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

I saw Le Grand Voyage (an On The Road in Europe & the Arab world story, except with a family member & some family drama), distributed by Film Movement, a few months back & liked it a lot. Here is a synopsis: "A few weeks before his college entrance exams, Reda (Nicolas Cazale), a young man who lives in the south of France, finds himself obligated to drive his father to Mecca. From the start, the journey looks to be difficult: Reda and his father (Mohamed Majd) have nothing in common. The wide cultural and generational gap between the two is worsened by the lack of communication between the two. Reda finds it hard to accommodate his father, who demands respect for himself and his pilgrimage. From France, through Italy, Serbia, Turkey, Syria, Jordan to Saudi Arabia- the two will embark on a road trip to Mecca that will change their lives." Le Grand Voyage was directed by Ismael Ferroukhi . Find out more about the movie & Film Movement here . Movie is availabl

I have not seen it yet, but this 1948 New York Times review of the movie Paisan makes it sound very interesting, kind of like some contemporary indie dramas & comedies I've seen. Here is a little bit from the review: "It is useless to attempt an explanation, in familiar and concrete terms, of its basic theme and nature, for it is not an ordinary film—neither in form nor dramatic construction nor in the things it has to say. In some ways, it is the antithesis of the classic "story film," and certainly it throws off glints of meaning which are strangely unfamiliar on the screen. Possibly for some persons who are accustomed to the routine sort of film, it will be completely bewildering and leave a sad sense of emptiness. But at least it cannot fail to rattle the windowpanes of your eyes. And for many it will crash into the consciousness and leave the emotions limp." Read the rest of the review here . - Sujewa

Have not seen Man Push Cart yet, but am looking forward to checking it out. Here is the trailer: - Sujewa

Here is a little bit from the Pop Syndicate interview with director Bahrani re: movie Chop Shop : " Q: It was a very gritty, New York film but it could have been filmed anywhere. Although we usually think of kids who fall between the cracks living in a 3rd world environment. Why New York? A: Because the location really is in New York. Also to help erase ideas of entitlement and the brainwashing of colonialism that spur on false classifications such as “3rd world.” Categories like 3rd and 1st world, or East and West, or the “Orient” were shrewdly created in order for one to exploit the other, economically, mentally, and imaginatively." Read the rest of the interview here . And an intro to Chop Shop (i believe this came from the AFI Fest): "Chop Shop USA, 2007, 84 min, 35 MM DIR: Ramin Bahrani SCR: Ramin Bahrani, Bahareh Azimi PROD: Jeb Brody, Marc Turtletaub, Lisa Muskat DP: Michael Simmonds ED: Ramin Bahrani PROD DES: Richard Wright EXEC PROD: Peter Sa

Saw Galaxy Quest again, still very funny. Some deleted scenes, found on YouTube: - Sujewa

From the interview : " What was the inspiration for your film "In Search of a Midnight Kiss"? I was dumped, flat broke, at a career low after watching my life fall apart in three months and working at a video store on New Year's Eve when I started to consider, "In Search of a Midnight Kiss." I wanted to watch a really funny and cynical movie about how ridiculous New Year's Eve was when you were dateless and depressed. So that led to thinking about that nether zone of the year between New Year's and Christmas when all the lonely people are hanging around their families going crazy and thinking about the next year and what they will do differently. So Sara Simmonds (Vivian in "ISOAMK") and I walked the streets of downtown talking about this movie and discovered all of these amazing locations. We could not believe that no one had captured the beautiful and post-apocalyptic downtown. That set the wheels in motion, but it took getting the axe w

And I thought it was just a kids movie. From the press release : "The American Humanist Association announced today that Philip Pullman, esteemed author of the controversial book, "The Golden Compass"--which has been made into a movie scheduled for release December 7--will be honored with the International Humanist Award in Washington DC in June. The award decision comes near the end of a two-month protest by the Catholic League, which has charged that the book and film are "anti-Catholic" and that the film, by being less confrontational, is part of a deceitful "stealth campaign" to promote an "anti-religious" book series. "We didn't hear complaints about a pro-evangelical stealth campaign when C.S. Lewis' ‘The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe’ was made into a film," noted Fred Edwords, American Humanist Association director of communications. "No humanists organized protests nor did the Catholic League complain of ev

As I was checking out a DVD at my local Blockbuster Video store earlier today, I saw a small video camera called Flip Video for sale there. Price: $180, stores 1 hour worth of video, looks like it is very easy to use & the best part is that it has a USB arm that plugs into the computer; no cable needed. Looks like it is a cheap & easy to use YouTube machine - a device created pretty much for people interested in easily capturing home/amature/non-professional quality video & getting it up on YouTube & other similar sites. I guess this camera has been around for a few months now, but the first time I found out about it was today. Might make a nice gift for someone who is interested in getting some stuff up on YouTube but is not interested in doing the post-production stuff that comes with shooting on tape. Some Flip Video links: Official website CNN Money article on the camera geeksugar article - sujewa

Check out the trailer for Ed Burns's new movie Purple Violets here . Violets in now available for download/purchase from iTunes . Here is a synopsis of Violets (from Apple's site ): "Set in lower Manhattan, PURPLE VIOLETS is a relationship comedy about four friends from college ready for change. PATTI PETERSON (Selma Blair) is a promising writer, but her marriage and conventional job keep her from her dream. She longs to return to her writing, especially after running into her first love BRIAN CAHILL (Patrick Wilson), a successful crime novelist. KATE (Debra Messing) is Patti’s best friend since college. She’s a tough-talking schoolteacher who plays therapist to all Patti’s problems, while she’s got a few of her own. Despite Brian Cahill’s gorgeous Tribeca loft and perfect house in the Hamptons, he longs to write works of greater literary value. MURPHY (Ed Burns), his lawyer and best friend from college still carries a flame for his former girlfriend Kate, even though the

check out the interview at MovieMaker . here is a segement: "MM: Since you are the first person to premiere a feature on iTunes, you get that added press, too. EB: There is that, yeah. We never really factored that in or gave that much thought cause the press, it still may very well prove to be not necessarily positive. I think it was more about… none of my films have played theatrically in St. Louis since 1996. There are plenty of people there who like my stuff, so maybe now they can see it on the day it opens. MM: Exactly. Is there any thing you can see though as a threat to the success of this experiment? EB: I don’t, you know. You’re a filmmaker, and especially as a kid in film school, you dream of sitting in the movie theater and seeing yourself projected on a big screen. I mean, that’s why I think people become filmmakers and actors. You fall in love with the environment and the feeling you get sitting in a theater with an audience. That being said, my movies to date

happy thanksgiving day everyone :) - sujewa

From Deadline Hollywood Daily : "On Thanksgiving Day (November 22), a group of Writers Guild Of America members will begin posting Public Service Announcements featuring A-list Screen Actors Guild talent as part of an independent WGA membership's "Speechless" campaign conceived by director/writer George Hickenlooper and writer Alan Sereboff. For the first time in the TV and movie industry, high-profile SAG actors will be taking their talents directly and exclusively to the Internet -- the very medium which is at the center of the current WGA labor strike against the Alliance Of Motion Picture & Television Producers. The spots will begin appearing on Thursday morning which will begin posting Thanksgiving Day and run exclusively on DeadlineHollywood.com through Sunday night. Beginning Monday, they can be found on SpeechlessWithoutWriters.com with links on UnitedHollywood.com and every day thereafter during the duration of the strike. Included are SAG talent such a

Coming in '08, read about it here . Now, in a somewhat unrelated note, this might tie in with one of my "wacky" theories about ancient civilizations having computers; what if we eventually make all computers completely (& relatively quickly) bio-degradable, then, in a couple of hundred years after a city is abandoned, there may not be any trace of that city having computers left for future civilizations to discover. This kind of thing could have happened in the past. I think that it is possible that flight, nuclear weapons, computers, etc. could have been invented & used at some earlier points in the 200,000 year long human past; or that as our modern age discovers them, this may not be the first time that those high tech gadgets have made an appearance on Earth. Perhaps that's a theory best left to a sci-fi movie script :) But, the drive to create both high-tech & eco-friendly products does make me wonder. - Sujewa

(well, to be entirely accurate, what Wagner James Au said was " Screenwriters, DIY! ", i just couldn't resist using a version of go west... :) In the article " Screenwriters, DIY! " (thanks to Thompson On Hollywood for the link), we find the following: "In the mid 90s, during a strike against The San Francisco Examiner, a bunch of staff writers and editors abandoned the newspaper to start up their own “web magazine.” Though it seemed like a weird idea at the time, the web mag eventually became Salon.com , now a site with more readers than most newspapers — including The Examiner itself. As the WGA strike moves into its second week, it’s hard not to see a similar opportunity: What’s to stop WGA writers (especially those associated with well-known TV shows and movies) from doing a similar thing with YouTube? Create new, low-budget shorts à la Lonely Girl , then leverage them as spinoffs for new TV series/movies when the strike ends? Or perhaps even better,

According to a little known & rarely active indie film blogger named Matt Dentler , Greg Araki's stoner comedy SMILEY FACE was selected by Sundance (that's THE SUNDANCE f*ing FILM FESTIVAL - "#1" in America), Cannes (that's THE CANNES INT'L f*ing FILM FESTIVAL - "#1" in the world), Toronto & SXSW film festivals (all together that's four of the most important film festivals in the western world & Austin!!!) YET the film is only being released in 1 theater!!!!!! The mind boggles. It is actually still boggling. OK, boggling over, let me list other ticket sales friendly qualities of this movie (granted, i have not seen it, but, given these ingredients, i am sure TONS of kids will want to see this movie): - directed by Greg Araki; yes, not a household name across America, but, a well respected indie director with a solid following. Didn't his last "properly released" film (MYSTERIOUS SKIN) earn several million dollars? - star

Greg Araki's stoner comedy Smiley Face might have been a lot of fun to check out at the theater. However, the pic's distributor First Look is only going to show it on one screen in LA (as far as I know at the moment. First Look's website didn't have any information on Smiley). I guess I'll have to wait for the DVD :( indieWIRE's got an interview with Greg Araki re: Smiley Face. - Sujewa

A segment of the response from WGA West's website : "WGA Statement in Response to AMPTP Newspaper Ad LOS ANGELES, NEW YORK -- The Writers Guild of America (Writers Guild of America, East and Writers Guild of America, West) issued this statement today in response to the AMPTP's misleading newspaper ads: Nice try, AMPTP. In the words of the late Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan, everyone is entitled to their own opinions, but not their own facts. The AMPTP's paid and patronizing advertisement in today's New York Times and Los Angeles Times is guilty of what most charitably could be called sins of omission. The AMPTP maintains, “It is important to make clear that writers currently do receive residuals for digital downloading (regardless of whether the download is temporary or permanent)... The Guild is seeking at least a 700 percent increase over what writers currently receive, and more than a 200 percent increase over what they receive for Internet 'pay per view.&

Have not seen Francois Truffaut's movie Day For Night yet. This YouTube clip/video makes it look interesting: And, from another French movie about making movies; some Irma Vep clips: Now a clip from everyone's favorite indie movie about indie moviemaking; a tiny bit of Living In Oblivion: I think the rain is fat because there are aliens in it. A Bowfinger clip (with subtitles from an unknown land): Any other good movies about making movies? - Sujewa

From Late Show Writers On Strike : "CLASSIC MOVIE SCENES IF THERE WERE NO WRITERS It's time for...CLASSIC MOVIE SCENES IF THERE WERE NO WRITERS by Lee Ellenberg "Casablanca" INT./EXT. AIRPORT HANGAR - NIGHT RICK ILSA RICK ILSA Ilsa's eyes fill with tears. Rick puts his hand to her chin and raises her face to meet his own. RICK Ilsa boards the plane. OUT." Visit Late Show Writers On Strike for more. - Sujewa

Check out the article here , very interesting. Here is a lil' bit of it: "This is not a difficult thing to envision. And in fact, it's already happening. Will Ferrell's Funny Or Die , in which I am a minority investor, is one early existence proof of this model. And there are a ton of other such new companies either already underway, or currently being incubated, or currently being negotiated." Read the rest here . Hollywood labor & owners/studios issues aside, the article has some ideas that can apply to the independent film world RIGHT NOW, specially those of us who are slanted towards the DIY/real indie side of things; those of us interested in owning our creations, having final say on how our movies are made at each stage of production & controling the distribution of same. - Sujewa

To put it relatively briefly, is it accurate to say: Screenwriters get residual payments because the total value of a script cannot be determined at the time the script is sold to the production company. (by total value i mean what a movie based on a given script makes upon release, year after year. and that value cannot be known at the time of sale of the script because no one knows how a given movie will perform in the market place until they actually release it; they may have rough ideas at the moment the script is purchased, but those estimates can be way off) So, people who know a lot about this issue, what do you think? :: [Some background: I posted the above in a couple of discussion threads at a couple of WGA strike related blogs ( Artful Writer , John August - check those sites out for even more background on this issue). They are having long (or at least very involved) discussions re: residuals - as in; do screenwriters deserve them?, how to best explain to the general public

check it out here . - sujewa

Article at Entertainment Weekly . - Sujewa

check 'em out here . bracelets & t-shirts. site says profits go to "WGA's union solidarity fund". - sujewa

i am sure all Office fans have seen this by now, if not, here it is: hope the Office writers & the rest of WGA get what they want. RELATED: check out the United Hollywood blog . - sujewa

Check it out here ; a whole bunch of screenwriters expressing their commitment to the WGA strike. Got the link from John August 's blog. - Sujewa

here - sujewa

As some commentators believe at the moment, the Mumblecore film movement is over. So what's next, American indie film movements wise ('cause it's fun - at times - to read about low budget indie film movements)? Here are some possibilities - possible ways to organize new indie films, makers, & market them as film movements: 1. The Elderly In Indie Film film movement; lots of new indies are made by people in their 20's - 30's, featuring actors/friends in the same age group, so how about a group of low budget indie films that deal with the comedy & drama of being older - like about being in your 50's, 60's, 70's or so? 2. Hip Multi-Ethnic Suburban Non-Creative People film movement; I live in the suburbs and there is a lot of ethnic diversity out here (at least in the DC suburbs), and a lot of these people are not creative professionals or aspiring creatives but rather hold more traditional jobs (attorneys, bankers, teachers, etc.), and are pretty mu

Didn't know Wayne Wang recently completed two new movies. Here are the Variety reviews of A Thousand Years of Good Prayers and The Princess of Nebraska . Of the two Nebraska sounds more interesting to me, so here is a little bit from the review: "Whereas “Prayers” is anchored by formal, quiet compositions, “Princess,” which was shot and co-directed by Richard Wong (“Colma: The Musical”), goes wild with hand-held, off-the-cuff-style shooting. Approach is mannered in the way it apes current fashion, and yet pic builds a certain interest via the shorthand fashion in which it presents its protag. Sasha (Ling Li), a student from China who’s recently started college in Omaha, arrives in San Francisco with the idea of aborting the fetus conceived on a one-night stand back in Beijing. Her text messages to the man responsible go unanswered, however, and she’s got to deal locally with a gay Yank, Boshen (Brian Danforth), who was also her lover’s lover." Read the rest here . - Sujew

check them out here . got the link from this blog entry at John August's blog ; lots of notes on the strike there . thanks Filmmaker Magazine blog for the August link. - sujewa

Read them here ; one student's impressions. - Sujewa

That scene was described in an article found through this link . - Sujewa

Took a cab from Silver Spring to Kensington tonight & learned about a country in Africa that sounds like a great candidate for some kind of a development project (mostly due to its low population, peacefulness, gigantic land area, etc.). The name of the country is Niger ( wikipedia ). I hear it is one of the poorest countries in the world, yet it has uranium, gold & oil. I think the place needs a new management team or something. Anyway, it is nice to hear that there is still a lot of uninhabited land in this world. The cab driver Ibrahim said that Niger has a lot of desert, but that it is arable. Also the people there are said to be very friendly. Maybe eventually I can make a movie there or buy a bunch of cheap land & start Sujewaland there :) Read more about Niger here . - Sujewa

regardless of how it turns out, a new movie by Jim Jarmusch is a recent to celebrate ('cause his Stranger Than Paradise got the ball rolling in a big way on this current US indie film wave & 'cause he made my favorite American movie: Mystery Train), get all the info. at Movie City Indie . - sujewa

I blogged about this item previously (the link is in the question below), and here is the follow-up, my questions to Hillary Clinton's campaign (sent through their website) re: her recent comments re: the terrorist group LTTE: "Hello, My questions are re: Mrs. Clinton's recent comment re: the terrorist group the LTTE in Sri Lanka (made at a Guardian Unlimited interview, I blogged about it here: http://diyfilmmaker.blogspot.com/2007/10/hilary-clinton-fine-with-suicide.html ). The questions: 1 - Does Mrs. Clinton know about the nature of the LTTE (the fact that they are clearly a terrorist group & have been banned in many countries, etc.)? 2. If elected President, does Mrs. Clinton plan on removing the LTTE from the list of terrorist groups banned by the US government? Thank you. - Sujewa Ekanayake" Looing forward to Mrs. Clinton's or the campaign's response. - Sujewa

Is the possible next president of the US suggesting that the ruthless terrorist group LTTE (Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam) in Sri Lanka need a more nuanced second look from the US government, even though the LTTE have been banned in the US since 1997 and they have assasinated the Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi and have killed thousands of people in Sri Lanka - including Tamils; the minority that the LTTE claims to be fighting for? Very strange, do not know much about this yet, maybe I'll have to contact the Clinton campaign to figure out all the details re: her statement. But, in the meantime, here is the original statement from the Guardian Unlimited article : "( Guardian Unlimited ) Yeah. Do you think that the terrorists hate us for our freedoms, or do you think they have specific geopolitical objectives? ( Hillary Clinton ) Well, I believe that terrorism is a tool that has been utilized throughout history to achieve certain objectives. Some have been ideological, oth

An early 30-something years old friend of mine who grew up in Argentina said he saw the following bit of a sci-fi horror movie (American or European - originally in English, could also be Canadian or Australian too) on TV one night when he was a kid, got scared, turned off the movie part way through - and now, as an adult in America, he's been asking people if they've ever seen this movie & if they can name it, but so far no luck, so here's the description, let me know if you know what the title of this movie is; the movie is about a third eye type thing in the brain that can be activated by some sort of a device. a man is driving & thinks about an event that happened in a house; two people put on the third eye device & then they are able to see previously invisible creatures floating around. one of the creatures - a giant fish like creature - looks at one of the guys, then swoops down & bites the dude's head off, the man dies. OK, let me know if you k

I luv the fall. Specially when it is not rainy or not too cold. For a quick update on all projects, go here . Enjoy the day, get out & get some sun & do nothing for a while, if u live in the DC area. - Sujewa

One of my favorite characters from the NBC show The Office is Darryl, the warehouse manager. Here is a recent interview with Craig Robinson , who plays Darryl, at Houston Press blogs. - Sujewa

Get all the info. on this development at this New York Times article . Thanks Filmmaker Magazine blog for the info. Unlike some too-cool indie filmmakers/fans, I've always liked Burns's movies to some degree or another (yes, including Looking For Kitty ). Will check out Violets, through iTunes or most likely through DVD or cable when it gets to those formats - looking forward to it. Find out more about Purple Violets here . And here's the iTunes movies page. - Sujewa

About A Son plays at E Street Cinema starting tomorrow, get all the info. here at the official blog for the flick . Here's the post w/ the link to the very positive Washington Post review of the film. Go see this ultra-creative doc about the Nirvana singer by the maker of the They Might Be Giants doc Gigantic. - Sujewa

Dimensional Portal, short film # 1 in the 50 Short Films About America series , is done. Also Rock Collection, short film # 1 in the 50 Short Films About Kensington series , is shot & is awaiting some titles in order to be complete. So, 2 down basically, and 298 to go; there are 6 series of short films planned with 50 films per series (find out more about this project here ) totaling 300 short films in all. I expect the entire project to take about 5 years (it could happen a lot faster, but let's just say 5 years for now) or until the end of 2012 to complete. I am digging this gigantic short films project because some shorts can be made literally for $0 (or you can spend some money on them & make them extra fancy) and you are able to explore new things, try new (or at least new-to-you) filmmaking approaches through shorts (not a lot of money tied in shorts, also they are not as "serious" as features, as far as your overall filmmaking resume is concerned - thus mor

Read about it here ! - Sujewa

I started a new short films project, read about it at the Wild Diner Films blog . - Sujewa

Read all about it here . Thanks GreenCine Daily for the link. - Sujewa

Was kind of under the weather this weekend, took it easy, home & in bed pretty much the whole weekend, watched a lot of The Office; good show to watch when you are not feeling too well :) No, really, there is hope for Hollywood/mainstream TV when it/them can turn out a pretty decent show like The Office. So, to show my appreciation, here is some Office related blogging. Mindy Kaling (Kelly Kapoor in The Office) interview at Radar Online . Also, Kaling blogs here (as Mindy Ephron). - Sujewa

Read about it at the Wild Diner Films blog . - Sujewa

This week's Washington City Paper has an article in which a judge of the DC Shorts film festival tells us about his experience. Here is the first paragraph from the article: "When I tell people I judged films for this year’s DC Shorts Film Festival, their first reaction is, “Cool!” Their second reaction is more circumspect. I don’t own a television. Or any movies. Why was I qualified to judge?" Read the rest here . Lots of inside-film-festival entertainment for those who may be into that kinda thing. - Sujewa

Lots of videomaking tech news, tips at the Videomaker blog . - Sujewa

Tyler Perry 's film Why Did I Get Married? sounds a tiny bit like the Dogme 95 film The Celebration or the Lawrence Kasdan film The Big Chill . From the Variety review of the flick: "At a fateful dinner party, the camera circling ominously, Angela, outraged that Mike has brought along his mistress (Denise Boutte), triggers an avalanche of aggressive secret-telling that leads to disaster." From Armond White's review at the New York Press: "He convenes a group of thirtysomething professionals, psychologist and relationship expert Patricia (Janet Jackson) and her friends: criminal attorney Dianne (Sharon Leal), esthetician Angie (Tasha Smith) and plus-sized housewife Sheila (Jill Scott). They rent a winter cabin in Pemberton, Colo., for a weekend marriage retreat with their husbands,..." Might be interesting. Here's the official website for the movie . Playing in lots of theaters now. - Sujewa