Archive for May, 2006
Wednesday, May 31st, 2006
I’ve been blogging in circles around the whole “net neutrality” issue recently, generally sympathetic to the concept that the internet should remain an egalitarian mode of communication in which all types — or packets — of information are treated equally. However, I’ve been reticent to declare one of the six bills pending in the House of Representatives dealing with this issue my favorite because I don’t feel that I’m an expert on all the underlying technical and business issues that underlie this debate.
So, that’s why I responded to this article by Michael Grebb in Wired. It’s by no means the last word on the subject, but I do think he (re)frames the conversation in an interesting way.
From the piece:
Arguments over net regulations are nothing new. But they have taken on fresh urgency as the industry absorbs a wave of megamergers and the internet rapidly evolves into a high-bandwidth pipe capable of replicating — and perhaps even replacing — both traditional telephone and cable TV services.
A dwindling list of corporate giants that control the pipes into consumers’ homes are jumping into the video and internet phone businesses, creating an unprecedented threat to online competition, consumer advocates say. In a worst-case scenario, some speculate, a carrier like AT&T might launch its own internet video service and then conspire to hurt the performance of competitors, such as Google, Amazon.com and YouTube, at least where its own customers are concerned.
“They have been talking vocally about these new business models they’re going to try out once they get these mergers done,” says Alfred Mamlet, a telecom and intellectual-property lawyer at Steptoe & Johnson. “That’s what’s got the Googles and Yahoos concerned.”
…The debate appears to have polarized into extreme positions. But a hard look at the current situation seems to show that both sides have a point, and the best long-range solution may well be a compromise. Giving the cable firms and telephone companies free rein to do exactly as they wish is almost certainly a mistake. But micromanaging their businesses by forcing them to treat everybody exactly the
… Read the rest
Wednesday, May 31st, 2006
After April showers and May flowers comes June LGBT film festivals. In New York, New Fest (June 1 – 11) opens up with the much anticipated Strangers with Candy. Next comes San Francisco’s Frameline (June 15-25) which is celebrating its 30th year – or as they salaciously advertise it “XXX”. They kick off their celebration with Maria Maggenti’s Puccini For Beginners, as does Los Angeles’s OutFest (July 6 –17). Of course, if you are not close to these cities, I bet there is a happy homosexual film festival in your neighborhood.… Read the rest
Monday, May 29th, 2006
That’s how long the standing ovation was at Cannes for Kevin Smith’s Clerks 2.… Read the rest
Friday, May 26th, 2006
Variety reports that a new, final director’s cut of Ridley Scott’s science fiction classic Blade Runner will finally be released this fall by Warner Brothers. The release of a deluxe DVD edition to supplant the bare-bones, hastily made (or so Scott says) “director’s cut” now in the stores has been long awaited by tied up by the film’s famous rights problems; when it went over-budget, the bond company took over and made changes in the edit, including adding an infamous voiceover and happy ending, that Scott hated. He revised the film years later but claims he was rushed. The trade paper now says:
The restored “Director’s Cut” will debut on homevid in September, and remain on sale for four months only, after which time it will be placed on moratorium. Blade Runner: Final Cut will arrive in 2007 for a limited 25th anniversary theatrical run, followed by a special edition DVD with the three previous versions offered as alternate viewing: Besides the original theatrical version and director’s cut, the expanded international theatrical cut will be included. The set will also contain additional bonus materials.
… Read the rest
Thursday, May 25th, 2006
Variety‘s Nick Vivarelli reports that while his daughter Sofia has been enjoying/suffering through the mixed reception Marie Antoinette has been getting at Cannes, Francis Ford Coppola has wrapped production on his first film since 1997′s The Rainmaker.
The film sounds intriguing, and it’s bound to be a far cry from John Grisham studio fare — the 1930s period drama about “an academic forced to become a fugitive” boasts a $5 million budget, a mostly Romanian crew, and the great German actor Bruno Ganz. As a still-awestruck fan of Coppola’s early- and mid-career work, I can’t wait to see how this turns out, especially after having wacthed the maestro make a passionate defense of independent cinema when he was feted at the Film Society of Lincoln Center a few years back.
Stay tuned….… Read the rest
Thursday, May 25th, 2006
Writer Dennis Cooper has a lively blog with well-composed daily postings and interaction with a community of over 50 active posters and respondents. Today Cooper does one of his periodic celebrations of great cultural figures with “Jacques Tati Day,” a collection of links to such items as the original trailer for Playtime, a Spanish-language dubbed scene from Mon Oncle, Tati’s amazing official website, an excerpt from Forza Bastia 1978 ou l’ile en fete, a controversial unfinished film purportedly by Tati, and much, much more. Further on down the blog page there’s a bunch of other film stuff, including a fascinating collection of posts about cultural works, many of them films, that terrified Cooper; a ranking of horror films; and a “Film Day” in which all of Cooper’s posters recommend their favorite online films.… Read the rest
Wednesday, May 24th, 2006
Caveh Zahedi scores a scoop on his website with what could be the first footage of JT Leroy (aka Laura Albert) after the various newspaper and magazine exposes. He ran into Albert at the San Francisco premiere of The Puffy Chair, filming her from his camcorder as he was introduced to her. He says she asked him to stop filming but then changed her mind when Zahedi showed her the footage, which he has now posted to his site.… Read the rest
Wednesday, May 24th, 2006
Filmmaker‘s Managing Editor Matt Ross has just written and directed a new short, Lola, and he’s got a MySpace page already and a website too. Dubbed “a short film about a long night,” the film stars Cordelia Reynolds, Daniel Sauli and Dean Wareham. Both sites contain clips — check them out.… Read the rest
Wednesday, May 24th, 2006
Bill Condon may have turned sex researcher Alfred Kinsey into a mainstream movie figure, but underground filmmaker Bret Woods has turned to a slightly more esoteric source for his latest film. According to its new website, Psychopathia Sexualis “dramatizes case histories of turn-of-the-century sexual deviance, drawn from the pages of Richard von Krafft-Ebing’s notorious medical text. Among the cases are a sexually repressed man who discovers an unhealthy appetite for blood; a homosexual man who submits himself to a doctor who promises to ‘cure’ his condition; and a masochist who hires a pair of corseted prostitutes to enact a most peculiar performance. In the final chapter, a woman who has spent her life suppressing her lesbian desires is hired to tutor a sexually curious young woman. These stories are bound together by the thread of an ambitious doctor who not only studies the patients, but uses them as pawns and playthings.”
Woods’ website is hosted by Kino, the tony arthouse distributor which is releasing the film, and it contains downloadable clipsand the trailer from the film. It opens in early June in New York, Seattle and Chicago. Woods’s previous feature was Hell’s Highway: The True Story of Highway Safety Films), which we called it “a Lynchian view of the nightmarish underbelly of middle America.” (That’s from his website too!) He has also written several books on film, including Forbidden Fruit: The Golden Age of the Exploitation Film.
Woods also has an interesting blog in which he talks about his movie but also all his other projects, which include this project about Billy Wilder:
I’m just finishing a project that I’m very excited about. Several years ago, Volker Schlondorff (The Tin Drum) made a three-hour interview-format documentary on Billy Wilder called Billy, How Did You Do It? I’ve been entrusted with the task of reworking the epic documentary into a compact 70 minutes (for American television). Retitled Billy Wilder Speaks, it will air Thursday, June 22 on Turner Classic Movies (consult local listings for details).
The documentary’s pretty amazing. Imagine sitting at Wilder’s desk for more
… Read the rest
Wednesday, May 24th, 2006
The Independent Feature Project is offering a membership special offering. In addition to receiving all the usual IFP’s member benefits — and a subscription to Filmmaker, those who join by May 31 will receive the IFP’s 100-page Industry Directory, complete with contact info and bios of 300 different production and distribution companies, and also five hours of audio material, panel discussions on the following topics:
Working With First-Time Filmmakers: Michelle Satter (Sundance) and Holly Becker (IFC)
What Distributors Look For: Tom Quinn (Magnolia) and John Hodges (Focus Features)
Building a Career: Dylan Leiner (Sony Pictures Classics) and Mike Lubin (Paradigm)
Dialogue with commissioning editor Nick Fraser (BBC)
Financing Film Around the World: Kevin Iwashina (CAA) and Andre Rouleau (REMSTAR)
To top it off, there’s a 20% discount being offered as well, so a membership costs $80 if you join using the promo code FQSIX by the end of the month.… Read the rest
