District 9 director Neill Blomkamp is back with a new film and not much hope for humankind; the cofounder of Contellation Incubator wants us to reject ’90s ideas about funding films; and a new film proves you can still be wildly ambitious, in a pandemic, on next to zero budget. All in today’s Movie News Rundown.
But First: The Hollywood Reporter spoke to some Afghan filmmakers about their dimming hope for art in the country.
On the Divide: Sophie Martinez wrote this terrific piece about a new documentary that profiles three women on both sides of the abortion debate near a clinic along the U.S.-Mexico border. It’s now playing at the rePro Film Festival, which is dedicated to reproductive issues ranging from abortion to endometriosis and postpartum depression.
‘We’re Still Clinging Onto the Fumes of a ’90s Model’: In the latest episode of Demystified from StudioFest, Naomi McDougall talks about how the process of funding indie films is badly outdated. She co-founded the Constellation Incubator, designed to disrupt, change, and foster diversity in the film industry. The first annual event took place this weekend, helping 60 selected filmmakers teams overcome roadblocks and challenges commonly encountered in the indie filmmaking process. Here’s the interview:
‘The Human Species Is on a Really Dangerous Path’: District 9 director Neill Blomkamp is back this week with Demonic, his first feature in six years — and with some grim predictions for the future of humanity. Here’s our conversation between him and director Ben Wheatley, whose films include the new In the Earth, as well as Free Fire and High-Rise. They also talk about using volumetric capture to produce the very unique visuals in Demonic.
A One-Take Time-Travel Masterpiece: If you’d rather feel good about humanity, you might enjoy the new Japanese sci-fi comedy Beyond the Infinite Two Minutes, which is both one of the least expensive and most ambitious movies I’ve ever seen. (The whole thing is shot in one 1917-style single scene, but that’s not even the coolest part.) The film, now at the Fantasia Film Festival, proves you don’t need a big cast or explosions to make something mind-blowing. Here are my thoughts on it, and the trailer:
That I Love Lucy Movie: Lucie Arnaz, daughter of Desi Arnaz and Lucille Ball, tells Palm Springs Life there are “certain scenes that I wished hadn’t been” in the new Aaron Sorkin Lucy and Desi biopic Being the Ricardos. “I couldn’t get my way and have them taken out, but they weren’t accurate. And I thought, ‘That shouldn’t be in there, because that never happened. That’s not true.’ And it’s not just theatrical license, it just wasn’t true. And the day they shot the scene, the sprinklers went off on the set and destroyed the whole set.” But Lucie Arnaz adds that Sorkin’s “dialogue is always incredible. And I think he treated my mother and my father really well.”
Main image: The poster for Beyond the Infinite Two Minutes.
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