Declare Your Independents: Volume 13
GITS development assistant Wendy Cohen here, and welcome to another edition of Declare Your Independents, our new series highlighting the latest developments in the world of independent film.
This week…
Ted Hope talks about the future of indie film
This Week in Streaming: From Giallo to Grindhouse, A Guide to Essential Horror Films
Buy tickets for the L.A. Latino International Film Festival!
Read Julian Assange’s letter to Benedict Cumberbatch
A new trailer for David O. Russell’s American Hustle hits the web
A REMINDER:
- Scott and I encourage any of you who go to see an independent movie to post your reactions to the film in these posts. Good, bad, indifferent, whatever. If there’s a film you want to recommend, do it. Use your words to inspire readers to transport themselves into a local cinema.
- When you go to the theater, why not whip out your cellphone and snap a shot of something that demonstrates you were there? A photo of the movie poster in the lobby. A shot of your ticket stubs. An image of the movie theater itself. You and youriconoclastic indie film freaks.
- For any conversations on Twitter re: this initiative, let’s use these two hashtags: #independents and #declareyourindependents
- While we’re at it, why not add our photos to CydM’s fantastic Pintrest page for everyone to enjoy?
- And if we come up with a nifty Declaration of Independents, we could try to make it go viral. If you were going to write a Declaration of Independents, what would you include? What if we made it a video manifesto?
We can’t make this work without your participation. Share your experiences with the community so we can open up readers to the fantastically diverse, exciting and evolving world of independent film. We’ll all be extremely grateful that you did!
INDIE SPOTLIGHT: MOVIES TO SEE IN THEATERS THIS WEEK
OPENING FRIDAY (10/11)
Captain Phillips is a multi-layered examination of the 2009 hijacking of the U.S. container ship Maersk Alabama by a crew of Somali pirates. It is — through director Paul Greengrass’s distinctive lens — simultaneously a pulse-pounding thriller, and a complex portrait of the myriad effects of globalization. The film focuses on the relationship between the Alabama’s commanding officer, Captain Richard Phillips (two time Academy Award®-winner Tom Hanks), and the Somali pirate captain, Muse (Barkhad Abdi), who takes him hostage. Phillips and Muse are set on an unstoppable collision course when Muse and his crew target Phillips’ unarmed ship; in the ensuing standoff, 145 miles off the Somali coast, both men will find themselves at the mercy of forces beyond their control.
Read Word and Film’s exclusive Q&A with writer Billy Ray here.
Baz Luhrmann helped adapt this classic Shakespearean romantic tragedy for the screen, updating the setting to a post-modern city named Verona Beach. In this version, the Capulets and the Montagues are two rival gangs. Juliet (Claire Danes) is attending a costume ball thrown by her parents. Her father Fulgencio Capulet (Paul Sorvino) has arranged her marriage to the boorish Paris (Paul Rudd) as part of a strategic investment plan. Romeo attends the masked ball and he and Juliet fall in love.
Watch an interview with Downton Abbey’s Julian Fellowes on his adaptation here.
An epic battle begins when a middle-aged American husband and father of two learns that he has lost his job. Keeping the news from his nagging wife and wound-up children, he packs up the family and embarks on a full day of park hopping amid enchanted castles and fairytale princesses. Soon, the manufactured mirth of the fantasy land around him begins to haunt his subconscious. An idyllic family vacation quickly unravels into a surrealist nightmare of paranoid visions, bizarre encounters, and an obsessive pursuit of a pair of sexy teenage Parisians. Chillingly shot in black and white, ESCAPE FROM TOMORROW dissects the mythology of artificial perfection while subversively attacking our culture’s obsession with mass entertainment.
Read Entertainment Weekly’s interview with writer/director Randy Moore here.
In her feature directorial debut, Kalyanee Mam, the cinematographer for the Academy Award–winning documentary Inside Job, explores the damage rapid development has wrought in her native Cambodia on both a human and environmental level. Rural communities, used to reaping the bounty of their mountainous jungles and lush rivers, have witnessed their forests being cleared, land becoming scarce and costly, and fishing stocks rapidly depleting. No longer able to provide for their families, and often accruing massive debt as a result, many Cambodians have been forced to leave their rural lives behind to seek employment in the industrial factories of Phnom Penh.
Originally a “Country, Bluegrass and Blues” club, CBGB became the epicenter of the New York alternative-music scene in the mid-1970s. In this remarkable recreation of that Manhattan milieu, Alan Rickman plays club owner Hilly Kristal, who opened his doors to groups like the Ramones and Blondie long before anyone had ever heard of punk rock or new wave.
Read an exclusive Q&A with director and co-writer Randall Miller here.
The Inevitable Defeat of Mister & Pete
From Codeblack Films and Lionsgate. During a sweltering summer in New York City, 13-year-old Mister’s (Brooks) hard-living mother (Hudson) is apprehended by the police, leaving the boy and nine-year-old Pete (Dizon) alone to forage for food while dodging child protective services and the destructive scenarios of the Brooklyn projects. Faced with more than any child can be expected to bear, the resourceful Mister nevertheless feels he is an unstoppable force against seemingly unmovable obstacles. But what really keeps the pair in the survival game is much more Mister’s vulnerability than his larger-than-life attitude.
Design Is One: Lella & Massimo Vignelli
Italian-born Massimo and Lella Vignelli are among the world’s most influential designers. Throughout their long career, their motto has been, ‘If you can’t find it, design it’ The work covers such a broad spectrum that one could say the Vignellis are known by everybody, even those who don’t know their names. From graphics to interiors to products and corporate identities, the film brings us into the work and everyday moments of the Vignellis’ world, capturing their intelligence and creativity, as well as their humanity, warmth, and humor.
Mandy Lane. Beautiful. Untouched. High school royalty waiting to be crowned. Since the dawn of Junior year, men have tried to possess her. Some have even died in reckless pursuit of this 16-year-old Texas angel. Chloe and Red invite Mandy out to Red’s family ranch for the weekend. Mandy sees it as an excellent opportunity to cement her new friendships. The boys see it as an opportunity to finally get with Mandy Lane. Driving across the Texas landscape, the kids begin to gently chip away at the wall that surrounds her. Joints are smoked. A keg is stolen off a beer truck. Pills are crushed to fine powder and inhaled. Mandy observes it all with the gentle interest of a foreign tourist. And they love her for it. At the ranch, all the boys start to make their move — each one hoping to be the first to attain the unattainable Mandy Lane. However, as night falls and the booze, drugs, and hormones take over, things are said and advances made which can never be reversed.
Read Crave Online’s exclusive interview with the director here.
From punk rock mosh pits and sold-out stadiums to the Great White Way, this electrifying documentary follows Green Day’s Billie Joe Armstrong as he works with Broadway veterans to turn his mega-hit album, American Idiot, into a staged Broadway musical. The film goes behind the scenes to reveal the creative choices and challenges made by Grammy® winner Billie Joe and Tony® winning director Michael Mayer (Spring Awakening) to create the thrilling and one-of-a-kind musical experience. More than just a making-of profile, Broadway Idiot is a portrait of a world-famous artist having the guts to try something totally new. The film provides insider access to dress rehearsals, planning and performances that reveal Billie’s personal transformation from rock star to Broadway star. Broadway Idiot provides a unique window into the art of theater as rock stars and stage stars collide and create something never seen before.
With God Loves Uganda, Academy Award-winning filmmaker Roger Ross Williams (Music by Prudence) explores the role of the American Evangelical movement in fueling Uganda’s terrifying turn towards biblical law and the proposed death penalty for homosexuality. Thanks to charismatic religious leaders and a well-financed campaign, these draconian new laws and the politicians that peddle them are winning over the Ugandan public. But these dangerous policies and the money that fuels them aren’t coming from Africa; they’re being imported from some of America’s largest megachurches. Using vérité, interviews, and hidden camera footage, the film allows American religious leaders and their young missionaries that make up the “front lines in a battle for billions of souls” to explain their positions in their own words. Shocking and enlightening, touching and horrifying, God Loves Uganda will leave you questioning just how closely this brand of Christianity resembles the one you think you know.
Watch an interview with director Roger Ross Williams here.
Two newlyweds in the American Old West find their modest plot of land coveted by a malevolent preacher who will do everything in his power to steal it away from them in this western from sibling filmmakers Logan Miller and Noah Miller, who co-authored the screenplay in addition to sharing directing duties. Miguel and Sarah are just starting their lives together when religious zealot Prophet Josiah sets his sights on their land. When a big-city sheriff shows up in their dusty western town, tempers flare, setting the stage for a fiery confrontation.
As the strict Game Master of a fantasy role-playing game, Scott (Sam Eidson) leads his friends in a weekly quest through mysterious lands from the safety of his grandmother’s kitchen. But his mastery of his own domain starts to slip — along with everything else in his life — when neo-nerd hipster Miles (Garrett Graham) joins the game, winning over the group with his confident charm and dethroning Scott with an unexpected coup. Caught in delusions of grandeur, Scott must roll the dice and risk everything to expose Miles as the fraud he believes him to be. A darkly comedic fable of epic proportions, Zero Charisma is an ode to nerds from every realm.
I Will Follow You Into the Dark
Sophia is depressed after her parent’s death and retreats within herself until she begins an unexpected romance with Adam. When Adam disappears in a haunted apartment building, Sophia vows to find him even if she has to enter the realm of death.
Watch a trailer for the movie here.
Simon Orwell is a brilliant student whose life has taken a series of wrong turns. At the point of giving up on his dreams, he gets a call from an old professor who has discovered a breakthrough in a device that would create unlimited energy, and he needs Simon’s help. But once he crosses the border, nothing goes as planned.The professor has been killed and Simon is assaulted and nearly killed by members of a powerful drug cartel. Now he must take refuge in the only place that will help him — a local orphanage.
NOW IN THEATERS
Gravity
Dr. Ryan Stone (Sandra Bullock) is a medical engineer on her first shuttle mission. Her commander is veteran astronaut Matt Kowalsky (George Clooney), helming his last flight before retirement. Then, on a routine space walk, disaster strikes — the shuttle is destroyed, leaving Ryan and Matt stranded in deep space with no link to Earth and no hope of rescue. As their fear turns to panic, they realize that the only way home may be to venture further into space.
Watch a 30-minute interview with director (and co-writer) Alfonso Cuaron here.
Bad Milo!
Duncan’s (Ken Marino) life is a real pain in the ass. Tormented by manipulative, crooked boss (Patrick Warburton), a nagging mother (Mary Kay Place), a deadbeat new age dad (Stephen Root), and a sweet, yet pressuring, wife (Gillian Jacobs), his mounting stress starts to trigger an insufferable gastrointestinal reaction. Out of ideas and at the end of his rope, Duncan seeks the help of a hypnotherapist (Peter Stormare), who helps him discover the root of his unusual stomach pain: a pintsized demon living in his intestine that, triggered by excessive anxiety, forces its way out and slaughters the people who have angered him. Out of fear that his intestinal gremlin may target its wrath on the wrong person, Duncan attempts to befriend it, naming it Milo and indulging it to keep its seemingly insatiable appetite at bay.
Read Way Too Indie’s interview with writer/director Jacob Vaughan here.
Concussion
CONCUSSION is a poignant sexual examination of Abby (Robin Weigert in a star making breakout turn), a forty something married wealthy, lesbian housewife who, after suffering a blow to the head from getting smacked by her son’s baseball — walks around every corner of her suburban life to confront a mounting desire for something else. She takes on a new project and purchases a pied-à-terre in Manhattan. Walking around the city streets reminds Abby what it feels like to be sexy, and her pent-up libido shakes off its inhibitions. Her newfound desire though is not a take-home item, so Abby inaugerates a double life as a high end escort. Palpably sensual and deliciously contained, CONCUSSION is a keen observation of the complicated contours of midlife crisis.
Watch a 15-minute Q&A with writer/director Stacie Passon at Sundance here.
Parkland
Recounting the chaotic events that occurred in Dallas, Texas on November 22, 1963, PARKLAND weaves together the perspectives of a handful of ordinary individuals suddenly thrust into extraordinary circumstances: the young doctors and nurses at Parkland Hospital; Dallas’ chief of the Secret Service; an unwitting cameraman who captured what became the most watched and examined film in history; the FBI agents who nearly had the gunman within their grasp; the brother of Lee Harvey Oswald, left to deal with his shattered family; and JFK’s security team, witnesses to both the president’s death and Vice President Lyndon Johnson’s rise to power over a nation whose innocence was forever altered.
Read Vanity Fair’s interview with writer/director Peter Landesman here.
The Summit
Mount Everest may be the tallest and most famous mountain on Earth, but most serious climbers agree that K2 is the most challenging peak a mountaineer can attempt, a far trickier and more demanding ascent than its more celebrated rival. A large number of experienced climbers have tried and failed to reach the top of K2, and in the summer of 2008, one expedition ended in tragedy when, after eighteen members of an international party of twenty-four reached the top of K2, eleven of them died while making their way back to the base. Filmmaker Nick Ryan offers an intimate look at this ill-fated mission in the documentary The Summit, which uses interviews, newsreel footage, and re-enactments to demonstrate what went wrong, and how one climber, Ger McDonnell, may have lost his life in a valiant effort to save the lives of his comrades. The Summit received its American premiere at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival.
Read Indiewire’s interview with writer Mark Monroe here.
Don Jon
Jon Martello (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) is a strong, handsome, good old fashioned guy. His buddies call him Don Jon due to his ability to “pull” a different woman every weekend, but even the finest fling doesn’t compare to the bliss he finds alone in front of the computer watching pornography. Barbara Sugarman (Scarlett Johansson) is a bright, beautiful, good old fashioned girl. Raised on romantic Hollywood movies, she’s determined to find her Prince Charming and ride off into the sunset. Wrestling with good old fashioned expectations of the opposite sex, Jon and Barbara struggle against a media culture full of false fantasies to try and find true intimacy in this unexpected comedy written and directed by Joseph Gordon-Levitt.
Watch SXSW’s interview with Joseph Gordon-Levitt here.
Q&A with actor/director/writer Joseph Gordon-Levitt and crew to come.
Inequality for All
Robert Reich is an economist, author, and educator who was U.S. Secretary of Labor under Bill Clinton and who teaches a course on wealth and poverty at the University of California Berkeley. Since the mid-1980s, Reich has been outspoken on the issue of the growing divide between America’s rich and poor; in his book Aftershock, Reich presents his argument that this gulf is slowly but surely wiping out the middle class, and will lead to an economic catastrophe if left unchecked. Filmmaker Jacob Kornbluth presents a powerful look at Reich and his theories in the documentary Inequality for All; featuring footage from Reich’s lectures to students as well as interviews with the author and his conversations with Americans from many walks of life, the film provides disturbing evidence of the roles stagnating wages, growing personal debt, an economy based on consumer spending, and the decline of manufacturing are playing in the weakening of the American economy. Inequality for All received its world premiere at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival.
Watch IAmRougue’s exclusive interview with economist Robert Reich and director Jacob Kornbluth here.
Many thanks to Wendy for today’s post. Remember to Declare Your Independents by going to a theater or use V.O.D. to watch an indie feature this weekend.