Reviewed by Peter Belsito. A 16-year-old Parisian school girl, bored with her own age group, becomes involved with an older man. Passing a…
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Continue reading on SydneysBuzz The Blog »...
- 10/19/2020
- by Sydney Levine
- Sydney's Buzz
Clara (Zoe Kazan) arrives in New York with her two small children, on the run from an abusive partner- and that’s putting it mildly. He is a homicidal violent psychopath — and a NYC police officer. Her terror of him and fear for her boys — whom he abused violently — motivates her.
This Danish/Canadian co-production opened this year’s Berlin Film Festival, t
The story is very modern, a plotline I’d never seen before.
In short, The Kindness of Strangers is about a young woman wandering in New York City with no money, nowhere to go, nobody to help her with two small boys in tow. Her resultant, continuing interactions with a whole cast of strangers forms the storyline. Her desperate, determined continuous search for her boys’ safety, and her own, motivates her to keep running with no resources in a tough dark New York City.
Clara (Zoe Kazan...
This Danish/Canadian co-production opened this year’s Berlin Film Festival, t
The story is very modern, a plotline I’d never seen before.
In short, The Kindness of Strangers is about a young woman wandering in New York City with no money, nowhere to go, nobody to help her with two small boys in tow. Her resultant, continuing interactions with a whole cast of strangers forms the storyline. Her desperate, determined continuous search for her boys’ safety, and her own, motivates her to keep running with no resources in a tough dark New York City.
Clara (Zoe Kazan...
- 12/25/2019
- by Sydney Levine
- Sydney's Buzz
The Opening Night Party of Caribbean Tales Film Festival took place the night before Tiff kicked off.It was a street party, and it was great, beautifully dressed women, fabulous young men and women, the music, people smiling and nice as you walk in…friendly.Frances-Anne Solomon in middle, pointing, next to the MP in beige jacket.
Friendlier perhaps, more open than in the USA, my companion for the evening Alex Bendahan said as we discussed how good it felt to be at the party, in Canada…the end of the Underground Railway.
Alex is in post on what he plans to be the first of five docs on music of certain islands in the Caribbean. We are in Toronto along with Peter Belsito talking with international sales agents and festivals about his film, Parlez-Vous Musique? Of course, he met the founder of this 14-year-old festival, Frances- Anne Solomon and...
Friendlier perhaps, more open than in the USA, my companion for the evening Alex Bendahan said as we discussed how good it felt to be at the party, in Canada…the end of the Underground Railway.
Alex is in post on what he plans to be the first of five docs on music of certain islands in the Caribbean. We are in Toronto along with Peter Belsito talking with international sales agents and festivals about his film, Parlez-Vous Musique? Of course, he met the founder of this 14-year-old festival, Frances- Anne Solomon and...
- 9/29/2019
- by Sydney Levine
- Sydney's Buzz
A Jerusalem woman’s business career is ruined by her boss’ aggressive sexual behavior in this powerful Israeli drama.
The person who believes there’s never any excuse for putting up with the boss’s sexual harassment has probably never experienced any, let alone risked losing a position or needed salary if they complain.
Most women — and people in general — don’t have any choice but to put up with “a certain amount” of crap to get ahead at all and often is a real career advancement choice.
That’s the fix the heroine of Working Woman finds herself in: She’s wedged between the need for a job that greatly improves her young family’s prospects and the increasingly discomfiting behavior of her superior.
This second narrative feature by Israeli documentarian Michal Aviad is a strong drama that eschews melodramatic contrivance, making its points via cool (yet sometimes squirm-inducing) observation.
The person who believes there’s never any excuse for putting up with the boss’s sexual harassment has probably never experienced any, let alone risked losing a position or needed salary if they complain.
Most women — and people in general — don’t have any choice but to put up with “a certain amount” of crap to get ahead at all and often is a real career advancement choice.
That’s the fix the heroine of Working Woman finds herself in: She’s wedged between the need for a job that greatly improves her young family’s prospects and the increasingly discomfiting behavior of her superior.
This second narrative feature by Israeli documentarian Michal Aviad is a strong drama that eschews melodramatic contrivance, making its points via cool (yet sometimes squirm-inducing) observation.
- 4/16/2019
- by Sydney Levine
- Sydney's Buzz
A short half-hour film made to sell a book. No fests, no theatrical, but you can go on their website and watch it. Worth it.
So …..
What we have here is not a film but a question — what’s it like to be us?
Confused, twenty-something, afraid …. but boldly striding into life.
We follow the life of a millennial — twenty-something young woman…. emphasize the young … who works at an ad agency. We’re in the world of twenty-somethings — impossibly young but adults now, and facing all that grim reality.
It’s one-half hour but full. The creator is also the star. Impossibly young but out in the world.
It’s Samantha Jayne
It’s Samantha Jayne.
For example we see our young female Millennial ask a series of basic questions about “adulting” to her mom over the phone, cutting back and forth during this to many different situations. The sequence...
So …..
What we have here is not a film but a question — what’s it like to be us?
Confused, twenty-something, afraid …. but boldly striding into life.
We follow the life of a millennial — twenty-something young woman…. emphasize the young … who works at an ad agency. We’re in the world of twenty-somethings — impossibly young but adults now, and facing all that grim reality.
It’s one-half hour but full. The creator is also the star. Impossibly young but out in the world.
It’s Samantha Jayne
It’s Samantha Jayne.
For example we see our young female Millennial ask a series of basic questions about “adulting” to her mom over the phone, cutting back and forth during this to many different situations. The sequence...
- 3/22/2019
- by Peter Belsito
- Sydney's Buzz
This a dark contemporary psychological thriller. A real walk down a strange path of family, wealth, sex and life-threatening danger.
Long Lost stars Adam Weppler as Seth, a 23 year old young man invited to spend a long weekend at a Connecticut mansion with his long lost millionaire half-brother Richard (Nicholas Tucci) who, along with his enigmatic, sex starved live-in girlfriend Abby (Catherine Corcoran), leads Seth down a psychological rabbit hole wherein luxury and temptation are intermingled with treachery and taboo.
When Seth receives a mysterious letter inviting him to spend the weekend at a secluded mansion in the country, he soon realizes the people inside the house may know him better than he knows himself. His half brother is hostile, supercilious and almost threatening and seems to hold secrets about Seth’s origin. But he is angry (at Seth?) and seems to disapprove of Seth, so Seth almost immediately wonders,...
Long Lost stars Adam Weppler as Seth, a 23 year old young man invited to spend a long weekend at a Connecticut mansion with his long lost millionaire half-brother Richard (Nicholas Tucci) who, along with his enigmatic, sex starved live-in girlfriend Abby (Catherine Corcoran), leads Seth down a psychological rabbit hole wherein luxury and temptation are intermingled with treachery and taboo.
When Seth receives a mysterious letter inviting him to spend the weekend at a secluded mansion in the country, he soon realizes the people inside the house may know him better than he knows himself. His half brother is hostile, supercilious and almost threatening and seems to hold secrets about Seth’s origin. But he is angry (at Seth?) and seems to disapprove of Seth, so Seth almost immediately wonders,...
- 3/22/2019
- by Peter Belsito
- Sydney's Buzz
Advocate — Peter Belsito — MediumSundance Ff 2019: ‘Advocate’ directed by Rachel Leah JonesA Sundance Film Festival shown documentary about Israeli human-rights lawyer Lea Tsemel.
She is an amazing force that won’t be stopped.
She has been an outspoken and controversial force in Israeli society having defended Palestinians against many criminal charges in Israeli courts for nearly five decades.
Lea Tsemel calls herself a losing lawyer, because every case she has taken was lost.
But once you watch the documentary called Advocate, then you will realize why she is the most successful, fearless lawyer in the world, known as the devil’s advocate. Her fascinating and quite eventful journey started way before the documentary begins, following her real time as she fights separate cases on court, knowing ahead of time she will lose, but the biggest victory of all is to reduce the sentences.
So who are those people that she defends?...
She is an amazing force that won’t be stopped.
She has been an outspoken and controversial force in Israeli society having defended Palestinians against many criminal charges in Israeli courts for nearly five decades.
Lea Tsemel calls herself a losing lawyer, because every case she has taken was lost.
But once you watch the documentary called Advocate, then you will realize why she is the most successful, fearless lawyer in the world, known as the devil’s advocate. Her fascinating and quite eventful journey started way before the documentary begins, following her real time as she fights separate cases on court, knowing ahead of time she will lose, but the biggest victory of all is to reduce the sentences.
So who are those people that she defends?...
- 2/28/2019
- by Sydney Levine
- Sydney's Buzz
Andre Holland, as Ray Burke, in ‘High Flying Bird’ navigates the NBA’s inner machinery to get his clients playing — and paid.
We first spent an interesting hour listening (unexpectedly — for me!… who knew he was going to be there?? … not me!!) to Steven Soderberg talking about his new film, the shooting with an iPhone and the new world of Netflix, Amazon etc. Wow!
Then we watched the film. A strange one I thought.
Andre Holland in ‘High Flying Bird’, Photo by Peter Andrews
High Flying Bird is about a somewhat strange sports negotiation for the services of a new basket ball superstar-to-be. High level, endless one on one meetings make up all the film’s scenes in midtown Manhattan, in bars, offices, fancy apartments, always moving. About a young basketball super star-to-be’s services, his lawyers and his hangers-on.
Everyone is black, affluent, educated, articulate, purposeful, real Manhattan business and wealthy types.
We first spent an interesting hour listening (unexpectedly — for me!… who knew he was going to be there?? … not me!!) to Steven Soderberg talking about his new film, the shooting with an iPhone and the new world of Netflix, Amazon etc. Wow!
Then we watched the film. A strange one I thought.
Andre Holland in ‘High Flying Bird’, Photo by Peter Andrews
High Flying Bird is about a somewhat strange sports negotiation for the services of a new basket ball superstar-to-be. High level, endless one on one meetings make up all the film’s scenes in midtown Manhattan, in bars, offices, fancy apartments, always moving. About a young basketball super star-to-be’s services, his lawyers and his hangers-on.
Everyone is black, affluent, educated, articulate, purposeful, real Manhattan business and wealthy types.
- 2/19/2019
- by Peter Belsito
- Sydney's Buzz
Peter BelstioThis was the best film I saw in my Sundance — Slamdance week recently. This is the best film I’ve seen in the past year. So good waw it, that when I left the theater at the Slamdance top of Main Street in Park City I thought, ‘I might as well go home now, I’ll not see anything here close to this.’Mountain Inn, home ofr Slamdance
Well, I stayed, saw others and this remained the best film for me there. Won the Slamdance grand prize for dramatic features too.
The film is U.S. dramatic. Period — U.S. midwest small town in the ‘50s.
A young boy-girl couple — teenage friends, not lovers — run a manual switchboard for phones, using old fashioned plugs to connect callers. They listen to radio.
Then strange sounds begin emanating from the switchboard and they do not know what it is and decide to find out.
Well, I stayed, saw others and this remained the best film for me there. Won the Slamdance grand prize for dramatic features too.
The film is U.S. dramatic. Period — U.S. midwest small town in the ‘50s.
A young boy-girl couple — teenage friends, not lovers — run a manual switchboard for phones, using old fashioned plugs to connect callers. They listen to radio.
Then strange sounds begin emanating from the switchboard and they do not know what it is and decide to find out.
- 2/14/2019
- by Sydney Levine
- Sydney's Buzz
By Peter BelsitoThe Talking Pictures and Book to Screen program includes in-depth discussions with directors, writers and actors from the year’s top titles. BlacKkKlansman (USA) with author Ron Stallworth (Book to Screen) will be featured.
Peter Belsito at Cannes 2018: This is the best, most important film I saw at Cannes. It should be — hope so! — massively seen upon its USA release.
If it gets people, especially young ones to view this very important American political work, anything Spike Lee, often too outspoken for many people, does or says is good.
Adam Driver and John David Washington in a scene from the movie “BlacKkKlansman.”
BlacKkKlansman was adapted from a book by Ron Stallworth, Colorado Springs’ first black police officer, who in the early 1970s succeeded in infiltrating the local chapter of the Ku Klux Klan. The sheer absurdity of the circumstances clearly inspired Lee and his three co-writers to play the material,...
Peter Belsito at Cannes 2018: This is the best, most important film I saw at Cannes. It should be — hope so! — massively seen upon its USA release.
If it gets people, especially young ones to view this very important American political work, anything Spike Lee, often too outspoken for many people, does or says is good.
Adam Driver and John David Washington in a scene from the movie “BlacKkKlansman.”
BlacKkKlansman was adapted from a book by Ron Stallworth, Colorado Springs’ first black police officer, who in the early 1970s succeeded in infiltrating the local chapter of the Ku Klux Klan. The sheer absurdity of the circumstances clearly inspired Lee and his three co-writers to play the material,...
- 12/28/2018
- by Sydney Levine
- Sydney's Buzz
Palm Springs International Ff 2019: ‘Border’By Peter Belsito and Sydney LevineTalking Pictures & Book To Screen
The Talking Pictures program of the Palm Springs Ff includes in-depth discussions with directors, writers and actors from the year’s top titles. ‘Border’ aka ‘Grans’ (Sweden/Denmark) is on this year’s program with Director Ali Abbasi attending.Eero Milonoff and Eva Melander in ‘Gräns’ / ‘Border’
Peter: Border is the best film I’ve seen in recent months.
Sydney: I’m not so sure I loved it, but…
P: It is the Swedish submission for the Oscar nomination, in Swedish with English subtitles. I saw it in an L.A. theater in a series sponsored by Efp — European Film Promotion. They showed dozens of various European countries’ Oscar submitted films for press and trade in the recent weeks leading up to the announcement of the shortlist for Best Foreign Language Flms.
S: And...
The Talking Pictures program of the Palm Springs Ff includes in-depth discussions with directors, writers and actors from the year’s top titles. ‘Border’ aka ‘Grans’ (Sweden/Denmark) is on this year’s program with Director Ali Abbasi attending.Eero Milonoff and Eva Melander in ‘Gräns’ / ‘Border’
Peter: Border is the best film I’ve seen in recent months.
Sydney: I’m not so sure I loved it, but…
P: It is the Swedish submission for the Oscar nomination, in Swedish with English subtitles. I saw it in an L.A. theater in a series sponsored by Efp — European Film Promotion. They showed dozens of various European countries’ Oscar submitted films for press and trade in the recent weeks leading up to the announcement of the shortlist for Best Foreign Language Flms.
S: And...
- 12/19/2018
- by Sydney Levine
- Sydney's Buzz
Academy Award Submission for Best Feature Documentary: ‘Be Natural: The Untold Story Of Alice Guy-Blaché’by Peter Belsito and Sydney Levine‘Be Natural: The Untold Story of Alice Guy-Blaché’ deserves much more attention as her real life story was, and still is, a history-changer.
Filmmaker Pamela B. Green’s Be Natural: The Untold Story of Alice Guy-Blaché is a timely, exhilarating rediscovery of a forgotten woman. Guy-Blaché, who made her initial film in 1896 Paris, was not only the first female filmmaker, but one of the first directors to make a narrative film. Be Natural follows her rise from Gaumont secretary to her appointment as head of production at Gaumont a year later, then her career in France and the United States as a writer, director, and/or producer of 1,000 films, both feature-length and shorts, as well as the founder of her own studio. An earlier cut of the film premiered...
Filmmaker Pamela B. Green’s Be Natural: The Untold Story of Alice Guy-Blaché is a timely, exhilarating rediscovery of a forgotten woman. Guy-Blaché, who made her initial film in 1896 Paris, was not only the first female filmmaker, but one of the first directors to make a narrative film. Be Natural follows her rise from Gaumont secretary to her appointment as head of production at Gaumont a year later, then her career in France and the United States as a writer, director, and/or producer of 1,000 films, both feature-length and shorts, as well as the founder of her own studio. An earlier cut of the film premiered...
- 11/13/2018
- by Sydney Levine
- Sydney's Buzz
Review by Peter Belsito at Sedona Illuminate Film FestivalIn this film we explore the Integratron, an electromagnetic dome near Joshua Tree in California created by George Van Tassel, a 1940s Howard Hughes confidante and self-taught inventor. Designed in the 1950s, the Integratron combined science and spirit to create a new utopia. Van Tassel designed it to both rejuvenate life and provide free energy. Is he crazy, or does it actually work?
Van Tassel claimed inspiration came through alien contact and Nikola Tesla to create his desert device. Does it really rejuvenate us and transform both time and energy, as he claimed?
The Integratron’s arcing wooden chamber of resonance is still sought and used by sound healers and visionaries worldwide in their work connecting the human spirit to the cosmos. In the end, Van Tassel’s life raft for humanity is a reminder that there is a road map back...
Van Tassel claimed inspiration came through alien contact and Nikola Tesla to create his desert device. Does it really rejuvenate us and transform both time and energy, as he claimed?
The Integratron’s arcing wooden chamber of resonance is still sought and used by sound healers and visionaries worldwide in their work connecting the human spirit to the cosmos. In the end, Van Tassel’s life raft for humanity is a reminder that there is a road map back...
- 6/7/2018
- by Sydney Levine
- Sydney's Buzz
Review by Peter Belsito at Sedona Illuminate Film FestivalFor those of us who were young in the late 1960s — 1968 to be exact — the world was flipping out and over. We all heard of the hippies fading away to mountain communes where they could shed clothes and social restrictions and live in a big loving community. And of course lots of drugs sex and naked people. I never went to any of those places and after a while they — or word of them — seemed to fade away.
Well this is the story of one of those places, its rise and fall.
Hawaii, 1969 — Thirteen young mainlanders — refugees from campus riots, Vietnam War protests and police brutality — flee to Kauai.
Before long, this little tribe of men, women and children is arrested for vagrancy and sentenced to 90 days hard labor.
Howard Taylor, brother of actress Elizabeth Taylor, bails them out and invites the...
Well this is the story of one of those places, its rise and fall.
Hawaii, 1969 — Thirteen young mainlanders — refugees from campus riots, Vietnam War protests and police brutality — flee to Kauai.
Before long, this little tribe of men, women and children is arrested for vagrancy and sentenced to 90 days hard labor.
Howard Taylor, brother of actress Elizabeth Taylor, bails them out and invites the...
- 6/7/2018
- by Sydney Levine
- Sydney's Buzz
Review by Peter Belsito at Sedona Illuminate Film FestivalWhen trauma leaves us broken spiritually, where do we turn? Is healing even possible? Join two U.S. combat veterans in an intimate and raw look at their post-war lives, lives shattered by severe Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.
This a remarkable film.
Two extremely damaged Ptsd U.S. war vets seem hopeless at the beginning of this film.
Filmmakers follow Matt and Mike over three years, diving deep into both their hopes for wholeness and their fear of the unknown. Abandoning traditional pharmaceutical drugs, our heros search for relief in unlikely places.
Healing, we discover, can be found through the controversial and mind-expanding world of cannabis, ayahuasca and Mdma, commonly known as Ecstasy.
We learn how those struggling with trauma can use these incredible substances successfully to heal their wounds. From Shock to Awe raises fundamental questions about war, the pharmaceutical industry and the U.
This a remarkable film.
Two extremely damaged Ptsd U.S. war vets seem hopeless at the beginning of this film.
Filmmakers follow Matt and Mike over three years, diving deep into both their hopes for wholeness and their fear of the unknown. Abandoning traditional pharmaceutical drugs, our heros search for relief in unlikely places.
Healing, we discover, can be found through the controversial and mind-expanding world of cannabis, ayahuasca and Mdma, commonly known as Ecstasy.
We learn how those struggling with trauma can use these incredible substances successfully to heal their wounds. From Shock to Awe raises fundamental questions about war, the pharmaceutical industry and the U.
- 6/7/2018
- by Sydney Levine
- Sydney's Buzz
Review by Peter Belsito at Sedona Illuminate Film FestivalHal Elrod has an ambitious goal: To “elevate the consciousness of humanity, one morning at a time.” He gets waylaid, however, when doctors diagnose an aggressive form of cancer and give him a 30 percent chance of surviving.
This is a feature documentary that takes a turn in the middle I’ve never seen before.
For an hour or so it is a film portrait of an interesting character. It begins as a young Hal Elrod is almost killed in an extremely violent traffic accident. He is injured very badly — fractures etc — and very slowly mends in hospital.
As part of his recovery he begins to contemplate the meaning of life — and most importantly how lives can be improved, elevated.
The reasoning is this — Do you roll over and hit snooze on your alarm clock first thing in the morning? Or do you...
This is a feature documentary that takes a turn in the middle I’ve never seen before.
For an hour or so it is a film portrait of an interesting character. It begins as a young Hal Elrod is almost killed in an extremely violent traffic accident. He is injured very badly — fractures etc — and very slowly mends in hospital.
As part of his recovery he begins to contemplate the meaning of life — and most importantly how lives can be improved, elevated.
The reasoning is this — Do you roll over and hit snooze on your alarm clock first thing in the morning? Or do you...
- 6/7/2018
- by Sydney Levine
- Sydney's Buzz
By Peter Belsito and Sydney LevineThis Mexican film is a nasty, nettling little puzzle piece that cleverly probes patriarchal insecurity and corporate invasiveness through the course of one botched family vacation.
A very funny film exposing the possible nightmare scenarios lying under modern corporate vacation paradises.
Pedro and Eva arrive at the Vistamar mega-resort to “heal” their lives. A nice break, holiday makers Pedro and Eva think. All-inclusive holiday paradise Vistamar has beautiful swimming pools and golf links. Settling into a private villa with their young son, they’re surprised to find another family at the door; a clerical mistake has left them double-booked. Eva decides there’s nothing else to do but share their rooms with the exuberant sunburnt family suddenly standing at the door.
The families make do, actually they begin living together, attending the resort’s time-share seminar and enjoying its pools and activities, and they are...
A very funny film exposing the possible nightmare scenarios lying under modern corporate vacation paradises.
Pedro and Eva arrive at the Vistamar mega-resort to “heal” their lives. A nice break, holiday makers Pedro and Eva think. All-inclusive holiday paradise Vistamar has beautiful swimming pools and golf links. Settling into a private villa with their young son, they’re surprised to find another family at the door; a clerical mistake has left them double-booked. Eva decides there’s nothing else to do but share their rooms with the exuberant sunburnt family suddenly standing at the door.
The families make do, actually they begin living together, attending the resort’s time-share seminar and enjoying its pools and activities, and they are...
- 2/5/2018
- by Sydney Levine
- Sydney's Buzz
This was my 30th Sundance. It wasn’t called that then. ‘The Utah/ Us Film Festival’ according to the story I heard was a three day weekend fest out of Salt Lake City founded in 1978 by Robert Redford’s brother-in-law Sterling Van Wagenen who was running Wildwood, Redford’s company along with John Earle and Cirina Hampton Catania (both serving on the Utah Film Commission at the time).Sterling had a lunch with Sydney Pollack asking his advice of how to interest the Hollywood community beyond having Robert Redford as the Chairman of the Festival. As the story goes Pollack said, “move it up the hill where they can ski, Hollywood people love to ski, they’ll come, “ and in ’81 they moved to Park City, Utah, changed the dates from September to January and the name to Us Film and Video Festival. In 1991 the festival was officially renamed the Sundance Film Festival,...
- 2/5/2018
- by Sydney Levine
- Sydney's Buzz
By Peter Belsito.A seemingly casual comedy proceeds methodically to personal disaster and maturation for two New Yorkers.
In Permission directed by Brian Crano, the question is, “What if?”
By that we mean before you — anyone — makes a “permanent” life-setting decision what if (???) one could instead examine alternatives Just to know “they”, i.e., “other choices” are out there and you “lived them”.
What if??? indeed….
A New York couple has been happily living together for a number of years.
On the verge of marriage, a friend suggests that maybe they owe it to themselves to play the field a bit before tying the knot forever. No jealousy, no recriminations, it’s just sex, right?
Will, husband to be played by Dan Stevens is even there and approves of wife to be Anna’s (Rebecca Hall) would-be lover who tries to pick her up at a local bar.
So what...
In Permission directed by Brian Crano, the question is, “What if?”
By that we mean before you — anyone — makes a “permanent” life-setting decision what if (???) one could instead examine alternatives Just to know “they”, i.e., “other choices” are out there and you “lived them”.
What if??? indeed….
A New York couple has been happily living together for a number of years.
On the verge of marriage, a friend suggests that maybe they owe it to themselves to play the field a bit before tying the knot forever. No jealousy, no recriminations, it’s just sex, right?
Will, husband to be played by Dan Stevens is even there and approves of wife to be Anna’s (Rebecca Hall) would-be lover who tries to pick her up at a local bar.
So what...
- 12/5/2017
- by Sydney Levine
- Sydney's Buzz
We saw Soderbergh’s new film today and it is a gem.
by Peter Belsito and Sydney Levine, editor
Supposedly he wrote, shot and directed Logan Lucky although the writing credit goes to Rebecca Blunt, that is conjectured to be a pseudonym.
Logan Lucky
The movie is a low key, understated, hilarious, heist film with many characters who are mostly working class (mean Southern here). The principals devise an incredibly complex heist scheme that is a joy to watch and so funny that they could actually pull it off.
These shrewd ‘hillbilly’ types (West Virginia) go after the concession stand dollars at a huge fan car racetrack event (Coca-Cola 600 Nascar race). These dollars are moved to an underground vault through a large system of air tubes (pneumatics) and our crew figures out how to intercept and take the money in a variety of extremely clever and hilarious maneuvers. Timing is...
by Peter Belsito and Sydney Levine, editor
Supposedly he wrote, shot and directed Logan Lucky although the writing credit goes to Rebecca Blunt, that is conjectured to be a pseudonym.
Logan Lucky
The movie is a low key, understated, hilarious, heist film with many characters who are mostly working class (mean Southern here). The principals devise an incredibly complex heist scheme that is a joy to watch and so funny that they could actually pull it off.
These shrewd ‘hillbilly’ types (West Virginia) go after the concession stand dollars at a huge fan car racetrack event (Coca-Cola 600 Nascar race). These dollars are moved to an underground vault through a large system of air tubes (pneumatics) and our crew figures out how to intercept and take the money in a variety of extremely clever and hilarious maneuvers. Timing is...
- 8/21/2017
- by Sydney Levine
- Sydney's Buzz
By Peter Belsito
Two Gay Dads. One Meddling Tiger Mom. What Could Go Wrong?
Coming out on DVD, Blu-ray & VOD in the U.S. & Canada August 15 from Gravitas Ventures.
Starring: Grace Guei, Barney Cheng and Michael Adam Hamilton
I really enjoyed this feature length comedy about modern international gay and family life and what modern parenthood can involve.
Oscar-winning producer Li-Kong Su (Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon) and Stephen Israel (Swimming With Sharks, G.B.F.), give us Baby Steps, a comedy-drama directed, written and starring Barney Cheng about gay family issues in complicated dynamic of a cross-cultural and multi-generational Taiwanese-American family.
Danny, a Taiwanese-American man, longs to have a baby with his American boyfriend Tate, but their attempts at international surrogacy are complicated by Danny’s meddling mom, who wants to control every aspect of the process — all the way from Taipei. She descends upon them and their life together and proceeds...
Two Gay Dads. One Meddling Tiger Mom. What Could Go Wrong?
Coming out on DVD, Blu-ray & VOD in the U.S. & Canada August 15 from Gravitas Ventures.
Starring: Grace Guei, Barney Cheng and Michael Adam Hamilton
I really enjoyed this feature length comedy about modern international gay and family life and what modern parenthood can involve.
Oscar-winning producer Li-Kong Su (Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon) and Stephen Israel (Swimming With Sharks, G.B.F.), give us Baby Steps, a comedy-drama directed, written and starring Barney Cheng about gay family issues in complicated dynamic of a cross-cultural and multi-generational Taiwanese-American family.
Danny, a Taiwanese-American man, longs to have a baby with his American boyfriend Tate, but their attempts at international surrogacy are complicated by Danny’s meddling mom, who wants to control every aspect of the process — all the way from Taipei. She descends upon them and their life together and proceeds...
- 8/16/2017
- by Sydney Levine
- Sydney's Buzz
by Peter Belsito
I read Nate And Kelly twice, and loved it!
It’s a great tale and a good read, so well done by very talented writer Michael R. Barnard, who is also a screenwriter, producer and director.
Barnard took detailed historical facts about America from a century ago and wove into those facts an intriguing story about love and hate, about cultural divides and politics, and about racism in our country in the middle of the Jim Crow era.
Writing as a contemporary observer, as if he were from that era watching what was happening and not knowing what was going to happen next, he brings the reader into the emotions of the day. And it was a very fulfilling journey for this reader.
Well what days those were! A love story for today is set in 1915, and it turns out that was an incredible year in our history.
I read Nate And Kelly twice, and loved it!
It’s a great tale and a good read, so well done by very talented writer Michael R. Barnard, who is also a screenwriter, producer and director.
Barnard took detailed historical facts about America from a century ago and wove into those facts an intriguing story about love and hate, about cultural divides and politics, and about racism in our country in the middle of the Jim Crow era.
Writing as a contemporary observer, as if he were from that era watching what was happening and not knowing what was going to happen next, he brings the reader into the emotions of the day. And it was a very fulfilling journey for this reader.
Well what days those were! A love story for today is set in 1915, and it turns out that was an incredible year in our history.
- 8/2/2017
- by Sydney Levine
- Sydney's Buzz
Our friends at Winston Baker hosted a provocative series of exchanges at Cannes’ Carlton Hotel May 19.
By Peter Belsito
While the morning discussions were all of interest I particularly liked The Technology Revolution: Monetizing on Innovation in the Film Business.
Panelists included Wendy Mitchell , Moderator , British Counsel, Screen International. Panelists were — Lawrence Braitman, Investor, Gene Munster, Loup Ventures, Christina Tajooli, Penrose, Marcie Jastrow, Svp Immersive.
On this panel and throughout the morning there were various insights put forth on this exciting new technological advance — virtual reality.
What I took away from this interesting panel and the morning’s other talks, were three challenging points, from a business perspective.
One of course is where is this interesting new technology going? Right now to experience the the new world of virtual reality a bulky headset and eyepieces must be worn. It is clumsy even if the experience of being in another, real feeling place is exciting,...
By Peter Belsito
While the morning discussions were all of interest I particularly liked The Technology Revolution: Monetizing on Innovation in the Film Business.
Panelists included Wendy Mitchell , Moderator , British Counsel, Screen International. Panelists were — Lawrence Braitman, Investor, Gene Munster, Loup Ventures, Christina Tajooli, Penrose, Marcie Jastrow, Svp Immersive.
On this panel and throughout the morning there were various insights put forth on this exciting new technological advance — virtual reality.
What I took away from this interesting panel and the morning’s other talks, were three challenging points, from a business perspective.
One of course is where is this interesting new technology going? Right now to experience the the new world of virtual reality a bulky headset and eyepieces must be worn. It is clumsy even if the experience of being in another, real feeling place is exciting,...
- 6/13/2017
- by Sydney Levine
- Sydney's Buzz
By Peter Belsito and Sydney Levine
Invited by the local Film Commission in Cagliari, we got an eye popping tour of this busy ever interesting society. For an island just a bit smaller than Sicily, it has a surprisingly vibrant sense of cinema with several types of film and literary festivals around the island.
The Film4Climate Film Festival, a global initiative of the World Bank’s Connect4Climate, is creating a global network to advance environmental sustainability, the inclusion of social messages in film and creative visual storytelling and green filmmaking. Its shorts have created awareness around the world and is bringing Sardinia into the world’s consciousness as it chooses green film and general ecological sustainability as its modus operandi .
Alghero by Peter Adama
Due to the great variety of landscapes, neighborhoods, ancient ruins and differing villages literally hundreds of films are shot here yearly by international crews.
Invited by the local Film Commission in Cagliari, we got an eye popping tour of this busy ever interesting society. For an island just a bit smaller than Sicily, it has a surprisingly vibrant sense of cinema with several types of film and literary festivals around the island.
The Film4Climate Film Festival, a global initiative of the World Bank’s Connect4Climate, is creating a global network to advance environmental sustainability, the inclusion of social messages in film and creative visual storytelling and green filmmaking. Its shorts have created awareness around the world and is bringing Sardinia into the world’s consciousness as it chooses green film and general ecological sustainability as its modus operandi .
Alghero by Peter Adama
Due to the great variety of landscapes, neighborhoods, ancient ruins and differing villages literally hundreds of films are shot here yearly by international crews.
- 6/12/2017
- by Sydney Levine
- Sydney's Buzz
Our dear friend who died at the Montreal Film Festival September 2016 received hommage and love from his friends in Cannes this year.
Dan Ranvaud who was on the forefront of so many film developments, way before his “Central Station” and “City of God” broke out, was last seen in Montreal furthering the goals of Films4Climate, a global initiative of the World Bank Group’s Connect4Climate, growing the network by connecting the creative industries to advance sustainability in films and visual storytelling.
Some friends of Donald included Giulia Camilla Braga of Films4Change, Bruno Chatelan of FilmFestivals.com, Jérôme Paillard of the Marché du Film, Nevina Satta of Sardinia Film Commission, with Pascal Diot of Venice Ff and Le Pole Image de Lieges, Ivan Trujillo of Ficg, Alan Franey of Vancouver Ff, Mimi Plauché of Chicago Ff, Peter Belsito of SydneysBuzz and many others
Warm farewellparty to Donald Ranvaud...
Dan Ranvaud who was on the forefront of so many film developments, way before his “Central Station” and “City of God” broke out, was last seen in Montreal furthering the goals of Films4Climate, a global initiative of the World Bank Group’s Connect4Climate, growing the network by connecting the creative industries to advance sustainability in films and visual storytelling.
Some friends of Donald included Giulia Camilla Braga of Films4Change, Bruno Chatelan of FilmFestivals.com, Jérôme Paillard of the Marché du Film, Nevina Satta of Sardinia Film Commission, with Pascal Diot of Venice Ff and Le Pole Image de Lieges, Ivan Trujillo of Ficg, Alan Franey of Vancouver Ff, Mimi Plauché of Chicago Ff, Peter Belsito of SydneysBuzz and many others
Warm farewellparty to Donald Ranvaud...
- 5/30/2017
- by Sydney Levine
- Sydney's Buzz
You see “Iran” and think certain things. You go to Iran and see the people, the shops, street activity, the environment, its museums and you forget the two things about it which shape your emotional reaction to it: politics and history. Being one of two Americans attending the Fajr International Film Festival makes me feel responsible for sharing my best moments with a broader public.
The Fajr International Film Festival is a gala affair, small enough to meet and share time with the many participants, both filmmakers and invitees from countries as diverse as Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Armenia, Turkey, Japan, Mongolia and Korea (and more!). I can only think of one other film event which offered such a luxurious array of experiences to go along with film watching (when Rosskino of Russia invited 25 U.S.distributors and us to Moscow and St. Petersburg and then repeated the event for Brics countries...
The Fajr International Film Festival is a gala affair, small enough to meet and share time with the many participants, both filmmakers and invitees from countries as diverse as Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Armenia, Turkey, Japan, Mongolia and Korea (and more!). I can only think of one other film event which offered such a luxurious array of experiences to go along with film watching (when Rosskino of Russia invited 25 U.S.distributors and us to Moscow and St. Petersburg and then repeated the event for Brics countries...
- 5/1/2017
- by Sydney Levine
- Sydney's Buzz
Opens June 30.“If humanity isn’t free, everything dies with it” — Georg Elser, “13 Minutes”. An intense true story of one man’s failed attempt to assassinate Hitler in 1939 … the ultimate “what if”?
U.S. theatrical release by Sony Pictures Classics to Open in New York & Los Angeles June 30, 2017. International sales by Beta. Premiered at Berlinale 2015.
Georg Elser (Christian Friedel) in “13”
So relevant today as we watch an isolated passionate man’s solitary attempt to eliminate a monstrous dictator whom he can see is destroying society. “13 Minutes” is a true story about an individual in pre War Nazi Germany who can no longer bear to witness the persecution and injustice into which his land has descended and decides to act decisively to eliminate the mad man dictator.
This well made, well directed film, with big sets and cast and a faithfully recreated period brings our own thoughts to bear upon our...
U.S. theatrical release by Sony Pictures Classics to Open in New York & Los Angeles June 30, 2017. International sales by Beta. Premiered at Berlinale 2015.
Georg Elser (Christian Friedel) in “13”
So relevant today as we watch an isolated passionate man’s solitary attempt to eliminate a monstrous dictator whom he can see is destroying society. “13 Minutes” is a true story about an individual in pre War Nazi Germany who can no longer bear to witness the persecution and injustice into which his land has descended and decides to act decisively to eliminate the mad man dictator.
This well made, well directed film, with big sets and cast and a faithfully recreated period brings our own thoughts to bear upon our...
- 4/20/2017
- by Sydney Levine
- Sydney's Buzz
In theaters April 21. By Peter Belsito
My good friend Producer Mahyad Tousi brought this wonderful new film to me, about to be released here in the U.S. this Friday April 21 by Open Road wide on 2200+ screens. International sales by “Sierra Affinity.”
It is the first big-budget, star-driven film about the Armenian Genocide.
Charlotte Le Bon with children
The Armenian Genocide, also known as the Armenian Holocaust, was the Ottoman (now Turkey) government’s systematic extermination of 1.5 million Armenians, mostly Ottoman citizens within the Ottoman Empire and its successor state, the Republic of Turkey.
Christian Bale
The starting date is conventionally held to be 24 April 1915, the day that Ottoman authorities rounded up, arrested, and deported 235 to 270 Armenian intellectuals and community leaders from Constantinople to the region of Ankara, the majority of whom were eventually murdered. The genocide was carried out during and after World War I.
Oscar Isaac
This is...
My good friend Producer Mahyad Tousi brought this wonderful new film to me, about to be released here in the U.S. this Friday April 21 by Open Road wide on 2200+ screens. International sales by “Sierra Affinity.”
It is the first big-budget, star-driven film about the Armenian Genocide.
Charlotte Le Bon with children
The Armenian Genocide, also known as the Armenian Holocaust, was the Ottoman (now Turkey) government’s systematic extermination of 1.5 million Armenians, mostly Ottoman citizens within the Ottoman Empire and its successor state, the Republic of Turkey.
Christian Bale
The starting date is conventionally held to be 24 April 1915, the day that Ottoman authorities rounded up, arrested, and deported 235 to 270 Armenian intellectuals and community leaders from Constantinople to the region of Ankara, the majority of whom were eventually murdered. The genocide was carried out during and after World War I.
Oscar Isaac
This is...
- 4/20/2017
- by Sydney Levine
- Sydney's Buzz
by Peter Belsito
Sundance Ff 2017 Wins the Special Jury Award for Editing and according to our writer Peter Belsito, “This film was the best documentary I saw in Sundance recently.”
I reviewed the film previously here but Jennifer Brea is an interesting person so I wanted to speak with her as well.
We met in her Park City condo. She is bright and energetic despite the disease she has which her film is about, her affliction with chronic fatigue syndrome.
Besides the intensely personal nature of her illness and its effects on her family life, which are depicted in the film, she also covers the international implications and political as well. By that I mean the medical profession not recognizing or treating / curing this widespread deadly disease.
Her film makes clear the international effects of this disease. I felt it broadened the film and its important message.
Jennifer Brea
‘Why go outside the Us?...
Sundance Ff 2017 Wins the Special Jury Award for Editing and according to our writer Peter Belsito, “This film was the best documentary I saw in Sundance recently.”
I reviewed the film previously here but Jennifer Brea is an interesting person so I wanted to speak with her as well.
We met in her Park City condo. She is bright and energetic despite the disease she has which her film is about, her affliction with chronic fatigue syndrome.
Besides the intensely personal nature of her illness and its effects on her family life, which are depicted in the film, she also covers the international implications and political as well. By that I mean the medical profession not recognizing or treating / curing this widespread deadly disease.
Her film makes clear the international effects of this disease. I felt it broadened the film and its important message.
Jennifer Brea
‘Why go outside the Us?...
- 2/5/2017
- by Sydney Levine
- Sydney's Buzz
by Peter Belsito
This is a series of parallel stories and groups of characters, who mostly do not meet or interact, set in upper middle class (meaning money is near) New York City.
The interwoven tales of young and older, male and female characters struggling with unexpected situations, conflicts and some unusual compulsions are typical but unique as well and quite affecting. The NYC setting just perfect for such a group.
During a single day in New York City, a variety of characters grapple with the mundane, the unexpected, and the larger questions permeating their lives.
A confused and naive investigative reporter for a sensationalist rag of a newspaper, she is really just an intern trying to get ahead, struggles with her first day on the job, despite too much odd and finally suspicious help from her misguided boss. What begins as a search for leads into a suspicious death...
This is a series of parallel stories and groups of characters, who mostly do not meet or interact, set in upper middle class (meaning money is near) New York City.
The interwoven tales of young and older, male and female characters struggling with unexpected situations, conflicts and some unusual compulsions are typical but unique as well and quite affecting. The NYC setting just perfect for such a group.
During a single day in New York City, a variety of characters grapple with the mundane, the unexpected, and the larger questions permeating their lives.
A confused and naive investigative reporter for a sensationalist rag of a newspaper, she is really just an intern trying to get ahead, struggles with her first day on the job, despite too much odd and finally suspicious help from her misguided boss. What begins as a search for leads into a suspicious death...
- 1/28/2017
- by Sydney Levine
- Sydney's Buzz
by Peter Belsito
This is a very important and well done film. It is a documentary exposing our society’s and Especially the medical professions’ almost criminal failure to recognize, treat and develop cures for a too common illness of the human immune system which is commonly known as “Chronic Fatigue Syndrome”. Sufferers number in the millions and the rate of women infected is very high.
The Director Jennifer Brea while suffering from this debilitating disease uses her camera via social media to connect with victims around the world, to discuss treatment and ideas for coping. And to comfort one another who understand their pain and trauma while often they are passed over by society and their own doctors. This while many of them are literally dying in their youth.
Jennifer, a Harvard PhD student, was signing a check at a restaurant when she found she could not write her own name.
This is a very important and well done film. It is a documentary exposing our society’s and Especially the medical professions’ almost criminal failure to recognize, treat and develop cures for a too common illness of the human immune system which is commonly known as “Chronic Fatigue Syndrome”. Sufferers number in the millions and the rate of women infected is very high.
The Director Jennifer Brea while suffering from this debilitating disease uses her camera via social media to connect with victims around the world, to discuss treatment and ideas for coping. And to comfort one another who understand their pain and trauma while often they are passed over by society and their own doctors. This while many of them are literally dying in their youth.
Jennifer, a Harvard PhD student, was signing a check at a restaurant when she found she could not write her own name.
- 1/28/2017
- by Sydney Levine
- Sydney's Buzz
by Peter Belsito
This is a dark somewhat surreal comedy from Helsinki Finland is of a boring middle aged guy, Raimo, whose life is upended when his new apartment complex next door neighbors are devil worshiping sex cultists.
The film follows him as he tries to avoid them but is slowly drawn into their uncomfortable (but attractive) circle.
Middle class life will never be the same.
The new neighbor guy is Maki, very nice and considerate, always on the lookout for new friends. Being oblivious to Raimo’s subtle hints to keep his distance, Maki volunteers to be his squash partner.
Trying to avoid sharing his squash slot with the persistent cult leader Maki, Raimo ends up living in a lie that gets him into trouble.
“Fucking Bunnies” is a short film about squash, friendship, the educated middle class’ feeling of lost security, and their efforts to overcome an unexpected rush of strange feelings,...
This is a dark somewhat surreal comedy from Helsinki Finland is of a boring middle aged guy, Raimo, whose life is upended when his new apartment complex next door neighbors are devil worshiping sex cultists.
The film follows him as he tries to avoid them but is slowly drawn into their uncomfortable (but attractive) circle.
Middle class life will never be the same.
The new neighbor guy is Maki, very nice and considerate, always on the lookout for new friends. Being oblivious to Raimo’s subtle hints to keep his distance, Maki volunteers to be his squash partner.
Trying to avoid sharing his squash slot with the persistent cult leader Maki, Raimo ends up living in a lie that gets him into trouble.
“Fucking Bunnies” is a short film about squash, friendship, the educated middle class’ feeling of lost security, and their efforts to overcome an unexpected rush of strange feelings,...
- 1/27/2017
- by Sydney Levine
- Sydney's Buzz
by Peter Belsito
“Thoroughbred” is a two character piece set in an imposing residence where the young women, teenagers, come together for tutoring but it quickly develops beyond that into new — and dangerous — territory.Director Cory Finley with stars Olivia Cooke, Anya Taylor-Joy
Emotionally challenged Amanda and contemptuous Lily reboot their childhood friendship after years of instability and judgment, thrown back together by standardized-test tutoring.
When Lily’s icy stepdad, Mark, conspires to ship her off to reform school instead of her dream college, Amanda’s nonchalant quips about killing him suddenly seem enticing. Even as Amanda’s sinister tendencies surface and the girls hatch a plan, the mutual manipulation that has always defined their relationship threatens to derail their ambitions.
They have a history which enables them to confide and challenge and manipulate one another.
Part of the attraction of this film is the unstable emotional ground each inhabits...
“Thoroughbred” is a two character piece set in an imposing residence where the young women, teenagers, come together for tutoring but it quickly develops beyond that into new — and dangerous — territory.Director Cory Finley with stars Olivia Cooke, Anya Taylor-Joy
Emotionally challenged Amanda and contemptuous Lily reboot their childhood friendship after years of instability and judgment, thrown back together by standardized-test tutoring.
When Lily’s icy stepdad, Mark, conspires to ship her off to reform school instead of her dream college, Amanda’s nonchalant quips about killing him suddenly seem enticing. Even as Amanda’s sinister tendencies surface and the girls hatch a plan, the mutual manipulation that has always defined their relationship threatens to derail their ambitions.
They have a history which enables them to confide and challenge and manipulate one another.
Part of the attraction of this film is the unstable emotional ground each inhabits...
- 1/27/2017
- by Sydney Levine
- Sydney's Buzz
by Peter Belsito
Zoey Deutch Halston, Sage Logan Miller in “Before I Fall” by Ry Russo-Young
To begin about this film is to say it is a ‘Ground Hog Day’ story.
The lead character, a popular high school girl, has an unremarkable — if a bit troubling — life, including difficult friends, challenging social life, some boy / sex issues and some big questions for her as to “what’s it all about?”
But why? Toward what end? How to resolve?
As the story begins Sam is one lucky teenager. She’s beautiful, rich, and popular, with the hottest boyfriend and the most loyal friends.
But she and her posse can be cruel and heartless; since elementary school they’ve relentlessly bullied one of their unfortunate female classmates.
On Friday, February 12th, driving home from a party, Sam is in a dramatic car crash.
This mysterious car wreck at the end of her day leads to her — what?...
Zoey Deutch Halston, Sage Logan Miller in “Before I Fall” by Ry Russo-Young
To begin about this film is to say it is a ‘Ground Hog Day’ story.
The lead character, a popular high school girl, has an unremarkable — if a bit troubling — life, including difficult friends, challenging social life, some boy / sex issues and some big questions for her as to “what’s it all about?”
But why? Toward what end? How to resolve?
As the story begins Sam is one lucky teenager. She’s beautiful, rich, and popular, with the hottest boyfriend and the most loyal friends.
But she and her posse can be cruel and heartless; since elementary school they’ve relentlessly bullied one of their unfortunate female classmates.
On Friday, February 12th, driving home from a party, Sam is in a dramatic car crash.
This mysterious car wreck at the end of her day leads to her — what?...
- 1/27/2017
- by Sydney Levine
- Sydney's Buzz
By Peter Belsito
“Jewel’s Catch One” is a documentary that showed at Psiff Palm Springs. It captures an era, a section of our central La community, the people of which are so often disregarded and tells the life and career story of remarkable woman, founder, Jewel Thais-Williams.Jewel Thais-Williams
With four strikes against her (black, female, poor and a lesbian), our trailblazer , Jewel Thais-Williams, helped changed laws, save lives and influence communities across Los Angeles, California as she opened her legendary nightclub’s door for 42 years.
In the early ‘70’s the club began as a disco outpost for the gay, lesbian, Lgbt, black, brown and especially female communities. Through the gay rights movement, through the AIDs crisis and on to the current day the club was a beacon.
When the disco Catch One opened on the corner of Pico and Crenshaw in 1973, it provided a haven for the black...
“Jewel’s Catch One” is a documentary that showed at Psiff Palm Springs. It captures an era, a section of our central La community, the people of which are so often disregarded and tells the life and career story of remarkable woman, founder, Jewel Thais-Williams.Jewel Thais-Williams
With four strikes against her (black, female, poor and a lesbian), our trailblazer , Jewel Thais-Williams, helped changed laws, save lives and influence communities across Los Angeles, California as she opened her legendary nightclub’s door for 42 years.
In the early ‘70’s the club began as a disco outpost for the gay, lesbian, Lgbt, black, brown and especially female communities. Through the gay rights movement, through the AIDs crisis and on to the current day the club was a beacon.
When the disco Catch One opened on the corner of Pico and Crenshaw in 1973, it provided a haven for the black...
- 1/10/2017
- by Sydney Levine
- Sydney's Buzz
By Peter Belsito
“Person to Person” starring Michael Cera and Abbi Jacobson
This very interesting New York City deals with mostly youthful characters struggling with identity, career and some unusual compulsions. Their struggles are typical but unique also and quite affecting.
The NYC setting just perfect for such a group. During a single day in New York City, a variety of characters grapples with the mundane, the unexpected, and the larger questions permeating their lives.
An investigative reporter struggles with her first day on the job, despite help from her misguided boss; a rebellious teen attempts to balance her feminist ideals with other desires; and a young man seeks to reconcile with his ex-girlfriend, even as her brother threatens revenge.
Meanwhile, an avid music lover traverses the city in search of a rare record for his vinyl collection.
Shot entirely in 16mm, “Person to Person” effortlessly humanizes its characters, invoking...
“Person to Person” starring Michael Cera and Abbi Jacobson
This very interesting New York City deals with mostly youthful characters struggling with identity, career and some unusual compulsions. Their struggles are typical but unique also and quite affecting.
The NYC setting just perfect for such a group. During a single day in New York City, a variety of characters grapples with the mundane, the unexpected, and the larger questions permeating their lives.
An investigative reporter struggles with her first day on the job, despite help from her misguided boss; a rebellious teen attempts to balance her feminist ideals with other desires; and a young man seeks to reconcile with his ex-girlfriend, even as her brother threatens revenge.
Meanwhile, an avid music lover traverses the city in search of a rare record for his vinyl collection.
Shot entirely in 16mm, “Person to Person” effortlessly humanizes its characters, invoking...
- 1/6/2017
- by Sydney Levine
- Sydney's Buzz
by Peter Belsito
When filmmakers begin to work on a project they will usually have a vision of “who it is for”: their work, what section of society they want to enlighten, help and move forward on their thinking.
Then comes the overwhelmingly difficult job of making their dream vision into a completed film. This is always tough, hard work. Film is not easy.
One of the biggest problems filmmakers face is, that after spending blood, sweat, tears and years making a film, at the end of this difficult process they often have little or no idea of how to move forward and connect their film with the audience they made it for. They often fall back on the hopes of making it into this or that film festival which, in fact, is not a solution to the larger problem of distribution with specific marketing tactics. Festivals are only...
When filmmakers begin to work on a project they will usually have a vision of “who it is for”: their work, what section of society they want to enlighten, help and move forward on their thinking.
Then comes the overwhelmingly difficult job of making their dream vision into a completed film. This is always tough, hard work. Film is not easy.
One of the biggest problems filmmakers face is, that after spending blood, sweat, tears and years making a film, at the end of this difficult process they often have little or no idea of how to move forward and connect their film with the audience they made it for. They often fall back on the hopes of making it into this or that film festival which, in fact, is not a solution to the larger problem of distribution with specific marketing tactics. Festivals are only...
- 12/7/2016
- by Sydney Levine
- Sydney's Buzz
By Peter Belsito
An important film about how various industries use dogs and horribly mistreat them.About the worst news imaginable for Alaska dog mushers was coming out of Whistler, British Columbia, Canada, on Sunday.
Tied for Top Documentaty at the Whistler Film Festival, “Sled Dogs” is a documentary that takes issue with the sled-dog industry in general and with Alaska’s Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race in particular.
It’s a Christmas nightmare for those who thought the film so slanted they threatened legal action to try to stop its premiere. What they got instead was pretty much the opposite.
The World Documentary Award sponsored by Super Channel was a tie between “Sled Dogs” directed by Fern Levitt and “The Will To Fly” directed by Katie Bender and Leo Baker,” a press release reported.The jury deliberated and had a hard time picking a winner but there was consensus on the top three films.
An important film about how various industries use dogs and horribly mistreat them.About the worst news imaginable for Alaska dog mushers was coming out of Whistler, British Columbia, Canada, on Sunday.
Tied for Top Documentaty at the Whistler Film Festival, “Sled Dogs” is a documentary that takes issue with the sled-dog industry in general and with Alaska’s Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race in particular.
It’s a Christmas nightmare for those who thought the film so slanted they threatened legal action to try to stop its premiere. What they got instead was pretty much the opposite.
The World Documentary Award sponsored by Super Channel was a tie between “Sled Dogs” directed by Fern Levitt and “The Will To Fly” directed by Katie Bender and Leo Baker,” a press release reported.The jury deliberated and had a hard time picking a winner but there was consensus on the top three films.
- 12/7/2016
- by Sydney Levine
- Sydney's Buzz
2nd Annual Asian World Film Festival Opens in Culver City October 24: Best of Asian World CinemaExecutive Director, Georges N. Chamchoum
This is the first festival of its kind to play in the United States, giving audiences the unique opportunity to see films from Japan and Turkey and everywhere in-between. The festival is held at the height of the awards season to give these Asian filmmakers maximum exposure. The festival’s Executive Director, Georges N. Chamchoum is announcing films from 51 countries which are eligible. Greater recognition to the region’s wealth of filmmakers will strengthen ties between the Asian and Hollywood film industries.
All films selected by their countries as Oscar® or Golden Globes® contenders are automatically invited. The Hollywood Foreign Press Association recognizes these showings as the required official screenings for their members who vote on the Golden Globes®. At last year’s inaugural event some 30 films from 27 countries participated.
This is the first festival of its kind to play in the United States, giving audiences the unique opportunity to see films from Japan and Turkey and everywhere in-between. The festival is held at the height of the awards season to give these Asian filmmakers maximum exposure. The festival’s Executive Director, Georges N. Chamchoum is announcing films from 51 countries which are eligible. Greater recognition to the region’s wealth of filmmakers will strengthen ties between the Asian and Hollywood film industries.
All films selected by their countries as Oscar® or Golden Globes® contenders are automatically invited. The Hollywood Foreign Press Association recognizes these showings as the required official screenings for their members who vote on the Golden Globes®. At last year’s inaugural event some 30 films from 27 countries participated.
- 10/18/2016
- by Sydney Levine
- Sydney's Buzz
In the Qumra Master Class 2016 where James Schamus and Richard Peña, former long-time head of Lincoln Film Society in NYC, carried on an informal and open-ended discussion, James gave a personal view of himself before going into the professional ins and outs of his film production and distribution life.
I was surprised to hear that James, who seems like a quintessential New Yorker, is not a native New Yorker but is an Angeleno and attended Hollywood High in Los Angeles.
When I spoke with him afterward, he said that he actually was from North Hollywood but had attended Jd Melton at Hollywood High. On looking the school up for this article, I was even more pleasantly surprised to see that their branding is serendipitously, “Home of the Sheiks”.
James grew up in L.A. in the 70s and Hollywood High was equivalent to Jodie Foster’s school in “Taxi Driver” only it was in L.A. It was a working class and poor school where only half of the student body took the SATs (College qualifying exams), and he was definitely the nerd in the herd. He would spend his Friday nights watching a little known TV show on the local Channel 13 moderated by the L.A. Times critic Charles Champlin. The show was of silent films and there he saw “Birth of a Nation” and the German Expressionist movies among others. Later he wrote his PhD dissertation Carl Theodor Dreyer's ‘Gertrud’: The Moving Word, and it was published by the University of Washington Press. He moved to New York to write it after completing his Bachelors, Masters and PhD studies at Uc Berkeley.
He said he does not remember much about his high school days, but recently as he was unpacking some old boxes, he came across his high school yearbook.
You know how people signed with little paragraphs? One of these said ‘Thanks for persuading me to skip school with you and going on the 93 bus to see movies’ and it was signed ‘Frank’. I had no idea who Frank was but as I tried to remember, I recalled skipping school to go to L.A.’s only film festival which was new and called ‘Filmex’.
(Editor’s note: Filmex was the creation of ‘The two Garys’, Gary Essert and Gary Abrahams, both of whom died of Aids during the Aids epidemic. Gary Essert was a UCLA Film School student in the 60s where he started Filmex with marathon screenings in the Quonset hut which was the film school. The two Garys are both vividly remembered today by the American Cinematheque crews and others of us from L.A. because the Cinematheque was their creation.)
It was at Filmex that I saw a film made by a film student from USC. It was a sci-fi film and there was a Q&A afterward. The film was called ‘Thx-1138’ and it was by George Lucas. Then I remembered! Frank was Frank Darabont! And we were now sharing the same agent, so I gave him a call and yes, he went to Hollywood High too.
James combines his acclaimed filmmaking career with other roles within the industry: he is a revered film historian and academic. He is also a multi award-winning screenwriter, director and leading U.S. indie producer, best known for his long creative collaboration with Taiwanese director Ang Lee. He has worked with Lee on nine films, including “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” (2000), which won four Academy Awards, including Best Foreign Language Film and Best Cinematography, and remains the highest-grossing non-English-language film in the U.S. He was the screenwriter for Lee's “The Ice Storm”, for which he won the award for Best Screenplay at the Festival de Cannes in 1997 and co-wrote “Eat Drink Man Woman” (1994), the first of Lee’s films to achieve both critical and commercial success.
As producers, Schamus and Ted Hope (today head of production at Amazon) co-founded the U.S. low- to no-budget production company Good Machine in the early 1990s.
It was macho to brag about how we made films with no money. ‘I made my movie for $5,000.’ ‘Well, I made mine for $4,000.’
Ted also loves lists and he made a list of all the short films made in the past 10 years by filmmakers who had yet to make feature films. We got the VHS tapes and one of the films we saw was by Ang Lee when he was studying at Nyu. It was called “Fine Line” and was Chazz Palminteri’s first film.
“Fine Line” was about an Italian guy on the run from the mob. It takes place in New York’s Little Italy and Chinatown. Ang Lee had an agent and we called him. He said Ang Lee was working on three great films before hanging up on us…
To hear James tell this story, watch him speaking here with Richard Peña.
What was cut out of the above online story was that at the time of “Pushing Hands”
Ang had no idea we had just contacted his agent and he also thought we would steal all his money. He was 38 years old, an unemployed stay-at-home parent with a working wife and two kids living in a little apartment in New York. In his spare time he had become a great cook. He came in and pitched a comedy for one hour. It was awful. We were such no-money producers; our office was upstairs from a strip club and the music would blast into our offices starting at 2:00 every day. With this pounding beat, he pitched the worst pitch we ever heard. But there was a $5,000 fee for us. I then said that though his pitch was poor he had actually described the entire movie in his head to us scene by scene. He was not trying to sell the film.
So we made the film and then made his second film “Wedding Banquet” which shared a first prize in Berlin. The third film was “Eat Drink Man Woman” from an original idea with a Taiwanese writer, very TV in the open-endedness of all the characters feeling the push and pull of letting it happen. But in this was a Hollywood 40s style screwball comedy that could be imposed.
Again, when James and I spoke together, I challenged him on the claim that “Dim Lake” was Chazz’s first film because my own partner in life and business, Peter Belsito, claims to have produced Chazz’s first film, “Home Free All” at which time Chazz took Peter aside and said, 'I am not just a dumb guinea hoodlum, I am a real actor destined for better roles. I can act serious.' So James and I checked IMDb to see and sure enough, “Dim Lake” was his first film and “Home Free All” was his second, but it was Chazz’ first feature film. We then looked at the rest of his 68 film credits and in every single one, he is playing the Italian.
Doing this with James gave me a momentary feel of his love for research.
“For my first time writing with Ang I needed to research food in Taiwan for ‘Pushing Hands’, the position and placement of food, families and food….The script would be translated from English to Chinese, but Ang was not satisfied with it. I was having trouble tapping into the mentality of the Chinese family so I took all the characters’ names and changed them to Jewish names and rewrote the script totally as a Jewish family. Then I changed the names back to their Chinese names. Ang read the script and said ‘This is really Chinese!’ And so I got ‘the cross-cultural idea’ -- not really…I still don’t get that.
The first day in Taiwan we were shooting the film in a fast food restaurant and I as I watched the rushes, one of the character’s name was Rachel and I realized I had forgotten to change the name back. I asked if we needed to reshoot, but at that time it was a fad to change Chinese names to Anglo names and no one thought it was out of place, and so it stayed.
The most difficult part of the film was shooting the opening title sequence of the father cooking a meal. It went over schedule because it had to be perfect. We used the food so many times it was held together by glue by the end.
Preparing a shot list is very important for Ang and he constantly reduces the list and his vision jells as he does this. By his third film, the process was very internalized. Next he had to communicate it. The plan is always the result of the overall idea. That’s why his style always changes.
As he shoots, the relationship with the editor is very close. He has a long-time relationship with his editor Tim Squyres.
The “Wedding Banquet” was the first film edited on Avid. Before “Wedding Banquet”, four minutes was the full length of films edited on Avid which is now ancient technology.
Tim cuts several versions and talks them through with Ang. They have spent more time in the dark together than most married people. Ang is in the editing room from the beginning to the end. Tim talks very directly, like he might say Ang should have spent more time on a scene or should have shot a scene from a different angle. I used to watch Ang’s face tense up as he listened to Tim’s criticism and often they would fight, but they have spent 25+ years together.
On the transnational global reach of “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon”:
Critics said it was not an authentic chop-socky movie. But the Hong Kong chop-socky genre itself was a regional hybrid. The origins of chop-socky were from Shanghai and Singapore. It was not so “Cantonese” as critics claimed. Bruce Lee himself was U.S. based. So the transnational aspect was already there.
From 2002 to 2014 Schamus was CEO of Focus Features, the motion picture production, financing and worldwide distribution company whose films during his tenure included Wes Anderson's “Moonrise Kingdom” (2012), Michel Gondry's Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004), Roman Polanski's “The Pianist “ (2002), Henry Selick's “Coraline” (2009) and Sofia Coppola’s “Lost in Translation” (2003).
On actors:
Character is secondary to the action. You only have action and words in a script. Working with good actors, you need images.
Actors are at such high risk, they are very vulnerable. They need respect. Sometimes they act out.
On casting and directors:
During the casting process, the director must direct the actor, set the tone for the part. Most of the film’s directing can be done during the casting process.
On storyboarding:
“Ride with the Devil” was the first film Ang Lee storyboarded. He also storyboarded “Life of Pi”. Storyboarding could take the life out of a movie.
On production design:
It takes lots of research. It includes the worldview of the film and everything ties in to that. It first starts with costumes. Research is not done only by the department but by everyone.
On film distribution and Focus:
Where is distribution now for specialized films? Focus was everything, attached to the studio system as its specialized film division, Focus’ model was not Fox Searchlght’s which is locked into the domestic U.S. market. Seachlight bought global rights and produced by way of its international TV deals. Focus didn’t have that. It had to presell theatrical rights to independent distributors worldwide. Driven primarily by the international marketplace, it could not be driven by U.S. Its primary focus for production was London. It was all international but also driven by flagship releases in the U.S.
In 2014, Schamus turned his hand to directing with the short documentary “That Film About Money” (2014).
Paul Allen of Microsoft started Vulcan with a commitment to shorts. I did a doc with a crew of people I had never worked with before. And it was about people like Paul.
In 2016 James made his feature directorial debut with an adaptation of Philip Roth's “Indignation”. It had its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival in January 2016 and screened at this year’s Berlin International Film Festival in the Panorama section.
Schamus is also Professor of Professional Practice at Columbia University’s School of the Arts, where he teaches film history and theory.
On Doha’s newest foray into Hollywood:
Doha-based beIN Media Group’s acquiring Miramax could be a great deal depending on the price paid.
Much of the 600-plus films in the Miramax library is probably locked into licensing deals already around the globe, but depending on when those deals are up for renewal and what other rights can be exploited, if the price point was right, it’s a great way to get into the game because they are sitting on top of so much intellectual property.
Just integrating into the deal structures and understanding the economics, from the end point where the money is coming from to the rights holder, is a good idea.
Miramax, under the leadership of Zanne Devine, has also co-acquired with Roadside Attractions, the 2016 Sundance premiering feature, “Southside with You”, the narrative feature of Barak Obama and Michelle’s first date. That will bring beIN into the Roadside Attraction/ Lionsgate sphere of distribution and international sales.
On Hollywood interest in territories like China, India and the Middle East:
The less successful pattern is to find a Hollywood producer who flies in on his private jet and give him hundreds of millions (ed: Stx?) to make movies. This is a very different version, this is owning intellectual property - it’s a good first step.
On moviegoing in the Gulf:
The next step is to build a cinema culture that makes movie-going a practice in the region far more than it is now - movie exhibition and movie-going as a power lever.
On TV in the Middle East:
My intuition says new media, television in particular, is going to be a space that is very dynamic once it breaks open, here in the Gulf or elsewhere.
During this week at Qumra, James is also mentoring 10 filmmakers working on five Dfi-backed projects: Mohamed Al Ibrahim’s “Bull Shark”; Hamida Issa’s “To The Ends Of The Earth”; Sherif Elbendary’s “Ali, The Goat And Ibrahim”; Mohanad Hayal’s “Haifa Street” aka “Death Street”; and Karim Moussaoui’s “Till The Swallows Return”.
Elia Suleiman, the Artistic Advisor to Doha Film Institute, recalls how he and James “grew up together” in New York as long-time friends. James introduced him to the Chilean master filmmaker Raul Ruiz. While at Good Machine, Schamus helped him with his short film. He helped edit the script and was his guardian angel helping with his first contract. They even had a code for “urgent”. When Elia was in Jerusalem and James in London, they used the code whenever Elia was overwhelmed by the paperwork needed. James would answer within 15 minutes. Now James has come full circle on his own, from being one of the most important producers of the decade to directing his own film.
When asked by Qumra what was most important, he said “first time filmmakers are the most important”. And he has always been able to spot the most talented of emerging filmmakers.
I was surprised to hear that James, who seems like a quintessential New Yorker, is not a native New Yorker but is an Angeleno and attended Hollywood High in Los Angeles.
When I spoke with him afterward, he said that he actually was from North Hollywood but had attended Jd Melton at Hollywood High. On looking the school up for this article, I was even more pleasantly surprised to see that their branding is serendipitously, “Home of the Sheiks”.
James grew up in L.A. in the 70s and Hollywood High was equivalent to Jodie Foster’s school in “Taxi Driver” only it was in L.A. It was a working class and poor school where only half of the student body took the SATs (College qualifying exams), and he was definitely the nerd in the herd. He would spend his Friday nights watching a little known TV show on the local Channel 13 moderated by the L.A. Times critic Charles Champlin. The show was of silent films and there he saw “Birth of a Nation” and the German Expressionist movies among others. Later he wrote his PhD dissertation Carl Theodor Dreyer's ‘Gertrud’: The Moving Word, and it was published by the University of Washington Press. He moved to New York to write it after completing his Bachelors, Masters and PhD studies at Uc Berkeley.
He said he does not remember much about his high school days, but recently as he was unpacking some old boxes, he came across his high school yearbook.
You know how people signed with little paragraphs? One of these said ‘Thanks for persuading me to skip school with you and going on the 93 bus to see movies’ and it was signed ‘Frank’. I had no idea who Frank was but as I tried to remember, I recalled skipping school to go to L.A.’s only film festival which was new and called ‘Filmex’.
(Editor’s note: Filmex was the creation of ‘The two Garys’, Gary Essert and Gary Abrahams, both of whom died of Aids during the Aids epidemic. Gary Essert was a UCLA Film School student in the 60s where he started Filmex with marathon screenings in the Quonset hut which was the film school. The two Garys are both vividly remembered today by the American Cinematheque crews and others of us from L.A. because the Cinematheque was their creation.)
It was at Filmex that I saw a film made by a film student from USC. It was a sci-fi film and there was a Q&A afterward. The film was called ‘Thx-1138’ and it was by George Lucas. Then I remembered! Frank was Frank Darabont! And we were now sharing the same agent, so I gave him a call and yes, he went to Hollywood High too.
James combines his acclaimed filmmaking career with other roles within the industry: he is a revered film historian and academic. He is also a multi award-winning screenwriter, director and leading U.S. indie producer, best known for his long creative collaboration with Taiwanese director Ang Lee. He has worked with Lee on nine films, including “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” (2000), which won four Academy Awards, including Best Foreign Language Film and Best Cinematography, and remains the highest-grossing non-English-language film in the U.S. He was the screenwriter for Lee's “The Ice Storm”, for which he won the award for Best Screenplay at the Festival de Cannes in 1997 and co-wrote “Eat Drink Man Woman” (1994), the first of Lee’s films to achieve both critical and commercial success.
As producers, Schamus and Ted Hope (today head of production at Amazon) co-founded the U.S. low- to no-budget production company Good Machine in the early 1990s.
It was macho to brag about how we made films with no money. ‘I made my movie for $5,000.’ ‘Well, I made mine for $4,000.’
Ted also loves lists and he made a list of all the short films made in the past 10 years by filmmakers who had yet to make feature films. We got the VHS tapes and one of the films we saw was by Ang Lee when he was studying at Nyu. It was called “Fine Line” and was Chazz Palminteri’s first film.
“Fine Line” was about an Italian guy on the run from the mob. It takes place in New York’s Little Italy and Chinatown. Ang Lee had an agent and we called him. He said Ang Lee was working on three great films before hanging up on us…
To hear James tell this story, watch him speaking here with Richard Peña.
What was cut out of the above online story was that at the time of “Pushing Hands”
Ang had no idea we had just contacted his agent and he also thought we would steal all his money. He was 38 years old, an unemployed stay-at-home parent with a working wife and two kids living in a little apartment in New York. In his spare time he had become a great cook. He came in and pitched a comedy for one hour. It was awful. We were such no-money producers; our office was upstairs from a strip club and the music would blast into our offices starting at 2:00 every day. With this pounding beat, he pitched the worst pitch we ever heard. But there was a $5,000 fee for us. I then said that though his pitch was poor he had actually described the entire movie in his head to us scene by scene. He was not trying to sell the film.
So we made the film and then made his second film “Wedding Banquet” which shared a first prize in Berlin. The third film was “Eat Drink Man Woman” from an original idea with a Taiwanese writer, very TV in the open-endedness of all the characters feeling the push and pull of letting it happen. But in this was a Hollywood 40s style screwball comedy that could be imposed.
Again, when James and I spoke together, I challenged him on the claim that “Dim Lake” was Chazz’s first film because my own partner in life and business, Peter Belsito, claims to have produced Chazz’s first film, “Home Free All” at which time Chazz took Peter aside and said, 'I am not just a dumb guinea hoodlum, I am a real actor destined for better roles. I can act serious.' So James and I checked IMDb to see and sure enough, “Dim Lake” was his first film and “Home Free All” was his second, but it was Chazz’ first feature film. We then looked at the rest of his 68 film credits and in every single one, he is playing the Italian.
Doing this with James gave me a momentary feel of his love for research.
“For my first time writing with Ang I needed to research food in Taiwan for ‘Pushing Hands’, the position and placement of food, families and food….The script would be translated from English to Chinese, but Ang was not satisfied with it. I was having trouble tapping into the mentality of the Chinese family so I took all the characters’ names and changed them to Jewish names and rewrote the script totally as a Jewish family. Then I changed the names back to their Chinese names. Ang read the script and said ‘This is really Chinese!’ And so I got ‘the cross-cultural idea’ -- not really…I still don’t get that.
The first day in Taiwan we were shooting the film in a fast food restaurant and I as I watched the rushes, one of the character’s name was Rachel and I realized I had forgotten to change the name back. I asked if we needed to reshoot, but at that time it was a fad to change Chinese names to Anglo names and no one thought it was out of place, and so it stayed.
The most difficult part of the film was shooting the opening title sequence of the father cooking a meal. It went over schedule because it had to be perfect. We used the food so many times it was held together by glue by the end.
Preparing a shot list is very important for Ang and he constantly reduces the list and his vision jells as he does this. By his third film, the process was very internalized. Next he had to communicate it. The plan is always the result of the overall idea. That’s why his style always changes.
As he shoots, the relationship with the editor is very close. He has a long-time relationship with his editor Tim Squyres.
The “Wedding Banquet” was the first film edited on Avid. Before “Wedding Banquet”, four minutes was the full length of films edited on Avid which is now ancient technology.
Tim cuts several versions and talks them through with Ang. They have spent more time in the dark together than most married people. Ang is in the editing room from the beginning to the end. Tim talks very directly, like he might say Ang should have spent more time on a scene or should have shot a scene from a different angle. I used to watch Ang’s face tense up as he listened to Tim’s criticism and often they would fight, but they have spent 25+ years together.
On the transnational global reach of “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon”:
Critics said it was not an authentic chop-socky movie. But the Hong Kong chop-socky genre itself was a regional hybrid. The origins of chop-socky were from Shanghai and Singapore. It was not so “Cantonese” as critics claimed. Bruce Lee himself was U.S. based. So the transnational aspect was already there.
From 2002 to 2014 Schamus was CEO of Focus Features, the motion picture production, financing and worldwide distribution company whose films during his tenure included Wes Anderson's “Moonrise Kingdom” (2012), Michel Gondry's Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004), Roman Polanski's “The Pianist “ (2002), Henry Selick's “Coraline” (2009) and Sofia Coppola’s “Lost in Translation” (2003).
On actors:
Character is secondary to the action. You only have action and words in a script. Working with good actors, you need images.
Actors are at such high risk, they are very vulnerable. They need respect. Sometimes they act out.
On casting and directors:
During the casting process, the director must direct the actor, set the tone for the part. Most of the film’s directing can be done during the casting process.
On storyboarding:
“Ride with the Devil” was the first film Ang Lee storyboarded. He also storyboarded “Life of Pi”. Storyboarding could take the life out of a movie.
On production design:
It takes lots of research. It includes the worldview of the film and everything ties in to that. It first starts with costumes. Research is not done only by the department but by everyone.
On film distribution and Focus:
Where is distribution now for specialized films? Focus was everything, attached to the studio system as its specialized film division, Focus’ model was not Fox Searchlght’s which is locked into the domestic U.S. market. Seachlight bought global rights and produced by way of its international TV deals. Focus didn’t have that. It had to presell theatrical rights to independent distributors worldwide. Driven primarily by the international marketplace, it could not be driven by U.S. Its primary focus for production was London. It was all international but also driven by flagship releases in the U.S.
In 2014, Schamus turned his hand to directing with the short documentary “That Film About Money” (2014).
Paul Allen of Microsoft started Vulcan with a commitment to shorts. I did a doc with a crew of people I had never worked with before. And it was about people like Paul.
In 2016 James made his feature directorial debut with an adaptation of Philip Roth's “Indignation”. It had its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival in January 2016 and screened at this year’s Berlin International Film Festival in the Panorama section.
Schamus is also Professor of Professional Practice at Columbia University’s School of the Arts, where he teaches film history and theory.
On Doha’s newest foray into Hollywood:
Doha-based beIN Media Group’s acquiring Miramax could be a great deal depending on the price paid.
Much of the 600-plus films in the Miramax library is probably locked into licensing deals already around the globe, but depending on when those deals are up for renewal and what other rights can be exploited, if the price point was right, it’s a great way to get into the game because they are sitting on top of so much intellectual property.
Just integrating into the deal structures and understanding the economics, from the end point where the money is coming from to the rights holder, is a good idea.
Miramax, under the leadership of Zanne Devine, has also co-acquired with Roadside Attractions, the 2016 Sundance premiering feature, “Southside with You”, the narrative feature of Barak Obama and Michelle’s first date. That will bring beIN into the Roadside Attraction/ Lionsgate sphere of distribution and international sales.
On Hollywood interest in territories like China, India and the Middle East:
The less successful pattern is to find a Hollywood producer who flies in on his private jet and give him hundreds of millions (ed: Stx?) to make movies. This is a very different version, this is owning intellectual property - it’s a good first step.
On moviegoing in the Gulf:
The next step is to build a cinema culture that makes movie-going a practice in the region far more than it is now - movie exhibition and movie-going as a power lever.
On TV in the Middle East:
My intuition says new media, television in particular, is going to be a space that is very dynamic once it breaks open, here in the Gulf or elsewhere.
During this week at Qumra, James is also mentoring 10 filmmakers working on five Dfi-backed projects: Mohamed Al Ibrahim’s “Bull Shark”; Hamida Issa’s “To The Ends Of The Earth”; Sherif Elbendary’s “Ali, The Goat And Ibrahim”; Mohanad Hayal’s “Haifa Street” aka “Death Street”; and Karim Moussaoui’s “Till The Swallows Return”.
Elia Suleiman, the Artistic Advisor to Doha Film Institute, recalls how he and James “grew up together” in New York as long-time friends. James introduced him to the Chilean master filmmaker Raul Ruiz. While at Good Machine, Schamus helped him with his short film. He helped edit the script and was his guardian angel helping with his first contract. They even had a code for “urgent”. When Elia was in Jerusalem and James in London, they used the code whenever Elia was overwhelmed by the paperwork needed. James would answer within 15 minutes. Now James has come full circle on his own, from being one of the most important producers of the decade to directing his own film.
When asked by Qumra what was most important, he said “first time filmmakers are the most important”. And he has always been able to spot the most talented of emerging filmmakers.
- 4/3/2016
- by Sydney Levine
- Sydney's Buzz
This year the Art House Convergence has seen a huge jump in attendance. Eleven years ago when Sundance initiated the Art House Convergence a small handful of arthouse theater owners were in attendance. Five years ago when I began coming, there were more exhibitors plus the distributors of art house cinema began to come to chat and discuss their offerings. The congenial mix of the two charmed me. It reminded me of the early days of Sundance in the late 80s when acquisitions execs all knew and liked each other and we were able to cover all the ground without stress.
This year there were so many more people - about 600 total - including vendors of everything an exhibitor must need plus a parallel event of the Film Festival Alliance, a great initiative of Ifp established in 2010 in which festivals get together to discuss mutual interests.
The confluence of the smaller regional festivals and the art house theaters is a natural fit since the festivals are held in the theaters and bring in the community, obviously a desired outcome of art house exhibitors. All that combined makes for a much larger event than ever before and points toward even greater growth for Ahc, something perhaps to be desired but also something which perhaps will not be quite so welcoming for newcomers as the earlier events.
The topics covered in the break out sessions are a large part about the logistics of U.S. art house operations from creating fan bases and membership. Another large part focuses on festival logistics from starting a film festival – and here I want to give a plug to Jon Gann, the founder of DC Shorts Film Festival for his new book, So, You Want to Start a Film Festival: Conversations with Top Festival Creators -- to the panel “Conversation with Sundance Senior Manager Adam Montgomery” in which Montgomery discussed Sundance’s process of accepting submissions, the work flow, planning, technology, usage tips and more.
Some awards by way of recognition to those who established indies as a going concern and are keeping it going through their hard work and devotion were Gary Meyer, founder of Landmark Theaters in 1975, Jan Klingenhofer and Chapin Cutter.
Niches and small business introducing themselves included the former Emerging Pictures executive Barry Rebo with his new startup CineConductor, along with his international partner Ymagis. The service for a $75 per month fee allows theaters to download unlimited DCPs (The Digital Cinema Package is a collection of digital files used to store and convey digital cinema (DC) audio, image, and data streams.) from all distributors – an easy and cheaper way for theaters to show more films at various times during the week.
Barry Rebo of CineConductor says, “We had a terrific Art House Convergence. We arrived with 51 high profile arthouse members and left with close to 65, maybe more once we re-connect with ones now tied up at the actual festival.
Current venues are both evangelizing our value to new venues and lobbying rights holders to deliver their booked film via the CineConductor service rather than hard drives. It not only save the venues money it makes their day-to-day operations ever more efficient.
We also have two high profile international film agencies we are servicing via the portal - UniFrance’s ongoing Young French Cinema 2 and Tiff & TeleFilm Canada’s upcoming See The North series.
More information about CineConductor: Click this link.
Considering we only debuted the system - really a 'soft opening' - at last year’s Ahc and connected the first batch of venues beginning in June of ‘15 getting to 51 quality sites by the end of the first indicates the service is being seen as being both highly cost effective (venues join on a Network Access Fee basis - no charge for equipment and only $75.00 per month for Unlimited Dcp deliveries of Specialty Film & Event Cinema programs offered by their rights holder via CineConductor.
Rights Holders (Rh) - traditional distribution companies; international film advocacy groups; international sales agents; the filmmakers themselves pay nothing today to post on the CineConductor portal. They pay only $50.00 per feature Dcp delivery Includes Kdm if requested) and $10.00 per Dcp trailer set (flat and scope) once they accept an engagement directly from a participating venue. It’s a great deal for both the exhibition and distribution sides of the arthouse field.
For the broader arthouse community - exhibitors, distributors and audiences - our decision to go this way was based on our belief that by offering a flat fee, more valuable content is made available on more screens. More onscreen diversity will drive a more diverse audience. I’m happy to report it’s already working as planned.
What we have created is truly and international platform. My investor/ parent company, Ymagis, is Paris-based and operates all across Europe. See www.ymagis.com "
Another endeavor of note is Benjamin Oberman’s (Film Festival Flix) mountain climbing film “Citadel” around which he can mobilize literally millions of outdoors sports folk through organizations he has formed alliances with in every region of the U.S. This type of specialized distribution is one excellent way into the future! Compared to his development of this last year, he has moved miles ahead.
Another to watch is Bobbi Thompson as she creates pop-up theaters in studio spaces with art exhibition for adults with learning disabilities and other handicaps.
An example of the new types of festivals is that of Gary Meyer, always a pioneer from his launching of Landmark theaters, of animation showcases, of Telluride Film Festival programming to his newest, Eat Drink Films. Based in a San Francisco his site discusses film and food and hosts recently Real Food Media also announced the launch of its third-annual contest with a call for submissions of super-short films on underreported issues, unique change-makers and creative solutions to foster a broad, public conversation about solving our global food system’s most intractable problems – from hunger to diet-related illnesses to environmental crises.
And Ahc has gone international. Last year a few folks from France, Europa Cinemas and the U.S. in Progress in Poland (American Film Festival’s Ula Sniegowska) and in France (Adeline Monzier of Unifrance) were here. This year they are here again and joined by Brigitte Hubmann of Telefilm Canada with film packages available directly to theaters via Barry Rebo’s CineConductor, a model that German films and all other national film entities should emulate. Also attending this year is Europa International, a consortium of 40 European international sales agents from 13 European countries looking to find direct outlets to theaters without the distribution middleman. This will become increasingly important at Netflix swopes down on worldwide digital rights acquisitions. TrustNordisk’s head of sales, Susan Wendt from Denmark represented Europa International here.
Europa International’s panel presented European case studies on ways to attract new audiences in the era of social media with an eye toward directing young people towards “quality” cinema and fostering critical minds while forming partnership strategies included Justin Camileri of Euro Media Forum, Fatima Djoumer of Europa Cinemas, Matts Gillmor of Palladium, Elisa Giovannelli of Cineteca Bologna and Justyna Kociszewska of Kino Lab.
U.S. distributor Neil Friedman’s Menemsha Films is here with the Jonathan Pryce film “Dough” a funny and feel-good trans-cultural mix proving ‘you don’t have to be Jewish’ to love this film. Representing Menemsha at Ahc is former United King acquisitions executive from Israel, Oded Horowitz, who has now moved to California with his partner and their 6 year old twin girls. Diarah N’Daw-Spech of ArtMattan is here among now old friends managing to inject some diversity into a little too homogenous population of film lovers.
This place is full of 'our' people, that is, we-the-now-older generation who got this thing going in the 80s: those I mentioned above plus Paul Cohen, Ira Deutchman, Anne Thompson, Mj Pekos (Dada Films), Larry Greenberg (Momentum/ eOne), Richard Abramowitz (Abramarama), Cary Jones (IFC), Peter Baxter (Slamdance), Peter Becker (Janus) (who was a young one when we began but was there - and our sympathy to him for his father’s passing… whose colleague Jonathan Turrell whose father Saul in those days in print distribution at Janus Films was one of New York’s most colorful figures), Ron Diamond (Animation Show of Shows), Peter Belsito (SydneysBuzz), Mark Fishkin (California Film Institute), Christian Gaines (ArtPrize), Larry Kardish (Board member and former head of NY Film Society, Lincoln Center, now with Chatham Film Club), Greg Laemmle of Laemmle Theaters, Los Angeles’ preeminent indie arthouse started by his grandfather Carl Laemmle, former head of Universal (!), Richard Lorber (Kino Lorber), Scott Mansfield (monterey media), Mike Thomas (Theatre Properties) and Michael Donaldson (Donaldson & Callif).
After the panel “Why Critics Matter: A Conversation with Anne Thompson and Sam Adams” moderated by Ira Deutchman, a discussion of contemporary film criticism and its importance within the independent exhibition community created a flurry of comments on the Ahc newsletter which you can read along with other year round commentaries of importance by subscribing to Google Groups "Art House Convergence". Sam Adams himself writes,
“In a national survey covering 25 art house theaters and 20,000 patrons, Avenue Isr's Woody Smith said that reviews were the third-most important tool in drawing audiences to theaters, just behind recommendations from friends. (Most-effective, by a wide margin: trailers.) 41 percent of respondents listed print reviews among the most important factors, with online reviews at 35 percent, although the former number drops dramatically when limited to viewers 35 or younger.
Speaking anecdotally to me, many exhibitors told me that Rotten Tomatoes plays a huge role in what films audiences select. In one medium-sized market, the local paper, which no longer employs its own critics, uses the Tomatometer to decide which review to pull from the wire services: If it's "fresh," they run a positive review; if it's "rotten," they run a pan. By pretty much any measure, that's a huge dereliction of duty — not to mention incredibly lazy journalistic practice — but the good news is that same exhibitor sought me out later to tell me he going to start a criticism contest for local students, bringing back dialogue to a community that's lost an outlet for those voices.”
At Ahc with a new panel discussion, one most worthy of notice is Hollie Mahadeo, General Manager of Enzian Theater in Maitland Florida. Her initiative, Starting Young: Hooking Youth on Cinema, discussed cultivating the next generation of filmgoers and film lovers. Amy Averett of Alamo Drafthouse, Mats Gillmor of Palladium and Hollie Mahadeo of Enzian spoke of their successes in this crucial area.
Hollie has spent 17 years building a home for youth in cinema. Art houses do not generally think about kids because the ones working in them are usually young and single and the ones attending them are usually grandparents. As Hollie and her colleagues grew, they married and now have children and so are concerned with how cinema and their own children will interact. Six years ago their audience was all over 40 and so they began programming to get 20-somethings in.
Then they started courting the children with their Peanut Butter Matinees, programming films to appeal to the children and their parents, like “Neverending Story”. These monthly matinees work well for parents with children from five to ten years who would not ordinarily go to cinemas. The room seats 220 but is filled with tables and chairs so some play while others eat and others sit enraptured by the cinema. They have 1,200 screenings in a year and are a $3.5 million organization in all.
The Peanut Butter Matinee has a kid friendly menu, balloons to take away, raffles to take part in and the film, always projected digitally. It has grown to special holiday celebrations for Christmas, Halloween, Easter and the children have also grown. The events are free for children under 12; all others buy $8 tickets.
Amy of Alamo states that it is cheaper to bring kids to the movies than to hire a babysitter.
Enzion has also instituted a Filmmaking Camp, a summer day camp now in its seventh year. It began as a one-week camp for 10 kids but now has a four-week camp, Thirty-two kids go to a two-week session in Camp 1 and another 32 go to a second two-week session. They have temporary staff of two filmmakers who bring in the equipment and one head instructor, a teacher from a local film school and a counselor to help with the scheduling, meals, and other issues. There are volunteer filmmakers from college and a junior counselor program for kids too old to be campers but too young to be filmmakers (yet). The oldest graduate of the camp is now in high school and looking at film schools. The youngest camper is in the fifth grade. At the end of the camp there are at least two world premiers.
Now they also have youth acting Programs. For grades 2 through 12, classes are held after school twice a week.
All in all, the Ahc was full and fun. The cold was bitter and when we left to go down the road to Sundance, about half of us were nursing our first winter colds which made for an even more fun filled Sundance Film Festival…well for me at least, my low energy level was no match of the excitement of the festival this year.
This year there were so many more people - about 600 total - including vendors of everything an exhibitor must need plus a parallel event of the Film Festival Alliance, a great initiative of Ifp established in 2010 in which festivals get together to discuss mutual interests.
The confluence of the smaller regional festivals and the art house theaters is a natural fit since the festivals are held in the theaters and bring in the community, obviously a desired outcome of art house exhibitors. All that combined makes for a much larger event than ever before and points toward even greater growth for Ahc, something perhaps to be desired but also something which perhaps will not be quite so welcoming for newcomers as the earlier events.
The topics covered in the break out sessions are a large part about the logistics of U.S. art house operations from creating fan bases and membership. Another large part focuses on festival logistics from starting a film festival – and here I want to give a plug to Jon Gann, the founder of DC Shorts Film Festival for his new book, So, You Want to Start a Film Festival: Conversations with Top Festival Creators -- to the panel “Conversation with Sundance Senior Manager Adam Montgomery” in which Montgomery discussed Sundance’s process of accepting submissions, the work flow, planning, technology, usage tips and more.
Some awards by way of recognition to those who established indies as a going concern and are keeping it going through their hard work and devotion were Gary Meyer, founder of Landmark Theaters in 1975, Jan Klingenhofer and Chapin Cutter.
Niches and small business introducing themselves included the former Emerging Pictures executive Barry Rebo with his new startup CineConductor, along with his international partner Ymagis. The service for a $75 per month fee allows theaters to download unlimited DCPs (The Digital Cinema Package is a collection of digital files used to store and convey digital cinema (DC) audio, image, and data streams.) from all distributors – an easy and cheaper way for theaters to show more films at various times during the week.
Barry Rebo of CineConductor says, “We had a terrific Art House Convergence. We arrived with 51 high profile arthouse members and left with close to 65, maybe more once we re-connect with ones now tied up at the actual festival.
Current venues are both evangelizing our value to new venues and lobbying rights holders to deliver their booked film via the CineConductor service rather than hard drives. It not only save the venues money it makes their day-to-day operations ever more efficient.
We also have two high profile international film agencies we are servicing via the portal - UniFrance’s ongoing Young French Cinema 2 and Tiff & TeleFilm Canada’s upcoming See The North series.
More information about CineConductor: Click this link.
Considering we only debuted the system - really a 'soft opening' - at last year’s Ahc and connected the first batch of venues beginning in June of ‘15 getting to 51 quality sites by the end of the first indicates the service is being seen as being both highly cost effective (venues join on a Network Access Fee basis - no charge for equipment and only $75.00 per month for Unlimited Dcp deliveries of Specialty Film & Event Cinema programs offered by their rights holder via CineConductor.
Rights Holders (Rh) - traditional distribution companies; international film advocacy groups; international sales agents; the filmmakers themselves pay nothing today to post on the CineConductor portal. They pay only $50.00 per feature Dcp delivery Includes Kdm if requested) and $10.00 per Dcp trailer set (flat and scope) once they accept an engagement directly from a participating venue. It’s a great deal for both the exhibition and distribution sides of the arthouse field.
For the broader arthouse community - exhibitors, distributors and audiences - our decision to go this way was based on our belief that by offering a flat fee, more valuable content is made available on more screens. More onscreen diversity will drive a more diverse audience. I’m happy to report it’s already working as planned.
What we have created is truly and international platform. My investor/ parent company, Ymagis, is Paris-based and operates all across Europe. See www.ymagis.com "
Another endeavor of note is Benjamin Oberman’s (Film Festival Flix) mountain climbing film “Citadel” around which he can mobilize literally millions of outdoors sports folk through organizations he has formed alliances with in every region of the U.S. This type of specialized distribution is one excellent way into the future! Compared to his development of this last year, he has moved miles ahead.
Another to watch is Bobbi Thompson as she creates pop-up theaters in studio spaces with art exhibition for adults with learning disabilities and other handicaps.
An example of the new types of festivals is that of Gary Meyer, always a pioneer from his launching of Landmark theaters, of animation showcases, of Telluride Film Festival programming to his newest, Eat Drink Films. Based in a San Francisco his site discusses film and food and hosts recently Real Food Media also announced the launch of its third-annual contest with a call for submissions of super-short films on underreported issues, unique change-makers and creative solutions to foster a broad, public conversation about solving our global food system’s most intractable problems – from hunger to diet-related illnesses to environmental crises.
And Ahc has gone international. Last year a few folks from France, Europa Cinemas and the U.S. in Progress in Poland (American Film Festival’s Ula Sniegowska) and in France (Adeline Monzier of Unifrance) were here. This year they are here again and joined by Brigitte Hubmann of Telefilm Canada with film packages available directly to theaters via Barry Rebo’s CineConductor, a model that German films and all other national film entities should emulate. Also attending this year is Europa International, a consortium of 40 European international sales agents from 13 European countries looking to find direct outlets to theaters without the distribution middleman. This will become increasingly important at Netflix swopes down on worldwide digital rights acquisitions. TrustNordisk’s head of sales, Susan Wendt from Denmark represented Europa International here.
Europa International’s panel presented European case studies on ways to attract new audiences in the era of social media with an eye toward directing young people towards “quality” cinema and fostering critical minds while forming partnership strategies included Justin Camileri of Euro Media Forum, Fatima Djoumer of Europa Cinemas, Matts Gillmor of Palladium, Elisa Giovannelli of Cineteca Bologna and Justyna Kociszewska of Kino Lab.
U.S. distributor Neil Friedman’s Menemsha Films is here with the Jonathan Pryce film “Dough” a funny and feel-good trans-cultural mix proving ‘you don’t have to be Jewish’ to love this film. Representing Menemsha at Ahc is former United King acquisitions executive from Israel, Oded Horowitz, who has now moved to California with his partner and their 6 year old twin girls. Diarah N’Daw-Spech of ArtMattan is here among now old friends managing to inject some diversity into a little too homogenous population of film lovers.
This place is full of 'our' people, that is, we-the-now-older generation who got this thing going in the 80s: those I mentioned above plus Paul Cohen, Ira Deutchman, Anne Thompson, Mj Pekos (Dada Films), Larry Greenberg (Momentum/ eOne), Richard Abramowitz (Abramarama), Cary Jones (IFC), Peter Baxter (Slamdance), Peter Becker (Janus) (who was a young one when we began but was there - and our sympathy to him for his father’s passing… whose colleague Jonathan Turrell whose father Saul in those days in print distribution at Janus Films was one of New York’s most colorful figures), Ron Diamond (Animation Show of Shows), Peter Belsito (SydneysBuzz), Mark Fishkin (California Film Institute), Christian Gaines (ArtPrize), Larry Kardish (Board member and former head of NY Film Society, Lincoln Center, now with Chatham Film Club), Greg Laemmle of Laemmle Theaters, Los Angeles’ preeminent indie arthouse started by his grandfather Carl Laemmle, former head of Universal (!), Richard Lorber (Kino Lorber), Scott Mansfield (monterey media), Mike Thomas (Theatre Properties) and Michael Donaldson (Donaldson & Callif).
After the panel “Why Critics Matter: A Conversation with Anne Thompson and Sam Adams” moderated by Ira Deutchman, a discussion of contemporary film criticism and its importance within the independent exhibition community created a flurry of comments on the Ahc newsletter which you can read along with other year round commentaries of importance by subscribing to Google Groups "Art House Convergence". Sam Adams himself writes,
“In a national survey covering 25 art house theaters and 20,000 patrons, Avenue Isr's Woody Smith said that reviews were the third-most important tool in drawing audiences to theaters, just behind recommendations from friends. (Most-effective, by a wide margin: trailers.) 41 percent of respondents listed print reviews among the most important factors, with online reviews at 35 percent, although the former number drops dramatically when limited to viewers 35 or younger.
Speaking anecdotally to me, many exhibitors told me that Rotten Tomatoes plays a huge role in what films audiences select. In one medium-sized market, the local paper, which no longer employs its own critics, uses the Tomatometer to decide which review to pull from the wire services: If it's "fresh," they run a positive review; if it's "rotten," they run a pan. By pretty much any measure, that's a huge dereliction of duty — not to mention incredibly lazy journalistic practice — but the good news is that same exhibitor sought me out later to tell me he going to start a criticism contest for local students, bringing back dialogue to a community that's lost an outlet for those voices.”
At Ahc with a new panel discussion, one most worthy of notice is Hollie Mahadeo, General Manager of Enzian Theater in Maitland Florida. Her initiative, Starting Young: Hooking Youth on Cinema, discussed cultivating the next generation of filmgoers and film lovers. Amy Averett of Alamo Drafthouse, Mats Gillmor of Palladium and Hollie Mahadeo of Enzian spoke of their successes in this crucial area.
Hollie has spent 17 years building a home for youth in cinema. Art houses do not generally think about kids because the ones working in them are usually young and single and the ones attending them are usually grandparents. As Hollie and her colleagues grew, they married and now have children and so are concerned with how cinema and their own children will interact. Six years ago their audience was all over 40 and so they began programming to get 20-somethings in.
Then they started courting the children with their Peanut Butter Matinees, programming films to appeal to the children and their parents, like “Neverending Story”. These monthly matinees work well for parents with children from five to ten years who would not ordinarily go to cinemas. The room seats 220 but is filled with tables and chairs so some play while others eat and others sit enraptured by the cinema. They have 1,200 screenings in a year and are a $3.5 million organization in all.
The Peanut Butter Matinee has a kid friendly menu, balloons to take away, raffles to take part in and the film, always projected digitally. It has grown to special holiday celebrations for Christmas, Halloween, Easter and the children have also grown. The events are free for children under 12; all others buy $8 tickets.
Amy of Alamo states that it is cheaper to bring kids to the movies than to hire a babysitter.
Enzion has also instituted a Filmmaking Camp, a summer day camp now in its seventh year. It began as a one-week camp for 10 kids but now has a four-week camp, Thirty-two kids go to a two-week session in Camp 1 and another 32 go to a second two-week session. They have temporary staff of two filmmakers who bring in the equipment and one head instructor, a teacher from a local film school and a counselor to help with the scheduling, meals, and other issues. There are volunteer filmmakers from college and a junior counselor program for kids too old to be campers but too young to be filmmakers (yet). The oldest graduate of the camp is now in high school and looking at film schools. The youngest camper is in the fifth grade. At the end of the camp there are at least two world premiers.
Now they also have youth acting Programs. For grades 2 through 12, classes are held after school twice a week.
All in all, the Ahc was full and fun. The cold was bitter and when we left to go down the road to Sundance, about half of us were nursing our first winter colds which made for an even more fun filled Sundance Film Festival…well for me at least, my low energy level was no match of the excitement of the festival this year.
- 2/2/2016
- by Sydney Levine
- Sydney's Buzz
Napa Valley Film Festival kicked off with (what else?) a wine movie. “Somm: Into the Bottle," the second documentary exploring the Exclusive Court of Master Sommeliers. To be distributed by Samuel Goldwyn Films, "Somm: Into the Bottle", as told through the eyes of the world’s greatest sommeliers and winemakers, raises the curtain on the seldom-seen world that surrounds the wine we drink and gives viewers close-up access to the most accomplished sommeliers in the world and to some of the most prestigious winemakers working today. By opening some of the world’s most rare bottles of wine, the viewer understands how a wine ages and just what happens in a cellar.
At the festival’s gala opening night party, filled with vintners pouring their wines accompanied by some of the best restaurants in the world supplying bite size hors d’oevres, Peter Goldwyn pointed out that the film is already number 22 on iTunes because of the fan base built up by Jason Wise’s previous film, “Somm” in which four sommeliers attempt to pass the prestigious Master Sommelier exam, a test with one of the lowest pass rates in the world. As Peter circulated through the crowd of the local bourgeoisie and filmmakers like Eric Troung whose 30 minute short is also screening here, I felt right at home…I love seeing new friends and old at these events.
So far, as a jury member, I have seen one film, “Life in Color” directed, written and produced by Katherine Emmer, along with producers Jason Berman, Anne Carey, Lance Johnson and Giles Clark and starring, as a lovable slob who grows up, Josh McDermitt, Katharine Emmer herself who could play a spoiled rich girl as well as the miserably inattentive nanny she plays in this movie, Adam Lustick a really perfect button-down successful comedian buddy of Josh, Fortune Feimster and Jim O’Heir. Katharine's directorial feature film debut, “Life in Color”, world premiered at South by Southwest 2015. It won Best of Fest - The L.E.S. Prix D'Or at The Lower East Side Film Festival 2015 in New York City.
I am now about to see the second film, “Tumbledown," directed by Sean Mewshaw, produced by Aaron Gilbert, Kristin Hahn and Margo Hand, written by Desi Van Til and Sean Mewshaw and starring Jason Dudikis, Rebecca Hall, Blythe Danner (!), Dianna Agron, Griffin Dunne (“Dallas Buyers Club” and “After Hours”!) son of Dominick Dunne and older brother of Dominique Dunne, Joe Manganiello and Richard Masur. Starz will release the film stateside. Director-writer Sean Mewshaw was raised in Rome, Italy and spent a decade in L.A. working on film sets where he was mentored by some of his heroes. He made a short starring Frances McDomand (one of my favorite actors btw), then moved to Portland, Maine with his wife Desi (who cowrote “Tumbledown”), where he directs theater wile developing film projects. “Tumbledown is his feature debut.
End of Day One and Beginning of Day Two, signing off, Sydney Levine, working in her suite at the Embassy Suites with my partner Peter Belsito sitting on the other side of the table after he hosted a pitch session with Scott Mandille.
At the festival’s gala opening night party, filled with vintners pouring their wines accompanied by some of the best restaurants in the world supplying bite size hors d’oevres, Peter Goldwyn pointed out that the film is already number 22 on iTunes because of the fan base built up by Jason Wise’s previous film, “Somm” in which four sommeliers attempt to pass the prestigious Master Sommelier exam, a test with one of the lowest pass rates in the world. As Peter circulated through the crowd of the local bourgeoisie and filmmakers like Eric Troung whose 30 minute short is also screening here, I felt right at home…I love seeing new friends and old at these events.
So far, as a jury member, I have seen one film, “Life in Color” directed, written and produced by Katherine Emmer, along with producers Jason Berman, Anne Carey, Lance Johnson and Giles Clark and starring, as a lovable slob who grows up, Josh McDermitt, Katharine Emmer herself who could play a spoiled rich girl as well as the miserably inattentive nanny she plays in this movie, Adam Lustick a really perfect button-down successful comedian buddy of Josh, Fortune Feimster and Jim O’Heir. Katharine's directorial feature film debut, “Life in Color”, world premiered at South by Southwest 2015. It won Best of Fest - The L.E.S. Prix D'Or at The Lower East Side Film Festival 2015 in New York City.
I am now about to see the second film, “Tumbledown," directed by Sean Mewshaw, produced by Aaron Gilbert, Kristin Hahn and Margo Hand, written by Desi Van Til and Sean Mewshaw and starring Jason Dudikis, Rebecca Hall, Blythe Danner (!), Dianna Agron, Griffin Dunne (“Dallas Buyers Club” and “After Hours”!) son of Dominick Dunne and older brother of Dominique Dunne, Joe Manganiello and Richard Masur. Starz will release the film stateside. Director-writer Sean Mewshaw was raised in Rome, Italy and spent a decade in L.A. working on film sets where he was mentored by some of his heroes. He made a short starring Frances McDomand (one of my favorite actors btw), then moved to Portland, Maine with his wife Desi (who cowrote “Tumbledown”), where he directs theater wile developing film projects. “Tumbledown is his feature debut.
End of Day One and Beginning of Day Two, signing off, Sydney Levine, working in her suite at the Embassy Suites with my partner Peter Belsito sitting on the other side of the table after he hosted a pitch session with Scott Mandille.
- 11/15/2015
- by Sydney Levine
- Sydney's Buzz
The Loft Film Fest is the first American festival member of the International Confederation of Art Cinemas (Cicae), which brings together more than 3,000 screens and approximately 16 festivals across Europe and around the world to promote the production and exhibition of quality independent films from all countries in all countries.
The Cicae award is designed to bring attention to excellent films in order for them to be seen in art houses around the world. The Cicae award is given out at festivals including the Berlinale Forum and Panorama, the Sarajevo International Film Festival, the Cannes Directors’ Fortnight.
The Loft Film Fest jury for documentary features includes Peter Belsito, film biz consultant, fest panelist and guest blogger for SydneysBuzz on Indiewire, actress/writer/producer Yareli Arizmendi ("Like Water for Chocolate," "A Day Without a Mexican") and Beverly Seckinger, director of University of Arizona Center for Documentary and Docscapes.
The short film jury includes Francesco Clerici, director of "Hand Gestures," Max Cannon, creator of the alternative comic strip "Red Meat", and Lupita Murillo of Kvoa News 4 Tucson.
The documentaries in competition are:
"Florence, Arizona"
Florence, Arizona is a cowboy town with a prison problem. Founded in 1866, this bastion of the Wild West is home to 8,500 civilians and 17,000 inmates spread over nine prisons. Through an unconventional lens, the documentary film "Florence, Arizona" weaves together the stories of four key residents of Florence, whose lives have all been shadowed in some way by the surrounding prison industrial complex. The result is an intricately crafted cinematic tapestry, threaded through with deep strands of Americana, humor, intimacy, and pathos, revealing as much about ourselves as it does about our modern carceral state. (Dir. by Andrea B. Scott, 2014, USA, 78 mins., Not Rated) Official Selection: Doc NYC
"Chuck Norris vs. Communism"
In the 1980s, under the Nicolae Ceaușescu regime, Romanians suffered from little access to foreign goods as well as an information blackout the Communist bureaucrats used to ensure ideological purity. But in clandestine screenings at neighbors’ homes of smuggled VHS tapes dubbed by a one-man distribution network, people got a glimpse of the Western world and a culture of muscular individuality with heroes like Jean-Claude Van Damme, Sylvester Stallone, and, of course, Chuck Norris.
In "Chuck Norris vs Communism," one sees the power of film to change individuals and whole societies. Through the stories of the hardworking female dubber (the most famous voice of Romania), the memories of everyday citizens, evocative re-creations of the time, and an enormous selection of clips from ’80s movies, first-time director Ilinca Calugareanu presents a film about the unexpected consequences of mass entertainment, leading to the conclusion that the greatest threat to Ceaușescu’s dictatorship might just have been the Vcr. (Dir. by Ilinca Calugareanu, 2014, UK/Romania/Germany, in Romanian with subtitles, 83 mins., Not Rated) Official Selection: Sundance Film Festival, Hot Docs
"Bounce"
From Brazilian favelas to dusty Congolese villages, from Neolithic Scottish isles to modern soccer pitches, "Bounce" explores the little-known origins of our favorite sports.
The film crosses time, languages and continents to discover how the ball has staked its claim on our lives and fueled our passion to compete. Equal parts science, history and cultural essay, "Bounce" removes us from the scandals and commercialism of today’s sports world to uncover the true reasons we play ball, helping us reclaim our universal connection to the games we love. (Dir. by Jerome Thelia, 2015, USA / Brazil / Congo / India / Ireland / Italy / Mexico / UK, in English with subtitles, 71 mins., Not Rated) Official Selection: SXSW
"Double Digits: The Story of a Neighborhood Movie Star"
Deep in the recesses of YouTube there is an ingenious artist who cannot be stopped. He consistently churns out 3-4 original feature-length films a year. He’s made action movies, horror movies, westerns and more. He’s not rich, he has no crew, no formal training and aside from his action figures, plays virtually every part. Welcome to the inspiring, imaginative, and often handmade world of Ultra-diy filmmaker Richard ‘R.G.’ Miller, a 50 year-old man who creates impossible blockbusters from his tiny studio apartment in Wichita, Kansas. His dream audience? More than 9 people. (Dir. by Justin Johnson, 2015, USA, 76 mins., Not Rated)
"Right Footed"
Born without arms as the result of a severe birth defect, Jessica Cox never allowed herself to believe that she couldn’t accomplish her dreams. An expert martial artist, college graduate and motivational speaker, Jessica is also the world’s only armless airplane pilot, a mentor, and an advocate for people with disability. Directed by Emmy Award winning filmmaker Nick Spark, "Right Footed" chronicles Jessica’s amazing story of overcoming adversity and follows her over a period of two years as she becomes a mentor for children with disabilities and their families, and a disability rights advocate working in the U.S.A. and abroad. (Dir. by Nick Spark, 2015, USA, in English with subtitles, 82 mins., Not Rated)
"Hand Gestures"
"Hand Gestures" follows the process of creating one of Velasco Vitali’s famous dog sculptures, from wax to glazed bronze, at the Battaglia Artistic Foundry in Milan. The film observes the work of a group of skilled artisans in this 100-year old foundry and reveals the ancient traditions of bronze sculpture making, unchanged since the sixth century B.C. This method is not taught in school, but is passed on in the ancient oral tradition and through apprenticeships from artisans. This documentary observes and feels the work of the Battaglia Artistic Foundry: a place where the past and present share the same gestures and where each gesture is a sculpture itself.
An artist who sculpts, who works the waxes, is treated in the same way as a craftsman who turns that wax into bronze, building and destroying other ephemeral sculptures: they have been making the same gestures for centuries, and by showing this to the camera they reveal historical “jumps” in time. Director Francesco Clerici has made a fine-tuned, carefully-observed study of a glorious thing to watch: artisans practicing their craft on film. Winner of the Fipresci award at Berlinale Forum 2015. (Dir. by Francesco Clerici, 2015, Italy, in Italian with subtitles, 77 mins., Not Rated) Official Selection: Berlin International Film Festival, BFI London Film Festival
"Beaver Trilogy Part IV" (USA, dir. Brad Besser)
In 1979, Kutv in Salt Lake City acquired a new video camera. Trent Harris, a producer for the station’s offbeat show Extra, ventured out into the parking lot to test the new equipment and happened upon a young man taking pictures of the station’s news helicopter.
The kid, calling himself “Groovin’ Gary,” was the self-proclaimed Rich Little of Beaver, Utah. His infectious personality and small-town impressions of John Wayne, Sylvester Stallone, and Barry Manilow piqued Harris’s interest enough so he gave him a business card and asked that he alert him if anything newsworthy happened in his hometown. What happened next would become the foundation for "Beaver Trilogy," a unique collection of films that documented Harris’s multiple attempts at re-creating the original magic of the Beaver Kid. Director Brad Besser dives deep into the mystique of this cult classic, unraveling the mystery of Harris’s original inspiration. "Beaver Trilogy Part IV" explores the line between the quest for fame and the exploitation of those who pursue it. (Dir. by Brad Besser, 2015, USA, 84 mins., Not Rated) Official Selection: Sundance Film Festival, Hot Docs
The short films in competition are in two programs:
Program 1
Program 2
The awards will be presented on Sunday October 25 before the final screenings of the festival: "Mia Madre" at 7:15Pm and "Eisenstein in Guanajuato" at 7:45Pm.
Tickets and passes on sale now at www.loftfilmfest.org.
The Cicae award is designed to bring attention to excellent films in order for them to be seen in art houses around the world. The Cicae award is given out at festivals including the Berlinale Forum and Panorama, the Sarajevo International Film Festival, the Cannes Directors’ Fortnight.
The Loft Film Fest jury for documentary features includes Peter Belsito, film biz consultant, fest panelist and guest blogger for SydneysBuzz on Indiewire, actress/writer/producer Yareli Arizmendi ("Like Water for Chocolate," "A Day Without a Mexican") and Beverly Seckinger, director of University of Arizona Center for Documentary and Docscapes.
The short film jury includes Francesco Clerici, director of "Hand Gestures," Max Cannon, creator of the alternative comic strip "Red Meat", and Lupita Murillo of Kvoa News 4 Tucson.
The documentaries in competition are:
"Florence, Arizona"
Florence, Arizona is a cowboy town with a prison problem. Founded in 1866, this bastion of the Wild West is home to 8,500 civilians and 17,000 inmates spread over nine prisons. Through an unconventional lens, the documentary film "Florence, Arizona" weaves together the stories of four key residents of Florence, whose lives have all been shadowed in some way by the surrounding prison industrial complex. The result is an intricately crafted cinematic tapestry, threaded through with deep strands of Americana, humor, intimacy, and pathos, revealing as much about ourselves as it does about our modern carceral state. (Dir. by Andrea B. Scott, 2014, USA, 78 mins., Not Rated) Official Selection: Doc NYC
"Chuck Norris vs. Communism"
In the 1980s, under the Nicolae Ceaușescu regime, Romanians suffered from little access to foreign goods as well as an information blackout the Communist bureaucrats used to ensure ideological purity. But in clandestine screenings at neighbors’ homes of smuggled VHS tapes dubbed by a one-man distribution network, people got a glimpse of the Western world and a culture of muscular individuality with heroes like Jean-Claude Van Damme, Sylvester Stallone, and, of course, Chuck Norris.
In "Chuck Norris vs Communism," one sees the power of film to change individuals and whole societies. Through the stories of the hardworking female dubber (the most famous voice of Romania), the memories of everyday citizens, evocative re-creations of the time, and an enormous selection of clips from ’80s movies, first-time director Ilinca Calugareanu presents a film about the unexpected consequences of mass entertainment, leading to the conclusion that the greatest threat to Ceaușescu’s dictatorship might just have been the Vcr. (Dir. by Ilinca Calugareanu, 2014, UK/Romania/Germany, in Romanian with subtitles, 83 mins., Not Rated) Official Selection: Sundance Film Festival, Hot Docs
"Bounce"
From Brazilian favelas to dusty Congolese villages, from Neolithic Scottish isles to modern soccer pitches, "Bounce" explores the little-known origins of our favorite sports.
The film crosses time, languages and continents to discover how the ball has staked its claim on our lives and fueled our passion to compete. Equal parts science, history and cultural essay, "Bounce" removes us from the scandals and commercialism of today’s sports world to uncover the true reasons we play ball, helping us reclaim our universal connection to the games we love. (Dir. by Jerome Thelia, 2015, USA / Brazil / Congo / India / Ireland / Italy / Mexico / UK, in English with subtitles, 71 mins., Not Rated) Official Selection: SXSW
"Double Digits: The Story of a Neighborhood Movie Star"
Deep in the recesses of YouTube there is an ingenious artist who cannot be stopped. He consistently churns out 3-4 original feature-length films a year. He’s made action movies, horror movies, westerns and more. He’s not rich, he has no crew, no formal training and aside from his action figures, plays virtually every part. Welcome to the inspiring, imaginative, and often handmade world of Ultra-diy filmmaker Richard ‘R.G.’ Miller, a 50 year-old man who creates impossible blockbusters from his tiny studio apartment in Wichita, Kansas. His dream audience? More than 9 people. (Dir. by Justin Johnson, 2015, USA, 76 mins., Not Rated)
"Right Footed"
Born without arms as the result of a severe birth defect, Jessica Cox never allowed herself to believe that she couldn’t accomplish her dreams. An expert martial artist, college graduate and motivational speaker, Jessica is also the world’s only armless airplane pilot, a mentor, and an advocate for people with disability. Directed by Emmy Award winning filmmaker Nick Spark, "Right Footed" chronicles Jessica’s amazing story of overcoming adversity and follows her over a period of two years as she becomes a mentor for children with disabilities and their families, and a disability rights advocate working in the U.S.A. and abroad. (Dir. by Nick Spark, 2015, USA, in English with subtitles, 82 mins., Not Rated)
"Hand Gestures"
"Hand Gestures" follows the process of creating one of Velasco Vitali’s famous dog sculptures, from wax to glazed bronze, at the Battaglia Artistic Foundry in Milan. The film observes the work of a group of skilled artisans in this 100-year old foundry and reveals the ancient traditions of bronze sculpture making, unchanged since the sixth century B.C. This method is not taught in school, but is passed on in the ancient oral tradition and through apprenticeships from artisans. This documentary observes and feels the work of the Battaglia Artistic Foundry: a place where the past and present share the same gestures and where each gesture is a sculpture itself.
An artist who sculpts, who works the waxes, is treated in the same way as a craftsman who turns that wax into bronze, building and destroying other ephemeral sculptures: they have been making the same gestures for centuries, and by showing this to the camera they reveal historical “jumps” in time. Director Francesco Clerici has made a fine-tuned, carefully-observed study of a glorious thing to watch: artisans practicing their craft on film. Winner of the Fipresci award at Berlinale Forum 2015. (Dir. by Francesco Clerici, 2015, Italy, in Italian with subtitles, 77 mins., Not Rated) Official Selection: Berlin International Film Festival, BFI London Film Festival
"Beaver Trilogy Part IV" (USA, dir. Brad Besser)
In 1979, Kutv in Salt Lake City acquired a new video camera. Trent Harris, a producer for the station’s offbeat show Extra, ventured out into the parking lot to test the new equipment and happened upon a young man taking pictures of the station’s news helicopter.
The kid, calling himself “Groovin’ Gary,” was the self-proclaimed Rich Little of Beaver, Utah. His infectious personality and small-town impressions of John Wayne, Sylvester Stallone, and Barry Manilow piqued Harris’s interest enough so he gave him a business card and asked that he alert him if anything newsworthy happened in his hometown. What happened next would become the foundation for "Beaver Trilogy," a unique collection of films that documented Harris’s multiple attempts at re-creating the original magic of the Beaver Kid. Director Brad Besser dives deep into the mystique of this cult classic, unraveling the mystery of Harris’s original inspiration. "Beaver Trilogy Part IV" explores the line between the quest for fame and the exploitation of those who pursue it. (Dir. by Brad Besser, 2015, USA, 84 mins., Not Rated) Official Selection: Sundance Film Festival, Hot Docs
The short films in competition are in two programs:
Program 1
Program 2
The awards will be presented on Sunday October 25 before the final screenings of the festival: "Mia Madre" at 7:15Pm and "Eisenstein in Guanajuato" at 7:45Pm.
Tickets and passes on sale now at www.loftfilmfest.org.
- 10/13/2015
- by Sydney Levine
- Sydney's Buzz
The Nvff Pitch Panel Contest connects new writers and filmmakers with the industry's best creative executives and producers in a 2Day competition set to discover the next blockbuster film or hit TV series. 20 semifinalists will be invited to Thursday's "boot camp" with producer & pitch writer, Scott Manville, and our very own industry veteran, Peter Belsito, to learn the ins-and-outs of successfully pitching a new TV or film project. They'll provide feedback and advice for honing each pitch, and ultimately select 10 finalists to attend Sunday's "Final Pitch" event with executives from The Weinstein Company and Netflix.
Deadline is October 15 and the fee to submit is $15 per entry
Submit via FilmFreeway Here
Winner Receives:
-Invitation to present their winning pitch to the development and production team at The Weinstein Company in Los Angeles.
-$1000 cash prize provided by Scott Manville of Manville Media Ventures, Inc
-Also provided by Scott will be a one-on-one lunch meeting in Beverly Hills with Robert Kosberg, Executive Producer of such films as "12 Monkeys" (Brad Pitt, Bruce Willis), and "The Hardy Men" (Tom Cruise, Ben Stiller). Considered by former Paramount Pictures CEO, Sherry Lansing as being "the best pitch man in town," this will be a unique opportunity to make a connection for your career, and learn from one of the best pitch men in the business.
Top 10 Finalists Receive:
-Invitation to pitch Weinstein Co. & Netflix executives in Sunday's Final.
-Complimentary 1Year Membership & listing for your pitch at iPitch.tv the industry's newest marketplace online for filmmakers, writers, and producers.
Top 20 Semifinalists Receive:
-Invitation to Thursday's "boot camp" and pitch competition semifinals.
-Complimentary full five day Festival Passfor the Festival. (Any additional passes must be purchased. Semifinalists will also be responsible for their own lodging and travel.)
Other Important Details to Know:
-Any genre for Movie or Television accepted.
-Submit your Title, Genre, Logline (50 words max), and brief Synopsis of your pitch (150 words max) in a Word Document or Pdf.
-Submit as many pitches as you'd like, but be sure they're highly original.
-Be prepared to communicate your pitch in under 2 minutes. You will be allowed to read off your page.
-Top 20 semifinalists will be notified on October 23, 2015 in order to provide ample time to secure travel and lodging to the festival.
-Gain insider advice on how to pitch via Nvff Pitch Panel judge Scott Manville's "Reeltalk" column: Insider Advice on Creating & Pitching for TV and Film.
Deadline is October 15 and the fee to submit is $15 per entry
Submit via FilmFreeway Here
Winner Receives:
-Invitation to present their winning pitch to the development and production team at The Weinstein Company in Los Angeles.
-$1000 cash prize provided by Scott Manville of Manville Media Ventures, Inc
-Also provided by Scott will be a one-on-one lunch meeting in Beverly Hills with Robert Kosberg, Executive Producer of such films as "12 Monkeys" (Brad Pitt, Bruce Willis), and "The Hardy Men" (Tom Cruise, Ben Stiller). Considered by former Paramount Pictures CEO, Sherry Lansing as being "the best pitch man in town," this will be a unique opportunity to make a connection for your career, and learn from one of the best pitch men in the business.
Top 10 Finalists Receive:
-Invitation to pitch Weinstein Co. & Netflix executives in Sunday's Final.
-Complimentary 1Year Membership & listing for your pitch at iPitch.tv the industry's newest marketplace online for filmmakers, writers, and producers.
Top 20 Semifinalists Receive:
-Invitation to Thursday's "boot camp" and pitch competition semifinals.
-Complimentary full five day Festival Passfor the Festival. (Any additional passes must be purchased. Semifinalists will also be responsible for their own lodging and travel.)
Other Important Details to Know:
-Any genre for Movie or Television accepted.
-Submit your Title, Genre, Logline (50 words max), and brief Synopsis of your pitch (150 words max) in a Word Document or Pdf.
-Submit as many pitches as you'd like, but be sure they're highly original.
-Be prepared to communicate your pitch in under 2 minutes. You will be allowed to read off your page.
-Top 20 semifinalists will be notified on October 23, 2015 in order to provide ample time to secure travel and lodging to the festival.
-Gain insider advice on how to pitch via Nvff Pitch Panel judge Scott Manville's "Reeltalk" column: Insider Advice on Creating & Pitching for TV and Film.
- 10/6/2015
- by Sydney Levine
- Sydney's Buzz
Seven producers from across Canada will be selected to participate in Whistler Film Festival’s new Power Pitch, a two-step boot camp and pitch competition to take place December 1-4 during the festival’s industry Summit. Power Pitch is an unprecedented opportunity for Canadian producers to pitch their projects to some of the world’s top motion pictures sales agents.
Pitching is one of the most coveted skills filmmakers must have to succeed in the film world. The skills are key and yet sometimes difficult to master. Power Pitch is designed to enable the selected filmmakers to master the art of the pitch and provide them with an opportunity to hone their skills to ultimately sell their projects.
On December 1 and 2, finalists will participate in the boot camp training and rehearsal sessions under the direction of industry veteran, pitch master, and SydneysBuzz's writer, Peter Belsito, who will direct them on the ins and outs of how to successfully pitch their project. Finalists will have one day to hone their pitches before the showdown begins.
On December 3, the finalists will have 10 minutes to pitch their feature film, before a live audience, to three senior executives from recognized international sales companies, who will provide feedback on the quality and marketability of the projects presented, and select the winning project. The winner will be announced on December 3 at the Whistler Summit’s networking reception, and will be awarded 30 minutes with each of the three industry experts on December 4, to receive invaluable project feedback and forge formidable relationships within the industry.
All producers will also be eligible for one-on-one meetings with industry experts attending Wff’s Summit on December 4 to determine if there is any interest in putting development money into the project on an exclusive option basis. Whether a project is chosen for further development or not, the feedback received on each chosen project will be invaluable.
“We hope that participants will find that professional market feedback on their projects will enhance their development process by providing invaluable information on what is selling today: the genres, the types of packages, the appropriate budget levels, etc.,” said Paul Gratton, Wff’s Director of Programming. “This reconnaissance from the front lines of the film marketplace should inform and facilitate their next stage of project development."
Six finalists plus one Wild Card participant from Wff’s Feature Project Lab will be chosen by a selection committee to participate. The application deadline is September 25, 2015, and the finalists will be announced by mid-October. Long-form narrative projects of all genres will be eligible. A full script, character outline, synopsis, and project summary, along with casting and budget aspirations will form part of the material submitted. Selected producers will receive an Industry Pass to attend the Whistler Film Festival + Summit as well as preferred accommodation and travel rates.
Pitching is one of the most coveted skills filmmakers must have to succeed in the film world. The skills are key and yet sometimes difficult to master. Power Pitch is designed to enable the selected filmmakers to master the art of the pitch and provide them with an opportunity to hone their skills to ultimately sell their projects.
On December 1 and 2, finalists will participate in the boot camp training and rehearsal sessions under the direction of industry veteran, pitch master, and SydneysBuzz's writer, Peter Belsito, who will direct them on the ins and outs of how to successfully pitch their project. Finalists will have one day to hone their pitches before the showdown begins.
On December 3, the finalists will have 10 minutes to pitch their feature film, before a live audience, to three senior executives from recognized international sales companies, who will provide feedback on the quality and marketability of the projects presented, and select the winning project. The winner will be announced on December 3 at the Whistler Summit’s networking reception, and will be awarded 30 minutes with each of the three industry experts on December 4, to receive invaluable project feedback and forge formidable relationships within the industry.
All producers will also be eligible for one-on-one meetings with industry experts attending Wff’s Summit on December 4 to determine if there is any interest in putting development money into the project on an exclusive option basis. Whether a project is chosen for further development or not, the feedback received on each chosen project will be invaluable.
“We hope that participants will find that professional market feedback on their projects will enhance their development process by providing invaluable information on what is selling today: the genres, the types of packages, the appropriate budget levels, etc.,” said Paul Gratton, Wff’s Director of Programming. “This reconnaissance from the front lines of the film marketplace should inform and facilitate their next stage of project development."
Six finalists plus one Wild Card participant from Wff’s Feature Project Lab will be chosen by a selection committee to participate. The application deadline is September 25, 2015, and the finalists will be announced by mid-October. Long-form narrative projects of all genres will be eligible. A full script, character outline, synopsis, and project summary, along with casting and budget aspirations will form part of the material submitted. Selected producers will receive an Industry Pass to attend the Whistler Film Festival + Summit as well as preferred accommodation and travel rates.
- 7/16/2015
- by Sydney Levine
- Sydney's Buzz
Independent film producer and CEO of Branded Pictures Entertainment J. Todd Harris ("The Kids Are All Right," "Bottle Shock") has been feeling an easterly pull back to his theatre roots over the past year. Having started in the theatre right out of college running the repertory company TheatreWorks in Palo Alto, the producer of nearly 40 films, is now producing the stage musical adaptation of Doctor Zhivago based on the Nobel Prize-winning Boris Pasternak’s novel, which also served as the basis for the 1965 Academy Award-winning David Lean film starring Omar Sharif and Julie Christie (and Rod Steiger, Geraldine Chaplin and Tom Courtenay). I had chance to catch up with this bi-coastal whirlwind last week after he returned from the show’s opening on Broadway.
Peter Belsito : Isn’t independent film hard enough? What got you interested in Broadway?
J. Todd Harris : (laughing). I didn’t think anything could be harder than independent films, but I was wrong. The fact is my wife Amy Powers is a co-lyricist on the show and has been working on it for over a decade after its first try-out at the La Jolla Playhouse in 2005. Four years ago, we moved to Australia for our way “out of town” run and I felt I could help raise a bit of money, so I was an associate producer. When word came in last year that it was going to Broadway, I told them I thought I could raise a million dollars and serve as one of the producers.
Pb : Did you raise your share? And how does it compare to raising money for a film?
Jth : I did, and then some, from about thirty individual investors. In that sense, it’s not unlike a lot of independent films that are financed with equity. It’s a different eco-system, but the concept is pretty similar. And, just like a lot of independent films, you don’t make money up front! It’s all about ownership, so you really hope the show breaks even soon. The authors – book, lyrics, composer – all get a royalty off the top. No nonsense like the movie business. This contributes to my love for my wife.
Pb : What is the show’s budget, if I may ask?
Jth : About 15M, it’s a Big Broadway show. There are well over one hundred investors and probably 30 credited producers. When A Gentleman’s Guide to Murder won the Tony Award last year, I thought the stage was going to collapse so many producers went up to collect the award. But, you know, it takes a village. Sometimes a small city. It’s okay to reward and acknowledge the backers of a show. It’s a huge risk and without these backers we’d be a poorer culture. They’re like modern day patrons. Why not give them a moment in the sun?
Pb : How did you get the rights to Doctor Zhivago? Such a big title!
Jth : I cannot take credit for that. Composer Lucy Simon (The Secret Garden) originally got the rights well over ten years ago and started working with a creative team, but before the La Jolla production the team changed and that’s when my wife was recruited to co-write the lyrics with Michael Korie ( Grey Gardens) and joined the team that included book writer Michael Weller (Loose Ends, screenplays for Hair and Ragtime ) and director Des McAnuff (Jersey Boys). Des was artistic director of La Jolla Playhouse at the time. And the show’s lead producer Anita Waxman was involved very early on providing the seed capital for La Jolla and then putting the financing together for Australia and now Broadway.
Pb : That’s a long gestation period, even compared to Hollywood, isn’t it?
Jth : It is one of the longer ones, but these things can literally take years as creative teams gel, script and music mesh, and planets align for talent, money and – not least importantly – a theatre. The strange alchemy that gets a Broadway show a greenlight isn’t all that different than the weird science of getting a big Hollywood movie off the ground.
Pb : Sounds like a lot of cooks in the kitchen.
Jth : There are, but from a producing angle, there’s usually a small group of lead producers who make the major financial decisions and every creative team finds its own rhythm. Writers and composers are accorded a lot more respect in theatre; that’s the major difference from movies.
Pb : Are you happy with how the show has come out?
Jth : Thrilled. Of course, it’s hard to claim crystal clear perspective when one is as emotionally invested in the show as I am in Doctor Zhivago, but I think the creative team has taken an epic story and distilled it to its emotional and political core. Lucy Simon has written melodies that will live forever in the musical theatre firmament. Des has done a masterful job of staging a huge and complex show. Ambition doesn’t begin to describe it. We got mixed reviews, but so did Phantom, Cats and Wicked. The final arbiter is audiences, and the dozen or so times I’ve seen the show at the Broadway Theatre, there have been copious cheers and tears.
Pb : You also did a show last year?
Jth : Yes, I was part of the producing team that developed and produced Heathers The Musical, based on the Daniel Waters script directed by Michael Lehmann back in 1988. It was a great experience working with a very tight creative and producing team. Andy Fickman directed a script, book and music by Kevin Murphy and Larry O’Keefe. It ran off Broadway for about 5 months and we hope we can adapt that to the screen and go back to Broadway.
Pb : Do you find a lot of talent crossing over from Hollywood to Broadway?
Jth : More and more, that is the case. Not just writers, directors and actors, but also material. Broadway is flooded with adaptations of movies – Aladdin is running strong, Honeymoon In Vegas recently closed, and last year Bridges of Madison County and Big Fish had nice runs on Broadways as musicals. I definitely have my eye on other fare to crossover from screen to stage.
Pb : Can you tell us what you’re working on?
Jth : Not yet, but some very recognizable titles that I think are ideal for the Great White Way.
Peter Belsito : Isn’t independent film hard enough? What got you interested in Broadway?
J. Todd Harris : (laughing). I didn’t think anything could be harder than independent films, but I was wrong. The fact is my wife Amy Powers is a co-lyricist on the show and has been working on it for over a decade after its first try-out at the La Jolla Playhouse in 2005. Four years ago, we moved to Australia for our way “out of town” run and I felt I could help raise a bit of money, so I was an associate producer. When word came in last year that it was going to Broadway, I told them I thought I could raise a million dollars and serve as one of the producers.
Pb : Did you raise your share? And how does it compare to raising money for a film?
Jth : I did, and then some, from about thirty individual investors. In that sense, it’s not unlike a lot of independent films that are financed with equity. It’s a different eco-system, but the concept is pretty similar. And, just like a lot of independent films, you don’t make money up front! It’s all about ownership, so you really hope the show breaks even soon. The authors – book, lyrics, composer – all get a royalty off the top. No nonsense like the movie business. This contributes to my love for my wife.
Pb : What is the show’s budget, if I may ask?
Jth : About 15M, it’s a Big Broadway show. There are well over one hundred investors and probably 30 credited producers. When A Gentleman’s Guide to Murder won the Tony Award last year, I thought the stage was going to collapse so many producers went up to collect the award. But, you know, it takes a village. Sometimes a small city. It’s okay to reward and acknowledge the backers of a show. It’s a huge risk and without these backers we’d be a poorer culture. They’re like modern day patrons. Why not give them a moment in the sun?
Pb : How did you get the rights to Doctor Zhivago? Such a big title!
Jth : I cannot take credit for that. Composer Lucy Simon (The Secret Garden) originally got the rights well over ten years ago and started working with a creative team, but before the La Jolla production the team changed and that’s when my wife was recruited to co-write the lyrics with Michael Korie ( Grey Gardens) and joined the team that included book writer Michael Weller (Loose Ends, screenplays for Hair and Ragtime ) and director Des McAnuff (Jersey Boys). Des was artistic director of La Jolla Playhouse at the time. And the show’s lead producer Anita Waxman was involved very early on providing the seed capital for La Jolla and then putting the financing together for Australia and now Broadway.
Pb : That’s a long gestation period, even compared to Hollywood, isn’t it?
Jth : It is one of the longer ones, but these things can literally take years as creative teams gel, script and music mesh, and planets align for talent, money and – not least importantly – a theatre. The strange alchemy that gets a Broadway show a greenlight isn’t all that different than the weird science of getting a big Hollywood movie off the ground.
Pb : Sounds like a lot of cooks in the kitchen.
Jth : There are, but from a producing angle, there’s usually a small group of lead producers who make the major financial decisions and every creative team finds its own rhythm. Writers and composers are accorded a lot more respect in theatre; that’s the major difference from movies.
Pb : Are you happy with how the show has come out?
Jth : Thrilled. Of course, it’s hard to claim crystal clear perspective when one is as emotionally invested in the show as I am in Doctor Zhivago, but I think the creative team has taken an epic story and distilled it to its emotional and political core. Lucy Simon has written melodies that will live forever in the musical theatre firmament. Des has done a masterful job of staging a huge and complex show. Ambition doesn’t begin to describe it. We got mixed reviews, but so did Phantom, Cats and Wicked. The final arbiter is audiences, and the dozen or so times I’ve seen the show at the Broadway Theatre, there have been copious cheers and tears.
Pb : You also did a show last year?
Jth : Yes, I was part of the producing team that developed and produced Heathers The Musical, based on the Daniel Waters script directed by Michael Lehmann back in 1988. It was a great experience working with a very tight creative and producing team. Andy Fickman directed a script, book and music by Kevin Murphy and Larry O’Keefe. It ran off Broadway for about 5 months and we hope we can adapt that to the screen and go back to Broadway.
Pb : Do you find a lot of talent crossing over from Hollywood to Broadway?
Jth : More and more, that is the case. Not just writers, directors and actors, but also material. Broadway is flooded with adaptations of movies – Aladdin is running strong, Honeymoon In Vegas recently closed, and last year Bridges of Madison County and Big Fish had nice runs on Broadways as musicals. I definitely have my eye on other fare to crossover from screen to stage.
Pb : Can you tell us what you’re working on?
Jth : Not yet, but some very recognizable titles that I think are ideal for the Great White Way.
- 4/26/2015
- by Peter Belsito
- Sydney's Buzz
Lawyer Herald's Jared Feldschreiber interviewed me. This is an interview I am proud of. Hope you like it too:
It may be easy to dismiss the film industry as a glitzy and glamor show of millionaires living on an island all to themselves. The international scope of the film business world, however, should not be so easily overlooked. There, one can find a kinetic industry with savvy and passionate wheelers-and-dealers who are very well-versed in areas like acquisition, distribution and producing.
Take for instance the annual American Film Market, which is held every November in Santa Monica. Over 8,000 industry leaders from over 70 countries converge to discuss the "art of the deal," providing the necessary business steps to get films financed and distributed. Those who attend Afm include executives, agents, attorneys, directors, distributors, festival directors, financiers and film commissioners.
Sydney Levine is a seasoned business professional of the screen trade. Carrying nearly 40 years of film business acumen, Ms. Levine has also shown a generosity of spirit, in that she routinely encourages filmmakers and national organizations to achieve their goals of financing, making and selling their films worldwide. She also continues to provide various services to distributors, international sales agents and festival programmers. She also leads seminars and workshops worldwide.
In 1975, Ms. Levine became the first woman to work with international film distribution which she did at 20th Century Fox International. She later became an Acquisitions Executive for Lorimar during the early days of the video industry, and later was Vice President of Acquisitions for Republic Pictures.
In 1988, Ms. Levine founded FilmFinders, the industry's premier database, which tracked worldwide films for acquisition executives. Twenty years later, FilmFinders and its sister company Withoutabox were acquired by International Movie Database (IMDb).
Ms. Levine continues to steadfastly work as an exemplar of film business. Her blog SydneysBuzz, featured on IndieWire, is "the perfect mesh of the film industry where festival, markets and data meet and merge."
Here, in an Exclusive Interview with Lawyer Herald by Jared Feldschreiber, Sydney Levine has provided her insights, which speak to the multifaceted dynamism of the film business world.
Lawyer Herald : Describe your ascent within film business, with particular emphasis of the acquisition, distribution, producing and the selling. What were your primary responsibilities in the beginning of your career?
Sydney Levine : After my early years in the film business in L.A., I was hired to acquire films - first shorts, then great international art-house features for Lorimar Home Video, the largest independent video company when video was at its height working with such theatrical distributors as Orion Pictures Classics (now Sony Pictures Classics). Responsibilities at Lorimar and later Republic Pictures included tracking all new films, screening those most likely to fit my company's profile, working within the company to create sales projections, negotiating within and with the outside rights owner, creating the deal memo, and then working with our company's attorney to be sure key points were included in the contract.
Lh: Fast forward twenty years when you created FilmFinders, the industry's premier database for acquisition executives. What did that venture entail?
Sl: When video reached its maturity - or rather hit a wall - I created the first database in the business which tracked every new film, info on story, director, writer, producer, cast and contacts, international rights availabilities for all 60 territories. Most international sales agents and distributors around the world subscribed to it and it kept my company thriving from 1988 to 2006 for 20 years until we merged with Withoutabox and sold the new entity to IMDb, an Amazon company.
Lh : What are the financial 'risks' associated with film distribution? Give the breakdown of 'all things considered' when turning a piece of art, such as film, into a viable financial product?
Sl : This is a lecture or a consulting question I answer all the time. When national economies have problems, which they invariably do, money that was seen as "normal" suddenly disappears. Film, when it is an art (sometimes it is purely entertainment), is still a "popular" art or a "commercial" art. It must be seen, people must pay for seeing it so that the rights owner can recoup the cost of the "product", make a profit, which gives the producer, director or the writer the reputation to continue to make more movies.
Lh : How does an aspiring film artist bridge the gap between his vision and the realities of commercialism?
Sl : The gap is between creativity and commerce. Distribution is commerce. "If it doesn't spread it's dead," to quote my favorite transmedia guru, Henry Jenkins. The artist must keep in mind the end user/ audience from the moment she or he conceives of the idea through completion and must find the middlemen/ women who understand the end-user mentality and so want to be a part of the commercial side of the movie.
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Lh: Give a breakdown to the legal ramifications of international film.
Sl : All I can say is that all rights - from music, synchronization, scripts, even a poster or piece of art in the film must have legal clearance Before the film is seen by the public.
Lh: What legal hurdles do you face constantly as a film distributor?
Sl: Collecting money.
Lh: Film icon Francis Coppola said in a 2009 interview that "in the early days... they didn't know how to make movies. They had an image and it moved and the audience loved it... The cinema language happened by experimentation by people not knowing what to do. But unfortunately, after 15-20 years, it became a commercial industry. People made money in the cinema, and then they began to say to the pioneers, 'Don't experiment. We want to make money. We don't want to take chances.'
In light of these remarks, what are the inherent differences and perhaps mistrust between a film's financier/ distributor and the film artist?
Sl: The business is an art in itself which outside business people cannot understand. It is very volatile when artists and business people mix. Coppola is full of it because true filmmakers are still artists today and they are still working at creating the world through moving pictures. The major studios are running another sort of "business" where their bottom line is rarely the film itself but all the accoutrements, ancillary merchandising, games, amusement parks, real estate business which uses a big vehicle called a Motion Picture as the locomotive to pull the rest. The studios are not in the business of making art, though occasionally a work of art does get made, but rarely. Art does not make enough money for them.
Lh : What kinds of things do you perform with buyers and sellers abroad?
Sl: I still work with buyers, sellers and more importantly the market during Cannes and Berlin, where I work with them on their database (Cinando, which I gave to Jerome Paillard, the director of the Cannes Marche, when he started that job) and I make sure buyers from North and South America and now Asia (except for China) are updating their acquisitions and qualifying for the markets in Cannes and Berlin.
Lh: How important is legal representation for those working in film business?
Sl: A producer, however experienced in deal making, should never undertake to negotiate a deal without a lawyer speaking for her or him, and every lawyer, no matter how experienced, needs to know the particular desires of his or her client in order to translate the wishes into legal terms.
Lh: What are you planning on doing leading up to the Oscars?
Sl: Go to the German pre-Oscar party at Villa Aurora in Pacific Palisades, going to Spirit Awards of Film Independent and the IFC after-party in Santa Monica California.
Lh: On the subject of the Oscars, what does it mean when people speak of its 'politics?' How does this cliche apply during awards season? What sort of cajoling, persuading or influence do studios or publicists have in shaping who will win?
Sl : Politics is the art of persuading people, manipulating the right one at the right time. It helps if you are "one of the guys" of course, but that is not the point of politics. Knowing what critics to approach before the Academy Awards for instance, is an issue because it feeds into the perception of the Academy members when they look at films.
Some like particular kinds of films and even particular critics, and others do not like those, so you need to know which publicist to choose, and the publicist must know which critics to invite to which screenings and why that is the case, which of course, depends on which films one is handling.
Lh: Can the voting be deduced into a kind of 'cronyism,' to borrow another term in politics?
Sl: Knowing what sort of "inducements" are legal, knowing what Academy members to invite (when in theory you don't have any real list of members), this is politics. Lots of stuff called politics goes into an Academy Awards' campaign and it is not "cronyism" which wins. Sometimes people think politics is cronyism and it is to a degree, but there are lots of members of the Academy. Some vote early on, some vote later. (To readers, this interview was done before the Oscars. Looking back at the Oscars, I wonder if The Wolf Of Wall Street was shut out because the company behind it - Red Granite - was such an outsider. But that does not answer why American Hustle also failed to reap any recognition.)
Lh: What are you working on right now and where are you?
Sl: I am writing a book with the backing of El Patronato de Guadalajara on Iberoamerican Film Financing. I am teaching International Film Marketing, Sales and Distribution at Woodbury University in Burbank, California. I am also blogging for IndieWire and ImdbPro, working with the Cannes and European Film Markets. I am currently in Berlin. My partner, Peter Belsito is consulting with film producers, festivals and countries on strategies for entering the market.
Lh: What adjectives (or expletives) would you use to describe the marriage of film and business?
Sl: Volatile, risky, sometimes impossible, sometimes very difficult.
*This interview was originally published in LawyerHerald.com...
It may be easy to dismiss the film industry as a glitzy and glamor show of millionaires living on an island all to themselves. The international scope of the film business world, however, should not be so easily overlooked. There, one can find a kinetic industry with savvy and passionate wheelers-and-dealers who are very well-versed in areas like acquisition, distribution and producing.
Take for instance the annual American Film Market, which is held every November in Santa Monica. Over 8,000 industry leaders from over 70 countries converge to discuss the "art of the deal," providing the necessary business steps to get films financed and distributed. Those who attend Afm include executives, agents, attorneys, directors, distributors, festival directors, financiers and film commissioners.
Sydney Levine is a seasoned business professional of the screen trade. Carrying nearly 40 years of film business acumen, Ms. Levine has also shown a generosity of spirit, in that she routinely encourages filmmakers and national organizations to achieve their goals of financing, making and selling their films worldwide. She also continues to provide various services to distributors, international sales agents and festival programmers. She also leads seminars and workshops worldwide.
In 1975, Ms. Levine became the first woman to work with international film distribution which she did at 20th Century Fox International. She later became an Acquisitions Executive for Lorimar during the early days of the video industry, and later was Vice President of Acquisitions for Republic Pictures.
In 1988, Ms. Levine founded FilmFinders, the industry's premier database, which tracked worldwide films for acquisition executives. Twenty years later, FilmFinders and its sister company Withoutabox were acquired by International Movie Database (IMDb).
Ms. Levine continues to steadfastly work as an exemplar of film business. Her blog SydneysBuzz, featured on IndieWire, is "the perfect mesh of the film industry where festival, markets and data meet and merge."
Here, in an Exclusive Interview with Lawyer Herald by Jared Feldschreiber, Sydney Levine has provided her insights, which speak to the multifaceted dynamism of the film business world.
Lawyer Herald : Describe your ascent within film business, with particular emphasis of the acquisition, distribution, producing and the selling. What were your primary responsibilities in the beginning of your career?
Sydney Levine : After my early years in the film business in L.A., I was hired to acquire films - first shorts, then great international art-house features for Lorimar Home Video, the largest independent video company when video was at its height working with such theatrical distributors as Orion Pictures Classics (now Sony Pictures Classics). Responsibilities at Lorimar and later Republic Pictures included tracking all new films, screening those most likely to fit my company's profile, working within the company to create sales projections, negotiating within and with the outside rights owner, creating the deal memo, and then working with our company's attorney to be sure key points were included in the contract.
Lh: Fast forward twenty years when you created FilmFinders, the industry's premier database for acquisition executives. What did that venture entail?
Sl: When video reached its maturity - or rather hit a wall - I created the first database in the business which tracked every new film, info on story, director, writer, producer, cast and contacts, international rights availabilities for all 60 territories. Most international sales agents and distributors around the world subscribed to it and it kept my company thriving from 1988 to 2006 for 20 years until we merged with Withoutabox and sold the new entity to IMDb, an Amazon company.
Lh : What are the financial 'risks' associated with film distribution? Give the breakdown of 'all things considered' when turning a piece of art, such as film, into a viable financial product?
Sl : This is a lecture or a consulting question I answer all the time. When national economies have problems, which they invariably do, money that was seen as "normal" suddenly disappears. Film, when it is an art (sometimes it is purely entertainment), is still a "popular" art or a "commercial" art. It must be seen, people must pay for seeing it so that the rights owner can recoup the cost of the "product", make a profit, which gives the producer, director or the writer the reputation to continue to make more movies.
Lh : How does an aspiring film artist bridge the gap between his vision and the realities of commercialism?
Sl : The gap is between creativity and commerce. Distribution is commerce. "If it doesn't spread it's dead," to quote my favorite transmedia guru, Henry Jenkins. The artist must keep in mind the end user/ audience from the moment she or he conceives of the idea through completion and must find the middlemen/ women who understand the end-user mentality and so want to be a part of the commercial side of the movie.
:
Lh: Give a breakdown to the legal ramifications of international film.
Sl : All I can say is that all rights - from music, synchronization, scripts, even a poster or piece of art in the film must have legal clearance Before the film is seen by the public.
Lh: What legal hurdles do you face constantly as a film distributor?
Sl: Collecting money.
Lh: Film icon Francis Coppola said in a 2009 interview that "in the early days... they didn't know how to make movies. They had an image and it moved and the audience loved it... The cinema language happened by experimentation by people not knowing what to do. But unfortunately, after 15-20 years, it became a commercial industry. People made money in the cinema, and then they began to say to the pioneers, 'Don't experiment. We want to make money. We don't want to take chances.'
In light of these remarks, what are the inherent differences and perhaps mistrust between a film's financier/ distributor and the film artist?
Sl: The business is an art in itself which outside business people cannot understand. It is very volatile when artists and business people mix. Coppola is full of it because true filmmakers are still artists today and they are still working at creating the world through moving pictures. The major studios are running another sort of "business" where their bottom line is rarely the film itself but all the accoutrements, ancillary merchandising, games, amusement parks, real estate business which uses a big vehicle called a Motion Picture as the locomotive to pull the rest. The studios are not in the business of making art, though occasionally a work of art does get made, but rarely. Art does not make enough money for them.
Lh : What kinds of things do you perform with buyers and sellers abroad?
Sl: I still work with buyers, sellers and more importantly the market during Cannes and Berlin, where I work with them on their database (Cinando, which I gave to Jerome Paillard, the director of the Cannes Marche, when he started that job) and I make sure buyers from North and South America and now Asia (except for China) are updating their acquisitions and qualifying for the markets in Cannes and Berlin.
Lh: How important is legal representation for those working in film business?
Sl: A producer, however experienced in deal making, should never undertake to negotiate a deal without a lawyer speaking for her or him, and every lawyer, no matter how experienced, needs to know the particular desires of his or her client in order to translate the wishes into legal terms.
Lh: What are you planning on doing leading up to the Oscars?
Sl: Go to the German pre-Oscar party at Villa Aurora in Pacific Palisades, going to Spirit Awards of Film Independent and the IFC after-party in Santa Monica California.
Lh: On the subject of the Oscars, what does it mean when people speak of its 'politics?' How does this cliche apply during awards season? What sort of cajoling, persuading or influence do studios or publicists have in shaping who will win?
Sl : Politics is the art of persuading people, manipulating the right one at the right time. It helps if you are "one of the guys" of course, but that is not the point of politics. Knowing what critics to approach before the Academy Awards for instance, is an issue because it feeds into the perception of the Academy members when they look at films.
Some like particular kinds of films and even particular critics, and others do not like those, so you need to know which publicist to choose, and the publicist must know which critics to invite to which screenings and why that is the case, which of course, depends on which films one is handling.
Lh: Can the voting be deduced into a kind of 'cronyism,' to borrow another term in politics?
Sl: Knowing what sort of "inducements" are legal, knowing what Academy members to invite (when in theory you don't have any real list of members), this is politics. Lots of stuff called politics goes into an Academy Awards' campaign and it is not "cronyism" which wins. Sometimes people think politics is cronyism and it is to a degree, but there are lots of members of the Academy. Some vote early on, some vote later. (To readers, this interview was done before the Oscars. Looking back at the Oscars, I wonder if The Wolf Of Wall Street was shut out because the company behind it - Red Granite - was such an outsider. But that does not answer why American Hustle also failed to reap any recognition.)
Lh: What are you working on right now and where are you?
Sl: I am writing a book with the backing of El Patronato de Guadalajara on Iberoamerican Film Financing. I am teaching International Film Marketing, Sales and Distribution at Woodbury University in Burbank, California. I am also blogging for IndieWire and ImdbPro, working with the Cannes and European Film Markets. I am currently in Berlin. My partner, Peter Belsito is consulting with film producers, festivals and countries on strategies for entering the market.
Lh: What adjectives (or expletives) would you use to describe the marriage of film and business?
Sl: Volatile, risky, sometimes impossible, sometimes very difficult.
*This interview was originally published in LawyerHerald.com...
- 3/4/2014
- by Jared Feldschreiber
- Sydney's Buzz
Go to our website SydneysBuzz.com for International Film Distribution Rights Updates and Market Activity Reports and Special Reports detailing worldwide and U.S. sales and acquisitions before, at and after Berlin, one of the world’s most important film market where deals totaling hundreds of millions Us$ were made last year !!
SydneysBuzz.com will keep you up on the action: sales updates, new companies and players, blogs from IndieWire on the business happenings, videos, photos daily on special events. Film producers, buyers, sellers and festival programmers have continually asked for our unique business reports to be published in current formats for the world film business as it is today. Once again we are offering rights reports originally created by FilmFinders in 1988 (the first professionally useful database for the international independent film industry founded by Sydney Levine and Peter Belsito). Covering the international business of buying and selling films, exhibition, and festivals, FilmFinders was sold in 2008 to IMDb.
Contact us now or in Berlin! We’re there February 2-16!
Sydney Levine Peter Belsito
Sydney@SydneysBuzz.com PeterLBelsito@gmail.com
Sydney +49 1520 380 5535 Peter - +49 1520 358 9615
www.SydneysBuzz.com...
SydneysBuzz.com will keep you up on the action: sales updates, new companies and players, blogs from IndieWire on the business happenings, videos, photos daily on special events. Film producers, buyers, sellers and festival programmers have continually asked for our unique business reports to be published in current formats for the world film business as it is today. Once again we are offering rights reports originally created by FilmFinders in 1988 (the first professionally useful database for the international independent film industry founded by Sydney Levine and Peter Belsito). Covering the international business of buying and selling films, exhibition, and festivals, FilmFinders was sold in 2008 to IMDb.
Contact us now or in Berlin! We’re there February 2-16!
Sydney Levine Peter Belsito
Sydney@SydneysBuzz.com PeterLBelsito@gmail.com
Sydney +49 1520 380 5535 Peter - +49 1520 358 9615
www.SydneysBuzz.com...
- 2/1/2014
- by Sydney Levine
- Sydney's Buzz
You’ve written the screenplay, raised the money, shot and edited your film, and your movie is finally ‘in the can.’ Congratulations! But now what? It’s time to get your film seen and distributed. Whether you live in New England or anywhere else on the globe, you must navigate your next steps wisely.
This month I speak to Sydney Levine, president of SydneysBuzz -- whose tagline for her company -- “Pulling Back the Curtain on the International Film Industry” -- precisely does just that. Levine focuses on international film industry developments and analysis of the international film market related to buyers, sales agents, filmmakers, film festivals and distribution. Traveling extensively on the international film market circuit, Levine is a hired panel moderator, educator, consultant for filmmakers, the Cannes Film Market, the Berlinale’s European Film Market and Talent Campus, Deutsche Welle Akademie and others. Her company covers events, panels, buying, selling and educational initiatives at Toronto, Sundance, Berlin and Cannes, regularly reporting on who is buying, who is selling, which films stand out, and how the films were created.
Prior to establishing FilmFinders, she helped start the profitable video rental division of Republic Pictures as Vice President of Acquisitions and Development after having spent three years acquiring such feature films for Lorimar as My Beautiful Laundrette, Letter to Brezhnev, Tampopo, and Sugar Baby as part of a wide variety of international artistic and commercial genres. Levine has worked in international distribution for Twentieth Century Fox in Amsterdam, in Ross Perot’s start up video company Inovision, in marketing for ABC Video Enterprises, at Public Media Inc. the social issue documentary division of Films Inc. and Pyramid Films, the award-winning short film distribution company in Santa Monica, California. During her tenure at all these companies she acquired features and documentaries for international and domestic distribution.
Susan Kouguell: You and your partner, Peter Belsito, are known throughout the international film festival circuit for having the finger on the pulse of independent filmmaking for over twenty-five years. The independent film movement has certainly changed dramatically from the early celluloid days -- American Playhouse, the onset of the Sundance Film Festival, Harvey Weinstein at the ‘original’ Miramax Films -- to digital filmmaking and the increase of ancillary markets and venues, to Harvey Weinstein at The Weinstein Company. One thing that hasn’t changed is the quest for filmmakers to get their work seen and distributed. For filmmakers not living in New York City or Los Angeles, their quest can be even more challenging. What tips can you offer to assist filmmakers on their quest for getting their work seen and noticed?
Sydney Levine: Actually you can make that 38 years. When I started at 20th Century Fox International in ’75, I was the first and only woman in international film distribution except for one Dutch woman living in Germany whose company, Cine International, sold independent German films to distributors around the world but whose films never entered the United States. Theatrical and television were the only platforms in those days.
In this day of digital technology, a filmmaker can reach every corner of the world. That means the filmmaker must create a Persona with a personal digital platform which serves as an integral part of mapping out a curriculum vitae. The films are one part of who the Persona is, and the created website and blog must offer more than just the film in order to create the Persona one presents to the world. Secondly, the target audience for one’s films and for one’s other interests must be located and addressed by the Persona on the many levels of their interests. A film cannot stand alone and be noticed. It must be part of a larger picture, whether personal or affiliated with a larger brand.
Sk: What are the current trends in promoting short and feature films at festivals and markets that you find successful and not so successful?
Sl: Festivals have their own websites and use YouTube channels. The brand your film can distinguish itself by might be a festival, such as Sundance or Tribeca (or many others), which have their own platforms to promote and show films, or Cannes whose platform (called Cinando.com) shows the films of the festival and market as well as films of Sundance, Afm (American Film Market), Ventana Sur (the Argentinean market for Latino films), Busan,San Sebastian, Toronto, Deauville and Karlovy Vary film festivals. Cinando is known to the trade (and is only open to the trade) but still has not caught on as broadly as it is intended. Sundance has experimented with showing its shorts on YouTube where it has a channel, as does Tribeca. Tribeca on Demand is also a distribution platform for features which it takes on for distribution. Other festivals also use YouTube to showcase films or trailers…Karlovy Vary, Cinequest, Locarno has The Pardo Channel on You Tube. Some act as distributors and some are only promoting. Again finding these may be an issue -- or not -- depending on their purpose and how they market.
Definitely social networking is an important way to promote films. Subscription newsletters using mail chimp might work over a long trajectory.
Sk: What are the pros and cons of posting a film on platforms such as Vimeo and YouTube before it gets accepted into a film festival or has distribution?
Sl: On the pro side, it can build up a following which might persuade the distribution company to get on board. I think that if an entire film is posted before a film festival, it will destroy its chances to get in the premiere festivals which insist on premieres and it might degrade the pristine discovery element for any other festivals. Other arguments against showing the entire film, is that if it is free, no one will ever need to pay for it again. The purpose of a film is to be seen, but the purpose of the filmmaker should be to have a commercial success which speaks to the business world of distribution about the ability of the film and filmmaker to make money to repay investors and bring financial gain to the distributor. Film is, after all, a commercial art not a “fine art” which also, in fact, must show some financial gain in the end. Film is public and you must have a public that pays.
Sk: Navigating film festivals and film markets can be overwhelming for those trying to get attention for their projects. What tips do you recommend for filmmakers to make the most of their time there?
Sl: Be sure to choose the first festival as the one with the trade attending and looking to acquire films like yours. Be sure not to disqualify the film because you have it already shown it elsewhere. You can use your film as a passport to travel the world or you can use your film to promote your career in the international or in the domestic market. Be conscious of what your end goal is and then create a smart strategy to reach your objective.
Before you arrive, have a one-sheet or postcard with relevant information on you and the film. Know who from the trade is attending and write to them in a way to persuade them to see your film. Make appointments with them to discuss your film after the screening. When you are there, carry your cards and your promotion. Have a 30-second pitch and a longer pitch ready to deliver in the appropriate moments. Be aware of who you are speaking to and speak to them about them, before pitching your own agenda. Attend workshops if there are any.
Sk: Getting an offer from a film distributor to distribute a filmmaker’s project is exciting and a possible foot-in-the door to success. However, filmmakers need to proceed with caution. What should filmmakers look for before they sign on the dotted line?
Sl: First they need to have an experienced entertainment attorney review the contract carefully with them. Actually that is not the first step. The first step is saying how interesting and exciting the offer is and before saying yes, ask for the contract to review with your attorney. Filmmakers also should know how distributors and sales agents work a film so they can ask the right questions about how they will market the film.
Sk: What advice do you have for aspiring filmmakers?
Sl: Read books on the subject, take courses on the film business, attend seminars, join Ifp or Film Independent or San Francisco Film Society and network, stay abreast of new technology. Read at least one trade every day, preferably one that covers the international as well as the U.S. film business. Get to know who is who, and what role they play in the film business, so that when you meet them, you will be able to hold an intelligent conversation with them about what they do. Learn to pitch your film and yourself.
Sk: Anything you would like to add?
Sl: Proceed with passion and with caution. Take good care of yourself and recognize there is another life beyond film. Exercise, meditate, socialize, don’t take too many drugs or drink too much. In the film business it always seems like success is just around the corner. If you are lucky and meet it, your next film will be just as difficult as the first. If you go around too many corners without getting anywhere, give it up and try something new. If you succeed, don’t believe you have it made; don’t believe you are your Persona. Realize you have a human life with human needs and don’t ignore that blessing.
To learn more about Sydney Levine, SydneysBuzz, their consulting services and more, visit:
http://www.sydneysbuzz.com.
This month I speak to Sydney Levine, president of SydneysBuzz -- whose tagline for her company -- “Pulling Back the Curtain on the International Film Industry” -- precisely does just that. Levine focuses on international film industry developments and analysis of the international film market related to buyers, sales agents, filmmakers, film festivals and distribution. Traveling extensively on the international film market circuit, Levine is a hired panel moderator, educator, consultant for filmmakers, the Cannes Film Market, the Berlinale’s European Film Market and Talent Campus, Deutsche Welle Akademie and others. Her company covers events, panels, buying, selling and educational initiatives at Toronto, Sundance, Berlin and Cannes, regularly reporting on who is buying, who is selling, which films stand out, and how the films were created.
Prior to establishing FilmFinders, she helped start the profitable video rental division of Republic Pictures as Vice President of Acquisitions and Development after having spent three years acquiring such feature films for Lorimar as My Beautiful Laundrette, Letter to Brezhnev, Tampopo, and Sugar Baby as part of a wide variety of international artistic and commercial genres. Levine has worked in international distribution for Twentieth Century Fox in Amsterdam, in Ross Perot’s start up video company Inovision, in marketing for ABC Video Enterprises, at Public Media Inc. the social issue documentary division of Films Inc. and Pyramid Films, the award-winning short film distribution company in Santa Monica, California. During her tenure at all these companies she acquired features and documentaries for international and domestic distribution.
Susan Kouguell: You and your partner, Peter Belsito, are known throughout the international film festival circuit for having the finger on the pulse of independent filmmaking for over twenty-five years. The independent film movement has certainly changed dramatically from the early celluloid days -- American Playhouse, the onset of the Sundance Film Festival, Harvey Weinstein at the ‘original’ Miramax Films -- to digital filmmaking and the increase of ancillary markets and venues, to Harvey Weinstein at The Weinstein Company. One thing that hasn’t changed is the quest for filmmakers to get their work seen and distributed. For filmmakers not living in New York City or Los Angeles, their quest can be even more challenging. What tips can you offer to assist filmmakers on their quest for getting their work seen and noticed?
Sydney Levine: Actually you can make that 38 years. When I started at 20th Century Fox International in ’75, I was the first and only woman in international film distribution except for one Dutch woman living in Germany whose company, Cine International, sold independent German films to distributors around the world but whose films never entered the United States. Theatrical and television were the only platforms in those days.
In this day of digital technology, a filmmaker can reach every corner of the world. That means the filmmaker must create a Persona with a personal digital platform which serves as an integral part of mapping out a curriculum vitae. The films are one part of who the Persona is, and the created website and blog must offer more than just the film in order to create the Persona one presents to the world. Secondly, the target audience for one’s films and for one’s other interests must be located and addressed by the Persona on the many levels of their interests. A film cannot stand alone and be noticed. It must be part of a larger picture, whether personal or affiliated with a larger brand.
Sk: What are the current trends in promoting short and feature films at festivals and markets that you find successful and not so successful?
Sl: Festivals have their own websites and use YouTube channels. The brand your film can distinguish itself by might be a festival, such as Sundance or Tribeca (or many others), which have their own platforms to promote and show films, or Cannes whose platform (called Cinando.com) shows the films of the festival and market as well as films of Sundance, Afm (American Film Market), Ventana Sur (the Argentinean market for Latino films), Busan,San Sebastian, Toronto, Deauville and Karlovy Vary film festivals. Cinando is known to the trade (and is only open to the trade) but still has not caught on as broadly as it is intended. Sundance has experimented with showing its shorts on YouTube where it has a channel, as does Tribeca. Tribeca on Demand is also a distribution platform for features which it takes on for distribution. Other festivals also use YouTube to showcase films or trailers…Karlovy Vary, Cinequest, Locarno has The Pardo Channel on You Tube. Some act as distributors and some are only promoting. Again finding these may be an issue -- or not -- depending on their purpose and how they market.
Definitely social networking is an important way to promote films. Subscription newsletters using mail chimp might work over a long trajectory.
Sk: What are the pros and cons of posting a film on platforms such as Vimeo and YouTube before it gets accepted into a film festival or has distribution?
Sl: On the pro side, it can build up a following which might persuade the distribution company to get on board. I think that if an entire film is posted before a film festival, it will destroy its chances to get in the premiere festivals which insist on premieres and it might degrade the pristine discovery element for any other festivals. Other arguments against showing the entire film, is that if it is free, no one will ever need to pay for it again. The purpose of a film is to be seen, but the purpose of the filmmaker should be to have a commercial success which speaks to the business world of distribution about the ability of the film and filmmaker to make money to repay investors and bring financial gain to the distributor. Film is, after all, a commercial art not a “fine art” which also, in fact, must show some financial gain in the end. Film is public and you must have a public that pays.
Sk: Navigating film festivals and film markets can be overwhelming for those trying to get attention for their projects. What tips do you recommend for filmmakers to make the most of their time there?
Sl: Be sure to choose the first festival as the one with the trade attending and looking to acquire films like yours. Be sure not to disqualify the film because you have it already shown it elsewhere. You can use your film as a passport to travel the world or you can use your film to promote your career in the international or in the domestic market. Be conscious of what your end goal is and then create a smart strategy to reach your objective.
Before you arrive, have a one-sheet or postcard with relevant information on you and the film. Know who from the trade is attending and write to them in a way to persuade them to see your film. Make appointments with them to discuss your film after the screening. When you are there, carry your cards and your promotion. Have a 30-second pitch and a longer pitch ready to deliver in the appropriate moments. Be aware of who you are speaking to and speak to them about them, before pitching your own agenda. Attend workshops if there are any.
Sk: Getting an offer from a film distributor to distribute a filmmaker’s project is exciting and a possible foot-in-the door to success. However, filmmakers need to proceed with caution. What should filmmakers look for before they sign on the dotted line?
Sl: First they need to have an experienced entertainment attorney review the contract carefully with them. Actually that is not the first step. The first step is saying how interesting and exciting the offer is and before saying yes, ask for the contract to review with your attorney. Filmmakers also should know how distributors and sales agents work a film so they can ask the right questions about how they will market the film.
Sk: What advice do you have for aspiring filmmakers?
Sl: Read books on the subject, take courses on the film business, attend seminars, join Ifp or Film Independent or San Francisco Film Society and network, stay abreast of new technology. Read at least one trade every day, preferably one that covers the international as well as the U.S. film business. Get to know who is who, and what role they play in the film business, so that when you meet them, you will be able to hold an intelligent conversation with them about what they do. Learn to pitch your film and yourself.
Sk: Anything you would like to add?
Sl: Proceed with passion and with caution. Take good care of yourself and recognize there is another life beyond film. Exercise, meditate, socialize, don’t take too many drugs or drink too much. In the film business it always seems like success is just around the corner. If you are lucky and meet it, your next film will be just as difficult as the first. If you go around too many corners without getting anywhere, give it up and try something new. If you succeed, don’t believe you have it made; don’t believe you are your Persona. Realize you have a human life with human needs and don’t ignore that blessing.
To learn more about Sydney Levine, SydneysBuzz, their consulting services and more, visit:
http://www.sydneysbuzz.com.
- 12/5/2013
- by Susan Kouguell
- Sydney's Buzz
Late as usual. People are attending Mipcom in Cannes and in November Afm in Santa Monica, and I’m only now getting around to writing about my own private Toronto. I chose films I would not be able to see soon in a theater near me and I chose films because my schedule permitted me to see them. Occasionally I chose films my friends were going to and that happened when my time was not demanding other things be done.
I wish I could have seen 100 other films too but for some reason or another I could not fit them in.
I moderated a wonderful panel (and we did blog on that!) on international film financing with Sffs’ Ted Hope, UTA’s Rena Ronson, Revolution’s Andrew Eaton, and Hollywood-based Cross Creek’s Brian Oliver, and Paul Miller, Head of Film Financing, from the Doha Film Institute, Qatar's first international organization dedicated to film financing, production, education and two film festivals.
I also spoke with Toronto Talent Lab filmmakers and then I filled my days with films – I did get an interview with Gloria’s director Sebastian Lelio and Berlin Best Actress winner Paulina Garcia and with Marcela Said, director of The Summer of Flying Fish but mostly I watched film after film after film – up to five a day, just like in the old days when I had to do it for my acquisitions jobs. This was pure pleasure. Friends would meet before the film, we would watch and disperse. And we would meet again at the cocktail hour or the dinner hour and then disperse again.
My partner Peter had lots of meetings with the Talent of Toronto from the Not Short on Shorts and the Talent Lab Mentoring Programs.
Parties like the Rotterdam-Screen International party gave us the chance to catch up with our Dutch friends whom we have not seen for the last two years. Ontario Media Development Corporation’s presenting the International Financing Forum luncheon gave us the chance to talk to lots of upcoming filmmakers and old friends again who were mentoring them. The panel Forty Years On: Women’s Film Festivals Today, moderated by Kay Armatage, former Tiff programmer, Professor Emeritus University of Toronto, and featuring Debra Zimmerman, Executive Director of Women Make Movies, NYC, Melissa Silverstein, Do-Fojnder an dArtistic Director of the Athena Film Festival in NYC and blogger of Women in Hollywood, So-In Hong, Director of Programming of the International Women’s Film Festival in Seoul had a rapport and didn’t hesitate to challenge each other. It felt like a party even though the subject was quite serious. The SXSW party was crowded as always, filled with everyone we could possibly know. It is always a great party we all want to attend.
One of the great dinners was that of The Creative Coalition Spotlight Awards Dinner honoring Alfre Woodard (12 Years a Slave), Hill Harper (1982, CSI: NY), Sharon Leal (1982), Matt Letscher (Scandal, The Carrie Diaries), Brenton Thwaites (Oculus, Maleficient), Tommy Oliver (1982, Kinyarwanda – I am a great fan of Tommy’s!), Tom Ortenberg (CEO, Open Road Films which has a coventure with Regal Theaters and AMC Theaters recently acquired by the richest man in China), and David Arquette (The Scream series). Our hostess, Robin Bronk is so welcoming and so dedicated to furthering the cause of universal education as a human right, education in the arts as a must. I admire her presence and her good work.
Here is a list of the great (and not so great, but never bad) films I got to see. I also list those I continue to hear about even now. I do not list all the films which were picked up during the festival and later. For that, you can go to SydneysBuzz.com and buy the Fall Rights Roundup 2013 and see all films whose rights were acquired (and announced) and by whom with links to all companies and Cinando for further research. For buyers it will, by deduction, show what is still available for Afm and for programmers, it will show who is in charge of the film for specific territories. The second edition will be issued two weeks after Afm.
One of the first films I saw and still retaining its place as one of my favorites was the documentary Finding Vivian Maier which begins with the discovery of photographs by an unknown woman named Vivian Maier by filmmaker John Maloof. As the mystery of this woman is uncovered, the audience is treated to her stunning work and the story of who she was.
One of my favorite films was by one of my favorite directors, Lucas Moodyson. We Are The Best (Isa: Trust Nordisk) was a great surprise, the story of three teeny-bopper punk-influenced girls who loved getting into unusual situations. It was loving and fun, darling and funny. I would take my children to see it and would delight in seeing it again. It was the biggest surprise for me. I can see why Magnolia snapped it up for the U.S. I thank programmer Steve Gravenstock for giving me the ticket for this film which I would have missed otherwise.
I had missed Jodorowsky’s Dune in Cannes. I am a great fan of El Topo and was eager to see this film. I was surprised at the elegance and skill of Jodorowsky in explaining his vision. Afterward, Gary Springer, our favorite publicist, arranged a wonderful reception at a classic comic book store where we loaded up on some fascinating graphic novels and Gary showed us his depiction on an old issue of Mad Magazine discussing the making of Jaws which he was in. picture here.
A totally unique and unexpected film about the African Diaspora, Belle, written and directed by Amma Asante was not talked about much to my surprise, perhaps because Fox Searchlight acquired all rights worldwide from Bankside before the festival. It is a stunningly beautiful British period piece of the 18th century about a mixed race aristocratic beauty.
My favorite film, on a par with The Patience Stone last year was Bobo (Isa: Wide) by Ines Oliveira starring Paula Garcia Aissato Indjai, produced by my friend Fernando Vendrell who gave me a ticket when I could not get one myself. This story of a woman who does nothing except go to work is forced to accept a claning woman and her young sister from Guinea-Bissau. Together they face down their demons. I love the cross-cultural understanding which results in their shared situations. I recently saw Mother of George and found the same warm connection across great cultural divides, though this one was of generations.
I wish I could have seen Pays Barbare/ Barbaric Land, the Italian/ French doc in Wavelengths about Mussolini’s attempted subjugation of Ethiopia (the only country in Africa never colonized). It sounds like great political poetry.
1982 which had previously won the prize of the jury I served on for Us Works in Progress held in July at the Champs Elysees Film Festival in Paris. It was deeply moving and disturbing film which depicts the shattering and the healing of a family. It also helps feed the pipeline begun with Lee Daniels producing Monster’s Ball who went on to direct to such films as Precious and The Butler. If the African American experience can continue to be expressed so eloquently by such filmmakers as Tommy Oliver, Rashaad Ernesto Green (Sundance 2012’s Gun Hill Road), Ava DuVernay (Middle of Nowhere), then a film literate audience will foster greater growth of even more talent in the coming generation. While I didn’t see All Is By My Side by U.K.’s John Ridley which is about Jimi Hendrix nor (yet!) the most highly acclaimed film of the festival, 12 Years a Slave by U.K.’s Steve McQueen, but I would include them in this discussion of the African American Experience.
On the subject of Africa, where last Sundance God Loves Uganda shocked and upset me, this year Mission Congo (Cinephil) revealed much of the same cultural divide only these two films show the negative impact of the Christian right upon already besieged Africans. What is done in the name of a righteous G-d is cause for dialogue and oversight.
Israel and the Middle East
No major turmoil or denunciations this year (Thank G-d, Allah, or whoever She may be). Katriel Schory, head of the Israeli Film Fund told me that if I could only see one film, then it should be Bethlehem which is the country’s submission for Academy Award Consideration for the Nomination for Best Foreign Language Film. It was a sad and clear eyed microcosmic view of the issues of trust and betrayals played out among every level of the society. People compared it to Omar by Hany Abu-Assad,the filmmaker of a favorite of mine, Paradise Now, but I did not see Omar.
Rags and Tatters at first seemed like a documentary, and does have doc footage, but it is a circular story that ends where it began but with much more understanding of the chaotic events in Cairo. Really worth watching.
Latino
Of the Latino films two Chilean films, Gloria (Chile) and The Summer of Flying Fish (Review), were accompanied by interviews which you can read on my previous blogs here and here. El Mudo from Peru by the Vega brothers was in the odd vien of their previous film, October. Not sure at the end just what the film was saying…
Toronto Film Fest Programmer Diana Sanchez’s official count of Latino films in the festival is 16. Of these, 5 are by women; 30% is a strong number. Venezuela and Chile are strong with year with two films each. Two other films might have been chosen except they went to San Sebastian for their world premieres. Especially hot this year was Mexico. 4 films are here but she might have chosen 10 if she could have. Costa Rica is making a showing with All About the Feathers and Central America is making more movies. There is lots of industry buzz coming from the good pictures from Brazil like A Wolf at the Door from Sao Paolo production
She is not counting Gravity by Alfonso Cuaron as as Latino film but as a U.S. film.
And Our White Society
The Dinner (Isa: Media Luna) by Menno Meyjes ♀ (Isa: Media Luna), a Dutch film deals with the personal and political as two families disintegrate when the affluent sons kill a homeless woman. Deeply disturbing social issues on the other side of the spectrum from those of 1982 and yet very much the same. How a society can foster such dissonance in class structure today which results in the disintegration of family and even a nation’s political life is, as I said, deeply disturbing. Based on the N.Y. Times best selling book which sold over 650,000 in The Netherlands, and is published in 22 countries, it stars four of Holland’s most renowned actors, Jacob Derwig, Thekla Reuten, Daan Schuurmans, and Kim van Kooten. This is a story that could be remade in America and still maintain its strength. The writer-director Menno Meyjes wrote the Academy Award nominee The Color Purple and collaborated with director Steven Speilberg on Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. In 2008 he directed Manolete with Penelope Cruz and Adrien Brody.
The Last of Robin Hood was a romp which thrilled us because Peter Belsito, my own dear husband, had a moment on screen (as the director of Errol Flynn’s last film Cuban Rebel Girls). He got the part because he had had an equally small role in the original Cuban Rebel Girls when it filmed in Cuba in 1959, four months after the Revolution. He happened to be there on vacation with his family including his 18 year old sister and his crazy aunt because Puerto Rico was full that year and Cuba had plenty of room. Directors Richard Glatzer and Wash Westmoreland invited him to play in their film. The film actually had more meaning than merely a romp as it revealed what lays below the June-September love affair between Errol Flynn and 15 year old Beverly Aadland, the nature of fame (“a religion in this godless country” to quote Flynn himself) and ambition. Kevin Kline, Susan Sarandan and Dakota Fanning were all great in the repertoire piece.
Can a Song Save Your Life? garnered great praise as the film that followed the simple pure Once. I found it a bit flat though it kept my interest enough that I was not contemplating leaving. But it lacked the simplicity of Once.
Fading Gigolo proves that a Woody Allen Film is a Genre. John Turturro makes a Woody Allen middle-aged man fantasy of a wished for love affair with a Hasidic woman. Turturro is always lovable on screen, but his directing has something inauthentic about it…the only authentic thing was the twice-stated thought that somewhere in his heritage he was really Jewish. When I saw his previous film Passione, about Italians and passion, the opening song, being one of the first Cuban songs I ever heard, turned me off because again, it was inauthentic. It was Cuban, not Italian. I think he is not comfortable in his Italian guise.
Other films at Tiff I have seen previously:
Only Lovers Left Alive by Jim Jarmusch (Isa: HanWay, U.S. Spc). If you can see it as a dream of night, then the vampires dreaminess might appeal to you. I personally was ready to fall into my own stupor after watching this 123 minute movie of Vampires who have seen it all. Zzzzzz.
Don Jon is sexy and sweet. Scarlett Johansson is a superb comedienne, equal to Claudette Colbert in this film about two totally media mesmerized young lovers. ___ and his father are also great straight men. I loved this film, so funny and sweet and all about sex. Loved it!
Borgman Darkest humor, or is it humor? Creepy and definitely engrossing. Dutch filmmaker Alex van Warmerdam at his best. This is the Netherlands' Official Academy Awards Submission.
What I hear was good:
Aside from the ones that got snapped up for lots of money and are covered in all the trades already, there are films which I keep hearing about even now and will see:
Supermensch: The Legend of Shep Gordon
12 Years a Slave (Isa: Summit, U.S. Fox Searchlight)
The Lunchbox (Isa: The Match Factory)
Prisoners (Isa: Summit/ Lionsgate, U.S.: Warner Bros)
Dallas Buyers Clubs (Isa: Voltage, U.S. Focus Features)
Life of Crime (Isa: Hyde Park, U.S.: )
A Touch of Sin (Isa: MK2, U.S. Kino Lorber)
Gravity (Isa: Warner Bros. U.S. Warner Bros.)
Enough Said (Isa: Fox Searchlight, U.S. Fox Searchlight)
La Grande Bellezza (The Great Beauty) (Isa: Pathe, U.S. Criterion) Italy’s submission for Academy Award Nomination for Best Foreign Language Film
Violette (Isa: Doc & Film, U.S.: ?)
Omar (Isa: The Match Factory, U.S.: ?)
Le Passe (The Past) (Isa: Memento, U.S. Spc) Iran’s submission for Academy Award Nomination for Best Foreign Language Film.
To the Wolf (Isa: Pascale Ramonda)
The Selfish Giant (Isa: Protagonist, U.S. IFC)
At Berkeley by Frederick Wiseman (Isa: Doc & Film, U.S. Zipporah)
The Unknown Known (Isa: Entertainment One, U.S. Radius-twc)
Ain’t Misbehavin (Un Voyager) by Marcel Ophuls (Isa: Wide House)
Faith Connections by Pan Nalin (Isa: Cite Films). This Indian French film, produced by Raphael Berduo among others is written about here.
Civil Rights (?)
Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom
12 Years a Slave (Isa: Summit, U.S. Fox Searchlight)
Belle (Isa: Bankside, all rights sold to Fox Searchlight)
Lgbt
Kill Your Darlings: The youthful finding of himself by Alan Ginsburg as he enters Colombia University and meets Lucien Carr, Jack Kerouac and Alan Bourroughs revolves around a murder which actually happened. The period veracity and Daniel Radcliffe’s acting carry the film into a fascinating character study. (U.S. Spc)
Dallas Buyers Club (Isa: Voltage, U.S. Focus Features)
Tom a la ferme / Tom at the Farm by Xavier Dolan Isa: MK2, U.S.:)
L’Armee du salut/ Salvation Army by Abdellah Taia (Isa: - U.S.:-)
Eastern Boys (Isa: Films Distribution)
Pelo Malo/ Bad Hair (FiGa Films)
The Dog (Producer Rep: Submarine)
Ignasi M. (Isa: Latido)
Gerontophilia (Isa: MK2, U.S. Producer Rep: Filmoption)...
I wish I could have seen 100 other films too but for some reason or another I could not fit them in.
I moderated a wonderful panel (and we did blog on that!) on international film financing with Sffs’ Ted Hope, UTA’s Rena Ronson, Revolution’s Andrew Eaton, and Hollywood-based Cross Creek’s Brian Oliver, and Paul Miller, Head of Film Financing, from the Doha Film Institute, Qatar's first international organization dedicated to film financing, production, education and two film festivals.
I also spoke with Toronto Talent Lab filmmakers and then I filled my days with films – I did get an interview with Gloria’s director Sebastian Lelio and Berlin Best Actress winner Paulina Garcia and with Marcela Said, director of The Summer of Flying Fish but mostly I watched film after film after film – up to five a day, just like in the old days when I had to do it for my acquisitions jobs. This was pure pleasure. Friends would meet before the film, we would watch and disperse. And we would meet again at the cocktail hour or the dinner hour and then disperse again.
My partner Peter had lots of meetings with the Talent of Toronto from the Not Short on Shorts and the Talent Lab Mentoring Programs.
Parties like the Rotterdam-Screen International party gave us the chance to catch up with our Dutch friends whom we have not seen for the last two years. Ontario Media Development Corporation’s presenting the International Financing Forum luncheon gave us the chance to talk to lots of upcoming filmmakers and old friends again who were mentoring them. The panel Forty Years On: Women’s Film Festivals Today, moderated by Kay Armatage, former Tiff programmer, Professor Emeritus University of Toronto, and featuring Debra Zimmerman, Executive Director of Women Make Movies, NYC, Melissa Silverstein, Do-Fojnder an dArtistic Director of the Athena Film Festival in NYC and blogger of Women in Hollywood, So-In Hong, Director of Programming of the International Women’s Film Festival in Seoul had a rapport and didn’t hesitate to challenge each other. It felt like a party even though the subject was quite serious. The SXSW party was crowded as always, filled with everyone we could possibly know. It is always a great party we all want to attend.
One of the great dinners was that of The Creative Coalition Spotlight Awards Dinner honoring Alfre Woodard (12 Years a Slave), Hill Harper (1982, CSI: NY), Sharon Leal (1982), Matt Letscher (Scandal, The Carrie Diaries), Brenton Thwaites (Oculus, Maleficient), Tommy Oliver (1982, Kinyarwanda – I am a great fan of Tommy’s!), Tom Ortenberg (CEO, Open Road Films which has a coventure with Regal Theaters and AMC Theaters recently acquired by the richest man in China), and David Arquette (The Scream series). Our hostess, Robin Bronk is so welcoming and so dedicated to furthering the cause of universal education as a human right, education in the arts as a must. I admire her presence and her good work.
Here is a list of the great (and not so great, but never bad) films I got to see. I also list those I continue to hear about even now. I do not list all the films which were picked up during the festival and later. For that, you can go to SydneysBuzz.com and buy the Fall Rights Roundup 2013 and see all films whose rights were acquired (and announced) and by whom with links to all companies and Cinando for further research. For buyers it will, by deduction, show what is still available for Afm and for programmers, it will show who is in charge of the film for specific territories. The second edition will be issued two weeks after Afm.
One of the first films I saw and still retaining its place as one of my favorites was the documentary Finding Vivian Maier which begins with the discovery of photographs by an unknown woman named Vivian Maier by filmmaker John Maloof. As the mystery of this woman is uncovered, the audience is treated to her stunning work and the story of who she was.
One of my favorite films was by one of my favorite directors, Lucas Moodyson. We Are The Best (Isa: Trust Nordisk) was a great surprise, the story of three teeny-bopper punk-influenced girls who loved getting into unusual situations. It was loving and fun, darling and funny. I would take my children to see it and would delight in seeing it again. It was the biggest surprise for me. I can see why Magnolia snapped it up for the U.S. I thank programmer Steve Gravenstock for giving me the ticket for this film which I would have missed otherwise.
I had missed Jodorowsky’s Dune in Cannes. I am a great fan of El Topo and was eager to see this film. I was surprised at the elegance and skill of Jodorowsky in explaining his vision. Afterward, Gary Springer, our favorite publicist, arranged a wonderful reception at a classic comic book store where we loaded up on some fascinating graphic novels and Gary showed us his depiction on an old issue of Mad Magazine discussing the making of Jaws which he was in. picture here.
A totally unique and unexpected film about the African Diaspora, Belle, written and directed by Amma Asante was not talked about much to my surprise, perhaps because Fox Searchlight acquired all rights worldwide from Bankside before the festival. It is a stunningly beautiful British period piece of the 18th century about a mixed race aristocratic beauty.
My favorite film, on a par with The Patience Stone last year was Bobo (Isa: Wide) by Ines Oliveira starring Paula Garcia Aissato Indjai, produced by my friend Fernando Vendrell who gave me a ticket when I could not get one myself. This story of a woman who does nothing except go to work is forced to accept a claning woman and her young sister from Guinea-Bissau. Together they face down their demons. I love the cross-cultural understanding which results in their shared situations. I recently saw Mother of George and found the same warm connection across great cultural divides, though this one was of generations.
I wish I could have seen Pays Barbare/ Barbaric Land, the Italian/ French doc in Wavelengths about Mussolini’s attempted subjugation of Ethiopia (the only country in Africa never colonized). It sounds like great political poetry.
1982 which had previously won the prize of the jury I served on for Us Works in Progress held in July at the Champs Elysees Film Festival in Paris. It was deeply moving and disturbing film which depicts the shattering and the healing of a family. It also helps feed the pipeline begun with Lee Daniels producing Monster’s Ball who went on to direct to such films as Precious and The Butler. If the African American experience can continue to be expressed so eloquently by such filmmakers as Tommy Oliver, Rashaad Ernesto Green (Sundance 2012’s Gun Hill Road), Ava DuVernay (Middle of Nowhere), then a film literate audience will foster greater growth of even more talent in the coming generation. While I didn’t see All Is By My Side by U.K.’s John Ridley which is about Jimi Hendrix nor (yet!) the most highly acclaimed film of the festival, 12 Years a Slave by U.K.’s Steve McQueen, but I would include them in this discussion of the African American Experience.
On the subject of Africa, where last Sundance God Loves Uganda shocked and upset me, this year Mission Congo (Cinephil) revealed much of the same cultural divide only these two films show the negative impact of the Christian right upon already besieged Africans. What is done in the name of a righteous G-d is cause for dialogue and oversight.
Israel and the Middle East
No major turmoil or denunciations this year (Thank G-d, Allah, or whoever She may be). Katriel Schory, head of the Israeli Film Fund told me that if I could only see one film, then it should be Bethlehem which is the country’s submission for Academy Award Consideration for the Nomination for Best Foreign Language Film. It was a sad and clear eyed microcosmic view of the issues of trust and betrayals played out among every level of the society. People compared it to Omar by Hany Abu-Assad,the filmmaker of a favorite of mine, Paradise Now, but I did not see Omar.
Rags and Tatters at first seemed like a documentary, and does have doc footage, but it is a circular story that ends where it began but with much more understanding of the chaotic events in Cairo. Really worth watching.
Latino
Of the Latino films two Chilean films, Gloria (Chile) and The Summer of Flying Fish (Review), were accompanied by interviews which you can read on my previous blogs here and here. El Mudo from Peru by the Vega brothers was in the odd vien of their previous film, October. Not sure at the end just what the film was saying…
Toronto Film Fest Programmer Diana Sanchez’s official count of Latino films in the festival is 16. Of these, 5 are by women; 30% is a strong number. Venezuela and Chile are strong with year with two films each. Two other films might have been chosen except they went to San Sebastian for their world premieres. Especially hot this year was Mexico. 4 films are here but she might have chosen 10 if she could have. Costa Rica is making a showing with All About the Feathers and Central America is making more movies. There is lots of industry buzz coming from the good pictures from Brazil like A Wolf at the Door from Sao Paolo production
She is not counting Gravity by Alfonso Cuaron as as Latino film but as a U.S. film.
And Our White Society
The Dinner (Isa: Media Luna) by Menno Meyjes ♀ (Isa: Media Luna), a Dutch film deals with the personal and political as two families disintegrate when the affluent sons kill a homeless woman. Deeply disturbing social issues on the other side of the spectrum from those of 1982 and yet very much the same. How a society can foster such dissonance in class structure today which results in the disintegration of family and even a nation’s political life is, as I said, deeply disturbing. Based on the N.Y. Times best selling book which sold over 650,000 in The Netherlands, and is published in 22 countries, it stars four of Holland’s most renowned actors, Jacob Derwig, Thekla Reuten, Daan Schuurmans, and Kim van Kooten. This is a story that could be remade in America and still maintain its strength. The writer-director Menno Meyjes wrote the Academy Award nominee The Color Purple and collaborated with director Steven Speilberg on Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. In 2008 he directed Manolete with Penelope Cruz and Adrien Brody.
The Last of Robin Hood was a romp which thrilled us because Peter Belsito, my own dear husband, had a moment on screen (as the director of Errol Flynn’s last film Cuban Rebel Girls). He got the part because he had had an equally small role in the original Cuban Rebel Girls when it filmed in Cuba in 1959, four months after the Revolution. He happened to be there on vacation with his family including his 18 year old sister and his crazy aunt because Puerto Rico was full that year and Cuba had plenty of room. Directors Richard Glatzer and Wash Westmoreland invited him to play in their film. The film actually had more meaning than merely a romp as it revealed what lays below the June-September love affair between Errol Flynn and 15 year old Beverly Aadland, the nature of fame (“a religion in this godless country” to quote Flynn himself) and ambition. Kevin Kline, Susan Sarandan and Dakota Fanning were all great in the repertoire piece.
Can a Song Save Your Life? garnered great praise as the film that followed the simple pure Once. I found it a bit flat though it kept my interest enough that I was not contemplating leaving. But it lacked the simplicity of Once.
Fading Gigolo proves that a Woody Allen Film is a Genre. John Turturro makes a Woody Allen middle-aged man fantasy of a wished for love affair with a Hasidic woman. Turturro is always lovable on screen, but his directing has something inauthentic about it…the only authentic thing was the twice-stated thought that somewhere in his heritage he was really Jewish. When I saw his previous film Passione, about Italians and passion, the opening song, being one of the first Cuban songs I ever heard, turned me off because again, it was inauthentic. It was Cuban, not Italian. I think he is not comfortable in his Italian guise.
Other films at Tiff I have seen previously:
Only Lovers Left Alive by Jim Jarmusch (Isa: HanWay, U.S. Spc). If you can see it as a dream of night, then the vampires dreaminess might appeal to you. I personally was ready to fall into my own stupor after watching this 123 minute movie of Vampires who have seen it all. Zzzzzz.
Don Jon is sexy and sweet. Scarlett Johansson is a superb comedienne, equal to Claudette Colbert in this film about two totally media mesmerized young lovers. ___ and his father are also great straight men. I loved this film, so funny and sweet and all about sex. Loved it!
Borgman Darkest humor, or is it humor? Creepy and definitely engrossing. Dutch filmmaker Alex van Warmerdam at his best. This is the Netherlands' Official Academy Awards Submission.
What I hear was good:
Aside from the ones that got snapped up for lots of money and are covered in all the trades already, there are films which I keep hearing about even now and will see:
Supermensch: The Legend of Shep Gordon
12 Years a Slave (Isa: Summit, U.S. Fox Searchlight)
The Lunchbox (Isa: The Match Factory)
Prisoners (Isa: Summit/ Lionsgate, U.S.: Warner Bros)
Dallas Buyers Clubs (Isa: Voltage, U.S. Focus Features)
Life of Crime (Isa: Hyde Park, U.S.: )
A Touch of Sin (Isa: MK2, U.S. Kino Lorber)
Gravity (Isa: Warner Bros. U.S. Warner Bros.)
Enough Said (Isa: Fox Searchlight, U.S. Fox Searchlight)
La Grande Bellezza (The Great Beauty) (Isa: Pathe, U.S. Criterion) Italy’s submission for Academy Award Nomination for Best Foreign Language Film
Violette (Isa: Doc & Film, U.S.: ?)
Omar (Isa: The Match Factory, U.S.: ?)
Le Passe (The Past) (Isa: Memento, U.S. Spc) Iran’s submission for Academy Award Nomination for Best Foreign Language Film.
To the Wolf (Isa: Pascale Ramonda)
The Selfish Giant (Isa: Protagonist, U.S. IFC)
At Berkeley by Frederick Wiseman (Isa: Doc & Film, U.S. Zipporah)
The Unknown Known (Isa: Entertainment One, U.S. Radius-twc)
Ain’t Misbehavin (Un Voyager) by Marcel Ophuls (Isa: Wide House)
Faith Connections by Pan Nalin (Isa: Cite Films). This Indian French film, produced by Raphael Berduo among others is written about here.
Civil Rights (?)
Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom
12 Years a Slave (Isa: Summit, U.S. Fox Searchlight)
Belle (Isa: Bankside, all rights sold to Fox Searchlight)
Lgbt
Kill Your Darlings: The youthful finding of himself by Alan Ginsburg as he enters Colombia University and meets Lucien Carr, Jack Kerouac and Alan Bourroughs revolves around a murder which actually happened. The period veracity and Daniel Radcliffe’s acting carry the film into a fascinating character study. (U.S. Spc)
Dallas Buyers Club (Isa: Voltage, U.S. Focus Features)
Tom a la ferme / Tom at the Farm by Xavier Dolan Isa: MK2, U.S.:)
L’Armee du salut/ Salvation Army by Abdellah Taia (Isa: - U.S.:-)
Eastern Boys (Isa: Films Distribution)
Pelo Malo/ Bad Hair (FiGa Films)
The Dog (Producer Rep: Submarine)
Ignasi M. (Isa: Latido)
Gerontophilia (Isa: MK2, U.S. Producer Rep: Filmoption)...
- 10/8/2013
- by Sydney Levine
- Sydney's Buzz
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