The ITVS Indie Roundup

A curated list of indie news and recommendations from ITVS’s Rebecca Huval. 

The director of concert documentary Andrew Bird: Fever Year has found an even more intimate subject to cover for her next nonfiction film. Xan Aranda will explore the Mormon film industry and her own disillusionment from the faith. She dished out the details to Chicago WBEZ’s The Morning Shift. (via Kartemquin Films) D’oh! Here are five simple blunders documentary filmmakers make, including filming without a vision in mind. How do you capture the feel of dancing on camera? The rush, dizziness, and gravity-defying lightness? Who better to answer that question than dancer-photographer, Mikhail Baryshnikov, who talked to the New York Times Lens blog about his techniques in dance and photography. Check out this rediscovered Dutch TV documentary, The Making of The Empire Strikes Back. In an interview, Star Wars director Irvin Kershner says, “Some people call it science fiction. I don’t even consider it science fiction. I consider it a fairy tale.”

Almost 25 years later, Robert Zemeckis wants to make a Who Framed Roger Rabbit? sequel. Will it fizzle or take off? The master of the macabre, Johnny Depp, is starting his own publishing imprint called Infinitum Nihil, the same name of his production company (translation: “nothing is infinite”). The first two books will be The Unraveled Tales of Bob Dylan by Doug Brinkley and House of Earth, an unpublished novel by folk legend Woody Guthrie. Stumped by your latest script? Here are a handful of screenwriting tips for the novice.