https://independent-magazine.org/2005/04/01/la-film-view/
Obsessed with Independent Film Since 1976
Obsessed with Independent Film Since 1976
In New York, a rooftop is not merely a rooftop. Part refuge, part observation deck, the roof is where New Yorkers go to escape, embrace, and celebrate their city. It’s no surprise then, that filmmakers have long used rooftops to convey New York life: they’re ubiquitous, photogenic, and, most of all, emblematic. Think of all… Read more »
Rebecca Miller needs to recharge. Well, her phone at least. Plugged into an ancient socket behind me and perched on a café table supporting a plate of hummus and a soy-milk coffee, the little bugger buzzes in its charger twice, prompting Miller to twice interrupt an already brief conversation with whispered instructions to her husband—concerning… Read more »
Stanley Crouch is one of America’s most eloquent and original social critics. In the last three decades, Crouch has published several books and his essays have appeared in numerous national publications including Harper’s and The New Republic. In 1993 he was awarded the MacArthur “genius grant” in recognition of his work. Crouch has tackled cinema… Read more »
Charlie Kaufman: Screenwriting seminars are bullshit Donald Kaufman: In theory, I agree with you. But this one’s different. This one’s highly regarded in the industry. Charlie Kaufman: Don’t say industry. Donald Kaufman: Charlie, this guy knows screenwriting. People come from all over to study with him. Adaptation (Spike Jonze, dir., 2002) We have come from… Read more »
When he’d just sprung from the college gates in 1972, John Sayles embarked on a cross-country hitchhiking trip. “It was a lot safer than it is now,” he said. “Your hitchhiker to serial killer ratio was a lot better back then.” Because he didn’t look like a full-on hippie, more like someone just back from… Read more »
There’s an old adage in the business world that you should never risk offending a client by talking about religion or politics. What to make of the film industry, then, which in recent months appears to be dispensing with that particular rule of etiquette? A series of controversial films is testing the notion that politically… Read more »
I met Spike Lee for the first time in the fall of 1989 at the University of New Hampshire, where I’d recently transferred from, at an event in his honor hosted by the Black Student Union. Do the Right Thing had come out the summer before, and I was sufficiently amped up about asking him… Read more »
Dear Doc Doctor: Should I provide subtitles for the subjects in my documentary who speak Spanglish, or other "hybrid" languages in America? I heard sub-titled films are harder to distribute. Is it true? The world of languages and dialects can become quite complex in the United States, where so many nationalities converge. And it is… Read more »
After more than twenty years in the business, I decided to quit my career as a costume designer. I was profoundly depressed by the excessive violence, sex, and emptiness in the scripts I was seeing and the movies I was working on. I have long recognized the power of cinema, and I had come to… Read more »
Scenarios USA, a nonprofit organization devoted to helping kids make smarter decisions about sex, announced the two winners for their “What’s The Real Deal” contests on February 6, 2004. The contests, which took place in south Texas and in Miami, encouraged kids ages twelve to twenty-two to submit stories or scripts about the problems they… Read more »