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

Blogging is fun, but not as fun as making movies & distributing them. So, starting now, I am only going to blog when I absolutely must (announcements, press release type posts, dealing with stuff specifically dealing with Date Number One or one of my other projects). This might enable me to get more movies made & out this year (plus get more day job work done, & also be lazy & not do much more often :). Will be keeping an eye on all my blogs & posting stuff in them when absolutely necessary (one project that needs to be finished - and might have to be kept up from time to time - is adding links to Indie Features & also this blog), and will of course be reading other people's blogs & commenting when necessary, but otherwise, I am pretty much semi-retired from blogging & related activities - starting right now. Coming in the next few weeks from this "semi-retired from blogging" blogger, @ this blog: more info. on The Kensington Real Indep

I've got a pretty cool day job - at a used & rare bookstore in a very pretty town. But, making a feature length film and distributing it racks up some expenses. At some point in the near future, maybe this year, it seems possible to not only make a profit from the film project but also maybe cut back some on the day job work with the help of $s coming in from distributing the film. But, for the present moment, there are many bills to pay & more racking up every month. So I had an interview for another day job today. A very good one for a filmmaker & film enthusiast like myself. And it comes with good health benefits. I'll know in a couple of days if I got it. Either way, the search for more day job work is on. Now, some filmmakers may dread having day jobs or may want to do only film work for a living, but I kind of like the freedom that having a non-film day job (or two) brings. Of course the goal is to make a living from making & distributing exactly

The list of filmmakers that New Yorker Films has worked with is very impressive; ranges from Godard to Jarmusch & beyond. Here is a little about the company from their About Us page: " The company was founded in 1965 by Daniel Talbot as an outgrowth of his legendary movie house, the New Yorker Theater. Unable to obtain several crucial foreign titles, Talbot was obliged to import them himself. Early acquisitions such as Bertolucci's BEFORE THE REVOLUTION, Godard's LES CARABINIERS, and Sembene's BLACK GIRL established New Yorker's still vital tradition of presenting the world's most innovative, artistically significant, and politically engaged films." And I also found this paragraph about the company to be very interesting & inspiring: "In a time when the term "independent" has been loosely applied to subsidiaries of giant conglomerates, New Yorker stands as the most durable, important, and truly independent of independent film dist

Read all about it here . Unbelievable, but apparently true. - Sujewa

Charles Burnett's Killer of Sheep was shot on weekends in the 1970's for around $10,000, as a grad school thesis project. Now, about 30 years later, the much praised film is receiving a theatrical release. Read all about it at GreenCine Daily . - Sujewa

Read all about it here . Wish I could have been in the audience for that one, two of my secret indie/punk/DIY filmmaking heroes in one place! Thanks GreenCine Daily for the link. UPDATE: a pic of Moritsugu that i did some decorations on for an interview i did with him a couple of years back made its way over to the post mentioned above - the b&w pic with the red explosion around his head. fun to see a little side item i created randomly show up at a blog many months later, at a great post :) UPDATE 2: read part 2 of the panel discussion notes here . - Sujewa

Waco, Texas based director Chris Hansen's amusing and well made mockumentary The Proper Care & Feeding of an American Messiah will screen at the Kensington Real Independent Film Festival (KRIFF) in Kensington, Maryland. KRIFF, both a new film festival and a new kind of a film festival - one that celebrates real independent filmmaking in America and one that will share ticket sales revenue with filmmakers, happens September 6 - 9, 2007. Screening date and time for Messiah are to be determined. Messiah will be one of only 10 fiction feature films that will screen at the festival. KRIFF 2007 is the inaugural version of the film festival. Messiah is a low budget, actually independent comedy-drama about the misadventures of a character who believes he has been chosen for a special mission by the God of the Christians. The feature was made with the assistance of Baylor University students. The film is a real independent movie since it was created, as far as I can tell, without any