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

From this article : "But can film really unite us? Can it evoke empathy for people we've never met and likely never will? And even if powerful film does inspire empathy, will that lead to real change? Emmanuel Vaughan-Lee and Hannah Merriman , co-founders of the Global Oneness Project believe that it can. According to their website, the Global Oneness Project "was created to discover and document the diverse ways in which the emerging consciousness of oneness is impacting people's lives. We are traveling worldwide with a small camera crew, asking people from a variety of disciplines whose work is grounded in a perspective of oneness for their stories and insights." Read the rest here . - Sujewa

First, check out GreenCine Daily's A Good Day to Be Black and Sexy post for a few links. Then, check out this Sundance promo video with a brief interview with the director & two of the actors, plus a clip from the movie: And finally, Black & Sexy on MySpace . - Sujewa

The Puffy Chair by the Duplass brothers was funny & enjoyable, & it received good distribution for a low/"no"-budget, no-star DV movie, and now it looks like the Duplass's new movie Baghead will also be seen by a bunch of people; from The Hollywood Reporter : "Sony Pictures Classics has picked up all North American rights to "Baghead," the sophomore feature from brothers Mark and Jay Duplass." Read the rest of the story here . - Sujewa

From a New York mag Stanley Tucci interview re: the Sundance '08 film Blind Date: "And you really shot it all in one room? Yes, we shot the film in seven days, all in one room. It was at once a blessing and a curse. After a while you really have to figure out ways to make the room feel interesting without getting tricky or hokey. But it was so exciting. We would shoot fourteen pages a day! It was definitely grueling, but once you’ve written something, you know it so well that you really save a lot of time. You don’t even have to look at the script." Read the rest of the interview here . Thanks GreenCine Daily for the link. Blind Date trailer at YouTube:

From Woody Allen's The Purple Rose of Cairo :

Amir Motlagh 's short knock.knock is gonna play at Smogdance , the Pomona Valley's 10th annual film festival. More info. here , and here , and here . The official word from Amir's blog: "Come and watch. knock. knock. play at the 10th annual Smogdance Film Festival. When: Friday Jan 25, 2007 @ 7PM Where: Galileo Hall @ Harvey Mudd College, 260 E Foothill Blvd. Claremont, CA 91711 Link to schedule: http://smogdance.com/2008.html Link to knock. knock. page: http://smogdance.com/2008/motlagh.html" - Sujewa

Yes, another "my immigrant parents don't want me to marry so and so..." story, but then again, just because a story seems familiar does not mean the movie is going to suck. Have not seen Henna, but here's some info. on it for any who are interested: " Night of Henna (The Wedding Night) is a feature film written and directed by Hassan Zee, shot primarily in the San Francisco Bay area. In the film, Hava (Pooja Kumar), a beautiful Pakistani-American girl, returns fully grown to America after a traditional upbringing in Pakistan where her parents felt she would be untainted by American culture. Finding herself in an exciting new environment, Hava's eyes open to life's possibilities. She thinks her dream of going to the University will come true, but her marriage has already been arranged by her parents. As a result, Hava finds herself engaged in not just a clash of cultures, but a battle for her very survival as an individual." Find out more about the fi