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

5/25 update: no 1 week run of DNO @ Back Room this summer, venue is too busy, however, the other Lo-Def screenings (June, July, August) planned thus far are still on (will update if those changes). I am glad (& am a little bit surprised) that Lo-Def #1 came off as well as it did (tons of impossible deadlines had to be met, but in the end it all came together). Photos & notes tomorrow (sleep now). Some of the fruit of Lo-Def #1: - DNO will get a week (maybe more) long run in Silver Spring, @ Back Room @ Jackie's, this summer, dates coming soon - had to finish the new version of DNO (nothing like a screening deadline/one for your own event - as motivation), instead of keeping on editing it forever; the film is vastly improved (a little more sound work needed in A Romantic Dinner For 3, this weekend, and then that's it, no more editing, screeners going out to people & places & indie film events on Monday, & very soon (June) limited DVD sales/from my site for th

Check out Chuck Tryon's review of Aaron Coffman's new feature Texas Snow here . (full disclosure; i will be screening Texas Snow at Lo-Def on August 21, so i am glad chuck liked TS) From the review : "...Texas Snow is a well-crafted film. The cinematography is quite good, and Coffman is content, in places, to simply allow the camera to observe, to capture subtle details of a space, such as an apartment or an art gallery. The twentysomething characters certainly brought back memories of my own late nights during graduate school, and I think Coffman is attentive to the nuances of character and dialogue,..." Read the rest of the review here . Texas Snow site . - Sujewa

The LO-DEF Screening Event & Wild Diner Films presents: A writer, A ninja, A woman who is working on saving the world, and a guy who works at a bookstore searching for love in DATE NUMBER ONE http://datenumberone08.blogspot.com/ A movie by new director Sujewa Ekanayake Thu May 22 8 PM FREE The Back Room @ Jackie's http://moviesatjackies.blogspot.com/ 8081 Georgia Ave. Silver Spring, MD 20910 Event contact: Sujewa Ekanayake, wilddiner@aol.com , 240-354-3394 Date Number One, a comedy about several first dates, is made up of 4 different stories: Story 1 - Start Over, about a writer who tries to get back together with his ex-girlfriend, Story 2 - Just Another Ninja Searching For Love, about a ninja who goes on a blind date (ninja is played by John Stabb Schroeder from the DC punk band G.I.), Story 3 - A Romantic Dinner For 3, about a woman attempting to add a third partner to a romantic relationship, and Story 4 - The Superdelicious French Lesson, about a first date where a charact

Cory & his brother Yann did some music for Date Number One back in '04. Some of that music will be heard in Silver Spring tomorrow night, when the movie screens at Lo-Def. Check out Cory's MySpace page here for his latest music, and he plays in a band called The Groanbox Boys. (show dates on the MySpace page ). And here's Yann's site , with links to music new & old. - Sujewa

1. DVD is not a public exhibition format. Well, that depends on the venue. In a small room, say one that seats around 50 - 100, it may be perfectly fine to screen using a DVD. I know Angry Filmmaker Kelley Baker has successfully screened (without technical problems) his movies quite possibly hundreds of times thus far using DVDs. I've also screened Date Number One about 20 times so far, to crowds that range from 25 - 100, using DVDs. HOWEVER, some venues may have trouble using DVDs; not sure why this exactly is, 'cause DVD players work perfectly fine for millions of people - so, it is a good idea to have your movie on Beta or DigiBeta or some other pro tape format. Also, many film festivals may also request your movie on a pro tape format for their screenings. Another option is to screen using MiniDV. I've tried this - using a MiniDV camera as the playback source, works fine. If you have a feature you'd have to get it on a MiniDV or DV tape that can hold it (i think so

One of the key venues that aids in the growth/revival of real indie filmmaking (we are still in the early phase of this current - digital filmmaking & ultra-low/"no" budget & blogs & fests & self-distribution & DVD enabled - version of the movement I think, as opposed to the 16 MM, fests & distribution companies enabled indie scene of the 80's on) in the US is the Pioneer Theater in Manhattan. And for many filmmakers, the Pioneer Theater means Ray Privett. But now, after four years of extremely essential work, Ray is moving on to other projects; from the New York Sun : "...the Pioneer is not just a small venue supporting emerging artists, but the epicenter of an independent film scene that has long since been squeezed out of most cities — and is currently being forced out of Manhattan — in favor of corporate-owned independent theater chains that cater to the specialty divisions of major movie studios. In only eight years of operation, the

Historic 2018Blockbuster2019 Store Offers Glimpse Of How Movies Were Rented In The Past

As we have taken ideas & methods from indie rock, Hollywood, indiewood & wherever else in building DIY filmmaking & distribution practices over the years, I am taking a closer look at the film festival world; people like film festivals, a lot of them are well marketed & well attended (certainly more so than most DIY screenings) - so, there are probably practices in the film fest production & marketing world that can be adapted to serve DIY screenings well. Here's a starting point, an article called Promoting A Film Festival For The Long Tail: A Digital Marketing Case Study . - Sujewa

Got Chris Hansen's latest film the short Clean Freak in the mail today. Also received a feature called Dog Me: Potluck (IMDB), ( official site ) by Silver Spring, MD based filmmaker M. David Lee III. Looking forward to checking these two flicks out when I get some down time later this month. Everything takes 50x longer in DIY filmmaking & self-distribution because a lot of things are being done by one person & when there is a free/non-day job & other-stuff-that-has-to-get-done moment. And that's cool, every situation has its down sides; I am sure indiewood & Hollywood filmmakers have complaints about their situations too. Even though a lot needs to happen over the next couple of days before the Thu screening of the new version of DNO in Silver Spring, I am going to try to cut & post up a trailer for DNO tomorrow. Will have screener DVDs of the new version of DNO this weekend. Retail DVDs at some point soon (probably after I figure out if I am doing a longer

Perhaps an interesting & useful read, by Alex Afterman of Heretic Films; read it here . - Sujewa

Go to the earth2100.tv site for more info; but here is some: "In an unprecedented television event, ABC News is asking you to help create a story that has yet to unfold. What will our world look like in one hundred years if we don't save our troubled planet? You, our reporters from the future, will invent short videos from the years 2015, 2050, 2070, and 2100. The ideas and events in your videos will be combined with the projections of top scientists, historians, and economists to form a powerful web-based narrative about the dangers of our current path. The most compelling reports will also form the backbone of the two-hour prime time ABC News special: Earth 2100, airing this fall." More at earth2100.tv . Hopefully some people will create videos that also focus on the benefits of aspects of the "current path" of the world, not just the "dangers". Sounds like it could be an interesting program, also a good way to influence the creation of the futur

Read about the movie at GreenCine Daily . - Suejwa

(updated 5/19, 12:27 PM w/ SXSW figures) If indie film, and specially the real indie side of the indie film world, were a business (it actually is, but stay with me here), we would eventually need to find out how many customers there are/were in a given time period in order to extrapolate how much $s the business generates in order to plan for the future, etc. So, one way to go about this, to figure out the shape - $s wise - of this indie film thing is to take a look at attendance at film festival. To that end, here are some notes & links. You could multiply the numbers by 10 or 20 or more (at the last film fest I went to I spent at least $50 I think) to get a rough idea about the amount of money that may get spent just through ticket purchases at several film festivals. Of course a lot more $s get spent in related expenses: travel, lodging perhaps, food, merchandise, etc. The good news for filmmakers is that there are lots of people out there who will spend money to check out indi

Check it out here . - Sujewa