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

Thanks News of the Dead for the link. Here is the opening paragraph of CustomFlix's press release re: the new service (links by me): " CustomFlix Labs, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Amazon.com, Inc., (NASDAQ: AMZN) today announced its support for Amazon.com's video download service, Amazon Unbox , by adding video downloads to its current DVD and CD on Demand services. This new CustomFlix service now enables independent filmmakers and other DVD content owners to make their content available as video downloads to tens of millions of Amazon.com customers through Unbox." Read the rest of it here . I checked out a download time chart of theirs, with a high speed cable connection (6 Mbps) you can start watching a 2 hour movie in less than 3 minutes through this download service, & you can watch the downloaded material on your TV once you hook your computer up to your TV (more on the Amazon Unbox FAQ ). - Sujewa

So, 2006 is coming to an end, the Date Number One DVD & 2007 screenings are on the way. I am going to take the next few days of the year to revisit highlights from DNO Year 1. This was the art part of the Washington City Paper ad for the May 13, 2006 World Premiere of Date Number One. I should have another, complete version of this ad - with the location & times on it, somewhere. More '06 DNO stuff coming soon. - Sujewa

This AP article says that the 1st of 100 tsunami warning towers have been unveiled in Sri Lanka, on the 2nd anniversary of the 2004 tragedy. It also mentions an unveiling of a shorter replica of the Buddha statue from Afghanistan. The ancient Afghani Buddha statue was destroyed in '01 by the Taliban.

Permanent Vacation , Jim Jarmusch's first feature: * http://www.reverseshot.com/legacy/dogdays05/permanent.html Nick Pinkerton/Reverse Shot :: Downtown 81 * http://www.offoffoff.com/film/2001/downtown81.php3 OffOffOff :: Inland Empire * http://movies.ign.com/articles/750/750826p1.html IGN

And that's (from L to R) Rupa, the ex-Buddhist nun, creator of a new religion (in-progress) (played by Dele Williams), Sunshine, the woman who is working on a book to help save the world (Jennifer Blakemore), and Kamal, the indie rock star who is really into quantum physics (Shervin Boloorian), from Story 2 of Date Number One . Happy holidays everyone! photo copyright 2006 sujewa ekanayake/wild diner films

Dang! This event happened like 5 mins from my house but I did not know about it 'till later!!! From Silverdocs '06: http://www.fest21.com/en/blog/silverdocs/jim_jarmuschs_dialogue_with_martin_scorsese

DC based Filipino-Canadian (how's that for some local & international flavor? :) filmmaker Alex Pacheco is working on finishing up a feature called Praxis - "about a young writer who develops a fragmented identity". I've seen short films by Alex & liked 'em. They were also well received by festivals, reviewers & audiences. Here is Alex's Praxis blog . And here is the web site for Praxis.

The latest news from Sri Lanka is that the government forces are doing well against the separatist LTTE rebels - a group that is banned by many governments (including the US gov) due to their terroristic activities (suicide bombing, killing or trying to kill all major critics & challengers - including Tamils - the people they claim to be liberating, recruiting child soldiers, etc.). The sooner the 20 some year old war is over, the better it will be for everyone in Sri Lanka. Here is a Hindustan Times story with an update on the war. For more news stories on Sri Lanka, these two sites are good: Lanka Page The Lanka Academic For an often less official but often very informative take on the news, check out: LankaWeb And, for info. on one major event that we can never forget, the anti-Tamil progroms of Black July - July of 1983 (by conservative estimates 1,000 - 3,000 Tamils killed by Sinhala mobs while the then government stood aside for several days. the government has changed for t

December 23rd is Festivus , the festival for the rest of us! Originated in a Seinfeld episode in '97, Festivus is a fast growing celebration. Over here in the DC area, at College Park, MD, there is a Festivus pole outside of the cafe College Perk . Here is the Wikipedia entry on Festivus , with a lot of interesting links (did ya know St. Louis, MO claims to be the city with one of the biggest Festivus celebrations? :).

Off the Black, the off-beat drama starring Nick Nolte, opens in DC & Boston today. The film's director James Ponsoldt has a brief message that he wants to share, so here is James: Hey there-- "OFF THE BLACK" opens today in BOSTON (AMC LOEWS HARVARD 5) and WASHINGTON D.C. (E STREET CINEMA). Please check it out if you're in one of those cities and let your friends know that it's playing. We need all your support! We're a low-budget independent film with a next-to-nothing advertising budget (I'm really not kidding--practically no ads!), so word of mouth is vital...or else we'll be bumped from the theater by studio flicks (like "Eragon"). Thank you so much and enjoy your holidays! Yours and I am, James P.S. In addition to getting raves today in "The Boston Herald" and "The Boston Phoenix," we just received a beautiful review in "The Boston Globe." I've included it below... 'Off the Black' is on target