IFP Market & Conference highlights
Sept 17, 2007
AT THE MARKET
"Cold Souls" (No Borders)
This existential comedy from director Sophie Barthes -- who was recently named one of Filmmaker Magazine's 25 new faces of independent film -- stars Paul Giamatti as a famous American actor who discovers a private lab offering "soul storage" to affluent New Yorkers.
"The Most Dangerous Man in America" (Spotlight on Documentaries)
A work-in-progress from Academy Award-nominated producer-director Rick Goldsmith (1996's "Tell the Truth and Run: George Seldes and the American Press") and partner Judith Ehrlich, this is the first documentary feature account of the legendary Pentagon Papers case of 1971, when a young Pentagon insider named Daniel Ellsberg leaked secret Vietnam War documents to the New York Times.
"Pariah" (Emerging Narratives)
Based on an award-winning short and the recipient of several grants, this much-discussed script from writer-director Dee Rees -- which recently emerged from the Sundance Lab -- follows a lesbian teen in the Bronx battling an identity crisis and the society around her.
AT THE CONFERENCE
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The State of U.S. Film Festivals (Sept. 17)
This session could get testy if panelists are willing to talk openly about the overheated festival scene and the bitter competition for premieres -- as well as what purpose it all serves. Matt Dentler of South by Southwest Film Conference and Festival, David Kwok of the Tribeca Film Festival, Sarah Diamond from Slamdance and David Nugent of the Newport International Film Festival will all be there. Isn't there a certain Utah festival that's absent from the list?
Stranger Than Fiction: Doc Hybrids (Sept. 20)
Filmmakers don't seem to be happy with the boundaries between narrative and documentary these days. But when does daring deconstruction become a vapid postmodern cliche? Brett Morgen (Roadside Attractions' "Chicago 10"), Michael Tucker (last year's "The Prisoner or: How I Planned to Kill Tony Blair") and others will discuss.
Documentary Ethics (Sept. 20)
In the free-for-all of contemporary nonfiction filmmaking, the genre's once-upon-a-time rules of engagement have been forgotten or deliberately abandoned. An all-star cast of documentarians, including Dan Klores (Magnolia Pictures' "Crazy Love"), Jennifer Venditti (this year's "Billy the Kid"), Paul Rachman (2006's "American Hardcore"), St. Clair Bourne (1999's "Paul Robeson: Here I Stand," from "American Masters") and Macky Alston (this year's "Hard Road Home"), mull what's kosher and what's not.
MORE NEW YORK COVERAGE
RUNAWAY PRODUCTION: Indie productions head to the boroughs
MARKET PACE: Filmmakers, financiers hook up at IFP confab
TO-DO LIST: IFP Conference highlights
MAKING THE CUT: IFP's Narrative Rough Cut Lab
ROUNDTABLE: NY's female film folk
PAYBACK: Incentive system flows funds
RESERVATIONS: Eatery guide for money-minded indies
"Cold Souls" (No Borders)
This existential comedy from director Sophie Barthes -- who was recently named one of Filmmaker Magazine's 25 new faces of independent film -- stars Paul Giamatti as a famous American actor who discovers a private lab offering "soul storage" to affluent New Yorkers.
"The Most Dangerous Man in America" (Spotlight on Documentaries)
A work-in-progress from Academy Award-nominated producer-director Rick Goldsmith (1996's "Tell the Truth and Run: George Seldes and the American Press") and partner Judith Ehrlich, this is the first documentary feature account of the legendary Pentagon Papers case of 1971, when a young Pentagon insider named Daniel Ellsberg leaked secret Vietnam War documents to the New York Times.
"Pariah" (Emerging Narratives)
Based on an award-winning short and the recipient of several grants, this much-discussed script from writer-director Dee Rees -- which recently emerged from the Sundance Lab -- follows a lesbian teen in the Bronx battling an identity crisis and the society around her.
AT THE CONFERENCE
The State of U.S. Film Festivals (Sept. 17)
This session could get testy if panelists are willing to talk openly about the overheated festival scene and the bitter competition for premieres -- as well as what purpose it all serves. Matt Dentler of South by Southwest Film Conference and Festival, David Kwok of the Tribeca Film Festival, Sarah Diamond from Slamdance and David Nugent of the Newport International Film Festival will all be there. Isn't there a certain Utah festival that's absent from the list?
Stranger Than Fiction: Doc Hybrids (Sept. 20)
Filmmakers don't seem to be happy with the boundaries between narrative and documentary these days. But when does daring deconstruction become a vapid postmodern cliche? Brett Morgen (Roadside Attractions' "Chicago 10"), Michael Tucker (last year's "The Prisoner or: How I Planned to Kill Tony Blair") and others will discuss.
Documentary Ethics (Sept. 20)
In the free-for-all of contemporary nonfiction filmmaking, the genre's once-upon-a-time rules of engagement have been forgotten or deliberately abandoned. An all-star cast of documentarians, including Dan Klores (Magnolia Pictures' "Crazy Love"), Jennifer Venditti (this year's "Billy the Kid"), Paul Rachman (2006's "American Hardcore"), St. Clair Bourne (1999's "Paul Robeson: Here I Stand," from "American Masters") and Macky Alston (this year's "Hard Road Home"), mull what's kosher and what's not.
MORE NEW YORK COVERAGE
RUNAWAY PRODUCTION: Indie productions head to the boroughs
MARKET PACE: Filmmakers, financiers hook up at IFP confab
TO-DO LIST: IFP Conference highlights
MAKING THE CUT: IFP's Narrative Rough Cut Lab
ROUNDTABLE: NY's female film folk
PAYBACK: Incentive system flows funds
RESERVATIONS: Eatery guide for money-minded indies
