By Ray Pride Pride@moviecitynews.com
More mumbling about architecture: is it a white guy thing?
Indie filmmaker (and doggedly prolific blogger) Sujewa Ekanayake asserts at his site that “a very widely read film journalist who blogs for indieWIRE told me a while back that American indie film has always been a “white” thing. Not really (“race films” of the 1930s on, Cassavete’s Shadows, Spike Lee, Jarmusch’s Mystery Train & Night On Earth & Dead Man & Ghost Dog, Ang Lee & Mira Nair & Wayne Wang’s careers). So how come the indie film media does not seem to be at all concerned about the hottest new thing in our world—Mumblecore—being an all-“white” thing? So is Mumblecore independent film by & for “white”people only? Or for people who do not have any non-“white” friends or acquaintances or business partners? Maybe it is, at least up to now. At least that seems to be the message in the casting decisions made in the films.” [More at the link.] Meanwhile, Eugene Hernandez at indieWIRE profiles producer Anish Savjani of Film Science, which produced Joe Swanberg’s Hannah Takes The Stairs and his forthcoming Nights and Weekneds, and Kelly Reichardt’s (Old Joy) next project. “behind the scenes a new generation of film producers are also starting to make a mark, including Austin-based Savjani,” writes Hernandez. Savjani, in his mid-20s, like Swanberg, raised under $100,000 to produce Hannah; his prior experience includes work as a DGA trainee; work on Old Joy and working for mega-producer and taste maven Scott Rudin. “Now, through his own company Film Science, he hopes to foster a “family of filmmakers” that he can work with over the longterm.” [A little more detail at the link.] And, not to forget, the prime primer of the moment, S. T. Van Airesdale’s summa over at The Reeler.
August 22 from IFC First Take.