Author: David Pierotti


Articles Written by David Pierotti:

Pregnant woman

10 to Watch Filmmakers in 2018: Leslie Tai

Leslie Tai is an emerging Chinese-American filmmaker from San Francisco. After graduating from UCLA with a B.A. in Design Media Arts, Tai moved to China in 2006. From 2007-2011, she made and exhibited films as an artist of Beijing-based independent art studio, Caochangdi Workstation. The studio’s an independent art space helmed by Wu Wenguang. He’s… Read more »

10 To Watch Filmmakers in 2018: Christina Raia

Step by step, Christina Raia is carving out her own uniquely contemporary film career. After graduating from Hunter College, she co-founded CongestedCat and began developing short films. “Shorts are like therapy and a way to engage my audience while I work on my long form features,” she says. Each one helped grow an audience for… Read more »

10 Filmmakers to Watch in 2017: Lily Baldwin and Saschka Unseld

Virtual Reality—or VR—has grown in recent years and finally come in to its own, with ambitious filmmakers experimenting in the medium. Through You, the VR creation of directors Lily Baldwin and Saschka Unseld, sits at the forefront of this new storytelling medium. It premiered at the 2017 Sundance Film Festival in the New Frontier VR Experiences… Read more »

MJ Rodriguez and Ari Blinder in Gema.

10 Filmmakers to Watch in 2017: Kenrick Prince

Kenrick Prince first made his mark as a young filmmaker in 2010, when his short Mi Amor screened at Cannes and was recognized as a top student film by Campus Movie Fest in the same year. Following this early success, Prince took a hiatus from filmmaking to work on commercials for Pogo Pictures, Spotco, and… Read more »

10 Filmmakers to Watch in 2016: Sophie-Anne Beaudry & Stéphan Beaudoin

The days when the female lead would stand by helpless, offering only an occasional scream, while the tough guys fought over her is fast receding. Today’s heroines can take care of themselves, thank you very much, as Jenifer Lawrence, Charlize Theron and others have aptly demonstrated. This goes for real life as the female MMA… Read more »

10 Filmmakers to Watch: James Demo

The world never seems to lack from an interminable violent conflict, where the level of barbarism wears down the most optimistic soul; where tragedy and suffering appears inevitable and a sense of human agency is lost. Peace processes break down and even the most determined interventionist throws up their hands in defeat. All of which… Read more »

Filmakers surrounding a fire pit at IVTFest

ITVFest 2015: A Dose of New Hollywood in Vermont

I’m sure Cannes in Spring is lovely, but Vermont in Fall is certainly not a bad locale for a film festival, which is undoubtedly part of the appeal of the Independent Television and Film Festival (ITVFest). The small town of Dover, nestled in a bucolic valley at the base of the Green Mountains has been… Read more »

An art concept image from 1979 Revolution. Photo courtesy Ink Stories.

10 Filmmakers to Watch in 2015: Navid Khonsari and Vassiliki Khonsari

The late, great film critic Roger Ebert sparked a furor in 2005 when he claimed video games were not, and would never be, art. The Internet erupted in howls and he was engaged in a spirited (to say the least) debate for years. He eventually retracted this sentiment. I think both the outrage and his… Read more »

A photograph of Darius Clark Monroe, creator of "Evolution of a Criminal"

10 Filmmakers to Watch in 2014: Darius Clark Monroe

Did you do anything stupid as a teenager? Anything wildly out of character that you regretted almost immediately? Something that hurt your family, friends and, most of all, yourself? Darius Clark Monroe did. He robbed a bank and it landed him in prison for three years. But instead of the letting it ruin his life,… Read more »

10 Filmmakers to Watch in 2013: Tom Bean and Luke Poling

There’s a short clip from The Simpsons in the new documentary Plimpton! Starring George Plimpton as Himself where George Plimpton, playing himself in a fashion, says “and now I’ll go back to doing whatever it is I do.” If you are of a certain age, this made perfect sense. You always recognized George Plimpton, from… Read more »