By Wheeler Winston Dixon. Joseph Lawson is an American filmmaker who is an unabashed special effects fan, action movie enthusiast, and utterly pragmatic about how films get made today in a rapaciously competitive environment. He’s a commercial filmmaker, working in Hollywood, making films as entertainment. Along the way, he’s getting […]
Sensing the Rhythms of Youth: Daniel Patrick Carbone on Hide Your Smiling Faces
September 21, 2014
By Paul Risker. Arguably the icon of onscreen childhood angst is Antoine Doinel (Jean-Pierre Léaud) in François Truffaut’s The 400 Blows (1959). His desperate gaze out to sea is one that is seared onto the cinematic consciousness. Fast-forward more than half a decade and Hide Your Smiling Faces (2013) sparks the […]
A Thriller in Brief: on Point Mugu
By Paul Risker. Inevitably there must be a point of origin, and whilst it would be an exaggeration to term the short film Point Mugu (2013) as such, it is a film of firsts for three individuals who have expanded and explored their creative horizons. Actress Amelia Jackson-Gray couples her writing […]
Truth in Character: An Interview with Virginia Madsen
By Paul Risker. What is in a number? Well in answer to a self-posed question, something of significance, as Virginia Madsen has or will have donned by the conclusion of next year a collection of guises that reaches into triple figures. So who is Virginia Madsen? There is Virginia Madsen […]
From Page to Screen: Writer-Director Steven Knight on Locke
By Paul Risker. Steven Knight is primarily known as the screenwriter of Dirty Pretty Things (2002), Amazing Grace (2006) and Eastern Promises (2007), directed by Stephen Frears, Michael Apted and David Cronenberg, repsectively. Last year saw Knight add to his early television directorial credit, helming his directorial debut and sophomore […]
At the Forefront of Horror: An Interview with Julia Wrigley
August 27, 2014
By Cleaver Patterson. Film4 – the British digital television channel, owned by Channel 4 Television Corporation – was launched in 1998. Since then it has become renowned as a champion of cutting edge film from both home and abroad. As a result, the channel became sponsors in 2006 of the […]
By the Starlight: An Interview with April Wright on Going Attractions
August 13, 2014
By Paul Risker. On Saturday the 23 August two inaugural moments separated by eight decades are scheduled to converge when Going Attractions: The Definitive Story of the American Drive-in Movie (2013) screens at the first annual Reel East Film Festival in Oaklyn, Camden County, New Jersey. Is it a coincidence that […]
Wertham in Context: An Interview with Robert A. Emmons Jr. on Diagram for Delinquents
By Tom Ue. Robert A. Emmons Jr. is a documentary filmmaker. His films include: Enthusiast: The 9th Art (2001), Smalltown USA (2005), Goodwill: The Flight of Emilio Carranza (2007), Wolf at the Door (2008), YARDSALE! (2008), and De Luxe: The Tale of Blue Comet (2010). Goodwill has had the privilege […]
In the Post-Mod Shadow: An Interview with Wayne Kramer
August 6, 2014
By Paul Risker. Writer-director of The Cooler (2003) and Running Scared (2006), Wayne Kramer has worked exclusively in independent cinema since the early 1990s. Once again, he walks the line between insider and outlier with Pawn Shop Chronicles (2013, renamed Hustlers for the UK release). Speaking with Film International, Kramer […]
Bonded by Flicks: Woody Wise and Inda Reid on a 30-Year Brotherhood
By Irv Slifkin. For 30 years, Woody Wise has entertained his friends on Saturdays in his Los Angeles-area home. The fun usually starts with donuts or bagels in the morning, followed by a healthy serving of a movie serial, a short subject or a “B” western and a vintage feature […]