ISSUE #44
BEAM FROM THE BOOTH | GRAND RAPIDS FILM SOCIETY
[EDITED BY: GRIFFIN SHERIDAN]
Hello and welcome back to an all-new installment of BEAM FROM THE BOOTH brought to you by GRAND RAPIDS FILM SOCIETY!
Between our Film Society Pitch Nights and the General Assembly meeting, we haven’t been able to host a proper FILM SOCIETY ROUNDTABLE event in a couple months. So we’re very excited to finally be hosting another one of our free social events NEXT THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 22nd.
Another event we’re thrilled about is coming up on FRIDAY, MARCH 1st: it’s the first in what we hope to be a new series of events we’re calling ARTIST SHOWCASE. These events will highlight selected works from independent filmmakers we enjoy, with the filmmaker in attendance for a showcase and commentary on their work. This first showcase features the short films of KATE LEVY. Join us for an evening with Levy as she presents a program of her short films in a showcase format with commentary for each work followed by a discussion and Q&A. And to ensure as many people as possible can attend this event, admission will simply be a pay-what-you-can donation. For more information about Levy and the event, head to the listing on our website.
Also, we have a screening THIS WEEK! TOMORROW NIGHT— yes, Valentine’s Day — at 8:00pm we’re showing Paul Thomas Anderson’s PHANTOM THREAD.
If you or your significant other are unsure about heading to the Wealthy Theatre to celebrate the holiday, a couple GRFS board members have put together some thoughts as to why you should do exactly that...
WHY YOU SHOULD SEE PHANTOM THREAD THIS VALENTINE’S DAY
MATT EVERITT:
Phantom Thread is the only movie I’ve traveled more than an hour to watch in a theater. I was lucky enough to make it to the Music Box in Chicago for a 70mm screening when it first premiered.
The whole fanfare of driving three hours, being lucky enough to see it on 70mm film, and seeing it at one of the best theaters in the world would have crushed a lesser film under the expectations just based on the amount of effort I put into simply getting there.
It’s not a stretch to say it’s one of the most beautiful looking films I’ve ever seen. You could watch this with the sound off and still be mesmerized. Add the incredible Johnny Greenwood score, PTA’s direction, and fiendishly good performances from literally everyone on screen, and you’ve got an all-timer for me.
I also think it’s the only movie I’ve ever seen that understands the deep, deep symbiosis of romance.
GRIFFIN SHERIDAN:
In February 2018, Beam’s own Kyle Macciomei and I rolled out of our dorm bright and early for the first day of AMC’s Best Picture showcase. This event would invite audiences to marathon all of that year’s Best Picture Oscar nominations across two days.
(Side note: Why don’t they do this anymore? It was fun! Or, at least, it was the exact kind of fun cinephiles like to have: spending multiple days in the dark, watching excellent cinema — for the most part. Another victim of this post-pandemic moviegoing landscape, I presume. Bring it back you cowards.)
We settled into the front row of the modest auditorium for the first film of our two-day epic at the movies: a 9:00am screening of Phantom Thread. I distinctly recall thinking I may not make it all the way through this one, as I took a final large sip of my coffee. But I was absolutely enthralled from start to finish.
Listen, I like a matinee screening as much as anybody else, but I feel even the most avid moviegoers or film students know that 9am is NOT a great time to watch a film. Even some great movies will still fade in and out of my mind’s focus that early in the day. But with Phantom Thread, PTA captured my attention and never let go even through the credits, sending Kyle and I into the rest of our marathon on an unexpectedly high note at the top of a wave of excitement about that year’s nominees.
(For those interested, Phantom Thread was followed by Gerwig’s Lady Bird, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, and the eventual winner of that year’s Best Picture Academy Award, The Shape of Water from Guillermo Del Toro. Day 2 featured Dunkirk, Darkest Hour — programmed back-to-back no less, a harrowing four hours of World War II drama — Call Me By Your Name, The Post, and Get Out.)
It was a solid year for nominees, but PTA’s twisted tale of a dramatic dressmaker (played by Daniel Day-Lewis in his incredible ‘final’ performance on film) stood out amongst them. In typical PTA fashion, you can’t quite pin down what Phantom Thread is as he deftly mixes elements of 1950s period drama, romance, black comedy, and maybe even some thriller...and that’s what is so compelling about it. Like the characters that inhabit the film, there is an elusive nature to the whole piece.
That elusiveness is exemplified by the immaculate score by Radiohead member Jonny Greenwood. I always find that I cannot talk about this film without also talking about this score, which will jump back and forth between the bombast of a full orchestra to the quiet inner machinations of a solo piano, across a handful of unforgettable motifs. Even six years later, the soundtrack continues to pop into my Spotify rotation on a regular basis.
That screening in 2018 remains the one and only time I’ve seen Phantom Thread, but I feel like it never leaves my mind for too long since, and I’m so thrilled we get to share it all with you this Wednesday night on the big screen.
Truly one of my favorites.
SO MICHIGAN MIGHT GET FILM INCENTIVES...WHAT’S NEXT?
[BY: ERIK HOWARD]
It’s been fifteen years since Michigan had any film incentives, the same incentives that brought films like Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016) and multiple entries in Michael Bay’s Transformers franchise to the state. When the incentives were struck down in 2015 by former Michigan governor Rick Snyder he touted that the film office would continue to exist beyond the legislation. However, as many of you have probably recognized, Michigan has completely lost all financial pull for filmmakers across the world. Since then, we’ve seen feature-length productions like the aptly titled Holland, Michigan starring Nicole Kidman come to Michigan to film pickups for a week. You read that right: a film about a specific city in Michigan was only honored through some generic pickups and cutaways so there can be an impression it was shot in Michigan. I know, personally, I couldn’t think of anything more humiliating while my news station fawned over the idea that a feature film was being shot right in Holland. The future looked bleak as the next story I covered was the closing of Black Pigeon Studios here in Grand Rapids, which some of you reading may have visited for film fundraising and educational events — maybe even utilizing the studio space for films of your own. It once again renewed the conversation that while our state was ripe with creatives who have important stories to tell, Lansing could not hear our requests for assistance and belief.
But last Tuesday, they heard us.
In case you missed it, the Economic Development and Small Business committee in Michigan’s House of Representatives finally welcomed Michigan filmmakers through its doors to speak to the importance of passing proposed legislation that sat dormant in the House for almost a full year. This legislative effort, helmed by MiFIA, has garnered bipartisan support on the revival of film incentives, a film office, and — in turn — a revival of financially-backed filmmaking in the state of Michigan. We heard testimony from business-owners, lawmakers, and none other than OPN winner Hannah Scout Dunaway in what felt like an action-packed hour-and-a-half in the small committee room.
But here’s the thing: I wouldn’t wish listening to a legislative committee on my worst enemy.
So what I’m here to do is help unpack just what actually happened in that room. What does this legislative package look like, what effect will this have on members of the film society and beyond, and when will this actually take effect? We’ll unpack all of these in really simple terms so that you know exactly what to expect as this legislation continues its push through Lansing with the hope to be signed into law by Governor Whitmer.
“So what IS the Multimedia Jobs Act?”
The first and most important question to ask here is just what is actually inside of this legislation for filmmakers like you or I. There’s a lot of points to bring up here, but I’m going to present this in the simplest way possible so we can all understand what is on the desk of Michigan House members. The Michigan Multimedia Jobs Act seeks to provide a new slew of legislative incentives for filmmakers and production companies to either film in, or put down roots in, the state of Michigan. These incentives are presented in the form of tax breaks for filmmakers, which is not too dissimilar from the previous legislation which was eliminated in the previous legislature. I can imagine I might’ve already lost ya with tax breaks...so I’m bringing in my good friend and WZZM’s political reporter Josh Alburtus to help explain what a tax break actually means.
Josh: Tax break, as a general term, could be defined differently in each case dependent on what kind of tax break it is. But generally it means a discount on taxes due.
In this film case, ‘tax credit’ would be a deduction counted toward the film producers’ tax liabilities in MI specifically, basically meaning a discount on what producers would be paying toward MI taxes. But some of these producers wouldn’t necessarily be based in MI, so if they’re not or if for whatever reason they won’t need to use their tax deduction, they can sell it to another local business who does.
Thanks to Josh we have a better idea of what we’re talking about here, and in fact it’s the most important aspect of this legislation. Film incentive programs across the U.S. have all different forms of incentives for filmmakers, but this new package would actually put us more in line with some of the most successful programs across the nation. To break down how in the simplest of ways, let’s imagine that Holland, Michigan actually decided to film the entire project in Holland. Given that the production company is Nicole Kidman’s self-started Blossom Films, let’s assume that Blossom Films was an L.A.-based production company. If Blossom brought the production to Michigan and was a recipient of these Michigan incentives, they would begin to document all expenses including labor, lodging, and catering to present to the Michigan film office which would distribute it to an account to verify the money was actually spent here and thus refund them via their taxes! It’s not a very sexy description, but let’s give an example.
Blossom Films brings Holland, Michigan to Holland. They spend $3,000 on lodging and present their receipts to the Michigan Film Office which are verified by a certified accountant. Once that’s done, the incentives begin to counteract what was spent on lodging the cast and crew in Holland. But as Josh mentioned above, Blossom Films is based in L.A. so if they do not have any tax liabilities in Michigan they have a unique ability to sell that tax liability to any local business in Michigan...such as the place they lodged at. By selling those tax liabilities back to a Michigan-owned business they can return to L.A. having received money for filming in the state, and a local Michigan business not only gets funds from lodging a large cast and crew but also now gets to take a huge chunk off their taxes as a business because the film crew sold their credits to them.
Now I know I threw in that important distinction of the tax credits being able to be sold back to Michigan businesses amidst the example, but that is an extremely important distinction to be made here. The intention of this program is to ensure that no matter what productions come to (or are born in) the state of Michigan, they have an incentive to want to support Michigan businesses and crews.
That segues into our second part, which you’ll be able to find in next week’s newsletter.
JOIN GRTV FOR AN OPEN HOUSE!
Our friends at GRTV are hosting an open house event on THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 29th. Check out what they had to say about this special event:
Step into the world of professional media production at the GRTV Open House! We're excited to invite you to our state-of-the-art facility where creativity meets technology. This event is a must-attend for anyone interested in filmmaking, podcasting, or media production. And the best part? It's absolutely FREE!
Highlights:
Exclusive Studio Tour: Explore our newly designed studio sets that will inspire your next project.
Hands-On Experience: Get up close and personal with our new Blackmagic Design Pocket Cinema 6K Cameras.
Advanced Editing Suites: Peek into our high-end editing suites where your ideas can turn into reality.
Specialized Podcast Booth: Discover the perfect space for high-quality podcast recording.
Equipment Showcase: Learn about our range of camcorders, light kits, microphones, and more – all available for free with GRTV classes.
Why Attend?
Networking Opportunities: Connect with fellow media enthusiasts and industry professionals.
Learn from Experts: Our staff and instructors will be there to answer your questions and guide you.
Free Access to Equipment: Find out how you can use our top-of-the-line equipment for free by joining GRTV classes.
While the event is free, spots are still limited so GRTV is encouraging folks to RSVP IN ADVANCE. We’re always so happy to share these sorts of opportunities for local filmmakers and highly encourage you to consider attending.
ROAD TO THE OSCARS 2024
THE HOLLYWOOD POSTSEASON: KEEPING AN EYE ON THE OSCAR PLAYOFF MATCHUPS
[BY: KYLE MACCIOMEI]
This entry is the third in a series of Beam from the Booth articles covering the upcoming 96th Academy Awards. Continue to check back in throughout these next few issues for further thoughts and commentary on this year’s awards.
[PART 1 from ISSUE #42] [PART 2 from ISSUE #43]
***
When we discuss the Oscars, we are actually talking about the very end point on a long road of Awards Seasons. Usually beginning in November with the Gotham Awards, things really pick up steam in January as the Golden Globes announce their winners, and the industry goes full steam ahead to hand out as many trophies as possible in the weeks leading up to the Academy Awards. These precursor ceremonies serve very well as predictors to voting trends as certain nominees rise to the top to become clear contenders for their inevitable battle on Oscar night. To use a sports analogy, we are currently living in the film award postseason, where films and their respective artists duke it out in the playoffs to increase their odds of winning the gold.
There are around 10 major “minor” awards-giving bodies, and their decisions for nominations and winners are based on a wide range of criteria and often disparate motivations for voting. While this article will examine these bodies within the context of whether or not they can “predict” who will win an Oscar in each category, that doesn’t mean it’s their intended goal as an institution. There is often a lot of politicking that occurs around each of these cohorts, and it’s helpful to understand what distinguishes them from one another.
Given that we are just a month away from the Oscar ceremony, it seems appropriate and helpful to describe these various award bodies, their historic significance to recognizing quality cinema, and the many petty quirks that define them. So without further ado, let’s take a closer look at the many ceremonies leading up to the 96th Academy Awards ceremony on March 10th…
The Gotham Independent Film Awards (Ceremony held November 7th)
The unofficial opening to awards season, the Gotham Awards originated in the New York City film scene and have historically tried to highlight east coast talent on the independent stage. This has changed in recent years as they have attempted to become more international, but the New York sensibilities remain the same. Composed of a voting body that overlaps with festival organizers, filmmakers, and critics, the awards here disproportionately go towards indie flicks that have a lot of festival buzz. In the past twenty years, their selections for Best Feature have correctly predicted the Best Picture Oscar winner six times.
The Gotham Awards were held back in November and gave awards to Past Lives for Best Feature and Anatomy of a Fall for Best Screenplay. While Past Lives has nearly no shot at winning Best Picture (big sad), Anatomy of a Fall is currently a frontrunner for its respective category!
National Board of Review Awards (Awards announced on December 6th)
The New Yorkers strike again! This time from a NYC-based organization which is composed of film students, cinephiles, film historians, and filmmaking professionals. This is an elite category of cinema-goers who announce their winners before the actual ceremony and really just throw a big ceremony as an excuse to party.
Originating as the designated “censoring body” of American cinema, films had to be certified by the National Board of Review before they could be screened to the masses in an effort to avoid direct government censorship. After the MPAA took over with their now famous rating system in the mid-century, the body limited its influence to yearly awards that reflect the crossover of mainstream moviegoing and critical darlings. This has allowed them to be seen as the awards body that just “does its own thing,” as it has correctly predicted Best Picture only thrice in the 21st century.
This year, their awards went to Killers of the Flower Moon for Best Film, Best Director (Martin Scorcese), and Best Actress (Lily Gladstone). The Holdovers won for Best Actor (Paul Giamatti).
Golden Globes (Ceremony held January 7th)
The Golden Globes is like the rich uncle who shows up at Christmas dinner late, confused, and drunk on champagne as he repeats political takes he heard from grandma’s daytime talk shows. For years, their televised broadcast was seen as second only to the Oscars, but their legitimacy in the industry relied heavily on their ability to throw massive booze-filled parties. Their reputation is so poor, they dissolved, restructured, and are now an entirely different organization!
For years, their selections felt intentionally contrarian and sometimes bordered on the absurd, but they certainly made for interesting conversation! What makes them even more difficult to talk about is the fact that they split their categories in half between dramas and comedies/musicals. This means that Oppenheimer and Poor Things won the top award for those two categories, respectively. What they did very well, though, is outline the clear competition in the two major acting categories. Best Actress went to both Emma Stone (for Comedy) and Lily Gladstone (for Drama), while Best Actor went to Cillian Murphy (for Drama) and Paul Giamatti (for Comedy). These awards clearly outline the two battles that are defining these categories as we move closer to the Oscars. Oh, and Christopher Nolan won Best Director to the surprise of no one.
Critics’ Choice Awards (Ceremony held January 14th)
The Critics’ Choice Association (CCA) is the largest film critic association in the US and Canada, and they boast around 400 American critics who vote in both television and film. The Critics’ Choice Awards are seen as largely influential to the Academy voting body, and they serve as an excellent predictor for Oscar gold. In the six major awards (Picture, Director, and four acting categories), the Critics’ Choice Awards have been 73% accurate in predicting their corresponding Oscar win.
Speaking of those six categories, let’s see how they did this year! Oppenheimer won Best Picture and Best Director (cementing it’s frontrunner status that it has held since the film’s release in July) as well as Best Supporting Actor for Robert Downey Jr. Giamatti once again picked up Best Actor, Emma Stone won Best Actress for Poor Things, and Da'Vine Joy Randolph grabbed Best Supporting Actress for The Holdovers.
Director’s Guild of America Awards (Ceremony held on February 10th)
Have you ever asked yourself, what do the unions think? Well, in Hollywood, we get that question answered yearly as the four major guilds elevate their own members to the spotlight. This guild features over 14,000 directors of film and television in the industry who vote for their favorite colleagues. The nominations and wins often correlate heavily with the Academy Award, with the Best Director award matching up all but eight times in the history of the award.
So, with the awards just announced this past weekend, I would like to congratulate Christopher Nolan on his all-but-fated Oscar win for Best Director come March 10th. The DGA just awarded Nolan with his first win for Best Director after four prior nominations, a sign that this is a lifetime achievement award for what is clearly the current magnum opus of his filmography. If Nolan doesn’t win in this category from the Academy, it will certainly go down in history as one of the biggest upsets in Oscar history.
Annie Awards (Ceremony will be held on February 17th)
Wordplay-themed award titles! We love to see it. The Annie Awards are dedicated to the craft of animation, and they can be a helpful guide for the corresponding category at the Oscars. Composed of animation professionals, students, and enthusiasts, the Annie voting block might have influence over who gets nominated, but rarely over who wins at the Oscars. The category (and medium) still suffers from various stigmas as a “genre meant for children,” and getting Academy voting members to even watch all five nominees can be a difficult task.
But in a fun pivot from the norm, the Annie Awards this year decided not to include either Disney nor Pixar films in their nominations for Best Animated Feature category, leaving both Elemental and Wish on the cutting room floor.
British Academy Film Awards (Ceremony will be held on February 18th)
The British version of the Oscars, their roster of nominations include American films, but they clearly have a bias for homegrown talent (thankfully All of Us Strangers is getting love here). Because of this, it can be hard to tell how important their influence will be over Academy results, but there are a few clear indicators we should be looking out for. One, the exclusion of Lily Gladstone in the Best Actress category has shifted the winds towards Emma Stone as the slight frontrunner. Additionally, the lack of Barbie recognition makes it seem like it will have an uphill battle in grabbing a few awards on Oscar night.
Screen Actors Guild Awards (Ceremony will be held on February 24th)
More guilds! The Screen Actors Guild (SAG) is seen as one of the most influential organizations on the award circuit since actors comprise the largest voting block in the Academy. In the past 28 years, 83 of the 112 nominees to win Oscars for Best Picture and Best Actor/Actress had already taken home a SAG Award.
Independent Spirit Awards (Ceremony scheduled for February 25th)
Wait, so there’s another independent film award? While the Gotham awards tailor to a New York state of mind, the Independent Spirit Awards are meant for the west coasters and their summer-y L.A. culture. Both serve a similar purpose, though, which is to highlight films with smaller budgets that are worthy of attention. Look to see who wins to get a better understanding of how these indie darlings square against the larger studio pictures.
Producers Guild of America Awards (Ceremony scheduled for February 25th)
With over 7,000 members in its body, the PGA is an incredible predictor for Oscar success, specifically in the Best Picture Category. The PGA has successfully predicted the Best Picture winner in 15 out of the past 20 years.
Writer’s Guild of America Awards (Ceremony scheduled for April 14th)
They’re done with their strike, and the writers are ready to give out some awards! Except...not on schedule. Due to the strike, the guild has pushed back the deadline for submissions and review. This means that nominations won’t be announced until February 21st, with the awards being given out a full month after the Oscars ceremony. This is a very unprecedented move and will make it difficult to get a clear picture on both Best Original Screenplay and Best Adapted Screenplay, two competitive categories right now.
***
Special thanks to Kirsten Fedorowicz for editing assistance.
UPCOMING EVENTS
PHANTOM THREAD (Anderson, 2017)
WHAT: A special Valentine’s Day screening of Paul Thomas Anderson’s tale of twisted romance and dressmaking starring Vicky Krieps and Daniel Day-Lewis in his final performance on film to date.
WHEN: Wednesday, February 14th, 8:00pm
WHERE: The Wealthy Theatre
BEANPOLE (presented by CHIAROSCURO INTERNATIONAL FILM SERIES)
WHAT: During World War II in Leningrad, the siege of the city is finally over, but life and death struggles continue in the wreckage that remains. Two young women search for meaning and hope during their struggle to rebuild their lives amongst the ruins (FREE screening followed by discussion and reception).
WHEN: Sunday, February 18th, 2:00pm
WHERE: The Wealthy Theatre
WHAT: Join us for another FREE GRFS social event and chat about filmmaking, screenwriting, and cinephilia with other like-minded members of the GR film community.
WHEN: Thursday, February 22nd, 7:00pm
WHERE: The Front Studio Annex — right next to the Wealthy Theatre!
TWIN PEAKS DAY: FIRE WALK WITH ME (Lynch, 1992)
WHAT: Our 2nd Annual ‘Twin Peaks Day’ celebration! Come dressed as your favorite character for a screening of the David Lynch-directed feature film that acts as both a prequel to the iconic television series and a final installment in the story of the show’s original run.
WHEN: Saturday, February 24th, 8:00pm
WHERE: The Wealthy Theatre
NARRATIVE AGENCY: FILMS BY KATE LEVY (ARTIST SHOWCASE)
WHAT: The first-ever event in our new 'Artist Showcase' series, " join us for an evening with filmmaker Kate Levy as she presents a program of her short films with commentary for each work followed by a discussion and Q&A.
WHEN: Friday, March 1st, 7:00pm
WHERE: The Wealthy Theatre
And so we’ve arrived at the end of another BEAM FROM THE BOOTH! We appreciate you taking the time to read it and truly hope you’ll continue to do so. Be sure to SUBSCRIBE to get each issue in your inbox every MONDAY, and stay up-to-date on all things GRFS.
Plus, join us on social media! We’d love to chat with everyone and hear YOUR OWN thoughts on everything above (you can also hop in the comments section below).
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Look for ISSUE #45 in your inbox on NEXT MONDAY, 02/19!
Until then, friends...
