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Fri 7/7 DIY, Indiewood, Hollywood notes: Messiah, Date, Rockers, Pirates

Chris Hansen came all the way down from Texas (by way of Virginia Beach) for a quick visit & screening in Kensington last night. His movie The Proper Care & Feeding of an American Messiah played well to Kensingtonians, Chris had a good time, made some money (enough at least to get his car some gas to get back on the road to his next destination), perhaps he will blog about his screening experience at some point soon. I gave Chris a copy of Date Number One, so perhaps there will be a Chris Hansen review of Date Number One this month.

Date Number One screeners were mailed out to David "GreenCine Daily" Hudson & Amir "Still Lover/Whale" Motlagh this week. So more reviews soon I think. Screening #9 of Date Number One will be happening next Thu, 7/13, at Sangha in Takoma Park. Will have all the details on that screening later today.

Larry Clark's Wassup Rockers opens today in DC (yup, at a Landmark theater, oh well. now that Caveh's Sex Addict is doing pretty well, I guess I'll ease up on my Landmark boycott - and since many indiewood flicks only play in Landmark theaters in this area/until a cool competitor opens up a theater), looking forward to checking it out. A drama about Latin-American skate punks in LA, featuring non-actors, & made by the director of Kids sounds like the most exciting movie playing in DC this weekend.

After seeing American Messiah & hanging out with Chris for a bit last night, me & housemate Allie went to see Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest at 12:01 AM this morning. It was the first show of the movie ever at Majestic 20 in nearby Silver Spring, MD. At least 2 screens were sold out for the 12 AM screening - wouldn't mind making a movie that opens with that much anticipation at some point. Dead Man's Chest is good, a nice long ride, I think I liked it better than Pirates 1, some of the sequences felt too long, but all in all a lot of fun - lots of new monsters. I need to get me a Kraken. Wouldn't be surprised if they made more than 3 Pirates movies. Depp's Captain Sparrow can sell a lot of stories I think.

And that's the latest. Have an excellent weekend. More yummy stuff soon.

- Sujewa

Christmas Eve controversial, fun discussion - 1 of the best American indie filmmakers - Amir Motlagh

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