filmmaking at Brave New Films

On Music in Film - Ken Burns

2008-07-16T12:45:50Z

Complete video at: fora.tv

Celebrated documentary filmmaker Ken Burns gives his take on the use of music in movies.

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Ken Burns' most recent documentary film project, The War, tells the story of the Second World War through the personal accounts of more than 40 men and women from four quintessentially American towns - Waterbury, Connecticut; Mobile, Alabama; Sacramento, California; and Luverne, Minnesota - who experienced and helped to win the most extraordinary war in history.

Woven largely from their memories, the narrative unfolds as the war unfolded - month by bloody month, with the outcome always in doubt.

The film series explores the most intimate human dimensions of a worldwide catastrophe that touched the lives of every family on every street in every town in America demonstrating that in extraordinary times, there are no ordinary lives.

From Pearl Harbor to the liberation of the concentration camps, the companion book to this fall 2007 PBS series, The War: An Intimate History, 1941-1945 by Geoffrey C. Ward and Ken Burns, includes all the iconic events as well as those of prisoners of war and Japanese American internees, defense workers and schoolchildren, and those who struggled simply to keep families together while their men were shipped off - NYPL

Ken Burns has been making films for more than thirty years. In 1981, Burns produced and directed his first film for PBS, the Academy Award nominated Brooklyn Bridge. His other films include Huey Long; Thomas Hart Benton; Empire of the Air: The Men Who Made Radio; a trilogy including The Civil War, Baseball, and Jazz; Frank Lloyd Wright; Not For Ourselves Alone: The Story of Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony; Mark Twain; and Unforgivable Blackness: The Rise and Fall of Jack Johnson.

Burns is currently producing and directing a six-part film series on the history of the National Parks which will air on PBS in 2009. He is also working on a history of Prohibition and an update to his 1994 epic Baseball.

His current film, which premieres in September on PBS, is The War with a companion book he co-authored with Geoffrey C. Ward entitled The War: An Intimate History, 1941-1945.

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Digital Media and the "Democratization" of Entertainment

2008-06-15T21:29:55Z

Complete video at: fora.tv

Two-time Academy Award-winning documentary filmmaker Bill Guttentag discusses the increasing "democratization" of the film and television industry.

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The Real and The Reality of Documentary Film with filmmaker Bill Guttentag.

The popularity of documentary films has exploded in recent years, resulting in a constant flow of narratives based on true events and real people. In a world where many would rather watch than read, the veracity of these films is often unquestioned. Should it be? Do these films manipulate reality? What are the responsibilities of the filmmaker? Guttentag tackles these and many other questions - The Commonwealth Club of California

Bill Guttentag, a two-time Oscar-winning filmmaker, wrote and directed Live!, a dramatic feature starring Eva Mendes, Andre Braugher, and David Krumholtz. The film was produced by Chuck Roven/Mosaic Media Group and distributed by The Weinstein Company. He also wrote and directed Nanking, a documentary which premiered at the 2007 Sundance Film Festival. The film includes a stage reading he wrote that features Woody Harrelson, Mariel Hemingway, and Jurgen Prochnow. Nanking was released theatrically this winter by THINKFilm and will air later in the year on HBO.

In 2003 Bill Guttentag won an Oscar for the documentary Twin Towers (Universal). It was his second Academy Award; the first was for You Don't Have to Die, a film he made for HBO.

He has also received three additional Oscar nominations, as well as two Emmy Awards. His films have been selected three times for the Sundance Film Festival and have played and won awards at numerous American and international film festivals. His films have received a number of special screenings, including one at the White House.

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Why are Reality TV Shows So Popular?

2008-06-06T15:39:24Z

Complete video at: fora.tv

Two-time Academy Award-winning documentary filmmaker Bill Guttentag examines the ongoing popularity of reality TV shows.

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The Real and The Reality of Documentary Film with filmmaker Bill Guttentag.

In 2003 Bill Guttentag won an Oscar for the documentary Twin Towers (Universal). It was his second Academy Award; the first was for You Don't Have to Die, a film he made for HBO.

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Alan Cumming - Working with Stanley Kubrick

2008-06-13T09:37:57Z

Complete video at: fora.tv

Actor Alan Cumming describes working with iconic director Stanley Kubrick on the set of Kubrick's 1999 film, "Eyes Wide Shut."

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Tony Award winning actor Alan Cumming addresses the Oxonian Society.

Alan Cumming is a Scottish film and stage actor, perhaps best known for his supporting roles as Boris Grishenko in the James Bond film GoldenEye, Kurt Wagner/Nightcrawler in X2: X-Men United and on the stage with his Tony Award-winning lead performance as the Emcee in the highly successful revival of Cabaret. He has directed, produced, and written films, TV series and plays, voiced several soundtracks, written a book, developed a stand-up show at the Edinburgh Fringe, and formed his own production company.

Joseph Pascal is co-founder and President of the Oxonian Society.

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Robert will be the keynote speaker tomorrow in Los Angeles film festival

2008-01-12T20:35:32Z

Robert will be the keynote speaker tomorrow, Friday November 16th, at the Alt-Film Festival at Borders Books in Westwood. The festival starts at 7:30pm. Other speakers include award-winning filmmakers and directors such as James Spooner, Matt Pizzolo, Joanna Angel, Esther Bell and Curt Johnson. Please check the Alt-Film Festival website for more information.

Fabulous Picture Show - West Bank Story - 25 August 07

2008-06-17T09:35:47Z

In this edition we show you an edited version of an exclusive screening of this year's Oscar-winning live-action short.

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Joe Eszterhas - On Screenwriting

2008-06-07T09:34:13Z

Complete program at: fora.tv

Screenwriter and author Joe Eszterhas discusses the writing process, and offers some advice for aspiring screenwriters.

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Joe Eszterhas, best-selling author and legendary bad-boy screenwriter discusses his new book "The Devil's Guide to Hollywood: the Screenwriter as God!."

Mike Ovitz told him his Wilshire Blvd. "foot soldiers" would hunt him down. He's antagonized almost everyone at the top in Tinseltown. And now, Joe Eszterhas tells everything he knows - in brief, quotable bursts - about the business, the history of Hollywood, and how to write screenplays that make millions. Idiosyncratic, gruff and as shaggy as Eszterhas himself, "The Devil's Guide to Hollywood" makes a character/leitmotif of Eszterhas' fellow Hungarian Zsa Zsa Gabor ("Money is like a sixth sense that makes it possible for you to fully enjoy the other five."), and makes the case that Marilyn Monroe was the sharpest tack in Hollywood ("Hollywood is a place where they'll pay you a thousand dollars for a kiss and fifty cents for your soul. I know, because I turned down the first offer often enough and held out for the fifty cents."). Refreshing, dirty, tough, there's no book like it. - Books Inc.

Joe Eszterhas has written fifteen films which have made more than a billion dollars at the box office. Among them are Basic Instinct, Jagged Edge, Flashdance, Showgirls, Betrayed, Music Box and F.I.S.T. He is the author of the recent New York Times bestsellers American Rhapsody and Hollywood Animal. In 1975, his second book, Charlie Simpson's Apocalypse, was nominated for the National Book Award. He was a senior editor at Rolling Stone from 1971 to 1975.

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Internships at Brave New Foundation

2008-06-12T15:38:21Z

www.bravenewfoundation.org An introductory video for the Open Door Training Program. Brave New Foundation created the Open Door Training Program to create opportunities and gain experience in film making for a diverse group of aspiring filmmakers.

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People Powered Film

2008-06-12T21:29:20Z

www.bravenewfilms.org Brave New Films projects have united communities, sparked activism and created lasting change. Discover this innovative company and the people all over the world who make it possible.

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