IBC Show was back in full swing with its familiar multi-day in-person event, with more than 37,000 smiling faces eager to attend the festivities. The Amsterdam gala is like no other trade show in the industry, pinning studios, media entertainment companies, tech innovators, software providers, filmmakers and creators under one roof. You can literally have a meeting with Google or Amazon AWS in the morning, then learn about the latest offerings from Canon, Sony or Avid in the afternoon. Similar to this year’s NAB Show and Cine Gear Expo LA, the future of technology was a buzzy topic on the […]

Filmmaker is hosting four conversations next week at The Gotham’s Gotham Week Conference, all with filmmakers who have recent films we love and have covered extensively at Filmmaker. And, these talks are free to public. Three are in person at Brooklyn Navy Yards, and the fourth is on Zoom. RSVP by clicking on the links below. On Monday at 10:30 AM, I’ll be speaking with DEDZA founder Kate Gondwe, one of our 25 New Faces last year, about the distribution of Saul Williams’s and Anisia Uzeyman’s Neptune Frost, and particularly about the specialized techniques used to broaden the reach of this […]

The International Documentary Association (IDA) announces the 20 fellows selected for its inaugural Getting Real Fellowship program. This new initiative is specifically geared towards highlighting emerging and mid-career documentary professionals. The program provides fellows with the opportunity to attend the biennial Getting Real conference, the world’s largest industry conference for documentary practitioners.  As part of the fellowship, IDA covers costs concerning airfare, lodging and registration. It also provides fellows a unique communal path through the conference. They will share meals together, attend a celebratory reception and participate in curated meetings with industry delegates. Even after the conference concludes, fellows continue […]

With the 2022 Gotham Week Conference and Expo just a few days away, The Gotham Film & Media Institute (formerly IFP, and Filmmaker’s publisher) has announced four new members to its Board of Directors. Joining the organization are actor Jonathan Majors, actor Stephanie March, entrepreneur and women’s advocate Dee Poku, and entertainment strategic marketing and PR executive Lisa Taback.  “We are thrilled that these four brilliant media and entertainment veterans are bringing their unique perspectives and expertise to The Gotham’s board,” Jeffrey Sharp, Executive Director of The Gotham Film & Media Institute, said in a press release. “As we find […]

One argument for the eternally vexed question “Why film festivals?” might be “To watch Netflix movies in a theater.” The streamer does, of course, theatrically release some of its prestige titles but, because of its refusal to accommodate 90-day windows, has effectively barred itself from wide releases. Since I live in New York City, I can go see all of Netflix’s big titles when they come out with ease thanks to their acquisition of the Paris Theater, which isn’t all bad: while some of the programming is grimly reserved for week-long runs of titles like Red Notice, there’s room for pleasant […]

After the first UFOs are sighted in Close Encounters of the Third Kind, a group of true believers gather and wait for more to arrive. A light appears over the horizon, excitement builds—but disillusionment sets in when the approaching vehicles turn out to be helicopters, and everyone scatters. The chopper beams briefly look like trainlights, echoing the mini-train track Roy Neary (Richard Dreyfuss) assembles in his family’s cramped living room and uses to try to demonstrate a math problem to son Barry by sending the train on a collision course towards a stalled miniature stockcar. The Fabelmans tells us where this image, […]