On Jan. 19, 2001, Stacy Peralta’s skateboarding documentary Dogtown and Z-Boys lit up the Sundance Film Festival, going on to earn multiple honors in Park City and, later, a feature film treatment, Lords of Dogtown. The Hollywood Reporter’s original review is below:
Where the debris meets the sea, that’s the tight scope on Dogtown and Z-Boys. It’s a wild ride with eight boarders from Venice Beach, Calif., that was a deserved co-winner of the Audience Award for documentaries at the Sundance Film Festival. Director Stacy Peralta also deservedly garnered the director honor in the documentary category.
Carved through the waves and asphalt of Venice, Dogtown follows the daring exploits of a tight-‘n’-tough band of wayward teens, outsiders who assaulted the softblue world of ’70s surfing. Hardened from single-parent homes and charged with pent-up energies, they took to the waves with a take-no-prisoners style.
At its best,...
Where the debris meets the sea, that’s the tight scope on Dogtown and Z-Boys. It’s a wild ride with eight boarders from Venice Beach, Calif., that was a deserved co-winner of the Audience Award for documentaries at the Sundance Film Festival. Director Stacy Peralta also deservedly garnered the director honor in the documentary category.
Carved through the waves and asphalt of Venice, Dogtown follows the daring exploits of a tight-‘n’-tough band of wayward teens, outsiders who assaulted the softblue world of ’70s surfing. Hardened from single-parent homes and charged with pent-up energies, they took to the waves with a take-no-prisoners style.
At its best,...
- 1/19/2024
- by Duane Bygre
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Jeremy Strong as Irving Graff and Anne Hathaway as Esther Graff in ‘Armageddon Time’ (Photo Courtesy of Focus Features)
Writer/director James Gray’s Armageddon Time will open the 2022 San Diego International Film Festival on October 19th and writer/director Sam Mendes’ Empire of Light has been selected as the festival’s closing night film. The 21st annual SDiFF’s lineup will also include the San Diego premiere of Taurus as well as screenings of Close, Good Night Oppy, and The Banshees of Inisherin.
This year’s festival will honor Taurus star Colson Baker (aka Machine Gun Kelly) with the Spotlight Award. Baker, who made his acting debut in the Showtime series Roadies, will be presented with the honor following a special Spotlight Screening of Taurus from writer/director Tim Sutton on October 23rd.
“This year, our slate has been curated from over 3000 film submissions from 82 countries with compelling Social...
Writer/director James Gray’s Armageddon Time will open the 2022 San Diego International Film Festival on October 19th and writer/director Sam Mendes’ Empire of Light has been selected as the festival’s closing night film. The 21st annual SDiFF’s lineup will also include the San Diego premiere of Taurus as well as screenings of Close, Good Night Oppy, and The Banshees of Inisherin.
This year’s festival will honor Taurus star Colson Baker (aka Machine Gun Kelly) with the Spotlight Award. Baker, who made his acting debut in the Showtime series Roadies, will be presented with the honor following a special Spotlight Screening of Taurus from writer/director Tim Sutton on October 23rd.
“This year, our slate has been curated from over 3000 film submissions from 82 countries with compelling Social...
- 9/7/2022
- by Rebecca Murray
- Showbiz Junkies
About six weeks ago, locals and visitors to the famed intersection of Hollywood Boulevard and Vine Street saw one of the bare walls in the area begin to show some shapes and colors. Over on Instagram, posing at the same spot, Los Angeles urban pop artist Tristan Eaton wrote on July 17, “My dream wall is finally happening!”
On Aug. 25, the six-story mural, which adorns the south-facing side of the Aster club and hotel, had its official reveal in a ribbon-cutting ceremony. The mural was created with spray paint and executed in Eaton’s signature collage style, which mixes pop art and traditional techniques. It’s a salute to Hollywood groundbreakers such as Judy Garland and Sidney Poitier, whose likenesses are the largest figurative elements of the work. Garland’s daughter, Lorna Luft, and granddaughter, Vanessa Richards, were among the guests who attended the ribbon-cutting.
At the same time, Eaton told Variety,...
On Aug. 25, the six-story mural, which adorns the south-facing side of the Aster club and hotel, had its official reveal in a ribbon-cutting ceremony. The mural was created with spray paint and executed in Eaton’s signature collage style, which mixes pop art and traditional techniques. It’s a salute to Hollywood groundbreakers such as Judy Garland and Sidney Poitier, whose likenesses are the largest figurative elements of the work. Garland’s daughter, Lorna Luft, and granddaughter, Vanessa Richards, were among the guests who attended the ribbon-cutting.
At the same time, Eaton told Variety,...
- 8/31/2022
- by Lily Moayeri
- Variety Film + TV
The Maui Film Festival has announced the slate of films and honorees for its 22nd annual edition.
The 2022 festival will feature the Maui premieres of 13 feature films, including “McCurry: The Pursuit of Color,” “Gratitude Revealed,” “Facing Monsters,” “The Story of Everything,” “Pretty Problems,” “Kapo,” “Tango Shalom” and “Pe’Ahi.” The festival opener will be a special surprise, with the film remaining a secret until the screening on July 6.
The in-person festival will take place at the outdoors Stardust Cinema, featuring live music, Kahiko style hula and other activities. In addition, 80 short and feature films will be available to stream online through the festival’s Speed-of-Light Virtual Cinema from July 6-31.
Additionally, the festival announced five stars who will receive honors for their work and advocacy. Christina Ricci will receive the festival’s Nova Award, provided to a female actor for excellence and achievement in her career. Lana Condor will receive the Stella Award,...
The 2022 festival will feature the Maui premieres of 13 feature films, including “McCurry: The Pursuit of Color,” “Gratitude Revealed,” “Facing Monsters,” “The Story of Everything,” “Pretty Problems,” “Kapo,” “Tango Shalom” and “Pe’Ahi.” The festival opener will be a special surprise, with the film remaining a secret until the screening on July 6.
The in-person festival will take place at the outdoors Stardust Cinema, featuring live music, Kahiko style hula and other activities. In addition, 80 short and feature films will be available to stream online through the festival’s Speed-of-Light Virtual Cinema from July 6-31.
Additionally, the festival announced five stars who will receive honors for their work and advocacy. Christina Ricci will receive the festival’s Nova Award, provided to a female actor for excellence and achievement in her career. Lana Condor will receive the Stella Award,...
- 6/27/2022
- by Wilson Chapman
- Variety Film + TV
Exclusive: Rocket Science has boarded worldwide sales on The Yin & Yang of Gerry Lopez, a film lifting the veil on one of surfing’s most enigmatic heroes, which will be introduced to potential buyers at the 2022 Cannes Market.
While most famously known as “Mr. Pipeline” for his mastery of one of the most dangerous waves in surfing, Gerry Lopez wrestled with a profound internal conflict; his fight to become the best surfer in the world with his dedication to yoga and Buddhist teachings. Gerry’s aggressive, unscrupulous surfing was in stark contrast to his calm demeanor in the tube. And this Zelig-like quality made Gerry wholly unique.
Gerry Lopez is as Zen as he is radical, and he transcends categorization. He’s an apex predator in the surf, one of the most influential surfers and surfboard shapers of all time, an entrepreneur, a family man, a movie star and a lifelong yogi.
While most famously known as “Mr. Pipeline” for his mastery of one of the most dangerous waves in surfing, Gerry Lopez wrestled with a profound internal conflict; his fight to become the best surfer in the world with his dedication to yoga and Buddhist teachings. Gerry’s aggressive, unscrupulous surfing was in stark contrast to his calm demeanor in the tube. And this Zelig-like quality made Gerry wholly unique.
Gerry Lopez is as Zen as he is radical, and he transcends categorization. He’s an apex predator in the surf, one of the most influential surfers and surfboard shapers of all time, an entrepreneur, a family man, a movie star and a lifelong yogi.
- 5/12/2022
- by Matt Grobar
- Deadline Film + TV
Exclusive: The 44th annual Mountainfilm festival has announced its first wave of film titles and festival highlights. Festival-goers can look forward to more than 120 films as the festival takes over Telluride’s majestic box canyon Memorial Day weekend, May 26-30, 2022. The festival will include 31 features and nearly 100 shorts.
Mountainfilm 2022 will highlight 80+ North American, US, and Colorado premieres. Also celebrating world premieres are the highly-anticipated documentary, The Holly, based on the seven-year investigation into the high-profile shooting in Denver’s Holly neighborhood (film subject Terrance Roberts in attendance), and Chasing, a gripping tale of a 3,000-mile rowing race across the Atlantic Ocean (film subject Jason Caldwell in attendance).
The festival also boasts 18 world premiere short films traversing some of the most pertinent issues of the day — from the climate crisis to inclusion to border walls — while also providing film-goers with a dose of the adrenaline-packed, edge-of-your-seat excitement they crave from Mountainfilm.
Mountainfilm 2022 will highlight 80+ North American, US, and Colorado premieres. Also celebrating world premieres are the highly-anticipated documentary, The Holly, based on the seven-year investigation into the high-profile shooting in Denver’s Holly neighborhood (film subject Terrance Roberts in attendance), and Chasing, a gripping tale of a 3,000-mile rowing race across the Atlantic Ocean (film subject Jason Caldwell in attendance).
The festival also boasts 18 world premiere short films traversing some of the most pertinent issues of the day — from the climate crisis to inclusion to border walls — while also providing film-goers with a dose of the adrenaline-packed, edge-of-your-seat excitement they crave from Mountainfilm.
- 4/19/2022
- by Valerie Complex
- Deadline Film + TV
"Tony is always competing against Tony." HBO has unveiled an official trailer for a documentary film titled Tony Hawk: Until the Wheels Fall Off, which is premiering at the 2022 SXSW Film Festival coming up this month. Hawk, born in San Diego, California, is a pioneer of modern vertical skating and one of the most influential skateboarders of all time. This thrilling documentary – which covers his personal life, career and relationship with skateboarding – features unprecedented access, never-before-seen footage, and interviews with Hawk, and prominent figures in the sport including Stacy Peralta, Rodney Mullen, Mike McGill, Lance Mountain, Steve Caballero, Neil Blender, Andy MacDonald, Duane Peters, Sean Mortimer, and Christian Hosoi. "Never back down from the challenge." I've been hoping we'd one day see a comprehensive doc about Hawk! He has lived such an incredible life, going all over, doing so much, but still maintaining his integrity and his super chill attitude.
- 3/8/2022
- by Alex Billington
- firstshowing.net
The Santa Barbara Film Festival on Thursday revealed the lineup for its 37th edition, which is set to run March 2-12 in-person in its customary spot in the heat of Oscar season.
The festival will kick off with The Phantom of the Open, the Sony Pictures Classics comedy directed by Craig Roberts and starring Mark Rylance in the true story of Maurice Fitcroft, who entered the 1976 British Open despite never having played a round of golf before. Sally Hawkins and Rhys Ifans also star in the BBC Films pic.
The documentary Dionne Warwick: Don’t Make Me Over is the closing-night film, with Warwick set to be in attendance.
Overall, the festival in the beach city just north of Los Angeles will present 48 world premieres and 95 U.S. premieres from 54 countries, with a lineup that features films from directors Neil Labute, Ramin Bahrani, François Ozon, Eva Husson and more.
Also...
The festival will kick off with The Phantom of the Open, the Sony Pictures Classics comedy directed by Craig Roberts and starring Mark Rylance in the true story of Maurice Fitcroft, who entered the 1976 British Open despite never having played a round of golf before. Sally Hawkins and Rhys Ifans also star in the BBC Films pic.
The documentary Dionne Warwick: Don’t Make Me Over is the closing-night film, with Warwick set to be in attendance.
Overall, the festival in the beach city just north of Los Angeles will present 48 world premieres and 95 U.S. premieres from 54 countries, with a lineup that features films from directors Neil Labute, Ramin Bahrani, François Ozon, Eva Husson and more.
Also...
- 2/10/2022
- by Patrick Hipes
- Deadline Film + TV
Exclusive: Sugar23 and Ace Content have come aboard Jared Drake & Steven Siig’s award-winning documentary Buried as executive producers, with Rocket Science signing on to handle domestic and international sales.
The film follows a California community’s effort to heal, after being confronted with a shared trauma on March 31st, 1982, when a large avalanche hit the ski resort Alpine Meadows and killed seven. Academy Award-winning producer Evan Hayes of Ace Content (Free Solo) joined Oscar winner Michael Sugar (Spotlight) and eight-time Emmy nominee David Hillman (The Tipping Point) of Sugar23 in screening the film prior to its premiere on the festival circuit and immediately signed on to spearhead its sale and release.
The producers have spent the last four months working with Jared and Siig to lock picture, and are looking to release it next year—timed to the 40th anniversary of the Alpine Meadows tragedy. Additional exec producers on...
The film follows a California community’s effort to heal, after being confronted with a shared trauma on March 31st, 1982, when a large avalanche hit the ski resort Alpine Meadows and killed seven. Academy Award-winning producer Evan Hayes of Ace Content (Free Solo) joined Oscar winner Michael Sugar (Spotlight) and eight-time Emmy nominee David Hillman (The Tipping Point) of Sugar23 in screening the film prior to its premiere on the festival circuit and immediately signed on to spearhead its sale and release.
The producers have spent the last four months working with Jared and Siig to lock picture, and are looking to release it next year—timed to the 40th anniversary of the Alpine Meadows tragedy. Additional exec producers on...
- 12/16/2021
- by Matt Grobar
- Deadline Film + TV
HBO has acquired Tony Hawk: Until The Wheels Fall Off, a feature documentary on the life and career of the skateboarding legend, from Mark and Jay Duplass’ Duplass Brothers Productions and director Sam Jones (Audience Network’s Off Camera with Sam Jones). The film will hit the premium cabler in 2022, and will also be available to stream on HBO Max.
Tony Hawk: Until The Wheels Fall Off is a wide-ranging, definitive look at Hawk’s life and iconic career, and his relationship with the sport with which he’s been synonymous for decades. The athlete, born in San Diego, CA in 1968, is a pioneer of modern vertical skating and one of the most influential skateboarders of all time. The doc will present unprecedented access to Hawk, via interviews and never-before-seen footage, also featuring such prominent figures in his sport as Stacy Peralta, Rodney Mullen, Mike McGill, Lance Mountain, Steve Caballero,...
Tony Hawk: Until The Wheels Fall Off is a wide-ranging, definitive look at Hawk’s life and iconic career, and his relationship with the sport with which he’s been synonymous for decades. The athlete, born in San Diego, CA in 1968, is a pioneer of modern vertical skating and one of the most influential skateboarders of all time. The doc will present unprecedented access to Hawk, via interviews and never-before-seen footage, also featuring such prominent figures in his sport as Stacy Peralta, Rodney Mullen, Mike McGill, Lance Mountain, Steve Caballero,...
- 11/16/2021
- by Matt Grobar
- Deadline Film + TV
HBO has acquired the rights to “Tony Hawk: Until the Wheels Fall Off,” a feature documentary about the skateboarding legend. The film will debut on HBO and become available to stream on HBO Max in 2022.
“Until the Wheels Fall Off” comes from Mark and Jay Duplass’ Duplass Brothers Productions. Both Duplass brothers and Mel Eslyn serve as executive producers.
The acquisition was negotiated by ICM Partners, which represents Sam Jones, Mark Duplass and Jay Duplass.
The documentary is directed by Sam Jones, whose recent directing credits include the Showtime series “Roadies,” an episode of “Ted Lasso” and the documentaries “Running With Our Eyes Closed” and “A Film About Jason Isbell,” both of which are currently in post-production.
“Sam has managed to make a film that somehow transcends the sport of skating and becomes a unique and very human portrait,” executive producer Mark Duplass said in a statement. “Can’t wait...
“Until the Wheels Fall Off” comes from Mark and Jay Duplass’ Duplass Brothers Productions. Both Duplass brothers and Mel Eslyn serve as executive producers.
The acquisition was negotiated by ICM Partners, which represents Sam Jones, Mark Duplass and Jay Duplass.
The documentary is directed by Sam Jones, whose recent directing credits include the Showtime series “Roadies,” an episode of “Ted Lasso” and the documentaries “Running With Our Eyes Closed” and “A Film About Jason Isbell,” both of which are currently in post-production.
“Sam has managed to make a film that somehow transcends the sport of skating and becomes a unique and very human portrait,” executive producer Mark Duplass said in a statement. “Can’t wait...
- 11/16/2021
- by J. Kim Murphy
- Variety Film + TV
HBO has acquired Tony Hawk: Until the Wheels Fall Off, a feature documentary about pro skateboarder Tony Hawk, the most recognized name in the sport. The film from Mark and Jay Duplass’ Duplass Brothers Productions and director Sam Jones will debut on HBO and then stream on HBO Max in 2022.
The documentary has access to Hawk and never-before-seen footage and interviews with major sport figures like Stacy Peralta, Rodney Mullen, Mike McGill, Lance Mountain, Steve Caballero, Neil Blender, Andy MacDonald, Duane Peters, Sean Mortimer and Christian Hosoi.
“Sam has managed to make a film that somehow transcends the sport of skating ...
The documentary has access to Hawk and never-before-seen footage and interviews with major sport figures like Stacy Peralta, Rodney Mullen, Mike McGill, Lance Mountain, Steve Caballero, Neil Blender, Andy MacDonald, Duane Peters, Sean Mortimer and Christian Hosoi.
“Sam has managed to make a film that somehow transcends the sport of skating ...
- 11/16/2021
- The Hollywood Reporter - Film + TV
HBO has acquired Tony Hawk: Until the Wheels Fall Off, a feature documentary about pro skateboarder Tony Hawk, the most recognized name in the sport. The film from Mark and Jay Duplass’ Duplass Brothers Productions and director Sam Jones will debut on HBO and then stream on HBO Max in 2022.
The documentary has access to Hawk and never-before-seen footage and interviews with major sport figures like Stacy Peralta, Rodney Mullen, Mike McGill, Lance Mountain, Steve Caballero, Neil Blender, Andy MacDonald, Duane Peters, Sean Mortimer and Christian Hosoi.
“Sam has managed to make a film that somehow transcends the sport of skating ...
The documentary has access to Hawk and never-before-seen footage and interviews with major sport figures like Stacy Peralta, Rodney Mullen, Mike McGill, Lance Mountain, Steve Caballero, Neil Blender, Andy MacDonald, Duane Peters, Sean Mortimer and Christian Hosoi.
“Sam has managed to make a film that somehow transcends the sport of skating ...
- 11/16/2021
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Lords of Dogtown is headed to television. IMDb TV, Amazon’s free, ad-supported streaming service, is developing a TV series adaptation of the 2005 Sony movie. The project hails from Shawn Ryan’s MiddKid Productions and Sony Pictures TV where the company is based, with the movie’s director Catherine Hardwick executive producing.
Written by Kat Candler (Queen Sugar), Lords of Dogtown is a one-hour ensemble-drama about the 1970s skateboarding scene in Southern California, centered around a hell-raising teenage girl growing up in the foster care system. She falls in with a crowd of skaters who idolize the famed Zephyr Skateboard Team.
Candler is executive producing alongside Hardwick and MiddKid’s Ryan and Marney Hochman.
Directed by Hardwicke and written by Stacy Peralta, the Lords of Dogtown movie follows the surf and skateboarding trends that originated in Venice, California during the 1970s. The film starred Emile Hirsch, Victor Rasuk, John Robinson,...
Written by Kat Candler (Queen Sugar), Lords of Dogtown is a one-hour ensemble-drama about the 1970s skateboarding scene in Southern California, centered around a hell-raising teenage girl growing up in the foster care system. She falls in with a crowd of skaters who idolize the famed Zephyr Skateboard Team.
Candler is executive producing alongside Hardwick and MiddKid’s Ryan and Marney Hochman.
Directed by Hardwicke and written by Stacy Peralta, the Lords of Dogtown movie follows the surf and skateboarding trends that originated in Venice, California during the 1970s. The film starred Emile Hirsch, Victor Rasuk, John Robinson,...
- 1/6/2021
- by Nellie Andreeva
- Deadline Film + TV
A “Lords of Dogtown” series is in the works at IMDb TV, Variety has learned.
The one-hour drama is set in the 1970s skateboarding scene in southern California and centers on a hell-raising teenage girl growing up in the foster care system. She falls in with a crowd of skaters who idolize the famed Zephyr Skateboard Team.
Kat Candler is attache to write and executive produce the project. Shawn Ryan and Marney Hochman will executive produce under their overall deal with Sony Pictures Television, with Catherine Hardwicke also executive producing. Sony Pictures TV will produce.
The Zephyr Skateboard Team helped inspire the skateboard crazy in the U.S. in the 1970s, which was chronicled in the critically acclaimed 2001 documentary feature “Dogtown and Z-Boys.” The doc, which was directed by Zephyr team member Stacy Peralta, then inspired the 2005 feature film “Lords of Dogtown.” Peralta wrote the screenplay for the film with Hardwicke directing.
The one-hour drama is set in the 1970s skateboarding scene in southern California and centers on a hell-raising teenage girl growing up in the foster care system. She falls in with a crowd of skaters who idolize the famed Zephyr Skateboard Team.
Kat Candler is attache to write and executive produce the project. Shawn Ryan and Marney Hochman will executive produce under their overall deal with Sony Pictures Television, with Catherine Hardwicke also executive producing. Sony Pictures TV will produce.
The Zephyr Skateboard Team helped inspire the skateboard crazy in the U.S. in the 1970s, which was chronicled in the critically acclaimed 2001 documentary feature “Dogtown and Z-Boys.” The doc, which was directed by Zephyr team member Stacy Peralta, then inspired the 2005 feature film “Lords of Dogtown.” Peralta wrote the screenplay for the film with Hardwicke directing.
- 1/6/2021
- by Joe Otterson
- Variety Film + TV
Glenn here with our weekly look at documentaries from theatres, festivals, and on demand. This week we're looking at Espn's much-buzzed five-part documentary about O.J. Simpson.
Even more coincidental than the release of Espn’s O.J.: Made in America so soon after Ryan Murphy’s star-studded FX mini-series, The People v. O.J. Simpson, is that the rise to fame of their subject coincided so precisely with the rise to prominence of the African American civil rights movement. The irony was not lost on Simpson with the handsome man who everyone thought “had it all” never being able to out-run the shadow that his own meteoric ascent cast over seemingly the United States’ entire black population. Nor is it lost on director Ezra Edelman who makes the parallels the structural spine of this exceptionally thorough, exquisitely compiled, and exhaustively compelling five-part documentary. It’s not called “Made in America” for nothing...
Even more coincidental than the release of Espn’s O.J.: Made in America so soon after Ryan Murphy’s star-studded FX mini-series, The People v. O.J. Simpson, is that the rise to fame of their subject coincided so precisely with the rise to prominence of the African American civil rights movement. The irony was not lost on Simpson with the handsome man who everyone thought “had it all” never being able to out-run the shadow that his own meteoric ascent cast over seemingly the United States’ entire black population. Nor is it lost on director Ezra Edelman who makes the parallels the structural spine of this exceptionally thorough, exquisitely compiled, and exhaustively compelling five-part documentary. It’s not called “Made in America” for nothing...
- 6/28/2016
- by Glenn Dunks
- FilmExperience
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50 fabulous documentary films, covering hard politics through to music, money and films that never were...
Thanks to streaming services such as Netflix, we’ve never had better access to documentaries. A whole new audience can discover that these real life stories are just as thrilling, entertaining, and incredible as the latest big-budget blockbuster. What’s more, they’re all true too. But with a new found glut of them comes the ever more impossible choice, what’s worth your time? Below is my pick of the 50 best modern feature length documentaries.
I’ve defined modern as being from 2000 onwards, which means some of the greatest documentaries ever made will not feature here. I’m looking at you Hoop Dreams.
50. McConkey (2013)
d. Rob Bruce, Scott Gaffney, Murray Wais, Steve Winter, David Zieff
Shane McConkey was an extreme skier and Base jumper who lived life on the edge, and very much to the full.
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50 fabulous documentary films, covering hard politics through to music, money and films that never were...
Thanks to streaming services such as Netflix, we’ve never had better access to documentaries. A whole new audience can discover that these real life stories are just as thrilling, entertaining, and incredible as the latest big-budget blockbuster. What’s more, they’re all true too. But with a new found glut of them comes the ever more impossible choice, what’s worth your time? Below is my pick of the 50 best modern feature length documentaries.
I’ve defined modern as being from 2000 onwards, which means some of the greatest documentaries ever made will not feature here. I’m looking at you Hoop Dreams.
50. McConkey (2013)
d. Rob Bruce, Scott Gaffney, Murray Wais, Steve Winter, David Zieff
Shane McConkey was an extreme skier and Base jumper who lived life on the edge, and very much to the full.
- 11/12/2015
- by simonbrew
- Den of Geek
Has Scorpion cooked up a genius cliffhanger? How has S.H.I.E.L.D. “revived” Lucy Lawless? Who else on Team Arrow has a beef with Atom? Are more Justified deaths ahead? Read on for answers to those questions plus teases from other shows.
RelatedRenewal Scorecard: What’s Coming Back? What’s Cancelled?
Anything on the Scorpion finale? –Stacy
Ohhh, it promises to be a doozy, coming off of some rather massive, cliff-hanging developments in the penultimate episode. Let’s just say that Walter is dealt one too many emotional blows that drive him possibly over the edge – and...
RelatedRenewal Scorecard: What’s Coming Back? What’s Cancelled?
Anything on the Scorpion finale? –Stacy
Ohhh, it promises to be a doozy, coming off of some rather massive, cliff-hanging developments in the penultimate episode. Let’s just say that Walter is dealt one too many emotional blows that drive him possibly over the edge – and...
- 3/30/2015
- TVLine.com
In a crazy turn of events, Keanu Reeves is 50 years old. To honor the actor's five-decades-old milestone, we're celebrating one of his best movies, "Point Break," and explain why it fits its year of release, 1991, so perfectly.
Prior to the early '90s classic, Reeves hadn't really ventured into action movies and was best known for playing a pretty boy, high school stoner in "Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure" (1989). "Point Break" would change all that. Directed by Kathryn Bigelow ("The Hurt Locker"), the movie paired Reeves with an established star and co-heartthrob, Patrick Swayze, fresh off hits like "Road House" (1989) and "Ghost" (1990). Together, they would create a surfing bromance too good to be true.
Set against the backdrop of the coastal Los Angeles area, "Point Break" captured the surfing culture of the region, while simultaneously depicting the criminal underbelly of the city. Los Angeles had long been the bank robbery capital of the world,...
Prior to the early '90s classic, Reeves hadn't really ventured into action movies and was best known for playing a pretty boy, high school stoner in "Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure" (1989). "Point Break" would change all that. Directed by Kathryn Bigelow ("The Hurt Locker"), the movie paired Reeves with an established star and co-heartthrob, Patrick Swayze, fresh off hits like "Road House" (1989) and "Ghost" (1990). Together, they would create a surfing bromance too good to be true.
Set against the backdrop of the coastal Los Angeles area, "Point Break" captured the surfing culture of the region, while simultaneously depicting the criminal underbelly of the city. Los Angeles had long been the bank robbery capital of the world,...
- 9/2/2014
- by Jonny Black
- Moviefone
It's almost September, which means a whole new slew of titles on Netflix! August proved pretty lucrative on the quality title front, but it looks as though September it's going to blow the rundown out of the water.
TV takes spotlight this month, with the latest full seasons of "The Walking Dead," "New Girl," "The League," "The Blacklist," "Arrow," "Bones," and "Parks and Recreation" primed and ready for streaming before their fall premieres. And fans still mourning the loss of "How I Met Your Mother" (in more ways than one) can rewatch the ninth and final season to their heart's content. Ah, memories. Showtime's recently departed "Californication" can be seen in its entirety (Seasons 1 -7) as well, starting September 1. That's a lot of TV.
Movie fans have plenty to look forward to from Netflix in September, too. Sam Raimi's undersung 1998 thriller "A Simple Plan" hits the streaming service September...
TV takes spotlight this month, with the latest full seasons of "The Walking Dead," "New Girl," "The League," "The Blacklist," "Arrow," "Bones," and "Parks and Recreation" primed and ready for streaming before their fall premieres. And fans still mourning the loss of "How I Met Your Mother" (in more ways than one) can rewatch the ninth and final season to their heart's content. Ah, memories. Showtime's recently departed "Californication" can be seen in its entirety (Seasons 1 -7) as well, starting September 1. That's a lot of TV.
Movie fans have plenty to look forward to from Netflix in September, too. Sam Raimi's undersung 1998 thriller "A Simple Plan" hits the streaming service September...
- 8/28/2014
- by Tim Hayne
- Moviefone
Former Z-Boys skater Jay Adams died after suffering a massive heart attack Thursday. He was 53.
Jay Adams Dies
Adams died while vacationing with his wife in Mexico, his manager and friend Susan Ferris told CNN. “We are completely shocked,” said Ferris, who noted that Adams had not had any previous heart issues and that he had long been completely sober. "This is a great loss to skateboarding," Ferris said, "a true legend died."
Stacy Peralta, the fellow Z-Boys member who directed Dogtown and Z-Boyz took to Twitter to share the sad news of Adams' unexpected passing.
"I just received the terribly sad news that Jay Adams passed away last night due to a massive heart attack, send your love," the post read.
In the 70s, the Z-Boys (Zephyr Competition Team) became nationally known for their daring skate tricks. In the 2005 Lords of Dogtown movie, Adams was played by Emile Hirsch.
Jay Adams Dies
Adams died while vacationing with his wife in Mexico, his manager and friend Susan Ferris told CNN. “We are completely shocked,” said Ferris, who noted that Adams had not had any previous heart issues and that he had long been completely sober. "This is a great loss to skateboarding," Ferris said, "a true legend died."
Stacy Peralta, the fellow Z-Boys member who directed Dogtown and Z-Boyz took to Twitter to share the sad news of Adams' unexpected passing.
"I just received the terribly sad news that Jay Adams passed away last night due to a massive heart attack, send your love," the post read.
In the 70s, the Z-Boys (Zephyr Competition Team) became nationally known for their daring skate tricks. In the 2005 Lords of Dogtown movie, Adams was played by Emile Hirsch.
- 8/17/2014
- Uinterview
Jay Adams, a skateboarding legend who is credited with helping to shape modern skateboarding style, has died. He was 53. The Santa Monica, California, native died Friday in a hospital in Puerto Escondido, in Mexico, where he was on an extended surfing trip, reports the Los Angeles Times. It's believed he died of a heart attack. Adams gained attention in 2001 when he was featured prominently in Dogtown and Z-Boys, an award-winning documentary about Adams and childhood friends Stacy Peralta and Tony Alva. The teenagers formed Z-boys in the '70s in the Dogtown neighborhood of Santa Monica and unwittingly pioneered modern skateboarding,...
- 8/16/2014
- by Kathy Ehrich Dowd, @kathyehrichdowd
- PEOPLE.com
If Shogo Kubo was going to die, dying while doing a sick skateboarding move would have been the best way to go ... so says his former Z-Boy friend and famed filmmaker Stacy Peralta. Peralta tells TMZ Sports he was shocked to hear of Kubo's passing, but that he had not seen his former skateboarding friend in over 20 years ... at the premiere of Peralta's documentary, "Dogtown and Z-Boys.""We were all outsiders, but he was a triple outsider,...
- 6/26/2014
- by TMZ Staff
- TMZ
Cinedigm has launched Docurama, a free, ad-supported, on-demand streaming channel featuring documentary content. The new direct-to-consumer digital channel will be available on over 165 million consumer devices including connected TVs (Samsung, Sony, RCA, Humax), set top boxes (Amazon Fire, Roku, Tivo Roamio, Western Digital TV), tablets (Samsung) and gaming consoles (Xbox). The channel, the first of a series of digital channels that Cinedigm is planning, features work from renowned documentary filmmakers such as Alex Gibney, Fred Wiseman, Stacy Peralta, Liz Garbus and Joe Berlinger. Cinedigm acquired Docurama, a 15-year-old documentary distributor, two years ago and last year, Cinedigm and Docurama experimented with a YouTube channel which offered pay-per-view documentaries. With the launch of the new digital channel, the YouTube channel will be eliminated. "It's very exciting that audiences now have free, unfettered access to our incredible documentary library," said...
- 5/20/2014
- by Paula Bernstein
- Indiewire
So we all saw Captain America: The Winter Soldier. (Seriously, we all saw it.) And we’ve all had a good, long, thoughtful conversation about the deeper themes lingering under the surface of the paranoia-inducing, wiki-leaking, surveillance-state-exploding superhero sequel. But there’s a more obvious thing we need to address — a question hovering over the whole movie that remains unanswered. Captain America. Black Widow. Question mark?
To recap, with spoilers. At the start of Winter Soldier, Cap and Widow’s relationship has evolved a little since The Avengers. But only a little. They’re co-workers. Widow’s mildly concerned that...
To recap, with spoilers. At the start of Winter Soldier, Cap and Widow’s relationship has evolved a little since The Avengers. But only a little. They’re co-workers. Widow’s mildly concerned that...
- 4/7/2014
- by Darren Franich
- EW.com - PopWatch
Nobody can question San Diego's climate. With 201 days above 70 degrees each year, America's Finest City (it's official nickname) hosts more than 32 million visitors who annually pump an estimated eight billion dollars into the regional economy. And the locals have it good, too: S.D. has recently been named America's second best city to work, its ninth best place to buy a house and, for the thirsty, the third best beer town in America. But it's not all sunshine and smiles in SoCal. Where there's wealth, there's an underbelly. And that's...
- 1/31/2014
- Rollingstone.com
Tiff’s Midnight Madness program turned 25 this year, and for two and half decades, the hardworking programers have gathered some of the strangest, most terrifying, wild, intriguing and downright entertaining films from around the world. From dark comedies to Japanese gore-fests and indie horror gems, the Midnight Madness program hasn’t lost its edge as one the leading showcases of genre cinema. In its 25-year history, Midnight Madness has introduced adventurous late-night moviegoers to such cult faves as Richard Linklater’s Dazed and Confused and Quentin Tarantino’s Reservoir Dogs. But what separates Midnight Madness from, say, Montreal’s three and half week long genre festival Fantasia, is that Tiff selects only ten films to make the cut. In other words, these programmers don’t mess around. Last week I decided that I would post reviews of my personal favourite films that screened in past years. And just like the Tiff programmers,...
- 9/18/2013
- by Ricky
- SoundOnSight
Thanks to the internet, television is no longer just the province of networks -- digital series now come from everyone from Netflix, with its originals that are indistinguishable in production value and quality from cable, to individual creators putting together lo-fi sagas on YouTube. BitTorrent is the latest player to try to get into the game. The company, responsible for the peer-to-peer protocol synonymous for many with piracy, has been working to make its platform something artists and other companies will actually choose to get involved with via BitTorrent Bundles, which offer free content with additional goodies that can be unlocked in exchange for an email address, a payment or other threshold set by the creator. Participants include the DJ/record producer Kaskade and Stacy Peralta, who with Topspin Media partnered with BitTorrent for a promotion during the release his doc "Bones Brigade." Production company Converge Studios wants to see if the BitTorrent Bundle can.
- 8/15/2013
- by Alison Willmore
- Indiewire
News
The magnificent Trevor Donovan has been cast for a guest role on Drop Dead Diva, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Apparently his role involves dropping his pants in the courtroom, which is always a good idea for Donovan’s characters.
Fox president Kevin Reilly said that he sees Glee ending at the end of its sixth season saying, “there’s two very clear arcs to get to that end and conclude.” However, he added he could see the show lasting beyond that if a new breakout star is found.
Whew. Syfy has picked up the third season of Continuum. I don’t have to figure out how to follow it without a U.S. broadcaster.
Brace yourselves, Fox is planning on adapting Broadchurch. From what I’ve heard about the original, that could be a challenge. Besides, I’m having a hard time imagining Fox coming up with casting as exciting as David Tennant,...
The magnificent Trevor Donovan has been cast for a guest role on Drop Dead Diva, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Apparently his role involves dropping his pants in the courtroom, which is always a good idea for Donovan’s characters.
Fox president Kevin Reilly said that he sees Glee ending at the end of its sixth season saying, “there’s two very clear arcs to get to that end and conclude.” However, he added he could see the show lasting beyond that if a new breakout star is found.
Whew. Syfy has picked up the third season of Continuum. I don’t have to figure out how to follow it without a U.S. broadcaster.
Brace yourselves, Fox is planning on adapting Broadchurch. From what I’ve heard about the original, that could be a challenge. Besides, I’m having a hard time imagining Fox coming up with casting as exciting as David Tennant,...
- 8/2/2013
- by Lyle Masaki
- The Backlot
They don't call Heidi Klum "The Body" for nothing. But looks like Stacy Keibler is giving the supermodel a run for her money nickname. Few celebs can wear skintight leather as successfully as these two ladies, which makes this competition all that much stiffer. We're not in love with the '70s vibe that the new America's Got Talent judge is sporting. The long sleeves and belt make her look like a Charlie's Angels extra! On the other hand, Stacy's pointy white pumps contrasted with that body-hugging fuscia frock are equally outdated. This is one battle that's almost too close to call. So you do: Tell us, who wore it best?!
- 5/9/2013
- E! Online
Skater enthusiasts will love the new documentary short film “Day at the Pool.” The documentary short is now available online through the film’s official site as Xbox and iTunes. The film explores the beginnings of what we now know to be modern skateboarding: “Day At The Pool is a documentary short film which sheds new light on the true origins of modern skateboarding. The film features blazing interviews with Tony Alva, Stacy Peralta, Jay Adams and the rest of the Dogtown crew. They all reveal that one anonymous kid from the swimming-pool suburbs of Los Angeles may have been singularly responsible for the skateboarding revolution that redefined adolescent life in [ Read More ]
The post Day At The Pool Now Available Online appeared first on Shockya.com.
The post Day At The Pool Now Available Online appeared first on Shockya.com.
- 4/2/2013
- by monique
- ShockYa
There have been plenty of quality biographical extreme sports docs released in the last couple years, with Jeff Tremaine’s profile of BMX godfather Matt Hoffman, The Birth of Big Air, Stacy Peralta’s loving skate team autobio, Bones Brigade, and even Tristan Patterson’s beautifully unconventional debut, Dragonslayer, but the more the merrier as far as we’re concerned. Jacob Rosenberg’s directorial debut, Waiting For Lightning, stylishly outlines the life of boundary pushing skateboard legend Danny Way by combining elements of retrospective bits with the capping of a career in Way’s attempt to jump the Great Wall of China. The cross cut story is not a complete success, but Way, like many of the skate icons who vet his story, is an enigmatic character of practiced skill and devout will, making for a compelling film filled with fledgling career footage and plenty of big air delirium.
Like...
Like...
- 3/6/2013
- by Jordan M. Smith
- IONCINEMA.com
Warning: There may be some contentious points on piracy and the future of online distribution in this article. Please feel free to comment and debate below!
I had a chance to attend the "Future of Film Summit" in Beverly Hills produced by Variety and DigitalMediaWire. The ambitious one-day event focused on "the current state of the industry, and how film and transmedia deals will be struck in the coming years." That's a pretty grand scale, but I'd have to say it delivered a good mix of traditional film perspective mixed with a suprisingly high-level group of online experts. The keynotes were given by Tom Bernard, Co-founder and Co-president, Sony Pictures Classics and by writer-director Kevin Smith (comments on the keynotes follow my conference takeaways below.)
A few takeaways from the conference:
Mike Vorhaus, President of Magid Advisors, a leading entertainment consulting firm, opened the conference with a fascinating collection of data about the general state of the film industry in terms of movie-going demographics. The most interesting part for me was that avid digital "streamers" spend the most money at traditional theaters, purchasing movies and TV shows online, and renting the same online. Hence, "Regular moviegoes not only are loyal to the cinema, they are also spending a lot of time with digital devices." (and spending money for content on these devices!)
Great news for indies, since the internet is still, for now, wide open for distribution to the savvy filmmaker. Other important points from the study:
Video is one of the top activites on smartphones (young people know this, but anyone over 30 producing content Needs to internalize this.) Full-length video watching on tablets outweighs smartphones, but the phones are growing - both in physical size and in full-length video watching habits. Tablet and iPhone users are the most likely to purchase TV and movie content on mobile.
Want to see all the exact figures and media demographics? Watch the entire 32-slide presentation and let me know your thoughts here.
If you can't beat 'em?
I was fascinated to see that the infamous BitTorrent was a headlining sponsor of the event. It definitely raised some hackles (see Tom Bernard's comments below.) Matt Mason, Executive Director of Marketing for BT, has the enviable/un-enviable job of both improving BitTorrent's image to the film industry and educating about potential areas for BT to actually become an asset to an indie film's marketing plan.
As a filmmaker/distributor I find my heart wrenched by the concept, but I'm fascinated at the possibility of torrents to empower filmmakers so I sat down with Matt and asked for some specifics. ~i.e. It's a new model...evolve or die?)
Zack Coffman: What did you think of the conference?
Matt Mason: I saw a lot of great films and projects I didn't know about and as a result, we're now working with some of those producers to help them promote their projects through the BitTorrent ecosystem. It's great to see so much positive change happening in the business. There's a sense of optimism about all the opportunities ahead and I really felt that at this event.
Zc: You are fighting very hard to change BT's image to filmmakers as a piracy enabler. Thoughts on this observation?
Mm: We are and there has been good momentum. The BitTorrent protocol is designed to move large files across the Internet; it fixes a problem inherent with the way the Internet was designed. At that time no one imagined the need for moving data as big as files are today and BitTorrent is the very best way to move large files. Much of that is personal media, such as a 20Gb video from your smart phone. Many people aren't aware of how BitTorrent is used for legitimate purposes by companies such as Facebook, Twitter, Wikipedia and Blizzard to push updates and move large amounts of data around their ecosystems.
We can't change human behavior, and piracy has been a fact of life throughout the history of media. What we can do is change the environment around piracy. We know that when Internet users are offered legitimate content from creators and publishers and the experience of getting that content is good, they will choose to interact with those content creators and reward them. We're working to create those experiences in BitTorrent, which at this point, is moving 30-40% of the world's Internet traffic everyday - more than http. We see a bright future. The music industry is coming back strong now that people are starting to really get a handle on digital - the same thing is starting to happening in film. We see only good things ahead and we're committed to being part of the solution.
Zc: Can you give filmmakers some real advice how to use BT to further their film marketing goals?
Mm: It really depends who your audience is, what you want them to do and what kind of marketing materials you're putting in front of that audience. We've had great success this year driving awareness and engagement for filmmakers. Giving someone a real, immersive glimpse into the story you are trying to tell and then giving the consumer a number of ways to interact with your story (email collection, social media, pushing them to your site) via BitTorrent has helped a number of filmmakers this year. Our key insight has been that there is no one solution, but as many solutions as there are pieces of content. Each piece of content can have a unique approach and our mission is to create a set of tools for content creators to access.
Zc: Examples?
Mm: Recently we worked with Stacy Peralta and the Bones Brigade team on their documentary that's playing now. Skateboarding’s 1990s youth revolution was a direct result of analog file sharing. Kids copying and swapping Powell-Peralta tapes made the Bones Brigade, the most famous - and the most successful - skate crew in history. Stacy Peralta’s acclaimed 2012 film, Bones Brigade: A Documentary, followed the handmade and hard-fought rise of this crew. But as a documentary about a niche sport, it faced barriers to attention and mainstream interest.
We wanted to create a 2.0 reinvention of the Diy distribution paradigm at the heart of the crew’s original success, and help generate reach and activation, beyond the Sundance and skate circuits. In partnership with Topspin Media and Stacy Peralta, we created a BitTorrent Bundle of media that gave BitTorrent users and Bones Brigade fans exclusive content from the film. The Bundle included the film’s HD trailer, graffiti stencils, artwork and music from Tommy Guerrero. Each Bundle was free for users to download. In order to unlock the content, users needed to provide an email address.
The Bones Brigade Bundle was offered to users at high-engagement touch points within the BitTorrent ecosystem: during software installation, as part of our Featured Artist program site and within the BitTorrent clients.
The result? Over one million views of the extended trailer on BitTorrent in a month (compared to 188,000 views on YouTube), over 81,000 new users driven to Bones Brigade social media properties and 185,000 fans driven to the movie's website. According to TopSpin, BitTorrent was the most potent form of marketing outside of the film's websites. They will be presenting a full breakdown of that campaign at Sundance in January.
Conference Tracks:
The conference offered two simultaneous "tracks" for the afternoon panels and while the studio production track seemed interesting and had some heavy hitters, I decided to stick with the Digital Future track.
Josh Dickey, film editor at Variety led a spirited panel entitled "Social Marketing Revolution", but he showed his digital chops by basically hijacking the gathered experts into a wider debate about various online marketing techniques. You'd expect Sony to be a leader in digital, but Elias Plishner, VP Worldwide Digital Media for Sony Pictures really had his act together and stood out by giving practical insight into how his department functions.
With a veritable army of digital team members in the back of the room, Plishner explained how every morning they create a "Digital Report Card" for every film currently in release. The report card includes the five top analytics for each marketing program: Site traffic, Buzz, Video Views, Social Activity (basically Facebook's TalkScore value), and organic search volume. All of these values are compared against a "genre norm" and followed by goals the team has set. With these numbers in hand, you could see it leading to a very efficient digital marketing effort. [Sony is really paying attention to the analytics and data that the net can provide. Every indie content creator needs to be doing this! - I'd like to see subscores of various social platforms since Fb isn't the only game in town any more.]
Discussion Point- What would be the impact of a property's score handicapped for: A) Pre-existing brand awareness B) Star power C) Marketing $ expenditure D) Film quality E) Seo F) PR intangibles. A handicap formula would be fascinating and I'd love to see its predictive value of a film's financial success vs. cost to produce/market. Thoughts?
The "Trendsetters of the New Platforms" panel featured several content producers discussing how they are using the new distribution model of the net. Afterwards, I caught up with Marc Lieberman, Head of Business Development for The Onion.
Zack Coffman: The Onion has been seeing amazing results from it's online programming. Can you please outline some of the areas you've been focusing on?
Marc Lieberman: Certainly. Recently, we've been expanding our online presence with the launch of our new daily show, 'ONNCast.' As we've done with our written content, we're taking a renewed focus on covering breaking news and timely news first and foremost.
Zc: Why do you think they've been successful?
Ml: As we saw with more timely written content, people want to watch and read our coverage of current events the very same day that these events are occurring. Even if you're a fan of some of our lesser-known competitors (The New York Times, The Huffington Post and CNN to name a few), you know that a visit to TheOnion.com will yield smarter, more in-depth reporting on the news of the day paired with our trademark attention-getting headlines. Sure, we no longer allow our writing staff time to sleep, but this is just one of the many sacrifices that true journalists must make. That, and attaining worthless college degree that renders them wholly unfit to work outside of a newsroom.
Zc: What's the overall goal for The Onion?
Ml: Since our first issue debuted 1783, the goal of The Onion has always been to shape and control the opinion of the American public. It has done so with nothing short of overwhelming success.
Though The Onion has been 'America's Finest News Source' since that time, the Internet has enabled us to also shape and control the opinion of those that live beyond our borders. Some, mistakenly, consider this part of our overall goal, but we assure you that it's merely a bi-product of our tremendous influence.
Zc: Do you actively employ Seo and Sem?
Ml: We do in terms of Seo. However, our large amount of web traffic no doubt gives us a quite an advantage over smaller sites. But, again, timely content will go a long way on search, as does our large story archive which proves the old adage, "news is cyclical."
Zc: The Kim Jong-un article was like a PR blitz for you, was it pure chance or are your writers that smart?
Ml: To be perfectly frank, we benefitted greatly from a lack of "sexy" news otherwise on the day that story broke. To clear up some confusion, our editor, Will Tracy, sent the following statement to the press:"For more coverage on The Onion's Sexiest Man Alive 2012, Kim Jong-Un, please visit our friends at the People's Daily in China, a proud Communist subsidiary of The Onion, Inc. Exemplary reportage, comrades."
Zc: How have you leveraged that explosion into your overall marketing efforts?
Ml: First, we actually added Will's statement to the article, and re-promoted the article through our social media channels and on our site. However, when something that does much the marketing work for you, the strategy that we employ is to not interfere with where it might go. That said, it afforded us many opportunities to be interviewed by a bevy of media sources, which is something we didn't shy away from.
Zc: The Onion has always been a beacon for independents, do you have any advice for indie film marketers out there?
Ml: Don't change your message, but be willing to change the way in which you deliver it. In this way, we were able to evolve from our print beginnings to an online presence that allows us to gain the readership of new people every day.
"The New Distribution Formula" panel dealt with changing release windows and new opportunities afforded by VOD. Tom Quinn and Jason Janego, co-presidents of Radius-twc joined Rob Sussman, Evp, Business Operations, Development, and Strategy, Epix, Jamie McCabe, Evp, worldwide PPV, VOD, Est, 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment, Todd Green, General Manager, Tribeca Film, and Daniel Solnicki, Head of Worldwide Franchise Development, DreamWorks Animation in a discussion about new theatrical/VOD strategies; particularly focused on the day-and-date model and changing of traditional distribution windows. The discussion was frankly much too short, but it will be interesting to check in with Quinn and Janego about how Radius-twc achieved their cross-platform success with Bachelorette and watch very closely their upcoming release of Only God Forgives by Nicolas Winding Refn, starring Ryan Gosling.
The last panel of the day was ambitiously called "Monetizing Film and Video Content in a Digital Age". It featured some big names, but ended up being a bit of a PR piece for the panelists, as they didn't really offer any concrete ideas for the jam-packed room. However, Jordan Metzner of Xsolla did try his best to explain specifically what his company does for filmmakers. "Xsolla provides in-game payment services for some of the largest video game developers and publishers in the world and can help filmmakers with our film monetization arm, called Cinify. We help film makers get on major networks as well as monetize content on their on sites using Cdn's and Xsolla as a payment solutions."
Apparently Xsolla's platform allows the viewer to watch/play a few minutes of a film/game before being asked to pony up and pay for the content. In my opinion, this is way better for indies than the other current models that ask for payment based on viewing only a trailer. I'll be curious to have a follow-up with Jason and investigate it further.
Notes on Notes:
The day's two keynotes offered some insight into filmmaking from two different perspectives.
Tim Gray, the big Kahuna at Variety sat down with industry uber-vet Tom Bernard of Sony Classics for the morning keynote and Bernard was suprisingly frank in his outlook for the future. He mentioned that Spc's audience skews older and he was concerned about that demographic aging problem. I had a chance to chat with Tom further about this conundrum and he explained that Spc films were traditionally a print media audience, but the new college of film is the internet so Spc has been acquiring more films that fit a wider demographic such as Searching for Sugarman- that has a huge online audience and huge audience of baby boomers, and Rust and Bone- a modern film, and very different than traditional foreign films which is getting a wide demographic as well.
"People determine their own DNA online," he continued saying that Spc is excited about opportunites the 'net brings because they are saving so much money by scaling back on print and "narrowcasting" on the net, resulting in their highest profit margins ever. When I asked him about his thoughts on BitTorrent being a sponsor of the show he was unequivocable on his position, "I was shocked and appalled. They are pirates and have caused huge amounts of money to be lost on our pictures. Those guys should be in jail."
Kevin Smith gave an entertaining and inspiring keynote speech, fielding questions posed by his Hollywood Babble-On co-host, Ralph Garman of Kroq. He's definitively taken some licks over the years (some self-inflicted, some not) but survives with his "indie cred" intact. His best quote of the night was a real winner, ""It's not about kissin' up, it's about kissin' down."
Smith continued, "Spend every second with your fans, connect with your audience." A proponent of crowdfunding, he said he routinely supports interesting projects and even sent some money recently to a campaign for a guy that wanted to become a glass-blower. "I just wanted to see that guy fucking do it!" exclaimed Smith, "Remember, they [media gatekeepers] need you [content creators] more than you need them."
Indies in the new film economy should worry more about online culture-building and dealing directly with their audience and less about trying to impress the gatekeepers and distributors that hold sway over the theaters and traditional media outlets.
I look forward to everyone's thoughts and comments! Have a wonderful holiday.
Written by Zack Coffman, a producer specializing in online strategy and monetization, live streaming, and Seo for film. Connect with Zack on LinkedIn and follow his film marketing tips and adventures @choppertown on Twitter.
I had a chance to attend the "Future of Film Summit" in Beverly Hills produced by Variety and DigitalMediaWire. The ambitious one-day event focused on "the current state of the industry, and how film and transmedia deals will be struck in the coming years." That's a pretty grand scale, but I'd have to say it delivered a good mix of traditional film perspective mixed with a suprisingly high-level group of online experts. The keynotes were given by Tom Bernard, Co-founder and Co-president, Sony Pictures Classics and by writer-director Kevin Smith (comments on the keynotes follow my conference takeaways below.)
A few takeaways from the conference:
Mike Vorhaus, President of Magid Advisors, a leading entertainment consulting firm, opened the conference with a fascinating collection of data about the general state of the film industry in terms of movie-going demographics. The most interesting part for me was that avid digital "streamers" spend the most money at traditional theaters, purchasing movies and TV shows online, and renting the same online. Hence, "Regular moviegoes not only are loyal to the cinema, they are also spending a lot of time with digital devices." (and spending money for content on these devices!)
Great news for indies, since the internet is still, for now, wide open for distribution to the savvy filmmaker. Other important points from the study:
Video is one of the top activites on smartphones (young people know this, but anyone over 30 producing content Needs to internalize this.) Full-length video watching on tablets outweighs smartphones, but the phones are growing - both in physical size and in full-length video watching habits. Tablet and iPhone users are the most likely to purchase TV and movie content on mobile.
Want to see all the exact figures and media demographics? Watch the entire 32-slide presentation and let me know your thoughts here.
If you can't beat 'em?
I was fascinated to see that the infamous BitTorrent was a headlining sponsor of the event. It definitely raised some hackles (see Tom Bernard's comments below.) Matt Mason, Executive Director of Marketing for BT, has the enviable/un-enviable job of both improving BitTorrent's image to the film industry and educating about potential areas for BT to actually become an asset to an indie film's marketing plan.
As a filmmaker/distributor I find my heart wrenched by the concept, but I'm fascinated at the possibility of torrents to empower filmmakers so I sat down with Matt and asked for some specifics. ~i.e. It's a new model...evolve or die?)
Zack Coffman: What did you think of the conference?
Matt Mason: I saw a lot of great films and projects I didn't know about and as a result, we're now working with some of those producers to help them promote their projects through the BitTorrent ecosystem. It's great to see so much positive change happening in the business. There's a sense of optimism about all the opportunities ahead and I really felt that at this event.
Zc: You are fighting very hard to change BT's image to filmmakers as a piracy enabler. Thoughts on this observation?
Mm: We are and there has been good momentum. The BitTorrent protocol is designed to move large files across the Internet; it fixes a problem inherent with the way the Internet was designed. At that time no one imagined the need for moving data as big as files are today and BitTorrent is the very best way to move large files. Much of that is personal media, such as a 20Gb video from your smart phone. Many people aren't aware of how BitTorrent is used for legitimate purposes by companies such as Facebook, Twitter, Wikipedia and Blizzard to push updates and move large amounts of data around their ecosystems.
We can't change human behavior, and piracy has been a fact of life throughout the history of media. What we can do is change the environment around piracy. We know that when Internet users are offered legitimate content from creators and publishers and the experience of getting that content is good, they will choose to interact with those content creators and reward them. We're working to create those experiences in BitTorrent, which at this point, is moving 30-40% of the world's Internet traffic everyday - more than http. We see a bright future. The music industry is coming back strong now that people are starting to really get a handle on digital - the same thing is starting to happening in film. We see only good things ahead and we're committed to being part of the solution.
Zc: Can you give filmmakers some real advice how to use BT to further their film marketing goals?
Mm: It really depends who your audience is, what you want them to do and what kind of marketing materials you're putting in front of that audience. We've had great success this year driving awareness and engagement for filmmakers. Giving someone a real, immersive glimpse into the story you are trying to tell and then giving the consumer a number of ways to interact with your story (email collection, social media, pushing them to your site) via BitTorrent has helped a number of filmmakers this year. Our key insight has been that there is no one solution, but as many solutions as there are pieces of content. Each piece of content can have a unique approach and our mission is to create a set of tools for content creators to access.
Zc: Examples?
Mm: Recently we worked with Stacy Peralta and the Bones Brigade team on their documentary that's playing now. Skateboarding’s 1990s youth revolution was a direct result of analog file sharing. Kids copying and swapping Powell-Peralta tapes made the Bones Brigade, the most famous - and the most successful - skate crew in history. Stacy Peralta’s acclaimed 2012 film, Bones Brigade: A Documentary, followed the handmade and hard-fought rise of this crew. But as a documentary about a niche sport, it faced barriers to attention and mainstream interest.
We wanted to create a 2.0 reinvention of the Diy distribution paradigm at the heart of the crew’s original success, and help generate reach and activation, beyond the Sundance and skate circuits. In partnership with Topspin Media and Stacy Peralta, we created a BitTorrent Bundle of media that gave BitTorrent users and Bones Brigade fans exclusive content from the film. The Bundle included the film’s HD trailer, graffiti stencils, artwork and music from Tommy Guerrero. Each Bundle was free for users to download. In order to unlock the content, users needed to provide an email address.
The Bones Brigade Bundle was offered to users at high-engagement touch points within the BitTorrent ecosystem: during software installation, as part of our Featured Artist program site and within the BitTorrent clients.
The result? Over one million views of the extended trailer on BitTorrent in a month (compared to 188,000 views on YouTube), over 81,000 new users driven to Bones Brigade social media properties and 185,000 fans driven to the movie's website. According to TopSpin, BitTorrent was the most potent form of marketing outside of the film's websites. They will be presenting a full breakdown of that campaign at Sundance in January.
Conference Tracks:
The conference offered two simultaneous "tracks" for the afternoon panels and while the studio production track seemed interesting and had some heavy hitters, I decided to stick with the Digital Future track.
Josh Dickey, film editor at Variety led a spirited panel entitled "Social Marketing Revolution", but he showed his digital chops by basically hijacking the gathered experts into a wider debate about various online marketing techniques. You'd expect Sony to be a leader in digital, but Elias Plishner, VP Worldwide Digital Media for Sony Pictures really had his act together and stood out by giving practical insight into how his department functions.
With a veritable army of digital team members in the back of the room, Plishner explained how every morning they create a "Digital Report Card" for every film currently in release. The report card includes the five top analytics for each marketing program: Site traffic, Buzz, Video Views, Social Activity (basically Facebook's TalkScore value), and organic search volume. All of these values are compared against a "genre norm" and followed by goals the team has set. With these numbers in hand, you could see it leading to a very efficient digital marketing effort. [Sony is really paying attention to the analytics and data that the net can provide. Every indie content creator needs to be doing this! - I'd like to see subscores of various social platforms since Fb isn't the only game in town any more.]
Discussion Point- What would be the impact of a property's score handicapped for: A) Pre-existing brand awareness B) Star power C) Marketing $ expenditure D) Film quality E) Seo F) PR intangibles. A handicap formula would be fascinating and I'd love to see its predictive value of a film's financial success vs. cost to produce/market. Thoughts?
The "Trendsetters of the New Platforms" panel featured several content producers discussing how they are using the new distribution model of the net. Afterwards, I caught up with Marc Lieberman, Head of Business Development for The Onion.
Zack Coffman: The Onion has been seeing amazing results from it's online programming. Can you please outline some of the areas you've been focusing on?
Marc Lieberman: Certainly. Recently, we've been expanding our online presence with the launch of our new daily show, 'ONNCast.' As we've done with our written content, we're taking a renewed focus on covering breaking news and timely news first and foremost.
Zc: Why do you think they've been successful?
Ml: As we saw with more timely written content, people want to watch and read our coverage of current events the very same day that these events are occurring. Even if you're a fan of some of our lesser-known competitors (The New York Times, The Huffington Post and CNN to name a few), you know that a visit to TheOnion.com will yield smarter, more in-depth reporting on the news of the day paired with our trademark attention-getting headlines. Sure, we no longer allow our writing staff time to sleep, but this is just one of the many sacrifices that true journalists must make. That, and attaining worthless college degree that renders them wholly unfit to work outside of a newsroom.
Zc: What's the overall goal for The Onion?
Ml: Since our first issue debuted 1783, the goal of The Onion has always been to shape and control the opinion of the American public. It has done so with nothing short of overwhelming success.
Though The Onion has been 'America's Finest News Source' since that time, the Internet has enabled us to also shape and control the opinion of those that live beyond our borders. Some, mistakenly, consider this part of our overall goal, but we assure you that it's merely a bi-product of our tremendous influence.
Zc: Do you actively employ Seo and Sem?
Ml: We do in terms of Seo. However, our large amount of web traffic no doubt gives us a quite an advantage over smaller sites. But, again, timely content will go a long way on search, as does our large story archive which proves the old adage, "news is cyclical."
Zc: The Kim Jong-un article was like a PR blitz for you, was it pure chance or are your writers that smart?
Ml: To be perfectly frank, we benefitted greatly from a lack of "sexy" news otherwise on the day that story broke. To clear up some confusion, our editor, Will Tracy, sent the following statement to the press:"For more coverage on The Onion's Sexiest Man Alive 2012, Kim Jong-Un, please visit our friends at the People's Daily in China, a proud Communist subsidiary of The Onion, Inc. Exemplary reportage, comrades."
Zc: How have you leveraged that explosion into your overall marketing efforts?
Ml: First, we actually added Will's statement to the article, and re-promoted the article through our social media channels and on our site. However, when something that does much the marketing work for you, the strategy that we employ is to not interfere with where it might go. That said, it afforded us many opportunities to be interviewed by a bevy of media sources, which is something we didn't shy away from.
Zc: The Onion has always been a beacon for independents, do you have any advice for indie film marketers out there?
Ml: Don't change your message, but be willing to change the way in which you deliver it. In this way, we were able to evolve from our print beginnings to an online presence that allows us to gain the readership of new people every day.
"The New Distribution Formula" panel dealt with changing release windows and new opportunities afforded by VOD. Tom Quinn and Jason Janego, co-presidents of Radius-twc joined Rob Sussman, Evp, Business Operations, Development, and Strategy, Epix, Jamie McCabe, Evp, worldwide PPV, VOD, Est, 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment, Todd Green, General Manager, Tribeca Film, and Daniel Solnicki, Head of Worldwide Franchise Development, DreamWorks Animation in a discussion about new theatrical/VOD strategies; particularly focused on the day-and-date model and changing of traditional distribution windows. The discussion was frankly much too short, but it will be interesting to check in with Quinn and Janego about how Radius-twc achieved their cross-platform success with Bachelorette and watch very closely their upcoming release of Only God Forgives by Nicolas Winding Refn, starring Ryan Gosling.
The last panel of the day was ambitiously called "Monetizing Film and Video Content in a Digital Age". It featured some big names, but ended up being a bit of a PR piece for the panelists, as they didn't really offer any concrete ideas for the jam-packed room. However, Jordan Metzner of Xsolla did try his best to explain specifically what his company does for filmmakers. "Xsolla provides in-game payment services for some of the largest video game developers and publishers in the world and can help filmmakers with our film monetization arm, called Cinify. We help film makers get on major networks as well as monetize content on their on sites using Cdn's and Xsolla as a payment solutions."
Apparently Xsolla's platform allows the viewer to watch/play a few minutes of a film/game before being asked to pony up and pay for the content. In my opinion, this is way better for indies than the other current models that ask for payment based on viewing only a trailer. I'll be curious to have a follow-up with Jason and investigate it further.
Notes on Notes:
The day's two keynotes offered some insight into filmmaking from two different perspectives.
Tim Gray, the big Kahuna at Variety sat down with industry uber-vet Tom Bernard of Sony Classics for the morning keynote and Bernard was suprisingly frank in his outlook for the future. He mentioned that Spc's audience skews older and he was concerned about that demographic aging problem. I had a chance to chat with Tom further about this conundrum and he explained that Spc films were traditionally a print media audience, but the new college of film is the internet so Spc has been acquiring more films that fit a wider demographic such as Searching for Sugarman- that has a huge online audience and huge audience of baby boomers, and Rust and Bone- a modern film, and very different than traditional foreign films which is getting a wide demographic as well.
"People determine their own DNA online," he continued saying that Spc is excited about opportunites the 'net brings because they are saving so much money by scaling back on print and "narrowcasting" on the net, resulting in their highest profit margins ever. When I asked him about his thoughts on BitTorrent being a sponsor of the show he was unequivocable on his position, "I was shocked and appalled. They are pirates and have caused huge amounts of money to be lost on our pictures. Those guys should be in jail."
Kevin Smith gave an entertaining and inspiring keynote speech, fielding questions posed by his Hollywood Babble-On co-host, Ralph Garman of Kroq. He's definitively taken some licks over the years (some self-inflicted, some not) but survives with his "indie cred" intact. His best quote of the night was a real winner, ""It's not about kissin' up, it's about kissin' down."
Smith continued, "Spend every second with your fans, connect with your audience." A proponent of crowdfunding, he said he routinely supports interesting projects and even sent some money recently to a campaign for a guy that wanted to become a glass-blower. "I just wanted to see that guy fucking do it!" exclaimed Smith, "Remember, they [media gatekeepers] need you [content creators] more than you need them."
Indies in the new film economy should worry more about online culture-building and dealing directly with their audience and less about trying to impress the gatekeepers and distributors that hold sway over the theaters and traditional media outlets.
I look forward to everyone's thoughts and comments! Have a wonderful holiday.
Written by Zack Coffman, a producer specializing in online strategy and monetization, live streaming, and Seo for film. Connect with Zack on LinkedIn and follow his film marketing tips and adventures @choppertown on Twitter.
- 12/17/2012
- by Zack Coffman
- Sydney's Buzz
Title: Waiting for Lightning Director: Jacob Rosenberg Another descendant of “Dogtown and Z-Boys,” Stacy Peralta’s influential 2001 documentary about the 1970s rise of popular skateboarding culture and the colorful characters who populated it, “Waiting for Lightning” details the life story of visionary skater, daredevil and X Games star Danny Way, building up to his 2005 attempt to jump the Great Wall of China. A slick technical package and a willingness to peer at least a bit into the difficult childhood and fractured psyche of its subject give this movie a leg up on a lot of its less inquisitive, like-minded, hagiographic stunt spectaculars, like “Nitro Circus: The Movie.” Way was [ Read More ]
The post Waiting for Lightning Movie Review appeared first on Shockya.com.
The post Waiting for Lightning Movie Review appeared first on Shockya.com.
- 12/8/2012
- by bsimon
- ShockYa
There's been a few* flawless documentaries about the skateboard industry. Two are Dogtown and the Z-Boys and Bones Brigade: An Autobiography, which were both made by the guy who perhaps saved skateboarding, Stacy Peralta. In those docs, he focuses on two different teams and how each separately changed the industry forever. That said, there are a lot of lone skateboarders still out there who shaped, shifted, and skewed the industry on their own. One of those fearless renegades is Danny Way, a man who's broken more world records and bones than corrupt politicians have laws and prostitutes. Jacob Rosenberg's Waiting for Lightning, a documentary about Way's rise to skateboard fame, fiercely tells the inspiring and often tragic story about his roots, coming from practically nothing, and...
- 12/6/2012
- Screen Anarchy
Bigger, Faster, Higher: Biography Of Way’s Big Air
There have been plenty of quality biographical extreme sports docs released in the last couple years, with Jeff Tremaine’s profile of BMX godfather Matt Hoffman, The Birth of Big Air, Stacy Peralta’s loving skate team autobio, Bones Brigade, and even Tristan Patterson’s beautifully unconventional debut, Dragonslayer, but the more the merrier as far as we’re concerned. Jacob Rosenberg’s directorial debut, Waiting For Lightning, stylishly outlines the life of boundary pushing skateboard legend Danny Way by combining elements of retrospective bits with the capping of a career in Way’s attempt to jump the Great Wall of China. The cross cut story is not a complete success, but Way, like many of the skate icons who vet his story, is an enigmatic character of practiced skill and devout will, making for a compelling film filled with fledgling...
There have been plenty of quality biographical extreme sports docs released in the last couple years, with Jeff Tremaine’s profile of BMX godfather Matt Hoffman, The Birth of Big Air, Stacy Peralta’s loving skate team autobio, Bones Brigade, and even Tristan Patterson’s beautifully unconventional debut, Dragonslayer, but the more the merrier as far as we’re concerned. Jacob Rosenberg’s directorial debut, Waiting For Lightning, stylishly outlines the life of boundary pushing skateboard legend Danny Way by combining elements of retrospective bits with the capping of a career in Way’s attempt to jump the Great Wall of China. The cross cut story is not a complete success, but Way, like many of the skate icons who vet his story, is an enigmatic character of practiced skill and devout will, making for a compelling film filled with fledgling...
- 11/28/2012
- by Jordan M. Smith
- IONCINEMA.com
Austin Peralta, the son of legendary skateboarder Stacy Peralta, has died at the age of 22.
The Los Angeles Times reports Austin's death was confirmed by Flying Lotus, who has released some of the jazz prodigy's music.
Austin was most recently a session musician for Erykah Badu and the Cinematic Orchestra, but he made a splash on the music scene at the age of 15 when he played piano as part of a trio at the Tokyo Jazz Festival.
Peralta subsequently released two CD's at the age of 16 under the CBS/Sony label in Japan. His most recent release was 2011's "Endless Planets."
Austin's cause of death has not yet been announced.
The Los Angeles Times reports Austin's death was confirmed by Flying Lotus, who has released some of the jazz prodigy's music.
Austin was most recently a session musician for Erykah Badu and the Cinematic Orchestra, but he made a splash on the music scene at the age of 15 when he played piano as part of a trio at the Tokyo Jazz Festival.
Peralta subsequently released two CD's at the age of 16 under the CBS/Sony label in Japan. His most recent release was 2011's "Endless Planets."
Austin's cause of death has not yet been announced.
- 11/22/2012
- by editorial@zap2it.com
- Pop2it
By Ashley Harkrider
Tony Hawk, Steve Caballero, Mike McGill, Rodney Mullen, Lance Mountain ... Even non-skateboarders will recognize some of these names. The impact they had on skateboarding in the 1980s made them household names, rock stars of sorts, and legitimized skateboarding as both an art and a sport. They were a group of kids, some as young as twelve, formed into an elite team by Stacy Peralta, who had partnered with George Powell to form Powell-Peralta Skateboards. The team became known as the Bones Brigade.
When I was 12 years old, I saw an ad in the back of a magazine to "join" the Bones Brigade. After a long day of begging, my mother relented and soon the mailman delivered a box with my official membership card and the greatest t-shirt I had ever seen. It had all-over print featuring the board logo designs from every single rider and a large...
Tony Hawk, Steve Caballero, Mike McGill, Rodney Mullen, Lance Mountain ... Even non-skateboarders will recognize some of these names. The impact they had on skateboarding in the 1980s made them household names, rock stars of sorts, and legitimized skateboarding as both an art and a sport. They were a group of kids, some as young as twelve, formed into an elite team by Stacy Peralta, who had partnered with George Powell to form Powell-Peralta Skateboards. The team became known as the Bones Brigade.
When I was 12 years old, I saw an ad in the back of a magazine to "join" the Bones Brigade. After a long day of begging, my mother relented and soon the mailman delivered a box with my official membership card and the greatest t-shirt I had ever seen. It had all-over print featuring the board logo designs from every single rider and a large...
- 11/16/2012
- by Contributors
- Slackerwood
Wow, the 21st Annual Whitaker St. Louis International Film Festival already has been amazing!
Sliff’s main venues are the the Hi-Pointe Theatre, Tivoli Theatre, Plaza Frontenac Cinema, Webster University’s Winifred Moore Auditorium, Washington University’s Brown Hall Auditorium and the Wildey Theatre in Edwardsville, Il
The entire schedule for the 21st Annual Whitaker St. Louis International Film Festival be found Here.
http://cinemastlouis.org/sliff-2012
Here is what will be screening at The 21st Whitaker St. Louis International Film Festival today, Thursday, November 15th
Shorts Program 8: Quirky Relationships
Shorts Program 8: Quirky Relationships plays at 5:00pm at the Tivoli Theatre
Shorts that give romance a twist.
Boo! (Rupert Reid, Australia, 2012, 5 min.): An aging married couple keep their love alive by staying one step ahead of each other. Coffees (Alex Beh, U.S., 2012, 11 min.): As a last-ditch effort, Mikey decides to go to his ex...
Sliff’s main venues are the the Hi-Pointe Theatre, Tivoli Theatre, Plaza Frontenac Cinema, Webster University’s Winifred Moore Auditorium, Washington University’s Brown Hall Auditorium and the Wildey Theatre in Edwardsville, Il
The entire schedule for the 21st Annual Whitaker St. Louis International Film Festival be found Here.
http://cinemastlouis.org/sliff-2012
Here is what will be screening at The 21st Whitaker St. Louis International Film Festival today, Thursday, November 15th
Shorts Program 8: Quirky Relationships
Shorts Program 8: Quirky Relationships plays at 5:00pm at the Tivoli Theatre
Shorts that give romance a twist.
Boo! (Rupert Reid, Australia, 2012, 5 min.): An aging married couple keep their love alive by staying one step ahead of each other. Coffees (Alex Beh, U.S., 2012, 11 min.): As a last-ditch effort, Mikey decides to go to his ex...
- 11/15/2012
- by Tom Stockman
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
Valley of Saints by Musa Syeed has been selected for the touring festival Sundance Film Forward 2013.
Under the Film Forward label, eight films are chosen every year by the Sundance Institute to travel to four domestic and four international locations. Here the filmmakers of these films participate in screenings, extended Q&As, workshops, and master classes at universities, film and cultural centres, museums, libraries and other community, educational, and cultural venues.
In Valley of Saints, Gulzar plans to run away from the war and poverty surrounding his village in Kashmir with his best friend, but a beautiful young woman researching the dying lake leads him to contemplate a different future. The film stars Gulzar Ahmad Bhat, Mohammed Afzal Sofi and Neelofar Hamid.
Written and directed by Musa Syeed, the film has been earlier awarded the 2012 Alfred P. Sloan Feature Film Prize by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation at the Sundance...
Under the Film Forward label, eight films are chosen every year by the Sundance Institute to travel to four domestic and four international locations. Here the filmmakers of these films participate in screenings, extended Q&As, workshops, and master classes at universities, film and cultural centres, museums, libraries and other community, educational, and cultural venues.
In Valley of Saints, Gulzar plans to run away from the war and poverty surrounding his village in Kashmir with his best friend, but a beautiful young woman researching the dying lake leads him to contemplate a different future. The film stars Gulzar Ahmad Bhat, Mohammed Afzal Sofi and Neelofar Hamid.
Written and directed by Musa Syeed, the film has been earlier awarded the 2012 Alfred P. Sloan Feature Film Prize by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation at the Sundance...
- 11/11/2012
- by NewsDesk
- DearCinema.com
"It's not a death metal band, an extreme diet club or historic dominoes association."
The name "Bones Brigade" could certainly apply to any of the above, but skate enthusiasts will know it refers to what many consider to be the greatest skateboarding team of all time.
Director Stacy Peralta ("Dogtown and the Z Boys," "Riding Giants,") returns to the park once again for a look at this gang of teenage misfits who, for most of the '80s, dominated the industry with their complete dedication to a disrespected art form: skateboarding.
"Bones Brigade" features interviews with Tony Hawk, Lance Mountain, Steve Caballero, Mike McGill and many more. Check out Caballero waxing (ripping? shredding?) nostalgic about the old days in our exclusive clip from the film.
"Bones Brigade: An Autobiography" will hit Blu-ray, DVD and Digital Download on Nov. 6.
The name "Bones Brigade" could certainly apply to any of the above, but skate enthusiasts will know it refers to what many consider to be the greatest skateboarding team of all time.
Director Stacy Peralta ("Dogtown and the Z Boys," "Riding Giants,") returns to the park once again for a look at this gang of teenage misfits who, for most of the '80s, dominated the industry with their complete dedication to a disrespected art form: skateboarding.
"Bones Brigade" features interviews with Tony Hawk, Lance Mountain, Steve Caballero, Mike McGill and many more. Check out Caballero waxing (ripping? shredding?) nostalgic about the old days in our exclusive clip from the film.
"Bones Brigade: An Autobiography" will hit Blu-ray, DVD and Digital Download on Nov. 6.
- 11/6/2012
- by Bryan Enk
- NextMovie
The Sundance Institute and the President's Committee on the Arts and Humanities announced Thursday details for the third edition of Film Forward: Advancing Cultural Dialogue. The program tours internationally through eight different locations and offers film screenings, workshops and conversations with filmmakers as a way to encourage dialogue and awareness about different cultural issues and to promote understanding about stories and values from around the world. At the center of this year's film selection is Benh Zeitlin's Sundance Film Festival grand jury prize winner "Beasts of the Southern Wild," which revolves around a six year old's youthful imagination as she deals with the harsh realities of her ailing father and her rapidly sinking house following a huge storm. Also part of the program is Stacy Peralta's new documentary "Bones Brigade: An Autobiography." As in his previous films "Dogtown and Z-Boys" and...
- 11/2/2012
- by Eric Mattina
- Indiewire
The Sundance Institute announces its third year of Film Forward: Advancing Cultural Dialogue, in partnership with the President's Committee on the Arts and Humanities, the National Endowment for the Arts, the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Institute of Museum and Library Services. The international touring program offers film screenings, workshops and discussions with filmmakers in eight locations in collaboration with local institutions and Us Embassies. Film Forward's aim is to foster dialogue, inspire curiosity and advance cultural understanding and awareness. The films participating in the third year are Behn Zeitlin's "Beasts of the Southern Wild," Stacy Peralta's "Bones Brigade: An Autobiography," Jeff Orlowski's "Chasing Ice," Patricia Riggen's "Under The Same Moon," Julia Meltzer and Laura Nix's "The Light in her Eyes," Nancy Buirski's "The Loving Story," Jerry...
- 11/1/2012
- by Sophia Savage
- Thompson on Hollywood
Powell Peralta’s Bones Brigade skate team is hands down the most influential group in the history of skateboarding. They’re largely responsible for making the sport and the industry what it is today, for better or worse depending on your point of view. Stacey Peralta’s (“Dogtown and Z-Boys”) new documentary, “Bones Brigade”, made the film festival rounds this year, and hits Blu-ray, DVD, and on-demand November 6. Check out this new trailer for the release. Guys like Tony Hawk, Steve Caballero, Lance Mountain, Rodney Mullen, Mike McGill, and Tommy Guerrero, were the first rock stars of the sport, and helped transform skateboarding from a fringe activity to a legitimate mainstream sport. This garnered them tons of praise, but almost as much spite and contempt from traditionalists who wanted skateboarding to remain pure. This is a debate that still rages today, though given how frequently you find skateboarding featured on Espn,...
- 10/27/2012
- by Brent McKnight
- Beyond Hollywood
Here's another great trailer for Stacy Peralta's latest documentary Bones Brigade: An Autobiography, which follows the rise of skateboarding in the 1980's. This was such an incredible documentary, and a must see for anyone that is a fan of Tony Hawk and the skateboarding scene. Hell, even if you're not, it's still an amazing documentary worth watching!
The Bones Brigade is a skateboarding team that was organized by 70's skateboarding legend and the film's director Stacy Peralta in the early 80's. He set out to start his own team of skaters, gathered together a group of no-name kids that had a deep passion for skateboarding, and mentored them to the top. This team produced some of the greatest, most legendary skateboarders of all time including Tony Hawk, Steve Caballero, Tommy Guerrero, Mike McGill, Lance Mountain and Rodney Mullen, who I admired as a kid growing up in the 80's.
The Bones Brigade is a skateboarding team that was organized by 70's skateboarding legend and the film's director Stacy Peralta in the early 80's. He set out to start his own team of skaters, gathered together a group of no-name kids that had a deep passion for skateboarding, and mentored them to the top. This team produced some of the greatest, most legendary skateboarders of all time including Tony Hawk, Steve Caballero, Tommy Guerrero, Mike McGill, Lance Mountain and Rodney Mullen, who I admired as a kid growing up in the 80's.
- 10/27/2012
- by Joey Paur
- GeekTyrant
So there they were ... a couple from San Diego driving along a California road ... when they pick up a hitchhiker -- naturally -- who turns out to be one of the Greatest Living Skateboard Legends Ever!!!It's a crazy video -- the couple tells us, they routinely pick up hitchhikers and film them (call it a hobby), but this week ... they hit the hitchhiker jackpot, picking up none other than skater legend Jay Adams, who...
- 10/7/2012
- by TMZ Staff
- TMZ
Sundance Institute announced today that they will be teaming up with artist and designer Todd Oldham to produce a custom line of limited-edition recycled bags and wallets, as well as accessories and apparel, exclusively for the 2013 Sundance Film Festival. Illustrators and Sundance Institute alumni will also participate by contributing designs for totes, buttons, patches and t-shirts. These 'Sundance Film Festival Editions' items have been confirmed to feature designs by Lauren Greenfield, Mike Mills, Shirin Neshat, Stacy Peralta, Parker Posey, Susan Sarandon, Amy Sedaris, Morgan Spurlock, John Waters and Mike White. Additionally, an art book titled "Sundance Film Festival A to Z" will include interpretations of Festival films and artists representing each letter of the alphabet by 26 illustrators. Artists confirmed to feature in the art book include Wesley Allsbrook, Morgan Blair, Chris Buzelli, Marcos Chin, Sam Wolfe Connelly, Alison Dubois, Daniel...
- 10/2/2012
- by Justin Krajeski
- Indiewire
2012 appears to be the year for younger, i.e. under 10 years old, underground fests to blow it wide open and go for broke. This time it’s the 4th annual Oakland Underground Film Festival that is expanding its horizons into a blowout four-day, much more densely packed affair, running on Sept. 27-30 at several different locations.
Expanding on the types of films they screen, this year Oakuff is jammed pack with a wide variety of documentaries, thrillers, a bevy of short films and a special tribute to blaxploitation films hosted by BadAzz MoFo’s David Walker.
The fest opens on the 27th with skateboarding filmmaker Stacy Peralta’s latest, Bones Brigade: An Autobiography, which documents his own involvement with California board culture along with peers like Tony Hawk and Rodney Mullen. Following that will be Ya’Ke Smith’s complex drama about the effects of child molestation.
Other documentaries in...
Expanding on the types of films they screen, this year Oakuff is jammed pack with a wide variety of documentaries, thrillers, a bevy of short films and a special tribute to blaxploitation films hosted by BadAzz MoFo’s David Walker.
The fest opens on the 27th with skateboarding filmmaker Stacy Peralta’s latest, Bones Brigade: An Autobiography, which documents his own involvement with California board culture along with peers like Tony Hawk and Rodney Mullen. Following that will be Ya’Ke Smith’s complex drama about the effects of child molestation.
Other documentaries in...
- 9/25/2012
- by Mike Everleth
- Underground Film Journal
Bones Brigade: An Autobiography was one of the best and most entertaining documentaries that I saw up at Sundance this year, and today we bring you a great new trailer!
The Bones Brigade is a skateboarding team that was organized by 70's skateboarding legend and the film's director Stacy Peralta in the early 80's. He set out to start his own team of skaters, gathered together a group of no-name kids that had a deep passion for skateboarding, and mentored them to the top. This team produced some of the greatest, most legendary skateboarders of all time including Tony Hawk, Steve Caballero, Tommy Guerrero, Mike McGill, Lance Mountain, and Rodney Mullen, who I admired as a kid growing up in the 80's. These guys took skateboarding to a whole new level of awesomeness, brought the sport into the mainstream, and turned it into a booming business that they could make a ton of money from.
The Bones Brigade is a skateboarding team that was organized by 70's skateboarding legend and the film's director Stacy Peralta in the early 80's. He set out to start his own team of skaters, gathered together a group of no-name kids that had a deep passion for skateboarding, and mentored them to the top. This team produced some of the greatest, most legendary skateboarders of all time including Tony Hawk, Steve Caballero, Tommy Guerrero, Mike McGill, Lance Mountain, and Rodney Mullen, who I admired as a kid growing up in the 80's. These guys took skateboarding to a whole new level of awesomeness, brought the sport into the mainstream, and turned it into a booming business that they could make a ton of money from.
- 9/21/2012
- by Joey Paur
- GeekTyrant
To celebrate their 5th anniversary, the Arizona Underground Film Festival has expanded to a whopping nine nights on Sept. 21-29 for a cinematic event the likes of Tucson has never seen before!
The shenanigans kick off with the opening night film The Legend of Kaspar Hauser, an experimental Italian feature directed by Davide Manuli and starring Vincent Gallo as the hero and the villain to a strange young boy, then end with the closing night film Jason M. Solomon’s nostalgic documentary 7 Years Underground: A 60′s Tale, which profiles the legendary Cafe Au Go Go in NYC that hosted such up-and-coming acts such as Jimi Hendrix, Frank Zappa, George Carlin, Lily Tomlin and more.
In between those two films lies a twisted carnage of movie mayhem, including Spencer Parsons’ demented homage to ’70s mystery cartoons Saturday Morning Massacre; Michael Melamedoff exploitative semi-doc The Exhibitionists; Stephen Amis’ Australian WWII sci-fi...
The shenanigans kick off with the opening night film The Legend of Kaspar Hauser, an experimental Italian feature directed by Davide Manuli and starring Vincent Gallo as the hero and the villain to a strange young boy, then end with the closing night film Jason M. Solomon’s nostalgic documentary 7 Years Underground: A 60′s Tale, which profiles the legendary Cafe Au Go Go in NYC that hosted such up-and-coming acts such as Jimi Hendrix, Frank Zappa, George Carlin, Lily Tomlin and more.
In between those two films lies a twisted carnage of movie mayhem, including Spencer Parsons’ demented homage to ’70s mystery cartoons Saturday Morning Massacre; Michael Melamedoff exploitative semi-doc The Exhibitionists; Stephen Amis’ Australian WWII sci-fi...
- 9/14/2012
- by Mike Everleth
- Underground Film Journal
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