Finding a place for amateurs in the cinema world

By
Quentin Duforeau
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A youtuber on the 48 hour Film Festival jury? Fans take to the comment pages

 

The 48h film festival will take place in Lyon from 10 to 12 November 2017. The goal is simple: make a film in 48 hours. From Bogota to Budapest, Mexico City to Manchester, this competition is international. Meaning, it is open to amateurs and professionals everywhere.

To separate the wheat from the chaff you need a jury! The team that will decide the winners of the 6th edition was unveiled at the end of October. But as soon as it was announced it sparked a debate on the comment pages.

The presence of Inthepanda on the jury (a youtubeur well connected to cinema) was not unanimously welcomed. Why? Some commentators felt there was a lack of legitimacy, some spoke of amateurism? But who decides what is legitimate in the cinema?

Iconic YouTube figures are carving out a place for themselves in the middle ground as critics, analysts or even directors.

Nathalie Sonnac and Jean Gabszewicz are researchers in Information Science and Communication and Economics. They explained, in 2014, that “the consumer of content has turned into a creator offering his works on the internet”. For them, it is a logical evolution of the audience becoming the expert. YouTube is a pillar of this participatory web. The platform is also sliding towards professionalism and the film industry is starting to really take an interest in it.

The CNC in France has understood the emergence of this trend. Since 20 October 2017, a €2m fund will finance 100 projects of these new forms of writing. Some YouTubers are already in this space and do not intend to stop. Just look at Bagel Studio, the collective Les Parasites or the Le Grave de Films.

Whether you make a movie in 48 hours or one on YouTube, it makes no difference. All paths to making a movie are good

Quentin Duforeau

PERMANENT SHADOWING PROJECT – Script / Screenplay

By
Webmaster
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An FBI science adviser uses a visible shadowing technique against the Mafia but after initial success, he encounters an unsolvable problem.

PhD in Sociology, Steve Murray unexpectedly starts to work for the FBI. He offers a new strategy to eliminate the Mafia (a visible shadowing), trains his team and begins to execute the “Permanent shadowing” project. The first suspect – Barbara the prostitute hands over her supplier, the ex-boxer Bruce, but her surveillance continues. She suffers from depression. Barbara shows a striptease and tries to commit suicide but she is rescued, testifies and agrees to witness in the court. The second suspect – Bruce cannot endure the permanent shadowing. He hands over his supplier – a gangster Fred as well. Fred kidnaps Steve’s colleague’s daughter but Steve intimidates him and releases the girl. A chief of the Mafia – Herbert Walsh kidnaps Steve. He threatens to kill Steve’s girlfriend but, on the other hand, offers Steve a fine career. Steve doesn’t agree for collaboration but after this meeting Fred is killed, the project is finished without results and Steve takes position as a vice-director of the FBI.

Creative notes: I had a similar experience (a visible shadowing) in my life in the USSR.

PERMANENT SHADOWING PROJECT ©

An Original Screenplay by Jacob Greenberg

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Developing – Script / Screenplay

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Webmaster
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As Daron develops several old 35mm rolls of film, he discovers links to the past, present, and future.

Synopsis: Daron shares with his wife Sarah new digital pictures when he remembers some old undeveloped rolls of film. When each get gradually developed, there are surprise lost discoveries from the past with some images worth saving. The images of his estranged younger brother Ed due to crimes, are most compelling for Daron…

Creative notes: This story is about forgiveness and redemption by images from the past.

Developing ©

An Original Screenplay by Steven Burton

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Fans – Script / Screenplay

By
Webmaster
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In this short edgy romantic comedy, John sits alone in an empty theater to wait for a Greta Garbo film to begin, and then Kathy, a stranger, sits next to him

Synopsis: Confrontation ignites; technical problems delay the screening, humor, and then this couple share surprise revelations.

Creative notes: This story combines the elements of live performance with the escape magic of film.

Fans ©

An Original Screenplay by Steven Burton

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How a movie helped released the JFK files

By
Ana Victoria Torres
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Don’t underestimate the ability of movies to change history

2029 was supposed to be the year when the controversial JFK assassination records would be released after being concealed to the public through decades. But on 1992 George H.W. Bush and the US Congress moved the date to October 26, 2017. Many wondered, why the change of heart?

In 1991 Oliver Stone released the drama JFK where Kevin Costner played New Orleans district attorney Jim Garrison. A man that believed there was more to the assassination of the President of the United States John F. Kennedy than the official story presented by government agencies like the CIA. In the film’s last scene a closing statement explained the existence of the JFK files and the information that they will be released in 38 years.

According to the site 2017 JFK, “the tidal wave of letter-writing and phone-calling to Washington D. C. that followed the film precipitated a congressional decision to speed up the declassification of those files.”

Even though the film was criticized for its historical inaccuracies. The story combined with Costner’s powerful performance and an all-star cast, that included Tommy Lee Jones, Gary Oldman, Jack Lemmon, Sissy Spacek and Joe Pesci, won two Oscars and obtained six nominations.

Oliver Stone’s movie became part of the 90s pop culture and fueled the fire of JFK conspiracy theories fan. The film became so mainstream that the “magic bullet” scene, where Costner explains how unlikely a single bullet could have caused all of the seven wounds that seriously injured Texas governor, John Connally, and President Kennedy was hilariously parodied in an episode of the sitcom Seinfeld.

 

 

The public interest created by Oliver Stone’s movie pressured Congress in the 90s to take action. In 2017 thousands of documents have recently been made available to the public but a significant quantity of revealing material still remains partially redacted or withheld in full.

Ana Victoria Torres

Related articles:

 

  • Business Insider: “The long-awaited release of 3,000 previously-classified documents relating to the assassination of John F. Kennedy may not have happened for years were it not for a blockbuster 1991 film”… Full article 

 

  • Vanguardia: “Las presiones del FBI y la CIA evitan la divulgación de los documentos más comprometidos por motivos de “seguridad nacional”… Artículo completo   

 

  • Paris Match: L’administration américaine a bien mis en ligne des milliers de documents relatifs à l’assassinat de John F. Kennedy” … Article complet 

 

  • TRT: Jahrzehntelang waren sie unter Verschluss, was Verschwörungstheorien nur noch mehr befeuerte. Jetzt aber sollen Zehntausende Seiten an geheimen Dokumenten, die sich um die Ermordung von US-Präsident John F. Kennedy am 22…kompletter Artikel 

“Detroit” tipped for glittering night at the Oscars

By
Webmaster
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The film Detroit takes place three years after the signing of the Civil Rights Act with the city’s 1967 riots as a backdrop. Police arrive at the Algiers Motel in search of a sniper. Instead of doing their job they opt for retribution. It was released in North America on August 4 and is soon to be released in Germany.

It was directed by Kathleen Bigelow of The Hurt Locker fame and has divided America in two. Huffington Post said it was “not just sloppy but downright dangerous”. While Richard Broody in the New Yorker decried the “immoral artistry” in a film in which “the meticulous dramatisation of events intended to shock strikes me as the moral equivalent of pornography.”
Rolling Stone magazine, on the other hand, thinks that it is a “hardcore masterpiece”.

 

Detroit is a tour de force. The world is full of so-called critics who know nothing and talk rubbish. The New Yorker and Huffington Post miss the point. They miss the beauty of the woods by pointing to a few ugly trees. America has not moved on since the 1960s. Police still brutalise and kill black people on a daily basis. And that is the point

The latest outrage to hit the news stands was the murder of Patrick Harmon by Utah police in October 2017. His last moments were posted on Youtube after he was stopped for having no back light on his bike. As in Detroit, the killers were acquitted.

And all this in a country where neo-Nazi youths recently marched in Charlottesville, Virginia, chanting “the Jews will not defeat us”. Donald Trump, the United States President, believes there were “some good” people among this mob.

Variety says the parallels between what happens in “Detroit” and the cases of police brutality and homicide in the Black Lives Matter era are overwhelming. I could not agree more.

Everton Gayle

Related Articles:

  • The Guardian : “Kathleen Bigelow rages against the brutal chapter in US race struggle…” – Full article
  • Le monde : “La cinéaste Kathryn Bigelow revient sur l’assassinat par la police de trois Afro-Américains, en 1967.” – Article complet
  • Cineralia : “Crítica de Detroit. Atrapados en las redes de la intolerancia.” – Artículo completo

Nicolas Winding Refn introduces free streaming service

By
Webmaster
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Make room Netflix and Amazon there’s a new SVOD platform in town.

Nicolas Winding Refn, best known for directing movies such as Drive, Only God Forgives and Neon Demon, is also jumping on the streaming bandwagon but offering an Indie twist.

The Danish director announced during an appearance in the Lumière Film Festival in Lyon, France, the launch of his streaming site, byNWR, a platform created to rescue alternative films and showcase them as accessible art.

Refn described himself “humbly” to journalists as the third Lumière brother. Who traveled to Lyon, the birthplace of film, not by chance. But with the intended purpose to present the resurrection of cinema through a service that will create a modern idea of what movies will become.  

The project explains its philosophy and modus operandi in the following mission statement: “byNWR shares Nicolas Winding Refn’s passion for the rare, the forgotten and the unknown, breathing new life into the culturally intriguing and influential. Quarterly volumes of content divided into three monthly chapters, each featuring a fully-restored film. These revived cinematic gems inspire a wealth of original content, curated by special Guest Editors.”

NWR- stream-system-new

Contrary to other more established services, byNWR will be free for users and officially launches in February 2018. A beta version signup has been made available for those already interested in the project.

Refn’s service is not the first one to explore the VOD or SVOD world. Many platforms with different philosophies are starting to appear in this new sector, (broad catalogs sites, against classified catalogs, documentaries only… among others). We can notably mention  Universciné, Mubi,  Cinetek , Tënk, Outbuster.  

Philippe Mathieu/Ana Victoria Torres

Related articles:

EnGadget: “Love him or hate him, you can’t deny that Drive and Neon Demon director Nicholas Winding Refn has an astute eye for style in his movies.” Full article

Sensa Cine: “Nicolas Winding Refn (Drive, The Neon Demon) ha anunciado el lanzamiento de su propia plataforma de contenido byNWR.com, que comenzará a funcionar en febrero de 2018.” Artículo completo

Premiere: “Nicolas Winding Refn a fait un passage éclair au Festival Lumière de Lyon pour annoncer le lancement du site byNWR.com” Article complet

Soulful conversation – Script / Screenplay

By
Webmaster
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An unusual dealer involves a young couple in a strange deal.

Synopsis: A non-religious woman regards with humor an unexpected offer to sell her husband’s soul for money but soon the situation turns creepy instead of funny.

Creative notes: Can they make an immaterial deal?

Creative notes: It is also ironic comedy

Soulful conversation ©

An Original Screenplay by Jacob Greenberg

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Under The Cupid Sign – Script / Screenplay

By
Webmaster
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A shy religious guy meets a girl that can solve all his problems, but after the wedding he discovers that he married… a witch.

Synopsis: A young religious guy (Bruno) has a lot of problems in his life. Sometimes he protects a waitress in a café shop and hooligans beat him but one pretty girl (Jeane) helps him. Bruno and Jeane start a relationship. After he’s fired she has a conversation with his boss and the boss takes Bruno back. At his marriage ceremony at Bruno’s home the priest discover that Jeane is a witch. He gives Bruno a wooden cross and demands him to kill her. And Bruno does it!

Creative notes: It is also ironic comedy

UNDER THE CUPID SIGN ©

An Original Screenplay by Jacob Greenberg

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