Tag: Steven Soderbergh

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Truly Free Film

The Cost Of Doing What We Love

When he gave the San Francisco State Of Cinema Address at the 56th SFIFF, Steven Soderbergh nailed it, several times over actually.  In regards to the privilege of getting to make movies, he said that “the only way to repay that karmic debt is to make something good, is to make something ambitious, something beautiful, something memorable”.  

That’s true, right?  That’s the deal.  That’s the deal in front of us every day.  The deal on the table, day in and day out.  But do people abide by it?

Most people exchange their labor for things they don’t care about and the money is supposed to make it all worth while.  And we know how well that works, how far forward that structure has brought us, right?  Money

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Truly Free Film

SIDE BY SIDE MONTH LAUNCHES ON TRIBECAFILM.COM WITH EXCLUSIVE CLIPS FROM HOLLYWOOD MASTERS

Martin Scorsese, Steven Soderbergh, David Lynch and many others debate the digital revolution on Tribecafilm.com

Tribecafilm.com launches a month of conversation around the upcoming documentary release Side By Side today. Each day a new exclusive clip will post from one of the film’s prognosticators that couldn’t be squeezed into the final cut of the film. The clips will offer a daily opportunity to follow the debate on the digital revolution that is portrayed in this seminal film.

Side by Side, produced by Keanu Reeves and directed by Chris Kenneally, explores the complex and divisive conversation currently taking place around the transition from traditional filmmaking to the new digital revolution. Keanu Reeves asks the question – Will film survive? He takes the audience on a tour of the past and the future of filmmaking. Since the invention of cinema, the standard format for recording moving images has been film. Over the past two decades, a new form of digital filmmaking has emerged, creating a groundbreaking evolution in the medium. Reeves explores the development of cinema and the impact of digital filmmaking via in-depth interviews with Hollywood masters such as James Cameron, David Fincher, David Lynch, Christopher Nolan, Martin Scorsese, George Lucas, Steven Soderbergh, and many more.

With such a contentious subject, everyone had a lot to say. We will continue the conversation on Tribecafilm.com—home to the Future of Film blog, a platform that explores our changing industry on a weekly basis—as well as across social media all month. Check the site daily for exclusive clips from Adam Valdez, Barry Levinson, Bradford Young, Craig Wood, David Fincher, David Lynch, David Stump, Dennis Muren, Dick Pope, Dion Beebe, Donald McAlpine, Ed Lachman, Ellen Kuras, Greta Gerwig, James Cameron, Jost Vacano, Lena Dunham, Martin Scorsese, Michael Ballhaus, Michael Chapman, Reed Morano, Robert Rodriguez, Steven Soderbergh, Vilmos Zsigmond, Wally Pfister and Walter Murch.

Tribeca Film will release Side by Side via on-demand platforms on August 22. The film will also open in select cities theatrically, including Los Angeles (August 17), New York (August 31), Boston (August 23), Seattle (August 31), Chicago (September 15), Tacoma (September 18), San Francisco (October 18) and other cities to be announced.

For more information on the film go to www.facebook.com/sidebysidethemovie and sidebysidethemovie.com

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Issues and Actions

AMERICA’S LEADING FILMMAKERS CALL FOR RELEASE OF IMPRISONED IRANIAN DIRECTOR JAFAR PANAHI

I am so heartened by this action. These filmmakers are all real leaders. I love that they have spoken up for artists’ right of freedom of expression on a worldwide basis. We enjoy tremendous freedom here in the USA, but until that is shared by everyone, none of us can truly be free. We must be united in preserving this right for all.

Steven Spielberg, Martin Scorsese, Robert Redford, Francis Ford Coppola, Terrence Malick, Steven Soderbergh, the Coen Bros., Jim Jarmusch, Michael Moore, Ang Lee, Robert De Niro, and Oliver Stone, among other leading film industry figures, have condemned the detention of Jafar Panahi, the acclaimed director of “The White Balloon” and “Offside,” and are urging the Iranian government to release him

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Let's Make Better Films

The Digital Cinema Revolution (and Che)

Che and the Digital Cinema Revolution from high rez on Vimeo.

Scott Kirsner tipped me to this video (from the Criterion Collection) about the first film shot on The Red — that little thing called CHE. I just shot with The Red on SUPER and had a great experience. Among the joys were incredibly quick dailies (truly living up to their name) while on location.  It definitely played a big hand in how fast we moved on that show (38 set ups/day!) as we never had to reload.  The technology has progressed rapidly since Che  Hearing though of it’s development, and what Soderbergh and team went through using it on CHE, I am so thrilled that others got to work out the kinks first!  Thank you.

I like how Soderbergh speaks about how digital gives you time to get to a “point of reflection” quicker so that you can sit back and consider your work on a macro level much sooner. I find that most innovations in our field that I have gotten to experience first-hand ultimately matter most as creative tools and not economic solutions.

Categories
Let's Make Better Films

The Benefits Of Less

For my tastes, I have long encouraged the practice of getting away from the cinema of excess and getting back to the compromise.  I have always learned a great deal by bouncing back and forth between budgets.  Truth be told, for me it is out of necessity, not strategy.  Yet for directors, the proof has come that it should be part of the process.

Time and time again, filmmakers have rejuvenated themselves, their work, and their careers by dropping their budgets and picking up some freedom in exchange.

Ang Lee, Alfonso Cuaron, Gus Van Sant, Steven Soderbergh have all done this, with Crouching Tiger, Y Tu Mama, Gerry/Elephant, and Schizopolis.  Coming off of The Hulk, Great Expectations, Finding Forester, and The Underneath respectively, these subsequent “indie” productions yielded great work (generally) and a major creative reboot.
And now we get to witness this again with Darren Aaronofsky’s The Wrestler, Danny Boyle’s Slumdog Millionaire, and Jonathon Demme’s Rachel Getting Married.  These are three of the year’s best films.  This formula could also be applied to Van Sant’s Milk (which I hope to see this weekend) but now the back and forth between budgets and control appears to be part of Gus’ process.
Ann Thompson pointed this out to everyone in the business today so hopefully we can witness a few others gaining from the new poverty.  Anne includes my other fave of the year, Ari Fohlman’s Waltz With Bahir, as another benefiter of this approach.