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Billy the Kid
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Directed by Jennifer Venditti.
Starring Billy P..
Filmmaker Jennifer Venditti crafts a cinema verite-style coming of age story with this portrait of a small-town teen from Maine who struggles to embrace his outsider status while still being shaped by the tragic events of his childhood. It was while casting the Carter Smith film Bugcrush that Venditti first encountered the boy named {Billy- his eccentric wisdom leaving an immediate and lasting impression on the filmmaker. Later, after casting Billy in the film and preparing to craft a documentary about everyday heroes, Venditti and her crew returned to Maine to spend some five days with the troubled young boy who had commanded her attention. Shunned by his classmates and categorized as a "special needs" student by his teachers, Billy boldly refuses to be victimized by his individuality in an environment obsessed with labels and conformity. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
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paulpaul FIlmCouch #48
by paul in paul on spout.com
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"The return of Billy the Kid and Jennifer Venditti. The story of a first time filmmaker that began with an interview at SXSW in March concludes in a conversation with Jennifer this week. Spoiler: It’s a happy ending. Revisiting No Country for Old Men. Karina’s beef with the Coen Brothers caused a stir among listeners and we pick up the debate again. It only gets more heated. (Subscribe to FilmCouch in the iTunes store and an episode will download each Friday.) FilmCouch #48 Billy the Kid, No Country for Old Men Originally posted on:SpoutBlog » Paul " [More]
SpoutBlogSpoutBlog New in Theaters: Atonement, Jun ...
by SpoutBlog in SpoutBlog on spout.com
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"Here at SpoutBlog, we’re pretending like The Golden Compass doesn’t exist (and, if Nikki Finke is to be believed, come Monday morning New Line will be scrambling to spin the fact that we’re not the only ones). But here’s a look at three films that are newly out this weekend that we *have* covered, and can, to one extent or another recommend. Atonement: “Big, classy, Oscar-bait World War II dramas don???t really get much better,” I wrote from Toronto. And in the three months since, I haven’t come across anyone who has anything seriously negative to say about this film…beyond the fact that the so-literal ending is like something out of Scooby Doo.?? I say, pull a Selma and leave the theater the second Vanessa Redgrave pops on screen, thereby claiming willful ignorance to the last-minute bubble bursting. Juno: It’s better than Little Miss Sunshine, but I maintain that Fox is doing its reputation a huge disservice by marketing it like that piece of shiteating Oscar bait, instead of ... " [More]
SpoutBlogSpoutBlog FIlmCouch #48
by SpoutBlog in SpoutBlog on spout.com
hasn't rated it.
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"The return of Billy the Kid and Jennifer Venditti. The story of a first time filmmaker that began with an interview at SXSW in March concludes in a conversation with Jennifer this week. Spoiler: It’s a happy ending. Revisiting No Country for Old Men. Karina’s beef with the Coen Brothers caused a stir among listeners, and we pick up the debate again. It only gets more heated. (Subscribe to FilmCouch in the iTunes store and an episode will download each Friday.) FilmCouch #48 Billy the Kid, No Country for Old Men Originally posted on:SpoutBlog " [More]
paulpaul FilmCouch #48 - Jennifer Vendit ...
by paul in FilmCouch
hasn't rated it.
"The return of Billy the Kid and Jennifer Venditti. The story of a first time filmmaker that began with an interview at SXSW in March concludes in a conversation with Jennifer this week. Spoiler: It's a happy ending. Revisiting No Country for Old Men. Karina's beef with the Coen Brothers caused a stir among listeners, and we pick up the debate again. It only gets more heated. FilmCouch #48 " [More]
SpoutBlogSpoutBlog Billy the Kid: The Anti-Juno
by SpoutBlog in SpoutBlog on spout.com
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"In what appears to be more of an honest accident than a work of cunning marketing strategy, two films about the inner lives and social stumbling blocks of precocious, ???outsider??? teenagers are set to hit theaters tomorrow. Jason Reitman???s Juno has been widely praised for its flashy script (which marries bloggish snark to the kind of mawkish morality melodrama that???s been in short supply since the demise of The O.C.), and for the work of lead actress Ellen Page (whose proficient puppeting of Diablo Cody???s detached slanguage Looks Like Acting). Though hardly the revelation some of the rapturous reviews have made it out to be, Juno is the rare mainstream film that might allow a teenage girl to feel as though her desires have been recognized, and for that alone, it deserves praise. But anyone who tries to defend it against charges of overwritten, over-embellishment hasn???t seen Jennifer Venditti’s Billy the Kid, which begins its official theatrical run tomorrow with an exclus ... " [More]
SpoutBlogSpoutBlog BILLY THE KID on Tour
by SpoutBlog in SpoutBlog on spout.com
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"Matt Dentler points to this post on the official Billy the Kid blog, with details on the film’s upcoming 13-city Oscar-qualifying tour. New academy rules (which AJ Schnack has covered in depth at his blog) state that a film has to screen in at least 14 cities, in addition playing for one week in Los Angeles, in order to qualify for a Best Documentary Oscar nomination. Billy, which just took the top documentary prize at the Edinburgh Film Festival, already completed its LA week, but starting this weekend it will embark on a tour through 12 unlikely locales, such as Grass Valley, CA and Montpelier, VT. The first stop is Bantam, CT, where Billy the Kid screens tomorrow through Friday at the Bantam Cinema. For more on Billy the Kid, check out Kevin and Paul’s podcast about the film, which lives here. Originally posted on:Spoutblog " [More]
SpoutBlogSpoutBlog FILMMAKER 25 New Faces Includes ...
by SpoutBlog in SpoutBlog on spout.com
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"The new issue of FILMMAKER Magazine hits stands this week, and in it you'll find their annual picks for the 25 New Faces of Independent Film. A few of these faces might look familiar to SpoutBlog readers: Billy the Kid director Jennifer Vendetti made the cut, as did Craig Zobel, the mastermind behind Sundance/SXSW hit The Great World of Sound. But the list also serves as a kind of early warning signal for a number of previously under-the-radar projects that I simply can't wait to get a look at. First and foremost among them is Prodigal Sons. On the surface, it's a personal documentary in which filmmaker Kim Reed journeys back to her hometown for her father's funeral, and documents her subsequent attempt to repair a fractured relationship with her adopted brother. But it's also got a couple of great, additional hooks. To quote from the story: "Reed is a transsexual, and her trip back home was her first as a woman. And, while making the film, Reed and her brother Marc discovered tha ... " [More]
SpoutBlogSpoutBlog Billy the Kid, August Evening W ...
by SpoutBlog in SpoutBlog on spout.com
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"Via indieWIRE comes news that Jennifer Vendetti's Billy the Kid has won Target-sponsored Best Documentary jury prize at the Los Angeles Film Festival. If you're keeping score, that makes two big festival awards for the controversial doc, which might be enough to conquer its brutal Variety review. Meanwhile, August Evening won the LAFF jury prize for Best Narrative Feature. The immigration-themed drama was acquired earlier this week by Maya Entertainment. Originally posted on:SpoutBlog " [More]
SpoutBlogSpoutBlog LAFF: Midway Asessment
by SpoutBlog in SpoutBlog on spout.com
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"This year's installment of the Los Angeles Film Festival has hit the half-way mark. Here's a look at what we've thus far missed, and what, if you're in the area, you should still try to seek out between now and Sunday. Jennifer Vendetti's Billy the Kid won an award at SXSW, but Variety so viciously slammed the pic at Hot Docs that the film's editor felt compelled to write a letter in its defense. "For me," writes A.J. Schnack, "[Billy the Kid] was a revelation, an amazingly structured and beautifully rendered film about what it is to be an outsider...Venditti's film is so graceful, so funny and yet, at times, so difficult to watch, I found it to be one of the most humanistic films I've seen in some time." Patrick Goldstein is quite fond of The Fall, an as-yet-unsold drama from music video vet Tarsem which has its LAFF screening on Saturday. Comparing the one-named helmer to Nicholas Roeg and Francis Ford Coppola, Goldstein tells a fascinating story of a misunderstood auteur whose ... " [More]
SpoutBlogSpoutBlog LAFF: Midway Asessment
by SpoutBlog in SpoutBlog on spout.com
hasn't rated it.
Was this review helpful? [Be the first to tell us!]
"This year's installment of the Los Angeles Film Festival has hit the half-way mark. Here's a look at what we've thus far missed, and what, if you're in the area, you should still try to seek out between now and Sunday. Jennifer Vendetti's Billy the Kid won an award at SXSW, but Variety so viciously slammed the pic at Hot Docs that the film's editor felt compelled to write a letter in its defense. "For me," writes A.J. Schnack, "[Billy the Kid] was a revelation, an amazingly structured and beautifully rendered film about what it is to be an outsider...Venditti's film is so graceful, so funny and yet, at times, so difficult to watch, I found it to be one of the most humanistic films I've seen in some time." Patrick Goldstein is quite fond of The Fall, an as-yet-unsold drama from music video vet Tarsem which has its LAFF screening on Saturday. Comparing the one-named helmer to Nicholas Roeg and Francis Ford Coppola, Goldstein tells a fascinating story of a misunderstood auteur whose ... " [More]
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