Making Films

Quest for Truth

michele — Sat, 16 Aug 2008 07:22:26 -0500

Rory Kennedy didn’t always know she wanted to be a filmmaker, but she did see herself as a political activist. As the daughter of former U.S. Senator Robert F. Kennedy, politics run strong in her blood. In wanting to make an impact on people’s lives, she gravitated towards film as a means of educating herself and others about political and social issues.

Letter from Buenos Aires: Subsidies Create More Films, But Not an Eager Audience

mike — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 00:00:00 -0500

It’s not surprising that a country known for its artistic and cultural liveliness is garnering critical acclaim and attention for its films.

Werner Herzog Made Me Do It

michele — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 00:00:00 -0500

Stuck in a dead-end job and worried he'd never make it as a filmmaker, Lee Kazimir decided to take Werner Herzog's advice. Legendary filmmaker Herzog had once said in an interview that he believed the best way to become a filmmaker would be not to practice filmmaking but to walk -- say, from Madrid to Kiev.

Filmmaker's Journal: So Much for Taking a Break

mike — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 11:19:12 -0500

In 2007, an article in the New York Times hailed Phnom Penh, the capital city of Cambodia, as “the next Prague.” Soon thereafter, every footloose hipster in the West seemed to home in on the place. But the city they found was a far cry from “the next Prague.” It is still too alien to most Western sensibilities, and it is at times dismayingly dark, violent, and desperate.

"Prince Among Slaves": Recreating History on a Budget

mike — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 01:22:01 -0600

Prince Among Slaves, which aired in February on PBS as part of public television's Black History Month programming, is the story of Abdul Rahman Ibrahima, an African prince who was captured by slave traders in 1788. He completed the Middle Passage in shackles, and ended up sold to a farmer of modest means in Natchez, Mississippi.

Letter from Bangkok: Thai Indies Flourish, and Face New Censorship

mike — Mon, 18 Feb 2008 14:48:23 -0600

Mainstream Thai cinema is coming up on the international radar lately. In 2003, Francis Ford Coppola spearheaded the international release of Suriyothai, one of the highest grossing Thai films ever when it was first released in that country. It recalls the heroic exploits of a 16th Thai queen defending her country against Burmese invasion.

Taking an Abstract Idea and Creating a Narrative

mike — Mon, 10 Dec 2007 16:00:00 -0600

King Corn is a slightly apocalyptic documentary that explores where we come from—or where our food comes from, at the very least. By interweaving a filmmaker-as-subject story of two guys, a cornfield, and some ammonia fertilizer with disparate elements, the film expertly tackles the complicated overarching issues related to farming subsidies in the United States.

The Doc Doctor's Anatomy of a Film: "Rock and a Heart Place"

michele — Sat, 01 Dec 2007 00:00:00 -0600

Case Study No. 2

Rock and a Heart Place, produced by Nancy Sabino and Michael Sodano
Running time: 80 minutes

Film Vitals

Logline: Each Christmas, 400 volunteers band together to give the greatest gift: joy to the forgotten of society, the homeless, the seniors and the disabled of their neighborhood.

Will Success Spoil the 48 Hour Film Project?

nheintz — Thu, 08 Nov 2007 13:43:46 -0600

On a sunny Saturday afternoon in January, director David Butler and his motley film crew set up shop in a cavernous yellow brick building on Eastern Avenue in Baltimore’s Little Italy. The team, known collectively as Bargain Basement Films, started straggling in at about 7 a.m.

Exploring Her Formative Years

Fri, 02 Nov 2007 13:59:05 -0500

As a young girl, Hope Dickson Leach dreamed of becoming a painter. She attended boarding school in England from the ages of 9 to 17 and earned an undergraduate degree in philosophy from the University of Edinburgh. But after interning for the likes of Mario Kassar and Todd Solondz, she convinced Columbia University's film department to give her a chance.