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

Interesting discussion at a Criterion Forum about how one Japanese director has made & released quality movies using the "straight-to-DVD" production & release method/avenue. Over here in the US straight-to-DVD has generally been a wasteland (or is considered as such by many mainstream consumers, as far as I can tell), but perhaps real indie filmmakers with good movies can use that method of release in a profitable way (no theatrical release expenses, plus there may be other benefits - like greater independence from relying on festivals & critics/reviewers/bloggers for justifying the existence of a film in the market place; as in - if it is already available on DVD for purchase & viewing, then sales figures & the audience response can determine if more money & time needs to be/can be invested in a given title for further exposure & profit/sales, regardless of what fest programmers or critics think about, or not think about, the movie). Also, as one

Check out the interview here . I liked this statement by Araki: "Because I also edit my movies and am really involved in the color timing, I see every movie I make literally 500 or a thousand times, and if I ever made a movie only because I was getting paid I don't think I could take it. You have to love it; it has to be something that's really personal to you that you love." The rest here . - Sujewa

Check it out here . Here is a little bit from the introduction to the interview: "And in today’s virtual world, friends, fans and consumers are, more times than not, the same thing. To help harness that and to increase the ability of filmmakers to efficiently reach core audiences, Breakthrough Distribution , in conjunction with several partners, is building a cooperative database which will be called Indiefanbase. The site will attempt to aggregate and mine the fanbases of individual filmmakers, publishers and nonprofits to help market and target creative content and products. I spoke with Jeff Rosen, one of the four team members that run Breakthrough, about the enormous potential of the Internet and what the distribution company has in store for the near future." And here again is the interview link . Might be a useful thing to read for indie filmmakers. - Sujewa

Check out the long, excellent essay " Alone at the movies; My days in the dark with Robert Altman and Woody Allen " by Mark Edmundson at The American Scholar (thanks GreenCine Daily for the link). Here is a paragraph from it: "Might not this be a little like my own condition, or at least a condition I could aspire to? I could, maybe, give up questing for big and exciting things (Those connections! Those parties! That job!) and stop resenting the people who enjoyed them. I could amble and loaf and look around and perhaps store up a few impressions. I was low on cash most of the time, sure, but I had enough to get by. What I had in excess was what Altman and his camera seemed to have, time—time and a marvelous place to spend it, Manhattan, the greatest paradise for walkers and loiterers and trippers and ramblers ever created. Looking around—affectionately, forgivingly, gently—turned out not to be a half bad way of expanding the day. In this particular ambling mo

Critic Nathan Lee at the Village Voice says Greg Araki's new feature Smiley Face is "an eleventh-hour candidate for the funniest movie of 2007". Read the whole review here (thanks GreenCine Daily for the link!). And here's a bit more from the Lee/Voice review: "Confused? Just ride, man: Points B–Y will take Jane, aspiring actress, from an audition that ends with her offering to sell the casting agent a baggie to having a dentist-office freakout in the company of an über-dork who might be able to lend her the cash to pay the dealer and give her a ride to the 33rd Annual Venice Hemp Festival. Visiting the house of a former professor in Marxist studies, she'll inadvertently get her hands on an original copy of The Communist Manifesto (and promptly daydream the glorious results of an eBay auction) and later head to a pork-processing plant in the middle of nowhere, and so on and so forth with maximum silliness, deft narrative drive, and dialogue of sustai

The main ideas for my new "no budget" (under $1K, at least that's the budget plan now :) feature "Bears" (working title, more on the flick here ) came from hanging out with an old friend of mine - Brian Papin - in the DC area for a couple of years in the late 90's & early '00s. We had some very interesting conversations/arguments about the world, history, individual abilities & responsibilities, as well as a lot of whacked out funny conversations, and some of those ideas & events should work their way into the movie. Brian is slated to play the lead in the flick as of now. I am going to play a supporting role (didn't know I acted did ya? :) Brian lives in the Atlanta area & has many daily/weekly responsibilities (house! jobs! kids!), so I will have to go down to Atlanta for a couple of weeks & shoot the flick there, since it will be difficult for Brian to come down (or is it up?) to DC for an extended period of time. We are a