Browsing Tag

Sundance

Why independent films are so important

Sara Colangelo, writer & director of Little Accidents.

Last week, I had the pleasure of briefly working with Sundance Film Forward as they screened two of their festival films, Little Accidents and Imperial Dreams, in Austin (with additional screenings in San Marcos and San Antonio).

Film Forward, in partnership with the President’s Committee on the Arts and the Humanities, the Institute of Museum and Library Sciences, the National Endowment for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Humanities, brings socially relevant, independent films, along with their respective filmmakers, to communities across the globe. Screenings have taken place everywhere from Californian border towns to Kenyan refugee camps, and they are always free and open to the public.

Watching this year’s selected films- Imperial Dreams, Malik Vitthal’s depiction of an ex-con in South Central trying to make a better life for he and (more…)

March 3, 2015 by hipstercrite

Film, Pop Culture

Help Bring What We Do in the Shadows to ‘Merica!

Last year, I saw one of the funniest movies ever.

I’m often full of hyperboles, but I’m not shitting you here.

It’s called What We Do in the Shadows and stars the film’s writers and directors, New Zealanders Taika Waititi and Jemaine Clement.

I watched the film at SXSW 2014 (it initially premiered at Sundance 2014), and I nearly crapped myself. From laughter. Not the free SXSW tacos.

Imagine This is Spinal Tap but with lovable vampires from New Zealand.

Are you imagining it?

Now imagine yourself riding a horse bareback with Fabio.

For the past 11 months, I’ve anxiously awaited the US release of What We Do in the Shadows. I even tweeted at the film’s official Twitter account, @deliciousnecks, hoping for some answers. I was told that a release would come very soon.

So, that brings me today.I was tooling around Kickstarter and was surprised to discover a campaign posted by Jemaine Clement asking for funds to do a US release for What We Do in the Shadows.

I had two (more…)

February 10, 2015 by hipstercrite

Austin, Film, Pop Culture

Awesome Lady Hero of the Day: Adrienne Shelly

Ever since I was a little girl I was fascinated with the art and fantasy of film. This fascination led me to film school and then to Los Angeles where I held an assistant role at the production company of an Oscar Award-winning actor.

My upbringing and surroundings in Los Angeles barely introduced me to the world of independent cinema. Sure, I saw movies that weren’t produced by large studios, but they were still the films that had known actors in them or were bought for millions of dollars at Sundance. I had no concept of the 99% of other independent films on the film festival or local scenes (film school most definitely doesn’t tell you about this world either). My childhood art house theater was 30 miles away from my home and when I dragged my high school friends to see American Beauty (not an independent film and produced by Dreamworks), I thought I truly knew what independent film was.

It wasn’t until I moved to Austin and began meeting a large number of the country’s best (more…)

January 24, 2013 by hipstercrite

20-Something, Film, Music, Pop Culture

The Indie-Urban Existential Crisis

I’m reaching an age where it takes a lot for me to stay focused and interested in contemporary independent film and music.

I’m reaching an age where unless a film has a point or a song is originally written, displays some sort of individual talent and doesn’t sound like a band I heard back in the 60’s-90’s, I fall asleep, turn it off, or get up and leave.

This sort of behavior does not make it easy for me to go to the theater with friends or listen to music recommendations. Because of this, I’m absolutely not in the know on what is indie-urban popular, because, well, most of the time I think it’s absolute shit.

This goes against the idea of being a “hipstercrite”, I guess. I really can’t go on and on about how I hate Lana Del Rey, talk about what movies are currently hot at Sundance or manifest Ryan Gosling memes.

The alternative, the irreverent and the ironic is my bag, but lately I’m finding a lot of it forced and showing lack of skill. More often than that, I’m finding (more…)

January 24, 2012 by hipstercrite