46th New York Film Festival Announces Special Events

The New York Film Festival is quickly approaching, and the Film Society of Lincoln Center has sent me their announcement on all the various HBO Films Dialogues, panel discussions and other special screening events for its 46th annual festival. Last year, the NYFF made it into The Film Panel Notetaker's top 10 panels of 2007. Seems like they have a lot of great talks planned this year, so hopefully they'll be back on the list for 2008. Here's their announcement:

NEW YORK, Sept. 3, 2008––The Film Society of Lincoln Center’s 46th New York Film Festival will host a variety of dialogues, panels, anniversary and special event screenings, and an inventive photographic exhibition during this year’s decisive look at contemporary cinema, Sept. 26 to Oct. 12. Events include festival filmmakers Jia Zhangke, Darren Aronofsky and Arnaud Desplechin at the annual HBO Films Dialogues, in-depth conversations with festival curators and audience members on the careers and current output of some of cinema’s most dynamic talents; Martin Scorsese introducing and discussing the Technicolor presentation of Albert Lewin’s simmering romance, “Pandora and the Flying Dutchman;” and Alloy Orchestra presenting the New York premiere of their newest score in accompaniment to a new print of the silent film classic, “The Last Command.” Additionally, prominent film critics from around the world will discuss both the current state and the future of film criticism, while a panel debating the nature and significance of the freedom of the press will follow a screening of the new documentary, “It’s Hard Being Loved by Jerks.”

The popular HBO Films Dialogues return to the New York Film Festival to bring celebrated artists together with their audiences to discuss both their the stylistic and career distinctions and the issues raised by their new films. “24 City” director Jia Zhangke will join LA Weekly film critic and festival selection committee member Scott Foundas to talk about his influences at home and abroad and the changing face of China, his native country, fresh off hosting its first Olympic games, Sunday, Sept. 28, at 4:00 p.m. Festival favorite Wong Kar-wai will discuss his working methods and the evolution of the themes that run through his work with Village Voice film critic and festival selection committee member J. Hoberman, Sunday, Oct. 5, at 4:00 p.m. Brooklyn-native Darren Aronofsky is honored as this year’s Closing Night director for his film “The Wrestler.” He will be onstage with Film Society program director and festival selection committee chair Richard Peña, Saturday, Oct. 11, at 1:30 p.m. “A Christmas Tale” director Arnaud Desplechin will talk about the themes and creative partnerships that continue to motivate him with Film Comment editor-at-large and festival selection committee member Kent Jones, Saturday, Oct. 11, at 4:30 p.m.

All HBO Films Dialogues will be held at the Stanley H. Kaplan Penthouse, on the 10th floor of Lincoln Center’s Samuel B. & David Rose Building, adjacent to the Walter Reade Theater.

The first special event at the Walter Reade Theater will be Film Criticism in Crisis?, a discussion hosted by Film Comment magazine, Saturday, Sept. 27, at 1:00 p.m. The panel brings together critics from around the world and close to home to discuss the current state and future of film criticism. Participants include critic Jonathan Rosenbaum, Cahiers du cinéma editor Emmanuel Burdeau, Film Comment editor-at-large Kent Jones, GreenCine Daily blog editor David Hudson, Argentine film critic Pablo Suarez, among others. A reception will follow the event. Film Criticism in Crisis? is sponsored by Sardinia Region Tourism.

The annual festival showcase Views from the Avant-Garde will host a 30th anniversary screening of Guy Debord’s “In girum imus nocte et consumimur igni” (France, 1978; 100m) on Friday, Oct. 3, at 6:30 p.m. With a palindrome title roughly translated as “we spin around the night consumed by fire,” the film “is not so much difficult as a pure act of negation from the founder of the Situationist International,” says Kent Jones, associate director of programming at the Film Society and a member of the New York Film Festival selection committee. The film uses images from magazines, comics and popular films to critique a media-dominated society, a process defined by Debord as “détournement.” Yet, says Jones, the work also affirms “our ability to build on the best rather than the worst in mankind, to create a true Utopia rather than a paltry counterfeit. Without exaggeration, this is one of the most provocative experiences you’ll ever have at the movies.”

On Monday, Oct. 6, at 6:00 and 8:30 p.m., the New York Film Festival offers music fans, silent film aficionados and movie lovers a unique treat: two chances to see a new 35mm print of Josef von Sternberg’s 1928 classic “The Last Command” (USA, 1928; 88m), accompanied by the New York premiere of Alloy Orchestra’s newest score. Emil Jannings stars in the film alongside Evelyn Brent and William Powell as a once-decorated Russian general who must relive the revolution that deposed him as an extra in a Hollywood film directed by a one-time opponent. Jannings’s performance contributed to his earning the first-ever Oscar for Best Actor, while the film was added to the National Film Registry in 2006. Alloy Orchestra works with untraditional objects to create unique and soulful music for silent film scores. The ensemble has performed live at celebrated arts venues throughout the world. These screenings are made possible through the generosity of the Ira M. Resnick Foundation. Tickets are $20.

Filmmaker Martin Scorsese will be onstage to introduce and discuss the festival’s In Glorious Technicolor screening of “Pandora and the Flying Dutchman” (Albert Lewin, UK, 1951; 122m) at the Walter Reade Theater, Friday, Oct. 10, at 6:15 p.m.The film, a reworking of the tale of the Flying Dutchman set on the Spanish coast, stars one of cinema’s most explosive onscreen couples, James Mason as Hendrik the Dutchman and Ava Gardner as Pandora. Directed by one of cinema’s most unusual talents, designed by director-to-be Clive Donner and shot by the great cinematographer Jack Cardiff, it has been painstakingly restored to its original Technicolor glory by George Eastman House in cooperation with The Douris Corporation, with funding provided by The Film Foundation and the Franco-American Cultural Fund. This screening is made possible by The Film Foundation and American Express Preservation Screening Program.

The festival’s second anniversary screening remembers one of cinema history’s forgotten masterworks, “The Day Shall Dawn” (A.J. Kardar, Pakistan, 1959; 87m), on Saturday, Oct. 11, at 6:30 p.m. Fifty years ago, a group of film enthusiasts inspired by the example of Satyajit Ray in India banded together to make Pakistan’s first experiment with realist cinema. Walter Lassally, a key figure in Britain’s Free Cinema movement, handled the camera for director and screenwriter A.J. Kardar’s story of a family of fishermen working along the Padma River that attempts to break out of a vicious cycle of exploitation by acquiring a boat. The film was awarded a gold medal at the Moscow Film Festival and received several glowing reviews by international critics. Yet it was soon almost completely forgotten, as Pakistani cinema headed into another, very different direction. The Film Society thanks Anjum Taseer for making this screening possible.

On the festival’s final day, the Film Society hosts an expert panel following Daniel Leconte’s new documentary “It’s Hard Being Loved by Jerks” (“C’est dur d’etre aimé par des cons,” France, 2008; 119m), investigating “the first major legal battle of the 21st century” and an issue all democratic societies will continue to face, at the Walter Reade Theater, Sunday, Oct. 12, at 1:00 p.m. In 2006, the French satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo published 12 cartoons satirizing Islamic fundamentalism, including a rendering of a distraught Muhammad with a thought balloon lamenting, “It’s hard being loved by jerks.” Several Islamic organizations sued editor Philippe Val for slander. Leconte documents the trial, chronicling the various legal strategies and capturing an array of social commentators to remark on the event’s impact and long-term effects. After the screening, the filmmaker will join Carol Becker, writer, culture critic and dean of the School of the Arts, Columbia University; Marshall Cohen, professor of philosophy and provost emeritus of philosophy and law, University of Southern California; and others on stage to discuss the concerns raised by the film.

Finally, from Sept. 15 to Oct. 12, the Film Society’s Frieda and Roy Furman Gallery will host the photographic exhibitions Brief Histories Of… and Correspondence Course(s) by filmmaker, author and visual artist Mark Rappaport. Both photomontage essays gather frames from popular movies and re-assemble them in new juxtapositions. The stills refer to the old narrative from which the images were taken, but the viewer is invited to read them and the story they create with fresh eyes. As Mark Rappaport puts it, “It’s a leapfrogging, zigzagging, hopscotching, time-traveling, three-dimensional chess game through film history.” The Frieda and Roy Furman Gallery is adjacent to the Walter Reade Theater. It is free to the public, and open daily 1:30 to 6:00 p.m.

Except where noted, tickets for the HBO Films Dialogues and Walter Reade Theater special events are $16. They can be purchased online at filmlinc.com, at the Walter Reade Theater box office, at the Avery Fisher Hall box office, and over the phone via Centercharge (212.721.6500).

Presented by the Film Society, the annual New York Film Festival showcases new works by both emerging talents and internationally recognized artists, including numerous New York, U.S., and world premieres. The majority of the festival screenings will be held at the Ziegfeld Theatre, 141 West 54th St. (Please note: the Ziegfeld Theatre is not wheelchair accessible. For further information please call 212-875-5610). Opening and Closing Night screenings will be held at Lincoln Center’s Avery Fisher Hall, on the corner of Columbus Avenue and 65th St. Additional screenings and events will take place at the Film Society’s Walter Reade Theater, 165 West 65th St. close to Amsterdam Ave. More information is available at filmlinc.com.

The Film Society of Lincoln Center was founded in 1969 to celebrate American and international cinema, to recognize and support new directors, and to enhance the awareness, accessibility and understanding of film. Advancing this mandate today, the Film Society hosts two distinguished festivals. The New York Film Festival annually premieres films from around the world and has introduced the likes of François Truffaut, R.W. Fassbinder, Jean-Luc Godard, Pedro Almodóvar, Martin Scorsese, and Wong Kar-Wai to the United States. New Directors/New Films, co-presented by the Museum of Modern Art, focuses on emerging film talents. Since 1972, when the Film Society honored Charles Chaplin, the annual Gala Tribute celebrates an actor or filmmaker who has helped distinguish cinema as an art form. Additionally, the Film Society presents a year-round calendar of programming at its Walter Reade Theater and offers insightful film writing to a worldwide audience through Film Comment magazine.
Please note: Due to construction work taking place around Lincoln Center, access to the Walter Reade Theater is at 165 West 65th Street close to Amsterdam Avenue. Once there, take the escalator, elevator or stairs to the upper leve

Falling For the New York Film Festival

I know we still have about a month and a half of summer left, but I was reminded today when I received the press release for the 46th New York Film Festival line-up that fall will soon be upon us, and I for one cannot wait! It's no secret that fall is The Film Panel Notetaker's favorite season for film festivals. There's one nearly every week in and around New York starting in late September and going through most of the rest of the season. But let's stick to the New York Film Festival for now. I started going in 2001 with my friend Marissa (my first film festival experience ever being David Lynch's Mulholland Drive and a panel on Making Movies that Matter right after 9/11 with Oliver Stone and Christine Vachon), but didn't officially start notetaking there till 2006. Last year, I took to the ticket line at Jazz at Lincoln Center for my annual sojourn of sitting for hours in line for tickets as they go on sale to the public. Even though I now go as press, I still make my way to the box office (this year at Avery Fisher Hall) for nostalgic purposes and to see the same people I see every year (only in that line and at the festival and never anywhere else). Here's a quick glance (here, here, and here) at some notes I've taken at the festival since 2006.

This year's opening night film is the Cannes Golden Palm winner The Class (Entre Les Murs) from France by Laurent Cantent. The centerpiece is Clint Eastwood's Changeling starring Angelina Jolie and featuring Eddie Alderson (Matthew Buchanan of TV's One Life to Live). Finally, closing night is Darren Aronofsky's The Wrestler starring Mickey Rourke.

Tickets for the festival will go on sale Sunday, Sept. 7, at 12:00 noon at Avery Fisher Hall, corner of Columbus Avenue and 65th St.; Monday, Sept. 8, online at filmlinc.com; and on Saturday, Sept. 27, at the Ziegfeld Theater, 141 West 54th St. For all other details and further information, please visit filmlinc.com.

Without further adieu, here is the entire lineup for the 46th New York Film Festival taking place Sept. 26 - Oct. 12.

Main slate, screening at the Ziegfeld Theatre, 141 West 54th St., except where noted

OPENING NIGHT (AVERY FISHER HALL / ZIEGFELD THEATRE)
The Class / Entre les murs
Laurent Cantet, France, 2008; 128m
A tough, lively and altogether revelatory look inside a high school classroom, enacted by
real teachers and students.

CENTERPIECE
Changeling
Clint Eastwood, USA, 2008; 140m
Angelina Jolie is a single mother whose troubles are just beginning when her son goes
missing in Clint Eastwood’s majestic fact-based period drama.

CLOSING NIGHT (AVERY FISHER HALL)
The Wrestler
Darren Aronofsky, USA, 2008; 109m
Mickey Rourke gives the performance of a lifetime in Darren Aronofsky’s raw and raucous new movie.

24 City / Er shi si cheng ji
Jia Zhangke, China/Hong Kong/Japan, 2008; 112m
The rise and fall of a Chinese factory town is chronicled in this film, straddling the border
between fiction and documentary.

Afterschool
Antonio Campos, USA, 2008; 122m
When two students at a posh prep school accidentally overdose, a student filmmaker
struggles to create an appropriate tribute for them.

Ashes of Time Redux
Wong Kar Wai, Hong Kong, 2008; 93m
The final, definitive version of Wong Kar Wai’s modernist take on the classic Chinese
martial arts tale.

Bullet in the Head / Trio en la cabeza
Jaime Rosales, Spain/France, 2008; 85m
A powerful, engrossing meditation on politics and the contemporary cult of surveillance.

Che
Steven Soderbergh, France/Spain, 2008; 268m
Steven Soderbergh’s two-part Spanish-language epic about Che Guevara’s revolutionary
military campaigns in Cuba and Bolivia features a brilliant lead performance by Benicio del Toro.

Chouga / Shuga
Darezhan Omirbaev, France/Kazakhstan, 2007; 91m
A Kazakh, minimalist adaptation of Anna Karenina.

A Christmas Tale / Un conte de Noël
Arnaud Desplechin, France, 2008; 150m
Arnaud Desplechin’s grand banquet of a movie brims with life, as Catherine Deneuve,
Mathieu Amalric, Emmanuelle Devos and the other members of a marvelous ensemble
cast come home for Christmas.

Four Nights with Anna / Cztery noce z Anna
Jerzy Skolimowski, Poland/France, 2008; 87m
This visually mesmerizing tale of a shy man and his obsession with the woman across the
way marks the triumphant return of Polish maestro Jerzy Skolimowski.

Gomorrah / Gomorra
Matteo Garrone, Italy, 2008; 137m
A blistering version of Roberto Saviano’s modern true crime classic about the modern-day
Neapolitan mafia.

Happy-Go-Lucky
Mike Leigh, UK, 2008; 118m
An affectionate portrait of an unattached, 30-something London schoolteacher coming to
terms with the fact that she’s no longer young.

The Headless Woman / La mujer sin cabeza
Lucrecia Martel, Argentina/France/Italy/Spain, 2008; 87m
Argentine filmmaker Lucrecia Martel’s powerful third feature takes us into an altered
perceptual state with a woman who hits something with her car.

Hunger
Steve McQueen, UK, 2008; 96m
British visual artist Steve McQueen’s feature film debut is an uncompromising look at the
hunger strike led by IRA prisoner Bobby Sands in 1974.

I’m Going to Explode / Voy a explotar
Gerardo Naranjo, Mexico, 2008; 103m
Two Mexican teenagers go into hiding to see the reactions their disappearance will get
from relatives and friends.

Let It Rain / Parlez-moi de la pluie
Agnès Jaoui, France, 2008; 110m
A portrait of a rising feminist politician may be the ticket to fame and jobs for two aspiring
filmmakers.

RETROSPECTIVE
Lola Montès
Max Ophuls, France/West Germany, 1955; 115m
The life of the legendary courtesan and circus performer—lover of kings, knaves and
Franz Liszt—is presented in its definitive, restored version.

Night and Day / Bam guan nat
Hong Sang-soo, South Korea, 2008; 144m
When his life in Seoul becomes too complicated, an artist hightails it to Paris—but things
don’t get any easier.

The Northern Land / A Corte do Norte
João Botelho, Portugal, 2008; 101m
A woman searches for the truth about her life in the stories of ancestors and the distant
manor house they inhabited.

Serbis
Brillante Mendoza, Philippines/France, 2008; 90m
A family tries to quell the tensions tearing it apart while it struggles to keep the family
business—a porn movie theater—afloat

Summer Hours / L’heure d’eté
Olivier Assayas, France, 2008; 103m
Juliette Binoche is one of three siblings brought face-to-face with time and mortality by the
sudden death of her mother in this moving new film from Olivier Assayas.

Tokyo Sonata
Kiyoshi Kurosawa, Japan/Netherlands, 2008; 85m
A Japanese family struggles to re-define itself after the father loses his corporate job.

Tony Manero
Pablo Larrain, Chile/Brazil, 2008; 98m
In the dark days of the Pinochet dictatorship, a John Travolta wannabe blazes a
murderous trail through the back alleys of Chile.

Tulpan
Sergey Dvortsevoy, Germany/Kazakhstan/Poland/Russia/Switzerland, 2008; 100m
Winner of the Un Certain Regard Prize at this year’s Cannes Film Festival, Tulpan charts
an aspiring herdsman’s efforts to win the attention of his intended.

Waltz with Bashir / Vals in Bashir
Ari Folman, Israel/Germany/France, 2008; 90m
Israeli filmmaker Ari Folman’s haunting autobiographical memory piece about his
experiences as a soldier during the 1982 war in Lebanon are given a hyper-real spin by
state-of-the-art animation.

Wendy and Lucy
Kelly Reichardt, USA, 2008; 80m
In Kelly Reichardt’s follow-up to her acclaimed Old Joy, Wendy (Michelle Williams)
searches for her dog Lucy. The troubled spirit of modern America is beautifully evoked
along the way.

The Windmill Movie
Alexander Olch, USA, 2008; 80m
Filmmaker Alexander Olch, using material left by the late filmmaker Richard Rogers for a never completed film autobiography, attempts to make sense of the life of his former
teacher and friend.

ND/NF - "My Olympic Summer" - March 30, 2008

New Directors/New Films
My Olympic Summer
Walter Reade Theater – New York, NY
March 30, 2008

Daniel Robin’s My Olympic Summer, winner of the Short Filmmaking Award at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival, played last Sunday at the Walter Reade Theater during New Directors/New Films, a joint program between the Department of Film at MoMA and the Film Society of Lincoln Center. My Olympic Summer preceded the feature film Jellyfish. Below is my review of My Olympic Summer along with some notes I took during the audience Q&A. I also had the chance to correspond with Daniel for further insights on his film a few days later for a One-on-One Q&A, which you will find directly beneath that.

Film Review & Audience Q&A Notes:

My Olympic Summer is a fictional re-telling of the events of the 1972 Munich Olympics where Israeli athletes were killed by terrorists, told through home movies of Daniel’s mother and father who seemingly go through a rocky relationship, to which Daniel parallels with his own divorce. These are real home movies, however the events are manipulated into what I feel to be an artitistic and compelling story. If this were completely fiction, it would still have an impact, but the fact that Daniel creatively took movies and elements from his real life and turned into in a fictional account of a historical event, doesn’t make it any more or less artistic. Filmmakers have been fictionalizing historical events since the beginning of filmmaking, so why not mix two genres together to create a new artistic expression? Unfortunately, some audience members reacted negatively. The Film Society’s Joanna Ney opened the Q&A by asking Daniel to elaborate on his quote that photos conceal a certain mark of living. Daniel responded that most of the film is fiction and on one level, the film works on how we read images. Several audience members said they were offended that they didn’t know in advance that this was not all a true story and that they felt it was making light of an historical tragedy. Daniel said he wasn’t trying to dupe anyone and the most important thing is how you view the film emotionally. Another audience member asked him where he came up with the idea for his film. He said he was really interested in crossing narrative filmmaking over into documentary with an historical backdrop.

One-on-One Q&A with Daniel Robin:

TFPN: How do you feel the screening and Q&A at ND/NF went? What inspired you to make My Olympic Summer?

Daniel: When the audience member asked where I came up with the idea for the film I answered that the idea came from me wanting to find the best way to (cinematically) talk about my own, somewhat mundane, experiences going through a failed marriage, and still engage the audience. I feel for this particular film, combining narrative and documentary forms was the more interesting path to follow to get at the heart of the emotions I wanted to talk about.

TFPN: What has been the reaction from audiences at festivals where the film previously screened?

Daniel: In Amsterdam at IDFA, many audience members were outspokenly upset, saying they felt betrayed. However, their frustration came from the emotional attachment they had developed from the film rather then being upset about me re-orchestrating historical events. The funny thing was that with each of the five screenings at IDFA, other audience members would get up from their seats and tell those who were upset that it didn't matter if it's real or not, but that it's how you feel emotionally. And I couldn't agree more. My barometer for the success of my film, or for that matter any film I watch, is what I am left with emotionally, that's the truth of the film. So when I'm not present at screenings, which is a whole lot because the film is playing at many festivals, I'm not concerned whether or not the audience knows of my formal manipulations. And when I am present, and able to have a Q&A, which certain festivals won't even allow, then it's a bonus to be able to provoke discussions about how we read the surface of images and text in a film. What are our expectations of a documentary?

ND/NF- "Ballast" - March 30, 2008

New Directors/New Films
Ballast
Walter Reade Theater – New York, NY
March 30, 2008

On Sunday during New Directors/New Films, a joint program between the Department of Film at MoMA and the Film Society of Lincoln Center, Lance Hammer took questions from the audience following his narrative feature film Ballast, about the effects of a suicide on a family in the Mississippi Delta. The Film Society’s Marian Masone started with the first question.

Masone: You used no music as the soundtrack. That’s a really ballsy move. So many times, music is used so badly. Why did you choose not to have any music?

Hammer: From the get go, I realized there would be no music. I played with it for a while. My intuition was to capture the experience of the Delta. To fully communicate the Delta, nothing could construe against the sound.

Q: What inspired you to make your film in the Delta?

Hammer: I was from Los Angeles and visited the Delta 10 years ago. It was an experience of being overwhelmed emotionally. I let the film articulate what I was feeling. The history of racism is a sadness that’s literally a part of the landscape. I’m an outsider. I was interested in capturing the sorrow and grieving. I had to figure out a narrative element to base it on. My girlfriend told me about a story of identical twins brothers, one who killed himself. I thought that would be an interesting place to start. Over two years ago, I wrote the script. The more time I spent there and people I met, I realized how little I knew of the racial relationships there. It was important for me to cast people from the region. There’s a ratio of 9:1 blacks to whites. The people we cast would bring their own experience with them. We improvised a lot. The emotions in the scenes come from the actors. I hope it was communicated. All were non-professionals except for the white neighbor. I did the most work with him.

Q: Did the improvisations change the script?

Hammer: I never showed the script to the actors. I gave them a contrived scenario and they filtered it themselves.

Q: Did you always plan to have the story reveal itself slowly?

Hammer: I did in the writing process by structuring the cadence and pacing. The films I enjoy are the ones where I’m confused. You piece together the clues of someone’s life slowly. I’m offended by films that properly tell the back story. That’s not the way it works in reality.

Q: Did you choose the climate to shoot in?

Hammer: It took 45 days to shoot. I wanted rain and cloud cover. The film was shot with a handheld camera for two reasons. First for aesthetics and second because it was important that the actors could do whatever they wanted. The camera had to follow them. Setting up lights doesn’t give you 360° capability. I wanted to make something as beautiful as possible without the limitation of film.

ND/NF- HBO Films Roundtable: New Directors and Beyond - March 30, 2008

New Directors/New Films
HBO Films Roundtable

New Directors and Beyond
Walter Reade Theater – New York, NY
March 30, 2008

New Directors & Beyond Panel at ND/NF

Sunday during New Directors/New Films (ND/NF), an HBO Films Roundtable entitled New Directors and Beyond took place with ND/NF veteran filmmakers who talked about the beginning of their careers, where they are now, and new technologies that are changing the way they make films. Overall the discussion was nice, though I kind of wish moderator Joanna Ney would allow the panelists to further answer one particular audience member's question about how the panelists connect to their audiences via online social networks and grassroots promotion versus traditional marketing. Ney said that this wasn't a marketing panel. True, but this was still a relevant question because many filmmakers are now utilizing these resources to their advantage, and it would have been interesting to hear more thoughts on how the panelists may or may not be using them, being that they come from a previous generation where these tools weren't necessarily available to them when they were starting out. Speaking of audience questions, there was another really good one: To what extent do you feel the choices you made in your career were your own vs. external factors, to which Lodge Kerrigan answered, "That's a fascinating question."

Moderator:
Joanna Ney, ND/NF Selection Committee Member & Producer, Arts Programming, Film Society of Lincoln Center

Panelists:
Lodge Kerrigan (Clean Shaven, ND/NF 1994)
Philip Haas (A Day on the Grand Canal with the Emperor of China, ND/NF 1988; Music of Chance, ND/NF 1993)
Tom Kalin (Swoon, ND/NF 1992)
Jim McKay (Our Song, ND/NF 2000; Everyday People, ND/NF 2004)
Michael Almereyda (Another Girl, Another Planet, ND/NF 1993)
Tamara Jenkins (Family Remains, ND/NF 1994)
Su Friedrich (The Ties that Bind, ND/NF 1985; Rules of the Road, ND/NF 1993)

Ney: After your initial films, was it easier or more difficult to make your second film?

Kerrigan: Clean Shaven was an amateur film. It took two to three years to make and cost about $60K just to correct it. If I started shooting, then I’d be so much farther than just talking about making a film. At the end of the day, it was a good experience. When it ended, it was such a strange experience. I thought I had to make something else. I sent it to Telluride where Roger Ebert saw it, and then it was selected by ND/NF. I went to a writer’s workshop in France and got my second project produced. People look for a blueprint on how this happens, but in my experience, there is no blueprint.

Haas: My third documentary about Hockney was the film that got me attention. ND/NF positioned me. I then got another film, Music of Chance. I thought that would get into Sundance, but the festival committee didn’t like it. The financiers were in a panic. The only thing we could do was change the music. The along came ND/NF to show the film. Music of Chance was more successful for its esteem than as a commercial success.

Kalin: I started as an experimental filmmaker. My first film grew into a feature. I got involved with Christine Vachon and Todd Haynes in an AIDS activist group. I continued to make experimental shorts. I fell in love with the book Savage Grace, a light-hearted story about Irish-Catholic women, a sweeping epic story that ends in tragedy. We never made the musical version of it, because Andrew Lloyd Webber had the rights at the time. I still wanted to do Savage Grace and re-optioned it. It came about because I never fell out of love with the project.
McKay: I thought my second film would be easier to make. I financed my first film, Girls Town, myself with credit cards. It got a distributor, but I kind of got cocky and thought I knew how to do it. Then I wrote Our Song. It’s about the project itself, not about what you did before. I remember Steven Sodergbergh did Sex, Lies & Videotape, and then he did a lot of smaller films after. For my second film, I cobbled $100K. That got into ND/NF, probably my best filmic experience for me. I was asked to get involved with HBO’s Everyday People. For my next script, Angel Rodriguez, they wanted to make that, too. It was a much smaller film. That time has changed just because of corporate changes at that place. I think they decided to stop making smaller films. I never cast someone because they would bring in money, and that’s sad. I like to watch films with people who don’t have a lot of baggage so you can get to know their character.

Almereyda: I had a rough time on my first movie, Twister (not the blockbuster Twister from 1996). No one was paid except for an elephant from New Jersey. It’s a very eccentric film under one hour long shot in pixelvision. It’s kind of magical. It had an odd history on the festival circuit, but was never released. It’s not even on DVD. I was lucky that some people saw it and liked it such as David Lynch and his wife. They were excited about getting involved with my movies, but couldn’t get the money. I then made Nadja, which is about vampires and also kind of eccentric. It’s easy to underestimate how difficult it is to make films, but things are shifting.

Jenkins: My first film was a half-hour film that played at ND/NF and was financed by ITVS. I finished film school and applied for a grant called TV Families. I got to make a weird black and white movie and got paid to do it. It was my first semi-pro film. Probably one of the purist experiences I ever had. Prior to making films, I was a performance artist. Theater companies encouraged me to make my own material. I realized when you get frustrated; you can make your own thing. I went onto film school eventually, then got my lucky break by getting this grant. At Sundance, it won the prize for best short. It led to me making Slums of Beverly Hills as a broke emerging artist in a post-grad stupor living very frugally. At Sundance, I met Michelle Satter who asked if I had a feature. She had a great new timing quality. I sent her this unfinished screenplay and got it into the Sundance Screenwriter’s Lab. I’ve been saved many times in my life by institutions. Those have been like my mother. I developed the script at Sundance. American Playhouse was going to make it, but Federal funding went away. Eventually, I made it with Fox Searchlight. I never had to negotiate with executives before that. I think they should teach that at film school.

Friedrich: My film The Ties that Bind from 1984 was a stunning moment for me because I had only been making films for a couple of years. It was only 54 minutes long and it was selected for ND/NF. There was a full-page review in the Village Voice for it. I am really grateful for ND/NF for choosing my film. I’m different than these other panelists because I don’t work with commercial films. I didn’t get investors to give me money to make my films. I did get a stipend to go to Germany. It gave me time to think about what to do next. I proceeded to get grants and made Rules of the Road, a 30-minute film, in 1993 about a woman I know. At that ND/NF screening, I was sitting near a couple I didn’t know who said they didn’t know lesbians live their life like that. I thought that was a great moment. It’s not all an easy road.

Ney: How has technology affected your filmmaking? Is it evolving? Does it have an impact?

Friedrich: I always shot on film until 2002. I wish I could still afford it, but I can’t. My new short is on video. It’s a great boom to have this medium, but you have to deal with lousy projection, except here at the Walter Reade Theater.

Almereyda: I’ve shot in about every medium. Shooting in film is cumbersome and expensive. William Gibson said the future of film is not evenly distributed.

Kalin: I work only in film. Started with 8mm and eventually graduated to 16mm. Savage Grace was shot on 35mm. Julianne Moore means something financially, but she was also the right person for the role. Technology will continue to move forward. People tend to choose what the economy dictates and what stories dictate. It depends on aesthetics. I’m mostly drawn to lyricism and romanticism. You also have to embrace the limitations.

Kerrigan: It’s important to couple technology with the discovery of distribution. How will you get people to see your film? It’s based largely on advertising.

McKay: When digital cameras came into being, everyone could make a movie, but I don’t know where they all are. Sherman Alexie was quoted as challenging directors to make something for less than $1,000. A personal story is possible, but where are they? We have 100 million people making videos of exploding Coke bottles on YouTube. It’s still an elitist group of people who are telling you what to see. The next film I’m producing that’s directed by Josh Fox is shot with a handheld camera and mixes fiction and documentary. My company invested in it and one year later the director came back with something completely different. It’s hard getting it into festivals. It’s all video and looks like crap at times intentionally, but it works when you’re in a small room of people or watching it online.

Friedrich: I’d like to respond to Jim’s remark. We’ve all heard that all this great work will happen. The problem with things on YouTube is because of distribution. I teach and all my students think they’ll be filmmakers. Odds are it won’t happen. How do you support yourself? Me for example, because I came from a time where there was a circuit to show work. There’s a limited amount of space to show this work. There’s a lot of talented filmmakers who are justifiably desperate. It’s just a bad scene.

Kalin: The Rodney King beating was kind of a watershed moment in video. It’s kind of awful this idea turned into YouTube.

Kerrigan: The music industry is under increasing pressure to offer music for free and make up revenue through concerts. This will be applied to the film industry, too.

Friedrich: Theaters in America can show a short before a feature. IFC Center is the only place I know that does that.

Audience Q&A:

Q: To what extent do you feel the choices you have made in your career have really been your choices verse external voices?

Kerrigan: That’s a fascinating question. Your environment determines what you really want. When I was younger, I was determined to take my time. As I got older, I had to support myself and family. I’m now attached to direct a studio film. I want to do it, but question where this comes from. So much of people’s really interesting vibrant work happens early in their career. When you get too relaxed, you somehow lose certain focus.

McKay: Bingham Ray once said that indie film is the realm of the young and irresponsible, which to I add people who also want to live in New York City and don’t want to have a family. I lived on people’s couches. After that, I had a family. Comfort is a part of it. Is it my dream choice to direct an episode of Law & Order? No. I’d rather make my own films, but this allowed me to make my films. My wife wrote a script which I’ll now direct. I never did anything I wasn’t crazy about.

Kalin: I made my second feature 15 years after the first one. I was barely paid to make it. I’ve chosen not to pursue other offers except my own work. I also teach. It’s been completely rewarding. I still want to make opinionated films.

Q: Do you continue to work with the same talent and crew from your first films?

Kalin: On Swoon, I worked with Ellen Kuras and then worked on several shorts with her after. There’s also a great reward working with new people.

Haas: I’ve worked with different people over the years. I started working with my wife, but not anymore. It’s good to have continuity, but also to be open to new situations.

Jenkins: I worked with an entirely different group of people on The Savages. It always feels the same making movies. The problems always feel the same, like where to put the camera. I feel the same anxieties.

Friedrich: I’d like to make a remark. There’s something to do with age. I think there’s a problem in this country regarding mania for youth. It used to be as you go along, you get better, ie. Kurosawa. We need to remember if there isn’t going to be any support, you have to be 24.

Kerrigan: This is tied to economics. When you’re young and have potential, people see it, but that can’t define it. Studios think perhaps they’ll evolve into a great talent, but potential can diminish.

Haas: It’s also a question of perception. More commercially successful films get pigeonholed. It’s reassuring and depressing to hear this.

Q: How easy is it to connect to your audience? Have you experimented with social networks or grassroots promotion versus traditional marketing?

Kerrigan: It’s usually best if you already have a brand. It could be very effective, but how much of your time can you devote to setting up this mechanism.

Haas: It works best when it goes hand in hand with traditional marketing.

Q: Is it important to live in New York City to do creative things or has technology made it easier to live anywhere and do it?

Kerrigan: Filmmaking is like any other industry. It’s centered on relationships. You can write a screenplay anywhere, but you have to develop relationships.

New Directors/New Films - "Frozen River" - March 26, 2008

New Directors/New Films
Frozen River
MoMA – New York, NY
March 26, 2008

Frozen River Director/Writer Courtney Hunt and Actress Melissa Leo

At the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York City Wednesday night, the Sundance Dramatic Grand Jury Prize-Winning Frozen River opened the New Directors/New Films series, a joint program between the Department of Film at MoMA and the Film Society of Lincoln Center. Frozen River is the feature directorial debut of filmmaker Courtney Hunt. The film stars the sure-to-be remembered at Academy-voting time actress Melissa Leo (21 Grams) who portrays the ultimate desperate housewife who after her gambling addicted husband leaves her and her two children, goes to desperate measures to pay the bills for her family by helping a Mohawk Native American woman smuggle illegal immigrants from Canada into the U.S. via a frozen river on the border of an upstate New York town.

Hunt and Leo were on hand after the screening for a Q&A with the audience. The Film Society’s Rich Peña kicked off the discussion.

Peña: How did you make the transition from the film starting off as a short into a feature?

Hunt: I had an idea a long time ago of women smugglers. I knew this went on at the border. Back then it was cigarette smuggling, but no one was interested in that for a film. I put the idea aside and had a baby. I later made the short. It was accepted into the New York Film Festival, which was shocking. I took that lift and developed it into a feature.

Q: How long did it take to complete the feature?

Hunt: Since making the short, it probably took about three years just to get financed.

Peña: How did you get involved with the film?

Leo: At a 21 Grams after party, I met Courtney who came up to me and asked if I wanted to do a short. I’d say it was about three years after making the short that I asked Courtney, when are we making the feature? The experience of making the short was a vital tool to making the feature by learning what the conditions would be to work in. We were very well prepared for it.

Q: Did you have a relationship with the Mohawk Nation?

Hunt: I found Misty Upham (who plays Lila) through a Native American actors website. She is not Mohawk. The short was shot on a reservation. We had a lot of support there. The feature was shot in Plattsburgh, NY. My producer Heather Rae also made contact with a reservation and cast actors there.

Q: Is there any underlying message in the film that crime pays?

Leo: What she (my character) wants is more than she can bare and has to step down a notch to get it.