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

Check it out here . From the review: "With minimal dialogue and assured performances from its well-matched leads, pic registers powerfully as a pure romance and as a haunting portrait of a place that has rid itself of the physical reminders of trauma, but where the population remains largely in a state of suspended animation, emotionally." More here . - Sujewa

From Crackle: The Toe Tactic - Interview with Emily Hubley

If people are getting killed in some place, most likely some evil stuff is happening at that place. - Sujewa

Attended the DC area mass indie film auditioning event Stonehenge today; glad I did - briefly met 120 or so actors, collected head shots/resumes, got to know some local filmmakers. Team Jabberwocky , the producers of 'henge, did an excellent job today - all went very smoothly, with zero frustrations to me as a filmmaker attending a 'henge event for the first time. Stonehenge is a great resource for DC area indie filmmakers. Each of the actors who auditioned had, I believe, 90 seconds (i may be wrong on this, either way, no more than 2-3 minutes) to perform a monologue. The performances that I found most effective; ones that allowed me to observe potential skills of the actors were ones where the actor did not use an incredibly dramatic/shocking monologue. I'll explain; when I was watching actors I was not evaluating the exact monologue they chose, but rather how it was delivered, specially what I call "the low notes" - it is kind of difficult to totally f

A clip: * Review links at GreenCine Daily . - Sujewa

... and still working on the feature DVD, update here . - Sujewa

I think this trailer is slightly different than the one I posted sometime back: * And here's the website for Beautiful Losers . - Sujewa

About the video: "In 2000, 189 nations came together and made a promise to eradicate extreme poverty by 2015. (Extreme poverty is defined as living on less than a dollar a day). This promise led to the Millennium Declaration - a document outlining 8 specific goals to help the world realize this promise." Video was created by Good .

I am blogging about DC arts events & related stuff over at Orange Line . - Sujewa

First, go check out this video story about a 17 year old who is organizing rock shows in a town in NJ; here - pretty neat. Related; Above the Influence call for video submissions: "AbovetheInfluence.com Asks Teens and Young Adults to Submit Videos Tell the World How You Live Above the Influence Visit abovetheinfluence.com for the specifics. This is your chance to be a part of the Above the Influence team and tell the world what you think. Share your version of what it means to be Above It. Your personal video expression can be almost anything – a dramatization, documentary-style interview (with yourself or others), a montage, or even a commercial-style video that you might create for the campaign. Or tell us how you live above it – you know, how you deal with pressures, stay healthy and avoid drugs. And in the next few months, we’ll pick a few of your videos to post on the site. Be creative, be original and be yourself. Visit our Web site, AbovetheInfluence.com , for more guidel

Weird & interesting: * About the movie, from GreenCine : "Mr. Freedom (1969) William Klein moved into more blatantly political territory with this hilarious, angry Vietnam-era spoof of imperialist American foreign policy. Mr. Freedom (John Abbey), a bellowing good ol' boy superhero, decked out in copious football padding, jets off to France to curtail a Commie invasion from Switzerland. A destructive, arrogant patriot in tight pants, Freedom joins forces with Marie-Madeleine (satirically sexy Delphine Seyrig) to combat lefty freethinkers, as well as insidious evildoers Moujik Man and the inflatable Red China Man, culminating in a gloriously star-spangled showdown of kitschy excess. Delightfully crass, Mr. Freedom is a trenchant, rib-tickling takedown of gaudy modern Americana." More about Klein's movies here . - Sujewa

I had to ask around a little (couldn't find the trailer on YouTube to embed), but here is the link to the trailer for the doc The Cool School, a film about an LA art scene that started in the late 50's: http://www.aadf.org/ferus.html Flick looks very interesting. I think I remember reading about these guys in an Andy Warhol biography (i think he went out to LA for a show at their gallery Ferus). - Sujewa

I had to take it down a couple of days ago when I was redesigning the wilddiner.com site; but the post is now back on the web, on a blog of its own, check it out here . More on the topic coming soon to that blog . - Sujewa

Read about the 37 projects at Filmmaker Magazine blog . - Sujewa