In our Spring 2014 Activism in Film issue (available to the public next Tuesday, April 22!), we asked the question: Can your movie change the world? In our cover story, Beth Portello, co-founder of Cinema Libre Studio, interviewed representatives from all the different groups that make social change possible: grant organizations, engagement strategists, producers, distributors, [...]
The Impact Roundtable: Moviemakers On Social Action Films that Matter
Tags: activism, Activism in Film, Doculink, documentary, Holly Mosher, Ines Sommer, Robert Bahar, Scott Ryan, social action documentary, Spring 2014, Sue Wilson
Why We Like: The New Obvious Child Trailer (aka Jenny Slate Rocks)
At first glance, Gillian Robespierre’s feature-length independent comedy might seem like another “first-world-problem”/bourgeois New York City drama about the general malaise hitting affluent members of the young artistic community. However, when we delve more deeply into the first official trailer for Obvious Child, the genuine heart and sense of humor that emanates from lead actress Jenny [...]
Tags: Gillian Robespierre, Jenny Slate, Obvious child, Why We Like
It’s Vegans vs. Carnivores in Living Things: an Interview with Eric Shapiro
Eric Shapiro is the writer and director of Living Things: A Vegan & Meat Debate. A prolific horror writer, Shapiro translates his experience crafting scares into a tense drama about the politics of food, with Rhoda Jordan as a liberal yogini and Ben Siegel as her more conservative father-in-law. In this interview with MovieMaker Magazine, [...]
Tags: Eric Shapiro, interview, Living Things: A Vegan & Meat Debate, PETA, Rhoda Jordan
DIY Monday: 11 Keys to Filming in a Small Town
It’s often said that creating a boot-strapped, no-budget independent film is a lot like raising a child – it takes a village. But why stop there? If you’re as lucky as we were when we shot Cement Suitcase, you might be able to enlist the muscle of quite a few villages. We shot in seven [...]
Tags: Cement Suitcase, film, filmmaking, Rick Castaneda, small towns, Top Small Cities
Trailblazer Tuesday Crowdfunder of the Week: Forbidden Zone 2
This week’s crowdfunder pick is Richard Elfman’s Forbidden Zone 2. Fantastic, revolutionary, and irreverent in every way, Elfman epitomizes underground independent filmmaking. In 1980, director Richard Elfman made one of the most hilarious and inventive independent films of all time with the absurdist comedy/fantasy Forbidden Zone. 34 years later, Elfman is raising funds to make [...]
Tags: Danny Elfman, Forbidden Zone, Forbidden Zone 2, Jenna Elfman, Richard Elfman
VOD Indie Hits On MovieMaker.com: Austenland, CBGB, Sunset Strip and More
Watch cutting-edge indie cinema online on MovieMaker.com without having to leave the MovieMaker community. VOD company Yekra is revolutionary, democratic and DIY: everything we believe in at MovieMaker Magazine. Their slate of VOD releases features films as vastly different and innovative as the inspiring romantic comedy Austenland and the independent horror film American Mary. We’ve selected our 12 favorite [...]
Tags: 2014, A Fierce Green Fire, American Mary, Austenland, cbgb, Comedy Warriors, Femme, Inside Job, Linsanity, Spark, Storm Surfers, Sunset Strip, tattoo nation, The Armstrong Lie, The Legend of "Cool" Disco Dan, The Other Shore, yekra
Nairobi Half Life, premiering tonight, gets Kenyan Embassy endorsement!
Washington, D.C.—This morning, the Embassy of Kenya in the U.S. announced its support for Nairobi Half Life, a Kenyan film screening today as part of the Feature Film Project. As part of The Project, presented by MANHATTAN SHORT and MovieMaker Magazine, Nairobi Half Life will screen in cinemas across the country tonight for one night [...]
Tags: academy award, academy awards, daniel "tosh" gitonga, feature film project, joseph wairimu, kenya, manhattan short, nairobi half life, one fine day films, tom tykwer, tosh gitonga
Fake Independence and Reel Truth, Pt. 4: Approaching a film set with a truly open mind
Read Part 1 Read Part 2 Read Part 3 My favorite metaphor for thinking about artists is as students and teachers. (Since I’m a teacher, I admit that my occupation probably biases me.) Like students and teachers, above everything else, real artists must be humble and willing to learn. They must open themselves up and [...]
Tags: a woman under the influence, bad review of shindler's list, cassavetes a woman under the influence, cassavetes faces, championing cassavetes, criticism of great 90s film, gena rowlands, gena rowlands a woman under the influence, gena rowlands faces, independent film in the 90s, john cassavetes, Mark Rappaport Ray Carney controversy, peter falkX ray carney, ray carney controversy, rediscovering john cassavetes, who discovered john cassavetes
Love and the Bomb: Sally Potter returns to 1960′s London with Ginger & Rosa
From Orlando, her audacious breakthrough film (based on a Virginia Woolf novel many considered unadaptable) to the stylistically polarizing Yes (in which most of the dialogue was written in rhyming iambic pentameter), Sally Potter has proven to be a consistently innovative moviemaker. Her latest film, Ginger & Rosa, follows two teen girls (played by Elle [...]
Tags: alessandro nivola, alice englert, annette bening, christina hendricks, elle fanning, ginger & rosa, oliver platt, orlando, sally potter, the 1960s, timothy spall, virginia woolf, yes
The American Film Showcase: Harrison Engle shares memories of South Korea
The U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Education and Cultural Affairs launched the American Film Showcase (AFS) in October, 2011, with the goal of introducing people around the world to American culture and values through the global language of film. The Showcase, administered by the University of Southern California School of Cinematic Arts, sent contemporary [...]
Tags: american film showcase, bob fisher, chris pain, cinematography, documentary, filmmaker exchange, harrison engle, international film diplomacy, revenge of the electric car, usc