Now underway in northern Italy, the Torino Film Festival is one of the most well-curated international events on the cinematic calendar and one world premiere on our radar is the new feature from Mitch Blummer and Christopher Jason Bell. Failed State, starring Dale Smith, follows our lead character as he spends the majority of his time transporting various goods to people while attempting to carve out a social life in-between. Eventually the weight of work, his declining health, and decaying social relations become too heavy to bear. Ahead of the world premiere this weekend, we’re delighted to exclusively premiere the trailer.
“Many things were on our mind even before 2020 had hit,” the directors said. “The pandemic exacerbated problems and heightened contradictions that were already on the tipping point. After working with Dale on previous shorts, we decided to make another small project but much bigger in scope. We followed...
“Many things were on our mind even before 2020 had hit,” the directors said. “The pandemic exacerbated problems and heightened contradictions that were already on the tipping point. After working with Dale on previous shorts, we decided to make another small project but much bigger in scope. We followed...
- 11/28/2023
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
NEWSCharles Burnett's Killer of SheepTwo exciting stories involving two forerunners of the L.A. Rebellion: Charles Burnett is set to direct the film Steal Away, about the escape of former slave-turned-politician Robert Smalls; while Julie Dash will be helming Lionsgate's Angela Davis biopic. GammaRay and Celestial pictures will be hosting a Shaw Brothers movie marathon on Twitch that will continue from February 4 to February 8. The globally-streaming marathon includes 44 full-length features from the Shaw Brothers’ catalog, so make sure to clear your calendars! Recommended VIEWINGThe release of Harmony Korine's long awaited follow-up to his lightening-in-a-bottle movie Spring Breakers is finally near. Here's a new trailer for the Miami-set, Matthew McConaughey-starring odyssey.A lovely miniature play with form: the U.S. trailer for Hong Sang-soo's Hotel by the River. Meanwhile, we are currently running a retrospective of Hong's films in the UK entitled Solving Puzzles: The Cinema of Hong Sang-soo.
- 1/31/2019
- MUBI
Previously at Filmmaker, Theodore Collatos engaged in a dialogue about filmmaking with fellow director Christopher Jason Bell and penned an article about shooting his latest feature, Tormenting the Hen, in just six days. Now that latter film is receiving its premiere tomorrow at the Independent Film Festival of Boston, and Collatos has provided Filmmaker with an exclusive clip. Watch above, and read the synopsis below: When playwright Claire is invited to set her latest political work at a rural theatre company, her fiance Monica tags along for a much-needed vacation. Upon encountering Mutty, an enigmatic neighbor with a gross lack […]...
- 4/27/2017
- by Scott Macaulay
- Filmmaker Magazine - Blog
Filmmaker Theodore Collatos appeared recently on the site when he and Christopher Jason Bell interviewed each other about their latest pictures. He’s now at work on a new feature, Tormenting the Hen, produced with Matt Grady from Factory 25, Ben Umstead (Slamdance programmer, Screen Anarchy) and George Manatos (editor on Come Down Molly). He’s also in the midst of an Indiegogo campaign to support its co-production. Below, he reveals how — and why — he shot his new movie in six days (and how you might be able to do the same). Read on, and please consider supporting his campaign. […]...
- 10/12/2016
- by Theodore Collatos
- Filmmaker Magazine - Blog
Yesterday we premiered Christopher Jason Bell’s short film One Times One; today, we’re following up with the premiere of his colleague/interlocutor Theodore Collatos’ short Albatross. It’s the story of a young girl being raised by her uncle, only to have their relationship disrupted by the unexpected return of her father. As Collatos told Bell in their conversation (which we published Tuesday), “I really wanted to continue to build a fictional story within the context of Matt Shaw’s actual life. Elements of real story beats with real people in a poetic and seasonal time structure. Seasons pass, family changes and the mysteries of life go […]...
- 5/26/2016
- by Filmmaker Staff
- Filmmaker Magazine - Blog
Yesterday we posted a conversation between filmmakers Christopher Jason Bell and Theodore Collatos about their films, practicing their craft, managing expectations and much more. Today we’re premiering Bell’s short film One Times One, which had its origins as excised footage from his feature debut The Winds that Scatter. As he explained: “For Winds, we ended up with a 3.5 hour assembly cut. There were a lot of things that I was very attached to that ultimately needed to go. One of them was a small arc in which Ahmad made friends with a man named Mike — he met this guy while looking […]...
- 5/25/2016
- by Filmmaker Staff
- Filmmaker Magazine - Blog
Since any New York cinephile has a nearly suffocating wealth of theatrical options, we figured it’d be best to compile some of the more worthwhile repertory showings into one handy list. Displayed below are a few of the city’s most reliable theaters and links to screenings of their weekend offerings — films you’re not likely to see in a theater again anytime soon, and many of which are, also, on 35mm. If you have a chance to attend any of these, we’re of the mind that it’s time extremely well-spent.
Film Society of Lincoln Center
The second weekend of “Jane and Charlotte Forever” offers two from Varda, a rare Rivette picture, Serge Gainsbourg’s tribute to his daughter, Zeffirelli‘s Jane Eyre, and a Bertrand Tavernier title, among others.
Museum of Modern Art
Lubitsch, Clair, and Griffith wrap up “Modern ‘Matinees’: Fashionably Late.”
“All That...
Film Society of Lincoln Center
The second weekend of “Jane and Charlotte Forever” offers two from Varda, a rare Rivette picture, Serge Gainsbourg’s tribute to his daughter, Zeffirelli‘s Jane Eyre, and a Bertrand Tavernier title, among others.
Museum of Modern Art
Lubitsch, Clair, and Griffith wrap up “Modern ‘Matinees’: Fashionably Late.”
“All That...
- 2/5/2016
- by Nick Newman
- The Film Stage
“A young woman waits out the night in a twilight state, where dreams, memories, revisited and reenacted events intermingle. She tries her best to parse truth from embellishment, reflecting on her relationship with the man sleeping soundly beside her,” reads the synopsis for Wake Me When I Leave, an intriguing new independent psychological horror feature from Tyler Rubenfeld.
We’re pleased to present the first trailer for the film, which is available to stream for free for the next few weeks on Fandependent. Shot by rising cinematographer Paul Taylor and produced by friend of the site Christopher Bell, it looks like a compelling trip into a subconscious state. Check out the exclusive trailer below, backed by Tomemitsu‘s Easy, and the great poster, for the film starring Michael Fentin (star of Slamdance winner Driftwood), Adam Barrie, Greg Steinbruner, Zahra Zubaidi, and Jenna D’Angelo.
Jill and Todd, a young couple,...
We’re pleased to present the first trailer for the film, which is available to stream for free for the next few weeks on Fandependent. Shot by rising cinematographer Paul Taylor and produced by friend of the site Christopher Bell, it looks like a compelling trip into a subconscious state. Check out the exclusive trailer below, backed by Tomemitsu‘s Easy, and the great poster, for the film starring Michael Fentin (star of Slamdance winner Driftwood), Adam Barrie, Greg Steinbruner, Zahra Zubaidi, and Jenna D’Angelo.
Jill and Todd, a young couple,...
- 2/2/2016
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
Please note, the author of this article is Christopher Bell, former contributor to The Playlist and director of feature film The Winds That Scatter -- BUWalking around Brooklyn's biggest punchline of a neighborhood ain't what it used to be. In just a few years, the once trendy art community (or whatever you decided Williamsburg was) has gone full yuppie, adding immense condos and hush-hush J. Crews where once resided rickety music venues. There is, however, one locale that seems to refuse to vacate, something like a remnant of those not-too-distant days: the Spectacle theater. An intimate, volunteer-run movie house, Spectacle is known for its eclectic programming -- from East German Spaghetti Westerns to Indonesian horror films, any hungry cinephile is bound to stumble upon at...
[Read the whole post on twitchfilm.com...]...
[Read the whole post on twitchfilm.com...]...
- 10/28/2015
- Screen Anarchy
You never know what can happen, and when Christopher Jason Bell, a former contributor to The Playlist, threw himself into making his latest feature, "The Winds That Scatter," it was hard to know what to expect. Indie filmmaking is difficult endeavor, but for Bell, work on the movie didn't just end when the cameras stopped rolling. The writer/director has spent months and months getting his movie in front of anyone who would pay attention, and the dividends are starting to pay off. Earlier this year, his picture took the Best International No Budget Film Award at the Korea Indie And Expat Film Festival, and the film has started to earn buzz in indie circles. And today, we're proud to present a 24-hour only exclusive presentation of the entire film, on Vimeo, for free. Read More: Watch The Exclusive Trailer For Christopher Jason Bell's 'The Winds That Scatter' The film — written,...
- 9/16/2015
- by Kevin Jagernauth
- The Playlist
A former critic for The Playlist, Chris Bell fulfills the promise of the observant, patient lens he wielded in shorts such as Bridges with his feature length character study, The Winds That Scatter. Baring more in common with the films of the great Abbas Kiarostami than say your average Brooklyn-based filmmaker, The Winds That Scatter follows a Syrian immigrant named Ahmad as he moves from job to job in nondescript New Jersey. Primarily structured in long takes and slow-burning, affecting episodes, The Winds That Scatter will have its world premiere at the Northside Film Festival next Wednesday at UnionDocs. Filmmaker: You’ve spoken about wanting to create something […]...
- 6/2/2015
- by Sarah Salovaara
- Filmmaker Magazine-Director Interviews
A former critic for The Playlist, Chris Bell fulfills the promise of the observant, patient lens he wielded in shorts such as Bridges with his feature length character study, The Winds That Scatter. Baring more in common with the films of the great Abbas Kiarostami than say your average Brooklyn-based filmmaker, The Winds That Scatter follows a Syrian immigrant named Ahmad as he moves from job to job in nondescript New Jersey. Primarily structured in long takes and slow-burning, affecting episodes, The Winds That Scatter will have its world premiere at the Northside Film Festival next Wednesday at UnionDocs. Filmmaker: You’ve spoken about wanting to create something […]...
- 6/2/2015
- by Sarah Salovaara
- Filmmaker Magazine - Blog
For the life of me I can't recall a recent American independent film that featured a lead character who was Muslim or a Middle Eastern immigrant, and was not focused primarily on a plot involving terrorism or deportation.Filmmaker Christopher Bell's feature debut The Winds That Scatter truly looks to be cultivating a vision of Arabs in Post-9/11 America well beyond such narrow angles, one that feels nuanced, humane and meditative in its scope and capacity for everyday living. Bell came on my radar a few years back with his short Bridges, an extraordinarily confident yet quiet portrait of a child caregiver. The Winds That Scatter looks to bring the same intelligent, measured look into worlds and people we pass by everyday. Here's how the film's...
[Read the whole post on twitchfilm.com...]...
[Read the whole post on twitchfilm.com...]...
- 3/11/2015
- Screen Anarchy
Here's your daily dose of an indie film in progress -- at the end of the week, you'll have the chance to vote for your favorite. In the meantime: is this a movie you'd want to see? Tell us in the comments. The Winds That Scatter Tweetable Logline: An atmospheric character study about a middle-aged Syrian man trying to find a job in post 9/11 America. Elevator Pitch: Ahmad is a refugee from Syria, holding wishes of starting his own taxi service. When he loses his menial employment at a gas station, he attempts to navigate through the current American economy with optimism. Soon, reality settles in as consistent work is scarce. An impression of hopelessness slowly begins to take a toll on his relationships, faith and sense of self, with his dream slipping quickly from his grasp. Production Team: Director/Producer/Writer/Editor - Christopher Jason Bell. Prior film "Bridges...
- 3/9/2015
- by Indiewire Staff
- Indiewire
(Full disclosure: Chris Bell is a friend and his feature film The Winds That Scatter, due to hit the festival circuit this year, is great, so I’m getting the word out now.) In this single-take short, Chris Bell layers on the vérité. Perched behind a bench in a transit hub, his camera watches as a crane rises to the ceiling, two men greet one another and an off-screen voice breaks the fourth wall. It’s unclear as to whether any of the action was previously orchestrated or Bell merely whipped out his camera in the moment, and it’s probably best to keep it […]...
- 3/18/2014
- by Sarah Salovaara
- Filmmaker Magazine-Director Interviews
(Full disclosure: Chris Bell is a friend and his feature film The Winds That Scatter, due to hit the festival circuit this year, is great, so I’m getting the word out now.) In this single-take short, Chris Bell layers on the vérité. Perched behind a bench in a transit hub, his camera watches as a crane rises to the ceiling, two men greet one another and an off-screen voice breaks the fourth wall. It’s unclear as to whether any of the action was previously orchestrated or Bell merely whipped out his camera in the moment, and it’s probably best to keep it […]...
- 3/18/2014
- by Sarah Salovaara
- Filmmaker Magazine - Blog
Bridges is a quiet, minimalist short film from critic-turned-filmmaker Christopher Bell. It's worth noting in these here pages because at its core it features a finely tuned, nuanced performance from the brilliant Joslyn Jensen. Those with their finger on the pulse of the current American Indie scene may recall Jensen's name from a few year's back when she turned heads in Mark Jackson's provocative and challenging psychological thriller Without. Despite gaining considerable indie buzz and winning numerous awards at festivals across the globe (it also remains to this day my favorite film of 2011) Jackson's film never saw a proper release stateside, and thus, Jensen has yet to have that breakthrough moment she so readily deserves. So while Bridges is by no means the film...
[Read the whole post on twitchfilm.com...]...
[Read the whole post on twitchfilm.com...]...
- 4/27/2013
- Screen Anarchy
For their 9th annual edition, the Atlanta Underground Film Festival will be assaulting the south from its Goat Farm Arts Center screening center on Sep. 13-16 with four days and nights of independent feature films, shorts and documentaries.
Some of the feature films screening include Lisa Duva’s multi-dimensional Cat Scratch Fever, Jason Lapeyre’s thriller Cold Blooded and Brady Hall’s hilariously named Hello, My Name Is Dick Licker.
This year’s Auff is also packed to the gills with short films with multiple blocks of shorts screening per day. Some of the special ones to look out for are Neil Ira Needleman‘s A Few Words in Favor of God, Jim Haverkamp‘s When Walt Whitman Was a Little Girl and Mike Salva‘s award-winning animated short Pound Dogs.
The full film lineup is below, but please visit the official Atlanta Underground Film Festival website for more details and to buy advance tickets.
Some of the feature films screening include Lisa Duva’s multi-dimensional Cat Scratch Fever, Jason Lapeyre’s thriller Cold Blooded and Brady Hall’s hilariously named Hello, My Name Is Dick Licker.
This year’s Auff is also packed to the gills with short films with multiple blocks of shorts screening per day. Some of the special ones to look out for are Neil Ira Needleman‘s A Few Words in Favor of God, Jim Haverkamp‘s When Walt Whitman Was a Little Girl and Mike Salva‘s award-winning animated short Pound Dogs.
The full film lineup is below, but please visit the official Atlanta Underground Film Festival website for more details and to buy advance tickets.
- 9/11/2012
- by Mike Everleth
- Underground Film Journal
It has been a year since Sidney Lumet passed away on April 9, 2011. Here is our retrospective on the legendary filmmaker to honor his memory. Originally published April 15, 2011.
Almost a week after the fact, we, like everyone that loves film, are still mourning the passing of the great American master Sidney Lumet, one of the true titans of cinema.
Lumet was never fancy. He never needed to be, as a master of blocking, economic camera movements and framing that empowered the emotion and or exact punctuation of a particular scene. First and foremost, as you’ve likely heard ad nauseum -- but hell, it’s true -- Lumet was a storyteller, and one that preferred his beloved New York to soundstages (though let's not romanticize it too much, he did his fair share of work on studio film sets too as most TV journeyman and early studio filmmakers did).
His directing career stretched well over 50 years,...
Almost a week after the fact, we, like everyone that loves film, are still mourning the passing of the great American master Sidney Lumet, one of the true titans of cinema.
Lumet was never fancy. He never needed to be, as a master of blocking, economic camera movements and framing that empowered the emotion and or exact punctuation of a particular scene. First and foremost, as you’ve likely heard ad nauseum -- but hell, it’s true -- Lumet was a storyteller, and one that preferred his beloved New York to soundstages (though let's not romanticize it too much, he did his fair share of work on studio film sets too as most TV journeyman and early studio filmmakers did).
His directing career stretched well over 50 years,...
- 4/9/2012
- by Oliver Lyttelton
- The Playlist
Considering it's where most of us (bar the weird home-schooled kids) spend our crucial formative years, where we have our first fights, our first loves, our first tentative steps into adulthood, it's no surprise that high school has long been a popular setting for movies. A range of genres (though generally leaning towards comedy) have taken place in those hallways, particularly from the 1980s onwards, when John Hughes, among others, made an entire career out of the lives and loves of 15-18 year olds.
The latest film to head back to class is "21 Jump Street" (review here) the big-screen reboot of the '80s TV show, which stars Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum as youthful-looking cops who are sent back to high school in order to bust a drug-running ring. While you might assume this to be another lazy remake, you'd be very wrong, as Tatum, Hill, co-writer Michael Bacall,...
The latest film to head back to class is "21 Jump Street" (review here) the big-screen reboot of the '80s TV show, which stars Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum as youthful-looking cops who are sent back to high school in order to bust a drug-running ring. While you might assume this to be another lazy remake, you'd be very wrong, as Tatum, Hill, co-writer Michael Bacall,...
- 3/15/2012
- by Oliver Lyttelton
- The Playlist
Updated through 11/16.
Every now and then, Isabelle Huppert is suddenly everywhere and here we are again. She's on the cover of the new Film Comment and she's in the news: Just yesterday, the Playlist's Christopher Bell reported that she'll be taking on a role in Michael Haneke's These Two, a film about the "humiliation of the physical breakdown in the elderly" (Huppert's character's parents will be played by Jean-Louis Trintignant and Emmanuelle Riva), and last month, the Philippine Daily Inquirer's Marinel Cruz reported that she'll be playing "a kidnap victim in the hands of the separatist group Abu Sayyaf" in Brillante Mendoza's next film, Captured, slated to begin shooting in January. What's more, the IMDb has her lined up for projects with Anne Fontaine and Ulrike Ottinger. As Melissa Anderson notes in her profile for the Voice, New Yorkers will be able to catch two of her performances,...
Every now and then, Isabelle Huppert is suddenly everywhere and here we are again. She's on the cover of the new Film Comment and she's in the news: Just yesterday, the Playlist's Christopher Bell reported that she'll be taking on a role in Michael Haneke's These Two, a film about the "humiliation of the physical breakdown in the elderly" (Huppert's character's parents will be played by Jean-Louis Trintignant and Emmanuelle Riva), and last month, the Philippine Daily Inquirer's Marinel Cruz reported that she'll be playing "a kidnap victim in the hands of the separatist group Abu Sayyaf" in Brillante Mendoza's next film, Captured, slated to begin shooting in January. What's more, the IMDb has her lined up for projects with Anne Fontaine and Ulrike Ottinger. As Melissa Anderson notes in her profile for the Voice, New Yorkers will be able to catch two of her performances,...
- 11/16/2010
- MUBI
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