Kickstarter project for "Date Number One" December screenings

Indie Film Blogger Road Trip now available to view from ATLFF site

Check out the feature length doc about film bloggers, free, from Atlanta Film Festival's website.

Sujewa on The Obenson Report podcast on Mon 2/9

I will be one of the guests on The Obenson Report podcast on Mon 2/9 night - show starts at 8 PM (i am on at 8:40 PM). I'll be discussing my new documentary Indie Film Blogger Road Trip (podcast host Tambay Obenson is featured in the doc) & D.I.Y. filmmaking/self-distribution. Tune in, check it out!

Current Blog

Busy with a couple of film distribution things in Feb, will be back after that. In the meantime, I am at DIY Filmmaker Sujewa blog - mostly.

- Sujewa

Opening 9 minutes from new documentary Indie Film Blogger Road Trip

Now blogging at the new Wild Diner Films blog

Right here. See ya there sometime.

- Sujewa

Date Number One, 7/12 - 18, 2007, Kensington, MD!

D A T E ** N U M B E R ** O N E
http://www.wilddiner.com/
a comedy about several first dates
a movie by sujewa ekanayake

Thu July 12 - Wed July 18, 2007
Armory Building
3710 Mitchell Street
Kensington, MD 20895 :: map
7:30 PM daily
$7

Film's Description: "Date Number One", a comedy about several first dates, is made up of 5 different stories: Story 1 - Just Another Ninja Searching For Love, about a ninja who goes on a blind date (ninja is played by John Stabb Schroeder from the DC punk band G.I.), Story 2 - A Romantic Dinner For 3, about a woman attempting to add a third partner to a romantic relationship, Story 3 - Washington "City Of Love" DC/Start Over, about a writer who tries to get back together with his ex-girlfriend, Story 4 - Air Quotes Woman, about a woman who always uses air quotes, and her search for a new boyfriend, Story 5 - The Superdelicious French Lesson, about a first date where a character learns a little bit of French in an unusual way. The movie has been discovered to be: "Witty" (GreenCine Daily), "Funny" (The Chutry Experiment), and "Sexy, Sexy, Sexy" (Hollywood Is Talking).

*
Featuring Hot DC Indie Film Stars John Stabb Schroeder, Julia Stemper, Jennifer Blakemore, Shervin Boloorian, Dele Williams, Steve Lee, Kelly Ham, Christine D. Lee, Fritz Flad, Subodh Samudre, Jewel Greenberg

*
Not Rated * 115 Minutes * yummy

*

SCREENED AT: Goethe-Institut - Washington, DC (World Premiere, May 2006), Northwest Film Forum - Seattle (May 2006), Capital City Microcinema - Kensington, MD (June, October 2006 & March 2007), Sangha - Takoma Park, MD (July 2006), Pioneer Theater, New York City (August 2006), Warehouse Screening Room - Washington, DC (November 2006).
*
Director will attend the screenings. Brief discussion, Q & A period after each screening for those audience members who are interested in such things.

"The film is about as charming as they come...presents a world in which cultures don't clash, they mesh. It's refreshing to see characters who all appear to have a natural optimism, as opposed to the typical indie-film predilection for bitterness and cruelty. "
- Michael Tully, Rotterdam & SXSW film festivals selected filmmaker & indieWIRE blogger
http://blogs.indiewire.com/tully/archives/010529.html

"I found the characters and the premise sexy, sexy, sexy."
- Jerry Brewington, Hollywood Is Talking blog, on Story 2 of Date Number One
http://hollywoodistalking.com/Blog/508/

*

"...witty...often inventive...and, even better, airy: characters are given time and space to spell out their views...views that never bear the artificial markings of a Hollywood screenwriter's compulsion to reduce them to sound-bites."
- David Hudson, Editor, GreenCine Daily blog
http://daily.greencine.com/archives/002353.html

"FIVE really entertaining, fully realized romantic interludes...a shamefully rare achievement"
- Tom Kipp, Seattle audience member, former film reviewer for Seattle alternative weekly The Stranger
http://diyfilmmaker.blogspot.com/2006/05/interview-with-seattle-audience-member.html

"Heartfelt...poignant...I loved it!"
- Jon Moritsugu, award winning filmmaker

*

"...somehow, someway, in the end, the love of the characters, the positiveness of the film, and Sujewa’s disregard for conventions wins you over. The act of making this film wins you over. There is only a positive through line in this film, and that is rare to see, especially when dealing with characters in their late to early thirties."

- Amir Motlagh, director of the popular '04 Atom Films' short Still Lover & upcoming feature Whale
http://stilllover.blogspot.com/2006/10/date-number-one-review.html

"Date Number One is quite funny...twentysomethings and occasional thirtysomethings looking for romance recall Richard Linklater's philosopher slackers and Jim Jarmusch's minimalist attention to conversation...also a subtle, thoughtful film...might be understood as the anti-Crash depiction of life in the city...depicts a comfortably multi-ethnic community...I'd happily recommend it."
- Chuck Tryon, media professor & blogger, The Chutry Experiment blog
http://chutry.wordherders.net/archives/005873.html

*
Date Number One website: http://www.wilddiner.com/
blog: http://www.diyfilmmaker.blogspot.com/
::
!Thanks!

DATE NUMBER ONE screening Sat 11/4 in DC

Please visit the latest blog for the film or the film's website for more info.

Here is the essential info. re: the 11/4 screening:

screening # 12
DATE NUMBER ONE
a comedy about several first dates
a movie by sujewa ekanayake
!The Final Screening of 2006!
SAT NOVEMBER 4 :: 8 PM :: $6
a benefit screening for We Are Family,a DC non-profit that assists the elderly
WAREHOUSE Screening Room
1017-21 7th St., NW
Washington, DC 20001
202-783 3933
directions

Thanks & see ya there!

- Sujewa

Filmmaking For The Poor blog now retired, DIY Filmmaker Sujewa blog is born

Well, this blog has had a good run, about 5 months, maybe a 100 posts or so, recognition from indieWIRE & other indie film VIPeeps, lots of new friends, & some entries w/ a lot of comment activity. Now that my new movie Date Number One is just a few days away (for real this time folks :) from being done, I am going to start focusing more on the distribution work & less on blogging. And, from now on, I am going to blog at my newest blog DIY Filmmaker Sujewa http://diyfilmmaker.blogspot.com/. Most of the entries there will be about Date Number One. I'll post mostly when something important about that movie needs to be communicated. I'll also post relevant stuff @ Indie Features 06 & at LOOP DIY Film Group. I won't be using the Date Number One Movie Blog or my other blogs, but will keep them alive in case I need a back up blog solution. I'll also post @ the new blog when some reaaalllyyy important non-Date Number One item needs to be discussed. And of course I'll post when I am bored.

So thanks friends for all your support for Filmmaking For The Poor over these past few months. I'll keep the blog up so we can look back on some past entries from time to time. I'll see you at DIY Filmmaker Sujewa blog! Please update your links (if u want, feel like it, want to keep reading stuff I write). Here again is the new URL: http://diyfilmmaker.blogspot.com/

Thanks again! See ya soon. Good luck w/ all yer film, blog & other projectos!

- Sujewa
(no, this is not an April Fool's joke :)

Some tips on producing DIY screenings

Fellow LOOP DIY Film Group member Agnes asked about my approach to producing DIY screenings/"4-walled" events, with an emphasis on getting a good audience turnout for the screenings. Here's the short version of the answer (maybe I'll write a book on this issue once I successfully complete the Date Number One self-distribution project). I am sure there are tons of great ways to approach a DIY screening project, these are some of the ways I get it done (feel free to share your tips for it, if you've done it well):

1. Show a film that at least some people want to see (try to have realistic expectations for ticket sales - go w/ low estimates of attendance, spend money accordingly on the screening event).

2. Publicize the event really well, I'd say for @ least 3 weeks prior to the event, also, from the target audience, to get 100 people to show up @ the event, let 1000 people know.

3. Tie the screening in to a longer term money making plan (even if the screening is not too well attended, use the resulting press & publicity from the screening to sell DVDs & merch).

4. If you are not the salesperson/marketing type, hire or otherwise recruit someone who is like that, who is energetic, not afraid to talk to people, will offer people info. on the event in a non-alienating manner, can make people excited about an event.

5. Keep expenses as low as possible, but do not cheat the end user - try to provide an excellent experience/product for the paying audience members.

6. Spread risk out over several screenings. The same amount of work can publicize 1 screening, let's say on a Fri night, or 6 screenings held over Fri, Sat, Sun.

7. Think of distribution/DIY screenings as the 4th stage of film production:
Stage 1. script & pre-production
Stage 2. production
Stage 3. post-production
Stage 4. distribution
Your job as a filmmaker is not done, if u r a DIY filmmaker, until you sell your movie to the ultimate user (through ticket sales to screenings, DVD sales, etc.). Stop expecting distributors to take care of you all the time, try to take care of yourself regardless of whether distributors want your film or not. You created & own the product & you have the most to gain through a proactive approach to distribution.

8. As an artist, develop a community for fans of your work, also a community of peers, keep in touch w/ your audience & peers on a regular basis. This way, as your film gets done & ready to show, a bunch of people will already know about it, makes your marketing work easier. Blogs & website & webgroups will help on this item.

- Sujewa

Hey China, Stop Being Evil, Release Filmmaker Hao Wu

Or at least charge him with a crime & offer a real chance for him to defend himself in court, if he did in fact do something that the rest of us in the civilized world thinks is possibly a crime. What's up China? Are you afffrrrraaaiiiddd that a lone documentary filmmaker & blogger is gonna upset your plans for global domination? :) Civilizations that do not support intellectual & entrepreneurial freedom stay poor, can't cope w/ change, die. Stop digging your own grave man, start treating your artists (& pretty much everyone else over there for that matter) & dissidents like the valuable asset that they are. Experimentation, criticism, checks & balance = growth, new discoveries & stabilization. Stop being so f**king paranoid China. You'll never be able to compete with the West if you do not start respecting intellectual freedom & individual rights. Empowered, fearless citizens make for a more productive & competitive nation. Thanks.

Here's an introduction to Hao's situation:

" Hao Wu, a Chinese documentary filmmaker who lived in the U.S. between 1992 and 2004, was detained by the Beijing division of China's State Security Bureau on the afternoon of Wednesday,February 22, 2006. On that afternoon, Hao had met in Beijing with a congregation of a Christian church not recognized by the Chinese government, as part of the filming of his next documentary. "

and

"The reason for Hao's detention is unknown. One of the possibilities is that the authorities who detained Hao want to use him and his video footage to prosecute members of China's underground Churches. Hao is an extremely principled individual, who his friends and family believe will resist such a plan. Therefore, we are very concerned about his mental and physical well-being."

Read the rest of the introduction here at the Free Hao Wu site.

Here is a link to the blog that Hao was writing before he was arrested by the Chinese government for no good reason that observers can think of.

Thanks GreenCine Daily for the link to Free Hao Wu site.

Sujewa
*******

2 Questions for indie filmmakers & festivals re: Festivals & Money

Two Questions Re: Film Festivals & Money:

1. Should film festivals share some of their ticket sales $s for a given screening with the maker(s) of the film being screened?
- Since the vast majority of films that play festivals do not win awards or get a distribution deal because of the film festival screening, shouldn't at least some of the $s being made by the fest through a given film belong to the makers of that film? I think that would be fair (a lot of work goes into making a movie).

2. What are the festivals that currently give film makers a share of the ticket sales $s?

Let me know if you have any comments & thoughts on these two items.

Thanks a lot!

Sujewa
*********

Capital City Microcinema web page updated

In April - May Kelley Baker ("Kicking Bird", "Stolen Toyota", class on sound design for indies) and David Lowery ("Deadroom", "Some Analog Lines") will be swinging by our lovely town of Kensington, MD (less than 15 mins. from DC) to play their movies, talk w/ the audience at the Capital City Microcinema. I updated the CCM web page last night, a minimal update, will add more info. this week. Check it out here.

Tribeca fest selected doc "The War Tapes" director Deborah Scranton now blogging at Indie Features 06

From director Deborah Scranton's first entry at Indie Features 06:

" February 12, 2004, I got an offer from the New Hampshire National Guard to embed as a filmmaker. I called the public affairs officer and asked if I could give cameras to the soldiers instead? He said yes…but it would be up to me to get soldiers to volunteer to work with the project.

Less than two weeks later I was on plane down to Fort Dix, NJ. I stepped out in front of those 180 men and told them of my vision. I was met with a hailstorm of questions. "

Read the entire post here.

And here's the website for The War Tapes, a documentary about the Iraq war filmed by soldiers.

Where & when can you see this movie? From the website: "THE WAR TAPES will have its international premiere April 29th at 3pm in the 2006 Tribeca Film Festival in New York City."

Here's the introduction to the movie from the website:

" THE WAR TAPES is the movie they made with Director Deborah Scranton and a team of award-winning filmmakers. It’s the first war movie filmed by soldiers themselves on the front lines in Iraq. (Read the Director's Vision Statement.)

THE WAR TAPES follows three men: Sergeant Steve Pink, Sergeant Zack Bazzi, and Specialist Mike Moriarty. Steve is a young carpenter with a dark, irreverent sense of humor who joined the Guard for college money. Zack is an inquisitive, ironic traveler and university student. Mike is a husband and father of two, driven to fight by honor and redemption. You will see Operation Iraqi Freedom through their eyes.

The soldiers were not picked by casting agents or movie producers. They selected themselves. 10 soldiers from Charlie Company carried cameras on IED-riddled roads and into combat—and into their own internal conversations. They learned how to choose and tell their stories in constant instant message conversations with Director Scranton. They filmed under unbelievable conditions. The unit was based at LSA Anaconda in the deadly Sunni Triangle, under constant threat of ambush and IED attacks. They traveled, as a unit, 1.4 million miles during their tour, and lived through over 1,200 combat operations and 250 direct enemy engagements.

Because it’s filmed by citizen soldiers telling their own stories, THE WAR TAPES is funnier, spicier, and more wrenching than stories other people might tell about them.

All three men leave women at home – a mother, a girlfriend, and a wife. THE WAR TAPES – like any true story about war – engages the hard, tense, passionate, always difficult and sometimes beautiful way these relationships develop and change.

Director Deborah Scranton is a single mom with a journalism background and a passion for the infantry (her last documentary was about WWII vets). With Deborah’s guidance, the soldiers shot over 900 hours of videotape during their yearlong deployment. Another 200 hours of footage was shot back home by Deborah and her crew – all distilled into a 94 minute film. Deborah worked closely with Producer Robert May who executive produced the Academy Award winning FOG OF WAR; Producer and Editor Steve James, best known for the documentary HOOP DREAMS; and Executive Producer Chuck Lacy.

The unseen collaborator on the film is the internet. This is a Web 2.0 outside the wire – the intimate power of the internet exploding on the movie screen. Without instant messaging, the soldiers could never have become filmmakers – without email and cheap video, they soldiers could never have told their stories as they happened.

The soldiers’ unfailing candor and honesty defines the heart of this film. THE WAR TAPES is not afraid to show soldiers as fully complicated human beings –this is not reality TV, and it’s certainly not mainstream media coverage of the war. This is real war. These soldiers got the story the 2,700 embedded reporters never could. "

3 DIY film events for April-May (early notice): Baker & films in DC, Ekanayake & "Date Number One" in Seattle, Lowery & "Deadroom" in DC

3 D.I.Y. film events for April-May (early notice): Baker & films in DC April 19 & 20, Ekanayake & "Date Number One" in Seattle May 19-21, Lowery & "Deadroom", "Some Analog Lines" in DC May 25.

(this is a re-post of items from indieLOOP DIY Film Group earlier today)

:: Baker & films in DC area, April 19 (sound tech class), April 20 (screening)

Kelley Baker will teach a sound design for indies class on Wed 4/19 @ Kensington Row Bookshop (home of Capital City Microcinema) in Kensington, MD. There is a fee, will announce it by Mon 3/27. Baker was the sound designer on several films by Gus Van Sant.

Angry Filmmaker Kelley Baker at Capital City Microcinema, Kensington, MD on Thu April 20. Baker will play one of his features and several of his short films, introduce the work & discuss/do a question & answer session afterwards. $5. More info. on this event coming by Mon 3/27.

Screening venues interested in booking Baker & or his films can contact him here.
Bloggers & other media interested in talking about Baker & or reviewing his films can contact him here.

:: Ekanayake & "Date Number One" in Seattle, May 19 - 21

DC based Filmmaker Sujewa Ekanayake will appear at Seattle's Northwest Film Forum from May 19 until May 21 to play his new feature "Date Number One" and discuss the work. Tickets: $8 general, $5 NWFF member, $6 children & senior. More information on this event will be available by early April. Visit the "Date Number One" website for info. on the film.

Screening venues interested in booking "Date Number One" can contact Sujewa Ekanayake here.
Bloggers & other media interested in talking about & or reviewing "Date Number One" can contact Sujewa Ekanayake here.
note: Date Number One screener DVDs available starting 1st week of April

:: Lowery & "Deadroom", "Some Analog Lines" in DC area, May 25

Texas based filmmaker, blogger & former Dallas film reviewer David Lowery is tentatively scheduled to appear at Capital City Microcinema in Kensington, MD on May 25 and play his most recent feature "Deadroom", short "Some Analog Lines" and discuss his work. $5. More information on this event will be available on Mon 3/27.

Screening venues interested in booking "Deadroom", "Some Analog Lines" can contact David Lowery here.
Bloggers & other media interested in talking about & or reviewing "Deadroom", "Some Analog Lines" can contact Lowery here.

Update on post re: AIVF fundraising

Read the original post here.

3/24/06 UPDATE:

* My membership fee is on its way to AIVF
* I called & e-mailed AIVF on 3/22 to see if I can do more to help/to discuss some potentially useful fundraising ideas that I have, no call or e-mail back from them yet (probably very busy, I hear the staff is down to 2-3 people at this point)
* indieWIRE did a front page article on 3/22 re: AIVF's troubles & future plans.
* There may be benefit events & other fund raising work happening soon, will have more on this next week.
* If AIVF closes down, there is interest among several prominent figures in the US indie film world in spearheading the formation of a new indie filmmaker advocacy & support group to make up for the closure. More on that later as information becomes "unclassified" :)

Matt Zoller Seitz interviews "Puzzlehead" director James Bai

Filmmaker & critic Matt Zoller Seitz interviews sci-fi feature "Puzzlehead" director James Bai at The House Next Door blog. Here is one exchange from the interview:

Matt Zoller Seitz: Did you think of it as a Frankenstein movie from the beginning?

James Bai: Not at the beginning. When I was first writing it, I was actually dealing with my identity issues as a Korean-American, and wanting to reflect that dichotomy of this Americanized personality that I have, and the Korean personality that I wasn’t sure existed. In philosophizing about this, I came to the conclusion that my Korean-American identity was a creation that eventually took the place of whatever identity was there beforehand, if there was one. I didn’t want to do a James Bai, you know, biopic, a Saturday afternoon, Korean-kid-growing-up-in-America kind of thing. That felt too goofy to me. I wanted to something where I could have characters that personified these sides of me and illustrated the conflict between them. I had this image, almost kind of a dream, about a robot, and a man that looked just like him. I wrote the first act of the screenplay as part of a requirement for a writing class at Columbia graduate film school, during my second year. I actually didn’t finish it. I had an incomplete all the way through to my last semester. I had to finish it to graduate, so I did finish the first act, and then I graduated, and I was lost. Once I was out of school, I had no structure in my life. I had no idea what to do, so I went to Alaska, and I started continuing to write the screenplay, They had a great public library up there, so I read a lot of books, drank a lot of beer, smoked a lot of cigarettes, and taught myself how to play the piano at a church nearby. I was renting a room in a house, and I would play my CD in the room, memorize the music – I was learning Bach – and then I’d go to the church and try to figure out how to play it. Sometimes I’d forget as soon as I got there. It was a very laborious process, but these were the things I was doing. And it was in Alaska that I read Mary Shelley’s “Frankenstein.”

Read the entire interview here.

"Puzzlehead" plays at Two Boots Pioneer theater in NYC from Friday, March 24 until Wednesday March 29.

The long introduction to the indieLOOP DIY Film Group

When I created the DIY Film Group in indieLOOP a couple of days ago I wrote a brief description/introduction to it. Today I wrote a longer introduction that touches on some historical background and sets a supportive & creative, community oriented tone:

Ultra-low/"no"-budget D.I.Y. (Do It Yourself) filmmaking and distribution/self-distribution, as odd or unusual as it may sound in light of the well known Hollywood or Indiewood production & distribution methods, is probably one of the most practiced methods of film production & distribution in the history of film in U.S.A. D.I.Y. Film, and all other D.I.Y. media making practices (depending on content of course), are very American in a positive sense: the focus on self-reliance, the belief that projects of staggering scopes may be accomplished chiefly through the ideas & labor of one or few people (with help from a lot of sympathizers, a community), the living-out of the democratic notion that each individual matters and is capable of accomplishing valuable things and becoming a positive & useful link in a community, and that size or wealth does not necessarily determine the outcome or that all is not hopeless for the player who seems like the underdog. D.I.Y. is hope for the financially ordinary/non-super-wealthy individual artists or collections of artists, specially in the creative entrepreneurial arena of motion pictures in America that is ruled by gigantic corporations with more money (and thus the ability to buy action & results) then most countries in this world.

How's that for a lofty introduction? Let's get down to the nuts & bolts. This DIY Film Group at indieLOOP was started on March 21, 2006 when indieWIRE publisher Brian Clark suggested to me that it would be cool to see such a group in this independent media social network. LOOP had made the tools available, so it was very easy for me to set up the group. LOOP DIY Film Group can be: a space where we can get encouragement by seeing that others are doing what we do or plan on doing (such as Joe Swanberg making not one but two movies each for under $5,000, playing them at prominent festivals, entering the distribution realm), a place to hang out & talk with each other/like minded artists, a place to promote our projects (perhaps like MySpace we will have samples of our work to check out here, film instead of music in our case), also a place to celebrate the awesome history of indie/DIY film - a place where names such as Jon Moritsugu, Oscar Micheaux, Sarah Jacobson, and yes, even the excellent & about to be widely distributed Caveh Zahedi (inspite of Caveh's recent stress-induced, let's hope, statement that DIY is a "myth" - which he recanted pretty much immediately), Liz Nord, John Cassavetes, Andrew Bujalski are mentioned regularly, and, most importantly, a place where a curious visitor can get a snapshot of the PRESENT and the awesome future scene of truly independent, ultra-low budget, often self-distributed, hopefully always creatively brave U.S. & elsewhere based filmmakers.

Once you join the group, feel free to make it fully yours. This group is essentially a pure democracy (w/ some minor oversight by yours truly & Brian Clark), use your best judgment and participate fully in the community, offer your ideas & talk about your projects, the industry, whatever seems relevant to this space. Everyone here is important & valuable, their projects & their opinions are important & valuable too. I would like to see this space grown into a place where indie filmmakers can go to have a comfortable space to talk to others, talk about their own projects and generally grow as artists & entrepreneurs and collectively as a positive community.

Thanks a lot for being part of something new, exciting & let's hope :), very, very good, fun, nutritious & of course super-delicious like 10,000 juicy peeled, ripe, golden mangos covered with honey & whipped cream.

Sujewa Ekanayake
March 23, 2006
http://www.wilddiner.com/
http://www.filmmakingforthepoor.blogspot.com/

Visit the LOOP DIY Film Group through here. !Thanksalot!

If Paul Harrill's Sources (and my math) are right, then 1500 people sending $50 each (or joining the association at $70 each) can save AIVF

If filmmaker Paul Harrill's sources (and my math) are right, then 1500 people sending in $50 each can save AIVF:

"And my sources have told me that if AIVF doesn't raise some substantial cash (around $75,000) in the next few weeks the organization might be closing its doors for good." Says Paul at his blog entry about AIVF's financial emergency.

Really people - all you indie filmmakers & indie film fans out out there, do it, save AIVF. Here's a little bit of info. about AIVF - The Association of Independent Video and Filmmakers, from Paul's post:

"First, if you’re new to independent filmmaking, AIVF is the organization behind The Independent, one of the few magazines for filmmakers. Its back pages — listings of calls for work and funding opportunities — are a great resource. Besides publishing The Independent, AIVF sponsors lectures and discussions, has a resource library, and provides its members with discounts (on things like insurance, car rentals, and legal services)."

Spread out over several hundred people $75,000 is not much. You need to join AIVF anyway (all kinds of benefits & useful discounts for indie filmmakers, including insurance, read all about it here). Skip 1 cup of Starbucks coffee every day for 2 weeks & send that money to AIVF! And if they have not performed perfectly in the past, once you've given them some money/become a member of the association then you'll have some very legitimate grounds for complaining & fixing the problems.

An individual membership to AIVF for 1 year is $70. Students $40. Do it, be a star, become an AIVF member right now baby.

Get all the details you need from Paul's post (such as what AIVF is doing to prevent this kind of an emergency in the future & how things got to this point), or from AIVF, then join by paying the membership fee or if you can't afford that, donate whatever you can, and if you have lots of cash to spare at the moment, then donate lots to AIVF, I am sure they will appreciate it, so will lots of other cool people.

If you are set up for web payment & or donation, there are many options for helping AIVF. One is to donate throught the Network for Good. Do it, join or donate, help AIVF & yourself out, be nice, feel good about yourself.

I am sending AIVF my money later today (it's 12:31 AM right now here), gonna buy a 1 year membership, as soon as the post office opens or AIVF opens.

If you've donated money, become a member of AIVF recently & you want some extra publicity, press, linkage, whatever, let me know. I am going to start a COOL PEOPLE WHO GAVE MONEY TO SAVE AIVF LIST right here on this blog, as soon as I give my $s to AIVF.

Thanks a lot! Save AIVF! Do it! Let's do it to see if we can. I am sure AIVF will become very useful to us indie/DIY filmmakers & self-distributor types almost immediately.

Thanks a lot!!!

Think "s-a-v-e A-I-V-F". Then do something to make it happen. Be awesome.

- Sujewa
http://www.wilddiner.com/

3/24/06 UPDATE:

* My membership fee is on its way to AIVF
* I called & e-mailed AIVF on 3/22 to see if I can do more to help, no call or e-mail back from them yet (probably very busy, I hear the staff is down to 2-3 people at this point)
* indieWIRE did a front page article on 3/22 re: AIVF's troubles & future plans.
* There may be benefit events & other fund raising work happening soon, will have more on this next week.
* If AIVF closes down, there is interest among several prominent figures in the indie film world in spearheading the formation of a new indie filmmaker advocacy & support group to make up for the closure. More on that as information becomes "unclassified" :)

A response to Zahedi's "DIY is a myth" post

In this post, Caveh Zahedi, director of the upcoming IFC Films distributed indie film "I Am A Sex Addict", said the following:

"the do-it-yourself ethos is ultimately a myth. No one makes a film alone, and no one distributes a film alone."

Here is my response to it (I left this as a comment to the post mentioned above):

I do not think the DIY ethos is interpreted by any sane person as: a whole film made & distributed entirely by one person. However, in light of the following production & distribution structures: Hollywood & Indiewood, DIY filmmaking & distribution is a real thing. I know because I am doing it right now with "Date Number One" and I've seen Jon Moritsugu, Todd Verow do it w/ many of their movies. DIY filmmaking & distro is: low budget film production & distribution where the filmmaker or a collection of filmmakers have the final say in all significant creative & business decisions regarding a project, and where the filmmaker(s) also physically do most or all of the production & distribution work. "Sex Addict" at this point is not DIY distribution according to that definition since IFC Films is a relatively wealthy (compared to most indie/DIY filmmakers) entity & one of the dominant companies in the US independent film industry. All that, not being DIY, does not however affect the quality of "Sex Addict"'s achievements. It is an excellent film & I look forward to seeing it again. DIY is a process, and it is a valuable & useful process for many artists, and in America it has evolved, most recently, in the media making arenas, from ideas popularized by 80's Hard Core punk bands (see the new doc "American Hardcore" for more on this). Bottom line, DIY is not a myth. See some proof here: http://www.wilddiner.com/. And here (look through for links, entries on Sarah Jacobson, Todd Verow, Jon Moritsugu & other DIY artists & organizations): http://www.filmmakingforthepoor.blogspot.com/.

In the music arena check out Dischord Records, K Records, Kill Rock Stars, Asian Man Records for proof of the existence of DIY production & distribution.

Just because you are very aware of the existence of indiewood, that does not mean DIY does not exist.

Thanks.

Sujewa
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LOOP successes (so far, about 2 days later)

I've spent some of my free time over the last couple of days playing w/indieWIRE's new social networkin' thingy indieLOOP. It's pretty cool (i am used to MySpace & Friendster, so LOOP is pretty easy for me), specially since it is so brand new. No one is too jaded yet, people write back to you when u e-mail them through LOOP & ask if they want to be your LOOPfriend. [btw, forgive any spelling errors on this post, i am not using my usual computer, Blogger doesn't do spell check on this computer yet] So far I've had some very useful success at LOOP: over 5 friends, 1 invitation to send a screener DVD of "Date Number One" from a writer for an excellent film blog, & made contact w/ a screening venue that I've been meaning to talk to for a while.

Looks like a little over 200 people have signed up for LOOP in just a few days, including many filmmakers, bloggers, some festivals, & some screening venues. Go join it & try it out if you are at all into making & showing or writing about or most of all watching indie films. You'll probably dig it.

Come by my page & say hi after u get LOOPy.

Sujewa
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Awright! Joined indieLOOP

Here's my profile there. if you join, let me know, maybe we'll become LOOPfriends.

LOOP is like a MySpace for indie filmmakers, from the mighty indieWIRE. worth joining I bet if u r in the indie film game. u can probably make some new & interesting friends who may help you out w/ yer film stuff.

i had to create a new ID w/ iW in order to join, who knows why, maybe my old one would have worked. anyway, happy w/ the situation at the moment.

sujewa
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"September 12th" on 3/21 @ Pioneer, NYC

Over at Indie Features 06 "September 12th" producer Lou Giovino says:

"We are also getting ready for our screening at Two Boots Pioneer Theater in New York on Tuesday, March 21 at 6:30 PM. It would be great to meet any Indie Features 06 bloggers in and around New York who can come to the screening. There will be a pizza and beer party afterwards."

Read the rest of the blog entry here. It's got a link to a new review.

Tickets for the screening can be purchased here.


Sujewa
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Still no luck w/ indieLOOP, will try again in a week

Tried to use indieLOOP features again, no luck, it keeps taking me back to the sign in page even after I've signed in once. Maybe it's my computer, maybe iL is not fully active yet, who knows, not much time to spend on it right now, will try again in a week. The idea is very exciting though - a MySpace for indie filmmakers, looking forward to being able to test drive it.

Sujewa
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indieLOOP: The Independent Media Social Network (indieWIRE's brand spankin' new social networkin' thingy) is up

I can't figure out how to like join it or use it yet, but maybe I'll try again tomorrow, when I am less blearrryyy eyed. Here's the link to the MySpace like new community tool for indieWIRE members & I guess anyone else who want to join. It looks good. See ya there soon. Link courtesy of AJ Schnack's blog.

Sujewa
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Tips on getting the UPC bar code label for cheap for an indie DVD

Yesterday at Indie Features 06 I posted 2 perhaps useful links re: getting the UPC bar code label for a DVD at a relatively inexpensive price. Check it out & explore if you are thinking about releasing your own DVD, specially if you want a lot of retailers to carry it. Some helpful clarifications in the comments section too.

Sujewa
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Double SXSW award winner Eric Byler, director of AMERICANese, on Crash, racial conflicts & film

Eric Byler's new film "AMERICANese", a drama about a romantic relationship, recently won the Narrative Feature Audience Award and a Special Jury Award for Outstanding Ensemble Cast at SXSW '06. In an article at The Austin Chronicle, Byler is quoted as saying:

"In AMERICANese, you're actually looking at how people of color cope with the issue in real life, not the way that it's dramatized in the movies."

"Crash is a really good example [of that]," he continues. "Ever since [The] Birth of a Nation, it's always been racial conflict erupting in violence. For a person of color, you don't need to have somebody hanging upside down by a seat belt about to catch on fire to conclude that racism is bad."

Read the entire article here. Thanks GreenCine Daily for the link.

Here's the blog for AMERICANese, looks like Byler has written all the entries so far.

Of course Byler, who is half Asian-Am, half-Euro-Am aka "white", being included at SXSW will keep me from complaining about the possible existence of a "soft" segregation at the larger US indie film festivals & the overall liberal indie media/art scenes for ummm, let's see, at least a week I think :)

Rock on Byler & team AMERICANese & SXSW. Looking forward to checkin' out that flick.

Sujewa
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IFC Films No Longer Afraid of Nipples

Read all about it at Caveh Zahedi's blog. IFC Films is releasing Zahedi's excellent "I Am A Sex Addict" starting in April.

Sujewa
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AIVF reinvents iteslf, fights for survial :: The Anywhere Effect of Jem Cohen's "Chain"

AIVF is reinventing itself & carrying out a fundraising drive to meet an emergency need. Read all about it here & help out if you can, 'cause it is entirely possible that AIVF stuff has helped you in the past or that they may help you in your future life as a rockin' indie filmmaker star.

And from AIVF, an article on Jem Cohen's most recent film "Chain": The Anywhere Effect.

Sujewa
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Date Number One Completion Week (hopefully), John Sayles Week (definitely)

And here's the latest on my new movie Date Number One: lots of editing has happened, lots of editing ahead. Hopefully by 3/15 I'll have it done. That'll give me over 2 months to promote the Seattle May 19 - 21 gig @ Northwest Film Forum, and over a month to promote the late April DC screenings once those are set up late next week or as soon as the film is done.

In other news, took a break after dinner & caught the last 75% of the excellent John Sayles movie Eight Men Out. I need to see it from the beginning, maybe I'll do it after Date Number One is done.

I am going to do a Minimalist Week Long Blogging Project on John Sayles this coming week. Let's start it right now:

*

Minimalist Week Long Blogging Project on John Sayles
Entry # 0 ('cause the week in question has not started yet):

Return of the Secaucus 7


*

3/13/06 Update:

Eight Men Out

*

Sujewa
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Filmmaker Amir Motlagh Sees a Negative Race Based Programming Habit in the US Independent Film Festival Industry

Amir Motlagh: "I have now found a discrepancy in the film fest world which might ultimately relate to the indie film world as well. now, my last two films, both of which have been docs have had asians as lead subjects. i myself am not asian but as the tracking record goes for these last two works, asian american festivals are program friendly whereas the other fests are not. however, my white lead and iranian american voiced, fiction film "Still Lover" which preimered at DanceswithFilms played at those same fests where the new work is not."

Read Amir's entire post at Indie Features 06.

Here's the basic problem, as I understand it at the moment:
1. Amir's short "Still Lover", well made, featuring a Euro-American/"white" lead was accepted by festivals that do not explicitly program for one specific ethnic group
2. Couple of years later, his short "My Break Ups Into A Million Pieces", well made, featuring an Asian-American lead was rejected by the festivals that accepted "Still Lover", but was accepted by several Asian-American film festivals

I have seen both "Still Lover" & "My Break Ups", liked them both a lot, but thought "My Break Ups" was a greater accomplishment due to the relative complexity of the film.

Are bigger/more numerous/more Euro-American/"white"er indie film festivals rejecting "My Break Ups" because it has an Asian/Asian-American lead? Or is the reason for rejection something else?

This comes at a time when Hollywood is looking much more integrated then ever before (recent Oscars = a film featuring a multi-ethnic cast, a gay cowboy movie, Asian director wins an Oscar FOR THE FIRST TIME EVER). Is the US indie film fest & film scene actually more conservative & backwards right now when it comes to ethnic/"racial" integration? Is Hollywood actually more liberal & "indie in spirit" on this item right now?

Perhaps now is the time to create competition for the indie film fest $s by creating Integrated Indie Film Festivals. By creating indie film festivals that feature films by African-American, Euro-American, etc., gay & lesbian & straight, etc., all competing in one event, instead of forcing minority themed/created by minorities indie movies to compete in their own, often smaller, often less celebrated festivals. Perhaps the progressive visions of many of the existing mainstream/larger/"white"er indie film festivals have not been adequately fulfilled, at least not on the ethnic/"racial" diversity account. When Hollywood is looking more diverse then the indie film fest scene, is an indie film festival scene still relevant? Like I said in a previous post, in order for independent media/entertainment to matter & also financially survive & succeed, it has to offer positive things Hollywood is not offering, or offer larger quantities of those positive things that Hollywood may be offering in smaller quantities. All you upstart indie film entrepreneurs out there, time to do some market research, the existing large indie film festivals may not be serving all segments of the US population too well, it may be time for some regime change open-market capitalist competitive style. There certainly is money to be made through indie film festivals.

Will follow up after I speak w/ Amir or will continue the discussion in the comments section. In the meantime, check out his post, feel free to comment here or there.

Sujewa
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Goodbye Gordon Parks and Garrett Scott

Gordon Parks I knew about, Garrett Scott I didn't. Both of them were filmmakers and both of them left this world during the last few days.

Gordon Parks was a highly acclaimed still photographer & filmmaker. Reportedly the first African-American filmmaker to direct a Hollywood feature. The ever reliable GreenCine Daily has a post w/ several links that lead to stories on Parks.

Garrett Scott was a young documentary filmmaker. I read somewhere that he was inspired to make movies after seeing an insane man steal a tank and wreak havoc in his town. indieWIRE has a tribute to Scott.

Soon I will have to track down at least 1 movie each by both Parks & Scott & watch them in order to celebrate their lives & work.

Sujewa
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Caveh Zahedi is blogging

Just found out today that Caveh "I Am A Sex Addict" Zahedi is blogging. Recently he has written about the Sex Addict trailer, dealing with IFC Films. To read, go here.

Sujewa
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"American Hardcore" gonna be rockin' w/ Sony Classics

Here's a bit from the indieWIRE story about Sony Classic's acquisition of punk rock doc "American Hardcore":

" Through interviews and rare footage, "American Hardcore" charts the roots of hardcore in the U.S., which in part, grew out of a reaction against the rise of Reagan conservatism and a backlash against American suburbia. The pillars of American punk, including Henry Rollins (Black Flag), Ian McKay (Minor Threat), H.R. (Bad Brains) and others recall the era throughout the film. "

Looking forward to checking that baby out. And btw, that's Ian MacKaye, not McKay iW :) Dude is a secret hero to a lot of DC punk rock fan kids like me. He played in Minor Threat, then Fugazi, and now plays in The Evens.

The hardcore punk scene of the 80's can be a source of inspiration to today's D.I.Y. indie/self-distributing filmmakers. It is at least to me.

And while we are on the subject, check out the excellent book "Dance of Days: Two Decades of Punk in the Nation's Capital" by Mark Andersen and Mark Jenkins.

Thanks friends!

Sujewa
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Why Be Indie? :: & briefly on AIVF, IFP * looking @ 70's makers methods * unnecessary segregation in liberal indie art/media/ent scenes

(this is a slightly re-worked version of a comment I left at Self-Reliant Filmmaking blog re: the topic of building a new self-distribution/screening/microcinema scene)

On 1) Indie film orgs/institutions, 2) 60's & 70's indie filmmakers as models for the late '00 self-distro scene, 3) unnecessary segregation in liberal indie media scenes, and finally 4) a good reason for being an indie filmmaker:

I need to look at joining AIVF, perhaps this month, and also need to look into IFP & any other orgs that may be of use in self-distributing my new feature Date Number One & making more low/no budget D.I.Y. features & self-distributing them.

Looking at how indie filmmakers were doing things, what they were doing in the 70's (and even 60's) could provide very useful models for me and other indie filmmakers who are engaged in self-distribution & creating a new self-distro scene at this moment. But essentially a new wheel will have to be invented, as far as I can tell. Looking for help from non-profit org backed aspects of the indie film culture/industry is cool, but those orgs alone would create (& have created) a relatively low number of opportunities for indie filmmakers - compared to a D.I.Y. indie rock type artist & audience driven culture/industry (which results from individual artists working a lot to build an audience for their projects). The combination of the two would be ideal - institutions/orgs will secure a constant base of support & a minimal audience at least, and individual films/filmmakers will build on that by pulling in (and of course sometimes driving away :) different audiences to the scene, project by project.

One of the weird developments/aspects in liberal independent media/entertainment (both in indie rock & indie film scenes) in America is the kind of soft "racial" segregation that exists there. As far as I can tell, most indie rock shows & indie films, for the moment, draw a predominantly "white" audience while at the same time relatively large non-"white" audiences such as Asian-Americans (tons of Asian American film festivals around, feels like, they certainly made The Debut & Robot Stories successes), African-Americans and Hispanic-Americans have created parallel scenes/industries. There are no strong or valuable philosophical justifications for the low level of integration in the liberal independent media scenes. Fuller integration just hasn't been done yet. There are very powerful benefits to developing more integrated scenes: $s (more people, more money), new ideas (or new combinations of ideas resulting from different cultural starting points/group experience starting points), and the wider diffusion of useful & positive ideas (the relatively anti-materialist, pro-D.I.Y. & self-sufficiency, & pro-community activist stances of indie rock & indie film can perhaps be very useful to teens from all backgrounds who may not have those ideas & examples as options in their Hollywood created entertainmentscape). The independent scene in America, in both music & film, stand in relation to the more mainstream scene/industry and is defined to a certain degree by the mainstream industry (Hollywood, basically). We could do the good things that Hollywood is not doing at any given moment. Otherwise being independent may become a relatively useless & redundant thing. That's one good reason for being an independent filmmaker in America: having the ability to do positive things that Hollywood & Indiewood are not doing.

Asian Man Records

“ Asian Man Records is run out of my parents garage in Northern California. I have one full time employee (Skylar) and my mom helps out by picking up the mail at the post office.”

- from About Asian Man Records page

Musician & activist Mike Park runs this fine little D.I.Y. label. Asian Man has released albums by over 57 bands (!!!) in its 15 or so years of existence. All this by a couple of people working out of a garage in California. Here are some of the bands that have worked w/ Asian Man:

Alkaline Trio

Blue Meanies

The Chinkees

Kevin Seconds

Mike Park

Lets Go Bowling

The Peacocks

Yoko Utsumi

Teen Idols

See a fuller list of bands here.

Asian Man is an inspiration for us indie/DIY filmmakers working on doing self-distro. Asian Man has kept a small but active production & distribution operation going for a long time now. Aside from releasing albums through Asian Man, most bands on the lable tour the US & other countries, bringing their tunes live to people.

Info on 56 US Indie Film Venues

I did a search at Microcinema International (they have an awesome database) for venues seating 30 people or more. Some of the venues found are film festivals, others theaters & microcinemas. See all the results here (take an evening & play w/ the database, you can probably figure out all the info. you need on potential venues for your short or feature).

- Sujewa
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Matt Zoller "Home" Seitz Interview

Matt Zoller Seitz's debut feature "Home" will have its theatrical premiere and a one week long run at the cultural capital of the western world, The City That Invented Independent Film (where John Cassavetes, Jim Jarmusch, Spike Lee made their breakthrough & genre defining work), New York City. "Home" starts playing tomorrow, Thursday March 2, and runs until Wednesday March 8 at the Pioneer theater.

To celebrate the occasion I did a 5 question e-mail interview with Seitz. See my review of "Home" here. Here's the fan-tabulous interview:

Sujewa: Hi Matt, thanks for taking time out to answer some questions about your movie "Home". What was your filmmaking experience prior to making this, your first feature, and what made you decide to tackle a feature length project?

Matt: At Southern Methodist University in Dallas, my hometown, I was going for a double major in film and video production and in creative writing. But I fell into journalism and ended up having success with that, and I got sidetracked from filmmaking for 10 years after graduation. In spring of 2002 a low-budget producer-director named Kenneth del Vecchio invited me to be a "creative producer" on his third movie, "Tinsel Town," a microbudget thriller that's sort of like a cross between "Blue Velvet" and "The Dukes of Hazzard," if you can imagine that. It was an amazing learning experience. I did everything on that set, from loading and unloading lights to going over shooting schedules, to managing crew members and actors to making sure equipment got where it needed to go. I learned the proper way to wrap an extension cord and how to handle hot barn doors on movie lights. And on top of that, I got to storyboard shots with the cinematographer and direct a few scenes myself. At one point I storyboarded a chase sequence involving a borrowed police car, an Impala and an 18-wheeler driven by a guy who let us rent his truck for $100 that night. I think Kenny might have just met the guy that afternoon, just saw him in a parking lot behind the wheel of the truck and asked him if he was doing anything that night, and if not, would he like to be in a movie chase scene. About half the interiors were shot in mocked-up offices at an abandoned textile mill in Paterson owned by the movie's principal investor. At one point our two lead actors were driving around an office park somewhere in Paterson on a rainy night, improvising dialogue with a camera guy and a boom guy in the backseat while being chased by a police car at 50 miles per hour. It was great. I really enjoyed filmmaking and felt I was ready to do it again immediately, and direct and write this time. So that summer in 2002, I got together with some friends and we started shooting "Home." It started out as a 30-minute movie, basically a long short film, and ended up expanding into a 91 minute feature, a short feature. It just sort of grew like a garden. Total production time was 24 days spread out over 18 months. The days were difficult to schedule because there were often a lot of actors in the same scene. In the middle of the movie there are like 50 or 60 speaking parts and there are times when you need to see those people in the background behind two main characters, otherwise your shot-to-shot continuity is ruined. The whole movie was like a Rubiks' cube that had to be assembled in a particular pattern.

Sujewa: Having your house serves as a set for a film can be a nightmare, I have experienced it first hand. How did that go on the "Home" shoot? I read that the film was shot at your house over the course of several months. How did your family and neighbors react to the "never ending" production period?

Matt: They were about as understanding as you could possibly hope for. The landlord, Stan Murray, who lives on the fourth floor, threw extension cords out of his window to give us extra power, and had new outlets installed in our apartment to handle the juice from the lights. He was incredibly supportive. My family was complicit in the whole thing. I co-produced the movie with my two brothers, Jeremy and Richard, my wife Jennifer and my friend Sean. Most of the people on both sides of the camera are friends of mine or friends of friends of mine. There were a few times when I could tell they were wishing they'd never gotten involved with me professionally, because I got into this demented Captain Ahab mode where I was determined to get the movie done, even though we only had about 50 minutes worth of the narrative in the can and there was this whole other half that wasn't shot yet. Jeremy went out and raised some money from private investors to complete principal photography, and then to do sound work. We had to re-record some dialogue, we recorded multiple offscreen conversations to lay over the onscreen conversations to make the party sound more real. Then my brother Richard mixed the soundtrack, which is quite dense for a movie this cheap. I was a little worried that I was traumatizing my daughter Hannah, who was four and then five years old during principal photography in 2002 and 2003. But she's a movie buff and a cartoonist and a person very interested in the artistic process, so she ate it up. She didn't complain when we basically kicked her out of her own room so we could use it for craft services and a dressing room for the actors. In fact she really seemed to look forward to shooting days, and she has a PA credit on the movie because she actually was PA. She'd go bring the actors food, she helped make meals and sometimes she helped set up and break down by bringing extension cords and light stands to and from the storage area.

Sujewa: I felt that "Home" was a blend of documentary like story telling, mini romantic drama moments, with a little bit of absurd & surreal/colorful characters thrown in (here I am thinking about the dream interpreter & the guy who offers his romantic philosophy). Was this what you first envisioned when you wrote the script? Does the finished film tell the story in the way that you wanted it told?

Matt: The finished film doesn't tell the story exactly as I wanted it to be told because we had no money and that level of fanaticism isn't possible when you're not paying people. There were days when we stuck very close to the script and shot according to meticulous storyboarded shot lists that I'd made with my brother Jeremy. And there were days when we just kind of had to wing it because there were 40 people jammed into my kitchen in 110 degree heat and they were starting to get cranky. People often ask how much improvisation there is in the movie. It's about 60 or 70 percent scripted in some fashion, but the rest involves a degree of improvisation, anything from rewriting the scene on the spot to improvising in real time from a list of plot points and a scene outline. As a general rule, the more people are onscreen at any one time, and the more characters are onscreen at once, talking over each other, the more likely you're seeing a scene where both the dialogue and camerawork were improvised.

Sujewa: I liked the photography in this film. At points it reminded me of the black and white cinematography in certain 60's art/indie/foreign movies (Cassavetes?, French New Wave?). Which is kind of weird since this movie was shot in color digital video, less then 2 years ago. Can you speak a little about the visual design of the film?

Matt: Jonathan Wolff, my director of photography, asked me right off the bat if he could light it high contrast, as if it were an early Technicolor movie or a black-and-white 16mm movie from the late 50s or early 60s. I had envisioned the movie with a flatter, more evenly lit look, since that's what all the books and web sites told me you had to do with digital video to get a usable 35mm blowup. But when Jonathan said he wanted to go high contrast I didn't hesitate, because that's my favorite kind of lighting. Steve Hopkins, who came in the following summer and finished photography on the movie, mimicked Jonathan's lighting design and added some touches of his own. Their work matches pretty seamlessly, which was a relief when I finally sat down to edit it all together. We did a lot of things you weren't supposed to do when shooting in DV, but the three biggest were shooting high contrast, moving the camera rather dramatically, and using a lot of fairly wide master shots. All these things are a big no-no in DV because you get light trails and flicker. But my feeling was, we're shooting in video, let's get over that and do whatever we think looks interesting. I like high contrast, I like fairly flamboyant camera moves if the moment warrants it, and I like wide shots. The whole time I reminded myself that this could be the only movie I ever make, it might as well look like the sort of movie I'd enjoy looking at if I were a viewer. It's just an approximation of what I saw in my mind because of the limitations of our technology, which is low res, and the limitations of my own experience as a director. But there's a personality to it. The most influential piece of advice I got before going into this was from a director who's been working in the film and TV industry for a while now and has been very successful. He told me if you're making your first movie, you should do whatever the hell you want, and make the kind of movie you want to make, even if it annoys or confuses or angers people, because you might not get to make another movie, and you don't want to be kicking yourself later for not having scratched certain itches. The rest of the world may forget about this movie in a month, or in an hour, if in fact they ever notice it in the first place, but you're going to be living with it for the rest of your life, so it might as well reflect your personality and tastes. Plus, if by some freak chance your first film is a success, and you get to make another movie with a bigger budget, there will be more limitations on what you can do, more people to answer to, more people who can tell you no. He basically told me to make whatever I wanted to make and don't waste a minute worrying about what the world wants or expects. That was good advice.

Sujewa: Can you speak a bit about the film festival and distribution experiences related to "Home"? What was the reaction of the first film festival audience that saw the movie? What were the best & worst film festival experiences? How has the process of attempting to secure distribution gone? How did the upcoming week long screening at the Pioneer come about?

Matt: Distribution has been rough, and anyone who sees the movie knows why. It's an elliptical movie that's sort of real and sort of not real, and there are some very peculiar things in it, including a guy who interprets people's dreams in the backyard and a montage of people kissing scored to the sound of a guy on the front stoop reciting a poetic monologue in Spanish. And to top it off, there's no stars, no sex, no violence, and some would say no plot. It's kind of a vibe of a movie, and most of the action is internal. It's not the sort of movie one can easily sell to a huge audience. You have to get it in front of people who like this very specific kind of movie, and not being telepathic, you really have no way of knowing who those people are, or where they are, or how to find them. Incredibly, we did have a few inquiries from distributors, but most of them changed their minds after they saw the movie. One of them told me it was "the opposite of commercial," and another one said I might as well dub the entire thing into French because it's a foreign film anyway. I don't think he meant that as a compliment, but I took it as one. Another distributor told me that if I had just one actor in the movie who was on a TV show, I could get a pretty good deal. But there are basically two kinds of actors in "Home," hungry young professionals from the New York stage and indie film scene and amateurs who I kind of hauled off the streets of Brooklyn and stuck into the movie. Finally things worked out with a New York theatrical run at the Pioneer, which is run by Ray Privett, who had a strong, personal response to the movie and was very aggressive about convincing me to show it there. Audiences have generally gotten it, often to a degree that I find kind of bewildering considering how odd and personal the movie is. My least favorite showing was at the Long Island Film Festival, where the crowd just wasn't into it at all. The best showings were at the Brooklyn Underground Film Festival, which was sort of a gimme, and the Trenton Film Festival, where we won a couple of awards, and at the Independent Film Festival of Boston, where people were very vocal and caught every joke, even the ones in the margins that you're not supposed to notice until the second or third time you watch it. We've also accumulated fans who see the movie at a festival and then track me down through my blog, The House Next Door , or through the movie's production company, Brooklyn Schoolyard, and want to know when they can see it again. The ones who live in New York are coming to the Pioneer. The ones who live outside New York will have to wait for the DVD, which is probably coming out later this year, on a reputable label that I can't name right now because we're still closing the deal. I'm finishing a second screenplay, an adaptation of a crime novel set on the Jersey shore, and I'm in production on two short films, both science fiction. The shorts will be done and posted on the Internet some time this year. The feature will roll when I get the money to do it.

Thanks a lot Matt! Hope you have an awesome time at the Pioneer this week.

- Sujewa

In A Town of 90,000 People, They Sold 10,600 Tickets To A Doc Festival

The word is that in a town of 90,000 people (Columbia, Missouri), they sold 10,600 tickets to a documentary film festival (True/False). I ain't no expert, but thems some fabulous numbers. Read all about it at AJ "Gigantic" Schnack's blog. !Go T/F!

Sujewa
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"Home" Review

Home
Directed, written and edited by Matt Zoller Seitz
2005, Brooklyn Schoolyard LLC

Review by Sujewa Ekanayake

I may be the wrong person to review "Home" due to my relatively narrow taste in movies (some favorites: "Amelie", "Mystery Train", "Annie Hall", "The Unbelievable Truth"), however I do want to talk about this movie because: I can see that Matt Zoller Seitz, the director of "Home", is very talented, his next feature may be a major breakthrough, and "Home" might be the ideal film for some people. In its promotional material "Home" is billed as a romantic comedy-drama that takes place one night at a party at a house in Brooklyn. "Home" plays like a combination of: a well made documentary like re-enactment of a 20-30 something year old, city-dwelling creatives party where much happens but not much of significance, a collection of a few comic and surreal moments, and several short stories about dramatic moments in several romantic relationships. Due to the fact that "Home" does not fit neatly into any one currently existing category of movies, I would classify it as an Experimental Romantic Drama and approach it as such in order to get the most entertainment value from it.

Bobby (played well by Jason Liebrecht), a mid-late 20 something man dressed in a black suit, shows up early to a party being thrown by the housemates Susan (Nicol Zanzarella) and Rose (Erin S. Visslailli). The film stays with the party from its under populated beginning to its over crowded peak to its "time to clean up, no one's here to help" ending. The key story being told is the one between Bobby and Susan. Bobby pursues Susan throughout the night, has to figure out how to deal with the presence of Susan's ex-boyfriend Tomaz (Pavol Liska), and I'll leave it up to the viewer to find out if Bobby gets Susan or not. Within the frame established by the Bobby-Susan story we get to witness dramatic moments from a couple of other relationships. One involves Susan's housemate Rose and another involves a pair of guests who are a constantly squabbling couple. In between these stories we get to see some odd, some mundane moments from the party: two beefy dudes trying to figure out who is the strongest, few people hanging out on the front steps and making music at times, a guy who hangs out alone in the back yard interpreting people's dreams.

The dream interpreter (played very well by Dennis Cabrini) scene was probably my most favorite scene in this movie. It is well acted by all, and beautifully lit and filmed. In this scene two party guests (including Bobby) approach the dream interpreter, one at a time, get their dreams interpreted, and leave. This simple scene has an almost David Lynchian surreal quality to it, but with sweetness, not the Lynchian dread.

The cinematography by Jonathan Wolff is excellent. Even though the film was shot in color digital video a couple of years ago, at points it felt like I was watching an art/indie/foreign
16 MM black & white film from the 60's. There is also a lot of great music (performed by King Radio, Matt Wilcox, Kristin Mainhart, Dave Zoller, and several others) spread throughout "Home".

This debut feature by Seitz shows promise and I look forward to seeing what he will do next. "Home" is probably fun to watch on a big screen, with a bunch of upbeat people who are talking back to the screen. So for all you indie film fans in NYC, your chance to do just that is coming this week. "Home" plays at the Pioneer theater from Thursday March 2 to Wednesday March 8.

Press Action for Matt Zoller Seitz's "Home" run begins

Filmmaker & critic Matt Zoller Seitz's film "Home" starts playing at the Pioneer theater in NYC this week. Press coverage has begun. Here is a very positive article from the Downtown Express. Enjoy.

Sujewa
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Shifting Gears

Right now, as I get very close to releasing "Date Number One" to reviewers (mostly my fellow bloggers in this round 1 of press submissions), submitting to film festivals, dealing with screening venues, preparing promotional material & packaging DVDs, the interest in blogging about general indie/D.I.Y. film matters is rapidly decreasing. Right now my brain is full of info. about Final Cut Express audio mixing capabilities, not the details necessary to compose blog entries about the latest developments in indie film. So, the number of new posts on this blog will be going down starting this week. During the last couple of months I've posted at least 2-4 (sometimes 5) times a week. That will be changing. From now on I will be blogging only when very important developments happen and specially when "Date Number One" related news breaks. The sweet days of blogging a lot about many indie film related subjects are over, but the sweeter days of gettting the movie out & blogging mostly about "Date Number One" self-distribution are here.

Jon Moritsugu Interview

(a September 2005 interview)


"Jon Moritsugu is a LIVING FUCKING UNDERGROUND MOVIE GOD"
- New York Underground Film Festival

Jon Moritsugu has played his movies in, and won awards at, underground film festivals and he has also played his movies at international, mainstream forums including the Cannes film festival. He once made a 16 MM Panavision movie for PBS with a budget of over $350,000 and he has also made feature length movies for under $5,000. This versatile, very creative, always super independent, punk rock influenced and inspired American filmmaker has a two decade long resume and body of work that most creative professionals anywhere would envy. Moritsugu's latest feature "Scumrock", shot on the shockingly amateur and inexpensive Hi-8 analog video format and starring, among others, musician Kyp Malone from the well respected indie band TV on the Radio, won Best Feature award at the 2003 New York Underground Film Festival and Best Feature award at the 2002 Chicago Underground Film Festival. His career is being celebrated locally and abroad. In 2004 the Anthology Film Archives in New York City presented a one week long retrospective of Moritsugu's work. This year, from October 12 to 16, the Lausanne Underground Film Festival in Switzerland will present a week long retrospective of Moritsugu's films. The following is an interview conducted through e-mail in September 2005. Interview By Sujewa Ekanayake :: September 2005
Copyright 2005 Sujewa Ekanayake/Wild Diner Films

Sujewa: Hey Jon, thanks for taking time out of your busy schedule to talk (through the miracle of e-mail) to me. You shot your most recent feature "Scumrock" on Hi-8 analog video. And the movie won several festival awards and received excellent reviews. Do you wish you had used inexpensive video as a shooting format earlier in your career (possibly to save thousands of dollars and have a less of a waiting/fund raising period between projects)?

Jon: I definitely would have used video earlier on, but the problem was that in the 80's and early 90's, video was still really expen$$$ive. Digital video (DV) did not exist, desktop editing didn't exist, no protools, etc, etc, and video was still pretty low-fi, unless you stepped into an online studio (which could cost you major buckage). I actually stuck to 16mm cuz it was a low-cost option. Even my feature MY DEGENERATION cost about $5000, which is a large chunk of money, but if you're talking about shooting and completing a feature film (color 16mm), it really is quite reasonable. I actually totally appreciate the fact that I was able to crank out a bunch of movies in the waning days of 16mm production. I think the movies have a certain look and feel that just wouldn't be the same if they were shot on DV. As far as SCUMROCK, it was shot in 2000, and at that time, DV was still pretty expensive. I shot it on analog Hi-8 because that format has incredible color saturation and does look a little like film, plus all the gear was real cheap (our main production camera was purchased brand-new for $300 vs. a couple thousand for a DV camera).

Sujewa: I read somewhere that one of your movies played at a theater in France for over a year. Amazing! Which movie was it and could you reflect on that whole seemingly mind blowing experience? Did that year long theatrical engagement in France increase the number of your groupies and did it make you obscenely wealthy?

Jon: HIPPY PORN played at the Action Christine theater in Paris for almost a year. This was in 1993, when indie film in America was just breaking and getting huge. This upstart French distribution company took the film (and 4 others) as examples of the "West Coast new wave" and put a lot of energy and money into the theatrical release. Quite exciting actually. I was flown to Paris and ate lotsa cheese and had a great time, but really didn't make any money. I don't think anyone made money, though it was a great way for people to bond as a community trying to change the face of filmmaking, and also for this company to get a start in the industry. It was a cool experience, though, where I felt the French audience (with all of its artsiness and pretension), connected to the raw, revolutionary and punkoid nature of the flicks.

Sujewa: Your movies and public personality makes me think of, a little, John Waters and Greg Araki. I'd say all three of you have a gleefully subversive art/punk/trash/underground/subcultural quality in a lot of your work. Am I totally off base here or do you see some similarities between your work and that of Araki & Waters?

Jon: Sujewa, you are totally on base! I definitely was inspired early in my filmmaking days by some of John Waters' early work. Greg Araki and I also go waaaaay back - I met him at an Asian film fest in the late 80's and we bonded on feeling like freaks at the event. We did some hangin' out in the early 90's and kept sane by shooting the shit and trying to fight the power for the Asian brothers and sisters.

Sujewa: As far as I know you are the most famous filmmaker to come out of Hawaii (I am assuming here that you are from Hawaii, correct me if I am wrong). Does Hawaii love Jon Moritsugu? Are there Moritsugu statues and streets in Hawaii yet? Do Fidel Castro style gigantic portraits of Jon Moritsugu hang on buildings & streets of Hawaii? I'd like to visit there, it seems lovely. Is Hawaii lovely?

Jon: Yeah, Hawaii is lovely. I was born in da islands and lived there recently for a year, and it finally feels like independent film production/DIY culture has arrived there. My films have played at a couple of fests and venues in Honolulu, and there is definitely some type of humor in the films that the Hawaiian audiences totally dig. Very sarcastic and messed-up humor, actually. No streets named after me, but lotsa people named Moritsugu who I don't even know.

Sujewa: Dogme 95 changed the indie film world. Until they came along filmmakers who used formats other than 35MM or 16MM film were not taken seriously by the Hollywood/Indiewood related culture. How do you feel about this change? Some commentators have said that the DV revolution makes things worse - more movies, less quality projects, more competition for distribution - how do you feel about the DV revolution?

Jon: Rock on DV! I'm all for cheaper movies and filmmaking being a more "democratic" form of expression. I like the fact that you can now be your own movie production studio - you don't have to invest millions of dollars to get your story/ideas up on screen. Just like punk rock, the 4-track, and now digital home recording freeing the music scene and making it immediate/accesssible to more people, I feel digital video is doing the same. Hallelujah.

Sujewa: Your life and work seems to be heavily influenced by the punk rock scene. How did you discover punk rock and what about it made you want to become a part of that scene/culture? Jon: When I was a kid, I remember going to a record store with a friend one afternoon. He grabbed the last copy of "Never Mind The Bollocks" by the Sex Pistols (very hard to find, as this was Hawaii) and I grabbed some live Frank Zappa album that Rolling Stone highly recommended. We took them to his place, had private record party, and I was totally floored by his choice and bored by mine. Later that night we spray painted the school. Very nice memories and my intro to punk rock. I've been into punkoid shit ever since, and it has also inspired my filmmaking. In the mid to late-80's in the USA, I really had no sense of there being a "film scene" or community of people doing lo-fi, underground, or independent work. On the other hand, the music scene was exploding with bands, clubs, and labels like Dischord, SST, Touch & Go really getting the music to the people out in the scene. I was totally stoked and inspired by all of this and decided to make it a model for how I should pursue my filmmaking and distribution activities. I've always appreciated the practicality and lack of pretense (generalization) in the punkoid scene. You know, punk rock = modern day quaker.

Sujewa: When I saw Jim Jarmusch's "Mystery Train" for the first time in '91, I realized that most American movies & television, including most indie movies, do not reflect the diverse ethnic make up of American society. "Mystery Train" had Japanese tourists characters and an African-American character in lead roles. Your recent film "Scumrock" too contains casting that could be called diverse or casting that reflects the multi-ethnic nature of America. Why do you think that most American movies & television have refused to portray & reflect the always multi-ethnic nature of the American population?

Jon: Yeah, I love that "Mystery Train". Anyway, I think the bland homogenization is all about creating projects that will not be challenging and ultimately controversial. It's about capturing the largest audience by using the most "acceptable" ideas. And that is why stereotyping is used. Oddly, I feel a lot of the public WANTS to see change. The public wants to be presented with strange or different ideas. You know, the Asian American character who doesn't speak with an accent and who is bad at math. The African American character who doesn't play sports. etc. But it seems like the networks, mainstream producers and studios really don't want to take too many chances. Even something as normal as inter-racial + same-sex couples is rarely seen, which is why we need the revolution, man!

Sujewa: As far as I can tell you have engaged in theatrical self-distribution for several of your projects. I am finishing up a feature called "Date Number One" at the moment and I am looking forward to theatrical self-distribution of that project. What advise do you have for me and other filmmakers who are contemplating D.I.Y. distribution?

Jon: I have done a lot of self-distribution of my movies, though I have also worked w/ distributors on theatrical releases. As far as this all goes, I've been able to "control" my release as well as make a little more money through the self-distribution route. However, it can be a big job and I certainly rely on the help of others. For instance, I have a European theatrical distributor, Jack Stevenson, who I've worked with for years. He's in Denmark and also handles all the print traffic, which simplifies my life. We save tons on postage since he's got prints of all the films plus he's really familiar w/ the various territories, their nuances, and the language. It definitely is good to form alliances with people you trust, especially over the long term. Theatrical releases have gotten a lot harder to do recently because the audiences are shrinking. But there has been a microcinema revolution, which is pretty cool. Look into "alternative" spaces (art galleries, cafes, your living room) and also plan for a DVD release of your film - maybe even overlap it with the theatrical release. Get these DVDs into rental stores, record stores, websites, make them available to distributors, and also check out alternatives like streaming video.

Sujewa: I believe your film "Mod Fuck Explosion" played at Cannes. Was that your first film at Cannes? Have you been there since? What was the Cannes/M.F.E. experience like?

Jon: Yeah, MOD FUCK EXPLOSION played at Cannes, though it was in the film festival market, which is sorta considered the "meat market" and "blood and guts" of the festival. Lotsa softcore porn movies, action and cop flicks, everything up for sale and being pushed by sales agents. Needless to say, MOD FUCK (with its artsy sensibilities and strangeness) stood out like a sore thumb. People were baffled and confused by it. I didn't actually make the trip out to the fest, though in hindsight I should have just for the sheer experience. $1500 hotel rooms and $20 cocacolas on the French Riviera, who can resist?

Sujewa: I read somewhere that the 9-11 attacks significantly changed your perspective on film and filmmaking. Can you please elaborate on this? Does this mean that future movies of yours will take a broader view of the world, a view that takes in people and lives outside of the American punk/indie/underground culture?

Jon: I shot SCUMROCK before 9-11 and was just starting the editing when the attacks occurred. The movie was originally supposed to be much more cynical, but this all changed. Though SCUMROCK definitely does not have a "happily ever after" ending, the negative vibage was toned done. It just didn't seem right to release something that was totally bleak into a world that felt totally bleak.

Sujewa: I have not seen your film "Terminal USA" yet, am looking forward to checking it out. I read that it was created on a budget of $200-$300,000 for public television. What was it like to work under such a budget and production entanglements, as opposed to working completely independently at (I assume) a much lower budget on a project such as "Scumrock"? Which production environment do you prefer, of the two mentioned above?

Jon: TERMINAL USA was shot in 1993 with a budget of $360,000. This was a complete shocker, since my previous feature was completed for about $12,000! We used panavision color 16mm equipment, had a crew of 50, and still had a really hard time. Everything felt rushed and there was a certain lack of flexibility and spontaneity throughout the production. Plus we were on an insane nocturnal schedule shooting from early evening to early morning (baaaad idea but necessary for clean sound). On the other hand, SCUMROCK was shot over 5 months with a crew of 3 for far less money (movie "in the can" for $5000). It too, was a challenging project, but it definitely was more intimate and felt much more like a "family" thing. I think it would be great to make a movie somewhere in between these two extremes. You know, have enough money and help to get the shooting done quickly and not too painfully, yet not go overboard and create a "film army" situation.

Sujewa: The prolific filmmaker Todd Verow (of Bangor Films fame) was the photographer of your movie "Mod Fuck Explosion". What was it like working with Verow? And what was it like working with lead actor Kyp Malone (from the band TV On The Radio) in "Scumrock"?

Jon: It was great workin' with Todd (he also shot TERMINAL USA). Very talented DP and really great w/ lighting. We had lotsa laughs on these productions. Kyp Malone was awesome! I met him in San Francisco and he came to an audition for SCUMROCK. We ended up casting him as the lead actor because of his natural abilities and "presence", though he had never been in a movie before. The role was originally supposed to be for an Asian-American actor, but Kyp totally broke through all racial boundaries and barriers.

Sujewa: It looks like you have traveled a lot for you work (film festivals, screenings, etc.). Do you have any amazing, spectacular or horrible stories from the road that you would like to share? Accounts of unforgettable things that have happened at festivals or screenings or while getting to those events or while coming back from those events?

Jon: Ok, here's a funny experience: MOD FUCK EXPLOSION played at the Freakzone Film Festival in Lille, France a few years ago, and I traveled out for the event. Since the audience was mostly French speaking, they actually hired some actors to sit backstage and do "live translations" of the movies from the scripts. So we're in the middle of MOD FUCK, a particularly dramatic moment, when the audience starts laughing like crazy. I'm baffled, then a friend who speaks French (who's also laughing) leans over and tells me the actors have lost their place in the movie and are flipping through the script, saying things like "shit, are we on page 6 or 7....I'm totally lost, how about you?" etc. But this really isn't the funny moment. So I'm at the awards ceremony where they're picking the "best feature" of the festival. I've heard rumors that MOD has a really good chance of winning. So speeches are being made (of course in French), and after a really long speech by the festival director, my name is called out! WOOOOHOOOOO! I'M THE WINNER!!! MOD FUCK EXPLOSION WINS!! I run down the aisle, jump up on the stage, and shake hands and hug the director. I make a very passionate speech about "how we are all winners in life-there are no losers-there is no room for jealousy-we are all filmmaking brothers and sisters," then they hand me my prize (it's supposed to be $$$), a stack of French comic books. This is sorta odd, I think, as I walk back to my seat. I sit down and my French friend whispers in my ear, "you do know that you didn't win first place... you just won the honorable mention award, right? They're going to announce first place now..." I was totally embarrassed, man.

Sujewa: Wow, great story. On a different note, even though feature film production is very affordable and the knowledge required for production is easily available (through the internet, library books, etc.) right now, it seems to me that a lot of people who make indie movies in America are not coming from a ethnic minority background. I think the situation is much different in the arena of American music or literature - lots of minority artists participate in those two creative areas. Why do you think indie filmmaking has not caught on more with American minorities at this time? Do you think this will change in the near future?

Jon: I actually think there is a sizable and growing group of minorities doin' the film thing. Maybe it's because I'm seeing it all from a West Coast perspective (I've lived in Frisco, Honolulu, and now the Pac NW), but the whole stereotype of "you can't be artsy if you're a minority" is rapidly breaking down. In the Bay Area, for example, there are lotsa alternative film fests (Latino, Asian American, Hong Kong, African American) as well as "minority" theater companies, film organizations, non-profits, etc.On a worldwide scale, it's also really cool that some of the most cutting-edge and exciting filmmaking is coming from countries like South Korea, Hong Kong, Japan, even Brazil and Mexico. Woohooo.

Thanks Jon!

LINKS

See Jon Moritsugu's official web site here
Buy Jon's movies through mail-order from here
Download several of Jon's movies here