Allan Holzman Films
Twelve years ago I contacted AFI where I was a student in the early 70's, inquiring about their archive, which was stacked rather haphazardly in a closet. After a time, they said take whatever you want. I copied the few videos of film legends from the early years of the Harold Lloyd Seminars, which included Steven Spielberg (Jaws, Sugarland Express) at the beginning of his career (following Close Encounters of the Third Kind), François Truffaut (The 400 Blows, Jules and Jim, Day for Night) at the peak of his career (after The Last Metro) and Alfred Hitchcock (Rear Window, Psycho, Vertigo, North by Northwest) near the end of his career.
Steven Spielberg inherited the legacy of Alfred Hitchcock and is the most “Hitchcockian” of any director (both are also identified with Universal Studios). François Truffaut studied and wrote perhaps the most significant book about filmmaking with Mr. Hitchcock and studied him as a film director. Steven Spielberg also studied all of Truffaut's films and admired them for his work with characters and story, even casting him as Richard Dreyfus’ co-star in Close Encounters of the Third Kind.
Screening Event at the Dallas Videofest:
The Art of Directing
THE ART OF DIRECTING will be screening at the Dallas Video Fest on Sunday, October 18, 2015.
Click Here for screening information and to purchase tickets to this event!
VIEW THE TRAILER BELOW
MOVIE REVIEW BY MEGABADGER24:
Directing a film is a territory that everyone would love to get into, but very few know of the risks before the rewards or even what its like being a director. Allan Holzman seems to answer this by digging through some of the film industry’s greatest minds discussing their own generation’s process of creative production.
The Art Of Directing is a cycle of rare interviews with directing legends Alfred Hitchcock (towards the end of his career), Steven Spielberg (at the beginning of his career) and Francois Truffaut (at the height of his career). The structure of these interviews goes over the general livelihood of being a film director, with using their work as examples, rather than the other way around.
How the context is being told comes in these group meetings with the film director inside of a university, often bringing up clips of the projects that they’ve worked on. The film keeps shifting through the different generations of directors to get distinct perspectives on the various fun and challenging disciplines to directing a film, from storyboarding your ideas to executing your plans on-camera. This comes with some fascinating stories brought up by the three industry giants of this hour-and-a-half feature-length program.What I love most about this documentary is not only viewing the different generations
of the film industry, but also to take in account that Francois Truffaut knows and has worked with both Alfred Hitchcock and Steven Spielberg. Hearing how Truffaut has approached the before and now of the film industry is a story that a solid documentary needs. I found myself getting educated with information that I have never grasped before. I never found myself wanting to skip a minute of the documentary, because its all incredible to watch.
However, I did find myself dealing with a lot of repetition during the program. The film only takes place in two locations, both are huge meeting rooms inside of a college. You never get to see them explore the sets or their livelihood during the program. This could definitely feel tedious, but I didn’t receive that feeling, especially with that sweet hour-and-a-half-length. The movie is consistent, informative and very inspiring, for its these men have created sub-genres which so many younger film directors wish to either recapture or build upon to create something of their very own.
This is a documentary that needs to be shared by film schools for reference and even Steven Spielberg himself for a life reflection. These are the kinds of people who we look up to in filmmaking, and their voice needs to be as loud as possible