All posts by James Kaelan
-
Let the PA Direct (Almost): Why Collaborating with Your Crew is Your Greatest Strength
As a confident movie-maker, don’t hesitate to ask your film crew for help. They aren't your employees; they're your collaborators.
-
Bound for the Frontline: MovieMaker Senior Editor James Kaelan Steps Down to Join the Independent Film War
“In the town of Osijiek, Croatia, Eduardo Flores, a correspondent for the Spanish newspaper La Vanguardia and a follower of the Catholic sect Opus Dei,...
-
MovieMaker Editor’s Pick: Back to the Future in Computer Chess
MovieMaker’s Editor’s Weekend Pick is Computer Chess, though we can’t resist sending a shout out to The Spectacular Now. Two is better than one, right?...
-
Revenue Record: Yekra Crushes with Online Doc
Like everyone else trying to forecast the economic landscape of independent film, over here at the MovieMaker offices, we think a lot about innovations in the VOD...
-
Coachella: Triumphs, failures, and lessons from the inaugural AMFM Fest
The inaugural AMFM Fest, which shares a valley with the Coachella Art and Music Festival, may have been too ambitious. But the future is bright....
-
Bringing Film to Coachella: AMFM Fest aims to bring film, art, and more music to the Coachella Valley
AMFM Fest, the new acronymic festival in the Coachella Valley, might just be aiming to overthrow that other four-letter film and music event in Austin....
-
This Film Isn’t Real: Maja Milos’ Tiger Award-winning debut, Clip
On a Saturday afternoon at AFI Fest last November, I walked into a 4:15 PM screening of a Serbian film called Clip by first-time director,...
-
Nairobi Half Life: Back by popular demand!
By popular demand, Nairobi Half Life—Kenya’s first official submission for the Academy Awards ® and the 2012 AFI Fest Audience Award winner—will return to cinemas...
-
Accepting Applications: Dogfish, the world’s first film production accelerator
Back in 2005, Paul Graham and Trevor Blackwell, two tech pioneers who’d made fortunes in Silicon Valley, founded a company called Y Combinator. The business...
-
The Wild Bunch: Eight new Midnight Marauder posters for Sam Peckinpah’s masterpiece Western
I don’t claim to be a Sam Peckinpah expert or a film critic by any means. I am a poster designer at heart. My love...
Guide 2020
Summer 2019
Spring 2019
Winter 2019
Guide 2019
Year in MovieMaker
Inside the Issue: Acting
Taylor Russell on Waves and Why She’s OK With Being an Adult Who Plays High School Students
In director Trey Edward Shults’ Waves, Taylor Russell plays the younger sister of Kelvin Harrison Jr., even though she’s five days older than him in real life. In fact,...
Inside the Issue: Directing
Rob Zombie: Things I’ve Learned as a Moviemaker
Rob Zombie still can’t let go of some of his past off-screen nightmares. “After I finished Halloween II, I was so beat up by the process that I hated...
Inside the Issue: How To
Edward Norton Walks Us Through Every Part of Making Motherless Brooklyn
Edward Norton is the best possible person to explain each stage of the moviemaking process for his new drama Motherless Brooklyn—he’s the film’s writer, director and lead actor. For...