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Lifetime Movie Networks Contest Gives Female Moviemakers a Voice
Of the three women who have been nominated for an Academy Award for Best Director, not one has taken home the little golden man. Lifetime Movie Networks has always been known for prizing stories involving women and this year, it is lending its power to help advance the female moviemaker to new heights with the Every Woman’s Film Competition.
Women from all over the globe have the chance to submit their three- to five-minute short non-documentary film to be judged by a selection of powerful women in Hollywood. Last year’s panel included Angela Bassett, Jennifer Lopez, Lauren Shuler Donner, Gale Anne Hurd and Mimi Leder.
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Last Exit to Film Geekdom
Film geeks like to show off; it's in their job description. Whether it's debating the merits of Lars von Trier or discussing which Evil Dead film is the true masterpiece, it's just what they do. Well, thanks to entrepreneur Mike Ford, what they do has just gotten a bit easier to show off. Ford's UK-based company, Last Exit to Nowhere, sells T-shirts based on fictional companies and locations from films. And although the movies represented tend to skew a bit toward cult favorites (designs include the Winchester Tavern from Shaun of the Dead, the Urban Achievers from The Big Lebowski and Jaws' Amity Island), Ford says this was not deliberate.
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Christina Ricci Goes Hollywood with Speed Racer
A seasoned moviemaker at the age of 28, Christina Ricci has never been one to play by the rules. Ricci is surprising Hollywood again by starring in Speed Racer, her first big summer blockbuster, nearly two decades into her career.
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Dennis Farina Reveals What Happens in Vegas
He’s been a part of some of the most critically acclaimed movies (Saving Private Ryan) and popular television shows (“Miami Vice,” “Law & Order”) of the past 30 years. But for Dennis Farina, the notion of making a living as an actor was not the first one that occurred to this son of blue-collar Chicago; his first career was as a beat cop in the City of Broad Shoulders. It was only after meeting director Michael Mann through a mutual friend that the actor best known for his wiseguy roles (Midnight Run, Get Shorty) and the occasional unorthodox ladies’ man (Sidewalks of New York, “Empire Falls”) landed his first role in the 1981 thriller, Thief. While Mann helped launch his career, Farina has gone on to work with a number of other strong auteur directors, including Steven Soderbergh (Out of Sight), Guy Ritchie (Snatch) and John Frankenheimer (Reindeer Games).
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David Mamet in Pictures
There isn't anyone quite like David Mamet, the American writer who brought us such films as the steamy 1981 remake of The Postman Always Rings Twice and the groundbreaking 1996 film American Buffalo. More than just a screenwriter, Mamet has brought his characters to life on screen as a director and on stage as a Tony Award-nominated playwright. This week, as audiences prepare for his latest directorial effort, Redbelt, MM revisits some of the work that made him the moviemaker we know today.
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Doug Pray Gets Surfwise
The past few years have seen a boon in the number of documentaries that focus on senior citizens out to prove it's not age that matters but state of mind. It was Doris "Granny D." Haddock in Marlo Poras' Run Granny Run, a chorus of elderly folks who tugged at the heartstrings of Stephen Walker's Young @ Heart and a group of more than a dozen 60-plus dancers that became the NBA's first senior dance team in Gotta Dance. There are a few more that can be added to that list for sure, but few that will make you feel as invigorated and inspired as Doug Pray's Surfwise.
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Screenwriters Get Lucky in Nevada
Twenty-one has always been a lucky number in gambling. This year it's proving to be a good number for moviemakers, too, first as the title of one of the season's biggest box office draws and now as the Nevada Film Office launches its 21st annual Screenwriting Competition. As the film office's call for scripts opened, MM spoke with Sarah Bontrager, the public relations coordinator for the Nevada Film Office, about this year's crop of submissions, how Nevada is more than just casinos and what it takes to make it in this land of opportunity.
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Sundance Goes Vintage
Nobody really seems sure what the word “Sundance” even means anymore. Some say it refers to a week in January in which high profile actors and moviemakers congregate to get free stuff and ink their next multi-million dollar deala, while others maintain the word signifies an independent film festival. Regardless, it is tough to deny that the word has always been synonymous with some damn good art.
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Garth Jennings Channels His Inner Rambow
Director Garth Jennings and his friend and producer Nick Goldsmith, who work under the moniker Hammer & Tongs, have been toying with video cameras for a while now. They got their start in music videos, breaking onto the scene with 1999’s award-winning video for Blur’s “Coffee and TV,” a semi-tragic story of a milk carton’s search for a missing person. Now, after successfully helming one of the most anticipated film adaptations of all time, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, Hammer & Tongs have returned with Son of Rambow, a smaller, more personal story about the exploits of two kids in the 1980s making a movie and the highs and lows that come with even the smallest of productions.
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Harmony Korine’s Golden Rules
Harmony Korine first gained notoriety at the age of 22, when his screenplay for Kids, about 24 hours in the life of an HIV-positive teen, was made into a feature film by Larry Clark. Two years later, Korine made his debut as a writer-director with the feature film Gummo, followed by Julien Donkey-Boy in 1999. Nine years later, Korine has returned to the indie film landscape with Mister Lonely, in theaters now courtesy of IFC. Here, Korine shares his 10 "Golden Rules" of moviemaking.
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Dori Berinstein Has Gotta Dance
For 15 years Dori Berinstein was a Tony Award-winning force behind the scenes as a producer for some of Broadway's biggest hits, including Thoroughly Modern Millie, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest and Legally Blonde: The Musical. While she had, at times, worked in television and film (see Dirty Dancing and "The Isaac Mizrahi Show") it was largely in a producorial capacity. That changed when Berinstein found inspiration for her first feature, ShowBusiness: The Road to Broadway, in the opening of the 2003-2004 Broadway season. But it is her most recent documentary, Gotta Dance, that is the talk of the 2008 Tribeca Film Festival. The movie follows the 12 women and one man chosen as the first senior hip-hop dance team for the New Jersey Nets.
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Harry Potter’s World Comes to a City Near You
It’s really impossible to hear something like “sorting hat” or “invisibility cloak” and not feel at least a little of the allure of Harry Potter's universe. When the films brought the J.K. Rowling books to life, it was through the costuming, set design and props. In 2009, “Harry Potter: The Exhibition” will bring 10,000 square feet of artifacts from the enchanting films to 10 or more cities around the world over a five-year period.
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Kodak Named Technology Sponsor at Tribeca Film Festival
The Tribeca Film Festival has selected the Eastman Kodak Company as its official Technology Sponsor. Kodak will provide educational segments and product demonstrations during the 12 days of the festival. In addition, for one lucky festival winner, Kodak will donate 20,000 feet of camera negative film.
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Iron Man Comes Out Fighting in London
As U.S. audiences start counting down the days until Iron Man, one of this spring's most anticipated movies, is released in theaters on May 2nd, film fans across the pond got a sneak peek at hero in action when the film premiered yesterday at the Odean in London's Leicester Square.
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She’s The Boss
The rise of the actress-director
Two of last year’s more critically acclaimed films—Sarah Polley’s Away from Her and Julie Delpy’s 2 Days in Paris—were directed by women who first gained renown for their on-screen performances. Now, a new pair of films—Helen Hunt's Then She Found Me and Jada Pinkett Smith's The Human Contract—also happen to be made by actress-turned-directors.
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Website Brings Together the Global FILMCOMMUNITY
The Web 2.0 revolution seems to have broadened the scope of networking possibilities and marketing opportunities for moviemakers, but for real professionals the top choices are not always sufficient; Facebook is a bit sophomoric and MySpace has quickly become the one of the messiest and most unprofessional places on the Internet. Luckily for film professionals, Garth Hall, founder and CEO of film-centric social networking site FILMCOMMUNITY.com, has stepped in to rescue moviemakers from the mires of these other social networking sites.
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Top of the Box Office
This weekend at the box office saw Iron Man holding steady for the second week in a row despite anticipated competition from the newly-released Speed Racer, starring Emile Hirsch, Christina Ricci and Susan Sarandon. The first movie from Marvel Studios took in over $50 million dollars this past weekend, bringing its total gross up to $175 million. Speed Racer finished second with a cool $20-plus million.
Posted 05.12.08 | Top of the Box Office | No comments yet...
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