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

At ShortEnd Magazine , check it out. Here is a bit: "SM: Talking a bit more about what you and Mark were doing aesthetically, you'd said in an interview with Brandon Harris over at Cinema Echo Chamber that you were concentrated on beauty shots, which would essentially be these interstitial shots between the scenes of main emotional action. Part of the way that you went about shooting these was just to follow the actors around for a few hours with a camera. It's a much more naturalistic way to work, and so I was hoping you could tell me about that, going around with the actors and just doing these very fluid, everyday action sequences. TQ: I shot B-camera for a film called The Other America, which opened Slamdance a few years ago by a filmmaker from Philadelphia named Eugene Martin. He's really amazing, and it's something I learned working with him on set. He would put aside several days to just be with the actors in their environment. You weren't rushed to ge

Well, after many years of talking about it, finally all the ingredients are right for me to move to NYC. In the next few weeks I will be looking for a room to rent in an apt. or house, I guess for around close to what I am paying here in the DC area (but, many variables in NYC, I know), so maybe in the $600 - $800 range (less the better of course, but, I'd like to live in a relatively OK neighborhood). I'll probably end up in Brooklyn or Queens. It would be cool to live with other indie film or film types (the shared houses & apts of indie rockers in DC in the 90's was a great social & creative space). And of course if the price, location, etc. is good a studio or 1 bedroom apt. could be cool too (may be worth the extra $s) - just myself as it was in Chicago. Let me know if you hear of any good places/housing options I should check out. So, October 1 is the target date for the official start of the living in NYC thing. And that month I'd like to start collaborat

Check out The Chutry Experiment 's Chuck Tryon getting the FilmInFocus Behind the Blog spotlight right here . Congrats Chuck . - Sujewa

That and other nuggets of Duplass brothers wisdom at a Filmmaker Mag interview conducted by James Ponsoldt; check it out . - Sujewa

25 New Faces of Independent Film 2008 at Filmmaker Magazine . From the Jenkins profile : "The film‘s reclamation of the definition of “urban African American,” usually pictured either gang-related (in Hollywood) or not at all (in the mumblecore scene), is a further statement, especially in relation to urban (and cinematic) gentrification. “ M4M illustrates how the effects of gentrification make it virtually impossible for minority urbanites to just ‘be,‘ and explores the resulting process of negotiating one‘s identity,” notes the director. “[The leads] represent two sides of a conversation heretofore absent from cinema‘s representation of the black experience.”" Read the rest about Jenkins & Medicine for Melancholy at Filmmaker . - Sujewa

At Hammer to Nail Micheal Tully criticizes the critics and urges them to wake up from the sloppy spell cast on them by The Dark Knight. From the post: "Throughout the film, there were many moments when I had absolutely no idea what was going on. And then it hit me. This is the type of movie where lack of actual grounding passes for heightened intellectualism. For viewers, they always feel like they’re playing catch up, and when they do get enough of a handle on what is happening to realize it, they feel doubly excited, because they’re smart enough to play along with this fast-paced, hyper-smart storytelling! But I thought you critics would understand that this isn’t hyper-smart storytelling. It’s lazy writing that is only concerned with propelling itself to the next action sequence, or, God forbid, next speech. Or, to put it another way: there is nothing to latch onto whatsoever. How is one supposed to care about a world that has lost its morality when the world isn’t even somew

By end of Mon 7/28 I should have interview footage with the writers of the following 12 blogs for my doc The Indie Film Bloggers . After that I need to get a couple of interviews with a couple of "old time" indie film bloggers in NYC - in August, at some point. In the list below we have an academic blogger, couple of filmmaker/bloggers, a film/video programmer for a national art museum/blogger, an online film magazine editor/blogger, a film festival executive director blogger & a film festival managing director blogger - that's just some aspects of the lives of some of the bloggers interviewed so far - with additional aspects being revealed in the interview footage. Check out the blog links for the 1st 12 for now; will pull descriptions, names, & blogs together for a future post; a who's who for the doc if you will. A little bit of mystery & detective work is good for now :) Anyway, the list: Blogs of the 1st 12 bloggers interviewed* for The Indie Film Bl

Rick Schmidt , filmmaker, author of Feature Filmmaking at Used Car Prices and Extreme DV , & an essential figure in the modern history of DIY film, has written a novel called Black President . From the publisher's website: "Rick Schmidt’s prescient political thriller – he wrote the first draft pre-9/11 – is a brilliant historical gallop through half a century of subterfuge, civil rights stand-off, scandal and conspiracy, from the Bay of Pigs to the Twin Towers and beyond. Taking as his starting-point JFK’s well-documented promiscuity, Schmidt opens with the President’s seduction of a devout, married, African-American woman. Within two and a half years of the couple’s single encounter, JFK is assassinated. In a haunting blend of pathos, courage and ambition, and against all conceivable adversity, their son rises from poverty to attain America’s highest office. Schmidt skillfully weaves together the most important events and prominent figures of US modern history, reinterpre

And that's the latest re: The Indie Film Bloggers . - Sujewa

Check out the list at Docs Interactive blog . - Sujewa

Paula Martinez , one of the bloggers interviewed for my new doc The Indie Film Bloggers , & the Managing Director of the Atlanta Film Festival , blogs about the question who is a writer (with a capital W) and the changes happening in the world of film journalism and criticism; from Paula's post : "This leads us to the other issue: Does the loss of paid (mostly newsprint) movie critics threaten the industry with the loss of writers? Gabe argues that losing paid critics (ie: Eleanor Ringel from the AJC, Nathan Lee from the Village Voice) jeopardizes critics' authority and compromises journalistic writing standards. He feels as though these people will stop writing reviews and critiques altogether since they are no longer employed. I disagree. First of all, I defer back to my original definition of a Writer. I argue that if these writers stop writing simply because they are not getting paid, then they are not true writers. To be a Writer, one must write - paid or not. So

1 post a day for a whole year would equal 365 posts, and I am already at 530 posts - at a little past the mid point of the year, so, I can take it easy on posting for the rest of the year & put more effort into finishing up my summer & fall film projects . - Sujewa

From SangFilms: "In the summer of 2004, on a car journey through Eastern Europe, Pavla Fleischer falls in love with Eugene Hutz. Hutz is the lead singer of New York’s Gypsy Punk band Gogol Bordello. THE PIED PIPER OF HUTZOVINA follows Eugene and Pavla on a road trip through Eugene’s home country, Ukraine." Check out the movie below: - Sujewa

Check out Women & Hollywood blog's post Women at the box office this weekend ; a list of female-centric films in theaters & notes on Mama Mia. - Sujewa

I enjoyed this year's Maryland Film Festival (happened in May), and am a fan of SilverDocs (happened in June), and I like the people who run the Atlanta Film Festival (happened in April), so, since those early-part-of-the-year festivals are (or will be next year) fun/interesting events to attend, what are some good fests to check out, if possible, in the fall & beyond - this year? Leave suggestions in comments (w/ links, URL to fest sites if/when possible). I may end up visiting Seattle (very likely, family) & LA & possibly San Francisco (slim chances for visiting those two CA cities) this year, but other than that, I'll mostly be in the east coast - DC/NYC area - but am not against long drives or train or bus rides - or if really needed, flying. So, maybe recommendations for east coast - close to DC/NYC fests will be best. But feel free to point to any indie film fests happening in the US this fall, any that you think will be fun/interesting. Thanks. - Sujewa