Posts Marked Sundance

  • Winter’s Bone review by Tim Hayes

    July 9th, 2010

    Mr. Hayes is not only the ALMT publicist and lead editor,
    but also contributes film journalism and reviews to Critic’s Notebook and Cinemattraction.

    Tim Hayes on Theatrical Thursdays

    Winter’s Bone (2010) dir. Debra Granik

    Screenwriter: Debra Granik, Anne Rosellini
    Starring: Jennifer Lawrence, John Hawkes, Lauren Sweetser, Kevin Breznaha, Isaiah Stone, Shelley Waggener, Ashlee Thompson, William White, Casey MacLaren
    Genre: Drama
    MPAA Rating: R (for some drug material, language and violent content)
    Official Website: wintersbonemovie.com

    “Winter’s Bone” won big at this year’s Sundance festival, where according to the cliche only grim indie films about miserable people in trouble go down well. And at first glance this one fits the bill: It is indeed a dour story of a determined young woman stuck in a jam with hardly a friend in sight. But it’s also tense, full of atmosphere, very well acted, and tough to forget. As downbeat and menacing character studies go, it’s one of the best.

    The young woman is Ree Dolly (Jennifer Lawrence), whose teenage life in the bleak Ozark hills consists mostly of looking after her mother and being a surrogate parent to her younger brother and sister, so it’s already no stroll in the park. Then an eviction notice arrives, and Ree really needs to find her absent dad in a hurry. But he, like most of the neighbors, is practically an outlaw, and finding him means asking a lot of very dangerous people about things they really don’t want to talk about.

    This is not the action-packed kind of thriller, but the sort that works up a head of unstoppable slow-burn tension and then just keeps going. Ree is unstoppable too, sticking to her guns and refusing to stop asking questions, even as the folks she’s asking get bigger, scarier, angrier, and more heavily armed. She’s ignored, warned off and casually beaten up, and that’s just by the wives of the local hard men. But it’s the wives who ultimately point Ree towards her goal and a grisly midnight discovery.

    That and Ree’s wish to put herself in harm’s way to protect her kids give the film a strong feminine aspect alongside its hard edges, and director Debra Granik has no trouble keeping “Winter’s Bone” firmly in position as a woman’s picture without giving up an inch of toughness. Jennifer Lawrence makes Ree seem like a thoroughly normal teenager from the school of hard knocks, tough and self-reliant, whose problems suddenly include her in-laws discussing whether to feed her to the hogs.

    READ THE FULL REVIEW AT The Critic’s Notebook

    July 9th,2010 Blogging, Film Reviews by Tim Hayes, Theatrical Thursdays, Video | Sections: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

  • ALMT-ThTh: Dirty Step Upstage is in Cannes (and how sales agents work)

    April 8th, 2010

    On ALMT-Theatrical Thursdays I write about movies.

    Just to keep y’all updated, we got the word earlier this week that Dirty Step Upstage has been selected for the Cannes Independent Film Festival. Not to be mistaken for the Festival du Cannes, the CIFF takes place at the same time of year as the most prestigious festival in the world! Recently a sales agent said it was rumored to be like Slamdance is to Sundance.

    Speaking of sales agents, I have had the very pleasant experience of having sales agents come to us! For those new to the film biz, here’s basically how it works:

      1. 1. Make your film.
      2. 2. Research sales agents.  A great way to find out who’s reputable is to check out Film Specific.  I’ve been working with Stacey Parks for about 3 years now and I really trust her judgement.
      3. 3. Visit the agents’ web sites. Watch the trailers.  See what looks like your film: genre, budget, stars (or lack of).  In other words, don’t send a low-budget horror film to an A-list agency.
      4. 4. Email the appropriate sales agents with a direct link to your trailer. A MUST!
      5. 5. At this point you wait a week. Repeat step four.
      6. 6. If the sales agents are interested, they will ask for a screener.
      7. 7. Negotiations follow. Ask Stacey Parks (see step 2) for advise on what kind of deal you want.

    Once you have a sales agent, they’ll take your film to markets, like the Cannes market that happens during the festival (May), Berlinale (Feb), or AFM in Santa Monica (Oct/Nov).  There are other markets too, but those three are the big ones. They’ll set up booths with posters, one sheets and trailers of the films they represent, and the ‘buyers’ will shop. The buyers are distributors. They’ll buy your film rights, probably packaged within a collection of other films, for their territory.  Other factors like Theatrical, Broadcast, VOD (Video On Demand), and the like are part of that deal.

    No one told me it would be this complicated when I set off to make my little story back in 2007. So, imagine my glee when sales agents actually started contacting us, saying they had been keeping an eye on the film.  We’ll probably be selecting our sales agent in the next month or so and I’ll be sure to keep you posted on how that goes. Hopefully we’ll have an agent for Cannes, while the film is playing there.

    April 8th,2010 Blogging, Dirty Step Upstage, Festivals, Theatrical Thursdays | Sections: , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

  • ALMT-Theatrical Thursdays: Sundance and Youtube Rentals

    January 28th, 2010

    As an indie filmmaker currently weighing the options of various distribution plans for my first film, I’ve been keeping a close eye on Youtube and their launch of digital rentals. Netflix, Youtube, iTunes, what’s a filmmaker to choose?

    To launch their online rentals, Youtube selected 5 Sundance films. In the realm of indie film, there is no higher accolade than a laurel from Robert Redford’s fest (at least in North America). However, the launch has not done well according to several sources:

    newteevee.com says:

    “Indie filmmakers looking to YouTube as a possible new distribution outlet might want to think twice, based on weekend returns from the video site’s new movie rental service.”

    webpronews.com agrees:

    “The totals were sad, with Bass Ackwards, Homewrecker, The Cove, Children of Invention, and One Too Many Mornings receiving 308, 308, 303, 301, and 250 views, respectively.”

    gordonandthewhale.com adds:

    “As if that wasn’t bad enough, only BASS ACKWARDS and CHILDREN OF INVENTION have disabled the ability for anyone to rate the movies, so the other three have received really low ratings from people who haven’t even seen them. This is an example of what happens when you introduce a pay model to something people are used to getting for free.”

    A Google rep reached out to webpronews.com and had this to say in defense:

    “The vast majority of independent films created every year don’t find an audience… Out of the of the roughly 9000 films that were submitted to Sundance in 2009, about 53 of them found some form of distribution…  Attendance for films like these at Sundance averages around 500 people.  With YouTube they’ve increased that exposure by about 60%.  I’d say that’s a stat we can all be proud of.”

    But if the filmmaker is only going to walk away with “just hundreds of dollars” will being proud suffice?

    fool.com compares Apple, Blockbuster, Amazon.com and Netflix, and maintains that only Netflix has done well with digital video-rental service.  They add that Youtube makes the system “too cumbersome”. They also bring to attention Google’s AdSense program, which having recently been contacted by them I was also wondering about.

    When The People are accustomed to getting things for free, why will they pay? Why not continue to offer the free services and find sponsors that will pay for the popular content, which is how AdSense works. Do you think that everyone is overreacting? How might this immediate negative reaction affect Google’s rental aspirations?

    We are in a very exciting an experimental phase in movie and music distribution. It raises a lot of questions, and I think the indies that think outside of the box will be the ones to persevere.

    Here at ALM Talkies, we have begun to entertain some untraditional means of distribution our content and we will continue to follow and share our findings on digital distribution. Meanwhile, I encourage you to share any findings you have had to finding an online market for whatever industry you are in.

    January 28th,2010 Blogging, Theatrical Thursdays | Sections: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

  • ALMT-Fan Friday: Iggy Pop in coming-of-age Vampire movie

    January 8th, 2010

    When I discovered filmmaker Kathleen Harty yesterday, I became an instant fan.

    Kathleen is a finalist for The Ultimate Filmmaker Competition, where she’s in the running to win a $200,000 grant for her feature film and other film resources totaling over $500,000.

    She’s worked with some impressive names (Steve Buscemi, Willem Defoe, Micky Rourke) and her scripts received top 20 for the prestigious Sundance labs and top 5 for the Independent Feature Project.

    But it was her interview for The Ultimate Filmmaker Competition that grabbed me.

    The contest closes on Saturday, which means today is that last day to vote. If you’d like to support a unique filmmaker, or just want see Iggy Pop play the teacher in her coming-of-age Vampire story “Flown”, all you need to do is click the bright green link below:

    Kathleen is also on Twitter, if you want to follow her adventures.  I know I do.

    January 8th,2010 Blogging, Fan Fridays | Sections: , , , , , , , , , | No Comments