Mickey Cottrell, the PR executive who specialized in the indie film business and worked both as an actor and a producer, died on New Year’s Day at the Motion Picture & Television Fund in Woodland Hills. He was 79.
His death was confirmed by his sister, Suzie Cottrell-Smith, who told Deadline he suffered from Parkinson’s disease. Cottrell experienced a stroke in 2016 and had gone to live with his sister in Arkansas before returning to Los Angeles in 2019.
Cottrell was born September 4, 1944, in Springfield, Il, and spent part of his childhood in Monroe, LA. At age 8, he moved with his family to Little Rock, Ar, where he grew up. He attended the University of Arkansas and spent more than 30 years in the film and PR industries, co-owning multiple firms including most recently Inclusive PR, repping pics including Bill Cunningham: New York, Stones in Exile, Ballets Russes, Down to the Bone,...
His death was confirmed by his sister, Suzie Cottrell-Smith, who told Deadline he suffered from Parkinson’s disease. Cottrell experienced a stroke in 2016 and had gone to live with his sister in Arkansas before returning to Los Angeles in 2019.
Cottrell was born September 4, 1944, in Springfield, Il, and spent part of his childhood in Monroe, LA. At age 8, he moved with his family to Little Rock, Ar, where he grew up. He attended the University of Arkansas and spent more than 30 years in the film and PR industries, co-owning multiple firms including most recently Inclusive PR, repping pics including Bill Cunningham: New York, Stones in Exile, Ballets Russes, Down to the Bone,...
- 1/3/2024
- by Patrick Hipes and Matthew Carey
- Deadline Film + TV
Vera Ann Farmiga is an American actress who is perhaps best known for her distinct role as real-life paranormal investigator Lorraine Warren in the mystery/thriller film franchise The Conjuring, where she demonstrated her bone-chilling scream.
Vera Farmiga Biography: Age, Early Life, Family, Education
Farmiga was born on August 6, 1973 (Vera Farmiga age: 49) in Clifton, New Jersey. Her parents came from Ukraine. Her father, Mykhailo Farmiga, worked as a computer systems analyst, while her mother, Lubomyra “Luba” Farmiga, was employed as a schoolteacher. Farmiga has one older brother, Victor, as well as five younger siblings, Stephan, Nadia, Alexander, Laryssa and Taissa. Farmiga’s maternal grandparents were introduced at a displaced persons camp in Karlsfeld during World War Two.
Farmiga has publicly stated that she is “100% Ukrainian American,” as she was raised in an insular Ukrainian American community located in Irvington, New Jersey, with Ukrainian being her native tongue. She hadn’t...
Vera Farmiga Biography: Age, Early Life, Family, Education
Farmiga was born on August 6, 1973 (Vera Farmiga age: 49) in Clifton, New Jersey. Her parents came from Ukraine. Her father, Mykhailo Farmiga, worked as a computer systems analyst, while her mother, Lubomyra “Luba” Farmiga, was employed as a schoolteacher. Farmiga has one older brother, Victor, as well as five younger siblings, Stephan, Nadia, Alexander, Laryssa and Taissa. Farmiga’s maternal grandparents were introduced at a displaced persons camp in Karlsfeld during World War Two.
Farmiga has publicly stated that she is “100% Ukrainian American,” as she was raised in an insular Ukrainian American community located in Irvington, New Jersey, with Ukrainian being her native tongue. She hadn’t...
- 8/6/2023
- by Trevor Hanuka
- Uinterview
For an actor, there’s an obvious showboat appeal to playing a serious out-of-control drunk. You can fight, you can rage, you can tap your inner party animal, you can rotate through emotions like a human mood ring, you can descend into the kind of degraded dishevelment that’s the lower-depths version of an awards-bait transformation. Yet to give a truly remarkable performance as an alcoholic, you have to make good on the old line about it — that someone who’s drunk is working hard not to act that way. They’re trying to fool the world in the same way they fool themselves.
In “To Leslie,” Andrea Riseborough plays a small-town West Texas single mother who’s a total desperate been-around-the-bend basket case, the kind of alcoholic who has messed up her life so badly that she’s got nothing left. In each scene, she shows you what Leslie...
In “To Leslie,” Andrea Riseborough plays a small-town West Texas single mother who’s a total desperate been-around-the-bend basket case, the kind of alcoholic who has messed up her life so badly that she’s got nothing left. In each scene, she shows you what Leslie...
- 3/26/2022
- by Owen Gleiberman
- Variety Film + TV
The region’s golden light and natural beauty first attracted the Hudson River School — Thomas Cole, Frederic Church and Albert Bierstadt — whose luminous paintings captured the local landscape. While the region has long attracted filmmakers, Hollywood on the Hudson has never quite arrived. Until now. As Manhattanites throng the area approximately 90 miles north of the city, there’s hard data to show there’s never been more production upstate, from Beacon to Troy, and Fleischmanns to Amenia.
According to the Hudson Valley Film Commission (Hvfc), the area hosted no fewer than 15 film and television projects in the second quarter of 2021, including “The White House Plumbers,” “The Sex Lives of College Girls” and “Life & Beth.” The three-month period was the most active production in the commission’s 21-year history, with direct spending estimates amounting to $25 million.
“The good news is that those productions spend enormous amounts of money,” Hvfc director Laurent Rejto says.
According to the Hudson Valley Film Commission (Hvfc), the area hosted no fewer than 15 film and television projects in the second quarter of 2021, including “The White House Plumbers,” “The Sex Lives of College Girls” and “Life & Beth.” The three-month period was the most active production in the commission’s 21-year history, with direct spending estimates amounting to $25 million.
“The good news is that those productions spend enormous amounts of money,” Hvfc director Laurent Rejto says.
- 10/23/2021
- by Thelma Adams
- Variety Film + TV
Exclusive: Debra Granik (Leave No Trace) is set to direct a feature adaptation of Una Lamarche’s YA novel Like No Other.
She and Anne Rosellini of Still Rolling Productions optioned the book, in partnership with Mad Dog Film’s Alix Madigan.
Published in 2015 by Razorbill, an imprint of Penguin Young Readers, Like No Others is billed as a contemporary take on West Side Story. It watches as the unlikely paths of a Hasidic girl and a secular boy meet on Eastern Parkway and blossom into a forbidden romance.
Granik and Rosellini are penning the script for the film, which Rosellini and Madigan will produce. Razorbill VP & Publisher Casey McIntyre is also on board as an exec producer.
“I have so much respect for this team and their incredible body of work,” said Lamarche. “I could not be more thrilled that they are bringing Like No Other to life on screen.
She and Anne Rosellini of Still Rolling Productions optioned the book, in partnership with Mad Dog Film’s Alix Madigan.
Published in 2015 by Razorbill, an imprint of Penguin Young Readers, Like No Others is billed as a contemporary take on West Side Story. It watches as the unlikely paths of a Hasidic girl and a secular boy meet on Eastern Parkway and blossom into a forbidden romance.
Granik and Rosellini are penning the script for the film, which Rosellini and Madigan will produce. Razorbill VP & Publisher Casey McIntyre is also on board as an exec producer.
“I have so much respect for this team and their incredible body of work,” said Lamarche. “I could not be more thrilled that they are bringing Like No Other to life on screen.
- 7/20/2021
- by Matt Grobar
- Deadline Film + TV
The 34th Film Independent Spirit Awards, which airs live on the IFC cable channel at 5 p.m. Et/2 p.m. Pt this Saturday with Aubrey Plaza as host, is likely to be more indie than it has been recently. Consider that in the past decade, the Spirit Award for Best Feature has agreed with the Academy Award’s Best Picture winner five times: “The Artist” (2011), “12 Years a Slave” (2013), “Birdman” (2014), “Spotlight” (2015) and “Moonlight” (2016).
But there is no way that is happening this year. Why? None of the Spirit nominees –“Eighth Grade,”“First Reformed,” “If Beale Street Could Talk,” “Leave No Trace” and “You Were Never Really Here” — are up for an Oscar. That is quite a shift, given that every Spirit winner for the past nine years has at least been nominated for Best Picture at the Oscars.
The two Spirit categories that are most likely to coincide with Oscar...
But there is no way that is happening this year. Why? None of the Spirit nominees –“Eighth Grade,”“First Reformed,” “If Beale Street Could Talk,” “Leave No Trace” and “You Were Never Really Here” — are up for an Oscar. That is quite a shift, given that every Spirit winner for the past nine years has at least been nominated for Best Picture at the Oscars.
The two Spirit categories that are most likely to coincide with Oscar...
- 2/23/2019
- by Susan Wloszczyna
- Gold Derby
Bleecker Street’s “Leave No Trace” is one of 2018’s notable film achievements: 100% critics approval on Rotten Tomatoes, topical material, two excellent performances (Ben Foster and young Thomasin McKenzie), a woman director, Debra Granik, and Oscar buzz. What’s not to like?
This is the third narrative fiction feature from Granik, after “Down to the Bone” (2004), which put Vera Farmiga on the map; and “Winter’s Bone” (2010), which was young Jennifer Lawrence’s breakthrough. Granik also directed the 2014 documentary “Stray Dog,” which fed into “Leave No Trace.”
The writer-director offers visual anthropology, with insight into people who are living outside the mainstream, in worlds rarely explored in film. “That’s not a search criteria when I’m looking for stories,” she says, smiling, “but that’s always where my heart goes. I’m interested in the survival of people who are trying to figure it out, who are in the margins.
This is the third narrative fiction feature from Granik, after “Down to the Bone” (2004), which put Vera Farmiga on the map; and “Winter’s Bone” (2010), which was young Jennifer Lawrence’s breakthrough. Granik also directed the 2014 documentary “Stray Dog,” which fed into “Leave No Trace.”
The writer-director offers visual anthropology, with insight into people who are living outside the mainstream, in worlds rarely explored in film. “That’s not a search criteria when I’m looking for stories,” she says, smiling, “but that’s always where my heart goes. I’m interested in the survival of people who are trying to figure it out, who are in the margins.
- 1/7/2019
- by Tim Gray
- Variety Film + TV
Debra Granik, who directed and wrote “Leave No Trace,” has received Film Independent’s second Bonnie Award, given to recognize a mid-career female director.
The trophy, which includes a $50,000 grant, was presented Saturday afternoon to “Leave No Trace” producer Anne Rosellini at the organization’s Spirit Awards brunch at Boa Steakhouse in West Hollywood. Granik could not attend.
Her film, which centers on a father (played by Ben Foster) and daughter living in the Oregon wilderness, debuted at the Sundance Film Festival. “Leave No Trace” is up for three Spirits for best feature, director, and actress for Thomasin McKenzie.
The award is named after Bonnie Tiburzi Caputo, who joined American Airlines in 1973 at age 24, becoming the first female pilot to fly for a major U.S. airline. It was inaugurated last year with “The Rider” director Chloe Zhao as the first recipient. Karyn Kusama (“Destroyer”) and Tamara Jenkins (“Private Life”) were the other finalists.
The trophy, which includes a $50,000 grant, was presented Saturday afternoon to “Leave No Trace” producer Anne Rosellini at the organization’s Spirit Awards brunch at Boa Steakhouse in West Hollywood. Granik could not attend.
Her film, which centers on a father (played by Ben Foster) and daughter living in the Oregon wilderness, debuted at the Sundance Film Festival. “Leave No Trace” is up for three Spirits for best feature, director, and actress for Thomasin McKenzie.
The award is named after Bonnie Tiburzi Caputo, who joined American Airlines in 1973 at age 24, becoming the first female pilot to fly for a major U.S. airline. It was inaugurated last year with “The Rider” director Chloe Zhao as the first recipient. Karyn Kusama (“Destroyer”) and Tamara Jenkins (“Private Life”) were the other finalists.
- 1/5/2019
- by Dave McNary
- Variety Film + TV
Following a breakthrough Oscar season in which Greta Gerwig (“Lady Bird”) became the fifth woman nominated for Best Director, the 2018-19 awards season has unfortunately gone back to the trend of snubbing female filmmakers. In a year in which Chloé Zhao (“The Rider”), Lynne Ramsay (“You Were Never Really Here”), Tamara Jenkins (“Private Life”), and Debra Granik (“Leave No Trace”) all delivered major works, among other women directors, it’s glaring that other awards-giving bodies like the HFPA and its Golden Globes failed to nominated a single female for Best Director.
In an exclusive statement given to IndieWire, “The Piano” and “Bright Star” director Jane Campion shares her frustration with the lack of attention on female directors this Oscar season and stumps hard for Granik. “Leave No Trace” was one of the best reviewed films out of Sundance at the start of 2018 and went on to earn a rare 100% on...
In an exclusive statement given to IndieWire, “The Piano” and “Bright Star” director Jane Campion shares her frustration with the lack of attention on female directors this Oscar season and stumps hard for Granik. “Leave No Trace” was one of the best reviewed films out of Sundance at the start of 2018 and went on to earn a rare 100% on...
- 12/19/2018
- by Zack Sharf
- Indiewire
Ben Foster stars as Will, a war veteran living in the woods with his daughter in Debra Granik‘s new film “Leave No Trace.” The film has been met with universal critical acclaim and even some awards attention, including the runner-up Best Actor prize for Foster from the Los Angeles Film Critics Association.
Foster recently spoke with Gold Derby contributing writer Sam Eckmann about why he wanted to join this project, working alongside Thomasin McKenzie, who plays his daughter in the film, and how he drew from personal experiences to play Will. Watch the exclusive video interview above and read the complete interview transcript below.
SEEThomasin McKenzie Interview: ‘Leave No Trace’
Gold Derby: Ben Foster, this film “Leave No Trace” is such an incredibly emotional journey with these characters. It’s certainly stayed with me ever since seeing it. When you first read the script, was there one thing that...
Foster recently spoke with Gold Derby contributing writer Sam Eckmann about why he wanted to join this project, working alongside Thomasin McKenzie, who plays his daughter in the film, and how he drew from personal experiences to play Will. Watch the exclusive video interview above and read the complete interview transcript below.
SEEThomasin McKenzie Interview: ‘Leave No Trace’
Gold Derby: Ben Foster, this film “Leave No Trace” is such an incredibly emotional journey with these characters. It’s certainly stayed with me ever since seeing it. When you first read the script, was there one thing that...
- 12/15/2018
- by Kevin Jacobsen
- Gold Derby
After winning plaudits for Winter’s Bone and now Leave No Trace, Debra Granik tells Screen why ultra-low budgets are no barrier to effective filmmaking.
What Debra Granik describes as her “social-realist mentality” was first discovered by indie film aficionados with the release of the writer/director’s debut feature Down To The Bone in 2004. It was, however, 2010 follow-up Winter’s Bone — featuring Jennifer Lawrence in a breakthrough performance as a resolute teen trying to keep her troubled Ozark Mountains family together — that confirmed how skilfully Granik could use that mentality to infuse an intimate drama with veracity and emotional force.
What Debra Granik describes as her “social-realist mentality” was first discovered by indie film aficionados with the release of the writer/director’s debut feature Down To The Bone in 2004. It was, however, 2010 follow-up Winter’s Bone — featuring Jennifer Lawrence in a breakthrough performance as a resolute teen trying to keep her troubled Ozark Mountains family together — that confirmed how skilfully Granik could use that mentality to infuse an intimate drama with veracity and emotional force.
- 11/30/2018
- by John Hazelton
- ScreenDaily
Ben Foster only knows one way of working. After working in Hollywood for over two decades, the rare child actor who managed to find his way to a compelling adult career has been reaping the rewards of long-term commitment. In recent years, that has included an Independent Spirit Award for his turn in “Hell or High Water,” a continued relationship with his most cherished directors, and a sustained level of intensity that might exhaust other actors but only seems to keep Foster more tuned in. He buries himself in performances to a point where, as he describes it, he’s not even acting in a traditional sense.
“For my job, the goal is to learn the thing, and then do the thing, and do it, and do it, and do it over and over until I don’t think about it,” Foster said in a recent interview with IndieWire. “You...
“For my job, the goal is to learn the thing, and then do the thing, and do it, and do it, and do it over and over until I don’t think about it,” Foster said in a recent interview with IndieWire. “You...
- 11/22/2018
- by Kate Erbland
- Indiewire
“Leave No Trace” director Debra Granik is always “curious about … ordinary people in our country who live against the grain,” she tells Gold Derby, so the Oscar-nominated filmmaker was drawn immediately to Peter Rock‘s book “My Abandonment,” which focuses on an Army vet (Ben Foster) raising his daughter (Thomasin McKenzie) in the woods of Portland, Or.
“It starts with a mystery about why a family is living undetected in a municipal park and how they managed to do that,” she adds. In approaching that mystery, Granik hoped to discover “the why and how.” Watch our exclusive video interview above.
See Ben Foster (‘Leave No Trace’): ‘I was very tenderized to the idea of parenthood’ [Exclusive Video Interview]
“He was living in a way that he could function pretty highly,” she explains about her central character’s struggle with Ptsd. “I felt like he was in a hurry, almost, to teach everything...
“It starts with a mystery about why a family is living undetected in a municipal park and how they managed to do that,” she adds. In approaching that mystery, Granik hoped to discover “the why and how.” Watch our exclusive video interview above.
See Ben Foster (‘Leave No Trace’): ‘I was very tenderized to the idea of parenthood’ [Exclusive Video Interview]
“He was living in a way that he could function pretty highly,” she explains about her central character’s struggle with Ptsd. “I felt like he was in a hurry, almost, to teach everything...
- 11/7/2018
- by Zach Laws and Susan Wloszczyna
- Gold Derby
According to the Motion Picture Association of America, women buy half of all movie tickets sold.
Last year’s Oscars brought us just the fifth nomination in 90 years for a female director, Greta Gerwig for her solo directing debut, “Lady Bird.”
Out of the 100 top-grossing films of 2017, the Center for the Study of Women in Television and Film found only 8 percent were directed by women.
As sad as those stats are after all that #MeToo talk and Frances McDormand’s firebrand podium speech demanding equality at the 2018 ceremony, there could be no one of the female persuasion competing at the Academy Awards this year. At least that is what the roster of names found on the combined predictions of nearly 1,800 Gold Derby Experts, Editors and Users reveals.
SEECheck out this gallery of the 12 actresses nominated for royal roles
If there is any good news, there are at least five women...
Last year’s Oscars brought us just the fifth nomination in 90 years for a female director, Greta Gerwig for her solo directing debut, “Lady Bird.”
Out of the 100 top-grossing films of 2017, the Center for the Study of Women in Television and Film found only 8 percent were directed by women.
As sad as those stats are after all that #MeToo talk and Frances McDormand’s firebrand podium speech demanding equality at the 2018 ceremony, there could be no one of the female persuasion competing at the Academy Awards this year. At least that is what the roster of names found on the combined predictions of nearly 1,800 Gold Derby Experts, Editors and Users reveals.
SEECheck out this gallery of the 12 actresses nominated for royal roles
If there is any good news, there are at least five women...
- 9/28/2018
- by Susan Wloszczyna
- Gold Derby
When Debra Granik went to Sundance with her first feature film, 2004’s “Down to the Bone,” she made her first major stride in what would become a robust, acclaimed directorial career. Her 2010 sophomore feature “Winter’s Bone” rocketed Jennifer Lawrence into stardom and garnered a Best Picture nomination at the Oscars, with critics noting Granik’s unique penchant for contemplative, humanist filmmaking. Her latest release, “Leave No Trace,” is no exception.
Continue reading ‘Leave No Trace’ Director Debra Granik Discusses Her Film’s Unique Script And Time’s Up [Interview] at The Playlist.
Continue reading ‘Leave No Trace’ Director Debra Granik Discusses Her Film’s Unique Script And Time’s Up [Interview] at The Playlist.
- 7/20/2018
- by Lena Wilson
- The Playlist
It's risky calling a movie a work of art – the phrase can make audiences think they'll be taking medicine, swallowing something good for them when they'd rather be gorging on multiplex junk food. But there's no better term to describe the urgency and unbridled emotion of Leave No Trace. You don't just watch it as much as you absorb it until the film's ebb and flow become a part of you.
Writer-director Debra Granik's previous two fiction films are stripped-down versions of survival dramas with women at the forefront:...
Writer-director Debra Granik's previous two fiction films are stripped-down versions of survival dramas with women at the forefront:...
- 6/29/2018
- Rollingstone.com
Following a strong reception at the Sundance and Cannes film festivals, Debra Granik’s latest feature, Leave No Trace, has been placed by critics as the third in a trilogy of films (after Down to the Bone [2004] and Winter’s Bone [2010]) about people living “in the margins” of American society. A less thorough and invested filmmaker may have been tempted to make a reactionary and didactic film about those left behind in Trump’s America, but Leave No Trace is pared back both on the level of its dialogue and in its unwillingness to assign blame to any one party. Granik […]...
- 6/28/2018
- by Daniella Shreir
- Filmmaker Magazine-Director Interviews
Following a strong reception at the Sundance and Cannes film festivals, Debra Granik’s latest feature, Leave No Trace, has been placed by critics as the third in a trilogy of films (after Down to the Bone [2004] and Winter’s Bone [2010]) about people living “in the margins” of American society. A less thorough and invested filmmaker may have been tempted to make a reactionary and didactic film about those left behind in Trump’s America, but Leave No Trace is pared back both on the level of its dialogue and in its unwillingness to assign blame to any one party. Granik […]...
- 6/28/2018
- by Daniella Shreir
- Filmmaker Magazine - Blog
There’s a fair amount of pressure on Debra Granik’s new indie: Every film she’s taken to Sundance has been a winner, starting with her short “Snake Feed” in 1998. In 2004, her celebrated drama “Down to the Bone” brought awards for both her and then-up-and-coming actress Vera Farmiga. And 2010’s “Winter’s Bone” went on to earn four Oscar nominations, including one for Best Picture and another for the film’s little-known lead, Jennifer Lawrence.
So yeah, comparisons will be made. But are they fair? Not really. It would be unlikely for any director to achieve the same sort of commercial triumph twice in a row. But it would also be understandably tempting to try.
So kudos to this subtle and intelligent filmmaker, for avoiding the enticement to lock in awards by hitting easy targets. Even the title is suggestive of Granik’s restrained approach: “Leave No Trace” is gentle and intimate and personal,...
So yeah, comparisons will be made. But are they fair? Not really. It would be unlikely for any director to achieve the same sort of commercial triumph twice in a row. But it would also be understandably tempting to try.
So kudos to this subtle and intelligent filmmaker, for avoiding the enticement to lock in awards by hitting easy targets. Even the title is suggestive of Granik’s restrained approach: “Leave No Trace” is gentle and intimate and personal,...
- 6/28/2018
- by Elizabeth Weitzman
- The Wrap
After “Winter’s Bone” received four Oscar nominations, including one for then-discovery Jenifer Lawrence, nobody thought it would take eight years for Debra Granik’s next feature to hit screens — except maybe Debra Granik. She knows her movies are about people who aren’t easy to see.
“Not everyone is assigned the same beat,” Granik said in Cannes, where “Leave No Trace” played Directors Fortnight. “I happen to be more on the periphery. Not everyone can do the same five zip codes. American film isn’t just film and glamor and fame and the lives of people who are fortunate financially. Those aren’t the only stories in this vast nation. That’s my mandate.”
Granik, who made her debut in 2004 with “Down To the Bone,” developed a number of promising projects that never came to fruition. Among them were “American High Life,” a semi-autobiographical HBO series created by writer...
“Not everyone is assigned the same beat,” Granik said in Cannes, where “Leave No Trace” played Directors Fortnight. “I happen to be more on the periphery. Not everyone can do the same five zip codes. American film isn’t just film and glamor and fame and the lives of people who are fortunate financially. Those aren’t the only stories in this vast nation. That’s my mandate.”
Granik, who made her debut in 2004 with “Down To the Bone,” developed a number of promising projects that never came to fruition. Among them were “American High Life,” a semi-autobiographical HBO series created by writer...
- 6/26/2018
- by Anne Thompson
- Thompson on Hollywood
After “Winter’s Bone” received four Oscar nominations, including one for then-discovery Jenifer Lawrence, nobody thought it would take eight years for Debra Granik’s next feature to hit screens — except maybe Debra Granik. She knows her movies are about people who aren’t easy to see.
“Not everyone is assigned the same beat,” Granik said in Cannes, where “Leave No Trace” played Directors Fortnight. “I happen to be more on the periphery. Not everyone can do the same five zip codes. American film isn’t just film and glamor and fame and the lives of people who are fortunate financially. Those aren’t the only stories in this vast nation. That’s my mandate.”
Granik, who made her debut in 2004 with “Down To the Bone,” developed a number of promising projects that never came to fruition. Among them were “American High Life,” a semi-autobiographical HBO series created by writer...
“Not everyone is assigned the same beat,” Granik said in Cannes, where “Leave No Trace” played Directors Fortnight. “I happen to be more on the periphery. Not everyone can do the same five zip codes. American film isn’t just film and glamor and fame and the lives of people who are fortunate financially. Those aren’t the only stories in this vast nation. That’s my mandate.”
Granik, who made her debut in 2004 with “Down To the Bone,” developed a number of promising projects that never came to fruition. Among them were “American High Life,” a semi-autobiographical HBO series created by writer...
- 6/26/2018
- by Anne Thompson
- Indiewire
The acclaimed director of Winter’s Bone has spent her career looking for exceptional people – both real and fictional – who don’t fit in. It’s a theme that runs deep in her new movie, Leave No Trace, about a father and daughter living in the Oregon forest
It feels fitting that the arrival of Debra Granik coincides with a rare downpour at Cannes. The director’s rough-hewn films are as detached from the aspirational sheen of Cannes as is possible, all muted greys and greens. Granik’s focus is on life in the margins, not the limelight – the daily struggle of the Americans who are not quite getting by. In her debut, Down to the Bone, it was a supermarket bagger and single mum scarred by a lifetime of cocaine abuse, played by Vera Farmiga. Then came the Oscar-nominated Winter’s Bone, a harrowing yet ultimately hopeful tale of poverty,...
It feels fitting that the arrival of Debra Granik coincides with a rare downpour at Cannes. The director’s rough-hewn films are as detached from the aspirational sheen of Cannes as is possible, all muted greys and greens. Granik’s focus is on life in the margins, not the limelight – the daily struggle of the Americans who are not quite getting by. In her debut, Down to the Bone, it was a supermarket bagger and single mum scarred by a lifetime of cocaine abuse, played by Vera Farmiga. Then came the Oscar-nominated Winter’s Bone, a harrowing yet ultimately hopeful tale of poverty,...
- 5/17/2018
- by Gwilym Mumford
- The Guardian - Film News
Eight years ago, director Debra Granik along with a then unknown Jennifer Lawrence premiered “Winter’s Bone” to a stunned Sundance audience. The film would go on to garner four Oscar nominations (Best Picture, Best Actress, Best Supporting Actor and Best Adapted Screenplay), and Lawrence would take Hollywood by storm soon after. Meanwhile Granik, whose only other film at the time was the underrated “Down to the Bone” starring Vera Farmiga, made a major statement with that Ozarkian fable.
Continue reading ‘Leave No Trace’ Is An Unforgettable, Universal Experience [Sundance Review] at The Playlist.
Continue reading ‘Leave No Trace’ Is An Unforgettable, Universal Experience [Sundance Review] at The Playlist.
- 1/30/2018
- by Jordan Ruimy
- The Playlist
Cinematographer Michael McDonough met director Debra Granik in 1994, when they were both enrolled at the same NYU film studies class. Leave No Trace is their third collaboration, following Down to the Bone and Winter’s Bone, and also marks Granik’s first narrative feature in the eight years following the latter. Leave No Trace follows father Will (Ben Foster) and 12-year-old daughter Tom (Thomasin Harcourt McKenzie), squatters secretly living in a forest in almost total isolation. When they’re spotted by a hiker, social workers get involved and Tom is torn from the woods, entering the social world and potential friendships for the first time. Prior to […]...
- 1/30/2018
- by Filmmaker Staff
- Filmmaker Magazine - Blog
At this year’s Sundance Film Festival, the annual event broke some of its own barriers, doling out each of its four directing awards to female filmmakers. For the first time in the festival’s 34-year history, directing prizes went only to women, spanning all four major categories — narrative and documentary, U.S. and world cinema: Sara Colangelo (“The Kindergarten Teacher”), Alexandria Bombach (“On Her Shoulders”), Sandi Tan (“Shirkers”), and Isold Uggadottir (“And Breathe Normally”). The festival’s juries also awarded Desiree Akhavan’s “The Miseducation of Cameron Post” the Grand Jury Prize, the festival’s highest honor; Sundance’s sole dedicated screenplay honor, the Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award, went to Christina Choe for “Nancy.”
In short, it was a big festival for women. But what does winning an award at Sundance actually mean for female filmmakers? How does it impact future projects? Does it guarantee further success in the industry?...
In short, it was a big festival for women. But what does winning an award at Sundance actually mean for female filmmakers? How does it impact future projects? Does it guarantee further success in the industry?...
- 1/29/2018
- by Kate Erbland
- Indiewire
There’s a fair amount of pressure on Debra Granik’s new indie: Every film she’s taken to Sundance has been a winner, starting with her short “Snake Feed” in 1998. In 2004, her celebrated drama “Down to the Bone” brought awards for both her and then-up-and-coming actress Vera Farmiga. And 2010’s “Winter’s Bone” went on to earn four Oscar nominations, including one for Best Picture and another for the film’s little-known lead, Jennifer Lawrence. So yeah, comparisons will be made. But are they fair? Not really. It would be unlikely for any director to achieve the same sort of commercial triumph...
- 1/21/2018
- by Wrap Staff
- The Wrap
With just a few films — about a strung-out mother in Down to the Bone, Ozark meth cookers in Winter’s Bone and a motorcycle-riding Vietnam vet in the documentary Stray Dog — Debra Granik has carved out a niche as one of American cinema’s foremost chroniclers of the white poor and working class.
Since the rise of Trump, these citizens (and oh-so-hot election commodities) have been on the receiving end of renewed fascination in newspaper pages — and, less fetishistically, though unmistakably, in movies like Logan Lucky, The Florida Project, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri and I, Tonya. But with...
Since the rise of Trump, these citizens (and oh-so-hot election commodities) have been on the receiving end of renewed fascination in newspaper pages — and, less fetishistically, though unmistakably, in movies like Logan Lucky, The Florida Project, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri and I, Tonya. But with...
- 1/18/2018
- by Jon Frosch
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Sneak Peek footage and images of Emmy nominated actress Vera Farmiga ("Bates Motel"), now attached to co-star in director Michael Dougherty's upcoming feature "Godzilla: King Of The Monsters":
Farmiga's breakout film work was in "Down To The Bone" (2004), followed by "The Manchurian Candidate" (2004), fan-favorite "The Departed" (2006), "The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas" (2008), "Nothing But the Truth" (2008) and an Oscar-nominated best Supporting actress role in "Up In The Air" (2009).
This was followed by work in Orphan (2009), "Source Code" (2011) and "Safe House" (2012).
Farmiga also starred in and directed the feature "Higher Ground" (2011).
She played paranormal investigator 'Lorraine Warren' in the horror feature "The Conjuring" and the 2016 sequel "The Conjuring 2".
Since 2013, Farmiga has starred as 'Norma Louise Bates' in the A&E drama-thriller series "Bates Motel".
Farmiga is now set to star in Shana Feste's "Boundaries" (2017) followed by "The Commuter" (2018), Rupert Wyatt's "Captive State"(2018) and "Godzilla:...
Farmiga's breakout film work was in "Down To The Bone" (2004), followed by "The Manchurian Candidate" (2004), fan-favorite "The Departed" (2006), "The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas" (2008), "Nothing But the Truth" (2008) and an Oscar-nominated best Supporting actress role in "Up In The Air" (2009).
This was followed by work in Orphan (2009), "Source Code" (2011) and "Safe House" (2012).
Farmiga also starred in and directed the feature "Higher Ground" (2011).
She played paranormal investigator 'Lorraine Warren' in the horror feature "The Conjuring" and the 2016 sequel "The Conjuring 2".
Since 2013, Farmiga has starred as 'Norma Louise Bates' in the A&E drama-thriller series "Bates Motel".
Farmiga is now set to star in Shana Feste's "Boundaries" (2017) followed by "The Commuter" (2018), Rupert Wyatt's "Captive State"(2018) and "Godzilla:...
- 2/28/2017
- by Michael Stevens
- SneakPeek
Michael O’Shea’s debut to world premiere next week at Cannes Film Festival.
French distributor Arp has acquired Michael O’Shea’s drama-horror The Transfiguration from Protagonist Pictures, a week before its world premiere at Cannes in Un Certain Regard.
The film stars newcomer Eric Ruffin alongside Chloe Levine, who made her film debut in Hilary Brougher thriller Innocence (2014) and has been cast in the next season of Netflix’s House Of Cards.
Producer is Susan Leber, whose credits include Sundance winner Down To The Bone directed by Debra Granik and Ti West’s first feature The Roost. She was also supervising producer on Gillian Robespierre’s comedy hit Obvious Child.
O’Shea both wrote and directed this New York story of love, loss and obsession. The story centres on a teenage outsider (Ruffin) who takes refuge from bullies in the apartment he shares with his older brother. To escape his solitude, he immerses...
French distributor Arp has acquired Michael O’Shea’s drama-horror The Transfiguration from Protagonist Pictures, a week before its world premiere at Cannes in Un Certain Regard.
The film stars newcomer Eric Ruffin alongside Chloe Levine, who made her film debut in Hilary Brougher thriller Innocence (2014) and has been cast in the next season of Netflix’s House Of Cards.
Producer is Susan Leber, whose credits include Sundance winner Down To The Bone directed by Debra Granik and Ti West’s first feature The Roost. She was also supervising producer on Gillian Robespierre’s comedy hit Obvious Child.
O’Shea both wrote and directed this New York story of love, loss and obsession. The story centres on a teenage outsider (Ruffin) who takes refuge from bullies in the apartment he shares with his older brother. To escape his solitude, he immerses...
- 5/3/2016
- by michael.rosser@screendaily.com (Michael Rosser)
- ScreenDaily
UK sales team boards Michael O’Shea’s Us drama-horror The Transfiguration.
Protagonist Pictures has taken on worldwide sales rights to first-time filmmaker Micahael OShea’s The Transfiguration, which will have its world premiere in Un Certain Regard in Cannes next month.
The film stars newcomer Eric Ruffin alongside Chloe Levine, who made her film debut in Hilary Brougher’s thriller Innocence and has been cast in the next season of Netflix’s House Of Cards.
The film is produced by Susan Leber whose credits include Sundance winner Down To The Bone, directed by Debra Granik, and Ti West’s first feature The Roost. She was also supervising producer on Gillian Robespierre’s comedy hit Obvious Child.
Michael O’Shea both wrote and directed the atmospheric New York tale about love, loss and vampires.
The film was shot by Sung Rae Cho, who also shot Graceland, while editor was Kathryn Schubert (The Experimenter) and the sound designer...
Protagonist Pictures has taken on worldwide sales rights to first-time filmmaker Micahael OShea’s The Transfiguration, which will have its world premiere in Un Certain Regard in Cannes next month.
The film stars newcomer Eric Ruffin alongside Chloe Levine, who made her film debut in Hilary Brougher’s thriller Innocence and has been cast in the next season of Netflix’s House Of Cards.
The film is produced by Susan Leber whose credits include Sundance winner Down To The Bone, directed by Debra Granik, and Ti West’s first feature The Roost. She was also supervising producer on Gillian Robespierre’s comedy hit Obvious Child.
Michael O’Shea both wrote and directed the atmospheric New York tale about love, loss and vampires.
The film was shot by Sung Rae Cho, who also shot Graceland, while editor was Kathryn Schubert (The Experimenter) and the sound designer...
- 4/25/2016
- by andreas.wiseman@screendaily.com (Andreas Wiseman)
- ScreenDaily
With a seemingly endless amount of streaming options — not only the titles at our disposal, but services themselves — we’ve taken it upon ourselves to highlight the titles that have recently hit the interwebs. Every week, one will be able to see the cream of the crop (or perhaps some simply interesting picks) of streaming titles (new and old) across platforms such as Netflix, iTunes, Amazon Instant Video, and more (note: U.S. only). Check out our rundown for this week’s selections below.
Christmas, Again (Charles Poekel)
Christmas time is a lonely time for many; a “time of giving” that reminds more than a few of us what we’ve lost. This is the feeling Christmas, Again wades in, as produced, written and directed by Charles Poekel. We follow Noel (Kentucker Audley), who’s selling Christmas trees on a Manhattan curb for the fifth winter in a row. He...
Christmas, Again (Charles Poekel)
Christmas time is a lonely time for many; a “time of giving” that reminds more than a few of us what we’ve lost. This is the feeling Christmas, Again wades in, as produced, written and directed by Charles Poekel. We follow Noel (Kentucker Audley), who’s selling Christmas trees on a Manhattan curb for the fifth winter in a row. He...
- 4/8/2016
- by TFS Staff
- The Film Stage
As part of the “Gothams Classics” event series celebrating the Gotham Independent Film Awards awarded annually by Ifp (Filmmaker‘s parent organization), directors Mira Nair and Debra Granik will be in conversation at the Made in NY Media Center following screenings of two of their films. Tonight, Mira Nair will be speaking in between screenings of two of her best known films, Monsoon Wedding and The Namesake; more information on that event can be found here. Tomorrow night, acclaimed narrative and documentary filmmaker Debra Granik will speak after screenings of Down to the Bone and Winter’s Bone; more information on that event can be found here. […]...
- 10/26/2015
- by Filmmaker Staff
- Filmmaker Magazine - Blog
As part of the “Gothams Classics” event series celebrating the Gotham Independent Film Awards awarded annually by Ifp (Filmmaker‘s parent organization), directors Mira Nair and Debra Granik will be in conversation at the Made in NY Media Center following screenings of two of their films. Tonight, Mira Nair will be speaking in between screenings of two of her best known films, Monsoon Wedding and The Namesake; more information on that event can be found here. Tomorrow night, acclaimed narrative and documentary filmmaker Debra Granik will speak after screenings of Down to the Bone and Winter’s Bone; more information on that event can be found here. […]...
- 10/26/2015
- by Filmmaker Staff
- Filmmaker Magazine-Director Interviews
No film buff wants to see a promising, or prominent filmmaker pull a disappearing act a la Terrence Malick, (though it seems he isn’t keen to repeat another lapse like the one between Days of Heaven to The Thin Red Line), but whether they’re dealing with unforeseeable professional (endless pre-production woes, writer’s block) or personal issues, sometimes there is a considerable time between projects.
With John Cameron Mitchell, Charlie Kaufman, Rebecca Miller, Patty Jenkins, Kenneth Lonergan and more recently, Barry Jenkins recently moving out of the so called “inactive” period, we decided to compile a list of the top ten American filmmakers who, for the most part, we’ve lost sight of and would like to see get back in the director’s chair again. Most of the filmmakers listed below have gone well over half a decade without a substantial movement in this category. Here is...
With John Cameron Mitchell, Charlie Kaufman, Rebecca Miller, Patty Jenkins, Kenneth Lonergan and more recently, Barry Jenkins recently moving out of the so called “inactive” period, we decided to compile a list of the top ten American filmmakers who, for the most part, we’ve lost sight of and would like to see get back in the director’s chair again. Most of the filmmakers listed below have gone well over half a decade without a substantial movement in this category. Here is...
- 10/26/2015
- by Nicholas Bell
- IONCINEMA.com
Down to the Bone: Zahler’s Debut a Dapper Genre Hybrid
For his directorial debut, screenwriter S. Craig Zahler assembles an illustrious cast in Bone Tomahawk, an old-school Western eventually shading by successful moments of horror. Though this feels like somewhat of an ingenious, if perverted version of something like The Searchers (1956), and is not the only recent blending of western horror (J.T. Petty’s 2008 film The Burrowers terrorizes its settlers with subterranean creatures), Zahler’s painstaking characterizations elevate the material beyond the usual potential of swarthy genre films handled as B-grade fare.
Although sporting an uncustomary running time considering the limited narrative (eclipsing two hours), which sometimes seems unnecessary, Zahler’s film is never arduous and sports a completely fine-tuned package of superb visuals and increasingly ominous score.
In the small town of Bright Hope, Sheriff Franklin Hunt (Kurt Russell) is the amiable voice of the law, assisted...
For his directorial debut, screenwriter S. Craig Zahler assembles an illustrious cast in Bone Tomahawk, an old-school Western eventually shading by successful moments of horror. Though this feels like somewhat of an ingenious, if perverted version of something like The Searchers (1956), and is not the only recent blending of western horror (J.T. Petty’s 2008 film The Burrowers terrorizes its settlers with subterranean creatures), Zahler’s painstaking characterizations elevate the material beyond the usual potential of swarthy genre films handled as B-grade fare.
Although sporting an uncustomary running time considering the limited narrative (eclipsing two hours), which sometimes seems unnecessary, Zahler’s film is never arduous and sports a completely fine-tuned package of superb visuals and increasingly ominous score.
In the small town of Bright Hope, Sheriff Franklin Hunt (Kurt Russell) is the amiable voice of the law, assisted...
- 10/21/2015
- by Nicholas Bell
- IONCINEMA.com
Filmmaker Debra Granik earned an impressive four Oscar nominations for 2010's "Winter's Bone," including best picture, actress (Jennifer Lawrence), supporting actor (John Hawkes) and adapted screenplay. Clearly all the talent on display in 2004's "Down to the Bone," which boosted the career of Vera Farmiga, was not a flash in the pan. What was the deliberate New York filmmaker, who works closely with producer-writer Anne Rossellini, going to do next? Well, she pursued several promising projects that have yet to come to fruition. Among them were "American High Life," a possible HBO series created by young writer Nicki Paluga, and Granik's film version of Russell Banks' novel "Rule Of The Bone," marking the third part of her unofficial osteo-trilogy, about an abused 14-year-old Jamaican-American who turns to drugs, gets kicked out of his home, and returns to Jamaica to find his father. Banks was optimistic that a cast of unknowns and names would.
- 10/7/2015
- by Anne Thompson
- Thompson on Hollywood
We’re so excited and honored to feature Debra Granik in our fourth episode of She Does. Granik is the Academy Award-nominated director and writer of Winter’s Bone, which features a young Jennifer Lawrence in a gripping story set in the Ozarks. Winter’s Bone won several awards including the Grand Jury Prize for Dramatic Film at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival. It also received four 2011 Academy Award nominations: Best Picture, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Actress and Best Supporting Actor. Previously, she wrote and directed Down to the Bone, starring Vera Farmiga. Her narrative work is heavily influenced by real life […]...
- 2/25/2015
- by Scott Macaulay
- Filmmaker Magazine-Director Interviews
We’re so excited and honored to feature Debra Granik in our fourth episode of She Does. Granik is the Academy Award-nominated director and writer of Winter’s Bone, which features a young Jennifer Lawrence in a gripping story set in the Ozarks. Winter’s Bone won several awards including the Grand Jury Prize for Dramatic Film at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival. It also received four 2011 Academy Award nominations: Best Picture, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Actress and Best Supporting Actor. Previously, she wrote and directed Down to the Bone, starring Vera Farmiga. Her narrative work is heavily influenced by real life […]...
- 2/25/2015
- by Scott Macaulay
- Filmmaker Magazine - Blog
Film critic Thelma Adams moderated a provocative discussion with filmmakers Courteney Cox (feature directorial debut "Just Before I Go," Friends actress, actress/producer/director Cougar Town), Debra Granik (Academy Award nominated director/co-writer "Winter’s Bone" nominated for four Oscars, "Down to the Bone" Best Director at 2004 Sundance Film Festival), Leah Meyerhoff ("I Believe in Unicorns" her debut feature premiered at SXSW 2014, previous award-winning short films have screened in over 200 film festivals), and Jenna Ricker (wrote, directed and produced her first feature film, "Ben's Plan" awarded Best Drama at the Aof Festival, Distinguished Debut at the London Independent Festival, and honored with the Mira Nair Award for Rising Female Filmmaker).
According to Celluloid Ceiling (the report by the Center for the Study of Women in Television and Film at San Diego State University) only 6% of directors working in the top movies in 2013 movies were women; a 3-point drop from 2012. Only 16% directors, writers, executive producers, producers, editors, cinematographers in 2013 were women. Women directors working independently, outside the Hollywood studio system, are finding more opportunities, but there is still a vast inequity.
Moderator Thelma Adams cited some additional statistics to which the panel commented about their dismay of the reality of these numbers before jumping in on the question:
What is this thing with the title women’s panel?
Granik: There’s always a question whether it’s a ghettoization of women or raising them up by using the word “women” as a gender identifier. Using language that allows a person to be a person without a gender identifier can feel more powerful than using the word “woman”.
Meyerhoff: We all struggle with how to identify as a female director. When I came to film, I felt I didn’t want to be pigeonholed. I founded a female filmmaker collective --Film Fatales (http://www.filmfatalesnyc.com/#!leah-meyerhoff/c14fk) for this reason. There’s strength in numbers.
Cox: I had one man on set of a project I directed, who would go to other people to get their opinions before he would come to me, the director. I called him up so I could understand why he was doing that. And then I told him to get over it.
How do stories live without gender?
Kathryn Bigelow’s name came up in the discussion (the first woman director to win the Oscar) and how Hurt Locker was not categorized in Hollywood terms as a female film. The panelists agreed that there are myths about what audiences want, and wanting to make movies about women was important despite the naysayers; there is indeed an audience for these films – the box office numbers confirm this.
Whining?
I asked the panel their advice to student filmmakers about breaking into the (independent and/or Hollywood) industry, opening my question with the quote from director Agnès Varda: “Stop categorizing us as women filmmakers,” which I cited in an article I wrote about her at the Locarno Film Festival this year, and the vitriolic Facebook post comment I received from a male producer: “Stop complaining and just make movies.”
Granik: We’re going through pushback. There’s often that accusation of complaining, calling women “whiners” when discussing this topic. The reality is that it’s not so easy for women to get a film financed. For students, they need to come to their power and work together as a collective. Their power is not to look at the industry for reasons to make films; go smaller. Work together
Ricker: I was on panel at Sundance and a producer on the panel said: “I won’t trust money with women directors.” The producer was female. For students at college now, they need to start working with their peers -- these are the people with whom you’ll be forming meaningful work relationships, which will continue after you graduate. Take advantage of these relationships at school.
Perhaps using male pseudonyms might further women’s careers
Adams : There was George Eliot.
The directors agreed that their first names were often a hindrance in getting hired, and jokinly added that in order to get the word out about women directors was to start the hashtag: #wheresthecock.
Award-winning screenwriter and filmmaker, Susan Kouguell teaches screenwriting at Purchase College Suny, and presents international seminars on screenwriting and film. Author of Savvy Characters Sell Screenplays! and The Savvy Screenwriter, she is chairperson of Su-City Pictures East, LLC, a consulting company founded in 1990 where she works with writers, filmmakers, and executives worldwide. www.su-city-pictures.com, http://su-city-pictures.com/wpblog...
According to Celluloid Ceiling (the report by the Center for the Study of Women in Television and Film at San Diego State University) only 6% of directors working in the top movies in 2013 movies were women; a 3-point drop from 2012. Only 16% directors, writers, executive producers, producers, editors, cinematographers in 2013 were women. Women directors working independently, outside the Hollywood studio system, are finding more opportunities, but there is still a vast inequity.
Moderator Thelma Adams cited some additional statistics to which the panel commented about their dismay of the reality of these numbers before jumping in on the question:
What is this thing with the title women’s panel?
Granik: There’s always a question whether it’s a ghettoization of women or raising them up by using the word “women” as a gender identifier. Using language that allows a person to be a person without a gender identifier can feel more powerful than using the word “woman”.
Meyerhoff: We all struggle with how to identify as a female director. When I came to film, I felt I didn’t want to be pigeonholed. I founded a female filmmaker collective --Film Fatales (http://www.filmfatalesnyc.com/#!leah-meyerhoff/c14fk) for this reason. There’s strength in numbers.
Cox: I had one man on set of a project I directed, who would go to other people to get their opinions before he would come to me, the director. I called him up so I could understand why he was doing that. And then I told him to get over it.
How do stories live without gender?
Kathryn Bigelow’s name came up in the discussion (the first woman director to win the Oscar) and how Hurt Locker was not categorized in Hollywood terms as a female film. The panelists agreed that there are myths about what audiences want, and wanting to make movies about women was important despite the naysayers; there is indeed an audience for these films – the box office numbers confirm this.
Whining?
I asked the panel their advice to student filmmakers about breaking into the (independent and/or Hollywood) industry, opening my question with the quote from director Agnès Varda: “Stop categorizing us as women filmmakers,” which I cited in an article I wrote about her at the Locarno Film Festival this year, and the vitriolic Facebook post comment I received from a male producer: “Stop complaining and just make movies.”
Granik: We’re going through pushback. There’s often that accusation of complaining, calling women “whiners” when discussing this topic. The reality is that it’s not so easy for women to get a film financed. For students, they need to come to their power and work together as a collective. Their power is not to look at the industry for reasons to make films; go smaller. Work together
Ricker: I was on panel at Sundance and a producer on the panel said: “I won’t trust money with women directors.” The producer was female. For students at college now, they need to start working with their peers -- these are the people with whom you’ll be forming meaningful work relationships, which will continue after you graduate. Take advantage of these relationships at school.
Perhaps using male pseudonyms might further women’s careers
Adams : There was George Eliot.
The directors agreed that their first names were often a hindrance in getting hired, and jokinly added that in order to get the word out about women directors was to start the hashtag: #wheresthecock.
Award-winning screenwriter and filmmaker, Susan Kouguell teaches screenwriting at Purchase College Suny, and presents international seminars on screenwriting and film. Author of Savvy Characters Sell Screenplays! and The Savvy Screenwriter, she is chairperson of Su-City Pictures East, LLC, a consulting company founded in 1990 where she works with writers, filmmakers, and executives worldwide. www.su-city-pictures.com, http://su-city-pictures.com/wpblog...
- 10/29/2014
- by Susan Kouguell
- Sydney's Buzz
Filmmaker Debra Granik earned an impressive four Oscar nominations for 2010's "Winter's Bone," including best picture, actress (Jennifer Lawrence), supporting actor (John Hawkes) and adapted screenplay. Clearly all the talent on display in 2004's "Down to the Bone," which boosted the career of Vera Farmiga, was not a flash in the pan. What was the deliberate New York filmmaker, who works closely with producer-writer Anne Rossellini, going to do next? Well, she pursued several promising projects that have yet to come to fruition. Among them were "American High Life," a possible HBO series created by young writer Nicki Paluga, and Granik's film version of Russell Banks' novel "Rule Of The Bone," marking the third part of her unofficial osteo-trilogy, about an abused 14-year-old Jamaican-American who turns to drugs, gets kicked out of his home, and returns to Jamaica to find his father. Banks was optimistic that a...
- 10/2/2014
- by Anne Thompson
- Thompson on Hollywood
Ifp announced its 2014 slate of 133 new films in development and works in progress selected for its esteemed Project Forum at Independent Film Week. This one-of-a-kind event brings the international film and media community to New York City to advance new projects by nurturing the work of both emerging and established independent artists and filmmakers. Through the Project Forum, creatives connect with financiers, executives, influencers and decision-makers in film, television, new media and cross-platform storytelling that can help them complete their latest works and connect with audiences. Under the curatorial leadership of Deputy Director/Head of Programming Amy Dotson & Senior Director of Programming Milton Tabbot, this one-of-a-kind event takes place September 14-18, 2014 at Lincoln Center supporting bold new content from a wide variety of domestic and international artists.
“As we set to embark on our 36th Independent Film Week, we are impressed by the outstanding slate of both U.S. and international projects selected for this year’s Project Forum,” said Joana Vicente, Executive Director of Ifp. “We know that the industry will be as excited as we are with the accomplished storytellers and their diverse and boundary pushing films.”
Featured works at the 2014 Independent Film Week include filmmakers and content creators from a variety of backgrounds and experiences. From documentarians Tony Gerber ("Full Battle Rattle"), Pamela Yates ("Granito: How To Nail A Dictator"), and Penny Lane ("Our Nixon") to Michelangelo Frammartino ("Quattro Volte") and Alexis Dos Santos ("Unmade Beds"), as well as new work from critically acclaimed artists and directors Aurora Guerrero ("Mosquita y Mari"), Barry Jenkins ("Medicine for Melancholy"), Travis Matthews ("Interior. Leather. Bar") and Yen Tan ("Pit Stop").
Independent Film Week brings the international film and media community to New York City to advance new documentary and narrative works-in-progress and support the future of storytelling. The program nurtures the work of both emerging and established independent artists and filmmakers through the facilitation of over 3,500+ custom, one-to-one meetings with the financiers, executives, influencers and decision-makers in film, television, new media and cross-platform storytelling that can help them complete their latest works and connect with audiences. In recent years, it has also played a vital role in launching the first films of many of today’s rising stars on the independent scene including Rama Burshtein ("Fill The Void"), Derek Cianfrance ("Blue Valentine"), Marshall Curry ("If A Tree Falls: A Story of the Earth LIberation Front"), Laura Poitras ("The Oath"), Denis Villeneuve ("Incendies") and Benh Zeitlin ("Beasts of the Southern Wild").
For the full 2014 Project Forum slate visit Here
New For 2014
Evenly split between documentary and narrative features, selected projects hail from throughout the U.S., Europe and Canada, as well Africa, Asia, South America, and the Middle East. New this year, Ifp will be including web series in it programming, as well as spotlighting Latin & Central American artists and content with 15 projects featured across all programs in the Forum.
In a joint effort to recognize the importance of career and creative sustainability, Ifp and Durga Entertainment have partnered on a new $20,000 filmmaker grant for an alumnus of Ifp. The grant is intended for active, working filmmakers who are also balancing a filmmaking career with parenting. The grant provides a $20,000 unrestricted prize to encourage the recipient to continue on her or his career path of making quality independent films. American directors or screenwriters working in narrative film who have participated in the Ifp Filmmaker Labs or Ifp Independent Film Week's Emerging Storytellers or No-Borders International Co-Production market are encouraged to apply by the deadline of August 8, 2014.
Narrative Feature Highlights
Narrative features and webseries in Rbc’s Emerging Storytellers and No Borders International Co-Production Market sections highlight new work from top emerging and established creative visionaries on the U.S. and international independent scene.
This year’s slate includes new feature scripts featuring directors Dev Benegal ("Road, Movie"), Alexis Dos Santos ("Unmade Beds"), Jason Cortlund and Julia Halperin ("Now, Forager"), Michelangelo Frammartino ("Le Quattro Volte"),Terry George ("Hotel Rwanda"), Rashaad Ernesto Green ("Gun Hill Road"), Aurora Guerrero ("Mosquita Y Mari"), Barry Jenkins ("Medicine for Melancholy"),Alison Klayman ("Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry"), Travis Mathews ("Interior. Leather Bar"), Stacie Passon ("Concussion"), Yen Tan ("Pit Stop"), as well as up-an-coming actor/directors Karrie Crouse ("Land Ho!") and Peter Vack ("Fort Tilden""I Believe in Unicorns").
Producers and executive producers of note attached to participating projects include Jennifer Dubin and Cora Olson ("Good Dick"), Jonathan Duffy and Kelly Williams ("Hellion"),Laura Heberton ("Gayby"), Dan Janvey ("Beasts of the Southern Wild"), Kishori Rajan ("Gimme the Loot"), Adele Romanski ("The Myth of the American Sleepover"), Kim Sherman ("A Teacher"), Susan Stover ("High Art"), and Alicia Van Couvering ("Tiny Furniture").
Web Storytellers Highlights
For the first time this year, Ifp presents a dedicated spotlight within the Rbc’s Emerging Storytellers program for creators developing episodic content for digital platforms. The inaugural slate for the Web Storytellers spotlight includes new works from filmmakers Desiree Akhavan ("Appropriate Behavior", HBO’s Girls), Calvin Reeder ("The Rambler"), and Gregory Bayne ("Person of Interest"), as well as producers Elisabeth Holm ("Obvious Child"), Susan Leber ( "Down to the Bone"), and Amanda Warman ("The Outs,"Whatever This Is"). Two of the series participating are currently in post-production, and will be making their online debut in the coming months – Rachel Morgan’s Middle Americans, starring Scott Thompson, Carlen Altman, and Alex Rennie, and Daniel Zimbler and Elisabeth Gray’s Understudies, starring Richard Kind and David Rasche. [p Spotlight On Documentaries Highlights
The documentary selection includes new work from seasoned non-fiction directors such as Emmy winners Robert Bahar andAlmudena Carracedo ("Made in La"), Pamela Yates ("Granito: How to Nail a Dictator"),Ramona Diaz ("Imelda," "Don’t Stop Believin’") Gini Reticker ("Pray the Devil Back to Hell") Tony Gerber ("Full Battle Rattle"); from producers such as Court 13’s Benh Zeitlin and Dan Janvey ("Beasts of the Southern Wild"), Liran Atzmor ("The Law in These Parts"), Tim Williams ("Once In A Lifetime") and Hilla Medalia ("Web Junkie"), and follow-up second features from recent doc world “breakouts”Steve Hoover ("Blood Brother") Penny Lane ("Our Nixon"), Michael Collins ("Give Up Tomorrow"), and Michael Nichols and Christopher Walker ("Flex is Kings").
Exciting new work from debut documentary directors previously known for fiction films include Alex Sichel ("All over Me") with her personal doc The Movie about Anna, Lisa Cortés (producer, "Precious") with "Mothership: The Untold Story of Women and Hip Hop," and Daniel Patrick Carbone ("Hide Your Smiling Faces") with Phantom Cowboys.
Sponsors
Independent Film Week’s Premier sponsors are Royal Bank of Canada (Rbc) and HBO. Gold sponsors are A&E IndieFilms and SAGIndie. Silver sponsors are Durga Entertainment, Eastman Kodak Company, National Film & Video Foundation of South Africa and Telefilm Canada. Official Independent Film Week Partner is Film Society of Lincoln Center. Independent Film Week is supported, in part, by funds provided by the Ford Foundation, New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, New York State Council for the Arts and Time Warner Foundation.
About Ifp
The Independent Filmmaker Project (Ifp) champions the future of storytelling by connecting artists with essential resources at all stages of development and distribution. The organization fosters a vibrant and sustainable independent storytelling community through its year-round programs, which include Independent Film Week, Filmmaker Magazine, the Gotham Independent Film Awards and the Made in NY Media Center by Ifp, a new incubator space developed with the Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment. Ifp represents a growing network of 10,000 storytellers around the world, and plays a key role in developing 350 new feature and documentary works each year. During its 35-year history, Ifp has supported over 8,000 projects and offered resources to more than 20,000 filmmakers, including Debra Granik, Miranda July, Michael Moore, Dee Rees, and Benh Zeitlin. More info at www.ifp.org.
“As we set to embark on our 36th Independent Film Week, we are impressed by the outstanding slate of both U.S. and international projects selected for this year’s Project Forum,” said Joana Vicente, Executive Director of Ifp. “We know that the industry will be as excited as we are with the accomplished storytellers and their diverse and boundary pushing films.”
Featured works at the 2014 Independent Film Week include filmmakers and content creators from a variety of backgrounds and experiences. From documentarians Tony Gerber ("Full Battle Rattle"), Pamela Yates ("Granito: How To Nail A Dictator"), and Penny Lane ("Our Nixon") to Michelangelo Frammartino ("Quattro Volte") and Alexis Dos Santos ("Unmade Beds"), as well as new work from critically acclaimed artists and directors Aurora Guerrero ("Mosquita y Mari"), Barry Jenkins ("Medicine for Melancholy"), Travis Matthews ("Interior. Leather. Bar") and Yen Tan ("Pit Stop").
Independent Film Week brings the international film and media community to New York City to advance new documentary and narrative works-in-progress and support the future of storytelling. The program nurtures the work of both emerging and established independent artists and filmmakers through the facilitation of over 3,500+ custom, one-to-one meetings with the financiers, executives, influencers and decision-makers in film, television, new media and cross-platform storytelling that can help them complete their latest works and connect with audiences. In recent years, it has also played a vital role in launching the first films of many of today’s rising stars on the independent scene including Rama Burshtein ("Fill The Void"), Derek Cianfrance ("Blue Valentine"), Marshall Curry ("If A Tree Falls: A Story of the Earth LIberation Front"), Laura Poitras ("The Oath"), Denis Villeneuve ("Incendies") and Benh Zeitlin ("Beasts of the Southern Wild").
For the full 2014 Project Forum slate visit Here
New For 2014
Evenly split between documentary and narrative features, selected projects hail from throughout the U.S., Europe and Canada, as well Africa, Asia, South America, and the Middle East. New this year, Ifp will be including web series in it programming, as well as spotlighting Latin & Central American artists and content with 15 projects featured across all programs in the Forum.
In a joint effort to recognize the importance of career and creative sustainability, Ifp and Durga Entertainment have partnered on a new $20,000 filmmaker grant for an alumnus of Ifp. The grant is intended for active, working filmmakers who are also balancing a filmmaking career with parenting. The grant provides a $20,000 unrestricted prize to encourage the recipient to continue on her or his career path of making quality independent films. American directors or screenwriters working in narrative film who have participated in the Ifp Filmmaker Labs or Ifp Independent Film Week's Emerging Storytellers or No-Borders International Co-Production market are encouraged to apply by the deadline of August 8, 2014.
Narrative Feature Highlights
Narrative features and webseries in Rbc’s Emerging Storytellers and No Borders International Co-Production Market sections highlight new work from top emerging and established creative visionaries on the U.S. and international independent scene.
This year’s slate includes new feature scripts featuring directors Dev Benegal ("Road, Movie"), Alexis Dos Santos ("Unmade Beds"), Jason Cortlund and Julia Halperin ("Now, Forager"), Michelangelo Frammartino ("Le Quattro Volte"),Terry George ("Hotel Rwanda"), Rashaad Ernesto Green ("Gun Hill Road"), Aurora Guerrero ("Mosquita Y Mari"), Barry Jenkins ("Medicine for Melancholy"),Alison Klayman ("Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry"), Travis Mathews ("Interior. Leather Bar"), Stacie Passon ("Concussion"), Yen Tan ("Pit Stop"), as well as up-an-coming actor/directors Karrie Crouse ("Land Ho!") and Peter Vack ("Fort Tilden""I Believe in Unicorns").
Producers and executive producers of note attached to participating projects include Jennifer Dubin and Cora Olson ("Good Dick"), Jonathan Duffy and Kelly Williams ("Hellion"),Laura Heberton ("Gayby"), Dan Janvey ("Beasts of the Southern Wild"), Kishori Rajan ("Gimme the Loot"), Adele Romanski ("The Myth of the American Sleepover"), Kim Sherman ("A Teacher"), Susan Stover ("High Art"), and Alicia Van Couvering ("Tiny Furniture").
Web Storytellers Highlights
For the first time this year, Ifp presents a dedicated spotlight within the Rbc’s Emerging Storytellers program for creators developing episodic content for digital platforms. The inaugural slate for the Web Storytellers spotlight includes new works from filmmakers Desiree Akhavan ("Appropriate Behavior", HBO’s Girls), Calvin Reeder ("The Rambler"), and Gregory Bayne ("Person of Interest"), as well as producers Elisabeth Holm ("Obvious Child"), Susan Leber ( "Down to the Bone"), and Amanda Warman ("The Outs,"Whatever This Is"). Two of the series participating are currently in post-production, and will be making their online debut in the coming months – Rachel Morgan’s Middle Americans, starring Scott Thompson, Carlen Altman, and Alex Rennie, and Daniel Zimbler and Elisabeth Gray’s Understudies, starring Richard Kind and David Rasche. [p Spotlight On Documentaries Highlights
The documentary selection includes new work from seasoned non-fiction directors such as Emmy winners Robert Bahar andAlmudena Carracedo ("Made in La"), Pamela Yates ("Granito: How to Nail a Dictator"),Ramona Diaz ("Imelda," "Don’t Stop Believin’") Gini Reticker ("Pray the Devil Back to Hell") Tony Gerber ("Full Battle Rattle"); from producers such as Court 13’s Benh Zeitlin and Dan Janvey ("Beasts of the Southern Wild"), Liran Atzmor ("The Law in These Parts"), Tim Williams ("Once In A Lifetime") and Hilla Medalia ("Web Junkie"), and follow-up second features from recent doc world “breakouts”Steve Hoover ("Blood Brother") Penny Lane ("Our Nixon"), Michael Collins ("Give Up Tomorrow"), and Michael Nichols and Christopher Walker ("Flex is Kings").
Exciting new work from debut documentary directors previously known for fiction films include Alex Sichel ("All over Me") with her personal doc The Movie about Anna, Lisa Cortés (producer, "Precious") with "Mothership: The Untold Story of Women and Hip Hop," and Daniel Patrick Carbone ("Hide Your Smiling Faces") with Phantom Cowboys.
Sponsors
Independent Film Week’s Premier sponsors are Royal Bank of Canada (Rbc) and HBO. Gold sponsors are A&E IndieFilms and SAGIndie. Silver sponsors are Durga Entertainment, Eastman Kodak Company, National Film & Video Foundation of South Africa and Telefilm Canada. Official Independent Film Week Partner is Film Society of Lincoln Center. Independent Film Week is supported, in part, by funds provided by the Ford Foundation, New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, New York State Council for the Arts and Time Warner Foundation.
About Ifp
The Independent Filmmaker Project (Ifp) champions the future of storytelling by connecting artists with essential resources at all stages of development and distribution. The organization fosters a vibrant and sustainable independent storytelling community through its year-round programs, which include Independent Film Week, Filmmaker Magazine, the Gotham Independent Film Awards and the Made in NY Media Center by Ifp, a new incubator space developed with the Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment. Ifp represents a growing network of 10,000 storytellers around the world, and plays a key role in developing 350 new feature and documentary works each year. During its 35-year history, Ifp has supported over 8,000 projects and offered resources to more than 20,000 filmmakers, including Debra Granik, Miranda July, Michael Moore, Dee Rees, and Benh Zeitlin. More info at www.ifp.org.
- 7/25/2014
- by Peter Belsito
- Sydney's Buzz
Every year the Independent Filmmaker Project (Ifp) puts together a series of events during what is known as the Independent Film Week, where storytellers for all media have an opportunity to connect with industry and peers to advance their projects in an environment that promotes community, growth and career sustainability. Filmmakers, content creators, innovators, and audiences come out in force to experience first-hand the expanded opportunities Ifp offers the international film and media community.
Film Week encompasses the Filmmaker Conference, and the concurrent Project Forum that both showcase how great projects and creatives can connect with collaborators and audiences to make work that stands out in a crowded marketplace across multiple platforms and mediums.
Each day of the conference guides filmmakers in the art, technology and business of independent filmmaking. Project Forum has had a prolific history in the independent community supporting both emerging and established independent filmmakers at critical stages in their development processes. The organization championed the early work of pioneering independent filmmakers Charles Burnett, Todd Haynes, Mira Nair, Michael Moore, Joel and Ethan Coen, Kevin Smith, Todd Solondz, and Wayne Wang. Recently, it has also played a vital role in launching the first films of many of today’s rising stars on the independent scene including Benh Zeitlin (Beasts of the Southern Wild), Debra Granik, (Down to the Bone), Miranda July (Me and You and Everyone We Know), and Ryan Fleck & Anna Boden (Half Nelson).
2014 slate launches in August.
2014 Deadlines
Emerging Storytellers : May 2, 2014 (Application Now Online - U.S. residents or those able to work in the U.S. only)
No Borders International Co-Production Market : May 2, 2014 (U.S. producers) / May 23, 2013 (International Partner submissions) (Application Now Online)
Independent Filmmaker Labs : March 7, 2014 (Documentary); April 4, 2014 (Narrative)
Spotlight on Documentaries : May 2 (early) / May 23 (final) (Application Launches in April)
Independent Film Week is:
Project Forum : A highly respected forum for the discovery of new projects in development and new voices on the independent film scene. Project Forum consists of Emerging Storytellers (screenplays from emerging writer/directors), No Borders International Co-Production Market (screenplays represented by established producers with some financing in place), Trans Atlantic Partners (showcase of new projects from experienced producers from Europe, Canada, and the Us), Independent Filmmaker Labs (documentary and narrative features in post-production), and Spotlight on Documentaries (documentary feature works-in-progress) programs. Applications went live March 15.
Filmmaker Conference : Ifp’s annual exploration into the art and business of 21st century storytelling. Presenting filmmakers and cross-platform innovators. 2013 featured multimedia musician DJ Spooky, case studies of Our Nixon and interactive documentary Hollow, as well as inclusive discussions exploring the art & business of 21st century storytelling. For a more hands-on experience, the Conference also offers Live Pitch Workshops, showcasing top talent and industry leaders and Meet the Decision Makers, featuring small group meetings with tastemakers who can further your project! Launched in 2013, #ArtistServices NYC presented by Sundance Institute, hosts fierce conversations around the latest technology and trends in independent filmmaking.
Festival Forum : The leading gathering of international and U.S. film festival programmers, The Festival Forum is a professional association that advocates for the needs and interests of film festival organizers. The Forum also provides a collaborative platform for members to develop curatorial and operational efficiencies, professional standards and best practices, and leverage their collective interests to the international film community. Founded in 2010, the Festival Forum includes over 100 U.S. & International festival programmers and executives, including representatives from Berlin, Cannes, Full Frame, Hot Docs, New York Film Festival, New Directors, Rotterdam, Slamdance, Sundance, SXSW, and Tribeca.
Sneak Preview Screening Series : Where Ifp alumni filmmakers introduce new works to industry, fellow filmmakers, and the movie-going public.
Film Week encompasses the Filmmaker Conference, and the concurrent Project Forum that both showcase how great projects and creatives can connect with collaborators and audiences to make work that stands out in a crowded marketplace across multiple platforms and mediums.
Each day of the conference guides filmmakers in the art, technology and business of independent filmmaking. Project Forum has had a prolific history in the independent community supporting both emerging and established independent filmmakers at critical stages in their development processes. The organization championed the early work of pioneering independent filmmakers Charles Burnett, Todd Haynes, Mira Nair, Michael Moore, Joel and Ethan Coen, Kevin Smith, Todd Solondz, and Wayne Wang. Recently, it has also played a vital role in launching the first films of many of today’s rising stars on the independent scene including Benh Zeitlin (Beasts of the Southern Wild), Debra Granik, (Down to the Bone), Miranda July (Me and You and Everyone We Know), and Ryan Fleck & Anna Boden (Half Nelson).
2014 slate launches in August.
2014 Deadlines
Emerging Storytellers : May 2, 2014 (Application Now Online - U.S. residents or those able to work in the U.S. only)
No Borders International Co-Production Market : May 2, 2014 (U.S. producers) / May 23, 2013 (International Partner submissions) (Application Now Online)
Independent Filmmaker Labs : March 7, 2014 (Documentary); April 4, 2014 (Narrative)
Spotlight on Documentaries : May 2 (early) / May 23 (final) (Application Launches in April)
Independent Film Week is:
Project Forum : A highly respected forum for the discovery of new projects in development and new voices on the independent film scene. Project Forum consists of Emerging Storytellers (screenplays from emerging writer/directors), No Borders International Co-Production Market (screenplays represented by established producers with some financing in place), Trans Atlantic Partners (showcase of new projects from experienced producers from Europe, Canada, and the Us), Independent Filmmaker Labs (documentary and narrative features in post-production), and Spotlight on Documentaries (documentary feature works-in-progress) programs. Applications went live March 15.
Filmmaker Conference : Ifp’s annual exploration into the art and business of 21st century storytelling. Presenting filmmakers and cross-platform innovators. 2013 featured multimedia musician DJ Spooky, case studies of Our Nixon and interactive documentary Hollow, as well as inclusive discussions exploring the art & business of 21st century storytelling. For a more hands-on experience, the Conference also offers Live Pitch Workshops, showcasing top talent and industry leaders and Meet the Decision Makers, featuring small group meetings with tastemakers who can further your project! Launched in 2013, #ArtistServices NYC presented by Sundance Institute, hosts fierce conversations around the latest technology and trends in independent filmmaking.
Festival Forum : The leading gathering of international and U.S. film festival programmers, The Festival Forum is a professional association that advocates for the needs and interests of film festival organizers. The Forum also provides a collaborative platform for members to develop curatorial and operational efficiencies, professional standards and best practices, and leverage their collective interests to the international film community. Founded in 2010, the Festival Forum includes over 100 U.S. & International festival programmers and executives, including representatives from Berlin, Cannes, Full Frame, Hot Docs, New York Film Festival, New Directors, Rotterdam, Slamdance, Sundance, SXSW, and Tribeca.
Sneak Preview Screening Series : Where Ifp alumni filmmakers introduce new works to industry, fellow filmmakers, and the movie-going public.
- 3/26/2014
- by Sydney Levine
- Sydney's Buzz
Adèle Exarchopoulos (‘Blue Is the Warmest Color’) and Cate Blanchett (‘Blue Jasmine’): Best Actress tie two years in a row at Los Angeles Film Critics Awards (photo: Léa Seydoux and Adèle Exarchopoulos in ‘Blue Is the Warmest Color’) (See previous post: "James Franco Tattoos, Gold Teeth: Lafca Winners." Another non-Hollywood Los Angeles Film Critics Association’s selection was Best Actress co-winner Adèle Exarchopoulos, cited for her performance as a young woman who falls in love with blue-haired Léa Seydoux in Abdellatif Kechiche’s controversial Cannes Film Festival Palme d’Or winner Blue Is the Warmest Color. The lesbian romantic drama also took home the Lafca’s Best Foreign Language Film Award. Blue was also the luckiest color, at least in the Best Actress category: Cate Blanchett was Exarchopoulos’ co-winner, for her performance in Woody Allen’s Blue Jasmine, in which she plays a character somewhat similar to A Streetcar Named Desire...
- 12/9/2013
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
The Bates Motel star's new movie, The Conjuring, is a spine-chilling story of paranormal phenomena. She talks about belief and scepticism, and the maternal theme that connects her roles
Last night Vera Farmiga watched her new movie, a cheerfully manipulative and highly effective shocker, with an audience for the first time. "To me the masculine screams were a riot," she says. "They were just unabashed. Usually there's a self-awareness to male laughter, an apologetic giddiness, but not here. That was a different kind of screaming – unprompted, like the sounds were being ripped out of them. And I'd seen the movie before, so I knew when to look at the audience instead of the screen. Just every time – 'Aaaarrgghh!'" That effort reignites her cough. The chuckles become hacking little rasps, and she guzzles more herbal tea.
Today, Farmiga has the same blond hair she sports in the gripping new TV series Bates Motel,...
Last night Vera Farmiga watched her new movie, a cheerfully manipulative and highly effective shocker, with an audience for the first time. "To me the masculine screams were a riot," she says. "They were just unabashed. Usually there's a self-awareness to male laughter, an apologetic giddiness, but not here. That was a different kind of screaming – unprompted, like the sounds were being ripped out of them. And I'd seen the movie before, so I knew when to look at the audience instead of the screen. Just every time – 'Aaaarrgghh!'" That effort reignites her cough. The chuckles become hacking little rasps, and she guzzles more herbal tea.
Today, Farmiga has the same blond hair she sports in the gripping new TV series Bates Motel,...
- 8/1/2013
- by John Patterson
- The Guardian - Film News
The journey of death-row inmate Ray Seward (Peter Sarsgaard) on Season 3 of The Killing has been peppered with difficult questions: Did he really murder his wife? If not, then why hasn’t he been more forthcoming about it — and who actually dunnit? And, with the clock running down toward Ray’s execution date, can Detectives Linden and Holder tie Tricia Seward’s death to the murder of at least 17 runaway girls in the Seattle area — and buy Ray some more time in the process?
Related | The Killing Recap: All Out of Faith
Many of those questions get answered during the...
Related | The Killing Recap: All Out of Faith
Many of those questions get answered during the...
- 7/26/2013
- by Michael Slezak
- TVLine.com
Farmiga on Higher Ground: Religious dogma and the search for spiritual enlightenment Academy Award-nominated actress Vera Farmiga discussed issues such as religious dogma, the striving for spiritual enlightenment, and the making of Higher Ground, her first tryout as a director, while chatting with entertainment journalist Tim Cogshell. (Although Higher Ground was released in 2011, Cogshell's interview was just recently published on YouTube.) Please scroll down to check out the six-minute interview. For the most part set in Iowa from the '60s to the '80s, Higher Ground follows a young couple (Farmiga and Boyd Holbrook), who become enmeshed with a radical Christian denomination. Real life interferes, however, something that eventually makes Farmiga's character begin to question her beliefs in god. Loosely based on Carolyn Briggs' memoir This Dark World: A Story of Faith Found, the film as co-written by Briggs and Tim Metcalfe. It had its world premiere...
- 2/12/2013
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Laemmle/Zeller Films has acquired rights to “Plimpton! Starring George Plimpton as Himself” from directors Tom Bean and Luke Poling. The company plans an early spring theatrical release. The documentary was built from four years of interviews with the late writer and editor, plus Plimpton’s own archival material, including audio and video that allowed the filmmakers to use Plimpton’s own voice as narrator. The film had its world premiere at the Silver Docs Film Festival in June. Read More: Watch: Exclusive Trailer for George Plimpton Documentary, 'Plimpton!' Ronna B. Wallace of Eastgate Pictures negotiated the deal for the filmmakers. Run by Greg Laemmle and Steven Zeller, Laemmle / Zeller Films has recently released “Up for Grabs,” “Strike,” “The First Basket” and “Down to the Bone.”...
- 11/1/2012
- by Jay A. Fernandez
- Indiewire
Strange and unsettling, "Francine" begins as a miniature, a doll's house of life's loose ends. Subtly, though, it blooms. On the strength of Melissa Leo's astounding performance, it pushes outward into a troubled society of haves and have-nots — becoming, quietly but forcefully, one of the best films of the year. Brian M. Cassidy and Melanie Schatzky's tiny indie, which screened Friday at the New Orleans Film Festival, is sure to be off-putting to some. Nearly bereft of dialogue, full of anxious images, it never points firmly at a single theme. Its story of a woman struggling to remake her life after being released from prison for an unnamed crime would seem, on the surface, to contain the same redemptive possibilities as "Down to the Bone," "Sherrybaby," and "I Loved You So Long," but the filmmakers cannily undercut this narrative of progress at every turn. Rather, "Francine" inhabits a world of.
- 10/14/2012
- by Matt Brennan
- Thompson on Hollywood
Sundance Institute has hired Paul Federbush to become International Director, Feature Film Program (Ffp), a highly sought-after job which Alesia Weston left open when she left in May to become Executive Director of the Jerusalem Film Centre and Fesival. Federbush began September 24 and is reporting to Michelle Satter, Founding Director, Feature Film Program.
Paul is already reaching out into new geographic areas searching for those filmmakers who have the greatest potential for making a brand new mark on the worldwide film business. His responsibility is the planning and execution of the international work of Sundance Institute’s Feature Film Program which includes year round support for International artists through Labs, granting, and ongoing mentorship providing creative and tactical support. Federbush will oversee international Labs in collaboration with local partners in the Middle East and India, outreach and discover new international filmmakers and projects, steward programs such as the Sundance Institute|Mahindra Global Filmmaking Award and Sundance| Nhk Award, and support the international artists participating in the annual Sundance Labs in Utah. In addition he will develop opportunities to further advance and broaden the scope of the Ffp’s International initiative.
We congratulate Paul and are proud to be able to say that we have known him since his early days at Fine Line. Federbush is a seasoned production, acquisition, and distribution executive with eighteen years of experience in the entertainment industry. Most recently Federbush, along with partner Laura Kim, started a distribution company, Red Flag Releasing. Prior to forming Red Flag, Federbush served as Senior Vice President of Production and Acquisitions at Warner Independent Pictures where he oversaw the acquisition, production, and development of projects including Danny Boyle’s Slumdog Millionaire, and Hany Abu Assad’s Paradise Now.
For nearly three decades, Sundance Institute has promoted independent storytelling to inform and inspire audiences across political, social, religious and cultural differences. Through Labs, direct artist granting, special projects with key partners and the Sundance Film Festival, the Institute serves as the leading advocate for independent artists worldwide. Sundance Institute Feature Film Program Over its 30-year history, the Sundance Institute Feature Film Program has supported an extensive list of award-winning and groundbreaking independent films.
Ffp films currently in the marketplace include Benh Zeitlin and Lucy Alibar’s Beasts of the Southern Wild (winner of the Grand Jury Prize at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival), Craig Zobel’s Compliance, Mike Birbiglia and Seth Barrish’s Sleepwalk With Me, Todd Louiso and Sarah Koskoff’s Hello I Must Be Going, and Ira Sachs’ Keep the Lights On. Recent international Ffp films include Sally El Hosaini’s My Brother the Devil, Andrei Zyvagintsev’s Elena, Edwin’s Postcards from the Zoo, Alejandro Landes’ Porfirio, and the festival films Haifaa Al Mansour’s Wadjda and Ziad Douieri’s L’Attack.Additional notable films supported over the program’s history include Sean Durkin’s Martha Marcy May Marlene, Dee Rees’ Pariah, Maryam Keshavarz’s Circumstance, Cherien Dabis' Amreeka, Cary Fukunaga's Sin Nombre, Fernando Eimbcke's Lake Tahoe, Ryan Fleck and Anna Boden’s Half Nelson, Andrea Arnold's Red Road, Miranda July’s Me and You and Everyone We Know, Hany Abu-Assad’s Paradise Now, Debra Granik’s Down to the Bone, Josh Marston’s Maria Page 2 Full of Grace, Lisa Cholodenko’s Laurel Canyon, Peter Sollett’s Raising Victor Vargas, John Cameron Mitchell’s Hedwig and the Angry Inch, Darren Aronofsky’s Requiem for a Dream, Kimberly Peirce’s Boys Don't Cry, Lucrecia Martel’s La Cienaga, Walter Salles’ Central Station, Chris Eyre and Sherman Alexie’s Smoke Signals, Nicole Holofcener’s Walking and Talking, Allison Anders' Mi Vida Loca, Paul Thomas Anderson’s Hard Eight, Tamara Jenkins’ Slums of Beverly Hills, and Quentin Tarantino’s Reservoir Dogs.
Sundance Institute Sundance Institute is a global nonprofit organization founded by Robert Redford in 1981. Through its programs for directors, screenwriters, producers, composers and playwrights, the Institute seeks to discover and support independent film and theatre artists from the United States and around the world, and to introduce audiences to their new work. The Institute promotes independent storytelling to inform, inspire, and unite diverse populations around the globe. Internationally recognized for its annual Sundance Film Festival, Sundance Institute has nurtured such projects as Born into Brothels, Trouble the Water, Son of Babylon, Amreeka, An Inconvenient Truth, Spring Awakening, Light in the Piazza and Angels in America, and through its New Frontier initiative, has brought the cinematic works of media artists including Pipilotti Rist, Doug Aitken, Pierre Huyghe, Jennifer Steinkamp, and Matthew Barney . Join Sundance Institute on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. # # #...
Paul is already reaching out into new geographic areas searching for those filmmakers who have the greatest potential for making a brand new mark on the worldwide film business. His responsibility is the planning and execution of the international work of Sundance Institute’s Feature Film Program which includes year round support for International artists through Labs, granting, and ongoing mentorship providing creative and tactical support. Federbush will oversee international Labs in collaboration with local partners in the Middle East and India, outreach and discover new international filmmakers and projects, steward programs such as the Sundance Institute|Mahindra Global Filmmaking Award and Sundance| Nhk Award, and support the international artists participating in the annual Sundance Labs in Utah. In addition he will develop opportunities to further advance and broaden the scope of the Ffp’s International initiative.
We congratulate Paul and are proud to be able to say that we have known him since his early days at Fine Line. Federbush is a seasoned production, acquisition, and distribution executive with eighteen years of experience in the entertainment industry. Most recently Federbush, along with partner Laura Kim, started a distribution company, Red Flag Releasing. Prior to forming Red Flag, Federbush served as Senior Vice President of Production and Acquisitions at Warner Independent Pictures where he oversaw the acquisition, production, and development of projects including Danny Boyle’s Slumdog Millionaire, and Hany Abu Assad’s Paradise Now.
For nearly three decades, Sundance Institute has promoted independent storytelling to inform and inspire audiences across political, social, religious and cultural differences. Through Labs, direct artist granting, special projects with key partners and the Sundance Film Festival, the Institute serves as the leading advocate for independent artists worldwide. Sundance Institute Feature Film Program Over its 30-year history, the Sundance Institute Feature Film Program has supported an extensive list of award-winning and groundbreaking independent films.
Ffp films currently in the marketplace include Benh Zeitlin and Lucy Alibar’s Beasts of the Southern Wild (winner of the Grand Jury Prize at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival), Craig Zobel’s Compliance, Mike Birbiglia and Seth Barrish’s Sleepwalk With Me, Todd Louiso and Sarah Koskoff’s Hello I Must Be Going, and Ira Sachs’ Keep the Lights On. Recent international Ffp films include Sally El Hosaini’s My Brother the Devil, Andrei Zyvagintsev’s Elena, Edwin’s Postcards from the Zoo, Alejandro Landes’ Porfirio, and the festival films Haifaa Al Mansour’s Wadjda and Ziad Douieri’s L’Attack.Additional notable films supported over the program’s history include Sean Durkin’s Martha Marcy May Marlene, Dee Rees’ Pariah, Maryam Keshavarz’s Circumstance, Cherien Dabis' Amreeka, Cary Fukunaga's Sin Nombre, Fernando Eimbcke's Lake Tahoe, Ryan Fleck and Anna Boden’s Half Nelson, Andrea Arnold's Red Road, Miranda July’s Me and You and Everyone We Know, Hany Abu-Assad’s Paradise Now, Debra Granik’s Down to the Bone, Josh Marston’s Maria Page 2 Full of Grace, Lisa Cholodenko’s Laurel Canyon, Peter Sollett’s Raising Victor Vargas, John Cameron Mitchell’s Hedwig and the Angry Inch, Darren Aronofsky’s Requiem for a Dream, Kimberly Peirce’s Boys Don't Cry, Lucrecia Martel’s La Cienaga, Walter Salles’ Central Station, Chris Eyre and Sherman Alexie’s Smoke Signals, Nicole Holofcener’s Walking and Talking, Allison Anders' Mi Vida Loca, Paul Thomas Anderson’s Hard Eight, Tamara Jenkins’ Slums of Beverly Hills, and Quentin Tarantino’s Reservoir Dogs.
Sundance Institute Sundance Institute is a global nonprofit organization founded by Robert Redford in 1981. Through its programs for directors, screenwriters, producers, composers and playwrights, the Institute seeks to discover and support independent film and theatre artists from the United States and around the world, and to introduce audiences to their new work. The Institute promotes independent storytelling to inform, inspire, and unite diverse populations around the globe. Internationally recognized for its annual Sundance Film Festival, Sundance Institute has nurtured such projects as Born into Brothels, Trouble the Water, Son of Babylon, Amreeka, An Inconvenient Truth, Spring Awakening, Light in the Piazza and Angels in America, and through its New Frontier initiative, has brought the cinematic works of media artists including Pipilotti Rist, Doug Aitken, Pierre Huyghe, Jennifer Steinkamp, and Matthew Barney . Join Sundance Institute on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. # # #...
- 10/9/2012
- by Sydney Levine
- Sydney's Buzz
This article by Nate von Zumwalt, Editorial Coordinator for Sundance was posted on Sundance's website on June 22, 2012.
I am glad to repost it here because it shows the dynamic integrity continues chez Sundance. Here it is with thanks to Nate.
Take one cursory glance at the annals of the Sundance Film Festival and you’ll notice a persistent and invariable trend: first-time directors. The theme is as astounding as it is inspiring. In 2012 alone, 44 of the 112 feature-film selections were crafted by first-time directors, and a handful of others had made their debuts at Sundance in years past. It would all make for quite the family tree, branching and bifurcating into one massive connection of artists with a similar root. But in lieu of that tedious task, we still like to keep an eye on those filmmakers who have shared their genius with Sundance over the years. In light of yesterday’s thrilling news that Rodriguez—the enigmatic Mexican American musician and the subject of the Sff ’12 opening night doc Searching for Sugarman—is set to play The Late Show with David Letterman in August, we’ve decided to check in on some of the more notable Sundance alumni involving themselves in some of the more notable projects of late.
Sean Durkin
Martha Marcy May Marlene (2011)
Director Sean Durkin grabbed the Directing Award at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival for his chilling cult thriller Martha Marcy May Marlene, which went on to an accolade-filled year. Durkin further validates his penchant for disturbing subject matter with the recent news that he’s slotted to direct a 10-episode television adaptation of The Exorcist. Click here to read more.
Debra Granik
Winter’s Bone (2010); Down to the Bone (2004)
Two-time Sundancer Debra Granik is back on the grind with a slew of projects in motion—you know her for her 2010 Oscar-nominated drama Winter’s Bone and her 2004 Sundance selection Down to the Bone. Currently Granik is dabbling in a bit of everything, from an HBO family drama, to a war doc, and an adaptation of Russell Bank’s novel Rule of the Bone.Seriously, Debra? The ‘bone’ trend is getting a little weird.
Click here for more on Granik’s busy schedule.
Josh Radnor
happythankyoumoreplease (2010), Liberal Arts (2012)
Josh Radnor—or according to Gawker, the “Guy From How I Met Your Mother”—happens to be doing more than just playing Ted Mosby on the popular sitcom. Since winning the 2010 Sundance Film Festival Audience Award for happythankyoumoreplease, Radnor directed the Sff ’12 Official Selection Liberal Arts, and most recently penned the book One Blissful Thing, recounting his transcendent experience ingesting a hallucinogenic plant in the Amazon—perhaps this explains the enduring case of bed head?
Check out a fun interview by Moviefone earlier this year.
Lee Daniels
Precious (2009)
Lee Daniels is the man behind the Oscar-winning drama Precious, a searing portrait of a relentlessly abusive family that virtually swept the Sundance Film Festival Award Ceremony in 2009. His latest film, Paperboy, opened at Cannes last month and was acquired by Millenium Entertainment and is set for an Oct. 5 release. A GQ interview with Daniels about the film’s mixed reception along with some hilarious anecdotes can be found here.
Zal Batmanglij
Sound of My Voice (2012)
Zal Batmanglij kick-started his career with the eerie cult drama Sound of My Voice, which was released by Fox Searchlight this past spring. His next film, The East, also stars his Georgetown University pal Brit Marling, in addition to Alexander Skarsgard, Ellen Page, Julia Ormond, and Patricia Clarkson. Catch up with Zal in Indiewire’s recent sit-down. Clickhere.
Drake Doremus
Like Crazy (2011)
Drake Doremus’ follow-up to the Grand Jury Prize-winning Like Crazy is in the works, and he’s yet again enlisted the talents of the alluring Felicity Jones, along with Guy Pearce, and Amy Ryan. Following his dry-witted debut feature, Douchebag, Doremus shifted moods with the beautifully heart-wrenching Like Crazy. He appears to be jumping genres once again with his current project, which has been dubbed a ‘romantic thriller.’
There’s more from Indiewire here.
Robert Rodriguez
El Mariachi (1993)
It’ll be a cold day in hell before Charlie Sheen finds his way into the Sundance news section. Well, it seems that day has come with the casting announcement for Robert Rodriguez’s sequel to Machete. Rodriguez and Sheen both confirmed via tweets that the wayward actor would play the President of the United States in Machete Kills,complementing other additions including Sofia Vergara, Amber Heard, and Mel Gibson. Rodriguez’s Sundance lineage is traced back to his first-ever feature film, El Mariachi, which premiered at the 1993 Sundance Film Festival. Read the full story here.
Tags
Director, Entertainment News, Featured News, Independent Film,Independent Filmmaker, Latest News, Sundance Movies...
I am glad to repost it here because it shows the dynamic integrity continues chez Sundance. Here it is with thanks to Nate.
Take one cursory glance at the annals of the Sundance Film Festival and you’ll notice a persistent and invariable trend: first-time directors. The theme is as astounding as it is inspiring. In 2012 alone, 44 of the 112 feature-film selections were crafted by first-time directors, and a handful of others had made their debuts at Sundance in years past. It would all make for quite the family tree, branching and bifurcating into one massive connection of artists with a similar root. But in lieu of that tedious task, we still like to keep an eye on those filmmakers who have shared their genius with Sundance over the years. In light of yesterday’s thrilling news that Rodriguez—the enigmatic Mexican American musician and the subject of the Sff ’12 opening night doc Searching for Sugarman—is set to play The Late Show with David Letterman in August, we’ve decided to check in on some of the more notable Sundance alumni involving themselves in some of the more notable projects of late.
Sean Durkin
Martha Marcy May Marlene (2011)
Director Sean Durkin grabbed the Directing Award at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival for his chilling cult thriller Martha Marcy May Marlene, which went on to an accolade-filled year. Durkin further validates his penchant for disturbing subject matter with the recent news that he’s slotted to direct a 10-episode television adaptation of The Exorcist. Click here to read more.
Debra Granik
Winter’s Bone (2010); Down to the Bone (2004)
Two-time Sundancer Debra Granik is back on the grind with a slew of projects in motion—you know her for her 2010 Oscar-nominated drama Winter’s Bone and her 2004 Sundance selection Down to the Bone. Currently Granik is dabbling in a bit of everything, from an HBO family drama, to a war doc, and an adaptation of Russell Bank’s novel Rule of the Bone.Seriously, Debra? The ‘bone’ trend is getting a little weird.
Click here for more on Granik’s busy schedule.
Josh Radnor
happythankyoumoreplease (2010), Liberal Arts (2012)
Josh Radnor—or according to Gawker, the “Guy From How I Met Your Mother”—happens to be doing more than just playing Ted Mosby on the popular sitcom. Since winning the 2010 Sundance Film Festival Audience Award for happythankyoumoreplease, Radnor directed the Sff ’12 Official Selection Liberal Arts, and most recently penned the book One Blissful Thing, recounting his transcendent experience ingesting a hallucinogenic plant in the Amazon—perhaps this explains the enduring case of bed head?
Check out a fun interview by Moviefone earlier this year.
Lee Daniels
Precious (2009)
Lee Daniels is the man behind the Oscar-winning drama Precious, a searing portrait of a relentlessly abusive family that virtually swept the Sundance Film Festival Award Ceremony in 2009. His latest film, Paperboy, opened at Cannes last month and was acquired by Millenium Entertainment and is set for an Oct. 5 release. A GQ interview with Daniels about the film’s mixed reception along with some hilarious anecdotes can be found here.
Zal Batmanglij
Sound of My Voice (2012)
Zal Batmanglij kick-started his career with the eerie cult drama Sound of My Voice, which was released by Fox Searchlight this past spring. His next film, The East, also stars his Georgetown University pal Brit Marling, in addition to Alexander Skarsgard, Ellen Page, Julia Ormond, and Patricia Clarkson. Catch up with Zal in Indiewire’s recent sit-down. Clickhere.
Drake Doremus
Like Crazy (2011)
Drake Doremus’ follow-up to the Grand Jury Prize-winning Like Crazy is in the works, and he’s yet again enlisted the talents of the alluring Felicity Jones, along with Guy Pearce, and Amy Ryan. Following his dry-witted debut feature, Douchebag, Doremus shifted moods with the beautifully heart-wrenching Like Crazy. He appears to be jumping genres once again with his current project, which has been dubbed a ‘romantic thriller.’
There’s more from Indiewire here.
Robert Rodriguez
El Mariachi (1993)
It’ll be a cold day in hell before Charlie Sheen finds his way into the Sundance news section. Well, it seems that day has come with the casting announcement for Robert Rodriguez’s sequel to Machete. Rodriguez and Sheen both confirmed via tweets that the wayward actor would play the President of the United States in Machete Kills,complementing other additions including Sofia Vergara, Amber Heard, and Mel Gibson. Rodriguez’s Sundance lineage is traced back to his first-ever feature film, El Mariachi, which premiered at the 1993 Sundance Film Festival. Read the full story here.
Tags
Director, Entertainment News, Featured News, Independent Film,Independent Filmmaker, Latest News, Sundance Movies...
- 7/6/2012
- by Sydney Levine
- Sydney's Buzz
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