14 WINTER 2019 MOVIEMAKER.COM
COLD READING
Crack open these moviemaking books’ jackets
as you zip up your own this winter
BY DEVON GREEN, HARPER LAMBERT, AND CHRIS VILLALTA
BOOK REVIEW
COURTESY OF JANUS FILMS3rd SPECTRUM (LGBT+)
Film Festival
April 25-
The Martha’s Vineyard Film Society’s
newest film festival, the SPECTRUM
Film Festival, “a world perspective on
LGBT+ stories, people and issues”
will screen a variety of feature
films from around the globe. This
four-day festival plans to cover
issues important to both the LGBT+
community and the community at
large.5th NATURE
AS INSPIRATION
Environmental
Film Festival
May 23-
Four day/night festival showcasing
environmental and nature
films with an emphasis on both
national and local environmental
issues. Speakers, art show, music
complement the proceedings.
In collaboration with Vineyard
Conservation Society.7th Martha’s Vineyard
FILMUSIC Festival
June 20-
Music and film flow naturally
together. This Festival will bring
you closer to the music you love,
and introduce you to artists/styles
you’ve never known. Featuring our
7th collaboration with the Berklee
Silent Film Orchestra who will
perform a live original score to a
silent film classic on opening night.
Four day/night festival celebrates
the convergence of music, culture,
and film.5th MV DOC WEEK
August 5-
Documentary Week allows
documentarians to screen, discuss
(with each other and audience
members), and collaborate on new
works of importance. The week
is constructed like a conference,
giving filmmakers the opportunity
to engage audience members
in a fervent discussion about
various social, humanitarian, and
environmental themes.SAVE THE DATESSAVE THE DATES
2 019
mvfilmsociety.com · 508.696.
14th MV INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL
The recurring theme of the annual Martha’s Vineyard International Film
Festival is “Other Places, Other People”; the festival’s purpose is to encourage
attendees to think broadly (about how huge the world of film is) and deeply
(about the universal concerns and desires that unite all people). About 90%
of all film selections are non-US productions, helping to fulfill the festival
mission of promoting cross-cultural understanding through film.Now accepting short film submissions The 14th annual
Martha’s Vineyard International Film Festival is now accepting short film
submissions for its September 3- 8, 2019 festival. We select 10 short films for
our finalists showcase, and they compete for $ cash prizes, judged by a jury of
industry leaders. Deadline July 14. For information, visit mvfilmfest.com
and submit your entry via FilmFreeway.comMARTHA’S VINEYARD INTERNATIONAL
film festivalMARTHA’S VINEYARD
INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL
Voted Best of The Vineyard seven
consecutive years 2013 through 2019
Best Movie Theater, Festival or SeriesPresented by the Martha’s Vineyard Film Society SEPTEMBER 3-8, 2019
ACTION REALISM:
THE ART OF ACTION
Lawrence Ribeiro
LAWRENCE RIBEIRO.
218 PAGES
Taking as its jumping-off point
the by now familiar topic of digi-
tal moviemaking’s ubiquitousness
and accessibility, action director
Lawrence Ribeiro’s book
Action Realism: The Art of Action
goes beyond its scope as a techni-
cal production manual to become
a holistic treatise on creativity.
With chapters titled “Imagina-
tion” and “Knowledge by Obser-
vation,” Ribeiro takes readers on
a tour of his thoughts on honing
craft, cultivating point of view,
and how a range of creative skill
sets can and should inform one
another on set.
Practical advice for film pro-
duction comes fast and frequent,
especially with crafting a sense of
speed in action sequences. This
theme is backed up with engag-
ing insights and examples about
how to best circumvent limited
resources and time by creatively
utilizing location and stunt
coordination. One gets a sense of
excitement about the subject mat-
ter from Ribeiro, and his intro-
ductory claims that he is writing
this book for the next generation
of moviemakers at a time of para-
digmatic shifts in the industry
is backed up by an expansive
scope of examples. He references
everything from Mad Max and
Jason Bourne to micro-budget
indies and non-film analogies
that delve into the similarities be-
tween the entertainment industry
and hockey. The result is a book
that’s as technically concise as it
is encouraging, a nice little kick
in the hind quarters for budding
moviemakers wanting to inject a
little fire into their set pieces.
THE TAKEWAY: Action Realism
is a great overview of an intimi-
dating aspect of the moviemaking
process. The book serves as a col-
lection of ideas on the importance
of finding one’s personal voice,
and demonstrates why letting
that voice inform the technical
side of your craft is crucial. —D.G.LIBERATING HOLLYWOOD:
WOMEN DIRECTORS AND THE
FEMINIST REFORM OF 1970S
AMERICAN CINEMA
Maya Montañez Smukler
RUTGERS UNIVERSITY PRESS.
364 PAGES
Between the Time’s Up move-
ment, demands for wage equality
and historic firsts for female mov-
iemakers, Hollywood is undergo-
ing a sexual revolution. None of
these achievements would be pos-
sible if not for earlier generations
of women who fought against
sexism in the industry.
In Liberating Hollywood,
Maya Montañez Smukler chroni-
cles an era in which pant legs were
wide and the gender gap even
wider. In the 1970s, the book says,
“woman directors were entangled
in a paradox of progress.” Fueled
by the women’s liberation move-
ment, they were eager to lead, yet
faced discrimination at every turn.
At the heart of the book are
profiles of the 16 women who
accomplished the near-impossible
feat of directing feature films in
the ’70s. Drawing from various
sources, including interviews
with the directors and their
collaborators, Smukler describes
the similar economic and artistic
roadblocks they encountered: dif-
ficulty in securing financing, lossof creative control, being under-
mined by studio executives, and
lack of union protection. Even
with positive critical and box-
office reception, most were un-
able to obtain funding for future
projects and either directed other
formats or stopped directing.
Anecdotes liven up the nar-
rative and allow the reader to
feel the weight of the structures
and social attitudes conspiring
against them. An example of
this is Smukler’s profile of Joan
Tewkesbury. Even with screen-
writing accolades and the support
of famed director Robert Altman,
Tewksbury only directed one
feature because of the barrage of
sexist obstacles she faced from
the studio and crew on-set.
The lengths to which these 16
women go to realize their vision
is what makes Liberating Holly-
wood a fun and fascinating read.
When they do succeed in getting
their movies out into the world,
it feels like an epic feat that one
can’t help but cheer on.
THE TAKEAWAY: Liberating
Hollywood is an invigorating,
detailed account of the women
who were denied seats at the di-
rectors’ roundtable and sat down
anyway. Their bittersweet but
valiant efforts paved the way for
feminist reform. Smukler’s book
is valuable not just because it
covers an important piece of Hol-
lywood history, but because it’s a
reminder that progress is not to
be taken for granted. — H.L.SHOOT FROM THE HEART:
SUCCESSFUL FILMMAKING
FROM A SUNDANCE REBEL
Diane Bell
MICHAEL WIESE PRODUCTIONS
250 PAGESDiane Bell’s feature debut
Obselidia won two awards at the
2010 Sundance Film Festival, and
those accolades are made more
impressive when one learns of
the unconventional road she
took to get the film made. In
Shoot From the Heart, Bell pres-
ents that road as a viable path
for aspiring moviemakers to get
their features made.
Divided into 16 chapters, from
developing a script to executing
a distribution plan, Shoot From
the Heart is an answer to an
obstacle a freshman moviemaker
will face. If you have a solid
script, but can’t quite bring it to
life, Bell encourages you to set a
start date and rolling deadlines,
designed to keep you from find-
ing reasons to not make the film.
If you have zero knowledge on
how to get money for produc-
tion, Bell encourages you to start
with a concept trailer, which will
woo financiers by giving them
a taste of your film’s tone and
aesthetic qualities, while also
solidifying you and your crew’s
legitimacy.
THE TAKEAWAY: Bell’s bullet-
pointed summaries at the end of
each chapter make Shoot From
the Heart easy to reference when
you’ve hit a wall during produc-
tion. But it’s the final bullet point
that makes this more than a
how-to book: Bell reminds read-
ers to be grateful for the journey
they’re on, and to celebrate what
they’ve accomplished in their
process thus far.
Use this book as a checklist,
but during those inevitable low
points, allow yourself to feel its
pat on the shoulder that says,
“We’ve gotten this far. Keep your
eyes on the prize.” — C.V. MMWRITER, DIRECTOR, AND PRODUCER BARBARA LODEN, A KEY FIGURE
IN MAYA MONTAÑEZ SMUKLER’S LIBERATING HOLLYWOOD, STARS IN
THE TITLE ROLE OF HER SEMINAL 1970 INDIE, WANDA