At the beginning of every month, IONCINEMA.com's "Tracking Shot" features a half of a dozen or so projects that are moments away from lensing and that we feel are worth signaling out. This October (2009), we are keeping tabs on....
Summer is a time for picnics, days at the beach, and Sundance's Director's and Screenwriter's Labs. Out of the eight announced projects attending the Director's lab, seven of them were part of the Screenwriter's lab back in January. The new name added to the lab process is a project from artist/filmmaker Tala Hadid and The Narrow Frame of Midnight
Among the better selections we have Aida Begic's profound and poetic film "Snow," Souad El-Bouhati's identity and coming-of-age drama "French Girl," Dante Lam's heartpounding thriller "The Beast Stalker," Esther Rots' psychological drama that "Can Go Through Skin," Gael Metroz's stunning documentary "Nomad's Land," and finally, the award-winning rom com from Marc Webber called "500 Days of Summer".
I asked Daniel Barnz the filmmaker behind Phoebe in Wonderland [Thinkfilm: 03/06/2009] the incredibly arduous task of naming me what his top ten films all time were. Here is that list (in alphabetical order) as of February 2009.
The thrill of meeting Marjane Satrapi reminded me of being 6 years old at Disney Land when I met the living, breathing Cinderella. Except Cinderella was an actress with a blond wig and Marjane is the real woman behind her autobiographical graphic novel, turned movie, “Persepolis”. The distinctive mole on her nose and her dark sultry eyes rose off the page and appeared in front of me, smoking and speaking with a French accent.