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

Here's the trailer for WHALE: Whale_movie trailer from Amir Motlagh on Vimeo . * Check out the movie on Amazon -  https://www.amazon.com/Whale-Amir-Motlagh/dp/B01DTIKG62/ About the movie - Cameron is a 29 year old Iranian American, heartbroken and suffering from a never ending bout of writers block. But shits no joke to our hero, who goes back to mommy's house in Orange County California trying to figure out what went wrong with his life. Will reacquainting with his old high school friends steer him into the right path, or do all signs point toward suburban oblivion? -The film uses a cast made up of mostly non-actors, including Motlagh's real life parents. Many of the cast were first seen in Amir Motlagh's first short film, Dino Adino (2001). By using an alternative narrative style, the film destroys the lines of fiction and documentary by engaging the audience in a way that traditional narrative fictions cannot. -Quotes- “WHALE is beautiful in ways I

1 - Appreciate existence 2 - Decide to be happy (decide that you would like to be happy, then look for reasons and methods to make that happen - see #3) 3 - Find a ton of reasons to be happy - easy to do, they are all around - in past, present, and the possible futures 4 - Take action that leads to results that make you happy 5 - Be happy Hope everyone has a great holiday season! - Sujewa

Started work on a new film - a sci-fi comedy feature, no budget (but awesome) called Agnes the Alien .  Here is the Facebook page for the movie -  https://www.facebook.com/agnesthealienmovie/ . We hope to finish shooting the film and edit it by the end of January and start sending it out to film festivals in February. Werewolf Ninja Philosopher update - We did 1 make up test on 12/1.  Prepping for another one.  Other prep work continues until the end of Feb.  We hope to shoot in March, and edit and complete in April and start sending the movie out to film festivals in April. Breakthrough Weekend update - BW got a great review from Village Voice back in 2014, and it played the Breakthrough Festival NYC at Anthology Film Archives in 2014, and now the new version of the movie is almost done.  We hope to release it on Vimeo and then on other platforms at the end of December. Brooklyn Fantastic will be edited this winter and sent out to festivals this winter.  More info on that mo

* what do you know of water's worth while standing on the banks of the euphrates from Amir Motlagh on Vimeo . *

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 .

1977 Interview with Eric Rohmer from zenfoolio on Vimeo .

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

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

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

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.