On this special episode, I visit the picket line at each of the four SAG/AFTRA strike sites in New York City, in one continuous, unbroken audio “take.” Actors Michael Gaston, Clarissa Thibeaux, and others talk to me about what’s at stake, and en route to each location I share my own thoughts on the issues at hand, make some predictions, voice concerns, and offer up my total and complete solidarity to the cause, all supported by the loud and never-ending symphony of the New York City streets! Get ready for the strangest, but definitely most sonic-rich, episode of this podcast […]

The post “How Many Times Do I Have To Get Lucky To Survive?” Strike: A Special Episode of Back To One first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.

In November 2022, the Maryland Film Festival announced it would not be holding its 25th anniversary event and would stop public-facing operations the following year, including new and repertory screenings at Baltimore’s Parkway Theater, in order to “prioritize a planning process to develop a new business model and plan that will chart the future trajectory of the organization.” Barely six months later, the New/Next Film Festival was announced, running from August 18 to 20 in the festival’s previous home, The Charles Theater, just a few blocks south of the Parkway.  Leading the charge, or at the very least facilitating it, […]

The post “Festivals Should Reflect Their Community”: Eric Allen Hatch on New/Next Film Festival’s Inaugural Edition first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.

This week Filmmaker is publishing three diaries from writers and directors who attended the 2023 Sundance Directors Lab. We’ve already published writer-director Dania Bdeir’s as well as director-writer-producer Masami Kawai‘s. Next up is writer-director Walter Thompson-Hernández, who traveled to the Lab with If I Go Will They Miss Me. (He’s also a Filmmaker 2022 25 New Face.) Here’s the description: “Twelve-year-old Lil Ant begins to see mysterious figures — eerie men with their arms spread like wings — around his home. When his father, Big Ant, realizes his son sees these “airplane people” too, their family history emerges and reveals deeper meaning and […]

The post Sundance Directors Lab 2023 Diary: Walter Thompson-Hernández first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.

The Rockaway Film Festival announces today the full lineup for its sixth annual edition, to take place between August 19-27. The 2023 program features premieres, repertory screenings and live performances amid the sand and sea at Rockaway Beach. Screenings will be held at the festival’s flagship outdoor theater Arverne Cinema, which was constructed using pieces from the boardwalk that were destroyed during Hurricane Sandy. The opening night selection is Walt Disney’s Fantasia, with shorts by “cine-magician” Oskar Fischinger preceding the film. Other highlights of the festival include the New York premiere of Luke Lorentzen’s A Still Small Voice, which won […]

The post Rockaway Film Festival Unveils 2023 Lineup first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.

Today we’re sharing the Indiegogo crowdfunding campaign for No Sleep Till, the feature debut from French-American filmmaker Alexandra Simpson. So far, $3,735 has been raised by 21 backers toward a flexible $25,000 goal, with 29 days remaining to secure funds through the campaign. Producing the film is Ham on Rye and Happer’s Comet director Tyler Taormina, a member of the filmmaking collective Omnes Films, which appeared on our 25 New Faces of Film list in 2021. Also on board in Zurich-based producer Michael Graf, who produced the Sundance ’23 short White Ant. Here’s a general synopsis and pitch of No […]

The post Crowdfunding Campaign Launched for Alexandra Simpson’s Feature Debut No Sleep Till, Produced by Tyler Taormina first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.

Gaining access to an underrepresented community comes with a great amount of responsibility. There are countless examples of a director visiting a site for a few days, getting what they need, then hightailing it out only to use their subsequent press tour to emphasize the “raw grittiness” they observed while filming on location. It’s crucial to question who benefits from this exchange. Does the filmmaker gain authenticity for their work merely by virtue of who they put in front of the camera? Does the portrayed community benefit from being used to confirm an outsider’s predetermined perception? Gina Gammell and Riley […]

The post Riding in Cars with Boys: Gina Gammell, Riley Keough, Franklin Sioux Bob and Willi White on War Pony first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.

Just announced as the world-premiering opening night title of TIFF’s Midnight Madness program, a trailer arrives for Borat director Larry Charles’s latest film Dicks: The Musical. The first musical to be distributed by A24, the film was written by Aaron Jackson and Josh Sharp, based on their stage play Fucking Identical Twins: The Musical. Jackson and Sharp also star in the film, supported by Nathan Lane, Megan Mullally, Megan Thee Stallion and Bowen Yang. A brief synopsis reads: Two self-obsessed businessmen (Jackson and Sharp) discover they’re long-lost identical twins and come together to plot the reunion of their eccentric divorced […]

The post Trailer Watch: Larry Charles’s Dicks: The Musical first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.

TIFF announces the lineups for its 2023 Midnight Madness and Discovery programs today, following documentary, Platform, as well as gala and special presentation titles. 10 films make up the Midnight Madness roster this year, featuring seven world premieres. Larry Charles’s Dicks: The Musical will serve as the opening night film, while Weston Razooli’s Riddle of Fire, which we covered out of Cannes, will close out the program. This year’s Discovery slate is comprised of 26 films, 23 of which are world premieres, across 25 different countries. The opening night Discovery title will be actress Patricia Arquette’s directorial debut Gonzo Girl. […]

The post TIFF Reveals 2023 Midnight Madness and Discovery Lineups first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.

Jess Search, an extraordinary and impactful documentary producer and executive, died Monday in London of brain cancer. She was 54. Search began her career in 1998 as a founder of Shooting People, the London-based site connecting thousands of filmmakers and crew, and then at UK’s Channel Four, where she was a documentary commissioning editor. From there she founded the BritDoc Foundation, which then became the nonprofit Doc Society. As Doc Society’s co-founder and also chief executive, her vision led to a diverse set of initiatives that includes funding non-fiction films by UK filmmakers as well as, more specifically, supporting films […]

The post Remembering Producer and Doc Society Co-Founder Jess Search, 1969 – 2023 first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.

World premiering in Sundance’s NEXT category back in January, the trailer now arrives for director Babak Jalali’s feature debut Fremont. Co-written by Jalali and Italian filmmaker Carolina Cavalli, the Bay Area-set film stars newcomer Anaita Wali Zada, The Bear‘s Jeremy Allen White and On Cinema‘s Gregg Turkington. An official synopsis reads: Each morning Donya (Anaita Wali Zada) leaves her tight-knit community of Afghan immigrants in Fremont, California. She crosses the Bay to work at a family-run fortune cookie factory in San Francisco. Donya drifts through her routine, struggling to connect with the culture and people of her new, unfamiliar surroundings […]

The post Trailer Watch: Babak Jalali’s Fremont first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.