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

the programmer of a cool sounding indie film fest contacted me a couple of weeks ago & said he read about my movie & that i should submit Date Number One to his fest. sounded like a routine invite/an attempt to increase submissions to the fest so i wrote back & said thanks but i don't really believe in the whole pay money to see if a fest wants to show my movie with no $s coming to me from the screening route. then the programmer said he understands and started a conversation about some indie film biz stuff that i was interested in. i continued the conversation, we exchanged some e-mails & the dude sounded cool & his fest sounded cool, so i said i'll send him DNO to take a look at (w/ out paying a fee) & if he likes it he can program it to the fest & if i can come down & sell some DVDs of the movie at the fest it would all work out for me i said. he said that sounded good. so later this week (hopefully, if all the work gets done) i will mail a DN

Links to some of the major press mentions & coverage of Date Number One can be found here . I still need to add over a dozen blog mentions to that page. But the key stuff, such as the links to the 4 reviews so far (from GreenCine Daily , The Chutry Experiment , Amir Motlagh , Hollywood Is Talking ), is there now. - Sujewa

I have not seen any of Charles Burnett's movies yet (did see some clips from I think To Sleep With Anger in a doc about indie film). His movies sounds interesting. On the To Watch list. Here is a little bit of an interview from Sense of Cinema, published in '03, with Burnett, conducted by Nelson Kim: " CB: Hollywood has this psychology—there's this whole plantation mentality where it's all about power and someone trying to impose their values on you. It's nuts, they'll tell you how to tell stories about people they never really came into contact with. Executives, story readers, development executives don't interact with people other than their kind so how would they know what's acceptable to people of color? It is not about and never has been about supplying a diverse look at life. It is all from and for a white audience. And because of that fact this group of people who determines what the world sees have no idea, not a clue as to reality. It is a

Here's Lance Weiler's introduction to a new project, from Indie Features 06 : " A FREE DIY RESOURCE I've been working on a DIY book and I've decided to make it a free online resource. The concept is part of a "social opensource info experiment" called the workbook project. It's a simple concept, the workbook is meant to be spread and edited. Meaning that content creators can add their own info, war stories, advice etc. Since the workbook is a wiki that can be saved to the desktop and edited, we're hoping that it can become a resource that is always growing. I've included extensive info about: Putting together a 17 city theatrical release Building a fan base and creating buzz Clearance and Delivery issues A look at actual contracts Getting your work into retail and rental outlets Making a TV deal How to deal with world sales and much much more The workbook will launch later this year but if you're interested and want to get an advance copy

Here is a paragraph from a long post Lance Weiler made today at Indie Features 06 re: self-distribution: "DIY THEATRICAL - part 1 of 12 The thing I find most interesting after having gone through the first couple windows of release is how broken the system is. Now I know you're probably saying no shit but I think we're at a very interesting crossroads. When something is damaged it provides new opportunities but the difficult part is identifying them. Often it seems that going in a totally different direction is an answer OR you can work the current system to your advantage. For example a theatrical release with no cash, no distributor, no booker and no publicist seems insane - and it is in the sense that it's an insane amount of work BUT it is possible. " Read the rest of the post here . Very useful for filmmakers who are thinking about self-distribution. - Sujewa

The Date Number One DVD will be available through Wild Diner Films' web store & other places this month, starting around 11/15. There will be 100s of US screenings of the film in '07. The first batch of them will be listed here by the time end of December '06 rolls around. And that's the latest on DNO. Will post up the DVD cover art soon. - Sujewa

Congrats Democrats. I guess it is time for all those people who moved to Canada after the '04 elections to move back :) The counts are close in Virginia & Montana - Democrats leading right now, but NBC just called Missouri for the Democratic Senate candidate. It is going to be a very interesting & hopefully better 2 years than the previous 2, starting later today. I think Democrats will take the Senate, of course they already have the House. Off to sleep now, will know for sure later today (unless VA goes into recount). Congrats again Democrats. - Sujewa

It's very rare for me to go "wow, i wish i had made that movie" - because most movies are bad or just adequate, but the 90's flick Flirting With Disaster by David O. Russell is one of those very rare, truly excellent movies. I just watched it again, on DVD this time. In Flirting a young farther - played by Ben Stiller, goes all over America searching for his real parents, and his wife, his new yet-unnamed 4 month old son, & an accident prone adoption counselor come along for the ride. I saw Flirting in the theater when it came out many years ago. The movie is still a treat, with a younger Ben Stiller & a rarely-seen-in-features & super hot Tea Leoni who plays her adoption counselor role incredibly well (i think its Leoni's character & the performance that is the key to the flick's success, u r always expecting something to go wrong when she is around & u can't wait to see what it will be, also, she is a welcome point of escape from the

Looks like Adrienne Shelly may have been murdered. Here's the story . Although, the following from the news story sounds weird: " Pillco allegedly punched the 5-foot-2 actress after she complained about the noise he was making in the West Village apartment building where her office is located, killing her. He then allegedly admitted to dragging the body up to her office, and positioning her in the shower to make her death look like a suicide." How can a person kill another person with a punch or several punches? I am sure it is possible, but it probably is difficult and would leave signs of struggle on the body. Didn't the initial news reports say that there was no unusual damage to the body? Also, how did the alleged killer know where Shellys office was? Why did this person go into the office with a dead body - how did he know that there wasn't anyone else there? Also, the dude would have to be very odd in order to respond to a noise complaint by attacking a pers

At one time, I hear, indie & foreign films used to play in some theaters for months, even years. I know that a Jon Moritsugu film played at a theater in Paris for over a year. Jon told me so, I believe him. If I recall anything close to correctly, back in the early days of the humans, there were two kinds of tribes/civilizations: the nomads & the farmers. Having your film play in one movie theater/screening venue for a loooong time sounds similar to farming to me. Taking your film from theater to theater, from city to city, sounds like a nomadic hunter type thing. But a wide Hollywood type release that stays on screens for months is a combination of the two, perhaps. It is fairly easy for me to get an audience in DC, even with minimal publicity. So, I am going to try the agricultural approach next, try to get Date Number One to play at a DC venue for a long time. Maybe a month to start with. Definitely more than a week. In March perhaps. The Warehouse Screening Room screening o