Sundance: The Best Way to Go Out in “How It Ends”

By Abe Friedtanzer

It’s been quite revealing to see how the film and television industries have responded to the limitations imposed by stringent regulations during the pandemic. We saw a few shows like Connecting… and Social Distance, the Coastal Elites special, and radically different release strategies from studios and streamers. What excites me most is the way that filmmakers have used new approaches to create stories that don’t directly reference what’s going on now in the world but try something innovative instead. To best illustrate this, let’s look at How It Ends, the new collaboration between Zoe Lister-Jones and Daryl Wein, who were last at Sundance with White Rabbit in 2018.

It’s the end of the world – a comet is headed towards Earth and so there’s literally going to be no tomorrow...

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Photos and fun from the Los Angeles Film Critics Dinner

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"Homecoming: A Film by Beyonce" (with Marni Senofonte)

by Ginny O'Keefe

I got invited to Homecoming! This past Monday I had the pleasure of representing the Film Experience at the Icon Lobby in the Netflix headquarters at an event celebrating Homecoming: A Film by Beyonce. The Netflix documentary takes an in-depth look at Beyoncé’s 2018 performance at Coachella and how long she and her team had been on the creative road to make this whole iconic performance and cultural event live up to the hype. It took Beyonce and her team months to create this performance and Beyoncé would end up being the first Black woman in history to headline Coachella. Throughout the film you immediately get that Beyoncé didn’t want this to just be a concert, she wanted this to be a historical moment for her career and for her culture. She knew that she couldn’t come in with something expected to fit the Coachella vibe, so she ditched the typical flower crown aesthetic and came in with a predominately Black cast of performers and helped emphasize the importance and the richness of historically Black universities in America. Something that doesn’t get enough recognition in society.

Beyonce says it herself in the beginning of the film, she never went to college. Her college was touring and traveling. But I have a good feeling that if she had gone to college, then she would be doing exactly what these young performers are doing at their respective schools. Whether it be dance team, stepping, marching band, or Greek life. The film quotes W.E.B. Dubois who states “Education must not simply teach work, it must teach life.”...

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Auditions: Betty's Audition in "Mulholland Dr"

Our new series from Ginny O'Keefe, who knows from auditions as an actress in Los Angeles...

One of the more iconic audition scenes in the past 20 years of film comes from a film that gives you a great sense of security and comfort before ripping the rug right out from underneath you. It’s David Lynch’s Mulholland Drive. Naomi Watts plays Hollywood hopeful, Betty Elms, fresh off the plane from Ontario, Canada. She dreams of being a successful actress and is staying in her Aunt Ruth’s awesome apartment (rent-free I might add) while she is away filming a movie. She’s got a big audition coming up for a movie (with some really cheesy dialogue) and has been practicing like a beast in order to land the part. One of the things we admire about Betty is that she actually puts in the work in order to make her dreams come true. Cut to...

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Oscar Rule Changes. It's about time with the Makeup & Hair, Academy

They finally listened! Or, rather...

We are now allowing ourselves to freely fantasize that our annual griping here at TFE for the past forever years that Makeup and Hair deserves as many nominations as any other filmmaking craft, planted the seeds that eventually led to discussions on the other coast. The Academy announced that there will be five nominees going forward in the category starting this next season. (We've already adjusted this year's April Foolish Prediction Chart). Should we go power-mad, loyal readers??

Alas, nope.  The other rule change we've requested for a long time, didn't happen...

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