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

While great indie films come & go quickly, unnoticed by the majority of the population in the US, in Nollywood it's a different story. Yes, I know, Nollywood is not similar to the US indie film scene but rather comparing it to Hollywood (the Hollywood of Nigeria) would be fair. HOWEVER, according to this trailer, most Nollywood movies are made for less than $10,000 (the price of many DIY/ultra-low budget/real indies in the US - $10K or less) and they are popular with ordinary people (as opposed to the art/foreign/indie film loving subculture). Can we duplicate this in the US? Can we make low budget indie movies that appeal to the "ordinary" person? Probably. Here's the trailer to Nollywood Babylon (thanks to The Obenson Report for the link): :: ADVERTISEMENT http://farzadrostami20.blogspot.com  - Farzad Rostami 20 :: http://farzadrostami19.blogspot.com  - Farzad Rostami 19 :: http://farzadrostami18.blogspot.com - Farzad Rostami 18

It appears to be an old (16 MM, B & W?) clip, but the stuff the people (characters?) in the clip are talking about - changes in Hollywood, careers of women in Hollywood - are still fresh topics. Check it out: :: ADVERTISEMENT http://farzadrostami20.blogspot.com  - Farzad Rostami 20 :: http://farzadrostami19.blogspot.com  - Farzad Rostami 19 :: http://farzadrostami18.blogspot.com - Farzad Rostami 18 :: http://farzadrostami17.blogspot.com  - Farzad Rostami 17 :: http://farzadrostami16.blogspot.com  - Farzad Rostami 16 :: http://farzadrostami15.blogspot.com  - Farzad Rostami 15 :: http://farzadrostami14.blogspot.com  - Farzad Rostami 14 :: http://farzadrostami13.blogspot.com  - Farzad Rostami 13 :: http://farzadrostami12.blogspot.com  - Farzad Rostami 12 :: http://farzadrostami11.blogspot.com  - Farzad Rostami 11 :: http://farzadrostami10.blogspot.com  - Farzad Rostami 10 :: 1 -

While we wait for Date Number One DVDs (early January), let's check out a clip from one of the stories (more info. on the clip at the Date Number One site ):

When I was making Indie Film Blogger Road Trip I told people that there are probably 200 people in America who are going to be really interested in the doc - a talking heads feature where indie film bloggers talk about blogging & related matters. And I expected the 9 minute clip from the film - the opening 9 minutes - posted on YouTube on Saturday morning, to attract maybe 10-20 views a day. To my very pleasant surprise, as of Monday late night - 3 days after initial upload, the clip has been viewed over 450 times! So maybe a little bit more people than I originally expected will be interested in the film when it becomes available - which is totally fine by me :) And a big thanks goes out to all the bloggers that have mentioned the clip. Here's the list of mentions that I've seen so far. Let me know if you write about the clip (or already wrote about it but I haven't seen it yet/not mentioned here ), will link to it most likely. - Sujewa

Story at this Salon article . From the article : "So what happens if we go to the other end of the indie ecosystem? We get the same answer, that's what. Dennis Doros is the co-founder of Milestone Films, a niche distributor in New Jersey that releases one or two films a year, generally rediscovered or unreleased classics. With Charles Burnett's neorealist masterwork "Killer of Sheep" last year and Kent Mackenzie's "The Exiles" (a mesmerizing docudrama about American Indian life in early '60s Los Angeles) this year, Milestone probably had its highest-profile releases ever." And: "Moving a little up the ladder, Strand Releasing president Marcus Hu is every bit as bullish, saying, "Things have been really good for us. We've had an extraordinary year." A Los Angeles distributor specializing in challenging foreign films and gay/lesbian-themed material, Strand had modest hits this year with Turkish-German director Fatih Ak

Since the U.S. dollar is no longer based on an amount of gold owned by the government, what exactly gives let's say a $100 bill its value and power? The $100 bill is a symbolic device. Based on several agreed upon factors - the price of labor, price of goods, other factors - the owner of that $100 bill can expect to trade it for a certain amount of work from others or goods created or owned by others. So, outside of the stable society where there are agreements and agreements are honored or can be forced to be honored through law, the piece of decorated paper - the $100 - would not have any value. So, is money, or wealth, created out of thin air - like art - based on (in the case of money) how the creators of money (the Federal Reserve let's say) predict that society will function in the future - based on past performance? Possibly. I am just starting to look into exactly what money is and what is behind the symbols, what makes modern economies work, so I don't have the ans

The 9 minute clip of Indie Film Blogger Road Trip posted on YouTube early Saturday (yesterday) morning got mentioned in Filmmaker Magazine blog, GreenCine Daily, and a couple of other blogs ( see links here ) yesterday and the clip received over 100 views on YouTube - which I am really happy with as the Day 1 # of views (if we can sustain at least 10% of that # of views everyday for rest of '08 & all of '09 I think that would be a very good start in getting the word out about the doc). A trailer, a study guide, updated poster & other art are all coming soon to Indie Film Blogger Road Trip land . - Sujewa

So here's my end of year gift to the readers of this blog & the indie film community in general - 9 minutes (9 for 2009 - get it? :) from my upcoming doc Indie Film Blogger Road Trip . Here's the official description of the content in this clip: "In this 9 minute segment from Sujewa Ekanayake's documentary Indie Film Blogger Road Trip we see: Anthony Kaufman talk about the moment when he knew he would "make it" as a professional film journalist, Sujewa Ekanayake introduce the documentary, and Tambay Obenson speak about the community that one becomes a part of by blogging and how that community and blogging has helped him develop his career as a filmmaker. Music by Kevin MacLeod. The full 95 minute documentary will be available at screenings and on DVD in 2009. For more information and news about the project please visit: http://indiefilmbloggersmovie.blogspot.com/ Indie Film Blogger Road Trip was produced, directed, videotaped, and edited by Sujewa Ekanay

From the MPR story: "Todd Sklar was meant to be in the MPR studios to talk about the four days of movies he's showing this weekend in the Twin Cities. Instead he was in a snowdrift somewhere outside Ames, Iowa, waiting for a tow truck. But that didn't stop him pitching "Box Elder," ('A movie about dudes being dudes" as the blurb says,) and the three other movies. Actually talking to Sklar is a little like entering into a scene from his film. Sklar, who wrote, produced and directed "Box Elder," also plays one of four central characters as they work, or rather don't work, their way through four years at the University of Missouri at Columbia. Talking on the phone it seems like Sklar didn't have to do much acting to get in character." Read the rest of the story here . Listen to Todd on MPR earlier today: - Sujewa

GreenCine Daily's David Hudson will be writing a blog called The Daily for IFC starting 1/1/09. Read all about it at IFC. com . Aaron Hillis will be taking David's place at GreenCine Daily. Congrats to both bloggers & both companies on the new development. - Sujewa

Regardless of my mixed reactions to most of Steven Soderbergh's movies, he is one of a handful of exciting, innovative, experimental (if you can use that word when talking about Hollywood movie makers), well known directors in America - so, for the sake of his career I'd like to see Che - Soderbergh's bio-epic about Ernesto "Che" Guevara - do well at the box office. But, speaking not as a person connected to the filmmaking world but purely as an audience member who is interested in history, world events, and the Cuban Revolution , I was disappointed by Che. Che is an entertaining movie about the rise & fall of a warrior - I enjoyed watching it. But the movie has very little - besides costumes and locations and some names - to do with important elements of the actual life of Che Guevara or the Cuban Revolution - because the work is largely devoid of context - it is as if someone made a movie about World War II by focusing on a World War II era German soldier -