Only connect! That was the whole of her sermon. Only connect the prose and the passion, and both will be exalted, and human love will be seen at its height. Live in fragments no longer. Only connect, and the beast and the monk, robbed of the isolation that is life to either, will die.

The film struck me as a very genuine attempt to explore all the fumbling and inarticulateness that often accompanies our attempts to connect with other people in a real and meaningful way. If you forget all the Mumblecore hype as you settle into your cinema seat it is a pleasure to enjoy the movie on this level. It was a pleasure for me at least. Sure a lot of it feels frustratingly stunted and insular, but so does my life sometimes! There is also a warmth and freshness to the improvised performances that I found quite exhilarating.

Speaking of connections, AJ Schnack has written a great piece about how documentary filmmakers can learn a lot from the collaborative methods of Swanberg and his friends:

[P]erhaps the biggest thing that we should learn from these filmmakers is that we can and should work together. And I mean that literally. Although the doc community is a pretty tight-knit bunch, we should continue to find ways of collaboration, on screen and off. We should find new ways to build a truly interconnected community.

One of the things I love about Shooting People is hearing the amazing stories of collaboration among Shooters. This is more important than ever as the rules and possibilities of filmmaking and distribution change. Filmmakers have got to be savvy about so many different aspects of the biz now – but you don’t have to reinvent the wheel every time if you can learn from and utilize each others knowledge and experience.

For some background on Mumblecore, The Reeler has a comprehensive article about its genesis (which also covers the ambivalence and uneasiness filmmakers often feel when they are pigeonholed in a movement).

Finally here’s SXSW’s Matt Dentler taking the stairs at the party that launched The New Talkies: Generation DIY last week. It was a lot of fun and nobody who was at the after party will be able to forget THE GIRL IN THE POLKA DOT DRESS!

And the lovely IndieWIRE gang are doing a special event at the Apple Store on Thursday to tie in with the series. Here’s the info:

An Evening with Generation DIY:
Joe Swanberg, Greta Gerwig, Aaron Katz and Aaron Hillis at Apple
Store SoHo

WHEN: Thursday, August 23th, 7:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m
WHERE: Apple Store – SoHo, 103 Prince Street, NYC
COST: Free, No RSVP required. Seats are first come, first serve.
Seating is limited.

Sometimes coined “mumblecore,” a new group of young filmmakers has
emerged on the film festival circuit in the past few years. Embracing
intimate stories, low budget shooting techniques, improvised
dialogue, and untrained actors, these films fall far outside the
studio system and instead rely on a core group of collaborators to
tell achingly real stories about twenty-somethings and their work,
love and play.

To coincide with the IFC Center’s film series “The New Talkies:
Generation DIY,” Wednesday, August 22 -Tuesday, September 4,
indieWIRE is pleased to present: Joe Swanberg (Hannah Takes the
Stairs, LOL), Aaron Katz, (“Dance Party USA, Quiet City), Greta
Gerwig, (Hannah Takes The Stairs), and Aaron Hillis (Fish Kill
Flea) , who will participate in a moderated discussion about
filmmaking, their similar styles and differences, and the definition
of “independent.”

Manda Bala is opening at the Angelika tomorrow – this intense and beautifully made documentary about Brazil was a favorite of mine at Sundance earlier this year and I’m really looking forward to seeing it again, outside of the film fest bubble.

And then next week The New Talkies: Generation DIY comes to the IFC Center. If you read Matt Dentler’s blog you’ll know all about this series – it features many SXSW alumni and includes the theatrical openings of Hannah Takes the Stairs and Quiet City, both of which I was sorry to miss at SXSW so I am very excited about finally getting to see them. Speaking of SXSW, you can sign up for the SXSW News Reel on their website and get a daily email dose of film news, including lots of links to blogs, articles and online videos.

Finally, Jeremy and Randy Stulberg’s Off the Grid: Life on the Mesa is playing tonight at the Lincoln Center and then again on Tuesday at the IFC Center as part of the Slamdance Documentary Showcase. I have only seen a rough cut of this film so it’s definitely time to see the finished product.

Greta Gerwig in Hannah Takes The Stairs