| Cult of Mac

The first film Apple bought finally gets its first trailer

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Geraldine Viswanathan appears in Hala, chosen for the U.S. Dramatic Competition at the 2019 Sundance Film Festival.
Geraldine Viswanathan appears as the title character in Hala.
Photo: Parrish Lewis/Sundance Institute

Apple’s coming-of-age drama about a Pakistani American teenager will land on Apple TV+ and in theaters just in time for award season.

Hala, the first narrative feature film Apple bought, will premiere on the streaming service on December 6. That’s just two weeks after The Banker lands on Apple TV+. To hype up the release date, Apple published the first full-length trailer for Hala. The movie follows a girl who goes from picking up skateboarding to falling in love for the first time. Meanwhile, her Pakistani family starts unraveling.

Steven Soderbergh ditches big-budget cameras for iPhone

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iPhone X Rear
The iPhone X's 4K camera is a legit filmmaking tool.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

One of the biggest directors in Hollywood is ready to totally embrace filming on the iPhone.

Steven Soderbergh — whose titles include everything from Ocean’s Eleven to Magic Mike — filmed his latest movie entirely an iPhone. Only instead of using it as a gimmick, Soderbergh says he’s likely going to start using iPhone on most of his future films.

Apple is secretly planning to take over Hollywood 

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Apple TV might get exclusive TV shows.
Apple TV might get exclusive TV shows.
Photo: Apple

Hollywood’s top filmmakers held secret meetings with Apple at this year’s Sundance Film Festival, according to a new report that claims Apple is planning to make a big play to take on Netflix and Amazon Prime Video by creating its own original TV shows and movies.

Apple hosted a secret ‘iTunes Lounge’ at Sundance for a number of invitation-only events for film makers, producers, actors, and other A-list talent to hear the company’s pitch on how it plans to create a ton of original content that will be exclusively available on Apple TV.

Filmmaker has mixed feelings about his iPhone masterpiece

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Tangerine was filmed with the iPhone 5s but it's cinematic feel comes from an app, a lens adaptor and several hours of post production. Photo: Sean Baker
Tangerine was filmed with the iPhone 5s, but its cinematic feel comes from an app, a lens adapter and several hours of post-production work. Photo: Sean Baker

There was the buzz going into Sundance and the applause of satisfied audiences at the end of the movie’s screening. But there was also a collective gasp as the last line of the credits rolled past.

Shot on the iPhone 5s.

Sean Baker’s Tangerine, the story of two transgender sex workers in Hollywood, was a break-out hit at the renowned film festival in January. The Hollywood Reporter said the film stands out as “crisp and vigorously cinematic.”

Oft-praised for the rich fringe characters in his independent films, Baker did not set out to change the filmmaking landscape by shooting with a cellphone. Like most indie filmmakers, he had no money.

One of Sundance’s hottest films was shot on an iPhone 5s

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Tangerine has been a breakout hit at this year’s Sundance Film Festival. The indie flick is drawing crowds thanks to a plot that features transgender prostitutes, Hollywood, meth addicts, pimps, and beat cops. But the craziest thing about director Sean Baker’s film is that instead of using a professional camera rig, he shot it all on the iPhone 5s.