by Jonathan Poritsky June 14th, 2010 §
A few weeks ago, I headed over to a hotel on the Upper East Side of Manhattan to sit down with directors Ricki Stern and Anne Sundebrg (who prefers to be called Annie). No doubt the setting was picked to appease the eponymous subject of their new documentary, Joan Rivers — A Piece of Work, who actually lives a few blocks from where we met. The day started with a roundtable with Ms. Rivers, who unleashed her token scathing wit. Bits of that session, and the one you are about to hear, were for a piece I wrote for Heeb Magazine. The real story of any documentary, however, comes not from the subject but from the filmmakers themselves, which is why I was delighted to talk to Ricki and Annie about their latest project.
The film is a solid study of an extraordinary woman, and it avoids the pitfalls an trappings many similar documentaries fall victim too. There are limited talking heads and archival footage is used in a very organic manner; it is neither reality show nor biography, but something more. Perhaps this has to do with the fact that the Ms. Stern and Ms. Sunberg’s previous works deal in much weightier material, such as Darfur. As they explain, they are simply after a good story and Joan provided one for them. They simply wanted to capture something compelling. Listen in for some fascinating insight from these excellent filmmakers.
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by Jonathan Poritsky April 29th, 2010 §
The British film The Infidel just reached American shores this week at the Tribeca Film Festival here in New York City. The irreverent comedy is about a Muslim who learns he is adopted and his parents are in fact Jewish. What ensues is a delightful comedy of errors that delves into the murkier depths of religious and ethnic stereotypes. You can read my full review over at Heeb Magazine.
I was able to get some face time with four people connected to the film. Josh Appignanesi is the film’s director and David Baddiel wrote the script. The two offered up some deadpan wisdom on the weighty subject their film deals with. The bulk of my questions (as you’ll hear) focus on reactions to the film and whether or not it is controversial. Both Baddiel and Appignanesi are passionate about their creative choices and the power of comedy in the most uncomfortable of social conversations. They say it better, so definitely check it out.
Omid Djalili and Richard Schiff, the film’s stars, are similarly serious when it comes to discussing The Infidel. Schiff, who is most well known in the states for his role as Toby Ziegler on The West Wing, takes particular offense at having any of his roles, including that of Lenny in The Infidel, labeled as stereotypically Jewish. The two exhude a comic energy that made it difficult for me to keep a straight face while chatting them up. Especially at the end of our talk, the two go off on the provenance of a few racial epithets. It is quite hilarious.
As always, I’ve said too much. Just click play already.
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by Jonathan Poritsky March 17th, 2010 §
As Hollywood enjoys this latest wave of 3D filmmaking, I have long hoped that their innovations would eventually trickle down to benefit the independent filmmaking community. Noël Paul’s short film, Annie Goes Boating, which just had its world première here at SXSW, may be the film that proves indie directors are dying to get their hands on the technology. Gone are the flaming projectiles and the prickly protrusions that are commonly found in big budget 3D films. Instead, Noël gives us a gorgeous look at a day in the park.
I sat down with Noël to discuss how he was able to make this film on an indie budget. Once he realized he had access to two Red Digital Cinema cameras, the filmmaker went to work with his creative team to try to hack together a workable 3D rig. However, it wasn’t until he got in contact with Lightspeed Design, whose DepthQ technology is used in a number of 3D applications, that the pieces really began to come together. The result is a 10 minute short that is absolutely gorgeous.
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Annie Goes Boating feels like a painting, one you could get up and walk around in. The plot is simple by design: some friends go boating and play badminton; a love triangle appears and then it ends. The photography, by Michael Ragen, is reminiscent of impressionist painting. Your eye is free to wander around the woods throughout the film. The depth is astounding. Some shots of ducks on a pond make you feel almost as if you could touch the water, as if the ducks might fall off the screen. Perhaps I’m romanticizing it, but if you see the film in 3D you will understand my reaction.
It is great to listen to Noël talk about 3D technology and how he likes to use it. I can’t think of another independent filmmaker who has tried a hand at 3D, but I truly hope that it sticks. Noël doesn’t care to guess whether or not 3D will catch on, but he says that he has every intention of making more 3D films if he is able to get them off the ground. With this one under his belt, I don’t see how that could be a problem.
I have hardly scratched the surface here. Listen in to my conversation with Noël Paul, where he gets into some of the nitty gritty of 3D production as well as speaks on his artistic influences behind this film. It’s one of the most interesting conversations I’ve had on the subject. Enjoy.
by Jonathan Poritsky March 16th, 2010 §
Lena Dunham’s Tiny Furniture just had its world première here at SXSW yesterday. It is an extremely funny and revealing film from this New York-based director. This is only her second feature, though she views it as her first since her last film, Creative Nonfiction, which premiered at SXSW 2009, was about an hour long. Taking full advantage of the Austin vibe, Dunham made some friends here a year ago, gathered a crack team in New York City, and spent the last year making this new film.
Her hard work paid of well. Tiny Furniture is ferociously funny and with a heart to boot. It is easy to apply the label of “coming of age tale” to the film, but that really undersells it. This is not the kind of movie that involves staring into puddles, mirrors or other reflective surfaces that twenty-somethings on film seem to be attracted to. Instead, we find Aura, played by Ms. Dunham, returning home to the big apple after college, thrust into a world with no structure, few consequences and little prospects. Between her genius younger sister soaking up the limelight and her preoccupied artist mother, Aura must blaze her own path in the naked city.
I sat down with Lena to discuss her process and her film. Listen in for some really interesting details about the making of this film, which was shot entirely on the Canon 7D, a digital still camera that also shoots video. And there’s more! But you have to click play or download.
You can learn more about Tiny Furniture at the film’s Official Website. The film will be screening once more at SXSW on Saturday, March 20, 4:15pm at the Alamo Ritz.
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by Jonathan Poritsky March 16th, 2010 §
Justin Molotnikov’s Crying With Laughter was the first screener I watched in advance of SXSW this year. Though it is described as a thriller, that is a particularly unfair label to put on it. When I sat down with Justin, who is here in Austin for the North American première of his film, I learned that he couldn’t agree more, and in the best of senses.
The film follows down-on-his-luck comedian Joey Frisk, whose visceral brand of jokes can be tough to laugh at. Very quickly the film changes its tone from the mundane to the mysterious. Then again to the adventurous, and eventually to the melancholy. The brevity with which it moves from emotion to emotion, or from genre to genre, is astounding. Crying With Laughter will surprise you around every turn.
Justin and the film’s producer, Claire Mundell, took some time out of their schedule to sit with me and discuss their film and some other tid-bits. Perhaps the most interesting thing Justin and Claire mention is that the script grew out of a lot of workshopping and improv. In fact, they say, it was easier to get the film funded without a script than it would have had they had a finished one from the outset. Sound backwards? Listen in as they explain their process in making this first feature.
Crying with Laughter has two more screenings at SXSW: Tuesday March 16th, 1:30am at the Alamo Ritz and Wednesday, March 17th, 4:30pm at the Alamo Lamar. It is also available on Amazon Video On Demand and will soon be available on demand through your cable provider in the U.S. You can find out more information at the film’s Official Website.
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by Jonathan Poritsky March 13th, 2010 §
Wow, South by Southwest (SXSW) is one helluva whirlwind event. Luckily, between screenings my schedule allowed for a quick chat with David Bond, whose film Erasing David had its U.S. Première here last night. The documentary, which the director concedes is something of a sensationalist thriller, deals with the issue of modern privacy in a world where we are obsessed with sharing so much of our personal information.
In the film, David opts to “drop off the map” as it were. Two of the best private investigators in the U.K. are given his picture and his name, but nothing else. While the film crew follows them around, they must find David who is doing everything in his power not to get caught. Within hours of them beginning their assignment, they gather more information than he originally thought was possible. They even started a fake Facebook account for David, spoofing his friends into giving them leads to move forward on.
Lucky for us (or for me, really), the U.S. ranks much higher in terms of privacy awareness than the U.K. Surprisingly, the U.K. is the third worst country in terms of availability of private data in the world. Their competition? China and Russia. This may seem startling, but the U.K. does have CCTV cameras all over the country recording almost every public area. With facial recognition technology slowly being integrated with the system, David purports, it is only a matter of time before our social networks become meshed with state infrastructure.
The fact that this film is receiving such a warm reception at a conference such as SXSW says a lot about how much of a paranoid Luddite the director isn’t. After all, the Interactive wing of SXSW is where Twitter and Foursquare, a geo-location social network, were launched. All day long people are sharing their location, their thoughts, and perhaps even more sensitive data than they realize on their mobile phones as they wander about the Austin Convention Center. But as I said, Mr. Bond is no Luddite. He is simply more aware of these issues after his experience of making the film. It is his hope that the film’s audience will be more aware as well.
Erasing David will be screening again on Tuesday, March 16th at 11am in the G-Tech theater. The film is also available VOD through Amazon during the festival. For more information on both the film and issues of privacy and information, you can check out the film’s Official Website.
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Photo Credit: Amanda Lockhart
by Jonathan Poritsky March 10th, 2010 §
The other day, director Miao Wang invited me to her Brooklyn home to discuss her new film, Beijing Taxi. The documentary follows three Beijing cab drivers over the course of two years leading up to the 2008 Beijing Olympics. All working class locals, each character offers a unique perspective on the society that has seemed closed for so long to westerners. The film is an eye-opener for anyone who has ever wanted to take a closer look at China’s capital, even, as Ms. Wang explains in our interview, for the taxi drivers themselves. Beijing Taxi will have its world première next week at SXSW in Austin, Texas. For more details, you can visit the film’s official website. Listen in as we discuss the current state of China, the making of the film, and what bands Miao is most excited to hear when she heads to Austin for the festival.
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Music Featured in this Podcast (from the Beijing Taxi soundtrack):
• An Yang “安阳” — Miserable Faith
• Our Healthy Upward Ideals “我们目前健康向上的小理想” — Sand
• Together “在一起” — Sound Fragment
by Jonathan Poritsky March 3rd, 2010 §
Certainly new media has changed the way we approach filmmaking, but how does that mentality actually manifest itself? To find out, I talked to Todd Tue of Milk Products Media this week. Where once makers would upload their work to the web in hopes of gaining exposure to head down a traditional distribution path, Todd is now finding that the internet may be the best outlet for his work, period.
The bulk of our conversation is about Milk Products’ latest documentary endeavor, a feature film about a family owned and operated dairy farm in Ohio. You can view the short documentary on Vimeo right now, then head on over to their Kickstarter page to learn more about the feature they plan to make. As Todd tells me in our interview, the fact that over 10,000 people have already viewed a short piece he made is pretty satisfying, but he hopes they will get to make the full length story. Listen in as we talk about making films on the cheap, bringing some creativity to paying gigs, and why it is such a great time to be making media.
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Photo Credit: Mary-Claire Runchey on flickr
