Mike Luciano and Phil Matarese are on our 10 to Watch list for their series, Animals. Read about their inspiration and how they connected with indie filmmaking powerhouses Mark and Jay Duplass to be the first completed television series to debut at Sundance in hopes of landing a distributor.
The Independent seeks out the collaborators, mentors, colleagues, and friends of our 10 to Watch filmmakers in order to hear more about how they inspire others working in independent film. Steven Abrams talks with Eden Brolin and Danielle Brooks about what they learned from working with 10 to Watch’s Katie Cokinos.
Katie Cokinos returns to Austin, the scene of her ad-hoc film school in the red hot ’90s, for the world premiere of her directorial debut, I Dream Too Much, which puts her on our 10 to Watch for 2015. The Independent’s Steven Abrams caught up with her at SXSW to talk about the transition from script to screen and how in film, too, directors must kill their darlings.
Our 10 to Watch Filmmakers of 2015 all in one place! Every day for 10 straight days we’ll announce a new filmmaker to keep an eye on in the coming year. With the help of YOU plus industry colleagues, we’ve selected artists who are breaking new ground, either in their own career or in the form at large.
Senior critic Kurt Brokaw commends Tribeca’s Sharon Badal on her “peerless curating” in his annual selection of festival favorites. From the buzzy The Wolfpack to the under-the-radar shorts such as Big Boy selected by Badal, this year’s picks thus far include dramatized dance, rock legends (but not conspiracy theories), and under-helicoptered children.
Joshua Oppenheimer’s latest film, The Look of Silence, is a companion piece to the critically acclaimed, and hotly debated, The Act of Killing. The Independent‘s staff writer Dana Knight spoke with Oppenheimer at SXSW, where he commented on how Americans misinterpret cinéma vérité. “It’s actually precisely because of the camera not despite it…that certain things are happening,” he said.
In a first-ever for The Independent, at least since our reincarnation in 2007, we feature a poem. This “found poem” by Brian Burt lets Bill Murray talk about movie stars, golf, and his idea of paradise, something Murray thinks everyone should experience.
“Oh, he was frustrated with me and I was frustrated with him through the process of making this film, but I’m a fan of the man,” says Ondi Timoner to The Independent’s Dana Knight. The pair talks shop about filming Russell Brand for Brand: The Second Coming, which premiered at SXSW 2015.
From two boxing documentaries to the viewpoints of Afghan photojournalists, much of the buzz during this year’s SXSW surrounded films by or about women. Steven Abrams offers up his observations of this festival, growing each year in every direction, as it struggles to keep the margins front and center.