DIY Filmmaker (1 - DIY/indie/arthouse Filmmaker Sujewa Blog - 53 FILMS IN 53 MONTHS PROJECT)

The House Next Door blog reports that filmmaker & critic Matt Zoller Seitz's wife Jennifer Dawson has passed away. Am shocked and saddned by the tragic news and I wish the best for Matt & his family in dealing with their terrible loss. Goodbye Jennifer Dawson, lots of people will miss you. - Sujewa

John Stabb Schroder as the ninja Mark H. Temonium from Date Number One Julia Stemper & John Stabb Schroder from a scene in Date Number One :: Copyright 2005 Sujewa Ekanayake John Stabb Schroder is a DC based actor & musician. He was the lead singer in the punk band Government Issue (G.I.) from 1981 - 1989. Starting this year (DC 5/13, Seattle 5/19 - 21) John can be seen playing a ninja who goes on a blind date in my new movie Date Number One. I did an 11 question interview with John last year, here's 3 of the exchanges, the rest can be found here. Enjoy. Sujewa: What were your thoughts when I first explained to you that you will be playing a ninja in this movie? John: When you offered me the role, I jumped at the chance! I’ve always enjoyed Bruce Lee movies and thought “I’m going to play a f’n ninja!” And the moment I slipped into the ninja outfit and headgear, I was ready to take on any martial arts actors. David Carradine, Chuck Norris, Michael Dudikoff, Uma Thurman...

Latest news from the Sri Lanka based unit of the international peace activist organization Nonviolent Peaceforce : April 25, 2006 While this report is being prepared, LTTE-controlled sea side areas close to our office in Mutur in the East are being targeted in a coordinated action by the Sri Lankan Navy and Airforce. The bombs and shelling by a naval craft and fighter jets, which can be felt and heard by the team members from their position in the office, are part of a retaliation for the suicide bomb attack on General Fonseka, Chief Commander of the Sri Lanka Armed Forces, at the army headquarters in Colombo earlier today. Meanwhile, the Airforce has assured us that the Mutur town and our team are safe. The town has lost electricity and reports of casualties from the area targeted are coming in slowly but the exact numbers will not be known until the enforced curfew expires. It appears the suicide bomb was set-off by a young female, who pretended to be pregnant while visiting the arm...

Gi-normous companies want to carve up the internet for themselves. Bad news for indie artists, small biz people & alternative views. Go here to help stop the sale of the internet to the highest bidders. Thanks. - Sujewa

Angry Filmmaker Kelley Baker outside of Kensington Row Bookshop on Thu 4/20/06 in Kensington, MD, where he screened his film Kicking Bird at a Capital City Microcinema event. photo copyright 2006 sujewa ekanayake At his blog DIY filmmaker Kelley Baker writes: " The tour is going great! Arizona and Texas were a ball, I had some great screenings at the Alamo Draft House in Houston, my work shops went well, and it was good to see some old friends. From there Moses and I went to Grand Rapids, MI for a guest lecture and a self distribution work shop. I did Rochester, NY at RIT. I went from doing just a Visiting Artist gig to 4 class lectures over 3 days. Not bad... After that I hung out with friends in Mass then off to Kensington, MD for a sound design workshop and a screening. A small but enthusiastic group. Even though we had a brief power outage during the movie everyone stayed until the end." Read the rest of that entry here. - Sujewa

The last time I saw DIY filmmaker & self-distributor Kelley Baker he was riding down the highway, heading south w/ his laid back dog Moses, and that was about 9 hours ago, after 2 days of activity: a sound design class, couple of fun dinners, a screening where almost every customer in attendance bought a DVD, meals w/ 2 local producers (one of them invited Kelly to come back to DC in the fall to play a popular local festival), and many inspiring conversations and stories. I am too sleepy right now to go into all the details, but soon - maybe on/by Tue, I'll write a longer account of the 4/19 & 20 activties, & will post some related pics. Kelley's latest feature "Kicking Bird" is excellent.

Lance Weiler, director of The Last Broadcast & the new flick Head Trauma is now blogging at Indie Features 06. Here's his first entry: http://indiefeatures06.blogspot.com/2006/04/hello-from-philly.html - Sujewa

Where I operate, the DIY film world, box office performance is not the most important story regarding a film's distribution. However, in the indiewood realm where Caveh Zahedi works now w/ his excellent new film I Am A Sex Addict , the box office performance is important (and in the next realm over, Hollywood, box office performance is like water, religion, or sex - very, very important). That being the case, it is nice to see Sex Addict doing well. It was my #1 choice for Best Films of '05, nice to see it getting a chance to display itself to more people. According to indieWIRE's indie film box office chart for the previous week, Sex Addict is in the 15th place, above 74 other indie films. Placement on the chart is determined by the per screen average. See the chart here. Rock on Caveh & Team Sex Addict! - Sujewa

* * Amir Motlagh, Sujewa Ekanayake, April 2005 copyright 2005 sujewa ekanayake DIY05 is a little film movement that Amir Motlagh & I cooked up around this time last year. Here's the basic approach of DIY05 towards indie film production & distribution: CHARACTERISTICS/MISSION: 1. No budget/ultra-low budget digital video & or film D.I.Y. production 2. Touring like punk rockers/indie rockers, self distribution 3. Providing much value to each of our worthy audience members DIY05 principles are being put into practice right now w/ Date Number One . Related: Official web page (needs to be updated) http://www.wilddiner.com/diy2005.htm Entry 29, April 25, 2005 @ Indie Film, The World, Our Lives blog re: the weekend in which DIY05 was cooked up, at http://www.wilddiner.com/film_journal.htm

April 20, 2006, 7 PM: Portland filmmaker Kelley Baker at Kensington Row Bookshop (3786 Howard Ave., Kensington, MD 20895) w/ feature drama "Kicking Bird" & short "Stolen Toyota". A Capital City Microcinema screening. KICKING BIRD (2005) is the story of Martin "Bird" Johnson, a 17 year old high school kid who runs. With his Mother in jail, his father gone, one brother in a work camp and his bitter grandfather beating him, there is nothing else to do but run! One day the manipulative high school cross country Coach sees Martin out run his entire team, (they want to beat him up), and thinks that Martin is his ticket to a college coaching position. On a budget of $6000 and an 18 day shooting schedule this movie was shot in digital video. It features an original Soundtrack, available on CD. http://www.angryfilmmaker.com/kickingbird.htm W/ short film Stolen Toyota. Stolen Toyota chronicles the loss of Kelley Baker's 1977 Toyota Pick up. Kelley Baker i...