Oxbelly announced today an open call for the Oxbelly Retreat’s 2025 edition, to be held June 28 through July 6 at Costa Navarino in Messinia, Greece. Also announced are Do Not Expect Too Much from the End of the World director Radu Jude as the leader of the Screenwriters Program and The Road to the Country author Chigozie Obioma as leader of the Fiction Writers Program. The application deadline is January 22, 2025. There is no cost to apply, and all expenses for fellows are covered. More from the press release: The Oxbelly Retreat is an annual gathering of international […]

The post Open Call Announced for the 2025 Oxbelly Retreat for Screenwriters and Literary Fiction Writers first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.

Mati Diop likes summoning spirits. In 2019’s Cannes-premiering Atlantics, the ghosts of young Senegalese men lost in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Dakar come back to haunt people in their bid to demand what is rightfully theirs. In her latest hybrid documentary, Dahomey—which won the Golden Bear at Berlinale this year—she exorcises the spirit of artifacts looted by the French from the West African kingdom of Dahomey between 1892-94. After centuries of lying inert in Paris’ Musée du quai Branly, 26 of these artifacts were restituted to Benin in 2021.  Dahomey not only documents their long journey home […]

The post “A Meditation on the Stigmas of Colonization”: Mati Diop on Dahomey first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.

While the eruption of violence at the US Capitol on January 6th left most Americans dazed and confused — and too many journalists and talking heads scrambling to dissect the psyche of the rioters as if they were extraterrestrial beings and not our actual next-door neighbors — multimedia artist Michael Premo had been listening and filming throughout the summer of 2020 with open ears and eyes all along. His Venice-debuting Homegrown follows three diverse (yes, diverse) Trump-supporting “patriots”: an excited young father-to-be (to a biracial child) in New Jersey, an Air Force vet and rightwing organizer in “liberal” NYC, and […]

The post “Stereotypes Help People Delegitimize Other People and Ideas They Want to Distance Themselves From”: Michael Premo on Homegrown first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.

Every Tuesday Tyler Coates publishes his new Filmmaker newsletter, Considerations, devoted to the awards race. To receive it early and in your in-box, subscribe here. It’s now primetime for FYC campaigning. I was inundated with digital codes and old-school DVDs early last week; studios know that voters—at least American ones—might have had lots of downtime and perhaps visiting family members to entertain. What better way to treat your guests than showing them A24’s entire 2024 slate (with the exceptions of the still-unreleased Babygirl, The Brutalist and Queer)? There were also a slew of FYC events in Los Angeles ahead of […]

The post Considerations: The Golden Globes Silly Season first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.

Here’s a funny thing to think about: One of the best places to get a handle on what’s happening in American (and sometimes Canadian) independent film is a very long travel day away from New York, Los Angeles or Chicago, at the American Film Festival in Wroclaw, Poland, a millennium-old city with a historic Old Town. Adjacent is the very modern cineplex New Horizons, which shares its name with a sprawling summer festival and each November also hosts AFF and its industry-only sidebar, US in Progress. Described by one attendee as “foreign aid for American indies,” USIP has, over its […]

The post “Foreign Aid for American Indies”: US in Progress 2024 first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.

While it’s not uncommon for a filmmaker to earn an Oscar nomination for directing their first narrative feature—directors to do so since the turn of the century include Emerald Fennell, Jordan Peele, Benh Zeiltlin, Tony Gilroy, Rob Marshall and Spike Jonze—it’s very rare for a film debut to win best director. Only six have accomplished the feat: Marty’s Delbert Mann, West Side Story’s Jerome Robbins (sharing the Oscar with co-director Robert Wise), Ordinary People’s Robert Redford, Terms of Endearment’s James L. Brooks, Dances With Wolves’ Kevin Costner and American Beauty’s Sam Mendes. This year, the best director race is packed […]

The post Awards Season Analysis: First Time Filmmakers in the 2024 Race first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.

Caroline (Vic Carmen Sonne), a young factory worker living in abject poverty, serves as our window into the perilous post-war landscape of Copenhagen circa 1919 in The Girl with the Needle. Her dire situation is compounded by her social position as a working class woman, particularly since her husband, Peter (Besir Zeciri), has been out of the picture since he signed up to fight in the Great War (despite the country’s broader policy of neutrality). After she becomes pregnant by her wealthy boss, Jorgen (Joachim Fjelstrup), Caroline anticipates a new life of abundance and relative privilege. Of course, this inter-caste […]

The post “This World Is Hell for Women”: Magnus von Horn on The Girl with the Needle first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.

Director David Lowery admits he loves Christmas (he was born the day after), and that’s part of the reason why he embarked on his latest project: An Almost Christmas Story, a CG animated short for Disney from producer Alfonso Cuarón, who conceived the film with writer Jack Thorne. Set during the holiday season, An Almost Christmas Story sees a young owl named Moon who unexpectedly taken from his family when she accidentally catches a ride in the Christmas tree destined for Rockefeller Center. At that famed location, Moon encounters a young girl named Luna, who is also lost and searching […]

The post “I Love Corrugated Cardboard”: David Lowery on Directing An Almost Christmas Story first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.

Aaron Schimberg’s A24-drama of identity, appearance and personal transformation, A Different Man, won Best Picture last night at the 32nd annual Gotham Awards. No Other Land, directed by an Israel-Palestinian collective consisting of Yuval Abraham, Basel Adra, Rachel Szor and Hamdan Ballal , took home the Best Documentary award for its depiction of Israel’s expulsion of Palestinian West Bank residents from their homes and villages. Payal Kapadia’s Mumbai-set All We Imagine as Light won the Best International Feature Award. Two films picked up two awards each: Nickel Boys and Sing Sing. The former won Best Director for RaMell Ross and […]

The post A Different Man, No Other Land Win at 2024 Gotham Awards first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.

Michael Shannon is known for his intense and versatile performances across film, television, and theater—Take Shelter, 99 Homes, Nocturnal Animals, Boardwalk Empire, Long Days Journey Into Night, George and Tammy, to name just a few. On this episode, he talks about his “simplistic” approach to preparation, the test he gives directors to see if he can trust them, the importance of “disappearing,” why he no longer likes to do endless takes, and much more. Plus he discusses his love for George Mackay, who plays “Son” to Shannon’s “Father” in The End, Joshua Oppenheimer’s post-apocalyptic musical which opens in select theaters […]

The post “It’s Your Job to Disappear”: Michael Shannon, Back To One, Episode 320 first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.