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ReelPolitik
A blog about film and politics, and the politics of filmmaking.
Anthony Kaufman is a film journalist and critic, who has written for the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, the Chicago Tribune, the Village Voice and Slate, and contributes regularly to Variety, indieWIRE, the Wall Street Journal Online and the Utne Reader.
[Email Me]
Articles
- "Piracy May Be an Indie Filmmaker's Best Friend" (Indiewire, October 2011
- "The Decline of Indies on Netflix" (indieWIRE, Sept, 2011)
- "Secretariat" Isn't Hollywood's Only Secretly Conservative Blockbuster" (IFC News, October 2010)
- "Absurdistan: The New Iraq War Cinema" (Village Voice, April 2008)
- "Is Foreign Film The New Endangered Species?" (New York Times, January 2006)
ReelPolitik
The Next "Inconvenient Truth"? Jeremy Irons Talks New Cannes Doc "Trashed"
- By Anthony Kaufman
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- April 30, 2012 9:47 AM
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- 0 Comments
The Cannes Film Festival isn't best known for its nonfiction, but ever since Michael Moore's "Fahrenheit 9/11" won the top prize in 2004, there has been a steady increase in the number of important docs at the fest, many of them with a heavily activist bent, from Moore's own "Sicko" in 2007 to "Inside Job" to last year's BP oil spill doc "The Big Fix." This year, my money is on the newly announced documentary "Trashed" to be this year's event doc, complete with a star, Jeremy Irons, and a significant global issue: the dangers of pollution and the world’s overflowing problem of waste.
"#whilewewatch": First Definitive Doc of #OccupyWallStreet Emerges?
- By Anthony Kaufman
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- April 26, 2012 9:57 AM
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- 0 Comments
Tonight, at 8pm EST, a documentary calling itself "the first definitive film to emerge from Zuccotti Park," "#whilewewatch," will have its world premiere online at SnagFilms.com (Indiewire's parent company). Made with "full access and cooperation from the masterminds who made #OccupyWallStreet a reality," according to a press release, the film was directed by Kevin Breslin (“Living for 32") and includes interviews with Priscilla Grim (a journalist with The Occupied Wall St Journal); Justin Wedes (an educator and activist), journalist and technologist Tim Pool and Jesse LaGreca from Daily Kos--who will also be on hand for a conversation at the Paley Center in New York. Though the trailer gives little insight into the film beyond the chaos of protest and police crackdowns, it looks like it will be a largely flattering portrait of the movement.
The Top 5 Documentaries at Tribeca
- By Anthony Kaufman
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- April 25, 2012 8:57 PM
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- 0 Comments
"The docs are good," says one industry insider, on two separate occasions, as I pass them by during the Tribeca Fest over the past few days. Indeed, I saw a handful of the nonfiction competition films at the fest, and I can confidently say that six were strong. I saw two dramatic films that I thought were worth my time (more on those in another post), but based on the advice of others, the docs were far and away superior to the narrative films on display. Here's a rundown of my top 5. But I could also have mentioned "The Flat" and I heard great things about "Ballroom Dancer," as well.
Doc Filmmakers Win Fight Against I.R.S.; Work Not Hobby, But Profit-Losing Biz?
- By Anthony Kaufman
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- April 22, 2012 11:44 AM
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- 0 Comments
It's a pyrrhic victory for documentary filmmakers eveywhere. Last Thursday, a U.S. Tax Court judge ruled that filmmaker Lee Storey could write off hundreds of thousands of dollars in losses from the making of her film "Smile `Til It Hurts: The Up with People Story" (see picture below). Documentarians--including some who are currently under audit by the I.R.S.--were watching the case closely, as the outcome severely impacts their bottom line. But while the Storey case has effectively shifted the government's view from considering the profession a mere hobby, which would not allow a right-off, it also highlights the money-losing nature of the form.
Does the NEA Think Documentaries Are Irrelevant?
- By Anthony Kaufman
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- April 12, 2012 9:17 PM
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- 3 Comments
Earlier this week, when it was announced the National Endowment of the Arts was slashing more than a $1 million from funding PBS shows, including major cuts to important (and embattled) documentary programs "Independent Lens" and "P.O.V.," documentary filmmakers were rightly outraged. Part of their frustration and rancor lead to some interesting back-and-forths on Twitter, involving NEA media arts director Alyce Myatt, a former PBS programming executive, who oversaw the cuts.
The War on Indie Docs: After Surviving PBS Debacle, NEA Slashes Doc Program Funds More Than 60%
- By Anthony Kaufman
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- April 10, 2012 9:25 AM
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- 1 Comment
I'm beginning to wonder if there's a conspiracy afoot. After PBS' highly controversial move to re-schedule its independent documentary shows, Independent Lens and POV, damaging their playability and reducing their audiences, here comes the news that the National Endowment of the Arts is stripping more than $1 million in federal aid from PBS shows, effective April 25, including drastic cuts for “Independent Lens” from $170,000 to $50,000, and at “POV," from $250,000 to $100,000.
Homeland Security Interrogates and Harasses Oscar-Nominee Laura Poitras During Making of New Doc
- By Anthony Kaufman
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- April 9, 2012 10:00 AM
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- 3 Comments
Laura Poitras, the Oscar-nominated director of "My Country, My Country" and "The Oath," has suffered extreme harrassment at the hands of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Customs and Border Control (CBC) while making a new film on America's "War on Terror," according to a must-read report in Salon.com.
Van Sant and Damon Attack Fracking with "The Promised Land"
- By Anthony Kaufman
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- April 9, 2012 9:32 AM
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- 6 Comments
I normally wouldn't write a post on a production announcement, but this one is making major political waves in the mediasphere: Turns out Gus van Sant and Matt Damon's new film "The Promised Land," is being dubbed an "anti-fracking movie," and will likely bring the controversial drilling practive into the public sphere, far more than Josh Fox, director of Oscar nominee "Gasland," could ever have hoped.
The Secret World of Video on Demand Sales; Conspiracy or Just Corporate Practice?
- By Anthony Kaufman
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- April 4, 2012 1:38 PM
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- 3 Comments
If Video on Demand is saving the world of independent film, how come no one knows anything about it? I've been covering the VoD business for the last six years, ever since HDNet's release of Steven Soderbergh's "Bubble" and IFC launched its day-and-date program. And every time I set out to try to learn how many people are watching movies on demand, I often get a friendly response from distributors and yet no specifics. So rather than try to get VOD numbers, why not discover why VOD numbers are so hard to get? For Indiewire, you can read about "6 Reasons Why You Don't Know More About VOD Numbers," my latest survey of the industry. But there's a couple of points I wanted to highlight here.
Robert Redford's Political Action Cinema; Revisits Watergate and Weather Underground
- By Anthony Kaufman
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- April 3, 2012 9:34 AM
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- 0 Comments
Robert Redford is revving up his activist pursuits with a spate of political-minded projects, from "The Company You Keep," his political thriller starring Shia LaBeouf, which could premiere at this year's Toronto International Film Festival, to a new slate of TV projects, including "All the President's Men Revisited," a 2-hour documentary for the Discovery Channel about the Watergate scandal to be directed by Peter Schnall.
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Recent Comments
wow, Thor. I think you are the one that is bitter. I'm so not obsessed by race---it seems
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Discussing issues of race, especially when the article in question is the one that brings up the
Hadn't thought about this film from such aspects.
By the way, why is everyone so racist here? White people this, white people that? Anyway, just so
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No one is preventing white people from telling their stories, they are everywhere if you've
New York = Money. Money is the reason these stories are bland and inherently annoying because
The problem is not that white middle class angst isn't angst, it is that it seems like white
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