for almost 40 years been one of the leading lights of a still-marginalized form. Born to ex-partisan parents in 1946, in the early days of Tito’s Yugoslavia, she is the fascinating subject of Matthew ...read more

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WEB EXCLUSIVES

POV @ 25: JENNIFER FOX AND CRISTINA IBARRA ON DOC FILMMAKING AS AN ACT OF FAITH
Wed Jun 20, 2012 Nick Dawson
In celebration of the 25th season of PBS’ groundbreaking documentary series POV, Filmmaker is this week running a four-part conversation series between two non-fiction directors with close ties to the show. A few weeks ago, acclaimed documentarian Jennifer Fox — whose 20-year project, My ...read more
ANDREW NEEL AND LOUISA KRAUS TALK “KING KELLY”
Wed Jun 20, 2012 Scott Macaulay
While there have been many films riffing on reality tropes in the last several years, few have been as cleverly conceived and entertainingly executed as Andrew Neel’s debut fiction film, King Kelly. Set in the world of amateur webcam porn, the film depicts a monstrously fascinating Tracy ...read more
POV @ 25: JENNIFER FOX AND CRISTINA IBARRA ON DOC FILMMAKING AS VOCATION
Tue Jun 19, 2012 Nick Dawson
In celebration of the 25th season of PBS’ groundbreaking documentary series POV, Filmmaker is this week running a four-part conversation series between two non-fiction directors with close ties to the show. A few weeks ago, acclaimed documentarian Jennifer Fox — whose 20-year project, My ...read more
POV @ 25: JENNIFER FOX & CRISTINA IBARRA ON CHOOSING DOCUMENTARY FILMMAKING
Mon Jun 18, 2012 Nick Dawson
In celebration of the 25th season of PBS’ groundbreaking documentary series POV, Filmmaker is this week running a four-part conversation series between two non-fiction directors with close ties to the show. A few weeks ago, acclaimed documentarian Jennifer Fox — whose 20-year project, ...read more

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COLUMNS

LADY VENGEANCE: HUNGERING FOR THE RELEASE OF “BATTLE ROYALE”
Fri May 25, 2012 Farihah Zaman
Although I’ve been recently reminded of the fact repeatedly, it always shocks me anew to hear that Battle Royale, Kinji Fukasaku’s stunning, blood-soaked film adaptation of the novel by Koushun Takami, has never officially had U.S. distribution. After a spate of festival bookings, a 3D release ...read more
THE MICRO-BUDGET CONVERSATION: THE END
Thu Apr 19, 2012 John Yost
“Filmmaking is a visual medium. Is it a gimmick that I care about aesthetics in a visual medium? I think a well-shot film looks beautiful. I think well shot digital looks adequate. It’s simply a preference. Truth be told, I’ve always thought the idea of micro-filmmaking was ...read more

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OUR VIDEOS

JOACHIM TRIER OFFERS ADVICE FROM “OSLO, AUGUST 31ST”
Sat May 26, 2012
If you’ve come anywhere near the blog or print magazine recently, you’ll know that Filmmaker — myself, and much of our staff — are in love with Joachim Trier’s feature, Oslo, August 31st, which opened this weekend from Strand Releasing. I sat down with Trier last month for a ...read more

THE BLOG

NICOLAS WINDING REFN DOC HITS YOUTUBE
Wed Jun 20, 2012 Nick Dawson
Last week on the blog, I linked to a great piece by Nicolas Winding Refn on the obscure exploitation director Andy Milligan. Now, though, it’s the Drive helmer himself who’s in the spotlight, as he’s the subject of an hour-long portrait by French documentarian Laurent Duroche, NWR, which is available to watch on YouTube. As you’ll discover from the very first minute — when we first see and then hear Alejandro Jodorowsky talking French in his distinctive Chilean ...read more
MORE OF “THE MASTER”
Tue Jun 19, 2012 Nick Dawson
Here’s the second bit of footage released from Paul Thomas Anderson’s forthcoming The Master, this time featuring Philip Seymour Hoffman (who plays the title character), as well as Joaquin Phoenix. As with the previous one, this is really a teaser/clip rather than an actual trailer, giving us a sense of only a small aspect of the film — rather than taking the usual trailer tactic of telling us 90% of the plot and compacting every notable or high-energy moment from the film ...read more
LAFF 2012: FAMILY MATTERS
Tue Jun 19, 2012 Michael Nordine
The North American premiere of Woody Allen’s To Rome with Love was the big to-do Thursday night in downtown Los Angeles, and not just because it opened the L.A. Film Festival: Allen doesn’t often visit the city (not even when nominated for an Oscar), making his personal introduction of this latest work something of a coup for the fest. And while it would be wrong to call a new film by the endlessly prolific director a cinematic “event” in the same vein as, say, the arrival a new ...read more
A CALL TO PRODUCERS: INNOVATE OR DIE
Mon Jun 18, 2012 Mynette Louie
The following blog post originally appeared at the IFP’s site and is cross-posted with permission. — Editor. I’m very fortunate to be friends with many accomplished independent film producers–people whose films have screened at the best festivals, won significant awards, gotten picked up by major distributors, earned healthy gross receipts, and received accolades in the mainstream press. We hang out sometimes, one-on-one or in groups, to catch each other up on our projects, share ...read more
EXCLUSIVE: “PAVILION” TRAILER FEATURING NEW SAM PREKOP TRACK
Mon Jun 18, 2012 Nick Dawson
Prior to its BAMcinemaFest screening on June 28, Tim Sutton’s festival favorite Pavilion has a haunting new trailer — featuring a new song from The Sea and Cake’s Sam Prekop — which we are delighted to be exclusively premiering on the Filmmaker website. In the current issue of the magazine, Scott wrote the following on the film: Tim Sutton’s Pavilion, premiering in the Emerging Visions section, is a beautifully shot and tantalizingly subtle tale of the fragility of ...read more
“PARAíSO”: AN INTERVIEW WITH NADAV KURTZ
Mon Jun 18, 2012 Daniel James Scott
On still mornings in the “Windy City,” a select few people can be seen careening down the high rises that mark Chicago’s skyline. While the buildings they descend contain people waking up for their daily routines—or the destinations of such routines—these men are living out their routines. In the short documentary Paraíso (Paradise), newcomer Nadav Kurtz delves into the lives of three Mexican immigrants working as window washers in Chicago. The film, which won Best ...read more
THE NORTHSIDE FESTIVAL SCREENS FILMMAKER MAG FAVORITES
Mon Jun 18, 2012 Scott Macaulay
A number of our favorite independent films of the year are screening this week at the Northside Festival, a Brooklyn-based film and music event that gathers a number of film organizations, includuing Filmmaker, to guest curate some of its programming. Filmmaker‘s night is Wednesday, when we screen in its New York premiere Andrew Neel’s wickedly funny King Kelly (pictured) and Jeremiah Zagar & Nathan Caswell’s haunting short, Remains, but there are a number of other ...read more

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FESTIVAL COVERAGE

LAFF 2012: FAMILY MATTERS
Tue Jun 19, 2012 Michael Nordine
The North American premiere of Woody Allen’s To Rome with Love was the big to-do Thursday night in downtown Los Angeles, and not just because it opened the L.A. Film Festival: Allen doesn’t often visit the city (not even when nominated for an Oscar), making his personal introduction of ...read more
CRISIS? WHAT CRISIS? VIEWS FROM MARCH 2012′s THESSALONIKI DOC FEST
Mon Jun 18, 2012 Ray Pride
It’s the Greek moment. Again. Still. Thousands of years of civilization, and we’re still anxiously awaiting an epistle from Hellas! In the first hours after Sunday’s fraught second Parliamentary election of the year, few analysts are confident there won’t be a third election ...read more