In Production

Bay Area narrative filmmakers are thriving in doc capital in '09

When I received the proposal last January to write a weekly “In Production” column for SF360.org, I had no concerns about finding sufficient material—that is, local works in various stages of progress. As you well know, the Bay Area is the only place in the country outside of the industry town of Los Angeles and the megalopolis of New York that could sustain a weekly column on independent filmmaking. The challenge I expected was (un)covering a halfway respectable number of narrative features to balance the famously overwhelming output of documentary makers. But as the year unfolded, the trickle of fiction films built to, well, not a flood but a very healthy stream—in the middle of a depressing recession. While I’m not quite ready to anoint the Bay Area as Indiewood North (or West), I have found that something’s certainly going on.

topics: activism, actors, bay area, digital distribution, digital filmmaking, directors, distributors, diy, documentary, features, filmmakers, frameline, independent film, mill valley film festival, narrative feature filmmaking, san fra, san francisco international film festival

Platform

Dave Eggers, Spike Jonze and the making of 'Wild Things'

Where the Wild Things Are is directed by Spike Jonze from a screenplay by Jonze and Bay Area-based writer Dave Eggers, based on the classic 1963 picture book by Maurice Sendak. The original story concerns an unruly boy who runs rampant through his house dressed in a wolf suit and is banished to his room without his supper. Alone and disgruntled, he sails to the land of the Wild Things, a ragtag band of hulking, unpredictable monsters. Max conquers them “by staring into their yellow eyes without blinking once," and he is made “the King of all Wild Things," dancing with the monsters in a “wild rumpus”. However, he soon finds himself lonely and homesick, and he returns home to his bedroom, where he finds his supper waiting for him, still hot.

topics: art, authors, bay area, children's issues, directors, features, screenwriting

Beyond Words

The importance of supporting characters

Supporting characters, who back up the main character’s turns in the spotlight, are not simply lesser lights with second billing. They are often key sources of revelation in the story, unmasking aspects of personality, motivation and backstory that might otherwise have remained hidden. They can help expand the mystery of the story by showing us unseen forces that pull the main character in many directions, which will make that character’s choices and the story’s directions less predictable.

topics: authors, bay area, directors, diy, features, filmmakers, how-to, independent film, screenwriting

Experience

Mill Valley Film Festival opens its 32nd

The Mill Valley Film Festival’s 2009 program features, as ever, a bounty of local work, U.S. independent features and docs, international festival favorites and children’s flicks, as well as live events and more. But what it also offers is a surprisingly potent mainstream industry presence: The headlining tribute programs offer opportunities to get a close look at A-list types more frequently seen at the multiplex than at the art house. And you know what? We approve.

That’s because the 32-year-old festival’s 2009 tributees are the kinds of starry talents that give Hollywood a good name: famous mid-career actors with depth and range, a writer-director who’s actually succeeded by appealing to the audience’s grownup intelligence, not its inner (or actual) 14-year-old Tweeting fanboy. These are the good guys. We can’t even hate them because they’re beautiful.

topics: activism, actors, african american cinema, authors, bay area, critics, directors, distribution, distributors, diy, documentary, features, film festivals, independent film, international film, mill valley film festival, music, world cinema

First-person

It’s a fat line between love and hate

"A beautiful, delicately observed comedy.”

“The festival circuit is the only ride for this wobbly vehicle.”

“As entertaining as the wine tour in Sideways.”

“Hasn’t got a joke worth laughing over.”

“An artistically integrated film that introduces a refreshing new talent to the independent scene.”

“An inauspicious debut…”

Wildly differing reactions. Same film. Mine.

How can so many people respond in diametric, and at times, vitriolic opposition to the same exact frames? The same characters and lines?

Since this is my first spin at the feature film prom, I’ve searched myself for answers. The only conclusion I can offer: Some of my favorite films have polarized critics and audiences in much the same way.

topics: authors, bay area, critics, directors, diy, features, independent film

In Production

Montalbano contemplates "The Recondite Heart"

Summer has passed, but the revolution continues. That’s a cute way of saying that East Bay filmmaker Miles Montalbano is in preproduction on the follow-up to his lauded 2007 debut, Revolution Summer. That free-form low-budget drama, which premiered at the San Francisco International Film Festival in 2007, explored the political and romantic confusion of three frustrated twenty-somethings at the height of the Iraq War. The Recondite Heart is a dark coming-of-age story that unfolds in a small town in the 1980s, where a lone teenage punk rocker keeps the flame of idealism burning. Ray’s happy as hell when some older punks show up from the big city, and their reaction is to introduce him to the usual vices. He embarks on an intense relationship with a woman in the circle, but he’s unprepared for the dangerous depths of her nihilism. A happy ending is not in the cards.

topics: activism, bay area, diy, features

Take Two

Roy Andersson—and reality—elucidated

Roy Andersson’s Studio 24 in Stockholm, situated only steps away from posh Östermalmstorg Square, is like a parallel universe in atmosphere and aesthetics. The fact that the most internationally prominent of Sweden’s working-class film directors is operating in one of Stockholm’s most elite neighborhoods is ironic. Or perhaps that’s where he’s needed the most.

Bits and pieces of the beautifully designed props from his most recent film You, the Living (which plays the SFFS Screen at the Sundance Kabuki beginning Friday), randomly decorate the studio.

topics: activism, critics, directors, documentary film, european film, features, world cinema