All these wonderful things

Cinema Eye 2009: The Winner is MAN ON WIRE (and WALTZ and YANGTZE and ENCOUNTERS)...

More soon here on a wonderful night at the Times Center in NYC, but for now, check out the indieWIRE report.  MAN ON WIRE takes the prize for Outstanding Achievement in Nonfiction Feature Filmmaking, while WALTZ WITH BASHIR wins four - Direction for Ari Folman, Music for Max Richter, International Film and Graphic Design/Animation for David Polonsky (who well represented his team and left the Times Center with a box - literally - full of Cinema Eyes).  Yung Chang picked up the Debut Filmmaking and Audience Choice Prize for UP THE YANGTZE and Peter Zeitlinger received the Cinematography Award for ENCOUNTERS AT THE END OF THE WORLD.  WIRE also received Cinema Eyes for Producing (Simon Chinn) and Editing (Jinx Godfrey).

Cinema Eye 2009: 24 Hours to Go

Matt Dentler has a preview - 5 questions with me - on his blog.

From yesterday's walk through at this year's venue, the NY Times Center.

And getting a look at this year's actual awards on Thursday.  Here's the Cinema Eye Honor for Outstanding Achievement in Graphic Design and Animation awaiting its new home.

BOX OFFICE: VALENTINO Brings the Glamour Back to Film Forum, Bana's BEAST a Hit Down Under

Spring is in the air and our first box office report of 2009 is here, just in time to note the rip-roaring success of Matt Tyrnauer's Toronto 2008 feature VALENTINO: THE LAST EMPEROR.  The film took in more than $31K since last Wednesday - including at $20K weekend - at Manhattan's Film Forum, the best take for a doc there in some time and the best ever opening for a film released through the auspices of Truly Indie. 

Meanwhile, on the other side of the Earth, LOVE THE BEAST, actor Eric Bana's car-crush documentary - set to debut stateside at next month's Tribeca Film Festival - became the second biggest Australian documentary opening ever, making nearly a quarter of a million dollars US in its opening weekend.

For the year, JONAS BROTHERS: THE 3D CONCERT EXPERIENCE, is way, way, way far ahead of any and all comers and looks poised to be the top grossing nonfiction of the year (unless that Michael Moore movie actually comes out, and even then...).  It surpassed $19 million at the box office this weekend.  In second for 2009, Oscar nominated WALTZ WITH BASHIR - nominated for 7 Cinema Eye Honors this Sunday - has just over $2.1 million accumulated since its late '08 opening.

SXSW 2009: Thoughts on Austin in the Aftermath of a Successful Fest

I understand that there are pleasures in Austin – I truly do.  Hell, I’ve got more friends than I can count on 2 hands who can ably attest to this town’s ability to sustain artists, bohemians, filmmakers, writers and the like.  Keep Austin weird – it’s even got it’s own bumper sticker.  What other town boasts that kind of nonsense?

Yet, one can’t help but wonder as you wander through downtown Austin at closing time (granted during SXSW and approaching St. Patty’s Day) and – in a two-block radius – watch one young woman puke and fall over in one continuous motion (9.5 on the degree of difficulty), then see three consecutive fist fights, one seemingly building on the other, until, finally, one sees a young man cold-cock (surprisingly punch for those unfamiliar with the phrase) another young man and watch the punchee drop to the ground (street) in the midst of traffic – not stagger and tumble but flat drop, head hitting the pavement with the sickening thudding sound of a melon – to wonder, what Mad Max hell is this?

And don’t give me that “it’s a college town” bullshit.  I spent 4+ year’s in a quintessential college town and saw two fist fights.  Austin (at least downtown) is a fist fight begging to happen, SXSW or no. 

That said, when spring comes to Austin, as it did on Sunday, with the chilled temperatures of Friday and Saturday giving way to warm sun, is there anywhere better to sit outside with a salty margarita and a bowl of chips and salsa (after four days you’ve got queso coming out of your pores).  Heaven help the filmmaker scheduled to screen at that moment when the 70 degree temperatures arrive.

This was my fourth year in Austin and I felt like I’d finally learned some lessons.  Lesson #1 – Stay out of the convention center (aside from the theater, which is on the ground floor and an easy in and out).  It’s a soul sucker and makes you feel like you actually did pursue that career in something that wasn’t creative and, fuck, how did that happen; Lesson #2 – Get up and see two movies early in the day.  If you want to actually accomplish your goal of seeing 3 films a day, go ahead and see two before afternoon fully arrives; Lesson #3 – It’s perfectly fine to go to Guero’s three days in a row.  Just make sure you eat the fish tacos (they’re delicious) before you go with the folks who have sustainability issues; Lesson #4 – Go to the Starbucks on Congress and don’t bother with the Starbucks in the hotels near the convention center; Lesson #5 – Let a local drive; Lesson #6 – Get to the Alamo Ritz early, even if you have a badge, cause that place is gonna sell out and, oh yeah, that blogger who SXSW staff is gonna try to get into the movie? It's not you.

Countdown to Cinema Eye: Maysles, Pennebaker Among Presenters

Just 6 days remaining until this year's Cinema Eye Honors for Nonfiction Filmmaking and some tickets are still available for the event at the NY Times Center in Times Square. 

This year's presenters have been announced and they include documentary legends DA Pennebaker and Albert Maysles, filmmakers Jehane Noujaim and Morgan Spurlock, artist Laurie Anderson and many other notables.  Michael Ion Furjanic returns as our DJ/Music Director and Thom Powers and yours truly are back as your co-hosts for this year's event. 

Although tickets for the event are priced at $75, Powers' Stranger Than Fiction series is offering a special discount on tickets - $50 when you enter the access code "STF".  That ticket gets you into the ceremony and the afterparty, where there will be food and an open bar.

We'll have more updates this week on this year's Cinema Eye event and we look forward to seeing you in NYC on Sunday night.

SXSW 2009: Bill Ross' 45365 Takes Jury Prize

Bill Ross' 45365 - an impressionistic portrait of small town Ohio - has won the Grand Jury Prize at the 2009 SXSW Film Festival (see our thoughts on the film here).  Aron Gaudet's THE WAY WE GET BY received an Honorable Mention from a jury that included Anne Thompson, Basil Tsiokos and Lois Vossen.

Audience Awards went to Geralyn Pezanoski's MINE in the Documentary Feature category and Jennifer Steinman's MOTHERLAND took the prize amongst Emerging Visions titles.

On the narrative side, MADE IN CHINA and THAT EVENING SUN both took two awards during the just concluded awards ceremony in Austin.

SXSW 2009: Risk and Reward in the Small Details of Bill Ross' 45365

A car drives down the street in a small Ohio town.  The radio station announces it’s next selection – Little River Band’s “Lady”.  Car wipers cut across as the drizzle of rain hits the windshield.

A couple makes out in a bar as Air Supply plays.  They both have long hair.  Is it two women?  It’s hard to tell in this light.  The camera stays on them, both genders still anonymous, until we realize that this coupling is entirely heterosexual.  We are observers, then we are voyeurs and, finally, we, like them, laugh at the absurdity of it all.

Such are the small, lingering and not entirely explainable pleasures of 45365 - a film that I feel compelled to warn you about even as I recommend it - a non-narrative, impressionistic, whisper of a film, one that should not be oversold, but should be experienced for its sideways glance at an the Midwestern American experience in the early 21st century.

Ostensibly a portrait of the town of Sydney, Ohio, the characters of 45365 recur – yes, that electoral race for local judge will return; yes, you will again check in with the high school football team – amidst the loosely stitched framing device of the local radio station (rock and roll classics and high school sports!) and lingering farm vistas – but one should not expect some kind of big payoff to these stories. 

SXSW 2009: The Film Remains the Same in Gary Hustwit's OBJECTIFIED

What would happen if - as the credits began to roll on Gary Hustwit’s surprise hit of 2007, HELVETICA (Spirit Award nominated, self-distributed, “the film about a font”) - you stood up and found out that it was just an intermission?  A “let’s go out to the lobby” moment, wherein you grab your popcorn or your copy of Dwell Magazine, used the facilities or grabbed a smoke and then returned for Act 2?

Welcome to Hustwit’s OBJECTIFIED, a film that plays – in thought, word and deed – as sequel, continuing saga and seamless transition from the world of font design into industrial design.  And as Hustwit announced at the world premiere screening in Austin, this is part two of (at least) 3 in a design series.  I can’t remember another nonfiction filmmaker who has so purposefully created a second film that moves, breathes and observes as specifically as his first.

OBJECTIFIED Director Gary Hustwit in Austin Sunday afternoon.

While not the surprise that HELVETICA was – who knew that font could be the most beloved, hated and invasive design motif our time (just look at this blog) – OBJECTIFIED successfully continues Hustwit’s design franchise and ably encourages its audience to take a second look at the world around them.  While the conflict is lessened in movie number 2 (flamboyant designer Karim Rashid is one of the few to advocate a philosophical debate), we are still encouraged to observe our world (particularly our tchotchkes - bonus points if you know the German word for that) in a new way, which we remain convinced is what all great nonfiction should do.

SXSW 2009: Bradley Beesley Makes Good on His Promise in SWEETHEARTS

The unveiling of a film festival roster is, at its essence, the lifting of hopes – hope that one will discover a new filmmaker, hope that a favored filmmaker’s new work  will be as strong (or stronger) than the films that previously caught one’s attention.

We know going in that these hopes may, in fact, be dashed.  Or that they should have been, at least, tempered.

Going into SXSW 2009, one could be excused if one had lowered expectations from the start.  After all, Sundance 2009 was a bit of a disappointment (I know, I know, you hate hearing it, and yet…) and this was the Austin fest’s first year under new (while obviously capable) leadership.  Similar caution is assumed for this year’s Tribeca and Full Frame, both under the reins of new keepers in one form or fashion.

But in her first year at the helm of SXSW Film, Janet Pierson has crafted a lineup that lives up to SXSW’s role as the perfect pop companion to Sundance’s bleeding heart.  Together the two festivals offer a compelling overview of the state of documentary film – particularly (but not limited to) American documentary film – and if it’s possible that the lineup in Austin is perhaps a bit stronger than the one in Park City, well, that’s quite alright too.

And while new filmmakers made their mark in Austin – particularly Bill Ross' 45365 and the much buzzed about BEST WORST MOVIE (Michael Paul Stephenson) – a veteran SXSW director returned with a film that not only delivered on one’s hopes but affirmed his place as one of America’s most interesting, contemporary nonfiction filmmakers.

The American notation is purposeful, for Bradley Beesley is one of the few true regionalists working in documentary film.  He has continued to return, film after film, to his Oklahoma, digging through that state to find stories that reflect on our times, as viewed through the lens of the southern plains.  OKIE NOODLING, THE CREEK RUNS RED, THE FEARLESS FREAKS – these have not all been epics.  Beasley is prolific and some of these films have been stories in miniature (neither complaint nor insult), but as someone who loves the middle of America, I’ve been waiting for the film where Bradley’s talent as a filmmaker (on display so vibrantly in SUMMERCAMP!, with co-director Sarah Price) and his focus on the Sooner State would coalesce.

By continually returning to Oklahoma, Beasley has made a promise to his audience, a promise that is fulfilled, magnificently, in his triumphant SWEETHEARTS OF THE PRISON RODEO, a gorgeous, insightful, hilarious, emotional look at tradition, criminal justice, hope and regret.  It’s as pure a piece of movie-making that you will see in nonfiction in 2009, commercial as hell, and certainly one of the best films of the year.

Producer James Payne, Director Bradley Beesley and Producer Amy Dotson following Saturday's world premiere in Austin.

Rebecca Yeldham, Producer of ANVIL! (and others), Named New Director of LAFF

Film Independent announced today that Rebecca Yeldham - whose diverse resume includes producing the films THE KITE RUNNER and ANVIL! THE STORY OF ANVIL as well as a Senior Programmer at the Sundance Film Festival in the late '90s - has been named the new Director of the Los Angeles Film Festival.  Rich Raddon, the previous director, resigned amidst controversy late last year.

Rachel Rosen, who had been Interim Co-DIrector (with Sean McManus) until today's announcement, remains Director of Programming for LAFF and Film Independent.

Yeldham had served on the Film Independent board for the past nine years.

LAFF returns to Westwood for its 14th installment on June 18.