The Wachowskis' 1999 cyber-thriller "The Matrix" took the world by surprise. Although cyber-thrillers and V.R.-inflected sci-fi films were de rigueur throughout the '90s, the Wachowskis' unique blend of black-trench coat cool, overloaded action, and trippy pop existentialism shook the zeitgeist in unprecedented ways. The premise was powerful: in the distant future, humanity will be enslaved by intelligent machines and bodily stuffed into goopy cocoons. The electrical impulses in human brains are used by the Machines as a power supply, and every human being has a needle plugged into their skulls. In order to keep those impulses pulsing, the Machines have created an elaborate virtual reality for its living batteries, an electric realm called the Matrix. The Matrix is what you or I might call "the real world."
The notion that our perceived lives are merely an illusion is quite ancient, and even the sci-fi spin on that philosophy...
The notion that our perceived lives are merely an illusion is quite ancient, and even the sci-fi spin on that philosophy...
- 2/17/2024
- by Witney Seibold
- Slash Film
Film Independent is currently in the middle of a Matching Campaign to raise support for the next 30 years of filmmaker support. All donations make before or on September 15 will be doubled—dollar-for-dollar up to $100,000. To kick off the campaign, we’re re-posting a few of our most popular blogs.
Among other consumer benefits, one major upside to the increasing niche-ification of popular culture has been the continuing emergence of esoteric micro-genres of film and TV. Twenty years ago, you might not necessarily think of “horror documentaries” as its own subgenre. Sure, there were documentaries that maybe fell a little more on the creepy/unsettling side, but it was rare that a nonfiction film would be tailored to appeal to a horror-first genre audience. Now, of course, things are different. In recent years, a robust tradition of terrifying nonfiction films have emerged, many as terrifying – or even more eerie – than their traditional narrative counterparts.
Among other consumer benefits, one major upside to the increasing niche-ification of popular culture has been the continuing emergence of esoteric micro-genres of film and TV. Twenty years ago, you might not necessarily think of “horror documentaries” as its own subgenre. Sure, there were documentaries that maybe fell a little more on the creepy/unsettling side, but it was rare that a nonfiction film would be tailored to appeal to a horror-first genre audience. Now, of course, things are different. In recent years, a robust tradition of terrifying nonfiction films have emerged, many as terrifying – or even more eerie – than their traditional narrative counterparts.
- 7/27/2023
- by Matt Warren
- Film Independent News & More
In the history of casual comments that sound like they could mark the end of civilization, there’s a staggering contender in “The New Americans: Gaming a Revolution” — all the more so because it comes from an investor who sounds reasonably intelligent. The movie, the latest documentary provocation written and directed by Ondi Timoner, is about the new era of lone stock traders — many, though not all of them, millennials — who grew up playing video games and now experience investing at home as a literal extension of that thrill-a-minute world. The new trading apps, designed as visual candy, are meant to give you the rush that gamers get (and also the high that people seek out from slot machines). Trying to sum up the lizard-brain appeal of it all, an investor named Mitchell Hennessey explains, “Even if you lose on the trade, confetti pops up, and it almost feels like you’re leveling up.
- 3/21/2023
- by Owen Gleiberman
- Variety Film + TV
Click here to read the full article.
A day after unveiling its quarterly earnings, Warner Bros. Discovery shares were falling sharply in Friday trading as investors and analysts debated the Hollywood giant’s outlook for its combined streaming, or direct-to-consumer (Dtc), strategy and cost-savings plan.
Some financial observers saw the need to reduce their stock price targets, and at least one expert also downgraded his stock rating, while others stuck to their ratings and targets. Here is a look at analysts’ actions and commentary after Wbd’s Aug. 4 earnings disclosure.
Analyst: Wells Fargo’s Steven Cahall
Call: Downgrade to “equal weight,” slashed target from 42 to 19.
Report title: “A Glitch in the Matrix”
The analyst downgraded his rating on shares of Warner Bros. Discovery on Friday with movie references. “A Glitch in the Matrix,” he called his report, cutting his rating from “overweight” to “equal weight” and slashing his stock price...
A day after unveiling its quarterly earnings, Warner Bros. Discovery shares were falling sharply in Friday trading as investors and analysts debated the Hollywood giant’s outlook for its combined streaming, or direct-to-consumer (Dtc), strategy and cost-savings plan.
Some financial observers saw the need to reduce their stock price targets, and at least one expert also downgraded his stock rating, while others stuck to their ratings and targets. Here is a look at analysts’ actions and commentary after Wbd’s Aug. 4 earnings disclosure.
Analyst: Wells Fargo’s Steven Cahall
Call: Downgrade to “equal weight,” slashed target from 42 to 19.
Report title: “A Glitch in the Matrix”
The analyst downgraded his rating on shares of Warner Bros. Discovery on Friday with movie references. “A Glitch in the Matrix,” he called his report, cutting his rating from “overweight” to “equal weight” and slashing his stock price...
- 8/5/2022
- by Georg Szalai
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Virtual reality is as good a place as any to meet people, especially during a pandemic. In documentary helmer Joe Hunting’s nonjudgmental plunge into the fast-evolving metaverse — set entirely in the realm of VRChat, where thousands of players reinvent themselves behind the avatars of their choice — we meet couples who fell in love online, hard-of-hearing outsiders who find a new way to connect with others and lonely souls who say their online friends saved their lives. While the real world was losing its collective mind (Hunting started “filming” in December 2020), these folks were giving lap dances and house parties in cyberspace.
At times, “We Met in Virtual Reality” — which world premiered at the (virtual) Sundance Film Festival last January, and now finds its way into (virtual) release via HBO Max — feels like a feature-length infomercial for this relatively new means of no-contact connection. Except that VR has been around for years and years,...
At times, “We Met in Virtual Reality” — which world premiered at the (virtual) Sundance Film Festival last January, and now finds its way into (virtual) release via HBO Max — feels like a feature-length infomercial for this relatively new means of no-contact connection. Except that VR has been around for years and years,...
- 7/30/2022
- by Peter Debruge
- Variety Film + TV
Click here to read the full article.
UTA is lighting a fire for Ross Dinerstein and Campfire Studios.
The producer and his production company have signed with the agency for worldwide representation in all areas and he comes to the agency after having amassed dozens of scripted and unscripted credits, ranging from feature films to TV/streaming projects.
Dinerstein and Campfire’s current and most recent projects include HBO Max’s The Way Down and Heaven’s Gate: The Cult of Cults; Hulu’s WeWork: Or the Making and Breaking of a 47 Billion Unicorn; FX’s Hysterical and The Most Dangerous Animal of All; Magnolia Pictures’ A Glitch in the Matrix; CNN’s The Lost Sons; Netflix’s Voir, Neymar: The Perfect Chaos and John Grisham’s The Innocent Man, and Special.
Dinerstein has also produced eight Netflix Original features including Rattlesnake, an adaptation of Stephen King’s 1922, The Package, Rebirth,...
UTA is lighting a fire for Ross Dinerstein and Campfire Studios.
The producer and his production company have signed with the agency for worldwide representation in all areas and he comes to the agency after having amassed dozens of scripted and unscripted credits, ranging from feature films to TV/streaming projects.
Dinerstein and Campfire’s current and most recent projects include HBO Max’s The Way Down and Heaven’s Gate: The Cult of Cults; Hulu’s WeWork: Or the Making and Breaking of a 47 Billion Unicorn; FX’s Hysterical and The Most Dangerous Animal of All; Magnolia Pictures’ A Glitch in the Matrix; CNN’s The Lost Sons; Netflix’s Voir, Neymar: The Perfect Chaos and John Grisham’s The Innocent Man, and Special.
Dinerstein has also produced eight Netflix Original features including Rattlesnake, an adaptation of Stephen King’s 1922, The Package, Rebirth,...
- 6/7/2022
- by Chris Gardner
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
The year “The Matrix” came out — 1999 — already had a very sci-fi sound to it. It was the year Prince had imagined as the run-up to the apocalypse, a premonition that would be echoed in the Y2K jitters. And 1999 is just such a cool number; it’s like the other side of the coin from 2001. With its row of nines poised to turn over, it sounded like the future embedded in the present. And that’s kind of how 1999 felt. We knew that we were moving into the 21st century, and we thought we had a good idea of what that was about. The Internet was only a few years old, but already we could see where it was pointing: to a digital world that would bring everything (literally) to your fingertips. Everything could now be done at home, at the computer keyboard, including the manipulation of reality, which could...
- 12/26/2021
- by Owen Gleiberman
- Variety Film + TV
"It's almost impossible to wake up a sleepwalker." Hulu has revealed an official trailer for a documentary film titled Dead Asleep, which (according to Hulu) puts "a ground-breaking new spin on the true-crime genre." From the award-winning director of Abducted in Plain Sight, Dead Asleep will take you through the true story of when a case of sleepwalking turned murder. The film follows and shares exclusive footage of the case of Randy Herman Jr., a man convicted of murdering his roommate, which he says he committed while sleepwalking in 2017. Crazy! This is for real?! It reminds me of the doc A Glitch in the Matrix, but that story is a bit scarier. This one seems fascinating. "Pulse Films has secured exclusive access to Herman and his family, the defense and prosecution attorneys, journalists who covered the case, forensic psychiatrists and world experts in violent parasomnia (sleep-walking) to give viewers an...
- 12/8/2021
- by Alex Billington
- firstshowing.net
The distributor of films like “Melancholia” and “John Lewis: Good Trouble” is reportedly seeking a buyer. Magnolia Pictures has hired investment bank Stephens to run a sale of the company, Deadline reported after the New York Times first broke word of a potential sale on Wednesday.
The move comes as consolidation is rapidly reshaping the industry for the streaming era. While it has amassed a diverse library of 500 films during its 20 years in business, Magnolia is a vastly different company than other recent Hollywood acquisitions targets, like MGM with its exploitable IP or Reese Witherspoon’s “Big Little Lies” production outfit Hello Sunshine.
The Hollywood Reporter once called Magnolia “one of the last indie distribution houses dedicated to art house fare.” Magnolia wants to find out what that might be worth in a time where box office revenues are down, but streaming has fueled a demand for content that has never been greater.
The move comes as consolidation is rapidly reshaping the industry for the streaming era. While it has amassed a diverse library of 500 films during its 20 years in business, Magnolia is a vastly different company than other recent Hollywood acquisitions targets, like MGM with its exploitable IP or Reese Witherspoon’s “Big Little Lies” production outfit Hello Sunshine.
The Hollywood Reporter once called Magnolia “one of the last indie distribution houses dedicated to art house fare.” Magnolia wants to find out what that might be worth in a time where box office revenues are down, but streaming has fueled a demand for content that has never been greater.
- 10/6/2021
- by Chris Lindahl
- Indiewire
(Welcome to Now Stream This, a weekly column dedicated to the best movies streaming on Netflix, Amazon, Hulu, and every other streaming service out there.)
Welcome back, streamers! The weekly edition of Now Stream This is here, hot off the virtual press, featuring five movies you might want to stream this weekend. They include a drama based around 9/11, an underrated monster movie remake, a wild Shakespeare adaptation, a supervillain origin story, and a documentary about brains in jars.
Now Streaming on Netflix
Release Date: 2021Genre: DramaDirector: Sara ColangeloCast: Michael Keaton, Amy Ryan, Stanley Tucci, Tate Donovan, Shunori Ramanathan, Laura Benanti
"Worth" is based...
The post The Best Movies Streaming Right Now: Worth, King Kong, Titus, The Social Network, A Glitch in the Matrix appeared first on /Film.
Welcome back, streamers! The weekly edition of Now Stream This is here, hot off the virtual press, featuring five movies you might want to stream this weekend. They include a drama based around 9/11, an underrated monster movie remake, a wild Shakespeare adaptation, a supervillain origin story, and a documentary about brains in jars.
Now Streaming on Netflix
Release Date: 2021Genre: DramaDirector: Sara ColangeloCast: Michael Keaton, Amy Ryan, Stanley Tucci, Tate Donovan, Shunori Ramanathan, Laura Benanti
"Worth" is based...
The post The Best Movies Streaming Right Now: Worth, King Kong, Titus, The Social Network, A Glitch in the Matrix appeared first on /Film.
- 9/3/2021
- by Chris Evangelista
- Slash Film
Participant is yet to announce US distribution plans.
Magnolia Pictures International has acquired Yaara Bou Melhem’s documentary Unseen Skies from Participant and will commence sales during Toronto next week.
The film follows contemporary artist Trevor Paglen during the final stretch of his decade-long journey to put a work of art into space.
Paglen, who served as a cinematographer on Participant’s Oscar-winning documentary Citizenfour, is known for his work that focuses on the impact of largely unseen monolithic power structures of technology and surveillance and documents black ops sites that gather government surveillance and data collection.
Participant has not...
Magnolia Pictures International has acquired Yaara Bou Melhem’s documentary Unseen Skies from Participant and will commence sales during Toronto next week.
The film follows contemporary artist Trevor Paglen during the final stretch of his decade-long journey to put a work of art into space.
Paglen, who served as a cinematographer on Participant’s Oscar-winning documentary Citizenfour, is known for his work that focuses on the impact of largely unseen monolithic power structures of technology and surveillance and documents black ops sites that gather government surveillance and data collection.
Participant has not...
- 9/2/2021
- by Jeremy Kay
- ScreenDaily
Last night, our friends at Motelx - Lisbon International Horror Film Festival announced the first wave of titles for their fifteenth edition. All set to wow an in-person audience with as close a return to form as health guidelines will allow the festival will run from September 7th through 13th at Cinema São Jorge. David Lowery's much anticipated film, The Green Knight, is all set to open this year's festival. Other titles announced for this year's edition include Tunisian noir, Black Medusa, Canadian psychological revenge horror, Violation, Rodney Ascher's doc, A Glitch in the Matrix, Taiwanese pandemic horror The Sadness. From the local scene there is Name Above Title from Carlos Conceição which promises an update of the Giallo genre in the times of social...
[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...
[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...
- 7/21/2021
- Screen Anarchy
Swan Song, Mayday, Queen Of Glory, A Glitch In The Matrix galvanise buyers.
Magnolia Pictures International head Lorna Lee Torres has reported brisk sales in Cannes on Udo Kier drama and SXSW selection Swan Song, Sundance action fantasy Mayday, Tribeca winner Queen Of Glory, and Sundance Midnight entry A Glitch In The Matrix.
Torres and Magnolia international sales director Marie Zeniter attended Cannes for what proved to be a productive trip.
Rights to Swan Song have gone in the UK (Peccadillo), Germany and Austria (Koch Media), Switzerland (Ascot Elite), Australia and New Zealand (Icon), Scandinavia, Baltics, Iceland (NonStop), Canada (Mongrel...
Magnolia Pictures International head Lorna Lee Torres has reported brisk sales in Cannes on Udo Kier drama and SXSW selection Swan Song, Sundance action fantasy Mayday, Tribeca winner Queen Of Glory, and Sundance Midnight entry A Glitch In The Matrix.
Torres and Magnolia international sales director Marie Zeniter attended Cannes for what proved to be a productive trip.
Rights to Swan Song have gone in the UK (Peccadillo), Germany and Austria (Koch Media), Switzerland (Ascot Elite), Australia and New Zealand (Icon), Scandinavia, Baltics, Iceland (NonStop), Canada (Mongrel...
- 7/19/2021
- by Jeremy Kay
- ScreenDaily
Also sold at the festival were Mayday, Queen Of Glory and A Glitch In The Matrix.
Magnolia Pictures International has reported a number of sales deals on its Cannes slate titles Swan Song, Mayday, Queen Of Glory and A Glitch In The Matrix.
With Udo Kier starring as a retired small-town hairdresser for director Todd Stephens, comedy Swan Song sold to Peccadillo for the UK, Koch Media for Germany/Austria, Ascot Elite for Switzerland, Icon for Australia/New Zealand, Nonstop for Scandinavia, the Baltics and Iceland, Mongrel for Canada, Telefilms for Latin America, Tongariro for Poland and Penny Black for airlines.
Magnolia Pictures International has reported a number of sales deals on its Cannes slate titles Swan Song, Mayday, Queen Of Glory and A Glitch In The Matrix.
With Udo Kier starring as a retired small-town hairdresser for director Todd Stephens, comedy Swan Song sold to Peccadillo for the UK, Koch Media for Germany/Austria, Ascot Elite for Switzerland, Icon for Australia/New Zealand, Nonstop for Scandinavia, the Baltics and Iceland, Mongrel for Canada, Telefilms for Latin America, Tongariro for Poland and Penny Black for airlines.
- 7/15/2021
- by John Hazelton
- ScreenDaily
Annapurna Pictures has made several key additions to its film team, including a new executive vice president and head of film in Adam Paulsen.
Paulsen and his colleague Jack Parker are joining the indie prestige shop from Valparaiso Pictures. Parker has been hired as a creative executive. Both will report to Annapurna Chief Creative Officer Sue Naegle and Chief Operating Officer Chris Corabi. They join Annapurna’s director of film development Jess Biddle.
The staffing up signals that Annapurna founder and CEO Megan Ellison is serious about reinvigorating her film division to its former glory. The executive and Oracle heiress herself just returned to Los Angeles from a lengthy quarantine hiatus, as Variety reported in April, and is strategizing anew.
Valparaiso is the studio behind Jerrod Carmichael’s “On the Count of Three,” the Sundance player that Ellison’s multimedia company acquired this year. They also have Nicolas Cage’s “Pig” debuting imminently via Neon,...
Paulsen and his colleague Jack Parker are joining the indie prestige shop from Valparaiso Pictures. Parker has been hired as a creative executive. Both will report to Annapurna Chief Creative Officer Sue Naegle and Chief Operating Officer Chris Corabi. They join Annapurna’s director of film development Jess Biddle.
The staffing up signals that Annapurna founder and CEO Megan Ellison is serious about reinvigorating her film division to its former glory. The executive and Oracle heiress herself just returned to Los Angeles from a lengthy quarantine hiatus, as Variety reported in April, and is strategizing anew.
Valparaiso is the studio behind Jerrod Carmichael’s “On the Count of Three,” the Sundance player that Ellison’s multimedia company acquired this year. They also have Nicolas Cage’s “Pig” debuting imminently via Neon,...
- 6/28/2021
- by Matt Donnelly
- Variety Film + TV
Ben Wheatley’s ‘In The Earth’ is playing in the main competition of the Swiss festival.
UK director Ben Wheatley’s in The Earth is among the competition contenders in this year’s 20th Neuchâtel International Fantastic Film Festival which will take place as a hybrid edition from July 2-10 in Switzerland.
It is taking place under the interim directorship of Loïc Valceschini before a new head, Pierre-Yves Walder, takes up the reins in July.
The event includes 55 films, eight short films, eight immersive installations and two TV productions. Among the special guests will be legendary VFX artist Volker Engel,...
UK director Ben Wheatley’s in The Earth is among the competition contenders in this year’s 20th Neuchâtel International Fantastic Film Festival which will take place as a hybrid edition from July 2-10 in Switzerland.
It is taking place under the interim directorship of Loïc Valceschini before a new head, Pierre-Yves Walder, takes up the reins in July.
The event includes 55 films, eight short films, eight immersive installations and two TV productions. Among the special guests will be legendary VFX artist Volker Engel,...
- 6/17/2021
- ScreenDaily
With a slimmer lineup and much of the action taking place online rather than in Park City, the 2021 Sundance Film Festival will be anything but normal. But if early sales activity is any indication, the hybrid virtual/in-person festival will still serve as a key acquisitions market for distributors.
News of the first deals broke on December 16, the day after Sundance revealed its full slate of 72 features. That’s when Bleecker Street announced it has acquired North American rights to Nikole Beckwith’s “Together Together” and Magnolia Pictures revealed it has nabbed Rodney Ascher’s Midnight section pick “A Glitch in the Matrix.”
While those two movies come from established filmmakers, over half of the festival lineup comes from first-time feature directors. Over 90 percent of the slate are world premieres.
That suggests there is plenty of opportunity for the discovery of hidden gems. But with streaming — coupled with satellite screenings...
News of the first deals broke on December 16, the day after Sundance revealed its full slate of 72 features. That’s when Bleecker Street announced it has acquired North American rights to Nikole Beckwith’s “Together Together” and Magnolia Pictures revealed it has nabbed Rodney Ascher’s Midnight section pick “A Glitch in the Matrix.”
While those two movies come from established filmmakers, over half of the festival lineup comes from first-time feature directors. Over 90 percent of the slate are world premieres.
That suggests there is plenty of opportunity for the discovery of hidden gems. But with streaming — coupled with satellite screenings...
- 6/8/2021
- by Chris Lindahl
- Indiewire
Hulu’s list of new releases for June 2021 is highlighted by a host of useful library titles and one fascinating original film.
The original film in question is the one that lends its delightful photo of Pierce Brosnan delivering a baby to this post. False Positive stars and was written by Ilana Glazer (Broad City). It sounds like a really fun, creepy time with a synopsis that reads: “After months of trying and failing to get pregnant, Lucy (Glazer) and Adrian (Justin Theroux) finally find their dream fertility doctor in the illustrious Dr. Hindle (Pierce Brosnan). But after becoming pregnant with a healthy baby girl, Lucy begins to notice something sinister through Hindle’s gleaming charm, and she sets out to uncover the unsettling truth about him, and her own “birth story.” Cool!
Hulu’s other original offerings aren’t too inspiring this month. Only Love, Victor season 2 on June 11 moves the needle much.
The original film in question is the one that lends its delightful photo of Pierce Brosnan delivering a baby to this post. False Positive stars and was written by Ilana Glazer (Broad City). It sounds like a really fun, creepy time with a synopsis that reads: “After months of trying and failing to get pregnant, Lucy (Glazer) and Adrian (Justin Theroux) finally find their dream fertility doctor in the illustrious Dr. Hindle (Pierce Brosnan). But after becoming pregnant with a healthy baby girl, Lucy begins to notice something sinister through Hindle’s gleaming charm, and she sets out to uncover the unsettling truth about him, and her own “birth story.” Cool!
Hulu’s other original offerings aren’t too inspiring this month. Only Love, Victor season 2 on June 11 moves the needle much.
- 5/30/2021
- by Alec Bojalad
- Den of Geek
To mark the release of A Glitch in the Matrix on 10th May, we’ve been given 2 copies to give away on Blu-ray.
The film looks at a question that has been around since the dawn of philosophy. What if our world and everything in it isn’t real? The digital age has seen the idea of simulation theory enter the mainstream, particularly with The Wachowskis’ seminal The Matrix and now the mind-blowing feature documentary A Glitch In The Matrix from Ascher explores this very question in a ground-breaking documentary.
Ascher and producer Ross Dinerstein ponder the questions it throws up – what does it mean if our whole existence is on the whim of some strange creature or gamer somewhere?
We meet a fascinating line-up of people including those who believe we are living in some kind of game simulation, as well as scientists, experts and amateur sleuths who have...
The film looks at a question that has been around since the dawn of philosophy. What if our world and everything in it isn’t real? The digital age has seen the idea of simulation theory enter the mainstream, particularly with The Wachowskis’ seminal The Matrix and now the mind-blowing feature documentary A Glitch In The Matrix from Ascher explores this very question in a ground-breaking documentary.
Ascher and producer Ross Dinerstein ponder the questions it throws up – what does it mean if our whole existence is on the whim of some strange creature or gamer somewhere?
We meet a fascinating line-up of people including those who believe we are living in some kind of game simulation, as well as scientists, experts and amateur sleuths who have...
- 5/3/2021
- by Competitions
- HeyUGuys.co.uk
Exclusive: Magnolia Pictures International has acquired worldwide and U.S. sales rights to the comedic feature, Queen of Glory, which will make its world premiere at the 20th Tribeca Film Festival in June.
Marking the feature debut of writer-director-actress Nana Mensah, the New York-set feature centers on Sarah (Mensah), a Ghanaian-American who looks to abandon her Ivy League doctoral program to follow her married lover across the country. As fate would have it, her plans fall apart, when her mother’s death leaves her the owner of a bookshop in the Bronx.
In making the acquisition announcement, Lorna Lee Torres, Magnolia Pictures’ Head of International Sales said, ““We are over the moon to champion such a heartfelt, smart and funny film. Nana’s refreshing blend of charm and deadpan humor immediately immerses the viewer into her African...
Marking the feature debut of writer-director-actress Nana Mensah, the New York-set feature centers on Sarah (Mensah), a Ghanaian-American who looks to abandon her Ivy League doctoral program to follow her married lover across the country. As fate would have it, her plans fall apart, when her mother’s death leaves her the owner of a bookshop in the Bronx.
In making the acquisition announcement, Lorna Lee Torres, Magnolia Pictures’ Head of International Sales said, ““We are over the moon to champion such a heartfelt, smart and funny film. Nana’s refreshing blend of charm and deadpan humor immediately immerses the viewer into her African...
- 4/22/2021
- by Matt Grobar
- Deadline Film + TV
Campfire, a producer of scripted and non-scripted content, has been on a tear.
The company debuted three films at this year’s SXSW, the buzzy documentaries “WeWork: Or the Making and Breaking of a $47 Billion Unicorn,” “Hysterical,” and “The Lost Sons,” and also fielded “A Glitch in the Matrix,” which scored rave reviews at Sundance. All told, the company will have nearly a dozen movies and shows scheduled to premiere in 2021, a remarkable burst of productivity given that Covid-19 has slowed production for the past 12 months.
“The pandemic didn’t really impede our growth,” says Ross M. Dinerstein, the company’s founder and CEO. “We were able to pivot quickly and figure out how to move much of our post-production remotely.”
The explosion of content is also being fueled by a key investor. In 2019, Wheelhouse Group, the media and investment firm created by Brent Montgomery and late night host Jimmy Kimmel,...
The company debuted three films at this year’s SXSW, the buzzy documentaries “WeWork: Or the Making and Breaking of a $47 Billion Unicorn,” “Hysterical,” and “The Lost Sons,” and also fielded “A Glitch in the Matrix,” which scored rave reviews at Sundance. All told, the company will have nearly a dozen movies and shows scheduled to premiere in 2021, a remarkable burst of productivity given that Covid-19 has slowed production for the past 12 months.
“The pandemic didn’t really impede our growth,” says Ross M. Dinerstein, the company’s founder and CEO. “We were able to pivot quickly and figure out how to move much of our post-production remotely.”
The explosion of content is also being fueled by a key investor. In 2019, Wheelhouse Group, the media and investment firm created by Brent Montgomery and late night host Jimmy Kimmel,...
- 4/5/2021
- by Brent Lang
- Variety Film + TV
Coda, Jockey, Superior among initial wave of deal-making.
While there hasn’t been the usual post-opening weekend torrent of Sundance deals this year, business is getting done and Apple delivered a record $25m buy on feel-good multi-award winnerCODA.
Sundance always has a long tail and deals will trickle in for weeks and months after the event, which officially ends on February 3.
At time of writing buyers were circling Questlove’s documentary Summer Of Soul, Sean Ellis’s werewolf film Eight For Silver, Franz Kanz’s post-shooting massacre drama Mass, and Lyle Mitchell Corbine Jr.’s thriller Wild Indian, among others.
While there hasn’t been the usual post-opening weekend torrent of Sundance deals this year, business is getting done and Apple delivered a record $25m buy on feel-good multi-award winnerCODA.
Sundance always has a long tail and deals will trickle in for weeks and months after the event, which officially ends on February 3.
At time of writing buyers were circling Questlove’s documentary Summer Of Soul, Sean Ellis’s werewolf film Eight For Silver, Franz Kanz’s post-shooting massacre drama Mass, and Lyle Mitchell Corbine Jr.’s thriller Wild Indian, among others.
- 3/29/2021
- by Jeremy Kay
- ScreenDaily
Disney co-production and genre features among several features sold.
Russian distributors have closed multiple deals in the wake of the recent European Film Market (EFM), including a fantasy hit produced with Disney and several genre features.
Moscow-based All Media has been doing strong business with fantasy adventure The Last Warrior as well as sequel and recent box office success The Last Warrior: Root Of Evil.
The two films, produced by the Walt Disney Company Cis with independent studio Yellow, Black and White group, have been sold to Germany (Telepool), Italy (Minerva Pictures) and France (Mediawan Rights).
The Last Warrior: Root Of Evil...
Russian distributors have closed multiple deals in the wake of the recent European Film Market (EFM), including a fantasy hit produced with Disney and several genre features.
Moscow-based All Media has been doing strong business with fantasy adventure The Last Warrior as well as sequel and recent box office success The Last Warrior: Root Of Evil.
The two films, produced by the Walt Disney Company Cis with independent studio Yellow, Black and White group, have been sold to Germany (Telepool), Italy (Minerva Pictures) and France (Mediawan Rights).
The Last Warrior: Root Of Evil...
- 3/22/2021
- by Geoffrey Macnab
- ScreenDaily
New hire brings close to 20 years of experience in arthouse film.
Clemence Taillandier has joined Kino Lorber as director of theatrical sales after working for the past year as a virtual cinema consultant and theatrical booker.
Taillandier brings close to 20 years of experience in arthouse film distribution and audience development, booking and promotion, and has worked in theatrical sales and bookings for boutique distributors such as Zeitgeist Films, Film Movement, Music Box Films, and Good Deed Entertainment.
She reports to Kino Lorber senior VP theatrical, non-theatrical distribution and acquisitions Wendy Lidell.
Taillandier’s recent role in virtual cinema consultancy dovetails...
Clemence Taillandier has joined Kino Lorber as director of theatrical sales after working for the past year as a virtual cinema consultant and theatrical booker.
Taillandier brings close to 20 years of experience in arthouse film distribution and audience development, booking and promotion, and has worked in theatrical sales and bookings for boutique distributors such as Zeitgeist Films, Film Movement, Music Box Films, and Good Deed Entertainment.
She reports to Kino Lorber senior VP theatrical, non-theatrical distribution and acquisitions Wendy Lidell.
Taillandier’s recent role in virtual cinema consultancy dovetails...
- 3/11/2021
- by Jeremy Kay
- ScreenDaily
Some Kind Of Heaven sells to Dogwoof in UK, Filmin in Spain, Ppcw in Hong Kong.
Magnolia Pictures International has reported brisk business on its virtual EFM sales slate with multiple territory sales on Sundance Midnight selection A Glitch In The Matrix, Held, Listen, When I’m Done Dying, and Some Kind Of Heaven.
Rights to A Glitch In The Matrix, Rodney Ascher’s documentary that explores the theory that humans exist within a vast simulation, have gone in Scandinavia, Baltics and Iceland (Nonstop), Cis (Capella Films), and Poland (Ale Kino +).
Magnolia Pictures released the film in the US on...
Magnolia Pictures International has reported brisk business on its virtual EFM sales slate with multiple territory sales on Sundance Midnight selection A Glitch In The Matrix, Held, Listen, When I’m Done Dying, and Some Kind Of Heaven.
Rights to A Glitch In The Matrix, Rodney Ascher’s documentary that explores the theory that humans exist within a vast simulation, have gone in Scandinavia, Baltics and Iceland (Nonstop), Cis (Capella Films), and Poland (Ale Kino +).
Magnolia Pictures released the film in the US on...
- 3/11/2021
- by Jeremy Kay
- ScreenDaily
“First Date,” an action comedy that premiered at this year’s Sundance in the film festival’s Next session, has been picked up by Magnet Releasing, the genre arm of Magnolia Pictures.
“First Date” is the feature debut of writers and directors Manuel Crosby and Darren Knapp and stars breakout Tyson Brown, and Magnet is planning to release the film later this year.
The film is about a shy teen whose eagerly anticipated first date with his longtime crush and girl-next-door is interrupted by a relentless series of mishaps and crimes, including being targeted by criminals, cops and a crazy cat lady.
“First Date” also stars Jesse Janzen, Nicole Berry, Samuel Ademola, Ryan Quinn Adams, Angela Barber, Dave Reimer, Jake Howard, Samantha Laurenti, Scott Noble, Leah Finity, Josh Fesler, and Brandon Kraus.
USA Today included the film on its list of best movies at Sundance, writing, “If Quentin Tarantino made an indie teen comedy,...
“First Date” is the feature debut of writers and directors Manuel Crosby and Darren Knapp and stars breakout Tyson Brown, and Magnet is planning to release the film later this year.
The film is about a shy teen whose eagerly anticipated first date with his longtime crush and girl-next-door is interrupted by a relentless series of mishaps and crimes, including being targeted by criminals, cops and a crazy cat lady.
“First Date” also stars Jesse Janzen, Nicole Berry, Samuel Ademola, Ryan Quinn Adams, Angela Barber, Dave Reimer, Jake Howard, Samantha Laurenti, Scott Noble, Leah Finity, Josh Fesler, and Brandon Kraus.
USA Today included the film on its list of best movies at Sundance, writing, “If Quentin Tarantino made an indie teen comedy,...
- 3/8/2021
- by Brian Welk
- The Wrap
Magnolia Pictures has acquired the North American rights to “Censor,” a horror film that premiered in the Midnight Section of this year’s Sundance Film Festival.
Director Prano Bailey-Bond film, which stars Niamh Algar (“Raised by Wolves”) will next play at the Berlinale Panorama section in March. Magnolia is planning to release “Censor” on June 11.
“Censor” stars Algar as a film censor who discovers an eerie horror movie that speaks directly to her sister’s mysterious disappearance. She resolves to unravel the puzzle behind the film and its enigmatic director — a quest that will blur the lines between fiction and reality in terrifying ways.
“Prano Bailey-Bond has delivered a frightening, incredibly original film,” Magnolia President Eamonn Bowles said in a statement. “It is a rare work that has a lot on its mind as well as being genuinely terrifying.”
“Magnolia Pictures champion exactly the unique, powerful cinema that I love,...
Director Prano Bailey-Bond film, which stars Niamh Algar (“Raised by Wolves”) will next play at the Berlinale Panorama section in March. Magnolia is planning to release “Censor” on June 11.
“Censor” stars Algar as a film censor who discovers an eerie horror movie that speaks directly to her sister’s mysterious disappearance. She resolves to unravel the puzzle behind the film and its enigmatic director — a quest that will blur the lines between fiction and reality in terrifying ways.
“Prano Bailey-Bond has delivered a frightening, incredibly original film,” Magnolia President Eamonn Bowles said in a statement. “It is a rare work that has a lot on its mind as well as being genuinely terrifying.”
“Magnolia Pictures champion exactly the unique, powerful cinema that I love,...
- 2/23/2021
- by Brian Welk
- The Wrap
Are we living in a simulation? Some might say if this is the case then someone needs the sack, as this life is really taking the Michael at the moment! Regardless, simulation theory is a wild notion that has really taken off – unsurprisingly – since The Wachowski’s influential Sci-Fi hit The Matrix but which actually goes back much much further, as director Rodney Ascher shows us in his latest mind-bending documentary feature, backed by the brilliant Dogwoof distribution. And this might be one of Ascher’s strongest opinion forming films yet! As we ask, are we really living in a real life The Sims?
Structured around an eye-opening 1977 Phillip K. Dick lecture in France, this documentary uses interviews with ranging participants (some of whom are coated in fantastical digital Avatars), CGI-rendered interpretations of their ideas/experiences and well chosen film/TV clips/real images, to delve into this subject’s unending potential,...
Structured around an eye-opening 1977 Phillip K. Dick lecture in France, this documentary uses interviews with ranging participants (some of whom are coated in fantastical digital Avatars), CGI-rendered interpretations of their ideas/experiences and well chosen film/TV clips/real images, to delve into this subject’s unending potential,...
- 2/13/2021
- by Jack Bottomley
- The Cultural Post
This post contains spoilers for recent episodes of WandaVision. Toward the end of the third episode of WandaVision, Marvel’s incendiary new television series, something strange happens. Wanda Maximoff (Elizabeth Olsen) gives birth to two beautiful yet rapidly growing baby boys, and she and her neighbor Geraldine (Teyonah Parris) lean over the crib and coo and […]
The post ‘WandaVision’, ‘A Glitch in the Matrix’ and Why Simulated Realities Are All the Rage appeared first on /Film.
The post ‘WandaVision’, ‘A Glitch in the Matrix’ and Why Simulated Realities Are All the Rage appeared first on /Film.
- 2/11/2021
- by Kalyn Corrigan
- Slash Film
Above: In the Same Breath Browsing through the gargantuan output of reviews, dispatches, and reports coming in from Sundance, the festival’s 2021 edition is widely praised as a logistical and curatorial success. Shortened to seven days compared to the usual ten, its films premiered on a bespoke digital platform and in a handful of selected hubs in Utah and other US states—a hybrid approach that worked smoothly, and made up for the social-cultural intangibles lost in the online format. As Eric Kohn notes at IndieWire, the new virtual hangout spaces set up for post-screening discussions helped make sure “#Sundance felt like Sundance,” while the edition’s slimmer lineup also gave more breathing room to smaller, more intriguing titles. If those went on to enjoy “the proverbial big-stage treatment,” A.A. Dowd contends in his roundup at the A.V. Club, it was largely because “they weren’t competing with the more polished,...
- 2/10/2021
- MUBI
Photo: ‘A Glitch in the Matrix’/Magnolia This Reality is Broken. Want Another? Let’s face it, the past year was not a great one for our reality. The complete breakdown of society as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic compromised all normalities we had taken for granted- going to work, eating inside a restaurant, even buying toilet paper became a trying test of human will. Of course, we soon started to make alterations to ordinary life in valiant attempts to cope with the new normal of quarantine living. New standards of the pandemic age, such as the reliance on virtual tools like Zoom, have effectively transformed what we understand reality to be and have perhaps changed the way our society will function for the long-term future. Additionally, many turned to ways to flee this reality in search of better ones when the neverending monotony of the stay-at-home decree sunk in.
- 2/7/2021
- by Christopher Davis
- Hollywood Insider - Substance & Meaningful Entertainment
Studio Ghibli released Earwig and the Witch on February 3 in 430 theaters and dropped the animated feature from the legendary studio on HBO Max on February 5. The Goro Miyazaki-directed film with the voice talents of Richard E. Grant, Kacey Musgraves, and Dan Stevens earned an estimated $99,941 on its opening weekend to bring its cume to $132,768
Also in its first week out is the Rlje Films horror The Reckoning which earned an estimated $72K while Vertical Entertainment’s Son of the South took in $35K on its opening weekend.
In the day and date space IFC Films’ Little Fish grossed an estimated $28K in its theatrical debut while 101 Studios’ Dara of Jasenovac earned an estimated $15K in its first weekend out in theaters. Meanwhile, Magnolia’s Two of Us and A Glitch in the Matrix both earned an estimated $3K in its limited theatrical release.
In its second weekend out, Bleecker Street...
Also in its first week out is the Rlje Films horror The Reckoning which earned an estimated $72K while Vertical Entertainment’s Son of the South took in $35K on its opening weekend.
In the day and date space IFC Films’ Little Fish grossed an estimated $28K in its theatrical debut while 101 Studios’ Dara of Jasenovac earned an estimated $15K in its first weekend out in theaters. Meanwhile, Magnolia’s Two of Us and A Glitch in the Matrix both earned an estimated $3K in its limited theatrical release.
In its second weekend out, Bleecker Street...
- 2/7/2021
- by Dino-Ray Ramos
- Deadline Film + TV
Rodney Ascher’s documentary “A Glitch in the Matrix,” which premiered at Sundance and opens on Friday, examines the idea popularized in “The Matrix” of whether we’re all living in a simulation or video game controlled by some higher power. But you’ll notice that even though the movie’s main subjects are all given bizarre-looking CGI avatars, all four individuals are white men.
In speaking with TheWrap’s Sundance Studio sponsored by Nfp and National Geographic, Ascher said it’s a fair observation and begs the question of whether the idea that we’re all living in The Matrix is only something that’s really caught on with dudes who want to be Keanu Reeves (it’s worth noting that the directors of “The Matrix” are both trans women).
In finding the film’s four main subjects, all of whom are ordinary individuals with deeply held beliefs that...
In speaking with TheWrap’s Sundance Studio sponsored by Nfp and National Geographic, Ascher said it’s a fair observation and begs the question of whether the idea that we’re all living in The Matrix is only something that’s really caught on with dudes who want to be Keanu Reeves (it’s worth noting that the directors of “The Matrix” are both trans women).
In finding the film’s four main subjects, all of whom are ordinary individuals with deeply held beliefs that...
- 2/6/2021
- by Brian Welk
- The Wrap
Rodney Ascher‘s (Room 237) new documentary asks: what if we’re all living in a simulation? It’s a creepy thought, and A Glitch in the Matrix explores it in detail. The documentary, which debuted at this year’s Sundance Film Festival, explores the subject of simulation theory, a long-held theory that reality is not what it seems. Watch the A Glitch […]
The post ‘A Glitch in the Matrix’ Trailer: A Creepy New Documentary About Simulation Theory appeared first on /Film.
The post ‘A Glitch in the Matrix’ Trailer: A Creepy New Documentary About Simulation Theory appeared first on /Film.
- 2/5/2021
- by Hoai-Tran Bui
- Slash Film
February is shaping up to be something special. In response to a pandemic-extended awards season, the sort of films that used to crowd the release calendar just before New Year’s in an effort to Oscar-qualify while also still maintaining some measure of last-minute/latest-thing freshness are now arranging to come out over the coming weeks.
Think of that as a teaser of such upcoming films as “Minari” and “Nomadland” more than a reflection of this week’s lineup, although a couple of this week’s releases feature elements the marketing departments would be happy to hear described as “Oscar worthy.”
The first is Viggo Mortensen’s directorial debut, in which he plays a gay man dealing with his father’s dementia (featuring a raging performance by Lance Henriksen). The second is Sam Levinson’s resourceful two-hander “Malcolm & Marie,” made during the pandemic and featuring two terrific, on-fire performances...
Think of that as a teaser of such upcoming films as “Minari” and “Nomadland” more than a reflection of this week’s lineup, although a couple of this week’s releases feature elements the marketing departments would be happy to hear described as “Oscar worthy.”
The first is Viggo Mortensen’s directorial debut, in which he plays a gay man dealing with his father’s dementia (featuring a raging performance by Lance Henriksen). The second is Sam Levinson’s resourceful two-hander “Malcolm & Marie,” made during the pandemic and featuring two terrific, on-fire performances...
- 2/5/2021
- by Peter Debruge
- Variety Film + TV
With Sundance Film Festival now in the rearview, it’s time to look at the worthwhile new releases of February. Featuring the roll-out of Oscar hopefuls, imaginative sci-fi features, and more, it’s a compelling line-up. We’ll also note that French Exit, which was considered for the list, will only get a small NY/LA release this month before returning in April, so we’ll feature it then.
13. A Glitch in the Matrix (Rodney Ascher)
Room 237 director Rodney Ascher has returned, this time to explore the very fabric of reality, or lack thereof. John Fink said in his review of the recent Sundance premiere, “I often wonder what influential film theorist Andre Bazin would make of VR and simulations, especially when this year’s Sundance has virtualized the festival experience in a way that benefits from a longer runway than most cultural events pivoting likewise. It’s only fitting...
13. A Glitch in the Matrix (Rodney Ascher)
Room 237 director Rodney Ascher has returned, this time to explore the very fabric of reality, or lack thereof. John Fink said in his review of the recent Sundance premiere, “I often wonder what influential film theorist Andre Bazin would make of VR and simulations, especially when this year’s Sundance has virtualized the festival experience in a way that benefits from a longer runway than most cultural events pivoting likewise. It’s only fitting...
- 2/5/2021
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
"The only clue we have is when some alteration in our reality occurs." Magnolia Pictures has released one final full-length trailer for A Glitch in the Matrix, the latest film from conspiracy doc filmmaker Rodney Ascher - of Room 237, The Nightmare, and The El Duce Tapes. A Glitch in the Matrix tackles this question "are we living in a simulation?" with testimony, philosophical evidence and scientific explanation in his for the answer. The feature film "traces the idea's genesis over the years, from philosophical engagements by the ancient Greeks to modern discussions by Philip K. Dick, the Wachowskis, and leading scholars and game theorists. Ascher deftly parallels conversations with people who believe we're living in a computer with the purely digital nature of the film itself; all interviews were conducted via Skype, all reenactments were digitally animated, and archives are largely drawn from ’90s-era cyber thrillers and video games.
- 2/5/2021
- by Alex Billington
- firstshowing.net
2021 is now in full swing, and film distributors are beginning to feel out what the new normal actually is. Given the latest news about Covid variants, movie theaters remain a tenuous bet—although some films are still releasing there—while streaming at home becomes evermore enticing with one of Warner Bros.’ Oscar contenders set to premiere simultaneously in theaters and on HBO Max. This month also marks the theatrical and/or streaming release of some of last year’s best films.
So for film lovers, the choice of what to watch (and how to view it) remains more varied than ever. Here’s a guide to what’s coming up in February:
A Glitch in the Matrix
February 5
After chronicling the oddest of oddball theories regarding Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining in the documentary Room 237, filmmaker Rodney Ascher is back to take on sci-fi classic The Matrix. In truth,...
So for film lovers, the choice of what to watch (and how to view it) remains more varied than ever. Here’s a guide to what’s coming up in February:
A Glitch in the Matrix
February 5
After chronicling the oddest of oddball theories regarding Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining in the documentary Room 237, filmmaker Rodney Ascher is back to take on sci-fi classic The Matrix. In truth,...
- 2/5/2021
- by David Crow
- Den of Geek
Rodney Ascher's latest docutmentary A Glitch in the Matrix was quickly nabbed by Magnolia Pictures long before it premiered at Sundance last week. And now that the documentary about the simulation hypothesis is out today an official trailer has been released. Check it out below. What if we are living in a simulation, and the world as we know it is not real? To tackle this mind-bending idea, acclaimed filmmaker Rodney Ascher uses a noted speech from Philip K. Dick to dive down the rabbit hole of science, philosophy, and conspiracy theory. Leaving no stone unturned in exploring the unprovable, the film uses contemporary cultural touchstones like The Matrix, interviews with real people shrouded in digital avatars, and a wide...
[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...
[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...
- 2/5/2021
- Screen Anarchy
After the release of “The Matrix” back in 1999, there was renewed interest in the time-tested theory that the world around us is a simulation. And now, even today, perhaps more than ever before, that theory is still being discussed. Enter the new documentary, “A Glitch in the Matrix.”
Read More: The 20 Best Documentaries Of 2020
As seen in the trailer for the new doc, “A Glitch in the Matrix” tackles the notion that reality is just a simulation.
Continue reading ‘A Glitch In The Matrix’ Trailer: Rodney Ascher’s Sundance Doc Tackles The Nature Of Reality at The Playlist.
Read More: The 20 Best Documentaries Of 2020
As seen in the trailer for the new doc, “A Glitch in the Matrix” tackles the notion that reality is just a simulation.
Continue reading ‘A Glitch In The Matrix’ Trailer: Rodney Ascher’s Sundance Doc Tackles The Nature Of Reality at The Playlist.
- 2/5/2021
- by Charles Barfield
- The Playlist
Magnolia Pictures has released the official trailer for the Sundance Midnight title “A Glitch in the Matrix,” which just happens to coincide with the movie’s theatrical and VOD release. Directed by “Room 207” filmmaker Rodney Ascher, the cerebral documentary plumbs the depths of “simulation theory,” which has been floating around for centuries but reached a less fringe place in popular culture due to the success of “The Matrix.” Diving down the rabbit hole of science, philosophy, and conspiracy theory, “A Glitch in The Matrix” uses a wide array of commentators and cultural touchstones to mine the question of whether the world as we know it is a simulation.
IndieWire’s Eric Kohn wrote in his Sundance review: “Drawing on interviews with 10 experts and internet theorists with an endearing mashup of film clips and trippy 3-D animation, ‘A Glitch in the Matrix’ adapts to the internal logic of its echo chamber...
IndieWire’s Eric Kohn wrote in his Sundance review: “Drawing on interviews with 10 experts and internet theorists with an endearing mashup of film clips and trippy 3-D animation, ‘A Glitch in the Matrix’ adapts to the internal logic of its echo chamber...
- 2/5/2021
- by Jude Dry
- Indiewire
With a seemingly endless amount of streaming options—not only the titles at our disposal, but services themselves–each week we highlight the noteworthy titles that have recently hit platforms. Check out this week’s selections below and past round-ups here.
Dear Comrades! (Andrei Konchalovsky)
The gears of oppressive government bureaucracy are designed to crush homegrown opposition before it becomes too threatening. In that sense, institutions and policies put in place by Hitler’s Third Reich and Trump’s Maga cult have a lot in common with those of 20th century Communist Russia, an ideological rope-a-dope that publically posited figureheads like Stalin and later Khrushchev as warriors of the people while privately undermining any citizen-led resistance with brutal force. Andrei Konchalovsky’s great new film Dear Comrades! depicts such a response with the sobering understanding that historical events of any magnitude can be easily manipulated to match the motivations of those in power.
Dear Comrades! (Andrei Konchalovsky)
The gears of oppressive government bureaucracy are designed to crush homegrown opposition before it becomes too threatening. In that sense, institutions and policies put in place by Hitler’s Third Reich and Trump’s Maga cult have a lot in common with those of 20th century Communist Russia, an ideological rope-a-dope that publically posited figureheads like Stalin and later Khrushchev as warriors of the people while privately undermining any citizen-led resistance with brutal force. Andrei Konchalovsky’s great new film Dear Comrades! depicts such a response with the sobering understanding that historical events of any magnitude can be easily manipulated to match the motivations of those in power.
- 2/5/2021
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
There are words, and many metaphors, one could use to describe simulation theory: the belief, popularized two decades ago by “The Matrix,” that the life we’re living — the people we know, the experiences we have, what we see, touch, think, and feel — is literally an illusion, an artificial façade orchestrated by minds more developed than our own. You could, if you chose, describe this as a philosophical stance, one that can be traced back to Descartes or even the myth of Plato’s Cave. You could also call it a rabbit hole, a looking glass, or this generation’s acid trip — a chemistry-free way of turning reality inside out.
“A Glitch in the Matrix,” the new documentary directed by Rodney Ascher, who made the thrilling cinehaulic conspiracy-theory deep dive “Room 237” (which was about people who think that hidden messages are encoded in Stanley Kubrick’s “The Shining”), gives...
“A Glitch in the Matrix,” the new documentary directed by Rodney Ascher, who made the thrilling cinehaulic conspiracy-theory deep dive “Room 237” (which was about people who think that hidden messages are encoded in Stanley Kubrick’s “The Shining”), gives...
- 2/4/2021
- by Owen Gleiberman
- Variety Film + TV
In A Glitch in the Matrix, film-maker Rodney Ascher speaks to people who are convinced that the world we’re living in isn’t real
Rodney Ascher’s new documentary A Glitch in the Matrix opens, as so many nonfiction films do, with an interview subject getting settled in their camera set-up. In this instance, a guy named Paul Gude is Skyping in from a setting familiar to anyone who’s spent the last year trapped in video-chats. He’s sitting in what appears to be a bedroom made to double as an office, the fisheyed webcam lens catching some dirty laundry, a shelf full of books and decorative toys, some homemade-looking art on the walls. But the eye is instantly drawn to Gude himself, a hyperreal computer-generated creature with shiny copper skin, warrior armor, a scar stretching from his forehead to his cheek, and a mane of shifting polygons...
Rodney Ascher’s new documentary A Glitch in the Matrix opens, as so many nonfiction films do, with an interview subject getting settled in their camera set-up. In this instance, a guy named Paul Gude is Skyping in from a setting familiar to anyone who’s spent the last year trapped in video-chats. He’s sitting in what appears to be a bedroom made to double as an office, the fisheyed webcam lens catching some dirty laundry, a shelf full of books and decorative toys, some homemade-looking art on the walls. But the eye is instantly drawn to Gude himself, a hyperreal computer-generated creature with shiny copper skin, warrior armor, a scar stretching from his forehead to his cheek, and a mane of shifting polygons...
- 2/4/2021
- by Charles Bramesco
- The Guardian - Film News
Using animation, archive and clips from the movie franchise, Rodney Ascher’s genre-bending doc gives philosophers and kooks space to explain why we are living in a synthetic world
With Room 237, a deep dive into theories about Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining, writer-director-animator Rodney Ascher practically invented a new sub-genre of documentary: the fathoms-five-low inspection of fandom theories and nuttery. Tonally blending sympathetic dispassion and ever-so-slight amused mockery over a fast-shuffling montage of clips that just fit under the bar of fair use, Ascher’s technique created a fascinating brainstorm essay equally about cinema, spectatorship and the ability of works of art to generate interpretations well beyond the intentions of their makers.
His latest, A Glitch in the Matrix, pulls off the trick again, appropriately enough on an even bigger scale. This time the subject is simulation theory: the hypothesis that we are all living inside a synthetic world, like...
With Room 237, a deep dive into theories about Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining, writer-director-animator Rodney Ascher practically invented a new sub-genre of documentary: the fathoms-five-low inspection of fandom theories and nuttery. Tonally blending sympathetic dispassion and ever-so-slight amused mockery over a fast-shuffling montage of clips that just fit under the bar of fair use, Ascher’s technique created a fascinating brainstorm essay equally about cinema, spectatorship and the ability of works of art to generate interpretations well beyond the intentions of their makers.
His latest, A Glitch in the Matrix, pulls off the trick again, appropriately enough on an even bigger scale. This time the subject is simulation theory: the hypothesis that we are all living inside a synthetic world, like...
- 2/4/2021
- by Leslie Felperin
- The Guardian - Film News
The Sundance Film Festival always has a few surprises in store. This year, they didn’t come from record-breaking deals or overnight talent discoveries. All of that happened, but the surprise of Sundance 2021 was that it worked so well.
Over the past year, the concept of the virtual film festival has been eyed with skepticism at best, and at worst, outright revulsion. Cannes shrugged off the notion of a virtual festival each time it postponed its 2020 dates until all it could do was announce a selection with no screenings. The Toronto and New York festivals found basic solutions to make their lineups available in virtual form. For its part, TIFF actually pulled off a localized version of its event that included indoor screenings. Venice went a step further as the only snazzy red-carpet fall event to take place exclusively in physical form.
Sundance took a different path. By late June...
Over the past year, the concept of the virtual film festival has been eyed with skepticism at best, and at worst, outright revulsion. Cannes shrugged off the notion of a virtual festival each time it postponed its 2020 dates until all it could do was announce a selection with no screenings. The Toronto and New York festivals found basic solutions to make their lineups available in virtual form. For its part, TIFF actually pulled off a localized version of its event that included indoor screenings. Venice went a step further as the only snazzy red-carpet fall event to take place exclusively in physical form.
Sundance took a different path. By late June...
- 2/3/2021
- by Eric Kohn
- Indiewire
Sundance Institute CEO Keri Putnam was a giant anime character. Filmmaker Rodney Ascher looked like a pink mummy. Near the bar, a blue-hued actor towered over a group of avatars, dressed as the Greek god Zeus, and taught the crowd how to fly.
These were among the sights at the first-ever IndieWire chili party in VR. For years, this site hosted a casual gathering at our condo for festival crowds, from programmers to filmmakers and executives eager to grab some casual face time away from the insanity of Main Street. While the chili party tradition went dormant in recent years, its legacy endured and Sundance’s virtual 2021 status created a new opportunity to help industry folks eager for new ways to hang out. This time, the only barrier to entry was a headset.
The event took place January 30 inside a virtual space created on the social platform VRchat. IndieWire joined...
These were among the sights at the first-ever IndieWire chili party in VR. For years, this site hosted a casual gathering at our condo for festival crowds, from programmers to filmmakers and executives eager to grab some casual face time away from the insanity of Main Street. While the chili party tradition went dormant in recent years, its legacy endured and Sundance’s virtual 2021 status created a new opportunity to help industry folks eager for new ways to hang out. This time, the only barrier to entry was a headset.
The event took place January 30 inside a virtual space created on the social platform VRchat. IndieWire joined...
- 2/3/2021
- by Eric Kohn
- Indiewire
Filmmaker and documentarian Rodney Ascher has tackled a lot of interesting topics over the last few years, from his deep dive into The Shining with Room 237 to tackling sleep paralysis for The Nightmare as well as The El Duce Tapes, which examined the career and persona of the infamous lead singer of The Mentors. For his latest project, A Glitch in the Matrix, Ascher explores the concept of simulation theory, which is centered around the idea that the world and reality we live in isn’t exactly what it seems.
Recently, Daily Dead had the opportunity to speak with Ascher about A Glitch in the Matrix, and he discussed the influence of Philip K. Dick on his latest documentary, what inspired him to dig into simulation theory in the first place, and more.
A Glitch in the Matrix recently screened as part of the 2021 Sundance Film Festival and will...
Recently, Daily Dead had the opportunity to speak with Ascher about A Glitch in the Matrix, and he discussed the influence of Philip K. Dick on his latest documentary, what inspired him to dig into simulation theory in the first place, and more.
A Glitch in the Matrix recently screened as part of the 2021 Sundance Film Festival and will...
- 2/2/2021
- by Heather Wixson
- DailyDead
I often wonder what influential film theorist Andre Bazin would make of VR and simulations, especially when this year’s Sundance has virtualized the festival experience in a way that benefits from a longer runway than most cultural events pivoting likewise. It’s only fitting that Rodney Ascher’s mind-bending A Glitch in the Matrix would premiere alongside the festival’s virtual avatar party taking place in a computer-generated “space station” that lets us keep a healthy distance. Ascher’s film, which unfolds through a series of virtual interviews, edges towards and backs away from explaining what it could’t have predicted: a virtual end to American democracy during the final days of the Trump administration. If ever there was any point for an experiment to fail in chaos, we broached it while the movie’s virtual print was virtually wet––as the old expression goes.
Ascher, whose work ranges...
Ascher, whose work ranges...
- 2/2/2021
- by John Fink
- The Film Stage
Last year felt not too dissimilar to dystopian sci-fi with the Pentagon officially releasing “unidentified aerial phenomena” footage, reports of sonic booms beneath our oceans, monoliths popping up around the globe, self-propelling space rocks entering our solar system, Trump demanding all US UFO documents be declassified by June, and all against the apocalyptic backdrop of a global pandemic.
Now director Rodney Ascher throws another reality rattling bombshell into the mix with his latest documentary, A Glitch in the Matrix, by proposing that we all might be living in an artificial simulation. Thank f**k, some might think after all of the above, but instead of rigorously exploring the science behind the simulation theory, Agitm more so focuses on and sensationalises the fantastic philosophies of a few ardent followers.
A Glitch in the Matrix is an incredibly entertaining, unique and energetic study that’s both innovative in design and execution thanks to Ascher’s savvy,...
Now director Rodney Ascher throws another reality rattling bombshell into the mix with his latest documentary, A Glitch in the Matrix, by proposing that we all might be living in an artificial simulation. Thank f**k, some might think after all of the above, but instead of rigorously exploring the science behind the simulation theory, Agitm more so focuses on and sensationalises the fantastic philosophies of a few ardent followers.
A Glitch in the Matrix is an incredibly entertaining, unique and energetic study that’s both innovative in design and execution thanks to Ascher’s savvy,...
- 2/2/2021
- by Daniel Goodwin
- HeyUGuys.co.uk
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