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

From Linear Reflections : "LR: How did this project come to fruition? If you could, please provide me with a rundown, start to finish, from your involvement. [Bronstein] I decided to make this film after I realized that I didn’t want to wait around for other people to make projects. I wanted to make a film about female friendships that dealt with the issues of resentment, hostility and emotional manipulation that often are present in too-close enmeshed friendships of either sex. I wanted to make a film about women that I’ve never seen before, about people who have no business being friends with each other but don’t know how to stop. And I wanted to see if I could pull it off. I wrote out an outline and tried to get my husband Ronnie to make it as his next project. When that didn't work, I decided that I liked the ideas too much to give up and tried to make it anyway." Read the rest here . Go here for more on Yeast . - Sujewa

From the Cinematical review of James Spooner's new movie White Lies, Black Sheep : "Director James Spooner, who was himself a black kid hanging in a white scene in his youth, brings his unique perspective to bear in telling this story of AJ's journey toward himself. Think that race doesn't matter to you, that you know all there is to know about white folks and black folks and the subtleties of racism in the undercurrent of society? Catch White Lies and Black Sheep, and supplement it with a viewing of Spooner's Afropunk for a well-rounded perspective on this director's unique and engaging viewpoint. Spooner will make you think,..." Read the rest of the review here . - Sujewa

Check out the review here . - Sujewa

From the Why I Tour post at Kelley's blog: "I have been touring the US with my movies for 5 years. In the early years, I would fly in to a city, rent a car and do a giant loop around that state for 2 - 3 weeks, showing my films at media art centers, art house cinemas, and colleges and universities. I would end up back near the airport I had flown in to, return the car and fly home. On all of these trips I broke even. I wasn't making any money, but I wasn't losing any either. After doing this for 3 years, I realized that if I wanted to make money I was going to have to make some changes. It’s a very strange time in our business. In my opinion there is no such thing as “Independent Film” anymore. It has all been co-opted and turned in to a marketing phrase. Hollywood stars working on $10 million dollar movies is not independent — I don't care what their ad campaigns say! The promise of the 80's and real independent filmmaking is over." Read the rest of the

* * Had some fun putting this together today. Some tweaking is gonna happen before it gets hung up all over Silver Spring (let's hope), but more or less this is it. The final, larger & higher resolution version, of this design (with more visible borders) will be up on the web in a couple of days. - Sujewa

Saw James Spooner's new movie White Lies, Black Sheep ; good stuff, lots to talk about there. Perhaps this weekend I can type out at least a mini-review & also get an interview going with Mr. Spooner. In the meantime, go here for more info. on Black Sheep ; and catch it at a festival if you can/if it sounds interesting to you (I think for some people the movie will be extremely interesting - like people who think about ethnic or "race" based identity and the intersection of such with sub/alternative/whatever cultures/scenes. And for others, it might be an interesting diversion. Regardless, the movie can provide an entry point for discussing several important issues such as assimilation, individual identity, choices in life, etc., more on that stuff later this week). - Sujewa

Since some indie film bloggers are stopping or thinking about stopping their web journal writing activity, I thought for a minute about why I blog; and here are 10 reasons: 1. Blogging is a way to promote my filmmaking work 2. Blogging is writing, and writing on a regular basis generates new ideas - ideas that are useful for my films 3. Blogs are an important part of the real indie filmmaking & distribution community, and I like participating in & being a part of that community through my blog & other means 4. I get free passes to screenings at film festivals because I blog 5. I get to meet; interview, etc., other filmmakers & others who are a part of the indie film world, thus increasing my list of contacts, making it easier for me to make & distribute movies 6. I can promote movies, people, causes, and things I like through my blog 7. I can speak against things I do not like through my blog 8. Once I received a $25 donation from a fan of this blog 9. I make new fr

Looks like so far I posted 18 times about this past weekend's Maryland Film Festival, check 'em out through here . - Sujewa

If you've got some MFF '08 photos up on the web, post the link in comments please. Here are some I found: - At Kevin's album at Picasa - Sujewa

Saw 4, count 'em, f-o-u-r, great features today at the Maryland Film Festival ; Woodpecker , La Americana , Yeast , Confessionsofa Ex-Dufus-Itchyfooted Mutha . Enjoyed each of them for different reasons (will go into them in greater detail in the coming week, after I get some sleep). All four hopefully will be seen widely in the coming months. In this brief post-MFF post, Mary Bronstein's debut feature Yeast has to be singled out as the most interesting and creatively invigorating real indie feature I've seen in a long time. First, mega diversity points - there aren't that many female real indie, indie (or H-wood for that matter) fiction feature directors around (even though women make up probably more than half of consumers - that's millions and millions of people and billions of dollars) - so Yeast has that going in. Next, the movie is not dull - you don't know what's going to happen and a lot of messy stuff could happen. And bold (some might say rec