I’m currently working my way through screenings of as many award-nominated films as I can, but between the Forum events, Talk Shows, panels and other events here, it’s a challenging festival to navigate. Veterans were disoriented, too, because everything in this snowglobe town shifts a bit when you change your focus and, this year, the venues changed. You feel like you’re in a bit of a spiderweb if you spend too much time here.

Luckily, I can go to the Docs for Sale viewing stations and watch screenings of films that are sold out. So, I’ve seen dozens of films and my head is spinning and I’ve spent a week standing next to the likes of Peter Wintonick and Werner Herzog talking about vampires and losers–more on this later. (I’ll refrain from using the other word Werner spouts a lot because even in this day and age, it’s dicey. But that’s why we love him, right?) And for the record, Werner, people smiled in pleasure when recalling seeing your film, so kudos on that.

Audiences here are the most brutal I’ve seen. Now, granted, I’ve been hanging out in Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina and Silver Springs, Maryland so I’m no sophisticate, but, holy crap, the Dutch are rude as fuck. It’s humbling; you’re just their bitch if you want to spend time in their town. And I’m saying that mostly in admiration, for some reason.

Really long-winded way of saying that I will be posting reviews and impressions, interviews, etc. for a while–seriously, it could have been more fun, but I’ll be getting a lot of mileage out of the knowledge I gleaned going to this festival outside my own country. Tres different. Where those things will appear, who knows, because I want to spend the next little bit rocketing around the planet trying to be a goodwill ambassador for our humble States. Seriously, we have a lot of ’splainin’ to do.

More soon from Amsterdam. Our lovely Mr. Schnack, and the little devil on his shoulder, have a post on the winners at IDFA last night. Next stop on the daisy train, south of England to frolic in the type of place Morrissey sings about. Ciao, ciao.

• Shira Golding wrote a really fine piece this week called “Upstream: The Wide Wide World of Online Video Platforms” for MediaRights. The organization also brings news of filmmaker, Jehane Noujaim’s call for entries for Pangea Day, a landmark, one-day, global film event showcasing shorts from around the world.
• Over at Shooting People, Ingrid Kopp blogs on Shooting from the Hip about an interview with writer, Harlan Ellison, who rails against the propensity these days of someone offering an artist exactly zilch to use his or her work–a timely topic for the looming writers’ strike.
• For some mind-bending independent film distribution statistics, visit the blog Independent Films by the Numbers, where resident cruncher, Matt Syrett, weighs in on some solid strategies for marketing and exhibiting your film to its best advantage–impress your friends and neighbors by whipping out those bar charts.
• I always check in with the Cinephiliac to read a heartwarming yarn about Aaron Hillis’ latest adventures in film journalism-land.
• Also love visiting Blank Screen–check out their great interview with Cartune Xprez, a curatorial project for animated videos and multimedia performances.
• The latest Westchester-based Burns Film Center newsletter reports that Janet Maslin will be talking to artist and film director, Julian Schnabel, after a screening of his beautiful The Diving Bell and the Butterfly on Thursday, November 29. Maslin will also host a chat with graphic novelist/filmmaker Marjane Satrapi, director of Persepolis, after it screens there on Thursday, December 13.
• And then there are my friends over at UnionDocs, hosts of the Documentary Bodega series. Their blog is maintained by program director, Christopher Allen and the eight resident curators and producers that use the large house on Union Avenue in Williamsburg as both living and work space for their film, photography, art, music and media projects. This is a unique arts collaborative where the visiting residents live and work for one year, usually while pursuing advanced degrees. Take a visit out there on a Sunday evening and get involved. One of the current residents, Hillevi Loven, an MFA candidate in Integrated Media Arts at Hunter College is working on a project on Christian hardcore/metal culture (hmm). She says that, “UDRP offers a growing community. I wanted to build a center for creative exchange and dialogue between media artists. I have always longed for a chance to create a presentation/exhibition space.” If you’re looking for a cool place to have a screening for your film, get in touch with the curators over there.

from Kara Herold’s short Bachelorette, 34, USA, 2007

One of the largest and most important documentary markets and festivals in the world, IDFA’s program is the standard bearer of what will play at a lot of domestic festivals in ‘08. Scrolling through the film program, there seems to be quite a few older films and not as many premieres as they’ve had in the past, and the opening nighter, Richard Robbins’ Operation Homecoming: Writing the Wartime Experience is a film that’s already had its television broadcast. I don’t know if they’re trying to mix it up because of the anniversary thing, or if there just weren’t more compelling films to show that were made in the past year. However, IDFA, because of where it falls in the calendar year, is usually showing what we might see at, say, Sundance early next year. In the States, the Utah fest, for a lot of folks, is the true commencement of a festival season.

This will be the first time I attend a major festival outside my own country and I’m anxious to see what the differences will be, if any, particularly in terms of what will be talked about at panels and other events and discussions that they have on tap. I feel certain topics at this point have been beaten to death. There is also an Online Docs and Cross Media section which will include mashups, vlogger videos and online premieres of films screened at past IDFAs.

I think the closest I’ve come to a truly international scene, domestically, was at the American Film Market in Santa Monica, California (which just ended a few days ago). I also help produce festivals and, part of what I do is oversee the creation of the brand and identity of a festival and its execution in all forms of media. The more I do this, the harder it gets, because more and more entities are vying for the hottest products out there. But not all festivals consider clamoring for the premiere or the first-look a top priority. Depending on where they are in the world, the artistic director or executive board may have a very particular ethos in mind, due to where they sit geographically, and what happens to be going on in that region politically, socially and economically.

As more and more local and regional festivals crop up, the truly international fests can, perhaps, pull more specific focus on their sense of place in the world, or specialize in some other way, because calling yourself “international” is the equivalent of saying “all natural” or “new and improved.” It’s more advertising speak than anything substantive. And it sounds impressive.

The Middle East is a part of the world vociferously courting culture from abroad. Formerly closed societies are poking out into the world by making a splash in the arts and are anxious to open doors to exchange, and, to me, this is a good thing. The Dubai International Film Festival started in 2004 and, in just three years, has grown in stature and international notice very quickly. It’s prime objective, as is true for two more new fests that will crop up there in spring 2008, is to highlight and showcase Arab cinema and its filmmakers, to recognize other countries of Asian cinema, and to focus on what’s coming out of Bollywood in India. Dubai is not a place short on glamour, but it’s also not Hollywood, either. It’s a region with many restrictive mores, but those restrictions can create new ways of communicating artistically and that’s quite exciting. And it’s not difficult for a festival to succeed when it concentrates on the filmmaker and provides lots of networking and exposure to press and sales agents for that filmmaker.

What’s interesting is that online studios are now coming to people like me wanting to create physical festivals based on the success of their Internet ventures. They have a built in audience of filmmakers and film watchers; they have revenue structures; they provide a showcase; and they help market and distribute original content. But, seemingly, people still want to physically gather and sit in darkened theaters and watch films together. And then talk about those films afterwards, preferably with the filmmaker present. And then go drink and carouse. And get up the next morning and do it all over again. Some of these new fests are turning away from the competition or prize-winning models, which is also interesting since this has been de rigueur ever since festivals existed. This is part and parcel of a filmmaker’s “festival strategy”–to see which prizes they can bag, or how many festivals they can appear in as an “official” selection.

It would be nice to see juries expand a bit beyond the usual suspects, too. It’s time to mix it up a bit and, perhaps, have films judged by folks that don’t necessarily come from the film world. There is already stifling insularity that exists right now at most fests. And, as articulate and engaging as these festival panelists are, I want to see new faces and hear new voices. Again, that’s why I’m anxious to see who’s there in Amsterdam or who will be there in the Middle East or who will show up for a tiny new festival on some small island off the coast of, say, England next year. Lots of little pockets of the planet will be populated by film festivals and those “communities” that will stem from them will, hopefully, become more relevant than what the event’s profile on the world’s stage happens to be.

Featured in the film are Dennis Hopper, former Modals drummer, now famous playwright/director/writer/actor Sam Shepherd, Peter Tork of The Monkees (like most, I had the biggest crush on Davey, but always thought Peter was really cute), Wavy Gravy, The Fugs, Loudon Wainwright III and other various and sundry celebs, burnouts, music lovers and friends of fiddler, Peter Stampfel and guitarist Steve Weber (whose resemblance to a giant muppet is uncanny). In a lot of ways, it’s a familiar music story where we see the young, idealistic goof-offs get together when they’re in their 20s and full of beans and storytell about the trajectory of their careers (in this case, it’s usually straight ahead or torked a bit down most of the time; success eludes these men like the plague). And the reasons success eluded these men brings up the usual suspects of drugs, alcohol, and living a life of unrestricted mayhem 24/7 for years on end. The gray matter takes a beating.

The co-directors are going the self-distribution route (yay) and have booked week-long runs and one-off screenings across the country. Lots of work–let’s see if it pays off for them. This film is a bit of East Village, New York history and they gather some really striking, very gritty black and white archival footage of the city in the 60s and 70s, well before Times Square was Disney-fied and when you could still go home, after being in a bar all night, smelling like a cigarette butt.

As part of their “hey, we’re playing in your hometown soon!” approach, the myspace page is in place and a crack team of dedicated friends and supporters are on board the train. They are presenting each night as a special curated event with other films, musical guests and some really interesting moderator/special guests like Nick Tosches and Lenny Kaye introducing films. They are also showcasing the theatrical premiere run of their film here with Michelangelo Antonioni’s Zabriskie Point, co-written by Sam Shepard while the band was recording its psychedelic landmark album The Holy Modal Rounders Eat the Moray Eels. Now that’s a fab film-geek factoid, ain’t it?

Contact Anthology Film Archives and get your tickets to one of these fun evenings. (Drugs not included.)

Capturing an artist’s creative process on film can be a tricky proposition. There have been many films, both fiction and non-, that have managed to capture that intimate intensity that only scratches the surface of what’s bubbling beneath. In fact, the best films about artists and musicians leave more unanswered questions than answered ones about the mystery of the creative impulse.There is a certain freak-show curiosity about those of us who really don’t do much else with our lives but make art–those of us who skirted the path of least resistance and jumped into a realm in which, in order to survive, one must do some heavy creative lifting. And for some artists, that can be a torturous existence since we live in a society that doesn’t tend to support or understand that kind of thing.I met Matthew Wallin, the director of the film project I Die Daily, at this year’s IFP Conference and Market. I saw a work–in-progress cut of Wallin’s film about artist and filmmaker, Matthew Barney, and was immediately intrigued and wondered if there was a chance for me to jump on board the project as a creative/consultative producer to help the filmmakers find funding to move into post, and to act as added support to see if we could get the project out there, looked at, and noticed. Not to mention exhibited, marketed, distributed and sold. It’s garnered a special invitation from the Berlin Film Festival early next year, and so it’s a key time for the director to show what he’s got to the European market.

As an indie producer, my tastes tend to run towards projects like these. And so in my short sojourn in New York, I’ve already met several directors with similar projects about artists and musicians looking for some baksheesh to give their films legs, already. Muy dificil. Because all the wealthy art patrons and successful recording barons want to see a finished product first before they invest/donate. Well, okay, donate. So, ironically, where there’s money and where there’s intense interest in the subject matter, there’s no vision, no sense of largesse in pouring resources and money into film like they do into art and music. But these are films on the very art in which they’re investing. And they’re a bargain compared to what someone will pay to hang something on their wall. Curious.

Is a film an art object if it’s about an artist? Or is it an ancillary piece of PR one can use to up the ante at auction time? I do not purport to understand the art world, believe me. But what I do see is profligate spending on what could kindly be called “crap,” and my mind boggles. What the medium of film offers the art world is a living archive.

Everyone’s in a whirl about the “democracy of filmmaking” today, when an unwashed and un-film schooled kid with a video camera in, say, North Dakota, shoots something brilliant and gets a movie deal. Well, more power to those that have that kind of vision and the creativity to churn out something fresh and new, raw though it may be. M dot Strange leads the way in this revolution of the DIYer, literally making and finishing his film in his bedroom. I admire filmmakers like him and Wallin and Matt Boyd. Boyd has a potentially award-winning film, now a work-in-progress (which I also caught at IFP), called A Rubberband Is An Unlikely Instrument, his doc on musician Walter Baker, a Brooklyn-based artist and iconoclast, the kind of guy who visibly delights in his own obstinate refusal to understand, or honor, late fees on his college loans. (He and his soft-spoken, intensely intelligent, wife are in some serious debt.) Boyd, who’s worked with Jem Cohen for years, turns his playful and curious eye on Baker’s world and finds an artist’s life is fraught with perils most of us wouldn’t know how to handle, at least not with that much grace and humor. I fell in love with his character and this film after watching a few minutes of what amounts to pieces of footage cut together to give a viewer the gist of a project. I can’t wait to see how this transforms itself into a completed movie.

Brooklyn-based filmmaker Diane Bernard is directing The Lord of Light, a feature documentary that tells Barry Geller’s story. Geller, a writer and inventor, makes plans to produce a sci-fi blockbuster in the late 1970s, to be accompanied by the world’s first science fiction theme park. Ultimately bamboozled by a more experienced Hollywood shark, the film and theme park go nowhere. But twenty years later, Geller’s work is bastardized by the CIA when they use the script and the storyboards of his aborted film project to help rescue hostages from Iran!

Did somebody say “stranger than fiction”? Currently in production, Bernard is also looking for funds to continue this project to completion–very modest budget, animation by Yorgo Alexopoulos, featuring original art work by Jack Kirby, all rights available. Anyone? Anyone? Bueller, Bueller?

The films we make, along with our museums and galleries and the other “safehouses” for art, show us it’s possible to persevere artistically and push back a bit in the face of societal indifference, a Republican government and a fairly shoddy reputation on the international political scene.

A Yale-educated, American created The Cremaster Cycle, for goodness’ sakes–we don’t need to hang our heads in shame. We just need to invest in projects that are being made, not for the glory of the filmmaker or his or her subject, but for the glory of showing off how innovative and limber we can be in our guise as creative folk, instead of constantly showing off our destructive side.

I had a chance to speak, at length, with Brannum about the making of the film and the unique collaboration the three directors shared in its creation. All working from different locations and never in the editing room simultaneously, it proved to be quite a challenge in presenting a strong directorial voice, since that was split three ways, in more than one sense. Beesley’s photography background shows itself off in fine form–since sound and image can coalesce so easily in completely random ways, the precise tone and palette and framing he uses throughout the film speak to a very deliberate eye. He uses the poisonous landscape for his beauty shots and it’s quite affecting, especially as a counterpoint to the story which is narrated solely by the people who have lived in this town all their lives. As the directors’ statement says, it is truly “the point of view of a small community.”

Brannum also explained that finding their subjects took quite a few trips out there over several years’ time. Understandably leery of more “outsiders” coming in and poking around their backyard and then leaving again without really doing much to help them, the townspeople eventually rewarded the filmmakers for their dedication and patience with their heartfelt and honest interviews–and compelling characters they are, with craggy, sculpted faces and rough-hewn voices that bring the best of Dorothea Lange’s depression-era photography to mind.

Beesley has also worked extensively with the band The Flaming Lips (one of my personal faves, I’ve had their official screen saver on my Mac for years) and their music is featured as part of the original soundtrack. Beesley has also directed the definitive Lips doc, Fearless Freaks. Check out the cool trailer on Beesley’s site here.

Check your local listings and try and catch this public TV broadcast debut. On my blog in the near future, I will be posting an in-depth interview with Brannum as part of my series on international female nonfiction filmmakers. Right now, you can read a new interview with spitfire, Cynthia Wade, director of this year’s festival fave Freeheld. Due to extremely sensitive Academy Award rules and regs, we don’t get to talk about her run for Oscar in this initial conversation, but we do talk about all the ethical, and other hairy, issues inherent in doing the kind of excrutiatingly intimate films Wade does. Check it out here.

I am a documentary geek and I’m open about that. So, most of what I’ll be writing about today centers on the nonfiction world.  If you’re not into docs, hopefully, you’ll find it all interesting and entertaining, anyway.

Stranger Than Fiction is also the name of Thom Powers‘ series, almost winding down, at the IFC Center. Tomorrow night at 7:30 p.m., there will be a screening of Jessica Yu’s powerful documentary, Protagonist, followed by a Q&A with the director and an after-party hosted by exec producer Greg Carr in a swanky penthouse. The last swanky penthouse to which I got to go had the most fabulous views of our fair city, so I highly recommend trying to get into one. All you have to do in this case is buy a ticket to the screening and it will be money well-spent, trust me.

I saw Yu’s film this past spring at Full Frame. Actually, I saw a screener from the press office first on my laptop, but I also was sure to get my tush in a seat to see it in a theater at the festival. Yu does some really original work–she’s a filmmaker who takes the notion of moving outside the norm of how nonfiction stories are told to a new level. She possesses a really unique voice and vision.

Juxtaposing live interviews with four different male characters, and using archival footage of their lives intercut with highly-stylized scenes of puppets reciting Euripides‘ in the original Greek acting out the tragedies being narrated on-screen, Yu orchestrates a provocative and deeply-thoughtful chorus based on the structure of a Greek tragedy.  Independently produced by women about four male characters, the film brings a deep emotionalism and resonance that makes her choice of characters spot on. You can go to the movie site to read more about Yu’s journey, beginning with the same Mr. Carr, mentioned above, commissioning her in 2003 to make a documentary about the Greek playwright.  Challenging, yes? Potentially boring? Yes.

Yu’s film rises to the occasion quite successfully in its use of a haunting musical score, its editorial rhythm, and in its use of four compelling main characters, all of whom share their personal, very painful journeys to the other side of some pretty intense revelations. All peaceful, fairly settled men now, they relive the traumas that molded them into the people they are today. And, yes, it is quite challenging to watch, but far from boring. I’m fairly certain Yu’s body of work will continue to expand into new and stranger worlds and her vision for whatever story she’s telling will blow the lid off of traditional documentary, especially if she’s tasked with representing another of the world’s oldest storytellers, or something as equally “un-filmable.” One to watch, for sure.