The Cake Eaters

Mary Stuart Masterson’s directorial debut, “The Cake Eaters,” recently picked up Best Feature Prize at Stonybrook Film Festival.

The film, while a bit soft, has gotten some good reviews and continues to play the Festival circuit. MSM who is more known for her acting roles does a comendable job with her first Directing gig.

The Cake Eaters is a quirky, small town, ensemble drama that explores the lives of two interconnected families coming to terms with love in the face of loss.

DIY Distribution

This isn’t specifically “women” related but I thought this was an interesting article in the NYTimes about DIY Distribution, which is becoming more and more popular.

With the constant decline in independent distribution options, many filmmakers are working double time and doing it themselves.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/30/movies/30self.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

Nanette Burnstein’s American Teen

Nanette Burstein who recently won the Sundance Documentary Directing award continues to be successful throughout the festival circuit with her movie American Teen. The movie was recently picked up by Paramount Vantage and will release on July 25th

The movie is a voyeristic look into the lives of a diverse group of teenagers in their senior year of High School. The movie was filmed at a high school in Warsaw, Indiana and follows the lives of the different archetypal students: jock, geek, rebel, princess, and heart-throb. As with the film’s slogan - “Who Were You?” it succesfully attempts to connect a wide range of audience members with the characters and the storylines through highly dramatic situations and “Real World-esque” confrontations. Although it has been criticized for being manipulative and feeling “rigged” American Teen is highly entertaining and forces the audience to analyze the role of the filmmaker in documentaries. One to check out and decide for yourself.

Interview with Nanette Bernstein:

Jessica Yu’s Ping Pong Playa

IFC Films recently picked up the film Ping Pong Playa, co-written and Directed by Oscar winner Jessica Yu. Yu is most recently known for her documentary In The Realms Of The Unreal about the secluded artist Henry Darger. Ping Pong Playa is a drastically different direction than her past works, and as her fictional feature debut, has received good reviews as a strong comedy. Versatility in filmmakers can be a rare thing. To go from dramatic documentary to comedic narrative, and be successful at both, is very impressive. The film recently closed the Asian American Film Festival in New York and will hit theaters September 5th.

Pariah a Sundance Institute Finalist

Pariah is a short film that has made the festival rounds this year. A film by Dee Rees, it’s “a coming-of-age drama about a lesbian teenager who unsuccessfully juggles multiple identities to avoid rejection from her friends and family.”

The short was an excerpt from a feature that is currently in production and the project was recently granted one of the highly competitive slots in the Sundance Institutes “Creative Producing Initiative” program.

The short looks great, here’s the trailer:

Women Win at Los Angeles Film Festival

Congrats to the following women Directors at this year’s LAFF!

Special Documentary Jury Commendation
“Pressure Cooker,” directed by Jennifer Grausman and Mark Becker

Audience Award for Best Music Video
“Run,” by Melanie Mandl

Best Narrative Short Film
“Magic Paris,” by Alice Winocour

Best Documentary Short Film
“City of Cranes,” by Eva Weber