The Evolutionary Turning Point
Film critic Courtney Garnder takes a look at Mari Walker’s feature debut, See You Then and all the messy parts of old relationships that bubble to the surface when people reunite.
SXSW
VR In the Spotlight
Staff writer Maddy Kadish explores a new ‘reality’ taking the Festival circuit by storm.
SXSW 2016: Film Highlights
Veteran SXSW-goer Steven Abrams takes in what has become a monolithic, all-things cultural experience. Here he offers the film highlights from 2016, including documentaries about silence, disabilities, and going from YouTuber to star.
SXSW 2016: Female Filmmakers See Indie Film as Site for Change
Last year Steven Abrams said that women “brought the substance” to SXSW. This year, in keynotes and panels, they continued to call for equality and change, citing independent storytelling as fertile ground for that change.
10 Filmmakers to Watch in 2015: Navid Khonsari and Vassiliki Khonsari
Game developer Navid Khonsari and filmmaker Bessie Khonsari join our 10 to Watch list with a genre-merging project, 1979 Revolution, a video game that aims to evoke the empathy of film. Navid and Bessie Khonsari participated in the New Frontier Story Lab at the Sundance Institute in 2014 and 1979 Revolution appeared as an exhibit in Sundance Film Festival’s New Frontier and at SXSW in 2015.
Extra: An Interview with cast members from I Dream Too Much – Eden Brolin and Danielle Brooks
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.
10 Filmmakers to Watch in 2015: 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.
Filmmakers and their Global Lens: Joshua Oppenheimer
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.
Filmmakers and Their Global Lens: Ondi Timoner
“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.