Liz Garbus’ Love, Marilyn

HIFF Announces Slate for 20th Edition
The Hamptons International Film Festival’s 20th anniversary finally took shape yesterday when it revealed this year’s selection just weeks before the fest is set to begin on October 4. Kicking off the much-beloved film festival to the east will be Liz Garbus’ documentary Love, Marilyn and David O. Russell’s TIFF Audience Award-winner Siver Linings Playbook. In the middle of a jam-packed weekend will be Ben Affleck’s Argo, the festival’s Centerpiece film. Those who can’t make it to NYFF for films such as Not Fade Away will have a second chance at HIFF when the NYFF Centerpiece closes the festival on October 8. “These films, with their range of styles and risk-taking creative choice, represent the pinnacle of what the festival has endeavored to achieve for the last 20 years,” said HIFF Director of Programming David Nugent.

Indiewire has the full slate, which includes Michael Haneke’s Amour (NYFF Main Slate) and Seven Psychopaths, the latest film from In Bruges director Martin McDonagh.

Filmmaker Magazine Tour of the 25 New Faces of Independent Film
Another 20th anniversary is to be celebrated, this one by Filmmaker Magazine, which announced a celebratory nationwide tour highlighting the work from this year’s “25 New Faces of Independent Film.” Among the selected New Faces includes Terence Nance, whose An Oversimplification of Her Beauty screened at New Directors/New Films earlier this year.


Sally Potter’s Ginger and Rosa

Sally Potter on Rejection, Criticism, and Casting
Anne Thompson, founder of Indiewire blog Thompson on Hollywood, recently sat down with Sally Potter, the director of NYFF Main Slate selection Ginger and RosaPotter spoke candidly on a wide variety of subjects including gender standards in the world of film funding: “Females are unprepared for the sheer quantity of rejection, and what do you do with that. Do you interpret that as meaning that you’re no good and therefore should give up?… Or that, yes, the odds are stacked against you, people may not understand, but that’s even a better reason to keep fighting.” 

The conversation covers much of Potter’s career including the harsh reception to her 2005 film, Yes, and the American-heavy casting in Ginger and Rosa, which stars Elle Fanning. On what makes the young star so special, Potter offered that it’s “the quality in her face, why the camera could come so close is because there’s nothing in the way, there’s no impediment. So it’s like just looking in to somebody.” 

Ted Hope on Why He Chose to Lead the San Francisco Film Society
On his blog Hope for Film, indie film producer Ted Hope detailed his decision to leave personal producing to take on the job of Executive Director of the San Francisco Film Society. “To flourish in these complex times,” writes Hope, “our film community must commit to a comprehensive strategy that emphasizes the full definition of cinema.” Here at the Film Society, we’ve been witnesses to Hope’s progamming flare and film passion as the co-curator of our ongoing Indie Night series, which continues on September 25 with Cory McAbee’s Crazy & Thief.