Contents Future of Moviemaking 2008

Contents 25 Coolest Film Festivals: 2009

By Jennifer M. Wood

Depending on the era in which one grew up, what is "cool" can be a very different thing. But whether you watched James Dean on the big screen, were introduced to cinema through Quentin Tarantino or believe that great movies begin and end with Michael Bay, "cool" cinema takes us beyond the expected, captures the zeitgeist and changes the way we view the films that come along for us afterward. The same can be said for the 25 film festivals profiled below. With the help of hundreds of independent moviemakers, festival directors and fest attendees, we scoured the world to identify more than two dozen fests that are creating a truly unique film festival experience (for moviemakers and festival-goers).


(500) Days of Summer, Irony and Parentheses

by Scott Neustadter

On July 22, 2001-a Sunday if I'm not mistaken (and I'm not)-sometime between the hours of 7 p.m. and 9 p.m. (Eastern Standard Time), a monumental, cataclysmic, earth-shattering event took place in a restaurant in midtown Manhattan: I got dumped.


Lynn Shelton Celebrates Humpday

by Lynn Shelton

This year has been a bit surreal for me. Humpday is my third feature and the first of mine to be accepted into the Sundance Film Festival. I made the film on a shoestring budget in Seattle, the town where I live, with talented, wonderful friends whom I love-just as I have made my previous two movies.


On the Eve of Adam

by Max Mayer

In late November of 2008, I found out that Adam, the film I'd spent most of the past two years and parts of the previous four writing and directing, had been accepted into the 2009 Sundance Film Festival.


Park Chan-Wook's Thirst for a Great Vampire Movie

By Eric Kohn

Writer-director Park Chan-wook has emerged as one of the most provocative moviemakers of the last decade. Although not limited to the genre, his explicit horror movies-such as Oldboy and Sympathy for Lady Vengeance-transcend the boundaries of such narratives by way of elegant camerawork and stories grounded in credible humanity. Chan-wook's latest feature, Thirst, follows a well-meaning Catholic priest (Song Kang-ho) who is accidentally stricken with a disease that turns him into a vampire. As he slowly gives into his newfound desires, cultivating a deadly relationship with a curious young girl, the character's plight becomes a fascinating symbol for human vices.