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“Short films, like short stories, are their own form with their own rules and constraints. So, to paraphrase Groucho Marx or Sigmund Freud, sometimes a short is just a short.”
Most filmmakers hone their craft with short films; they start short and end long.
From George Lucas to Wes Anderson, Billy Bob Thornton to Mike Judge, directors have stretched their stories from short subject to feature-length film. Journalist Michael Fox takes us down memory lane to reveal what films went the distance, including some you might not have expected.
Read Sometimes a Long(er) Notion: From Short Film to Feature >>
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“Online is really the perfect platform for short films, particularly for a generation that’s used to YouTube and MySpace.”
As video clips proliferate on the Internet, perhaps online film festivals are the way to separate serious work from the latest Mentos-and-Coke explosion video. Online shorts festivals are popping up everywhere. Will they ever replace the terrestrial fest? Find out what online presenters and independent filmmakers think of this new trend.
Read Short, Sweet...And Online >>
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“My favorite part of my job is being with a filmmaker when the audience greets the film with emotion. It’s kind of like being a matchmaker.”
—Rachel Rosen, director of programming, Los Angeles Film Festival
What’s life like for a film festival programmer? Is it a dream job? Or, after months of watching and evaluating hundreds of films—both good and bad—do bleary-eyed festival programmers ever come up for air?
Read Film Fest Confidential >>
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“If I am this excited and hopeful for documentaries, I thought, where are the contemporary examples to back up my passion?”
Meet Christian Bruno, filmmaker and passion seeker. Find out how he spent seven bleary-eyed days and nights immersed in documentary viewing and dissecting at “Cinematic Summer Camp,” a.k.a. the renowned Robert Flaherty Film Seminar.
Read Christian Bruno’s first-person account of how he spent his summer vacation—in the dark and in the light.
Read The Illuminated Darkness >>
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"He's arguably the most brilliant, brave and innovative person working in his field"
—Terry Atkinson, Los Angeles Times
Regarded as a pioneer of direct cinema, Frederick Wiseman remains one of the most influential and prolific filmmakers today. In the cinema vérité tradition, Wiseman’s work unveils human conversation and everyday life with no music, interviews or voiceover narration. His uncompromising examination of American society has earned him awards, recognition and a dedicated following. Wiseman, who has made 34 documentary films about American institutions premiered his drama, THE LAST LETTER, on Independent Lens.
Legendary filmmaker Frederick Wiseman answered select questions submitted to Inside Indies. Find out what the master has to say about filmmaking, full disclosure, democracy and more.
Read the Frederick Wiseman Q&A >>
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Hank Rogerson and Jilann Spitzmiller’s SHAKESPEARE BEHIND BARS was selected for the 2005 Sundance Film Festival Documentary Competition. After some persuading (okay, less than five minutes) the couple agreed to keep a diary of their escapades, sending regular dispatches to Inside Indies Central, and giving us a behind-the-scenes look at the most famous festival in the Americas and arguably the world (sorry, Cannes). Celebrity spottings, high altitudes, exhilaration—and, ultimately, exhaustion…
Get an inside look: check out the diary, the scrapbook and more >> |
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In Focus Features:
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“When you're doing an independent movie, you're trying to do a lot with a little. When you're doing a big movie, you're trying to do a lot with a lot.”
—Angela Robinson, D.E.B.S. and
Herbie: Fully Loaded
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“Mainstream theater attendance is down and people are looking to recapture the magic of cinema. One thing lacking is a sense of community.”
—Filmmaker Mark Elijah Rosenberg, founder of Brooklyn’s Rooftop Films
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“Filmmakers will do almost anything to get the story.”
—Cal Skaggs, DEMOCRACY ON DEADLINE
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“The law would never have changed if I hadn’t made the film, because when the media decides to take interest in something that makes people uncomfortable, especially lawmakers, that’s when things start to change…”
—Joanna Katz, SENTENCING THE VICTIM
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“Sure, the Internet is going to become more prevalent, but I think that the person—their charisma, their ability to communicate interpersonally—is integral to the work.”
—Iris Rose Ichishita, filmmaker
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To be involved with a festival and be a programmer, you have to love
film.... You have to love it, warts and all.
—Matt Dentler, SXSW Film Festival
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One hundred seventy-five folks submerged in dozens of hours of amazing nonfiction cinema, eating and sleeping and discussing…. Bodies barely moving, heads generously swimming. How do you describe total immersion, cinematic saturation?
—Christian Bruno
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Of course there's conscious manipulation! Everything about a movie is
manipulation ...
If you like it, it's an interpretation. If you don't like it, it's a
lie—but everything about these movies is a distortion.
—Frederick Wiseman
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The big secret, which no one is willing to acknowledge, is that the studios have essentially stopped making movies for adults. Independent filmmakers have stepped in to fill the void—thankfully…
—Michael Fox
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It’s 10:45 a.m. Our first screening is in 45 minutes. There’s a long line forming. The noise in the hallway is increasing and I want to kiss everyone in line for coming to our movie…
—Jilann Spitzmiller
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…The yearning to improve our world by shining a light on injustice and inequality is what initially attracted many doc makers to their profession. Those who are generally content with the status quo tend to seek other, better-paying careers.
—Michael Fox
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the National Endowment for the Arts