Rotterdam is not only interesting for tourist because of its architecture, but the city is also for producers een beautiful place to shoot commercials, tv shows and movies. In order to help Rotterdam has a Film Commissioner, Saskia Kagchèl. I talked to her about what she does exactly for her job, which locations are popular, but also which strange requests she sometimes receives. Continue reading
In this past she was responsible for various shorts (including the great The Distance Between) and a documentary about the family toy business and the relationship with her father. With It’s Already Tomorrow in Hong Kong she has made her feature film debut. I talked to her about this movie, her inspiration, experiences and the challenges of releasing an independent film. Continue reading
He directed documentaries like Raw Deal: A Question of Consent, Cocaine Cowboys 1 and 2. His latest documentary, Dawg Fight, is available through Netflix. My Filmviews spoke with Billy Corben about this raw movie, in which fighters go up against each other in the backyards, bare fisted. These fights are organised by Dada 5000, who’s a fighter himself. Continue reading
The documentary An Honest Liar about James “The Amazing” Randi, shows how he has made it his mission to show how faith healers, spoon benders and others are all con men. I talked to director/producer of the movie, Tyler Measom, to learn more about this movie he made together with director Justin Weinstein Continue reading
Joey Pollari stars in the movie Profile of A Killer as a serial killer. My Filmviews interviewed him about his epxeriences in making the movie.
How did you get involved in Profile of Killer?
I had a chance to audition for the role after hearing about it through my manager. I had read the script, was enthralled with the material, and knew I wanted to put my best foot forward. So I met with Caspian Tredwell-Owen, our director, and read with Gabe Angieri. I got called back for two more auditions, and then found out I had booked the role.
What did you do to prepare for the role? It is very different from your previous roles?
In preparation, I read up on anything I could get my hands on. I started with books of psychology on serial killers, but then found the scope was so broad that I wanted to find specifics. So I read some accounts of Columbine and histories of the teenagers who had done that, as well as any other teenagers who committed murders. I was searching for their habits, their interests, what people said they were like day-to-day. Anything to ground the performance in reality. The role is a complete 180 from others I’ve had… Up to that point, I had done a lot of comedy. This was an opportunity to unearth something different. Continue reading
Director Caspian Tredwell-Owen is writer of The Island and director of Profile of a Killer. My Filmviews got a chance to talk to him.
Profile of a Killer is an interesting take on the police vs. killer stories we have seen a lot. The search for the killer is there, but it takes a backseat to the direct contact between the killer and the profiler. What inspired you to approach it that way?
It came out of the growth of the teenage market culture over the past 10-15 years, where a previously undefined group was suddenly accorded enormous focus and gravitas. I wanted a way to explore the impact and extremes of this spotlight.
What kind of research goes into writing the story and bringing it all to the screen in a realistic way?
The killer/profiler dynamic was important – the profiler took a lot of research to find the right balance between judgment and understanding – these guys are not unfeeling nor is behavioral analysis (as opposed to the movie/tv version) an exact science. You have to let your subject “in”. Continue reading
Tom Putnam & Brenna Sanchez are the directors/producers of the feature documentary Burn, told through the eyes of Detroit firefighters, who are charged with the thankless task of saving a city that many have written off as dead.
What made you decide to make a documentary about the Detroit Fire Department?
The film is dedicated to a Detroit firefighter named Walter Harris. In late 2008 I read a news story about Walter, who was killed fighting a fire in an abandoned building in Detroit. I called Brenna Sanchez, who is a filmmaker friend from Detroit, and she called me about an hour later from a Detroit firehouse. We started by asking ourselves why someone would risk their lives fighting a fire in an abandoned building in a city that has over 80,000 abandoned structures, and the answers turned out to be much more nuanced than we thought. Then in 2009 we went out with a small film crew and filmed two 24-hour shifts with Engine Company 50, which is the jumping off point for our film. We went to 21 structure fires with them, which is more fires than some suburban firefighters will see in their entire career. After that we knew we had to stick with this and tell their story.
What specific challenges did filming fires bring and what kind of equipment was used?
No one had ever filmed fires in a meaningful way before. No one had sent cameras into fires. So we tried a number of different cameras and techniques to capture it since we knew we wanted to show firefighting from the point of view of the guys running into the burning buildings. We ultimately ended up using Contour HD helmet cameras to go into the buildings, and Canon 5d and 7d DSLR cameras to film the more traditional documentary footage. We approached the fires like a sporting event, and used a combination of action sports camerapeople and traditional documentary shooters to cover the scenes. Continue reading
Marijn Poels is director of By Choice or Change (my review of it can be found here), which shows the difficulties single mothers have to go through in Vietnam. He also is a very active documentary maker. More info on his work can be found on his website.
In the west the image of single mothers is something everyone expects and it’s something which doesn’t stand out. By Choice or Chance shows that the situation isn’t like this all over the world. What’s the goal you want to reach with this documentary?
The movie will get its world premiere on March 8th (International Women’s Day) in 24 different countries and 46 different cinemas. Even in countries as Pakistan, Bangladesh, Vietnam and India where there is still a lot of inequality between men and women. The goal of this film to give women in those countries the courage to step out of the traditional thinking and fight for their rights. In the interest of equal rights and their children. I hope it will inspire women and make them think. For single mothers in the Netherlands and Europe this is a recognisable story which we had to go through in the sixties/seventies. Still the story this movie tells remains something which is beautiful to watch as it’s about the love between mother and child. Continue reading
Tricked is the new movie by Paul Verhoeven, which has been made through crowdsourcing. Everyone had the chance to be part of the project by writing the script, make music or simply by voting. The movie was made in 8 episodes. My Filmviews talked with Paul Verhoeven about making the film, the challenges he faced and his thoughts about the remakes of his most well-known movies.
What was the experience with making this crowdsourced movie, Tricked?
It’s a very intensive and long way to create a story. It is cheaper to start with a real story/script instead of doing it this way. It costs a lot of time, you really need the time you have between episodes to look at the scripts. When doing that you need to be honest to your audience – the users – by using what they suggest as much as possible, but you also be keen to change what isn’t right or doesn’t work structurally. You ask yourself: “Are we going to have a problem with this?” or “If we are going to do it this way is it going to be an endless road which we wont’be able to finish in 8 episodes?”. Continue reading
Most of you might not know the name, but if you are a moviefan you will have seen his work numerous times. Michael Deas is the artist who has painted the Columbia Pictures logo, which has been in use by the company since 1992. I got a chance to interview him about the creation of this iconic image.
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