Whalen speaks from experience on the importance of story and drama in nonfiction filmmaking.
A veteran producer talks about the art, craft and industry behind her work.
Hester Schell’s ‘Casting Revealed’ helps filmmakers hire quality actors.
The Media that Matters Conference showcased innovative formats and powerful storytelling.
A filmmaker delves deep into the process of embodying 'madness' in movie form.
A filmmaker’s trip to Luanda with a State Department program brings insight on the growth of a young national cinema.
At SFFS Film Arts Forum, experts offered live advice on how to pitch a film.
A filmmaker offers a script excerpt in appreciation of Jules Laforgue on the 150th anniversary of his birth.
Every film needs one person devoted to the distribution and marketing of the film from the start, just as they have a line producer, assistant director, or editor.
The maker of Bomb It offers hard-won advice on the marketing of film in the 2010s.
Making a film called Stagecoach in the Sky as part of the 48 Hour Film Project requires planning, as well as a flying boat.
First Person: How can people respond in diametric and, at times, vitriolic opposition to the same film? Mine.
The rapid adoption of e-newsletters by documentary filmmakers is the latest example of resourcefulness and efficiency among contemporary independents.
First-Person: Larry Daressa provides helpful hints on distribution strategy.
First-Person: A program officer at the San Francisco Foundation has a sobering experience making a documentary.
First Person: Jonathan Marlow rehashes commentary on film that has caused a kerfuffle of late.
I first saw the remarkable A Trip Down Market Street, 1905 at the Exploratorium seven years ago, feeling chills as I gazed into the past.
For people who know their rock trivia, or saw Gimme Shelter , Altamont represents one of the most infamous moments in Bay Area cultural history.
Chuck Stephens shares his thoughts, existential and otherwise, on the Bangkok set of Citizen Dog .
"Bodega, a New York-based content creation/production company, has extended its reach Westward with the opening of a San Francisco shop headed by executive producer/partner Clint Goldman." More at shootonline.com.
"After whetting local appetites through a successful soft launch last year, 91 films are now listed in the 2011 Napa Valley Film Festival program guide. Those films—many of them short—will be played on 12 screens throughout the Napa Valley, including screenings in Calistoga, Yountville, St. Helena and the city of Napa." More at napavalleyregister.com.
"John Lasseter, the chief creative officer of Walt Disney and Pixar Animation Studios, will receive the 2,453rd star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame today," reports Daily News Wire Services. More at dailynews.com.
Press release: The San Francisco Neighborhood Theater Foundation announced today that it is partnering with Gary Meyer to keep the City’s historic Balboa Theatre (1926) open and to develop a sustainable long-term plan for the theater. The Theater Foundation also announced it has reached an agreement to lease the theater through 2024—securing the future of one of San Francisco’s oldest operating cinemas. More at sfntf.org.
Press release: The San Francisco Jewish Film Festival announced its new Executive Director: Lexi Leban, who begins working with the festival November 7, 2011. A longtime member of the Bay Area film community, Lexi has worked in all aspects of film, from production to distribution. She’s also worked with numerous film festivals, including the Mill Valley Film Festival, the San Francisco International Film Festival, and the Global Social Change Film Festival in Bali. Lexi is currently Academic Director of the Digital Filmmaking & Video Production Program at the Art Institute of California, where she built the department from its inception. Her most recent feature documentary, Girl Trouble, which follows young girls in San Francisco’s juvenile justice system, aired on PBS’s acclaimed series Independent Lens in January of 2006, and won Best Bay Area Documentary at the San Francisco International Film Festival. More at sfjff.org.