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

Exciting. Don't know much about the film yet, but I guess the idea is to do a follow up to Andy Warhol's film Empire, which is of/about the Empire State Building. Here's the trailer, check it out: Get more info. about Empire II and Amos Poe here . - Sujewa

Check out No New Cinema: Punk and No Wave Underground Film 1976 - 1984 by Harris Smith here . Here is a section from the first paragraph: " This brief movement, which had no particular name but is sometimes referred to as “No Wave” (after the underground music scene it shared many players in common with) or “New Cinema” (after a short-lived screening room on St. Mark’s Place run by several filmmakers on the scene), remains largely unknown, and yet had a significant impact on both underground film, spawning the Cinema of Transgression (Beth B, Richard Kern, Nick Zedd, Tessa Hughes Freeland and others) and the notion of mainstream independent film in New York (Jim Jarmusch, Tom DiCillo, Steve Buschemi, Vincent Gallo)." Read the rest here . A clip from the No Wave film The Foreigner , released in 1978, directed by Amos Poe : - Sujewa

iW's Eugene H . got in touch today about the post I made several days ago re: doing a live meeting of some or most of the bloggers who post at iW's blogs page (and other film/indie film bloggers in NYC who are interested in meeting up, and friends, of course - a group hangout event built around at least a few of the iW bloggers core is basically the plan). Here's the latest re: the event: Date - Thursday, August 23 (let us know if this is a good day iW bloggers) Time of Day : night, exact start time to be determined - 9 PM? Place : tbd, Eug . suggests a bar, & the event to begin after the Apple Store SoHo event re: Generation DIY screening series happening that night. Suggest some possible bars iW bloggers - I guess a place close to Apple Store SoHo would be good. More info. coming soon, obviously Looking forward to meeting up w/ some iW bloggers & friends. And of course hanging out in the "recently liberated for indie, DIY, & amature filmmaking & to

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