Monthly Archives: January 2012

Like most people I have somewhat of a love/hate relationship with Sundance.  Mostly love.  How could I not?  It’s ground zero for American cinema.  But it’s also so cold and snowy and crowded and inevitably overhyped.  After being dragged to Park City by one of his clients last minute, one of my publicist friends exclaimed “Sundance is SO gross!” when I ran into him in front of TAO last year.

None of those things are the festival’s fault though so I love you Sundance, even though sometimes you play inexcusably wretched films (that will remain unnamed here) and that is your fault.

Almost as soon as I arrived I heard BEASTS OF THE SOUTHERN WILD was the film to see.  News of SURROGATE was not far behind.  I didn’t see either of those but you can hear a lot about both in pretty much every article about the festival and rightly so.  The team that made BEASTS also made GLORY AT SEA which we screened here at the festival a few years ago.  You can watch it here.  It’s bold, original and moving filmmaking and I’m happy they found a bigger stage.

I saw an Italian film called CORPO CELESTE which I liked very much.  I can’t say the same for some of the other more mainstream Italian fare I’ve seen over the past couple of years.  I did not care for HABEMUS PAPEM in the least.  CELESTE seemed like a welcome departure from that style.  Something more gritty and honest.  The spiritual thread was, as always, a major one.  Is everyone in Italy really that religious?

I also saw THE COMEDY by Tim Heidecker of the Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job! On the one hand, the main character is an uncannily accurate execution.  On the other hand that’s all the film is and after 90 minutes of it chances are people are going to grow extremely weary of him and the film like I did…but I think that’s the point so Mr. Heidecker wins.  Plus the film sold, so Mr. Heidecker definitely wins.

The other films I saw will go unnamed as I mentioned above.  When I wasn’t watching films I was meeting and catching up with people like Dana Harris of indieWIRE, Mike Raisler of Cinereach, James Johnston, Toby Halbrooks, and David Lowery of the soon to be made AIN’T THEM BODIES SAINTS, Jason Krigsfeld and Eli Bronner of LUA and the short film ’92 SKYBOX ALONZO MOURNING ROOKIE CARD, Kelly Williams (LSIFF Dir. of Programming and also a Slamdance adjudicator), Kat Candler and Farah White of the short film HELLION, Michael Cain, Melina McKinnon and Richard Saunders of the Trinity Film Fund, Basil Tsiokos of Sundance and many other films and film festivals, Red Sanders of Red Productions, Brandon Bisig of Thruline and many more.  I do love you Sundance.

One late night we stumbled upon a house party up a ways from town in which producer Eric Watson was hanging out.  Eric is a filmmaker who early in his career produced a few movies called PI, REQUIEM FOR A DREAM and THE FOUNTAIN.  Most definitely the highlight of my Sundance was talking to Eric about REQUIEM (which is one of three films that made me want to make film) and all that went into the sound design and score.  I will never forget that score or those grinding teeth.  When I saw SHAME last year I was immediately reminded of REQUIEM and how great film is a complete multi sensory experience.

I do love you Sundance. – AJ

Kimbell Family Festival – Color Your World
Saturday, February 18, 2012
1:00 PM – 4:00 PM
Admission: FREE

The Lone Star Film Society is partnering with the Kimbell Art Museum of Fort Worth to bring you a Family Festival on February 18th, 2012 from 1:00 PM – 4:00 PM at the Kimbell Art Museum.  Admission is FREE.

A kaleidoscope of colors brightens and lightens, dances and calls for your attention. Play with the possibilities of your favorite colors with multimedia art projects and enjoy related films, scheduled family tours, and live performances.

The Lone Star International Film Festival and the year-round programs of the Lone Star Film Society are made possible by the generous support of our members and patrons. Please consider making a secure donation to the Lone Star Film Society by clicking on the donate button below.

February 10 – 20, 2012
Downtown Denton, TX
www.thinlinefilmfest.com

Thin Line Film Fest is an international documentary film festival held in Denton, Texas, embracing the fluid nature of the documentary and celebrating all of the films and filmmakers which define the genre. The fifth annual festival will be held February 10-20, 2012 and will feature 21 Feature films, 43 Short films, 8 Special Presentations and 10 docu-race films which will screen over 11 days in downtown Denton.

Tickets and All-Access passes are now on sale. To purchase tickets/passes and to view/download the 2012 Thin Line Schedule, visit www.thinlinefilmfest.com. To follow Thin Line Film Fest for updates and film trailers, “Like” Thin Line Film Fest on Facebook.

I’m a little behind the curve with this post but nevertheless it seems appropriate as I am on my way to Park City and a week at Sundance.

Overall I’m happy to report that 2011 was for me one of the best years in film for a while.  It seemed we started to emerge from a slump not only in the market but in creativity as well.  Most exciting for me is it seems we’ve started to leave behind the trend of what I like to call ‘accidental’ films that for the past 5 years or so have dominated a lot of the conversation in the indie world.

While I do believe that all of those in the latest generation of emerging filmmakers have led a truly evolutionary movement, I anxiously awaited the carelessness of films that intentionally ignored skill or discipline to go out of fashion.  Hopefully 2011 harkened a return to thoughtful, purposeful filmmaking.

For me, some indications that it did included films like (in chronological order as I saw them) TAKE SHELTER, PIONEER, PARIAH, NATURAL SELECTION, KNIFE (full disclosure – I produced this but that’s because it is the kind of film I wanted to see come to fruition), WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT KEVIN, TREE OF LIFE, SHAME, THE DESCENDANTS, ORDINARY FAMILY, WARRIOR, A LITTLE CLOSER.  There were more but these are off the top of my head.

These were all films in which story, cinematography, acting, score, sound and lighting were taken into careful consideration and not treated as mere accidents of recording things with a camera.  Let’s hope that this trend continues and permeates all sectors of the filmmaking community from the lowest to highest budgets.

Not only were these films purposefully made but they were about purposeful people.  Their stories were filled with characters that took action – for better or worse – even when they weren’t sure which action was best or if their actions would have any consequence at all.  These were characters that were strong, stubborn, foolish, regretful, mad, murderous, vengeful, depraved, naive and more but above all, they were not idle.

For a generation like mine (of which I am very much a product of) that tends to criticize, over-analyze and cynicize (real word?) to the point of paralysis, these are the kind of characters we need to see depicted larger than life.

Let’s hope 2012 has some more of the same in store.  From the looks of this I’m optimistic. - AJ