Talented (if not & want to be, you can learn stuff by reading about it & doing it on a small scale - short films)? A filmmaker? Storyteller? Don't have a lot of money or access to a lot of money to blow on film production & distribution? Don't have any indiewood or Hollywood connections? If you said yes to all those questions then you can still launch a filmmaking career by doing the following things, now at a lower cost than ever before: 1) study filmmaking & story telling & life & history well & then write an awesome script for a feature length project that can be produced for no money or very little money. You have plenty of projects for inspiration (any early Jim Jarmusch film, any early Hal Hartley film, Clerks, Slacker, most Woody Allen movies, most Ed Burns movies, She's Gotta Have It, just to name a few), 2) shoot the film on DV or another affordable, high quality video format (& remember to keep your day job during this entire process), 3) make DVDs - 1000 of them can be made for about $1250, or you can make 1 at a time on your computer as orders come in, 4) set up a web site for the film & blog about the film & yourself, 5) submit the film to bloggers & any other interested media people who may talk about your film, 6) start promoting & selling the DVD as soon as possible, mail order is an easy way to go, also local retailers perhaps, also web retailers like Amazon (and even if another company wants to help you distribute your film down the road, it shouldn't be a problem since however many copies of the DVD you sell by that point will most likely be small in number compared to what a professional distributor with wide contacts & access can move), 7) while you sell your first film on DVD through mail-order & promote it through DIY screenings & film fest screenings & look at wider theatrical & home distribution possibilities & other, new alternatives such as internet VOD (video on demand), make your 2nd feature & repeat the getting-it-to-the-market-on-DVD process, 8) keep making & selling movies & quit your dayjob when you have enough money saved up from DVD sales & other filmmaking related revenue streams & when you know you have more - an adequate amount - of $s coming from your film work. There are no more excuses for not making movies if you really want to make them. And if your movies find a big enough audience, you will be able to do just movie making for a living. Even if the movies/DVDs don't sell that well, if you still feel passionate about what you have to say through your movies, keep making them & keep making them available on DVD 'cause, if you are lucky, one or two of those movies may just change someone's life for the better. What happens when DVD goes out of style you say? Don't worry, some other, better format will take its place, thanks to the gods of the open market & capitalism. As long as you can keep making interesting movies, the format that the audience gets to see it in does not matter as much. People are always going to be hungry for good stories.
By the stream review - from Lincoln Center, NYC viewing - no spoilers The hype is real - By the Stream is very good by Hong movies standards and also normal comedy-drama standards. There were like 30-40 people at Lincoln Center for the 1PM Fri 8/8/25 (opening day) screening of By the Stream. People in that neighborhood are serious about their foreign films. Cinematography is very simple, from a canon XA small sensor HD cam, I could see familiar details, how those cams film the moon, scenes at night - it’s like a 1980s or 1990s early indie cinematography style that we do not see much these days - works well for Hong’s movies. No color grading, very simple video/cinematography. A more fleshed out movie than some recent Hong movies. In the movie a skit is prepped, and we actually get to see it performed. A couple of serious issues are discussed. Some unexpected, light things happen. It’s a comedy-drama chill hangout movie w/ creative South Korean people - good times. Probably o...
