indieWIRE revealed the results of their annual critics poll yesterday.  For those not in the know, their annual critics poll takes film critics from the web and various places and has them all submit the same best of movie lists and then they tabulates the results so that one giant list is formed based on the results.   Here are the top 25 films:

To see the rest of the results, including best performances (see my list of performances here), best director, best screenplay and best undistributed films go HERE.

And then takepart to compare the indieWIRE list with my TakePart Top 10.

The contradiction of American “Independent” cinema has always perplexed me. How can something be independent if at the end of the day somebody buys it and the creative folks behind the project (mostly the director) give up their ownership rights to a studio or distribution company? It’s a question I often ask myself as the popular model of independent cinema for the past 15+ years has been for the filmmakers to actively seek out dependence. When Miramax and Sundance hit the media, the model of independent filmmaking switched from one where directors maintained creative control to one where they easily give up their rights in hopes of distribution and the ability to make new films.

I was thus extremely excited to wake up today and read about Lance Hammer’s decision to self distribute his film Ballast.

Read the rest of this entry »

The New Directors/New Films festival starts today! Put on by The Film Society of Lincoln Center and MOMA, the festival is:

Dedicated to the discovery and support of emerging artists. New Directors/New Films has earned an international reputation as the premiere festival for works that break or re-cast the cinematic mold. Twenty-six features and six shorts, handpicked by curators of the Film Society of Lincoln Center and The Museum of Modern Art, made the cut this year, as the 37th edition of this non-competitive program spotlights the very best in the current class of new directors, actors, producers, writers, cinematographers, editors and more. We expect many of the filmmakers will be attending the festival to discuss their work first hand. [Filmlinc]

The line-up looks pretty great this year, with many films lining up with Takepart’s motto of media inspiring social action. Below are the films I plan on seeing, and interestingly enough, they all coincide with ideas that encourage folks to examine the world we live and make it better.

Read the rest of this entry »