ARTHOUSE FILM NEWS - Cosmic Disco Detective Rene at Facets, Chicago 11/29/23

Subodh Samudre & Jewel Greenberg from Date Number One Copyright 2006 Sujewa Ekanayake/Wild Diner Films After its rocktastic NYC premiere on 8/31, Date Number One resumes its screenings with a show at Capital City Microcinema/Kensington Row Bookshop on Thu 10/5. Here's all the info., see ya there DC people: DATE NUMBER ONE http://www.wilddiner.com/ a comedy about several first dates a movie by sujewa ekanayake Thu Oct 5, 2006 :: 7:30 PM :: $5 Capital City Microcinema at Kensington Row Bookshop 3786 Howard Ave., Kensington, MD 20895 301.949.9416 :: MapQuest :: Directions "Date Number One" is a comedy about several first dates. This 115 minute movie is made up of 5 different stories: Story 1: Just Another Ninja Searching For Love, about a ninja who goes on a blind date (ninja is played by John Stabb Schroeder from the DC punk band G.I.), Story 2: A Romantic Dinner For 3, about a woman attempting to add a third partner to a romantic relationship, Story 3: Washington &

Tara Wray's SXSW '06 audience award winning doc Manhattan, Kansas will be on tour in the South in October, DVD available now from the filmmaker . For tour dates check here . Here's the intro to the film from the Southern Arts Federation web site: " When she was nineteen years old, director Tara Wray fled her childhood home of Manhattan, Kansas after her mother, in a mentally unstable state, threatened to kill her. “My mother was my entire life,” she says, “But, we were always running from her demons, both real and imagined.” Her mother’s undiagnosed emotional and mental state terrorized Wray for years. “One minute she was Mom—funny, tiny, strong, a pleasure to be around. Mom,” recalls Wray, “Then she was Not-Mom—scary, dark, shrunken, yet huge. I spent my whole life trying to anticipate which one was present, which one might show up next. It made me a pretty tightly-wound kid.” Following five years of estrangement, Wray knew it was time to go back – with her camera.&qu

- Sujewa

A Fame Whore DVD that is :) Fame Whore is a 1997 film by Jon Moritsugu . It will soon be out on DVD. The DVD I received today is nicely packaged - excellent cover design. Here is a quoted portion from a review or a description of the movie, from the back of the DVD: "Fame Whore cuts between three interwoven stories examining our culture's lust for that elusive state when everybody knows your name. The triptych includes an all-American tennis star hounded by rumors that he's gay, a trust fund brat on a demonic quest for celebrity and an idealized innocent so isolated he's created a six-foot Saint Bernard as an imaginary friend." - FILMMAKER And I assume that quote is from Filmmaker Magazine. Other praise from LA weekly , Los Angeles Times and Jane magazine can be found on the back of the DVD. Looking forward to checking out Fame Whore. Will write a review of it here. - Sujewa

Check it out here . Very inspirational for DIY distributors, I think. Thanks for putting it together Lance! - Sujewa

Go Team Bridges! Lots of D.I.Y. distribution action below, from a recent Indie Features 06 post: Upcoming Screenings of jumping off bridges For a full list of screenings, visit www.jumpingoffbridges.com . San Antonio, TX – 9/30 Saturday, September 30th 7:00pm Historic Guadalupe Theater (1301 Guadalupe Street @ South Brazos) Tickets are $8 and can be purchased at the door. Co-sponsored by the Bexar SPC Panel discussion will follow the screening featuring. Austin, TX – 10/3 Tuesday, October 3rd 7:00pm Alamo Drafthouse South (1120 South Lamar) Tickets are $10.00 general admission Advanced Tickets available at: http://www.originalalamo.com/lamar/frames.asp Co-sponsored by the Travis County SPC Panel discussion will follow the screening with filmmakers and actors in attendance. New Haven, CT – 10/5 Thursday, October 5th 7:00pm Critereon Theater (86 Temple St) Tickets are $9.00 (Advanced Tickets Available) Tuscaloosa, AL – 10/5 Thursday, October 5th 7:00pm

Congrats Brian! Here is the official press release: Popular The Film Panel Notetaker Blog Relaunches With New Website NEW YORK, N.Y. – Sept. 25, 2006 — The Film Panel Notetaker, the first-of-its-kind blog created in 2005 by Brian Geldin, who provides public relations services for burgeoning independent filmmakers, has relaunched with a new website, www.thefilmpanelnotetaker.com . The blog, well-regarded among independent filmmakers throughout the country, comprises detailed film panel discussion notes taken by Geldin at various panels he attends at film festivals, conferences, and seminars. “I created The Film Panel Notetaker as a way for film industry novices, as well as veterans, to access notes at panel discussions they were not able to attend themselves,” said Geldin. “I welcome guest notetakers for panels I cannot attend myself, and I encourage anyone who attends the same panels as me to post their own notes in the blog’s ‘comments’ section.” Last week, Geldin attended The Indepen

25 years later, the hardcore punk rockers continue to inspire artists & activists. I learned about the DIY ethic from the DC punk/indie rock scene of the early 90's, which came out of the (and were mostly some of the same key people) earlier DC harDCore scene of the 80's. Find out about those DC bands (Minor Threat, D.O.A., G.I., Iron Cross, etc. in the 80's & in the post-harDCore 90's: Fugazi, Blue Tip, The Nation of Ulysses, etc.) at the Dischord Records website. Read all about the new doc about the US hardcore scene, 1980 - 86, titled AMERICAN HARDCORE, at this Filmmaker Magazine interview. More on this flick coming soon. - Sujewa

One of the repeated items in my movie Date Number One is a discussion about a Sri Lankan-French merchant colony in Medieval Japan. When I wrote the script in '04 I knew of no ancient/pre-2oth century contact between the French and the Sri Lankans. But tonight I found, in a book titled The Heritage of The Bhikkhu, originally published in 1946 in Sinhala & translated to English in 1974, by the monk Walpola Rahula, the following sentence on page 58, chapter: The Dutch Period: "In 1672 a French fleet arrived in Ceylon. King Rajasimha II , who learned that the French were against the Dutch, permitted them to build a fortress near the harbor of Trincomalee, with the hope of getting their help to defeat the Dutch." So, if Rahula is correct, then there was significant contact between the French & the Sri Lankans (Ceylon is a former name for Sri Lanka). This contact did not happen in Medieval Japan, but, a French FLEET & a FORTRESS in 1672 Sri Lanka, that is very sign

Yeah, it's pretty difficult to make my low budget superdelicious comedy/romantic comedy movies w/ out actors. Luckily for me, DC's got a thing called Stonehenge - mass auditions for indie films. The next Stonehenge is happening on Sat 9/30. Here is the intro to the event from their web site : " Stonehenge Basics: What? Stonehenge is a one-day event held twice a year in Washington DC. If you're an actor, think of it as a mass audition like the League auditions. You'll be able to perform a monologue in front of 20 or more production companies looking to produce films in the next six months. If you're a filmmaker, think of Stonehenge as a mass casting tool, showing you over 100 actors whom you might call back to read for a specific part. If you're a National Film Challenge team looking for actors, this is a great way to find them. The goal of Stonehenge is to be simple, effective, and inexpensive (free for actors, a small fee for companies). Past Stonehen

Not really sure how this happened but it is very cool. The New York Times web site has a relatively empty page (for now maybe, perhaps over time stuff will be added to it) for my film Date Number One . Well, at least someone there knows about the movie. Not a bad thing at all. Here's the link for the DNO on NYT site page . Enjoy :) - Sujewa