Short Cuts
By Christopher Zara
Here are some random items clipped from a weekly column covering NYC's indie film scene. I penned this column for about six months before handing it over to Sarah Ricard.
July, 2006:
Shooting Scripts
Okay, I'll admit it — we New Yorkers like to think our city has the last word in both art and film. This week, though, Short Cuts has to give much-deserved kudos to an artist/screenwriter out in LA who managed to find the perfect marriage between the two disciplines. Tom Benedek, best known for having penned the script for Ron Howard's "Cocoon," has unveiled a new art exhibit that elevates the screenplay from its status as a lifeless, unfinished blueprint into a self-sustaining work of art. To create the exhibit, dubbed "Shot by the Writer," Benedek took the piles of unproduced scripts that lay stacked in his garage and shot them full of bullets — creating a chaotic display of studded copy paper held together by #6 brads. While the results may not put Benedek on equal footing with Warhol, they are a delightful testament to anyone who has toiled away on Final Draft only to be shot down in the first round of Scriptapalooza.
Mavericks and Mayhem
Cinema of Transgression, an underground film movement that enjoyed its heyday in New York City during the late '70s and early '80s, has largely gone under the radar in indie film circles. Known for spawning a host of low-budget auteurs like Nick Zedd, Richard Kern and Tommy Turner, the movement comprises some of the most controversial footage ever to make it to super-8 film stock. Now, the scene's most irreverent voices are getting their moment in the sun thanks to the fabulously off-center Web site UbuWeb. The site recently launched a Cinema of Transgression dedication page, which contains free downloads of such self-explanatory titles as "Nymphomania," "Where Evil Dwells," and "Mommy, Mommy, Where's my Brain?" UbuWeb has also posted a verbatim copy of Zedd's Cinema of Transgression Manifesto, which bluntly outlines the movement's ideals. Let's face it, any film movement with its own manifesto is bound to ruffle some feathers, but Zedd's proposal that "all film schools be blown up" pretty much explains why we never see these guys come Oscar time.
Brother to Brother
Co-directors Keith Fulton and Louis Pepe made an unusual splash on the festival
circuit this year with their mockumentary "Brothers of the Head," which
chronicles the rise and fall of a pair of conjoined punk rockers who take 1970s
England by storm with their angst-ridden band Bang Bang. Now the directors will
see if their film can match that success on the art-house circuit thanks to
local distributor IFC Films. The film stars real life (non-joined) twins Harry
and Luke Treadaway as Tom and Barry Howe who are plucked from obscurity by a
sleazy music promoter with aims to turn them into a freakish rock and roll act.
Prior to directing "Brothers," Fulton and Pepe made a name for themselves by
capturing maverick director Terry Gilliam's ill-fated film shoot for the 2002
documentary "Lost in La Mancha." "Brothers of the Head" opens on July 28 at the
IFC Center, and will almost certainly be the best film about conjoined punk
rockers you will see all year.
March, 2006:
De Niro Keeps it Local
It's nice to know that the hugely popular Tribeca Film Festival hasn't shunned
its roots. While the fest has grown considerably in a very short amount of time
(at five years old, the event is an infant by film festival standards), founder
Robert De Niro and cohorts still manage to reserve a hefty chunk of programming
to homegrown cinema. This year's New York, New York Narrative Feature
competition boasts more than two dozen Gotham-centric entries. A few early
favorites include Craig Chester's "Adam & Steve," about two gay New Yorkers who
reunite after a one night stand, and Danny Leiner's "Great New Wonderful," a
drama featuring five separate stories linked by 9/11. The Tribeca Film Festival
runs from April 25th through May 7th at various theaters throughout Manhattan.
For a complete schedule, visit
www.tribecafilmfestival.org.
Video Rules
The hi-def video revolution has been slower to transform Hollywood than some had
hoped. (A recent Time magazine web article, in fact, featured Steven Spielberg
gushing over celluloid like a lovesick schoolgirl.) But proud videophiles
shouldn't be discouraged from learning the ABC's of their craft. April will be a
great month for HD video training at Film/Video Arts. The local arts outfit is
holding workshops on three consecutive Tuesdays which will iron out the finer
points of HD video. On April 11th, you can learn the fundamentals of the Sony
HVR-A1U, a micro-marvel which is touted as the smallest HD camera in existence.
On April 18th, you can get an overview of hi-def post-production. And on April
25th, you can learn the basics of HD video compression (an essential component
of the editing process). All the workshops are $40 ($30 for F/VA members) and
run from 6:30 to 9:30pm at F/VA, 25 E. 21st St. 3rd Floor. Check out
www.fva.com for more info.
"Sex" and the City
Veteran experimental filmmaker Caveh Zahedi's "I Am a Sex Addict" is probably
his most well-received film to date. The autobiographical film, in which Zahedi
chronicles the lusty urges that have wreaked havoc on his relationships, opened
last year to critical acclaim and was recently picked up by local distributor
IFC Films. Of course, Zahedi's film did manage to attract some last-minute
controversy. It seems the poster for "Sex Addict," which depicts a scantily-clad
prostitute exposing a hint of nipple, offended its Manhattan-based vendor who
then refused to distribute the advertisement around town. (IFC, for their part,
had no problem hanging the poster in its own theater.) According to Zahedi's
blog on indiewire.com, the nipple-exposing poster wasn't an issue when the film
played in Europe–although theaters there did report a high incidence of the
posters being stolen. "I Am a Sex Addict" opens at the IFC Center on April 12th.
Visit www.ifccenter.com.
Canemaker Makes Good
Congratulations to longtime NYU professor John Canemaker who made off with a
coveted gold statue at the Academy Awards in Hollywood last week. Canemaker,
director of animation studies at NYU's Kanbar Institute of Film and Television
(a division of the Tisch School of the Arts), took home the Oscar for Best
Animated Short Film for "The Moon and the Son: An Imagined Conversation." The
winning 28-minute short was a therapeutic as well as an artistic venture for
Canemaker, who envisioned the film as a means of exploring his own turbulent
relationship with his late father. During his acceptance speech from the podium
of the Kodak Theater, Canemaker gave teary props to the craft of hand-drawn
animation which, he said, "can still pack an emotional wallop." The comment left
several Pixar execs scratching their heads.
Help is on the Way
Sure, it's tempting to hire your unemployed cousin Seth as a production
assistant on your next shoot (considering he'll work for beer and cigarettes),
but let's face it: using trained professionals makes better business sense.
Courtesy of the City of New York, there will soon be a new crop of competent
PA's looking to join the local workforce as the first cycle of the city's "Made
in NY" training program wraps up. The free, one-month program was designed to
prepare New Yorkers for entry-level positions in film production, while
encouraging more diversity within the city's entertainment industry. Prospective
PA's learn the bare basics of production, including set safety, crew roles, and
related office skills. The intrepid grads will be available for hiring on March
25th. The "Made in NY" training program is ongoing, so tell Seth he can sign up
anytime. Visit www.nyc.gov/film for more
info.
Protocols of Levin
Indie film vet Marc Levin is not one to shy away from touchy subject matter.
Having tackled post-9/11 anti-Semitism last year with his acclaimed documentary
"Protocols of Zion," the New York-based director has shifted focus to the
equally polarizing world of progressive politics. Levin recently began shooting
"MoveOn: the Movie," a documentary about the Bush-bashing political action group
of the same name. Along with chronicling the genesis of MoveOn, which was
founded in the '90s in reaction to then-President Clinton's pending impeachment,
Levin's film will focus on the group's continued efforts to combat the
unsettling spread of neo-con ideology in the US. Levin is perhaps best known for
his 1998 gang drama "Slam," which won both Sundance's top prize and Cannes'
Camera d'Or. If all goes smoothly, the director plans to have "MoveOn: the
Movie" ready for a spring 2008 release–just in time to spice up election-year
politics.
The Fastest Lens in the East
Jayaraj, an Indian engineer-turned-filmmaker, is aiming for the Guinness Book of
World Records with the lightning-fast completion of his latest film "Atbhutam"
(Wonder), a 74-minute feature that took just 2 hours and 14 minutes to make. "Atbhutam,"
which was inspired by the protracted right-to-die saga of Terri Schiavo, is set
in a fictional Oregon hospital amid controversy surrounding that state's "Death
with Dignity" law. Jayaraj, 45, has forwarded his record-breaking attempt to
Guinness along with letters of authentication from two producers who were
present for filming.
Coming Attractions 101
The idea of producing a trailer for a film that's still in development may sound like a case of the cart getting in front of the horse. In fact, it's a popular tactic for many filmmakers trying to generate investor interest in their projects. This month, you can learn the basics of producing a top-notch promotional trailer with "Trailer Mechanics," a workshop presented by the Association of Independent Video and Filmmakers (AIVF). In eight short hours, workshop attendees will learn everything from the fundamentals of trailer story structure to avoiding common rookie mistakes. "Trailer Mechanics" will be led by Fernanda Rossi, a columnist for the AIVF's "Independent" monthly magazine. The event takes place on Sat., March 25th, 10am – 6pm, at 87 Lafayette St., 3rd Floor. Fees start at $90 for AIVF members, $110 for the general public. Be sure to RSVP. Visit www.aivf.org for more info.
DVDs: Better with Shatner
With so many choices and so little time, picking out worthy DVDs can be a tireless chore. Thankfully, TV icon William Shatner is here to help with his latest aptly-titled venture, The William Shatner DVD Club. For about $4 a pop, subscribers to the service will receive one new DVD per month, personally handpicked by the former "Star Trek" star himself. The current library of Shatner-approved titles contains mostly lesser-known cult hits in the sci-fi, horror, and fantasy genres (John Fawcett's low-budget 2000 thriller "Ginger Snaps" was a recent club favorite). Add William Shatner's DVD club to his slew of record albums, his Priceline.com commercials, and his gig on "Boston Legal," and you start to wonder if America is reaching its Shatner saturation point. Visit www.shatnerdvdclub.com for more info.
Fair Play
Interested in the legalities of documentary filmmaking? If so, check out "Free Speech? Fair Use," a free discussion sponsored by the Center for Social Media, which will aim to clarify the arcane elements of copyright law. The right to invoke Fair Use, that is, to use copyrighted material without permission in circumstances where use of the material has public value, is crucial to free speech. Still, many doc-makers shy away from the practice. The laws can be tricky to grasp, and directors would rather avoid potential infringement suits. To simplify matters, a group of documentary filmmakers has crafted a new user-friendly handbook, "Best Practices in Fair Use," whose contents will be explained at the discussion. Dicey docs would be far less dicey without Fair Use, so all you aspiring Morgan Spurlocks and Michael Moores should definitely pencil this one in. The discussion will take place on Fri, March 3rd, 7:pm, at Cooper Union's Wollman Auditorium, 51 Astor Place. Visit www.centerforsocialmedia.com.
The Man Behind the Cart
Ever wonder what stories lurk behind the coffee vendors who schlep those silver pushcarts around Manhattan? Filmmaker and Columbia grad Ramin Bahrani has, hence the subject of his new film, "Man Push Cart," which was recently picked up by San Francisco-based distributor Films Philos for a fall, 2006 release. "Cart" tells the story of a former Pakistani pop star who now sells coffee from his Midtown Manhattan pushcart (the lead is played with convincing melancholy by real-life cart pusher turned actor Ahmad Razvi). The film made a splash at this year's Sundance, and next month it will screen at the Film Society of Lincoln Center's New Directors/New Films series as part of that event's 35th anniversary. Director Bahrani will also be present at the event, which kicks off on Wed, March 22nd. Visit www.filmlinc.com for more info.
Spike Heads South
Despite his notoriety, local indie hero Spike Lee still operates outside the divides of mainstream Hollywood, making outspoken, low-budget films on his own terms. Now, the rabblerousing Brooklynite has turned his lenses on the Gulf Coast. At a recent Black History Month celebration in Mississippi, Lee offered news of his latest film, "When the Levees Broke," a documentary chronicling the experiences of African Americans in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Rather than going into too much detail about his film, which will debut in August, Lee spent much of the rally carping on hot-button issues like Mississippi's use of the Confederate flag and black culture's "gansta' obsession." Way to woo the crowd, Spike.
Feb, 2006:
Small Screen Treatment
The much-ballyhooed release of Steven Soderbergh's "Bubble," with its
simultaneous availability in theatres and on cable and DVD, seemed so
revolutionary when it happened three weeks ago. By European standards, though,
the stunt was already passé. Months earlier, Italian wireless provider
Hutchinson HG3 had been quietly plotting to release first-run movies on–you
guessed it–cell phones. Hutchinson signed a distribution deal with Eagle
Pictures, who tried to back out of the agreement upon learning that the cell
carrier planned to release the Sean Penn thriller "The Interpreter" a mere ten
days after its theatrical release. Eagle Pictures lost a recent court battle
with Hutchinson, who subsequently made "Memoirs of a Geisha" available for its
customers to download. Here in the US, meanwhile, most wireless customers would
settle for better reception.
I'm Not Lovin' It
If you like your movies peppered with pop-culture references (Kevin Smith
enthusiasts, you know who you are), a new bill creeping through Congress should
have you concerned. HR 683, or the Trademark Dilution Revision Act, would make
it considerably more risky for artists–including film and video makers–to
incorporate trademarked items or phrases anywhere within their works. Under the
new law, companies would have stronger legal leverage in trademark infringement
suits against artists. Since the bill contains preferential wording for
trademarks with a higher "degree of recognition," companies like McDonalds, with
its ubiquitous golden arches, stand to benefit the most if it's signed into law.
HR 683 recently passed the House, but it has yet to be approved by the Senate.
It's not too late to write an angry letter.