All Posts Tagged With: "indiewire"
iW: Sheffield Doc/Fest: Born Again and Joining Forces
The Sheffield Doc/Fest in Sheffield, England just wound up its fifteenth incarnation, yet the air of it feels new, emerging, and in a way, it is. Director Heather Croall took over three years ago and under her leadership, this five-day event is expanding its horizons and gunning to be one of the top international documentary festivals. Croall said, “I feel like this year we really got into gear, our organization is better than ever.” Evidenced by the energy and good will present despite the damp November weather, it is well on its way. Read the rest of my coverage from Sheffield>>
iW: Theatrical Docs Down, But Not Out
A quick read of David Ansen’s recent “The End of the Documentary Film Market” over at Newsweek is a good summary of the theatrical marketplace for documentary film as it stands here in mid-summer 2008. Too much content for too few screens, distributors closing their doors and small grosses for the films that do manage openings, with the mind-boggling exception of the Ben Stein anti-Darwin film “Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed” taking in a whopping $7.6 million. Despite the usual filmmaker mantra that their film requires a big screen to properly showcase their story, audiences are deciding with their dollars what movies they want to see in theaters and which they don’t. Read the whole article>>
iW: Arts Engine Celebrates 10 Years
Ten years can either be a blip or an eternity depending on your perspective. The year 1997 saw President Bill Clinton inaugurated for his second term, James Cameron’s “Titantic” was the top movie and a book about a young wizard named Harry Potter first hit shelves. It was before the Internet stock bust and “information superhighway” was still a promise. The world of documentary in the U.S. was one of foundation funding, public television broadcast and educational distribution with precious few docs breaking into any kind of commercial success. It was in that entrenched world that then-new filmmakers Katy Chevigny and Julia Pimsleur felt like they had little opportunity. Read the article & catch screenings of Arts Engine productions at The Paley Center in NYC this weekend>>
Serious Criticism for Serious Films
David Carr reported yesterday in The New York Times that several newspapers across the country are laying off film critics. He starts off the article with comments from distributors who seem to lament the loss though the tone of the article overall seems to be a snide commentary on online film writers, or maybe I’m projecting?
The paper owners claim poverty and in the age of instant syndication, why can’t they make it work with a handful of national critics? After all, your 21s, Drillbit Taylors and Leatherheads are the same no matter where you see them, right? Welcome to the Clear Channel phenomena where local voices are purged in favor of corporate homogenization in the name of profits.
Carr’s article claims that, what David Poland and S.T. VanAirsdale call “serious films,” which seems to mean independent and foreign films from the context of the article, will suffer at the box office for lack of print film critic champions. It seems to me that there are a lot of issues wrapped up in this discussion and unfortunaly Carr’s article barely scratches the surface. Eugene Hernandez opened another discussion forum on his blog, rightly, particularly since indiewire is cited as one of the spots where folks can go online to find movie news.
Dear Filmmaker,
Would you please speak up?! Eugene Hernandez posted a discussion starter on his blog about The Festival That Shall Not Be Named Here and their absurd new policy that accredited festival press may not post film reviews in advance of the premiere screening. Journalists and film writers like myself have a sense of our own importance, for better or worse, but what really matters is filmmakers. It’s the internet for God’s sake–you can post anonymously, but let your thoughts be heard.
If I see 5 filmmaker comments on Eug’s blog that say this is a great, welcome policy, then maybe we shift our understanding of what is helpful and what isn’t. If you say it’s not helpful, then maybe (and I give that a big maybe), the fest will shift its policy. I’m so utterly sick of this particular festival bullying everyone who tries to participate and no one speaking up. Hey, they supposedly made changes to respond to criticism for this year, so at least give it a shot. Read Eugene’s post and share a comment, PUULEEZ!
Clearly not Twittering enough, Agnes! 
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