On July 15, 1996, IndieWire launched as an e-mail newsletter providing “the daily news service for independent film.” (See the first newsletter here.) The original iteration of the site was the brainchild of Cheri Barner, Eugene Hernandez and Mark Rabinowitz, three recent college students obsessed with the movies. In the ensuing years, IndieWire grew and changed hands many times over. Barner now works as a talent manager in Los Angeles, Hernandez is the deputy director of the Film Society Lincoln Center, and Rabinowitz is a freelance publicist, consultant and programmer.
But they have remained a part of our close-knit community. As IndieWire arrives at its 20th anniversary, the trio gathered together for their first joint interview to recall the early days of IndieWire — as well as the thriving American independent film scene that inspired the publication.
Eugene Hernandez: IndieWire was an outgrowth of something that Mark, Cheri and I had started in 1995. At the time,...
But they have remained a part of our close-knit community. As IndieWire arrives at its 20th anniversary, the trio gathered together for their first joint interview to recall the early days of IndieWire — as well as the thriving American independent film scene that inspired the publication.
Eugene Hernandez: IndieWire was an outgrowth of something that Mark, Cheri and I had started in 1995. At the time,...
- 7/14/2016
- by Eric Kohn
- Indiewire
"Return of the Secaucus Seven"
Cinema Retro has received the following press release from Cinefamily, 611 N Fairfax, Los Angeles
*** For Immediate Release ***
The Cinefamily and Cinespia present
Underground USA: Indie Cinema Of The 80's
February 18-April 16
Opening Event February 18-20: Weekend tribute to indie film pioneer John Sayles
40+ film, two month retrospective celebrating iconic independent cinema
Guest filmmakers attending in person include:
John Sayles, Penelope Spheeris, Wayne Wang, Alex Cox, Allison Anders, Lizzie Borden, Ross McElwee, Robert Townsend, Richard Kern, John McNaughton
Numerous brand new restorations, including Paydirt, Born In Flames, and Last Night at The Alamo
Los Angeles, CA, February 15, 2016-Kicking off on February 18th with a rare in-person three-day tribute to independent film pioneer and legend John Sayles-including a master class on screenwriting co-presented by the WGA Foundation-and continuing through mid-April, The Cinefamily is proud to announce Underground USA: Indie Cinema Of The 80s-a guest-filled, two month,...
Cinema Retro has received the following press release from Cinefamily, 611 N Fairfax, Los Angeles
*** For Immediate Release ***
The Cinefamily and Cinespia present
Underground USA: Indie Cinema Of The 80's
February 18-April 16
Opening Event February 18-20: Weekend tribute to indie film pioneer John Sayles
40+ film, two month retrospective celebrating iconic independent cinema
Guest filmmakers attending in person include:
John Sayles, Penelope Spheeris, Wayne Wang, Alex Cox, Allison Anders, Lizzie Borden, Ross McElwee, Robert Townsend, Richard Kern, John McNaughton
Numerous brand new restorations, including Paydirt, Born In Flames, and Last Night at The Alamo
Los Angeles, CA, February 15, 2016-Kicking off on February 18th with a rare in-person three-day tribute to independent film pioneer and legend John Sayles-including a master class on screenwriting co-presented by the WGA Foundation-and continuing through mid-April, The Cinefamily is proud to announce Underground USA: Indie Cinema Of The 80s-a guest-filled, two month,...
- 2/17/2016
- by nospam@example.com (Cinema Retro)
- Cinemaretro.com
This Friday at Midnight, Kevin Smith‘s Clerks will return to Park City for a commemorative screening. The film debuted at the Sundance Film Festival 20 years ago, showing for the first time at the Holiday Village Cinema on January 22, 1994, at 10pm. Two more screenings were held the following week in the same theater, with a fourth and final appearance at the Egyptian. The festival guide entry, written by Bob Hawk (who would go on to be a producer on Chasing Amy), called it “the film equivalent of a garage band” and “an essentially serious work that refuses to take itself seriously.” According to John Pierson’s book Spike, Mike, Slackers and Dykes, the film was already in play ahead of the premiere, with an advance screening set up for Miramax in December. Although they would end up distributing Clerks, apparently Harvey Weinstein walked out after 15 minutes, allegedly because of the anti-smoking sequence. He...
- 1/19/2014
- by Christopher Campbell
- FilmSchoolRejects.com
Chicago – Richard Linklater’s “Slacker” is one of the most important films of the ’90s. Appearing at the 1991 Sundance Film Festival, this incredibly low-budget piece of work helped launch the indie film movement of the decade, teaching people that anyone could make a movie. Shot on 16Mm for less than $25k, “Slacker” ushered in an era of Diy filmmaking. Kevin Smith has said that “Clerks” wouldn’t exist without it. And the ironic thing is that you can now watch one of the most influential low-budget films on the high-definition format of Blu-ray, courtesy of The Criterion Collection.
Rating: 4.0/5.0
The Criterion Blu-ray for “Slacker” not only includes a new, restored, high-definition transfer of the low-definition film but an amazing amount of special features, perhaps more than any on a Criterion Blu-ray this year. It features other works by Linklater, including “It’s Impossible to Learn to Plow by Reading Books” and “Woodshock,...
Rating: 4.0/5.0
The Criterion Blu-ray for “Slacker” not only includes a new, restored, high-definition transfer of the low-definition film but an amazing amount of special features, perhaps more than any on a Criterion Blu-ray this year. It features other works by Linklater, including “It’s Impossible to Learn to Plow by Reading Books” and “Woodshock,...
- 10/11/2013
- by adam@hollywoodchicago.com (Adam Fendelman)
- HollywoodChicago.com
Blu-ray & DVD Release Date: Sept. 17, 2013
Price: Blu-ray $39.95
Studio: Criterion
The 1991 independent comedy Slacker, directed by Richard Linklater (Dazed and Confused), presents a day in the life of a loose-knit Austin, Texas, subculture populated by eccentric and over-educated young people.
Shooting his second feature on 16 mm for a mere $3,000, writer/director/producer Linklater and his crew of friends threw out any idea of a traditional plot, choosing instead to create a tapestry of over a hundred characters, each as compelling as the last.
Two decades-plus on, Slacker remains a prescient look at an emerging generation of aggressive nonparticipants, and one of the key films of the American independent film movement of the 1990s.
Criterion issued Slacker on DVD back in 2004 and the new Blu-ray edition ports over many of the bonus features from that release.
Here’s the complete list of features on the Blu-ray:
• High-definition restored digital film transfer, supervised...
Price: Blu-ray $39.95
Studio: Criterion
The 1991 independent comedy Slacker, directed by Richard Linklater (Dazed and Confused), presents a day in the life of a loose-knit Austin, Texas, subculture populated by eccentric and over-educated young people.
Shooting his second feature on 16 mm for a mere $3,000, writer/director/producer Linklater and his crew of friends threw out any idea of a traditional plot, choosing instead to create a tapestry of over a hundred characters, each as compelling as the last.
Two decades-plus on, Slacker remains a prescient look at an emerging generation of aggressive nonparticipants, and one of the key films of the American independent film movement of the 1990s.
Criterion issued Slacker on DVD back in 2004 and the new Blu-ray edition ports over many of the bonus features from that release.
Here’s the complete list of features on the Blu-ray:
• High-definition restored digital film transfer, supervised...
- 6/25/2013
- by Laurence
- Disc Dish
John Pierson, the producer of Slacker and several other early features by notable directors of the American independent filmmaking renaissance of the ‘80s and ‘90s, once described Richard Linklater as the voice of a generation that wasn’t part of it: an art film brat who found himself at the center of a microbudget filmmaking movement who would “much rather talk about Robert Bresson’s Lancelot du Lac than either Jaws or The Brady Bunch.” Yet Linklater’s filmography suggests that he’s just as comfortable with ascetic French minimalism as he is with American broadcast television. His career covers everything from no-budget chamber dramas like Tape to studio-backed kids’ movies like School of Rock to cult classics like Dazed and Confused and animated experiments like Waking Life. While Linklater is notably comfortable making movies in his native Texas (he arguably defined Austin’s filmmaking and twentysomething scene without overtly seeking to instigate or capture either), as...
- 6/5/2013
- by Landon Palmer
- FilmSchoolRejects.com
We here at Wamg are massive fans of Kevin Smith. Out of all of us, I’m definitely the biggest. Don’t believe me? Here’s the last article I posted on this site – 37 Reasons (in a row) Why Kevin Smith Should Present Stuck Like Chuck. As the title suggests, it is a list of 37 reasons why the new label created by Smodcast Pictures & Phase 4 Films should release my no-budget directorial debut. While caked in self-promotion, the article is fairly light-hearted and actually does offer some insights into the world of indie film. The day after I posted it, I received an email from Phase 4 requesting a screener. Needless to say, I was ecstatic. I immediately sent a DVD their way and have been playing the waiting game since.
And with that bit of backstory established, we can move on to the meat of the article…
Tuesday March 20th...
And with that bit of backstory established, we can move on to the meat of the article…
Tuesday March 20th...
- 3/24/2012
- by Jerry Cavallaro
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
This is not in the nature of news but of ruminations. I am still thinking of Bingham, and others who have died too soon in our world of independent film...We all are aware of Donald Krim and of Wouter Barendrecht.
Recently our friend and the director of the documentary To Be Heard -- a wonderful testimonial to the winning spirit of disenfranchised youth in Brooklyn -- Deborah Shaffer also lost her wonderful husband, Larry Bogdanow, a New York architect of restaurant interiors. One of his most enticing and intimate restaurants, Wild Blue, opened on the 107th floor of the World Trade Center in 1999 and was destroyed on Sept. 11, 2001. Deborah continued on, finished the film, got it out into the festivals and short listed for an Academy Award Nomination for Best Documentary this year.
There were also the buyers reps, Richard Glasser and Steve Hirsch who passed from this scene much too early in their lives.
At the risk of becoming morbid, I am using this blog as an open forum, a place to ruminate, not on death, but to take a little more time to remember Bingham whose closeness is affecting me deeply still.
I know people live in circumstances where death and even violent death is all around them (Haiti, Rwanda, Colombia, etc.). I cannot imagine their grief and horror, and I know I am blessed as are all my friends and colleagues to be living in such peaceful circumstances. Still losing friends and family is a painful, if inevitable, process.
Sundance seemed to stop this year with the news of Bingham's death. Anne Thompson also remarked on it; time just took on a whole different aspect. It was difficult sticking to the program though we did the best we could. It seemed to end before it became a festival for me.
My most recent memory and my earliest memory of Bingham are condensed into this moment when I wrote this In Memoriam at Sundance:
Most recently, as I was checking out of my hotel the last day of the Art House Convergence, it was early and most of the participants were going to the panel: Art House Lessons for Today from the Halcyon Days: History Repeats Itself, subtitled Nostalgia for the Bad Old Days, a panel with Jeff Lipsky: October Films co-founder with Bingham, founder and president of the recently established Adopt Films, Art Takes Over, 30-year veteran in the independent film world, internationally known for his expertise in independent film marketing, acquisition and distribution, Richard Abramowitz: President of Abramorama; co-founder of Stratosphere Entertainment; Ira Deutchman of Emerging Pictures and Chair of Columbia University’s Film Program; a founder of Cinecom (and the seed planter of my own Film Finders at that time) who later created Fine Line Features; filmmaker, marketer and distributor of over 150 films since 1975 and Gary Palmucci (whose wife if Nancy Gerstman of Zeitgeist): Vice President of Theatrical Distribution for Kino Lorber, long time Kino regular on the festival circuit with Don Krim who also has passed on much too early.
My roommate at the Convergence, Bernice Baeza of the Lark Theater in Larkspur California, was leaving early and so we were almost alone in the hotel lobby, though Carl Spence of Seattle and Palm Springs Film Festivals was about to go into breakfast, and Richard Abramowitz and someone were in a corner by themselves.
We saw an ambulance draw up and it alarmed us. I realized that whoever had been in the corner was now being strapped to a gurney. I began to run to the ambulance to ask what had happened as I saw Bingham laying there with his feet crossed and a serene smile on his face as if he was saying I'm just going to rest for a while. Richard was by his side and as he saw me become alarmed, he asked me to please be very discrete and not to mention this to anyone. He said Bingham had just fallen and Richard called the ambulance to be sure he was not hurt. I agreed and returned to the lobby and said to Carl, Just forget you saw anything; do not mention this to anyone. He agreed and Bernice and I continued to check out. The woman behind the desk said that he had come to the desk and had forgotten his room number, and then could also not recall his name and his speech was slurred. She said he must have suffered a stroke.
Later Richard kept in touch with me as he stayed on watch. He told me getting Bingham to accept an ambulance had been a typical "Bingham" struggle as Bingham had felt it was unnecessary.
When I first met Bingham he was known as the former manager of the Bleeker Street Theater, a legend to me, a non native New Yorker. I had moved from L.A. to New York and was managing Films Inc/ Pmi's Social Issue Documentary Division, founded by Marge Benton who was also Chairman of the Sundance Institute at the time and active with the Democratic campaign to elect Carter. She felt that such a documentary division would help further the causes she loved and election time was an important time to do so.
All the "guys" in the business were very intimidating at the time: Bingham, John Pierson, Douglas Green, Tom Bernard...and I was struggling to hold my own. Last Berlin, as Bingham and I were talking, he admitted to knowing how intimidating he was and we laughed as I admitted to always wanting to cry after having "conversations" with these guys.
Bingham had grown, he had already had two near-death experiences - one during the London Screenings, when stepping off a curb in London, he was pulled back by Mark Ordesky (my former assistant before going to New Line!) as a car rushed forward towards him (from the "wrong direction"), and the other in an auto acccident in Connecticut. I had written him then about my thoughts in the face of his terrible accident and we became more than mere acquaintances when he thanked me for the note.
Bingham knew the value of life and he lived it fully. His much too early death should remind us all to be mindful of how we are living. I myself almost did not want to take the time to write this; the pressure of working at Sundance was very strong and it would have been easier to work through, but the thoughts of Bingham and our common histories would not let go of me.
He himself was about to start a whole new chapter in his life at the San Francisco Film Society, already marred by the premature death of its beloved director Graham Leggat. This alone should be a reminder to us all that no matter what our age, there is always a new chapter to begin if we live creatively.
We need to take the time to consider how we live in this world we all share, how we treat others, how we build our lives around what are truly the important issues....family, friends, our community, our city, our nation and our planet...and cinema which we all believe can truly change the world.
Bingham is out there now and he will always be a part of our world in whatever form we human beings take after shuffling off our mortal coil.
Recently our friend and the director of the documentary To Be Heard -- a wonderful testimonial to the winning spirit of disenfranchised youth in Brooklyn -- Deborah Shaffer also lost her wonderful husband, Larry Bogdanow, a New York architect of restaurant interiors. One of his most enticing and intimate restaurants, Wild Blue, opened on the 107th floor of the World Trade Center in 1999 and was destroyed on Sept. 11, 2001. Deborah continued on, finished the film, got it out into the festivals and short listed for an Academy Award Nomination for Best Documentary this year.
There were also the buyers reps, Richard Glasser and Steve Hirsch who passed from this scene much too early in their lives.
At the risk of becoming morbid, I am using this blog as an open forum, a place to ruminate, not on death, but to take a little more time to remember Bingham whose closeness is affecting me deeply still.
I know people live in circumstances where death and even violent death is all around them (Haiti, Rwanda, Colombia, etc.). I cannot imagine their grief and horror, and I know I am blessed as are all my friends and colleagues to be living in such peaceful circumstances. Still losing friends and family is a painful, if inevitable, process.
Sundance seemed to stop this year with the news of Bingham's death. Anne Thompson also remarked on it; time just took on a whole different aspect. It was difficult sticking to the program though we did the best we could. It seemed to end before it became a festival for me.
My most recent memory and my earliest memory of Bingham are condensed into this moment when I wrote this In Memoriam at Sundance:
Most recently, as I was checking out of my hotel the last day of the Art House Convergence, it was early and most of the participants were going to the panel: Art House Lessons for Today from the Halcyon Days: History Repeats Itself, subtitled Nostalgia for the Bad Old Days, a panel with Jeff Lipsky: October Films co-founder with Bingham, founder and president of the recently established Adopt Films, Art Takes Over, 30-year veteran in the independent film world, internationally known for his expertise in independent film marketing, acquisition and distribution, Richard Abramowitz: President of Abramorama; co-founder of Stratosphere Entertainment; Ira Deutchman of Emerging Pictures and Chair of Columbia University’s Film Program; a founder of Cinecom (and the seed planter of my own Film Finders at that time) who later created Fine Line Features; filmmaker, marketer and distributor of over 150 films since 1975 and Gary Palmucci (whose wife if Nancy Gerstman of Zeitgeist): Vice President of Theatrical Distribution for Kino Lorber, long time Kino regular on the festival circuit with Don Krim who also has passed on much too early.
My roommate at the Convergence, Bernice Baeza of the Lark Theater in Larkspur California, was leaving early and so we were almost alone in the hotel lobby, though Carl Spence of Seattle and Palm Springs Film Festivals was about to go into breakfast, and Richard Abramowitz and someone were in a corner by themselves.
We saw an ambulance draw up and it alarmed us. I realized that whoever had been in the corner was now being strapped to a gurney. I began to run to the ambulance to ask what had happened as I saw Bingham laying there with his feet crossed and a serene smile on his face as if he was saying I'm just going to rest for a while. Richard was by his side and as he saw me become alarmed, he asked me to please be very discrete and not to mention this to anyone. He said Bingham had just fallen and Richard called the ambulance to be sure he was not hurt. I agreed and returned to the lobby and said to Carl, Just forget you saw anything; do not mention this to anyone. He agreed and Bernice and I continued to check out. The woman behind the desk said that he had come to the desk and had forgotten his room number, and then could also not recall his name and his speech was slurred. She said he must have suffered a stroke.
Later Richard kept in touch with me as he stayed on watch. He told me getting Bingham to accept an ambulance had been a typical "Bingham" struggle as Bingham had felt it was unnecessary.
When I first met Bingham he was known as the former manager of the Bleeker Street Theater, a legend to me, a non native New Yorker. I had moved from L.A. to New York and was managing Films Inc/ Pmi's Social Issue Documentary Division, founded by Marge Benton who was also Chairman of the Sundance Institute at the time and active with the Democratic campaign to elect Carter. She felt that such a documentary division would help further the causes she loved and election time was an important time to do so.
All the "guys" in the business were very intimidating at the time: Bingham, John Pierson, Douglas Green, Tom Bernard...and I was struggling to hold my own. Last Berlin, as Bingham and I were talking, he admitted to knowing how intimidating he was and we laughed as I admitted to always wanting to cry after having "conversations" with these guys.
Bingham had grown, he had already had two near-death experiences - one during the London Screenings, when stepping off a curb in London, he was pulled back by Mark Ordesky (my former assistant before going to New Line!) as a car rushed forward towards him (from the "wrong direction"), and the other in an auto acccident in Connecticut. I had written him then about my thoughts in the face of his terrible accident and we became more than mere acquaintances when he thanked me for the note.
Bingham knew the value of life and he lived it fully. His much too early death should remind us all to be mindful of how we are living. I myself almost did not want to take the time to write this; the pressure of working at Sundance was very strong and it would have been easier to work through, but the thoughts of Bingham and our common histories would not let go of me.
He himself was about to start a whole new chapter in his life at the San Francisco Film Society, already marred by the premature death of its beloved director Graham Leggat. This alone should be a reminder to us all that no matter what our age, there is always a new chapter to begin if we live creatively.
We need to take the time to consider how we live in this world we all share, how we treat others, how we build our lives around what are truly the important issues....family, friends, our community, our city, our nation and our planet...and cinema which we all believe can truly change the world.
Bingham is out there now and he will always be a part of our world in whatever form we human beings take after shuffling off our mortal coil.
- 1/29/2012
- by Sydney Levine
- Sydney's Buzz
Here's the latest Austin and Central Texas movie news.
Former Austinite and Fantastic Fest Programmer Coordinator Blake Ethridge will consult on programming and acquisition efforts for the inaugural Oak Cliff Film Festival, which will take place June 14-17 in the Dallas neighborhood. (Ethridge co-hosted Slackerwood's Alamo Downtown Blog-a-Thon in 2007.) Ocff will focus on screening movies previously shown at prestigious film festivals, from Sundance to SXSW to Cannes. Movies will play at the Texas Theatre -- whose owners are also the fest coordinators -- as well as the Kessler Theater, the Bishop Arts "TeCo" Theater (formerly the Bluebird Theater) and the Belmont Hotel in Dallas. Festival submissions open November 7.The Austin Polish Film Festival starts today. Anne Lewis at the Austin Chronicle has written an excellent preview. Actor Johnny Depp and director Bruce Robinson didn't just visit Austin Film Festival last month, but also spoke with and answered questions from Ut...
Former Austinite and Fantastic Fest Programmer Coordinator Blake Ethridge will consult on programming and acquisition efforts for the inaugural Oak Cliff Film Festival, which will take place June 14-17 in the Dallas neighborhood. (Ethridge co-hosted Slackerwood's Alamo Downtown Blog-a-Thon in 2007.) Ocff will focus on screening movies previously shown at prestigious film festivals, from Sundance to SXSW to Cannes. Movies will play at the Texas Theatre -- whose owners are also the fest coordinators -- as well as the Kessler Theater, the Bishop Arts "TeCo" Theater (formerly the Bluebird Theater) and the Belmont Hotel in Dallas. Festival submissions open November 7.The Austin Polish Film Festival starts today. Anne Lewis at the Austin Chronicle has written an excellent preview. Actor Johnny Depp and director Bruce Robinson didn't just visit Austin Film Festival last month, but also spoke with and answered questions from Ut...
- 11/4/2011
- by Jordan Gass-Poore'
- Slackerwood
Here's the latest Austin and Central Texas film news, as well as some special screening information.
Austin-based director Michael Dolan will be present at two area screenings of his 2010 feature film Dance With The One, as part of a tour sponsored by the Texas Independent Film Network. The San Marcos premiere of the movie will take place on 7 pm this Wednesday, Oct. 12, in room 206 of the Texas State University-San Marcos Department of Theatre and Dance. In addition, Dolan and actress Dana Wheeler-Nicholson will be at the Austin Film Society screening room on Friday, Oct. 14 to show the film. Dance with the One (Debbie's review) is about a small-time Texas pot dealer who gets in over his head when the million dollars' worth of hash his boss has given him suddenly goes missing. The movie stars Austinite Gabriel Luna and is the first film made by the University of Texas Film Institute,...
Austin-based director Michael Dolan will be present at two area screenings of his 2010 feature film Dance With The One, as part of a tour sponsored by the Texas Independent Film Network. The San Marcos premiere of the movie will take place on 7 pm this Wednesday, Oct. 12, in room 206 of the Texas State University-San Marcos Department of Theatre and Dance. In addition, Dolan and actress Dana Wheeler-Nicholson will be at the Austin Film Society screening room on Friday, Oct. 14 to show the film. Dance with the One (Debbie's review) is about a small-time Texas pot dealer who gets in over his head when the million dollars' worth of hash his boss has given him suddenly goes missing. The movie stars Austinite Gabriel Luna and is the first film made by the University of Texas Film Institute,...
- 10/11/2011
- by Jordan Gass-Poore'
- Slackerwood
Updated through 6/23.
Now that Bernie's premiered at the Los Angeles Film Festival, Richard Linklater heads back home to Texas, where, on Wednesday, the Austin Film Society and the Alamo Drafthouse will be hosting a party and a 20th anniversary screening of the feature that would impact lasting impressions of a decade, Slacker. The evening is to kick off with a freshly cut trailer for Slacker 2011, a remake cobbled together from recreations of individual scenes in the original by 23 local filmmakers (including Bradley Beesley, Jay Duplass and the Zellner Brothers) slated for its premiere on August 31.
Slacker remains "the best — and maybe the most important — little arthouse film ever to come out of the Lone Star State," argues Marc Savlov in a piece the Chronicle ran back in January which segues into an interview with Linklater and John Pierson (who, of course, devotes a chapter of his book Spike, Mike,...
Now that Bernie's premiered at the Los Angeles Film Festival, Richard Linklater heads back home to Texas, where, on Wednesday, the Austin Film Society and the Alamo Drafthouse will be hosting a party and a 20th anniversary screening of the feature that would impact lasting impressions of a decade, Slacker. The evening is to kick off with a freshly cut trailer for Slacker 2011, a remake cobbled together from recreations of individual scenes in the original by 23 local filmmakers (including Bradley Beesley, Jay Duplass and the Zellner Brothers) slated for its premiere on August 31.
Slacker remains "the best — and maybe the most important — little arthouse film ever to come out of the Lone Star State," argues Marc Savlov in a piece the Chronicle ran back in January which segues into an interview with Linklater and John Pierson (who, of course, devotes a chapter of his book Spike, Mike,...
- 6/23/2011
- MUBI
I'm working on a photo essay from Thursday night's Texas Film Hall of Fame Awards, which I'll post soon. Our new photographer, Cole Dabney (also the founder of the Austin Film Critics Association and a kick-ass videographer), worked the red carpet for Slackerwood this year. He got some amazing photos of all kinds of celebrities -- at the awards event, everyone enters via the red carpet -- but so far this is my favorite.
The gentleman on the left is musician Ted Nugent, who regaled the evening's attendees with an energetic version of The Star-Spangled Banner. For whatever reason, he was on the red carpet at the same time as Austin author/Ut instructor/former producer's rep John Pierson. Most excellent, dudes.
[Photo credit: Cole Dabney]...
The gentleman on the left is musician Ted Nugent, who regaled the evening's attendees with an energetic version of The Star-Spangled Banner. For whatever reason, he was on the red carpet at the same time as Austin author/Ut instructor/former producer's rep John Pierson. Most excellent, dudes.
[Photo credit: Cole Dabney]...
- 3/13/2011
- by Jette Kernion
- Slackerwood
This is a great week for Austin movie-related news. Here's the latest:
Congratulations to local filmmaker and Austin Film Society staffer Bryan Poyser, whose film Lovers of Hate (my review) has received a Spirit Award nomination. The movie is up for the John Cassavetes Award, for indie films with a budget of less than $500K. I am also pleased to see Houston documentary Thunder Soul (Jenn's review) up for Best Documentary. Many of the independent films nominated for awards played either SXSW or Austin Film Festival this year -- check out the above link for a full list. Ut instructor (among other things) John Pierson has an article in The New York Times this week about the latest film from Austin filmmaker Steve Mims, which is now called Incendiary: The Willingham Case. (Under the title Dead to Rights: The Willingham Case, it won a Texas Filmmakers Production Fund grant this year.
Congratulations to local filmmaker and Austin Film Society staffer Bryan Poyser, whose film Lovers of Hate (my review) has received a Spirit Award nomination. The movie is up for the John Cassavetes Award, for indie films with a budget of less than $500K. I am also pleased to see Houston documentary Thunder Soul (Jenn's review) up for Best Documentary. Many of the independent films nominated for awards played either SXSW or Austin Film Festival this year -- check out the above link for a full list. Ut instructor (among other things) John Pierson has an article in The New York Times this week about the latest film from Austin filmmaker Steve Mims, which is now called Incendiary: The Willingham Case. (Under the title Dead to Rights: The Willingham Case, it won a Texas Filmmakers Production Fund grant this year.
- 12/1/2010
- by Jette Kernion
- Slackerwood
Spike Lee was our cover in Winter, 1996, and there were two tie-ins. First, his movie Girl 6 was about to be released. And, second, John Pierson’s Spike, Mike, Slackers and Dykes was just being published. For Filmmaker, Pierson gave us an expanded version of a talk he had with Lee and Kevin Smith that includes this interesting note from Lee. I had forgotten that Lee’s intended first feature was Messenger, an autobiographical tale about a young bicycle messenger. The film collapsed in pre-production when financing was pulled. Kevin: I want to do goofy young filmmaker questions, the kinds of things that I would really like to know too. If you had done Messenger first as planned, would your career have been any different? Spike:...
- 8/15/2010
- by Scott Macaulay
- Filmmaker Magazine - Blog
Isn't it a lovely day for Austin film news! Lots of interesting tidbits to catch up on:
Traverse City Film Festival really does love Austin: The Happy Poet (Jenn's review) won the Michigan fest's Fiction Prize for Emerging Talent this weekend, sharing the award with SXSW 2010 film Tiny Furniture (my review). I spotted a few other SXSW selections in the list of award-winning films, plus one for Gasland, which played Marfa Ff and has a few scenes in Texas (and which you all should see).The good news: John Pierson's master classes, which took place in the spring, were recorded and will be broadcast on Kut again this year. The bad news: They're part of "O'Dark 30," which airs from midnight to 3 am. Maybe you can find a way to set a timer to record them. We just missed last night's, but three are left: Elizabeth Avellan, Timur Bekmambetov, and Richard Linklater with Alison Macor.
Traverse City Film Festival really does love Austin: The Happy Poet (Jenn's review) won the Michigan fest's Fiction Prize for Emerging Talent this weekend, sharing the award with SXSW 2010 film Tiny Furniture (my review). I spotted a few other SXSW selections in the list of award-winning films, plus one for Gasland, which played Marfa Ff and has a few scenes in Texas (and which you all should see).The good news: John Pierson's master classes, which took place in the spring, were recorded and will be broadcast on Kut again this year. The bad news: They're part of "O'Dark 30," which airs from midnight to 3 am. Maybe you can find a way to set a timer to record them. We just missed last night's, but three are left: Elizabeth Avellan, Timur Bekmambetov, and Richard Linklater with Alison Macor.
- 8/2/2010
- by Jette Kernion
- Slackerwood
It's Monday morning and a great time to hear all the latest Austin news, or even refresh yourself on some older news after a hopefully long and enjoyable weekend. Here's what we've got:
Filmmaker Spike Jonze will be speaking to John Pierson's Ut master class -- and as many other students as they can fit in the space -- on Tuesday night. But that's not the only reason he's in Austin. According to MTV News, Jonze is collaborating with Canadian band Arcade Fire on a short film, which will be shot here in Austin. I think the trailer of Jonze's Where the Wild Things Are that was accompanied by Arcade Fire's "Wake Up" was actually better than the full-length feature, so I'm looking forward to hearing more about this short film.Just found out that local filmmaker Emily Hagins's latest feature, The Retelling, will play at Texas...
Filmmaker Spike Jonze will be speaking to John Pierson's Ut master class -- and as many other students as they can fit in the space -- on Tuesday night. But that's not the only reason he's in Austin. According to MTV News, Jonze is collaborating with Canadian band Arcade Fire on a short film, which will be shot here in Austin. I think the trailer of Jonze's Where the Wild Things Are that was accompanied by Arcade Fire's "Wake Up" was actually better than the full-length feature, so I'm looking forward to hearing more about this short film.Just found out that local filmmaker Emily Hagins's latest feature, The Retelling, will play at Texas...
- 4/12/2010
- by Jette Kernion
- Slackerwood
I've missed John Pierson's master class at The University of Texas this year. I've enrolled in the master class several times, and have always enjoyed the guests from the film industry that Pierson interviews each week. He's brought a variety of speakers to Austin, from film-festival programmers to local film critics to actors such as Steve Buscemi to well-known filmmakers such as Kevin Smith and Ross McElwee. The "celebrity" speakers are always fun, but I naturally have a soft spot for the local guests ... one of my favorites was a very candid evening with Alamo Drafthouse founder Tim League a few years ago.
Last week's class was one I was especially sorry to miss: author Alison Macor, whose book Chainsaws, Slackers, and Spy Kids was recently published, discussed Austin film history with local filmmaker Richard Linklater. I hope this is one of the sessions that Kut recorded and will air this summer,...
Last week's class was one I was especially sorry to miss: author Alison Macor, whose book Chainsaws, Slackers, and Spy Kids was recently published, discussed Austin film history with local filmmaker Richard Linklater. I hope this is one of the sessions that Kut recorded and will air this summer,...
- 4/5/2010
- by Jette Kernion
- Slackerwood
As the gap widens between the hundreds of features that play the festival circuit every year and the ever smaller handful of films bought and sold by the studio-dependent indie arms, certain overlaps become readily apparent between the inevitable day-todays of the young indie filmmakers who might have been inspired by a book like John Pierson's Spike Mike Slackers and Dykes, and the indie rock kids who might have been inspired by a book like Michael Azzerad's This Band Could Be Your Life. For one thing, both the record business and the film business (particularly as it concerns small films, mid-size non-genre films, and virtually anything without franchise potential) have, in the past few years, entered into periods of reckoning w ...
- 3/28/2009
- by Karina Longworth
- Spout
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