Originally posted during the Toronto Film Festival, here is a short video with the now former Maldives President Mohamed Nasheed and filmmaker Jon Shenk on their collaboration making the climate change doc, The Island President. The film opened today at Film Forum in New York.
Over at Hammer to Nail, Daniel James Scott interviews Shenk. An excerpt:
H2N: So for you, filmmaking starts with story. Yet all of your films coincide with social or political issues that can be affected by the emotional power you described. I’m sure that few filmmakers know more than you the delicate relationship between entertainment and advocacy. How did you balance those two in The Island President?
Js: That’s a great question. I think that documentary filmmakers are unique in the film business because we wear two hats. We’re filmmakers working in a long history of cinema, and we use a...
Over at Hammer to Nail, Daniel James Scott interviews Shenk. An excerpt:
H2N: So for you, filmmaking starts with story. Yet all of your films coincide with social or political issues that can be affected by the emotional power you described. I’m sure that few filmmakers know more than you the delicate relationship between entertainment and advocacy. How did you balance those two in The Island President?
Js: That’s a great question. I think that documentary filmmakers are unique in the film business because we wear two hats. We’re filmmakers working in a long history of cinema, and we use a...
- 3/31/2012
- by Scott Macaulay
- Filmmaker Magazine - Blog
Buffalo, NY-based Buffalo Nickel Productions is in production on a trio new feature films: Decayed, Banshee, and Frankenstein’s Patchwork Monster. Emil J. Novak, co-founder of the Buffalo Screams Horror Film Festival, is the driving creative force behind all three films.
From the Press Release:
Decayed, a quasi-anthology of four interlinked tales involving a worldwide plague of “zuvembies,” is the closest to completion, with the rough cut being fine tuned now. The stories feature characters adrift on a boat, a la Alfred Hitchcock’s Lifeboat; members of a pirate radio station spreading information that the government wishes to contain; researchers seeking a cure to the plague; and the patrons of a bar who discover it’s sometimes better to go home early. The film showcases special make-up effects by Arick Szymecki, Andrew Lavin, and Amy Toth of Anomaly Effects, and many stills from the production appear in the new book...
From the Press Release:
Decayed, a quasi-anthology of four interlinked tales involving a worldwide plague of “zuvembies,” is the closest to completion, with the rough cut being fine tuned now. The stories feature characters adrift on a boat, a la Alfred Hitchcock’s Lifeboat; members of a pirate radio station spreading information that the government wishes to contain; researchers seeking a cure to the plague; and the patrons of a bar who discover it’s sometimes better to go home early. The film showcases special make-up effects by Arick Szymecki, Andrew Lavin, and Amy Toth of Anomaly Effects, and many stills from the production appear in the new book...
- 2/18/2012
- by The Woman In Black
- DreadCentral.com
Alexander Kluge speaks at the Oberhausen Manifesto press conference 1962
For all the news tumbling out of Rotterdam and Berlin over the past couple of weeks, we don't want to overlook a couple of pretty major announcements coming from other festivals regarding their upcoming editions. Starting with this one: "The 58th International Short Film Festival Oberhausen will celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Oberhausen Manifesto (February 28, 2012) with a large-scale thematic program entitled Provoking Reality: Mavericks, Mouvements, Manifesto. To honor the anniversary of the Manifesto, perhaps the single most important group document in German film history, the festival has compiled a selection of films of the signatories, many of which have not been shown for decades and had to be restored expressly for the program."
In addition to the inevitable panel discussion, there'll also be a double DVD from Edition Filmmuseum and, in German, a collection of essays. Before moving on, this...
For all the news tumbling out of Rotterdam and Berlin over the past couple of weeks, we don't want to overlook a couple of pretty major announcements coming from other festivals regarding their upcoming editions. Starting with this one: "The 58th International Short Film Festival Oberhausen will celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Oberhausen Manifesto (February 28, 2012) with a large-scale thematic program entitled Provoking Reality: Mavericks, Mouvements, Manifesto. To honor the anniversary of the Manifesto, perhaps the single most important group document in German film history, the festival has compiled a selection of films of the signatories, many of which have not been shown for decades and had to be restored expressly for the program."
In addition to the inevitable panel discussion, there'll also be a double DVD from Edition Filmmuseum and, in German, a collection of essays. Before moving on, this...
- 1/15/2012
- MUBI
Because you need more Doctor Who in your life – we all do – and because it’s pretty fun, we bring you news of a Doctor Who Mmo that’s currently in beta testing and is available for everyone, for free! Our favorite price! It’s called Doctor Who: Worlds in Time. It’s a very basic, quest-type game with a lot of familiar gaming tropes and a whole lot of familiar Doctor Who references. You can even connect with friends online and play as a team. Here’s the trailer:
Click here to view the embedded video.
And here are the details, in a press release from earlier this week:
BBC Worldwide Digital Entertainment and Games today announced the open preview launch of Doctor Who: Worlds in Time, the new browser-based, free-to-play multiplayer online game. Developed in partnership with Three Rings, an award-winning developer of persistent online worlds, such as Puzzle Pirates and Spiral Knights,...
Click here to view the embedded video.
And here are the details, in a press release from earlier this week:
BBC Worldwide Digital Entertainment and Games today announced the open preview launch of Doctor Who: Worlds in Time, the new browser-based, free-to-play multiplayer online game. Developed in partnership with Three Rings, an award-winning developer of persistent online worlds, such as Puzzle Pirates and Spiral Knights,...
- 12/23/2011
- by Erin Willard
- ScifiMafia
"Designers Charles and Ray Eames, respective subjects of the documentary Eames: The Architect and the Painter, and largely credited with bringing modernism into the American living room with their now ubiquitous contoured chairs, may have also helped to comfortably contextualize the philosophy of European modernists within our own post-war progressivism," writes Joseph Jon Lanthier in Slant. "Charles's mantra ('The best for the most for least'), echoes of which are audible in the ostensible aesthetic egalitarianism of Ikea's retail theory, saw the potential for mass production within the rigid, deceptively simplified form and primary color-fetishism of the era's visual artists. Furthermore, the couple's playfully inter-disciplinary, media-obsessed, auto-didactic approach to design — neither were trained in anything in particular, though Ray studied under Hans Hofmann — suggested that a modern man, or woman, could push on by remaining in awe of contemporary advances in science and technology while holding fast to the traditional grievances...
- 11/18/2011
- MUBI
Originally posted on July 6, 2011. Terri is nominated for Breakthrough Actor.
Azazel Jacobs’ idiosyncratic and homespun Terri is caring riff on the alienated teenager film, making its plus-size hero a stand-in for the trepidations we all fear when our slow-motion lives begin to move just a little too fast. Here, in this video shot at Sundance 2011, Jacobs discusses how he moved from his previous feature, Momma’s Man, to Terri, and why he’s not like Alfred Hitchcock.
Photographed by: Jamie Stuart. Edited by: Daniel James Scott. Music: T. Griffin.
For more, read Nick Dawson’s longer interview with Azazel Jacobs about Terri here.
Azazel Jacobs’ idiosyncratic and homespun Terri is caring riff on the alienated teenager film, making its plus-size hero a stand-in for the trepidations we all fear when our slow-motion lives begin to move just a little too fast. Here, in this video shot at Sundance 2011, Jacobs discusses how he moved from his previous feature, Momma’s Man, to Terri, and why he’s not like Alfred Hitchcock.
Photographed by: Jamie Stuart. Edited by: Daniel James Scott. Music: T. Griffin.
For more, read Nick Dawson’s longer interview with Azazel Jacobs about Terri here.
- 11/3/2011
- by Scott Macaulay
- Filmmaker Magazine - Blog
In the below video: Martha Marcy May Marlene writer/director Sean Durkin on Altman, Polanski and why he’s fascinated by cults; Elizabeth Olsen on her character, scripts, and what attracted her to this part; and John Hawkes on why his cult leader wasn’t another dark creepy dude. Photographed by Jamie Stuart, edited by Daniel James Scott and with music by T. Griffin. Shot at Sundance 2011.
- 10/24/2011
- by Scott Macaulay
- Filmmaker Magazine - Blog
"When French filmmakers and music lovers Renaud Barret and Florent de La Tuyalle landed in the Congo in 2004 with the intention of recording some local music," writes Ernest Hardy in the Voice, "they had no idea that their dream would take five years, grow to include a documentary film, and be centered on four paraplegic musicians, three able-bodied ones, and the homeless boy (a self-taught music wunderkind with a homemade string instrument) they took in."
David DeWitt in the New York Times: "The documentary Benda Bilili!, in French and Lingala, captures five years in the lives of this intergenerational street band, five years in which the buskers move from practicing at the decaying Kinshasa zoo to performing for enraptured crowds on the strength of their album, Très Très Fort, French for 'Very Very Strong' — which they are."
In Slant, Andrew Schenker finds that "the film's inquiry into the artistic method...
David DeWitt in the New York Times: "The documentary Benda Bilili!, in French and Lingala, captures five years in the lives of this intergenerational street band, five years in which the buskers move from practicing at the decaying Kinshasa zoo to performing for enraptured crowds on the strength of their album, Très Très Fort, French for 'Very Very Strong' — which they are."
In Slant, Andrew Schenker finds that "the film's inquiry into the artistic method...
- 9/30/2011
- MUBI
Two new documentaries, both already out in limited release and headed for expansions, are necessary for anyone keeping up with the nonfiction film trends of this year (read Daniel James Scott's piece from Documentary magazine on this zeitgeist). If you've seen or are interested in seeing "Project Nim," "Buck" and "One Lucky Elephant" (the last despite my scathing review), you have to add "The Whale" and "Jane's Journey" to your list or queue (do we still use that term now that Netflix is screwing it up?). Each is surprisingly essential to the discourse and surprisingly an engrossing entertainment. The former,…...
- 9/28/2011
- Spout
"For a decade starting in the late 60s, the Kashmere Stage Band — a funk-infused outfit rooted in a poor, predominantly black neighborhood in northeast Houston — built a reputation as the most formidable high school band in the country." Scott Tobias for NPR: "Under the leadership of Conrad O Johnson Sr, a prodigious musician in his own right (he once played with Count Basie), the band zigged where others zagged, embracing the sounds (and moves) of James Brown and Otis Redding while its peers were mimicking the ossified standards of 40s big bands. In competition — and on recordings — the contrast was clear: The Kashmere Stage Band was lively, exuberant, spontaneous and contemporary, and the also-rans were square nostalgists."
"Three decades after graduation, members reunite to honor their beloved 93-year-old bandleader, teacher and role model," writes Eric Hynes in Time Out New York. "Amid its celebrations of black power, ambitious Afros and fly female trombonists,...
"Three decades after graduation, members reunite to honor their beloved 93-year-old bandleader, teacher and role model," writes Eric Hynes in Time Out New York. "Amid its celebrations of black power, ambitious Afros and fly female trombonists,...
- 9/25/2011
- MUBI
Middle of the Road Entertainment has released the initial trailer for their new romantic comedy, FleshLightning – yes, you read that right, FleshLightning as in to do with the sex toy. The “film” stars adult film star and Fleshlight “model” Jenna Haze as herself, James Hong (Chinatown, Blade Runner, Kung Fu Panda) as Garlopolous, Mikaela Hoover (Super, Frank) as Madison Montgomery, David Rispoli (The New American Dream) as Daniel James, and Mark Gantt (Ocean’s Eleven, Spiderman, City of Angels) as Steady Rigatoni.
When Daniel James (played by Rispoli) discovers a magical Fleshlight, he thinks that he has found a way to fulfill his ultimate fantasies, but when he comes upon its real power he must make a choice between the girl he lusts for (Haze) and the girl next door (Hoover).
FleshLightning is directed by Brandon Dermer, who created the concept and idea for the film, based on the world...
When Daniel James (played by Rispoli) discovers a magical Fleshlight, he thinks that he has found a way to fulfill his ultimate fantasies, but when he comes upon its real power he must make a choice between the girl he lusts for (Haze) and the girl next door (Hoover).
FleshLightning is directed by Brandon Dermer, who created the concept and idea for the film, based on the world...
- 7/12/2011
- by Phil
- Nerdly
Opening today is Beats, Rhymes and Life: The Travels of a Tribe Called Quest. Actor and longtime fan Michael Rapaport stepped behind the camera to both introduce a new audience to the seminal hip hop group but also to answer an aficionado’s longtime questions. Here’s a short interview filmed at Sundance, 2011. Photographed by Jamie Stuart, edited by Daniel James Scott, music by T. Griffin.
- 7/8/2011
- by Scott Macaulay
- Filmmaker Magazine - Blog
"Cars 2, directed (like several great Pixar films of the last two decades) by John Lasseter, finds itself in the unlucky position of the not-so-bright kid in a brilliant family," finds Slate's Dana Stevens. "No matter if his performance in school is comfortably average; he'll always be seen as a disappointment compared to his stellar siblings. There's nothing really objectionable about Cars 2, although parents of young children should be warned that a few evil vehicles meet violently inauspicious ends. It's sweet-spirited, visually delightful (if aurally cacophonous), and it will make for a pleasant enough family afternoon at the movies. But we've come to expect so much more than mere pleasantness from Pixar that Cars 2 feels almost like a betrayal."
Nick Schager for the Voice: "Pixar's Cars franchise takes a sharp turn from Nascar mayhem and rural red-state-targeted 50s nostalgia to 007 espionage with this upgraded sequel, though in its...
Nick Schager for the Voice: "Pixar's Cars franchise takes a sharp turn from Nascar mayhem and rural red-state-targeted 50s nostalgia to 007 espionage with this upgraded sequel, though in its...
- 6/25/2011
- MUBI
(Download "Indian Summer (Des Moines)" here.)
When Nashville's Daniel James makes a record as Canon Blue, he doesn't hedge his bets: His 2007 debut, Colonies, was a collaboration with Grizzly Bear's Chris Taylor. An album a bit before what might have been its time, Colonies mixed elemental singer-songwriter fare with sweeping electronic textures. Last year, it might've helped score the summer of chillwave; four years ago, it was a tad overlooked.
So James returns with Rumspringa, his debut for Temporary Residence Limited and an album that might actually work as a soundtrack for this summer. Though made partly in Copenhagen with Danish orchestral pop ensemble Efterklang and partly in Iceland with Sigur Ros' string backbone Amiina, James' darting rhythms and daring melodies suggest Beirut and Sufjan Stevens writing dance music alongside the camp fires of a mid-summer, Midwest roadtrip (each of these songs is indeed named for a city...
When Nashville's Daniel James makes a record as Canon Blue, he doesn't hedge his bets: His 2007 debut, Colonies, was a collaboration with Grizzly Bear's Chris Taylor. An album a bit before what might have been its time, Colonies mixed elemental singer-songwriter fare with sweeping electronic textures. Last year, it might've helped score the summer of chillwave; four years ago, it was a tad overlooked.
So James returns with Rumspringa, his debut for Temporary Residence Limited and an album that might actually work as a soundtrack for this summer. Though made partly in Copenhagen with Danish orchestral pop ensemble Efterklang and partly in Iceland with Sigur Ros' string backbone Amiina, James' darting rhythms and daring melodies suggest Beirut and Sufjan Stevens writing dance music alongside the camp fires of a mid-summer, Midwest roadtrip (each of these songs is indeed named for a city...
- 6/22/2011
- by Grayson Currin
- ifc.com
So DC Universe Online was a flop. The character creation was cool, but beyond that -meh. Now, you’re sitting at home wondering what’s next in adapted multiplayer content that can grab your attention.
How about Doctor Who. I mean who doesn’t love The Doctor. BBC Worldwide and Three Rings, makers of Puzzle Pirates, will be launching a new online multiplayer game titled Doctor Who: Worlds in Time. This won’t be a console game or an Mmo, but at least this one is free to play. And, free never hurt anyone.
For the first time ever, players from around the world will be able to follow in the footsteps of the eccentric and brilliant Doctor by travelling through time and space, exploring new worlds and encountering many alien races, both friend and foe. Titled Doctor Who: Worlds in Time, the game allows players to enter the Tardis...
How about Doctor Who. I mean who doesn’t love The Doctor. BBC Worldwide and Three Rings, makers of Puzzle Pirates, will be launching a new online multiplayer game titled Doctor Who: Worlds in Time. This won’t be a console game or an Mmo, but at least this one is free to play. And, free never hurt anyone.
For the first time ever, players from around the world will be able to follow in the footsteps of the eccentric and brilliant Doctor by travelling through time and space, exploring new worlds and encountering many alien races, both friend and foe. Titled Doctor Who: Worlds in Time, the game allows players to enter the Tardis...
- 2/25/2011
- by Terry Boyden
- BuzzFocus.com
On Saturday, British comedian Russell Brand and American pop singer Katy Perry tied the knot amid high drama in Rajasthan. A day before, Brand’s guests were involved in a scuffle with Indian mediapersons at the Ranthambore National Park while they were on a tiger safari. In an attempt to stop reporters from taking pictures of Brand, who was also part of the safari, a guest named Daniel James got off his jeep and abused and threatened the photographers. During the scuffle, the Hindustan Times photographer was also pushed around while an agency reporter was hurt on his head and left ...
- 10/23/2010
- Hindustan Times - Celebrity
Filed under: Features
In honor of our 20th birthday, we'll be celebrating movies and their impact on individual people. If there is a movie that has changed or inspired you, let us know by emailing moviefone-editorial@teamaol.com.
Jonathan rode his bike to the church that held his dead father's body. He walked in and waltzed straight up to his father's coffin, knocked on the new cedar twice and waited. "Nope, still dead." Was all he said before he turned around and strolled out.
This was only the first part of the movie that changed my life. 'On The Edge,' directed by John Carney, and written by both John Carney and Daniel James, is the most heart-warming and life-changing movie that I have ever seen.
Jonathan Breech is a young man who loses his father to alcohol and suffers from severe depression. Even before his father passed, he...
In honor of our 20th birthday, we'll be celebrating movies and their impact on individual people. If there is a movie that has changed or inspired you, let us know by emailing moviefone-editorial@teamaol.com.
Jonathan rode his bike to the church that held his dead father's body. He walked in and waltzed straight up to his father's coffin, knocked on the new cedar twice and waited. "Nope, still dead." Was all he said before he turned around and strolled out.
This was only the first part of the movie that changed my life. 'On The Edge,' directed by John Carney, and written by both John Carney and Daniel James, is the most heart-warming and life-changing movie that I have ever seen.
Jonathan Breech is a young man who loses his father to alcohol and suffers from severe depression. Even before his father passed, he...
- 9/30/2010
- by jaxmarie32
- Moviefone
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