One of the most significant strands at Rome’s Mia market is its Co-Production Market and Pitching Forum, which has fast become one of the leading co-production forums in the industry calendar.
This year more than 500 projects were submitted for the industry section for animation, documentary, drama and film from 80 countries. This was a 30% uptick of countries compared to 2022 and of these, 62 were selected from 36 countries.
“We build everything around content,” says Mia director Gaia Tridente. “We have built a program that really fits the needs of the industry and the co-production market is the perfect place for people to come and discover good partners for international co-productions.”
While the forum has a global reach, European projects remain at the heart of this year’s event with projects such as Leitzia Battaglia: Her Name is Battle, a documentary about the late photographer that...
This year more than 500 projects were submitted for the industry section for animation, documentary, drama and film from 80 countries. This was a 30% uptick of countries compared to 2022 and of these, 62 were selected from 36 countries.
“We build everything around content,” says Mia director Gaia Tridente. “We have built a program that really fits the needs of the industry and the co-production market is the perfect place for people to come and discover good partners for international co-productions.”
While the forum has a global reach, European projects remain at the heart of this year’s event with projects such as Leitzia Battaglia: Her Name is Battle, a documentary about the late photographer that...
- 10/2/2023
- by Diana Lodderhose
- Deadline Film + TV
More than 500 international projects were submitted to the Mercato Internazionale Audiovisivo (Mia).
Rome’s Mia film and TV market has selected 62 projects for its co-production market, which runs from October 9-13.
More than 500 projects were submitted this year from 80 countries worldwide.
Of these, 62 were selected - 15 films, 15 animation, 18 documentaries and 14 drama - from 36 countries.
The film projects include I Will Find You by György Kristóf, whose previous film Out played in Cannes’ Un Certain Regard in 2017.
UK writer and director Aaron Brookner of Pinball London also heads to Mia with mystery thriller A Gift To My Mother along with producers Paula Vaccaro and Pauliina Ståhlberg.
Rome’s Mia film and TV market has selected 62 projects for its co-production market, which runs from October 9-13.
More than 500 projects were submitted this year from 80 countries worldwide.
Of these, 62 were selected - 15 films, 15 animation, 18 documentaries and 14 drama - from 36 countries.
The film projects include I Will Find You by György Kristóf, whose previous film Out played in Cannes’ Un Certain Regard in 2017.
UK writer and director Aaron Brookner of Pinball London also heads to Mia with mystery thriller A Gift To My Mother along with producers Paula Vaccaro and Pauliina Ståhlberg.
- 9/22/2023
- by Tim Dams
- ScreenDaily
Two-day event runs September 10-11 in association with TIFF.
New Zealand producers Emma Slade and Victoria Dabbs of Firefly Films and Canadian partner Michelle Morris of Lily Pictures are among 40 producer teams set to participate in Ontario Creates’ 2023 International Financing Forum (Iff) running September 10-11 in Toronto.
The two-day feature film co-financing and co-production market, in association with TIFF and now in its 18th year, is a hybrid event. There will be in-person one-on-one producer and executive meetings, an industry panel discussion with Ontario and international producers, networking opportunities, and online international meetings.
Selected producers will get the chance to...
New Zealand producers Emma Slade and Victoria Dabbs of Firefly Films and Canadian partner Michelle Morris of Lily Pictures are among 40 producer teams set to participate in Ontario Creates’ 2023 International Financing Forum (Iff) running September 10-11 in Toronto.
The two-day feature film co-financing and co-production market, in association with TIFF and now in its 18th year, is a hybrid event. There will be in-person one-on-one producer and executive meetings, an industry panel discussion with Ontario and international producers, networking opportunities, and online international meetings.
Selected producers will get the chance to...
- 8/30/2023
- by Jeremy Kay
- ScreenDaily
Haugesund’s New Nordic Films market runs August 23-26.
Haugesund’s New Nordic Films market has unveiled the works in progress presentations for its 2022 edition, running August 23-26.
The line-up includes new films from the likes of Pathfinder director Nils Gaup’s new drama The Riot (Sulis), sold by REinvent and set against a workers revolt in 1907 Lapland; The Worst Person In The World producer Thomas Robsahm, who presents Aurora Gossé’s Norwegian youth film Dancing Queen, sold by Level K; and Berlinale prize-winning director Selma Vilhunen’s new Finnish production, polyamory drama Four Little Adults.
Scroll down for full...
Haugesund’s New Nordic Films market has unveiled the works in progress presentations for its 2022 edition, running August 23-26.
The line-up includes new films from the likes of Pathfinder director Nils Gaup’s new drama The Riot (Sulis), sold by REinvent and set against a workers revolt in 1907 Lapland; The Worst Person In The World producer Thomas Robsahm, who presents Aurora Gossé’s Norwegian youth film Dancing Queen, sold by Level K; and Berlinale prize-winning director Selma Vilhunen’s new Finnish production, polyamory drama Four Little Adults.
Scroll down for full...
- 8/12/2022
- by Wendy Mitchell
- ScreenDaily
U.S. born British filmmaker Aaron Brookner (“Uncle Howard”) is plotting his first Nordic noir, slated for a market debut at Haugesund’s Nordic Co-Production Market, part of the leading Scandinavian confab New Nordic Films (Aug. 23-26).
Based on the novel “A Gift to My Mother” by London-based Finnish author and journalist Jouko Heikura, the thriller is being written and produced by Brookner and Paula Alvarez Vaccaro, co-founders of pedigreed Pinball London, which acquired rights to the book and handled the English-translation for the pic’s initial development stage.
The novel was brought to them by their Finnish co-producer Pauliina Stahlberg, credited for Netflix crime drama “Deadwind,” Seasons 2 & 3.
The story – slightly altered for screen purposes- – centres on a London-based human rights female lawyer, as she attempts to solve the mystery of a crime committed years ago against her terminally ill Finnish mother. Her rogue investigation takes her to a suspicious neighbour,...
Based on the novel “A Gift to My Mother” by London-based Finnish author and journalist Jouko Heikura, the thriller is being written and produced by Brookner and Paula Alvarez Vaccaro, co-founders of pedigreed Pinball London, which acquired rights to the book and handled the English-translation for the pic’s initial development stage.
The novel was brought to them by their Finnish co-producer Pauliina Stahlberg, credited for Netflix crime drama “Deadwind,” Seasons 2 & 3.
The story – slightly altered for screen purposes- – centres on a London-based human rights female lawyer, as she attempts to solve the mystery of a crime committed years ago against her terminally ill Finnish mother. Her rogue investigation takes her to a suspicious neighbour,...
- 8/12/2022
- by Annika Pham
- Variety Film + TV
More than 300 industry delegates from top shingles including Warner Bros Discovery, Viaplay, Germany’s Constantin Film, The Match Factory and France’s TF1 Studio are expected on the shores of Haugesund, Norway, over Aug. 23-26, for Scandinavia’s major film showcase, New Nordic Films.
Ruben Östlund’s Palme d’Or winner “Triangle of Sadness” will both open the film confab festivities and screen alongside 18 new Nordic finished films at the market. But for the avid buyers and programmers of Nordic content, the biggest draw will be the 18 works in progress – half of them looking for sales and distribution – and 23 pics in development available for co-production and financing.
“We’ve noticed a shift in recent years, with buyers and sellers favouring the Works in Progress and Nordic Coproduction Market over the market screenings. These seem to be more valuable for the industry,” said Gyda Velvin Myklebust, head of New Nordic Films.
Ruben Östlund’s Palme d’Or winner “Triangle of Sadness” will both open the film confab festivities and screen alongside 18 new Nordic finished films at the market. But for the avid buyers and programmers of Nordic content, the biggest draw will be the 18 works in progress – half of them looking for sales and distribution – and 23 pics in development available for co-production and financing.
“We’ve noticed a shift in recent years, with buyers and sellers favouring the Works in Progress and Nordic Coproduction Market over the market screenings. These seem to be more valuable for the industry,” said Gyda Velvin Myklebust, head of New Nordic Films.
- 8/12/2022
- by Annika Pham
- Variety Film + TV
It will be in cinemas and available to stream on May 13 2022.
UK production and distribution company Bohemia Media has picked up Venice 2020 title Listen for UK and Ireland distribution in cinemas and on Bohemia Media’s new streaming platform, Bohemia Euphoria.
The first feature from actress-turned-director Ana Rocha de Sousa, Listen is a UK-Portugal co-production drama that premiered in Venice’s Orizzonti section in 2020, winning five awards at the festival. It tells the story of a Portuguese family living in the outskirts of London, grappling to keep the family together after the social services try to separate them. Love Actually’s Lucia Moniz stars.
UK production and distribution company Bohemia Media has picked up Venice 2020 title Listen for UK and Ireland distribution in cinemas and on Bohemia Media’s new streaming platform, Bohemia Euphoria.
The first feature from actress-turned-director Ana Rocha de Sousa, Listen is a UK-Portugal co-production drama that premiered in Venice’s Orizzonti section in 2020, winning five awards at the festival. It tells the story of a Portuguese family living in the outskirts of London, grappling to keep the family together after the social services try to separate them. Love Actually’s Lucia Moniz stars.
- 12/1/2021
- by Mona Tabbara
- ScreenDaily
Rome’s Mia Market for TV series, feature films, documentaries and factual content wrapped a watershed 7th edition on Sunday, having boosted its standing on the global calendar as a prominent emerging industry hub in Europe.
In a significant indicator of the Eternal City’s Oct. 13-17 event’s restart relevance Mia, organizers on the final day announced a total of 2,000 industry executives from 56 countries, all of whom attended the new-concept market in-person, while there were only 46 online attendees, mostly from Asia and Latin America due to coronavirus constraints that impeded travel to Italy from those countries.
While the Oct. 11-14 Mipcom market in Cannes suffered a reduced presence – and the AFM this year has gone entirely online – Mia reaped the benefits of being conceived more congenially to how the global content industry is evolving because it offered a wide range of product, plenty of which in early stages.
The...
In a significant indicator of the Eternal City’s Oct. 13-17 event’s restart relevance Mia, organizers on the final day announced a total of 2,000 industry executives from 56 countries, all of whom attended the new-concept market in-person, while there were only 46 online attendees, mostly from Asia and Latin America due to coronavirus constraints that impeded travel to Italy from those countries.
While the Oct. 11-14 Mipcom market in Cannes suffered a reduced presence – and the AFM this year has gone entirely online – Mia reaped the benefits of being conceived more congenially to how the global content industry is evolving because it offered a wide range of product, plenty of which in early stages.
The...
- 10/17/2021
- by Nick Vivarelli
- Variety Film + TV
Film and TV market devoted to scripted and unscripted content will unfold October 13 to 17.
Rome’s Mia film and TV market has unveiled the line-up and highlights of its seventh edition, unfolding October 13 to 17 in and around the Italian capital’s Piazza Barberini district.
The market is expected to be of greater importance for European film buyers and sellers this autumn, after the Covid-19 pandemic deterred many from travelling to Toronto earlier this September and forced the American Film Market (Nov 1-5) to move online for a second year.
In a sign of this, Mia has reported a 30% increase in...
Rome’s Mia film and TV market has unveiled the line-up and highlights of its seventh edition, unfolding October 13 to 17 in and around the Italian capital’s Piazza Barberini district.
The market is expected to be of greater importance for European film buyers and sellers this autumn, after the Covid-19 pandemic deterred many from travelling to Toronto earlier this September and forced the American Film Market (Nov 1-5) to move online for a second year.
In a sign of this, Mia has reported a 30% increase in...
- 9/23/2021
- by Melanie Goodfellow
- ScreenDaily
The three children of a poor Portuguese couple (Lucia Moniz and Ruben Garcia) living in London are forcibly removed from their home by social services, raising questions about responsible parenting and duty of care in director Ana Rocha de Sousa’s emotive feature debut Listen.
Although the script by Rocha de Sousa, Paula Vaccaro and Aaron Brookner tries to be at least a little bit balanced, the rules-obsessed authorities don’t come out of it well. Largely told through the eyes of the hapless family, especially those of the deaf middle child (a soulful Maisie Sly), this won’t be winning endorsements from ...
Although the script by Rocha de Sousa, Paula Vaccaro and Aaron Brookner tries to be at least a little bit balanced, the rules-obsessed authorities don’t come out of it well. Largely told through the eyes of the hapless family, especially those of the deaf middle child (a soulful Maisie Sly), this won’t be winning endorsements from ...
The three children of a poor Portuguese couple (Lucia Moniz and Ruben Garcia) living in London are forcibly removed from their home by social services, raising questions about responsible parenting and duty of care in director Ana Rocha de Sousa’s emotive feature debut Listen.
Although the script by Rocha de Sousa, Paula Vaccaro and Aaron Brookner tries to be at least a little bit balanced, the rules-obsessed authorities don’t come out of it well. Largely told through the eyes of the hapless family, especially those of the deaf middle child (a soulful Maisie Sly), this won’t be winning endorsements from ...
Although the script by Rocha de Sousa, Paula Vaccaro and Aaron Brookner tries to be at least a little bit balanced, the rules-obsessed authorities don’t come out of it well. Largely told through the eyes of the hapless family, especially those of the deaf middle child (a soulful Maisie Sly), this won’t be winning endorsements from ...
Writer-producer reveals further details of upcoming features and drama series.
Paula Vaccaro, producer of Venice award-winner On The Milky Road and documentary Uncle Howard, has revealed further details of her upcoming projects.
The founder of production outfit Pinball London, who will curate several of this year’s Sarajevo CineLink Talks for Documentary Campus, will be in Venice next month to unveil drama feature Listen.
The film, which will play in the Orizzonti strand, marks the debut of Portuguese director Ana Rocha and was also scripted by Vaccaro with partner Aaron Brookner and Rocha.
Sold by Magnolia Pictures International, Vaccaro and...
Paula Vaccaro, producer of Venice award-winner On The Milky Road and documentary Uncle Howard, has revealed further details of her upcoming projects.
The founder of production outfit Pinball London, who will curate several of this year’s Sarajevo CineLink Talks for Documentary Campus, will be in Venice next month to unveil drama feature Listen.
The film, which will play in the Orizzonti strand, marks the debut of Portuguese director Ana Rocha and was also scripted by Vaccaro with partner Aaron Brookner and Rocha.
Sold by Magnolia Pictures International, Vaccaro and...
- 8/14/2020
- by 57¦Geoffrey Macnab¦41¦
- ScreenDaily
Newcomers join Sundance docs Assassins, The Fight on sales slate.
Magnolia Pictures International has added two titles to its Cannes Marché du Film Online slate, boarding worldwide rights to London-set immigrant drama Listen, and Istanbul-set love story When I’m Done Dying.
Listen chronicles the struggles of a Portuguese immigrant couple in London whose children are taken away by social services.
Ruben Garcia, Portuguese actress and singer Lucia Moniz (Love Actually), Sophia Myles, and Maisie Sly, star of British Oscar-winning short The Silent Child, star in Ana Rocha De Sousa’s first feature, currently in post.
The film is produced...
Magnolia Pictures International has added two titles to its Cannes Marché du Film Online slate, boarding worldwide rights to London-set immigrant drama Listen, and Istanbul-set love story When I’m Done Dying.
Listen chronicles the struggles of a Portuguese immigrant couple in London whose children are taken away by social services.
Ruben Garcia, Portuguese actress and singer Lucia Moniz (Love Actually), Sophia Myles, and Maisie Sly, star of British Oscar-winning short The Silent Child, star in Ana Rocha De Sousa’s first feature, currently in post.
The film is produced...
- 6/11/2020
- by 36¦Jeremy Kay¦54¦
- ScreenDaily
Rachel Feldman’s “Kinks,” Monica Bellucci-starrer “Radical Eye,” Nabil Ayouch’s “Black-Out” and “Perfect Monsters,” from “Roma” producer Nicolas Celis, all figure among the 16 drama series projects to be pitched at this year’s second – and expanded – In Development, a joint venture of MipTV and Canneseries.
Also making the cut at In Development, known as well as the Cannes Drama Creative Forum, is “Twenty-Four Land,” an ambitious WWII project from Portugal, and “A Good Year,” from relatively new Flemish outfit Mockingbird Pictures. Chosen from 376 submissions, up on last year’s inaugural edition, the 16-title In Development projects will be pitched at an event which play out this year over an extended schedule of three-and-a-half days as MipTV itself places ever more emphasis on project development, not just distribution.
The spread of country of origin of projects has also grown from a still predominantly European base, but taking in titles from Mexico,...
Also making the cut at In Development, known as well as the Cannes Drama Creative Forum, is “Twenty-Four Land,” an ambitious WWII project from Portugal, and “A Good Year,” from relatively new Flemish outfit Mockingbird Pictures. Chosen from 376 submissions, up on last year’s inaugural edition, the 16-title In Development projects will be pitched at an event which play out this year over an extended schedule of three-and-a-half days as MipTV itself places ever more emphasis on project development, not just distribution.
The spread of country of origin of projects has also grown from a still predominantly European base, but taking in titles from Mexico,...
- 3/1/2019
- by John Hopewell
- Variety Film + TV
Portuguese actress Lucia Moniz (“Love Actually”) is attached to star in “Listen,” a drama about a Portuguese couple working in London whose kids are taken away by social services. The timely pic will be directed by Portuguese first-timer Ana Rocha De Sousa.
“Listen” is being co-produced by Paula Vaccaro’s Pinball London and Portugal’s Bando À Parte, headed by Rodrigo Areia. It’s being described by Vaccaro as “a drama with thriller pacing” that charts the couple’s quest to recover their kids before they are placed for forced adoption. Moniz is a popular pop singer in Portugal and will be soon be seen on the big screen in Italian director Marco Pontecorvo’s drama “Fatima.” In “Listen” she will play the mother of three kids.
London-trained Ana Rocha de Sousa, who is a former actress, has previously shot several prizewinning shorts, two of which screened in Cannes. De...
“Listen” is being co-produced by Paula Vaccaro’s Pinball London and Portugal’s Bando À Parte, headed by Rodrigo Areia. It’s being described by Vaccaro as “a drama with thriller pacing” that charts the couple’s quest to recover their kids before they are placed for forced adoption. Moniz is a popular pop singer in Portugal and will be soon be seen on the big screen in Italian director Marco Pontecorvo’s drama “Fatima.” In “Listen” she will play the mother of three kids.
London-trained Ana Rocha de Sousa, who is a former actress, has previously shot several prizewinning shorts, two of which screened in Cannes. De...
- 2/8/2019
- by Nick Vivarelli
- Variety Film + TV
Monica Bellucci has been cast as feminist revolutionary Tina Modotti in a miniseries to be set in Mexico, Los Angeles and Italy and to be directed by prize-winning Italian director Edoardo de Angelis (“Indivisible”).
The role is one that Bellucci has wanted to play for years. Modotti was an Italian who emigrated to the U.S. in 1913, acted briefly in Hollywood silent films, then became known during the 1930s in Europe and Mexico for both her photography and her left-wing revolutionary fervor. She joined a group of major contemporary artists in Mexico and is considered a proto-feminist who advocated new freedoms for women in the early 20th century.
The six-part series, which is in advanced development, is titled “Radical Eye: The Life and Times of Tina Modotti.“ It is being produced by London-based husband-and-wife team Paula Vaccaro and Aaron Brookner (“Uncle Howard”), who have written the screenplay. They will produce via their Pinball London company.
The role is one that Bellucci has wanted to play for years. Modotti was an Italian who emigrated to the U.S. in 1913, acted briefly in Hollywood silent films, then became known during the 1930s in Europe and Mexico for both her photography and her left-wing revolutionary fervor. She joined a group of major contemporary artists in Mexico and is considered a proto-feminist who advocated new freedoms for women in the early 20th century.
The six-part series, which is in advanced development, is titled “Radical Eye: The Life and Times of Tina Modotti.“ It is being produced by London-based husband-and-wife team Paula Vaccaro and Aaron Brookner (“Uncle Howard”), who have written the screenplay. They will produce via their Pinball London company.
- 8/7/2018
- by Nick Vivarelli
- Variety Film + TV
Exclusive: The producers of Oscar winners Moonlight and Icarus, Oscar nominee Carol and Showtime series Billions, are among those bringing new projects to the Ifp Project Forum, which runs during the 40th Ifp Week in New York.
This year’s particularly buzzy Project Forum slate will comprise 150 U.S. and international films, series, digital and audio projects (for the first time) in different stages of development.
The co-production market will feature new narrative films and series from producers and Ep’s including Lamb On The Throne from Adele Romanski (Moonlight) and Sara Murphy (Land Ho!), Breezin’ from Amy Lo (Nancy), The Gymnast from Brian Koppelman and David Levien (Billions), The Fugitive Game from Ryan Cunningham (Broad City), Sleepwalkfrom Ryan Zacarias (A Ciambra), Bitterroot from Giulia Caruso & Ki Jin Kim (Columbus) and Nine Days from Jason Michael Berman (Amateur), Mette-Marie Kongsved (I Don’t Feel At Home In This World...
This year’s particularly buzzy Project Forum slate will comprise 150 U.S. and international films, series, digital and audio projects (for the first time) in different stages of development.
The co-production market will feature new narrative films and series from producers and Ep’s including Lamb On The Throne from Adele Romanski (Moonlight) and Sara Murphy (Land Ho!), Breezin’ from Amy Lo (Nancy), The Gymnast from Brian Koppelman and David Levien (Billions), The Fugitive Game from Ryan Cunningham (Broad City), Sleepwalkfrom Ryan Zacarias (A Ciambra), Bitterroot from Giulia Caruso & Ki Jin Kim (Columbus) and Nine Days from Jason Michael Berman (Amateur), Mette-Marie Kongsved (I Don’t Feel At Home In This World...
- 7/26/2018
- by Andreas Wiseman
- Deadline Film + TV
It’s been a busy year for Jim Jarmusch. In addition to premiering both “Gimme Danger” and “Paterson” at the Cannes Film Festival in May, the indie stalwart also produced and appears in “Uncle Howard,” an upcoming documentary by Aaron Brookner. Watch its trailer below.
Read More: ‘Paterson’ Star Adam Driver Says He’s Unsure How People Will Respond to Jim Jarmusch’s Latest Film
Brookner’s film concerns the life and work of his uncle Howard Brookner, who died in 1989. Here’s its synopsis: “‘Uncle Howard’ is an intertwining tale of past and present — the story of filmmaker Howard Brookner, whose work captured the late 70s and early 80s cultural revolution, and his nephew’s personal journey 25 years later to discover his uncle’s films and the legacy of a life cut short by the plague of AIDS.”
Read More: Watch: Trailer For Sundance Bound Documentary ‘Uncle Howard’ Executive...
Read More: ‘Paterson’ Star Adam Driver Says He’s Unsure How People Will Respond to Jim Jarmusch’s Latest Film
Brookner’s film concerns the life and work of his uncle Howard Brookner, who died in 1989. Here’s its synopsis: “‘Uncle Howard’ is an intertwining tale of past and present — the story of filmmaker Howard Brookner, whose work captured the late 70s and early 80s cultural revolution, and his nephew’s personal journey 25 years later to discover his uncle’s films and the legacy of a life cut short by the plague of AIDS.”
Read More: Watch: Trailer For Sundance Bound Documentary ‘Uncle Howard’ Executive...
- 10/26/2016
- by Michael Nordine
- Indiewire
Not only does Jim Jarmush have Paterson and Gimme Danger this fall, but he also produced — and is featured in — Uncle Howard, a new documentary from director Aaron Brookner, which explores the life and work of his uncle, a New York filmmaker who died of AIDS in 1989. An intimately personal reflection on his life, Howard Brookner directed Burroughs: The Movie, about the beat generation writer, but it looks like the ambitions of the documentary go beyond just his work.
We said in our review, “How many great filmmakers have been lost as a result of disease and human catastrophe? That seems to be the question on the mind of documentary filmmaker Aaron Brookner in his debut film, Uncle Howard, a deeply personal piece of work that offers both an introduction (or re-introduction?) to the director’s uncle — a once-burgeoning independent filmmaker who died of AIDS in 1989 at just 31 years of...
We said in our review, “How many great filmmakers have been lost as a result of disease and human catastrophe? That seems to be the question on the mind of documentary filmmaker Aaron Brookner in his debut film, Uncle Howard, a deeply personal piece of work that offers both an introduction (or re-introduction?) to the director’s uncle — a once-burgeoning independent filmmaker who died of AIDS in 1989 at just 31 years of...
- 10/26/2016
- by Leonard Pearce
- The Film Stage
"I had been searching for my Uncle Howard's first film..." Pinball London has debuted a trailer for a doc called Uncle Howard, which has played at film fests all over the world including Sundance, Berlinale and the New York Film Festival most recently. Uncle Howard is made by Aaron Brookner, nephew of American director Howard Brookner, a little-known but well-regarded filmmaker who died of AIDS in the late 80s. In the film, Aaron goes on a journey to "discover his uncle's films and the legacy" - meeting people like Jim Jarmusch and Tom Dicillo along the way. It's a very fascinating, very personal doc but should be inspiring to other filmmakers. It's not my favorite doc I've seen this year, but it's one of the better ones. Take a look. Here's the official trailer (+ poster) for Aaron Brookner's doc Uncle Howard, in high def from Apple: Uncle Howard is...
- 10/24/2016
- by Alex Billington
- firstshowing.net
Here's Jason reporting from Nyff on two docs that deal with a younger generation being affected and influenced by the art dealings of their elders.
It seems like every other gay person that I meet has a gay aunt or uncle who informed their childhood in some way - I never did; the closest I got was a friend of my mother's who was whispered about as a weird bachelor type, but he was out of her life before I was born. But you remember such things, small weird whispers as they are, when they're your singular life-line to a big world actually existing out there where you can figure your own stuff out.
I don't know or care if director Aaron Brookner is gay himself but you get the same sensation from watching Uncle Howard, his new documentary on his uncle, a film-maker who died at the age of...
It seems like every other gay person that I meet has a gay aunt or uncle who informed their childhood in some way - I never did; the closest I got was a friend of my mother's who was whispered about as a weird bachelor type, but he was out of her life before I was born. But you remember such things, small weird whispers as they are, when they're your singular life-line to a big world actually existing out there where you can figure your own stuff out.
I don't know or care if director Aaron Brookner is gay himself but you get the same sensation from watching Uncle Howard, his new documentary on his uncle, a film-maker who died at the age of...
- 10/6/2016
- by JA
- FilmExperience
Aaron Brookner with Paterson and Gimme Danger director Jim Jarmusch - Sara Driver on Uncle Howard: "I knew Howard’s nephew Aaron was interested in filmmaking ..."
In Aaron Brookner's search in the making of Uncle Howard, with timely editing by Masahiro Hirakubo (Orlando von Einsiedel's Virunga), we see glimpses of John Cage, Merce Cunningham, Philip Glass, John Giorno, Laurie Anderson, Anne Waldman, Jim Carroll, Frank Zappa, and Patti Smith at the Entermedia Nova Convention - Andy Warhol having Cities Of The Red Night inscribed by William Burroughs - clips from Robert Wilson and the Civil Wars - and a telling interview with Lindsay Law on Howard Brookner's film Bloodhounds Of Broadway, based on Damon Runyon stories, with Matt Dillon, Rutger Hauer, Randy Quaid, Jennifer Grey, Madonna, Anita Morris, Fisher Stevens, Richard Edson, and Steve Buscemi.
Sara Driver with Paul Bowles scholar Francis Poole and Richard Peña...
In Aaron Brookner's search in the making of Uncle Howard, with timely editing by Masahiro Hirakubo (Orlando von Einsiedel's Virunga), we see glimpses of John Cage, Merce Cunningham, Philip Glass, John Giorno, Laurie Anderson, Anne Waldman, Jim Carroll, Frank Zappa, and Patti Smith at the Entermedia Nova Convention - Andy Warhol having Cities Of The Red Night inscribed by William Burroughs - clips from Robert Wilson and the Civil Wars - and a telling interview with Lindsay Law on Howard Brookner's film Bloodhounds Of Broadway, based on Damon Runyon stories, with Matt Dillon, Rutger Hauer, Randy Quaid, Jennifer Grey, Madonna, Anita Morris, Fisher Stevens, Richard Edson, and Steve Buscemi.
Sara Driver with Paul Bowles scholar Francis Poole and Richard Peña...
- 10/2/2016
- by Anne-Katrin Titze
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
Hoop Dreams, The Interrupters and Life Itself director Steve James's latest, Abacus: Small Enough to Jail, in the New York Film Festival Photo: Anne-Katrin Titze
Films by Steve James, Alexis Bloom and Fisher Stevens (on Carrie Fisher and Debbie Reynolds), Errol Morris (on Elsa Dorfman), Bill Morrison, Mahamat-Saleh Haroun, Raoul Peck, Kasper Collin (on Lee Morgan), Sam Pollard, Aaron Brookner (on William Burroughs and Robert Wilson documentarian Howard Brookner), Olatz López Garmendia, Shimon Dotan, Mohamed Siam, Linda Saffire and Adam Schlesinger (on Wendy Whelan), Petra Epperlein and Michael Tucker will shine in the New York Film Festival Spotlight on Documentary section.
Ava DuVernay’s documentary The 13th was announced earlier as the Opening Night Gala film, Gimme Danger's Jim Jarmusch appears in Brookner's Uncle Howard and Sacro Gra director Gianfranco Rosi has his latest Fire at Sea (Fuocoammare) screening in the Main Slate program.
Chaired by Festival Director Kent Jones,...
Films by Steve James, Alexis Bloom and Fisher Stevens (on Carrie Fisher and Debbie Reynolds), Errol Morris (on Elsa Dorfman), Bill Morrison, Mahamat-Saleh Haroun, Raoul Peck, Kasper Collin (on Lee Morgan), Sam Pollard, Aaron Brookner (on William Burroughs and Robert Wilson documentarian Howard Brookner), Olatz López Garmendia, Shimon Dotan, Mohamed Siam, Linda Saffire and Adam Schlesinger (on Wendy Whelan), Petra Epperlein and Michael Tucker will shine in the New York Film Festival Spotlight on Documentary section.
Ava DuVernay’s documentary The 13th was announced earlier as the Opening Night Gala film, Gimme Danger's Jim Jarmusch appears in Brookner's Uncle Howard and Sacro Gra director Gianfranco Rosi has his latest Fire at Sea (Fuocoammare) screening in the Main Slate program.
Chaired by Festival Director Kent Jones,...
- 8/25/2016
- by Anne-Katrin Titze
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
The Film Society of Lincoln Center today announced the complete Spotlight on Documentary lineup for the 54th New York Film Festival, which begins on September 30 and ends on October 16. Among the more prominent selections are “Hoop Dreams” director Steve James’ “Abacus: Small Enough to Jail” and Errol Morris’ “The B-Side: Elsa Dorfman’s Portrait Photography,” among others; already announced titles for this year’s edition of Nyff, the 54th, include Kenneth Lonergan’s “Manchester by the Sea,” Maren Ade’s “Toni Erdmann” and Kelly Reichardt’s “Certain Women.” Find the full list of documentaries below.
Read More: Nyff Reveals Main Slate of 2016 Titles, Including ‘Manchester By the Sea,’ ‘Paterson’ and ‘Personal Shopper’
“Abacus: Small Enough to Jail” (Steve James)
“The B-Side: Elsa Dorfman’s Portrait Photography” (Errol Morris)
“Bright Lights: Starring Carrie Fisher and Debbie Reynolds” (Alexis Bloom & Fisher Stevens)
“The Cinema Travellers” (Shirley Abraham & Amit Madheshiya”)
“Dawson City: Frozen Times” (Bill Morrison)
“Hissen Habré,...
Read More: Nyff Reveals Main Slate of 2016 Titles, Including ‘Manchester By the Sea,’ ‘Paterson’ and ‘Personal Shopper’
“Abacus: Small Enough to Jail” (Steve James)
“The B-Side: Elsa Dorfman’s Portrait Photography” (Errol Morris)
“Bright Lights: Starring Carrie Fisher and Debbie Reynolds” (Alexis Bloom & Fisher Stevens)
“The Cinema Travellers” (Shirley Abraham & Amit Madheshiya”)
“Dawson City: Frozen Times” (Bill Morrison)
“Hissen Habré,...
- 8/24/2016
- by Michael Nordine
- Indiewire
Festival top brass announced on Wednesday the selections that will screen in the 54th New York Film Festival’s Spotlight On Documentary.
The roster includes Steve James’ Abacus: Small Enough To Jail, Errol Morris’ The B-Side: Elsa Dorfman’s Portrait Photography, Raoul Peck’s I Am Not Your Negro, and Mohamed Siam’s Whose Country?
The festival runs from September 30-October 16 and as previously announced will open with Ava DuVernay’s documentary The 13th.
Spotlight On Documentary
(All 2016 unless stated otherwise)
Abacus: Small Enough To Jail (USA) Steve JamesThe B-Side: Elsa Dorfman’s Portrait Photography (USA) Errol MorrisBright Lights: Starring Carrie Fisher and Debbie Reynolds (USA) Alexis Bloom and Fisher StevensThe Cinema Travellers (India) Shirley Abraham and Amit Madheshiya — Us premiereDawson City: Frozen Time (USA) Bill Morrison — North American premiereHissen Habré, A Chadian Tragedy (France-Chad) Mahamat-Saleh HarounI Am Not Your Negro (USA-France-Belgium-Switzerland) Raoul PeckI Called Him Morgan (Sweden) Kasper CollinKarl Marx City (USA-Germany) Petra Epperlein and Michael...
The roster includes Steve James’ Abacus: Small Enough To Jail, Errol Morris’ The B-Side: Elsa Dorfman’s Portrait Photography, Raoul Peck’s I Am Not Your Negro, and Mohamed Siam’s Whose Country?
The festival runs from September 30-October 16 and as previously announced will open with Ava DuVernay’s documentary The 13th.
Spotlight On Documentary
(All 2016 unless stated otherwise)
Abacus: Small Enough To Jail (USA) Steve JamesThe B-Side: Elsa Dorfman’s Portrait Photography (USA) Errol MorrisBright Lights: Starring Carrie Fisher and Debbie Reynolds (USA) Alexis Bloom and Fisher StevensThe Cinema Travellers (India) Shirley Abraham and Amit Madheshiya — Us premiereDawson City: Frozen Time (USA) Bill Morrison — North American premiereHissen Habré, A Chadian Tragedy (France-Chad) Mahamat-Saleh HarounI Am Not Your Negro (USA-France-Belgium-Switzerland) Raoul PeckI Called Him Morgan (Sweden) Kasper CollinKarl Marx City (USA-Germany) Petra Epperlein and Michael...
- 8/24/2016
- by jeremykay67@gmail.com (Jeremy Kay)
- ScreenDaily
The festival’s Zabaltegi strand is introducing a competition for the first time.
The 64th San Sebastian Film Festival (Sept 16-24) has completed the line-up for its Zabaltegi-Tabakalera strand, which will be competitive for the first time.
New additions include sci-fi Midnight Special from Us filmmaker Jeff Nichols (Take Shelter, Mud), which premiered at the Berlinale in February.
Todd Solondz comedy-drama Wiener-Dog, first seen at Sundance in January, has also been selected for the strand. It marks the third time the Us writer/director has been chosen for Zabaltegi, after presenting Happiness in 1998 and Storytelling in 2001.
As previously announced, Bertrand Tavernier’s Voyage A Travers Le Cinema Francais (A Journey Through French Cinema) will open the strand.
Other highlights include Gimme Danger, Jim Jarmusch’s documentary about Iggy Pop and The Stooges, which premired at Cannes in May.
Also in the line-up is Portuguese director João Pedro Rodrigues’s fifth feature O Ornitólogo (L’Ornithologue), playing in competition...
The 64th San Sebastian Film Festival (Sept 16-24) has completed the line-up for its Zabaltegi-Tabakalera strand, which will be competitive for the first time.
New additions include sci-fi Midnight Special from Us filmmaker Jeff Nichols (Take Shelter, Mud), which premiered at the Berlinale in February.
Todd Solondz comedy-drama Wiener-Dog, first seen at Sundance in January, has also been selected for the strand. It marks the third time the Us writer/director has been chosen for Zabaltegi, after presenting Happiness in 1998 and Storytelling in 2001.
As previously announced, Bertrand Tavernier’s Voyage A Travers Le Cinema Francais (A Journey Through French Cinema) will open the strand.
Other highlights include Gimme Danger, Jim Jarmusch’s documentary about Iggy Pop and The Stooges, which premired at Cannes in May.
Also in the line-up is Portuguese director João Pedro Rodrigues’s fifth feature O Ornitólogo (L’Ornithologue), playing in competition...
- 8/11/2016
- ScreenDaily
Exclusive: Uncle Howard director to helm an adaptation of Darryl Pinckney’s novel.
UK production outfit Pinball London has optioned Darryl Pinckney novel Black Deutschland as the latest project for Aaron Brookner (Uncle Howard, pictured) to write and direct.
The book is about a young black man from an affluent background in Chicago who heads to Germany after coming out of rehab. A troubled college dropout struggling to come to terms with his sexuality (he is gay), he hopes to build a new life in Berlin, a city he is drawn to by its decadent and bohemian reputation.
The film will be produced by Paula Vaccaro. It is being put together as a UK-Germany-us co-production.
Brookner’s previous feature Uncle Howard - sold internationally by Upside Distribution - is screening at the Cannes Marché following its selections in Sundance and Berlin.
Uncle Howard is about director Brooker’s uncle, the celebrated filmmaker Howard Brookner who died of...
UK production outfit Pinball London has optioned Darryl Pinckney novel Black Deutschland as the latest project for Aaron Brookner (Uncle Howard, pictured) to write and direct.
The book is about a young black man from an affluent background in Chicago who heads to Germany after coming out of rehab. A troubled college dropout struggling to come to terms with his sexuality (he is gay), he hopes to build a new life in Berlin, a city he is drawn to by its decadent and bohemian reputation.
The film will be produced by Paula Vaccaro. It is being put together as a UK-Germany-us co-production.
Brookner’s previous feature Uncle Howard - sold internationally by Upside Distribution - is screening at the Cannes Marché following its selections in Sundance and Berlin.
Uncle Howard is about director Brooker’s uncle, the celebrated filmmaker Howard Brookner who died of...
- 5/15/2016
- by geoffrey@macnab.demon.co.uk (Geoffrey Macnab)
- ScreenDaily
Documentary about Us filmmaker whose life was cut short by AIDS scores international sales deal.
New Paris-based sales and production company Upside Distribution has secured international sales rights to documentary Uncle Howard.
Berlin Q&A: Aaron Brookner, Uncle Howard
Pinball London, the production company behind the Sundance and Berlinale documentary, closed the deal.
Upside Distribution, which recently launched its first feature slate, will come on board to manage Uncle Howard’s international distribution. ICM Partners is handling North American sales.
“We are proud and excited to represent this strong and touching film, which moved us all at the Berlinale,” said Pauline Saint Hilaire and Johan de Faria from Upside Distribution.
The film centres on director Howard Brookner, who died of AIDS in NYC in 1989 while in post-production on his breakthrough Hollywood movie, Bloodhounds Of Broadway, starring Madonna and Matt Dillon.
Uncle Howard follows his nephew’s personal journey to discover his uncle’s film legacy which captured...
New Paris-based sales and production company Upside Distribution has secured international sales rights to documentary Uncle Howard.
Berlin Q&A: Aaron Brookner, Uncle Howard
Pinball London, the production company behind the Sundance and Berlinale documentary, closed the deal.
Upside Distribution, which recently launched its first feature slate, will come on board to manage Uncle Howard’s international distribution. ICM Partners is handling North American sales.
“We are proud and excited to represent this strong and touching film, which moved us all at the Berlinale,” said Pauline Saint Hilaire and Johan de Faria from Upside Distribution.
The film centres on director Howard Brookner, who died of AIDS in NYC in 1989 while in post-production on his breakthrough Hollywood movie, Bloodhounds Of Broadway, starring Madonna and Matt Dillon.
Uncle Howard follows his nephew’s personal journey to discover his uncle’s film legacy which captured...
- 2/16/2016
- by michael.rosser@screendaily.com (Michael Rosser)
- ScreenDaily
The pack of documentaries in this year’s Panorama selection has thrown up an interesting pair on the Berlinale’s opening weekend. Moving from filmmaking to photography, just one day after Aaron Brookner’s Uncle Howard opened in the Panorama Dokumente section, we find another non-fiction feature immersed in the creative explosion and ultimate tragedy of the gay scene in ’80s New York. Directed for HBO by Fenton Bailey and Randy Barbato — the subversive television production couple behind RuPaul’s Drag Race, Deeper Throat, and Sex Change Hospital — Mapplethorpe: Look at the Pictures provides a snappy, confidently explicit overview of the photographer’s work and life that chooses not to sugarcoat the man’s ruthless ambition or seemingly exasperating personality.
Born to English and Irish parents in Queens, New York, Robert Mapplethorpe would take the ritual and symbolism of his Catholic upbringing and use it to create some of the...
Born to English and Irish parents in Queens, New York, Robert Mapplethorpe would take the ritual and symbolism of his Catholic upbringing and use it to create some of the...
- 2/15/2016
- by Rory O'Connor
- The Film Stage
Amid a recent surge in documentaries that emerge from the discovery of once-thought-lost film footage, few can claim to have a history as eye-catching as Aaron Brookner’s touching Uncle Howard, made possible thanks to an archive stash buried in William S. Burroughs’ near-mythical New York residence, located in a converted Ymca swimming-pool locker room and affectionately dubbed "The Bunker."
It was in this near-windowless Lower East Side apartment — featuring two large marble urinals in the bathroom, spices on the spice rack dated 1978 and Burroughs’ own handgun in the dresser draw — where Aaron found five years’...
It was in this near-windowless Lower East Side apartment — featuring two large marble urinals in the bathroom, spices on the spice rack dated 1978 and Burroughs’ own handgun in the dresser draw — where Aaron found five years’...
- 2/14/2016
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Amid a recent surge in documentaries that emerge from the discovery of once-thought-lost film footage, few can claim to have a history as eye-catching as Aaron Brookner’s touching Uncle Howard, made possible thanks to an archive stash buried in William S. Burroughs’ near-mythical New York residence, located in a converted Ymca swimming-pool locker room and affectionately dubbed "The Bunker."
It was in this near-windowless Lower East Side apartment — featuring two large marble urinals in the bathroom, spices on the spice rack dated 1978 and Burroughs’ own handgun in the dresser draw — where Aaron found five years’...
It was in this near-windowless Lower East Side apartment — featuring two large marble urinals in the bathroom, spices on the spice rack dated 1978 and Burroughs’ own handgun in the dresser draw — where Aaron found five years’...
- 2/14/2016
- The Hollywood Reporter - Film + TV
How many great filmmakers have been lost as a result of disease and human catastrophe? That seems to be the question on the mind of documentary filmmaker Aaron Brookner in his debut film, Uncle Howard, a deeply personal piece of work that offers both an introduction (or re-introduction?) to the director’s uncle — a once-burgeoning independent filmmaker who died of AIDS in 1989 at just 31 years of age — and a somber meditation on talent lost.
Howard Brookner was born in New York, raised on Long Island, and graduated with an M.A. in Art History and Film from Nyu. His first feature would be Burroughs: The Movie, an acclaimed documentary on Beat poet William S. Burroughs. He got his college buddies Tom Dicillo and Jim Jarmusch to respectively serve as cinematographer and boom guy. The New York Times would later attribute its “comprehensiveness” to Brookner’s “unusual degree of liveliness and curiosity.
Howard Brookner was born in New York, raised on Long Island, and graduated with an M.A. in Art History and Film from Nyu. His first feature would be Burroughs: The Movie, an acclaimed documentary on Beat poet William S. Burroughs. He got his college buddies Tom Dicillo and Jim Jarmusch to respectively serve as cinematographer and boom guy. The New York Times would later attribute its “comprehensiveness” to Brookner’s “unusual degree of liveliness and curiosity.
- 2/13/2016
- by Rory O'Connor
- The Film Stage
This study of documentarian Howard Brookner is a family relic, a snapshot of New York’s 1980s gay scene and an unearthing of quirky cinematic detritus
Here is a sensitive, intelligent portrait of film director Howard Brookner made by his nephew Aaron – a film-maker of some note, too. It also indulges in a little literary excavation, and functions as a window on the mid-1980s New York gay community that was decimated by the Aids epidemic.
Howard Brookner’s reputation chiefly rests on a documentary profile of novelist William S Burroughs, who he filmed in the writer’s latter years – initially – while at New York University film school. (An unexpected byplay is that Brookner’s sound recordist on the Burroughs film turns out to be an equally studenty Jim Jarmusch, and his cinematographer was Tom Dicillo, another director-to-be.) As Aaron Brookner – who bears a striking resemblance to his uncle – chases down Howard’s Burroughs footage,...
Here is a sensitive, intelligent portrait of film director Howard Brookner made by his nephew Aaron – a film-maker of some note, too. It also indulges in a little literary excavation, and functions as a window on the mid-1980s New York gay community that was decimated by the Aids epidemic.
Howard Brookner’s reputation chiefly rests on a documentary profile of novelist William S Burroughs, who he filmed in the writer’s latter years – initially – while at New York University film school. (An unexpected byplay is that Brookner’s sound recordist on the Burroughs film turns out to be an equally studenty Jim Jarmusch, and his cinematographer was Tom Dicillo, another director-to-be.) As Aaron Brookner – who bears a striking resemblance to his uncle – chases down Howard’s Burroughs footage,...
- 2/12/2016
- by Andrew Pulver
- The Guardian - Film News
Read More: Sundance Announces Competition and Next Lineups, Featuring Returning Favorites and a Secret Director The upcoming Sundance documentary "Uncle Howard" delves into the life and legacy of New York filmmaker Howard Brookner, who passed away from AIDS in 1989. Independent cinema enthusiast and industry jack-of-all-trades Jim Jarmusch joins Howard's nephew Aaron as Executive Producer on this expedition. Brookner's body of work, which captured the late 70's and early 80's cultural revolution, was buried in William S. Burroughs' bunker for 30 years. Now, Aaron takes it upon himself to unearth the films of his uncle in an attempt to understand the man behind the camera. "Uncle Howard" is premiering at Sundance this week. Watch the trailer above. Read More: Susan Kouguell Interview with Aaron Brookner...
- 1/21/2016
- by Bryn Gelbart
- Indiewire
Films include Shepherds and Butchers with Steve Coogan; Don’t Call Me Son from Anna Muylaert; and a documentary about a director and actress who were kidnapped by Kim Jong-il.
The Berlinale (Feb 11-21) has completed the selection for this year’s Panorama strand, comprising 51 films from 33 countries. A total of 34 fiction features comprise the main programme and Panorama Special while a further 17 titles will screen in Panorama Dokumente.
A total of 33 films are world premieres, nine are international premieres and nine European premieres. The 30th Teddy Award is also being celebrated with an anniversary series of 17 films.
Notable titles include Shepherds and Butchers from South Africa, which is set toward the end of Apartheid and stars Steve Coogan as a hotshot lawyer who faces his biggest test when he agrees to defend a white prison guard who has killed seven black men. What ensues is a charge against the death penalty itself, in a case...
The Berlinale (Feb 11-21) has completed the selection for this year’s Panorama strand, comprising 51 films from 33 countries. A total of 34 fiction features comprise the main programme and Panorama Special while a further 17 titles will screen in Panorama Dokumente.
A total of 33 films are world premieres, nine are international premieres and nine European premieres. The 30th Teddy Award is also being celebrated with an anniversary series of 17 films.
Notable titles include Shepherds and Butchers from South Africa, which is set toward the end of Apartheid and stars Steve Coogan as a hotshot lawyer who faces his biggest test when he agrees to defend a white prison guard who has killed seven black men. What ensues is a charge against the death penalty itself, in a case...
- 1/21/2016
- by michael.rosser@screendaily.com (Michael Rosser)
- ScreenDaily
Films include Shepherds and Butchers, starring Steve Coogan; Don’t Call Me Son from Anna Muylaert; and a documentary about a director and actress who were kidnapped by Kim Jong-il and forced to make films.
The Berlinale (Feb 11-21) has completed the selection for this year’s Panorama strand, comprising 51 films from 33 countries. A total of 34 fiction features comprise the main programme and Panorama Special while a further 17 titles will screen in Panorama Dokumente.
A total of 33 films are world premieres, nine are international premieres and nine European premieres. The 30th Teddy Award is also being celebrated with an anniversary series of 17 films.
Notable titles include Shepherds and Butchers from South Africa, which is set toward the end of Apartheid and stars Steve Coogan as a hotshot lawyer faces his biggest test when he agrees to defend a white prison guard who has killed seven black men. What ensues is a charge against the death penalty itself...
The Berlinale (Feb 11-21) has completed the selection for this year’s Panorama strand, comprising 51 films from 33 countries. A total of 34 fiction features comprise the main programme and Panorama Special while a further 17 titles will screen in Panorama Dokumente.
A total of 33 films are world premieres, nine are international premieres and nine European premieres. The 30th Teddy Award is also being celebrated with an anniversary series of 17 films.
Notable titles include Shepherds and Butchers from South Africa, which is set toward the end of Apartheid and stars Steve Coogan as a hotshot lawyer faces his biggest test when he agrees to defend a white prison guard who has killed seven black men. What ensues is a charge against the death penalty itself...
- 1/21/2016
- by michael.rosser@screendaily.com (Michael Rosser)
- ScreenDaily
We’ll likely have to wait until Cannes for Jim Jarmusch‘s highly-anticipated next film Paterson, but the director will have a presence at this week’s Sundance Film Festival. He’s produced — and is featured in — Uncle Howard, a new documentary from director Aaron Brookner, which explores the life and work of his uncle, a New York filmmaker who died of AIDS in 1989.
The first trailer has now landed today, which looks like an intimately personal reflection on his life. As one may know, Howard Brookner directed Burroughs: The Movie, about the beat generation writer, and it looks like a good deal of the documentary focuses on their relationship. Also featuring Allen Ginsberg, James Grauerholz, Sara Driver, Brad Gooch, Robert Wilson, Matt Dillon, Madonna, and more, check out the trailer and poster below.
Uncle Howard is an intertwining tale of past and present. New York filmmaker Howard Brookner died...
The first trailer has now landed today, which looks like an intimately personal reflection on his life. As one may know, Howard Brookner directed Burroughs: The Movie, about the beat generation writer, and it looks like a good deal of the documentary focuses on their relationship. Also featuring Allen Ginsberg, James Grauerholz, Sara Driver, Brad Gooch, Robert Wilson, Matt Dillon, Madonna, and more, check out the trailer and poster below.
Uncle Howard is an intertwining tale of past and present. New York filmmaker Howard Brookner died...
- 1/21/2016
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
A couple of years back, filmmaker Howard Brookner's long thought lost "Burroughs: The Movie," his portrait of the famed writer, was re-discovered, cleaned up, and finally screened. However, the story behind the discovery is just as fascinating, and the upcoming documentary "Uncle Howard," set to premiere at the Sundance Film Festival, tells the tale. Read More: Watch A Clip From Long Lost Doc 'Burroughs: The Movie' Premiering At The New York Film Festival Directed by Aaron Brookner, executive produced by Jim Jarmusch, and featuring William S. Burroughs, Allen Ginsberg, James Grauerholz, Sara Driver, Brad Gooch, Robert Wilson, Matt Dillon, Madonna, and more, "Uncle Howard" takes a look Howard Brookner's legacy. Here's the official synopsis: Uncle Howard is an intertwining tale of past and present. New York filmmaker Howard Brookner died of AIDS in 1989, while making his breakthrough Hollywood movie. His body of work, which captured the late 70s.
- 1/21/2016
- by Kevin Jagernauth
- The Playlist
The Berlinale's added to its Panorama section, completed its Perspektive Deutsches Kino lineup and announced the complete Berlinale Classics program, which includes new restorations of James Whale's The Road Back, Fritz Lang's Destiny, Heiner Carow's The Russians Are Coming, Hou Hsiao-hsien's Daughter of the Nile, John Huston's Fat City and Yasujiro Ozu's Early Summer. We can look forward to new films from Alex Gibney, Doris Dörrie, James Schamus, Wayne Wang, Ira Sachs and Emir Baigazin as well as Uncle Howard, a documentary by Aaron Brookner featuring Jim Jarmusch, Sara Driver, Tom Dicillo, Brad Gooch, Robert Wilson and William S. Burroughs. » - David Hudson...
- 1/17/2016
- Keyframe
The Berlinale's added to its Panorama section, completed its Perspektive Deutsches Kino lineup and announced the complete Berlinale Classics program, which includes new restorations of James Whale's The Road Back, Fritz Lang's Destiny, Heiner Carow's The Russians Are Coming, Hou Hsiao-hsien's Daughter of the Nile, John Huston's Fat City and Yasujiro Ozu's Early Summer. We can look forward to new films from Alex Gibney, Doris Dörrie, James Schamus, Wayne Wang, Ira Sachs and Emir Baigazin as well as Uncle Howard, a documentary by Aaron Brookner featuring Jim Jarmusch, Sara Driver, Tom Dicillo, Brad Gooch, Robert Wilson and William S. Burroughs. » - David Hudson...
- 1/17/2016
- Fandor: Keyframe
Berlinale Co-Production Market matches 36 new feature film projects with international co-production partners .
The 13th edition of the Berlinale Co-Production Market (Feb 14-16) has unveiled the 36 feature film projects from 29 different countries that will look to forge international co-production and financing partnerships.
Among the directors of the selected projects are Ciro Guerra, whose Embrace of the Serpent was presented as a project at a past edition of the market and is nominated for this year’s Best Foreign Language Film at the Academy Awards.
Also included Jasmila Zbanic, winner of the Golden Bear in 2006; Irish director Mark Noonan, who presented his debut film You’re Ugly Too last year at the Berlinale in the Generation Kplus programme and is currently working on his second feature film; as well as a host of other acclaimed directors such as Diego Lerman, Oliver Schmitz, Brandon Cronenberg and Alvaro Brechner.
The latest feature from Roar Uthang, who directed...
The 13th edition of the Berlinale Co-Production Market (Feb 14-16) has unveiled the 36 feature film projects from 29 different countries that will look to forge international co-production and financing partnerships.
Among the directors of the selected projects are Ciro Guerra, whose Embrace of the Serpent was presented as a project at a past edition of the market and is nominated for this year’s Best Foreign Language Film at the Academy Awards.
Also included Jasmila Zbanic, winner of the Golden Bear in 2006; Irish director Mark Noonan, who presented his debut film You’re Ugly Too last year at the Berlinale in the Generation Kplus programme and is currently working on his second feature film; as well as a host of other acclaimed directors such as Diego Lerman, Oliver Schmitz, Brandon Cronenberg and Alvaro Brechner.
The latest feature from Roar Uthang, who directed...
- 1/14/2016
- by michael.rosser@screendaily.com (Michael Rosser)
- ScreenDaily
Former Focus Features CEO James Schamus' directorial debut, "Indignation"—which premieres at Sundance later this month—is among the new additions to the Berlinale's Panorama section. Also heading from to Berlin after bowing in Park City are Ira Sachs' "Little Men," with Greg Kinnear and Jennifer Ehle, and Andrew Neel and David Gordon Green's Sundance competition title "Goat," starring Nick Jonas. Read More: "Sundance Adds New Films by Werner Herzog, Kenneth Lonergan, Kelly Reichardt, and Others to 2016 Slate" Flying under the radar is the documentary "Mapplethorpe: Look at the Pictures," from Fenton Bailey and Michael Barbato ("Inside Deep Throat," "Party Monster"), as well as Argentine director Daniel Burman's "The Tenth Man" and Aaron Brookner's archival portrait of his late uncle, Howard Brookner, whose own filmmaking career was cut short by AIDS in 1989. As part of the 30th anniversary...
- 1/14/2016
- by Matt Brennan
- Thompson on Hollywood
Plus… Carol producer Christine Vachon to receive special Teddy Award.Scroll down for full list of new additions
Berlin Film Festival (Feb 11-21) has announced that its Panorama Special strand will open on Feb 12 with Daniel Burman’s The Tenth Man (El rey del once) and the previously announced War on Everyone by John Michael McDonagh.
Argentinian director Burman opened the main programme of Panorama in 1988 with his debut A Chrysanthemum Bursts in Cinco Esquinas (Un crisantemo estalla en cinco esquinas). After presenting further works in Panorama and Competition, including Lost Embrace (El abrazo partido) which won two Silver Bears in 2004, Burman is to return with a portrait of multi-layered life in Once, the Jewish quarter of Buenos Aires.
Another Argentinian film in the Panorama is Maximiliano Schonfeld’s The Black Frost (La helada negra). In his second film, Schonfeld uses elegiac images to explore a world disconnected from time, where ancestors...
Berlin Film Festival (Feb 11-21) has announced that its Panorama Special strand will open on Feb 12 with Daniel Burman’s The Tenth Man (El rey del once) and the previously announced War on Everyone by John Michael McDonagh.
Argentinian director Burman opened the main programme of Panorama in 1988 with his debut A Chrysanthemum Bursts in Cinco Esquinas (Un crisantemo estalla en cinco esquinas). After presenting further works in Panorama and Competition, including Lost Embrace (El abrazo partido) which won two Silver Bears in 2004, Burman is to return with a portrait of multi-layered life in Once, the Jewish quarter of Buenos Aires.
Another Argentinian film in the Panorama is Maximiliano Schonfeld’s The Black Frost (La helada negra). In his second film, Schonfeld uses elegiac images to explore a world disconnected from time, where ancestors...
- 1/14/2016
- by michael.rosser@screendaily.com (Michael Rosser)
- ScreenDaily
Looking for a worthy project to complete for his thesis film at Nyu back in 1978, with his genuine sense of interest and weasily persuasive personality, Howard Brookner somehow convinced the then world famous writer William Burroughs to let himself become the subject of the warm cinematic portrait that would become Burroughs: The Movie. Brookner gathered his fellow film students Jim Jarmusch and Tom Dicillo to serve as sound recordist and cinematographer, respectively, and they set about filming on and off for five years, observing Burroughs in all aspects of his life, both public and private. After the film premiered in New York City in 1983 and followed with a brief world tour, the film sat in storage and was nearly forgotten about after Brookner succumbed to AIDS in 1989.
Thankfully, Howard’s nephew Aaron Brookner grew up with a taste for cinema, had visited his uncle’s sets, worked as a production...
Thankfully, Howard’s nephew Aaron Brookner grew up with a taste for cinema, had visited his uncle’s sets, worked as a production...
- 12/15/2015
- by Jordan M. Smith
- IONCINEMA.com
Kate Plays ChristineThe lineup for the 2016 Sundance Film Festival, taking place between January 21 -31, has been announced.U.S. Dramatic COMPETITIONAs You Are (Miles Joris-Peyrafitte, USA): As You Are is the telling and retelling of a relationship between three teenagers as it traces the course of their friendship through a construction of disparate memories prompted by a police investigation. Cast: Owen Campbell, Charlie Heaton, Amandla Stenberg, John Scurti, Scott Cohen, Mary Stuart Masterson. World Premiere The Birth of a Nation (Nate Parker, USA): Set against the antebellum South, this story follows Nat Turner, a literate slave and preacher whose financially strained owner, Samuel Turner, accepts an offer to use Nat’s preaching to subdue unruly slaves. After witnessing countless atrocities against fellow slaves, Nat devises a plan to lead his people to freedom. Cast: Nate Parker, Armie Hammer, Aja Naomi King, Jackie Earle Haley, Gabrielle Union, Mark Boone Jr. World PremiereChristine (Antonio Campos,...
- 12/7/2015
- by Notebook
- MUBI
Titles include Tallulah starring Ellen Page and Allison Janney, and Chad Hartigan’s Morris From America (pictured); Next strand also announced.Scroll down for full list
Sundance Institute has announced the 65 films selected for the Us Competition, World Competition and out-of-competition Next categories set to screen at the 2016 Sundance Film Festival (Jan 21-31) in Park City.
Us Dramatic Competition selections include Sian Heder’s Tallulah with Ellen Page and Allison Janney; Antonio Campos’ Christine; Clea DuVall’s feature directorial debut The Intervention; and Richard Tanne’s Southside With You, about Barack Obama’s first date with the First Lady.
Among the Us Documentary Competition selections are: Holy Hell by undisclosed; Jeff Feuerzeig’s Author: The Jt LeRoy Story; and Sara Jordenö’s Kiki.
The World Cinema Dramatic Competition entries include: Belgica (Belgium-France-Netherlands), Felix van Groeningen’s follow-up to The Broken Circle Breakdown; Manolo Cruz and Carlos del Castillo’s Between Sea And Land (Colombia); and Nicolette Krebitz’s Wild...
Sundance Institute has announced the 65 films selected for the Us Competition, World Competition and out-of-competition Next categories set to screen at the 2016 Sundance Film Festival (Jan 21-31) in Park City.
Us Dramatic Competition selections include Sian Heder’s Tallulah with Ellen Page and Allison Janney; Antonio Campos’ Christine; Clea DuVall’s feature directorial debut The Intervention; and Richard Tanne’s Southside With You, about Barack Obama’s first date with the First Lady.
Among the Us Documentary Competition selections are: Holy Hell by undisclosed; Jeff Feuerzeig’s Author: The Jt LeRoy Story; and Sara Jordenö’s Kiki.
The World Cinema Dramatic Competition entries include: Belgica (Belgium-France-Netherlands), Felix van Groeningen’s follow-up to The Broken Circle Breakdown; Manolo Cruz and Carlos del Castillo’s Between Sea And Land (Colombia); and Nicolette Krebitz’s Wild...
- 12/2/2015
- by jeremykay67@gmail.com (Jeremy Kay)
- ScreenDaily
This month on the Newsstand, Ryan is joined by David Blakeslee to discuss the December 2015 Criterion Collection line-up, as well as the latest in Criterion rumors, news, packaging, and more.
Subscribe to The Newsstand in iTunes or via RSS
Contact us with any feedback.
Shownotes Topics William Becker’s passing The December 2015 Criterion Collection Line-up Downhill Racer (December 1st) Jellyfish Eyes (December 8th) Speedy (December 8th) Burroughs: The Movie (December 15th) The August Wacky Drawing What’s coming in 2016? No Wexner talk this year New additions to Hulu, iTunes, Amazon, and YouTube New rumored titles Episode Links William Becker, Who Transformed Janus Films, Dies at 88 – The New York Times Remembering William Becker – From the Current Flashback: William Becker (1927–2015) – From the Current William Becker, 1927–2015 – From the Current Amazon is having a fantastic sale The Apu Trilogy is currently available to pre-order for $49.99 Wacky New Years Drawing Hints At The Criterion Collection...
Subscribe to The Newsstand in iTunes or via RSS
Contact us with any feedback.
Shownotes Topics William Becker’s passing The December 2015 Criterion Collection Line-up Downhill Racer (December 1st) Jellyfish Eyes (December 8th) Speedy (December 8th) Burroughs: The Movie (December 15th) The August Wacky Drawing What’s coming in 2016? No Wexner talk this year New additions to Hulu, iTunes, Amazon, and YouTube New rumored titles Episode Links William Becker, Who Transformed Janus Films, Dies at 88 – The New York Times Remembering William Becker – From the Current Flashback: William Becker (1927–2015) – From the Current William Becker, 1927–2015 – From the Current Amazon is having a fantastic sale The Apu Trilogy is currently available to pre-order for $49.99 Wacky New Years Drawing Hints At The Criterion Collection...
- 9/17/2015
- by Ryan Gallagher
- CriterionCast
On the heels of the 39th edition of the Toronto Int. Film Festival (Sept 4-14), Ifp’s Independent Film Week is where a plethora of fiction, non-fiction and new this year, web-based series from the likes of Desiree Akhavan and Calvin Reeder find future coin. Sectioned off as projects at the very beginning of financing to those that are nearing completion, there happens to be tons of Sundance alumni in the names below. Among those that caught our attention we have Medicine for Melancholy‘s Barry Jenkins’ sophomore feature, produced by Bad Milo!‘s Adele Romanski, Moonlight is about “two Miami boys navigate the temptations of the drug trade and their burgeoning sexuality in this triptych drama about black queer youth”. Concussion‘s Stacie Passon digs into the thriller genre with Strange Things Started Happening. Produced by vet Mary Jane Skalski (Mysterious Skin), this is about “a woman who has...
- 7/24/2014
- by Eric Lavallee
- IONCINEMA.com
Exclusive: Producer is in Cannes with slate that includes a restored William S Burroughs doc and On The Milky Road.
London-based Argentinean producer Paula Vaccaro is in town talking up an eclectic slate that includes a restored William S Burroughs doc and Emir Kusturica’s On The Milky Road.
Pinball London’s Vaccaro and Aaron Brookner serve as remastering producers on Burroughs: The Movie.
Brookner launched a Kickstarter campaign in late 2012 to restore the film, which his late uncle directed and remains the only feature doc about the Naked Lunch author, born 100 years ago.
Criterion is on board to release on DVD and Janus Film will distribute theatrically at the end of the year after Burroughs: The Movie returns to the New York Film Festival, the site of its world premiere 30 years ago.
Brookner will film the festival screening and insert into his original doc, Uncle Howard, which Vaccaro also produces. Jim Jarmusch is executive...
London-based Argentinean producer Paula Vaccaro is in town talking up an eclectic slate that includes a restored William S Burroughs doc and Emir Kusturica’s On The Milky Road.
Pinball London’s Vaccaro and Aaron Brookner serve as remastering producers on Burroughs: The Movie.
Brookner launched a Kickstarter campaign in late 2012 to restore the film, which his late uncle directed and remains the only feature doc about the Naked Lunch author, born 100 years ago.
Criterion is on board to release on DVD and Janus Film will distribute theatrically at the end of the year after Burroughs: The Movie returns to the New York Film Festival, the site of its world premiere 30 years ago.
Brookner will film the festival screening and insert into his original doc, Uncle Howard, which Vaccaro also produces. Jim Jarmusch is executive...
- 5/21/2014
- by jeremykay67@gmail.com (Jeremy Kay)
- ScreenDaily
Susan Kouguell speaks with director Aaron Brookner on his journey of re-mastering and re-leasing the documentary on William Burroughs, Burroughs: The Movie (1983) directed by his uncle, Howard Brookner, and Smash the Control Machine the feature documentary that tells the story of Aaron Brookner’s investigation into the mysterious life and missing films of Howard Brookner, who died of AIDS at age 34 in 1989 on the cusp of fame. Howard Brookner’s films also include Bloodhounds on Broadway (1989) and Robert Wilson and The Civil Wars (1987).
Born in New York City, Aaron Brookner began his career working on Jim Jarmusch’s Coffee and Cigarettes and Rebecca Miller’s Personal Velocity before making the award-winning documentary short The Black Cowboys (2004). His first feature documentary was a collaboration with writer Budd Schulberg (On the Waterfront), and his film, The Silver Goat (2012) was the first feature created exclusively for iPad, released as an App and downloaded across 24 countries, making it into the top 50 entertainment apps in the UK and Czech Republic.
The re-mastered print of Burroughs: The Movie will have its premier University of Indiana’s Burroughs 100th birthday event on February 6th, 2014.
Susan Kouguell: On your Kickstarter site you wrote:
“Howard Brookner directed three films before his death in 1989 from AIDS at the age of thirty-four. In the final year of his life he wrote:
If I live on it is in your memories and the films I made.
It was this quote that inspired me, Howard's nephew and enthusiastic Burroughsian, to search for the missing print of his first film, Burroughs: The Movie. After a long search I found the only print in good condition and embarked on a project to digitally remaster it and make it available to the public.”
This has been both a personal and artistic journey for you. When did this journey begin?
Aaron Brookner: It probably began when Howard died, originally. My lasting memories of him were of watching him make his final movie Bloodhounds on Broadway on the set, hanging out together and rough-housing, walking around downtown, the secret handshake and spoken greeting we had, the cool toys from Japan he brought me, messing around with video cameras, trips down to Miami, and oddly enough the Rolling Stones 3D halftime show during the 1989 Super Bowl.
But I also had seen him in a hospital bed. I had been to the AIDS ward. I was over at his apartment quite a bit during his final few months of life. Watched his funeral. And I was seven. Kids know everything that’s going on around them even when they don’t. I guess this was the case and that making Smash the Control Machine is some sort of way to articulate my childlike perspective on the story, as an adult. It’s also a way to satisfy my curiosity.
Howard, I’ve found out, in some weird cinematic way, left clues all over the world really, which show how he lived, and what he lived. He documented everything.
A few years ago when I started the search for the Burroughs: The Movie print, I started to find all these pieces to his puzzle. Not to mention his films! So I went all the way and committed to gathering up everything and telling his story, which has brought me into contact with the people who knew him best -- and survived him -- who each knew a completely different yet same Howard. It’s amazing to watch Howard come to life in the eyes of someone that knew him, through the stories they recall.
It’s been a very interesting journey, and still is. It was a hard one to start, obviously, because of the awful tragedy looming at the end, and I was sensitive to not want to stir this back up for the people who really suffered his death, but the feeling has really changed. There is so much life and joy of living and making movies that transcends through Howard’s work which I’ve discovered, and in the people who knew him best; that this feeling of life and art really trumps death and AIDS, and a lot of the political bulls--t that fueled that fire, and this is a good feeling, and sort of what I hope to bring out in my film.
Sk: You successfully raised more than the requested budget with Kickstarter to fund your film. Talk about the pros and cons of using this crowdsourcing resource.
Ab: A big pro is that you skip all the gatekeepers, which saves a lot of time. You go straight to the audience and in the case of remastering Howard’s Burroughs: The Movie film there was pretty straightforward thinking behind it. I thought if enough people know about this film and want it back, or if they want it for the first time, they’ll help me deliver. If not, so be it.
A con, and I don’t know if I’d call it a con or just the reality, is that you’re never getting something for nothing; you’ve got a lot of work to do to run a crowd-funding campaign. It’s great if there’s an audience for your project, but how are they gonna hear about it?! My partner, Paula Vaccaro, and I spent months working on this day and night, not knowing if we’d even succeed. A little stressful...but overall I think it’s amazing that crowd-sourcing exists, and that it can work. It’s also a pretty great exercise in clearly communicating what you want to do and why, and what’s the plan for how.
Sk: Smash the Control Machine, the film you are making on Howard’s story and the search for his lost work was selected in its early stages for the Berlinale. What was that experience like for you?
Ab: In a lot of ways it was like the Burroughs: The Movie Kickstarter experience, in that first of all, it was a great endorsement and support to have, and that it certainly helped to streamline the concept and see what worked and what didn’t.
We were specifically selected to the Talent Project Market at Berlinale as the only documentary of 10 total films from around the world. It was a few very intense and focused days like a workshop on all the different angles around your film, that as a creator you might not be thinking about -- like what your pitch is going to be and how to pitch for that matter -- to what are the comparable going numbers around and how an international co-production might work. It’s great to learn this because then, after the workshop days, you’re sitting at a table where film market people are coming to meet you and talk to you, and you kind of understand where they are coming from, so you’re confident in talking about your project, and knowing what’s good or not good for it.
Sk: Do you have any international partners with whom you are working?
Ab: The main production company for the film is Pinball London, which is mainly based in London, UK, our other partners are of course the executive producer of the film, Jim Jarmusch, producer Sara Driver in New York City, the Berlinale Talent Campus and the Talent Project Market, (who have been invaluable allies of the film) the Jerome Foundation, Media Program (the European Union’s main audiovisual development program (http://ec.europa.eu/culture/media/index_en.htm), the Independent Filmmaker Project in NYC, which runs our fiscal sponsorship campaign and supports the film with knowledge and an amazing network, and the generous support of other partners, such as the Arnie Glassman Foundation and private individual donors. We’re currently having conversations with other co-producers, distributors, transmedia partners, as well as sales companies from Us and EU but I can’t go into more details at this stage.
Sk: Film director Jim Jarmusch, who worked with Howard, is your executive producer. His features Permanent Vacation and Stranger Than Paradise, were influential works not only to the downtown New York City art film scene, but to the wider independent/art film movement. You mentioned that through this filmmaking process you have been exposed to the art and film created during this time and its staying power. Please elaborate.
Ab: New York City in the late 1970s was really the last place and time where two generations of artists overlapped and met and fed off each other. They lived in the same neighborhood, did the same drugs, went to the same clubs, and in some cases slept with the same people. Burroughs and Allen Ginsberg, much as they were artistic innovators for the way they completely broke the rules of literature, were also pioneering in the way they were open about their homosexuality and the way they put in their work.
Writer Brad Gooch, Howard’s long-time partner, told me that his and Howard’s was the first generation who really got to live openly when they got to New York. All the first love straight people get to experience in high school, gay men (and women) were experiencing at age twenty-five in downtown NYC against this epic backdrop of all sorts of art and space and time to create it. This sexual liberation really fed into the art scene. It was political without having a message, just by being.
The films that Jim Jarmusch and others were making at this time, they sort of applied the total lack of respect for rules that Burroughs and Ginsberg had laid in literature, and applied it to cinema. They took what they saw around them and put it in their work. And in the case of Howard making Burroughs: The Movie, with Jim and also Tom Dicillo who was doing camera, he went straight to the source. Howard decided not only am I going to apply the lack of rules, rule to movie-making, I’m gonna turn the camera on this moment in time as it’s really happening. I mean it’s incredible. They’re filming Burroughs at home, working out his speech to protest Proposition 6 in 1978, which Burroughs then incorporates into his reading at the Nova Convention -- to a packed-to-the-rafters theatre filled with 20 and 30-year-olds. Howard and his crew actually shot this.
There is just so much truth that shines through this work, and the work of that time like in Jarmusch’s films, and I think it’s because you had new artists’ energy directly side by side with the source. It was exceptionally rare, I think, historically, where one generation of artists so directly influenced another, only with the newer generation using a different medium, which of course was film.
Sk: You discovered more than 35 hours of film Howard shot from 1978-1983 that was stored in Burroughs’ bunker for 30 years. These reels include footage of Andy Warhol, Burroughs and Howard in the Chelsea Hotel, Allen Ginsberg, Frank Zappa and Patti Smith. How did you learn about this footage?
Ab: James Grauerholz, who was very close friends with my uncle and co-produced Burroughs: The Movie, who is William Burroughs’ heir, early on when I was looking for a print of the film sent me a detailed inventory of everything Howard had stored in the bunker (Burroughs’ NYC residence). I looked at the list and my jaw dropped. Howard had finished Burroughs: The Movie with the BBC (who provided completion funds) in 1983. Sometime later they shipped back these giant trunks of all of Howard’s rushes, outtakes, workprints, and negative rolls. Howard didn’t have a permanent residence at that time because he was traveling the globe making his next film on theatre director , who was preparing six different international plays around the world to all come together for the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics. So Howard got these trunks of his films and asked Burroughs if he could stash it in the back room of the Bunker. And there it sat undisturbed for 30 years! After Burroughs died, John Giorno, who lived above the bunker, decided to keep it as a sort of museum to William. And of course along with Burroughs’ hat, canes, and spices from 1978, are Howard’s films.
Sk: What condition are the reels?
Ab: The negatives look great. The work-prints are all kind of pink, which happens to color film over time, but this is fixable with a good colorist as per example:
There’s a tiny bit of shrinkage, as photochemical film will shrink over time, but it is very minimal considering 30 years with no climate and humidity control. Only one roll was lost completely to severe water damage. It’s very fortunate really so much of it survived. It was a race against the clock. Film is a living breathing organic material.
Sk: How were you able to access them? Where was/is the bunker?
It was a complicated battle. I fought, with support, a dedicated fight that lasted for well over a year. It was extremely anxiety-provoking, as every day there was a potential risk these precious films could have been destroyed. For all I knew there could have been vinegar in the cans, which happens to deteriorated film. There was a lot of faith involved, a bit like the Kickstarter campaign. You can image what Hurricane Sandy did to my nervous system. It was indeed a race against the clock with all sorts of obstacles, and so stressful I had to document it to cope, and because it really illustrated an issue that’s central to my film, which is: What happens to the work created by artists when they are gone? And this is key to artists who died of AIDS as they generally did not have the time or resources to prepare for their legacy. So, now that is a part of my film. There was a more or less happy ending. But you’ll have to see the film to get the story! The Bunker is on the Bowery in NYC.
Sk: With some of the clips you’ve shown me, this is quite a treasure trove that captures an important history.
Ab: There is a definite staying power of the art from that time because of its authenticity, and also because of New York City; these film rolls capture what New York City was like! So much space. Desolate downtown streets. Gritty details. It’s just pure beautiful decay. No one watching you. It looks like artistic paradise. And I’ve seen Howard’s rental contract for his loft on Prince and Bowery: $100/month!
Sk: Film preservation is vital, and as you mentioned, it’s a race against the clock before more films are lost.
Ab: This is a huge issue. Hundreds of thousands of films that maybe aren’t necessarily directly on the Hollywood radar are really in danger of being lost forever. You got time working against you because film deteriorates. You got money working against you because it costs a lot to keep climate and humidity-controlled vaults. Traditionally, labs all had vaults, but labs are closing. If not very nearly all closed. So it comes down to institutions and their funding, space and ability. You also got technology working against you. How many people out there know how to fix a film splice or thread a projector, or read camera roll code? And how many people will know this in 30 years? Who’s going to know how to fix the old film machines that stopped seeing use decades ago? It really needs attention because we’re looking at a century of film facing extinction.
Robert Wilson is a majorly important figure in the theatre and art world. Most people don’t know about Howard’s second feature documentary, which took the audience inside Robert Wilson’s creative process, and emotional process of making his work. I know this because I found part of these original film rolls packed into unmarked Igloo picnic containers stashed in the supply room behind the toilet in an archive in Hamburg.
Sk: When and where will Smash the Control Machine have its premiere?
Ab: The film is currently in early production and there is a very strong element of unpredictability in this story, making deadlines pretty impossible. But, Berlinale really gave us great support at a very early stage, and it would be a very nice honor to premier the film with them in 2015. But we will need to keep working and see what unfolds. There is a long year ahead.
Sk: What are the distribution plans for Burroughs: The Movie and Smash the Control Machine ?
Ab: For Burroughs: The Movie, we’ll be unveiling the remastered Dcp (Digital Cinema Package) of the film at University of Indiana’s Burroughs 100th birthday event on February 6th, followed by other Burroughs events throughout the year, such as at the Ica in London and the Photographer’s Gallery for their William Burroughs/Andy Warhol/David Lynch show.
The New York City premier will happen next fall at the New York Film Festival -- where the film first screened in 1983(!) -- possibly followed by a theatrical re-release and DVD/Blu-ray sale towards the end of the year. (Those who pledged for a DVD through our Kickstarter campaign however, will be sent their own copies of the film shortly.)
I’m also putting together a video art/sound installation piece from some of the never before seen material, that will show along with the film at Bafici in April, and likely in New York and London if not elsewhere. And we’re putting together a record with All Tomorrow’s Parties, using much of the never before heard audio from Howard’s Burroughs archive, to be sampled by select musicians.
For Smash the Control Machine: There are various plans I can’t discuss at this stage. What I can say is that our distribution will be tied to other impactful activities and events. I am working closely to build partnerships with those who care about the subjects of the film and the themes. Gentrification, Gay history, art legacy lost to AIDS. There are many great ways to distribute this film along these lines, as well as having a commercial release. My producer, PaulaVaccaro, and I are working hard to make sure this is tied up with whatever the film will do out there.
Sk: What advice do you have for aspiring documentary filmmakers?
Ab: Sometimes the best story for a film is right under your nose!
Breaking News: We are now working together with Janus Films and Criterion Collection for the distribution of Burroughs: The Movie. We are still creating a plan for the film although we know we will do a theatrical run in the Us sometime after the re-launch at the Nyff
See the Trailer Here
Award-winning screenwriter and filmmaker, Susan Kouguell teaches screenwriting and film at Tufts University and presents international seminars. 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 over 1,000 writers, filmmakers, and executives worldwide. www.su-city-pictures.com .
Born in New York City, Aaron Brookner began his career working on Jim Jarmusch’s Coffee and Cigarettes and Rebecca Miller’s Personal Velocity before making the award-winning documentary short The Black Cowboys (2004). His first feature documentary was a collaboration with writer Budd Schulberg (On the Waterfront), and his film, The Silver Goat (2012) was the first feature created exclusively for iPad, released as an App and downloaded across 24 countries, making it into the top 50 entertainment apps in the UK and Czech Republic.
The re-mastered print of Burroughs: The Movie will have its premier University of Indiana’s Burroughs 100th birthday event on February 6th, 2014.
Susan Kouguell: On your Kickstarter site you wrote:
“Howard Brookner directed three films before his death in 1989 from AIDS at the age of thirty-four. In the final year of his life he wrote:
If I live on it is in your memories and the films I made.
It was this quote that inspired me, Howard's nephew and enthusiastic Burroughsian, to search for the missing print of his first film, Burroughs: The Movie. After a long search I found the only print in good condition and embarked on a project to digitally remaster it and make it available to the public.”
This has been both a personal and artistic journey for you. When did this journey begin?
Aaron Brookner: It probably began when Howard died, originally. My lasting memories of him were of watching him make his final movie Bloodhounds on Broadway on the set, hanging out together and rough-housing, walking around downtown, the secret handshake and spoken greeting we had, the cool toys from Japan he brought me, messing around with video cameras, trips down to Miami, and oddly enough the Rolling Stones 3D halftime show during the 1989 Super Bowl.
But I also had seen him in a hospital bed. I had been to the AIDS ward. I was over at his apartment quite a bit during his final few months of life. Watched his funeral. And I was seven. Kids know everything that’s going on around them even when they don’t. I guess this was the case and that making Smash the Control Machine is some sort of way to articulate my childlike perspective on the story, as an adult. It’s also a way to satisfy my curiosity.
Howard, I’ve found out, in some weird cinematic way, left clues all over the world really, which show how he lived, and what he lived. He documented everything.
A few years ago when I started the search for the Burroughs: The Movie print, I started to find all these pieces to his puzzle. Not to mention his films! So I went all the way and committed to gathering up everything and telling his story, which has brought me into contact with the people who knew him best -- and survived him -- who each knew a completely different yet same Howard. It’s amazing to watch Howard come to life in the eyes of someone that knew him, through the stories they recall.
It’s been a very interesting journey, and still is. It was a hard one to start, obviously, because of the awful tragedy looming at the end, and I was sensitive to not want to stir this back up for the people who really suffered his death, but the feeling has really changed. There is so much life and joy of living and making movies that transcends through Howard’s work which I’ve discovered, and in the people who knew him best; that this feeling of life and art really trumps death and AIDS, and a lot of the political bulls--t that fueled that fire, and this is a good feeling, and sort of what I hope to bring out in my film.
Sk: You successfully raised more than the requested budget with Kickstarter to fund your film. Talk about the pros and cons of using this crowdsourcing resource.
Ab: A big pro is that you skip all the gatekeepers, which saves a lot of time. You go straight to the audience and in the case of remastering Howard’s Burroughs: The Movie film there was pretty straightforward thinking behind it. I thought if enough people know about this film and want it back, or if they want it for the first time, they’ll help me deliver. If not, so be it.
A con, and I don’t know if I’d call it a con or just the reality, is that you’re never getting something for nothing; you’ve got a lot of work to do to run a crowd-funding campaign. It’s great if there’s an audience for your project, but how are they gonna hear about it?! My partner, Paula Vaccaro, and I spent months working on this day and night, not knowing if we’d even succeed. A little stressful...but overall I think it’s amazing that crowd-sourcing exists, and that it can work. It’s also a pretty great exercise in clearly communicating what you want to do and why, and what’s the plan for how.
Sk: Smash the Control Machine, the film you are making on Howard’s story and the search for his lost work was selected in its early stages for the Berlinale. What was that experience like for you?
Ab: In a lot of ways it was like the Burroughs: The Movie Kickstarter experience, in that first of all, it was a great endorsement and support to have, and that it certainly helped to streamline the concept and see what worked and what didn’t.
We were specifically selected to the Talent Project Market at Berlinale as the only documentary of 10 total films from around the world. It was a few very intense and focused days like a workshop on all the different angles around your film, that as a creator you might not be thinking about -- like what your pitch is going to be and how to pitch for that matter -- to what are the comparable going numbers around and how an international co-production might work. It’s great to learn this because then, after the workshop days, you’re sitting at a table where film market people are coming to meet you and talk to you, and you kind of understand where they are coming from, so you’re confident in talking about your project, and knowing what’s good or not good for it.
Sk: Do you have any international partners with whom you are working?
Ab: The main production company for the film is Pinball London, which is mainly based in London, UK, our other partners are of course the executive producer of the film, Jim Jarmusch, producer Sara Driver in New York City, the Berlinale Talent Campus and the Talent Project Market, (who have been invaluable allies of the film) the Jerome Foundation, Media Program (the European Union’s main audiovisual development program (http://ec.europa.eu/culture/media/index_en.htm), the Independent Filmmaker Project in NYC, which runs our fiscal sponsorship campaign and supports the film with knowledge and an amazing network, and the generous support of other partners, such as the Arnie Glassman Foundation and private individual donors. We’re currently having conversations with other co-producers, distributors, transmedia partners, as well as sales companies from Us and EU but I can’t go into more details at this stage.
Sk: Film director Jim Jarmusch, who worked with Howard, is your executive producer. His features Permanent Vacation and Stranger Than Paradise, were influential works not only to the downtown New York City art film scene, but to the wider independent/art film movement. You mentioned that through this filmmaking process you have been exposed to the art and film created during this time and its staying power. Please elaborate.
Ab: New York City in the late 1970s was really the last place and time where two generations of artists overlapped and met and fed off each other. They lived in the same neighborhood, did the same drugs, went to the same clubs, and in some cases slept with the same people. Burroughs and Allen Ginsberg, much as they were artistic innovators for the way they completely broke the rules of literature, were also pioneering in the way they were open about their homosexuality and the way they put in their work.
Writer Brad Gooch, Howard’s long-time partner, told me that his and Howard’s was the first generation who really got to live openly when they got to New York. All the first love straight people get to experience in high school, gay men (and women) were experiencing at age twenty-five in downtown NYC against this epic backdrop of all sorts of art and space and time to create it. This sexual liberation really fed into the art scene. It was political without having a message, just by being.
The films that Jim Jarmusch and others were making at this time, they sort of applied the total lack of respect for rules that Burroughs and Ginsberg had laid in literature, and applied it to cinema. They took what they saw around them and put it in their work. And in the case of Howard making Burroughs: The Movie, with Jim and also Tom Dicillo who was doing camera, he went straight to the source. Howard decided not only am I going to apply the lack of rules, rule to movie-making, I’m gonna turn the camera on this moment in time as it’s really happening. I mean it’s incredible. They’re filming Burroughs at home, working out his speech to protest Proposition 6 in 1978, which Burroughs then incorporates into his reading at the Nova Convention -- to a packed-to-the-rafters theatre filled with 20 and 30-year-olds. Howard and his crew actually shot this.
There is just so much truth that shines through this work, and the work of that time like in Jarmusch’s films, and I think it’s because you had new artists’ energy directly side by side with the source. It was exceptionally rare, I think, historically, where one generation of artists so directly influenced another, only with the newer generation using a different medium, which of course was film.
Sk: You discovered more than 35 hours of film Howard shot from 1978-1983 that was stored in Burroughs’ bunker for 30 years. These reels include footage of Andy Warhol, Burroughs and Howard in the Chelsea Hotel, Allen Ginsberg, Frank Zappa and Patti Smith. How did you learn about this footage?
Ab: James Grauerholz, who was very close friends with my uncle and co-produced Burroughs: The Movie, who is William Burroughs’ heir, early on when I was looking for a print of the film sent me a detailed inventory of everything Howard had stored in the bunker (Burroughs’ NYC residence). I looked at the list and my jaw dropped. Howard had finished Burroughs: The Movie with the BBC (who provided completion funds) in 1983. Sometime later they shipped back these giant trunks of all of Howard’s rushes, outtakes, workprints, and negative rolls. Howard didn’t have a permanent residence at that time because he was traveling the globe making his next film on theatre director , who was preparing six different international plays around the world to all come together for the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics. So Howard got these trunks of his films and asked Burroughs if he could stash it in the back room of the Bunker. And there it sat undisturbed for 30 years! After Burroughs died, John Giorno, who lived above the bunker, decided to keep it as a sort of museum to William. And of course along with Burroughs’ hat, canes, and spices from 1978, are Howard’s films.
Sk: What condition are the reels?
Ab: The negatives look great. The work-prints are all kind of pink, which happens to color film over time, but this is fixable with a good colorist as per example:
There’s a tiny bit of shrinkage, as photochemical film will shrink over time, but it is very minimal considering 30 years with no climate and humidity control. Only one roll was lost completely to severe water damage. It’s very fortunate really so much of it survived. It was a race against the clock. Film is a living breathing organic material.
Sk: How were you able to access them? Where was/is the bunker?
It was a complicated battle. I fought, with support, a dedicated fight that lasted for well over a year. It was extremely anxiety-provoking, as every day there was a potential risk these precious films could have been destroyed. For all I knew there could have been vinegar in the cans, which happens to deteriorated film. There was a lot of faith involved, a bit like the Kickstarter campaign. You can image what Hurricane Sandy did to my nervous system. It was indeed a race against the clock with all sorts of obstacles, and so stressful I had to document it to cope, and because it really illustrated an issue that’s central to my film, which is: What happens to the work created by artists when they are gone? And this is key to artists who died of AIDS as they generally did not have the time or resources to prepare for their legacy. So, now that is a part of my film. There was a more or less happy ending. But you’ll have to see the film to get the story! The Bunker is on the Bowery in NYC.
Sk: With some of the clips you’ve shown me, this is quite a treasure trove that captures an important history.
Ab: There is a definite staying power of the art from that time because of its authenticity, and also because of New York City; these film rolls capture what New York City was like! So much space. Desolate downtown streets. Gritty details. It’s just pure beautiful decay. No one watching you. It looks like artistic paradise. And I’ve seen Howard’s rental contract for his loft on Prince and Bowery: $100/month!
Sk: Film preservation is vital, and as you mentioned, it’s a race against the clock before more films are lost.
Ab: This is a huge issue. Hundreds of thousands of films that maybe aren’t necessarily directly on the Hollywood radar are really in danger of being lost forever. You got time working against you because film deteriorates. You got money working against you because it costs a lot to keep climate and humidity-controlled vaults. Traditionally, labs all had vaults, but labs are closing. If not very nearly all closed. So it comes down to institutions and their funding, space and ability. You also got technology working against you. How many people out there know how to fix a film splice or thread a projector, or read camera roll code? And how many people will know this in 30 years? Who’s going to know how to fix the old film machines that stopped seeing use decades ago? It really needs attention because we’re looking at a century of film facing extinction.
Robert Wilson is a majorly important figure in the theatre and art world. Most people don’t know about Howard’s second feature documentary, which took the audience inside Robert Wilson’s creative process, and emotional process of making his work. I know this because I found part of these original film rolls packed into unmarked Igloo picnic containers stashed in the supply room behind the toilet in an archive in Hamburg.
Sk: When and where will Smash the Control Machine have its premiere?
Ab: The film is currently in early production and there is a very strong element of unpredictability in this story, making deadlines pretty impossible. But, Berlinale really gave us great support at a very early stage, and it would be a very nice honor to premier the film with them in 2015. But we will need to keep working and see what unfolds. There is a long year ahead.
Sk: What are the distribution plans for Burroughs: The Movie and Smash the Control Machine ?
Ab: For Burroughs: The Movie, we’ll be unveiling the remastered Dcp (Digital Cinema Package) of the film at University of Indiana’s Burroughs 100th birthday event on February 6th, followed by other Burroughs events throughout the year, such as at the Ica in London and the Photographer’s Gallery for their William Burroughs/Andy Warhol/David Lynch show.
The New York City premier will happen next fall at the New York Film Festival -- where the film first screened in 1983(!) -- possibly followed by a theatrical re-release and DVD/Blu-ray sale towards the end of the year. (Those who pledged for a DVD through our Kickstarter campaign however, will be sent their own copies of the film shortly.)
I’m also putting together a video art/sound installation piece from some of the never before seen material, that will show along with the film at Bafici in April, and likely in New York and London if not elsewhere. And we’re putting together a record with All Tomorrow’s Parties, using much of the never before heard audio from Howard’s Burroughs archive, to be sampled by select musicians.
For Smash the Control Machine: There are various plans I can’t discuss at this stage. What I can say is that our distribution will be tied to other impactful activities and events. I am working closely to build partnerships with those who care about the subjects of the film and the themes. Gentrification, Gay history, art legacy lost to AIDS. There are many great ways to distribute this film along these lines, as well as having a commercial release. My producer, PaulaVaccaro, and I are working hard to make sure this is tied up with whatever the film will do out there.
Sk: What advice do you have for aspiring documentary filmmakers?
Ab: Sometimes the best story for a film is right under your nose!
Breaking News: We are now working together with Janus Films and Criterion Collection for the distribution of Burroughs: The Movie. We are still creating a plan for the film although we know we will do a theatrical run in the Us sometime after the re-launch at the Nyff
See the Trailer Here
Award-winning screenwriter and filmmaker, Susan Kouguell teaches screenwriting and film at Tufts University and presents international seminars. 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 over 1,000 writers, filmmakers, and executives worldwide. www.su-city-pictures.com .
- 1/29/2014
- by Susan Kouguell
- Sydney's Buzz
IMDb.com, Inc. takes no responsibility for the content or accuracy of the above news articles, Tweets, or blog posts. This content is published for the entertainment of our users only. The news articles, Tweets, and blog posts do not represent IMDb's opinions nor can we guarantee that the reporting therein is completely factual. Please visit the source responsible for the item in question to report any concerns you may have regarding content or accuracy.