SXSW

Jamie Meltzer’s documentary NOT EVEN FOR A MOMENT DO THINGS STAND STILL filmmaking team enjoys award-winning SXSW experience

By John Wildman 4 years ago

The talk focused more on the art installation itself, but also was a reaffirmation of how Firstenberg’s work fused with Meltzer’s work as a filmmaker to create a piece that didn’t simply document what was literally on the ground, but fulfilled the ambition most documentarians have – of providing a keener insight into the impact of the art (in this case), and to capture moments, sights, sounds, and emotions that one could easily miss in the moment as they are overwhelmed by the scope and enormity of what was created there on the grounds of the National Mall.

Jamie Meltzer captures the beauty and heartache of artist Suzanne Brennan Firstenberg’s COVID-inspired art installation in NOT EVEN FOR A MOMENT DO THINGS STAND STILL

By Luke Y. Thompson 4 years ago

Each day, walking through those flags, one saw the many hues of humanity. Visitors came from across the nation, even Alaska and Hawaii…and other countries.  Some came in the first-class cabin, others on a Greyhound bus. As I archive the 20,000 dedicated flags, I find flags dedicated in an array of languages and an array of sentiments. Their commonality lies in loss.

Alice Gu’s THE DONUT KING: Naples International Film Festival INTERVIEWS; Cambodian force of nature with a donut is the stuff of American legend

By John Wildman 5 years ago

In the interview, Gu and I talk about her experience doing the COVID virtual film festival tour and the bittersweet nature of it all. We also discuss the protective nature of film festival programmers toward their filmmakers, my usual rant about filmmakers not delivering good production stills to promote their films, how much the virtual application has affected the connection to other filmmakers and ability to maybe work with them in the future. We finish with a “Thumbs up/Thumbs down” assessment of different donuts.

SXSW 2019 REVIEWS: Jeff Sandmann’s NOTHING STAYS THE SAME: THE STORY OF THE SAXON PUB is a gem of a film about the peril of Austin’s bars and the musicians that play there because they made the city a cool place to live

By Miguel Cima 7 years ago

Austin is the victim of its own success. Real estate is out of control. Taxes are going up. Wealthier residents are attracted to the Texan capital and the good old days of dirt-poor guitar players making it on minimum job wages by day then hitting the stage by night to try their luck at a music career are fading.

THEATRICAL REVIEWS: Jennifer Reeder's SIGNATURE MOVE is a gorgeously-shot story about two women that wear lucha masks loving each other and finding their family’s acceptance

By admin 8 years ago

More than one woman is a dynamic character in this film. Three of them are, and they lead compelling lives. They aren’t completely focused on sex with each other or asserting their queerness to the world either, as is the case with some of the campier or tropier films of the LGBTQ variety. Zaynab and Alma live and love each other in a way that compels an audience to appreciate their pairing.

FILMS GONE WILD: FESTWORKS.COM covers regional fests and film discoveries that happen there. Do you even give a damn about that?

By John Wildman 9 years ago

We don’t need more Clooney, Kidman, Lawrence, Adams, Streep, Cruise coverage. Monkeys can do that by this point. We need to find the new talent in film, and TV, and VR, etc. We need to give the new voices a forum to discuss their work. We need to help people find the golden film needles in the haystack of VOD titles we scroll past on Amazon and Netflix now.