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

Get all the info. re: Ryan Andrew Balas's debut feature Sandcastles & the DVD at One Way Community blog.

Check out the post at The Obenson Report (where Tambay links to his original article that was posted on an NPR site). However, in 2009, what exactly is a studio? Every aspect of the motion picture production & distribution industry can be hired or rented to produce or distribute a film or several films at whatever scale the client wants to work on (from a small art house type release - something several indie filmmakers have done with service deals - to releasing a movie on 3000 theaters using distribution services rented from other companies - as George Lucas does). So, maybe all anyone or any group of people who wants to behave as a "film studio" needs is the money to hire the services that they need in order to make & distribute films on the desired scale. And after that, or if it is somehow better to do it that way or if not enough movie theaters exist for their product, a company or organization could build new theaters, new distribution networks, etc. So, the g

Long post at Amir's blog re: two main items - films he's made in the past few years & inadequacies in what kind of indie films have received attention from some (or many perhaps) indie film festivals & media. Here's a quote from material about his films: " So, in anticipation to the release of my new feature film “whale” i will be releasing a good portion of my body of work on the web, to reuse the phrase, in full view. I will be working backwards, from newest to oldest, one a week (or in small groups), starting later this afternoon. Of course, some films are already available, so you can go and check them out on here . I will provide a brief history lesson, so that a context is built around the film. With the climate of the Indie scene, and especially in light of the last few years in the micro-budget world, many artist who have been working under the radar, both on purpose, and out of misfortunes are losing there own past. So, as individual artist and write

We had a couple of minutes of technical difficulties today when host Tambay Obenson's call dropped out & then I got off the show to call back & co-host Brandon Wilson had to carry the show all by himself while Tambay & I came back on the show - but anyway, that bit of unexpected excitement aside - a pretty solid show - here's the official description from The Obenson Report : "Podcast #43 . TRT: 60 Minutes . Episode Notes: Brandon Wilson ( GeniusBastard.com ) and I spent the hour talking to Sergio Mims, co-founder of the Black Harvest Film Festival (celebrating its 15th year), and Sujewa Ekanayake, writer/director of Date Number one and Indie Film Blogger Road Trip , as well as editor of DIYFilmmaker.blogspot.com ." Check out the podcast at The Obenson Report . Thanks Tambay & Brandon for having me on the show to promote D.I.Y. (do-it-yourself)filmmaking & self-distribution as well as the upcoming screening of Date Number One ( 2/13, Bed-Stuy

When the festival makes the official announcement in the near future, I'll link to it from here, but, for now, for those who are curious - my documentary about a slice of the film blogging community - Indie Film Blogger Road Trip - will be a part of the upcoming Atlanta Film Festival 2009 (April 16 - 25). ATL fest plans on using the film to launch a conversation/gathering regarding film writing/ film criticism, & film blogging - an event that will take place at the festival. IFBRT maybe made available by ATL fest on a limited on demand basis and on a limited web streaming basis. The film will not compete in the festival because two of the bloggers profiled in the doc work for the fest (Gabe Wardell, Exec. Director & Paula Martinez, Managing Director). So that's all the "news" I have regarding IFBRT & ATL fest at the moment. And, like I said above, will share final details re: IFBRT & ATL fest once all the details have been figured out & the off

Here's your chance to check out Within Our Gates , The Exile & other Micheaux movies - this month at Lincoln Center, NYC . Thanks Cinema Echo Chamber for the link.

From Brandon Wilson's site Genius Bastard Film Arts : "Manifesto of the American Amateur Cinema Movement When the word "independent" can be applied to both non-studio features that have budgets in the seven figures and a cast full of major movie stars as well as digital features done for four figures with all unknowns, the term "indie" begins to lose all meaning. Looking at the fare at most "independent" festivals has become a dispiriting experience. "Indie" movies have foolishly lost touch with the best tradition of world arts cinema, they have instead chosen to become the stepchild of the Hollywood Studios. So it is time for some of us to reject the term "independent" altogether. Let that term be affixed to non-studio features with "A-list" studio talent attached detailing the quirky-yet-life-affirming-coming-of-age of yet another sensitive young white male with the ethnic sidekick. Let us take up the word "ama

so, i did some thinking & note-making last night & it looks like i may be able to not only release both Date Number One & Indie Film Blogger Road Trip this year but also make & release two new features (one tentatively titled Brooklyn Movie, starring Susan Buice & Kami Locklear & others, & at least one more movie - untitled at present). part of this year long project is to gracefully & painlessly transition from absolutely having to work a day job in order to make & distribute movies to working a day job being only an optional thing & the d.i.y. film production & distribution becoming more than self-sufficient financially/turning into a paid job type thing. so we'll see how it goes. as always, it's not about making it in hollywood or indiewood or even festwood (the indie film festival scene), but making & selling & showing my movies to interested customers & other audience members & doing it well - completely on my

UPDATE: Here is the official post about the podcast show at The Obenson Report blog . :: Tune in at 8 PM (show starts @ 8 - first segment is on the state of Black film festivals, I come on @ 8:40 PM) tomorrow night (Mon 2/9) - that's when I get the awesome opportunity to participate in The Obenson Report podcast - hosted by the freshly controversial filmmaker/blogger Tambay Obenson w/ support from filmmaker Brandon Wilson (as far as I know Brandon will be a part of tomorrow night's festivities, will update if I do not have the latest info/if there are any changes). I will talk about the upcoming Indie Film Blogger Road Trip premiere in NYC on 2/17 & anything else Tambay & Brandon want to discuss - probably, including other topics, DIY film & blogging, maybe self-distribution too. Link to Obenson Report podcast page . - Sujewa

Good post at Truly Free Film .

So, Indie Film Blogger Road Trip premieres on Tue 2/17 , and the next day, Wed 2/18, I start prepping to shoot the next feature - a comedy which goes by the name Brooklyn Movie at the moment. Brooklyn Movie films in March. End of DIY Film History and the Next Blog Of course activity in the DIY film world will never end (as long as there are people around to see movies and as long as movies remain a relevant art/entertainment form) but I think major methods & models in which ultra-indie filmmakers operate have largely been established (& talked about quite a bit on this blog over the last couple of years): from self & investor funded, film festival & distributor supported projects (a few indie movies these days, most get to the festival submission stage & then disappear) to largely self-funded/day job funded with some investor $s/grants/donations & self-distributed projects (pretty much what I do, plus many others do the same thing now or will soon be doing the

Read all about it at Brett Wood's blog .

Actually, it's more like Kenny vs. Swanberg movies, but anyway - Glenn Kenny articulates why he is not a fan of Joe Swanberg's movies at Some Came Running .

Catch all the drama at this post at The Obenson Report where filmmaker & blogger Tambay Obenson offered his views and asked his readers to submit their opinions about Black film festivals, which lead to some programmers of Black film festivals to threaten to exclude Obenson from their festivals & other networking & career development opportunities. Another, follow-up post related to the same subject here - a letter from one of the offended film festival programmers . The original post has, at the moment, 48 comments - pretty big number for that & most other indie film blogs. How all this relates to my work: Obenson is one of the bloggers featured in the upcoming Indie Film Blogger Road Trip, premiering on 2/17 in NYC at Anthology Film Archives . Again, here's the link to the Black film festivals post at The Obenson Report . - Sujewa

i'm there, sounds like a great line up of flicks: "THE NEW VISION CINEMA SERIES, MONDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 2009 6:00PM, ADMISSION: $6 THE IRT THEATRE, 154 CHRISTOPHER ST., ROOM #3B, NEW YORK, NEW YORK. Continuing in the tradition of the Invisible Film Series, the New Vision Cinema Series presents a broad range of film and videos from an equally-diverse selection of cineastes. Founded in 2000 by Jennifer MacMillan as the Invisible Film Series, the New Vision Cinema Series has endeavored to showcase the talents of some of the finest local (and sometimes, not-so-local) independent film and video talents of the Greater New York City area. Since its inception, the series has shown works of such notables as Stan Brakhage, Mike Kuchar, Nick Zedd, Jennifer Reeves, and Bradley Eros. With the departure of Ms. MacMillan from its fold (a hard act to follow), the series has been under the sole curatorship of its former co-curator, Michael Park. New Vision is now proud to announce the additio