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

Originally posted 3/30/07 Pioneering indie/punk/DIY filmmaker Jon Moritsugu's ultra-low budget, Hi-8 filmed, award winning feature Scumrock , a tale about the struggle between the career ambitions of aspiring young creatives and the arrival of their dreaded 30's, will screen at the Kensington Real Independent Film Festival (KRIFF) this fall. KRIFF happens September 6 - 9 in Kensington, Maryland. About Jon Moritsugu (adapted from the introduction to an interview I did with him in 2005): Jon Moritsugu has played his movies in, and won awards at, underground film festivals and he has also played his movies at international, mainstream forums including the Cannes film festival. He once made a 16 MM Panavision movie for PBS with a budget of over $350,000 and he has also made feature length movies for under $5,000. This versatile, very creative, always super independent, punk rock influenced and inspired American filmmaker has a two decade long resume and body of work that most cre

Yes, having your film reviewed by someone who totally didn't dig anything about it can be very amusing, check out Lucas McNelly's review of Date Number One for his uber-indie project, at the 100 Films blog. Of course getting positive reviews all last year, pretty much all of the 5 reviews from last year: The Chutry Experiment Hollywood Is Talking GreenCine Daily Boredom at its Boredest Still Lover & the majority of the audience feedback at screenings, were positive, & that helps in dealing with negative reviews. Mild amusement aside, Lucas's review will be staying far away from the Date Number One press packet. - Sujewa

And now the brief version of the story of her path to success with the "superhero comedy "Fartman: Caught in a Tight Ass" ", in director Tammy Caplan's own words: " I originally submitted the film for the Howard Stern film festival. I became a finalist but was disqualified because I missed the rule that said you couldn't use SAG actors. Howard TV liked the film so much though that they ran it on his channel for several months. I got into contact with Atom Films and they were interested in the film. Howard TV agreed to run it on Atom Films and now I'll actually be making some money from my first directing effort." Congratulations Tammy. Check out Fartman here . - Sujewa

IndieFilmPedia is a very new wiki project started by several indie filmmakers and indie film fans, including myself. I just posted an article on the Mumblecore film movement at the pedia. Being a wiki doc, the article will most likely get changed, altered, perhaps improved upon (as if that's possible :), by others, in days & weeks to come. So, here is the original version of the article, what I posted a few minutes ago: Mumblecore From IndieFilmPedia Jump to: navigation , search Mumblecore (also Mumblecorps or The Mumblecore Film Movement ) is the name of an early 21st century American independent film movement. The term Mumblecore originated around 2005 and then became better known in certain segments of the independent film industry (specially by filmmakers and bloggers who closely follow indieWIRE 's reporting), and more discussed, following the 2007 edition of the SXSW film festival . Mumblecore generally refers to films by Andrew Bujalski , Joe Swanberg , Aaron Ka

From GreenCine Daily's David Hudson's review of the movie : " There's a sentence in Jerry Brewington 's review of DN1 for Hollywood Is Talking that I find rather telling: "Story 2, 'A Romantic Dinner for Three,' was my favorite because I have to admit, I found the characters and the premise sexy, sexy, sexy." They are, but would Brewington have made the same observation in quite the same way in a review of, say, Two Girls and a Guy ? The relatively slick aesthetic (emphasis on "relatively") of James Toback 's film keeps us on our side of the screen, Robert Downey, Jr , Heather Graham and Natasha Gregson Wagner on theirs. In DN1 , we feel we're getting to know Kamal, Sunshine and Rupa and Shervin Boloorian, Jennifer Blakemore and Dele Williams, the actors who portray them, at the same time on two parallel tracks that never quite meet. We suspect that we could, any day of the week, run into any of the six - perhaps in that i

Inspiring & Noteworthy Ultra-low/"No" budget/low budget Real Indie/DIY Projects By 4 Asian-American Filmmakers: :: Early Greg Araki movies (The Living End, etc.) :: Early Jon Moritsugu movies (My Degeneration, Hippy Porn, etc.) & his 2003 Hi-8 feature Scumrock - Moritsugu also self-distributes many of his movies :: Gene Cajayon's The Debut - not sure how low budget this movie was but it surely was low budget by indiewood standards. but more importantly, this film is proof that theatrical self-distribution can earn some serious money - The Debut reportedly earned over a million dollars during its theatrical run :: Greg Pak's Robot Stories - same deal as The Debut re: budget, low, but not like $5K I think, and this one featured a little bit of Hollywood talent, but, definitely real indie: low budget & self-distributed, also with "non-traditional" casting - which is always very interesting. If you have not seen the movies mentioned above or any mo

Go here to check it out & contribute to this project that "aims to be a valuable resource for independent filmmakers and independent film fans".

Blogging is fun, but not as fun as making movies & distributing them. So, starting now, I am only going to blog when I absolutely must (announcements, press release type posts, dealing with stuff specifically dealing with Date Number One or one of my other projects). This might enable me to get more movies made & out this year (plus get more day job work done, & also be lazy & not do much more often :). Will be keeping an eye on all my blogs & posting stuff in them when absolutely necessary (one project that needs to be finished - and might have to be kept up from time to time - is adding links to Indie Features & also this blog), and will of course be reading other people's blogs & commenting when necessary, but otherwise, I am pretty much semi-retired from blogging & related activities - starting right now. Coming in the next few weeks from this "semi-retired from blogging" blogger, @ this blog: more info. on The Kensington Real Indep

I've got a pretty cool day job - at a used & rare bookstore in a very pretty town. But, making a feature length film and distributing it racks up some expenses. At some point in the near future, maybe this year, it seems possible to not only make a profit from the film project but also maybe cut back some on the day job work with the help of $s coming in from distributing the film. But, for the present moment, there are many bills to pay & more racking up every month. So I had an interview for another day job today. A very good one for a filmmaker & film enthusiast like myself. And it comes with good health benefits. I'll know in a couple of days if I got it. Either way, the search for more day job work is on. Now, some filmmakers may dread having day jobs or may want to do only film work for a living, but I kind of like the freedom that having a non-film day job (or two) brings. Of course the goal is to make a living from making & distributing exactly

The list of filmmakers that New Yorker Films has worked with is very impressive; ranges from Godard to Jarmusch & beyond. Here is a little about the company from their About Us page: " The company was founded in 1965 by Daniel Talbot as an outgrowth of his legendary movie house, the New Yorker Theater. Unable to obtain several crucial foreign titles, Talbot was obliged to import them himself. Early acquisitions such as Bertolucci's BEFORE THE REVOLUTION, Godard's LES CARABINIERS, and Sembene's BLACK GIRL established New Yorker's still vital tradition of presenting the world's most innovative, artistically significant, and politically engaged films." And I also found this paragraph about the company to be very interesting & inspiring: "In a time when the term "independent" has been loosely applied to subsidiaries of giant conglomerates, New Yorker stands as the most durable, important, and truly independent of independent film dist

Read all about it here . Unbelievable, but apparently true. - Sujewa

Charles Burnett's Killer of Sheep was shot on weekends in the 1970's for around $10,000, as a grad school thesis project. Now, about 30 years later, the much praised film is receiving a theatrical release. Read all about it at GreenCine Daily . - Sujewa

Read all about it here . Wish I could have been in the audience for that one, two of my secret indie/punk/DIY filmmaking heroes in one place! Thanks GreenCine Daily for the link. UPDATE: a pic of Moritsugu that i did some decorations on for an interview i did with him a couple of years back made its way over to the post mentioned above - the b&w pic with the red explosion around his head. fun to see a little side item i created randomly show up at a blog many months later, at a great post :) UPDATE 2: read part 2 of the panel discussion notes here . - Sujewa

Waco, Texas based director Chris Hansen's amusing and well made mockumentary The Proper Care & Feeding of an American Messiah will screen at the Kensington Real Independent Film Festival (KRIFF) in Kensington, Maryland. KRIFF, both a new film festival and a new kind of a film festival - one that celebrates real independent filmmaking in America and one that will share ticket sales revenue with filmmakers, happens September 6 - 9, 2007. Screening date and time for Messiah are to be determined. Messiah will be one of only 10 fiction feature films that will screen at the festival. KRIFF 2007 is the inaugural version of the film festival. Messiah is a low budget, actually independent comedy-drama about the misadventures of a character who believes he has been chosen for a special mission by the God of the Christians. The feature was made with the assistance of Baylor University students. The film is a real independent movie since it was created, as far as I can tell, without any

Fest: The Kensington Real Independent Film Festival , September 6 - 9 Aside from the two traditional ways of seeking movies for a film festival: call for entries/submissions & inviting films that I know about, I want to try a 3rd method: opening the floor up to the readers of my blog to nominate/suggest some movies that I should invite/try to get to screen at my fest. Read the 2 or 3 posts below this one to get a full idea about my fest. KRIFF will be a very good deal for indie filmmakers; they will get 15% of tix sales, assistance with travel/housing/food & a chance to sell their DVDs & other merch. And no submission fee. Here's what I am looking for: - Fiction features - No Hollywood or indiewood movies - no Hollywood or indiewood stars, or money, or control in or over these projects. (some exceptions maybe made if a Holly/indiewood actor has a tiny part/more of a favor to a home town friend as opposed to a major marketing move by the filmmaker or something like tha