Filmmaker Magazine’s Class of 2008: 25 Names to Watch For

Apart from the monthly (and damn expensive) Cahiers du Cinema and Sight & Sound I receive, if there is one issue that I look forward to wearing out the inside pages is Filmmaker Magazine‘s annual summer issue. Seeing that IONCINEMA.com heavily favors and caters to the indie film biz, this list of 25 names/faces of upcoming indie talent serves as guide to help indentify those who’ll we’ll come in contact with in the years and festivals to come. 

Now in its tenth edition, I get a kick out of seeing whose work I’m already familiar with and then there are the names that ring a bell, thanks to trade news items or positive buzz on the fest circuit, and finally, there are tons of young artists with inspiring early career track records who I’ve got zero clue existed. With today’s announcement, the magazine’s online version had an alumni rundown – a listing worth checking out. Apart from the better known actor names, there are some cool indie filmmakers listed (click here to see the names).  

Among those whose work I’ve seen, we have Joshua Safdie‘s feature debut – a Director’s Fortnight selection called The Pleasure of Being Robbed (a film that reminds of certain French films from the 50’s/60’s) and we have Mark Russell a visual effects supervisor who first worked for a name like Spielberg before working on indie project such as the Pastor bros.’ Carriers and Kaufman’s Synecdoche, New York.

Among the notable names that have stuck out in recent headlines are Shana Feste – who earlier this summer was filming with Susan Sarandon and Pierce Brosnan. Her directorial debut The Greatest is based on (from what I’ve heard) an extremely smart screenplay of hers. We’ve also heard of the name Barry Jenkins. Same time last month, he found his debut film (which played well at SXSW) get picked up by the folks at IFC. Medicine for Melancholy will see theaters early next year. John Magary (Blood Abundance) and Dee Rees (Pariah) are names synonymous with the Sundance Labs experience. And as for the other names, we’ll get to discover them in the mag and over the years to come. here is a complete rundown of the 25.  

• Ryan Bilsborrow-Koo and Zachary Lieberman are the creators of the Webby award-winning on-line series, “The West Side.”
• E.E. Cassidy‘s We Are the Mods, was a recent participant in IFP’s Independent Filmmaker Lab and is now finishing up post-production before heading off to festivals.
• Encyclopedia Pictura is the hot music video team behind the acclaimed 3-D Björk “Wanderlust” video.
• Jesse Epstein is currently completing the final short of her body image feature.
• Shana Feste‘s debut feature The Greatest is set to be produced by Lynette Howell and Beau St. Claire and will star Pierce Brosnan and Susan Sarandon.
• Barry Jenkins‘ re-defining of “urban African American” can be found in Medicine for Melancholy, a current festival favorite, which IFC Films will release in February.
• Myna Joseph‘s short, Man, played at Sundance and New Directors/New Films before being chosen as only one of four Americans for this year’s Directors’ Fortnight at the Cannes Film Festival.
• Eric Latek‘s documentary Sweet Dreams premiered at Full Frame Film Festival.
• Julia Leigh is an in-demand screenwriter whose spec script The Witness will be directed by Walter Salles. She’s also been hired to write another screenplay for Plan B and Paramount Vantage.
• Andrew Okpeaha MacLean was the recipient of the Best Short at Sundance in 2008 for Sikumi, the first film ever told in the Inupiat language of his native Alaska.
• John Magary was in Sundance’s 2008 Director’s Lab and Screenwriter’s Lab working on his upcoming feature, Blood Abundance.
• Aasif Mandvi is best known as “The Daily Show” correspondent. He’s now in production on the indie film 7 to the Palace, which he co-wrote, and stars in.
• Bent-Jorgen Permutt is known for making documentaries in sub-Saharan Africa. His latest feature documentary, Lumo, received the Student Academy Award for Best Documentary and it is currently airing on PBS as part of the POV series.
• Oren Peli‘s Paranormal Activity terrified audiences at its premiere at Screamfest last October and was then promptly picked up by DreamWorks.
• Jennifer Phang‘s debut feature Half-Life premiered at this year’s Sundance Film Festival in the New Frontiers section and received the Narrative Grand Jury Prize at the GenArt Film Festival.
• Tom Quinn‘s debut feature, The New Year Parade, is set in his native Philadelphia and won numerous awards including the Grand Jury prize at this year’s Slamdance Film Festival.
• Dee Rees, a former intern on Spike Lee’s Inside Man, is turning her much acclaimed short Pariah into a full-length feature with the help of executive producer Effie Brown and support from the Sundance Institute.
• Daniel Robin is the recipient of the Best Short at Sundance 2008 with
  my olympic summer.
• Mark Russell was the visual effects supervisor of Alex Rivera’s Sundance Award winning debut feature Sleep Dealer and the forthcoming Charlie Kaufman helmed Synecdoche, New York.
• Joshua Safdie‘s debut feature, The Pleasure of Being Robbed, closed the Directors’ Fortnight section of the Cannes Film Festival and will be released by IFC this October.
• Tariq Tapa‘s neorealist debut feature Zero Bridge was shot in the Indian-occupied city of Srinagar, Kashmir, and has been tipped to premiere at one of the Fall’s big international festivals.
• Matt Wolf directed Wild Combination: A Portrait of Arthur Russell, which premiered at this year’s Berlin Film Festival.
• Christina Voros‘ short documentary, The Ladies, was nominated for a Student Academy Award and she is currently on the festival circuit with her narrative short Rosy.
• Benh Zeitlin‘s 27-minute short film Glory at Sea shared the short film prize at SXSW and he is heading back to New Orleans, the setting for his last film, to shoot two guerilla features.
• David and Nathan Zellner, while already well known on the festival circuit, these Austin-based brothers are back with a new feature, Goliath, which will be released by IFC Films later this year.