The IFP Los Angeles has announced the nominees for the 2005 Independent Spirit Awards, which will be held in a tent on the beach in Santa Monica on Saturday, February 26.

"Hosted annually on the Saturday before the Oscars, the IFP Independent Spirit Awards is the yin to the Oscars' yang -- a celebration honoring filmmakers of independent vision. Televised in millions of homes and covered internationally, the Independent Spirit Awards program has become the vanguard event in independent film, recognizing the achievements of independent filmmakers and promoting independent film to a wider audience."

Films vying for Best Feature this year are: Baadasssss! (Producer: Mario Van Peebles), Kinsey, (Producer: Gail Mutrux), Maria Full of Grace (Producer: Paul Mezey), Primer (Producer: Shane Carruth), and Sideways (Producer: Michael London).

The Best First Feature nominees are: Brother to Brother (Director: Rodney Evans; Producers: Rodney Evans, Jim McKay, Isen Robbins, Aimee Schoof), Garden State (Director: Zach Braff; Producers: Pamela Abdy, Gary Gilbert, Dan Halsted, Richard Klubeck), Napoleon Dynamite (Director: Jared Hess; Producers: Jeremy Coon, Sean C. Covel, Chris Wyatt), Saints and Soldiers (Director: Ryan Little; Producers: Adam Abel, Ryan Little), and The Woodsman (Director: Nicole Kassell; Producer: Lee Daniels).

Best Documentary nominees include: Bright Leaves (Director: Ross McElwee), Chisholm '72: Unbought & Unbossed (Director: Shola Lynch), Hiding and Seeking: Faith and Tolerance After the Holocaust (Directors: Menachem Daum, Oren Rudavsky), Metallica: Some Kind of Monster (Directors: Joe Berlinger, Bruce Sinofsky), and Tarnation, (Director: Jonathan Caouette).

With six nomiations this year, Alexander Paynes's Sideways leads the pack, closely followed by Maria Full of Grace (five nominations); Primer, Kinsey, Brother to Brother and Mario de la Vega's undistributed Robbing Peter (with four nominations each); and Baadasssss!, The Woodsman and The Motorcycle Diaries (with three each).

A complete list of nominees can be found at the IFP Web site.

# posted by Steve Gallagher @ 11/30/2004 01:43:00 PM

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The Sundance Film Festival (January 20-30) have announced the lineup of this year's Documentary and Dramatic competitions, as well as the films selected to compete in the World Cinema Documentary and Dramatic competitions.

Among the 60 films in the lineup announced today are 42 world premieres, 9 North American premieres and 9 U.S. premieres.

According to Todd McCarthy in today's Variety: Of the 16 pictures selected for Dramatic Competition from the 761 American narrative features submitted, the festival's director Geoffrey Gilmore said, "I have never been more excited about a competition lineup than I am this year. The level of accomplishment is where it should be. The evolution of what's going on is really exciting and shows a certain maturity across the aesthetic spectrum."

"Overall, 2,613 features were submitted to the festival, 1,385 from the U.S. and 1,228 from other countries. A year ago, fest fielded 2,485 total entries, 1,285 domestically and 1,200 from abroad."


DRAMATIC COMPETITION:

"Between, a south-of-the-border thriller from director David Ocanas and screenwriter Robert Nelms about an American lawyer's perilous search for her sister in the depths of Tijuana.

Brick, writer-director Rian Johnson's noirish look at a teenager who investigates his ex-girlfriend's disappearance by infiltrating a high school crime ring.

Dying Gaul, the feature directorial debut by playwright-screenwriter Craig Lucas, with Peter Sarsgaard as a tormented screenwriter in a treacherous relationship with a woman and her film exec husband.

Ellie Parker a feature-length expansion of a short made by writer-director Scott Coffey, with Naomi Watts in a comic look at an actress's pursuit of a Hollywood career.

Forty Shades of Blue a drama directed by Ira Sachs and written by Michael Rohatyn and Sachs about the disruption in the lives of a Russian woman and an older rock 'n' roll legend living in Memphis upon the visit of an estranged son.

How the Garcia Girls Spent Their Summer writer-director Georgina Garcia Riedel's look at the sexual awakenings of three generations of women in a Mexican-American family.

Hustle & Flow writer-director Craig Brewer's account of a Memphis pimp who deals with his midlife crisis by trying to become a rapper.

Junebug, a drama from director Phil Morrison and writer Angus MacLachlan about a dealer in outsider art who threatens the equilibrium of her middle-class in-laws in North Carolina.

Loggerheads, another North Carolina tale, in which writer-director Tim Kirkman relates three overlapping stories of estranged families in three regions.

Lonesome Jim directed by Steve Buscemi and written by James C. Strouse, about what happens when 27-year-old Jim, having failed to make it on his own, moves back in with his parents.

Me and You and Everyone We Know, the first feature from writer-director Miranda July, who also stars as an eccentric performance artist who attempts to connect with a lonely shoe salesman.

Police Beat directed by Robinson Devor, who co-wrote with Charles Mudede, about the odd situations encountered by an African-born bicycle cop on his beat in Seattle.

Pretty Persuasion, from director Marcos Siega and writer Skander Halim, a comedy about the turmoil in a high school after a 15-year-old accuses her drama teacher of sexual harassment.

The Squid and the Whale, the third feature from writer-director Noah Baumbach, about two kids in 1980s Park Slope, Brooklyn, caught in the crossfire of their academic parents' divorce.

Thumbsucker, writer-director Mike Mills's tale of the chaos that results when a man tries to wean himself from his addiction to his thumb.

Who Killed Cock Robin?, writer-director Travis Wilkerson's look at the struggle of some young men in depressed Butte, Mont., to sort out their lives.


DOCUMENTARY COMPETITION:

After Innocence, director Jessica Sanders's account of how several men freed from prison after being cleared by DNA evidence struggle to reintegrate into society.

The Aristocrats directed by Paul Provenza, in which 100 superstar comedians, including George Carlin, Whoopi Goldberg, Eddie Izzard, Don Rickles, Chris Rock and the Smothers Brothers, tell the same very dirty joke, one shared privately by comics since vaudeville days.

The Devil and Daniel Johnston, director Jeff Feuerzeig's portrait of a manic-depressive genius singer, songwriter and artist.

The Education of Shelby Knox, in which co-directors Marion Lipschutz and Rose Rosenblatt use a 15-year-old girl's transformation from conservative Southern Baptist to liberal Christian and feminist to portray the fight for sex education and gay rights in Lubbock, Texas.

Enron: Rise and Fall, director Alex Gibney's multidimensional study of one of the great business scandals in American history.

The Fall of Fujimori, directed by Ellen Perry, about how Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori's tenacious fight against domestic terrorists was followed by disgrace as an international fugitive wanted for corruption, kidnapping and murder.

Frozen Angels, in which co-directors Eric Black and Frauke Sandig explore the future of human reproductive technology.

Mardi Gras: Made in China, directed by David Redmon, a study of cultural and economic globalization as seen through the life cycle of Mardi Gras beads from a small factory in Fuzhou, China, to Mardis Gras in New Orleans and New York art galleries.

Murderball, an account by directors Henry-Alex Rubin and Dana Adam Shapiro of quadriplegics who play violent full-contact rugby in Mad Max-style wheelchairs, ending up in the Paralympic Games in Athens.

New York Doll, directed by Greg Whiteley, about recovering alcoholic and converted Mormon Arthur "Killer" Kane's shot at a 30-years-later reunion with his old band, the New York Dolls.

Ring of Fire: The Emile Griffith Story, in which co-directors Dan Klores and Ron Berger explore the tumultuous life of the six-time welterweight boxing champion.

Romantico director Mark Becker's look at the life of a Mexican singer when he returns home after years of trying to make the grade in San Francisco.

Shakespeare Behind Bars director Hank Rogerson's study of 20 male inmates who form a Shakespearean acting company in a Kentucky prison.

Trudell, director Heather Rae's portrait of Native American poet and activist John Trudell.

Twist of Faith, Kirby Dick's account of how a man's confrontation of his boyhood sexual abuse by a Catholic priest disrupts his relationship with his family, community and faith.

Why We Fight, in which director Eugene Jarecki examines, through the Iraqi war, the forces that drive American militarism. "


The festival will announce its Short film selection on December 6.

# posted by Steve Gallagher @ 11/30/2004 10:19:00 AM

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According to a press release received today, "Simmons Lathan Media Group (SLMG), a leading producer and distributor of media content with an urban/hip-hop theme, and the Kanbar Institute of Film and Television at New York University's Tisch School of the Arts today announced the creation of the Alumni Def Filmmaker Award, a competition for developing a narrative or documentary feature film with an urban/hip-hop theme. The contest, open to filmmakers from the Kanbar Institute who have graduated within the past five years, provides for production funding for up to $300,000 for a feature film project and up $150,000 for a documentary project.

"'In our continued effort to expand filmmaking opportunities for the most talented story-tellers in Hip Hop/Urban Culture, we are extremely pleased to be partnering with the Tisch School's Kanbar Institute, which has educated some of the most talented and acclaimed filmmakers in the industry today," said Will Griffin, president of SLMG.'

"To be eligible, applicants must have graduated from the Tisch School of the Arts Kanbar Institute of Film and Television within five years of the call for submission date of December 1, 2004. Film projects must be in the urban/hip-hop genre and submitted no later than February 15, 2005. Participants must submit the following materials: a screenplay (narrative category) or an outline (documentary category); a treatment of no more than 10 pages; personal statement of no more than 2-typed pages; comprehensive budget of up to $300,000 (narrative projects) or up to $150,000 (documentary projects); a visual statement pertaining to the film.

"Twelve semi-finalist projects, to be chosen by the faculty of the Kanbar Institute, will be forwarded to SLMG's offices. No later than March 15, 2005 a panel of judges from SLMG will choose three finalists, who will be required to prepare a storyboard for his or her project. No later than May 1, 2005 SLMG will select no fewer than one and no more than two winners to receive production funding of their project/s. SLMG will secure distribution for the winning project/s in home video, television and pay television outlets. For additional information or to apply, contact: Bradley Essex at 212.992.8461."

# posted by Steve Gallagher @ 11/29/2004 11:59:00 AM

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"Once, people who worked in advertising aspired to break into the movies. Now it seems, things have gone full circle," write the editors of The Guardian in their introduction to Peter Bradshaw's article on the world's most expensive commercial -- featuring Nicole Kidman, directed by Baz Luhrmann -- for Chanel No. 5.

# posted by Steve Gallagher @ 11/23/2004 05:02:00 PM

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David Poland's Moviecity News links to this interesting interview with Mark Cuban in Business 2.0 in which the Broadcast.com, 2929, and HDNet founder (and Dallas Mavericks owner) concisely lays out his long-term vision as a digital distributor and content supplier. It's a good read as it clearly lays out in one short article the thinking that informs Cuban's business ventures, which include the producer of low-budget indie HD films, HDNet. Cuban disparages the DVD format (he believes they'll be replaced by higher quality presentations delivered via satellite and broadband and stored on hard drives) and, in one great quote, dismisses all the current handwringing over digital piracy:

"It's all bullshit," he said. "A bunch of pathetic excuses. I personally have more than half a billion dollars invested in content. And I'm a lot less worried about piracy than I am about technological communism. I don't want Orrin Hatch's 'help.' I want technology unconstrained. Because if technology wins, content companies will benefit dramatically, like they always have."

# posted by Scott Macaulay @ 11/19/2004 06:56:00 AM

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The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences yesterday released a list of films that will continue on in the voting process in the category of Best Documentary Feature for the 77th Academy Awards. The 12 films from which the five nominees will be selected are listed below in alphabetical order:

Born into Brothels (ThinkFilm), directed by Zana Briski and Ross Kaufmann
The most stigmatized people in Sonagachi, Calcutta's red light district, are not the prostitutes, but their children. In the face of abject poverty, abuse, and despair, these kids have little possibility of escaping their mother's fate or for creating another type of life. Zana Briski gives these kids cameras and teaches them how to use them, igniting latent sparks of artistic genius. The photographs taken by the children are not merely examples of remarkable observation and talent; they reflect something much larger, morally encouraging and even politically volatile: art as an immensely liberating and empowering force.

Home of the Brave (Emerging Pictures), directed by Paola di Florio
Home of the Brave is about the only white woman murdered in the civil rights movement in America and why we don't know who she is. Told through the eyes of her children, the film follows the on-going struggle of an American family to survive the consequences of their mother's heroism and the mystery behind her killing.

Howard Zinn: You Can't Be Neutral on a Moving Train (First Run Features), directed by Deb Ellis and Denis Mueller
The life and times of the historian, activist and author of the best selling classic A People's History of the United States.

In the Realms of the Unreal (Wellspring), directed by Jessica Yu
Explores the parallel lives of legendary outsider artist Henry Darger. Reclusive janitor by day, visionary artist by night, Darger's 15,000-page novel The Story of the Vivian Girls, in What is Known as the Realms of the Unreal, of the Glandeco-Angelinnian War Storm, as caused by the Child Slave Rebellion details the exploits of seven angelic sisters who lead a rebellion against godless, child-enslaving men.

Riding Giants (Sony Pictures Classics), directed by Stacey Peralta
Beginning with the history of surfing from its early Polynesian roots to its rebirth in the 20th Century, Riding Giants traces the development of a fledgling surf culture along the coast of Southern California in the 1940s, highlighting a group of surfers who began searching for bigger and bigger waves, pushing the boundaries of performance to explore the "unridden realm."

The Ritchie Boys, directed by Christian Bauer
The film follows the fates of a band of young German Jewish intellectuals, refugees from Hitler's Germany, who had fled to the U.S and were persuaded to sign up for intelligence work in their former homeland. They trained at the super-secret Camp Ritchie, in Maryland.

The Story of the Weeping Camel (ThinkFilm), directed by Byambasuren Davaa and Luigi Falorni
An enchanting tale about a family of herders in Mongolia's Gobi desert who face a crisis when a mother camel unexpectedly rejects her newborn calf.

Super Size Me (Samuel Goldwyn Films), directed by Morgan Spurlock
A tongue-in-cheek -- and burger in hand -- look at the legal, financial and physical costs of America's hunger for fast food.

Tell Them Who You Are (ThinkFilm), directed by Mark S. Wexler
A portrait of the acclaimed cinematographer Haskell Wexler by his son Mark.

Touching the Void (IFC Films), directed by Kevin MacDonald
Two twenty-something mountain climbers descending one of the world's highest peaks face the ultimate tragedy in this stunning true story.

Tupac: Resurrection (Paramount Pictures), directed by Lauren Lazin
The film explores the life of the slain rapper through his own words and music.

Twist of Faith, directed by Kirby Dick
The powerful story of a man who confronts the trauma of past sexual abuse by a local priest, only to find his decision shatters his relationships with his family, community, and his faith.

Eligible documentaries were screened by the AMPAS Documentary Branch Screening Committee, made up of members of the branch who serve on a volunteer basis. The above films were chosen after a preliminary round of screenings. The nominated films will be announced along with nominations in 24 other categories on Tuesday, January 25, at 5:30 a.m. PST.

Surveying the list, Anthony Kaufman asks, "Where was Tarnation? Where was Metallica: Some Kind of Monster? Where was Control Room?... The rest of the Academy lineup features some expected entries -- from Super Size Me to Riding Giants -- but the full list taken as a whole ignores some of the year's most potent nonfiction work."

# posted by Steve Gallagher @ 11/18/2004 01:27:00 PM

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Entitled "Settings - Locations - Scenes. Production Design & Film," the Retrospective of the 55th Berlin International Film Festival (February 10 - 20, 2005) will be dedicated to the profession and impact of production design.

"Production designers are much more than just set builders," says Berlinale director Dieter Kosslick on the Festival's revamped Web site. "'They are genuine artists who substantially influence the overall appearance of a film. At first glance the effects are often not evident, yet their work is of utmost importance for communicating dramatic action.' Production designers supply the visual key for the mood and story of a film. They bring out individual emotions and social conditions as well as accentuate what is mysterious or menacing."

In other Berlinale news, "In 2005, the Festival will present part 2 of the series of films from the U.S.A.'s recovery program for Europe following World War II. (Organized by IFP founder Sandra Schulberg with Richard Rena from the Film Society of Lincoln Center, Part 1 premiered earlier this year at the Berlinale and was reprised at the 2004 New York Film Festival.) "Conceived to run for a total of three years, the series will continue during the Berlin International Film Festival in 2005 and again in 2006." At the 55th Berlinale... Selling Democracy - Welcome Mr. Marshall will feature "works from the early post-war years, including so-called re-orientation films, are to be screened under the heading Selling Democracy - Winning the Peace. The programme will be augmented by feature films from the period that depict Europe's upheaval. In 2006, the project will close with Selling Democracy - Friendly Persuasion. The final series is to focus on how Europe changed as a result of modernization, mechanization and its emulation of 'the American way of life'."
.

# posted by Steve Gallagher @ 11/17/2004 10:44:00 AM

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Blown Away! by The Residents. Courtesy of the Cryptic Corporation.

In 1980, a year before the launch of MTV, The Residents, a reclusive San Francisco-based band, released Commercial Album along with four short films (Moisture, Act of Being Polite, Perfect Love and The Simple Song) based on tracks from the album. The Residents' pioneering work is often cited as contributing to the development of the modern music video artform, and their One Minute Movies, directed by Graeme Whifler, are now part of the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art in New York.

According to the Web site The Moles, "The premise of the Commercial Album... was for The Residents to create their own 'top-forty' of one-minute songs -- one minute being the length of a typical TV commercial. Taking over where the group's 1978 classic Duck Stab left off, the Commercial Album further distills the music of The Residents into a stream of compact and multi-faceted avant-pop gems. A model of economy, the songs on this kaleidoscopic album constantly convey more with less."

To celebrate the 25th anniversary of the Commercial Album, Mute Records has issued a Special Edition DVD to both compliment and complete the project with an amazing collection of 56 one-minute films based on the original 40 Commercial Album songs.

"In order to produce this large number of films," the Mute site reports, "in addition to themselves, The Residents have assembled an outstanding group of 42 visual artists from around the world [including Kar Aermann, Leigh Barbier, Ty Bardi, Doug Carney, Bulk Foodveyor, Fabrice Fouquet, Incorect, Andrew Koehler, Harry Lagoussis, Chip Lord, John McNaughton, Cedric Mercier, Eric Montchaud, Takeshi Murata, Eric Nordhauser, Eun-Ha Paek, John Payson, The Penguin Bros., Martin Redlich, Stephane Ricard, Rosto A.D., Jean-Michel Roux, John Sanborn, Gunter Segers, Rajendra Serber, Rich Shupe, Casey Stockdon, Geert Vandenbroele, Veber Veber, Luk Willekens, and others]. Working in various forms ranging from animation, live action, and puppetry to drawing, photography and sculpture, the disc is a virtual film festival in miniature. In addition The DVD has an innovative game-like interface that allows viewers to explore a maze in the process of viewing the videos. This complex of rooms contains a unpredictable series of interactive features as it reveals the 56 videos created by The Residents and their all star cast of visual collaborators."

On December 1 at 8:30 p.m., the Museum of Modern Art in New York will screen ten new one-minute music videos by The Residents from the Commercial Album Special Edition DVD as part of its series of film and video premieres celebrating the reopening of the museum.

# posted by Steve Gallagher @ 11/16/2004 02:59:00 PM

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In a blog entry below we reported on "window-busting" release of Chazz Palminteri's film Noel, which will appear in theaters, on cable and on DVD all within the same month. It's part of a marketing strategy designed to score Noel some ink in the press -- perhaps to divert attention away from the reviews, which Rotten Tomatoes scores only 18% positive.

In our entry we were intrigued by the release strategy, but the folks at The Movie Blog linked to this USA Today piece which describes it in more critical terms. Some of the comments in the piece, like the ones from chain theater owners who disparage the concept, can be attributed to pure self-interest. (Of course theater owners don't want consumers to think that the movies they play can be seen in alternate formats so soon after release.) But the piece does pinpoint a downside to the technology we hadn't thought of: the discarded DVDs are yet another piece of environmental waste, destined to clog up landfills.

# posted by Scott Macaulay @ 11/15/2004 07:50:00 AM

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At Filmmaker, we've interviewed documentarian Joe Berlinger and his partner Bruce Sinofsky several times over the years, and the two are always great explicators of the filmmaking process. Now Berlinger with co-writer Greg Milner has authored Metallica: This Monster Lives, the story of his and Berlinger's making of the rock'n'roll-meets-therapy doc. And if you bookmark this blog page and skip over Filmmaker's home page, then you've probably missed this downloadable Chapter Five book excerpt, in which Berlinger talks about submitting himself to therapist Phil Towle to discuss his post-Blair Witch 2 issues.

Also worth noting in our on-line features section is Jeremiah Kipp's interesting interview with Jim Van Bebber about his cult epic The Manson Family.

# posted by Scott Macaulay @ 11/13/2004 02:39:00 PM

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I received the following e-mail recently and have decided to pass it on in the event that an enterprising filmmaker or two may want to take advantage of Valerie's offer to translate their film into French:

"Hello,

I'm a French student in my fourth year of college and I have to do a translation paper (60 to 80 pages long) which can be made of several short film translations or/and analysis of it. I would love to translate an English short film into French. I can not find in France any English short film and i wanted to know if you had any idea of a filmmaker who would allow me translate his short film, someone I could get in touch with. I am very open minded concerning the type of film ( except horror or extreme genres). I would need both the film and the script and it's very hard to find via the Internet.

I thank you for the attention you have paid to my request."

Valerie

zazouille2000@aol.com
zazouille2000_1@hotmail.com

# posted by Steve Gallagher @ 11/11/2004 10:52:00 AM

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One New York indie I've been tracking over the last year is Kevin Jordan's Lobster Farm, the story of two generations of one Brooklyn family struggling to hold onto the family business, a Sheepshead Bay lobster shop. Jordan's previous pic, Smiling Fish and Goat on Fire, received much festival acclaim, and as he readies his new one for a fest premiere, he's already picked up one high-profile supporter. Reports Michael Fleming in Variety, Martin Scorsese has agreed to put his "Martin Scorsese presents" label on the film, assuring it some degree of critical buzz. Jordan connected with Scorsese when he was a student at NYU; he sent him one of his student shorts and Scorsese liked it enough to give him a scholarship and invite him onto the set of Kundun.

Lobster Farm stars Danny Aiello and Jane Curtin and was filmed at a real lobster store, which happens to be owned by Jordan's parents. He says profits from the independently financed film will go towards saving the store, which, paralleling the film's storyline, is up for auction.

# posted by Scott Macaulay @ 11/11/2004 01:18:00 AM

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Via Variety comes this interesting subscription-only piece announcing a new spin-off for Fox's espionage TV series 24 which reachers viewers via cell-phone.

Writes Josef Adalian, "In a first-of-its-kind deal for a U.S. TV studio, 20th Century Fox TV has greenlit production of a live-action 24 spinoff skein that will be produced exclusively for cell phone users. Dubbed 24: Conspiracy, the show -- featuring original characters separate from the Fox TV skein -- will unfold over 24 roughly one-minute episodes; one seg will be downloaded to subscribers' phones every week."

Premiering in the U.K., where cell phone use and 3G technology is more established than in the States, in January, the series is expected to hit American users in the spring or summer.

Continues the trade, "Industry soothsayers are already predicting so-called '3G' cell phones will open up a significant new market for studios and networks. In the same way American Idol helped text messaging take off in the U.S., it's expected that within a few years, it won't be uncommon for consumers to watch videoclips or entire mini-shows and movies on their phones. One Swedish broadcaster attracted thousands of subscribers to a cell phone live feed of Big Brother.

# posted by Scott Macaulay @ 11/10/2004 11:34:00 AM

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In B. Ruby Rich's keynote address on the State of Cinema at the 2004 San Francisco International Film Festival, she writes: "In an environment in which marketing drives film exhibition, consider the notion that film festivals have become a global circuit that competes with Hollywood's marketing juggernaut -- an alternate worldwide circuit that allows films outside the U.S. to find recognition. And Audiences. Awards. Buzz. Marketability. Fame and renown. The film festival circuit is the cultural World Cup, unpredictable in its stars and scores, exciting, with a climax of national triumph and personal victory... Consider the film festival as a political intervention into the market monopoly, a thorn in the side of [former MPAA head] Jack Valenti, a counter-offensive of imagination and difference. And of language, above all language. Cinematic language, yes, but also the language spoken by those billions of the people in the world who do not speak English. 'Everyone in the world is basically the same,' my partner Mary's mother loves to say, she who hardly ever travels. And Mary, who has always traveled, always answers, 'No mother, they are all different.'"

"I've recently written a chapter for a new anthology, Subtitles, edited by filmmaker Atom Egoyan and Canadian scholar Ian Balfour," writes Rich, "on the subject of the foreignness of foreign films. I have been fascinated by a U.S. phenomenon of the past two decades: the crafting of film trailers that make it appear that films from Italy, say, or Japan, actually have English as their dialogue language. Not dubbed, but not subtitled either. What on earth do American audiences think? For that essay, I've studied the marketing habits of the '80s and '90s, interviewed some of the principals, and drawn some conclusions of my own about the connection between the monolingual habits of my country and its foreign-policy disasters."

In Subtitles: On the Foreignness of Film (Alphabet City Media book with The MIT Press, 544 pages, $35), an indispensable and provocative addition to the small canon of books dealing with cinema as a global cultural artifact, Egoyan and Balfour take B. Ruby Rich's position even further: "Every film is a foreign film," they write, "foreign to some audience somewhere -- and not simply in terms of language, The essays, interviews, and artworks in this collection [by Russell Banks, Patricia Rozema, Claire Denis, Jorge Luis Borges, Raymond Bellour, Hamid Nanficy, Trinh T. Minh-ha, Slavoj Zizek, Issac Julien, B. Ruby Rich, Jack Lewis and John Greyson, among many others] take the figure of the subtitle as a point of departure in exploring the idea and varieties of foreignness in film."

# posted by Steve Gallagher @ 11/08/2004 03:47:00 PM

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Chris Gore, author of The Ultimate Film Festival Survival Guide (Lone Eagle Publishing Company, $21.95), has been chosen as a keynote speaker at the inaugural International Film Festival Summit, which takes place at the Hudson Hotel in NYC from December 7-8.

"Film festivals are exploding across the United States and worldwide," said Gore, "so it's about time the industry had its own event. The economic benefits for cities lucky enough to have a hot film festival are obvious, and the benefits to independent filmmakers seeking adoring audiences are enormous."

According to a press release: "The International Film Festival Summit will be the largest ever gathering of professionals from the film festival industry. This is not a place to watch films or meet with filmmakers, but a place where film festival professionals, local government and corporate marketing executives can dialog with their peers, share insights and gain knowledge that will help them grow their film festival and keep it thriving or help understand the value of festival sponsorship opportunities and the impact on economic growth in communities.

Festival founder Todd Brockman from the Entertainment Technology Alliance has been going to major film festivals for over thirteen years and he realized that there was a need to build stronger alliances if the festival community is going to continue growing at the rate that it currently is. According to Brockman, "The film festival industry needs a way to share information and create better efficiencies, it is our intention that this annual event will create an environment where everyone is welcome to collaborate, learn, and share information."

Lone Eagle Publishing Company is part of the publishing division of IFILM Corp., which was purchased earlier this year by The Hollywood Reporter.

# posted by Steve Gallagher @ 11/08/2004 11:25:00 AM

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At Filmmaker we're always interested in alternative forms of distribution, so we took note of the unusual "window-busting" release plans for Noel, Chazz Palminteri's directorial debut which premiered in September at the Toronto Film Festival. The sentimental holiday film which stars Susan Sarandon, Paul Walker and Penelope Cruz will premiere in theaters November 12 via The Convex Group, a new company headed by WebMD founder Jeff Arnold. Then, on Sunday, November 28 Noel will screen once on the TNT network. That day, the film will also become available to Amazon.com customers as $4.99 Flexplay DVDs, disks which erase themselves 48 hours after they are removed from their containers.

The film will also be marketed using Lidrocks -- CDs containing movie trailers that are affixed to the lids of Cokes bought at movie theaters. Both Lidrocks and Flexplay are products owned and/or controlled by Convex, which describes itself as "a media and entertainment company that acquires and integrates unique assets to create new media networks."

# posted by Scott Macaulay @ 11/05/2004 11:42:00 PM

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One of the problems independent filmmakers have faced in the last decade has been the studio's co-option of the specialty film genre. Acquistions have dropped as the mini-majors have set out to make, with bigger budgets, better production values, and real stars, the kinds of quirky character-based stories that in the '80s and '90s were largely the province of independent filmmakers.

A particularly cruel example of this trend was driven home by a press release, excerpted below, I received from CineKink, an organization devoted to "the recognition and encouragement of kink-positive depictions in film and television." In order, I guess, to snag some mainstream column ink for its annual CineKink festival, the customary "awards wrap-up" release headlines not some of the genuinely kinky winners -- like Napoleon Lake's short Alice in Footland which received an honorable mention in the Audience Choice category -- but rather a studio release, Warner Independent's At Home at the End of the World, which received a Special Tribute Award for "its presentation of a polyamorous relationship and its positive portrayal of family and commitment outside of traditional monogamy." Runner's-up included HBO's Six Feet Under, Comedy Central's The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, and Fox's Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story.

With the Hollywood ass-kissing out of the way, here then is the rest of the press release listing CineKink NYC's more authentically pervy winners:

"A selection of CineKink NYC audience choice and festival awards were also
announced at the ceremony, presented to filmmakers whose works appeared in
the festival in a variety of categories:

CineKink Choice - AUDIENCE CHOICE AWARDS

AUDIENCE CHOICE AWARD FOR BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE:
Born in a Barn (Elizabeth Elson, 2004, USA, 53 minutes), an intimate and
sometimes humorous look into the erotic lives of four seemingly ordinary
people and the fast-growing fetish world of ponyplay.

AUDIENCE CHOICE AWARD FOR BEST NARRATIVE FEATURE:
Slaves (Ich Bin Niemand, 2003, USA, 101 minutes) a graphic,
documentary-style profile of artist R.C. Horsch and his sadomasochistic
relationships with several different women.

AUDIENCE CHOICE AWARD - HONORABLE MENTION:
Alice in Footland (Napoleon Lake, 2004, USA, 59 minutes) follows Alice's
visit to an fetish wonderland and a new interpretation of the old classic.


CineKink Best - FESTIVAL AWARD FOR BEST SHORTS

BEST DOCUMENTARY SHORT:
Liberty in Restraint (Michael Ney, 2004, Australia, 35 minutes) follows
fetish photographer, Noel Graydon, showing his work in progress, a passion
for his art and its themes, and the transgressive activities of the
community he moves within.

BEST EXPERIMENTAL SHORT
Haircut (Bryan Jackson, 2004, USA, 8 minutes) depicts the close-up results
of a routine haircut taken to extreme.

BEST ANIMATION SHORT:
Dream Human (tsubasa, 2003, USA, 5 minutes) details the mechanistic
creation of a perfect erotic vision.

BEST MUSIC VIDEO:
Spanky! Spanky! (DJ Spot, 2002, USA, 3 minutes) features the original perv
pop stars, Dick-n-jayne, with an ode to spanky! spanky!

HONORABLE BEST MENTION:
I Sit on Acid (Ryan J. Wolowski, USA, 3 minutes) uses a self-held camera
to explore imagery, body, sexuality and self.

# posted by Scott Macaulay @ 11/05/2004 11:04:00 PM

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If you work in the film industry, there's a point every year in which you scan through your Palm Pilot or Treo or old-fashioned rolodex and realize that so many of your colleagues have left the business. Some of them you know their whereabouts; you've gotten a cheery card announcing their latest endeavors. But so many others just fade away.

Someone who hasn't faded away is former Time Warner chief Gerald Levin according to Maria Bartiromo, whose "Closing Bell" piece on Levin and his new venture I caught while channel surfing today.

Several years after the murder of his son, his divorce, and his departure from AOL/Time Warner, where he engineered the unhappy merger between the two companies, Levin has, with his ex-CAA agent fiance Laurie Perlman, opened the Moonview Sanctuary. Described by Fortune magazine as an "ultra-chic mental health clinic for high-profile millionaires," the center, as seen on CNBC, is a modish blend of New Age stylings and boutique-hotel creature comforts -- Bali by way of Brentwood. With Levin living testimony to Perlman's therapeutic skills, the center's programs are designed for stressed-out individuals with high profiles in the mass media who are experiencing life crises.

Writes Fortune's Barney Gimbel, "Perlman dreamed up Moonview some six years ago as a place where celebrities could receive treatment by people who understand the unique stresses brought on by being in the public eye.... Moonview's highly personalized approach allows clients 'to explore and begin to resolve core issues on a deeper level.' There's even a special treatment program for families of celebrities on trial (perfect for the families of Kobe Bryant or Martha Stewart, says Perlman). The 30-room facility is nonresidential: Clients stay at home or in a nearby hotel, and after their treatment return for three two-day follow-ups."

Moonview's programs include "everything from traditional psychoanalysis to acupuncture, neurofeedback and even sex therapy." The cost to join Moonview -- "a sanctuary of calm and order in a world of chaos, pressure and fear?" $175,000 a year.

# posted by Scott Macaulay @ 11/05/2004 06:02:00 PM

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According to SFGate.com, "The manager of the Castro Theatre quit Tuesday -- the latest of several staffing shake-ups to cause concern about the future of the venerable movie palace, mecca to film lovers in the Bay Area.

"Stacey Wisnia, who has managed the Castro for more than four years and worked there for eight, said she resigned in part to protest the abrupt firing last week of the theater's long-time programmer, Anita Monga."

# posted by Steve Gallagher @ 11/05/2004 11:20:00 AM

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Rodney Evans's Brother to Brother, which won a Special Dramatic Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival earlier this year, opens at Cinema Village in NYC today. The film will open in San Francisco and Berkeley Nov. 19, and roll out through the rest of the country in December and January.

The film's star, Anthony Mackie, nominated for a 2004 IFP Gotham Award for Breakthrough Actor, recently starred in Spike Lee's She Hate Me and Sucker Free City, and was featured in Jonathan Demme's The Manchurian Candidate. He is currently filming Clint Eastwood's Rope Burns, playing a major role opposite Hilary Swank and Morgan Freeman.

# posted by Steve Gallagher @ 11/05/2004 10:55:00 AM

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Variety has launched a job board -- and it's free. Click here to begin your job search.

At the site you can upload your resume and apply to jobs at top media and entertainment companies. Over 5,000 media and entertainment jobs across the US and abroad are currently listed.

# posted by Steve Gallagher @ 11/05/2004 10:20:00 AM

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The latest news reports say Dutch police have apprehended eight more suspects as conspirators in the murder of Dutch director Theo Van Gogh (see our blog below) and also report that the alleged shooter was captured carrying a letter calling for a Holy Jihad. For those who want to see what the fuss is all about, our friends at Greg.org have posted this link to the Dutch broadcaster VPRO's site, where you can watch a few minutes of Submission, the "anti-Islam" film that provoked the Islamic community's outcry against Van Gogh.

# posted by Scott Macaulay @ 11/04/2004 01:12:00 AM

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Via Variety comes this (subscription-only) news that agent Bart Walker has left ICM for CAA. Based in New York, Walker has for years at ICM repped high-profile independent auteurs like Jim Jarmusch, Julian Schnabel and John Turturro. In addition to negotiating director deals, he usually works actively to arrange financing for his clients' pics by combining foreign distribution and presale monies with domestic partners. Recently, Walker worked to put together the financing for Sofia Coppola's The Virgin Suicides in a manner that allowed the filmmaker to retain the film's copyright.

Directors who will travel with Walker to CAA include all those listed above plus Tamara Jenkins, Mira Nair, Thomas Vinterberg and Steve Shainberg. Walker will stay in New York and his move to CAA reps a dedicated expansion of their New York office in the Flatiron Building.

# posted by Scott Macaulay @ 11/03/2004 11:50:00 AM

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Prolific Dutch director Theo Van Gogh, known in America for the release of his 1994 phone-sex drama 06 under the title 1-900, was killed earlier today in Amsterdam. He had been receiving death threats following the television screening of his latest short film, Submission, a drama about a Muslim woman coerced into a violent marriage, raped by a relative, and then brutally punished for her adultery. The film was co-written by a Dutch right-wing politician who renounced her Muslim faith and now is a critic of the religion.

The film enraged Muslim groups after its airing and the filmmaker has been under police protection. A 26-year-old man of Dutch-Moroccan nationality has been arrested for the crime. According to witnesses, the man rode up to Van Gogh's car on a bicycle, shot the director as he exited the car, and the waited by the body to make sure he was dead. He then fled to a park where he was apprehended.

According to the Associated Press article linked to above, Van Gogh shrugged off the death threats on a recent radio interview, calling the movie "the best protection I could have."

# posted by Scott Macaulay @ 11/02/2004 01:28:00 PM

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As reported on indieWIRE today: "A battle has been raging in San Francisco over Proposition L, a measure on the ballot today that could give more than $10 million in city funds to a new non-profit group aimed at bolstering local single-screen movie theaters. If passed... the proposition would take 15 percent of the money raised by a local hotel tax, about $10.5 million a year, and give it to Save Our Theaters, a new private, non-profit group, for the purposes of supporting a number of single-screen theaters and also promoting local filmmaking."

So why are so many San Francisco-based arts groups, actors and filmmakers against it?

According to the San Francisco Film Society Web site: "Unfortunately, Proposition L is a simplistic scheme that would put millions of taxpayer dollars in the hands of a group that has no staff, no office and no record of operating theaters. Save Our Theaters represents neither the local film community nor the neighborhoods affected by theater closures. Their campaign has already done a disservice by spreading the misinformation that the Castro Theatre and the Balboa Theatre are in imminent danger of closing, which is not true. The passage of Proposition L can only result in an embarassing fiasco."

# posted by Steve Gallagher @ 11/02/2004 11:00:00 AM

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The IFP/New York announced the nominees for two of its competitive sections of its newly retooled Gotham Awards, to be held December 1 and broadcast live by the IFC. Below are the Breakthrough Actor and Director nominees.

Breakthrough Actor Award Nominees:

Mos Def for The Woodsman (Newmarket Films)

Anthony Mackie for Brother to Brother (Wolfe)

Catalina Sandino Moreno for Maria Full of Grace (HBO Films & Fine Line Features)

Dallas Roberts for A Home At the End of the World (Warner Independent Pictures)

Ensemble cast of Everyday People (HBO)


Breakthrough Director Award Nominees:

Rodney Evans, Writer/Director/Producer for Brother to Brother (Wolfe)

Debra Granik, Writer/Director for Down to the Bone

Nicole Kassell, Writer/Director for The Woodsman (Newmarket Films)

Joshua Marston, Writer/Director for Maria Full of Grace (HBO Films & Fine Line Features)

Lori Silverbush, Writer/Director & Michael Skolnik, Director for On The Outs

# posted by Scott Macaulay @ 11/01/2004 11:58:00 PM

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The Women's Film Preservation Fund of New York Women in Film & Television is again seeking proposals for the funding of restoration and/or preservation of American films in which women have had significant creative positions. Individuals and not-for-profit organizations are eligible to apply for grants of up to $10,000. Deadline: December 15, 2004.

# posted by Steve Gallagher @ 11/01/2004 03:38:00 PM

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The latest film by 23-year-old wunderkind Cam Archer, American Fame, Pt. 1: Drowning River Phoenix, narrated by Lydia Lunch and featuring 15-year-old Jasper Bel as River Phoenix, screens at the AFI Fest on November 10 and 13.

Archer recently completed American Fame, Pt. 2: Forgetting Jonathan Brandis about the former child star who committed suicide in 2003, but so far there is no word on when or where the film, also narrated by Lydia Lunch, will premiere.

Earlier this year Archer completed Godly Boyish, a short film narrated by Joan Jett and featuring Jasper Bel and 14-year-old Cassidy Field; The Cold Ones about a sister and brother coping with their father's murder and their mother's abandonment of the family; and a music video for Imperial Teen's "Our Time".

His debut feature script Wild Tigers I Have Known, which Gus Van Sant is exec producing and Linda Barry is producing, was included in the 2004 IFP Market. Archer's bobbycrush, featuring Jasper Bel and Cassidy Field, was nominated for a Student Academy Award and screened earlier this summer on the Sundance Channel.

Each of Archer's films were shot by cinematographer Aaron Platt.
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# posted by Steve Gallagher @ 11/01/2004 01:10:00 PM

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