Nearly 1,100 vendors spread across three halls of the massive Las Vegas Convention Center for the annual National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) Show which, over five days each April, covers a lot of ground, both physically and with the wide scope of technology encompassed under “broadcast.” In a press conference, Karen Chupka, NAB’s managing director and executive vice president, highlighted this Show’s new points of focus, including sports and content creators; ESPN commentator Stephen A. Smith was a featured guest speaker at NAB earlier that same morning. Scrolling through each day’s list of scheduled panels and talks illustrates just how […]

The post NAB 2025: LED Screen Advancements, Tariff Concerns and Hybrid Lenses first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.

There are a set of rules that have long-guided ultra-low and microbudget production. Lots of daylight exteriors, one or two central locations (to minimize company moves and location rental cost), a small cast, no stunts, no child actors and a compressed shooting schedule. If today it’s not uncommon to see a 24-day schedule on films of $12 million, and most independents with sub $3-million budgets are boarded between 18 and 24 days, a filmmaker considering their first ultra-low-budget picture should think about going even lower, to 11 or 12 days, even. And, of course, shooting digital is probably the economically […]

The post “A Redemption Story That Gets Derailed By a Revenge Story”: Ariella Mastroianni and Ryan Sloan on Gazer first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.

When it comes to the work of cinematographer Hillary Fyfe Spera, you’ll find two consistent elements – 1970s inspirations and Panavision glass. Both are present in Daredevil: Born Again, a new Disney+ series that continues the story of lawyer by day/vigilante by night Matt Murdock originally begun on Netflix. The season opens with Murdock (played by Charlie Cox) and his nemesis Wilson “Kingpin” Fisk (Vincent D’Onofrio) trying to forsake their daker halves before they’re ultimately pulled back into their respective alter egos as crime fighter and crime lord. The show’s final arc took a circuitous route to fruition. Nearly six […]

The post “Two Giant Oners Put Together into One Piece”: DP Hillary Fyfe Spera on Daredevil: Born Again first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.

Vicky Du’s Light of the Setting Sun is both intimate and expansive, tragic and hopeful. It’s a globetrotting look at the filmmaker’s own family across three generations and a trio of countries: the U.S., where Du grew up; Taiwan, where her parents hail from and where many of her relatives still reside; and China, where 95 percent of the clan was massacred during the Cultural Revolution. It’s also a delicate unearthing, and a piecing together of personal history through archival footage and interviews with family members – some more reluctant than others to address the inherited trauma forever looming like […]

The post “What is Remembered… Is a Political Act that Can Be Weaponized”: Vicky Du on Light of the Setting Sun first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.

The inaugural Henry Awards for Public Interest Documentary, awarded by the Documentary Film in the Public Interest Initiative at the Harvard Kennedy School’s Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy, have been announced, including a grand prize of $100,000 for While We Watched, whose director Vinay Shukla contributed an essay to our fall 2023 issue about his creation of the best-selling board game Shasn. The awards were decided by a jury consisting of Ra’anan Alexandrowicz, Mandy Chang, Petra Costa, Ron Nixon and Michèle Stephenson. From the press release: The Documentary Film in the Public Interest Initiative at the Harvard Kennedy School’s […]

The post Inaugural Henry Awards for Public Interest Documentary Announce Grand Prize Winner, Finalists and Honorable Mentions first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.

In approaching The Wedding Banquet, director Andrew Ahn knew his reimagining of the 1993 romantic comedy directed by Ang Lee had to navigate nuances of queer and cultural identity that he still wrestles with today. So, in updating the original story—about a bisexual Taiwanese immigrant who tries to convince his traditionally-minded parents that he’s straight—Ahn chose to expand it, focusing on a foursome of queer friends who live together in Seattle and become unlikely co-conspirators in a similarly elaborate ruse. Involving not one but two same-sex couples navigating milestone moments, this version of the story (in theaters April 18) goes beyond […]

The post “Coziness was a Creative North Star”: Andrew Ahn on The Wedding Banquet first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.

The Tribeca Festival, which runs from June 4 to 15 in 2025, has announced the feature film lineup for this year’s edition, including the debut feature from 25 New Face of Independent Film 2022 Walter Thompson-Hernández. From the press release: The final selections were chosen from a record-breaking number of submissions (13,541). This year’s program includes 118 feature films representing 95 world premieres, 135 filmmakers and 36 countries. 48 (40%) of the features are directed by women and 42 (36%) are directed by BIPOC filmmakers. 44 filmmakers are making their feature debut at this year’s Tribeca Festival and 32 directors […]

The post Tribeca Festival Announces 2025 Features Including New Films by RZA, Mariska Hargitay first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.

The ACID section of Cannes has announced its lineup for this year’s edition. From the press release: ACID (Association du Cinéma Indépendant pour sa Diffusion) is a collective of filmmakers who support independent films by giving them greater exposure. Their goal? To help original, daring films reach their audience, both in France and abroad. […] ACID stands out for its unique selection process: filmmakers choose the films they support. Each year, 14 filmmakers see over 600 feature films for the Cannes Film Festival and select 9 of them, to receive invaluable support for their release in theaters and at festivals, […]

The post ACID Announces 2025 Cannes Lineup first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.

The ACID section of Cannes has announced its lineup for this year’s edition. From the press release: ACID (Association du Cinéma Indépendant pour sa Diffusion) is a collective of filmmakers who support independent films by giving them greater exposure. Their goal? To help original, daring films reach their audience, both in France and abroad. […] ACID stands out for its unique selection process: filmmakers choose the films they support. Each year, 14 filmmakers see over 600 feature films for the Cannes Film Festival and select 9 of them, to receive invaluable support for their release in theaters and at festivals, […]

The post ACID Announces 2025 Cannes Lineup first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.

Michael Angarano has been acting since he was an infant and has a long resume of memorable work in both comedic and dramatic roles—Almost Famous, Will and Grace, This is Us, Gentlemen Broncos, Oppenheimer, to name a few. His latest is a wonderful comedy with a lot of heart that he stars in, co-wrote and directed called Sacramento. On this episode he talks about the long road of getting that film made, how he needed to adjust once he saw Michael Cera’s approach to the role, and the interesting realization that he may not need to act and direct and […]

The post Sacramento Writer, Director and Star Michael Angarano, Back To One, Episode 338 first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.