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

this & the next photo were taken from inside a 24-hour diner a couple of blocks away from anthology that's anthology at night, on mon jan 5 photos copyright 2009 sujewa ekanayake

If you dig my blogs or my movies, you can now become one of my fans at this Facebook Celebrities/Public Figures page I created for myself. It's DIY micro-celebrity time yo :) Thanks to iW's JUMP CUTS blog for getting me started on making a filmmaker fan page. So, in conclusion, here's my Facebook Filmmaker fan page . Thanks! - Sujewa

The couple of nights when indieWIRE was out/not there were a little bit uncomfortable & disorienting ('cause iW is one of the first sites I visit when I get on the web after sleeping all day & before I start the night's hard partying w/ other DIY filmmakers & also actors/actresses (is that word still in use? probably should be - I vote yes on that) & of course fellow Bed Stuy based indie film bloggers (there's like 17 of us, we all get breakfast at Snack Town @ Broadway & Malcolm X every weekday morning, right before we go to sleep). But anyway, very glad to see the old iW back in business - and looking very sweet & brand new. I like the new look - easier to deal with, and design wise feels like 2009 (maybe even a little 2010). Congratulations to Team iW & anyone else who had a hand in coming up with the new site. - Sujewa

Check it out here .

Check out this cool post & interview re: animator Mark Stansberry at TrustMovies . From the post: "So here I am, riding along on the D train, minding my own business, reading the NY Press and alternately raging against and being amazed by something Armond White has to say, when I hear the sound of a voice hawking something. I bury myself deeper into Armond and hope the voice will pass quickly into the next car. Then I hear the words "new animated films" followed by "contribute a dollar and have something your kids'll enjoy -- and you will, too..." I think about this a moment before calling the guy over my way. I mean: one dollar? Even if it turns out to be a blank DVD, I can always download something good onto it." Read the rest of the post at TrustMovies . - Sujewa

There's a new drama in the works called The Mountain Thief . A little bit about the movie: "ABOUT THE FILM The Mountain Thief is the first narrative feature film that was shot in the garbage-collecting town of Promised Land and Urban, Payatas in the Philippines where the living conditions are possibly the most horrific in the world. It was also the first film that was made with a cast culled from the scavengers of a garbage-collecting town, from the graduates of the town’s only acting workshop. The Director instituted the workshop in December of 2004. A micro-philanthropy project called Mount Hope Project was initiated by the filmmakers to help the scavengers who acted in the film. SYNOPSIS In a world of monstrous mountains of trash, Julio and his son confront their ultimate fight for survival as they seek refuge and redemption from war and hunger. Together, they navigate territorial rivalries and intense desperation among scavengers, surviving--and finding love--despite hor

If you are on Facebook & you want to connect with the event page for Indie Film Blogger Road Trip's World Premiere on 2/17 in NYC, go here: http://www.facebook.com/events.php?ref=sb#/event.php?eid=42715219165 You may want to sign in to Facebook first & then copy & paste the above URL on the browser bar - that might work best. See ya on Facebook if I haven't seen you there already. - Sujewa

To find out more about the screening of NO Cross, NO Crown - "a timely and engaging feature documentary that examines how New Orleans’ music and culture can survive the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina" - this coming Friday 1/9/09 in NYC go here . Here's the trailer, looks very good: NO Cross, NO Crown: Trailer

My housemates & I have all of our things in our rooms, so the common areas are pretty empty at the moment, kind of nice. Empty rooms are good spaces for writing.

Light Industry is on my list of NYC arts venues to check out, & in January there are at least two good reasons to go over there: "17 hours of darkness (reflections on this place I call home) Curated by Christina Battle Tuesday, January 13, 2009 at 7:30pm 55 33rd Street, 3rd Floor Brooklyn, New York “17 hours of darkness (reflections on this place I call home)” brings together a collection of works by contemporary Canadian artists exploring the dark and nagging anxieties associated with the Canadian landscape. An investigation of my own obsession with Canada’s natural climate, artists represented attempt to navigate the darkness that envelops our days for so many hours of the year. As we brace for another long winter I wonder how this obsession has shaped our collective memory and in turn impacts the Canadian experience...oh, and of course, there’s some hockey in there too. - CB Work to be screened, accompanied by a handmade slideshow: 18,000 Dead in Gordon Head, Clive Holden,

Several web sites & blogs are very deep into the various complexities that indie filmmakers will have to deal with at some point in the future. But, luckily for many of us, the present situation for people who want to make movies outside of Hollywood, distribute them, and run the thing like a small business is still pretty simple - and probably will be so for at least the next couple of years or longer (until everyone stops buying DVDs at least). Stuff I learned about the present moment recently, as it relates to indie filmmaking: 1 - People still like movies, and will pay to see something that interests them, will make time for it 2 - People still buy DVDs 3 - People still go watch movies in movie theaters 4 - The Internet is still free - there are a lot of sites that you can join to build networks, fan bases - and of course you can also blog for the same ends - & blogging is still free 5 - Making movies - real indie movies - is still cheap 6 - Standard Definition shot video

I should have everything worked out by the end of next week re: the premiere screening of Indie Film Blogger Road Trip. Looking forward to checking it out on a big screen with a bunch of people. It should be happening in mid-February in NYC.

When I checked the YouTube page for Indie Film Blogger Road Trip's 9 minute clip a few minutes ago the number of views was at 1023. Thanks a lot to everyone who checked it out! So we got over 1000 views in about 14 days (clip went live early AM on 12/20). Let's see how long it takes to get 5,000 views.

Dealing another major blow to the Sri Lankan separatist/terrorist group the LTTE/Tamil Tigers, the government forces have captured LTTE's capital city Kilinochchi. From a Guardian article : "The Sri Lankan army today seized control of Kilinochchi, the low-lying northern town in which separatist Tamil Tiger rebels had put together the institutions of their long sought-after independent state. The major symbolic victory for the government could also prove a decisive turning point in the country's 25-year civil war. "This was an unparalleled victory," the president, Mahinda Rajapakse, said in a televised speech from his office. "Kilinochchi was the capital of a state dreamt of by a terrorist organisation. It will no longer be available to them. We should pay the gratitude of the whole nation to those heroic soldiers who achieved that victory." " Read the rest of the article at the Guardian . More headlines from Sri Lanka here . And CNN has an expla