One of the more hotly-awaited lists of the year has just dropped: the annual Sundance Institute Directors and Screenwriters Labs. Providing support and mentorship to filmmakers since 1981, the Labs boast alumni ranging from Boots Riley to Chloe Zhao, Quentin Tarantino to Ritesh Batra. This year’s labs take place from May 27 – June 18 (Directors) and June 20 – 24 (Screenwriters). Advisors for the month include Robert Redford, Gyula Gazdag (Artistic Director for the Directors Lab), Sandra Adair, Scott Z. Burns, Charlotte Bruus Christensen, Sebastian Cordero, Joan Darling, Suzy Elmiger, Rick Famuyiwa, Stephen Goldblatt, Keith Gordon, Randa Haines, Ed […]...
- 5/10/2019
- by Scott Macaulay
- Filmmaker Magazine - Blog
One of the more hotly-awaited lists of the year has just dropped: the annual Sundance Institute Directors and Screenwriters Labs. Providing support and mentorship to filmmakers since 1981, the Labs boast alumni ranging from Boots Riley to Chloe Zhao, Quentin Tarantino to Ritesh Batra. This year’s labs take place from May 27 – June 18 (Directors) and June 20 – 24 (Screenwriters). Advisors for the month include Robert Redford, Gyula Gazdag (Artistic Director for the Directors Lab), Sandra Adair, Scott Z. Burns, Charlotte Bruus Christensen, Sebastian Cordero, Joan Darling, Suzy Elmiger, Rick Famuyiwa, Stephen Goldblatt, Keith Gordon, Randa Haines, Ed […]...
- 5/10/2019
- by Scott Macaulay
- Filmmaker Magazine-Director Interviews
Success in the ’90s gave Robert Altman the opportunity to experiment once again. Several short stories by Raymond Carver interlock in a mosaic of Los Angeles populated by scores of actors in ensemble mode. Clocking in at three hours, Altman’s epic has all the time and space it needs.
Short Cuts
Blu-ray
The Criterion Collection 265
1993 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 187 min. / available through The Criterion Collection / Street Date October 18, 2016 / 39.95
Starring Andie MacDowell, Bruce Davison, Jack Lemmon, Julianne Moore,
Matthew Modine, Anne Archer, Fred Ward, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Chris Penn, Lili Taylor, Robert Downey Jr., Madeleine Stowe, Tim Robbins, Lily Tomlin, Tom Waits, Frances McDormand, Peter Gallagher, Annie Ross, Lori Singer, Lyle Lovett, Buck Henry, Huey Lewis, Margery Bond, Robert DoQui.
Cinematography Walt Lloyd
Production Designer Stephen Altman
Art Direction Jerry Fleming
Film Editors Suzy Elmiger, Geraldine Peroni
Original Music Gavin Friday, Mark Isham
Written by Robert Altman, Frank Barhydt from writings...
Short Cuts
Blu-ray
The Criterion Collection 265
1993 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 187 min. / available through The Criterion Collection / Street Date October 18, 2016 / 39.95
Starring Andie MacDowell, Bruce Davison, Jack Lemmon, Julianne Moore,
Matthew Modine, Anne Archer, Fred Ward, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Chris Penn, Lili Taylor, Robert Downey Jr., Madeleine Stowe, Tim Robbins, Lily Tomlin, Tom Waits, Frances McDormand, Peter Gallagher, Annie Ross, Lori Singer, Lyle Lovett, Buck Henry, Huey Lewis, Margery Bond, Robert DoQui.
Cinematography Walt Lloyd
Production Designer Stephen Altman
Art Direction Jerry Fleming
Film Editors Suzy Elmiger, Geraldine Peroni
Original Music Gavin Friday, Mark Isham
Written by Robert Altman, Frank Barhydt from writings...
- 12/10/2016
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Editor’s note: After a two-week vacation break, we’re now back with an expanded selection to catch up.
Every week we dive into the cream of the crop when it comes to home releases, including Blu-ray and DVDs, as well as recommended deals of the week. Check out our rundown below and return every Tuesday for the best (or most interesting) films one can take home. Note that if you’re looking to support the site, every purchase you make through the links below helps us and is greatly appreciated.
Boyhood (Richard Linklater)
After being put through the awards season grinder — resulting in hours upon hours of conversations — what left is there to learn about the production of Richard Linklater‘s 12-years-in-the-making project Boyhood? The Criterion Collection edition proves, evidently, a fair amount. In fact, what’s so interesting about the plethora of special features — aside from an intimate...
Every week we dive into the cream of the crop when it comes to home releases, including Blu-ray and DVDs, as well as recommended deals of the week. Check out our rundown below and return every Tuesday for the best (or most interesting) films one can take home. Note that if you’re looking to support the site, every purchase you make through the links below helps us and is greatly appreciated.
Boyhood (Richard Linklater)
After being put through the awards season grinder — resulting in hours upon hours of conversations — what left is there to learn about the production of Richard Linklater‘s 12-years-in-the-making project Boyhood? The Criterion Collection edition proves, evidently, a fair amount. In fact, what’s so interesting about the plethora of special features — aside from an intimate...
- 10/25/2016
- by The Film Stage
- The Film Stage
The Sundance Institute has announced fourteen projects for its 30th director and screenwriting labs. To be held at the Sundance Resort in Utah from May 30-June 30, 2011, the lucky lab participants are listed below, along with details of their selves and their feature projects. Here’s the official word from the Institute:
Sundance Institute today announced the 14 projects selected for its annual June Directors and Screenwriters Labs, taking place at the Sundance Resort in Utah May 30 – June 30, 2011. Under the leadership of Michelle Satter, Director of the Sundance Feature Film Program, and the artistic direction of Gyula Gazdag, the projects selected for this year’s program include emerging filmmakers and projects from the United States, Israel, Romania, Mexico, the Philippines and Algeria. Sundance Institute is marking the 30thanniversary of its first Directors Lab, led by Robert Redford and Satter in 1981.
Over the course of the Directors Lab, Fellows work with an accomplished group of Creative Advisors,...
Sundance Institute today announced the 14 projects selected for its annual June Directors and Screenwriters Labs, taking place at the Sundance Resort in Utah May 30 – June 30, 2011. Under the leadership of Michelle Satter, Director of the Sundance Feature Film Program, and the artistic direction of Gyula Gazdag, the projects selected for this year’s program include emerging filmmakers and projects from the United States, Israel, Romania, Mexico, the Philippines and Algeria. Sundance Institute is marking the 30thanniversary of its first Directors Lab, led by Robert Redford and Satter in 1981.
Over the course of the Directors Lab, Fellows work with an accomplished group of Creative Advisors,...
- 5/2/2011
- by admin
- Moving Pictures Magazine
The Sundance Institute has announced fourteen projects for its 30th director and screenwriting labs. To be held at the Sundance Resort in Utah from May 30-June 30, 2011, the lucky lab participants are listed below, along with details of their selves and their feature projects. Here’s the official word from the Institute:
Sundance Institute today announced the 14 projects selected for its annual June Directors and Screenwriters Labs, taking place at the Sundance Resort in Utah May 30 – June 30, 2011. Under the leadership of Michelle Satter, Director of the Sundance Feature Film Program, and the artistic direction of Gyula Gazdag, the projects selected for this year’s program include emerging filmmakers and projects from the United States, Israel, Romania, Mexico, the Philippines and Algeria. Sundance Institute is marking the 30thanniversary of its first Directors Lab, led by Robert Redford and Satter in 1981.
Over the course of the Directors Lab, Fellows work with an accomplished group of Creative Advisors,...
Sundance Institute today announced the 14 projects selected for its annual June Directors and Screenwriters Labs, taking place at the Sundance Resort in Utah May 30 – June 30, 2011. Under the leadership of Michelle Satter, Director of the Sundance Feature Film Program, and the artistic direction of Gyula Gazdag, the projects selected for this year’s program include emerging filmmakers and projects from the United States, Israel, Romania, Mexico, the Philippines and Algeria. Sundance Institute is marking the 30thanniversary of its first Directors Lab, led by Robert Redford and Satter in 1981.
Over the course of the Directors Lab, Fellows work with an accomplished group of Creative Advisors,...
- 5/2/2011
- by admin
- Moving Pictures Network
PARK CITY -- In "People I Know", Al Pacino is in every scene. The movie sticks to his character like a hound dog to its master. The story focuses a brutal light on a veteran New York publicist in the twilight of his career, a guy who is never in the limelight but always behind the scenes, cheerleading, cajoling and manipulating others. This is the dynamic that makes the movie play as well as it does -- a star playing the kind of guy many stars disdain. Clearly, Pacino sympathizes with this PR man, seeing all his failed potential yet determined to see if the man has what it takes to redeem himself.
Miramax has let this film sit on the shelf for a while, and you can see why. It's a highly political movie that has strong things to say about blacks, Jews, race relations, political chicanery and celebrity culture, where a benefit cocktail party desperately needs Regis Philbin to show up to be a success. There is also a problem: One senses things are missing, that writer John Robin Baitz and director Dan Algrant rushed the project into production when Pacino said yes without fleshing out the screenplay with the details and conflicts that would have made the film a richer experience.
Nevertheless, "People I Know" ranks with "Sweet Smell of Success" in its ruthless portrayal of the publicity business. And Pacino's compelling performance should give a boxoffice boost to a film with a nasty edge and something of a cop-out ending.
The movie spends a little over 24 hours with Pacino's Eli Wurman, a Southern Jew who has operated in Manhattan as a publicist since graduating from Harvard Law School. Now that right there is enough to intrigue any viewer. A Southern Jew in New York? Harvard Law School? Unfortunately, these background details are never fully explained.
Does the Jewish cabal -- who want to gain greater political clout in New York but prefer to do so with one of their own, billionaire Elliot Sharansky (Richard Schiff), rather than movie star/politician Cary Launer (Ryan O'Neal) -- view Eli as an outsider? They certainly view him with suspicion, but it's never clear that his Southern ancestry is the cause of that discomfort. Perhaps it's enough that Cary is his last important client.
And how does a guy who marched with Martin Luther King Jr. and went to Harvard Law wind up in PR? Why was he willing to settle for being a facilitator rather than a mover and shaker?
Well, he did, and he's a burnout case now. Subsisting on coffee, cigarettes, booze and pharmaceuticals prescribed by a concerned Dr. Napier (Robert Klein), Eli plows through an all-nighter that begins with the opening of a stinker play on Broadway and moves on to a "favor" for Cary that turns his world upside down. Cary wants Eli to post bail for his latest fling, TV starlet Jilli (Tea Leoni), and get her out of town fast. But the temperamental actress insists on dragging Eli to an after-hours joint. Now in a drug/alcohol haze, Eli seems unaware of the dangers he is exposing himself to.
Next morning, Jilli is found dead in a hotel room, and Eli has no recollection of what he may have witnessed. He gathers whatever energy he has left to seduce important people into attending his political fund-raiser. Meanwhile, his brother's widow (Kim Basinger) arrives in town on a mercy mission to rescue Eli from this mad world for the comforts and joy of her home in Virginia.
Nobody plays rumpled, hollow men who have seen it all better than Pacino. He can manage to look worn-out and frazzled yet remain the driving force behind the narrative. Orbiting around this star turn are precise portraits by a strong supporting cast including Leoni's tough-cookie starlet, O'Neal's overbearing superstar, Bill Nunn's media-savvy Harlem minister, Schiff's smooth political operator, Klein's physician with conflicting loyalties and Basinger's tender caregiver.
Working amid recognizable New York locations with cinematographer Peter Deming and production designer Michael Shaw, Algrant creates a vivid netherworld of venality and corruption among the privileged classes, where media, politics and showbiz merge into an environment where who you know is all that matters.
PEOPLE I KNOW
Miramax
Myriad Pictures presents a South Fork Pictures production in association with Galena/Greenstreet Films, Chal Prods., In-Motion AG and WMF
Credits: Director: Dan Algrant; Screenwriter: John Robin Baitz; Producers: Michael Nozik, Leslie Ur dang, Karen Tenkhoff; Executive producers: Robert Redford, Kirk D'Amico, Philip von Alverselben; Director of photography: Peter Deming; Production designer: Michael Shaw; Music: Terence Blanchard; Co-producer: Nellie Nugiel; Costume designer: David Robinson; Editor: Suzy Elmiger. Cast: Eli Wurman: Al Pacino; Victoria Gray: Kim Basinger; Cary Launer: Ryan O'Neal; Jilli Hopper: Tea Leoni; Elliot Sharansky: Richard Schiff; The Rev. Lyle Blunt: Bill Nunn; Dr. Sandy Napier: Robert Klein.
MPAA rating R, running time 99 minutes.
Miramax has let this film sit on the shelf for a while, and you can see why. It's a highly political movie that has strong things to say about blacks, Jews, race relations, political chicanery and celebrity culture, where a benefit cocktail party desperately needs Regis Philbin to show up to be a success. There is also a problem: One senses things are missing, that writer John Robin Baitz and director Dan Algrant rushed the project into production when Pacino said yes without fleshing out the screenplay with the details and conflicts that would have made the film a richer experience.
Nevertheless, "People I Know" ranks with "Sweet Smell of Success" in its ruthless portrayal of the publicity business. And Pacino's compelling performance should give a boxoffice boost to a film with a nasty edge and something of a cop-out ending.
The movie spends a little over 24 hours with Pacino's Eli Wurman, a Southern Jew who has operated in Manhattan as a publicist since graduating from Harvard Law School. Now that right there is enough to intrigue any viewer. A Southern Jew in New York? Harvard Law School? Unfortunately, these background details are never fully explained.
Does the Jewish cabal -- who want to gain greater political clout in New York but prefer to do so with one of their own, billionaire Elliot Sharansky (Richard Schiff), rather than movie star/politician Cary Launer (Ryan O'Neal) -- view Eli as an outsider? They certainly view him with suspicion, but it's never clear that his Southern ancestry is the cause of that discomfort. Perhaps it's enough that Cary is his last important client.
And how does a guy who marched with Martin Luther King Jr. and went to Harvard Law wind up in PR? Why was he willing to settle for being a facilitator rather than a mover and shaker?
Well, he did, and he's a burnout case now. Subsisting on coffee, cigarettes, booze and pharmaceuticals prescribed by a concerned Dr. Napier (Robert Klein), Eli plows through an all-nighter that begins with the opening of a stinker play on Broadway and moves on to a "favor" for Cary that turns his world upside down. Cary wants Eli to post bail for his latest fling, TV starlet Jilli (Tea Leoni), and get her out of town fast. But the temperamental actress insists on dragging Eli to an after-hours joint. Now in a drug/alcohol haze, Eli seems unaware of the dangers he is exposing himself to.
Next morning, Jilli is found dead in a hotel room, and Eli has no recollection of what he may have witnessed. He gathers whatever energy he has left to seduce important people into attending his political fund-raiser. Meanwhile, his brother's widow (Kim Basinger) arrives in town on a mercy mission to rescue Eli from this mad world for the comforts and joy of her home in Virginia.
Nobody plays rumpled, hollow men who have seen it all better than Pacino. He can manage to look worn-out and frazzled yet remain the driving force behind the narrative. Orbiting around this star turn are precise portraits by a strong supporting cast including Leoni's tough-cookie starlet, O'Neal's overbearing superstar, Bill Nunn's media-savvy Harlem minister, Schiff's smooth political operator, Klein's physician with conflicting loyalties and Basinger's tender caregiver.
Working amid recognizable New York locations with cinematographer Peter Deming and production designer Michael Shaw, Algrant creates a vivid netherworld of venality and corruption among the privileged classes, where media, politics and showbiz merge into an environment where who you know is all that matters.
PEOPLE I KNOW
Miramax
Myriad Pictures presents a South Fork Pictures production in association with Galena/Greenstreet Films, Chal Prods., In-Motion AG and WMF
Credits: Director: Dan Algrant; Screenwriter: John Robin Baitz; Producers: Michael Nozik, Leslie Ur dang, Karen Tenkhoff; Executive producers: Robert Redford, Kirk D'Amico, Philip von Alverselben; Director of photography: Peter Deming; Production designer: Michael Shaw; Music: Terence Blanchard; Co-producer: Nellie Nugiel; Costume designer: David Robinson; Editor: Suzy Elmiger. Cast: Eli Wurman: Al Pacino; Victoria Gray: Kim Basinger; Cary Launer: Ryan O'Neal; Jilli Hopper: Tea Leoni; Elliot Sharansky: Richard Schiff; The Rev. Lyle Blunt: Bill Nunn; Dr. Sandy Napier: Robert Klein.
MPAA rating R, running time 99 minutes.
- 1/21/2003
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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