Sujewa Ekanayake discusses the very relevant question posed by Bob Alexander over at Indiepix of whether or not film festivals represent the collective judement of the indie Film Community. I have to agree with Sujewa

There is no fixed, universal standard of "good" or "bad" in art/entertainment. There are only tastes; for example, I like the Jarmusch movie Down By Law, a friend of mine hates it, does that mean the movie is good or bad? No, it means that two people with two different tastes in movies disagree on the value of one movie.

I think festival programming represents the taste of the programmers; influenced by other factors such as films available for the fest, focus of the fest, etc.

Pop over to his site and weigh in on this debate.

 The LO-DEF Screening Event & Wild Diner Films presents:

A writer,
A ninja,
A woman who is working on saving the world,
and a guy who works at a bookstore
searching for love in

DATE NUMBER ONE

http://datenumberone08.blogspot.com/

A movie by new director Sujewa Ekanayake

Thu May 22
8 PM
FREE
The Back Room @ Jackie's
http://moviesatjackies.blogspot.com/
8081 Georgia Ave.
Silver Spring, MD 20910

Event contact: Sujewa Ekanayake, wilddiner@aol.com, 240-354-3394

This is very nice indeed; and on Easter to boot.

Hello Gang of..Four. How is St. Pat's Day treating you? Better than me I hope. I am just recovering from a biz (monkey of course) trip to Miami in which I saw many small bathing suits and caught a nasty, nasty cold. On the road to recovery however.

- Some news to pass along. Our good friend Bill Coy is doing the sound for what looks like a hellava indie feature film being produced here in Socal called Mind's Eye. Pop over to their production blog for some very cool pics and posts re all things moviemaking.

- Will pick up the usual beat as time allows. Cheers!

Scott Macaulay  writes about Frownland and indie film in one fell swoop

If you’re someone who follows and cares about American independent cinema, you’ve noticed that what passes for independent film today is often markedly different from what we thought of as independent film 20 years ago. In films today, scenes have buttons. Second acts have set pieces. Characters are given “petting the dog” moments to make them more likeable. Films are crafted to appeal to quadrants. In other words, many of them are forced by the brutality of the marketplace to assimilate the same storytelling logic as a studio film. More so than just about anything I’ve seen in the last year, Frownland defies all of this.

If you are in New York you can watch it on the big screen.

This will be a common reality for indie filmmakers on a cheap budget in the very near future. Watch how these guys recreate a fav scene from Saving Private Ryan.

Now here is a film festival that is progressive, fair-minded, and run by indie filmmakers themselves:

Have you made a film you think the world should see? FROM HERE TO AWESOME is a discovery and distribution festival that might be the perfect system to get your film blasted to audiences in theaters, living rooms, online and via mobile phones.

All filmmakers are welcome to be a part of the festival. There are NO submission fees, and filmmakers retain their rights while receiving revenue directly from the distribution outlets. A wide range of major promotional partners and distribution platforms are on board. All we need now is your film. Please submit ASAP to give the festival’s audience time to vote your film into the April Showcase.

FHTA was founded by DIY filmmaking pioneers Lance Weiler (The Last Broadcast, Head Trauma), Arin Crumley (Four Eyed Monsters) and M dot Strange (We Are The Strange).

Go here for more info.

- No Country for Old Men- saw it at the local multiplex here in Torrance at 10:40 in the morning. It reminds me of a cross between Raising Arizona and Blood Simple. Well-done set-pieces but somewhat episodic. The Coens are masters of highlighting fringe groups like country rednecks, Texas fat cats, trailer park folks, cheap motel managers, etc. I call it "the uncomfortable humour of casting and dialogue" with Borat being an example in the extreme. Craft-wise, the photography was excellent but the direction needed something. Maybe it was the faithful adaption to to CM's book. Bardem was excellent but I get the feeling it was not a diffcult role for him.

- I always wondered why novelist  John Cheever was held in such high regard in some literary circles. I had read his short fiction when I was younger and maybe that was the problem.

I was toooo young.

I just read his novels Bullet Park and Falconer and ol boy, what he shoots for is amazing. His writing may be childish at times but his examination of modern man in suburbia is not. Many writers owe him a great deal. Read his son Ben Cheever's book of his fathers letters in conjuction with the novels.

- Masher. Went over to my collaborator's to work on editing, the music ,and to discuss the web sight design. It's coming together (at least the first three episodes) but let's just say it is going to be an eccentric piece. More to come.

Electric Apricot, Quest For Festeroo opens in theaters on November 9th and promises to be a fun show.

This past weekend at the ConvergeSouth film festival I met some of the people involved in the making of this Les Claypool film that has been picked-up by none other than National Lampoon which gives us a pretty good idea that this will no doubt contain lots of comedy as it tells the story of the "up and coming" jam band, Electric Apricot.

And for those who might not know Les Claypool has some experience in the music industry before directing this first film.

When Yes-Weekly's Mark Burger interviewed the cast of The Dogs Of Chinatown I got to sit in on the interview but rather than diss my friend Mark I'll point you to Cry "Action!" and let slip the Dogs of Chinatown.

Besides, I still haven't found the lost notebook.

Last week (or was it the week before?) I promised an update on the upcoming, Dogs of Chinatown. Only problem is: Someone has my notebook.Oh well, until I recover the missing notebook check out the teaser.

UK/US independent feature film DONOVAN SLACKS is to have its Colombian
Premiere at the upcoming Bogotá Film Festival (October 3 - 11, 2007).
This follows screenings earlier this year at the International Film
Festival of Uruguay and Bucharest International Film Festival.

Described by festival selectors as “a really surprising and
innovative film” and “of the highest artistic quality,” this
experimental feature has received backing from Screen South and the
UK Film Council.

DONOVAN SLACKS was shot half as a 1920s-style silent film, half as a
‘talkie’, mixing both DV and Super-8 film. Filming took place on
location in Margate, England and New York City.

I'll be meeting some of these folks in Greensboro, North Carolina tonight and will get back to HIT readers after our meeting.

Greensboro, North Carolina indie filmmaker, Ron Harris is readying his documentary, Underclass for release. Lest those of you on the left coast think you're the only ones who suffer from street gangs, Underclass documents the Bloods, Crips and other West Coast street gangs who rule east coast streets and the poverty of the areas in which these gangs thrive.

What if George Lucas was being forced to continue writing and producing new episodes of Star Wars? Greensboro, North Carolina indie filmmaker, Chris Knight says, "George Lucas used to make Star Wars for a living. Now he's making it to stay alive."

This morning I came across this piece titled, Composting Digital Video and thought it might help some of you indie filmmakers raise bumper crops. Shovel some of that compost on my tomatoes, please, the drought is taking its toll.

A few weeks back I told you about Stephen V2 from OutsideInTheMovie. Now you can catch a podcast featuring Stephen on The DV Show.

Laughcalvin's short film project "Masher" has morphed into a web serial with about 10 episodes in the works. We have been meeting with actresses well over 6 feet tall and my oh my, has it been a riot. Tall women are very funny!!

We will be blogging about the process and the talent involved as the project progresses. Cheers!

J. Mitchell Anderson and Jeremy Kipp Walker bring us this fun short film. Super Powers, which debuted at the 2007 Tribeca Film Festival.

I first met Jill Foster last October at ConvergeSouth where the two of us were happy to meet Elizabeth Edwards, wife of Presidential candidate John Edwards.

As an indie filmmaker and organizer of the Washington, DC. filmmakers MeetUp group, Jill was there to learn about building online communities, a topic Elizabeth is very familiar with.

Jill is working on a documentary titled, Living With Geeks but for today I'm going to leave you with Jill's submission to the 2007 48 Hour Film Project titled, Sucker's Nightmare.