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

So I took my short "Magnus & The Air Quotes Woman" from a DVD, turned it into an MPEG file (stumbled through that process, don't really know too much about it yet), and then uploaded it to Funny or DIE, MySpaceTV, & YouTube. On this one, the audio was reproduced best on Funny or DIE. The image was reproduced best on MySpaceTV I think. And YouTube was not as impressive as either of the first two. I am sure I bear a lot of responsibility for the quality outcome or perhaps I can improve audio & video playback quality on future clips by learning more about compression, codecs, etc. But for the Magnus short, my favorite for playback quality is the Funny or DIE version. Check all three out below & see which site produced the best playback quality for the short: @ Funny or DIE: Magnus & The Air Quotes Woman on FunnyOrDie.com @ MySpaceTV: Magnus and The Air Quotes Woman Add to My Profile | More Videos @ YouTube: - Sujewa

I thought this video was funny, and sad, which is of course the best kind of funny (well, maybe not the best, but one of the more interesting kinds of funny). Check it out: Desperation (a dating video) on FunnyOrDie.com

Magnus & The Air Quotes Woman on FunnyOrDie.com And the official description: "A man threatens to break up with his girlfriend if she does not change an annoying habit. Starring Christine D. Lee and Rob Morris. Written & Directed by Sujewa Ekanayake. Sound: Fritz Flad. In 2006 & early 2007 this story was a part of the feature Date Number One , now it is a separate short. Release date: 12/29/07. Running time: 3 minutes+ Copyright 2006 - 2007 Sujewa Ekanayake/Wild Diner Films." Happy holidays & happy new year all!!! hope ya enjoy the short. :: Related: "Magnus & The Air Quotes Woman" at YouTube :: - Sujewa

Heard about it at the Dischord site . Here is a description of the book: "The long awaited follow-up to the 1999 bestseller Fucked Up + Photocopied , Punk Is Dead: Punk Is Everything! exposes the lasting impact of Punk on visual culture worldwide. Hundreds of flyers, photos, set lists, vintage fashions and other ephemera from all of your favorite bands are jammed into this menacing volume. Punk is Dead is massive, featuring a wide spectrum of bands that initially catalyzed the scene, and later fueled its global expansion. Contributing writers such as Wayne Kramer, Arturo Vega, Kid Congo, David Yow, Annie Anxiety, Duane Peters, Marc McCoy, Tony Alva, Don Bolles, Trudie and Pat Smear, flesh out the visual assault. This long awaited follow-up to the highly influential bestselling book Fucked Up + Photocopied - Instant Art of the Punk Rock Movement also features hard hitting interviews with Ian MacKaye, one of the most respected voices of the DIY music underground, and Malcolm McLaren

I think I am going to have to spend some of my x-mas/holiday gift cards on these artifacts of 90's indie rock glory . Check out this review of Half-Cocked at, of all places, Variety ! A little bit from the Variety review : "Pic's strong suit is an authenticity unique among films dealing with the slacker and '90s college-radio milieu. Cast with non-actors who play in indie bands and shot on the Southeastern club circuit, it starts out seeming almost like a modern WPA docuabout the young and disaffected in Louisville, Ky., with its p.o.v. thoroughly that of the grungy subjects. Yet it also evinces a crucial measure of ironic distance, which emerges in the tale's ruefully witty unfolding." Get the DVD, & watch a clip, here . - Sujewa

Yes, Dogme 95 movies are not the only kind that Von Trier makes. This one is probably of interest to thousands of dudes (and some ladies no doubt) who have never heard of, or care about, Danish film or the Dogme manifesto. Read a little bit about Von Trier's other filmmaking career here , if ya haven't heard about it already. - Sujewa

In the fast moving digital age indie film world 2002 was a looong time ago, but as I was researching the topic of straight-to-DVD and its possible new & underdeveloped uses for real indie filmmakers, I came upon this '02 article by David "GreenCine Daily" Hudson aka everyone's favorite film blogger. Though some of the things he mentions are no longer questions or possibilities, the following observation caught my eye: "Some argue that without theatrical release, a film won't get reviewed and that without that free but vital publicity, it doesn't stand a chance. But very, very few electronic games are ever reviewed by the New York Times. And yet the gaming industry is bigger than the movie industry. Gamers know where to go for their new[*] and reviews. What's more: games don't get theatrical release." [*david probably meant "news" there] Read the rest of David's article here . Yes, it would make sense to look at the electroni

Interesting discussion at a Criterion Forum about how one Japanese director has made & released quality movies using the "straight-to-DVD" production & release method/avenue. Over here in the US straight-to-DVD has generally been a wasteland (or is considered as such by many mainstream consumers, as far as I can tell), but perhaps real indie filmmakers with good movies can use that method of release in a profitable way (no theatrical release expenses, plus there may be other benefits - like greater independence from relying on festivals & critics/reviewers/bloggers for justifying the existence of a film in the market place; as in - if it is already available on DVD for purchase & viewing, then sales figures & the audience response can determine if more money & time needs to be/can be invested in a given title for further exposure & profit/sales, regardless of what fest programmers or critics think about, or not think about, the movie). Also, as one

Check out the interview here . I liked this statement by Araki: "Because I also edit my movies and am really involved in the color timing, I see every movie I make literally 500 or a thousand times, and if I ever made a movie only because I was getting paid I don't think I could take it. You have to love it; it has to be something that's really personal to you that you love." The rest here . - Sujewa

Check it out here . Here is a little bit from the introduction to the interview: "And in today’s virtual world, friends, fans and consumers are, more times than not, the same thing. To help harness that and to increase the ability of filmmakers to efficiently reach core audiences, Breakthrough Distribution , in conjunction with several partners, is building a cooperative database which will be called Indiefanbase. The site will attempt to aggregate and mine the fanbases of individual filmmakers, publishers and nonprofits to help market and target creative content and products. I spoke with Jeff Rosen, one of the four team members that run Breakthrough, about the enormous potential of the Internet and what the distribution company has in store for the near future." And here again is the interview link . Might be a useful thing to read for indie filmmakers. - Sujewa

Check out the long, excellent essay " Alone at the movies; My days in the dark with Robert Altman and Woody Allen " by Mark Edmundson at The American Scholar (thanks GreenCine Daily for the link). Here is a paragraph from it: "Might not this be a little like my own condition, or at least a condition I could aspire to? I could, maybe, give up questing for big and exciting things (Those connections! Those parties! That job!) and stop resenting the people who enjoyed them. I could amble and loaf and look around and perhaps store up a few impressions. I was low on cash most of the time, sure, but I had enough to get by. What I had in excess was what Altman and his camera seemed to have, time—time and a marvelous place to spend it, Manhattan, the greatest paradise for walkers and loiterers and trippers and ramblers ever created. Looking around—affectionately, forgivingly, gently—turned out not to be a half bad way of expanding the day. In this particular ambling mo

Critic Nathan Lee at the Village Voice says Greg Araki's new feature Smiley Face is "an eleventh-hour candidate for the funniest movie of 2007". Read the whole review here (thanks GreenCine Daily for the link!). And here's a bit more from the Lee/Voice review: "Confused? Just ride, man: Points B–Y will take Jane, aspiring actress, from an audition that ends with her offering to sell the casting agent a baggie to having a dentist-office freakout in the company of an über-dork who might be able to lend her the cash to pay the dealer and give her a ride to the 33rd Annual Venice Hemp Festival. Visiting the house of a former professor in Marxist studies, she'll inadvertently get her hands on an original copy of The Communist Manifesto (and promptly daydream the glorious results of an eBay auction) and later head to a pork-processing plant in the middle of nowhere, and so on and so forth with maximum silliness, deft narrative drive, and dialogue of sustai

The main ideas for my new "no budget" (under $1K, at least that's the budget plan now :) feature "Bears" (working title, more on the flick here ) came from hanging out with an old friend of mine - Brian Papin - in the DC area for a couple of years in the late 90's & early '00s. We had some very interesting conversations/arguments about the world, history, individual abilities & responsibilities, as well as a lot of whacked out funny conversations, and some of those ideas & events should work their way into the movie. Brian is slated to play the lead in the flick as of now. I am going to play a supporting role (didn't know I acted did ya? :) Brian lives in the Atlanta area & has many daily/weekly responsibilities (house! jobs! kids!), so I will have to go down to Atlanta for a couple of weeks & shoot the flick there, since it will be difficult for Brian to come down (or is it up?) to DC for an extended period of time. We are a

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