Though summer is traditionally the season of the big budget studio blockbuster a la Spiderman 3. Pirates of the Caribbean 3 Shrek the Third - I hope that you see the pattern here - , there are, of course, some fantastic indie and foreign films coming to a theater near you in the next few months. So when you are sick of seeing Spiderman 3 for the third time, take a chance on some of the following titles that will scare you, make you think, make you laugh and make you much more wary of sheep.

A MIGHTY HEART- Based on the book A Mighty Heart: The Brave Life And Death Of My Husband Danny Pearl. The film is written by John Orloff, directed by Michael Winterbottom, and stars Academy Award Winner Angelina Jolie. Just coming off its successful world premiere at Cannes, this film is a must see this summer. JUNE

CRAZY LOVE - Dan Klores' CRAZY LOVE tells the astonishing story of the obsessive roller-coaster relationship of Burt and Linda Pugach, which shocked the nation during the summer of 1959. The film examines the human psyche and the concepts of love, obsession, insanity, hope and forgiveness. JUNE

ANGEL -A - Directed by Luc Besson (LA FEMME NIKITA) - his first film as director since 1999's THE MESSENGER: THE STORY OF JOAN OF ARC - ANGEL A is an arty black-and-white film about two suicidal Parisians who pull themselves out of the Seine and set out to oppose a gangster. JUNE

BLACK SHEEP - The debut feature from New Zealander Jonathan King. The film describes itself as "Baa baa, black sheep, have you any…fangs?!!! The sylvan pastures of New Zealand, home to forty million sheep, are the setting for gory mayhem when a mutant strain of the normally placid fleecy ones runs amok in this endearingly funny horror romp" and I can't do better than that. JUNE

JOSHUA - directed by George Ratliff and starring Sam Rockwell and Vera Farmiga was one of my favorite films from Sundance this year. The film is the story of how a 10 year old boy reacts to the newest addition to the family. Taking sibling rivalry to a whole other level, JOSHUA takes us into the psychosis of a little boy and his need to truly be the first born son. Gripping, funny, and terrifying, the film is a must see - especially for all of you new parents of a second child out there. JULY

SUNSHINE - Director Danny Boyle's homage to 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY, this sci-fi fantasy film starring an international cast headed by Cillian Murphy takes place in the future when the sun is about to die. A crew is sent into to space with the mission of launching a nuclear warhead into the sun to give it a much needed kickstart. Fantastic effects and great morality play. JULY

THIS IS ENGLAND - Shane Meadows - one of my all time faves - is back with an incredibly poignant film about a boy who finds "family" with a group of local skinheads after his father dies in the Falklands War. JULY

PARIS J'TAIME - Twenty-one directors are credited for this omnibus of short film whose remit was to show the true Paris, the one that is off the tourist beaten track. Each short focuses on an "unusual encounter" in one of the city's neighborhoods. Directors include the Coen brothers, Olivier Assayas, Gurinder Chadha and Wes Craven and the films star such actors as Juliette Binoche, Willem Dafoe, Gerard Depardieu, Nick Nolte, Natalie Portman and Elijah Wood. SUMMER TBA

SMILEY FACE - Indie bad boy director Greg Araki (MYSTERIOUS SKIN) is back with a comedy about a young actress (Anna Faris) who accidentally eats her roommate's pot brownies and has a tripped-out day. SUMMER TBA

Remember to check your local listings as some release dates vary by city.

Keeping it indie,
Julie

First Sundance Cinema opens in Madison, WI

Last weekend, I had to go to Madison, Wisconsin, for a short business trip. It was also It was my first time visiting this quaint little university town so I was excited to explore the city. Turns out, the same weekend, Sundance Cinemas was opening its first official theater, Sundance 608, located at the Hilldale Mall in Madison.

I have been looking forward to the opening of Sundance Cinemas ever since they made the announcement a few years ago, but hadn't heard much lately. So it was great for me to hear about this grand opening, not from the film community, but from the citizens of Madison itself. Without even knowing about my cinephile tendancies, almost everyone one I met brought up this new addition to the city.

The idea behind Sundance Cinemas was to create a moviegoing exprience that was different from the mainstream. The Madison theater, and each theater that will be built in other cites, will be designed with that city in mind, creating a sense of place that matches the city. The theater has stadium seating, a bar and bistro, and will sell artwork from local artists, in an attempt to create a place where new audiences can not only see new films but discuss them and meet other indie film lovers.

Sundance Cinemas will play films that played at their festival, but will also use this venue as a way to feature the shorts and features that are looking for exposure. The next Sundance Cinema set to open will be the newly remodeled Kabuki Theater in San Francisco. So stay tuned!

Long live indie film,

Michelle

Though some might view this as "selling out," I think that it is not only an incredibly smart marketing move but also a business one. No one can doubt the rise of success of Mexican directors over the past few years. The very fact that someone like Alfonso Cuaron can make low budget indie Y TU MAMA TAMBIEN and then go on to direct a multi million dollar franchise movie such as HARRY POTTER illustrates this. With not only the box office but critical success of Guillermo del Toro's PAN"S LABYRINTH and Alejandro González Iñárritu's BABEL, it is extremely forward thinking for these filmmakers to "strike while the iron is hot" and use their collective celebrity to gain access to financing for their films. They have the track record to back it up. The interesting thing about this group is that though they have spent their early careers dipping into the same pot for money for "foreign films," they have remained very supportive of each other. They read each other's scripts, bounce ideas, share crew, etc. It is very reminiscent to me of how some of American indie filmmakers like Allison Anders, Todd Haynes, Alexandre Rockwell and Rose Troche used to work. Helping each other out when someone needed it, reading each other's work, being supportive of each other, etc.

I would love to see a move back to collaboration in indie film as opposed to what I think is competition now. Though I am thrilled that there is more money and more access and more audience out there for indie film, this has made the competition for all of it much more fierce even on the low end of spectrum where young filmmakers are becoming less and less likely to collaborate than in years past. Everyone seems to be about themselves and how they are going to "make it." The only place where I have not seen this, is with marketing and outreach. More and more I am seeing filmmakers get together to publicize their screenings at festivals - short filmmakers all in the same program or the short filmmaker and the feature filmmaker getting together and doing an after party, etc. This is great to see. I would love it to happen and be encouraged to happen on the production side.

There is a possibility, though unlikely, that the offer to the studios by the Mexican filmmakers may be rejected. Even if it does, there is a great lesson to be learned for filmmakers at every level - sometimes together you are much more powerful and have much more control and access than you would have if you go at it alone. Collaboration with other filmmakers does not mean you lose. It often can mean that you gain - seeing how others work, banding together to share information or crew and getting perspective on your own work, can only make you as an individual filmmaker better.

Keeping it indie,

Julie

True to the international scope of this year’s festival, the top award winners at the 2007 Tribeca Film Festival represented films from around the world. This year’s Festival included 157 features and 88 short films from 47 countries. The world competition winners were chosen from 18 narrative and 16 documentary features from 25 countries.

The Founders Award for Best Narrative Feature was given to My Father My Lord (Hofshat Kaits). Directed by David Volach (Israel), in this heartbreaking film, a respected rabbi in an ultra-Orthodox community--who is also a father and husband--is forced to come to terms with the demands of his faith and the welfare of his own family.

Best Documentary Feature was given to Taxi to the Darkside, directed by Alex Gibney (U.S.A.), the filmmaker behind Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room. This documentary murder mystery examines the death of an Afghan taxi driver at Bagram Air Base from injuries inflicted by U.S. soldiers.

Best Screenplay and Best Actor in a Narrative Feature Film went to Making Of (Akher film),directed by Nouri Bouzid (Tunisia, Morocco). Lofti Edbelli stars as Bahta, a 25-year-old breakdancer in Tunisia who, after the eruption in Iraq in 2003, falls in with a group of fundamentalists whose brainwashing is intended to make him a suicide bomber. In the
framing story, the actor playing Bahta doesn't know how the film will end, and he and the director have conflicts of their own.

On Saturday, Tribeca presented the Cadillace Award (chosen by the festival audience) to We Are Together (Thina Simunye), a documentary film from the U.K. directed by Paul Taylor and produced by Paul Taylor and Teddy Liefer. The film tells the story of children in the South Africa Agape Orphanage, most of who have lost their loved ones to AIDS.

For a complete list of winners, go to www.tribecafilmfestival.org!

Long live indie film,

Michelle