Declare Your Independents: Volume 20
GITS development assistant Wendy Cohen here, and welcome to the return of Declare Your Independents, our series highlighting the latest developments in the world of independent film!
This week…
The 2014 Emmy nominations were announced
The Making of Boyhood: Richard Linklater’s 12-Year Journey to Create An American Masterpiece
The Theological Idea That Inspired The Leftovers
Fox Launching Mentoring Program for Women Directors
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.
INDIE SPOTLIGHT: MOVIES TO SEE IN THEATERS THIS WEEK
OPENING FRIDAY (7/11)
Filmed over 12 years with the same cast, Richard Linklater’s Boyhood charts the rocky terrain of childhood like no other film has before. Snapshots of adolescence from road trips and family dinners to birthdays and graduations and all the moments in between become transcendent, set to a soundtrack spanning the years. Boyhood is both a nostalgic time capsule of the recent past and an ode to growing up and parenting.
Watch a 30-minute interview with director Richard Linklater here.
Feeling disenchanted with life after retirement, Mitch, a brassy former surgeon, convinces mild-mannered Colin, his ex-brother-in-law, to holiday with him in Iceland. The pair set off through Reykjavik ice bars, trendy spas, and adventurous restaurants in an attempt to reclaim their youth, but they quickly discover that you can’t escape yourself, no matter how far you travel.
Watch a Sundance Q&A with directors Aaron Katz and Martha Stephens here.
Oscar-winning director Ron Howard takes music fans inside the world of Grammy-award-winning artist Jay-Z in this concert documentary shot in 2012, during a two-day music festival in Philadelphia. The film includes appearances by Jay-Z, Kanye West, Pearl Jam, Gary Clark Jr., D’Angelo, Dirty Projectors, the Hives, Miike Snow, Janelle Monáe, Odd Future, Rita Ora, Passion Pit, Run-D.M.C., Santigold, Jill Scott, and Skrillex.
The Perfect Wave is the true story of Ian McCormack who grew up surfing the waters of New Zealand. Wanting to dive deeper, Ian sets out on a journey with his best friend that will change his life as they chase the perfect wave.
After the death of their Prophet, a small religious sect turns to one of their members, Daniel, who’s been asked to lead them, as they anxiously await the end of the world they were promised. But, when the prophecy does not come to pass, Daniel struggles to cling to his faith while keeping his community together.
When the Russian mob kidnaps the daughter of a reformed criminal, he rounds up his old crew and seeks his own brand of justice.
Underwater Dreams, narrated by Michael Peña, is an epic story of how the sons of undocumented Mexican immigrants learned how to build underwater robots. And go up against MIT in the process.
Watch a Q&A with executive producer Laurie Tisch here.
Follows aspiring photographer Fisher Miller as he escapes his middle-class life in upstate New York for the moneyed mansions of Great Neck, Long Island, when he moves in with his aunt and uncle while he applies to college in Manhattan. Finding himself on the outside looking in at his beautiful cousin Kate’s circle of indulged and entitled friends, he ingratiates himself with a stash of high-quality weed and a vintage camera that he uses to document their hard-partying exploits. Invited to the group’s end-of-summer celebration, Fisher becomes fast friends with his host, the fabulously rich Dylan Carson, a long-time admirer of Kate. Before long he is swept up in a heady world of absentee parents, plentiful booze and casual sex. But, as the burgeoning financial crisis spirals out of control, the once seemingly endless stream of money begins to dry up; friendships, romances and marriages melt down; and the glamorous veneer that once captivated Fisher turns toxic.
After a brutal injustice occurs on a Native American reservation, a son must find redemption for the actions of his past. Road to Paloma is the beautiful journey of two bikers traveling across America’s vast west. While Native American Wolf (Jason Momoa) is being pursued by the FBI for having taken the law into his own hands, when his mother was raped and killed on their reservation he crosses paths with Cash (Robert Mollohan), a down and out musician who is coping with the end of his marriage. An unlikely friendship develops, as they ride together towards the Teton mountain range, where Wolf will spread his mothers ashes.
On the desolate coast of Veracruz, young Sebastián, 17, has to run his uncle’s motel single-handed, renting rooms by the hour. That’s how he meets Miranda, a regular customer who goes there to wait for a lover who often arrives late, sparking a fleeting game of seduction between the two.
Four people meet on New Year’s Eve and form a surrogate family to help one another weather the difficulties of their lives. Based on the novel by Nick Hornby.
NOW IN THEATERS
Hoop Dreams director Steve James creates a portrait of influential Chicago Sun Times film critic Roger Ebert. Officially an adaptation of Ebert’s bestselling memoir of the same name, the documentary uses Ebert’s valiant struggle with cancer as a structural device to examine his many career accomplishments. As a series of flashbacks take us through Ebert’s colorful life and times, James periodically returns to his subject’s traumatic last days in the hospital, where his wife Chaz and other loved ones prepare to say their last goodbyes. The result is a reverent meditation on the life and death of the writer whose passion for film was evident in every review he penned, but whose love of life taught his loyal readers to treasure every moment.
Watch an interview with the film’s director Steve James here.
When Joel (Paul Rudd) and Molly (Amy Poehler) meet, it’s hate at first sight: his big Corporate Candy Company threatens to shut down her quirky indie candy shop. Plus, Joel is hung up on his sexy ex (Cobie Smulders). But amazingly, they fall in love.
Whitey: United States of America v. James J. Bulger
Award-winning documentarian Joe Berlinger takes a look at Whitey Bulger, one of the most infamous criminals in American history in Whitey: United States of America v. James J. Bulger, which follows the gangster’s headline-making trial and examines how he managed to stay free for decades even though he was associated with many murders.
The Internet’s Own Boy: The Story of Aaron Swartz
The Internet’s Own Boy follows the story of programming prodigy and information activist Aaron Swartz. From Swartz’s help in the development of the basic internet protocol RSS to his co-founding of Reddit, his fingerprints are all over the internet. But it was Swartz’s groundbreaking work in social justice and political organizing combined with his aggressive approach to information access that ensnared him in a two-year legal nightmare. It was a battle that ended with the taking of his own life at the age of 26. Aaron’s story touched a nerve with people far beyond the online communities in which he was a celebrity. This film is a personal story about what we lose when we are tone deaf about technology and its relationship to our civil liberties.
An ambitious young female singer moves to New York City in search of stardom, but finds only disappointment until falling for a struggling record-industry executive who helps her down the road to fame. Songwriting duo Gretta (Keira Knightley) and Dave (Adam Levine) had been dating since college when they decided to seek their fortune in NYC. When Dave is signed by a major label, temptation proves too powerful for him to resist and the couple call it quits. Crestfallen, Gretta fights to get back on her feet until one night, while performing in the East Village, she catches the attention of Dan (Mark Ruffalo), a once-respected music executive who’s since fallen on hard times. Enchanted by Gretta’s powerful voice and skillful songwriting, Dan convinces her to join him in a collaboration that will transform them both over the course of one unforgettable summer. Written and directed by John Carney (Once).
Watch a Q&A with writer/director John Carney here.
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