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

I hung out this past weekend with Iraq war veteran Jim White (if I recall correctly Jim spent a year in Iraq with an Army reserve unit & prior to that he was in the Marines for, I think, 20 year). When he is not busy being a soldier, Jim is a photographer & graphic designer. Check out some of Jim's Iraq photos & graphic design work here . - Sujewa

our lovely hostess Jen B. (Sunshine from Story 2 of Date Number One )

above: Rob (Magnus from Story 4) and on the screen: Steve (from Story 3 of Date Number One ) above: Stephen (one of the exec producers of Date Number One ) above: Jewel (Missy from Story 1 & Story 5 of Date Number One ) more pics coming soon...

above: Jen B., Rob, and Jen H. (friend of Jen B.) watching Date Number One above: Jen H. watching Dele, Jen B., & Shervin in a scene from Story 2 of Date Number One above: Jen H., Sujewa (DNO director aka self), Jen B. above: Jen B., Sujewa, Jewel [w/ Steve from Story 3 on the screen] above: Jen B., Fritz (from Story 4 of DNO)

above: Fritz, Jen B., Rob, Jen H. Happy 1 Year Anniversary (since the World Premiere on May 13, 2006) Date Number One!

originally published 8/6/06 Here's the link to the interview with John Stabb Schroeder, DC punk rock star/actor who plays the ninja Mark H. Temonium in Date Number One . Here's a taste of the interview: " Sujewa : One more question about "Date Number One": has playing a ninja rubbed off on your regular life activities - do you find yourself creeping along the wall at work or using small smoke bombs to cover your exit when you make a quick get away from a difficult social situation or using ninja martial arts techniques to get on to or get off of a crowded metro train? JSS : Not yet. But sometimes I like to put on the ninja outfit and headgear to go out on “ninja night maneuvers”- ha! " Enjoy. - Sujewa

originally published in a slightly different form on 2/6/07 Too hot to think? Summer got you down? Not too excited about the movies any more? Then go to The House Next Door blog & read this conversation between film reviewers Matt Zoller Seitz and Keith Uhlich re: cinema & 2006. The internet , & specifically blogs, are definitely good things for thinking & talking about movies, moviemaking & all manner of related topics. I can't imagine an article that interesting appearing in an easily accessible print medium anytime soon. And even if something like that article /post were to be printed in a magazine, not many people will have access to it because they either won't know about it, or by the time they hear about it the edition may be out of circulation or they won't acquire it because it will cost money to do so. But blog posts are free to read (most of them at least, right now), easy & relatively inexpensive to put up, and can be there on the web

That's from this Woody Allen interview at Spiegel . The interview is about Allen 's film Melinda and Melinda . - Sujewa

* Saw Knocked Up last night, good stuff, certainly one way to go with the "keeping an unexpected pregnancy" story line in a comedy, there can definitely be other takes on the subject, the audience at Silver Spring's Majestic theater dug it. Made me think about changes I can make to DNO to play to that audience/type of venue (big suburban movie theater), which leads to the final item in this post, but before that; (oh, spent most of the movie thinking about a recent-ex, very sad :( good thing i was watching a comedy) * New housemates - for the month of June & beyond we had 3 rooms open in the shared house that I live in, got 3 new housemates, one is an Iraq war veteran (lots of sad first hand accounts about the war, dude says it is a mistake for the US to be there now & was a mistake to go in the first place), lots of stuff happening at the house. Should be interesting. * Stomach ache - had me knocked out pretty much all day yesterday, I think it was the Ethio

Often times the film people I know and the film people that a lot of the indie film media writes about live in two different worlds; almost, it feels like, in two different time periods, but then, sometimes, these two worlds come together as they do here in this awesome & rather lengthy conversation with Charles Burnett conducted by David Lowery . Check it out. - Sujewa

Check it out here , at Reverse Shot , good stuff. Need to see Syndromes & also Mysterious Object at Noon . I see some familiar ideas in descriptions & reviews of Weerasethakul's movies, and also through interviews with him. - Sujewa

slowly figuring out the details re: Date Number One theatrical for rest of '07. should have the exact dates & venues worked out in/by July, will announce the details, most likely, after the July 12 - 18 DC area run (in Kensington, MD). so, if I can do at least 1 week each in NYC & LA this year (on top of the upcoming 1 week in the DC area), that would be a minor theatrical self-distribution success for DNO (for '07 at least). will have DVDs available for sale in June ( from my website ), working on them as I write this, for everyone who does not live in DC, NYC or LA (or also for those who do & want to see/own the flick on DVD) . hopefully i can screen the film at several more cities this year, aside from the week+ long runs in the 3 cities mentioned. but DC, NYC & LA is a very good start for longer/1 week+ runs (beyond a day or a weekend, we did 13 of those in '06 & so far in '07) for DNO. yeah, it is entirely possible that this initial distribution

Check it out here , at Landmark Theater's house organ FLM magazine . Here is a sample: "I have been asked a number of times, “Is Hollywood racist?” I fear that the people who pose that question are in denial. I hate when people counter by saying, “If Hollywood is the problem, make your own films, create your own studio and distribution system.” Anyone who knows this business knows that is not the answer. " Read the rest here . - Sujewa

originally posted 5/21/07 See Michael Rapaport announce the Live Mansion lead actors & director here. Steve is very excited. He did an excellent job in Date Number One (lead male in Story 3, the one with the bell). Looks like he will be getting a bit more fame from this upcoming project. From comingsoon.net (red highlight mine): " The winners of the LiveMansion: The Movie Casting Call and Director Competition are: Damian Maffei is Jack Keelen Monahan is Envin Joe Pacillo is Clyde Steve Lee is Derek Julie Wions is Rebecca Hannah Fierman is MeeGan LaMyra Kinzer is Janelle Melissa Roth is Sabrina Mitch Gettleman – Director LiveMansion: The Movie is the creation of LiveMansion.com, a social network of film fans, actors, directors, producers and those aspiring to be. Over a thousand actors competed to win one of the eight main roles and over two hundred directors competed to win the rights to direct the film, which will be a thriller. More than 700,000 votes were cast

* * * * * * * * Julia Stemper as Anne the Karate Woman & John Stabb Schroeder as Mark the Ninja from Date Number One . photo copyright 2006 sujewa ekanayake/wild diner films * Originally published 5/20/06 Tom Kipp, Seattle resident (& former film reviewer for the Seattle alterna weekly The Stranger, if I heard correctly), came to the 7 PM show today. Here's an interview: Sujewa: So Tom, how did you hear about my movie playing at NWFF tonight? Tom: Well, I was checking the NWFF website yesterday for info about LOVE STREAMS, and quite randomly found the blurb about DATE NUMBER ONE. I read parts of your blog, and couldn't resist a film about D.C.! [I lived in Burke, VA for five years--'87 to '92--and used to hang out in D.C. all the time.] Sujewa: Excellent. Glad you came. So how did you like the movie (feel free to elaborate :)? Tom: I thought the framing device you deployed [having all the characters in some way appended to the Adams-Morgan bookstore] was quite e