Exclusive: US-based Filipino filmmaker Isabel Sandoval is returning to the Philippines to shoot her fourth feature, Moonglow, starring Arjo Atayde.
Sandoval, who is known for her award-winning 2019 feature Lingua Franca and directing series in the U.S., is scheduled to start shooting the noir crime thriller on April 9.
Set in 1970s Manila, the film follows a jaded female police detective, who unbeknownst to her colleagues is the mastermind behind a successful heist, but who is paired up with an obsessively truth-seeking detective partner to crack the very crime that she orchestrated.
The film is produced by Alemberg Ang of the Philippines’ Daluyong Studios, with Tan Si En of Singapore’s Momo Film Co, Takahiro Yamashita of Japan’s Yaman Films and Ria Atayde of the Philippines’ Nathan Studios.
Arjo Atayde also stars in upcoming Abs-cbn crime series The Bagman and has recent credits including psychological series Cattleya Killer...
Sandoval, who is known for her award-winning 2019 feature Lingua Franca and directing series in the U.S., is scheduled to start shooting the noir crime thriller on April 9.
Set in 1970s Manila, the film follows a jaded female police detective, who unbeknownst to her colleagues is the mastermind behind a successful heist, but who is paired up with an obsessively truth-seeking detective partner to crack the very crime that she orchestrated.
The film is produced by Alemberg Ang of the Philippines’ Daluyong Studios, with Tan Si En of Singapore’s Momo Film Co, Takahiro Yamashita of Japan’s Yaman Films and Ria Atayde of the Philippines’ Nathan Studios.
Arjo Atayde also stars in upcoming Abs-cbn crime series The Bagman and has recent credits including psychological series Cattleya Killer...
- 3/13/2024
- by Liz Shackleton
- Deadline Film + TV
Nearly 24 years ago, Chris Wilcha premiered his debut feature documentary, Target Shoots First, a fascinating personal essay shot on a Hi8 camera gifted to him by his parents. The NYU philosophy grad leveraged his experience working at Flipside Records in my hometown of Pompton Lakes, New Jersey, to score a position at Columbia House Records, where he was tasked with selling the subscription service to Gen X. Decades (and many ups and downs) later, Wilcha has returned to explore his life’s creative journey with the self-reflective Flipside, a TIFF selection which recently had its U.S. premiere at Doc NYC.
As Christopher Schobert said in our TIFF review, “Flipside starts as one thing and becomes something very different––a study of regret, the failures of nostalgia, and the value of seeing and (occasionally) preserving.
We spoke with Wilcha after the film’s U.S. premiere about capturing his personal journey,...
As Christopher Schobert said in our TIFF review, “Flipside starts as one thing and becomes something very different––a study of regret, the failures of nostalgia, and the value of seeing and (occasionally) preserving.
We spoke with Wilcha after the film’s U.S. premiere about capturing his personal journey,...
- 12/12/2023
- by John Fink
- The Film Stage
Get in touch to send in cinephile news and discoveries. For regular updates, sign up for our weekly email newsletter and follow us @NotebookMUBI.NEWSCapital.The Palestinian Film Institute and several prominent filmmakers—including Sky Hopinka, Miko Revereza, Maryam Tafakory, Charlie Shackleton, and Basma al-Sharif—have withdrawn from the International Documentary Festival Amsterdam in response to the festival’s messaging about the war in Gaza. On the festival’s opening night, a group of activists took to the stage holding a banner that read “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free”; on November 10, IDFA published a statement apologizing to patrons who may have been offended by this “hurtful slogan.” On November 11, the Pfi and the advocacy group Workers for Palestine Netherlands announced their withdrawal from IDFA: “As the world’s largest documentary film festival, IDFA holds the responsibility to respond to the plight of journalists and documentarians on the ground in Gaza,...
- 11/16/2023
- MUBI
Rushes: Bruno Dumont's "The Empire," John Carpenter Interviewed, Hito Steyerl x Film Comment Podcast
Get in touch to send in cinephile news and discoveries. For daily updates follow us @NotebookMUBI.NEWSHaunted Hotel.The British Film Institute has begun unveiling the program for the London Film Festival, which runs from October 5-16. So far, they have announced the official competition, featuring films from Alice Diop, Mark Jenkin, and Hlynur Pálmason, and the VR- and Ar-oriented "Extended Realities" strand, including a new work from Guy Maddin, Haunted Hotel.Production has begun on Bruno Dumont's The Empire. Cineuropa reports that the science-fiction film depicts the "epic parallel life of knights from interplanetary kingdoms"; the cast includes Lyna Khoudri (César-winner for Papicha) and the gendarmerie duo from Li'l Quinquin, Bernard Pruvost and Philippe Jore.The international film critics association Fipresci have chosen the winner of their 2022 Grand Prix for Film of the Year: Ryûsuke Hamaguchi's Drive My Car.Recommended VIEWINGAndrew Mau and Alan Mak's seminal...
- 8/30/2022
- MUBI
Bertrand Bonello’s Coma, starring Louise Labeque from Bertrand’s Zombi Child is a Currents highlight Photo: Anne-Katrin Titze
Film at Lincoln Center has announced the Currents selections for the 60th New York Film Festival. Highlights include the Opening Night film João Pedro Rodrigues’s Will-o’-The-Wisp; Ruth Beckermann’s Mutzenbacher; Alain Gomis’s Rewind & Play on Thelonious Monk’s 1969 interview with Henri Renaud screened with Maria Schneider’s short Elisabeth Subrin; Jonás Trueba’s (Fernando Trueba’s son) You Have To Come And See It screening with Pedro Neves Marques’s short Becoming Male In The Middle Ages; Bertrand Bonello’s Coma, starring Louise Labeque from Bonello's Zombi Child, and Radu Jude’s short The Potemkinists screening with Balufu Bakupu-Kanyinda’s Le Damier (in the Revivals programme).
Dennis Lim with Bertrand Bonello for Saint Laurent: “Each Currents lineup is an attempt to distill the spirit of innovation and playfulness...
Film at Lincoln Center has announced the Currents selections for the 60th New York Film Festival. Highlights include the Opening Night film João Pedro Rodrigues’s Will-o’-The-Wisp; Ruth Beckermann’s Mutzenbacher; Alain Gomis’s Rewind & Play on Thelonious Monk’s 1969 interview with Henri Renaud screened with Maria Schneider’s short Elisabeth Subrin; Jonás Trueba’s (Fernando Trueba’s son) You Have To Come And See It screening with Pedro Neves Marques’s short Becoming Male In The Middle Ages; Bertrand Bonello’s Coma, starring Louise Labeque from Bonello's Zombi Child, and Radu Jude’s short The Potemkinists screening with Balufu Bakupu-Kanyinda’s Le Damier (in the Revivals programme).
Dennis Lim with Bertrand Bonello for Saint Laurent: “Each Currents lineup is an attempt to distill the spirit of innovation and playfulness...
- 8/26/2022
- by Anne-Katrin Titze
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
Researching the life and career of Maria Schneider for a larger project, filmmaker Elisabeth Subrin discovered a brief interview the actress gave in 1983 for the French TV show Cinéma Cinéma. It’s a conversation alternately defiant and mournful, with Schneider reflecting with real critical awareness upon the gendered power structures of the film industry as well as the violations she experienced living and working within it — including, in one painful section, on the set of Last Tango in Paris. Subrin used the interview as the basis for a 60-second short that was a part of […]
The post “Maria Was Saying Things in 1983 That Were Not Addressed by Actresses Until Decades Later”: Elisabeth Subrin on Her Cannes-Premiering Short, Maria Schneider, 1983 first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.
The post “Maria Was Saying Things in 1983 That Were Not Addressed by Actresses Until Decades Later”: Elisabeth Subrin on Her Cannes-Premiering Short, Maria Schneider, 1983 first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.
- 5/26/2022
- by Madeleine Hunt-Ehrlich
- Filmmaker Magazine-Director Interviews
Researching the life and career of Maria Schneider for a larger project, filmmaker Elisabeth Subrin discovered a brief interview the actress gave in 1983 for the French TV show Cinéma Cinéma. It’s a conversation alternately defiant and mournful, with Schneider reflecting with real critical awareness upon the gendered power structures of the film industry as well as the violations she experienced living and working within it — including, in one painful section, on the set of Last Tango in Paris. Subrin used the interview as the basis for a 60-second short that was a part of […]
The post “Maria Was Saying Things in 1983 That Were Not Addressed by Actresses Until Decades Later”: Elisabeth Subrin on Her Cannes-Premiering Short, Maria Schneider, 1983 first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.
The post “Maria Was Saying Things in 1983 That Were Not Addressed by Actresses Until Decades Later”: Elisabeth Subrin on Her Cannes-Premiering Short, Maria Schneider, 1983 first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.
- 5/26/2022
- by Madeleine Hunt-Ehrlich
- Filmmaker Magazine - Blog
It’s a compact ten offerings that make up the short films selection over at the Directors’ Fortnight. The eyebrow-raiser goes to Radu Jude – who has been “banging” out a bunch of short films since the release of 2021’s Bad Luck Banging or Loony Porn. His The Potemkinists looks at the defiant gesture against Russia made in 1905 by the sailors from the Potemkin Cruiser – they would receive political asylum in Jude’s native Romania. With renewed interested in the life of Maria Schneider (Jessica Palud’s biopic with Anamaria Vartolomei as Maria will premiere next year), Elisabeth Subrin continues to dissect the life of an actress with Maria Schneider, 1983 — you’ll see The Sea Ahead actress Manal Issa (image above), Aïssa Maiga and filmmaker Isabel Sandoval) in the film.…...
- 4/27/2022
- by Eric Lavallée
- IONCINEMA.com
The lineup for the 2022 Directors' Fortnight (Quinzaine des Réalisateurs) at Cannes has been announced. See also the lineup of the Official Selection.Feature Films Scarlet (Pietro Marcello): In northern France, Juliette grows up alone with her father, Raphaël, a veteran of the First World War. Passionate about singing and music, the lonely young girl meets a magician one summer who promises that scarlet sails will one day take her away from her village.1976 (Manuela Martelli): Carmen is 49 years old. Her life as a bourgeois housewife is interrupted when the priest at the church where she does charity work asks her to take care of a young revolutionary, a man he is giving asylum to, who has just been hurt.The Water (Elena López Riera)The Dam (Ali Cherri): Sudan. Maher works in a traditional brickyard fed by the waters of the Nile. Every evening, he secretly wanders...
- 4/27/2022
- MUBI
If 2021 has been a calvacade of bad decisions, dashed hopes, and warning signs for cinema’s strength, the Criterion Channel’s monthly programming has at least buttressed our hopes for something like a better tomorrow. Anyway. The Channel will let us ride out distended (holi)days in the family home with an extensive Alfred Hitchcock series to bring the family together—from the established Rear Window and Vertigo to the (let’s just guess) lesser-seen Downhill and Young and Innocent—Johnnie To’s Throw Down and Orson Welles’ The Magnificent Ambersons in their Criterion editions, and some streaming premieres: Ste. Anne, Lydia Lunch: The War is Never Over, and The Incredibly True Adventure of Two Girls in Love.
Special notice to Yvonne Rainer’s brain-expanding Film About a Woman Who . . .—debuting in “Female Gaze: Women Directors + Women Cinematographers,” a series that does as it says on the tin—and a Joseph Cotten retro boasting Ambersons,...
Special notice to Yvonne Rainer’s brain-expanding Film About a Woman Who . . .—debuting in “Female Gaze: Women Directors + Women Cinematographers,” a series that does as it says on the tin—and a Joseph Cotten retro boasting Ambersons,...
- 11/21/2021
- by Nick Newman
- The Film Stage
Get in touch to send in cinephile news and discoveries. For daily updates follow us @NotebookMUBI.NEWSWe're thrilled to announce Notebook magazine, a new biannual print-only publication dedicated to the art and culture of cinema, with original contributions by film artists, writers, curators, and archivists about a unique and eclectic array of cinematic subjects. Inside our pilot Issue 0 you'll find Apichatpong Weerasethakul reflecting on his personal journey and Wes Anderson on The French Dispatch and The New Yorker; explorations of moviegoing and odes to movie magazines; conversations between the cinema exhibitors of Milan's Cinema Beltrade and Dubai's Cinema Akil, as well as between directors Emma Seligman and Mike Leigh; movie posters from a milestone MoMA exhibition; sheet music handwritten by Nino Rota; new translations of writings by Yasujiro Ozu; and much more. This issue is printed in a limited edition and available for pre-order to Mubi subscribers only—get yours now,...
- 10/27/2021
- MUBI
Strand Releasing, the inventive, carefully curated independent distributor known for its release of both American and international arthouse auteurs, turns 30 this year, and to celebrate it has invited its filmmaker friends to create short iPhone films that speak in various ways to Strand’s mission and film culture today. I’m happy to premiere here exclusively at Filmmaker shorts by Ira Sachs, whose Frankie opens this Friday, October 25th; Indignation director, screenwriter and producer James Schamus; and Shulie and A Woman, A Part director Elisabeth Subrin. Previously released have been shorts by Fatih Akin and Karim Ainouz. Comments Strand co-founder Marcus […]...
- 10/22/2019
- by Scott Macaulay
- Filmmaker Magazine - Blog
Strand Releasing, the inventive, carefully curated independent distributor known for its release of both American and international arthouse auteurs, turns 30 this year, and to celebrate it has invited its filmmaker friends to create short iPhone films that speak in various ways to Strand’s mission and film culture today. I’m happy to premiere here exclusively at Filmmaker shorts by Ira Sachs, whose Frankie opens this Friday, October 25th; Indignation director, screenwriter and producer James Schamus; and Shulie and A Woman, A Part director Elisabeth Subrin. Previously released have been shorts by Fatih Akin and Karim Ainouz. Comments Strand co-founder Marcus […]...
- 10/22/2019
- by Scott Macaulay
- Filmmaker Magazine-Director Interviews
The Very Eye of Night is a series of columns on non-binary and female avant-garde film and video artists. The title refers to Maya Deren’s last completed film. Anthology Film Archives in New York presents a five-program retrospective of Carole Roussopoulos’s videos from November 7–9, 2017. The screenings will be introduced by Nicole Fernández Ferrer, director of the Simone de Beauvoir Audiovisual Center.Carole Roussopoulos, 1970. Photo by Guy Le Querrec.Jean-Luc Godard wrote a letter to Carole Roussopoulos in 1979 for Cahiers du cinéma in which he reflected on the motivations behind making films, and inquired: “Sometimes I wonder what has happened to all you have filmed in the four corners of France and the world… And I wonder why people in cinema want to film others with so much frenzy.” As Nicole Brenez recalls, the Swiss filmmaker responded to him: “to privilege the approach of those without a voice.” Carole Roussopoulos...
- 11/7/2017
- MUBI
Netflix adds new movies almost every day, which only makes it harder to find ones worth watching. That’s where IndieWire comes in. From low-budget American gems to foreign film masterpieces, these are the overlooked independent movies you’ve got to make time for on Netflix. All titles are now available to stream.
Read More: 7 Netflix Original Movies That Are Worth Seeking Out
“6 Years” (2015)
“6 Years” provides a moving snapshot of a troubled relationship. The movie follows a young couple facing the titular anniversary as their future is challenged by various spats and infidelities. With an improvisatory style and two heartbreaking performances from Taissa Farmiga and Ben Rosenfield, “6 Years” imbues its traditional narrative with a fiery edge. Read IndieWire’s review.
“A Woman, A Part“ (2016)
In her feature directorial debut, Elisabeth Subrin confronts industry-wide sexism head on, making it clear that her protagonist’s experiences are not unique and dismantling any...
Read More: 7 Netflix Original Movies That Are Worth Seeking Out
“6 Years” (2015)
“6 Years” provides a moving snapshot of a troubled relationship. The movie follows a young couple facing the titular anniversary as their future is challenged by various spats and infidelities. With an improvisatory style and two heartbreaking performances from Taissa Farmiga and Ben Rosenfield, “6 Years” imbues its traditional narrative with a fiery edge. Read IndieWire’s review.
“A Woman, A Part“ (2016)
In her feature directorial debut, Elisabeth Subrin confronts industry-wide sexism head on, making it clear that her protagonist’s experiences are not unique and dismantling any...
- 7/27/2017
- by Zack Sharf
- Indiewire
“American Fringe: A New Look at American Independent Cinema” will officially launch this November as part of the Festival d’Automne. This new film series, which will take place from November 25 to November 27, will screen eight recent American independent feature films that collectively and individually capture the irreverence and innovation that have always been at the heart of that movement.
Produced by The Arts Arena, a Parisian nonprofit initiative in the visual arts, performing arts, film and issues of culture and society, the organization has just announced the lineup.
Read More: Parisian Arts Initiative Launching ‘American Fringe’ Film Series in 2016
Organized and selected by Richard Peña, Director Emeritus of the New York Film Festival, and Alessia Palanti, the duo know that recently there has been an enormous growth in the number of indie films and documentaries created. With “American Fringe” they hope to celebrate a slew of works that still...
Produced by The Arts Arena, a Parisian nonprofit initiative in the visual arts, performing arts, film and issues of culture and society, the organization has just announced the lineup.
Read More: Parisian Arts Initiative Launching ‘American Fringe’ Film Series in 2016
Organized and selected by Richard Peña, Director Emeritus of the New York Film Festival, and Alessia Palanti, the duo know that recently there has been an enormous growth in the number of indie films and documentaries created. With “American Fringe” they hope to celebrate a slew of works that still...
- 9/27/2016
- by Liz Calvario
- Indiewire
Opening this Friday September 23rd in New York is Shrihari Sathe’s award winning Marathi film 1000 Rupee Note. Winner of over 30 awards from film festivals around the world, the Maharashtra-set film about a widow who comes across a small fortune won both the Special Jury Award (Silver Peacock) and Centenary Award for Best Film at the International Film Festival of India. It also swept the Maharashtra State Film Awards winning Best Film, Best Director, Best Actress (Special Mention), and Best Supporting Actor.
International critics have raved about 1000 Rupee Note with the Times of India remarking “the director has struck gold with his first film!”
Here is some exciting news, there will be a special Q and A session with the director Shrihari Sathe on 9/23 and 9/24 after the 7pm and 9:25pm show and on 9/25 after the 4pm and 7pm shows. To find out more click https://www.citycinemas.com/villageeast/film/1000-rupee-note
Synopsis: Budhi,...
International critics have raved about 1000 Rupee Note with the Times of India remarking “the director has struck gold with his first film!”
Here is some exciting news, there will be a special Q and A session with the director Shrihari Sathe on 9/23 and 9/24 after the 7pm and 9:25pm show and on 9/25 after the 4pm and 7pm shows. To find out more click https://www.citycinemas.com/villageeast/film/1000-rupee-note
Synopsis: Budhi,...
- 9/22/2016
- by Stacey Yount
- Bollyspice
Winner of over 30 awards from film festivals around the world, the critically acclaimed motion picture 1000 Rupee Note opens theatrically on September 23 in New York. Directed by Shrihari Sathe, the Maharashtra-set film about a widow who comes across a small fortune won both the Special Jury Award (Silver Peacock) and Centenary Award for Best Film at the International Film Festival of India. It also swept the Maharashtra State Film Awards winning Best Film, Best Director, Best Actress (Special Mention), and Best Supporting Actor.
International critics have raved about 1000 Rupee Note with the Times of India remarking “the director has struck gold with his first film!”
Synopsis:
Budhi, a widow, lives in a small village in Maharashtra, India. Her only son, a young farmer, has committed suicide. Though poor and left alone in the world, she leads a cheerful life. She is particularly fond of her neighbor, young Sudama with whom she...
International critics have raved about 1000 Rupee Note with the Times of India remarking “the director has struck gold with his first film!”
Synopsis:
Budhi, a widow, lives in a small village in Maharashtra, India. Her only son, a young farmer, has committed suicide. Though poor and left alone in the world, she leads a cheerful life. She is particularly fond of her neighbor, young Sudama with whom she...
- 9/4/2016
- by Press Releases
- Bollyspice
Girl Talk is a weekly look at women in film — past, present and future.
Earlier this week, the state of California released a seemingly innocuous list of upcoming films set to receive tax credits for their production. Among that list — which only includes films that are operating with budgets larger than $75 million — there was at least one title that stood out in a huge, boundary-busting way. As Women and Hollywood confirms, Ava DuVernay’s next film, a big screen adaptation of the Madeleine L’Engle classic “A Wrinkle in Time,” will be made with a budget that will exceed $100 million. That a female director is helming such a deep-pocketed live-action film is news in and of itself — DuVernay joins a select club that so far only includes Kathryn Bigelow (“K-19: The Widowmaker”) and Patty Jenkins (“Wonder Woman”) — but that’s not all, because DuVernay is now starting her own club.
Earlier this week, the state of California released a seemingly innocuous list of upcoming films set to receive tax credits for their production. Among that list — which only includes films that are operating with budgets larger than $75 million — there was at least one title that stood out in a huge, boundary-busting way. As Women and Hollywood confirms, Ava DuVernay’s next film, a big screen adaptation of the Madeleine L’Engle classic “A Wrinkle in Time,” will be made with a budget that will exceed $100 million. That a female director is helming such a deep-pocketed live-action film is news in and of itself — DuVernay joins a select club that so far only includes Kathryn Bigelow (“K-19: The Widowmaker”) and Patty Jenkins (“Wonder Woman”) — but that’s not all, because DuVernay is now starting her own club.
- 8/4/2016
- by Kate Erbland
- Indiewire
Girl Talk is a weekly look at women in film — past, present and future.
Elisabeth Subrin’s feature directorial debut, “A Woman, A Part,” is a film about now. The film follows Maggie Siff as actress Anna Baskin, star of a seemingly popular and well-regarded network television series, who has grown increasingly disenfranchised with the work afforded to her by her industry. Fresh off a recent battle with an autoimmune disease and frustrated by a career path that doesn’t value her creative input, Anna takes a break from her show and heads back to the familiar environs of New York City, where she got her start in experimental theater.
Anna’s success on the small screen has alienated her from her friends, including her closest confidants and former performing partners, Kate (Cara Seymour) and Isaac (John Ortiz). When she returns to NYC (and Kate and Isaac), some old wounds are reopened and some hard truths – especially about the intersection of emotion and art – are revealed. “A Woman, A Part” confronts industry-wide sexism head on, making it clear that Anna’s experiences are not unique and dismantling any romantic notions about how Hollywood operates.
Read More: ‘A Woman, A Part’ Captures the Ripples from a Hollywood Actress’ Return to New York
Although the film is Subrin’s narrative feature debut, the visual artist and filmmaker has long used film and video to tell her stories, and it’s not the first story she wanted to turn into a long-form offering. In 2003, Subrin was picked for the Sundance Institute’s Feature Film Directing and Screenwriting Labs, where she worked on her first feature-length screenplay, “Up.” The film’s plotline proved to be prescient: The film, about the dotcom bubble, was scrapped because of the American economy went topside in the early aughts. (Subrin, however, is still dedicated to making the film and expects to make it after shooting another experimental short.)
Heartbroken over the fate of “Up,” Subrin backed away from filmmaking for years, until her producer Scott Macaulay encouraged her to channel her professional frustrations and personal pain into a new script. That screenplay eventually became “A Woman, A Part.”
“I kind of put all my personal challenges into it,” Subrin recently told IndieWire. The result is an intimate film with a big message, and a feminist feature that embraces equality in all its forms, both in front of and behind the camera. That it’s also about the industry it actively subverts is just icing on the cake.
Two Women, Two Parts
Siff was Subrin’s first choice for the complicated role of Anna, a part that Siff personally sparked to early on. “I was intrigued and also sort of intimidated by it, because it bears a lot of resemblance to my own life, not so much in whom the character is or what necessarily her psychology and crises are, but the life of the actor and the things that you struggle with and the lifestyle in Los Angeles,” Siff said. “You burn out.”
Having previously worked with Seymour, Subrin knew what she could bring to the also complex demands of playing Kate. “This is a brilliant actor, and she’s not getting big enough parts that reflect everything she can do,” Subrin said of Seymour. “I knew she could sink herself into this.”
“It’s always nice to get something you can really sink your teeth into, and to explore a character with many dimensions,” Seymour said. “I knew it wasn’t just about playing someone who is both sympathetic and angry, or alcoholic and a lesbian, it’s about the spiritual dimension of a character. You think it’s familiar, but it’s not.”
“It’s Just Not the Status Quo”
Another thing that wasn’t familiar? The on-set vibe provided by having not only a female director, but a crew that was evenly split between the genders. “There was a really, really different kind of vibe on set,” Siff said. “It was one of those things that once you’re inside of it, because it’s just not the status quo, you’re like, ‘This is amazing!'”
Subrin’s sensibilities and sensitivities permeated every part of the production, something the filmmaker made clear to her performers early on.
“She said to me, ‘Just so you know, this film is not going to have a male gaze,'” Siff remembered. “Usually, the camera is operated by a guy and it’s something that’s written by a guy and directed by a guy, so of course the camera is the male gaze. When she said that, I was intrigued. She said, ‘I’m not going to fetishize your body. It’s not going to be about you looking sexy. It’s going to be about a woman’s emotional experience of moment. You’re not going to feel objectified.”
For Siff, the end result was an experience like no other and one she’d like to have much more often. “Why can’t 50 percent of my experiences be like this? Why is this one in a hundred? Why isn’t this one out of two?” Siff said.
One obvious impediment to Siff and other performers having this kind of experience is film financing. For Subrin, it wasn’t easy to get the funds to make “A Woman, A Part,” despite her background, her passion and her cast.
Finding Financing
“We went the traditional route first, the usual suspects, who said really nice things about the script, and either wanted bigger name actors or couldn’t connect to it. It’s a very particular film, and we were really prepared for that,” Subrin said.
But despite being “a very particular film,” Subrin admits that “A Woman, A Part” does share some large similarities with other films that have gone before it and that have been both critically and financially successful. But that’s not something that investors connected to.
“One potential investor said, ‘The last thing I’m interested in is a story about a burnt out fortysomething actress who moves to New York and gets in a play to try to find herself,’ and [producer] Scott was just like, ‘Unless it’s a little movie called “Birdman.”‘ It is ‘Birdman’! It is the same film,” Subrin said. “That kind of says it all.”
Subrin, however, remained committed to getting the film made. “We recognized that we needed to find smaller investors and build up the budget, teeny piece by teeny piece,” she said. They did just that, eventually cobbling together the money to make the film, though its production was threatened by Siff and Seymour’s tight schedules on “Billions” and “The Knick,” respectively. Subrin forged ahead.
“We probably had no business going into production when we did. We were like, ‘Do we wait a year?’ and I was like, ‘No way. I’ve waited a decade,'” Subrin said.
The Narrow Ideas of Women
Early in the film, Anna has a breakdown that culminates with her reading through a stack of scripts for potential roles, only to discover that each screenplay is filled with one-dimensional female characters, trope-laden narratives and wooden dialogue. Already on edge, Anna throws each and every script into her pool.
It’s a situation that rang true for both Siff and Seymour.
“There is just an ocean of roles and scripts that you’re sort of reading through that are really trite and redundant. There are a lot of tropes for women you encounter over and over and over again, depending on your type,” Siff said.
“I myself have thrown scripts across the room, and I know many actresses who do. It’s getting better, but it’s unbelievable how we’re asked to represent the narrow [ideas of women],” Seymour said.
“For a long time, I felt like I was getting scripts when I was younger that were sort of like the ‘sardonic bitchy best friend.’ It’s like, ‘Oh, there’s the bitchy best friend again that I have no interest in playing,’ then you graduate to the ‘bitchy ex-wife,'” Siff added. “It kind of goes on from there.”
Parts like that of Anna and Kate in “A Woman, A Part” afforded both actresses the chance to do something more meaningful. “When you read something that’s actually got depth and warmth and feels real, it almost feels like a shock to the system,” Siff said. “‘Oh wait, that feels real, that feels true. That feels like something we’ve never seen before. Why haven’t I ever seen this before?'”
“I feel really excited about the way Maggie and Cara’s performances are being received, because they’re complex characters and they’re not always likable and they’re not twenty-five,” Subrin said.
“Kicking and Screaming”
For Seymour, the possibilities laid out by Subrin’s film (and its unique production) have her excited for the future. “One day, we’ll see it as just hilarious, [how getting parts was] based entirely on what you look like and how fuckable you are and how that defines how much screen time you get and how much you are allowed to express yourself.”
Subrin, however, is a little more restrained when talking about the future.
Read More: 10 Essential Films About Women In Crisis
“I’m not sure I totally agree that things are changing, because I think we’re pretty much at a primordial state in change. The first thing is a lot of kicking and screaming, and we have been doing that forever,” Subrin said. “When I look at what films are in the festivals, when I look at the statistics of what is in the festivals, when I look at the 2016 statistics, it hasn’t changed. I just want to see other stories.”
“A Woman, A Part” is screening at BAMcinemaFest on Sunday, June 19. It is currently seeking distribution.
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Elisabeth Subrin’s feature directorial debut, “A Woman, A Part,” is a film about now. The film follows Maggie Siff as actress Anna Baskin, star of a seemingly popular and well-regarded network television series, who has grown increasingly disenfranchised with the work afforded to her by her industry. Fresh off a recent battle with an autoimmune disease and frustrated by a career path that doesn’t value her creative input, Anna takes a break from her show and heads back to the familiar environs of New York City, where she got her start in experimental theater.
Anna’s success on the small screen has alienated her from her friends, including her closest confidants and former performing partners, Kate (Cara Seymour) and Isaac (John Ortiz). When she returns to NYC (and Kate and Isaac), some old wounds are reopened and some hard truths – especially about the intersection of emotion and art – are revealed. “A Woman, A Part” confronts industry-wide sexism head on, making it clear that Anna’s experiences are not unique and dismantling any romantic notions about how Hollywood operates.
Read More: ‘A Woman, A Part’ Captures the Ripples from a Hollywood Actress’ Return to New York
Although the film is Subrin’s narrative feature debut, the visual artist and filmmaker has long used film and video to tell her stories, and it’s not the first story she wanted to turn into a long-form offering. In 2003, Subrin was picked for the Sundance Institute’s Feature Film Directing and Screenwriting Labs, where she worked on her first feature-length screenplay, “Up.” The film’s plotline proved to be prescient: The film, about the dotcom bubble, was scrapped because of the American economy went topside in the early aughts. (Subrin, however, is still dedicated to making the film and expects to make it after shooting another experimental short.)
Heartbroken over the fate of “Up,” Subrin backed away from filmmaking for years, until her producer Scott Macaulay encouraged her to channel her professional frustrations and personal pain into a new script. That screenplay eventually became “A Woman, A Part.”
“I kind of put all my personal challenges into it,” Subrin recently told IndieWire. The result is an intimate film with a big message, and a feminist feature that embraces equality in all its forms, both in front of and behind the camera. That it’s also about the industry it actively subverts is just icing on the cake.
Two Women, Two Parts
Siff was Subrin’s first choice for the complicated role of Anna, a part that Siff personally sparked to early on. “I was intrigued and also sort of intimidated by it, because it bears a lot of resemblance to my own life, not so much in whom the character is or what necessarily her psychology and crises are, but the life of the actor and the things that you struggle with and the lifestyle in Los Angeles,” Siff said. “You burn out.”
Having previously worked with Seymour, Subrin knew what she could bring to the also complex demands of playing Kate. “This is a brilliant actor, and she’s not getting big enough parts that reflect everything she can do,” Subrin said of Seymour. “I knew she could sink herself into this.”
“It’s always nice to get something you can really sink your teeth into, and to explore a character with many dimensions,” Seymour said. “I knew it wasn’t just about playing someone who is both sympathetic and angry, or alcoholic and a lesbian, it’s about the spiritual dimension of a character. You think it’s familiar, but it’s not.”
“It’s Just Not the Status Quo”
Another thing that wasn’t familiar? The on-set vibe provided by having not only a female director, but a crew that was evenly split between the genders. “There was a really, really different kind of vibe on set,” Siff said. “It was one of those things that once you’re inside of it, because it’s just not the status quo, you’re like, ‘This is amazing!'”
Subrin’s sensibilities and sensitivities permeated every part of the production, something the filmmaker made clear to her performers early on.
“She said to me, ‘Just so you know, this film is not going to have a male gaze,'” Siff remembered. “Usually, the camera is operated by a guy and it’s something that’s written by a guy and directed by a guy, so of course the camera is the male gaze. When she said that, I was intrigued. She said, ‘I’m not going to fetishize your body. It’s not going to be about you looking sexy. It’s going to be about a woman’s emotional experience of moment. You’re not going to feel objectified.”
For Siff, the end result was an experience like no other and one she’d like to have much more often. “Why can’t 50 percent of my experiences be like this? Why is this one in a hundred? Why isn’t this one out of two?” Siff said.
One obvious impediment to Siff and other performers having this kind of experience is film financing. For Subrin, it wasn’t easy to get the funds to make “A Woman, A Part,” despite her background, her passion and her cast.
Finding Financing
“We went the traditional route first, the usual suspects, who said really nice things about the script, and either wanted bigger name actors or couldn’t connect to it. It’s a very particular film, and we were really prepared for that,” Subrin said.
But despite being “a very particular film,” Subrin admits that “A Woman, A Part” does share some large similarities with other films that have gone before it and that have been both critically and financially successful. But that’s not something that investors connected to.
“One potential investor said, ‘The last thing I’m interested in is a story about a burnt out fortysomething actress who moves to New York and gets in a play to try to find herself,’ and [producer] Scott was just like, ‘Unless it’s a little movie called “Birdman.”‘ It is ‘Birdman’! It is the same film,” Subrin said. “That kind of says it all.”
Subrin, however, remained committed to getting the film made. “We recognized that we needed to find smaller investors and build up the budget, teeny piece by teeny piece,” she said. They did just that, eventually cobbling together the money to make the film, though its production was threatened by Siff and Seymour’s tight schedules on “Billions” and “The Knick,” respectively. Subrin forged ahead.
“We probably had no business going into production when we did. We were like, ‘Do we wait a year?’ and I was like, ‘No way. I’ve waited a decade,'” Subrin said.
The Narrow Ideas of Women
Early in the film, Anna has a breakdown that culminates with her reading through a stack of scripts for potential roles, only to discover that each screenplay is filled with one-dimensional female characters, trope-laden narratives and wooden dialogue. Already on edge, Anna throws each and every script into her pool.
It’s a situation that rang true for both Siff and Seymour.
“There is just an ocean of roles and scripts that you’re sort of reading through that are really trite and redundant. There are a lot of tropes for women you encounter over and over and over again, depending on your type,” Siff said.
“I myself have thrown scripts across the room, and I know many actresses who do. It’s getting better, but it’s unbelievable how we’re asked to represent the narrow [ideas of women],” Seymour said.
“For a long time, I felt like I was getting scripts when I was younger that were sort of like the ‘sardonic bitchy best friend.’ It’s like, ‘Oh, there’s the bitchy best friend again that I have no interest in playing,’ then you graduate to the ‘bitchy ex-wife,'” Siff added. “It kind of goes on from there.”
Parts like that of Anna and Kate in “A Woman, A Part” afforded both actresses the chance to do something more meaningful. “When you read something that’s actually got depth and warmth and feels real, it almost feels like a shock to the system,” Siff said. “‘Oh wait, that feels real, that feels true. That feels like something we’ve never seen before. Why haven’t I ever seen this before?'”
“I feel really excited about the way Maggie and Cara’s performances are being received, because they’re complex characters and they’re not always likable and they’re not twenty-five,” Subrin said.
“Kicking and Screaming”
For Seymour, the possibilities laid out by Subrin’s film (and its unique production) have her excited for the future. “One day, we’ll see it as just hilarious, [how getting parts was] based entirely on what you look like and how fuckable you are and how that defines how much screen time you get and how much you are allowed to express yourself.”
Subrin, however, is a little more restrained when talking about the future.
Read More: 10 Essential Films About Women In Crisis
“I’m not sure I totally agree that things are changing, because I think we’re pretty much at a primordial state in change. The first thing is a lot of kicking and screaming, and we have been doing that forever,” Subrin said. “When I look at what films are in the festivals, when I look at the statistics of what is in the festivals, when I look at the 2016 statistics, it hasn’t changed. I just want to see other stories.”
“A Woman, A Part” is screening at BAMcinemaFest on Sunday, June 19. It is currently seeking distribution.
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Related storiesReview: Ti West's 'In A Valley Of Violence' Is A Western 'John Wick,' But Mostly Shoots Blanks'The Childhood Of A Leader' Review: Brady Corbet's Directorial Debut Is An Enthralling Mind-f*ck12 Must-See Films at BAMCinemaFest 2016...
- 6/16/2016
- by Kate Erbland
- Indiewire
Exclusive: Film follows a young Tibetan woman living in exile in Delhi.
Shrihari Sathe’s Infinitum Productions has boarded Ritu Sarin and Tenzing Sonam’s second narrative feature The Sweet Requiem.
Scripted by Sonam, the film follows a young Tibetan woman living in exile in Delhi, whose life is unexpectedly shattered when she runs into a man from her past. Sarin and Sonam will co-direct, while Sathe will produce alongside Sarin.
Sarin and Sonam’s first narrative feature, Dreaming Lhasa (2005), was executive produced by Jeremy Thomas and Richard Gere and premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival. Their credits also include award-winning documentaries such as The Sun Behind The Clouds (2010) and When Hari Got Married (2012).
The Sweet Requiem was selected for the Drishyam-Sundance Institute Screenwriters’ Lab in 2015, as well as Busan’s Asian Project market and Film Bazaar in Goa. Cast and locations have been finalised and the film will shoot on location in India later this year...
Shrihari Sathe’s Infinitum Productions has boarded Ritu Sarin and Tenzing Sonam’s second narrative feature The Sweet Requiem.
Scripted by Sonam, the film follows a young Tibetan woman living in exile in Delhi, whose life is unexpectedly shattered when she runs into a man from her past. Sarin and Sonam will co-direct, while Sathe will produce alongside Sarin.
Sarin and Sonam’s first narrative feature, Dreaming Lhasa (2005), was executive produced by Jeremy Thomas and Richard Gere and premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival. Their credits also include award-winning documentaries such as The Sun Behind The Clouds (2010) and When Hari Got Married (2012).
The Sweet Requiem was selected for the Drishyam-Sundance Institute Screenwriters’ Lab in 2015, as well as Busan’s Asian Project market and Film Bazaar in Goa. Cast and locations have been finalised and the film will shoot on location in India later this year...
- 2/15/2016
- by lizshackleton@gmail.com (Liz Shackleton)
- ScreenDaily
The teams behind A Woman, A Part and La Ultima Tierra discussed the pros and cons of the director-producer relationship in Rotterdam.
Led by Picture Palace Pictures’ creative producer Madeleine Molyneux, and featuring the creative teams behind two of the eight Hivos Tiger Award Competition contenders at International Film Festival Rotterdam (Iffr), the panel put the spotlight on what is needed for a strong director and producer team.
Advantages - La Ultima Tierra
La Ultima Tierra producer Ilse Hughan started by explaining the origins of her relationship with director Pablo Lamar, whom she met in Argentina in 2009.
“I’m from the Netherlands but I have been based in Argentina since 2000. When I met Pablo, we got along really well, and then ‘got married’ in 2010.”
The producer compares her working relationship with Lamar to that moment when your phone rings and you look to see who it is: “It’s that feeling when you’re excited to pick...
Led by Picture Palace Pictures’ creative producer Madeleine Molyneux, and featuring the creative teams behind two of the eight Hivos Tiger Award Competition contenders at International Film Festival Rotterdam (Iffr), the panel put the spotlight on what is needed for a strong director and producer team.
Advantages - La Ultima Tierra
La Ultima Tierra producer Ilse Hughan started by explaining the origins of her relationship with director Pablo Lamar, whom she met in Argentina in 2009.
“I’m from the Netherlands but I have been based in Argentina since 2000. When I met Pablo, we got along really well, and then ‘got married’ in 2010.”
The producer compares her working relationship with Lamar to that moment when your phone rings and you look to see who it is: “It’s that feeling when you’re excited to pick...
- 1/31/2016
- ScreenDaily
History's FutureScheduled to open later this month (27 January - 7 Febuary 2016), the 45th International Film Festival Rotterdam has announced the titles included in its competition, which has scaled back the number of films competing to eight this year.Tiger Award COMPETITIONHistory's Future – Fiona Tan (The Netherlands, world premiere)The Land of the Enlightened – Pieter-Jan De Pue (Belgium, The Netherlands, Ireland, Germany, European premiere)Motel Mist – Prabda Yoon (Thailand, world premiere)Oscuro animal – Felipe Guerrero (Colombia, Argentina, The Netherlands, Germany, Greece, world premiere)Radio Dreams – Babak Jalali (USA, world premiere)La última tierra – Pablo Lamar (Paraguay, The Netherlands, Chile, Qatar, world premiere)Where I Grow Old – Marília Rocha (Brazil, Portugal, world premiere)A Woman, a Part – Elisabeth Subrin (USA, world premiere)
Bright FUTUREAlba – Ana Cristina Barragán (Ecuador, Mexico, Greece, world premiere)Alone – Park Hongmin (South Korea, international premiere)Animal político – Tião (Brazil, world premiere)The Bear Tales – Samuele Sestieri, Olmo Amato (Italy,...
Bright FUTUREAlba – Ana Cristina Barragán (Ecuador, Mexico, Greece, world premiere)Alone – Park Hongmin (South Korea, international premiere)Animal político – Tião (Brazil, world premiere)The Bear Tales – Samuele Sestieri, Olmo Amato (Italy,...
- 1/5/2016
- by Notebook
- MUBI
The International Film Festival Rotterdam has announced the eight titles lined up for its revamped Hivos Tiger Awards Competition. Festival director Bero Beyer: "Not only is the prize money higher, but from the upcoming festival, every day a new 'Tiger' will be put in the spotlight, with full attention for that film that day." We've got notes on History's Future, directed by Fiona Tan, Motel Mist (Prabda Yoon), Oscuro animal (Felipe Guerrero), Radio Dreams (Babak Jalali), La última tierra (Pablo Lamar), Where I Grow Old (Marília Rocha), A Woman, a Part (Elisabeth Subrin) and The Land of the Enlightened (Pieter-Jan De Pue). » - David Hudson...
- 1/5/2016
- Keyframe
The International Film Festival Rotterdam has announced the eight titles lined up for its revamped Hivos Tiger Awards Competition. Festival director Bero Beyer: "Not only is the prize money higher, but from the upcoming festival, every day a new 'Tiger' will be put in the spotlight, with full attention for that film that day." We've got notes on History's Future, directed by Fiona Tan, Motel Mist (Prabda Yoon), Oscuro animal (Felipe Guerrero), Radio Dreams (Babak Jalali), La última tierra (Pablo Lamar), Where I Grow Old (Marília Rocha), A Woman, a Part (Elisabeth Subrin) and The Land of the Enlightened (Pieter-Jan De Pue). » - David Hudson...
- 1/5/2016
- Fandor: Keyframe
World premieres of new features from the Us, South America and Asia; titles include A Woman, A Part starring Mad Men’s Maggie Siff; jury named.
International Film Festival Rotterdam (Iffr) has revealed the eight titles that will compete in the revamped Hivos Tiger Awards Competition at this year’s 45th edition (Jan 27-Feb 7).
The titles are:
History’s Future - Fiona Tan (Neth)The Land Of The Enlightened - Pieter-Jan De Pue (Bel-Neth-Ire-Ger)Motel Mist - Prabda Yoon (Thai)Oscuro Animal - Felipe Guerrero (Col-Arg-Neth-Ger-Gre)Radio Dreams - Babak Jalali (Us)La Ultima Tierra - Pablo Lamar (Par-Neth-Chi-Qat)Where I Grow Old - Marília Rocha (Bra-Por)A Woman, A Part - Elisabeth Subrin (Us)
All are world premieres, except The Land Of The Enlightened, which will receive its European premiere at Iffr after screening at Sundance in the world cinema documentary competition.
Other notable titles include Us drama A Woman, A Part, which...
International Film Festival Rotterdam (Iffr) has revealed the eight titles that will compete in the revamped Hivos Tiger Awards Competition at this year’s 45th edition (Jan 27-Feb 7).
The titles are:
History’s Future - Fiona Tan (Neth)The Land Of The Enlightened - Pieter-Jan De Pue (Bel-Neth-Ire-Ger)Motel Mist - Prabda Yoon (Thai)Oscuro Animal - Felipe Guerrero (Col-Arg-Neth-Ger-Gre)Radio Dreams - Babak Jalali (Us)La Ultima Tierra - Pablo Lamar (Par-Neth-Chi-Qat)Where I Grow Old - Marília Rocha (Bra-Por)A Woman, A Part - Elisabeth Subrin (Us)
All are world premieres, except The Land Of The Enlightened, which will receive its European premiere at Iffr after screening at Sundance in the world cinema documentary competition.
Other notable titles include Us drama A Woman, A Part, which...
- 1/5/2016
- by michael.rosser@screendaily.com (Michael Rosser)
- ScreenDaily
The fourth annual Migrating Forms media festival, which will run May 11-20 at the Anthology Film Archives in NYC, is a compelling mix of political films, pop culture explorations, ethnographic exposés and collections of new media art.
The fest begins and ends with political films directed and curated by Eric Baudelaire. His latest work, The Anabasis of May and Fusako Shigenobu, Masao Adachi and 27 Years without Images, opens the festival on May 11; while a pair of films – Masao Adachi & Kôji Wakamatsu’s Red Army/Pflp: Declaration of World War and The Dziga Vertov Group’s Ici et Ailleurs closes it on May 20.
Some of the special events sprinkled throughout the event include Ed Halter‘s survey of faux experimental films made for mainstream movies and TV shows that should prove to be an amazingly entertaining and enlightening discussion; a retrospective of the highly influential animation by Chuck Jones; the interactive...
The fest begins and ends with political films directed and curated by Eric Baudelaire. His latest work, The Anabasis of May and Fusako Shigenobu, Masao Adachi and 27 Years without Images, opens the festival on May 11; while a pair of films – Masao Adachi & Kôji Wakamatsu’s Red Army/Pflp: Declaration of World War and The Dziga Vertov Group’s Ici et Ailleurs closes it on May 20.
Some of the special events sprinkled throughout the event include Ed Halter‘s survey of faux experimental films made for mainstream movies and TV shows that should prove to be an amazingly entertaining and enlightening discussion; a retrospective of the highly influential animation by Chuck Jones; the interactive...
- 4/26/2012
- by Mike Everleth
- Underground Film Journal
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