http://independent-magazine.org/2004/06/coming-clean/
Obsessed with Independent Film Since 1976 
Obsessed with Independent Film Since 1976
David Sampliner and Tim Nackashi’s debut documentary film Dirty Work premiered at the Sundance Film Festival 2004 and is currently on the film festival circuit. Dirty Work follows the lives of three men—Russ, a bull semen collector, Darrell, a septic tank pumper, and Bernard, an embalmer—who passionately pursue distasteful, indispensable professions. Do you have an… Read more »
Legend has it that when settlers came west by covered wagon more than 150 years ago, those seeking fame and fortune headed south to California, while people seeking seclusion and autonomy ventured north to Oregon. So while movie fans in the rest of the country may associate Portland with its most famous director, Gus Van… Read more »
Long gone are the days when Austin, Texas was merely a breeding-ground for progressive types, presidential hopefuls, and music junkies. As home to the South-by-Southwest Film Festival (SXSW), Austin has become the independent filmmaker’s Eden. As first time filmmaker Allison Berg explains it, "I thought [SXSW] was one of the best festivals for my film… Read more »
There are two Sundance Film Festivals. The made-for-television, glamorous, Los Angeles-chic Sundance can be seen on Entertainment Tonight and Extra: Hollywood stars walk red carpet lines; former Vice President Al Gore presses flesh with average moviegoers after taking in a showing of Born into Brothels; Paris Hilton gives an impromptu stage performance at the Blender… Read more »
After twenty years behind the lens, Orlando Bagwell is putting down his camera. But his recently Sundance-screened Citizen King is not his swan song. Rather, as the producer-director quickly interjects, King is merely his “most recent” film—and the last to emerge from his Roja Productions before the fifteen-year-old company goes on indefinite hiatus, and Bagwell… Read more »
When you make a film you hope it’s going to be seen by a diverse group of people, and not just by the converted,” says Black Maria Film and Video Festival director John Columbus. “We reach all kinds of people, even rural, ‘off-the-beaten-path’ audiences.” Now in its twenty-third year, the Black Maria (pronounced Ma-RYE-ah) shuns… Read more »
The Sundance Film Festival hosted a record number of attendees this year. Up double from last year, 40,000 people came to watch or show films, participate in panel discussions, and network. Apart from the invariable increase in ticket sales and overall profit and general notability, the upsurge in festival-goers this year also yielded an increase… Read more »
The subject of producers’ reps—who they are and what they do—is one that a lot of us find confusing. And yet, most films that secure distribution during festivals, especially in recent years, have done so through the help of a producers’ rep. I decided it would be both useful and important as a filmmaker to… Read more »
Nestled next to majestic Mt. Tamalpais and filled with four-star restaurants, fine watering holes, and numerous natural wonders, the small city of Mill Valley nestled in Northern California’s Marin County provides a great backdrop for a relatively small but exceptional film festival. Without the frantic energy of Sundance, Cannes, and other higher profile film festivals,… Read more »
MAY 10, 2003 The movie premieres at the Tribeca Film Festival. I watch from the aisle and think, “Man this looks good.” The movie is Nights Like These, a 16mm black and white short I shot the year before, about a bored shadow that attempts to switch places with the shadow of a mysterious, hopefully… Read more »