Filmmakers You Need To Search Out Part 6

 

Christina Walford and John Wildman

This is the sixth entry in my list of filmmakers you need to search out. (The previous entries can be found here). For those just coming upon the series it was put together in response to Film Twitter’s insistence that there is only a handful, or less, of filmmakers we should be watching. Everything else not of  their chosen few are not worth bothering with – despite the fact that the innovations in the art form are coming from the up coming filmmakers.

The list is neither definitive nor ranked. No one is better  than anyone else. Additionally there are a lot of people I know I will have missed when the list is finally finished (there are several more entries in the works)

And now this week’s entries

I love what Christopher DiNunzio is doing with the form of the drama. In films such as A LIFE NOT TO FOLLOW  he is taking what could be a run of the mill plot line and turning it into something special. I don’t think I’ve seen one of his films that hasn’t impressed me in one way or another. Also track down KINNARI and DELUSION

Devin Rice’s  BEING BLACK ENOUGH is one hell of a film. The semi-autobiographical story of a black man who grew up in a white neighborhood and what happens when moves in with his cousin in a black neighborhood is not your typical story. It’s a film that raises a lot of questions about race thatno one else is raising, forcing us to see things with different eyes.

Patrick Green is a hard working filmmaker who is turning out a great series of films. One of the few filmmakers who excels at both narrative and documentaries, he delights me with every new film.  Each time one of his films like FOR YOUR CONSIDERATION, BUNDINI or MOMMY’S LITTLE MONSTER drops I drop what I’m doing to see what sort of wonders he’s released on the world. His up coming SINCERELY, LOS ANGELES looks amazing, and as do his other upcoming projects.

I’ve known John Wildman for over a decade and I’m a better person for it. He began his cinema career as an actor and was once called by Leanna Quigley as one of the sexiest men alive, he then moved on to making horror films such as LADIES OF THE HOUSE and started rattling cages. (Interview here)

Shakespeare Sisters made THE SOUNDTRACK TO SIXTEEN and it’s a film that’s killer. It’s a film that made a crochety old fart like me scream at the screen feeling as if I was decades younger. It’s a film that made me delighted for what I was seeing but chomping at the bit to see what their next film is gonna be. These young ladies have their fingers on the pulse of what it means to be alive.

Ross Monroe‘s EUROPEAN VACATION is the simple retelling of a family trip many years ago that speaks volumes. What could he do with a feature?

Jeff Giordano’s  ROMANTIC CHORUS is too much of everything. An animated documentary, it a feast for the eyes and ears and brain and it leaves you exhausted by the need to try and take in everything its throwing at us. If other filmmakers would just throw this much stuff at us the movies would be so much more intelligent.

What can I say about Ted Geoghagen? Ted was someone I met through the New York Asian Film Festival. I just thought he was this great guy, And then sometime later I discovered that not only was he writing and producing films he was directing wonders like WE ARE STILL HERE and MOHAWK.  My question is when is Marvel going to come calling and let him do something BIG. (Interview here)

Julian Fort is one of the great filmmakers making crime films and turning them into something gloriously meatier. For example his film THE MIDNIGHTERS is nominally caper film but it speaks about fathers and sons and other things. I can’t wait to see what’s next/

Jon Huber, your truly, Ted Geoghagen