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From the "Biz" Archives:
by Mark Rabinowitz Who are the hot new faces in indie film? The ones to watch? Those most likely to....? Well, according to the Summer 1998 issue of FILMMAKER Magazine, among the list of 25 New Indie Faces you aren't going to find Noah Baumbach, Darren Aronofsky (although he is on the cover) or Todd Haynes. Instead, magazine editors have chosen 25 people who are not only new to the film industry at large, but are new to the independent film world as well (and uniquely, many of them are women). In a conversation with indieWIRE yesterday, FILMMAKER Editor Scott Macaulay explained that the magazine's editorial staff "tried to go for people who were authentically new faces, as opposed to people who have actually been on the publicity circuit for awhile." Continuing, he added that the editors "wanted to pick people who were new faces in the world of indie film as opposed to indie filmmakers who happen to be new faces in the broader mainstream culture." Notably, over half of the 25 newbies are women, an impressive and uplifting statistic. When the two bands listed (Pop Will Eat Itself, film score - "Pi," and Shudder to Think, soundtrack artists -"Velvet Goldmine", "First Love, Last Rites") are factored out of the gender equation, the percentage rises to 57. Of the thirteen women listed, nine are filmmakers (Amy Talkington, Jamie Babbit, Hilary Brougher, Mary Kurlya, Benita Raphan, Elizabeth Schub, Cauleen Smith, Jessica Yu and Yvonne Welbon), one is a screenwriter (Christina Ray Eichman), and three are cinematographers (Tami Reiker, Amy Vincent and Lisa Wiegand). Women filmmakers have become a larger presence in the past several years, and this group is no exception. New faces Talkington and Schub have both made award-winning short films, become fixtures on the festival circuit, and are currently developing feature scripts, while Yu won a 1997 Oscar for her documentary short "Breathing Lessons: The Life and Work of Mark O'Brien." As with any list, there are bound to be those folks who jump up and scream: "What about......!!?" -- witness the debate raging about AFI's recently announced 100 Best Films list. The fact is, there are going to be people not included, but as Macaulay pointed out, the list is not a ranking. "They were not the top 25, but more like 25 new faces." Interestingly enough, while women have made many advances in the film industry, there is a notable lack of people of color on the list, which is largely indicative of the industry at large. Obviously, there are still strides to be made.
25 New Faces of Indie Film Lance Acord, director of photography ("Buffalo 66") Peter Sarsgaard, actor ("Another Day in Paradise") Jamie Babbit, filmmaker ("Sleeping Beauties") David Birdsell, filmmaker ("Phil Touches Flo") Darren Stein, filmmaker ("Sparkler") Hilary Brougher, filmmaker ("The Sticky Fingers of Time") P. David Ebersole, filmmaker ("Death in Venice, CA") Christina Ray Eichman, screenwriter ("Royal Suckage") Matthew Irving, cinematographer ("One") Mary Kurlya, filmmaker ("Memory Circus") Craig Marsden, filmmaker ("La Lecon") Sanjay Mishra, composer ("Port Djema") David Munro, filmmaker ("Haiku Tunnel") Pop Will Eat Itself, film score ("Pi") Tami Reiker, cinematographer ("High Art") Benita Raphan, filmmaker ("2+2") Greg Sax, filmmaker ("28") Shudder to Think, soundtrack artists ("Velvet Goldmine", "First Love, Last Rites") Elizabeth Schub, filmmaker ("Cuba 15") Cauleen Smith, filmmaker ("Chronicles of a Lying Spirit (by Kelly Gabron)") Amy Talkington, filmmaker ("Second Skin") Amy Vincent, cinematographer ("Eve's Bayou") Lisa Wiegand, cinematographer ("Shopping for Fangs") Jessica Yu, filmmaker ("Breathing Lessons: The Life and Work of Mark O'Brien") Yvonne Welbon, filmmaker ("Remembering Wei Yi-fang, Remembering Myself...")
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