For the twenty-first summer in a row, Rooftop Films will be screening some of the best in independent and documentary film in unique outdoor setting all across the New York City. In that time, they have been the first to identify some of the best filmmaking talent in the world, and through their Filmmakers Fund they’ve backed these filmmakers breakout projects.
Past grantees have included Ana Lily Amirpour’s “The Bad Batch,” David Lowery’s “Ain’t Them Bodies Saints,” Benh Zeitlin’s “Glory at Sea,” Lucy Walker’s “The Tsunami” and many more.
Rooftop digs up gems and shorts that haven’t been getting a ton of word of mouth and shares them – along with popular festival titles like “The Big Sick”– with their dedicated and artistically curious audience who have come to trust their curation.
IndieWire recently checked in with Rooftop program director Dan Nuxoll to find out what films and filmmakers we should have on our radar for 2017.
What film has fallen through the festival cracks this year?
Certainly “The Genius and the Opera Singer” hasn’t yet gotten nearly the love it deserves, but I hope that changes soon. It’s a powerful dark comic documentary that certainly goes to some emotionally difficult places, but watching it is an undeniably unique experience. We showed it this past Saturday and the audience reaction was even more positive than I anticipated. The crowd loved it, despite some heavy moments. It’s a very well-crafted and expertly-edited film and it’s much more entertaining than one might expect. It’s Vanessa Stockley’s first film and it’s a revelation.
I’m also a big fan of Jeff Unay’s “The Cage Fighter,” which is a beautifully shot and very intimate and personal film that premiered at San Francisco a couple of months ago – it’s a gorgeous doc. Plus Morten Traavik and Ugis Olte’s “Liberation Day” is a boisterous and fascinating film about Laibach, who are a very strange strange but wonderful cult Slovenian band who have a very fascist aesthetic and who somehow convince the North Korean government to allow them to perform there. It’s a very enjoyable provocation.
You were the first one to tip me off to Ana Lily Amirpour and Jonas Carpignano. What up and coming filmmaker should we paying to, but we aren’t?
Dave McCary. His film “Brigsby Bear” premiered at Sundance and got very strong reviews but I don’t think it has yet gotten nearly the attention it deserves. McCary and star Kyle Mooney had a successful sketch comedy group and later joined SNL, so going into the premiere I assumed the film would be funny, but I will admit I didn’t have particularly high expectations otherwise. But I definitely underestimate them–it’s strikingly well executed and the comic and emotional components of the film are expertly balanced.
And beyond that, McCary has a unique touch that you rarely see in comedy films–an ability to dance around the character arcs and emotional trajectory of the characters without ever slipping into maudlin sentimentality and never losing the absurd comic energy. Whenever it seems that the film is about to head someplace conventional, McCary injects a perfectly timed comic turnabout that propels the film forward, but never quite in the direction you expect.
There have been a lot of really good dark indie comedies this year, but “Brigsby” is as funny as any of them while also being full of light and warmth and emotional generosity. It’s a special film and I hope that enough people see it so that it becomes a classic and not just a cult classic.
What’s one film in your lineup that does something new and exciting with the medium?
I was blown away by Amman Abbassi’s “Dayveon.” There have been a lot of independent coming of age films over the years, but few of them manage to balance realism and lyrical artistry quite as wonderfully as this debut feature. Capturing the warmth of an Arkansas summer and the emotional confusion of a thirteen year old struggling after the murder of his older brother, Abbassi establishes himself as a sensitive filmmaker with the ability to evoke a delicate subjective experience.
And on the doc side?
I knew the filmmaker Maple Rasza back in college but hadn’t caught up with him in a while and a few months back a mutual friend tipped me off to his latest project, a really exceptional interactive film he has made with Milton Guillen called “The Maribor Uprising: A Live Participatory Film.” He and Milton shot footage from a series of massive protests in Slovenia following some incidents involving comically flagrant government corruption, and instead of turning it into a traditional documentary they created an interactive project in which Maple leads the audience through the footage. The audience can choose to follow different protestors, decide whether to follow the law or follow the less peaceful demonstrators, and much more. We have long been a champion of live cinema events, like those created by Brent and Sam Green, but this film is an interesting variation on the form. Plus it just happens to be a very timely project. I’m really excited for that show.
Also, Dmitri Kalashnikov’s “The Road Movie” is a very fun comic documentary composed entirely of wild footage captured by hundreds of Russian automobile dash cams. It’s a very weird way to experience the Russian road. I loved every minute of it.
What film introduced you to a world you didn’t know anything about?
We showed Yuri Ancarani’s stunning short film “il Capo” a few years back and ever since I have been excited to see what he would do with a feature film. Sure enough, his new documentary “The Challenge” did not disappoint. He somehow managed to convince secretive Qatari sheikhs to let him film their bizarre and decadent lives as they prepare for the massive falconry competitions they hold deep in the desert. The footage he captured is arresting, hilarious and profound. There is barely a word spoken in the entire film but you will never want to look away. I have never seen anything like it.
You always put shorts front and center at Rooftop and dig into the best international short films. I remember two years ago you talking about how there was an inordinate amount of great shorts coming out of Sweden, what you find this year?
Yeah, a lot of those great Swedish short filmmakers are now doing pretty well. Ruben Ostlund just won Cannes after all, and he was one of the talented Swedes I was talking about back then. And there are some truly wonderful new Swedish shorts this year as well – I am particularly fond of “I Will Always Love You Conny,” by Amanda Kernell. It’s a heartbreaking short.
But my favorite short of the year is a Swedish animation that we gave a grant to called “The Burden” by Niki LIndroth Von Behr. It won Gothenburg, and it’s part of a trend that I have noticed lately of a surge in very, very talented young female animators. Ten years ago an animated shorts program would be packed with films by men, and that is definitely not the case anymore. It’s exciting to see women animators from all over the world coming to the fore. We opened the summer with an animated film by a woman and we will end the summer with one, too, and that isn’t a coincidence.
Rooftop Films Summer Festival runs through August 19th. You can find more information here.
Related stories'Brigsby Bear' Teaser Trailer: Kyle Mooney Introduces You to A Highly Original Summer Indie'The Big Sick,' 'The Bad Batch' and More Announced for Rooftop Films' 2017 Summer Series2017 Cannes Critics' Week Announces Lineup, Including 'Brigsby Bear' and Animation From Iran...
Past grantees have included Ana Lily Amirpour’s “The Bad Batch,” David Lowery’s “Ain’t Them Bodies Saints,” Benh Zeitlin’s “Glory at Sea,” Lucy Walker’s “The Tsunami” and many more.
Rooftop digs up gems and shorts that haven’t been getting a ton of word of mouth and shares them – along with popular festival titles like “The Big Sick”– with their dedicated and artistically curious audience who have come to trust their curation.
IndieWire recently checked in with Rooftop program director Dan Nuxoll to find out what films and filmmakers we should have on our radar for 2017.
What film has fallen through the festival cracks this year?
Certainly “The Genius and the Opera Singer” hasn’t yet gotten nearly the love it deserves, but I hope that changes soon. It’s a powerful dark comic documentary that certainly goes to some emotionally difficult places, but watching it is an undeniably unique experience. We showed it this past Saturday and the audience reaction was even more positive than I anticipated. The crowd loved it, despite some heavy moments. It’s a very well-crafted and expertly-edited film and it’s much more entertaining than one might expect. It’s Vanessa Stockley’s first film and it’s a revelation.
I’m also a big fan of Jeff Unay’s “The Cage Fighter,” which is a beautifully shot and very intimate and personal film that premiered at San Francisco a couple of months ago – it’s a gorgeous doc. Plus Morten Traavik and Ugis Olte’s “Liberation Day” is a boisterous and fascinating film about Laibach, who are a very strange strange but wonderful cult Slovenian band who have a very fascist aesthetic and who somehow convince the North Korean government to allow them to perform there. It’s a very enjoyable provocation.
You were the first one to tip me off to Ana Lily Amirpour and Jonas Carpignano. What up and coming filmmaker should we paying to, but we aren’t?
Dave McCary. His film “Brigsby Bear” premiered at Sundance and got very strong reviews but I don’t think it has yet gotten nearly the attention it deserves. McCary and star Kyle Mooney had a successful sketch comedy group and later joined SNL, so going into the premiere I assumed the film would be funny, but I will admit I didn’t have particularly high expectations otherwise. But I definitely underestimate them–it’s strikingly well executed and the comic and emotional components of the film are expertly balanced.
And beyond that, McCary has a unique touch that you rarely see in comedy films–an ability to dance around the character arcs and emotional trajectory of the characters without ever slipping into maudlin sentimentality and never losing the absurd comic energy. Whenever it seems that the film is about to head someplace conventional, McCary injects a perfectly timed comic turnabout that propels the film forward, but never quite in the direction you expect.
There have been a lot of really good dark indie comedies this year, but “Brigsby” is as funny as any of them while also being full of light and warmth and emotional generosity. It’s a special film and I hope that enough people see it so that it becomes a classic and not just a cult classic.
What’s one film in your lineup that does something new and exciting with the medium?
I was blown away by Amman Abbassi’s “Dayveon.” There have been a lot of independent coming of age films over the years, but few of them manage to balance realism and lyrical artistry quite as wonderfully as this debut feature. Capturing the warmth of an Arkansas summer and the emotional confusion of a thirteen year old struggling after the murder of his older brother, Abbassi establishes himself as a sensitive filmmaker with the ability to evoke a delicate subjective experience.
And on the doc side?
I knew the filmmaker Maple Rasza back in college but hadn’t caught up with him in a while and a few months back a mutual friend tipped me off to his latest project, a really exceptional interactive film he has made with Milton Guillen called “The Maribor Uprising: A Live Participatory Film.” He and Milton shot footage from a series of massive protests in Slovenia following some incidents involving comically flagrant government corruption, and instead of turning it into a traditional documentary they created an interactive project in which Maple leads the audience through the footage. The audience can choose to follow different protestors, decide whether to follow the law or follow the less peaceful demonstrators, and much more. We have long been a champion of live cinema events, like those created by Brent and Sam Green, but this film is an interesting variation on the form. Plus it just happens to be a very timely project. I’m really excited for that show.
Also, Dmitri Kalashnikov’s “The Road Movie” is a very fun comic documentary composed entirely of wild footage captured by hundreds of Russian automobile dash cams. It’s a very weird way to experience the Russian road. I loved every minute of it.
What film introduced you to a world you didn’t know anything about?
We showed Yuri Ancarani’s stunning short film “il Capo” a few years back and ever since I have been excited to see what he would do with a feature film. Sure enough, his new documentary “The Challenge” did not disappoint. He somehow managed to convince secretive Qatari sheikhs to let him film their bizarre and decadent lives as they prepare for the massive falconry competitions they hold deep in the desert. The footage he captured is arresting, hilarious and profound. There is barely a word spoken in the entire film but you will never want to look away. I have never seen anything like it.
You always put shorts front and center at Rooftop and dig into the best international short films. I remember two years ago you talking about how there was an inordinate amount of great shorts coming out of Sweden, what you find this year?
Yeah, a lot of those great Swedish short filmmakers are now doing pretty well. Ruben Ostlund just won Cannes after all, and he was one of the talented Swedes I was talking about back then. And there are some truly wonderful new Swedish shorts this year as well – I am particularly fond of “I Will Always Love You Conny,” by Amanda Kernell. It’s a heartbreaking short.
But my favorite short of the year is a Swedish animation that we gave a grant to called “The Burden” by Niki LIndroth Von Behr. It won Gothenburg, and it’s part of a trend that I have noticed lately of a surge in very, very talented young female animators. Ten years ago an animated shorts program would be packed with films by men, and that is definitely not the case anymore. It’s exciting to see women animators from all over the world coming to the fore. We opened the summer with an animated film by a woman and we will end the summer with one, too, and that isn’t a coincidence.
Rooftop Films Summer Festival runs through August 19th. You can find more information here.
Related stories'Brigsby Bear' Teaser Trailer: Kyle Mooney Introduces You to A Highly Original Summer Indie'The Big Sick,' 'The Bad Batch' and More Announced for Rooftop Films' 2017 Summer Series2017 Cannes Critics' Week Announces Lineup, Including 'Brigsby Bear' and Animation From Iran...
- 6/23/2017
- by Chris O'Falt
- Indiewire
“Patti Cake$” has lived up to the hype. After its Eccles Theater premiere at the Sundance Film Festival on Monday afternoon, the film scored two huge standing ovations, and another for breakout star Danielle Macdonald.
Patti Cake$ just dropped a hip hop bombshell on the Eccles. This movie could be huge. #sundance pic.twitter.com/Oqf0hcZpMA
— erickohn (@erickohn) January 23, 2017
This moment was a long and winding journey for writer-director Geremy Jasper. To look at him, you would never guess his alter ego would be Patricia Dombroski (aka Patti Cake$, aka Killer P, played by Macdonald), a 23-year-old, heavy-set Jersey girl with dreams of rap stardom. Jasper is tall, extremely easygoing, and has the style of a Williamsburg creative. In his 20s, he was the front man for a popular indie rock band, The Fever, and starred in Benh Zeitlin’s breakout short, “Glory at Sea.”
Read More: The 2017 IndieWire Sundance Bible: Every Review,...
Patti Cake$ just dropped a hip hop bombshell on the Eccles. This movie could be huge. #sundance pic.twitter.com/Oqf0hcZpMA
— erickohn (@erickohn) January 23, 2017
This moment was a long and winding journey for writer-director Geremy Jasper. To look at him, you would never guess his alter ego would be Patricia Dombroski (aka Patti Cake$, aka Killer P, played by Macdonald), a 23-year-old, heavy-set Jersey girl with dreams of rap stardom. Jasper is tall, extremely easygoing, and has the style of a Williamsburg creative. In his 20s, he was the front man for a popular indie rock band, The Fever, and starred in Benh Zeitlin’s breakout short, “Glory at Sea.”
Read More: The 2017 IndieWire Sundance Bible: Every Review,...
- 1/23/2017
- by Chris O'Falt
- Indiewire
The Sundance Film Festival has long been a proving ground for brand new talents and stars-in-the-making looking to catapult their career into the big leagues, and this year’s edition of the lauded fest looks to be no different. From actors to filmmakers, we’ve targeted a batch of up-and-coming talents who are set to make it big at this year’s festival. There may be a familiar face or two among their ranks, but we’re betting that, post-Sundance, they’re going to be just about everywhere from now on.
Read More: Sundance 2017: Check Out the Full Lineup, Including Competition Titles, Premieres and Shorts
Ahead, check out 13 talents we’re excited to see break out at this year’s festival.
Margaret Qualley, actor, “Novitiate”
Over the past few years, Margaret Qualley has amassed a notable screen career, between “The Leftovers” and last year’s hypnotic Spike Jonze-directed Kenzo short.
Read More: Sundance 2017: Check Out the Full Lineup, Including Competition Titles, Premieres and Shorts
Ahead, check out 13 talents we’re excited to see break out at this year’s festival.
Margaret Qualley, actor, “Novitiate”
Over the past few years, Margaret Qualley has amassed a notable screen career, between “The Leftovers” and last year’s hypnotic Spike Jonze-directed Kenzo short.
- 1/12/2017
- by Chris O'Falt, Graham Winfrey, Jude Dry, Kate Erbland, Steve Greene and Zack Sharf
- Indiewire
Take a filmmaker that has easily become tinseltown’s hottest commodity with a hit television series (see True Detective) and Hollywood comes calling. To some degree this also happened to have been the case when he broke out at Sundance with Sin Nombre, but this is bigger. While Beasts of No Nation appears to be Cary Fukunaga’s next project and there’ll be tons more added to his future slate, Deadline reports that the talented filmmaker has joined the book to film adaption of The Black Count: Glory, Revolution, Betrayal, And The Real Count of Monte Cristo — a sort of, and don’t quote me here, torrid color-barrier description that will certainly find comparison to 12 Years a Slave but during the dawn of the 19th century, The pic is being packaged by Sony and musician John Legend’s production house. Fukunaga’s Parliament of Owls will co-produce, while Get...
- 4/28/2014
- by Eric Lavallee
- IONCINEMA.com
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has revealed its 276-member-strong class of 2013.
The list, published by The Hollywood Reporter, includes actors, cinematographers, designers, directors, documentarians, executives, film editors, makeup artists and hairstylists, "members-at-large," musicians, producers, PR folks, short filmmakers and animators, sound technicians, visual effects artists, and writers.
Jason Bateman, Rosario Dawson, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Milla Jovovich, Lucy Liu, Jennifer Lopez, Emily Mortimer, Sandra Oh, Jason Schwartzman, and Michael Peña are among the roster of actors, while "The Heat" and "Bridesmaids" helmer Paul Feig made the directors' cut.
"We did not change our criteria at all," says Academy president Hawk Koch of this year's larger-than-usual class. "Yes, this year there is a tremendous amount of women, a tremendous amount of people of color, people from all walks of life. This year, we asked the branches to look at everybody who wasn't in the Academy but who deserved to be.
The list, published by The Hollywood Reporter, includes actors, cinematographers, designers, directors, documentarians, executives, film editors, makeup artists and hairstylists, "members-at-large," musicians, producers, PR folks, short filmmakers and animators, sound technicians, visual effects artists, and writers.
Jason Bateman, Rosario Dawson, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Milla Jovovich, Lucy Liu, Jennifer Lopez, Emily Mortimer, Sandra Oh, Jason Schwartzman, and Michael Peña are among the roster of actors, while "The Heat" and "Bridesmaids" helmer Paul Feig made the directors' cut.
"We did not change our criteria at all," says Academy president Hawk Koch of this year's larger-than-usual class. "Yes, this year there is a tremendous amount of women, a tremendous amount of people of color, people from all walks of life. This year, we asked the branches to look at everybody who wasn't in the Academy but who deserved to be.
- 7/4/2013
- by Laura Larson
- Moviefone
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced today the 276 members of the entertainment industry invited to join organization. The list includes actors, directors, documentarians, executives, film editors, producers and more. Of those listed below, those who accept the invitations will be the only additions to the Academy's membership in 2013. "These individuals are among the best filmmakers working in the industry today," said Academy President Hawk Koch in a press release. "Their talent and creativity have captured the imagination of audiences worldwide, and I am proud to welcome each of them to the Academy." Koch also told Variety, "In the past eight or nine years, each branch could only bring in X amount of members. There were people each branch would have liked to get in but couldn't. We asked them to be more inclusive of the best of the best, and each branch was excited, because they got...
- 6/28/2013
- by Brad Brevet
- Rope of Silicon
The Academy just added 276 Oscar voters.
That’s 100 more than last year, and part of an easing of a longstanding cap on the number of new members allowed to join the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences each year.
AMPAS usually adds between 130 and 180 new members, replacing those who have quit or passed away. The membership now stands around 6,000.
Jason Bateman, Jennifer Lopez, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Emmanuelle Riva, and Chris Tucker are among the actors who have been invited to join, the organization announced today.
Other interesting additions: the musician Prince, Girls and Tiny Furniture writer/director/actress Lena Dunham,...
That’s 100 more than last year, and part of an easing of a longstanding cap on the number of new members allowed to join the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences each year.
AMPAS usually adds between 130 and 180 new members, replacing those who have quit or passed away. The membership now stands around 6,000.
Jason Bateman, Jennifer Lopez, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Emmanuelle Riva, and Chris Tucker are among the actors who have been invited to join, the organization announced today.
Other interesting additions: the musician Prince, Girls and Tiny Furniture writer/director/actress Lena Dunham,...
- 6/28/2013
- by Anthony Breznican
- EW - Inside Movies
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is extending invitations to join the organization to 276 artists and executives who have distinguished themselves by their contributions to theatrical motion pictures. Those who accept the invitations will be the only additions to the Academy’s membership in 2013.
“These individuals are among the best filmmakers working in the industry today,” said Academy President Hawk Koch. “Their talent and creativity have captured the imagination of audiences worldwide, and I am proud to welcome each of them to the Academy.”
The 2013 invitees are:
Actors
Jason Bateman – “Up in the Air,” “Juno”
Miriam Colon – “City of Hope,” “Scarface”
Rosario Dawson – “Rent,” “Frank Miller’s Sin City”
Kimberly Elise – “For Colored Girls,” “Beloved”
Joseph Gordon-Levitt – “Lincoln,” “The Dark Knight Rises”
Charles Grodin – “Midnight Run,” “The Heartbreak Kid”
Rebecca Hall – “Iron Man 3,” “The Town”
Lance Henriksen – “Aliens,” “The Terminator”
Jack Huston – “Not Fade Away,” “Factory Girl”
Milla Jovovich – “Resident Evil,...
“These individuals are among the best filmmakers working in the industry today,” said Academy President Hawk Koch. “Their talent and creativity have captured the imagination of audiences worldwide, and I am proud to welcome each of them to the Academy.”
The 2013 invitees are:
Actors
Jason Bateman – “Up in the Air,” “Juno”
Miriam Colon – “City of Hope,” “Scarface”
Rosario Dawson – “Rent,” “Frank Miller’s Sin City”
Kimberly Elise – “For Colored Girls,” “Beloved”
Joseph Gordon-Levitt – “Lincoln,” “The Dark Knight Rises”
Charles Grodin – “Midnight Run,” “The Heartbreak Kid”
Rebecca Hall – “Iron Man 3,” “The Town”
Lance Henriksen – “Aliens,” “The Terminator”
Jack Huston – “Not Fade Away,” “Factory Girl”
Milla Jovovich – “Resident Evil,...
- 6/28/2013
- by Michelle McCue
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
Our Oscar coverage continues. Here we overview the best acting and best directing award nominees.
Best Actor Nominees
Bradley Cooper – Silver Linings Playbook
Age: 38
Previously Best Known For: “Phil” from The Hangover
Previous Oscar Nominations: None
Interesting Fact: Was a medalist on the Men's Heavyweight Crew team at Georgetown University.
Daniel Day-Lewis – Lincoln
Age: 55
Previously Best Known For:
“Bill Cutting” from Gangs of New York
“Daniel Plainview” from There Will Be Blood
Previous Oscar Nominations: 4
Won – Best Actor, Leading Role for There Will Be Blood (2007)
Nominated – Best Actor, Leading Role for Gangs of New York (2002)
Nominated – Best Actor, Leading Role for In The Name of The Father (1993)
Won – Best Actor, Leading Role for My Left Foot (1989)
Interesting Fact: He first became interested in acting when he learned to replicate the accent and mannerisms of people in his neighborhood to avoid standing out to bullies.
Hugh Jackman – Les Misérables
Age: 44
Previously...
Best Actor Nominees
Bradley Cooper – Silver Linings Playbook
Age: 38
Previously Best Known For: “Phil” from The Hangover
Previous Oscar Nominations: None
Interesting Fact: Was a medalist on the Men's Heavyweight Crew team at Georgetown University.
Daniel Day-Lewis – Lincoln
Age: 55
Previously Best Known For:
“Bill Cutting” from Gangs of New York
“Daniel Plainview” from There Will Be Blood
Previous Oscar Nominations: 4
Won – Best Actor, Leading Role for There Will Be Blood (2007)
Nominated – Best Actor, Leading Role for Gangs of New York (2002)
Nominated – Best Actor, Leading Role for In The Name of The Father (1993)
Won – Best Actor, Leading Role for My Left Foot (1989)
Interesting Fact: He first became interested in acting when he learned to replicate the accent and mannerisms of people in his neighborhood to avoid standing out to bullies.
Hugh Jackman – Les Misérables
Age: 44
Previously...
- 2/21/2013
- by feeds@cinelinx.com (G.S. Perno)
- Cinelinx
With the Oscars now only four days away, it's time for our Early Gems series to come to a close. Over the last week, we've been highlighting performances and films from those nominated in the acting and directing categories, from Amy Adams in "Junebug" to Benh Zeitlin's short film "Glory At Sea" (read about the Best Actors, the Best Supporting Actors, the Best Supporting Actresses and the Best Directors). But all good things must come to an end, and so our final entry will focus on the last major category we haven't yet covered: Best Actress. It's a curious line-up this year, featuring both the youngest-ever and oldest-ever nominees in the category, with an average age of only 39 (versus 62 for Best Supporting Actor), one debut performance, one actress who is on her second nomination despite being only 22, and one who's an international cinema icon, and will celebrate her 86th birthday on Oscar night.
- 2/20/2013
- by Oliver Lyttelton
- The Playlist
Beasts of the Southern Wild; Ruby Sparks; Room 237; Untouchable; Chained; Pusher
A quasi-apocalyptic fable filmed amid the aftermath of hurricane Katrina, Benh Zeitlin's extraordinary Beasts of the Southern Wild (2012, StudioCanal, 12) follows the changing fortunes of a vibrant young girl and her sickly father as they face an uncertain future in the fictional bayou community of the Bathtub. Based on Lucy Alibar's play Juicy and Delicious, Zeitlin's unexpected awards contender boasts rising waters, mythical creatures and superbly believable characters. As Hushpuppy, Quvenzhané Wallis is the youngest nominee to compete in Oscar's best actress category, while Dwight Henry had to be dragged away from his day job running a local bakery to star in the movie; both are mesmerising. The decision to shoot on 16mm rather than digital pays splendid visual dividends, lending richly colourful texture to the proceedings as they slip effortlessly between grainy realism and fantasy. A...
A quasi-apocalyptic fable filmed amid the aftermath of hurricane Katrina, Benh Zeitlin's extraordinary Beasts of the Southern Wild (2012, StudioCanal, 12) follows the changing fortunes of a vibrant young girl and her sickly father as they face an uncertain future in the fictional bayou community of the Bathtub. Based on Lucy Alibar's play Juicy and Delicious, Zeitlin's unexpected awards contender boasts rising waters, mythical creatures and superbly believable characters. As Hushpuppy, Quvenzhané Wallis is the youngest nominee to compete in Oscar's best actress category, while Dwight Henry had to be dragged away from his day job running a local bakery to star in the movie; both are mesmerising. The decision to shoot on 16mm rather than digital pays splendid visual dividends, lending richly colourful texture to the proceedings as they slip effortlessly between grainy realism and fantasy. A...
- 2/10/2013
- by Mark Kermode
- The Guardian - Film News
Beasts Of The Southern Wild | C'était Un Rendezvous | Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted | Elena | Sinister
Beasts Of The Southern Wild
Director Benh Zeitlin's debut feature is set in a fictional Louisiana community called "the Bathtub", an area south of the levee, cut off from the rest of the world both geographically and socially. But rather than feel disconnected, the Bathtub's inhabitants feel far closer to the earth and to each other than the rest of the Us – "the dry world" – can claim.
To the eyes of outsiders and adults the area looks desperate, barely hanging on with houses and boats made from whatever junk has drifted past on its way to the sea. But we don't see this from the Pov of someone mature and removed, we experience it through the eyes of Hushpuppy, a six-year-old girl who views the place as something altogether more magical. Played by Quvenzhané Wallis (a local newcomer,...
Beasts Of The Southern Wild
Director Benh Zeitlin's debut feature is set in a fictional Louisiana community called "the Bathtub", an area south of the levee, cut off from the rest of the world both geographically and socially. But rather than feel disconnected, the Bathtub's inhabitants feel far closer to the earth and to each other than the rest of the Us – "the dry world" – can claim.
To the eyes of outsiders and adults the area looks desperate, barely hanging on with houses and boats made from whatever junk has drifted past on its way to the sea. But we don't see this from the Pov of someone mature and removed, we experience it through the eyes of Hushpuppy, a six-year-old girl who views the place as something altogether more magical. Played by Quvenzhané Wallis (a local newcomer,...
- 2/9/2013
- by Phelim O'Neill
- The Guardian - Film News
10. Beasts of the Southern Wild
Another film I sorely missed in Park City, but finally caught during its theatrical release, Benh Zeitlin’s full length debut is pure southern magic. Following directly in the stylistic footsteps of his splendidly original short, Glory At Sea, the film is about finding inner strength to overcome outrageous odds and conforming to a life almost predetermined for us. Zeitlin seems to reject these deliberations for his own enchanted aesthetic where fables and realities collide. It also doesn’t hurt to have Quvenzhané Wallis play Hushpuppy, the cute and righteous face that harbor’s a swelling, juvenile fervency that buttresses the whole picture. It will be very interesting to see where Zeitlin goes from here.
9. Prometheus
There were few films this year I was more excited for than this one. Ridiculous plot holes, broad characterizations, ridiculous old man make-up and all, this was still one of my favorites.
Another film I sorely missed in Park City, but finally caught during its theatrical release, Benh Zeitlin’s full length debut is pure southern magic. Following directly in the stylistic footsteps of his splendidly original short, Glory At Sea, the film is about finding inner strength to overcome outrageous odds and conforming to a life almost predetermined for us. Zeitlin seems to reject these deliberations for his own enchanted aesthetic where fables and realities collide. It also doesn’t hurt to have Quvenzhané Wallis play Hushpuppy, the cute and righteous face that harbor’s a swelling, juvenile fervency that buttresses the whole picture. It will be very interesting to see where Zeitlin goes from here.
9. Prometheus
There were few films this year I was more excited for than this one. Ridiculous plot holes, broad characterizations, ridiculous old man make-up and all, this was still one of my favorites.
- 12/31/2012
- by Jordan M. Smith
- IONCINEMA.com
Chicago – Benh Zeitlin’s “Beasts of the Southern Wild” has been a major awards season player since its Sundance Film Festival debut 11 months ago and so its picking up of 9 Cfca nominations today (including 4 for Zeitlin alone) wasn’t too much of a surprise. If you haven’t seen it, it’s the only one of the 5 Cfca nominees for Best Picture on Blu-ray and DVD and the release is nicely accompanied by some informative and engaging behind-the-scenes material.
Rating: 4.0/5.0
Too many movies feel like the result of a focus group of producers looking for a product instead of an artistic achievement. “Beasts” is the opposite of that. It’s a personal film that bears the distinct mark of an artist above all else. It is a unique vision of a part of our country and its people that feels like another world and yet includes emotions we can all recognize.
Rating: 4.0/5.0
Too many movies feel like the result of a focus group of producers looking for a product instead of an artistic achievement. “Beasts” is the opposite of that. It’s a personal film that bears the distinct mark of an artist above all else. It is a unique vision of a part of our country and its people that feels like another world and yet includes emotions we can all recognize.
- 12/14/2012
- by adam@hollywoodchicago.com (Adam Fendelman)
- HollywoodChicago.com
I was not able to catch Beasts of the Southern Wild in theaters, but it has arrived on Blu-ray and DVD Combo pack from Fox Home Entertainment. Directed by Benh Zeitlin this dramatic fantasy takes audiences on a journey fueled by a child's imagination, folklore and Hurricane Katrina. It looks like one perpetual Instagram feed, but from someone that's a fantastic photographer.
The film follows Hushpuppy (Quvenzhané Wallis), a precocious 6-year-old girl living with her tempestuous father, Wink (Dwight Henry), on a remote Louisianna island known as “the Bathtub.” When a flood of Biblical proportions threatens to wipe out their ramshackle community, Wink spearheads the group of locals that attempts to ride it out. His increasingly restless daughter, however, seizes on the opportunity to explore her independence and re-imagines her displacement as a quest to find her absent mother.
This doesn't fit in with most of the other movies that I have reviewed for GeekTyrant,...
The film follows Hushpuppy (Quvenzhané Wallis), a precocious 6-year-old girl living with her tempestuous father, Wink (Dwight Henry), on a remote Louisianna island known as “the Bathtub.” When a flood of Biblical proportions threatens to wipe out their ramshackle community, Wink spearheads the group of locals that attempts to ride it out. His increasingly restless daughter, however, seizes on the opportunity to explore her independence and re-imagines her displacement as a quest to find her absent mother.
This doesn't fit in with most of the other movies that I have reviewed for GeekTyrant,...
- 12/9/2012
- by Jim Napier
- GeekTyrant
Beasts of the Southern Wild has been adored by many critics ever since it first showed up at the Sundance Film Festival earlier this year. There are many who believe it will even earn a Best Picture nomination next month. All this talk lead to much anticipation to see what was being called one of the best films of the year, but now that I’ve finally seen it, I unfortunately have to be one of the naysayers that doesn’t see what all the Best Picture talk is about. It’s certainly not a bad film, but neither can I say that it’s particularly good.
The film tells the story of Hushpuppy (Quvenzhane Wallis), who lives with her father in a Louisiana bayou called “The Bathtub.” It’s a rundown community that’s about to face a storm, causing most to want to evacuate. However, Hushpuppy’s father,...
The film tells the story of Hushpuppy (Quvenzhane Wallis), who lives with her father in a Louisiana bayou called “The Bathtub.” It’s a rundown community that’s about to face a storm, causing most to want to evacuate. However, Hushpuppy’s father,...
- 12/6/2012
- by Jeff Beck
- We Got This Covered
Blu-ray & DVD Release Date: Dec. 4, 2012
Price: DVD $29.98, Blu-ray/DVD Combo $39.99
Studio: 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment
Indie fantasy movie Beasts of the Southen Wild proves that big- name actors and directors don’t have to be involved for a movie to be acclaimed.
Based on the stage play Juicy and Delicious by co-writer Lucy Alibar, Beasts of the Southern Wild is the first feature film of Alibar, director and co-writer Benh Zeitlin and the majority of its cast, including the wonderful young Quvenzhane Wallis and her movie father Dwight Henry.
In the film, Wallis plays 6-year-old Hushpuppy, the adorable daughter of Henry’s tough but loving Wink, who both live in the wilds of an island off the coast of New Orleans with others living off the grid. When Wink suffers from a mysterious illness, Hushpuppy goes on a journey to the outside world, until her quest is stopped when...
Price: DVD $29.98, Blu-ray/DVD Combo $39.99
Studio: 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment
Indie fantasy movie Beasts of the Southen Wild proves that big- name actors and directors don’t have to be involved for a movie to be acclaimed.
Based on the stage play Juicy and Delicious by co-writer Lucy Alibar, Beasts of the Southern Wild is the first feature film of Alibar, director and co-writer Benh Zeitlin and the majority of its cast, including the wonderful young Quvenzhane Wallis and her movie father Dwight Henry.
In the film, Wallis plays 6-year-old Hushpuppy, the adorable daughter of Henry’s tough but loving Wink, who both live in the wilds of an island off the coast of New Orleans with others living off the grid. When Wink suffers from a mysterious illness, Hushpuppy goes on a journey to the outside world, until her quest is stopped when...
- 10/26/2012
- by Laurence
- Disc Dish
The film director, 29, whose small film is making a huge impact
Who is he? The hottest new name in film right now. The New York native has been catapulted into the spotlight with his directorial debut Beasts of the Southern Wild – a small film making a huge impact across the industry.
Keep talking. Critics are unanimous in their praise. The film won the Grand Jury Prize at this year's Sundance festival, along with several other awards.
What's Beasts about then? It's centred on a six-year-old girl called Hushpuppy (played by first-time actress Quvenzhané Wallis) and follows her life in The Bathtub.
Sounds inappropriate. The Bathtub, an off-grid community in the Louisiana Delta. Zeitlin loves New Orleans – he made his award-winning short Glory at Sea in the city, and now he lives there full time.
I suppose Hollywood's come knocking? Yes, but Zeitlin's not answering. He works solely with a filmmaking...
Who is he? The hottest new name in film right now. The New York native has been catapulted into the spotlight with his directorial debut Beasts of the Southern Wild – a small film making a huge impact across the industry.
Keep talking. Critics are unanimous in their praise. The film won the Grand Jury Prize at this year's Sundance festival, along with several other awards.
What's Beasts about then? It's centred on a six-year-old girl called Hushpuppy (played by first-time actress Quvenzhané Wallis) and follows her life in The Bathtub.
Sounds inappropriate. The Bathtub, an off-grid community in the Louisiana Delta. Zeitlin loves New Orleans – he made his award-winning short Glory at Sea in the city, and now he lives there full time.
I suppose Hollywood's come knocking? Yes, but Zeitlin's not answering. He works solely with a filmmaking...
- 10/2/2012
- by Shahesta Shaitly
- The Guardian - Film News
These are two categories I always have a hard time with considering I don't read scripts before seeing a movie, wanting to go into each and every one of them knowing as little as possible, and I rarely read them after the fact. So what am I basing my opinion on? Gut instinct, buzz around the net, history and anything I can possibly glean from watching the films themselves. To be honest, I don't think the voters are doing anything all that different. While studios do tend to make virtually every single screenplay up for consideration available to read (which I will make available again this year as I have in previous years), I don't read many of them, though I will browse through them on occasion as I did with the screenplay for Martha Marcy May Marlene last year, which drummed up a healthy amount of conversation. I wonder,...
- 9/27/2012
- by Brad Brevet
- Rope of Silicon
Chicago – If director Benh Zeitlin had written a list of the most outlandishly formidable challenges that a film crew could ever possibly face, he could’ve easily come up with an outline for “Beasts of the Southern Wild.” Loosely based on Lucy Alibar’s play, “Juicy and Delicious,” the film pays tribute to the indomitable spirit of New Orleans citizens as they continue to defy the odds.
It’s that same spirit that appears to have fueled this tremendously ambitious picture, the first feature made by the self-dubbed, “Independent Filmmaking Army” known as “Court 13.” Set in a tight-knit southern village known as the Bathtub, the tale is viewed through the eyes of a strong-willed six-year-old, Hushpuppy (Quvenzhané Wallis). As her father, Wink (Dwight Henry), grows weak with illness, environmental catastrophes flood the village while unleashing an assortment of fearsome prehistoric creatures. Thus, Hushpuppy embarks on a journey of survival that...
It’s that same spirit that appears to have fueled this tremendously ambitious picture, the first feature made by the self-dubbed, “Independent Filmmaking Army” known as “Court 13.” Set in a tight-knit southern village known as the Bathtub, the tale is viewed through the eyes of a strong-willed six-year-old, Hushpuppy (Quvenzhané Wallis). As her father, Wink (Dwight Henry), grows weak with illness, environmental catastrophes flood the village while unleashing an assortment of fearsome prehistoric creatures. Thus, Hushpuppy embarks on a journey of survival that...
- 7/4/2012
- by adam@hollywoodchicago.com (Adam Fendelman)
- HollywoodChicago.com
Benh Zeitlin's faux-naif debut feature Beasts of the Southern Wild trades in quasi-folkloric whimsy, fantastical contraptions, and a very slick and deliberate sort of visual roughness. Shot and cut like one of Weiden + Kennedy's pseudo-populist Levi's ads (with several apparent borrowings from a 2009 commercial directed for the firm by Cary Fukunaga, who worked on Zeitlin's short Glory at Sea the year before), it looks and moves like an ad agency creative's idea of an American fairy tale. It's not without its pleasures: a uniformly strong cast of non-professionals, clever Emir Kusturica-aping production design, a pretty good scene set in a waterfront brothel, and a damn fine opening title card. (Also, on a more basic level, I appreciate Zeitlin's apparent fetish for women's thighs.) Still, the language Beasts of the Southern Wild speaks isn't really the language of cinema—it's the language of cinema as it's been co-opted by smart,...
- 6/29/2012
- MUBI
Capsule Options is a weekly column intended to provide reviews of nearly every new indie release. Reviews are written by Indiewire critic Eric Kohn and other contributors where noted. Reviews This Week "Beasts of the Southern Wild" "I Heart Shakey" "Magic Mike" "Neil Young Journeys" "Take This Waltz" "Unforgivable" "Beasts of the Southern Wild" Benh Zeitlin's 2006 short film, "Glory at Sea," rendered post-Katrina grief with an overwhelming sense of magic realism that quickly turned the project into a sleeper hit on the festival circuit. "Beasts of the Southern Wild," Zeitlin's feature-length debut, contains much of the same thing, repeated ad infinitum for roughly 90 minutes: Zeitlin offers up a majestic encapsulation of a child's worldview. Supremely ambitious and committed to profundity, "Beasts" sets...
- 6/28/2012
- by Eric Kohn
- Indiewire
(Beasts of the Southern Wild world premiered at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival, where it won the Narrative Grand Jury Prize, as well as Best Cinematography for Ben Richardson. It also won the Camera d’Or at the 2012 Cannes Film Festival. It is being distributed by Fox Searchlight and opened theatrically on June 27, 2012. Visit the film’s official website—as well as the virtual home base of the Court 13 collective—to learn more.)
I want to make this immediately, abundantly clear. Perhaps more than any other review I’ve ever written, this one is coming from the pained perspective of a filmmaker who is currently skull-deep in the mud, clawing to get an independent film made on an even somewhat legitimate scale (as in, barely seven figures). So if everything I say from this point forth sounds ridiculously biased and doesn’t read like traditional “film criticism,” there’s a reason for that.
I want to make this immediately, abundantly clear. Perhaps more than any other review I’ve ever written, this one is coming from the pained perspective of a filmmaker who is currently skull-deep in the mud, clawing to get an independent film made on an even somewhat legitimate scale (as in, barely seven figures). So if everything I say from this point forth sounds ridiculously biased and doesn’t read like traditional “film criticism,” there’s a reason for that.
- 6/28/2012
- by Michael Tully
- Filmmaker Magazine - Blog
by Steve Dollar
Shorts—as in short films—have become a peculiar manifestation of film festival culture. Almost any festival you go to will have multiple shorts programs on the schedule. And guaranteed, the filmmaker you meet who wins the short-film prize will be back soon with something special, whether it's the guy who made Hesher (see the Down Under zombie mash note I Love Sarah Jane) or the guy who made Beasts of the Southern Wild (anticipated by Glory at Sea). I don't really know under what circumstances they are exhibited anywhere else outside the institutional/museum/repertory world. Nonetheless, YouTube and Vimeo appear to be terrific bounties for short-film surfing and many an auteur's DVD bonus features would be sorely lacking if they didn't include available and relevant short exercises that laid the groundwork for the masterpiece at hand.
Josh and Benny Safdie had the bright idea of...
Shorts—as in short films—have become a peculiar manifestation of film festival culture. Almost any festival you go to will have multiple shorts programs on the schedule. And guaranteed, the filmmaker you meet who wins the short-film prize will be back soon with something special, whether it's the guy who made Hesher (see the Down Under zombie mash note I Love Sarah Jane) or the guy who made Beasts of the Southern Wild (anticipated by Glory at Sea). I don't really know under what circumstances they are exhibited anywhere else outside the institutional/museum/repertory world. Nonetheless, YouTube and Vimeo appear to be terrific bounties for short-film surfing and many an auteur's DVD bonus features would be sorely lacking if they didn't include available and relevant short exercises that laid the groundwork for the masterpiece at hand.
Josh and Benny Safdie had the bright idea of...
- 6/28/2012
- GreenCine Daily
Stick a fork in your list of best soundtracks of the year right now, it might be done. Unless, by some miracle, something unexpectedly happens (and/or Hans Zimmer just blows us away with "The Dark Knight Rises"), one major contender for soundtrack of the year is the score for Benh Zeitlin's well-celebrated indie picture, "Beasts of the Southern Wild." Already lauded at Sundance (where it won Best Narrative) and Cannes (where it picked up the cinematography prize), we recently placed the film at the top of our Best Films Of Year... So Far list and we'll tell you: believe the hype, it's well-justified.
A heartrending, magical and extraordinary debut film about a six-year-old girl who leaves her ailing father and Delta-community home in search of her mother (though that feels like just the tip of the iceberg), equally exceptional and particularly striking is the film's wonderful score. Written...
A heartrending, magical and extraordinary debut film about a six-year-old girl who leaves her ailing father and Delta-community home in search of her mother (though that feels like just the tip of the iceberg), equally exceptional and particularly striking is the film's wonderful score. Written...
- 6/27/2012
- by The Playlist
- The Playlist
When you get the opportunity to make your first feature film, you better take advantage of it, just like Benh Zeitlin. Turns out, putting everything he had into the short film “Glory at Sea” was well worth it because the piece made its way into the hands of the right people, the kind of people who were ready to facilitate Zeitlin’s next project, Beasts of the Southern Wild. The film centers on Hushpuppy (Quvenzhané Wallis), a six-year-old girl living with her father, Wink (Dwight Henry), in a bayou community known as the Bathtub. When a storm ravages the area, there’s a mandatory evacuation, but, despite a serious illness, Wink refuses [ Read More ]...
- 6/27/2012
- by Perri Nemiroff
- ShockYa
For a while there Benh Zeitlin seemed like the piped piper of New Orleans. One after another, someone else I went to college with would move down there for a few weeks or months, and you didn't even have to ask what they were doing there. They were just "working with Benh," either on the short film Glory At Sea or later on Beasts of the Southern Wild, the handcrafted coming-of-age story that premiered at Sundance in January and opens in theaters this week. Benh graduated from Wesleyan University in 2004, two years before I did, and not to try and sound too cool, but we all knew how great he was before you did. His senior thesis film Egg was unlike anything else that anyone had made, striking and creepy and intricately detailed, an adaptation of Moby Dick featuring stop-motion animation and three human actors as "bird children" and a...
- 6/27/2012
- cinemablend.com
Written and directed by Benh Zeitlin, whose short, "Glory at Sea," was shot through with purpose and promise, "Beasts of the Southern Wild" is as stirring and striking a film as you could wish for. Shot and set in a Louisiana community called The Bathtub, on the wrong side of the levees that stop the water from encroaching on civilization, it's at heart the story of a little girl, Hushpuppy (Quvenzhané Wallis) who lives with her father Wink (Dwight Henry). That synopsis does not do the film justice, though, as the story -- based on a play by Lucy Alibar -- incorporates a flood that not only drowns The Bathtub but also huge, prehistoric beasts -- Aurochs -- returning to life from the frozen icecaps and stalking, gigantically, towards Hushpuppy's world. It's a flawed comparison -- and indeed, any comparison for a work as completely and startlingly unique as this...
- 6/26/2012
- by James Rocchi
- The Playlist
Benh Zeitlin's 2006 short film, "Glory at Sea," rendered post-Katrina grief with an overwhelming sense of magic realism that quickly turned the project into a sleeper hit on the festival circuit. "Beasts of the Southern Wild," Zeitlin's feature-length debut, contains much of the same thing, repeated ad infinitum for roughly 90 minutes: Zeitlin offers up a majestic encapsulation of a child's worldview. Supremely ambitious and committed to profundity, "Beasts" sets the bar too high and suffers from a muddled assortment of expressionistic concepts, but it still manages to glide along its epic aspirations. [Editor's Note: This review originally ran during the 2012 Sundance Film Festival where "Beasts" world premiered. It opens in select theaters this Wednesday via Fox Searchlight.] Zeitlin's lavish setting is an imaginary community called "The Bathtub" off the coast of Southern Louisiana, where a...
- 6/25/2012
- by Eric Kohn
- Indiewire
It’ll be slim pickings in the month of June as there isn’t much in terms of U.S. indie, foreign and documentary films that stand out. There are exceptions as pointed out in the top 3 below, and then there are indie items dating back to Tiff of last year with Sarah Polley’s Take This Waltz (06.29 – Magnolia Pictures) and/or Todd Solondz’s Dark Horse (06.12 – Brainstorm Media) and then more recent break-outs from Sundance 2012 in docu item Searching for Sugarman (06.27 - Sony Pictures Classics) and a sci-fi comedy that the fans boys liked and which I didn’t care much for is also a Park City item that could essentially be the beginning of a “Mark Duplass”a-thon. Safety Not Guaranteed (06.08 – FilmDistrict) could be book-ended with the July release of The Do-Deca-Pentathlon, but right dab in the middle I strongly suggest his performance in Lynn Shelton’s best work to date.
- 6/8/2012
- by Eric Lavallee
- IONCINEMA.com
I just came across this 25-minute short film from Benh Zeitlin, whose feature film debut, and one of the best films I saw at the Sundance Film Festival this year, Beasts Of The Southern Wild, has been one of The most talked about films so far this year; and rightfully so. Read my review of it Here if you missed it. The short film, made in 2008, on an estimated $100,000 budget, is titled Glory At Sea, and carries many of the same artistic flourishes his feature debut has. And I'll just say that, if you watch Glory At Sea, and you like it, then you'll definitely also like Beasts Of The Southern Wild; and if you don't care for the...
- 5/18/2012
- by Tambay
- ShadowAndAct
Like it or not, filmmaking is undeniably a director's medium. It wasn't always like that, of course: it was only the coming of the auteur theory in the 1950s and 1960s that popularized the idea of the director as the person responsible for all that was great and terrible about a picture. And while anyone who's worked in film knows that it's a collaborative medium, there's still no better way of seeing where the form might be going in the next few years than by looking at the directors who've been making splashes of late.
So, hot on the heels of our On The Rise pieces focusing on actors, actresses and screenwriters, we've picked out ten directors who've arrived in a big way in the last year or so, and look set for even greater things in the near future. Any tips of your own? Let us know in the comments section below.
So, hot on the heels of our On The Rise pieces focusing on actors, actresses and screenwriters, we've picked out ten directors who've arrived in a big way in the last year or so, and look set for even greater things in the near future. Any tips of your own? Let us know in the comments section below.
- 5/15/2012
- by Oliver Lyttelton
- The Playlist
It was a fait accompli pretty much from minute one. No other film at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival got as much buzz as 29-year-old first-time feature-length filmmaker Benh Zeitlin's "Beasts Of The Southern Wild," a mythical film about a 6-year-old girl who lives in a southern Delta community at the edge of the world (read our review here). And so it was no surprise that the film won the jury prize for best drama (and cinematography) at last night's Sundance awards ceremony. "This project was such a runt, this sort of messy-hair, dirty, wild child, and we just have been taken care of and just eased along until we were ready to stand up on our own," Zeitlen said in an interview after the ceremony. "It's just great that it happened here. This is the right place for the world to meet the film." Zeitlen's acclaimed short, "Glory at Sea...
- 1/29/2012
- The Playlist
Written and directed by Benh Zeitlin, whose short, "Glory at Sea," was shot through with purpose and promise, "Beasts of the Southern Wild" is as stirring and striking a film as you could wish for at Sundance. Shot and set in a Louisiana community called The Bathtub, on the wrong side of the levees that stop the water from encroaching on civilization, it's at heart the story of a little girl, Hushpuppy (Quvenzhané Wallis) who lives with her father Wink (Dwight Henry). That synopsis does not do the film justice, though, as the story -- based on a play by Lucy Alibar -- incorporates a flood that not only drowns The Bathtub but also huge, prehistoric beasts -- Aurochs -- returning to life from the frozen icecaps and stalking, gigantically, towards Hushpuppy's world. It's a flawed comparison -- and indeed, any comparison for a work as completely and startlingly unique...
- 1/25/2012
- The Playlist
As I've started to read about the Sundance film Beasts of the Southern Wild (check our review here [1]), what keeps coming to mind is something like the early films of David Gordon Green filtered through the sensibility of author China Mieville. The film shows us the world through the eyes of a six-year old girl, but that world isn't quite 'real.' It is the creation of director Benh Zeitlin. His landscape is based in part on a post-Katrina Louisiana landscape, but it also has many other elements, some realistic and some fantastic, woven into its fabric. But rather than looking to some esoteric and possibly way off-base comparison to get an idea of what Beasts of the Southern Wild might be like, let's look back to the 2008 short film from the same director. Glory at Sea is also by Zeitlin, and like his new feature the short is also...
- 1/25/2012
- by Russ Fischer
- Slash Film
Fox Searchlight has become a big buyer at Sundance in the past couple years, and this year has already picked up two of the most acclaimed films playing the fest. Last night the company grabbed the rights to the John Hawkes/Helen Hunt film The Surrogate, which is already generating Oscar talk for next year [1] thanks to the strength of Hawkes' performance. And now Fox Searchlight has finalized a deal to distribute the film Beasts of the Southern Wild. Neither Pete nor Germain has seen the film yet, so we haven't covered it up until this point, but the movie quickly became one of the Sundance films I'm most interested in seeing, as early reviews have used language like "remarkable, beautiful, moving and astonishing" to describe the story that gets inside the head of a young girl worried about the end of her universe. The quote above comes from the...
- 1/24/2012
- by Russ Fischer
- Slash Film
Josh Penn and Dan Janvey, producers of the Sundance 2012 U.S. Dramatic Competition hit "Beasts of the Southern Wild," received the inaugural Sundance Institute Indian Paintbrush Producer’s Award and its accompanying $10,000 grant at the annual Producers Lunch held this afternoon in Park CIty. "Beasts of the Southern Wild" is produced by a "grassroots independent filmmaking army," Court 13, that's based in New Orleans and also includes the film's co-writer and director, Benh Zeitlin. Additional producers on "Beasts" are producer Michael Gottwald and executive producers, Philipp Engelhorn, Paul Meze and Michael Raisler. "Beasts" is the first feature for both Penn and Janvey. They were both producers on Zeitlin's acclaimed short film, "Glory at Sea," which served as a basis for "Beasts." The Indian Paintbrush Producer's Award is part of a two-year program in which...
- 1/22/2012
- Indiewire
Benh Zeitlin's 2006 short film, "Glory at Sea," rendered post-Katrina grief with an overwhelming sense of magic realism that quickly turned the project into a sleeper hit on the festival circuit. "Beasts of the Southern Wild," Zeitlin's feature-length debut, contains much of the same thing, repeated ad infinitum for roughly 90 minutes: Zeitlin offers up a majestic encapsulation of a child's worldview. Supremely ambitious and committed to profundity, "Beasts" sets the bar too high and suffers from a muddled assortment of expressionistic concepts, but it still manages to glide along its epic aspirations. Zeitlin's lavish setting is an imaginary community called "The Bathtub" off the coast of Southern Louisiana, where a six-year-old African-American girl named Hushpuppy (a stunningly committed performance from newcomer Quvenzhané Wallis) lives on the swampier side of a levee with her strict father Wink (Dwight Henry),...
- 1/21/2012
- Indiewire
Pushing the boundaries of traditional filmmaking, Behn Zeitlin stands by his decision to make movies involving children, animals, and somewhat fantastical locations and environments. Lauded for his short, Glory at Sea, Zeitlin attends Sundance this year with his first feature-length film, Beasts of the Southern Wild. Like Zeitlin’s short, his feature debut takes place in Louisiana and aims to capture identifiable human emotions through the journey of a young girl. Beasts proves to be a seemingly mysterious narrative, unidentifiable from its abstract synopsis, but its premiere today in U.S. Dramatic Competition will soon shed more understanding on this highly anticipated film.
–
Filmmaker: What was the process of moving from a short film to a feature-length film like for you?
Zeitlin: It’s kind of like getting hit in the head in a boxing match. You’re looking for your brain and it just doesn’t work like it’s supposed to.
–
Filmmaker: What was the process of moving from a short film to a feature-length film like for you?
Zeitlin: It’s kind of like getting hit in the head in a boxing match. You’re looking for your brain and it just doesn’t work like it’s supposed to.
- 1/20/2012
- by alexandra byer
- Filmmaker Magazine - Blog
Director Ben Zeitlin continues his aquatic theme, traversing from rescuing loved ones trapped beneath in Glory at Sea to glaciers thawing above in his first feature, Beasts of the Southern Wild. While details are scarce (there isn't even an IMDb entry yet), I dug up two synopses which say the film is set in an apocalyptic time where the glaciers are melting and ancient beasts come back to life after being unfrozen. To boot, we can expect the same stunning cinematography as Zeitlin is using Glory's director of photography, Ben Richardson. Beasts was announced as part of the 2012 Sundance competition lineup today.
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- 12/1/2011
- QuietEarth.us
Based ont he tragedy in New Orleans, this spirit filled short is nothing short of stunning and apparently it's been available on youtube for some months now..
A group of mourners and a man spat from the depths of Hades build a boat from the debris of New Orleans to rescue their lost loved ones trapped beneath the sea.
Another odd thing according to IMDb: The Glory at Sea theme song by Benh Zeitlin and Dan Romer was used as the theme for the final days of Barack Obama's Us presidential campaign.
Full short after the break! We highly recommend it.
A group of mourners and a man spat from the depths of Hades build a boat from the debris of New Orleans to rescue their lost loved ones trapped beneath the sea.
Another odd thing according to IMDb: The Glory at Sea theme song by Benh Zeitlin and Dan Romer was used as the theme for the final days of Barack Obama's Us presidential campaign.
Full short after the break! We highly recommend it.
- 6/4/2009
- QuietEarth.us
2008 has proven to be a year of many ironies for filmmaker Benh Zeitlin, some sweet, others sour. His film, the visionary SXSW shorts winner Glory at Sea, is a sprawling post-Katrina, post-Apocalyptic New Orleans epic about a roving band of vagabonds and their child companions, all searching for their things or people they've lost within the watery gulf. The film bowed just days after Zeitlin was nearly killed in a horrible car accident while on his way to Austin for its premiere. While recovering, a small cult has built around the film and Zeitlin's profile has only continued to gain steam, culminating last month when he was named one of <a href="http://www.filmmakermagazine. ...
- 8/12/2008
- by Brandon Harris
- Spout
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