industry/insider sources
trade press & related sources
various film blogs, online journals, resources
- Audiovisuality – online video essays
- Bright Lights Film Journal
- Cineaste
- David Bordwell and Kristen Thompson, Observations on Film Art
- Film Courage
- Film Studies For Free
- FilmSlate magazine
- Indiewood/Hollywoodn't
- j.j. murphy on independent cinema
- Jump Cut
- Movie: A Journal of Film Criticism
- Open access film studies books available online, list from Film Studies For Free
- Participations: Journal of Audience & Reception Studies
- Raindance resources
- Scope: An Online Journal of Film and TV Studies
- Screening the Past
- Sense of Cinema
- The Chutry Experiment – Chuck Tryon
- Wide Screen
- Zigzigger: On the Audiovisual and Beyond (Michael Z. Newman)
Category Archives: Films
‘How to fake being an indie auteur’: indie and the notion of the contrived
I like this tongue-in cheek article from Suzanne Ballantyne, head of programming of the Raindance Film Festival: How to Fake Being An Indie Auteur part one and part two. It’s a witty satire of a number of indie cliches, but painfully close … Continue reading
Posted in Filmmakers, Films, Industry practice, Uncategorized
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Indie strategies: Cheesecake Casserole
Always interesting to read accounts of particular strategies that have enabled indie films to get made and out into distribution, particularly in these difficult times. See for example co-writer and producer Jamie Stein’s account of the production and distribution of … Continue reading
Posted in Films, Industry practice
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Your Sister’s Sister, post-mumblecore and Joe Swanberg’s persistence
Lynn Shelton’s Your Sister’s Sister seems to have cemented her reputation as a significant presence in what might be termed a post-mumblecore tendency in some indie film, following her earlier titles such as My Effortless Brilliance (2008) and Humpday (2009). What characterises such … Continue reading
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Tarnation sequel – not quite available to all
Jonathan Caouette’s Tarnation is right up among my personal favourite indie films, so it’s exciting to hear news of his sequel, Walk Away Renee, in a review by Jana J. Monji on the Chicago Sun-Times website. For anyone who doesn’t know it, Tarnation is … Continue reading
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African-American Film Festival Releasing Movement
Interesting piece on FilmSlate about a new initiative for the release of African-American indie films, which fits in with some broader recent trends relating to the building of links between festival screenings and (at least relatively) wider theatrical openings. I Will … Continue reading
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Auteurs, very much alive… but socially situatable
The announcement yesterday of the death of Andrew Sarris, the critic who did more than anyone else to propagate the ‘auteur’ notion in the United States, is a timely moment to note how large such a concept still looms, particularly … Continue reading
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Coordinated international releases for indie films
Is it just me, or is it becoming an increasing trend for indie films to be released simultaneously in the US and it at least some overseas territories such as the UK? I posted a while back on this in … Continue reading
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‘Django Unchained’ will no doubt contribute to growing strength of Weinstein Company
The growing strength of The Weinstein Company (see previous post), after its slow start following the departure of Harvey and Bob Weinstein from Miramax, will no doubt be confirmed by its release of the new Quentin Tarantino film, Django Unchained. … Continue reading
Posted in Companies, Films, Industry practice
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Moonrise Kingdom to achieve cross-over?
Be interesting to see how far Moonrise Kingdom goes at the box-office after its per-screen record breaking start, which was followed up by a strong second week at the US box office (it’s also filling art-house screens in the UK as … Continue reading
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The Future, mini-review
Recently caught up with Miranda July’s much-awaited second feature, The Future, which offers an interesting example of the mix of qualities that typifies many indie films – and further demonstrates the continued presence of such films, despite various rhetorical claims about … Continue reading
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