14Submit your film. Accepting entries till August 31st
We want your small gauge wonders! As always it’s free to submit. We’re accepting submissions till the end of August. If you need an extension contact us at info@chicago8fest.org or karen@chicago8fest.org.
Just a reminder that the deadline for submitting your small-gauge masterpiece to the Chicago 8 Film Fest is in one month!
Since posting message responses seems to be broken, I’ll try this again:
Anonymous asked: Quick question; Is film school worth it? specifically NYU film. I love writing, directing and acting. But my intended major is dramatic writing. I think I should stay in dramatic writing to hone in writing skills, all while pursing film making outside of school.
I am not the best person to answer this, because I chose to leave school to pursue my art directly. In my opinion, unless you work long and hard to build a solid portfolio, use much of your free time establishing and maintaining contacts, take any and every PA job/creative internship you can handle ‘til you’re “discovered”, and enter your work into as many film fests as you can afford, art school is just a very expensive hobby.
Filmmaking is an intricate art and requires a LOT of technical know-how, as well as artistic instincts finely tuned through practice. To me, film school is worth it to learn how to actually make films, but if you just want to write, direct, and act, you’re better off just throwing yourself into developing a portfolio and getting into the local art/writing/performance/film scene. Get your critiques from real working artists, collaborate with everyone you can, and learn the biz by being the biz. Save your money for your projects, or for getting a degree that will not just help you start your career, but give you a knowledge base that makes you unique and indispensible.
Followers: what do you guys think?
Chicago-based filmpeople and film businesspeople should check this out - it’s an awesome opportunity to have your hand in (and direct) everything Chicago Filmmakers is up to, and get involved in the film community in a very big way. Full-time, salaried position, hiring now. Get on it!
Clips from Double Dare (2004), dir. by Amanda Micheli
(Subtitled/CC’d)
Stuntwomen are so cool.
While I found the film to be a little slow and meandering - would’ve loved the entire backstories of Epper and Bell, would’ve loved for more stuntwomen to have been formally interviewed, would’ve loved for some critical discussion of the Hollywood politics of and about women who do stuntwork, etc. - Epper and Bell are absolutely delightful to watch. It is interesting to hear them talk about the almost dual life of being a woman and a stuntperson. As stuntwork is extremely physical and often involving bodily risk, it is considered “masculine”, and thus it is still not possible to be both “feminine”/”ladylike” and a stuntworker. This is particularly true in Epper’s experience, who struggles to keep up appearances in not only a sexist industry, but also an ageist one. Bell, the newcomer, faces her own challenges: nerves, injury, and leaving her home in New Zealand to find work in the States. Despite such odds, though, Bell excels in the craft that Epper helped pave for women the world over, and it’s so heartwarming and inspirational to see Epper share in Bell’s enthusiasm. We also get to see how Bell got her first big break as Uma Thurman’s stunt double in Kill Bill. I’m not an emotive moviewatcher, but this film had me smiling with every success (and sassy candid moment). Highly recommended, especially to feminist filmgoers! Watch it now on Netflix.
Sorry if we missed your email…
Chicago and Chicago-area small-gauge filmmakers - submit your 8mm and Super8 films!
Due to an unfortunate technical glitch with our domain host we have not received any emails for approximately the last month! Yikes! We also have no way of retrieving the lost mail. If you sent us an email or an online submission through our email address we are very sorry that we have missed it. We will have the problem fixed in the next day or so.
We want to hear from you and please continue to submit your work to us at Chicago8fest.org
eskimoguy asked: oh a side note, i don't like all his movies, but I thought Moonrise Kingdom did an excellent job of capturing the oddities of childhood. Not perfect, full of weirdness, and only a couple memories will stick with you in the end, but while your in it the world seems slightly different... i dunno just saying. kind of reminded me of the french new wave film '400 Blows'
Thanks for your thoughts! I feel The 400 Blows is actually the exact opposite of Moonrise Kingdom. While both films definitely romanticize childhood in a stylized manner, the emotional journey in 400 Blows is tangibly moving, with powerful and candid performances by the young stars. Moonrise Kingdom showed me awkward middle-upper-class youths monotonously engaging eachother. The French New Wave itself was actually influenced by the tragic Italian Neo-Realism and the emotive films of Classic Hollywood, and inherently interested in the subjective realism of the emotionality therein. Granted, the New Wave’s two Big Bads, Truffaut and Godard, had very different approaches in writing this kind of emotionality; I feel if Anderson’s work could be compared to theirs, it’d be more Godard than Truffaut, though I could see him being heavily influenced by both (and the rest of the French New Wave).
But first! An Unpopular Opinion
I don’t “get” Wes Anderson films. Feel free to stop reading here.
I’ve seen several of his films, and after mulling it over for a long, long time (read: years of turmoil) I can say with confidence that perhaps I’m just not his target audience. I find his films to be souless and cardboard, and while I recognize that beautiful sceneries devoid of emotion is whimsical, I just can’t get into it.
Don’t get me wrong - I loved Fantastic Mr. Fox, and I do think his films are absolutely gorgeous to look at and listen to (Margot Tennebaum exiting the bus to Nico’s “These Days” still gives me chills). Anderson is a master of the meticulous. I don’t even dislike his dialog, or the way he directs his actors’ deliveries to be so blunt. Personally speaking, though, I feel alienated by most of his work - and not in a way that interests me. I recently sawMoonrise Kingdomand I’m still trying to figure out why it underwhelmed me. Maybe I just couldn’t love the characters due to their emotional inaccessibility (except for a few of the starring adults, but I wonder how much of that comes from my love of those actors in general). I like to be moved - fed emotion, even - and beyond thinking that young Jared Gilman is totally gonna be a heartbreaker when he gets older and being dazzled by the film’s visuals, I was kinda bored and restless.
Is the emotional restraint a commentary on Rockwellian Americana through the juxtapositioning rich settings and colorfully-dressed characters with deadpan dialog? For what purpose? Despite such heavy stylization, the characters remain completely unaware of their artifice and thus makes it impossible to witness their emotional journies, if there are even meant to be any. Again, I remind myself that perhaps I’m not Anderson’s target audience.
Fandersons and non-fandersons, what are your thoughts?
Attention: Evanston and Chicagoland-area film/videomakers
Wanna teach kids how to make videos? The Fleetwood-Jourdain Theatre in Evanston is looking for someone to direct a youth (11-15) video class this summer. This is a full-time gig from July 9th through August 17th, and compensation’s pretty good. Get at me for more info.
