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Sunset Park At Night - Panasonic VX981 footage

Tried out a new camera for a bit a few nights ago.  The Panasonic VX981 - a baby 4K camera/palmcorder.  Pretty good.  Here are some night time footage, w/ very little post work (some exposure correction, increased saturation).  Much better footage coming in the near future as I get to know this camera better.  Also looking forward to trying out the JVC 170 camera. Sunset Park At Night (camera test Panasonic VX981) from Sujewa Ekanayake on Vimeo .

Filmwax Radio podcast/Adam Schartoff wants to cover 365 indie films in 2018!

The always excellent indie film podcast Filmwax Radio, created by Adam Schartoff, wants to step up their game and cover 365 indie films in 2018.  Plus Schartoff is launching a set of new projects that he calls Filmwax Radio 2.0 - find out more about those at the Filmwax Radio Kickstarter. * Here's Schartoff on the Filmwax Kickstarter and Filmwax Radio 2.0 project: * Help make it happen for Filmwax Radio - go check out the Kickstarter campaign , donate, share. - Sujewa

The Meyerowitz Stories is very good

Note - I saw the movie before the Dustin Hoffman sex assault allegations story broke.  Not sure what kind of an experience I would have had watching the movie had I knew about the allegations. * Great movie, well written, well acted.  An interesting NYC experience. Trailer -  Check out the movie at Netflix -  https://www.netflix.com/title/80174434

Silver Bullets is pretty good

It's an art film about the making of a werewolf movie and also about the making of another art film about a relationship.  Interesting - with some comedy, drama, romantic drama, and horror elements.  But, definitely an art film - so go in with no expectations, and expect an interesting ride. Check it out at Amazon here -  https://www.amazon.com/Silver-Bullets-Kate-Lyn-Sheil/dp/B00BP4VZP4 Here's a trailer - * And here's a review by Richard Brody at New Yorker -  https://www.newyorker.com/culture/richard-brody/joe-swanberg-in-berlin

My new films on the way - Oct, Nov, Dec 2017 - and NYC screenings in June 2018

1st one is an old one, first screened in 2014 - Breakthrough Weekend - should be out on VOD in Nov. Then it's another old one - Brooklyn Fantastic - filmed in 2009 - should be out on VOD or heading to film festivals at some point in December 2017.  I'll decide on which route once I see the final version of the movie.  Also I'll have to see if I want more than one title heading out to film festivals at the same time. Third film is Werewolf Ninja Philosopher.  We hope to film it in November, finish by early next year, and send it out to festivals before mid-January.  Werewolf will screen theatrically in NYC in June 2018, hopefully after a lot of festival play in spring 2018.  More details on the June 2018 screenings in December 2017 or January 2018. That's what's ahead for me on my films.  Good times, looking forward to it.  Finally a new wave of DIY film productivity :).  Hopefully we can keep it going uninterrupted for many years to come.  That would be grand.

COMPUTER CHESS - another weird and good movie - trailer and link

Watch it here . - Sujewa

How to make it DIY + weird (mostly re: the DIY part in this post)

DIY 2017 film movement - definition/how to do it (this is our version of the Dogme 95 manifesto :) ) 9/15/17 written by sujewa ekanayake (about the weird part - make it unusual - subject matter wise - surreal, a monster movie maybe, sci-fi perhaps, undefinable cult weird perhaps - something other than a romantic comedy set in the real world or a drama set in the real/normal world.  we'll know weird when we see it) (this list is mostly to encourage people - specially artists, minorities, women - people who are not favored by the established film business in various countries - to make movies.  if we limit the development process, keep it small, keep it art making focused/based, we may be able to make more movies more often and distribute them - each movie like an unusual piece of art) if the director, on a fiction feature film (only applies to fiction films, not documentaries)   1 - writes the script 2 - produces the movie 3 - directs the movie 4

UNCLE BOONMEE WHO CAN RECALL HIS PAST LIVES - weird and good - trailer, link

Watch Uncle Boonmee here . - Sujewa

ALPHAVILLE trailer and link

Watch ALPHAVILLE here . - Sujewa

Film Trailer: Modern Love Is Automatic | Film 2009 | SXSW

Watch the movie here . - Sujewa

Rian Johnson (The Last Jedi), Sujewa Ekanayake (Werewolf Ninja Philosopher) Interviews

I am looking forward to The Last Jedi.  Here's a great, recent interview with Jedi director Rian Johnson at New York Times . Here's the trailer for The Last Jedi: I am also looking forward to making my movie Werewolf Ninja Philosopher this fall.  Here is an interview I did with Filmwax Radio about Werewolf movie and crowdfunding. Werewolf Ninja Philosopher is fundraising at IndieGoGo at the moment.  Check it out here , and if you dig it, support, share. Here's my pitch video for Werewolf Ninja Philosopher project: Werewolf Ninja Philosopher movie IndieGoGo pitch video from Sujewa Ekanayake on Vimeo .

Werewolf Ninja Philosopher movie

Werewolf Ninja Philosopher movie lead actor Art Shrian * Help make this amazing movie happen! "Earlier this year, while I was producing a wild puppet sci-fi project called  Space Rabbit , I came up with a private detective comedy movie idea - about a character who has to investigate several show biz world murders in NYC.  Unlike in the regular world, in this version of NYC the following is true - art, indie, experimental, foreign filmmakers, and film critics, are the big entertainment world stars.  In the movie someone is killing art/indie filmmakers, and the city government cannot solve the crimes - so they call in a star private investigator to help them solve the mystery.  The private investigator they call on is a character named Werewolf Ninja Philosopher - a werewolf who has ninja skills - has fought and defeated evil ninjas in the past, and is also a character who teaches philosophy at NYU, and who uses his knowledge of philosophy to help people deal with

Why IndieGoGo is a better platform than Kickstarter for indie filmmakers

This can be seen as perhaps a critical post by some, so, let's get some basics out of the way first. I like both Kickstarter and IndieGoGo, for different reasons, different projects.  And I am glad that both platforms exist, along with all other crowdfunding platforms, and I hope all of them thrive and continue to serve their customers well. I have no official, professional direct relationship with either company (as in I do not work for either company, and I do not get paid from either company to promote them, but I do have personal accounts on each site for creating crowdfunding campaigns - just a regular user of the 2 sites).  I did however recently manage 3 campaigns on IndieGoGo (hired by individual campaigners to assist with their campaigns) - indie film or art film/foreign film related - and collectively those campaigns raised over $75,000 and allowed those projects to exist, come to life, move on to the next phase on the project. I have worked on Kickstarter cam

Full Movie - SNEAK PREVIEW - Cosmic Disco Detective Rene And The Mystery Of Immortal Time Travelers

NEW - COSMIC DISCO DETECTIVE RENE (2023) - TRAILER!

The Secret Society For Slow Romance (2022) - available to rent as a new release starting January 1

Werewolf Ninja Philosopher at Vimeo VOD

Reading Material

Indie Film Blogger Road Trip