Everything seems to tick in Unrest, the latest effort from Zurich-born writer/director Cyril Schäublin. Unrest depicts the working lives of 19th century anarchist watchmakers in the Swiss mountains, laying bare the absurdities of the wage system. Schäublin follows workers as they navigate their working hours across four different time zones in one town—factory time, train […]
Pastries, Freedom, and Love: An Interview with The Artist Airidescence
The Artist Airidescence is a multimedia anarchist creator whose work has picked up significant attention on social media. Their ongoing anarchist raccoon art series has been popular enough to warrant sold out print runs on Etsy. Recently, in collaboration with scholar Zoe Baker, they have produced an animated short film entitled Pastries, Freedom, Love: A Malatesta Story based on […]
Salem Film Fest 2021: The Long Coast Q&A
Seafolk are a uniquely resilient bunch. Growing up in Gloucester, Massachusetts, the oldest seaport in the country, I learned prosperity and precarity can alternate like the tide for fishermen. The danger of commercial fishing also means coastal communities often bequeath a cultural inheritance of grief. These elements drew me with great curiosity to The Long […]
Interview with Nora Twomey, Director of The Breadwinner
Cartoon Saloon has knocked it out of the park ever since they hit the scene in 2009 with The Secret of Kells. Their feature-length movies have consistently garnered praise from critics. Nora Twomey, who co-directed Kells, is back as a solo director on the studio’s third film: The Breadwinner. The Breadwinner is an adaptation of […]
Interview with Astrid Goldsmith, Writer/Director of Squirrel Island
In a garage somewhere in Folkestone in Kent, a grey squirrel named Dot begins to move, blinking and stumbling forward as she comes to life. Dot looks around an impenetrable, foreboding forest, rife with do-it-yourself artistry. A human hand reaches over to adjust her fabric-covered arms just so. The hand belongs to Astrid Goldsmith, an […]
Charles Agbaje, Co-Creator of Spider Stories
There is limitless potential in fantasy. It exists in the realm of the imagination where constraints mean nothing. Sometimes it offers commentary on real world phenomena, while other times it simply explores ideas too outlandish for the confines of grounded drama. Yet despite this freedom, modern fantasy storytelling has barely scratched the surface of what’s possible. Can you think of any stories in […]
Tomm Moore, Writer/Director of Song of the Sea and The Secret of Kells
There is a certain magic to animation that allows filmmakers to bring our imagination to life. Even live action films depend on these techniques through CGI and other means to help us visualize fantastical versions of our own reality. This outlook drives Tomm Moore, one of the filmmakers behind The Secret of Kells (2009) and Song of the Sea (2014). After starting […]
Douglas Trumbull, SFX Supervisor on 2001: A Space Odyssey
It began with something Stanley Kubrick once said. With 2001: A Space Odyssey, he felt he owed the audience an experience. He wanted to use Cinerama to show people what it was like to fly through space. This was ambitious for 1968, but it worked. The film has certainly stood the test of time, due […]
Fabrizio Federico, Director of Pregnant
Fabrizio Federico is a young independent director from the UK with a penchant for off-the-wall micro budget filmmaking. He made his first feature film, entitled Black Biscuit, after getting deported from America. That movie promised to represent “The Future of Cinema” and bore with it the “Pink8” manifesto, a sort of spiritual successor to Lars Von Trier’s Dogme 95 avant-garde […]
Bryan Horch, Director of Spooners
First, a bit of trivia. Former Movie Fail contributor Michael Capodiferro is also a director and writer. Following graduation from the dramatic writing program at Hampshire College, he was hired as an assistant director and producer for the upcoming webseries, Spooners. Spooners: The Webseries is directed by Bryan Horch and is based on his award-winning short of the same name. Horch […]
Stephen Stanton of Life Itself, The 7D and The Legend of Korra
Director Steve James still gets questions about how he got Roger Ebert to record narration for Life Itself. But as he always tells the audience, that isn’t really Mr. Ebert talking – it’s Stephen Stanton. While you may not have heard of him, you’ve almost certainly heard his voice. Mr. Stanton is a renowned voice actor who has lent […]
The BAPartists, Creators of The Taking
The Taking made waves when it premiered in 2013. After meeting with several accolades at A Night of Horror Festival in Sydney, Australia, and L’Étrange Festival in Paris, France, the movie was released on Blu-ray. In October, I had the chance to sit down with writer/directors Cezil Reed and Lydelle Jackson (known as the BAPartists) to […]
Ambrus, Goldfarb, and Baichoo of The Punisher: No Mercy
“He is constant like the Northern Star. He is like the Grim Reaper. He is the angel of death.” These are the epithets a small group of cosplayers, actors and choreographers use to describe Frank Castle, the Marvel antihero known to fans as The Punisher. Castle has had a rocky history on the big screen, […]
Peter Dukes, Writer/Director of Little Reaper and The Beast
“When I get inspired to do something, it’s kind of like a rocket taking off,” says Peter Dukes, laughing. “You’re not going to stop it.” Armed with a passion for originality and an enterprising spirit, filmmaker Peter Dukes has uniquely positioned himself in the industry. Starting from scratch, he has built himself a legacy of […]
Tom Ciaburri, Director of Ironing Board Sam’s Tenth
It’s probably safe to assume that you haven’t heard of Ironing Board Sam. An old Blues musician whose gold suit and predilection for ironing boards have shaped his show-stopping performances for the past fifty years, Sammie Moore is still writing, composing and performing at the ripe age of 74. But despite having played with some […]
Chris Bishop, Co-Writer of Award-Winning Animated Short Caldera
The flowing figure of an enigmatic young woman floats down through sapphire blue water pierced by rays of faint sunlight. The young woman’s black hair streams behind her as she leans forward to touch the looming form of a giant, peaceful turtle. A quietly haunting tune compliments the scene as it accentuates the flood of […]
