THE INDEPENDENT REPORTER
AN INDEPENDENTS GUIDE TO INDEPENDENT CINEMA
THE AMERICAN FILM MARKET
The 2008 American Film Market kicked of another bustling year amid massive global economic pitfalls and downturns. It was speculated widely that many International Independent Film Distributors wouldn't t be outwardly pursuing new product this year, due to the falling foreign currency values and a small uptick in the US dollar, which overall , led to higher prices of US exports and Independent Films, being one of those exports, would surely have a crushing year. After TIR visited this year's AFM in sunny Santa Monica, California, we will present to you some of the outcomes and trends that seem to be on the horizon for Independent Films.
LLOYD KAUFMAN AND FRED WILLIAMSON
Lloyd Kaufman and The Troma Dance Film Festival. The Godfather of Independent Cinema Lloyd Kaufman, and his wonderful work in Independent Cinema, including his new role as Chairman of the Independent Film and Television Alliance (IFTA), his
new films, his old films, the Troma Dance Film Festival and his ongoing struggles to remain true to Independent Cinema
TOP INDEPENDENT FILMS
In a future world of bio-mechanical technology and awe-inspiring scientific advances, humans share every aspects of their lives with their machines. But when a leading scientist (James Rich) and his team build an advanced prototype cyborg named A.R.C. 1 (Justiin A. Davis) for an undisclosed secret military project, the scientists aren't prepared for the consequences. Suddenly, A.R.C. 1 is on his own in a strange and dangerous world, as he embarks on a spectacular quest to discover the startling secrets of his true identity. www.cybornetics.net
This portrait of Washington super-lobbyist Jack Abramoff, from his early years as a gung-ho member of the GOP political machine to his final reckoning as a disgraced, imprisoned pariah, confirms the adage that truth is indeed stranger than fiction. A tale of international intrigue involving casinos, spies, sweatshops and mob-style killings, this is a story of the way money corrupts our political process. Oscar®-winning filmmaker Alex Gibney illuminates the way politicians' desperate need to get elected and the millions of dollars it costs may be undermining the basic principles of American democracy. Infuriating, yet undeniably eye-opening and entertaining, CASINO JACK is a saga of greed and corruption with a cynical villain audiences will love to hate.
The film tells the story of an Irish fisherman named Syracuse (Colin Farrell) who discovers a woman named Ondine (Alicja Bachleda) in his fishing net, whom he believes to be a a mermaid. She says her name is Ondine, which means "she came from the sea". His daughter Annie (Alison Barry) comes to believe that the woman is a selkie, a magical seal/woman creature, while Syracuse falls helplessly in love. In the Celtic myth, a selkie is able to become human by taking off her seal coat, and can return to seal form by putting it back on. However, like all fairy tales, enchantment and darkness go hand in hand. Annie hopes that Ondine has come to live on land for 7 years and that she can use her selkie wish to cure Annie's kidney failure. Whenever Ondine is onboard Syracuse's fishing boat, she sings a siren song, and his nets and lobster pots are full of fish and seafood in tremendous numbers hard to believe. However, being Irish, Syracuse (or "Circus" the nickname he is trying to outlive, one he has earned for his previous hard drinking ways) is mistrustful of good luck, with it comes bad..
Superstar genetic engineers Clive (Adrien Brody) and Elsa (Sarah Polley) specialize in splicing DNA from different animals to create incredible new hybrids. Now they want to use human DNA in a hybrid that could revolutionize science and medicine. But when the pharmaceutical company that funds their research forbids it, they secretly take their experiment underground--risking their careers to push the boundaries of science and serve their own curiosity and ambition. The result is Dren, an amazing, strangely beautiful creature of uncommon intelligence and unexpected physical developments. At first, Dren exceeds their wildest dreams. But as she grows and learns at an accelerated rate, her existence threatens to become their worst nightmare.
Vince Rizzo (Andy Garcia) is a lifelong resident of the tiny, tradition-steeped Bronx enclave of City Island. A family man who makes his living as a corrections officer, Vince longs to become an actor. Ashamed to admit his aspirations to his family, Vince would rather let his fiery wife Joyce (Julianna Margulies) believe his weekly poker games are a cover for an extramarital affair than admit he’s secretly taking acting classes in Manhattan. When Vince is asked to reveal his biggest secret in class, he inadvertently sets off a chaotic chain of events that turns his mundane suburban life upside down. Winner of the Audience Award at the 2009 Tribeca Film Festival, City Island spins a web of misrepresentations, misinterpretations and misunderstandings into a smart and charming comedy about a family that stops at nothing to avoid the truth.
There's a revolution underway in South America, but most of the world doesn't know it. Oliver Stone sets out on a road trip across five countries to explore the social and political movements as well as the mainstream media's misperception of South America while interviewing seven of its elected presidents. In casual conversations with Presidents Hugo Chavez (Venezuela), Evo Morales (Bolivia), Lula da Silva (Brazil), Cristina Kirchner (Argentina), as well as her husband and ex-President Nestor Kirchner, Fernando Lugo (Paraguay), Rafael Correa (Ecuador), and Raul Castro (Cuba), Stone gains unprecedented access and sheds new light upon the exciting transformations in the region.
Ballast is a stunningly evocative story of personal catastrophe and communal redemption. In the cold winter light of the Mississippi Delta, three lonely people stumble under the weight of a shared tragedy. Lawrence (Micheal J. Smith, Sr.) is paralyzed with grief after the loss of his twin brother. Twelve-year-old James (Jim Myron Ross) drifts into the perilous orbit of local teenagers while his single mother, Marlee (Tarra Riggs), is too exhausted from her menial job to interpret the clues. When sudden violence forces mother and son to flee their home in the night, they alight desperately on Lawrence's property. Though this provides safe harbor, it rekindles the fury of a bitter, longstanding conflict. Writer-director Lance Hammer and his gifted cast of local, non-professional actors have created an unflinching, profoundly humane story of lost souls forced by circumstance to seek solace in the most unlikely of places.
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On the 20-year anniversary of his groundbreaking masterpiece 'Roger & Me,' Michael Moore's 'Capitalism: A Love Story' comes home to the issue he's been examining throughout his career: the disastrous impact of corporate dominance on the everyday lives of Americans (and by default, the rest of the world). But this time the culprit is much bigger than General Motors, and the crime scene far wider than Flint, Michigan. From Middle America, to the halls of power in Washington, to the global financial epicenter in Manhattan, Michael Moore will once again take filmgoers into uncharted territory.
With both humor and outrage, Michael Moore's 'Capitalism: A Love Story' explores a taboo question: What is the price that America pays for its love of capitalism? Years ago, that love seemed so innocent. Today, however, the American dream is looking more like a nightmare as families pay the price with their jobs, their homes and their savings. Moore takes us into the homes of ordinary people whose lives have been turned upside down; and he goes looking for explanations in Washington, DC and elsewhere. What he finds are the all-too-familiar symptoms of a love affair gone astray: lies, abuse, betrayal...and 14,000 jobs being lost every day.
'Capitalism: A Love Story' is both a culmination of Moore's previous works and a look into what a more hopeful future could look like. It is Michael Moore's ultimate quest to answer the question he?s posed throughout his illustrious filmmaking career: Who are we and why do we behave the way that we do?
With both humor and outrage, Michael Moore's 'Capitalism: A Love Story' explores a taboo question: What is the price that America pays for its love of capitalism? Years ago, that love seemed so innocent. Today, however, the American dream is looking more like a nightmare as families pay the price with their jobs, their homes and their savings. Moore takes us into the homes of ordinary people whose lives have been turned upside down; and he goes looking for explanations in Washington, DC and elsewhere. What he finds are the all-too-familiar symptoms of a love affair gone astray: lies, abuse, betrayal...and 14,000 jobs being lost every day.
'Capitalism: A Love Story' is both a culmination of Moore's previous works and a look into what a more hopeful future could look like. It is Michael Moore's ultimate quest to answer the question he?s posed throughout his illustrious filmmaking career: Who are we and why do we behave the way that we do?
Scientists predict that if we continue fishing at the current rate, the planet will run out of seafood by 2048 with catastrophic consequences. Based on the book by Charles Clover, The End of the Line explores the devastating effect that overfishing is having on fish stocks and the health of our oceans.With Clover as his guide, Sundance veteran Rupert Murray (Unknown White Male) crisscrosses the globe, examining what is causing the dilemma and what can be done to solve it. Industrial fishing began in the 1950s. High-tech fisheries now trawl the oceans with nets the size of football fields. Species cannot survive at the rate they are being removed from the sea. Add in cofactors of decades of bad science, corporate greed, small-minded governments, and escalating consumer demand, and we’re left with a crisis of epic proportions. Ninety percent of the big fish in our oceans are now gone.Murray interweaves glorious footage from both underwater and above with shocking scientific testimony to paint a vivid and alarming profile of the state of the sea. The ultimate power of The End of the Line is that it moves beyond doomsday rhetoric to proffer real solutions. Chillingly topical, The End of the Line drives home the message: the clock is ticking, and the time to act is now.
On August 7th 1974, a young Frenchman named Philippe Petit stepped out on a wire and illegally rigged between the New York's twin towers. After nearly an hour dancing on the wire, he was arrested, taken for psychological evaluation, and brought to jail before he was finally released. This documentary complies Petit s footage to show the numerous extraordinary challenges he faced in completing the artistic crime of the century.
On the 40th anniversary of the Internet, WE LIVE IN PUBLIC tells the story of the effect the web is having on our society, as seen through the eyes of “the greatest Internet pioneer you’ve never...
Josh Harris, often called the “Warhol of the Web,” founded Pseudo.com, the first Internet television network during the infamous dot-com boom of the 1990s. He also created his vision of the future: an underground bunker in NYC where 100 people lived together on camera for 30 days over the turn of the millennium. (The project, named QUIET, also became the subject of Ondi Timoner’s first cut of her documentary about Harris. Her film shared the project’s name.) With Quiet, Harris proved how, in the not-so-distant future of life online, we will willingly trade our privacy for the connection and recognition we all deeply desire. Through his experiments, including another six-month stint living under 24-hour live surveillance online which led him to mental collapse, he demonstrated the price we will all pay for living in public. --© Official Site
Record high oil prices, global warming, and an insatiable demand for energy: these issues will be the catalyst for heated debates and positive change for many years to come. 2008 Sundance award-winning film FUEL exposes shocking connections between the auto industry, the oil industry and the government, while exploring alternative energies such as solar, wind, electricity and non-food-based biofuels.
Josh Tickell and his Veggie Van take us on the road as we discover the pros and cons of biofuels, how America’s addiction to oil is destroying the U.S. economy and how green energy can save us, but only if we act now.
Josh Tickell and his Veggie Van take us on the road as we discover the pros and cons of biofuels, how America’s addiction to oil is destroying the U.S. economy and how green energy can save us, but only if we act now.
DVD SPOTLIGHT: HOT INDEPENDENT FILMS NOW ON DVD:
British director Danny Boyle takes another intriguing career turn with this heartfelt underdog tale. Jamal Malik (Dev Patel) is a street kid (or "slumdog") who has landed an appearance on India's version of the hit TV game show WHO WANTS TO BE A MILLIONAIRE? Jamal exceeds expectations on the show, and the producers alert the police after they become suspicious of his methods. The young contestant is subsequently arrested and is interrogated at the hands of a nameless police inspector (played by Bollywood star Irfan Khan). As the interrogation proceeds, Boyle tells Jamal's story through harrowing flashbacks that both show the terrible poverty of Mumbai and help explain how he knew the answers to the MILLIONAIRE questions.
SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE is a tightly woven story that has been expertly edited into shape. The contrast between Jamal's upbringing and his chance of escaping it on the show are adeptly juxtaposed. Mumbai is portrayed as a place of terrifying poverty and unforgettable brutality, and Jamal and his brother get into a never-ending succession of challenging situations. But the way Boyle ties together Jamal's life experiences with his answers on the show is quite brilliant, and the film really does run the full gamut of emotions as we see him growing up, falling in love, coming close to death, and teetering on the brink of escaping from his terrible predicament. The film belongs to Boyle's cast, who are mostly unknown outside of India. Patel, in particular, gives a startlingly mature performance that audiences are likely to remember long after the credits role on this affecting feature. Twentieth Century Fox Home Video
An honest, hardworking man discovers the hardships of being stereotyped as a Black man in America after losing his cushy office job and suddenly being bombarded with racial biases. Jake Jackson (Billoah Greene) is one of the nicest, most decent people you'd ever hope to meet; he works hard at his job, leads a clean lifestyle, and just wants to lead a carefree life. But being comfortable in your own skin isn't always easy when it's a darker shade of brown, and after being inexplicably fired Jake begins to experience the frustration of being a minority in a racist society. As Jake sets out in search of a new job, his eyes are suddenly opened to the bigotry all around. Jake has worked hard to get where is today, and all he asks in return is justice and respect. When those things elude him, Jake begins a dark slide down the path to insanity. Only when Jake manages to capture a wanted serial killer does his luck begin to change, but by then he has already grown bitter after seeing the true colors of the people he once trusted. Carson Grant, Ava Mateova, Bern Cohen and Charles Gaylord also star in this provocative, independent drama from first-time feature director Dwayne Buckle. 360 Sound and Vision Entertainment.
Takes place in the days before Christmas near a little-known border crossing on the Mohawk reservation between New York State and Quebec. Here, the lure of fast money from smuggling presents a daily challenge to single moms who would otherwise be earning minimum wage. Two women - one white, one Mohawk, both single mothers faced with desperate circumstances - are drawn into the world of border smuggling across the frozen water of the St. Lawrence River. Ray and Lila - and a New York State Trooper as opponent in an evolving cat-and-mouse game. Sony Picture Classics.
- BIFF: The Buffalo International Film Festival
- STEPS: International Rights Film Festival
- Michael Moore: Cinema A Love Story
- Freida Pinto: Slumdog Millionaire Hot!!!
- Lloyd Kaufman: Troma Films
- Spike Lee: Miracle at St.Anna
- Darren Aronofsky: The Wrestler
- The American Film Market
- Fred Williamson: 4 Decades of Independent Cinema
- Dwayne Buckle: A Young Director Defying The Odds
- On Set Of The Independent Film Series: The Glasses 2
- Technology: Sony EX1 XDCAM
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