Joe Swanberg

Joe Swanberg (born August 31, 1981) is an American independent director, producer, writer, and actor. Known for micro-budget dramas which make extensive use of improvisation, Swanberg is considered a major figure in the mumblecore film movement. His films often focus on relationships, sex, technology, and the filmmaking process.

Life and career

Swanberg was born on August 31, 1981 in Detroit, Michigan, and was mostly raised in Georgia and Alabama. He graduated from Naperville Central High School in suburban Chicago and attended Southern Illinois University at Carbondale as a film major, earning a Bachelor's Degree in 2003.

In 2005, Swanberg directed his first feature, Kissing on the Mouth. He followed it with LOL (2006), which marked Swanberg's first time working with actress Greta Gerwig. Gerwig and Swanberg collaborated on the director's next two features: Hannah Takes the Stairs (2007), which also starred filmmakers Andrew Bujalski, Ry Russo-Young, and Mark Duplass and marked Swanberg's first collaboration with animator and actor Kent Osborne; and Nights and Weekends (2008), on which Gerwig shared a directing credit. Swanberg's next feature, Alexander the Last, was produced by Noah Baumbach, who would later cast Gerwig opposite Ben Stiller in his 2010 film Greenberg.

Drinking Buddies

Drinking Buddies is a 2013 American film written and directed by Joe Swanberg, and starring Olivia Wilde, Jake Johnson, Anna Kendrick and Ron Livingston. The film is about two co-workers at a craft brewery in Chicago.

The film premiered at the 2013 South by Southwest Film Festival, and also screened within Maryland Film Festival 2013.

Plot

Kate (Olivia Wilde) and Luke (Jake Johnson) are co-workers at Chicago craft brewery Revolution Brewing, where they spend their days drinking and goofing off. They are perfect for each other, except that they are both in relationships: Kate is with Chris (Ron Livingston), and Luke is with Jill (Anna Kendrick). Jill presses Luke about marriage, which he promises he will be able to talk about some time soon.

While Luke and Kate are drinking with co-workers at the bar, Jill and Chris also arrive and Chris invites Luke and Jill to join them for a trip to his family's cottage.

During the trip Jill and Chris go for a long hike in the woods, where they end up kissing. Luke and Kate spend the whole trip drinking and staying up late alone together, including a bonfire on the beach. Kate invites Luke to go skinny dipping before stripping off her clothes and running into the lake.

Silver Bullets

Silver Bullets is a 2011 American film written and directed and stars Joe Swanberg. The film stars Kate Lyn Sheil, Ti West, Amy Seimetz. The film had its world premiere at the Berlin Film Festival on February 12, 2011. and was then released in a limited release on October 28, 2011, by Factory25.

Cast

Release

The film had its world premiere at the Berlin Film Festival on February 12, 2011. and screened at SXSW on March 13, 2011. The film was released in a limited release by Factory25 on October 28, 2011.

Reception

Richard Brody of the "New Yorker" named it the 9th best film of 2011 Variety stated that the film "probably contains Swanberg's clearest exposition of his philosophy, yet its sad aimlessness, from the mouth of an unhappy director (played by the helmer), elicits only a begrudging pity." In the AV Club, the review stated "Silver Bullets’ introspection feels earned", continuing "splinters into an ending that isn’t entirely satisfying, though a prologue and epilogue suggest these issues of control and the line between pretense and reality continue throughout one’s creative life" and gave a "B+" grade. A New York Times reviewer concluded that the film "neither pleases the eye nor stimulates the mind. At one point Mr. Swanberg’s character announces that he couldn’t care less about getting good reviews. Whew, I feel so much better."

History of art

The history of art is the history of any activity or product made by humans in a visual form for aesthetical or communicative purposes, expressing ideas, emotions or, in general, a worldview. Over time visual art has been classified in diverse ways, from the medieval distinction between liberal arts and mechanical arts, to the modern distinction between fine arts and applied arts, or to the many contemporary definitions, which define art as a manifestation of human creativity. The subsequent expansion of the list of principal arts in the 20th century reached to nine: architecture, dance, sculpture, music, painting, poetry (described broadly as a form of literature with aesthetic purpose or function, which also includes the distinct genres of theatre and narrative), film, photography and graphic arts. In addition to the old forms of artistic expression such as fashion and gastronomy, new modes of expression are being considered as arts such as video, computer art, performance, advertising, animation, television and videogames.

Josephine Decker

Josephine Decker (born April 2, 1981) is an American actor, filmmaker, and performance artist.

Career

Decker produced and directed her first short film, Naked Princeton, in 2005.

In 2008, Decker co-directed the documentary Bi the Way with Brittany Blockman, which focused on bisexuality in the United States. Despite being described by Variety's Joe Leydon as a "once-over-lightly examination of an alleged cultural phenomenon", the film nevertheless went on to win the Alternative Spirit Grand Prize at the Rhode Island International Film Festival.

Decker wrote and directed her second short film, Where Are You Going, Elena?, in 2009. In 2012, Decker wrote and directed the short film Me the Terrible, which was praised by Richard Brody of The New Yorker as a "wondrous short film."

In 2013, Decker wrote, produced, and directed her first feature film, the experimental psychological thriller Butter on the Latch. The film garnered praise from Eric Kohn of Indiewire, who said Decker's career is "one to keep an eye on", and Peter Debruge of Variety, who noted that "... Decker has fashioned the kind of feature debut the film industry simply doesn’t support, but would do well to encourage: a visually poetic, virtually free-form groove in which emotion, rather than narrative, guides viewers through a young woman’s visit to a Balkan folk music camp."