Take a break from money & legal trouble news with some fine indie film clips :)

These items will make you feel better:

Re: "the victim forgives, let Polanski go" argument

Let's take a quick look at US criminal law:

"Criminal law involves the prosecution of wrongful acts by the state which are considered to be so serious that they are a breach of the sovereign's peace (and cannot be deterred or remedied by mere lawsuits between private parties)." - from Wikipedia

So, rape of a minor is definitely a matter for the state to concern itself with, as it has happened in the Polanski case. So, even if the victim forgives the perpetrator, the state (the government) can & should continue to seek justice on behalf of general society or attempt to apply the punishments that fit the crime. So that's what's happening now in the Polanski case - the legal conflict is now the state vs. Polanski, not victim vs. Polanski (or, it does not matter if the victim forgives Polanski or not, the nature of the crime makes it one that was committed against the entire state, not just one individual).

Anyway, that's how I understand it at the moment, check with a legal expert for more clarification.

Polanski should have to face the courts again

Here's why:

1. The crime happened. All parties agreed that it happened. A child was raped, Polanski did it.

2. Polanski fled the country while awaiting sentencing. So, the legal, correct, & useful thing to do is to bring him back to face a judge, complete the sentencing phase.

3. Why? To reassure the nation that even talented, possibly wealthy, & well connected individuals cannot get away with raping a child.

And if there are other factors to consider, such as the original judge in the case changing his mind about a plea arrangement, those can be discussed during Polanski's new sentencing hearing.

A horrible thing happened, a crime was committed (a rape) within a country that has a legal code that punishes for such activities. To exclude Polanski from punishment would not be fair for everyone else - including other criminals who were punished for raping children, and rest of society that follows the law.

- Sujewa

Coming Soon

This fall the following films of mine will be available to view on web & or buy on DVD:

Unlimited Dreamtime (2009, 2 Week Film Project)

Indie Film Blogger Road Trip (2009)

Date Number One (2006, 2008)

Capital Heartbreak & Sweetness: 17 DC Poets (2002)

Will post up links when the films are ready to view & or buy.

- Sujewa

Funny scene from Cannes Man

Science Is Real

4/3/07

Whale trailer

Whale Trailer First Feature Film by Amir Motlagh - The best video clips are right here

Smithereens trailer

Emerson thought John Brown was cool

Walden

Let's Have A Holy Moment

How 80's Can You Get?

How to Stay Goth Past 50

"...the more highly educated a country's people are and the more honest and fair its legal system is, the wealthier it is." - Reason article

From The Intangible Wealth of Nations article:

"Once the analytical framework is set up, what the researchers at the World Bank find is fascinating. "The most striking aspect of the wealth estimates is the high values for intangible capital. Nearly 85 percent of the countries in our sample have an intangible capital share of total wealth greater than 50 percent," write the researchers. They further note that years of schooling and a rule-of-law index can account for 90 percent of the variation in intangible capital. In other words, the more highly educated a country's people are and the more honest and fair its legal system is, the wealthier it is."

Read the rest of the article here.

Ed Burns talks about debuting Purple Violets on iTunes :: Violets trailer

Since, much like anti-gravity engines, the internet distorts time, here's an Ed Burns interview clip from 2007:



And here's the trailer for Purple Violets (the flick should be on DVD & Netflix & other places by now):

"The death of the universe may seem a little depressing" - Carl Sagan :: Also Beastie Boys address intergalactic matters

That quote is from a doc where Sagan takes a look at ancient ideas about the life of the universe & how they compare to some contemporary ideas:



To which the Beastie Boys may say:

An interesting reformer from recent Indian history - Periya E.V. Ramasamy

I just learned about Periya E.V. Ramasamy (1879 - 1973) - a contemporary of Gandhi's, but a rationalist (stopped believing in the Hindu gods), and someone who worked against the caste system & for equal rights for women. From Wikipedia:

"The bedrock of Periyar’s principles and the movements that he started was rationalism. What drew him to public service and made him dedicate his life to it was man’s inhumanity to man. He found that an insignificant minority in society was exploiting the majority and trying to keep them in a subordinate position forever. To set matters right, he wanted the exploited to sit up and think about their position. Unless they exercised their reason, there wouldn't be a realization that they were being exploited by a handful of people. If they started thinking, they would realize that they were human beings like the rest, that birth did not and should not endow superiority over others, and that they must awaken themselves and do everything possible to improve their own lot.[41]

It was not an easy task for Periyar to create this awakening among the people who had, for generations, got used to a subordinate position. Most of them did not know that their subordinate position had been brought about by the cunning schemes of self-seekers. Thus, Periyar spoke to the people on innumerable platforms, over the years to arouse their thinking power.[41]

Likewise, Periyar explained that wisdom lies in thinking and that the spear-head of thinking is rationalism. On caste, he stated that no other living being harms or degrades its own class. But man, said to be a rational living being does these evils. The differences, hatred, enmity, degradation, poverty, and wickedness, now prevalent in the society are due to lack of wisdom and rationalism and not due to God or the cruelty of time.[44]

Periyar also blamed the capitalists for their control of machineries, creating difficulties to the workers. Consequently rationalism, which has to lead the way for peaceful life to all, had resulted in causing poverty and worries to the people because of dominating forces. He went on to explain that there is no use of simply acquiring titles or amassing wealth if one has no self-respect and scientific knowledge. An example he showed was the West sending messages to the planets, while the Tamil society in India were sending rice and cereals to their dead fore-fathers through the Brahmins.[44]

In a message to the Brahmin community, Periyar stated, "in the name of god, religion, and sastras you have duped us. We were the ruling people. Stop this life of cheating us from this year. Give room for rationalism and humanism".[45] He further explained that "any opposition not based on rationalism, science, or experience will one day or another, reveal the fraud, selfishness, lies and conspiracies".[45]"

Read more at Wikipedia.

- Sujewa

Tall Enough - new short film by Barry Jenkins

Check it out here. It was made for Bloomingdales. Pretty good - nice little snapshot of a
"cross-cultural" relationship, set in Brooklyn (for the most part, I think). Beautifully shot, well acted.

VOLTA trailer

VOLTA Trailer from Ryan Mullins on Vimeo.

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For a little bit more on this flick, go here.

- Sujewa

Jimmy Fallon & The Roots present: A Health Care Reform Slow Jam

Jenkins & Dortch on The Obenson Report podcast tonight

More info at Shadow & Act.

Simple, rough plan for an indie distro & marketing company that could serve 1,000 clients/real indie feature projects in Year 1 & make $500K profit

This was a very long comment written for this post at Truly Free Film blog (also related to this post at this blog), but due to it's length, I couldn't leave it at the TFF blog's comments section, so here it is:

"Hey David from biracy.com,

I just signed up for your info alert. Good luck with the new venture.

Anyway, to all: would most indie filmmakers pay $1000 a year (that's about $84 a month) to make sure someone promoted & distributed on a regular basis (even passively distributed - made available to interested customers & or free viewers in whatever media) their $10K or so indie feature? Probably, I know I probably would - specially if the distro work being paid for brings in either some useful exposure & or more than $1K in sales (over 100 DVDs at $10 each would do that).

So, let's say 1000 filmmakers buy into such a service (a company promoting their finished real indie features on a regular - daily or weekly - basis all year long for $1K a year), that would mean a $1 million revenue stream for that company.

So the company now has 1000 real indie films to promote & sell. And it would be good for the company if their clients - the indie filmmakers - were able to make more than $1K a year because of their services - 'cause that way the filmmakers are not losing money on retaining this distro & marketing service & would most likely continue their account w/ the company the following year. So who do the company sell the 1,000 films to. I guess they are looking at a possibly significant chunk of the wired population in the US (for web marketing & sales) & anyone with a mail box (for mail order DVDs), & possibly people on the web in other English speaking countries, & possibly other developed countries in general, if the films have subtitles, etc (also possibly non-western countries, but maybe that would take more work, with currency exchange rates & censorship issues, etc. that would probably require a more tweaked model).So, basically, this hypothetical indie distro & marketing company has the challenge of selling/trying to sell copies (digital or physical) of 1,000 movies to perhaps 100 million (in the US) to a half a billion (in the western world) potential customers.

How much might it cost to do such a thing & make a profit?

Who knows? But perhaps $500,000 would be a good start - for year 1. 'cause if a company that has that much $s are able to secure 1,000 clients who pay $1000 each a year for their services & are also (the company is able to) able to accomplish their marketing & distro work for less than $500K for 1 year, then they will not lose money in year 1 but will make $500K that year (i think i am doing the math right here, right? - raise & spend $500K & make $1 million = 100% profit? - i think so).

Anyway, that's just a very rough scenario. I think there is a sufficient amount of money being raised & spent in real indie film production in the US for 1 or several excellent (able to accomplish the task well) indie marketing & distro companies to make money by making as many of those indie movies available for sale as possible. On top of that, they need to widely market the films that they represent/distribute (non-exclusive, this distributor/company that I am thinking of would be like a distributor for hire, they make money from fees paid to them by indie filmmakers/the owners of the films that they represent - this company would just market, facilitate sales, maybe even take care of fulfilment - digital & physical, etc.).

Anyway, lots more details where those came from, if anyone is interested.

Also, such a distro company could also be formed by oh maybe 100 to 500 filmmakers & other interested people coming together - at least for the financing part - each investing $1K each to get the business up & running = $100K - $500K start up $s. The actual running of the company will need to be done by competent people who are very enthusiastic about the work, not necessarily the filmmaker/investors (though, being the owners & funders of the company, they will have the ultimate say in things).

So that's just one possible way to go to solve the real indie distro & marketing problem by using a for-profit (& relatively) small company approach.

Oh, the marketing done by the company cannot just be web only - it needs to be done through all possible media & methods. Maybe start with web & build up to other media quickly. I don't think the real indie distro options - the few companies who do that kind of work now - advertise & or market enough at this point (probably cause it is expensive or time consuming = expensive, but, that's where a lot of that $500K start up cash would probably come in handy).

So, bottom line, I think it is possible to create a profitable marketing & distribution business with real indie filmmakers as clients and with the success metrics including the clients making a profit from the fee paid to the company (or the company facilitating perhaps 200 sales of $10 each = $2K a year per project, client doubles the $s spent) & or other measurable indicators such as press coverage, getting work for hire gigs due to work done on behalf of the filmmaker client by the company, etc.

The numbers involved for this model are: 1000 filmmaker clients pay $1000 each a year for the company's services (being marketing & selling 1 feature film per client) = $1 million in revenue for the company, & the company, in turn, attempt to market & sell the 1000 projects to a potential customer base of 100 million + people (in the US & elsewhere), in an attempt to secure at least 200 sales of $10 each for each of their clients = clients get $2000, or they double their money, and if the company can accomplish this service for $500K a year, they would make a profit of $500K. Everyone wins :)

There can be many different approaches to how the above mentioned company does its work & makes $s for the clients - the above mentioned approach is just one simple one.
And, most importantly, to make sure the customers win, the 1,000 projects selected for year 1 of the company would each have to be considered interesting or entertaining or good or something along those lines by at least a few thousand people who are willing to pay $s to see it.
Let me stop here before Ted kicks me out for taking up too much comment space :)"

- Sujewa

Reduce Task Friction to Get To Task Completion productivity tip article link

At Zenhabits.

Five Best Time Tracking Applications article link

At Lifehacker.

How can you get some of that $50 million being spent on indie film production each year?

Invent a system/business/community/cult/whatever where the owners of the indie movies can pay a reasonable amount of money in order to make their movies 1) available for interested audiences to buy & view, and 2) the movies are well publicized, and 3) the owners of the films have a reasonable chance to make some money back & may even be able to make a profit.

Let me know when you do it, I'll try out your service.

Backstory: Re: the $50 million figure: If 5,000 of the indie features being submitted to Sundance each year cost $10,000 on average to make & promote (at the pre-distribution, film fest application level) then $50 million is being spent by indie filmmakers. Even if the actual amount of money being spent is 1/2 of my estimate, that's still a lot of money. I think the actual amount being spent by indie filmmakers in America on production & marketing is probably several times more than $50 million a year - but, for ease of discussion, let's go with $50 million for now.

Definition: When I say indie in this document I mean real indie/DIY movies - or movies not financed, produced, or distributed by large (let's say with a value of $1 million or more) corporations.

Looking forward: Let's say you invent a popular & effective distribution mechanism that, for about 10% of the cost of production, that indie filmmakers can use/hire to distribute & possibly make some money back from their projects. If that were to happen, you/your company could make 10% of $50 million or $5 million - a year.

Re: Possible problems with this idea: See any problems with this idea? Please talk about it in Comments.

- Sujewa

Falling On Your Face blog

New blog for a new film, check it out.

"Someone must always pay for free" - Mark Cuban

At a new blog post Mark Cuban writes about an idea called TV Everywhere, and also goes a bit into the economics of free content: "As is always the case, many people think tv programming should be widely available for free on the internet. Of course the content is never free. Someone has to pay to create it and we purchasers of cable and satellite services pay the subscription fees that pay the content companies and allow them to create all that content. Someone always must pay for free. Its unfortunate that there are some incredibly greedy people who think their entertainment needs should be subsidized." Read the rest of the post here.

Looks like a funny movie about psychic warriors - The Men Who Stare At Goats trailer

Calvin Marshall teaser

Calvin Marshall Teaser from Broken Sky Films on Vimeo.

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About: "Calvin Marshall -A poignant comedy about Calvin’s misguided dream to play college baseball and the people in his life who want him to succeed. 35mm feature stars Alex Frost, Michelle Lombardo and Steve Zahn. * Premiering at the 2009 Austin Film Festival."
For more on the movie, visit the site.

The Director's Job is Everything post link

Tom DiCillo writes about directing. From the section The Director's Job is Everything:

"The director’s job is Everything. This needs to be accepted completely; without bitterness or resentment. And that’s where it gets tricky. Because at these moments all you really want to do is beat the shit out of somebody. It’s not difficult to understand why. The pressures of filmmaking are intense, especially on a low-budget film where there is no money to re-shoot, re-cast or hire a new DP. Everything crucial to the film has to be attained in that insanely brief shooting period. If something goes wrong it affects the film. If a crew-member’s attitude creates friction on the set it affects the film. If an actor shuts down it affects the film. And if the film is only half-realized that affects how and if it is seen, which directly affects your chances of making another one."

Read the rest at DiCillo's blog.

What's Tom DiCillo up to?

You can keep up with Tom "Living In Oblivion" DiCillo at his blog. From the 9/9 entry (about showing his new flick - a doc about The Doors, at a film festival in France):

"As the film plays the audience is very still. They appear to be intensely focused on the film. It is thrilling to see the images flowing together on such a big screen; gigantic–bigger than life. Depp’s narration is even stronger than I’d remembered. His presence in the film is quiet, assured, emotional and powerfully intimate. I watch 2 years of work gliding past my eyes and feel an enormous sense of pride and gratitude for everyone who worked so hard on putting this film together.

No one walks out. This is no small thing...."

Read the rest here.

Making Bored to Death

No, HBO is not paying me to blog about Bored to Death several times a week (but I wouldn't turn down the money if they were to do so). Anyway, here's a 13 min. video about making that TV show, pretty good:

Make your own camera rigs & mounts for cheap

If you are so inclined, check out DIY Life: Rigs & Mounts.

Post on Magic Bullet Mojo

Apparently improves colors in video, for $99, read about it at Pulp 2.0.

Post on how to write a movie for the Sci-Fi Channel

Indie/art/foreign movies are alright, but the real entertainment (& of course "the truth", disguised under space monster make up) is in Sci-Fi (or SyFy) channel movies. Film Flap's got a brief post (with a link) re: writing a script for a Sci-Fi Channel movie, check it out.

Solar energy charger for the iPhone

Don't know much about it yet, but it is available for sale on Amazon - explore if it interests you. Might be useful for filmmakers who spend a lot of time shooting in the outdoors, far from an electrical outlet.

Love Is A Bull Market

N.O.U. forever baby :) From 1991, WDC:

Bored to Death episode 1 is pretty good

Saw it, liked it, somewhat funny, well made. And here's the link to a glowing review of the first 3 episodes. Looking forward to checking out the next episode.

- Sujewa

The cast probably doesn't look like the Brooklyn I know, but, it'll probably be fun - watch Bored to Death pilot episode for FREE now

The part of Brooklyn I live in is mostly Latin American immigrant families & Asian/Chinese immigrants & then there's me - but no Jason Schwartzman & Zach Gilifianakis & Jonathan Ames looking/type of dudes here (well, there maybe a couple, but not many here yet) - but, regardless, Bored to Death looks funny. Watch out ladies, quirk is back. Go here to get the links to see the pilot episode of the show for free - right now - it's like Sunday night came five days early, and you don't even need HBO for this freebie. Alright, I am off to check it out.

- Sujewa

Why socialist economies failed

While discussing capitalism vs. socialism with Chuck in an earlier post (re: Moore's doc Capitalism), I found this 1993 document - The Failure of Socialism and Lessons for America. In it, the reason for failure of socialist economies are briefly explained:

"Earlier in this century, the Austrian economists demonstrated that socialist planning would fail. Ludwig von Mises and Friedrich von Hayek showed clearly and irrefutably that when private property was nationalized and market competition eliminated, economic irrationality would result. In a market economy, the way people convey information to each other about the products they wish to demand — and the value they place on the various resources that can be used in alternative ways to make those goods — is through the price system. But with the elimination of private property, people are no longer able legally to buy and sell; and with no free-market buying and selling, there can be no competitively formed market prices. And without market prices, the most well-intentioned planners are clueless about what goods people actually want or what are the least-cost methods of producing what the consuming public actually desires."

To read the rest, go here.

- Sujewa

Cinereach Grants - $5,000 to $50,000 per project awarded in the past

From Mira's List blog:

"(FILMMAKERS) Cinereach Grants Cinereach funds artful narrative and documentary films that depict underrepresented perspectives, cross international boundaries and start meaningful conversations. Film projects that are consistent with Cinereach’s ethos favor good storytelling over didacticism, complexity over traditional duality. Cinereach-supported films demonstrate creativity, visual artistry and take a character-based approach. In the past, Cinereach has awarded grants from $5,000 to $50,000 per project. The next deadline for projects is December 1, 2009. For more info, please visit Cinereach's website: http://www.cinereach.org/grants/granting-program-guidelines/."

For more info. on grants for artists, check out Mira's List.

- Sujewa

Moore's Capitalism "inoffensive-to-the-point-of-meaningless" - Variety

So Michael Moore has a new movie - a documentary - coming out soon, called Capitalism: A Love Story. Sounds like it is incorrectly titled (probably on purpose, to get the maximum number of people interested in it) - sounds like Moore's target in this doc is not capitalism but corruption in the financial sector. Fine, great subject to talk about - knowing being half the battle & all. But why call the film capitalism? Possibly for two reasons - either Moore believes that all business activity in the US is corrupt or he wants to sell his movie to people who equate capitalism/creating & operating businesses with corruption. So, much remains to be seen re: the doc. In the meantime, here's a quote from Variety's review of the pic:

"Unfortunately, elsewhere, Moore strives so hard to manipulate viewers' emotions with shots of crying children and tearjerking musical choices that he's not so much over-egging the pudding as making an omelet out of it. While it could be argued that Moore needs to milk the human-interest stories for all their worth to get auds to engage with his denunciation of capitalism, more often than not, such tactics just patronize the audience and descend into cheap sentimentality. Moore all but stops short of holding up dead puppies Hank Paulson personally murdered."

And:

"...in the end, Moore also fails to answer his left-wing doubters, who will have plenty of evidence here that Moore's argument is less with capitalism as Marx and Engels understood it, or even as the North Koreans and Cubans do, than with capitalism's most egregious excesses in the U.S. His ideal is not the end of private ownership, just more cooperatively owned businesses where everyone shares the wealth and makes collective decisions. Moore merely flirts with counterpointing socialism with capitalism, and ultimately sets up an inoffensive-to-the-point-of-meaningless notion of democracy as capitalism's opposite."

To read the rest of the review, go here.

- S

Capitalism Is Not Evil (in fact it will probably help save the world) - Post 1

First, a little bit about the benefits of capitalism, from Wikipedia:

"Many theorists and policymakers in predominantly capitalist nations have emphasized capitalism's ability to promote economic growth, as measured by Gross Domestic Product (GDP), capacity utilization or standard of living. This argument was central, for example, to Adam Smith's advocacy of letting a free market control production and price, and allocate resources. Many theorists have noted that this increase in global GDP over time coincides with the emergence of the modern world capitalist system.[85][86] While the measurements are not identical, proponents argue that increasing GDP (per capita) is empirically shown to bring about improved standards of living, such as better availability of food, housing, clothing, and health care.[87] The decrease in the number of hours worked per week and the decreased participation of children and the elderly in the workforce have been attributed to capitalism.[88][89][90][91] Proponents also believe that a capitalist economy offers far more opportunities for individuals to raise their income through new professions or business ventures than do other economic forms. To their thinking, this potential is much greater than in either traditional feudal or tribal societies or in socialist societies."

Read the full article on capitalism at Wikipedia.

Since a lot of press is going to be generated from Michael Moore's new doc Capitalism (which seems like a somewhat evil attempt to make some cash by making & selling a product that confirms just the fears of some people who do not understand the value of or for some reason do not like capitalism) I think I'll post a few items about the positive side of capitalism.

One big positive is the existence of the American movie industry. Hollywood, indiewood, and even real independent film would not exist to the same comparatively awesome level that it exists in the US were it not for capitalism. Capitalism is basically people who decide to put money together (capital) in order to organize work, achieve a desired end (including gaining profit). So, at many points in time in the US, investors decided that due to the relatively level (relatively well regulated) playing field (monopolies are not left unchecked for long) putting money into making & distributing movies was a good risk. Thus, the film industry - Hollywood was born & also its weird cousin the independent film world was born. This debate on capitalism reminds me what Steven Soderbergh said at the NYC premiere of his film Che - something to the effect that he could not do what he does - make movies about various subjects - including controversial ones, pretty much however he wants to make them - in Cuba (a non-capitalist country). He could have been referring to just freedom of expression issues, but, any filmmaker who spends millions of $s on creating a movie about a guerrilla fighter could just as well point to an environment where individuals & companies feel comfortable risking millions of $s on a movie - environments that exist generally in countries where a capitalist economic system is in place (fully or partially). So, bottom line: No Capitalism = No Hollywood & Indie Film (probably).

Of course it isn't just capitalism that makes good economic things possible in the US - it is the combination of capitalism, checks & balances, good laws, press freedoms that makes the US a good place to start a business, and a good place to invest in businesses. Nevertheless, capitalism is a key ingredient in both what makes the US one of the most desirable (to live, work in, etc.) places in the world & also capitalism is a key ingredient in making the American film industry possible.

I have not seen Mr. Moore's film yet, so, after I do, will have a thorough breakdown of the movie - where he tells the truth & where he lies. In the meantime, I'll quote some interesting & relevant items here (also I probably need to brush up on capitalism, have not thought about all the parts that make it work well here in the US in a while).

Oh, before I go with today's quote re: Moore's movie, here's why I think capitalism will help save the world:

1. This world is mostly poor, due to lack of well developed economic systems where people are able to generate wealth, start businesses, employ other people, pay taxes & assist governments with further development of nations, etc.

2. Capitalism, well regulated (as it generally is in the US, in spite of the current economic crisis) is a cure for poverty of nations.

3. Openly or without much fanfare many previously economically under developed countries are adopting practices that are traditionally a part of capitalism - private investment & ownership, market competition, etc. Integrating useful aspects of capitalism to existing local systems (government, culture, etc.) could help countries pull themselves out of poverty. Along with, of course, financial & trade aid from wealthy countries (who remain relatively wealthy & are able to help out poorer countries due to capitalism).

And here's today's quote re: Moore's film Capitalism, from Illinois Review (they seem as without nuance & off target on some points as Moore, but, there is some truth to their critique of Moore):

"Moore is almost the perfect demagogue who chooses his targets wisely in order to build on popular prejudice against the "big banks" and any other private sector business that actually does create real-long lasting wealth creating jobs for people instead of fake public sector jobs that only steal money from other people and create no wealth at all over time. Let's see if Moore really believes the drivel he sells. I suggest he donate every last dime of profit on his current movie to charities for the poor. But he will not do that because it is ever so much more fun to call bankers evil and get everyone in America taxed to give money to people that socialists always say they are helping even as they bankrupt the country."

Read the rest here.

And, of course, if you are an expert on the positive & negative sides of American capitalism, please enlighten us/share your wisdom through comments.

- Sujewa

Cooking with Werner

Cooking With Werner Herzog (and Special Guest Jim Jarmusch) - watch more funny videos

"giving money is a sign of love" - Interview with the guy who wrote Bored to Death

From a Jonathan Ames interview at The Rumpus:

"Rumpus: The first story in this collection has spawned an HBO show, Bored to Death, that will premiere this fall. Tell me about it.

JA: Oh, man, I’m running out of steam… Somehow I managed to create a whole TV show, with lots of characters and stories. It stars Jason Schwartzman, Ted Danson, and Zach Galifianakis, and lots of other interesting people, like John Hodgman, Oliver Platt, Sarah Vowell, Parker Posey, Krisin Wiig, and Patton Oswalt. I worked eighty, ninety hours a week on it and we’re nearly done, just sound-editing left, and it premieres September 20 at 9:30pm."

Read the rest of the interview, including stuff about giving money, here.

- S

Miracle at St. Anna should be remade, also Spike Lee should make another, less fantastic/more realistic, movie about WWII

Saw Miracle at St. Anna recently - very interesting story, but I think maybe Spike Lee was not the best director for that kind of material - Mr. Lee's vision seemed too hard edged for a fantastic story such as Anna. I think that movie should have been handled like a myth or a fable - by a director who is more comfortable with that kind of softer storytelling. On the other hand, I think Mr. Lee could make an awesome movie - a more realistic story (from perhaps a script based on actual events only) - about African-American or any other type of soldiers in WWII (i thought his Malcolm X was a very good movie).

- S

An old timey music video

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One of the final (maybe the final or the one before last) dreams I had last night/this morning was about working on an epic movie with a story that starts in the 1940's & ends in the 1960's. And the song above had something to do with the movie - maybe a key music piece. It was a good dream.

- S

Links to 133 indie film blogs & sites

A list I compiled & published a few months ago (some of the links may not be alive anymore), but may be new & could be useful for some people, check it out here.

Film Rap: Jon Moritsugu

Watch 2 Week Film #1 - THE DABBLER in its entirety here :: #4 - UNLIMITED DREAMTIME coming soon

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While I prep my 2 Week Film project Unlimited Dreamtime (previously known as The Screening) for the web, check out Reid Gershbein's 2 Week Film The Dabbler (i believe dabbler was the first 2 Wk Film to be completed, thus i am calling it 2 Week Film #1). Unlimited Dreamtime is more or less done, need to burn DVDs, format & upload to web - will probably be able to get those done around Wed or Thu, after taking care of a whole lotta day job work today & tomorrow. Later on, enjoy The Dabbler 'till then.

- Sujewa

How to Earn Money with a Video Camera article link

Most people who read this blog probably know all these tips already, but just in case, here's the link to the eHow article How to Earn Money with a Video Camera.

Hardly Bear to Look at You trailer

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Read Reid "2 Week Film Project" Gershbein's review of the movie here.

Unless it's a Courteney Cox sitcom about big cats, looks like someone decided to run with 30 Rock's fictional MILF Island idea

I know nothing about the new show (?) Cougar Town, and am too busy today to research it, but here's my proof that it exists - a poster seen at a NYC subway station yesterday.

Tambay wants to give you $300 to make a short film

Get all the info. at Shadow & Act. Here's an excerpt from Tambay's post re: the grant:

"I’m issuing a challenge to black filmmakers. Every few months – likely once per quarter – I will fund, as well as produce and distribute a short film by a filmmaker of African descent, with a film about people of African descent. The budget for each short will be $300 (funded entirely by me) and I get to pick the theme of the short (for example, a short film about love, greed, hate, envy, mothers, fathers, rain, etc, etc, etc…)."

More at Shadow & Act.

- Sujewa

Donate some $s to filmmaker & film blogger Brandon Harris's first feature Millie Pulled A Pistol On Santa

Lots of strange/somewhat evil people/entities gravitate towards film production & distribution due to it's proximity to being able to influence large numbers of people relatively quickly (mass mind control), fame, & wealth (probably also sex & power) - and some of those people end up in indie film (even though there is very little wealth, fame, ability to influence the larger culture in this sector of art/entertainment, not sure how much sex there is in the indie film world) - unfortunately - for some of us who are not as evil - but, Brandon Harris seems pretty un-evil (as far as I can tell :), is a good writer, has made a couple of interesting shorts, so, let's see how his first feature turns out. All he needs is $35K. Go here to donate whatever you can (so that's like 1000 people giving $35 each, sounds easy right?). Here's a little about Brandon's planned first feature, Millie Pulled A Pistol On Santa:

" Synopsis:

At the end of the Bush years in the northern reaches of Brooklyn’s troubled Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood, white hipsters have quickly begin to reshape the neighborhood. Roy and Virginia are such a couple, middle class white post grads looking to find a place in this quickly expanding Brooklyn bohemia. As the economic downturn threatens the relative comfort in which they exist, there lives collide with a trio of African-Americans from the neighborhood in “Millie”.

Nate, an unskilled black twenty-something who’s just been released from prison, tries to readjust to life on the outside with the help of his social worker Roger, who teaches at a local high school. Roger gets him a job as a janitor and brings him into his social circle, which is how he meets Millie, Roger’s teenage daughter.

Meanwhile Millie haunts the local library, where Roy works and begins to form a bond with the troubled young librarian, who struggles with drug abuse and self doubt in his ambitions. Slowly both he and Nate begin to suspect that Millie is being abused by her seemingly respectable father. As the two men grapple with how to act, Millie contemplates a horrible and inevitable alternative."

Go here to IndieGoGo for more on the project.

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Note to self - contribute some $s to the project in September.

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- Sujewa

Back from the beyond - with info on a couple of 2 Week Films, "your true "gods" " The Anunnaki, etc.

Back from beyond the iW blogs page that is (the page just doesn't read as well/entertaining without my occasional rants on way-too-indie/small films, stuff completely unrelated to film, & causing some trouble - so, out of mercy for the iW blogs reader's entertainment needs, I'll be back blogging here occasionally - until iW kicks me out :). So, I've been gone about a month, some things worth mentioning, off the top of my Sunday morning/pre-coffee or tea head:

- The 2 Week Film Project (movement?) is gaining steam - more filmmakers are lining up to make features in 2 weeks, I just shot one myself, editing it now (more info on that flick here, title is Unlimited Dreamtime, previously known as The Screening), and a couple of the completed films are on line to watch - go here (for a 2 Week Film & another film by Reid Gershbein - the founder of the project), and here for a film called The Original Soundtrack.

- Speaking of 2 Week Film Projects, I screened two in Brooklyn last month - go here for some pics from the screening. That screening is a big part of my 2 week film.

- Another thing of interest, for those of you into aliens & conspiracy theories - been reading a lot about what I'd call The Anunnaki Conspiracy - about a race of aliens who came to earth thousands of years ago & genetically engineered humans & are still involved in some mayhem on this planet. If nothing else, very entertaining stuff. Also, learned a bit about the ancient Sumerians - looks like they knew a lot about a lot of things - including astronomy - compared to their ancient peers.

That's it for now, be back this week hopefully with some clips & trailers from Unlimited Dreamtime (new site here, old site/for The Screening here).

- S