By Ali Moosavi. We were working on small details like what it means to be lost for so long over the course of the movie; Matthias just stares and looks a lot throughout the film. We were working on small nuances….” Austrian Bernhard Wenger‘s debut film Peacock has been selected […]
Filmic Imagination: An Interview with Shahram Mokri and Nasim Ahmadpour
By Ali Moosavi. Instead of storyboards we make a 3-D model where we can have an aerial view of the action. We can then envisage the placement and movement of actors.” –Shahram Mokri Shahram Mokri and Nasim Ahmadpour are partners in work and partners in life. They write the screenplay […]
Bloodlines and Battlefields: Julia Weisberg Cortés on Boyfighter
By James Slaymaker. It’s a film designed to make you feel something, even if you don’t understand it. Again, it’s like looking at nature…. You may not understand why it makes you want to cry. There’s just a universal experience.” —Julia Weisberg Cortés One of the standout short films at […]
On Making “Number 9”: Oliver Murray on Completing The Beatles Anthology
By Kristin Rhodes. It’s feeling very, very big picture at the moment with it all. When I really think about this weird cyclical nature, it feels like I landed on a body of work (in writing and directing Episode 9 of The Beatles Anthology) that I’m very proud of. And […]
A Bigger Vision of the Past: Stephen Bourne on Research in Black and LGBTQ+ Cinema and TV History
By Alex Ramon. Although I enjoyed the research and writing aspects, I didn’t feel comfortable in the academic environment…Writing independently has not made me wealthy but at least I have maintained a long and productive career, against the odds.” –Stephen Bourne It will be 30 years next year since the […]
The Soderbergh of the Sticks: Mickey Reece and the Prehistory of Every Heavy Thing
By Alexandra Heller-Nicholas. I don’t particularly believe in the idea of working around a proven formula, so I tend to start where a horror movie would and end up in another direction almost subconsciously.” —Mickey Reece Even in the context of the often radically elastic parameters of independent filmmaking, Mickey […]
Cinema to the Edge: Alireza Khatami on The Things You Kill
By Ali Moosavi. To me this is human nature…. It’s knowing the roots of things, knowing the history of things. It doesn’t erase the pain but that’s how to face the world: with empathy.” —Alireza Khatami Next year’s Oscars mark a unique achievement for Iranian directors. No less than four […]
A Prototype for Future African Works: Producer Mo Abudu on Dust to Dreams
By M. Sellers Johnson. When I approached Idris (Elba to direct), I wanted to tell a story that was embedded in music and had music as a character; as well as, a relatable story that would deal with the dynamics of family, Lagos being a character itself….” –Producer Mo Abudu […]
The Plain Truth – Rick Goldsmith on Stripped for Parts: American Journalism on the Brink
By William Blick. The country’s journalists – local or national – are working for all of us. They are our soldiers. And we need to support them.” Rick Goldsmith’s Stripped for Parts: American Journalism on the Brink is the third installment in a trilogy of documentaries by Goldsmith about American journalism. It appears […]
Analyzing “on a Forensic Level”: Tim Lucas on the 30th Anniversary of Throat Sprockets
By Jonathan Monovich. When I do commentaries now, I find myself examining films on a more forensic level, responding to individual scenes and shots and taking them apart. My rule with commentaries is that I need to learn something, and I need to know more coming out than I did […]