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 July 2, 2008 LAFF '08 INTERVIEW | "I'll Come Running" Director Spencer Parsons and "HottieBoombaLottie" Director Seth Packard
Los Angeles Film Festival coverage sponsored by Stella Artois. [ read more in People ] [ 0 comments ] [ filed under Interviews, Los Angeles Film Festival ] June 30, 2008 indieWIRE INTERVIEW | "Tell No One" Director Guillaume Canet
It's not exactly clear when the trend started, but French filmmakers are currently making the best old-style Hollywood thrillers. The caffeinated pace, requisite chase scenes, intricate plots are all there. But Gallic filmmakers bring something more to the party: distinctive camera work along with a social critique and complex characters who resonate with the over-thirteen crowd. Claude Lelouche's recent thriller "Roman de Gare" plumbed the darker corners of the fame game and a writer's ego. Now comes "Tell No One" from actor-turned-director Guillaume Canet, a major hit in France and winner of two Cesars. Adapted from the novel by Harlan Coben - six million copies sold, translated in twenty-seven languages - "Tell No One" essentially hangs an action thriller and police procedural on a story of romantic obsession. [ read more in People ] [ 0 comments ] [ filed under Interviews, Lead Story, World Cinema ] June 28, 2008 LAFF '08 INTERVIEW | "Must Read After My Death" Director Morgan Dews
Los Angeles Film Festival coverage sponsored by Stella Artois. [ read more in People ] [ 0 comments ] [ filed under Documentary, Interviews, Los Angeles Film Festival ] June 27, 2008 LAFF '08 INTERVIEW | "Boogie Man: The Lee Atwater Story" Director Stefan Forbes
Los Angeles Film Festival coverage sponsored by Stella Artois. [ read more in People ] [ 0 comments ] [ filed under Documentary, Interviews, Los Angeles Film Festival ]  LAFF '08 INTERVIEW | "Thing With No Name" Director Sarah Friedland
Los Angeles Film Festival coverage sponsored by Stella Artois. [ read more in People ] [ 0 comments ] [ filed under Documentary, Interviews, Los Angeles Film Festival ] June 26, 2008 LAFF '08 INTERVIEW | "Trinidad" Co-Directors Jay Hodges and PJ Raval
Los Angeles Film Festival coverage sponsored by Stella Artois. [ read more in People ] [ 0 comments ] [ filed under Documentary, Interviews, Los Angeles Film Festival ]  LAFF '08 INTERVIEW | "Loot" Director Darius Marder
Los Angeles Film Festival coverage sponsored by Stella Artois. [ read more in People ] [ 0 comments ] [ filed under Documentary, Interviews, Los Angeles Film Festival ]  LAFF '08 INTERVIEW | "Prince of Broadway" Director Sean Baker
Los Angeles Film Festival coverage sponsored by Stella Artois. [ read more in People ] [ 0 comments ] [ filed under Interviews, Los Angeles Film Festival ] June 25, 2008 indieWIRE INTERVIEW | "All In This Tea" Directors Les Blank and Gina Leibrecht
Co-directors Les Blank and Gina Leibrecht have collaborated on the documentary "All In This Tea." The film follows David Lee Hoffman, a man more passionate about tea than any other. Travelling with him to the most remote regions of China, Blank and Leibrecht detail Hoffman's search for the best handmade teas in the world. The film had its world premiere Berlin International Film Festival last year. "Tea" opens on Friday, June 27 at Cinema Village in New York. [ read more in People ] [ 0 comments ] [ filed under Documentary, Interviews ]  LAFF '08 INTERVIEW | "Largo" Co-Director Andrew van Baal
Los Angeles Film Festival coverage sponsored by Stella Artois. [ read more in People ] [ 0 comments ] [ filed under Documentary, Interviews, Los Angeles Film Festival ]  LAFF '08 INTERVIEW | "Finishing Heaven" Director Mark Mann, "Big City Heart" Director Ben Rodkin, and "The Poker House" Director Lori Petty
Los Angeles Film Festival coverage sponsored by Stella Artois. [ read more in People ] [ 0 comments ] [ filed under Interviews, Los Angeles Film Festival ] June 24, 2008 indieWIRE INTERVIEW | "Full Grown Men" Director David Munro
The arrival of "Full Grown Men" in limited release this week marks a belated emergence for a film not unlike the delayed maturity of the film's downtrodden protagonist. Directed by David Munro, "Full Grown Men" (the winner of this year's indieWIRE: Undiscovered Gems audience award, sponsored by Sundance Channel and presented by The New York Times and Emerging Pictures) tracks the psychological progress of Alby (Matt McGrath), a thirty-year-old stargazer woefully nostalgic for his salad days. Abandoning his wife before the opening credits, Alby finds his old childhood pal Elias (Judah Friedlander of "30 Rock") and together they take a road trip that allows both to work through their various neuroses. [ read more in People ] [ 0 comments ] [ filed under Interviews, Lead Story ]  LAFF '08 INTERVIEW | "Pressure Cooker" Directors Jennifer Grausman and Mark Becker
Los Angeles Film Festival coverage sponsored by Stella Artois. [ read more in People ] [ 0 comments ] [ filed under Documentary, Interviews, Los Angeles Film Festival ]  LAFF '08 INTERVIEW | "Dirty Hands: The Art & Crimes of David Choe" Director Harry Kim
Los Angeles Film Festival coverage sponsored by Stella Artois. [ read more in People ] [ 0 comments ] [ filed under Documentary, Interviews, Los Angeles Film Festival ] June 23, 2008 LAFF '08 INTERVIEW | "Paper or Plastic?" Co-Directors Justine Jacob and Alex D. da Silva
Los Angeles Film Festival coverage sponsored by Stella Artois. [ read more in People ] [ 0 comments ] [ filed under Documentary, Interviews, Los Angeles Film Festival ] June 18, 2008 indieWIRE INTERVIEW | "Brick Lane" Director Sarah Gavron
The theme of the immigrant experience has become a burgeoning sub-genre in both cinema and literature. The latest such film on tap is "Brick Lane," a debut feature helmed by Sarah Gavron, who previously had mainly a BAFTA-winning TV movie to her credit. The project presented multiple challenges. Writers Laura Jones and Abi Morgan had to compress the acclaimed 500 page novel by Monica Ali (short listed for Britain's Man Booker Prize for Fiction in 2003). Gavron needed to devise a visual equivalent for the rich inner life of a notably silent heroine. The filmmakers scoured the world in search of actors to play the Bangladeshi characters. Add to that, Gavron, who's Caucasian, was making a movie about Bangladeshis. [ read more in People ] [ 0 comments ] [ filed under Interviews, Lead Story, World Cinema ] June 11, 2008 indieWIRE INTERVIEW | "Kicking It" Director Susan Koch
Director Susan Koch's Sundance '08 doc "Kicking It" (co-directed by Jeff Werner) centers on the Homeless World Cup that was established in 2001 with the idea to give homeless people the opportunity to better their lives through sports. In the five years since its creation, 20,000 people have competed on street teams. The film captures the 2006 Homeless World Cup in which 500 players representing 48 countries traveled to Cape Town, South Africa. Seven players are profiled... Liberation Films opens the film in limited release Friday, June 13. [ read more in People ] [ 0 comments ] [ filed under Documentary, Interviews, Lead Story ] June 10, 2008 iW PROFILE | "My Winnipeg" Director Guy Maddin
"I was going in the direction that all indie directors go," said filmmaker Guy Maddin, reflecting on his career. "It was fun to do a U-turn and go in the opposite direction. Ironically, if I go to Hollywood, I'd be happier going this way. I'll get there on my own strengths, if I get there at all." Maddin, talking to a moderator Dennis Lim in front of a crowd that gathered at the Apple Store SoHo during the Tribeca Film Festival, is referring to the primitive nature of his recent films, most particularly "My Winnipeg," which is being released by IFC Films at the IFC Center and Lincoln Cinemas in New York this Friday, June 13. [EDITOR'S NOTE: This profile was originally published as part of indieWIRE's coverage of the 7th Tribeca Film Festival.] [ read more in People ] [ 0 comments ] [ filed under Documentary, Lead Story, Profiles ] June 9, 2008 indieWIRE INTERVIEW | "On the Rumba River" Director Jacques Sarasin
Director Jacques Sarasin's music doc "On the Rumba River" is described as a "tribute to the Congolese people... In the face of staggering poverty, a history of oppression and a long-time civil war that has claimed the lives of four million people, people continue to find solace in music. The film focuses on Antoine Kolosoy, whose music was banned by the Belgian colonia authorities who feared his joyful rhythms would cuase unrest. In the '60s, his songs expressed the hopes of the newly independent country that believed in its future... This is the second directing project for Sarasin following his 2001 drama "Je chanterai pur toi" (I'll Sing for You). The film is currently in limited release from First Run Features. [ read more in People ] [ 0 comments ] [ filed under Interviews ] June 3, 2008 indieWIRE INTERVIEW | "Take Out" Co-director Sean Baker
Co-director Sean Baker's "Take Out" centers on the day in the life of Ming Ding, an illegal Chinese immigrant working as a deliveryman for a Chinese take-out shop in New York City. Ming is behind with his payments on his huge debt to the smugglers who brought him to the US. The collectors have given him until the end of the day to deliver the money that is due. After borrowing most from friends and relatives, Ming realizes that the remainder must come from the day's delivery tips... CAVU Pictures opens the film in limited release Friday, June 6. [ read more in People ] [ 0 comments ] [ filed under Interviews ]  indieWIRE INTERVIEW | "Operation Filmmaker" Director Nina Davenport
After an award-winning run on the festival circuit, including the Documentary Award for AFI Fest and the KNF Award from the Rotterdam International Film Festival, Nina Davenport's "Operation Filmmaker is beginning a limited theatrical release this Friday, June 6. The film follows Muthana Mohmed, a young Iraqi man who appeared on MTV's "True Life" series explaining his dream of becoming a filmmaker. The episode caught the eye of actor-director Liev Schreiber, who hired Muthana to work on the set of his film "Everything is Illuminated." Davenport decided to film Muthana's experiences on set, which led to her personal entanglement in the situations that arose. Davenport talked to indieWIRE about the experience and her hopes for "Filmmaker"'s release. [ read more in People ] [ 0 comments ] [ filed under Interviews, Lead Story ] June 2, 2008 Shorts Column | Matthew Modine on Fifteen Years of Making Short Films
Two weeks after Matthew Modine's most recent short film, "I Think I Thought," made its North American premiere at the 2008 Tribeca Film Festival, the actor/writer/director spoke to indieWIRE about his decade-and-half-long career making shorts. Having embarked on his first short film endeavor while acting in Robert Altman's "Short Cuts," Modine continues to make shorts that not only speak to ideas he's passionate about but also are extremely entertaining. With "I Think I Thought" being released on iTunes later this month, "To Kill an American" on Metacafe, and "Cowboy" set to play CineVegas next month, Modine's career as a short filmmaker is taking center stage. Here, in his own words, Matthew Modine reveals what inspires him to pick up a camera and make short films. [ read more in People ] [ 2 comments ] [ filed under Lead Story, Profiles, Shorts ] June 1, 2008 indieWIRE PROFILE | "The Foot Fist Way" Director Jody Hill
"What the #@!* is 'The Foot Fist Way'?" That's what the headline read inside Entertainment Weekly's annual summer preview issue last month. It's fitting, as many people (inside and outside the business) have been asking that same question since 2006. That year at Sundance Jody Hill and his group of North Carolina School of the Arts misfits came on the scene to premiere this no-name/low budget comedy which had momentarily taken Hill out of his boring day job and thrust into credit card debt. A mix of Judd Apatow comedies and "The Office," "The Foot Fist Way" wouldn't leave Park City with a distribution deal, but created a buzz as screeners passed around Hollywood, and before the year would end Hill and the film's lead, Danny McBride, would be rubbing elbows with the top comedians in Hollywood. [ read more in People ] [ 0 comments ] [ filed under Lead Story, Profiles ] May 30, 2008 iW PROFILE | "Savage Grace" Director Tom Kalin
Sixteen years after his directorial debut, "Swoon," Tom Kalin's follow-up, "Savage Grace," is being released theatrically today (Friday). Based on the true-crime novel by Natalie Robins, "Grace" tells the story of Barbara Baekeland (Julianne Moore) and her, to say the least, challenging relationships with her husband Brooks (Stephan Dillane) and her son Tony (Eddie Redmayne). For Kalin, the directorial hiatus was not unproductive. He has produced films including "Go Fish" and "I Shot Andy Warhol, and continues to teach at Columbia University. Kalin participated in a conversation in "Grace"'s honour during the indieWIRE and Apple's series of talks during the Tribeca Film Festival, where he discussed the film and its difficult journey to the screen. [ read more in People ] [ 0 comments ] [ filed under Lead Story, Profiles ] May 28, 2008 indieWIRE INTERVIEW | "Bigger Stronger Faster*" Director Chris Bell
After making an award winning short film just after graduating from USC's School of Cinematic Arts, Chris Bell makes his feature directorial debut with the documentary "Bigger, Stronger, Faster*." As one might imagine, the characteristics of the steroids subculture are imbedded in a few pieces of the American pie, given the country's cultural emphasis on the size and strength of men. "Stronger," which debuted at Sundance earlier this year, examines this, focusing on Bell's two brothers and how they became involved in that world. The film opens Friday via Magnolia Films in limited release. [ read more in People ] [ 0 comments ] [ filed under Documentary, Interviews, Lead Story ] May 25, 2008 indieWIRE PROFILE | "A Jihad For Love"'s Parvez Sharma and Sandi DuBowski
"I think my entire life has been leading up to this film," said Parvez Sharma, director of the documentary, "A Jihad For Love," which is produced by Sandi DuBowski, director of "Trembling Before G-d." "Jihad" details the five-year project Sharma undertook exploring the lives of Muslim homosexuals in Europe, South Asia, the Middle East, South Africa and beyond. It opened at the IFC Center in New York this Friday, and expands over the coming week. [EDITOR'S NOTE: This profile was originally published during the 2008 Toronto International Film Festival, where the interview was conducted.] [ read more in People ] [ 0 comments ] [ filed under Profiles ] May 22, 2008 indieWIRE INTERVIEW | "Tuya's Marriage" Director Wang Quanan
Chinese director Wang Quanan's romantic drama "Tuya's Marriage" is set in Inner Mongolia about a hardworking and hardheaded desert herder who refuses to be settled in a town in accordance with the new industrialization policy. She is kept busy with two kids, a disabled husband and 100 sheep to care for, but one day she hurts her back. The only way for the family to survive is for her to divorce her husband on paper and look for a new spouse who can take care of the whole family. Music Box Film released the feature in New York last month, and will open in Los Angeles this Friday, May 23. [ read more in People ] [ 0 comments ] [ filed under Interviews ] May 14, 2008 indieWIRE INTERVIEW | "Reprise" Director Joachim Trier
Combining pop whimsy with nuanced characters, Joachim Trier's "Reprise" constructs a simultaneously moving and satiric portrayal of two young struggling writers, Erik (Espen Klouman-Hoiner) and Phillip (Anders Danielson Lie), in Norway's chic modern professional scene. After a warm reception at the Sundance Film Festival in 2007 and a similar response later that year at New Directors/New Films, "Reprise" remained without distribution until producer Scott Rudin, a fan of the film, pressured Miramax's Daniel Battsek to purchase it. Incessantly lively, filled with contemporary references, and containing a number of creative flourishes to help give the heavier ideas a sense of levity, "Reprise" marks Trier's directorial debut. In a conversation with indieWIRE last week at the Soho Grand Hotel, the filmmaker matched the positive qualities that make his movie so distinct. [ read more in People ] [ 0 comments ] [ filed under Interviews, World Cinema ] May 11, 2008 indieWIRE INTERVIEW | "Bloodline" Director Bruce Burgess
Documentarian Bruce Burgess has directed a series of conspiracy-oriented films over the past decades, from 1996's "Dreamland: Area 51" to 2002's "Bigfootville." In his first foray into theatrically released documentaries, Burgess (who usually hosts the films as well) takes on the so-called "bloodline conspiracy" that suggests that Jesus Christ married Mary Magdalene, and that she had his child. Taking over three years to complete, the film is the first investigation into this conspiracy to bring forth new evidence in the form of both a mummified corpse bearing a red cross and a buried chest with artifacts dating back to Christ's days. indieWIRE talked to Burgess about his film, "Bloodline," which opens in New York on Friday, May 9. [ read more in People ] [ 0 comments ] [ filed under Interviews ] May 8, 2008 indieWIRE INTERVIEW | "Battle for Haditha" Director Nick Broomfield
As a documentarian, Nick Broomfield has dissected American pop culture with films like "Biggie & Tupac" and "Kurt & Courtney." With his more recent forays into narrative feature filmmaking, he has broadened his scope to include global issues. "Ghosts" explored the dark world of Chinese migrant workers in the UK, and his latest work, "Battle for Haditha," which opened at Film Forum earlier this week, recreates the infamous 2005 incident where U.S. marines murdered two dozen Iraqi civilians in a small village, driven by rage after encountering a roadside bomb. An attempt by the military to cover up the role of the American soldiers in the slaughter didn't last long. Media scrutiny led to an internal investigation, and the events have now been thoroughly recorded in various reports. [ read more in People ] [ 0 comments ] [ filed under Interviews ]
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