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

hey, if i am very bothered by the heavy lack of minority presence in current indie films (see post a couple of posts below), maybe i should see this thing as an opportunity & go make some good features with minority leads/multi-ethnic casts. so, i am retiring from blogging right now. i believe a lot of good things were accomplished during my blogging "career"; providing assistance with the popularization of DIY filmmaking & self-distribution, promoting some interesting movies, building networks/getting to know other filmmakers & bloggers, etc. very cool. in the future this blog/space will only be used to announce screenings of my films or their DVD & other availability. look for Date Number One on DVD announcement (before 9/15) & DNO screening announcements here soon. then, w/ in the next 3 months (before 11/27), i will be releasing my new feature Stranger Than Hollywood . both films will have minority actors in lead roles as well as multi-ethnic casts.

Anthology Film Archives Great World Of Sound poster at Angelika Angelika Film Center That's Brian (The Film Panel Notetaker blog), Amy (The Film Panel Notetaker blog), Stu (The Reeler) :: I have to go through a few steps to get the photos up on this blog, so the process takes some time. But, since I had a great time in NYC 8/22 - 8/24, I'll start sharing some of the photos now. The rest coming later today (Mon 8/27). - Sujewa

Those words are from a Village Voice review of the indie film Police Beat . Here is the full sentence: "Dreamlike in style, Police Beat is also a real-world vision of what American indies could be if they dared to recognize the drama in our own neighborhoods." The review is by Rob Nelson, check it out here . And, from the same review : "Police Beat didn't seem to belong at Sundance, where it stood out for being what we used to call an independent film—the sort made with unknown actors, modest budgets, innovative production strategies, and regional specificity." The film is about a Seattle bike-cop. Here's the official website for this innovative sounding movie (adding it to my "to watch" list). The movie is available on DVD . - Sujewa

According to this San Francisco Chronicle article about 1 in 3 people in the US are non-"white". Mumblecore filmmakers or as the IFC Center calls them - Generation DIY, have been identified as a grass roots movement in the indie film press & also in the mainstream press. So, I would think that it is reasonable to expect a movement that comes from "the people" to have some key players who are not "white". Yet, pretty much (if I recall correctly) all the Mumblecore movies I 've seen so far (Kissing On The Mouth, LOL, Funny Ha Ha, Mutual Appreciation, The Puffy Chair, Dance Party, USA, Hannah Takes the Stairs) have featured an all-"white" cast and all the celebrated Mumblecore directors who are on their way to Hollywood & indiewood fame & wealth are all-"white". Mumblecore may have aesthetic/film technique differences from mainstream American film & television, but, when it comes to not collaborating with minority talen

The non-profit organization Brooklyn Young Filmmakers Center have a blog up & running. Here is an interesting portion from one of the recent entries: " This is my first blog entry, ever. But I’ve been reading everywhere about the potential power of blogs. The goal of Brooklyn Young Filmmakers Center’s blog is to test out the “THE POWER OF US” (see the BYFC News, Winter 2007 ). We are a non-profit run by volunteers of diverse ages, mostly women of color. We are working to open up a Career Guidance & Networking Center for jobs in film that will serve both adults and teens. This blog will help us get out information about film careers and film literacy to working-class people – and we hope it will help us raise support to open our center. Me, I’m a middle-age, working-class black woman. I have no health plan or savings. I have very irregular income based on freelancing jobs and teaching. I’m a renter hanging by fingertips in rapidly gentrifying Fort Greene, Brooklyn. I ca

Even though Pamela does not call the historically significant event - The iW Blogger/Indie Film Blogger NYC Meet Up #1 - by it's name, there are some good details of the fun had in the second half of her post . My own impressions of the Meet Up: First, I expected it to be not attended very well - only by like 5 or so people, or just me & Brian Geldin. But, I was pleasantly surprised to see close to 20 bloggers & filmmakers in the room (back room at Botanica bar) at one point during the night & also to see NYC indie film press heavy weights such as Eugene Hernandez of indieWIRE fame & ST Van AirsDale of The Reeler fame at the event. And of course let's not forget Matt Zoller Seitz from New York Times & The House Next Door. I spent the 2 hours or so at the Meet Up going around & saying hello to pretty much everyone - trying to be a good host, and got into some relatively long conversations with some of the bloggers present. Hmmm, I think I'll conti

I saw Tom DiCillo's new film Delirious on Thu 8/23 evening - well, the 12:15 or so show, at the Angelika in NYC (no matinee discounts/$11 for a noon show! - i guess that's new york :( Flick was well made, many of the audience members at the show seem to dig it, some laughed out loud several times. On the surface the overall mood of the film seems bitter, with the relative innocence & the openness of the young central character mixed in for some sweetness. Steve Buscemi was fun to watch. The worlds depicted in the movie (the mainstream entertainment industry, homeless kid with big dreams of fame) are not ones that I am too interested in so I guess I am not really the target audience for the movie (i'm like more into movies that only like 50 people are really into - made for "no money" on DV & making "no money" at theaters, unfortunately for all concerned :), but Delirious seems like it would have sold well as just a regular wide release comedy -

Too much Mumblecore all at once. I think I need to mix in other stuff to my media & entertainment diet, so, no more writing about anything Mumblecore related for a long time (except I still need to post up photos from my NYC trip, and those are full of M-core ppl, coming very soon to this blog - tomorrow or Mon). However, I am sure that there will be lots of M-core coverage happening all over the media landscape for months to come now that NYTimes & other major media have discovered & are celebrating the M-core kids, so I think the M-core ppl are gonna be all right even if ultra-micro media like this blog gets busy looking elsewhere. - Sujewa

Check out the notes here at the hard working Film Panel Notetaker Brian Geldin's blog. - Sujewa

Over at the Film Panel Notetaker . Check 'em out. - Sujewa

Get all the info. about one of the newest NYC film fests here . I would write more but I am tired from a long bus trip, so, will get to that later. Go check out the Ace site & see if there are any movies there that you want to check out. - Sujewa

The fact that all the Gen DIY excitement is happening in NYC this week helped the event. Just stumbled back from the event, all the way to Astoria, neeeed sleep. Will have photos & notes from this nights events (Apple Store SoHo Gen DIY panel, blogger meet up @ Botanica, both on Wed 8/23 night) up here tomorrow. This trip to NYC was awesome; thanks a lot to everyone who came out to the blogger meet up today. August 2008; iW blogger/indie film blogger NYC meet up #2! Put that yummy stuff on yer calendar now. Exact date of event to be announced. The lack of presence of one AJ Schnack was sadly noticed by many during these excellent indie film peeps full days in NYC, but he's got a good excuse. Happy Birthday Mr. Schnack! - Sujewa

I got to NYC and made it to the IFC Center about 20 minutes after Hannah Takes the Stairs 's 8 PM show began. Enjoyed what I saw. Since the flick is now available on cable, I'll catch the first 20 minutes this weekend or maybe even tomorrow here in NYC (i definitely prefer to watch movies on a movie theater screen; much, much better - so maybe the theater definitely). Quick thoughts re: Hannah: Andrew Bujalski playing a lead in the flick gives a very different flavor to this Swanberg flick - a huge improvement over his previous flicks as far as my movie watching enjoyment is concerned. Todd Rohal is very funny in his role, the theater (full or nearly sold out by the way) was cracking up at the boss role Todd played. Greta Gerwig (sp?) does a very good job most of the time. And don't tell Joe Swanberg this, but to me watching what I saw (most of the film, not all) tonight, I felt like I was watching something very close to Mutual Appreciation than something closer to K

Many have questioned me both openly and privately as to why I blog about Mumblecore (be it positively, negatively, or ambivalently, based on the exact Mumble-topic at hand) when they are, for the most part, not an ethnically diverse movement/group. There are several reasons for writing about Mumblecore, some too esoteric & distracting-for-the-topic-at-hand (such as my "theory of no race"), but there is one very good, relevant to minority, foreign, & third-world/emerging world filmmakers reason to keep an eye on the Mumblescene; they have, using easily doable techniques (more on that below) overcome limitations and obstacles that keep people ( including minorities ) from making & distributing movies. But before we go too far let's tackle an objection/excuse that some minority filmmakers have put forth re: the success (a relative thing in indie film, but getting 2 weeks or so for their films at the IFC Center & oodles of press qualifies as a success for me)

Get all the info. here . See ya all who plan on showing up. Should be fun, and of course we will come up with the secret plan to alter the course of indie film at this meet up. Should be a light, pleasant evening with masonic overtones; dress appropriately. - Sujewa