ARTHOUSE FILM NEWS - Cosmic Disco Detective Rene at Film Noir Cinema, NYC starting 7/12/24

I haven't read it yet but I am looking forward to it (Krisner's thorough list of web sites where video producers can make money is awesome). Here is a little bit of the description of the book, from e-tailer lulu.com's site : The Future of Web Video: Opportunities for Producers, Entrepreneurs, Media Companies and Advertisers by Scott Kirsner "... “The Future of Web Video” details twelve tectonic shifts reshaping the entertainment landscape. It includes interviews with senior execs from Brightcove, Revver, TiVo, Verizon, and Ogilvy & Mather, as well as Web video pioneers like Judson Laipply ("Evolution of Dance"), Fritz Grobe ("Extreme Diet Coke and Mentos"), and Gregg Spiridellis (“This Land”). Full of up-to-date stats, original interviews, and valuable case studies, “The Future of Web Video” also contains charts covering: > Sites that help video producers earn money > Online viewership habits > Devices that bring Web video to the TV &g

Anyone who is into what this Indiewood studio is up to can go check out their blog here: http://foxsearchlight.blogspot.com/ . - Sujewa

Date Number One will screen in Kensington, MD on March 15, 2007, at the Kensington Row Bookshop/a Capital City Microcinema screening. More info. & links closer to the date. DNO DVDs will be on sale at a booth (& there maybe other promo activities happening, also perhaps other DNO merch) at the Day of the Book festival in Kensington, MD (one of the newest & most popular literary events in the DC area) on April, 22, 2007. More on that event coming soon. - Sujewa

Lance Weiler talks with Alex Afterman of the DVD label Heretic Films. Here is the intro from Lance's post at The Workbook Project : "Today’s guest is Alex Afterman of Heretic Films. In our conversation Alex breaks down how the DVD side of the business works and what filmmakers can do to best prepare themselves to reach retail and rental outlets." Go here to download the conversation.

Check out the DV Guru post here . Thanks Brian! - Sujewa

The Date Number One self-distribution project is about to enter its 9th month. This is a 24 month long project (at least, well, for the initial release, and I am sure it will be an eternal/life long PT project after that, which is fine by me), and so far things are going pretty well. I should have the DVDs available for sale in early December, and then more screenings in '07 & in '08. In 2006 several other filmmakers also engaged in DIY distribution: Lance Weiler, Kelley Baker, Kat Candler, Andrew Bujalski, etc. At the end of this year I will have a thorough post on the '06 DIY distribution activities. For now, here is a post with many relevant links. Here's the post, from October 2005, that announced my plan to explore DIY distribution using Date Number One (and so far no major changes in how I view the future): The New US Indie Film Frontier: D.I.Y. Distribution (Originally published in Watch This Movie blog on Monday, October 24, 2005) Making Distro Low Budget I

I don't want to take away your "figuring it out" experience, so, until you see The Fountain, don't read this post. Now, for the people who have seen the movie, here's my take on the plot; let me know what you think: I think that Story 1 - the one about Spain & the Conquistador, never happened in the real world of the film - it is merely a story created by Izzy - the female lead character in Story 2 - the one with the doctor & the monkey. It, Story 1, is also a symbolic story - a tale - that hints at what will happen to the real person - Tom in Story 2, as he continues with his quest for immortality. Story 3, the space story set in the future, is a continuation of Story 2. The male lead is the same male, Tom, from Story 2. The tatooing that he started in the modern time, our time, after Izzy's death, continued for hundreds of years & by the time we get to the space story, the dude is covered in tattoos. Also, the two stories being the tale of one ch

Brian, The Film Panel Notetaker, came down to my part of the world for the Thanksgiving weekend & I introduced him & his cool writer friend Sarah (sp?) to some delicious Vietnamese food in Wheaton, MD. Much quality fun was had. Brian posted a photo of me that he took this weekend at my dayjob - the bookstore - over at his blog, check it out here .

L-R: Dele Williams & Jennifer Blakemore from Story 2: A Romantic Dinner For 3, John Stabb Schroeder & Jewel Greenberg from Story 1: Just Another Ninja Searching For Love, Dele Williams from Story 2, small DNO promo image featuring ninja, Christine D. Lee from Story 4: Air Quotes Woman. All from Date Number One . Images Copyright 2006 Sujewa Ekanayake/Wild Diner Films

Get the early warning here . The robot war movie Automatons will play at the Pioneer Theater, NYC starting 12/13. I'll have a review, & some pics maybe, here soon. Will humanity survive? We'll know soon. Here's the synopsis of the flick from the Pioneer Theater's site : " Somewhere in the distant future, The Girl is alone. She is the last of her people, the others having died in a generations-long war that she continues to fight with the assistance of a group of antiquated robot helpers and soldiers. Her only connection to her long-dead people is a collection of recorded journal entries made by the scientist who cared for her as a baby. His is the only friendly human face she’s ever seen. The regular transmissions from her enemy leader are always filled with threats and taunts. The girl responds to these invasions by attack of her own, carried out by her mechanical soldiers on the contaminated surface where no human can survive. Men started this war. The mac

Independent film = in the United States a movie made outside of Hollywood or Indiewood (divisions of Hollywood companies that deal with low budget movies) or without the assistance of large corporate or institutional support, a movie made for a very low budget (if you have a lot of money to spend on your film, the fact that it is made outside of Hollywood or Indiewood is largely irrelevant), a movie made by a person or a team of people unknown to/previously not well employed by Hollywood or Indiewood & a movie featuring actors unknown to/previously not well employed by Hollywood or Indiewood. What is a low budget in late 2006? The independent film Dance Party, USA was reportedly made for $3,000. My independent movie Date Number One was made for under $10,000. I would say around $50,000 or less for a digital video originated movie and around $200,000 or less for a film made using 16 MM motion picture film are low budgets for this point in time. Is there an independent film aesthetic

Ed Burns & Kevin Smith, though close to me in age, are part of a different generation of filmmakers - they are of the "make your breakout feature on 16 MM, get picked up by Holly/Indie Wood, get famous/start career" generation - members of perhaps the first & the last generation - The 90's Indie Filmmaker Generation - of American film artists to get their careers started the way I described above. Because, as Burns says in the Looking For Kitty commentary, those days are over; distributors are telling him that the specialty film business of the 90's is no more. Check out this Q & A with Burns re: The Groomsmen (still have not seen that, looking forward to it), he talks a bit about the changing financing & distribution landscape that he finds himself in: http://chronicridicule.blogspot.com/2006/07/edward-burns-groomsmen-q.html Here is a relevant segment of the Q & A (re: The Groomsmen of course, & re: having Brittany Murphy in the movie): "

It's a low key drama-comedy so it is best to approach this movie by Ed Burns with modest expectations. Looking For kitty does deliver in the end, after a few unexpected twists and turns. The movie is about two men searching for a missing woman, at least that is the thin plot; inside that we get to see many warm snapshots of people grappling with the inevitable truth, slow changes in a new direction, and the streets of New York City bathed in the winter sun. This movie is unlike all of the other Burns movies I have seen (I believe I have seen them all except for The Groomsmen). Like a sip of fresh coffee on a cold day, Looking For Kitty is good & is recommended. The DVD is available now from THINKFilm . I stumbled upon a copy at my local Blockbuster Video yesterday, so it is probably everywhere now. - Sujewa

The following is an excerpt from a recent interview I did with Aaron Katz, the director of the indie drama Dance Party, USA. We got off the topic of his film & started talking about race & the indie film scene for a bit. Here is that portion of the interview: " Sujewa: It was cool hanging out with Stacy Schoolfield, a producer of the currently self-distributed flick Jumping Off Bridges, last night in Silver Spring, MD. We talked for a moment about the apparent low number of women & minorities in key positions in indie film production & distribution. I think the numbers are going up, but with the DV revolution I expected them to go up much quicker - since the cost of entry is now low & films can be made with just 1-5 or so crew members & very little equipment. Why do you think at the moment it seems like US indie film is mostly a liberal "white" male thing (not that there is anything wrong with that)? The indie film scene does not seem as dive

There is of course the non-indie film stuff that I am very thankful for; consisting mainly of being alive, good health & the special people in my life. And now here's the list of indie film stuff that I am thankful for this year: - getting Date Number One finished with the help of a whole lot of people - getting the 12 screenings of DNO done this year, again a lot of people helped with that one, u know who u are - Chuck Tryon's review of DNO after the World Premiere screening in May, very thankful for that, it was way better than what I expected - all the other positive reviews of DNO from this year, very very thankful for those; from Hollywood Is Talking blog, GreenCine Daily & Amir Motlagh & a big thanks to anyone who is not covered by the above items but helped me with my indie film stuff this year. indie film maybe independent of hollywood, but it is very dependent on a lot of cool people, at least that is the case in my experience - so thanks thanks thanks a l