Skip to main content

I guess I can ask the same thing about independent filmmakers

While I was searching the web for a new term to identify the fact that a lot of people in America loudly take pride in being outsiders - certain presidents, certain super famous Hollywood film directors , etc. - even though they are very much the so called establishment or the ultimate insiders at a certain moment in time or in a certain field of activity - I ran across an article called Quilt-Makers: Exotic Outsiders or Mainstream Artists? From the article:

"Shortly before his death in the Marquesas Islands the painter Gauguin considered returning to France. His agent Monfreid advised against such a move; the success of Gauguin's paintings depended, Monfreid suggested, on his reputation as a wild man, an exile from civilization. In the ninety-odd years since then the art world hasn't lost its yearning for the exotic, for art that seems to originate in a place, condition of life, or state of mind or consciousness not directly accessible to the art consumer.

Sometimes the artist has been valued as an emissary from a remote or vanishing culture, other times as a returning traveler from uncharted and possibly dangerous mental territory. Many mainstream art movements -- fauvism, cubism, surrealism, the several schools of expressionism -- and various kinds of outsider art, including traditional quilts, have derived some of their appeal, I think, from the lure of the exotic."

So, those two paragraphs lead me to two ideas: one - people like indie movies that seem very outsider-ish, that tell stories featuring characters who are far removed from their (the audience's) ordinary existence (Drugstore Cowboy, Dead Man, Ghost Dog, etc.), so we should keep that in mind when making movies - a little bit of freak show-ness might make some audiences happy.

The second idea is - is independent film an exotic or otherwise outsider art form or is it just mainstream art/entertainment at this point? I guess that depends on which indie film you are talking about. Both Yeast and Juno are indie films - or can or are labeled as such - but one is definitely a lot more of an outsider thing than the other.

A related idea is that if you see yourself as an indie filmmaker do you see yourself as an outsider artist or do you see yourself as a mainstream artist/entertainer? And based on those perceptions - what kind of reward do you expect from practicing the making of independent movies - to be admired by a few people who recognize what you do as perhaps valuable or do you expect to be rewarded with a lot more by more people?

My own answer to the above set of questions - the ideal situation - would be to have a little from both worlds - the freedom of creativity of the outsider artist and the gratification that comes from being accessible - having ones work be accessible - to a large number of people. Some kind of an indie-populist situation. That has been done through indie/DIY comedies and docs in the past - so maybe a realistic goal for certain projects.

Any thoughts on those subjects?

::



ADVERTISEMENT

http://farzadrostami20.blogspot.com - Farzad Rostami 20

::

http://farzadrostami19.blogspot.com - Farzad Rostami 19

::

http://farzadrostami18.blogspot.com - Farzad Rostami 18

::

http://farzadrostami17.blogspot.com - Farzad Rostami 17

::

http://farzadrostami16.blogspot.com - Farzad Rostami 16

::

http://farzadrostami15.blogspot.com - Farzad Rostami 15

::

http://farzadrostami14.blogspot.com - Farzad Rostami 14

::

http://farzadrostami13.blogspot.com - Farzad Rostami 13

::

http://farzadrostami12.blogspot.com - Farzad Rostami 12

::

http://farzadrostami11.blogspot.com - Farzad Rostami 11

::

http://farzadrostami10.blogspot.com - Farzad Rostami 10

::

1 - http://farzadrostamidelawaretobacco.blogspot.com/2013/04/hundreds-of-help-wanted-ads-from.html - Farzad Rostami Delaware Tobacco - 100s of help wanted ads from Delaware post

2 - http://farzadrostamidelawaretobacco.blogspot.com/2013/04/filmmakercom.html - Farzad Rostami Delaware Tobacco Film site post

3 - http://farzadrostamidelawaretobacco.blogspot.com/2013/04/coke-wateraid-extend-african-water.html - Farzad Rostami Delaware Tobacco - post re: development in Africa

4 - http://farzadrostamidelawaretobacco.blogspot.com/2013/04/energy-environment-jobs.html - Farzad Rostami Delaware Tobacco - post re: energy & environment jobs

5 - http://farzadrostamidelawaretobacco.blogspot.com/2013/04/nike-nasa-launch-sustainable-materials.html - Farzad Rostami Delaware Tobacco post re: Nike, NASA sustainable challenge

Farzad Rostami Delaware Tobacco 5farzadrostamidelawaretobacco5.blogspot.com/

farzadrostamidelawaretobacco.blogspot.com/

Farzad Rostami Delaware Tobacco blog post 3/24/13:


Farzad Rostami Delaware Tobacco – Florida:


Farzad Rostami Delaware Tobacco – New York:


Farzad Rostami Delaware Tobacco – California:


Farzad Rostami Delaware Tobacco 2 – Recent Links:


Farzad Rostami Delaware Tobacco 3 - Win the SEO Game:


Farzad Rostami Delaware Tobacco 4 - Facebook News Feed Overhaul:


Farzad Rostami Delaware Tobacco 5 - Popular News Websites:


::


Farzad Rostami Delaware Tobacco blog


Farzad Rostami Delaware Tobacco 2 blog


Farzad Rostami Delaware Tobacco 3 blog


Farzad Rostami Delaware Tobacco 4 blog


Farzad Rostami Delaware Tobacco 5 blog


Farzad Rostami – Delaware Small Business Grants page


Farzad Rostami – Delaware Small Business Chamber


Farzad Rostami – Delaware History Trail


Farzad Rostami – Delaware Historical Society


Farzad Rostami – History of Delaware


:: some web marketing stuff here

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 28, 2013 Delaware Small

Business Grants page Great page, check it out here. :: A blog post

from FaVisit Tobacco Expressrzad Rostami, Delaware blog. Delaware History Trail -
Historic Sites Check out Delaware History Trail - Historic Sites.  Very

interesting. :: A blog post from Farzad Rostami, Delaware blog. History of Delaware – Wikipedia From Wikipedia's History of Delaware page:

"The history of Delaware as a political entity dates back to the early colonization of North American by European settlers. It is made up of three counties established since 1680, before the time ofWilliam Penn. Each had its own settlement history. Their early inhabitants tended to identify more closely with the county than the colony or state. Large parts of southern and western Delaware were thought to have been in Maryland until 1767. All of the state has existed in the wide economic and political circle of Philadelphia." Read the rest at Wikipedia.

Tobacco industry tobacco growing sales Tobacco Express SAFETY NEWS RELEASE AND OF
AND TOBACCO September 20, 2012 CONTACT and Tobacco at Claymont
Store and Information Farzad Rostami, 50, Wilmington He was on a Date September 19, 2012
Location - Tobacco Express, 671 Naamans Road, Claymont A 50-year-old Wilmington man The
owner of the business, Farzad Rostami, was not was conducted Rostami in
THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 28, 2013 Delaware Small

Business Grants page Great page, check it out here. :: A blog post

from FaVisit Tobacco Expressrzad Rostami, Delaware blog. Delaware History Trail -

Historic Sites Check out Delaware History Trail - Historic Sites.  Very

interesting. :: A blog post from Farzad Rostami, Delaware blog. History of Delaware – Wikipedia From Wikipedia's History of Delaware page:

"The history of Delaware as a political entity dates back to the early colonization of North American by European settlers. It is made up of three counties established since 1680, before the time ofWilliam Penn. Each had its own settlement history. Their early inhabitants tended to identify more closely with the county than the colony or state. Large parts of southern and western Delaware were thought to have been in Maryland until 1767. All of the state has existed in the wide economic and political circle of Philadelphia." Read the rest at Wikipedia.

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 15, 2013


Check out this Cuban cigars article at puffing cigars.com.  From the article:

"According to Best Premium Cigar of the World and tobacco and wine specialist James Suckling, Cuban cigars from Habanos S.A. took the majority in the list of the Top 10 (2012). The expert said he has been smoking Cuban cigars during 2012, and would still call havanas one of the most amazing cigars."

Read the rest of the article here.

:: Visit Tobacco Expres FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 15, 2013

For your next visit to NYC! Check out the page here.



Check out the page at Tobacco Farm Life Museum site.

::



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

Popular Posts

Godard's GOODBYE TO LANGUAGE - watch and commentary live - off of Metrograph At Home copy of film

Let's take a closer look at Mike Tully's negative review of IFBRT & see if we can clarify some things

Mike Tully (presently inactive filmmaker who is not a fan of shooting on DV, who is now running things - as far as I know - at the review site Hammer to Nail, who also blogs at indieWIRE, & who wrote a brief & positive review of Date Number One in '06, & a fellow Marylander who generally seems like a cool dude) attended the World Premiere of Indie Film Blogger Road Trip and wrote a review of the doc . There are several items in that review that I'd like to comment on. So here we go: "At its best, Sujewa Ekanayake’s Indie Film Blogger Road Trip is certain to go down as one of the more bizarre time capsules of life on early-21st Century Earth." Cool - life on Earth in early 21st century - right now - is pretty bizarre, so a film dealing with a new, early-21st Century thing like film blogging/a film blogging community, should reflect that reality. The doc, however, is very simple & conventional in its form & content (shots of people talking). It is i

This is no way to write a movie review

Cynthia Rockwell's "review" of Hannah Takes The Stairs is depressing not because she didn't like the movie but because after reading the entire thing, 6 small to medium sized paragraphs, I can't figure out the following: the plot of the movie or the situation or roughly what happens for 70 - 90 minutes, the main characters & any significant minor characters, who plays the characters, ideas that may have been expressed in the movie, similar ideas and situations that may have been explored in other movies or other art/entertainment and how those compare with the film being reviewed, the reviewer's opinion of the technical craftsmanship of the movie, how real life compares to the world being depicted in the movie. At the very least I would like to learn a few of those things about a movie from a review. (and yes, Rockwell does consider her post re: Hannah a review, as noted here , not just a blog entry reflecting on the lack of female participation in indie

Reading Material

Indie Film Blogger Road Trip