In its 10th year, Sundance’s New Frontier section abounded with cutting edge technology and immersive, VR experiences. Neil Kendricks and Maddy Kadish wore the headsets, goggles, and assorted cutting-edge tech in order to leave Park City momentarily behind and glimpse the future of storytelling.
What has been an absence of cinematic dialogue about gun access and violence in the United States was filled with both documentaries and fiction features at Sundance 2016. The Independent’s Maddy Kadish and Neil Kendricks debate the merits and emotional impact of several titles.
Now in its eighth year, The Independent’s 10 Filmmakers to Watch highlights filmmakers – producers, programmers, animators, and others – whose upcoming work we think will wow you this year. Submit your nominations by February 15, 2016.
Senior film critic Kurt Brokaw selects his favorites from the 25th edition of the NYJFF, which runs January 13-26, 2016. Among them are Ellis, Rabin, The Last Day, Dear God, and The Law.
“Sometimes I’m watching what I’ve shot and I’m like, ‘I could have never written that dialogue.’ People are really good actors in documentary,” said Montreal-based filmmaker Jean-François Lesage about making his doc, A Summer Love. Lesage and four other filmmakers with work screening at the 2015 RIDM Film Festival sat down with The Independent’s Patrick Pearce to talk elements of film style.
Upon the digital restoration and US release of Jane B. by Agnès V. and Kung-Fu Master! the ever-iconic Agnès Varda tells The Independent: “A lot of people love my films but I don’t know if they are commercial. That’s why I always say, ‘I don’t have a career, I just made films.’ I am marginal and I am happy to be marginal because I’m very well known in these marginal circles of cinephiles.”
Director Radu Jude talks to The Independent about how his latest, Aferim!, may seem Shakespearian but actually uses language discovered in archival literary texts and other documents. And if you’re wondering where he’s headed next, it’s into an adaptation of work by novelist Max Blecher, sometimes called Romania’s Kafka.
Films by directors Barbara Kopple, Kristina Sorge, Douglas Sloan, Kent Jones, Jason Hutt, Marc Levin, Stephen Maing, Jimmy Goldblum, and Amy Berg are Kurt Brokaw’s critic’s picks from DOC NYC, the all-documentary festival that runs from November 12-19, 2015.
ITVFest’s executive director Philip Gilpin thinks the peaceful Vermont location adds an invaluable dimension to the festival focused on Internet entertainment. Plus, he said that when execs are shocked by the line-up because “what they’re seeing is better than what they are watching most nights on TV. A lot of these projects are screen ready.”