#won best director on sundance film festival

[weclassybouquetfun]

Awards season is inching to a close with the last gasp of screenings coming up the week of January 8th. My favourite movie of the year is SALTBURN and Amazon-MGM is holding three screenings of it on the same day to end its FYC run. The same night Disney finally remembers THE CREATOR exists and is having a screening/Q&A with its director Gareth Edwards.

Notable award season dates:

Jan. 6th-7th: The Creative Arts Emmys. This is the portion of the Emmys that awards the winners of the Outstanding Guest Star category. TED LASSO has four in this category: Three who have all been previously nominated for their roles on the show: Harriet Walter, Sarah Niles and Sam Richardson; and newbie Becky Ann Baker as Dottie Lasso.

If James Lance wasn't promoted to regular, surely he would have received and likely won a S3 nomination in this category.

James and his hair situation with his fellow voice-over artists for the BBC Radio 4 show "We Forced a Bot to Write This Show".

Jan. 7th: The Golden Globes

Prayer circles for Barry Keoghan and Rosamund Pike for their work in SALTBURN and TED LASSO, Jason Sudeikis and Hannah Waddingham.

Wed. Jan. 10: The SAG-AFTRA awards nominations

Sun. Jan 14th: The Critics Choice Awards . Hate that there was no love for TED LASSO and that SALTBURN actors and the script was ignored (but at least the artisans were recognized).

They were robbed!

Really pulling for Da'Vine Joy Randolph of THE HOLDOVERS, Charles Melton of MAY DECEMBER and for Young Actor/Actress, Milo Machada Graner for ANATOMY OF THE FALL.

If Milo wasn't this category, I would be rooting for THE HOLDOVERS' Dominic Sessa who is in the same category. Though, Sessa will very likely win.

Mon. Jan 15th: The Primetime Emmys. We have nods for Jason Sudeikis, Hannah Waddingham, Juno Temple, Brett Goldstein, Phil Dunster, nods for outstanding writing, directing, editing,production design, VFX, hairstyling, original music & lyrics and series. I am just hoping for some wins.

Thurs. Jan. 18th: The BAFTA Film Awards nominations.

Tues. Jan 23rd: The Academy Awards nominations

During this time Sundance Film Festival will be live (Jan 18th-28th) ,there we will likely get a couple of presumptive nominees for 2024-2025 film awards season.

Tues. Jan. 23: Academy Awards nominations. I'm a broken record. I'm all in on SALTBURN, especially hoping for nominations for Barry Keoghan and Rosamund Pike.; and one for Best Film. But as I was all in on BABYLON last year and it got goose eggs, no film should want me as a fan.

I'm hoping for JA Bayona's SOCIETY OF THE SNOW gets a nom and win for Best International.

And as France didn't submit ANATOMY OF A FALL (I assume there's too much English spoken for it to qualify), I hope it gets the same love last year's ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT received and it's put up for Best Picture.

Sun. Feb. 18: BAFTA Awards.

Sat. Feb. 24: Screen Actors Guild Awards

Sun. Feb. 25: Spirit AwardsSun. Mar. 10: Academy Awards

Then we pause until late April and Emmy season kicks right up again and we continue the dance.

[lboogie1906]

Reginald Alan Hudlin (December 15, 1961) is a writer, director, and executive who has worked in music, film, television, and comics. He has written and directed films such as House Party (1990), had a long stint writing Marvel’s Black Panther comic, was the first President of Entertainment for BET, and produced Django Unchained.

He was born in Centerville, Illinois to Warrington W. Hudlin, who ran his insurance agency, and Hellen Hudlin, who worked in special education. He grew up with two brothers. He attended Harvard University, where for his senior thesis project he directed and wrote a 20-minute short film titled House Party. He graduated magna cum laude in Visual and Environmental Studies.

He was approached by New Line Cinemas to direct and write a feature-length version of House Party. The film won the Filmmaker’s Trophy and was nominated for the Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival. The success of House Party launched a franchise that went on to include three sequels, an animated television show, and a comic series.

His career took off after this point and he worked on numerous projects, including directing Boomerang, writing Bebe’s Kids, directing a segment of Cosmic Slop, producing seven episodes of The Bernie Mac Show, producing the animated show The Boondocks, and writing Marvel’s Black Panther comic series.

He was named the President of Entertainment for BET. He had a hand in the creation of some of the network’s highest-rated shows, including American Gangster and Sunday Best. He created the network’s Home Entertainment Division and led a restructuring of the news division which went on to win 13 awards over 2 years. He oversaw the first telethon in support of the victims of Hurricane Katrina.

He continued to direct and produce for film and television. His most recent project was directing and producing Marshall. He is attached to direct the film adaptation of the Shadowman property. He is a partner in Milestone Media, a comic book company that develops properties for various forms of media. He married Chrisette and they have two children. #africanhistory365 #africanexcellence

[importantwomensbirthdays]

Lisa Chodolenko

Director and screenwriter Lisa Chodolenko was born in 1964 in Los Angeles, California. Chodolenko's debut feature, High Art, won the Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award at the Sundance Film Festival. Her next feature, Laurel Canyon, premiered at Cannes Directors' Fortnight. Chodolenko is best known as director and writer of the 2010 film The Kids are All Right, which was nominated for multiple Oscars, including Best Picture. She later won an Emmy Award and a Director's Guild Award for her work on the miniseries Olive Kitteridge.

[warningsine]

In one of the most competitive races in years, 20 Days in Mariupol won the Oscar for Best Documentary Feature tonight, earning director Mstyslav Chernov an Academy Award to go with a Pulitzer Prize.

The film from the Associated Press, PBS’ Frontline and GBH came into the night a slight favorite but faced a tough test from fellow nominees Bobi Wine: The People’s President, The Eternal Memory, Four Daughters, and To Kill a Tiger. The documentary, which premiered at last year’s Sundance Film Festival, centers on the harrowing siege of the Ukrainian port city of Mariupol in the early days of Russia’s full-scale invasion of the country. Thousands of civilians were killed in Russia’s assault.

On the Osar stage, Chernov, a native of the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv, thanked his collaborators and said, “This is the first Oscar in the Ukrainian history. And I’m honored.” But with rising emotion, he quickly added, “I’m honored, but probably I will be the first director on the [Oscar] stage who will say, I wish I would never make this film. I wish to be able to exchange this [for] Russia never attacking Ukraine, never occupying our cities.”

The Oscar audience applauded as Chernov continued, “I wish to give all the recognition to Russia not killing tens of thousands of my fellow Ukrainians. I wish for them to release all the hostages, all the soldiers who are protecting their lands, all the civilians who are now in their jails. But I cannot change the history, cannot change the past. But we all together, among you, some of the most talented people in the world, we can make sure that the history record is set straight and that the truth will prevail and that the people of Mariupol and those who have given their lives will never be forgotten. Because cinema forms memories, and memories form history. So thank you all and thank you all. Thank you Ukraine, Slava Ukraini.“

The director shared the Oscar with producers Michelle Mizner and Raney Aronson-Rath. Chernov previously won the Pulitzer for his coverage of the war in Ukraine, an assignment in which he faced the risk of death on a daily basis. Documenting the war meant leaving behind his wife and two young daughters.

20 Days in Mariupol opens with a scene of a Russian tank swiveling its gun barrel toward a hospital, where Chernov and his team looked down from an upper floor.

“Exactly in that moment in the film, this moment of uncertainty, the moment when tanks are shooting at the residential areas, when the hospital is surrounded and we are trapped, I’m thinking about my family, about my daughters, the fact that I probably will not make it out alive,” Chernov told Deadline in an interview last month.

It was the second year in a row that the Oscar winner for Best Documentary Feature winner delivered an implicit rebuke of Russian President Vladimir Putin. The 2023 victor in the category was Navalny, Daniel Roher’s film about Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, who died last month while being held in an Arctic prison.

Billions of dollars in aid for Ukraine’s war effort against Russia have been tied up for months in Congress. President Biden made another urgent plea for passage of the aid bill during his State of the Union address last week. “If anybody in this room thinks Putin will stop at Ukraine, I assure you, he will not,” the president said. “But Ukraine can stop Putin if we stand with Ukraine and provide the weapons it needs to defend itself. That is all Ukraine is asking.”

[mono-blogs-art]

what movie? :0

My movie! I made a movie! Lmao I had the trailer pinned for months, but I recently felt like it was a bit too tacky to pin a link to my real-life work on my fandom blog, so I removed it a few weeks ago.

I graduated from Bachelor of Film, Animation last year, and my graduation movie has been doing really well! We were able to go to really amazing film festivals with it, including overseas like Sundance, Palm Springs Shorts, we've got big festivals in Europe like Annecy (the animation capital of Europe) and London and Amsterdam, we've even got our first Latinamerican and Asian festivals coming up soon. And like, so many more, it's been honestly crazy and our emails have been insane the last 10+ months. We even won our first prize for Best Swiss Short Film just 2 weeks ago, that was crazy. I got a huge ass trophy at home now. It's been an insane year full of traveling (obviously we can't go to every festival, we do have dayjobs... but we were at Sundance!) and meeting other filmmakers, both from the live-action and animation world. No one that's like... ultra-famous, but famous for us lil indie animators.

If you wanna check out the trailer you can do so on our instagram which is @ pipes_movie ! (Disclaimer: the movie is about gay kink, but in a comedic way; if you're not comfortable with that then be wary.)

Again, all 3 of us in the directors chair (and... we also animated 95% of the movie) try to keep it as updated as possible with the festivals, but you know. It's a lot of work. But if you're ever interested in where we're going next, feel free to reach out to us there. Maybe screening at a film festival near you soon!!!

[maximumwobblerbanditdonut]

PETER MULLAN IS RED JACOB MACKENZIE

Peter Mullan is a Scottish actor and filmmaker, he was born in Peterhead, a town in Aberdeenshire, Scotland 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 UK. He was interested in directing films at the age of 19 and he made several shorts. He decided to dedicate himself to acting and made his debut in the theatre in 1988 before moving to cinema and television.

His feature film work over the last several decades stretches across every genre, including roles in Riff-Raff (1991), Braveheart (1995), Trainspotting (1996), Miss Julie (1999), Young Adam (2003), Children of Men (2006), The Red Riding Trilogy (2009), War Horse (2011) The Vanishing, the Harry Potter film series (2010–11) and The Vanishing (2018).

Although his part in Braveheart was a small recurring role as one of the Scottish army foot soldiers, Mullan was to go on to enjoy a breakthrough shortly after Gibson’s classic film hit cinemas.

He followed Braveheart with his part as the drug dealer Mother Superior in Trainspotting, then found himself being fêted by Martin Scorsese when he won the best actor award at Cannes for Ken Loach’s film, ‘My Name Is Joe’ (1998), filmed in Argyll and Glasgow.

Trainspotting 1996 ‧ Crime/Thriller

Mullan has a vast body of work but is probably best known for his portrayal of Joe in the 1988 Ken Loach film ‘My Name is Joe’. For this work, he won the highly prized Best Actor Award at the Cannes Film Festival.

Mullan in My Name is Joe, directed by Ken Loach. Photograph: Allstar Picture Library

A few years later, in 2011, the Sundance Film Festival awarded Mullan a World Dramatic Special Jury Prize for Breakout Performances for his role as Joseph in Paddy Considine’s Thriller/Drama ‧ ‘Tyrannosaur’ (2011) with Olivia Colman.

Since then, Mullan has gone on to work with directors like Steven Spielberg (War Horse 2011 ‧ War/Adventure ) alongside Jeremy Irvine and with Alfonso Cuarón popped up as a totalitarian crank in Alfonso Cuarón’s Children of Men, goading the dispossessed into parading their “refugee face”. On Mullan suggestion, Cuarón swapped his character’s weapon of choice for something less obvious, but more threatening, and has become one of the most respected modern film and TV actors.

War Horse 2011 ‧ War/Adventure ‧ Film of the Year 2012

He has also made his name as a director, with acclaimed movies such as Neds, Orphans and The Magdalene Sisters.

His other film credits include ‘Hercules’ 2014 ‧ Action/Fantasy alongside Dwayne Johnson as General Sitalces, Commander of the Thracian army. Lord Cotys's second-in-command right-hand man portrayed by the late John Hurt.

Sunset Song, 2015 ‧ Romance/Drama Terence Davies’s adaptation of Lewis Grassic Gibbons’s novel, stars Agyness Deyn as Chris, a Scottish farm worker who sees family trauma merge into global catastrophe as the First World War devastates her village.

Starring Peter Mullan, as Chris’s abusive dad. was filmed at various locations across Scotland in Aberdeenshire, including Fettercairn and the Glenmuick, Glen Tanar, Invercauld and Ballogie estates. Sunset Song is certainly a masterpiece of Scottish/ British literature and was voted Scotland's favourite book.

Scots Quair is actually three books, Sunset Song, Cloud Howe and Grey Granite, that tell the story of Chris Guthrie, a young woman in the North East of Scotland, moving from the hard, rural life of her adolescence to adulthood and marriage. A Scots Quair is one of the most important works of Scottish literature.

Tommy's Honour 2016 ‧ Sport/Romance is based on the powerfully moving true story (and novel of the same name by Kevin Cook) of the challenging relationship between “Old” Tom and “Young” Tommy Morris, the dynamic father-son team who ushered in the modern game of golf.

Tommy's Honour 2016

Peter Mullan stared as Tom with Jack Lowden playing his son. The film was filmed in the Edinburgh city region including Peebles and Musselburgh golf course.

He also played Yaxley in ‘Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows’, parts 1 and 2. In TV, he’s played characters in ‘Westworld’, ‘Top Of The Lake’ and Netflix’s ‘Ozark’ as Jacob Snell. [Netflix]

In 2020 He was great in #Ozark portraying local crime lord Jacob Snell, The crime boss of Osage Beach until he died in season two of the Netflix hit.

Ozark 2017 ‧ Drama ‧ 4 seasons

The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power (TV Series 2022– ) - Peter Mullan played Durin III king of the dwarves and builder of the great halls of Moria.

Moria is introduced in Tolkien's novel The Hobbit and is a major scene of action in The Lord of the Rings. In the fictional world of J. R. R. Tolkien, Moria, also named Khazad-dûm, is an ancient subterranean complex in Middle-earth.

On the big and small screen, from sci-fi to action and comedy, there are plenty of Scots actors who have made a huge impact on the world of acting. Just take a look at the right place where you will find them in Scotland 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

#PeterMullan #Scotland #actor #filmmaker #Peterhead #RedJacobMackenzie #BOMB #Braveheart #Trainspotting #MartinScorsese #bestactor #CannesFilmFestival #KenLoach #MyNameIsJoe #Tyrannosaur #OliviaColman SundanceFilmFestival #ChildrenofMen #WorldDramaticSpecialJuryPriz #Hercules #DwayneJohnson #GeneralSitalces #book #SunsetSong #Scottishliterature #TerenceDavies #LewisGrassicGibbons #Tommy'sHonour #novel #Kevin Cook #TommyMorris #Musselburghgolf #Netflix #Ozark #JacobSnell #DurinIIIking #Moria #RingsofPower #Tolkien'snovel

Posted 5th April 2024

[thekotaroo]

Profiles of Pride: June 28th!  🏳️‍🌈Rhys Ernst🏳️‍🌈

Rhys Ernst is an American film producer and director. A trans man, his work explores transgender identity. He is best known for his work on transgender-related television shows, serving as an associate producer on Transparent and the director of its documentary spin-off This is Me. He is also known for his controversial debut feature film Adam.

Ernst transitioned at the age of 25. He has explained that media was his way of discovering queer identities, particularly MTV in his childhood and New Queer Cinema as he got older; these films also helped him "imagine a future" that seemed otherwise inaccessible from his hometown in North Carolina. He graduated from Hampshire College in 2004, with a BA in film; his graduation film was "The Drive North", which won an award at the Chicago International Film Festival. He then received an Master of Fine Arts from CalArts in 2011. His thesis film, "The Thing", premiered at Sundance Film Festival in 2012. Between degrees, he served as associate producer of the Logo series Coming Out Stories.

His directorial debut feature film was Adam in 2019. About half of the film's cast and crew were trans, with a majority of the cast being queer. The film received positive critical reviews upon its release at Sundance, but the outlook became more negative soon thereafter and the film was seen as controversial due to "queer missteps". Before the film was released, Ernst wrote a Medium article about his own apprehension towards receiving the script and thinking it would be offensive, saying he was "pleasantly surprised". Ernst and the film were compared by them.'s Sarah Fonseca to Rainer Werner Fassbinder's Fox and His Friends (1975) and Jamie Babbit's But I'm a Cheerleader (2000) because of this negative response from the queer community it aims to represent. Adam is based on Ariel Schrag's 2014 novel of the same name, which was received with outcry from the trans community, as it follows a privileged white, heterosexual, cisgender man as he pretends to be a trans man so that he can date a lesbian. There were also "accusations of questionable on-set conduct." However, some queer critics also defended the film as art.

Ernst and critics defend Adam as having a nuance and being a reminder to trans people that life improved significantly in the time between its 2006 setting and 2019 release. Ernst has claimed that queer audiences at screenings react positively while the response from reviewers online "is so totally disparate and opposite from that. It's almost like cognitive dissonance", telling them. that appreciating the film is "really hard until people have a chance to see the film for themselves and really be able to have a real conversation about it", saying that he wants to start a conversation through the film. Hundreds of Twitter and Instagram posts, as well as several Change.org petitions, have called for the film to be boycotted or banned, due to being "deeply transphobic and lesbianphobic." BuzzFeed News describes the film as a "boundary-pushing artwork by and about underrepresented communities", with a representative of its distributor Wolfe Releasing and Ernst both saying they want to open a space for queer artists to tell whatever stories they want, with Ernst saying he especially does not want to be restricted to positive trans stories.

While working on Transparent, Ernst spoke about his disappointment that though trans stories were increasingly being told in media, these were almost always stories of trans women, saying that, "within the trans community, there's a bit of pressure for trans masculine people to take the back seat." In the same interview, when asked about the casting of cisgender actor Jeffrey Tambor in the lead role, Ernst opined that when it is clear a work (comparing Transparent to Boys Don't Cry) has put in effort to be inclusive behind the camera and work on advancing trans causes, "the casting becomes less consequential".

[eug]

“This is an opportunity,” Daniel Kwan began in a moving Spirit Awards speech yesterday aimed at stirring the indie film community. “When things are shaking, and it gets turbulent and the cracks form in the foundations that’s the best time to plant the seeds,” he said, “It is our job not just to adapt to the future, but also to actively dream up what kind of future we want to rewrite and what kind of future we want to be working and living in.” The latest film from Daniel Scheinert (left) and Daniel Kwan (right), “Everything Everywhere All At Once,” which a year ago opened SXSW, won big at the Spirit Awards. It was honored with 7 prizes (best picture, director, screenplay, editing as well as lead, breakthrough, and supporting performance) on the road to the Academy Awards a week from today where the film is nominated for 10 Oscars. “I just urge us all to think really big,” Kwan continued in his speech, “What we do here is going to flow upstream to the rest of the industry. We have a very special power. It seems like a weakness because what we do is so small and scrappy but that makes us flexible; that makes us able to move in ways the rest of the industry cannot. I urge you all to plant some seeds, now, today.” Kwan and Scheinert were boosted and backed early in their careers by film festivals and non profit orgs such as Sidewalk in Alabama, and Sundance. In the room full of film industry folks, fest programmers, org leaders, and others yesterday they shouted out champions of independent films and filmmakers. “Thank you to every person here who is an advocate for the new fresh voices,” Kwan said, “It’s so easy for us to get lost in this industry. It’s so easy for our little spirits to get crushed, and what you do for the independent film industry is immeasurable and it means the world to us because you’ve changed our lives. Keep changing other people’s lives.” Congratulations Daniels and all the nominees and winners at The Spirit Awards, Cheers Film Independent and special thanks to Daniel and Nanna Stern, supporters of the event (and backers of the essential Someone to Watch Award) for the invitation to sit up front. (at Santa Monica Beach) https://www.instagram.com/p/CpaxkOfv5jv/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[news-buzz]

Francis Ford Coppola, Alexander Payne, Alfonso Cuaron at Morelia Fest News Buzz

Mexico’s official entry to the Oscars, “Sujo,” made a sweep of the 22nd Morelia Int’l Film Festival (FICM), winning the festival’s Ojo Awards for Best Film, Director and Screenplay. Co-helmer-scribes Astrid Rondero and Fernanda Valadez, whose debut pic “Identifying Features” won a couple of Sundance awards and took the Best International Feature prize at the Gotham Awards in 2021, also snagged…

[valkyries-things]

MARY HARRON // DIRECTOR

“She is a Canadian film director and screenwriter. She co-wrote the screenplay and directed American Psycho, The Notorious Bettie Page, and I Shot Andy Warhol. The latter received an Independent Spirit Award nomination for best first feature film. It also won the sole acting award at that year's Sundance Film Festival for Lili Taylor's performance as Solanas.”

[jamaldaniel]

Levantine Films’ Projects

Levantine Films is an independent film production company founded by Jamal Daniel. Its members seek to develop and fund character-driven stories that entertain viewers, spark conversation, and raise awareness about underrepresented groups. Daniel leads the company with 30 years of experience investing in telecommunications and energy. Established film industry members comprise the leadership team, contributing practical experience collaborating with directors and knowledge of the legal considerations behind media production.

While social relevance and subject matter determine the material in Levantine Films’ projects, the team balances these factors with financial viability. Examples of its successes include the 2016 film Hidden Figures, which grossed $230 million worldwide and received three Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture. The company also produced The Fundamentals of Caring, which was screened on the Closing Night of the 2016 Sundance Film Festival, and Blinded By The Light, which premiered at the 2019 event. Director Cary Fukunaga also won the Marcello Mastroianni Award and the Cinema for Peace Award for Beasts Of No Nation, which was also produced and financed by Levantine Films.

[horrorcanbefunny]

Meet Eli Craig: Director of Hilarious Horror Films

Director Eli Craig in action on the set of Tucker & Dale vs. Evil

Eli Craig is a screenwriter and film director and the son of actress Sally Field known for her roles in Forrest Gump and Mrs. Doubtfire. Craig is best known for writing and directing the 2010 horror comedy Tucker & Dale vs. Evil, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival and won the Audience Award. He went on to produce another horror comedy, Little Evil, which was released on Netflix. However, he hasn't done much since then.

Eli Craig alongside his iconic mother, Sally Field

Clark Collins of Entertainment Weekly online praises Craig's accomplishment given the difficulty of the genre. He writes “Like a fat man lying down on a wide wall, the horror-comedy is a notoriously difficult thing to pull off. But that didn’t stop debut director Eli Craig making Tucker and Dale vs. Evil, a humorous twist on the crazed hillbilly genre" (Collins). 

In an interview with Deadly Talks, Craig explained how he and his film school classmate, Morgan Jurgenson, came up with the idea for Tucker & Dale vs. Evil. They co-wrote the script intending to flip the typical horror genre tropes. Rather than having the usual scenario of college kids being attacked by hillbillies, they reversed the roles by having the college kids attack the hillbillies (“Eli Craig, Tyler.” 00:01:00 - 00:01:13). Craig shared that his idea drew from personal experiences, stating that he "has a thing against frat kids, as he never got along with them and always preferred the backwoods guys” (“Eli Craig, Tyler.” 00:00:40 - 00:01:00). 

Exclusive Interview with Eli Craig and the actors portraying Tucker and Dale

In a review of Little Evil by Kieran Fisher, he mentions that it is difficult to discuss director Eli Craig without referencing his debut film, Tucker and Dale vs. Evil. Fisher describes it as “a bona fide cult classic among viewers who lean towards the bloodier side of comedy, and one which hilariously subverts the tropes and stereotypes we associate with the backwoods hillbilly subgenre.” While Tucker and Dale vs. Evil had the potential to take Craig to mainstream success, he has been relatively quiet since its release in 2010 (Fisher).

Eli Craig's second feature film - Little Evil

Seven years after his first feature film Tucker and Dale vs. Evil, Craig directed his second feature film, Little Evil, which was expected to mark his comeback but fell short (Fisher). Fisher states that Little Evil is “a reasonably entertaining comedy that continues to demonstrate his mushy sensibilities. It’s just a shame that Little Evil sticks to a familiar formula throughout and never manages to sustain a consistent level of quality comedy.”

Trailer of Little Evil

In another review by Keith Garlington, it's noted that Tucker and Dale vs. Evil isn’t for everyone. The blood and gore are excessive but play an essential role in the parody (Garlington). The film stumbles towards the end with a showdown at an old lumber mill that, despite being a pivotal moment, feels anticlimactic and overly conventional compared to the rest of the film (Garlington). "It was soaked in parody but still felt a little too conventional, something that can’t be said about most of this film. Tucker and Dale vs. Evil isn’t a movie you can pigeonhole, and that’s a really strong point. It’s bloody and hilarious, and you may find yourself grimacing and laughing at the same scene. It’s truly that funny" (Garlington). 

Tucker to the Rescue: Alison Saved from the Evil Frat Boys

In my opinion, Eli Craig is a filmmaker who's good at mixing horror and comedy in unexpected ways. He made a big splash with his first movie, "Tucker & Dale vs. Evil," which turned a typical horror movie upside down. Craig's unique style comes from his personal experiences and his desire to do something different in horror films. While his first movie was a hit with fans, Craig has had a hard time keeping that momentum going. He took a long break before making his second film, "Little Evil," which didn't quite live up to expectations. This shows how tough it can be to stay successful in Hollywood, even after a great start. Craig's work stands out because he likes to surprise audiences by changing the usual horror story rules. But he's only made a couple of movies so far, so it's hard to say what his long-term impact will be but I look forward to see what he does next!. 

Some of the funniest moments of Tucker & Dale vs. Evil

Works Cited

Collis, Clark. “‘Tucker and Dale’ Director’s Top 5 Horror-Comedies.” EW.Com, Entertainment Weekly, 26 Sept. 2011, https://ew.com/article/2011/09/26/tucker-and-dale-eli-craig/

“Eli Craig, Tyler Labine, Alan Tudyk - Tucker & Dale vs. Evil.” DailyMotion, uploaded by DreadCentral, 2010,  https://www.dailymotion.com/video/xbzdxm

Fisher, Kieran. “‘Little Evil’ Review: A Horror Comedy with Plenty of Heart and Not Much Else.” Film School Rejects, 3 Sept. 2017, https://filmschoolrejects.com/little-evil-review/

Garlington, Keith. “Eli Craig.” Keithandthemovies.Com, 6 Sept. 2012,  https://keithandthemovies.com/tag/eli-craig/

[lboogie1906]

Ava Marie DuVernay (born August 24, 1972) is a filmmaker, television producer, and film publicist. She won the directing award in the US dramatic competition at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival for her second feature film Middle of Nowhere, becoming the first African American woman to win the award. For her work on Selma, she became the first African American woman to be nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Director, and the Academy Award for Best Picture. In 2017, she was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature for her film 13th.

A Wrinkle in Time made her the first African American woman to direct a live-action film earning $100 million at the US box office. The following year, she created, co-wrote, produced, and directed When They See Us. The series was nominated for 16 Emmy Awards including the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Limited Series and won the Critics’ Choice Television Award for Best Limited Series. In 2021, she co-created an autobiographical miniseries with former NFL player Colin Kaepernick titled Colin in Black & White.

She was included on the annual Time 100 list of the most influential people in the world.

She was elected to the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences Board of Governors as part of the director’s branch.

She was born in Long Beach. She was raised by her mother, Darlene, an educator, and her stepfather, Murray Maye. The surname of her biological father, Joseph Marcel DuVernay III. She grew up in Lynwood, California. She has four siblings.

During her summer vacations, she would travel to the childhood home of her father, which was not far from Selma. She said that these summers influenced the making of Selma, as her father had witnessed the 1965 Selma to Montgomery marches.

She graduated from Saint Joseph High School in Lakewood. At UCLA she was a double BA in English literature and African American studies. #africanhistory365 #africanexcellence #alphakappaalpha

[importantwomensbirthdays]

Debra Granik

Debra Granik was born in 1963 in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Granik won the Best Director prize at the 2004 Sundance Film Festival for her film Down to the Bone. She is best known for her 2010 film Winter's Bone, which was nominated for four Academy Awards, including Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Picture. Granik was nominated for Best Director at the 2019 Independent Spirit Awards for her film Leave No Trace.

[ecsundance]

What is Indie Film?

One of the main goals of this winter term course is to identify what exactly an indie film is. Coming into this course I brought with me some presuppositions that I believed to encapsulate indie film with a satisfactory level of description. Some of these preconceptions included a low budget, a very small crew, unknown actors, experimental or unconventional techniques, unique aesthetic choices that are not typical for a blockbuster film, and the separation from massive entertainment corporations. After reading the assigned course material I am not entirely convinced that these traits I had come up with should be left out of consideration of what indie film is, but they are certainly not requirements.

To shed some light on the conflict of the traits I have laid out in relation to whether they are required of a film to be considered Indie, I turn to Searchlight (2004). The film cost $16 million dollars to make which does not at all fit within the idea that an indie film must have a small budget, and simultaneously it was backed by Fox Searchlight so it is clearly not separate from massive entertainment corporations. For this reason some people would not consider the film indie. Interestingly enough this film went on to have great success, and some regard it with high esteem as an indie film, so much so that the film, "won six 2004 Independent Spirit Awards, including Best Picture" (Newman 12). What is noticeable here is that multiple groups of people can have legitimate claims to the "indieness" of a film. Some hold things like the economic backing and connection to larger production companies as a large part of considering something worthy of the indie title or not, while others are more interested in the stylistic approach. With these conflicting points of view being the case, it seems that if you were to wonder why someone, or a group such as a festival or an art cinema, is considering something indie you must understand their engagement with texts and the medium of film itself.

Naturally this can feel overwhelming, but it is something worth noticing and tracking as the medium continues to evolve. I myself am just being exposed to this world of indie cinema, and have not fully fledged my thoughts on what exactly I am looking for when I say, "I am going to go see an indie film" and to be honest I don't know that I ever will have a concrete definition to provide for anyone.

What I can say is, I have noticed that festivals all around the country that are putting on these indie films have a certain taste that is unique to their geographical area. This unique taste is often the attraction for film festival goers. I imagine these differences in showings have evolved over time and will continue to evolve as that is the nature of film itself. I notice these unique tastes, which is part of the brand of these festivals, by questioning a guest speaker at one of our class sessions. The guest speaker was named Jolene Pinder who has held positions such as festival executive director for the New Orleans Film Festival. She is also, in the year of our Lord 2024, a current Sundance producing fellow. Since the concept of "indieness" varies depending on groups, and more specifically person you are speaking with, I asked her if the New Orleans Film Festival was looking for a specific type of film. She provided an answer, and I am doing her no justice by relaying her answer back to you, that fell along the lines of the festival's focus was on southern and LGBTQ film makers. She then went into detail of the other festivals around the country and their "brand", that is the types of films they are showing. I imagine each of these festivals have valid reasoning to call the films they screen indie, and most likely there is great difference between any two films in regards to style or economics.

It seems to me that a good way to understand indie as a category is to read what others are saying about it, and be sure to read up on what they have said about the concept in the past. In his book Indie: an american film culture, Michael z. Newman also provides some viewing strategies to determine a film as indie. One of these strategies that stuck out the most to me is, "When in Doubt, Read as Anti-Hollywood" (Newman 42). As I understand it currently, it can be a good marker of an indie film if it is unconventional compared to the blockbuster films you see in the theater. This is a feedback loop in the modern day I believe. Indie films seem to be something more people are seeking out, and Hollywood seems to have noticed this and have begun to adopt stylistic conventions of indie films that have done commercially well. This in turn causes film makers to come up with creative ways to subvert Hollywood, beginning the cycle again.

Ben Wilson

[courseyoulovemeyoudontknowme]

The Witch (2015, Robert Eggers)

14/01/2024

The Witch (The VVitch: A New-England Folktale) is a 2015 film written and directed 5Robert Eggers.

The cast includes Anya Taylor-Joy (in her big screen debut), Ralph Ineson, Kate Dickie, Harvey Scrimshaw, Ellie Grainger and Lucas Dawson. Set in the 1630s, the film follows a Puritan family who encounter evil forces in the woods beyond their New England farm.

An international co-production between the United States and Canada, The Witch premiered at the Sundance Film Festival on January 27, 2015, where it won Best Director, and was released theatrically by A24 on February 19, 2016.

New England, 1630s. William, a religious preacher, together with his wife Katherine and five children - his daughter Thomasin, his son Caleb, the twins Mercy and Jonas and the newborn Samuel - is removed from the Puritan community in which he lives for his extremism in the interpretation of the word of God. He thus goes near a forest, in the hope of living in a humble and peaceful way, practicing agriculture and breeding to feed his family.

The disappearance of the youngest child progressively triggers hatred between family members, who are pitted against each other by lies, omissions, superstitions and mutual accusations.

Caleb also disappears in the woods. When the boy is found he is taken home where he wakes up and later expels a bite-marked apple from his mouth; Katherine aks all the family members to pray, but the twins claim not to remember the words of the Lord's Prayer and during the prayer they end up having convulsions and losing consciousness.

Left completely alone and without hope for the future, Thomasin decides to also speak to the goat - who turns out to be the Devil - who entices her with promises of wonderful news and pleasures, finally persuading her to sign the cursed manuscript. Stripped of all her clothes and her faith, the girl goes into the woods and here she finds a congregation of witches dancing around the fire.

The director decided to refer to a topic that had aroused his interest during his adolescence, namely witches understood according to the Christian concept.

The horror film is an international co-production of the United States, United Kingdom and Canada, which premiered at the 2015 Sundance Film Festival and became a wide release on February 19, 2016, on behalf of A24. In the final part we read that the film is derived directly from "newspapers, diaries and judicial reports of the time (17th century)". In the United States it was released on February 19, 2016, while in Italy it was released in cinemas on August 18 of the same year.