Filmmakers

It’s fitting that Chris McGilvray, a Los Gatos native, made his first documentary feature about Mount Eden Vineyards in Saratoga. He began working on the film seven years ago and now, like opening a bottle of fine Cabernet Sauvignon, he’s eager to find out how the public reacts to “Eden.” He’ll get that chance Saturday when his movie is screened at the palatial California Theatre during Cinequest — the Silicon Valley film and creativity festival where filmmakers often get their first opportunities and world premieres of…

Westwood’s historic Village Theater is now owned by a coalition of 35 filmmakers led by Jason Reitman, the group announced Wednesday. The group’s mission “is to preserve the architectural gem and create a cultural landmark dedicated to the beloved experience of moviegoing,” per a release. The theater, situated at 945 Broxton Ave., is “known for its soaring tower, neon marquee and one of the largest screens in Los Angeles.” First opened in 1931, it is 93 years old. The coalition of filmmakers…

Rumour has it the bigwigs of karaoke were crammed into a secret meeting room last week, drowning their sorrows in alcopops and belting out misery ballads. Why? Because two of entertainment’s buzziest names threatened to pull the plug on the entire industry. “Karaoke should be banned in my opinion. I’ve never had an enjoyable experience,” said Paul Mescal in an interview to promote new film All of Us Strangers. His co-star Andrew Scott agreed: “I’m not a fan of karaoke, I’m not. There’s a kind of anxiety, which is like,…

ATLANTA (AP) — Top Georgia lawmakers say moviemakers should be required to do more than just show a peach at the end of the credits to get the top benefit from Georgia's lucrative film tax credit. HT Image Thanks in large part to tax breaks, productions including “The Hunger Games,” the Marvel movies, the Fast & Furious installment “Furious 7” and many others shot in Georgia have made the Peach State a hub for movies and television shows that might otherwise have been shot in Hollywood in an earlier era.…

The International Coalition for Filmmakers at Risk (ICFR) and the European Film Academy have called for the immediate release of imprisoned Myanmar filmmaker Shin Daewe. The International Film Festival Rotterdam and the International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam also joined the call that Myanmar authorities “immediately and unconditionally” release the documentary director. Daewe was arrested at a bus station in Yangon on Oct. 15 after soldiers found a filming drone in her luggage. On Jan. 10,…

In the pre-internet dark ages, the most ignominious fate that could befall a film was going straight to video. This infernal tier – available to buy from a newsagent bargain bin or service-station rack near you – was reserved for cinema’s bottom-feeders: second-rate Disney spin-offs, dodgy softcore thrillers, Troma offcuts, over-caffeinated ninja rampages starring Michael Dudikoff.But this cinematic silt had a certain trashy sustenance value and the random delight of the tombola. Now straight-to-video is no more, and…

Prominent Korean filmmakers and arts organizers will hold a media event in Seoul on Friday calling for an investigation by authorities into the circumstances that led to the passing of Parasite star Lee Sun-kyun, who died last month at age 48 of an apparent suicide. Before his death, Lee had been under police investigation for several weeks over suspected illegal drug use, accusations he strenuously denied. The actor claimed that he was the victim of a blackmail plot and that if he had consumed drugs,…

On 13 October 1972, a flight with 45 people on board took off from Uruguay. The passengers were a rugby team, mostly in their late teens and early twenties, on their way to play a match in Chile. But the plane never made it there, instead crash landing in The Andes mountains. Those who survived found themselves stranded in one of the most inaccessible and inhospitable places imaginable.What happened over the next 72 days is known as ‘The Miracle of the Andes’, and is one of the greatest survival stories of the last…

Were you at all fazed by working with legends such as Martin Scorsese, Leonardo DiCaprio and Robert De Niro?I don’t know that I was fazed, but I was definitely intimidated at first. With a role as big as Molly, you’ve just got to get through that quickly. But my hands were shaking the first day with Leo, and the same with Robert.Is there anything you did to break the ice with DiCaprio, your on-screen husband?He invited me over to dinner. We were sitting outside at his place with a fire going, and just talking. He pulled…

Erin Axelman was a fervent Zionist by the time they reached high school in the late 2000s. For their bat mitzvah, they had received a copy of Exodus by Leon Uris. The 1958 novel, one of the bestselling books of the decade, tells a story about the creation of the Israeli state that helped cement American Zionism. “It’s this kind of heroic, almost mythical tale of the creation of the state of Israel and it was incredibly empowering,” Axelman said.After reading Exodus, Axelman “became obsessed with Israel”, they said. “I…