Independent Filmmakers

The global pandemic has forced the world’s cinemas to close down. The biggest film festival in Scandinavia is therefore creating The Isolated Cinema on the lighthouse island of Pater Noster. One film enthusiast will be able to enjoy the festival in total isolation on a rock far out at sea, with film as his or her only companion. There will also be exclusive one-person film screenings at two iconic venues in Göteborg. Our world looks very different today, and so too does the Göteborg Film Festival. The 2021 festival will be digital, with audience having access to all the films, premieres and talks via a digital platform. Some participants will also get a real-life experience with the opportunity to watch the films in total seclusion: The Isolated Cinema.

The future of independent film production in a post-covd-19 world is taking “virtual” shape at Pace Pictures in Hollywood. The boutique facility recently used groundbreaking virtual production technology to produce Match, a feature-length romantic comedy from director Sean McGinly (Silver Lake, The Great Buck Howard). Actors were shot on a green screen stage and placed into virtual three-dimensional environments while incorporating complex camera movement and lighting. Most remarkably, principal photography was accomplished in just five days and at a fraction of the cost of most conventional film productions.

Fugitive Dreams, based on the play by Caridad Svich, is an allegorical road movie touching on themes of homelessness, mental health and addiction, as two lost souls embark across a dreamscape America. Their darkly strange journey confronts them with their traumatic pasts, and bonds them in compassion and love. For cinematographer Peter Simonite, ASC, CSC lensing the film meant needing a vintage look — but a look that was also consistent between lenses.