Centerpiece News

~Variety Magazine has released its 2019 report of the Best Film Schools in the world. While there are certain schools listed that no one is surprised made the list (USC, NYU), there are other smaller programs that nevertheless deserve the praise (Colorado Film School Denver, Biola University). The article also features standout faculty members who are keeping film schools a relevant and thriving option well into the 21st century.~

~One of the biggest independent sensations to come out of the festival circuit this year was Joanna Hogg’s The Souvenir. While much of the buzz has gone to the fact that legendary actress Tilda Swinton and her daughter Honor Swinton Byrne are acting side by side, the reason it makes our list today is its film-school-centric premise. Based largely on the director’s own life, The Souvenir follows a film student trying to find her artistic powers while going through a tough romance. Part II (yes, a sequel) is already in the works, but we can’t wait to catch up with the first part as it rolls out to its nationwide campaign courtesy of A24.~

~For the fourth year, HBO is promoting Asian American filmmaking with the APA Visionaries competition. A short film compeitiotn, the major TV cable network picks finalists to premiere at the Los Angeles Pacific Film Festival. Not only is it a chance for some incredible short films to find an audience, but the filmmakers receive welcome exposure from HBO executives and other industry experts.~

~Former School of Visual Arts student, Brenan Steere, is picking up major attention online with the trailer of his $35,000 destined-to-be-cult-classic The VelociPastor. After several years in the making, this autocorrect-malfunction-inspired film title took Steere out of his element. Initially inspired more by Tarkovsky than hardcore genre flicks, it took several revisions of the script to realize he just wanted to make something fun and pulpy. Now it has a major distributor and is set for release later this year.~

Festival Circuit

~Disney Animation announces another short film initiative branching out of their mainstream animated releases. Like Pixar’s Spark Shorts, this new experimental films division — Short Circuit — will allow new voices within Disney to be heard (and get some decent budgets). The announcement came with the planned premiere of three shorts at the biggest festival in animation — Annecy.~

~The Miami International Film Festival will be more overshadowed by bigger fests like Cannes this week, but some very important filmmakers were in attendance, including Boots Riley and Florida native, Barry Jenkins. In a special panel, Jenkins professed his belief in the power of “undergraduate film school” even in a DIY age. He also dropped a hint at what his post-filmmaking life could look like. “I’m going to end up teaching somebody’s film school at some point” he said. Sign us up for that program!~

Did You See That?

Lavender

We’ve talked about this short ever since Fox Searchlight picked it up as part of their new shorts initiative. Well, they’ve finally released one of the most acclaimed shorts in recent memory and it’s a beaut! Tenderly directed by Matthew Puccini, Lavender follows the emotionally fraught coming of age of a young man intimately involved with a gay couple. Not unlike Barry Jenkins, Puccini knows how to make every frame drip with poetry. We know that purely visual filmmaking is a cliche, but it’s hard to describe such a focused and purely-distilled film any other way. Watch now!