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

As I go, for the six hundredth time, over certain scenes in Date Number One while preparing the final version & the DVDs of the movie, one thing that keeps me refreshed is the excellent bluegrass & rock music created by Cory & Yann Seznec (brothers from Maryland by way of France) and Shervin Boloorian (from DC by way of CA & UK & Iran); known, for the purpose of this movie, as "The Punk Mariachi All-Stars" (the band exists in the world of the movie, in our world they do not, thus quotes must always be used when writing their name in our world). More "PMAS"/DNO music notes coming soon. In the meantime, check out the The Seznec Brothers website, they've got some music there. Also check out music by Cory's new band The Groanbox Boys (under Projects, here ). - Sujewa

yup. started shooting Date Number One , my "no" budget self-distributed DV comedy/romantic comedy feature in summer of '04!!! about 3 years later, was it all worth it? F*** YEAH! making this movie has been one of the best things i've done in my life! and the fun is just starting; distribution is gonna kick into higher gear starting this summer. thanks a lot to everyone who has made it possible to come this far with this project. we will all hang & party very soon. - sujewa

Check it out here . From last year. Good stuff, with nice pics, thanks H.I.T! - Sujewa

From last year. Here is a morsel: "The atmo of DN1 reminds me a bit of a few 60s-era underground films or post-punk works like Downtown 81 or Liquid Sky , though DN1 's cast of characters are a lot friendlier and live a few stories higher on the under/above ground scale. - David Hudson, GreenCine Daily " Check it out here . - Sujewa

Originally published 9/06 Forget Factotum man, if you want to experience some modern (not 35MM holly-indie-foreign- wood weak reflections of) down & out seedy existence complete with substance addiction & prostitution, and of course Bukawski esque humanization of the afflicted, go check out Mike Tully's Cocaine Angel . The movie will most likely make yourself feel a lot better about whatever partially self-created & temporary indie hipster tragic situation that your life may be at the moment. Whatever it is, the kids in CA got it worse. A well made movie, here's an interview with the director Mike Tully: Sujewa - Hey Mike, how do you feel about the upcoming NYC premiere of Cocaine Angel at the Brooklyn Independent Cinema series? [note, this happened last year,2006] Mike - we feel very excited about it, of course! to be honest, i haven't really thought about the film or watched it for quite some time, so i'm a tiny bit nervous about how it's going to pla

Check out peace activist Cindy Sheehan's Memorial Day/"resignation" letter at Daily Kos . Here is a paragraph: " I am deemed a radical because I believe that partisan politics should be left to the wayside when hundreds of thousands of people are dying for a war based on lies that is supported by Democrats and Republican alike. It amazes me that people who are sharp on the issues and can zero in like a laser beam on lies, misrepresentations, and political expediency when it comes to one party refuse to recognize it in their own party. Blind party loyalty is dangerous whatever side it occurs on. People of the world look on us Americans as jokes because we allow our political leaders so much murderous latitude and if we don’t find alternatives to this corrupt "two" party system our Representative Republic will die and be replaced with what we are rapidly descending into with nary a check or balance: a fascist corporate wasteland. I am demonized because I don

Just saw an episode. Good, powerful & moving stuff about the hurrican Katrina disaster's aftermath. Show runs until June 1. Here is a description of the show from this PBS page : "Beginning in January 2006, Oscar-winning filmmaker Jonathan Demme filmed in and around New Orleans, chronicling the lives of dozens of people—each of whom has their own unique story. The result is a documentary on the pioneering individuals and families who have chosen to exercise their self-granted “right to return” to their devastated homes and rebuild their lives following Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. Tavis accompanied Demme to New Orleans to visit with some of these courageous people who are central to the culture of the Big Easy." Find out more about the show here . - Sujewa

Before I jump into "all Date Number One news all the time" at this blog I want to wrap up an old idea that I started talking about at Filmmaking For The Poor blog & then at this blog under its various names: DIY filmmaking as a career or making a living through ultra-low/"no" budget, self-financed, self-produced & self-distributed independent feature films. Initially the inspiration was DIY punk/indie rock: some bands from the 80's & 90's & beyond operated, and some still do operate, outside of the mainstream rock industry & on a smaller scale than their big-corporations-financed cousins. These indie bands (such as DC's Fugazi ) manufacture their own CDs, book their own tours and pretty much are in control of all creative & business aspects of their art making careers. Another area of inspiration is certain ultra-indie filmmakers/films from the recent past: Jon Moritsugu self-distributing several titles, Gene Cajayon self-distrib

Of course I will wrap up & post a couple of non- Date Number One related articles (Amir Motlagh interview, Jennifer Fox interview, a couple of reviews perhaps) but starting now this blog will focus only or mostly/99% of the time on DNO realted news. It's a big country & a bigger world, a lot of work needs to get done in order to complete the DNO distribution project, which should generate some stuff to blog about on a regular basis. On the next post I can hopefully announce the DNO DVD being available for sale & give some links to some new DNO press; specially stuff related to the 7/12 - 18 run in Kensington. And, from time to time, brief posts about films by friends may get into this blog. But other than that, from now on, all DNO news all the time over here. 'cause we are taking the DNO self-distribution project to the "next step" right now. it should be a most rocking & deeply delicious experience. - sujewa

By the time I heard about the PBS airing of The Slanted Screen, a doc about Asian & Asian American men in film & TV, I had missed about half of it. What I saw was good, interesting & hopeful. Also it was fun to see some Asian-American indie filmmakers on the program; Gene "The Debut" (awesome theatrical self-distribution success story) Cajayon & Eric Byler. Here is a description of the program, from this PBS page : "THE SLANTED SCREEN From silent film star Sessue Hayakawa to Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle, Jeff Adachi’s film explores the portrayals of Asian men in American cinema and television, chronicling the experiences of actors who have had to struggle against ethnic stereotyping and limiting roles. Through a parade of 50 film clips spanning a century, the film presents a critical examination of Hollywood’s image-making machine. The program includes interviews with actors Mako, Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa, James Shigeta, Dustin Nguyen, Phillip Rhee,

Amir Motlagh is a prolific D.I.Y. punk/indie rock influenced west coast based filmmaker, actor and musician (Shanks and the Dreamers - MySpace ). Although Motlagh has yet to release a feature (a situation that should change this year when his first feature Whale, currently in post-production, is completed), he is the director of over a dozen short films (short short 5 minute films and long short 40 minute films, more information here ) including two of my favorites: Still Lover and My Break Ups Into A Million Pieces. Motlagh's latest short film Knock.Knock tells the story of events that happen in a day in the life of a comedian who is moving a little bit up in the world. The comedian (played by Chris Manz- MySpace ), wakes up and goes to work, has a somewhat amusing encounter with an actress (Lene Penderson) and then has a more dramatic encounter with a former girlfriend (Keaton Shyler). In the end, Manz's character seems to have a new understanding about his past, the present

Blame it on watching Mystery Train & Stranger Than Paradise too many times, but I do like kind of surreal & funny & minimalist features about odd characters, so, the Azazel Jacobs film The GoodTimes Kid might be a movie that I would enjoy. Looking forward to checking it out whenever I stumble across it (another good thing about these minimalist movies, there's no rush, waiting to watch the movie is almost as exciting as watching the movie; maybe certain movies release certain brain waves - alpha waves? omega waves? and that's why i like watching them even though there isn't much happening on the screen, who knows). Here's a recent small mention of The GoodTimes Kid at the Boston Globe : " "The GoodTimesKid" Written and directed by co-star Azazel Jacobs (son of legendary avant-garde filmmaker Ken Jacobs), this low-fi comedy bounces off the festival circuit and lands with a lovely little splat. It's one day in the life of three hapless Los

Just watched Amir Motlagh's new short film Knock.Knock. I liked it, need to watch it again & think about it, will have a review here later this week. The film stars a comedian (Chris Manz, MySpace ) but is not a comedy, it is a light drama about a day, and more specifically a couple of encounters, in the life of a comedian with an internet show. That's all I'll say for now, read the review later this week for more on Knock.Knock. Also, it's been a while since I interviewed Amir ( read Feb '05 interview here ), will try to talk to him about Knock.Knock & his feature-in-post-production Whale & his other feature-in-the-works Micro later this week. Back to working on the DNO DVD for me. Talk to you later. - Sujewa

get all the info. here.

Any blog entry that mentions real indie film, 80's punk rock, & yours truly is worth linking to & reading :), so here is a post at the Camera Stilo blog re: the new DIY/real indie/whatever film movement that we are building with each no budget digital feature & barnyard screening & home made DVD sale & private & public web conversations: To Sum It All Up - Independent Music of the 1980s and Independent Film Today. - Sujewa