“Dream Team,” the most recent film from directing duo Lev Kalman and Whitney Horn has been acquired by Yellow Veil Pictures ahead of its international sales launch at Marche du Film.
Yellow Veil has acquired worldwide sales rights and North American distribution rights to “Dream Team,” which just held its U.S. premiere at the Los Angeles Festival of Movies after world premiering at the International Film Festival Rotterdam. The company plans to release the film domestically later this year.
According to its official synopsis, “Dream Team” is “an absurdist homage to ’90s basic cable TV thrillers, which follows the episodic escapades of two hot Interpol agents who uncover an international, interspecies mystery.”
“Dream Team” stars Esther Garrel (“Call Me by Your Name”) and Alex Zhang Hungtai (“I Was a Simple Man”). Executive producers include Sarah Winshall (“I Saw the TV Glow”), Pierce Varous (“The Feeling That the Time for Doing Something Has Passed...
Yellow Veil has acquired worldwide sales rights and North American distribution rights to “Dream Team,” which just held its U.S. premiere at the Los Angeles Festival of Movies after world premiering at the International Film Festival Rotterdam. The company plans to release the film domestically later this year.
According to its official synopsis, “Dream Team” is “an absurdist homage to ’90s basic cable TV thrillers, which follows the episodic escapades of two hot Interpol agents who uncover an international, interspecies mystery.”
“Dream Team” stars Esther Garrel (“Call Me by Your Name”) and Alex Zhang Hungtai (“I Was a Simple Man”). Executive producers include Sarah Winshall (“I Saw the TV Glow”), Pierce Varous (“The Feeling That the Time for Doing Something Has Passed...
- 4/10/2024
- by Ellise Shafer
- Variety Film + TV
From a pandemic and Hollywood’s dual strikes to fundraising issues, film festivals have faced a number of challenges in recent years. But a new one is braving the scene and about to hit the circuit.
The Los Angeles Festival of Movies will present its inaugural edition on April 4-7, co-presented by Mubi and Mezzanine and featuring 12 titles (one world premiere), three 4K restorations, a featured artist talk, documentary series and a short film program. Passes are currently on sale with single tickets on sale March 14. Lafm screenings will take place at three recently opened venues across Los Angeles: Vidiots in Eagle Rock, 2220 Arts + Archives in Historic Filipinotown and Now Instant Image Hall in Chinatown.
A24’s I Saw the TV Glow from filmmaker Jane Schoenbrun will open the fest with a West Coast premiere at Vidiots on April 4. Closing Lafm three days later will be the world premiere of...
The Los Angeles Festival of Movies will present its inaugural edition on April 4-7, co-presented by Mubi and Mezzanine and featuring 12 titles (one world premiere), three 4K restorations, a featured artist talk, documentary series and a short film program. Passes are currently on sale with single tickets on sale March 14. Lafm screenings will take place at three recently opened venues across Los Angeles: Vidiots in Eagle Rock, 2220 Arts + Archives in Historic Filipinotown and Now Instant Image Hall in Chinatown.
A24’s I Saw the TV Glow from filmmaker Jane Schoenbrun will open the fest with a West Coast premiere at Vidiots on April 4. Closing Lafm three days later will be the world premiere of...
- 3/7/2024
- by Chris Gardner
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
A new Los Angeles film festival featuring independent films, documentaries and artist talks is set for April 4-7 at venues in Chinatown, Eagle Rock and Filipinotown.
The Los Angeles Festival of Movies was launched by Micah Gottlieb and Sarah Winshall, and will open April 4 with Jane Schoenbrun’s “I Saw the TV Glow.” Closing night film is Conner O’Malley and Danny Scharar’s “Rap World” on April 7. Both films screen at Vidiots.
Screenings will be spread between Vidiots in Eagle Rock, 2220 Arts + Archives in Historic Filipinotown and Now Instant Image Hall in Chinatown.
An artist’s talk will feature musician and artist Kim Gordon and writer Rachel Kushner in conversation about their relationships to the city and cinema of Los Angeles.
The city’s last festival focused on independent films, the L.A. Independent Film Festival, closed in 2018. For several years, Sundance hosted an L.A. screening series, which hasn...
The Los Angeles Festival of Movies was launched by Micah Gottlieb and Sarah Winshall, and will open April 4 with Jane Schoenbrun’s “I Saw the TV Glow.” Closing night film is Conner O’Malley and Danny Scharar’s “Rap World” on April 7. Both films screen at Vidiots.
Screenings will be spread between Vidiots in Eagle Rock, 2220 Arts + Archives in Historic Filipinotown and Now Instant Image Hall in Chinatown.
An artist’s talk will feature musician and artist Kim Gordon and writer Rachel Kushner in conversation about their relationships to the city and cinema of Los Angeles.
The city’s last festival focused on independent films, the L.A. Independent Film Festival, closed in 2018. For several years, Sundance hosted an L.A. screening series, which hasn...
- 3/7/2024
- by Pat Saperstein
- Variety Film + TV
Co-founded by Micah Gottlieb and Sarah Winshall, the inaugural edition of the Los Angeles Festival of Movies is slated to take place this April 4 through 7 in venues across east Los Angeles. Today, the festival announced its inaugural lineup, including selections from former 25 New Faces of Film Lev Kalman and Whitney Horn and Artemis Shaw and Prashanth Kamalakanthan. Below, find the full line-up with descriptions from the festival’s press release. Official Selection Dream Team, dir. Lev Kalman & Whitney Horn Gasoline Rainbow, dir. Bill Ross IV & […]
The post Los Angeles Festival of Movies (Lafm) Announces Inaugural Lineup for April 4-7, 2024 first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.
The post Los Angeles Festival of Movies (Lafm) Announces Inaugural Lineup for April 4-7, 2024 first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.
- 3/7/2024
- by Filmmaker Staff
- Filmmaker Magazine - Blog
Co-founded by Micah Gottlieb and Sarah Winshall, the inaugural edition of the Los Angeles Festival of Movies is slated to take place this April 4 through 7 in venues across east Los Angeles. Today, the festival announced its inaugural lineup, including selections from former 25 New Faces of Film Lev Kalman and Whitney Horn and Artemis Shaw and Prashanth Kamalakanthan. Below, find the full line-up with descriptions from the festival’s press release. Official Selection Dream Team, dir. Lev Kalman & Whitney Horn Gasoline Rainbow, dir. Bill Ross IV & […]
The post Los Angeles Festival of Movies (Lafm) Announces Inaugural Lineup for April 4-7, 2024 first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.
The post Los Angeles Festival of Movies (Lafm) Announces Inaugural Lineup for April 4-7, 2024 first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.
- 3/7/2024
- by Filmmaker Staff
- Filmmaker Magazine-Director Interviews
A new film festival is on the scene. Los Angeles Festival of Movies (Lafm), co-presented by Mubi and Mezzanine, has announced the full line-up for its inaugural run, taking place April 4-7, 2024. Boasting 11 titles––including one world premiere, three 4K restorations, a featured artist talk, documentary series, and curated shorts program––screenings will take place at three recently opened venues on the east side of Los Angeles: Vidiots in Eagle Rock, 2220 Arts + Archives in Historic Filipinotown, and Now Instant Image Hall in Chinatown.
Among the lineup are some of our recent festival favorites: Jane Schoenbrun’s I Saw the TV Glow, India Donaldson’s Good One, the Ross brothers’ Gasoline Rainbow, and Eduardo Williams’ The Human Surge 3. Closing the festival is the world premiere of Conner O’Malley and Danny Scharer’s Rap World.
“This lineup is a snapshot of the past and present landscape of independent cinema, and a group...
Among the lineup are some of our recent festival favorites: Jane Schoenbrun’s I Saw the TV Glow, India Donaldson’s Good One, the Ross brothers’ Gasoline Rainbow, and Eduardo Williams’ The Human Surge 3. Closing the festival is the world premiere of Conner O’Malley and Danny Scharer’s Rap World.
“This lineup is a snapshot of the past and present landscape of independent cinema, and a group...
- 3/7/2024
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
The LA film festival scene just got a bit brighter.
The Los Angeles Festival of Movies (Lafm), co-presented by Mubi and Mezzanine, announced the full lineup for its inaugural festival taking place April 4-7, 2024. The new festival will screen 11 titles including one world premiere, three 4K restorations, plus a featured artist talk, documentary series, and a curated short film program. Passes are currently on sale, and single film tickets go on sale March 14.
Per the festival’s organizers, Lafm was created to redefine Los Angeles as a destination for independent film. There are many film festivals in LA, primarily led by AFI Fest in the fall, but rarely do they make independent film their only focus.
The festival’s screenings will all take place at three recently opened venues on the east side of Los Angeles: Vidiots in Eagle Rock, 2220 Arts + Archives in Historic Filipinotown, and Now Instant Image Hall in Chinatown.
The Los Angeles Festival of Movies (Lafm), co-presented by Mubi and Mezzanine, announced the full lineup for its inaugural festival taking place April 4-7, 2024. The new festival will screen 11 titles including one world premiere, three 4K restorations, plus a featured artist talk, documentary series, and a curated short film program. Passes are currently on sale, and single film tickets go on sale March 14.
Per the festival’s organizers, Lafm was created to redefine Los Angeles as a destination for independent film. There are many film festivals in LA, primarily led by AFI Fest in the fall, but rarely do they make independent film their only focus.
The festival’s screenings will all take place at three recently opened venues on the east side of Los Angeles: Vidiots in Eagle Rock, 2220 Arts + Archives in Historic Filipinotown, and Now Instant Image Hall in Chinatown.
- 3/7/2024
- by Ryan Lattanzio
- Indiewire
Dream Team, the third feature by Lev Kalman and Whitney Horn, is another in the writer-director duo’s run of genre pastiches that double as sociopolitical parables. Here, the influence of ’90s basic cable TV thrillers is channeled into an episodic story about a pair of Interpol agents (Esther Garrel and Alex Zhang Hungtai) who travel to Mexico to investigate the mysterious death of a corral smuggler. Shot by Horn in characteristically textured 16mm, the film unfolds between a variety of West Coast locales stretching from Baja California to Vancouver. As the body count rises and rumors of a physic coral […]
The post Revisiting Silk Stalkings: Lev Kalman and Whitney Horn on IFFR 2024 Premiere Dream Team first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.
The post Revisiting Silk Stalkings: Lev Kalman and Whitney Horn on IFFR 2024 Premiere Dream Team first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.
- 2/9/2024
- by Jordan Cronk
- Filmmaker Magazine-Director Interviews
Dream Team, the third feature by Lev Kalman and Whitney Horn, is another in the writer-director duo’s run of genre pastiches that double as sociopolitical parables. Here, the influence of ’90s basic cable TV thrillers is channeled into an episodic story about a pair of Interpol agents (Esther Garrel and Alex Zhang Hungtai) who travel to Mexico to investigate the mysterious death of a corral smuggler. Shot by Horn in characteristically textured 16mm, the film unfolds between a variety of West Coast locales stretching from Baja California to Vancouver. As the body count rises and rumors of a physic coral […]
The post Revisiting Silk Stalkings: Lev Kalman and Whitney Horn on IFFR 2024 Premiere Dream Team first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.
The post Revisiting Silk Stalkings: Lev Kalman and Whitney Horn on IFFR 2024 Premiere Dream Team first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.
- 2/9/2024
- by Jordan Cronk
- Filmmaker Magazine - Blog
A few weeks ago, as The Sweet East started gracing theatres across the States, Reverse Shot ran a sprawling conversation between critic K. Austin Collins and critic-turned-screenwriter Nick Pinkerton. It’s a delightful exchange I can’t recommend enough, both for all it has to uncover about Sean Price Williams’ film––which Pinkerton wrote and which, in my book, was one of last year’s finest––but also for what it sponges of our depressingly shortsighted, quid-pro-quo relationship with the films we watch, what we expect to receive in return for the time we invest in them. “If I wanted to say something,” Pinkerton reflects on the okay-but-what’s-the-message response Sweet East routinely encountered in the months since its Cannes premiere, “I would open my mouth and the words would come out. That’s not what one makes a movie for. You make a movie to go beyond the expression of simple concepts.
- 2/8/2024
- by Leonardo Goi
- The Film Stage
International Film Festival Rotterdam has revealed that Belgian cinematographer Grimm Vandekerckhove will be the recipient of the fifth annual Robby Müller Award, which pays homage to the craft of artists working behind the lens in the spirit of the celebrated cinematographer.
Vandekerckhove is “known for delicately capturing the inner lives of characters,” the festival said, such as a cleaning lady on a late-night journey in “Ghost Tropic” or the encounter of a foreign construction worker and a moss researcher in “Here,” both directed by Bas Devos. He also shot Stephan Streker’s “A Wedding,” about a teenager forced into an arranged marriage.
“With profound commitment and a wondrous tranquillity he captures details and hidden shades of everyday existence in his own singular way that mirrors the emotionally moving images of Robby Müller,” the jury stated.
In other announcements, the festival, which runs Jan. 25 – Feb. 4, revealed that the jury for the...
Vandekerckhove is “known for delicately capturing the inner lives of characters,” the festival said, such as a cleaning lady on a late-night journey in “Ghost Tropic” or the encounter of a foreign construction worker and a moss researcher in “Here,” both directed by Bas Devos. He also shot Stephan Streker’s “A Wedding,” about a teenager forced into an arranged marriage.
“With profound commitment and a wondrous tranquillity he captures details and hidden shades of everyday existence in his own singular way that mirrors the emotionally moving images of Robby Müller,” the jury stated.
In other announcements, the festival, which runs Jan. 25 – Feb. 4, revealed that the jury for the...
- 12/12/2023
- by Leo Barraclough
- Variety Film + TV
Titles for the Limelight, Harbour, Cinema Regained and Focus strands have been added to the line-up.
Marco Müller, who headed International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR) from 1989-1991, is returning as part of the 2024 Tiger international competition jury.
He is being joined by Bosnian-Dutch filmmaker Ena Sendijarević,producer, industry expert and founder of Easy Rider Films, Nadia Turincev; Hong Kong filmmaker Herman Yau; and LA Rebellion film movement figure and filmmaker Billy Woodberry, whose title Mário will have its world premiere in the Harbour strand.
They will choose the winners of the Tiger award, worth €40,000, and the special jury awards, worth...
Marco Müller, who headed International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR) from 1989-1991, is returning as part of the 2024 Tiger international competition jury.
He is being joined by Bosnian-Dutch filmmaker Ena Sendijarević,producer, industry expert and founder of Easy Rider Films, Nadia Turincev; Hong Kong filmmaker Herman Yau; and LA Rebellion film movement figure and filmmaker Billy Woodberry, whose title Mário will have its world premiere in the Harbour strand.
They will choose the winners of the Tiger award, worth €40,000, and the special jury awards, worth...
- 12/12/2023
- by Mona Tabbara
- ScreenDaily
As crowdfunding and technology make filmmaking more accessible and streaming services make the moving image ubiquitous, more and more films are being born that defy categorization. “Two Plains and a Fancy,” the latest feature from duo Lev Kalman and Whitney Horn, is one such movie. This self-described “spa Western” follows three travelers, Ozanne (Laetitia Dosch), Alta Mariah (Marianna McClellan), and Milton (Benjamin Crotty), as they travel through 1893 Colorado searching for hot springs.
Continue reading Comedic Western ‘Two Plains And A Fancy’ Is A Meandering, Cringey Slog [Review] at The Playlist.
Continue reading Comedic Western ‘Two Plains And A Fancy’ Is A Meandering, Cringey Slog [Review] at The Playlist.
- 3/7/2019
- by Lena Wilson
- The Playlist
In 2018 we've published 70 interviews whose subjects have ranged from old masters to emerging new voices, and including some unexpected conversations, including those with curators (Dave Kehr of the Museum of Modern Art), as well as archival finds (a 1971 talk with Jerry Lewis).Below you will find an index of our conversations throughout the year, listed in order of publication date.Blake Williams (Prototype)Samira Elagoz (Craigslist Allstars)F.J. Ossang (9 Fingers)Jerry LewisAndré Gil Mata (The Tree)Christian Petzold (Transit)Raoul Peck (Young Karl Marx)Ashley McKenzie (Werewolf)Penelope SpheerisTed Fendt (Classical Period)Dominik Graf (The Red Shadow)Blake Williams ("Stereo Visions")Arnaud Desplechin (Ismael's Ghosts)Ruth Beckermann (The Waldheim Waltz)Nelson Carlos de los Santos Arias (Cocote)Esther GarrelPhilippe Garrel (Lover for a Day)Jonas MekasJohann Lurf (★)Karim Aïnouz (Central Airport Thf)Juliana Antunes (Baronesa)Cristina Gallego and Ciro Guerra (Birds of Passage)Wang Bing (Dead Souls)Donal Foreman...
- 12/27/2018
- MUBI
Following their Nineties-set dissertations-and-denim feature L for Leisure [2014], Lev Kalman and Whitney Horn have created another wry document of contemporary languor via fashions past with their self-categorized “Spa Western” Two Plains & a Fancy. Set in 1893, Two Plains concerns three explorers—a geologist, a watercolorist, and a con artist-turned-mystic—and their quest: to visit the best hot springs Colorado has on offer. What ensues is a tenderfoot’s journey around sublime vistas, featuring chance encounters with time travelling inventors, a brothel populated by ghosts, and a possessed cat, all to the sound of casual chatter on the topics of rock formations, experimental painting techniques, and the “sub-natural”. Conversation is the bread and butter of Horn and Kalman’s pleasure cruise as the trio wax lyrical regarding the varying satisfactions of their trip, their intellectual statements and observations are at times competitive, and their appreciation of the natural world borders on performative posturing.
- 11/28/2018
- MUBI
Exclusive: The producers of Oscar winners Moonlight and Icarus, Oscar nominee Carol and Showtime series Billions, are among those bringing new projects to the Ifp Project Forum, which runs during the 40th Ifp Week in New York.
This year’s particularly buzzy Project Forum slate will comprise 150 U.S. and international films, series, digital and audio projects (for the first time) in different stages of development.
The co-production market will feature new narrative films and series from producers and Ep’s including Lamb On The Throne from Adele Romanski (Moonlight) and Sara Murphy (Land Ho!), Breezin’ from Amy Lo (Nancy), The Gymnast from Brian Koppelman and David Levien (Billions), The Fugitive Game from Ryan Cunningham (Broad City), Sleepwalkfrom Ryan Zacarias (A Ciambra), Bitterroot from Giulia Caruso & Ki Jin Kim (Columbus) and Nine Days from Jason Michael Berman (Amateur), Mette-Marie Kongsved (I Don’t Feel At Home In This World...
This year’s particularly buzzy Project Forum slate will comprise 150 U.S. and international films, series, digital and audio projects (for the first time) in different stages of development.
The co-production market will feature new narrative films and series from producers and Ep’s including Lamb On The Throne from Adele Romanski (Moonlight) and Sara Murphy (Land Ho!), Breezin’ from Amy Lo (Nancy), The Gymnast from Brian Koppelman and David Levien (Billions), The Fugitive Game from Ryan Cunningham (Broad City), Sleepwalkfrom Ryan Zacarias (A Ciambra), Bitterroot from Giulia Caruso & Ki Jin Kim (Columbus) and Nine Days from Jason Michael Berman (Amateur), Mette-Marie Kongsved (I Don’t Feel At Home In This World...
- 7/26/2018
- by Andreas Wiseman
- Deadline Film + TV
NEWSThe great cinematographer Robby Müller has died at the age of 78. His contributions to films by Wim Wenders, William Friedkin (To Live and Die in L.A.), and Jim Jarmusch (Dead Man), among many others, mark him as one of the most important artists in cinema history.Recommended VIEWINGJean-Luc Godard's trailer, which doubles as a charming self-portrait, for the Ji.hlava Film Festival is sublime in ways similar to his latest feature, The Image Book:On the other side of the spectrum of "old man movies," there is Robert Zemeckis' Welcome to Marwen, as glimpsed by this tonally manic and strangely beguiling trailer—a companion piece to Joe Dante's Small Soldiers, perhaps?A rousing trailer for what looks to be an incendiary political film from the American non-fiction filmmaker Robert Greene, Bisbee '17.Museum of Modern Art curator La Frances Hui takes an insightful jaunt through the films...
- 7/4/2018
- MUBI
The latest feature from writer-directors Lev Kalman and Whitney Horn (L for Leisure) — which world-premiered as part of the annual BAMcinemaFest in Brooklyn, New York — occupies a space between irritatingly and inventively eccentric. It's a period piece, set in Colorado over three days in September 1893, just after the start of the Denver Depression, that never tries to conceal its overarching falseness. Though shot on location, it often feels like we're on the backlot set of a low-grade TV Western.
Signposts that seem fresh from production design, the paint barely dry, advertise places like "Town"...
Signposts that seem fresh from production design, the paint barely dry, advertise places like "Town"...
The latest feature from writer-directors Lev Kalman and Whitney Horn (L for Leisure) — which world-premiered as part of the annual BAMcinemaFest in Brooklyn, New York — occupies a space between irritatingly and inventively eccentric. It's a period piece, set in Colorado over three days in September 1893, just after the start of the Denver Depression, that never tries to conceal its overarching falseness. Though shot on location, it often feels like we're on the backlot set of a low-grade TV Western.
Signposts that seem fresh from production design, the paint barely dry, advertise places like "Town"...
Signposts that seem fresh from production design, the paint barely dry, advertise places like "Town"...
It is infrequent — but not totally rare — to come across a film where a singular, simple formal decision fully encapsulates the underlying ethos and intentions. While it would be unwise to pick just one of the panoply of idiosyncratic features that make up Two Plains & a Fancy, the most immediate of these is the choice to film this movie, placed in a setting recognizable as a certain version of the Old West, in handheld, sun-kissed 16mm. Rather than focusing on the grandeur of the desert and capturing the sweeping vistas, directors Lev Kalman & Whitney Horn aim for something decidedly less conventional, which does more to fundamentally alter the viewer’s sense of a particular time and place than a whole host of so-called revisionist Westerns.
For those who have seen Kalman and Horn’s previous feature, L for Leisure, this comes as no surprise. Two Plains & a Fancy carries itself...
For those who have seen Kalman and Horn’s previous feature, L for Leisure, this comes as no surprise. Two Plains & a Fancy carries itself...
- 6/28/2018
- by Ryan Swen
- The Film Stage
Kicking off last night with Sorry to Bother You, Brooklyn’s BAMcinemaFest brings the best in new American independent cinema to New York. Along with festival favorites like Madeline’s Madeline, Skate Kitchen, Minding the Gap, Leave No Trace, Support the Girls, and Relaxer, it is also home to a number of world premieres. One of our most-anticipated is Lev Kalman and Whitney Horn’s Two Plains & a Fancy, and today we’re pleased to premiere the first clip and poster.
Starring Benjamin Crotty, Laetitia Dosch, and Marianna McClellan, the western comedy marks a return for the filmmakers to the festival after L for Leisure back in 2014. Set in 1893 in the mountains of Colorado, the journey follows a trio of NYC’ers who are looking for relaxation as they encounter a number of peculiar characters. The first clip, which shows off Horn’s own beautiful 16mm cinematography, features a discovery followed by some fireside conversation.
Starring Benjamin Crotty, Laetitia Dosch, and Marianna McClellan, the western comedy marks a return for the filmmakers to the festival after L for Leisure back in 2014. Set in 1893 in the mountains of Colorado, the journey follows a trio of NYC’ers who are looking for relaxation as they encounter a number of peculiar characters. The first clip, which shows off Horn’s own beautiful 16mm cinematography, features a discovery followed by some fireside conversation.
- 6/21/2018
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
This month’s BAMcinemaFest isn’t just for New York cinephiles. The annual Brooklyn festival routinely boasts a slate that includes some of the year’s best indie offerings from festivals earlier in the year, and while the latest edition is no exception, it has also has a number of notable world premieres and under-the-radar offerings.
Consider it a welcome respite from the boom and bustle of a summer season crowded with the biggest blockbuster films. The festival opens with “Sorry to Bother You,” Boots Riley’s Sundance-acclaimed racial satire, and closes with Josephine Decker’s surreal New York character study “Madeline’s Madeline.” In between, there are a number of distinctive cinematic experiences.
Read More: BAMcinemaFest Announces 2018 Lineup, Including ‘Madeline’s Madeline’ and ‘Sorry to Bother You’
Check out IndieWire’s must-see picks below. This year’s BAMcinemaFest kicks off June 20 and runs until July 1.
“A Boy. A Girl.
Consider it a welcome respite from the boom and bustle of a summer season crowded with the biggest blockbuster films. The festival opens with “Sorry to Bother You,” Boots Riley’s Sundance-acclaimed racial satire, and closes with Josephine Decker’s surreal New York character study “Madeline’s Madeline.” In between, there are a number of distinctive cinematic experiences.
Read More: BAMcinemaFest Announces 2018 Lineup, Including ‘Madeline’s Madeline’ and ‘Sorry to Bother You’
Check out IndieWire’s must-see picks below. This year’s BAMcinemaFest kicks off June 20 and runs until July 1.
“A Boy. A Girl.
- 6/18/2018
- by Kate Erbland, Eric Kohn, David Ehrlich, Chris O'Falt and Jude Dry
- Indiewire
For the best in new American independent cinema, Brooklyn’s BAMcinémaFest continually curates the finest selection from previous festivals, as well as new premieres.. They’ve now unveiled this year’s slate for the festival running from June 20-July 1, including some of my favorite films of the year thus far as well as highly-anticipated festival favorites and the world premieres of Michael Koresky, Jeff Reichert & Farihah Zaman’s Feast of the Epiphany, Lev Kalman & Whitney Horn’s Two Plains & a Fancy, and Aaron Schimberg’s Chained for Life.
“We are proud to present work that is compelling, defiant, and ultimately thrilling,”says Gina Duncan, Bam’s Associate Vice President of Cinema. “It feels appropriate to celebrate the tenth BAMcinemaFest with a line-up of films and filmmakers whose energy and adventurousness hints at something profound taking root. I can’t wait to see what it bears.” See the lineup below and for more information,...
“We are proud to present work that is compelling, defiant, and ultimately thrilling,”says Gina Duncan, Bam’s Associate Vice President of Cinema. “It feels appropriate to celebrate the tenth BAMcinemaFest with a line-up of films and filmmakers whose energy and adventurousness hints at something profound taking root. I can’t wait to see what it bears.” See the lineup below and for more information,...
- 5/2/2018
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
Lev Kalman and Whitney Horn (L for Leisure, 25 New Faces of Film) are at work on their next film, Two Plains & a Fancy. This music video for Aa is a taste of what’s to come. Per Kalman and Horn: This viddy was shot when we were on-location for our upcoming feature Two Plains & a Fancy. It’s the first thing we edited when we got back, and Aa is led by our composer John Atkinson, so this was a working out of the vibes we’re corralling in the feature. The footage is a mix of out-takes, B-Roll, and shots […]...
- 2/15/2017
- by Filmmaker Staff
- Filmmaker Magazine - Blog
Producers Dan Schoenbrun and Vanessa McDonnell have launched a Kickstarter campaign for The Eyeslicer, a new variety series by and for indie filmmakers. Among the filmmakers set to contribute are David Lowery, the Zellner Brothers, Lev Kalman & Whitney Horn, Yen Tan, Calvin Reeder, Shaka King, Ornana, John Wilson, Jennifer Reeder, Leah Shore, Colin Healey, Lauren Wolkstein, and Chris Radcliffe The campaign is aiming to raise $28,000 to fund season one and if all goes smoothly, the 10-episode, 10-hour first season will launch in January. Schoenbrun (a contributor to Filmmaker) and McDonnell recently collaborated to create collective : unconscious, an anthology feature film where they […]...
- 9/30/2016
- by Paula Bernstein
- Filmmaker Magazine - Blog
Rushes collects news, articles, images, videos and more for a weekly roundup of essential items from the world of film.NEWSAnton Yelchin in Green RoomUnexpected and tragic news at the end of the weekend was that actor Anton Yelchin (Star Trek, Only Lovers Left Alive, Joe Dante's Burying the Ex, Green Room) was accidentally killed at his home.French New Wave director Éric Rohmer was intensely private, so details of his long, productive life have generally been slim. But now, as Richard Brody writes at the New Yorker, a 2014 biography by Antoine de Baecque and Noël Herpe has been translated into English, and makes for essential reading about one of cinema's greats.We won't get properly excited until, first, the cameras are rolling, and second, there's a hope of some kind of release date, but The Film Stage has gathered enough evidence to point towards what Terrence Malick's next film will be: Radegund,...
- 6/22/2016
- MUBI
L for Leisure, directed by Whitney Horn and Lev Kalman, follows an assortment of graduate & postgraduate academics as they laze away, morning to night, season to season, on vacation. If this summary makes the film sound suspicious, the style can have the effect of deepening that suspicion. There are two obvious things about the film, neither of them especially promising: the form suggests documentary, the acting (and writing) suggests farce, parody. This combination can lead one to expect harmless self-deprecation and secret self-satisfaction. But L for Leisure is a sincere film, despite its mockery-enabling surface. The directors can only pretend to make fun of their characters for so long before giving it up and inviting us to share in their affection for this insular milieu. The film is basically a comedy, a dry one, and maybe a cheesy, dorky one. Some sitcom conventions stand-out. There’s the running gag, maybe more like a shared catch-phrase,...
- 12/22/2015
- by Tony G. Huang
- MUBI
A period piece best appreciated less for its historical relevance than its microscopic adoration of a forgotten pop zeitgeist, Lev Kalman and Whitney Horn’s L for Leisure is equal part class critique and deadpan laugh riot. Having previously directed the fantastical faux-’80s short Blondes in the Jungle, L for Leisure finds the team exploring the frothy, at times superficial daily activities of a group of well-off, young academics in the ’90s. The characters represent a type you’re fascinated by even as you remind yourself that you wouldn’t want to spend too much time in their presence — at one point in the film, the friends get high […]...
- 5/14/2015
- by Erik Luers
- Filmmaker Magazine - Blog
A period piece best appreciated less for its historical relevance than its microscopic adoration of a forgotten pop zeitgeist, Lev Kalman and Whitney Horn’s L for Leisure is equal part class critique and deadpan laugh riot. Having previously directed the fantastical faux-’80s short Blondes in the Jungle, L for Leisure finds the team exploring the frothy, at times superficial daily activities of a group of well-off, young academics in the ’90s. The characters represent a type you’re fascinated by even as you remind yourself that you wouldn’t want to spend too much time in their presence — at one point in the film, the friends get high […]...
- 5/14/2015
- by Erik Luers
- Filmmaker Magazine-Director Interviews
Years from now, there will come a day when a movie about 2015 will be a period piece. For 1992, that day is today. "L For Leisure" is a retro throwback homage to '90s indie filmmakers like Hal Hartley and Whit Stillman, following a group of grad students over the school year of '92-'93 as they work, play, and take a number of naps. It's also shot on 16mm, giving it a fun, bright, vintage look. The film, directed by Lev Kalman and Whitney Horn, will screen at the Made in NY Media Center from May 15-22 as part of the Screen Forward program and will hit VOD in June. Check out some stills below: Read More: Watch: Jessica Chastain Has A Heart Of Darkness In Chilling New 'Crimson Peak' Trailer...
- 5/14/2015
- by Elizabeth Logan
- Indiewire
Whitney Horn and Lev Kalman's comic universe is a bizarre and beguiling place in which lines as incongruous as "[Soak] a tampon in vodka and...stick it up your vagina" and "Do you have Snapple?" are delivered with the same casual, tossed-off nonchalance. The duo's previous work, the medium-length Blondes in the Jungle (2009), dropped this sensibility on a trio of self-absorbed vacationers in 1987 Honduras. L for Leisure ups the ante with a more global scale: Shot over four years and set on a series of holidays (Labor Day, Thanksgiving, Christmas) during 1992–3, the movie ventures from California and New York to France, Iceland, and Mexico. The flowing ensemble consists of a dozen or so restless graduate students (many of them played by non-actor frien...
- 5/13/2015
- Village Voice
The 22nd annual Chicago Underground Film Festival presents five days of devastating celluloid provocations on May 13-17 at the Logan Theatre.
The fest kicks off on May 13 with the incredibly haunting short film Echoes by Jaimz Asmundson and the Filipino romantic crime drama Ruined Heart: Another Lovestory Between a Criminal and a Whore by the single-named director Khavn.
Highlights of the fest include the new slacker-ific comedy by Lev Kalman and Whitney Horn, L for Leisure; the Spanish socio-political documentary Speculation Nation by Bill Brown and Sabine Gruffat; the pastoral friendship drama For the Plasma by Bingham Bryant & Kyle Molzan; and the joyful pop doc Living Stars by Gastón Duprat and Mariano Cohn.
There are also loads of un-missable short films, such as the gritty modern film noir Bite Radius by Spencer Parsons; and amazing new films by Jennifer Reeder (Blood Below the Skin), Zachary Epcar (Under the Heat Lamp...
The fest kicks off on May 13 with the incredibly haunting short film Echoes by Jaimz Asmundson and the Filipino romantic crime drama Ruined Heart: Another Lovestory Between a Criminal and a Whore by the single-named director Khavn.
Highlights of the fest include the new slacker-ific comedy by Lev Kalman and Whitney Horn, L for Leisure; the Spanish socio-political documentary Speculation Nation by Bill Brown and Sabine Gruffat; the pastoral friendship drama For the Plasma by Bingham Bryant & Kyle Molzan; and the joyful pop doc Living Stars by Gastón Duprat and Mariano Cohn.
There are also loads of un-missable short films, such as the gritty modern film noir Bite Radius by Spencer Parsons; and amazing new films by Jennifer Reeder (Blood Below the Skin), Zachary Epcar (Under the Heat Lamp...
- 5/11/2015
- by Mike Everleth
- Underground Film Journal
The watchword for Lev Kalman and Whitney Horn's L for Leisure is "mellow" — both its presiding sensibility and, from the mouths of the placid intellectuals who are the film's carefree heroes, its oft-invoked refrain.
L for Leisure premiered this January at the International Film Festival Rotterdam, where it proved the most notable exponent of the festival's Bright Future program, a sidebar for emerging talent. But Kalman and Horn's talent had emerged as far back as 2009. That was the year of Blondes in the Jungle, a blissful, eccentric 48-minute short feature and a precursor to the washed-out, laid-back splendor further refined by Leisure. It's a remarkable debut.
A deeply idiosyncratic period comedy, shot on location in Hondura...
L for Leisure premiered this January at the International Film Festival Rotterdam, where it proved the most notable exponent of the festival's Bright Future program, a sidebar for emerging talent. But Kalman and Horn's talent had emerged as far back as 2009. That was the year of Blondes in the Jungle, a blissful, eccentric 48-minute short feature and a precursor to the washed-out, laid-back splendor further refined by Leisure. It's a remarkable debut.
A deeply idiosyncratic period comedy, shot on location in Hondura...
- 11/19/2014
- Village Voice
Browse all the sections of the 58th London Film Festival (Oct 8-18) including the galas, competition titles and individual sections.
Alphabetical list of titles by section including feature premiere status
Wp = Wp
Ep = European Premiere
IP = International Premiere
UK = UK Premiere
Opening Night
The Imitation Game (UK-us)
dir. Morten Tyldum
Closing Night
Fury (Us)
dir. David Ayer
GalasTitlePremFoxcatcher (Us)
dir. Bennett MillerUKWhiplash (Us)
dir. Damien ChazelleUKMen, Women And Children (Us)
dir. Jason ReitmanEPWild (Us)
dir. Jean-Marc ValleeEPTestament Of Youth (UK)
dir. James KentWPMr. Turner (UK)
dir. Mike LeighUKThe Battles Of Coronel And Falkland Islands (UK)
dir. Walter Summers Rosewater (Us)
dir. Jon StewartEPMommy (Can)
dir. Xavier DolanUKA Little Chaos (UK)
dir. Alan RickmanEPWild Tales (Arg)
dir. Damián SzifrónUKThe Salvation (Den)
dir. Kristian Levring The White Haired Witch Of Lunar Kingdom (Chi)
dir. Jacob CheungIPWinter Sleep (Tur)
dir. Nuri Bilge CeylanUKBjork: Biophilia Live (UK)
dir. Nick Fenton, Peter StricklandUKSong Of The Sea (Ire)
dir. Tomm MooreEPOfficial...
Alphabetical list of titles by section including feature premiere status
Wp = Wp
Ep = European Premiere
IP = International Premiere
UK = UK Premiere
Opening Night
The Imitation Game (UK-us)
dir. Morten Tyldum
Closing Night
Fury (Us)
dir. David Ayer
GalasTitlePremFoxcatcher (Us)
dir. Bennett MillerUKWhiplash (Us)
dir. Damien ChazelleUKMen, Women And Children (Us)
dir. Jason ReitmanEPWild (Us)
dir. Jean-Marc ValleeEPTestament Of Youth (UK)
dir. James KentWPMr. Turner (UK)
dir. Mike LeighUKThe Battles Of Coronel And Falkland Islands (UK)
dir. Walter Summers Rosewater (Us)
dir. Jon StewartEPMommy (Can)
dir. Xavier DolanUKA Little Chaos (UK)
dir. Alan RickmanEPWild Tales (Arg)
dir. Damián SzifrónUKThe Salvation (Den)
dir. Kristian Levring The White Haired Witch Of Lunar Kingdom (Chi)
dir. Jacob CheungIPWinter Sleep (Tur)
dir. Nuri Bilge CeylanUKBjork: Biophilia Live (UK)
dir. Nick Fenton, Peter StricklandUKSong Of The Sea (Ire)
dir. Tomm MooreEPOfficial...
- 9/3/2014
- ScreenDaily
Easily among our favorite curated lists/annual page turners, Filmmaker Magazine has unveiled their 25 New Faces (or 29, when you count the quad creative teams) for 2014, highlighting talents that would also get our vote. Among those with a future that is bright, we’ve got a good sampling from this year’s Sundance Film Fest in A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night‘s helmer Ana Lily Amirpour, short film gold nugget helmers Janicza Bravo (see pic above) & Bernardo Britto, the versatile, can’t sit still Dustin Guy Defa who moves in front of (Swim Little Fish Swim, Computer Chess) and behind the camera for SXSW and Sundance short and feature length film items and, the future is bright cinematographer Sean Porter who we first discovered with It Felt Like Love and then laid it on thick with the Zellner Bros.’ Kumiko, the Treasure Hunter. Here are the individual profiles.
::...
::...
- 7/17/2014
- by Eric Lavallee
- IONCINEMA.com
International Film Festival Rotterdam 2014
Bright Future
World Premieres
Above: The Pinkie
About Sarah (Elisa Miller, Mexico, United Kingdom)
Bella Vista (Vera Brunner-Sung, USA)
Creator of the Jungle (Jordi Morató (Spain)
La distancia (Sergio Caballero, Spain)
Dzma/Brother (Téona Mghvdeladze & Thierry Grenade, France, Georgia)
L’éclat furtif de l'ombre (Alain-Pascal Housiaux & Patrick Dechesne, Belgium, Germany)
Edén (Elise DuRant, USA, Mexico)
Helium (Eché Janga, Netherlands)
History of Eternity (Camilo Cavalcante, Brazil)
Hotel Nueva Isla (Irene Gutiérrez & Javier Labrador, Cuba, Spain)
The Iranian Film (Yassine el Idrissi, Morocco, Netherlands, Egypt)
Jacky au royaume des filles (Riad Sattouf, France)
L for Leisure (Lev Kalman & Whitney Horn, USA, Mexico, France, Iceland)
Little Crushes (Aleksandra Gowin & Ireneusz Grzyb, Poland)
Masked Monkey - The Evolution of Darwin’s Theory (Ismail Fahmi Lubish, Indonesia)
Oilfields Mines Hurricanes (Fabian Altenried, Germany, Iceland)
The Pinkie (Lisa Takeba, Japan)
The Quiet Roar (Henrik Hellström, Sweden, Norway)
Sitzfleisch (Lisa Weber, Austria)
The Songs of Rice (Uruphong Raksasad,...
Bright Future
World Premieres
Above: The Pinkie
About Sarah (Elisa Miller, Mexico, United Kingdom)
Bella Vista (Vera Brunner-Sung, USA)
Creator of the Jungle (Jordi Morató (Spain)
La distancia (Sergio Caballero, Spain)
Dzma/Brother (Téona Mghvdeladze & Thierry Grenade, France, Georgia)
L’éclat furtif de l'ombre (Alain-Pascal Housiaux & Patrick Dechesne, Belgium, Germany)
Edén (Elise DuRant, USA, Mexico)
Helium (Eché Janga, Netherlands)
History of Eternity (Camilo Cavalcante, Brazil)
Hotel Nueva Isla (Irene Gutiérrez & Javier Labrador, Cuba, Spain)
The Iranian Film (Yassine el Idrissi, Morocco, Netherlands, Egypt)
Jacky au royaume des filles (Riad Sattouf, France)
L for Leisure (Lev Kalman & Whitney Horn, USA, Mexico, France, Iceland)
Little Crushes (Aleksandra Gowin & Ireneusz Grzyb, Poland)
Masked Monkey - The Evolution of Darwin’s Theory (Ismail Fahmi Lubish, Indonesia)
Oilfields Mines Hurricanes (Fabian Altenried, Germany, Iceland)
The Pinkie (Lisa Takeba, Japan)
The Quiet Roar (Henrik Hellström, Sweden, Norway)
Sitzfleisch (Lisa Weber, Austria)
The Songs of Rice (Uruphong Raksasad,...
- 1/13/2014
- by Notebook
- MUBI
Picks include the latest documentary from Ai Weiwei [pictured].
The International Film Festival Rotterdam has unveiled the selections for its Bright Future and Spectrum programmes (list of premiere titles below).
Across both sections there are 37 world premieres.
Bright Future is comprised of 63 films, all first and second features. Bright Future includes five films supported by the Hubert Bals Fund, including Carlos Armella’s Las voces.
Five films from Bright Future will compete in the Big Screen Award Competition, including telepathic dwarf thriller La distancia by Sergio Caballero; and Riad Sattouf’s Jacky au royaume des filles starring Charlotte Gainsbourg.
Other notable seelctions include Burrowing director Henrik Helstrom’s second feature The Quiet Roar, about a dying woman who reconnects with her past through an acid trip.
Spectrum, focusing on artistic and experimental cinema, includes 69 films, including three supported by the Hubert Bals Fund. Five Spectrum Films, including Jos de Putter’s See No Evil and Oxana Bychkova’s Another...
The International Film Festival Rotterdam has unveiled the selections for its Bright Future and Spectrum programmes (list of premiere titles below).
Across both sections there are 37 world premieres.
Bright Future is comprised of 63 films, all first and second features. Bright Future includes five films supported by the Hubert Bals Fund, including Carlos Armella’s Las voces.
Five films from Bright Future will compete in the Big Screen Award Competition, including telepathic dwarf thriller La distancia by Sergio Caballero; and Riad Sattouf’s Jacky au royaume des filles starring Charlotte Gainsbourg.
Other notable seelctions include Burrowing director Henrik Helstrom’s second feature The Quiet Roar, about a dying woman who reconnects with her past through an acid trip.
Spectrum, focusing on artistic and experimental cinema, includes 69 films, including three supported by the Hubert Bals Fund. Five Spectrum Films, including Jos de Putter’s See No Evil and Oxana Bychkova’s Another...
- 1/13/2014
- by wendy.mitchell@screendaily.com (Wendy Mitchell)
- ScreenDaily
After a successful and popular run on the underground film festival circuit, Lev Kalman and Whitney Horn’s surreal comedy Blondes in the Jungle is now available to watch on the movie streaming site Mubi.com.
The film follows the misadventures of three slacker twentysomethings as they head into the dense jungle of Honduras to locate the fabled Fountain of Youth in 1987. Along the way they run into a paranoid cocaine dealer and the Mayan Jaguar God, as well as debate the mysteries of 21 Jump Street and Bill Murray.
Star Ingrid Schram won the Best International Actress at the 2010 Melbourne Underground Festival, plus the film also screened at the Chicago Underground Film Film Festival and the Arizona Underground Film Festival.
Bad Lit reviewed Blondes in the Jungle in 2010, calling it “a cheerful, genial and strange comedy, yet it’s so good-natured and screwy that it’s easy to go along...
The film follows the misadventures of three slacker twentysomethings as they head into the dense jungle of Honduras to locate the fabled Fountain of Youth in 1987. Along the way they run into a paranoid cocaine dealer and the Mayan Jaguar God, as well as debate the mysteries of 21 Jump Street and Bill Murray.
Star Ingrid Schram won the Best International Actress at the 2010 Melbourne Underground Festival, plus the film also screened at the Chicago Underground Film Film Festival and the Arizona Underground Film Festival.
Bad Lit reviewed Blondes in the Jungle in 2010, calling it “a cheerful, genial and strange comedy, yet it’s so good-natured and screwy that it’s easy to go along...
- 4/12/2012
- by Mike Everleth
- Underground Film Journal
The 14th annual Antimatter Film Festival in Vancouver, BC, Canada is an epic 9-day event of expanded cinema performances, feature-length documentaries an a ton of experimental short films and festivals.
There are seven feature documentaries screening including Marie Losier‘s hit The Ballad of Genesis & Lady Jaye, a profile of the pandrogenous entity, Breyer P-Orridge; and Chris Metzler & Lev Kalman’s popular Everyday Sunshine: The Story of Fishbone, about the legendary ska punk band. Plus, there’s Adele Horne’s And Again and more.
On the expanded cinema front, Antimatter welcomes retrospectives of Kerry Laitala, who will be presenting a selection of her 3D light and motion experiments; and Roger Beebe will screen a series of multi-projector performances.
As for the short films, the real highlight of the fest is a screening of Jaimz Asmundson‘s trippy and powerful The Magus, a fictional/documentary hybrid of his father’s Satanic painting process.
There are seven feature documentaries screening including Marie Losier‘s hit The Ballad of Genesis & Lady Jaye, a profile of the pandrogenous entity, Breyer P-Orridge; and Chris Metzler & Lev Kalman’s popular Everyday Sunshine: The Story of Fishbone, about the legendary ska punk band. Plus, there’s Adele Horne’s And Again and more.
On the expanded cinema front, Antimatter welcomes retrospectives of Kerry Laitala, who will be presenting a selection of her 3D light and motion experiments; and Roger Beebe will screen a series of multi-projector performances.
As for the short films, the real highlight of the fest is a screening of Jaimz Asmundson‘s trippy and powerful The Magus, a fictional/documentary hybrid of his father’s Satanic painting process.
- 10/12/2011
- by Mike Everleth
- Underground Film Journal
The new issue (#6) of One+One: The Filmmakers Journal is now out with articles on the Zeitgeist Movement, Imperfect Cinema, Exploding Cinema and offers a filmmaking challenge. Oh, and Mary Poppins.Not sure how much longer these are going to be up, but you can watch some experimental shorts from the Images Festival on Mubi for free.The Lunch Movie recaps some of the wonders seen at this year’s Boston Underground Film Festival, which apparently included lots of vomiting.MediaBeat has notes from a discussion with Troma’s Lloyd Kaufman in which he advocates for media piracy. I don’t agree with what he says, but he has some interesting points.Time to rejoice! The Man Who Would Be Polka King is now streaming on Netflix. This hilarious true-life story is not to be missed if you have Netflix.Job Opening: The Austin Film Society is looking for a Director of Development.
- 4/10/2011
- by Mike Everleth
- Underground Film Journal
Is there something major going on in film tonight? Who knows? So, enjoy these links about movies that don’t get all the attention!
The big news this week is that the last lab in the UK has just stopped printing 16mm film. That’s right: It is now impossible to get your 16mm film printed in England! Thanks, Deluxe! Filmmaker Tacita Dean writes an impassioned, personal article about this devastating blow to the film world for the Guardian.(By the way, the image above was taken by documentary filmmaker Lynne Sachs and is of Craig Baldwin’s 16mm film archive.)At Africa Is a Country, Sean Jacobs interviews South African filmmaker Dylan Valley about the documentary The Uprising of Hangberg, which Valley co-directed with Bad Lit fave Aryan Kaganof. The film documents the South African police crackdown of a small village full of “alleged” squatters. Heavy emphasis on “alleged.
The big news this week is that the last lab in the UK has just stopped printing 16mm film. That’s right: It is now impossible to get your 16mm film printed in England! Thanks, Deluxe! Filmmaker Tacita Dean writes an impassioned, personal article about this devastating blow to the film world for the Guardian.(By the way, the image above was taken by documentary filmmaker Lynne Sachs and is of Craig Baldwin’s 16mm film archive.)At Africa Is a Country, Sean Jacobs interviews South African filmmaker Dylan Valley about the documentary The Uprising of Hangberg, which Valley co-directed with Bad Lit fave Aryan Kaganof. The film documents the South African police crackdown of a small village full of “alleged” squatters. Heavy emphasis on “alleged.
- 2/27/2011
- by Mike Everleth
- Underground Film Journal
The second night of the 5th annual Ata Film & Video Festival groups its short films under the heading “Lo-Fi Future,” which couldn’t be more apt for this selection.
Several of the films are literally just that, lo-fi visions of the future. Without any special effects whatsoever, these films tell us they take place in the future either just verbally, or through just shooting at unique locations. Other films, though, explore the “future” in a different way, by showing the effect progress has on culture, but through abstract means.
Wasteland, dir. Kathleen Quillian. Quillian brilliantly uses cut-out animation to illustrate the modern food chain, which starts from crop dusting fields and ends with automobiles blowing exhaust into the atmosphere. In between, cows are injected with hormones then are decapitated and chubby suburbanites pig out on hamburgers until they need to control their cholesterol with prescription medication that they wash down with beer.
Several of the films are literally just that, lo-fi visions of the future. Without any special effects whatsoever, these films tell us they take place in the future either just verbally, or through just shooting at unique locations. Other films, though, explore the “future” in a different way, by showing the effect progress has on culture, but through abstract means.
Wasteland, dir. Kathleen Quillian. Quillian brilliantly uses cut-out animation to illustrate the modern food chain, which starts from crop dusting fields and ends with automobiles blowing exhaust into the atmosphere. In between, cows are injected with hormones then are decapitated and chubby suburbanites pig out on hamburgers until they need to control their cholesterol with prescription medication that they wash down with beer.
- 10/21/2010
- by Mike Everleth
- Underground Film Journal
The 5th annual Ata Film & Video Festival in San Francisco is just a brief two-night affair, but is packed with more experimental and avant-garde filmmaking power than can be imagined. The fest explodes this year on Oct. 21-22.
Once again, the fest is a heady mix of local Bay Area favorites with filmmakers from all over the world. As for the locals, Paul Clipson will screen his newest, most epic work, Union; along with new animated weirdness from Kathleen Quillian; work by political mixologist Bryan Boyce; and an astounding Film/Video hybrid by Kerry Laitala made in Chromadepth. (In case you were worried, Chromadepth glasses will be provided.)
Other films come from nearby locations, such as Sam Barnett and Vera Brunner-Sung of Los Angeles; and Jeff Guay and Karl Lind of Portland. But others come from such far-flung places, such as The Netherland’s Maite Abella and Brooklyn’s Whitney Horn and Lev Kalman.
Once again, the fest is a heady mix of local Bay Area favorites with filmmakers from all over the world. As for the locals, Paul Clipson will screen his newest, most epic work, Union; along with new animated weirdness from Kathleen Quillian; work by political mixologist Bryan Boyce; and an astounding Film/Video hybrid by Kerry Laitala made in Chromadepth. (In case you were worried, Chromadepth glasses will be provided.)
Other films come from nearby locations, such as Sam Barnett and Vera Brunner-Sung of Los Angeles; and Jeff Guay and Karl Lind of Portland. But others come from such far-flung places, such as The Netherland’s Maite Abella and Brooklyn’s Whitney Horn and Lev Kalman.
- 10/15/2010
- by Mike Everleth
- Underground Film Journal
Getting going at 9:00 tonight at The 3rd Annual Arizona Underground Film Festival is a double feature that begins with the Arizona Premiere of indie feature Blondes In The Jungle. The short synopsis the filmmakers provide in their press kit is fantastic. It says the film, a comedy by artist-filmmakers Lev Kalman and Whitney Horn, goes like this: "On a hunt for the Fountain of Youth, three teenagers in 1980's Honduras buy drugs, harm nature and have magical encounters. Tons of landscape footage, a meditation on Mayan Archaeology and a heavy TV teen vibe highlight this...
- 9/20/2010
- by ericshla
- Examiner Movies Channel
Tucson and Phoenix: Prepare to be rocked, shocked and defiled. Blasting its way into its third — and biggest — year on Sept. 18-25, the Arizona Underground Film Festival is a cacophonous concoction of angry transsexuals, bumbling hit men, slacker superheroes, living dolls, aliens, dead hookers, adventure-seeking blondes and other crazies.
This year the fest is screening 30 feature films, some of which are making their U.S. and even world debuts. The opening night film is the U.S. premiere of the German hit man comedy Snowman’s Land, directed by Tomasz Thomson,while closing the fest is the controversial and violent A Serbian Film by Srdjan Spasojevic, which you have to be over-18 to get into.
Don’t worry, there’s plenty of homebrewed films as well, such as Dead Hooker in a Trunk by Jen Soska & Sylvia Soska; Nude Nuns With Big Guns by Joseph Guzman; 1,001 Ways to Enjoy the...
This year the fest is screening 30 feature films, some of which are making their U.S. and even world debuts. The opening night film is the U.S. premiere of the German hit man comedy Snowman’s Land, directed by Tomasz Thomson,while closing the fest is the controversial and violent A Serbian Film by Srdjan Spasojevic, which you have to be over-18 to get into.
Don’t worry, there’s plenty of homebrewed films as well, such as Dead Hooker in a Trunk by Jen Soska & Sylvia Soska; Nude Nuns With Big Guns by Joseph Guzman; 1,001 Ways to Enjoy the...
- 9/13/2010
- by Mike Everleth
- Underground Film Journal
The 11th annual Melbourne Underground Film Festival wrapped on Aug. 29 with a secret, illegal screening of Bruce Labruce‘s gay porn zombie epic L.A. Zombie, which would win Labruce the Best Foreign Director Award.
The big winner this year, though was the debut feature film — and the official closing night film of Muff — by Joseph Sims, Bad Behavior. Although Stuart Simpson‘s El Monstro Del Mar! won the Best Film award, Bad Behavior took home six awards total, including Best Director, Best Male Actor, Best Screenplay and more. The film is a splatter movie about a group of teenagers running afoul of psychopaths. Australia’s The Age newspaper also recently profiled Sims.
Other Australian films taking home awards were Dominic Deacon‘s Burlesque winning Best Guerrilla Film, Road Train by Dean Francis taking the Special Jury Prize and Lanfranchi’s Memorial Discotheque by Richard Baron winning Best Documentary.
American films in addition to L.
The big winner this year, though was the debut feature film — and the official closing night film of Muff — by Joseph Sims, Bad Behavior. Although Stuart Simpson‘s El Monstro Del Mar! won the Best Film award, Bad Behavior took home six awards total, including Best Director, Best Male Actor, Best Screenplay and more. The film is a splatter movie about a group of teenagers running afoul of psychopaths. Australia’s The Age newspaper also recently profiled Sims.
Other Australian films taking home awards were Dominic Deacon‘s Burlesque winning Best Guerrilla Film, Road Train by Dean Francis taking the Special Jury Prize and Lanfranchi’s Memorial Discotheque by Richard Baron winning Best Documentary.
American films in addition to L.
- 9/1/2010
- by Mike Everleth
- Underground Film Journal
The Melbourne Underground Film Festival returns to terrorize Australia with a selection of outrageous genre films for its 11th annual edition that will be held on Aug. 20-28.
For years now, Muff Festival director Richard Wolstencroft has been bemoaning the state of Australian cinema — and rightfully so — for abandoning its history of popular genre entertainment and settling for a state-sponsored industry of wussy indie fare. Well, looking over this year’s Muff schedule from a distance, it appears that the fest has gathered its most impressive lineup of bold and risky genre fare yet.
There’s the deep sea terror of Stuart Simpson’s El monstro del mar!, the outback nightmare of Road Train by Dean Francis, the Bdsm fantasy world of David King’s Purge, the chaotically violent world of Bad Behavior by Joseph Sims, the sexy and disturbing Burlesque by Dominic Deacon; plus Richard Wolstencroft’s own documentary...
For years now, Muff Festival director Richard Wolstencroft has been bemoaning the state of Australian cinema — and rightfully so — for abandoning its history of popular genre entertainment and settling for a state-sponsored industry of wussy indie fare. Well, looking over this year’s Muff schedule from a distance, it appears that the fest has gathered its most impressive lineup of bold and risky genre fare yet.
There’s the deep sea terror of Stuart Simpson’s El monstro del mar!, the outback nightmare of Road Train by Dean Francis, the Bdsm fantasy world of David King’s Purge, the chaotically violent world of Bad Behavior by Joseph Sims, the sexy and disturbing Burlesque by Dominic Deacon; plus Richard Wolstencroft’s own documentary...
- 8/16/2010
- by Mike Everleth
- Underground Film Journal
Let’s say you went looking for the fabled Fountain of Youth. One, how would you know what it looked like if you found it? Two, just how exactly does a Fountain of Youth work? Are you transformed into a baby? Do you stay the same age as you are when you jumped in? How long do you actually live?
Those conundrums, plus the mysteries of 21 Jump Street and Bill Murray are entertainingly explored in Lev Kalman and Whitney Horn’s highly amusing Blondes in the Jungle, a film that is part jungle travelogue, part screwball comedy and part surrealist history lesson.
The titular blondes are a trio of stoner college students, Chino, Jerome and Amber (James Ward III, Travis Nutting and Ingrid Schram), hired to trek through the jungles of Honduras in 1987 to find the Fountain of Youth, whose location is a closely guarded secret of a coterie of Hollywood movie producers.
Those conundrums, plus the mysteries of 21 Jump Street and Bill Murray are entertainingly explored in Lev Kalman and Whitney Horn’s highly amusing Blondes in the Jungle, a film that is part jungle travelogue, part screwball comedy and part surrealist history lesson.
The titular blondes are a trio of stoner college students, Chino, Jerome and Amber (James Ward III, Travis Nutting and Ingrid Schram), hired to trek through the jungles of Honduras in 1987 to find the Fountain of Youth, whose location is a closely guarded secret of a coterie of Hollywood movie producers.
- 2/14/2010
- by Mike Everleth
- Underground Film Journal
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