Film School of the Week: Idyllwild Arts Academy

As one of only three arts-focused boarding schools in the United States, Idyllwild Arts Academy has a particular knack for bringing out the creative talents of young people. With departments covering film, visual arts, theater, music, dance and creative writing, the school is a haven for those students who seek an environment that prioritizes their artistic abilities, rather than treating them simply as a hobby. With the “Hollywood Ending” writing contest, the school has reached out to young artists around the world, hoping to add a few more talented members to the Idyllwild community.

Participants in the contest were asked to complete the work of two current Idyllwild students, either a short story or screenplay, with Grand Prize winner Joseph DiFronzo landing a $25,000 scholarship to the Academy (second- and third-place winners were awarded $10,00 and $5,000 scholarships, respectively). “The Motion Picture department, as well as the entire academy, always looks to find potential students who have academic prowess, who are ambitious and highly focused,” says Darren Schilling, Idyllwild’s director of marketing. By bringing together the skills of current and future students, Idyllwild has ensured that its artistically vibrant community will continue to thrive, providing a space for young people to explore their creative potential.

For more information, visit www.idyllwildarts.org.

Sound Off: Do you wish you’d had the opportunity to attend an arts-focused high school? How do you think an early education in moviemaking impacts a person’s artistic style and growth? Let us know in the comments section!

May 21st, 2007 | Category: Film School of the Week | By MovieMaker Staff

Comments: 11

Festival of the Week: GI Film Festival

War movies have always held a special place in the annals of American film history, often going beyond simple entertainment to support or critique our nation’s turbulent military past. The current conflict in Iraq, which is quickly becoming a popular topic for modern moviemakers, has sparked heated debates over the U.S.’s involvement in Middle Eastern politics. But what is often overlooked is the bravery and sacrifice of the men and women who are serving overseas.

It was with this oversight in mind that Brandon Millet founded the G.I. Film Festival, which will hold its first annual event over Memorial Day weekend in Washington, D.C. “We wanted to do something to focus public attention on the courage and selflessness [of American soldiers],” Millet explains. “After all, our soldiers don’t get to choose the conflict. They just put on their helmets and go to work when called, and we have the privilege of living our lives secure in the knowledge that they are protecting us.”

As the first festival of its kind in the U.S., the G.I. Film Festival will likely attract a diverse range of attendees, from veterans and military families to politicians and moviemakers. Actor Gary Sinise (Lt. Dan in Forrest Gump) and director Ron Maxwell (Gods and Generals, Gettysburg), among others, will be attending this year’s event. The festival will feature a total of 21 films over three days (including several classic films) all celebrating, as the festival’s motto states, “the success and sacrifices of American soldiers.”

For more information, visit www.gifilmfestival.com.

Sound Off: Do you think the festival circuit needs more niche festivals like the G.I. Film Fest? What would be your pick for a never-before-seen festival theme? Let us know in the comments section!

May 21st, 2007 | Category: Festival of the Week | By MovieMaker Staff

Comments: 7

In Theaters Now: May 18, 2007

Fay Grim
directed by Hal Hartley
Fay Grim has been playing all the prominent film festivals
for the past year and now it’s getting a limited release in anticipation of the
DVD premiere on May 22nd. Hartley writes, directs, scores and produces the
sequel to his own Henry Fool (1997). Set 10 years after the first film,
Parker Posey reprises her role as the titular character on a race across
continents to find her ex-husband’s notebooks (and the sensitive material
contained within them). Posey has proven her comedic chops in the
Christopher Guest movies and it’s good to see a real moviemaker like Hal
Hartley continuing to do his thing.

Once
directed by John Carney
Winner of this year’s Audience Award at Sundance, Once is a modern day
Irish musical set in Dublin. Expect a winsome little movie with a heart. I
could come at it with my usual arsenal of snark, but I’m an Irish-American
with an inexplicable zeal for a little of that deedle-weedle. Chances are
you can catch me slouched in the theater this weekend in a woolen sweater
with my green derby pulled down tight.

Severance
directed by Christopher Smith
In the tradition of Shaun of the Dead, here is a horror-comedy about a
group of co-workers on an office retreat who are assailed by a bunch of
crazed killers. If it’s playing at a theater near you this weekend, we ask, “why not?”
This is the type of stuff that makes your DVD collection cooler than your best friend’s.  There’s really no missing with this one--honestly, the tagline is “Another bloody office outing"--and that’s gold right there. Like the other limited releases this week, Severance has been making the festival rounds since last year at Cannes.

Shrek the Third
directed by Chris Miller and Raman Hui
Two DreamWorks vets step up to co-direct another Shrek film. Justin
Timberlake as spoiled prince Artie is just one of many marquee names to join this third installment and, with all the previous voice talent back, there’s no reason to believe this won’t be a lot of fun. Whoever noticed that Mike Myers’ humor is based pretty much on him doing voices and decided to get him involved in an animated feature was a genius. Nothing else is opening wide this weekend, so it’s safe to say Shrek the Third is going to generate more green than Princess Fiona’s uterus.

The Wendell Baker Story
directed by Andrew Wilson and Luke Wilson
Originally premiering at SXSW in 2005, this little Wilson family project
has been kicking around for a while and finally sees a limited release
this weekend. Luke Wilson writes, co-stars and co-directs the picture.
His brothers Andrew and Owen co-direct and co-star, respectively. The
Wilsons have done some incredible work under Wes Anderson but word is The
Wendell Baker Story isn’t on par. Still, this serves as interesting
counter-programming to The Ogre. Plus there’s a rumored Frat Pack cameo,
which is decidedly the best variety of cameo.

May 18th, 2007 | Category: In Theaters Now | By MovieMaker Staff

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This Day in Indie History: May 18

Director Frank Capra was born in Italy on this day in 1897. By the age of six he was on a boat across the ocean to America, where he would soon find himself selling newspapers and waiting tables to put himself (one of seven Capra children) through college at CalTech. After graduating, Capra enlisted in the U.S. Army--to which he would later return as director of World War II propaganda films. Unsure of his aspirations, an advertisement for a new film studio caught his eye and he pitched and filmed his first short movie, Fultah Fisher’s Boarding House. For years Capra toiled away as an apprentice prop man and film editor before finally making his own deals. In 1928 Capra signed with the struggling Columbia Pictures, for which he directed 25 features in a 10-year period. His contribution alone helped to lift the company from ruin. Capra’s last movie for Columbia was 1939’s Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, after which he directed his first independent feature, Meet John Doe in 1941. But everyone knows the Hollywood optomist best for the holiday classic, It’s A Wonderful Life, which earned him his seventh Academy Award nomination. The director took home four trophies over the course of his career.

Quotable: “Just get up off the ground, that’s all I ask. Get up there with that lady that’s up on top of this capital dome, that lady that stands for liberty. Take a look at this country through her eyes if you really want to see something. And you wont just see scenery; you’ll see the whole parade of what Man’s carved out for himself, after centuries of fighting. Fighting for something better than just jungle law, fighting so’s he can stand on his own two feet, free and decent, like he was created, no matter what his race, color or creed. That’s what you’d see.” --James Stewart as Jefferson Smith in Frank Capra’s Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939).

May 17th, 2007 | Category: This Day in Indie History | By MovieMaker Staff

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This Day in Indie History: May 17

By the age of 13 actress Nikki Reed, born on this day in 1988, had begun chronicling her life for the screen. With the help of then-production designer Catherine Hardwicke, Reed set out to channel that cliched teenage angst and anger into the screenplay for what would become the movie thirteen. Besides functioning as a form of therapy for the troubled young woman, the legend of the movie’s inception made her a star. Since winning a Spirit Award for her debut performance in the self-penned film, Reed has appeared in American Gun, Mini’s First Time and the upcoming Kevin Smith television pilot, “Reaper.”

Connections: Daughter of art director Seth Reed, Nikki became friendly with her writing partner and thirteen director, Catherine Hardwicke when the older pair dated. After the women found success with their dark teen drama, the trio reunited on Hardwicke’s 2005 feature, Lords of Dogtown.

May 16th, 2007 | Category: This Day in Indie History | By MovieMaker Staff

Comments: 4

This Day in Indie History: May 16

Henry Fonda was born on this day in 1905. The now-legendary actor was pulled into the profession as a young boy by Dodie Brando--Marlon’s mother--who needed to cast a young male lead in a production at the Omaha Community Playhouse. By 1929 the actor had reached Broadway and in 1935 took to the screen, reprising the role he played on stage in The Farmer Takes a Wife. Shortly thereafter Fonda began working with director John Ford, with whom he made nine films, including his most famous, The Grapes of Wrath. Other mutual credits include some of cinema’s most widely regarded movies--Young Mr. Lincoln, My Darling Clementine and Fort Apache among them. In the midst of his career, Fonda found purpose serving in the U.S. Navy during WWII, and returned to film without ever having lost a beat. Notable post-war titles include War and Peace, How the West Was Won, Yours, Mine and Ours and the television miniseries “Roots.”

Factoid: Although a respected actor among the industry and American audiences, Henry Fonda had only received one Academy Award nomination--for The Grapes of Wrath--by the year 1981. As a result, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences bestowed upon him an honorary Oscar that symbolized his overall impact on cinema. Funnily enough, Fonda took home the Best Actor trophy the following year for his turn in On Golden Pond. His daughter, Jane, was also nominated that year for her supporting role in that same movie.

May 15th, 2007 | Category: This Day in Indie History | By MovieMaker Staff

Comments: 5

This Day in Indie History: May 15

It was on this day in 1978 that prolific young actor David Krumholtz was born in Queens, NY. Since the age of 13 Krumholtz has appeared in more 20 features, both studio-backed and independent. Much like his first screen appearance opposite Michael J. Fox and Cyndi Lauper in Life with Mikey, Krumholtz has often been cast as the nerdy (sometimes even slimy) alternative to a movie’s Adonis--think Addams Family Values and According to Spencer. But he soon found a way out of the typecast as the charming and dedicated North Pole elf, Bernard, in The Santa Clause (1994) and its 2002 sequel. Though he had little success in television early on (there are seven failed series with his name attached), Krumholtz is now earning notice for his role as Charlie Epps, an FBI mathematics consultant, in the CBS crime drama “NUMB3RS.” Never breaking, Krumholtz can also be seen in this year’s Live! opposite Eva Mendes and will be writing the comedy Attorneys at Raw for Apatow Productions.

Connections: On “NUMB3RS” David Krumholtz holds his own opposite experienced thespians Judd Hirsch and Peter MacNicol. But this isn’t the first time the actor has played alongside them. In his first acting role, Krumholtz played son to Hirsch’s character in Broadway’s “Conversations with My Father.” And in 1993’s Addams Family Values MacNicol played a happy-go-lucky camp counselor shocked by Krumholtz’s on-screen love, Christina Ricci.

May 14th, 2007 | Category: This Day in Indie History | By MovieMaker Staff

Comments: 2

Top of the Box Office

1. Spider-Man 3
Sony Pictures
Weekend Gross: $58,166,256
Total Gross: $240,236,828

2. 28 Weeks Later
20th Century Fox
Weekend Gross: $9,807,292
Total Gross: $9,807,292

3. Georgia Rule
Universal
Weekend Gross: $6,773,870
Total Gross: $6,773,870

4. Disturbia
Dreamworks SKG
Weekend Gross: $4,732,839
Total Gross: $66,220,865

5. Delta Farce
Lionsgate
Weekend Gross: $3,420,645
Total Gross: $3,420,645

6. Fracture
New Line
Weekend Gross: $2,953,145
Total Gross: $31,032,946

7. The Invisible
Buena Vista
Weekend Gross: $2,315,286
Total Gross: $15,569,122

8. Meet the Robinsons
Buena Vista
Weekend Gross: $1,802,543
Total Gross: $94,296,510

9. Next
Sony Pictures
Weekend Gross: $1,738,056
Total Gross: $14,738,075

10. Hot Fuzz
Focus Features
Weekend Gross: $1,716,670
Total Gross: $18,991,668

May 14th, 2007 | Category: Top of the Box Office | By MovieMaker Staff

Comments: 3

Moviemaker of the Week: Terry Sanders

As one half of the American Film Foundation, director Terry Sanders has contributed to the company’s three Oscar wins, 10 nominations, two Emmy awards and three nods from the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. To date, the Foundation’s small team has completed over 60 films--and on May 15th, it will add one more to the list as Sanders premieres his latest film, Fighting for Life at the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C.

The movie, originally a documentary about the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences in Bethesda, turned into a larger-than-life account of the medical services provided to the armed forces fighting in Iraq and those who return home injured. From the National Naval Medical Center in Washington and Bethesda to the battlegrounds of Iraq and back to the now infamous Walter Reed Army Medical Center, Sanders follows one woman’s journey to cope with her new disfigurement and the other considerable results with which the country is embroiled.

According to Sanders, he and partner Freida Lee Mock were looking to “explore new cinematic territory and break new ground in the production of the extraordinary, powerful and entertaining award-winning films on the arts, sciences and humanities.” To that end, the American Film Foundation was formed in 1976. AFF is currently in production on the documentary Wrestling with Angels, which chronicles the life of playwright Tony Kushner and Tokyo Rose/American Patriot, about the first woman in America to be convicted of treason. For more information visit www.americanfilmfoundation.com. To read more about Fighting for Life, head to www.fightingforlifethemovie.com.

May 14th, 2007 | Category: Moviemaker of the Week | By MovieMaker Staff

Comments: 4

Festival of the Week: Filmstock International Film Festival

When it comes to international film festivals, Toronto, Berlin, Venice and Cannes get the lion’s share of attention. Like in the U.S., smaller festivals on the international scene can get lost in the hype generated by the larger ones. In England, Justin Doherty and Neil Fox are changing the attitude that only a few international fests are worth talking about, as their Filmstock International Film Festival enters its eighth year.

Filmstock began out of Doherty and Fox’s desire to bring different kinds of films to their hometown of Luton, which is 30 miles north of London. Though the festival has grown since the original event in 2000, its founders aren’t standing pat. “I guess the never-ending aspiration is to keep growing audiences and keep increasing the visiting filmmakers, which is one of our personal buzzes,” Doherty says.

In 2005, Filmstock traveled to Debrecen, Hungary after a Hungarian journalist attended Filmstock, loved the feel of the festival and suggested sending a touring version to Hungary. “We loved the idea of packaging up a ‘greatest hits’ package,” Doherty says.

Doherty says that the Debrecen experience still feels like “some kind of bohemian dream.” And while the experience of taking Filmstock to Hungary was one neither he nor Fox could ever have predicted, he takes a pragmatic (and cheeky) stance on any future touring Filmstock festivals. “Truth is it may have been a one-off,” Doherty says, “though we have long harbored the desire to hold a Filmstockholm.”

Filmstock is currently accepting submissions for its 2007 fest, which will take place in November. For more information visit www.filmstock.co.uk.

Sound Off: There aren’t many film festivals that take their show on the road the way Filmstock did when it traveled to Debrecen. Should more festivals take this kind of roadshow approach to its programming? Talk back in our comments section!

--Dante A. Ciampaglia

May 14th, 2007 | Category: Festival of the Week | By MovieMaker Staff

Comments: 1

Film School of the Week: FatFreeFilm

Those who say you need to spend tens of thousands of dollars to get a decent moviemaking education are clearly living in the Stone Age. These days, all you need is Internet access and the willingness to listen to some good advice. With FatFreeFilm, this type of DIY film school is just a mouse click away!

Founded by independent moviemakers Joel Marshall and Kamala Lopez-Dawson, FatFreeFilm is essentially a series of in-depth interviews with members of the moviemaking community. Over the course of the episode, interviewees--including Henry Jaglom and Peter Bogdanovich--weigh in on how to make it in the indie film world, and provide some choice anecdotes while they’re at it.

But FatFreeFilm doesn’t simply focus on the typical interview subjects like actors and directors; they also go behind the scenes to talk to editors, distributors, costume designers and many other underappreciated but essential members of the film world. FatFreeFilm’s ultimate goal, Marshall notes, is to create a virtual moviemaking community. “The beauty of our show is that it reaches places where there are no film schools--places where our listeners may be the only person in his or her town or village who has any interest in the art of filmmaking,” he says. “Trying to break into filmmaking can be a very daunting and isolating experience and what we are trying to do with FatFreeFilm is reach out to each other, share our stories, help each other and create a network of people with similar interests and goals who can support each other.”

For more information, or to listen to episodes of FatFreeFilm, visit www.fatfreefilm.com.

Sound Off: How much do you think anecdotes and advice from professional moviemakers add to one’s moviemaking education? Have you ever applied something you’ve heard in an interview to your own career? Talk back in the comments section!

--Jennifer Straus

May 14th, 2007 | Category: Film School of the Week | By MovieMaker Staff

Comments: 7

This Day in Indie History: May 14

Rebecca Miller started rolling film on Personal Velocity: Three Portraits on this day in 2001. As the educated woman’s answer to girl-power cinema, the movie showcased the acting talents of Kyra Sedgwick, Parker Posey and Fairuza Balk in telling three separate tales of women grasping for their own empowerment. Sedgwick plays Delia, a woman on the path to freedom from her abusive husband; Posey is Greta, wavering in fidelity to her husband; Balk takes to the highway as Paula, desperate to prevent further meltdown. Personal Velocity premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in January 2002 and earned both the Grand Jury Prize and Cinematography Award for now-frequent Miller collaborator Ellen Kuras.

Quotable: “How could he still love me? If he does, it’s because he doesn’t know me. I’m rotten with ambition, a lusty little troll, the kind of demon you’d find at the bottom floor of hell pulling fingernails off the loansharks.” --Parker Posey as Greta, often cited as the movie’s stand-out star.

May 14th, 2007 | Category: This Day in Indie History | By MovieMaker Staff

Comments: 5

In Theaters Now

28 Weeks Later...
directed by Juan Carlos Fresnadillo
The follow-up to 2002’s successful 28 Days Later takes us back to London, where the Rage virus has been contained. Does anyone actually think it’s going to remain that way? Expect sprinting zombies, shotgun blasts to the face and at least one terrified child. Days director Danny Boyle produces, passing the director’s reins to Spaniard Fresnadillo. The first one offered an original take on the living dead, so expect them to hit the ground running with the sequel. (That was terrible, we apologize.)

Georgia Rule
directed by Garry Marshall
This is the movie that earned Lindsay Lohan a public scolding from Morgan Creek’s CEO James G. Robinson regarding her unprofessional behavior on set. Hopefully the lessons her character learns from a hard-talking grandmother (Jane Fonda) are just as entertaining. Lohan has since said her “underperformance” was due to a tough breakup during shooting. Her love affair with teenage girls everywhere, however, seems to endure. (We will decline further comment in the interest of preserving Lohan’s sobriety.)

Delta Farce
directed by C.B. Harding
C.B. Harding directs the most important film of the year.  In this, his magnum opus, he illustrates the modern and nuanced American Soldier, proving why TIME named him “Man of the Year.” Larry the Cable Guy shows his range in this taut war drama. Oh wait, a pun! Hilarious! Three drinking buddies are misidentified as Army reservists and flown off to Iraq--only to end up in Mexico. Are things going to get wacky? Sir, yes, sir!

The Ex
directed by Jesse Peretz
Zach Braff stars as a slacker-turned-breadwinner who is hired by his father-in-law when his wife stays home to care for their newborn. Jason Bateman plays the titular ex-boyfriend. Bateman is the man. And with the inclusion of Amanda Peet as the wife and Amy Poehler as anything, there’s some definite comedic potential here. We’re even willing to give Braff a pass on The Last Kiss and be optimistic about his return to comedy (and slackerdom).

--Kevin McCarthy

May 11th, 2007 | Category: In Theaters Now | By MovieMaker Staff

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This Day in Indie History: Dawn of the Dead

Director George Romero’s second, and arguably most influential zombie flick, Dawn of the Dead, premiered in Los Angeles on this day in 1979. Romero, who also wrote and edited the movie, had unexpected success with the horror classic Night of the Living Dead in 1968 and decided to move the action to a shopping mall for its sequel. As a comment on consumer culture, the movie’s four main characters seek refuge in a local mall, stocked with all manner of desirable possessions. But soon enough materialism is not enough to stave off the reanimated creatures converging on their haven. Eventually released with an R rating, the MPAA had found the first cut so violent they assigned it an X. It was the second, less gore-filled cut that has become one of the defining horror movies of all time. Filmed on a now-preposterous $500,000 budget—money from acquaintances and even the director himself—Dawn of the Dead went on to earn more than $50 million at the box office.

Connections: So respected remains George Romero’s Dawn of the Dead that it has made a popular resurgence among young audiences nearly 30 years later. In 2004 alone, Zack Snyder (300) released a remake while Brits Edgar Wright and Simon Pegg (Hot Fuzz) lovingly spoofed Romero’s work in their tribute, Shaun of the Dead.

May 10th, 2007 | Category: This Day in Indie History | By MovieMaker Staff

Comments: 3

This Day in Indie History: A Little Princess

Alfonso Cuarón’s A Little Princess was released in the United States on this day in 1995. Adapted by Richard LaGravenese from the novel by Frances Hodgson Burnett, the movie tells the story of young Sara Crewe, sent from India to New York when her father decides to enlist for service in WWI. Within the walls of her New York boarding school, the young Crewe is worshipped by the headmistress for her family’s wealth and adored by her housemates for her vivid imagination and fanciful storytelling. But news of her father’s demise turns her world upside down—all captured with cinematic flair by cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezski, who went on to receive an Academy Award nomination for this movie in 1996.

Connections: A Little Princess marked the first international success for the pairing of director Alfonso Cuarón and DP Emmanuel Lubezki. The duo moved on to collaborations on Great Expectations (1998), Y tu mamá también (2001) and Children of Men (2006).

May 9th, 2007 | Category: This Day in Indie History | By MovieMaker Staff

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This Day in Indie History: Rosario Dawson

Rosario Dawson was born in New York, NY on this day in 1979. In her formative years, Dawson lived in a Lower East Side tenement, where she was famously discovered by director Larry Clark, who cast her as the promiscuous girl-next-door in his slice of pubescent New York City life, Kids. Since then, Dawson has embodied the quintessential New Yorker for Spike Lee (He Got Game and 25th Hour), Edward Burns (Sidewalks of New York and Ash Wednesday), Ethan Hawke (Chelsea Walls) and Dito Montiel (A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints). In a large departure, the self-professed comic book geek took a role in the movie adaptation of Frank Miller’s Sin City, thereby escalating her status as a fanboy’s fantasy. Roles in Kevin Smith’s Clerks II and Quentin Tarantino’s Death Proof have only cemented that status. Here’s to guessing what will happen when Sin City 2 hits theaters in 2008.

Factoid: In 2005 Rosario Dawson picked up the role left off by a pregnant Daphne Rubin-Vega, when she played Mimi Marquez in the film adaptation of the musical Rent. Although the Chris Columbus-directed film found little critical acclaim, Dawson’s role alongside the original Broadway cast was honored with nominations at that season’s NAACP Image Awards and American Latino Media Arts Awards.

May 8th, 2007 | Category: This Day in Indie History | By MovieMaker Staff

Comments: 3

This Day in Indie History: Michel Gondry

To most people, Michel Gondry, born on this day in 1963, is most recognizable as the director of 2004’s Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. But his surrealistic work began long before that Jim Carrey/Kate Winslet vehicle played to mass audiences. And it continues today with smaller, more personal films like The Science of Sleep, which he explained to MM in Fall 2006, was a “very personal” journey for him. Born in Versailles, France, Gondry learned early on to appreciate the narrative nature of music. It was within this medium that the artist first made an impact, directing music videos for The White Stripes, Beck and others. His first feature, Human Nature, written by Charlie Kaufman, was a minor success, gearing the pair up for their Academy Award-winning, mind-bending Eternal Sunshine. Next up for the French moviemaker is 2008’s Be Kind Rewind, about a man who must recreate all manner of favored films when he accidentally destroys his friend’s video store stock.

Quotable: “When you have a mixture of things going on in your life and all around you, that gets filtered through your imagination (to me, that’s what a dream does) it generates a lot of original imagery. So when I’m working on a music video or a film, I try to recycle what I see in my mind as much as possible. I like the way that something you’ve seen on the street on the way to work will suddenly show up 10 times larger or 10 times smaller or in a totally different color.” —Michel Gondry, “Requiem for a Dreamer” by David Fear, MovieMaker Volume 13, Issue 64.

May 7th, 2007 | Category: This Day in Indie History | By MovieMaker Staff

Comments: 4

Top of the Box Office

1. Spider-Man 3
Sony Pictures
Weekend Gross: $148,000,000
Total Gross: $148,000,000

2. Disturbia
Dreamworks SKG
Weekend Gross: $5,720,000
Total Gross: $59,883,000

3. Fracture
New Line
Weekend Gross: $3,425,000
Total Gross: $26,458,000

4. The Invisible
Buena Vista
Weekend Gross: $3,125,000
Total Gross: $12,346,000

5. Next
Sony Pictures
Weekend Gross: $2,768,000
Total Gross: $11,835,000

6. Lucky You
Warner Bros.
Weekend Gross: $2,515,000
Total Gross: $2,515,000

7. Meet the Robinsons
Buena Vista
Weekend Gross: $2,466,000
Total Gross: $91,771,000

8. Blades of Glory
Paramount Pictures
Weekend Gross: $2,302,000
Total Gross: $111,632,000

9. Hot Fuzz
Focus Features
Weekend Gross: $2,054,322
Total Gross: $16,145,075

10. Are We Done Yet?
Sony Pictures
Weekend Gross: $1,700,000
Total Gross: $46,106,000

All numbers courtesy of The-Numbers.com.

May 7th, 2007 | Category: Top of the Box Office | By MovieMaker Staff

Comments: 4

Location of the Week: Minnesota

Quick word association: What are the first two words that come to mind when you hear “Minnesota?” If you thought “cold” and “snow,” you’re not alone. Of course, it doesn’t help that some of the best-known Minnesota-shot movies back up those associations. Fargo takes place almost entirely in cold and snow; winter weather figures prominently into the plots of Jingle All the Way, Grumpy Old Men and A Simple Plan; and who can forget Apollonia’s dip into the freezing waters of one of Minnesota’s many lakes (that wasn’t Lake Minnetonka) in Purple Rain.

While those films make use of the frigid Minnesota climate to great effect, the Minnesota Film and TV Board knows the state is more than just freezing temperatures. The state has a lot to offer any moviemaker, says production services manager Christopher Grap. “You can be shooting an industrial site or urban setting in the morning and isolated farm country or river banks in the afternoon,” Grap says. “Something producers have commented on is the close proximity of diverse locations. You don’t have to travel far in Minnesota to get a great range of backdrops.”

Through the board’s new website, www.mnfilmtv.org, and the Minnesota state production incentive, Snowbate, which returns up to 15 percent of production costs to producers on eligible projects, Minnesota certainly has more to offer than snow angels.

Other notable productions from the Land of 1,000 Lakes:
Graffiti Bridge
Beautiful Girls
The Mighty Ducks trilogy
Grumpier Old Men
Pushing Tin
A Prairie Home Companion
North Country
Airport

Sound Off: Like many other states, Minnesota offers a tax incentive program to entice productions into the state. Besides tax breaks, what are some other important economic sweeteners that would entice you, the moviemaker, to a specific location?

—Dante A. Ciampaglia

May 6th, 2007 | Category: Location of the Week | By MovieMaker Staff

Comments: 7

Film School of the Week: The Secrets to Distribution

”Many moviemakers won’t share the information that took them years to learn, for fear of diminishing the value of it and their strategies,” claims writer-producer Jerome Courshon. Luckily for up-and-coming moviemakers, Courshon has not been so stingy with his own knowledge of the Hollywood machine. Using the experience he gained from getting his first feature, God, Sex & Apple Pie, picked up by a major distributor, Courshon is now imparting his hard-earned and practical wisdom through a traveling seminar entitled “The Secrets to Distribution: Get Your Movie Distributed Now!”

Over the course of one day, Courshon provides seminar attendees with the essential tips needed to get on the path to U.S. distribution, from advice on how to best utilize the festival circuit to the names and contact information of the 80-plus U.S. home video distributors. “I came to my experience and knowledge from my own trials and tribulations of getting distribution for the independent movie I produced,” explains Courshon. “So this isn’t coming from someone who hasn’t done it themselves or what I call a ‘theorist’—which makes a big difference.”

Over the next several months, Courshon and his seminar will make their way across the country, starting in New York on May 12, and ending in Los Angeles in August. For more information on upcoming seminars, visit www.distribution.la.

Sound Off: How much do you depend on the advice and insight of other moviemakers to help you find your way in making and distributing your own work? Do you have, or would you like to have, an “industry pro” give you advice and support? Talk back in the comments section!

--Jennifer Straus

May 6th, 2007 | Category: Film School of the Week | By MovieMaker Staff

Comments: 7

This Day in Indie History: Whale Rider

Niki Caro’s Whale Rider made its New York debut this day in 2003, when it screened at the Tribeca Film Festival. Previously the movie had been the People’s Choice in Canada, where it made its world premiere at the 2002 Toronto Film Festival and won the Audience World Cinema Award earlier this same year at Sundance. After hitting three of the biggest international film festivals, the New Zealand movie opened to U.S. audiences in limited release on June 6 but continue to be showcased at film festivals around the world until October 2005. Based on the novel by Witi Tame Ihimaera, Whale Rider is an inspiring tale about a pre-teen female, played by the precocious Keisha Castle Hughes, the only living descendent of a legendary tribal chief who traveled to the village on the back of a whale. Tradition dictates a male heir reign over the tribe, which leaves an elderly downtrodden chief and a granddaughter (Hughes) eager to prove she is a worthy descendent.

Factoid: New Zealand native Keisha Castle Hughes made her acting debut in Whale Rider and soon became the talk of the industry. The following year, at the age of 13, the actress became the youngest woman to receive a Best Actress Academy Award nomination.

May 6th, 2007 | Category: This Day in Indie History | By MovieMaker Staff

Comments: 4

Festival of the Week: Action/Cut Short Film Competition

YouTube is currently the world’s hottest technological phenom—allowing any one who wants it the ability to make his/her own short movie and stream it online to a worldwide audience. That’s sort of the same concept Guy Magar had in mind when he began the Action/Cut Short Film Competition four years ago. But instead of YouTube’s superficial and fleeting recognition, passionate moviemakers who submit their movies to Action/Cut’s online competition can earn valuable prizes to help them further their careers.
Over 1000 films are submitted to the online festival each year and all are put into the competition—no schmoozing needed. This pretty much means that by submitting a short film, it’s pretty much guaranteed that it will be seen by any number of the top industry professionals who make up the jury. “Also, as part of the 125 prizes we award, about 30 of those are actual meetings with top industry players, which is very unique and intended to open industry doors,” adds Magar. In all, there are five categories from which major winners are declared. The winners then have their films streamed online—accessible worldwide for a six month period.
So instead of posting your undiscovered short on a popular video broadcasting website—hoping that it just might stand out among the millions of vacuous and frivolous home movies—check out Action/Cut for guaranteed exposure and feedback. The deadline for the 2007 Competition is May 15, 2007.

To find out more about upcoming and past Action/Cut programs, visit http://www.actioncut.com/sfc/competition.htm.

Sound Off: Action/Cut bases its philosophy (and prize packaging) on the idea that moviemakers—both homegrown and schooled—need that foot in the door to make it in the industry. What do you think is key to an independent moviemaker’s success? Sound off in our comments section!

—Mallory Potosky

May 6th, 2007 | Category: Festival of the Week | By MovieMaker Staff

Comments: 4

Exhibitor of the Week: IndieOrbit.com

A new kid moved onto the block when IndieOrbit.com launched in early April 2007. Be wise and prepare for the revolution. Founded by William Cicchino and Los Angeles moviemaker Javier Ruisanchez, the young site offers its Web space and services to any artist looking for the next step in independent distribution. “Finding a distributor is the last link in the Hollywood chain holding back the indie filmmaker from reaping the profits,” says Cicchino. “I created IndieOrbit.com as an alternative.”

The site’s concept is “true Web distribution,” which means that for less than $200 your movie can be made available online to paying customers for a six-month period. That’s right—paying customers, plus space enough to sell advertising on your designated page. Which means you can make that money back and conceivably distribute your film for less than what you spent on crew meals for one week! You set the price and keep the rights with IndieOrbit.com.

“I see putting films on IndieOrbit.com as one of the standard steps in the process of distributing films, just as entering festivals is a standard now,” offers Cicchino of his hope for his online venture. “Whether as a sole form of distribution, a means to attract theatrical distribution or just a means to recoup some of your production costs, IndieOrbit.com will be a mainstream tool for independent filmmakers.”

Find out about IndieOrbit’s piracy protection enforcement (customers pay for a copy-proof, 48-hour rental) and other special features atâ€"that’s right, you guessed it—IndieOrbit.com.

Sound Off: For worldwide distribution, which would you prefer: Getting into a few festival screenings or posting your film online on a site like IndieOrbit.com? Sound off in our comments section!

â€"Mallory Potosky

May 6th, 2007 | Category: Exhibitor of the Week | By MovieMaker Staff

Comments: 9

This Day in Indie History: Audrey Hepburn

Brussels, Belgium welcomed beloved actress Audrey Hepburn as a newborn citizen this day in 1929. The would-be style icon made her first mark on the world in 1951, when she began a Broadway run in Gigi; by 1953 she had a leading role opposite Gregory Peck in Roman Holiday. Classic characters and charismatic leading men quickly followed with 1954’s Sabrina, opposite Humphrey Bogart and William Holden. In 1955 came War and Peace, followed by 1957’s Funny Face. By 1961 Hepburn had created some of Hollywood’s timeless individuals—real and fictional—including Holly Golightly in the movie version of Truman Capote’s Breakfast at Tiffany’s and Eliza Dolittle in George Cukor’s My Fair Lady. Her later years saw little in the way of screen roles, but as a UNICEF ambassador she received the President’s Medal of Freedom in 1992—just one year before she passed away from colon cancer.

Quotable: “I don’t want to own anything until I find a place where me and my things go together. I’m not sure where that is but I know what it is like. It’s like Tiffany’s.” —Audrey Hepburn as Holly Golightly in Breakfast at Tiffany’s.

May 4th, 2007 | Category: This Day in Indie History | By MovieMaker Staff

Comments: 6

In Theaters Now: May 4, 2007

Away from Her
directed by Sarah Polley
When Grant (Gordon Pinsent) finally admits to himself that his wife, Fiona (Julie Christie), has Alzheimer’s, he commits her to a nursing home. But as he struggles with being physically and (increasingly) emotionally apart from his wife, she begins a new relationship with another resident in the home (Michael Murphy). Sarah Polley mines some familiar territory in this, her directorial debut, but from the looks of things she does so with honesty, heart and panache. Like Adrienne Shelly’s Waitress (see below), Away from Her might prove to be excellent alternative programming in this kick-off weekend of the summer movie season. Also starring Olympia Dukakis, Kristen Thomson, Wendy Crewson and Alberta Watson.

The Flying Scotsman
directed by Douglas Mackinnon
Lance Armstrong may have made America safe for cycling, but it’s a sport with a significant international following. Case in point, The Flying Scotsman. The film is the true story of Graeme Obree (Jonny Lee Miller) and his quest to revolutionize the sport by developing a new bike despite the protestations of the sport’s old-fogey authority. While the film should appeal to cycling enthusiasts, it’s hard to imagine The Flying Scotsman catching the imagination of the masses a la Lance Armstrong—no matter how hard it’s peddled. Also starring Billy Boyd and Brian Cox.

Lucky You
directed by Curtis Hanson
Even though Lucky You isn’t the first film to deal with the world of high-stakes poker (there’s always Rounders), this is one of the biggest to come along since the explosion in poker’s popularity. But since this is a Curtis Hanson movie, it’s not really about poker; it’s just a metaphor for how the main characters, Huck Cheever (Eric Bana) and Billie Offer (Drew Barrymore), are playing the odds in life. Hanson is an excellent director, but this might be a little too overwrought—even for him. Also starring Robert Duvall and Debra Messing.

Spider-Man 3
directed by Sam Raimi
In a summer of franchise pictures, Spider-Man 3 might be the biggest release. (Of course, the third Pirates of the Caribbean film might have something to say about that.) And unless you’ve been living under a rock, you probably know that this third installment of the popular series finds Peter Parker/Spider-Man (Tobey Maguire) locked in a battle with his dark side, thanks to an evil black suit, a new villain (Thomas Hayden Church), his friend Harry Osbourne (James Franco), who’s bent on avenging his father’s death, and Eddie Brock (Topher Grace), a rival photographer. Add to the mix Peter’s desire to marry Mary Jane (Kirsten Dunst), and what you have is a very full film that might be stuffed a little too full for its own good.

Waitress
directed by Adrienne Shelly
Keri Russell kind of dropped out of the limelight after “Felicity,” but her turn in Adrienne Shelly’s final film, Waitress, as a lovelorn food-slinger with a penchant for concocting excellent pies, has already garnered many positive notices. If you find this film playing near you this weekend, it might be excellent indie counter-programming to the explosive kick-off to the summer movie season happening this weekend. Also starring Cheryl Hines, Nathan Fillion, Jeremy Sisto, Adrienne Shelly and Andy Griffith.

May 3rd, 2007 | Category: In Theaters Now | By MovieMaker Staff

Comments: 1

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