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

Congrats Democrats. I guess it is time for all those people who moved to Canada after the '04 elections to move back :) The counts are close in Virginia & Montana - Democrats leading right now, but NBC just called Missouri for the Democratic Senate candidate. It is going to be a very interesting & hopefully better 2 years than the previous 2, starting later today. I think Democrats will take the Senate, of course they already have the House. Off to sleep now, will know for sure later today (unless VA goes into recount). Congrats again Democrats. - Sujewa

It's very rare for me to go "wow, i wish i had made that movie" - because most movies are bad or just adequate, but the 90's flick Flirting With Disaster by David O. Russell is one of those very rare, truly excellent movies. I just watched it again, on DVD this time. In Flirting a young farther - played by Ben Stiller, goes all over America searching for his real parents, and his wife, his new yet-unnamed 4 month old son, & an accident prone adoption counselor come along for the ride. I saw Flirting in the theater when it came out many years ago. The movie is still a treat, with a younger Ben Stiller & a rarely-seen-in-features & super hot Tea Leoni who plays her adoption counselor role incredibly well (i think its Leoni's character & the performance that is the key to the flick's success, u r always expecting something to go wrong when she is around & u can't wait to see what it will be, also, she is a welcome point of escape from the

Looks like Adrienne Shelly may have been murdered. Here's the story . Although, the following from the news story sounds weird: " Pillco allegedly punched the 5-foot-2 actress after she complained about the noise he was making in the West Village apartment building where her office is located, killing her. He then allegedly admitted to dragging the body up to her office, and positioning her in the shower to make her death look like a suicide." How can a person kill another person with a punch or several punches? I am sure it is possible, but it probably is difficult and would leave signs of struggle on the body. Didn't the initial news reports say that there was no unusual damage to the body? Also, how did the alleged killer know where Shellys office was? Why did this person go into the office with a dead body - how did he know that there wasn't anyone else there? Also, the dude would have to be very odd in order to respond to a noise complaint by attacking a pers

At one time, I hear, indie & foreign films used to play in some theaters for months, even years. I know that a Jon Moritsugu film played at a theater in Paris for over a year. Jon told me so, I believe him. If I recall anything close to correctly, back in the early days of the humans, there were two kinds of tribes/civilizations: the nomads & the farmers. Having your film play in one movie theater/screening venue for a loooong time sounds similar to farming to me. Taking your film from theater to theater, from city to city, sounds like a nomadic hunter type thing. But a wide Hollywood type release that stays on screens for months is a combination of the two, perhaps. It is fairly easy for me to get an audience in DC, even with minimal publicity. So, I am going to try the agricultural approach next, try to get Date Number One to play at a DC venue for a long time. Maybe a month to start with. Definitely more than a week. In March perhaps. The Warehouse Screening Room screening o

I do not know what Borat would say about the new movie Dance Party, USA ( myspace ). But here is what some other people who are not fake journalists making movie films about America are saying about Dance Party, USA: "Challenging, gritty, and true."-The Austin Chronicle "Dance Party, USA is so emotionally resonant, so heartbreaking yet hopeful, so tender yet intense, so realistic yet ethereal that its mesmerizes the viewer and holds their attention rapt... [It] might very well be the best independent film that I will see all year."-filethirteen.com "Impressive. The actors are tremendous. I watched it and couldn't quite figure out how it came together. That elusive quality is something special."-Andrew Bujalski (Director, Funny Ha Ha & Mutual Appreciation) "Dance Party, USA snuck up on me, which is a testament to writer/director Katz... He captures the empty conversation of young people... It's funny, but then it's kind of sad."-A

Well, not really, but if their blog was one of their movies, I am sure that's what the Criterion blog would look like. Once, a few years ago, I was getting ready to break up with a girlfriend so that I can do some research for Date Number One , but the girl gave me Criterion's Down By Law for Christmas. It is difficult to break up with someone who gives you a Criterion movie as a gift. The above story is not entirely true. But Criterion's new blog is. Check it out . - Sujewa

According to Filmmaker Magazine's blog Adrienne Shelly, a star of Hal Hartley's The Unbelievable Truth (one of my favorite films of all time) has died. Very, very sad. Shelly had recently directed Waitress, a yet unreleased feature. To remember Shelly & celebrate her life & work, here is a link to a great 2002 indieWIRE interview, conducted by Anthony Kaufman, regarding the Shelly directed film "I'll Take You There": http://www.indiewire.com/people/int_Shelly_Adrienne_000413.html Here is an excerpt from the interview where Shelly recalls getting the "green light" from producer Jim Stark to make the movie: "...I had this experience where I was having this very tough period where I was trying to work as an actor a lot, and I nearly got my own series on television. And then I was hired and fired off of an episode of "Spin City," which was a particularly humiliating role, that I didn't really want to do anyway where I played this m

get more info. here screening # 12 !The Final Screening of 2006! SAT NOVEMBER 4 :: 8 PM :: $6 a benefit screening for We Are Family, a DC non-profit that assists the elderly WAREHOUSE Screening Room 1017-21 7th St., NW Washington, DC 20001 202-783 3933 directions *** UPDATE : 11/2, 4:50 AM: Thanks The Home Improvement Ninja blog in DC for mentioning the screening!

Whenever people are down about how difficult or impossible it is to build a filmmaking career through self-distribution, I point to Lance Weiler. Lance recently finished a healthy D.I.Y. theatrical run of his new feature Head Trauma , his self-distributed feature #2, & started selling the film's DVD. This article from a couple of days ago briefly mentions Lance's upcoming projects. - Sujewa

From one of Chris " The Proper Care & Feeding of an American Messiah " Hansen's recent blog entries from the Virginia Film Festival: " About 15 minutes before the show, I started counting people. 22. Okay, I was thinking, maybe three dozen will show, a decent audience (if you have low expectations from previous festival experiences. But people kept coming. And coming. And coming." Read the rest here: http://christopherhansen.blogspot.com/2006/10/blogging-virginia-film-festival.html And there's more after that, check it out, Day 2: http://christopherhansen.blogspot.com/2006/10/virginia-film-festival-day-2.html And some more, Day 3, where Chris encounters an unfamiliar kind of Christianity: http://christopherhansen.blogspot.com/2006/10/virginia-film-festival-day-3.html - Sujewa

The Texas indie film Jumping Off Bridges is coming to my 'hood, here's the intro to the event: "November 15th, NIH’s Office of Science Education (OSE) and National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), in partnership with the Mental Health Association of Montgomery County and the AFI Silver Theatre, will host a special film screening and tribute to Dr. Wayne Fenton , recognizing his love of film and dedication to public awareness and education about mental illness. This Science in the Cinema Special Event will include the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area premiere of the film jumping off bridges. For more information ." I am gonna try to be there. Go here for more info. on the event. - Sujewa