March 2005
Tracking Aimee Mann
Her tunes have made—and been made—by indie films
March 1st, 2005 | Dianne Spoto ShattuckAimee Mann is one tough woman to track down. After a month of scheduling and rescheduling an interview time, I was finally about to sit down and talk with Mann about her role as composer of independent film soundtrack, and about how the art of film inspires her as a songwriter.
The Women of Sundance
Their smart, provocative films help redefine “chick flick”
March 1st, 2005 | Kate BernsteinFlipping through the catalog of this years Sundance Film Festival, the faces of American narrative filmmakers are unsurprisingly still predominantly male, reflecting the state of the industry at large. However, there are a few renegade female faces that thankfully interrupt the gender homogeneity.
Q/A: Sharon Lockhart
March 1st, 2005 | FIONA NGLos Angeles-based artist, photographer, and conceptual filmmaker Sharon Lockhart makes films as minimal as they are pensive. There’s a predilection for long takes, little edits, and a fixed, straight-ahead framing within which actions transpire. Repetitions and circularity permeate. Time is let to elapse.
The Miller’s Daughter
Rebecca Miller’s lives out (and films) her dreams
March 1st, 2005 | Rick HarrisonRebecca Miller needs to recharge. Well, her phone at least.
The Indie Godmother
A former medical missionary nurtures St Louis’s film community
March 1st, 2005 | Roberta “Bobbie” LautenschlagerWhile covering the 2003 St. Louis Filmmakers Showcase, where one of my films was showing, Joe Williams, film critic of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, wrote an article in which he referred to me as the godmother of the St. Louis filmmaking community. I was flattered but also a bit embarrassed. I have no idea how he came up with it, but the name stuck. More and more people began calling me the godmother, and I felt slightly uncomfortable bearing the title without really knowing what it meant. I certainly didnt start my career in film as any kind of godmother.
Woman, Thou Art Loosed
Kimberly Elise stars in what might be the first gospel film
March 1st, 2005 | Amy AlexanderIs America ready for gospel cinema? Independent producer Reuben Cannon thinks so. The former veteran casting director sees a vast, untapped audience similar to that which propelled Mel Gibsons 2004 religious epic The Passion of the Christ to a multi-million dollar success. Except in Cannons version, the untapped audience is made up of several million black Americans from across the economic strataa core audience, Cannon suggests, who are socially conservative and woefully under-served at the local cineplex.
Is it too late to edit myself out of this film?
You may not love your onscreen persona, but trying to edit yourself out of a film will be challenging, the Documentary Doc writes.
March 1st, 2005 | Fernanda RossiDear Doc Doctor:
I think I made the mistake of putting myself in my film as the inquisitive filmmakeras a woman, Im not sure if the role really suits me. What can be done at this stage to save the film?
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