We’re happy to share the first trailer for Leslie Tai’s debut documentary How to Have an American Baby, which next plays at the San Diego Asian Film Festival on Nov. 3 before making its New York City premiere on November 14th at DOC NYC and continuing on to Cucalorus Film Festival screenings on November 16 and 19. From the press release: a creative documentary that takes us behind the closed doors of the booming shadow economy catering to Chinese tourists who travel to the U.S. to give birth—in order to obtain U.S. citizenship for their babies. Told through a series of […]

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The Gotham Film & Media Institute, Filmmaker‘s parent publisher, today announced the nominees for the 33rd annual Gotham Awards, to be held this Monday, November 27 at Cipriani Wall Street. All of Us Strangers leads the feature film nominations with four total. Click here to watch the live-streamed nominations announcement, or read them below. Best Feature Passages Ira Sachs, director; Saïd Ben Saïd, Michel Merkt, producers (MUBI) Past Lives Celine Song, director; David Hinojosa, Pamela Koffler, Christine Vachon, producers (A24) Reality Tina Satter, director; Brad Becker-Parton, Riva Marker, Greg Nobile, Noah Stahl, producers (HBO Films) Showing Up Kelly Reichardt, director; […]

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When thinking of Armenian cinema, the names of Sergei Parajanov and Artavazd Peleshyan come to mind. These two titans are influential not only for Armenian or Soviet cinema but world film heritage. Both introduced unique storytelling methods—one infusing the screen with poetry and collaged images, the second conceiving of the “Distance Montage” technique. But Armenian cinema, which marks its 100th anniversary this year, has other notable filmmakers whose work deserves no less recognition.  ArmenFilm (HayFilm), the first and main film production body of Armenia, was established in 1923 as a separate department within the People’s Commissariat of the Soviet Armenia. […]

The post 100 Years of Making Films: The Centenary of Armenian Cinema first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.

Martina Radwan’s Tomorrow, Tomorrow, Tomorrow will have its world premiere at DOC NYC in the U.S. Competition section on November 10. In advance, we’re pleased to share the film’s trailer. From the press release: This film tackles the emotional and ethical challenges that arise when a determined, idealistic and thoroughly unprepared American cinematographer decides to support three Mongolian orphans, while traveling back and forth. Told over the span of six years, Tomorrow, Tomorrow, Tomorrow is a deeply personal film and an honest portrait of how storytellers and their characters impact each other. As the filmmaker and central character, Martina grapples […]

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Ahead of the first-ever International Production Design Week, the Production Designers Collective has coordinated a series of interviews with directors and production designers, in which they discuss their working dynamics and mutual passion for the craft of storytelling. Ethan Tobman describes production design as the art of “visually interpreting the world of a director through emotional architecture.” Below, he and director Mark Mylod discuss their film The Menu and going from reference images on the wall to a fully realized world structured to best absorb the viewer emotionally while furthering the narrative (along with meticulously crafting a last-minute birthday cake […]

The post “450 Resin-Coated Pieces of Plastic”: Production Designer Ethan Tobman and Mark Mylod on The Menu first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.

Upon the release of her 1985 memoir, Elvis and Me, Priscilla Presley sat down with Barbara Walters to explain her objectives in writing the book: “[Elvis] was a human being, that’s the aspect I’m trying to show. That’s all. That was the intent of the whole book: to show a love story, a man, a human. Not the performer, not the image, not the idol.” In many ways, this is also the aim of the average biopic: to pull back the curtain separating public from private, to reveal the “truth” behind legends and complicate accepted narratives. But while these films […]

The post Standing in the Shadow of Elvis: Sofia Coppola’s Priscilla first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.

Reviewing a boxset of writer-director Larry Fessenden’s work in 2015 for Filmmaker, I began by noting that “Fessenden can frequently be found on the outskirts of the New York filmmaking community, using his production company Glass Eye Pix as an outlet of support for fellow filmmakers.” While my summation of the celebrated horror auteur’s altruism remains accurate (the company turns 40 in 2026), Fessenden’s own films have grown tougher to get off the ground. A new film by him is therefore a major event, albeit one that happens quietly.  Having made its world premiere at the 27th Fantasia International Film […]

The post “Literally Filmed Within Two Miles of My House”: Larry Fessenden on Blackout, Streaming and His Role in Killers of the Flower Moon first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.

Ahead of the first-ever International Production Design Week, the Production Designers Collective has coordinated a series of interviews with directors and production designers, in which they discuss their working dynamics and mutual passion for the craft of storytelling. At the heart of production designer Akin McKenzie and writer-director Terence Nance’s long-running collaboration is a mutual recognition of the importance of, as Nance puts it, “creative execution that flows from emotional framework.”  The two first worked together on the Peabody-award-winning HBO show Random Acts of Flyness and went on to create Space Jam: A New Legacy and award-winning commercial campaigns for […]

The post Reject Departmental Sectarianism: Production Designer Akin McKenzie and Writer-Director Terence Nance first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.

Chicken & Egg Pictures announced today the 27 filmmaking team recipients of its inaugural Chicken & Egg Pictures Research & Development Grant. Supported by Netflix’s Fund for Creative Equity, the grants provide experienced directors with $10,000 for research or $20,000 for development of a new documentary project — stages of the filmmaking process that are often unpaid and unsupported. Chicken & Egg Pictures’s team will also provide grantees with peer support, connecting them to the broader documentary community for mentorship and networking opportunities. From the press release: The 2023 Chicken & Egg Pictures Research & Development Grant is supported by […]

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Vietnamese American filmmaker Linh Tran’s debut feature Waiting for the Light to Change tells the story of five friends in their twenties who head to a beach house for a weeklong winter getaway. At the center of the group are Amy (Jin Park) and Kim (Joyce Ha), whose once-close friendship seems to be running out of fuel—especially now that Kim is dating Amy’s longtime secret crush, Jay (Sam Straley). As past regrets and resentments come to the surface, Amy and Kim wrestle with painful questions about whether their old selves fit into the new lives they’re trying to create for […]

The post “Limit Yourself to Three Setups Per Scene”: Linh Tran on Slamdance Award-Winner Waiting for the Light to Change first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.