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

Julia Stemper on L, John Stabb Schroeder on R, a scene from Date Number One. Photo Copyright 2006 Sujewa Ekanayake/Wild Diner Films Date Number One actor (ninja in story 1 of DNO) & long time musician John Stabb Schroeder was seriously injured in mid-July from a random assault by 5 criminals (who will all hopefully meet some horrible fate soon) in John's neighborhood. The good news is that John is OK, recovering from surgery at the moment, but the bad news is that there are big medical bills to pay. So a few friends of John have organized some benefit events, get the info. here . The 1st benefit concert is happening this Friday 8/10 at the Velvet Lounge in DC. More info. here . Here is the current line up for the show, from Velvet Lounge's site : . Dave Smalley (ex-Dag Nasty/Down By Law), Marc Ganancias , The Saviors, Pup Tent , Lorelei (Slumberland), Jerry Busher (of FUGAZI / French Toast/ All Scars) . Related : Zuo Press is using proceeds from the sales of their book Go

9'000 plus views is pretty awesome for a not yet released (not even full on marketed/promoted yet), ultra-indie, ultra-low budget flick's YouTube trailer, I think. Looking forward to seeing James "Afro-Punk" Spooner's new flick (this one is fiction) White Lies, Black Sheep when it's ready & out. Here's the trailer: white lies black sheep trailer Add to My Profile More Videos - Sujewa

Like certain varieties of punk rock, Jon Moritsugu's movies are an acquired taste for many, but I love several of his movies because: 1) they are fun & thought provoking (interesting thoughts that is) & playful, and 2) they baffle people who worship Hollywood production values & Filmmaking 101 rules (challenging/ignoring established norms is essential for further growth of an art form, in this case an art/entertainment form; just think how dull the history of painting would be if every generation of painters stuck to expressionistic/El Greco type painting). Check out the trailer for his most recent, award winning, Hi-8 analog video shot, featuring TV on the Radio's Kyp Malone, flick Scumrock here: - Sujewa

Check out this excellent trailer for Aaron Katz's low-budget but sweet looking new movie Quiet City: Quiet City Trailer Add to My Profile More Videos Quiet City will be playing 8/29 - 9/4 at the IFC Center in NYC. For those of us who are not living in NYC, Benten Films is going to release the DVD of Quiet City (according to Cinematical ), at some point in the not too distant future I believe. - Sujewa

Yup, now this blog is called DIY FILM EXPLOSION. And yes, very likely I will change the name again in the future. At least the URL always stays the same, so that's good. I got the idea for this name from the fact that recently, within the last couple of years, DIY film (ultra-low budget, self-reliant production & self-distribution) has become a mainstream indie film world recognized (better recognized & respected I should say) & celebrated sub genre (indieWIRE's Editor-in-Chief Eugene Hernandez mentions it here in a post re: a very important topic, and IFC Center is about to do a screening series called Generation DIY ), a large number of excellent & mainstream accessible DIY films have appeared so far in this decade (more on that here - a list of 7 films, but there are hundreds of great DIY films out there now), and there is bound to be a lot more DIY films made & released in the near future due to technological changes (digital video/HD is getting bet

I am still on my "blog vacation" meaning I am only going to blog when I run across some really interesting thing that I feel like sharing. This movie, Musician, playing early September at Pioneer Theater in NYC, sounds interesting. Here is the description of the film from Pioneer's page : "Common sense says you can't make a living in America playing atonal improvisational jazz. But Ken Vandermark does it anyway. Among musicians, Vandermark's work ethic is almost mythic: the Chicago reed player has made over 100 records with over 40 ensembles, releases about one album per month, spends over eight months per year on the road, and lives every other waking moment composing, arranging, performing - and taking his dog Bill to canine counseling. Though Vandermark was the recipient of a 1999 MacArthur Genius grant, he still spends most of his life in smoky clubs and low-budget recording studios, hoping people will plunk down hard-earned cash to hear his wholly non-c

Off to leisurely explore the off-the-web world for a while, see ya when I get back. - Sujewa

I liked Aaron Katz's first feature Dance Party USA , so I am looking forward to checking out his second, Quiet City , whenever it rolls my way. Here's is eFilmCritic's review of the movie. QC will be screening in NYC 8/29 - 9/4 at the IFC Center . - Sujewa

Angry Filmmaker Kelley Baker is on the road with his daughter Fiona, screening movies. Here's their latest blog entry . - Sujewa

Here's Pamela Cohn's first blog entry from the event. - Sujewa

Get the exciting news here , from Picture New York . Congrats to Picture New York, other interested people, and NYC Mayor's Office of Film on keeping New York City open for filming & photography by all (at least for now/30+ days while new rule proposals are devised & made open for public comments). This story is not over yet, but so far, very good. - Sujewa

Yes, the first decade of the 2000's - the 00's - are not over yet, we've got over 2 years to go, but so far quite a few important DIY (do-it-yourself, independent, low-budget, self-distributed to a significant degree) movies have been released (theatrically and on DVD in most cases, whatever is not out on DVD yet should be out pretty soon - w/ in the next couple of months I believe). I have written about these movies at length in the past, so I'll provide the link & a very brief intro. to each here. If you are interested, go explore. If you are into good/well made/entertaining DIY films, DIY filmmaking, & self-distro, the movies are highly likely to entertain or enlighten you and the amazing "making of" & "distribution of" stories behind them are highly likely to get you motivated towards getting your own excellent DIY movies done & out. And here are the movies: The Debut A coming of age story. Theatrically self-distributed, earning s

AJ Schnack in Silver Spring, MD, June 2007 Schnack speaking after receiving an award from the SilverDocs film festival for his film Kurt Cobain About A Son :: In June I spoke with director AJ Schnack about his wildly creative documentary Kurt Cobain About A Son ( blog , MySpace ), which is about the deceased Nirvana singer Kurt Cobain. The film uses elements of recorded conversations/Cobain speaking and visuals from three Washington state cities to reveal aspects of Cobain's life that may be unfamiliar to many audience members. See my review of the movie here . This interview happened during the 2007 SilverDocs film festival in Silver Spring, Maryland, about an hour before About A Son won the Cinematic Vision Feature Award from the fest. . Sujewa : AJ, thanks a lot for taking some time out for this interview. So, how did you get into filmmaking & why have you focused thus far on punk/indie-rock related acts? . AJ : I studied journalism in college, mostly because it seemed l

Happy August everyone! At long last DVDs of my '06 completed movie Date Number One will be available for sale by Wednesday August 15, 2007 - in a mere 14 days or less. I want to keep showing the film theatrically for months to come so initially the DVD will be available from a few places on the web & a few retail stores in the non-web world. Some people have been hearing about this movie for well over a year now, so for those people, the time to see the movie on DVD is very near. Will have details on extras, packaging, music, regions, etc. in the coming days. Cost: $12, US postage paid by yours truly/Wild Diner Films. Customers from other countries please add $2. To order the DVD: Send a check or money order for $12 (for US based customers) or $14 (for customers from other countries), made out to Sujewa Ekanayake to: Wild Diner Films 10408 Montgomery Ave. Kensington, MD 20895 If you have any questions re: a DVD order e-mail me at: wilddiner@aol.com . Or call me at 240-354-3394

Check out this most excellent Rolling Stone article about AJ Schnack's wildly creative doc Kurt Cobain About A Son. I am transcribing a long interview of Schnack that I did back in June at SilverDocs, should have it up here this week. Make sure you set aside some of your indiefilmblog reading time for that goodie, otherwise you might find youself mysteriously sad down the road, and we don't want that, do we? - Sujewa