There’s what goes on in the film biz and then there’s what really goes on in Tinseltown. That’s what documentary filmmaker Marina Zenovich (director of last year’s “Lance,” about disgraced biker Lance Armstrong) was seeking to get at with her new film, “What Happens in Hollywood.” The documentary, which is now available on Roku, shows women, and some men, speaking candidly about the sexism and ... more >
INTERVIEWS
CANNES FESTIVAL : Cinefondation filmmaker AUDEN LINCOLN-VOGEL | INTERVIEW
Filmmaker Auden Lincoln-Vogel was in Cannes this year in support of “Bill and Joe go Duck Hunting,” which he's written and directed. In “Bill and Joe Go Duck Hunting,” a slow and contemplative film that was a part of the Cinefondation program, two friends go on a duck hunting expedition and much vexation ensues, the great outdoors the setting for an oppressive “huit-clos” film that's punctuated ... more >
SMALL TALK WITH BIG PEOPLE: Matt Ogens of the documentary short “AUDIBLE,” currently airing on Netflix
He previously directed "Confessions of a Superhero," a film that premiered at SXSW in 2007
Director Matt Ogens grew up in Frederick, M.D., not far from the Maryland School for the Deaf. One of his best friends was hearing-impaired and Ogens became familiar with the deaf community thanks to him. “It just so happened that years later, when I decided to become a filmmaker, I directed a commercial campaign about high-school football teams around the country, and one of them was Maryland ... more >
Our Interview with “The Sons of Sam: A Descent into Darkness” director JOSHUA ZEMAN (series is currently showing on Netflix)
"Those are the best stories because we all get to play the game. My version can be right, your version can be right. That allows us all to win the same game"
David Berkowitz, the so-called Son of Sam, has been imprisoned for decades following a string of brutal shootings in New York in the late seventies. He initially claimed that a dog named Sam commanded him to murder, but years later walked that back, saying he had actually been part of a satanic organization known as “the Children” who conspired with him in the murders. If it sounded outlandish, ... more >
“The ones that get made are the ones that drop down into your heart and say ‘yes’” (TALKING WITH KEN BURNS AND LYNN NOVICK OF “HEMINGWAY”)
The three-part, six-hour documentary film "Hemingway" is airing on PBS right now
Ken Burns knows he only has so much time left to make a certain number of movies. It’s getting harder to pick and choose which of the many ideas for his trademark multipart documentaries will get his full attention—but choose he must. “As I get older, I get greedier. Because you realize there are so many subjects that you want to touch, and there’s not gonna be enough time to do them all,” ... more >
INTERVIEW : Ed Helms and Patti Harrison of “Together, Together”
Film was a part of the 2021 Sundance Film Festival
Ed Helms and Patti Harrison have such singular chemistry in the new film “Together Together” that one might assume that they have known each other for years. Not so, they both said when speaking about the film. “I knew of him,” said Harrison over video chat, eliciting perhaps the hint of a smile from her co-star, who is known for his time on “The Daily Show” as well as “The Hangover” films and ... more >
INTERVIEW: MATTHEW JENSEN, director of photography, “Wonder Woman 1984”
Growing up in the Northern Virginia suburbs of Washington, D.C., Matthew Jensen knew his destiny was to work in films. As a young man, he took the Metro into the heart of democracy to watch and study films at the Smithsonian. He also cruised the pages of the Washington Post, seeking out revivals at theaters in Georgetown and word of AFI screenings at the Kennedy Center. “In Georgetown there was ... more >