John Hindman didn’t have to go the normal route of getting funding for his independent film before the acquiring the cast. Actor Jeff Daniels signed on to play the title charatcer, Arlen Faber, after reading Hindman’s script and before the money was even there. “If it weren’t for Jeff taking a chance on me–a nobody–I would just be a guy who wrote a screenplay,” he says.

Arlen Faber is the story of a reclusive writer who surfaces on the 20th anniversary his best-selling religious self-help book, and is competing in the dramatic competetion at Sundance this year. It also co-stars Lauren Graham, Olivia Thirlby, and Kat Dennings. more

Danish filmmaker Lone Scherfig, who comes out of the European cinema verite movement known as Dogme95, has moved on to direct her biggest dramatic film yet with An Education—a coming of age story about a young girl set in London which makes its debut this year at Sundance in the World Dramatic competition. Scherfig spoke with Millimeter Senior Editor Michael Goldman about filming the piece and her growth as a filmmaker.

CLICK HERE for that conversation. (Right Click, Save As to download)

*Photo credit Kerry Brown

Peter and Vandy was adapted from a 2002 play written by and starring the film’s director, Jay DiPietro. For the movie, DiPietro cast Jason Ritter and Jess Weixler as the title couple and had to expand way beyond the production limitations of a two-character play that took place in one living room.

Cinematograpger Frank DeMarco (Short Bus, Hedwig and the Angry Inch) shot the movie on Super16 film using 35mm lenses for a gritty feel. more

Although most people don’t know it, there is a unique movie industry growing in the heart of Africa in the nation of Nigeria. Canadian filmmakers Samir Mallal and Ben Addelman went there to document what some people call “Nollywood” for their new documentary, premiering at Sundance, called Nollywood Babylon. Mallal spoke with Millimeter Senior Editor Michael Goldman to discuss shooting the piece in Africa.

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*Photo courtesy of National Film Board of Canada, Photo Credit Don Lobel.

Michael and Mark Polish make their third trip to Sundance with Manure, a new surreal comedy that takes place in a “heightened reality” simliar to Northfork, their 2003 Sundance entry. This one stars Billy Bob Thornton, Tea Leoni, Kyle McLachlan, and Ed Helms and concerns manure salesmen in the 1960s.

The entire film was shot indoors on a soundstage and relied heavily on a stylized production design to create more

Filmmaker Joe Berlinger returns to the Sundance Film Festival this year documenting the law suit and consequences behind the destruction of a portion of the Ecuadorian rain forest from oil company drilling with a film competing in the Documentary category called Crude. Berlinger chatted with Millimeter Senior Editor Michael Goldman just before the festival got underway.

CLICK HERE for their conversation. (Right Click, Save As for download)

Robert Siegel, recently nominated for a WGA award for The Wrestler, talks with Digital Content Producer contributor Eric Melin about bringing his directorial debut Big Fan to the screen as a first-time director. The film, starring Patton Oswalt as an obsessed New York Giants fan who gets beat up by the team’s star player, was filmed on a low budget using Red Digital Cinema’s Red One camera.

“Digital is a great thing for first-time directors,” Siegel says, “but I also wanted it to look a certain way– have that grainy, gritty vibe.” more

Documentary filmmaker Ondi Timoner sat down recently for a chat with Millimeter Senior Editor Michael Goldman to discuss the decade-long odyssey she went through to produce her new documentary, We Live in Public—the story of internet pioneer Josh Harris and the late 1990’s project he spearheaded to monitor subjects voluntarily locked in a bunker for 30 days and air the results on what was then an embryonic version of the Web. The movie is competing in the 2009 Sundance documentary category.

CLICK HERE for their conversation. (Right click, Save as to download)

Before directing Superbad in 2007, Greg Mottola won the 1996 Slamdance competition with his debut film The Daytrippers. In between, he directed several episodes of Judd Apatow’s underappreciated TV show Undeclared as well as Arrested Development, and now he comes to the 2009 Sundance Film Festival to premiere Adventureland, which he also wrote.

Starring Jesse Eisenberg as a college graduate working at a theme park, the shoot was somewhat autobiographical for Mottola, who says he’ll never shoot at a real amusement park again. “Let me put it this way—there was a lot of downtime while somebody was vomiting between takes,” he says. more

Millimeter Senior Editor Michael Goldman spoke just ahead of Sundance’s opening with award-winning documentary producer/director RJ Cutler about making his new film, The September Issue –a film documenting the creation of Vogue Magazine’s annual September issue, and the people behind that effort. The movie is having its World Premiere at Sundance, and competing in the Documentary category.

CLICK HERE for their conversation. (Right Click, Save As to download)