MovieMaker Magazine’s Summer 2014 issue, with cover stars Joe Swanberg and Melanie Lynskey, hits newsstands around the U.S. and Canada June 24, 2014.
“Joe Swanberg is changing today’s definition of a film artist. He is not a studio auteur in the 20th-century sense of Alfred Hitchcock or Peter Jackson. Neither is he an “artist” in the sense popularized by the Romantic 19th-century: an isolated genius expressing his singular vision, like Bergman or Godard. Instead, Swanberg’s art emerges from the dynamic creative collaborations he has with actors, technicians, fellow moviemakers and audiences, and he deftly juggles subject matter and genre… With his boundless master-of-all-trades energy, the actor-director-editor-producer most closely corresponds to the template of a tribal craftsman.”
– Sean Hood, “The Creative Tribalist,” MovieMaker Magazine Summer 2014
On the cover: director Joe Swanberg, muse Melanie Lynskey, and their fantastic new movie Happy Christmas, released on demand this Friday and in theaters this July. Sean Hood’s comprehensive career profile of indie king Swanberg (“The Creative Tribalist,” pg. 60) updates auteur theory, explaining why the director is the quintessential moviemaker of the 21st century. The article contains exclusive interviews with Swanberg himself and collaborators Lynskey, Mark Webber, Adam Wingard and Simon Barrett, as well as photography by Dominic Arizona Bonuccelli, shot in Santa Monica, California.
Also in the new issue:
- Richard Linklater explains his grandiosely intimate ambitions in Boyhood (“The Making of a Boy,” pg. 32)
- Cinematographer Natasha Braier and Guy Pearce of David Michôd’s The Rover discuss shooting in the unbearable heat of the Australian outback (“Queen of the Desert,” pg. 24 – read it here)
- National Society of Film Critics Chairman David Sterritt remembers Roger Ebert with Steve James‘ Life Itself (“Taking it Personally,” pg. 28)
- Kat Candler and Aaron Paul of Hellion stress the importance of positivity (“Toil and Trouble,” pg. 48)
- Kelly Reichardt and Jesse Eisenberg talk the limits of idealism in Night Moves (“The 50-Year Road Trip,” pg. 36 – read it here)
- 2015’s Guide to Film Education and Film Education Roundtable: profiles of 50 film schools in the U.S. and beyond (pg. 70), and interviews with a panel of top film educators (pg. 41)
- The teams behind Land Ho!, Harmontown, Road to Paloma and Dear Eleanor embrace that perennial summer staple, the road movie (“Born to be Wild,” pg. 66)
- Why you think female cinematographers are a rarity in the business – and why the smartest moviemakers are hiring them (“The Myth of the Two Percent,” pg. 56)
- A look into deep fandom, out-of-the-box programming, and film archaeology with the midnight movie (“The New Dawn of the Midnight Movie,” pg. 52)
- Product highlights from NAB Show 2014 (“Cream of the Crop,” pg. 18)
- Evan Glodell, expert tinkerer and director of Bellflower, pens a tutorial on how to customize your lens with a macro bellows (“The Bellflower Bellows,” pg. 44)
- Advice on how to navigate the summer’s biggest comic and gaming conventions (“The Pros of Cons,” pg. 58)
- Coverage of the season’s top regional film festivals (“Festival Beat,” pg. 20)
- A primer on shooting in three South East Asian countries (“Eastern Promises,” pg. 14)
The Summer 2014 issue can be purchased at major U.S. and Canadian newsstands and retailers, including Barnes and Noble. The issue is also available for digital download via iTunes and Pocketmags, accessible on all mobile devices. Print and digital subscriptions to MovieMaker can be purchased here.
Happy summer reading! MM