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

The first movie - doc - about film journalism to play this year was my Indie Film Blogger Road Trip - which premiered in NYC in mid-February. IFBRT is focused primarily on indie film blogging - an activity practiced at close to the current level of hyper-productivity for probably only about 5 or so years thus far (perhaps over 5, less than 10 I think). The other movie about film journalism, featuring more established film journalists who have worked in various platforms (print & now web & print, also TV) for decades, Gerald Peary's For The Love of Movies , premiered at SXSW in March. Both movies are part of Atlanta Film Festival - happening in April (IFBRT will be available to view from the ATLFF site before 4/18 [will post when the film is up on the site] & I will be at the fest on 4/18 to participate in a discussion on film criticism, FTLOM will be screening at the fest on 4/18 - info here ). Here's the trailer to For The Love of Movies & the opening 9 minute

Check out Edelstein's thoughts on A. O. Scott & Richard Brody's conversation re: Neo-Neo Realism at New York magazine . From the article: "Ballast is an example of what I call windshield realism, in which the camera stares out through a smudged car window (sometimes the wipers are going) as the barren landscape goes by — meant to convey the barrenness of the working-class characters’ lives. This should not be confused with stalled windshield realism, which defined the plight of Wendy in Wendy and Lucy; windshield transcendentalism, which Gus Van Sant employed in the endless overture to Gerry; or windshield blowhard egotism, which you’ll find in Vincent Gallo’s The Brown Bunny." Read the rest of the article at New York magazine . Thanks goes out to The Daily for the link. - Sujewa

Just checked out the trailer & read about a feature called Buster - looks interesting, & it was shot on super 8 - something not usually done by indie feature filmmakers these days. Buster will be screening at the Atlanta Film Festival on 4/18 & 4/21. About Buster, from ATLFF site : "Buster is the story of a guy that anyone in his right mind would run away from, since Buster spends all his spare time provoking strangers into fights, then refusing to defend himself as they pummel him until they grow bored. The only one close to him is his brother Scott, who himself is trying to get his life together. Buster tries in vain to keep Scott next to him in his care free land of non-tax-paying-abusers, knowing he'll loose him sooner or later to Scott's much prettier and determined girlfriend Jesse. Buster can only beat her at fucking up and does so in a way that's very hard for Scott to ignore. Shot on Super 8, Buster is a film that is as scrappy as its protagonist

* Post-DIY Since I am working with the Atlanta Film Festival (a large outside entity with greater access to marketing, publicity, etc.) to promote & grow the audience for Indie Film Blogger Road Trip I think my pure DIY days (completely self-reliant, using only resources immediately available to me for production & distribution) are over. But the general DIY approach - including having full creative control on projects (as much as possible in the collaborative medium that is film) & having ultimate ownership of my projects - will continue for all of my film projects - so at present my filmmaking & distribution practices are Post-DIY: heavily influenced by DIY practices but also working with outside entities as necessary. Since it is probably impossible at this point to change the diyfilmmaker blog address for this blog - my most used & read blog - I'll just keep things as they are for the URL but I changed the title of the blog from DIY Filmmaker Sujewa to F

If you are into film festivals or certain circles in the real indie film world, you will enjoy this video, I did (also, filmmaker Craig Zobel might make a good actor for a low key comedy, check out his sections - very funny, not forced):

Well, Chris Holland says it's a trailer for a fake Mumblecore movie, check it out: There's a trailer for another fake Mumblecore movie at Holland's blog .

After Brooklyn Fantastic is made (& after Date Number One DVD is out & while Indie Film Blogger Road Trip is being made available through screenings, web, DVD, etc.) I'll be shooting a fiction feature called Breakfast In New York. Breakfast is one my favorite meals (I can quite often be found searching for breakfast food - specially huevos rancheros - at various times of the day) & New York is one of my favorite cities - so - those two subjects will come together in a fiction feature made up of several stories in BINY (maybe like Coffee & Cigarettes , but funnier - hopefully, & also Paris, je t'aime is a model for this flick). Here is the blog/site for Breakfast In New York . I plan on starting filming BINY this Summer & having the film edited by the end of the year. - Sujewa

Immigration from Sri Lanka to the United States did not happen (as far as I know at the moment, will research this item further in the coming months) in relatively high numbers (in the 1000s & over) until the 1970s-80s. I am a part of that first wave of immigrants (even though I was just 12 when I came over to the US, still a part of Generation One, or perhaps more accurately Generation 1.5). I plan on visiting with Sri Lankans who live in various points of the US in the coming months & creating a documentary about their/our world & the unique stories & experiences that are a part of that world. The idea for this project was born out of attending a family event last night in Maryland - my dad's late 60-something birthday. I took my video camera - the DVX100B - with me & recorded some of the conversations that were happening at the event. Some of the items discussed: meaning of death, the war in Sri Lanka, post-war re-construction plans & ideas on how to avoi

How's that headline as an attempt to make an informative (probably) discussion sound ultra-dramatic? I am heading down to Atlanta for a few days in a week & a half or so to check out the Atlanta Film Festival (4/16 - 25), and the following discussion is one that I plan on attending - I've heard about both books & authors, and the 4/17 event would be a good opportunity to catch up with them: " Friday, April 17, 4:00- 5:00 PM The Film Festival Circuit: A discussion with authors Heidi Van Lier (The Indie Film Rule Book) and Chris Holland (Film Festival Secrets). Participants include: Heidi Van Lier, Director, Chi Girl Chris Holland, Manager Of Festival Operations, B-side" For more about ATLFF discussion events, go here . - Sujewa

The camera does not fly over any of the major cities, but, lots of beautiful Sri Lankan forest & coast line footage in this 10 min. clip from what looks like a tourism ad:

Trailer for Chris Hansen's new film Endings: ENDINGS - first trailer from Chris Hansen on Vimeo .

From Lauren Wilcox's Washington Post article Stardust Memories (this is not a great representative quote for the article, but I thought it was funny): "A man who said he was from Africa tried to hold my hand and wanted to know, not unkindly, what I was doing there; when I told him I was writing a story about Woody Allen's Manhattan, he said: "I live near Woody Allen! I have spoken to Woody many times. I do not think he is that funny. Or, he is, but not my taste." " Read the rest of the long article at the Washington Post . - Sujewa

Some video shot by an observer when Woody Allen was shooting his latest feature Whatever Works in NYC: Looking forward to seeing this movie - am a big fan of Larry David & Allen. Thanks Whatever Works Trailer blog for the video embed code. - Sujewa

Aymar Jean Christian disagrees with the image of his generational peers created by Mumblecore movies, at Spilce Today . [That's hustlers as in people who are busy trying to get stuff done, not sex workers (i guess that meaning of the term hustler is more of a 60's or 70's thing)] From the article : "Why do I care about a tiny indie film few people have ever seen? Because the critical establishment—old people—seems to think this is an accurate portrait of my generation. A small bunch of films have followed in Funny Ha Ha's footsteps, in a genre often called "mumblecore"—after each character's general inability to communicate—or "Slackavetes" (after John Cassavetes) or "bedhead cinema." The genre's directors—Ry Russo-Young, the Duplass Brothers, Joe Swanberg, Aaron Katz, among a few others—paint similar portraits of an ineffective, urban, over-educated youth who don't know who the hell they are and have little idea where the

It's a good thing David Hudson is around, 'cause I missed this very interesting discussion/argument between Richard Brody & A. O. Scott when it happened a few days ago (from The Daily ): " Richard Brody 's dust-up with AO Scott over the New York Times critic's notion of "Neo Neo-Realism" in recent American independent cinema - here 's Scott's original piece; Brody 's response; then, Scott ; then, Brody " See the original post at The Daily about this item here . Follow the links, check out the comments, good discussion re: several recent indie films & a way of telling stories in movies. I wonder if The Office or Battlestar Galactica (the new/re-imagined series) could be considered emotionally neo-realist, even though they take place in universes far removed from the real world. I am more interested in seeing art/entertainment like those two TV shows than the neo neo-realist movies that Scott eloquently wrote about in his article