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

Some of the most interesting art/indie movies that I saw or heard about this year were self-distributed movies. In celebration, here are some lists (titles in alphabetical order): List 1: Select 2006 Theatrically Self-Distributed* Low Budget Indie Films (*multiple cities, commercial screenings outside of film fests or similar events): Date Number One Four Eyed Monsters Head Trauma Jumping Off Bridges Kicking Bird LOL Manhattan, Kansas Mardi Gras: Made in China Mutual Appreciation List 2: Select Indie Features That Took At Least 1 Step Outside of the Film Festival Circuit (at least 1 DIY theatrical or alterna venue screening in '06): Cocaine Angel Dance Party, U.S.A. Deadroom The Proper Care & Feeding of an American Messiah List 3: Select 2006 Hybrid (Indiewood & DIY) or New Distribution Projects Worth Checking Out: 51 Birch Street Cavite I Am A Sex Addict List 4: A well known director self-distributes an art movie list: Inland Empire

Here's the link to My Movie Network's site . And the first couple of lines from E-Commerce News' article on the biz: "My Movie Network is a very interesting free service which allows users to film their own independent movies by finding the right cast members through the embedded user network and then upload these videos for evaluation by the community. A staff member at MMN told me that the goal of their service is to showcase “the work of true filmmakers, independent, indie and student film makers who would like to create quality content such as short or feature films they would be proud to enter into a film festival or a contest.” " Read the rest of that article here . More on MMN soon. - Sujewa

Over half a dozen lists, all in one place , from the fine & sexy folks at Green Cine (the people who bring you the mighty GreenCine Daily blog & exactly a gazillion cool movies on DVD & VOD, along with great web articles). Check it out here . - Sujewa

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.