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

At FilmInFocus , John Waters talks about Baltimore movie theaters. - Sujewa

Have not blogged much recently because I was down with a cold/fever/whatever for like, on and off, about 10 days. Finally that's over I think, woke up today after sleeping for 12 hours straight and am feeling more or less fine. Even though I was sick, went ahead with a holiday party at my new apt; we called it Happy Ending '07 - happened on Sat 12/15. Among other activities; Open Water 2, Night On Earth, Mystery Train, and Living In Oblivion were screened on a wall (nice gigantic image, i need to buy me a projector) and all the Kensingtonians (and 1 Rockvillian) who attended had a good time. Back to regular blogging & not finishing up the Date Number One DVD tomorrow (although, I plan on getting it done very, very soon - definitely before this month is out) :). Still need to unpack fully from the move to the new apt. Winter is kind of slow, so I am sure I'll get these lingering projects done while sipping some apple cider in the coming days. Oh, and received a bunch

Received Criterion's release of Night On Earth as a birthday gift this week; that movie is still very funny & good - & the extras on the DVD are nice (of course more would have been better :), liked the essays a lot). Here's a clip from one of the funniest segments of Night, found on YouTube: Buy the DVD here (or get someone to get it for you as a holiday gift, it'll probably be a nice thing to have around). - Sujewa

This interview may be a little old (can't see a date on it, but it does refer to Schmidt's Dogme 95 movie "Chetzemoka's Curse" - a very good DV film by the way, check it out ), still a good read. Here's the interview . Here's a segment: " Could you outline your history in the film industry? My history "in the film industry" began in 1970 when I shot my first video that became transferred to 16MM and edited to become a short called "The Legal Operation." From there I became roommates with director Wayne Wang (who then wasn't the director of The Joy Luck Club or Smoke of course...just a graduate student in film). In 1973 we co-directed our first feature together, entitled A MAN, A WOMAN, AND A KILLER, which and ended up winning Director's Choice award at the Ann Arbor Film Festival. With that movie I won a $10,000 grant from the American Film Institute (AFI) to make another feature, Showboat 1988-the remake, completing it in

I want some good looking images in my next movie, so I am digging up DV & or HD/HDV movies that look very good, in order to get some ideas about various image possibilities. Some of these movies have been shot by Ellen Kuras. Here is an interview with Kuras , from '02, at indieWIRE, re: shooting Personal Velocity. A segment: "iW: What attracted you to work on a project like "Personal Velocity"? Kuras: I was very interested in working on the film because it was a whole different format; almost like three short stories. Rebecca Miller [the writer/director] and I worked together on "Angela" and she is such a pleasure to work with. We have a very interesting symbiotic relationship because we are able to see into each other's heads and speak and work on different planes that are not so literal. Also, a lot of the same crew from "Angela" were interested in working on "Personal Velocity" and we were really excited about getting the gang

jesus vs. the devil the buddha vs. mara some religious art to get you going on this monday morning. when you take two of the most oldest & popular stories on this planet - the journey of prince gotama to buddha-hood & the journey of jesus to christ-hood (is that even a word?, i think so :), you come across two very important "plot points"; that of the buddha resisting temptations offered to him by the demon mara, and jesus resisting temptations offered to him by the devil. so what do we have - two conflicted men resisting evil - a great thing to put in your next screenplay (not specifically those two guys & their temptations, but a character resisting some awesome temptations at possibly great cost to self); it is bound to be popular because it is already a very popular element of human mythology (probably because such actions are necessary for survival in any type of a positive sense - for communities, individuals and organizations). find out more about the bud

Get an introduction to Australian artist/filmmaker Tracey Moffatt at this wikipedia page . Sense of Cinema has an analysis of Moffatt's film Nice Coloured Girls . A segment: "The film confronts orthodox histories of colonial race and gender relations. The use of colonial documents (through the voice-over of Lieutenant Bradley's diaries) recalls the arrival of the First Fleet and the beginning of dispossession for black Australians. The relationship between black women and white men in the film is romantic and paternal (characteristic of early relations but not of contemporary ones) and this serves to illustrate both the naivety and self-deception of the writers of the colonial documents and the astuteness of the women. The colonists are shown to be naive because they believe the women need protection but the women, in fact, have a clear understanding of how interracial relations work and how to manipulate the situation to their advantage to get what they want. The depicte

There's a Variety article on the important role the producers played in making No Country for Old Men, The Kite Runner & several other well received indiewood movies. Read it here . - Sujewa

Check out notes from the American Cinamatheque Panel - Unraveling Independent Film Distribution at the Film Panel Notetaker. Here's how it starts: " Unraveling Independent Film Distribution American Cinematheque - Aero Theatre Los Angeles December 4, 2007 Panelists: (BA) Bob Aaronson (Red Envelope Entertainment (REE), a Netflix Company) (GG) Gary Garfinkel (Senior Vice President - Content Strategy & Acquisition, Showtime Networks ) (BS) Barry Schuler (Managing Director, DFJ Growth, Former Chairman & CEO, AOL, Inc.) (DS) David Shultz (President, Vitagraph Films LLC (Theatrical) (TS) Ted Sarandos (Chief Content Officer, Netflix ) (MC) Mike McClellan (VP Film Buyer for Landmark Theaters Corp) Moderator: (MG) Margot Gerber ( American Cinematheque PR Director) (MG) How do you decide which festivals to attend, what you watch and what you distribute? (GG) – I attend Sundance, Toronto, Cannes, and AFM primarily. Showtime is generally more likely to buy from AFM as thi

According to the NYUFF site , the regular deadline is December 15. Final deadline is January 15. Festival happens April 2 - 8 in the city that invented independent film. A little bit about the fest, from a Withoutabox e-mail that I received today: " NYUFF has been a great launching pad for its well-regarded alumni, who continue to produce and submit more films to the festival. Some notable Underground alumni include Sam Green and Bill Siegel of THE WEATHER UNDERGROUND; Michael Galinsky and Suki Hawley of HALF COCKED, RADIATION, and HORNS AND HALOS; James Fotopoulos of MIGRATING FORMS, and BACK AGAINST THE WALL; and George Kuchar of HOLD ME WHILE I'M NAKED." Find out more about the fest here . - Sujewa

Both at Emanuel Levy's site: Youth Without Youth - Symbols & Motifs Interview with Coppola - Sujewa

While working at the bookstore - the day job - I've leisurely shelved (took a while to leaf through the books before shelving them) books by Mircea Eliade and even bought a couple of books by him; dude was deeply into philosophy, linguistics, and religion (even though I have not re-read it in at least three years, I still remember an interpretation of the Buddhist concept of Nirvana by Eliade - it talked about being able to step outside of experiencing the ordinary flow of time in a very significant way; granted, I do not clearly know what that means, but it was memorable because most books on Buddhism do not analyze or talk about exactly what happened during the nirvana experience). Since, as a novelist, Eliade (read bio below) was most likely no hack - a writer pulling together a bunch of exotic ideas in order to merely entertain - I am thinking that maybe there are some valuable ideas behind the very complex story of Coppola's movie version of Eliade's book Youth Without

Maurice Jamal's award winning indie film (the description of which reminds me a little of Jim Jarmusch's Broken Flowers) Dirty Laundry opens for theatrical play this Friday December 7 in NYC & LA. Here's the screening info: Los Angeles Mann Beverly Center Cinemas (Inside Beverly Center) 8522 Beverly Boulevard Los Angeles, CA 90038 New York Clearview Chelsea Theater West 23rd Street (between 7th & 8th) New York, NY 10011 Dirty Laundry synopsis from IMDB : "A modern-day prodigal son story with a twist. It follows Patrick, a magazine writer, who seems to have the "perfect life," until one day, there is a knock at the door. On the other side stands a secret that brings him face to face with the traditional southern family he hasn't seen in over 10 years." A little bit more about the movie from a comment at IMDB : "a class-conscious New York-based magazine writer whose discovery of a ten-year old son leads him back to the family he left be

About the Sundance '08 selected doc " Fields of Fuel ", from the American Humanist Association press release: " "Fields of Fuel" is a 90 minute documentary that was filmed over the past 12 years in 5 countries by a team of scientists and filmmakers lead by Tickell, who is an alternative energy activist and humanist. The film explores fossil fuel production and its impacts and provides innovative, ethical and practical solutions. Most importantly, it empowers individuals to change their own energy use as well as the energy use of their communities. The film will be seen in theaters across the nation. A seven-month-long 50-city Community Action Campaign will bring the film to theaters, town halls, events and schools across the country, accompanied by a professional staff of scientists and educators. "Fields of Fuel" is one of only 15 documentary films that were accepted for the 2008 Sundance Film Festival. 3,000 films were submitted to the Festival

Curious about art? Ya might want to check out the book 30,000 Years of Art . A description of the book from the Amazon page linked to above: "30,000 YEARS OF ART: THE STORY OF HUMAN CREATIVITY ACROSS TIME AND SPACE is the follow-up to Phaidon's phenomenally successful THE ART BOOK. This is an accessible, fun and informative compendium of world art that offers a fresh perspective on the whole of art history, from 28,000 BC to the present day. It debunks art historical classifications and hierarchies by presenting 1,000 masterworks of art in simple chronological order, demonstrating what was being created all over the globe at the same time. Only here can you find the Venus de Milo next to a mural from the Mayan civilization, or Velazquez' Las Meninas next to a painting from the Chinese Ming Dynasty, an Indian jade wine cup, a ritual Nepalese plaque, a Korean portrait, and Vermeer's Milkmaid. Each work has been chosen for its unique place in the history of art, and as a