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Showing posts with the label Cuba

PRODUCTION JOURNAL: Making A Short Film with Abbas Kiarostami in 10 Days

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RIP to the legendary Iranian filmmaker, Abbas Kiarostami . I can only think of two ways to honor the man; by watching his films and studying his filmmaking philosophy and methods. Here are some of his movies that I recommend: Taste of Cherry , Close-up , and The Wind Will Carry Us . In the meantime, here's a quick glimpse into Kiarostami's filmmaking philosophy and methods courtesy of Martin Snyders' article, " Here’s What It’s Like to Make A Short Film with Abbas Kiarostami in 10 Days ": After graduating from Columbia University and toiling for years as a screenwriter, I finally made my feature film debut in 2013 with an independent, romantic comedy called "Missed Connections." The film won multiple audience awards at festivals, reached number one on iTunes’ independent sales charts and The Playlist  even suggested  me as a "filmmaker to keep an eye on." Things were looking up. I went to Hollywood, represented by a major talent ag

CASE STUDY: The Fidel Castro Tapes

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I normally reach out to filmmakers and producers when I write a case study but it is a long and involved process of outreach and interviewing and then creating the case study for Film Strategy. Lately, I have been busy with my legal work but I am also developing a documentary based on archival footage and photography and so I have been doing my research on all fronts. Lo and behold, I ran across this case study on a PBS documentary about Fidel Castro based on archival footage, The Fidel Castro Tapes , at Peter Hamilton's great website: www.documentarytelevision.com . Because I found it so useful, I felt I had to share it.  We wondered about the challenges of creating an archive-based film about an 88-year old Spanish-speaking personality who can be dangerously controversial, and who is the founding father of a government whose people are still blockaded by the US.   Castro ‘ s producer Tom Jennings earned a Peabody with the Smithsonian Channel for  MLK: The Assassination