Because of technical difficulties, we couldn\'t get this conversation posted while we were in Austin. Nevertheless this was one of my favorite conversations we had at SXSW this year and I think every filmmaker should watch this video.
\n\nThere\'s a beautiful little community of filmmakers growing out of SXSW. We talked with three of them about their process and how non-traditional it is. Left to right: Aaron Katz (Quiet City), Gretta Gerwig (star,co-writer Hannah Takes the Stairs), Joe Swanberg (director Hannah Takes the Stairs), Paul Moore (moderator).
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The SXSW Film Festival is over. Kevin reviews the documentary, Helvetica. Paul interviews SXSW award winners Michael Jacobs (Audience of One), Bill Haney (The Price of Sugar), and Ronald Bronstein (Frownland).
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\nDownload FilmCouch #12 or subscribe to it in the iTunes store (search for \"filmcouch\" or click here to launch iTunes) and a new free episode will download every Friday.
There are a few filmmakers documenting their attempt to change a person\'s life for the better. John Chester is one of them and in Lost in Woonsocket the change in his subject\'s life is real.
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Jump-rope will blow your mind. We got to shoot Tim Martin, world champion jump roper, for a couple minutes. Stephanie Johnes shot the best jump ropers in the world for two years and her documentary, Doubletime, is stunning.
\n\n", "link": "http://blog.spout.com/showroom/2007/03/people_at_sxsw_stephanie_johne.html.php", "date": "Thursday, Mar 22", "author":"Paul"}, {"title": "FilmCouch #11", "entry": "Paul and Kevin discuss highlights from the SXSW film festival. They review Joe Swanberg\'s new film Hannah Takes the Stairs, then talk to Jennifer Venditti both before and after the controversial screening of her excellent new documentary, Billy The Kid.
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\nDownload FilmCouch #11 or subscribe to it in the iTunes store (search for \"filmcouch\" or click here to launch iTunes) and a new free episode will download every Friday.
After ten films, Bill Haney has discovered filmmaking, in concrete ways, can change human suffering for the better. His recounting of making the documentary, The Price of Sugar, is truly inspiring.
\n\n", "link": "http://blog.spout.com/showroom/2007/03/people_at_sxsw_bill_haney_the.html.php", "date": "Wednesday, Mar 14", "author":"Paul"}, {"title": "How water, oil, and being Canadian add up", "entry": "Who Loves the Sun has been showing at festivals around the globe the past year, including two screenings at SXSW earlier this week. Corey Marr, the film\'s producer, joins director Matthew Bissonnette to talk about budgets, being Canadian, and filming on an island. For more on Matt and the ideas behind the film, read this recent SpoutBlog post. You can also visit the official movie site and the film\'s MySpace page.
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\nK: What have been the primary ups and downs in making and distributing Who Loves the Sun (WLTS), from a producer\'s point of view?
C: It certainly has been an adventure. I think the two highest highs were getting the phone call from telefilm that they were investing in the film, and arriving on the first day of principal photography and seeing all those people and trucks. Plus, no one drowned that I know of. The biggest down was having to make a huge insurance claim because one of our cans of film got fogged. And using the porta-potties was never pleasant. On the distribution side, the film comes out in Canada on April 6th, and we are currently working on US and foreign sales, so ask me again in a few months.
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\nK: How much did the movie cost to make?
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\nM: about a million and change canadian, which is like about five hundred american dollars.
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\nK: How did you keep costs low?
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\nM: we tried to keep costs low by being mean and cheap. however, in my limited experience, once you start working with people who aren\'t in your immediate family, stuff just gets expensive: folks gotta eat! in some ways, it seemed we had more time on Looking For Leonard[Bissonnette\'s first film], and that was a really, really inexpensive movie. i mean, we made that one out of spit and scotch-tape.
\nK: What ended up adding expense to WLTS?
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\nM: greedy price gouging by oil companies, who were cynically using the cover of their iraq war, nearly sunk us. canada is a big place, so we did a lot of driving. oh yeah, setting the film on an island and shooting on water didn\'t help. so cost overruns were half dick cheney\'s fault, and half mine.
C: Matt is being a bit hard on himself. the way our financing worked out, we actually had mandated days that we had to shoot across two different provinces. So a story that is ideally suited to one main location turned into about six or seven different unit moves. I’d lay 10% blame on funding bureaucracy, half on cheney, and the rest on matt. It\'s funny, though, because now that it\'s done, it\'s strange to think of it being done in any other way.
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\nK: Tell me more about the funding, and in particular how it helped to be Canadian.
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\nM: telefilm canada, manitoba film and sound, and christal films (our cdn distributor) kindly paid for the film (helped along by cdn tv sales at tmn and movie central) ...i love all those people. i mean, i really really love them.
C: and we can\'t forget the Canadian Television Fund, a television pre-sale to showcase, and our awesome Canadian tax credits.
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\nK: What has the marketing/distribution process been like?
M: well, since the film comes out in canada april 6th, and the us theatrical is still up in the air, we haven\'t really gotten too far into that mess yet. In general, i always want people to spend more money, and to market the thing for what it is, if that\'s possible.
\n\non the festival level, the getting it out there level, reaching out to the people via the internet level, corey has been doing a real good job. these days, with a bit of hard work, it seems you can put your thing into the world, even if you don\'t have much cash, or insider status, or what have you.
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\nK: What has been your experience at film festivals?
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\nM: i really like most fests. i enjoy the audiences, and seeing where people are at regarding film in particular and the whole ball of wax in general. i don\'t have super faves, don\'t care if it\'s big or small, but sxsw, los angeles and london will always have a very special place in my heart, as they gave us our first breaks [with Looking for Leonard and WLTS].
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\nK: Corey, what is your background? How did you get into film production?
C: My background is in advertising, having worked at a number of ad agencies, both on the creative end and on the strategy side, but never really being satisfied with either one exclusively. Probably something to do with my megalomaniac complex, and probably one of the reasons I got into producing. Plus, I have always been fascinated by the permanence of film, and art in general. WLTS is my first feature length film.
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\nK: What are you focusing on these days?
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\nC: Getting ready for the Canadian theatrical release (April 6th), working with our sales team in the US, and building an online community for the film. you too can be our virtual friend. just visit us on myspace, iklipz and imeem, as well as the facebook group who loves the sun-the movie. and, of course, on spout.com. I\'ve also been developing some new projects, including two features with Matt. And none of them takes place on an island.
Left to right: Scott Kirsner (Cinematech), Ry Russo-Young (Orphans), Lance Weiler (Head Trauma, The Workbook Project) and Alison Willmore (IFC News) on the future of filmmaking.
\n\n", "link": "http://blog.spout.com/showroom/2007/03/sxsw_roundtable_part_2_kirsner.html.php", "date": "Tuesday, Mar 13", "author":"Paul"}, {"title": "SXSW Roundtable Part 1: Kirsner, Russo-Young, Weiler, Willmore", "entry": "Spout invited Scott Kirsner (Cinematech), Ry Russo-Young (Orphans), Lance Weiler (Head Trauma, The Workbook Project) and Alison Willmore (IFC News) to come and talk. We like their minds and think they\'re really tapped into the future of filmmaking and what the new distribution \"sledgehammer\" will be.
\n\n", "link": "http://blog.spout.com/showroom/2007/03/sxsw_roundtable_part_1_kirsner.html.php", "date": "Tuesday, Mar 13", "author":"Paul"}, {"title": "People at SXSW: Gregg Araki (Smiley Face)", "entry": "Paul interviews Gregg Araki (Mysterious Skin) after the screening of Smiley Face at SXSW 2007. Hands down, one of the funniest movies of the year. Richard Linklater makes a surprise appearance.
\n\n", "link": "http://blog.spout.com/showroom/2007/03/people_at_sxsw_gregg_araki_smi.html.php", "date": "Tuesday, Mar 13", "author":"Paul"}, {"title": "People at SXSW: Dan Cox (Running with Arnold)", "entry": "SXSW 2007, Paul interviews Dan Cox, journalist and director of a documentary about Arnold Schwarzenegger\'s campaign for governor, Running with Arnold.
\n\n", "link": "http://blog.spout.com/showroom/2007/03/people_at_sxsw_dan_cox_running.html.php", "date": "Tuesday, Mar 13", "author":"Paul"}, {"title": "People at SXSW: Stephen Kijak (Scott Walker: 30th Century Man)", "entry": "SXSW 2007, Paul interviews Stephen Kijak, director of a documentary about Scott Walker, a singer/songwriter any music-lover will be ashamed of not recognizing.
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Watch the trailer:
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Paul interviews Mike Mills (Thumbsucker) about his new documentary, Does Your Soul Have a Cold? Mills follows five Japanese people prescribed anti-depressants since a massive ad campaign launched in 1999 by American pharmaceutical companies led to a cultural shift in thinking about depression in Japan.
\n\n", "link": "http://blog.spout.com/showroom/2007/03/people_at_sxsw_mike_mills.html.php", "date": "Monday, Mar 12", "author":"Paul"}, {"title": "People at SXSW: Jennifer Venditti (Billy the Kid)", "entry": "The Spout team went to Billy the Kid (2007) last night and really loved it. Paul interviews director Jennifer Venditti before the premier about her new documentary. By the end of the interview, we were sold and the doc definitely lives up to Venditti\'s hype.
\n\n\n\n\n\n", "link": "http://blog.spout.com/showroom/2007/03/people_at_sxsw_jennifer_vendit_1.html.php", "date": "Monday, Mar 12", "author":"Paul"}, {"title": "People at SXSW: Andrew Garrison (Third Ward, TX)", "entry": "A few artists set out to make a small difference in a forgotten neighborhood in the third ward of Houston, TX. The results are huge. Paul talks to Andrew Garrison about his documentary of this story, Third Ward, TX.
\n\n", "link": "http://blog.spout.com/showroom/2007/03/people_at_sxsw_andrew_garrison.html.php", "date": "Monday, Mar 12", "author":"Paul"}, {"title": "People at SXSW: Ashley Sabin (Kamp Katrina)", "entry": "Ashley Sabin co-directed a new documentary shot in cinema verité style (no narration, no interviews) to get beyond the helicopter footage of hurricane Katrina. In Kamp Katrina, they take their cameras into a backyard-turned-refugee-camp on the ground. Paul talks with Sabin about the film in a restaurant at SXSW 2007.
\n\n", "link": "http://blog.spout.com/showroom/2007/03/people_at_sxsw_ashley_sabin_ka.html.php", "date": "Monday, Mar 12", "author":"Paul"}, {"title": "People at SXSW: Patrick Steward, Candace Tenbrink (Cherry Valley)", "entry": "Three filmmakers go into a town and find out it\'s haunted. Sounds like Blair Witch? The filmmakers say no, everything they captured is completely true. Maybe it\'s just people don\'t want to believe in ghosts? Paul talks to Patrick Steward and Candace Tenbrink about Cherry Valley (2007).
\n\n", "link": "http://blog.spout.com/showroom/2007/03/people_at_sxsw_patrick_steward.html.php", "date": "Monday, Mar 12", "author":"Paul"}, {"title": "People at SXSW: Bob Ray, Werner Campbell (Hell on Wheels)", "entry": "In 2001, some punk ladies in Austin sparked a revival in Roller Derby. Hell on Wheels is their five year journey from fun loving friends to national sensation. Paul talks with filmmakers Bob Ray and Werner Campbell.
\n\n", "link": "http://blog.spout.com/showroom/2007/03/people_at_sxsw_bob_ray_werner.html.php", "date": "Sunday, Mar 11", "author":"Paul"}, {"title": "People at SXSW: Ronald Bronstein (Frownland)", "entry": "Ronald Bronstein has an indescribable film, Frownland. Some of the best films can\'t be described, but Ronald tries anyway, for Paul\'s sake.
\n\n", "link": "http://blog.spout.com/showroom/2007/03/people_at_sxsw_ronald_bronstei.html.php", "date": "Sunday, Mar 11", "author":"Paul"}, {"title": "People at SXSW: Reg Harkema (Monkey Warfare)", "entry": "Paul shares a beer with Reg Harkema, director of Monkey Warfare (2006), at SXSW 2007.
\n\n", "link": "http://blog.spout.com/showroom/2007/03/people_at_sxsw_reg_harkema_mon.html.php", "date": "Sunday, Mar 11", "author":"Paul"}, {"title": "People at SXSW: Kazuhiro Soda (Campaign)", "entry": "For certain political offices in Japan, candidates have exactly nine days to campaign. No time to debate issues, Kazuhiro Soda\'s documentary, Campaign (2006), covers the whirlwind of Japanese politics and the campaign of a professional stamp collector (read bohemian) turned politician.
\n\n", "link": "http://blog.spout.com/showroom/2007/03/people_at_sxsw_kazuhiro_soda.html.php", "date": "Sunday, Mar 11", "author":"Paul"}, {"title": "People at SXSW: Michael Jacobs (Audience of One)", "entry": "In a restaurant in Austin, TX, Paul talks with director Michael Jacobs. An evangelical minister for who, after seeing his first movie ever, felt the call from God to make movies. Audience of One is Jacobs\' documentary of this charismatic leader trying for two years to make what they described as \"Star Wars meets The Ten Commandments.\"
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Standing outside the Paramount Theater in Austin, TX, opening night of the 2007 SXSW Film Festival, Paul and myself caught up with the producer of Confessions of a Superhero as well as a couple of the film\'s stars, Superman and The Hulk.
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Spout\'s en route to Austin, TX for the SXSW Film Festival 2007. Kevin and Paul discuss what\'s great about the festival with Matt Singer from IFC news. Paul interviews screenwriter Reed Fish about his new film, I\'m Reed Fish.
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\nDownload FilmCouch #10 or subscribe to FilmCouch in the iTunes store (search for \"filmcouch\" or click here to launch iTunes) and a new free episode will download every Friday.
I met filmmaker Matthew Bissonette and saw his great film Who Loves the Sun at the Denver Film Festival last November. As he prepares to take the film to SXSW next week (with screenings on March 11 at 5 pm and March 12 at noon), Matt found some time to correspond with me. The results of our little chat are below.
\n\nMatt directed and wrote the script for his five-character film, which is losely based on an idea from the Paul Auster novel Leviathan. The main idea sparked by Leviathan is the question \"What happens when someone disappears?\" The question Matt adds in Who Loves the Sun is \"What happens when that person suddenly resurfaces?\" The film\'s soundtrack is wonderful (Matt talks about it in the interview), the characters and cast are wonderful, and I love the broader themes explored in the film, including secrets, lies and truths, and the importance of forgiveness and moving on.
\n\nIn a second post (look for it in a few days) I\'ll talk to both Matt and producer Corey Marr about some of the logistics of making and promoting their film. Watch the trailer and get more on Who Loves the Sun by checking out the official movie site and the film\'s MySpace page.
\n\nNow, the interview:
\n\nK: Tell me about your background in writing and filmmaking.
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\nM: i studied english lit/creative writing at concordia university in montreal. i seem to recall that the scriptwriting prof taught the guy who wrote Heathers, or something like that. anyway, i wanted to make a film about the time my friend\'s mother drove over their family dog; sadly, the teacher of Heathers thought that was totally stupid, and he wanted me to use these little cue cards and block out a real movie (his words). so that didn\'t work out so well. however, concordia has a pretty good film department, and i did a minor in theory, which was interesting, but no production.
\nK: What were your projects before Who Loves the Sun (WLTS)?
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\nM: i co-wrote and co-directed a film called Looking For Leonard (2002) with my friend Steven Clarke. he had a background in production, and i learned a lot from him while making that film; in addition, when we weren\'t punching each other in the face we had loads of fun. to make a long story short: movie went to a bunch of fests; had some fans; made some money; hence...they let me make another, that being WLTS.
\nK: How did you come up with the idea for WLTS?
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\nM: i lifted it from the paul auster book Leviathan, then sort of forced that circle into my square.
\nK: How did the small cast affect the story and making of WLTS?
M: in my first film we had a fairly large cast, more than 30 speaking roles i believe, and i found there just wasn\'t time to get to know the actors in the way you need to, to afford for the best possible working relationship. so, this time i intentionally wrote a story with an isolated location and small cast, hoping that even on a small budget film there would be time to get to know people, and to understand them enough to work with them. i think it was nic ray who said there\'s no magic \"way\" to talk to actors in general, you learn how to talk to each actor in particular, same as any other kind of human.
\n\nin making WLTS, because it was a small cast, and because we shot on location very far from friends, family and home, it forced the actors to spend a lot of time together, and that, i think, created the sense of familiarity and intimacy in the film. also, i think the actors understood this, and went out of their way to make those bonds. you can\'t really give direction like \"be more of a family,\" it\'s either there or it isn\'t. what you can do is try to create an environment that promotes the type of relationships you are looking for in the film.
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\nK: Tell me about the soundtrack for WLTS.
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\nM: i had worked with mac [McCaughan] (of superchunk, portastatic) on my first film, and that was fun and turned out well, and i was really happy when he was up for another foray into scoring.
in a nutshell, i didn\'t want anything too country (moody, lonely, ry cooder guitar picking, for example), because we were shooting in a very sort of pastoral setting, and i am interested in contrasts (mix the smart with the stupid, the funny with the sad, classic with the country, etc). i wanted a sort of sirkian-movie movie score type thing, strong melodies, strings, etc. and that was about all i told mac. he has this little computer program that sketches out the melodies, which he sends along, and i drop them into the cut, sort of like story boarding, but with sound. it\'s a good way to save cash, because then we have all agreed on the tracks, and they go into the studio and bang it out. we only had one sort of bump in the process. he started talking about flutes, and i mentioned i was worried about it sounding like jethro tull. \"don\'t fear the tull\" is I believe what mac told me, and he was once again correct!
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\nK: What do you think the role of music is (or should be) in films?
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\nM: i believe the popular film wisdom is the best score is the one you don\'t notice. i totally disagree with this bit of popular film wisdom. give me the zithers in the third man! the piano in wonderland (the winterbottom wonderland)! i don\'t care for seamless, perfect films; they remind me of mariah carey songs. i believe it was david berman who said: all my favorite singers couldn\'t sing. i feel the same way about filmmakers. I like things that i notice in films, and music is a huge part of this. if i don\'t remember the music, I probably don\'t remember the film. further, it seems to me that the best films are like songs, they hit you in a strange mysterious place, and suggest a million wonderful things you haven\'t ever seen or heard.
\nK: So what are you busy with now? What\'s your next project?
M: i\'m mostly busy with raising my son, who is 5 months old. my next project is a scathing, irreverent trilogy that examines hypocrisy and racism in denmark.
", "link": "http://blog.spout.com/showroom/2007/03/a_filmmakers_perspective_on_mu.html.php", "date": "Thursday, Mar 8", "author":"Kristin"}, {"title": "Gearing up for SXSW", "entry": "From my very cold and very snowy perspective here in Grand Rapids, Austin is starting to sound really good. But it always does, right? It\'s a great film town, SXSW is a great festival, and March is a great time to head South.
\n\nThe festival lineup of films was unveiled earlier this week, so it\'s officially time to start anticipating. Here\'s the info from the official festival site. indieWIRE has a nice overview of what\'s scheduled, too, and here are some notes from GreenCine Daily.
\n\nOne of the movies in the lineup is Kurt Cobain About a Son, which some of us saw at Denver. It\'s a great film, and director A.J. Schnack is a great guy. We were lucky to catch him and Michael Azerrad for a chat about his film and also did a roundtable from Ted\'s Montana Grill in Denver where we talk about the film. If you\'re heading to SXSW, make sure to catch it.
\n\nWe\'ll dive into the lineup and say more about it here as we get closer to the festival. In the meantime, we\'re busy preparing to do the festival\'s Spout-sponsored email/webcenter, and dozens of podcast interviews. Rick will also be on a panel \"New Dogs, New Tricks: New Media Goes to the Movies,\" which is just a great example of what a good fit this festival is for us--the perfect mix of movies and interactive media. Stay tuned for more in the coming weeks.
", "link": "http://blog.spout.com/showroom/2007/02/gearing_up_for_sxsw_1.html.php", "date": "Thursday, Feb 8", "author":"Dave"}, ]});