back to school: the guests

wordplaySCH.jpgWith all that is going on right now, I guess it was impossible that I'd be able to stay on top of blogging daily while teaching at The New School this year, I have been non-stop busy for the past two weeks with our impending move out of AIVF and the daily iW workload, etc...

Catching up a bit... one really terrific aspect of the class has been the large group of generous folks who have agreed to spend some time with the class this year. Last Thursday, Bennett Miller was a popular participant who joined us after a screening of "The Cruise". We talked about the rise of mini-DV in the late 90s when he made the doc and the students also had a lot of specific questions about "Capote." Bennett was insightful and candid about making both movies. Last Tuesday, John Pierson was also a popular guest, dropping in for a lengthy chat with the students before heading off to SilverDocs. Its always particularly valuable to learn firsthand about the films and filmmakers that we are talking about in class, especially the work of Linklater, Michael Moore, and Kevin Smith. Friday's tour of IFC Center with John Vanco -- followed by a screening of "Wordplay and then an informal conversation with director Patrick Creadon, producer Christine O'Malley, and graphics designer Brian Oakes (pictured above) -- was quite popular with the students. As was the film itself.

Other highlights have included our first hand history of the creation of IFP with founder Sandra Schulberg (facilitated by Michelle Byrd), and the brown bag lunch last week with Peter Sollett and Eva Vives who talked about the making of "Raising Victor Vargas" and "Five Feet High and Rising". "Vargas" was a big hit with the class and sitting down to talk about the making of the movie was a real treat. Not to be forgotten...other informative and engaging guests have included Tom Quinn from Magnolia, Dana O'Keefe from Cinetic and Basil Tsiokos from NewFest. And the fun continues later this week with a couple of special screenings of anticipated new films.



back to school, 1 & 2

schoolhouse.jpgThe return of June (and my return to NYC) marks the start of another Summer in the City session at The New School where I am again teaching a course entitled, "The Art and Industry Of American Independent Cinema." This year, there are 18 students watching and talking about movies with me in the morning and then learning about film production in the afternoon with Hope Hall and Lisa Robinson.

While I've re-arranged the syllabus quite a bit, yesterday, we kicked off the program as we did last year...at a breakfast orientation and after introductions, we watched the first 10 minutes of John Waters' "Pink Flamingos" and then a surprise screening of a film from the 80s that I shouldn't disclose (since it can't be screened for legal reasons)... Today we talked about the term "independent" and one student wondered what the purpose of such a discussion is, and we watched Jim Jarmusch's "Stranger Than Paradise".

This year's primary text is Geoff King's American Independent Cinema (Indiana University Press, 2005), while we spent a bit of time referencing John Pierson's Spike Mike Reloaded. And, following are a few links to articles that we are reading as additional online resources for the first two sessions:

- Gentlemen prefer Haynes (Film Comment)
- "Pink Flamingos" Movie Review (The Advocate)
- Mr. Bad Taste Goes Respectable (US News/World Report)
- Are the U.S.A.'s Independent Films a Distinct National Cinema? (The Film Journal)
- The State Of Independence '69-'99 (Interview)



Back to School, Day 14: "Hustle & Flow"

brewerallainCLASS.JPGAs a special bonus session for the final morning of the New School class I have been teaching this month, we welcomed director Craig Brewer and producer Stephanie Allain (pictured right) to screen and discuss their upcoming film, "Hustle & Flow." The preview and Q & A at the MGM Screening Room in Midtown was an invaluable opportunity to catch an anticipated new movie, but more importantly talk with the people who worked for years to bring it to the screen.

After making the low-budget "The Poor and Hungry" 5 years ago, Brewer devised a story about some of his experiences in his hometown of Memphis, living among a bureoning Southern rap scene, his wife working at a strip club, and struggling to make a film.

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Back to School, Day 13: Four Eyed Monsters

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For the last regular day of class yesterday, we watched the first 10 minutes or so of Jonathan Caouette's stunning "Tarnation", a small, personal film made for no money that went on to secure international distribution and screen at festivals from Cannes, to Sundance. And for the feature screening yesterday, I decided to show Susan Buice and Arin Crumley's accomplished and endearing "Four Eyed Monsters". Susan and Arin (pictured right) joined us in class for a lenghtly discussion about how they made this unique look at love and their own relationship, blending narrative and non-fiction to tell their story. I thought that the students might find their film inspiring and their stories about making and trying to release the film eye-opening.

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Back to School, Days 11 & 12: Nicole Kassell and More...

On Tuesday at The New School, we looked at "The White Boys Club" that is American independent film, considering how and why the industry often lacks ethnic and/or gender diversity, especially in the executive ranks. We watched Jim McKay's "Our Song" and a clip from Alison Anders' "Gas Food Lodging".

While the next day, we considered the growing importance of awards and how the focus on star-driven projects is affecting which movies get made. After watching a clip from Todd Haynes' "Far From Heaven" and then a screening of "The Woodsman", we sat down for a brown bag lunch with filmmaker Nicole Kassell who related her experiences getting her successful film off the ground after winning a prize for the script at Slamdance.



Back to School, Day 10: Bingham Ray

October Films co-founder and former chief at United Artists Bingham Ray joined us in class on Monday morning to talk about "Happiness" and the troubles that faced Indiewood, and him in particular, when he was forced to drop the film at October. A passionate executive and candid guest, Bingham was a hit with the students, sharing numerous experiences from his career and talking a bit about his plans for a new company. Stay tuned...

For a bit of background, check out a conversation that Mark Rabinowitz and I had with Bingham nearly 6 years ago as part of indieWIRE's Decade series of conversations.



Back to School, Days 8 & 9

The past two days in class, we've looked at the rise of the Sundance Film Festival in the early 90s, and more importantly the emerging filmmakers that not only made their mark on the event but on independent film during that period.

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Back to School, Days 4, 5, 6, & 7

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Time flies when you're back in school. The class at The New School is half over...On day 4, we watched "She's Gotta Have It" (and a clip from "Clerks") and talked about D.I.Y. and low budget filmmaking. An important resource for many early 90s indies was Peter Broderick's essential "The ABC's Of No-Budget Filmmaking" in Filmmaker Magazine. The next day, for our first Friday field trip, we were off to the new IFC Center for a pre-opening tour by John Vanco (see photo, right), followed by a special Q & A session with John Pierson, we're studying the revised version of his book, "Spike Mike Reloaded", quite heavily.

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Back to School, Days 2 & 3

metropolitan.jpgAt The New School this week, we've looked mostly at the 1970s and 80s, scratching the surface on 1990 today. Yesterday, we spent some time discussing the term "independent film", what does it mean? Is it simply a marketing term as one student posed, or does it represent something more. Today, Ira Deutchman visited and explained he'd just as soon get rid of the term all together.

Yesterday, we also considered John Cassavetes and watched a bit of "A Woman Under The Influence", folllowed by an interesting discussion between Gena Rowlands and Peter Falk, from the Criterion Collection disc, and then a screening of Jim Jarmusch's "Stranger Than Paradise". A few students seemed particularly struck by Tom DiCillo's camera work and Jarmusch's striking use of the limited resources at his disposal. To what extent was his filmmaking style shaped by circumstance and limited resources, one student asked...

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Back to School, Day 1

Today was the first day of school, kicking off my service as an instructor at The New School. I am teaching a course entitled "The Art and Industry Of American Independent Cinema," part of the University's summer intensive program. We have about 25 students, ranging in ages and experience. The students spend the morning with me watching and talking about films, and then after lunch will learn about film production.

Today, after a morning breakast orientation and introductions, we watched the first 10 minutes of John Waters' "Pink Flamingos" and then a surprise screening of a film from the 80s that I am not allowed to disclose (because it has since been banned)...

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