Displacements

Displacements - Michael Naimark from today and tomorrow on Vimeo.

Completely genius. I know, everyone uses that word too much. (via dembot)

MSPIFF Film Reviews

The Minneapolis/St. Paul International Film Festival is in full-swing. Lori and I have seen 5 films between us, and thought it would be fun to review a couple in video flesh. Behold, watch!

iPod/Quicktime  MP3

Public Enemy: Welcome to the Terrordome ***½
There's a lot of good stuff here, but you know there's trouble when you're re-editing the film in your head after five minutes. Worth seeing if you're a fan for insider looks at Public Enemy and some good interviews with Henry Rollins and Rage Against the Machine guitarist Tom Morello.

Traveling with Pets ****½
A gorgeously-shot, immersive essay about a young rural Russian woman (who looks like a young Tilda Swinton) faced with discovering who she is after her unsympathetic husband dies suddenly. Definitely an art-house film, but in the best sense. A few scenes are so striking and magical, it's hard not to feel you're watching something special. It can be a little slow, and some may not have the patience for the pace. I left feeling aglow.

Sextet **½
Disappointing overall, but amusing observations on sex and relationships might make it worth a look. Unfortunately, the structure of a "film within a film" is a distraction and makes the whole thing disjointed. There's also some really unnecessary animation, yet another idea they threw into the mix instead of making the story more compelling and coherent.

You, The Living (Du Levande) *****
My favorite film of the festival. It's full of ugly Swedes, in all their angst and absurdity and despair – and it's funny! The film has a really distinctive, soft painterly look with a palette of pale greens and muted pastels. It turns out that nearly every scene was built and staged in a studio, though this is completely transparent when you're watching. The film is really a series of loosely-connected vignettes, with certain characters recurring along with their dreams. Various members of a Louisiana brass band provide an unlikely and comforting soundtrack. This is a hard film to describe, but don't miss it if it comes back for "Best of Fest."

Clash of Egos ***½
If you've ever hated a Lars von Trier film, Clash of Egos is for you. This Danish film is the perfect palette cleanser in your festival schedule. The crux of the plot is that a blue-collar fellow, Tonny, is furious at the piece of crap art film he and his children have been subjected to. He goes after the director and demands his money back, ending up badly injured on set. Rather than take a money settlement, he ends up co-writing and co-directing the director's new film, turning it into a ridiculous action flick with lots of f-bombs. This satisfying and well-acted plot is diminished by a sappy, boring romantic subplot that ends the film on a predictable note.

What have you seen? We're planning to see Mondo Bondo on Wednesday, followed by the Mid-fest party at Red Stag Supper Club. We're also going to see Lynch, the documentary about David Lynch, and possibly Dean and Me: Road Show of an American Primary to find out how the filmmaker spent $100,000. Finally, we don't plan to miss Encounters at the End of the World, a documentary about Antarctica by Werner Herzog.

UPDATE: Instead of Mondo Bondo, which we heard was so-so, we saw Full Metal Village (***). The quaint, imperfect country folk of a rural German town don't seem to mind the presence of Korean documentary filmmaker Sung Hyung Cho in their daily routines. In fact, a great deal of time is spent on languid still shots that let the often funny details of their farm lives unfold. And then... the death metal festival arrives.

There's something deeply satisfying about a herd of cows running to heavy metal. If you're a metal fan you might be disappointed, since most of the time is spent on the village characters. I found it completely charming and well worth my time.

Lynch ****
This is for everyone who loved or hated Inland Empire. I kinda hated it, but somehow I can't get enough of Lynch telling weird stories, closing his eyes and demanding a one-legged 16 year old girl and a beautiful 23 yr old Eurasian, and yelling "fuck!" as often as possible. Glimpses into Lynch's filmmaking process are rare, and it's a little surprising he chose to let us in on his least cohesive, most haphazardly-envisioned film. Watching this documentary is almost enough to make me sit through Inland Empire again, though certainly not sober.

WSJ calls Sicko a "blogumentary"

Wall Street Journal film review of Michael Moore's Sicko:

When the government stripped Mr. Incredible of his superhero status in "The Incredibles," he was reduced to working in the claims department of an HMO, where his job was to deny claims. His testimony would have been a worthy addition to "Sicko," though Michael Moore's argumentative blogumentary about health care is shockingly funny -- and sometimes genuinely shocking -- without him.

Blogumentary: Now on Google Video

I just posted this to the Yahoo videoblogging group:

This week I put my entire documentary feature film online.
It's called Blogumentary and it documents the rise of political
and personal blogs, from the early days up through the
Iraq War and Dan Rather's downfall - not to mention a
bloggy love story or two. Think of it as a collection of
vlog videos woven together into a 65-minute film.

WATCH OR DOWNLOAD IT HERE.

People have often asked me if they could watch the film online.
Up until now, no. There's a fair amount of copyrighted
material in the film, particularly music. This is what's prevented
me from putting it online, trying to sell DVDs, or even promoting
it all that much.

Now, in the YouTube era, I'm not as worried. So I'm taking a chance
and putting the whole thing online, with the disclaimer that it's
intended for non-profit educational use only. I'm sincere about that;
I do hope this will make it easy for educators to show new media
and journalism students. That's probably the most likely audience.

If you're linking it on your blogs, feel free to link to blogumentary.org
which is the official site and has a bit more info. I've always intended
to make that site into a videoblog from the huge archive of interviews
I have, but there's no demand for that so I spend my time on my other
projects + client work. Someday, someday.

Fearless, Viral, Spiral

Here in the Twin Cities we have a regular event called Fearless Filmmakers. The next event's theme: "The Viral Market".

The invited filmmakers have an interesting variety of backgrounds. Some of them are from agencies or productions companies, the others are indie filmmakers. Ryan Wood surely has the most bona-fide viral hit in the group, with his multi-million-viewed short film Fear of Girls. Fear of Girls 2 is going to premiere at the screening - sweet!

I dearly love my friend Melody Gilbert, but her MySpace page for Urban Exporers has a very small (but I'm sure devoted) audience. Likewise, her Best Buy "webisodes" on YouTube have been viewed around 400-500 times each. The virus has not proved contagious there. I think the most baffling inclusion may be Julie Rappaport, whose Smokin' Yogi Films (or "platform") has produced a project called Abnormally Normal. Regardless of the content or merits of the project, I just don't understand how or why this is "viral."

Putting a video on a web site, creating a MySpace page, or calling something a "webisode" does not make it viral. Not in my book, anyway. What does? I think of viral as simply word-of-mouth at Internet speed. You see something, and think "I've gotta forward this to my friends." Immediate gratification. I don't think it requires any certain type of content, but it tends to be the Q-word: Quirky.

Napoleon Dynamite could be called viral, in a way. Subservient Chicken is probably one of my favorite viral experience.

But hey - I ain't gonna hate on these fine folks. I'm glad this showcase has come together and I plan to be there if I can. I thought this was an entirely curated selection, but apparently anyone could apply for some open slots. So, more power to anyone dipping their feet in these waters. My feet are all soggy and wrinkley, and that makes me cranky and spitty.

Altman

Lame, pointless web site

Fast Food Nation is an excellent film directed by Richard Linklater. It's a fictionalized version of the (I'm told) excellent book. Here's Lorika's review.

However, some junior fuckhead at Fox Searchlight pictures is marketing the film through a lame, stupid web site "doyouwantlieswiththat.com". They have pretty cool "burger-and-crossbones" stickers with that URL, but the site makes you admit you're a liar and ultimately just redirects you to the actual film web site.

Worst. Website. Ever. (But go see the film! Beware if you get queasy at the site of cow blood.)

ABC's The Path to 9/11 Sacrifices Truth

Chris Dykstra sums up what's wrong with ABC's propaganda play. I believe a filmmaker has the right to dramatize and take creative liberties with anything in the world, including the tragedy of 9/11. However, we also have a right to pressure ABC not to air The Path to 9/11, a right-wing fantasy riddled with fabrications, intended to slam Clinton and the Democrats and indeed rewrite history for future generations.

ABC claims the docudrama is based on the 9/11 Commission Report. 9/11 Commissioners disagree. Scholastic dropped their original discussion guides, as they were full of neocon misinformation. Their new guides focus, rightly, on media literacy (i.e. distinguishing between fact and partisan propaganda).

9/11 takes a jab at freedom of the press, too - and gets it wrong. The film portrays a CIA analyst saying "ever since the Washington Post disclosed that we intercepted his calls, UBL [Usama bin Laden] stopped using phones altogether." Actually, it was right-wing rag Washington Times. Besides that, the whole notion is an urban myth.

Worst of all, the film makes it look like the CIA had Osama bin Laden in their sites, but the Clinton administration chickened out. Richard Clark says flat out that never happened.

September 11 deserves a truthful film. Tell ABC to tell the truth.

FUN LINK: Iraq's Alleged Al-Qaeda Ties Were Disputed Before War

Remix Jack Valenti!

JD Lasica, author of Darknet: Hollywood's War Against the Digital Generation and founder of OurMedia, talked to former Motion Picture Association of America president Jack Valenti and caught a bit of video on his cell phone. At the end JD says "Hopefully somebody out there will be watching this and maybe go do a video, or remix or mashup of you - whaddya think about that?"

Completely unrelated: Ryane, Scoble, and friends unplugged in Montana

Homegrown Film

Check out this great interview on mnartists.org: SWEET LAND writer and director Ali Selim, MPR's Euan Kerr, and CHASING WINDMILLS creators Cristina Cordova and Juan Antonio del Rosario talk abut the future of motion pictures, wherever they may be.

Good news! Minnesota Stories is collaborating with mnartists.org to create a series of videos profiling local artists. The videos will appear on both MNstories and mnartists.org, and will also comprise a DVD that will be playing at the Minnesota State Fair and beyond. Very exciting stuff. Making videos about artists is probably one of my favorite things in the world. Isaac's 40 is the first video in the series, and a personal favorite.

MY NEW FAVORITE MOVIE

My new favorite film is Caveh Zahedi's I Am a Sex Addict. Both for style -- a sort of self-effacing feature-length vlog -- and for the content. Ultimately it's Caveh's authenticity and humor that won me over. I think David Hudson nailed it on the head in his Green Cine review:

"Unlike Hollywood, which tries to tell us that the fantasy we're seeing is real, Sex Addict is honest about its dishonesties. But it's also true to the nature of memory, which is almost a dream state."

After seeing this film at M-SPIFF, we came home and I had to watch Waking Life again. I got more out of it this time. It rewards repeated viewings. I love the scene where Caveh has a "holy moment," then slowly turns into clouds.

MY ACTING CAREER?

CHASING WINDMILLS IN PRINT

Four Minute Fellini
It’s 10:00 a.m. Have you seen your favorite vlog yet?

Most vlogs that I’ve seen are modeled either on public broadcasting news, network variety shows, or raw home video. Besides Chasing Windmills, very few—in fact, none that I am aware of—are fictional, produced serials. But as more young filmmakers realize that they can simply take the keys of production and the keys of publishing into their own hands, the creative class may yet break free of New York, Hollywood, and even Sundance. Punk rock had the local bar, where you might see a trashy quartet called the Clash, say, or R.E.M., before they got big. As vlogging becomes more common, we may get to see the next generation’s Coppola or Fellini or Wes Anderson while their short, self-produced flicks are still playing on the local podcast.

A great article by The Rake's editor, Hans Eisenbeis. I've been raving about Chasing Windmills to every reporter I've talked to in the last few months, hoping someone will get that this is a BIG DEAL. Especially for the film community, which is just ripe for a bottom-up revolution. Congrats Juan y Cristina!

See also: Four Eyed Monsters vlog and CM's behind-the-scenes blog.

MIND THE GAP: THE PAKISTANI EXPERIENCE IN LONDON

MIND THE GAP is an online film by Nadia Aamer exploring the Pakistani experience in post-7/7 London. Nadia asks:

How immune are we to the messages that are sent out to us with hidden agendas. Do we possess the ability to filter out what is relevant to us and make our own assumptions at the end of the day? Do we see someone we meet as a person first and then their background? In short do we know when to mind the gap?

Set aside 20 minutes and watch the entire film, or watch the individual vlog chapters. It's a timely reflection/reaction/exploration that further blurs the lines between "film" and "vlog."

MINNESOTA STORIES SCREENS NOV. 10!

City Pages Get Real Documentary Film Festival kicks off this Friday. Catch an eclectic mix of Minnesota Stories Thursday, November 10 at 2:30 p.m. @ Lagoon Cinema. FREE! More info. Come experience zombies, battle raps, dragonflies and wayward bikers - all in the collective comfort of a movie theater.

Also, be sure to catch the work-in-progress screening of Green Green Water, who've gotten some great attention for their documentary vlog. I feel no small amount of pride in this fact, as I helped them into the vlogosphere with the promise of eager online audiences and a great hook for vlog media stories. But nothing compares to the heightened experience of sitting in a dark theater with an audience of your peers, experiencing and reacting in real-time.

INDEPENDENTFILM.COM INTERVIEW

While Steve makes a salient point, Chuck anticipates his next bite.

Corey Boutilier of independentfilm.com interviewed Steve Garfield and me and at the Woods Hole Film Festival. I really wanted to spend our precious few free moments by the water narbing some lunch/dinner, so we found a good spot where Corey could interview us while we stuffed our faces. Corey is swell guy who has created his own dream job: "We provide the Internet's most personal look at the creation and distribution of Independent Film."

DOCUMENTARY:BLOG

Documentary:BLOG is a (legitimate!) blog documentary that's been in production since Blog Nashville in May 2005. They just recently fired up their public blog, and today have posted two video clips. "Did you say BLOG?" shows the mandatory people looking silly for not knowing what a blog is. (Blogumentary starts the same way.) The other clip is "BLOGSTAR," which features the InstaPundit himself, Glenn Reynolds.

My first impression: Holy production value Batman! The clips look and sound really good. The camera in their blog banner cost almost as much as my entire film. These guys know what they're doing – and they're really nice folks. I wish them the best and look forward to more - preferably in videoblog form, so people can subscribe to future clips.

GRASSROOTS: THE MOVIE

Heath Eiden is the citizen journalist/filmmaker who put together the DeanTV.org – a videoblog "to help frame the candidate honestly before the mainstream media demonized him." Heath is now channeling that spirit and footage into a documentary film - please help spread the word!

"Grassroots" is a documentary about grassroots politics and the movement that made Howard Dean the leader of the Democratic Party. This is an unbiased look at the people who are standing up to George W. Bush, entrenched power and the mainstream media. Principal photography is finished but I need your support to put it all together now.

MY SUMMER OF LOVE

Look mom! I'm in the City Pages summer film issue. It's all about summer blockbusters. I could've written about some real heavy-hitters: Star Wars, E.T., Rambo, etc. But, no. Too obvious. I chose National Lampoon's European Vacation: The film that gave me a PG-13 boner. Read it here.

I have to say there really are some surprises in here. Matt Ehling was incredibly eloquent writing about The X-Files. Makes perfect sense for him. And Dan Bergin's Star Wars memory was equally surprising and revealing. Perhaps the funniest line is from Lisa Ganser writing about Terminator 2: "I secretly wet myself over Linda Hamilton's pipes." Amen to that.

MAD HOT COPYRIGHT INSANITY

Stay Free Daily has an excellent post and interview:
How did Mad Hot Ballroom survive the copyright cartel?

It's insane what indie documentarians have to sacrifice to even represent reality, let alone liven up their production with some music. The Mad Hot Ballroom filmmakers had their work cut out, since the kids in the film dance to commercial music in competitions. But paying $$thousands for a Rocky ringtone?! And avoiding Frito-Lay trucks and billboards in their shots? Fuck that!

You mean to tell me that advertisers and record companies are literally studying our brain chemistry to figure out how to saturate every slice of our existence with messages to BUY BUY BUY their shit -- then they're going to turn around and fucking charge us if it ends up in a documentary film?

No, seriously: FUCK THAT.

Stay Free Daily continues the conversation with a post about Fair Use. Here's my comment:

I have brief news footage of Dan Rather denying, and then apologizing for, the "Rathergate" memos. It's crucial footage to my documentary on blogs, and in the context of media criticism - exactly the sort of thing Fair Use exists to protect.

And yet, if i wanted to get a distribution deal, i'd likely have to pay thousands of dollars to officially license that footage, even though it's Fair Use. Other doc filmmakers have confimed this, having been in those shoes.

I'm sorry, but that's completely fucked up.

"We are no longer an industrialized society; we aren't even a post-industrial or technological society. We are now a corporate society, a corporate world, a corporate universe. This world is a vast cosmology of small corporations orbiting around larger corporations who, in turn, revolve around giant corporations, and this whole endless, eternal, ultimate cosmology is expressly designed for the production and consumption of useless things . . . "

CALL ME MALCOLM (NOT 'FAG')

This Friday, Minnesota Film Arts begins a two-week screening of Call Me Malcolm, the story of 27 year-old transgender seminary student Malcolm Himschoot's journey to find acceptance. Himschoot made news when he became America's first openly transgendered clergy at Plymouth Congregational Church in Minneapolis. Now the hate-mongering wackos from Westboro Baptist Church are planning to picket this "satanic film" at this Saturday's 7PM and 9PM screenings, according to this flyer (PDF) from their website: www.godhatesfags.com. Adam from MN Film Arts says, "Please tell everyone you know about this screening.
Let's show support for an issue that shouldn't even really be one."

[also posted on MNspeak.com and NewPatriot.org]

See also, this lovely/sad post on The Rake's blog.

WALT MINK: PINK MOON

Butler posted a lovely acoustic Walt Mink clip covering Nick Drake. Pretty 16mm.

CAVEH'S TRIPPY VLOGGISH FILMS

CAVEH ZAHEDI:
It's something I've wanted to make a film about for a long time - coming to terms with your dreams not being realized. How that makes you feel and what you can do about it. And hopefully, how you can grow from it. Rilke once said: "The point of life is to fail at greater and greater things." But we live in such a success-oriented culture that there's almost no room for the lessons of failure.

ALSO FRIGGIN' COOL: Luxomedia's mail art video and her collection of mail art from the 80's.

WALT MINK LIVES AGAIN!

I just creamed my pants 500 times:
Walt Mink LIVE, JUNE 17, 2005. Triple Rock Social Club. Minneapolis.
Triple Rock will be the perfect venue. Bring extra pants.

***
ROCK SHOW
::One Night Only::

DETAILS:
Walt Mink
Friday, JUNE 17, 2005
Triple Rock Social Club:: http://www.triplerocksocialclub.com/
629 Cedar Ave S, Minneapolis
MAP: MAP!
ADVANCE TICKET SALES: http://triplerock.indietickets.com/ (Tickets will be available online in a few days.)

It's official. We're putting on a rock show and cramming a 4-camera 16mm film shoot into a 400 capacity rock club. More info as it comes.

CONGRATS TO MATT EHLING

Typically humble. I just had drinks with Matt tonight and he didn't say a peep about this. Congrats to Matt, one of my documentary heroes!

CITY PAGES BEST OF THE TWIN CITIES
BEST FILM: Security and the Constitution

Well-known as the hardest-working filmmaker in the cities, documentarian extraordinaire Matt Ehling (Urban Warrior) has, since 9/11, been crafting the sort of PBS-worthy docs that PBS doesn't dare to broadcast anymore. His latest is, you could say, a noble effort to inform us of what we might at this point be too terrified to want to study on our own. Interviewing a cavalcade of government, university, and interest-group heavyweights (including former CIA director Stansfield Turner and local FBI heroine Colleen Rowley), Ehling delves deep into the controversies surrounding the Patriot Act and the introduction of military elements into the realm of domestic policing. Yet for all the unease that these topics bring to any inquisitive American, Ehling's thesis seems to be that the Bush years actually don't represent the first time in U.S. history that constitutional rights have been suspended--that in each preceding case (e.g., WWII-era Japanese internment camps), public reaction and the strength of our government's foundation have won out. Whether that comforting message will be galvanizing or placating is up to us. How's that for democracy?

MODELS FOR SUSTAINABLE CINEMA

Eli spreads to the good word of film/audience integration using new media:

Eli Chapman

In general, filmmakers have been very slow to effectively use the web. The main problem is that we don't think of the web as an integral part of the filmmaking process. Today, a filmmaker might have a website, a Quicktime trailer of the film, some press clippings, a mailing list, and maybe even a blog. That needs to change.

Download the presentation [PDF, 2.6 MB]

FLOATIN' ON

Thanks to the coupla people who pointed me to the Joel on Software Documentary project. I've decided not to pursue it, although it would bring me to NYC and has some funding. I just haven't been able to get excited about a documentary on making software. I heard the same thing about a blog documentary, and my response was "blogs are interesting because people are interesting." I'm also pretty passionate about blogs - but not so much about making software. A software doc could be interesting because of the interns and Joel, certainly. But I think it should be done by someone more motivated.

I'm also a little leary of being pigeonholed as the "technology documentary guy." I should really milk it I suppose, but it's more important for me to follow whatever ignites my curiosity. (I'm a Gemini, you know!) I'm very interested in the story and mission of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, which has a lot of intriguing ingredients - deep geekery, passionate civil liberties battles, interesting characters. Potential funding. And they're more relevant now than ever. That's one idea simmering on the backburner, one of many. The others are percolating video blog embryos.

What, oh what will this summer hold? Maybe this?

M-SPIFF: MORE TINY REVIEWS

The Taste of Tea [Japan]: 5 out of 5 sunflowers! A film bursting with magical fruits. Jonathan says Napoleon Dynamite meets Amelie. Who am I to argue? I also saw traces of Magnolia and... a zen nature film? A wee bit too long, and yet I entirely had patience for it. Apparently Tarantino is a fan of the director, and now, so am I.

Smoke and Mirrors: A Geisha Story [USA]: Kiharu Nakamura, an old geisha who lived in Queens, NY until her recent death, is an interesting subject. But despite some cinematography by Albert Maysles, the film is not visually interesting and is not told in a very compelling fashion.

The girl from monday [USA]: Sex increases your market value. On Walden Pond is forbidden revolutionary literature. The latest from Hal Hartley is a dystopian sci-fi tale about consumerist culture taken to extremes, told in Hartley's cool, sparse style. That doesn't appeal to everyone, but it sure appealed to me and I was not disappointed. Hartley's slow-shutter technique didn't really work for me, but the story is absolutely brilliant and vital for these times.

Bitter Dream [Iran]: This is a refreshingly simple, morbid-yet-comical film about a corpse washer facing his own death, having not treated people as well as he should have. He also has a strange relationship with his television set, which drifts from documentary about his town to showing his own funeral. Films like this make the festival a real treat, since they may never see distribution.

See also: Matt Clayfield reviews Deadroom. My reaction was nearly identical to his, though I won't be able to express it as well. Also? In case you forgot, Green Cine Daily is just chock-full of cinemtic goodness. Every day. Overflowing with creamy celluloid nougat and crunchy pixels.

M-SPIFF: WIM WENDERS' LAND OF PLENTY

Let me state the obvious: 9/11 threw this country into crisis. Leave it to German filmmaker Wim Wenders to hold a mirror up to America, particularly his home of Los Angeles. Land of Plenty brings together two extremely divergent, but perhaps not irreconcilable, strands of the post-9/11 American psyche.

Paul (John Diehl) is a grizzled Vietnam vet. Jaded and paranoid, he spends his days as a surveillance vigilante in the hopes of protecting America from anything in a turban. Lana (Michelle Williams) is his estranged niece. Eternally hopeful, trusting, and devoutly Christian, she finds herself trying to make a difference at a homeless shelter and reconnect with her freaky uncle. They witness a homeless Pakistani murdered before their eyes and embark on a roadtrip with very different motives. Lana wants to find the man's brother and give the body a proper burial. Paul is convinced they're going to find a terrorist sleeper cell. Paul's increasing paranoia finally comes to a head in the deserted arid landscape of Trona, California.

The opening scenes of surveillance really drew me into this film. All the spy technology and Lana's (for some reason surprisingly realistic) laptop/iPod action reminded me of The Conversation and Until The End of the World. The acting is really fantastic, particularly Michelle Williams who shines whenever she's onscreen. I don't doubt for a second that there are wacko vigilantes out there like Paul, but he'd come off as a caricature were it not for John Diel's solid performance.

Ultimately all the right ingredients are here. Fresh, tasty, and necessary. But eventually they blend together and lose some of their charm. The film becomes very plot-driven and concerned with the action, and I found myself waiting for Paul to go nuts and bring the film to a climax. What happens is more complicated, and finally leads to an uncomfrtable but cathartic conversation between Lana and Paul about what happened on September 11, 2001. There was something tenderly sweet and strange seeing two wandering souls talk about that day on the big screen. I'd have liked the film to end on that note, but Wenders goes a bit overboard with a Leonard Cohen song and sudden trip to Ground Zero in NYC. Still, it was a special and satisfying film.

Wenders was on hand to present the M-SPIFF screening and was terribly likable and funny. Here are some tiny muffled video clips. Of note, Wenders said distributors like it and don't mind the liberal message, but they all say the same thing: They don't know how to market it, because it's both liberal and Christian, and those two things don't go together. (WTF?!??!?!) Also the original title of the film was not very catchy: Angst and Alienation in America.

Wim Wenders introduces the film [MPG, 9.5 MB]

Wim Wenders answers questions [MPG, 9.3 MB]

Wim Wenders on America's freedom and isolation [MPG, 2.3 MB]

M-SPIFF: GENESIS

I can make a joke about this scene, but I won't.

What a relief! I can retire as a filmmaker now, and so can all other filmmakers. The best film has now been made, by the French of course: Genesis. Origins of life, origins of the universe, told by an African griot. The directors of Microcosmos and Winged Migration train their crystalline lenses on microscopic rivulets of human and avian blood cells, only swoop above the strikingly-similar deltas of Madagascar. The strike of a match is the origin of the universe; a whisp of smoke becomes the galaxy. But a flippety-floppety mudskipper is the real star. Watch for it in the M-SPIFF Best of Fest.

Would you believe Microcosmos is only now (May 3) coming out on DVD in the U.S.? Nine frigging years? Let's hope Genesis doesn't take that long.

TINY M-SPIFF REVIEWS

Here's my (and Lorika's) first installment of reviews from the Minneapolis–St. Paul International Film Festival. Attending the opening night and party really makes me feel like this is a real film festival. More films, more pazazz, more filmmakers present, more expensive - all around I give huge props to MN Film Arts for giving Minnesota film lovers a big sloppy wet kiss.

Childstar [Canada]: An entertaining jab at Hollywood with a great cast. Lost a bit of steam at the very end but overall I'm won over by director/star Don McKellar's charm and wit.

The Great Communist Bank Robbery [Romania]: An interesting and educational story revealing the dark side of life in Socialist Romania. But, I fell asleep.

McDull, Prince de la Bun [Hong Kong]: Utterly creative, playful, confusing, and surreal. Switch off comprehension and enjoy the wild, wiggy weirdness of a bun-headed pig and a pizza-headed turtle.

Melinda & Melinda: Well... all the early-eve M-SPIFF films sounded depressing so we opted for the new Woody Allen film. Lorika and I have had many cozy evenings watching Woody Allen films. I think Celebrity was the last Allen film I enjoyed, but Melinda & Melinda is a satisying return to form. I liked the comedy vs. tragedy structure, and aside from a bit of stiff dialogue I liked everything about this film. It's not great, but it's very good and deals with Allen's familiar relationship/life/death themes in his trademark style.

GO SEE A LIFE WITHOUT PAIN

Just a quick note. A Life Without Pain plays Sunday, 5PM at Bell Auditorium. Go see it! I saw it at SXSW; it's an incredible story. I'm sure little Gabby, who can feel no pain, and her family will attend this screening. Somehwere I have many pics and video of the madness of Melody Gilbert's stressful but incredible world premiere in Texas... but I wanted to post something now.

Here's Rob Nelson's review

SHOUTOUTS TO MATT CLAYFIELD

Here's a little impromptu video I shot after the Future of Film Blogging panel, where I first met David Lowery (Deadroom) and David Hudson (Green Cine Daily). First order of business: shoutouts to our man down under, Matthew Clayfield.

David Lowery + David Hudson [Quicktime, 2.6 MB]

LOTS MORE SHORT VIDEO CLIPS ON THE SXSW Vlog!
Amanda Congdon talking about her reality TV experience, exclusive Homestar action, and more.

[thanks to Michael Verdi]

GO SEE THE NOMI SONG

Klaus Nomi: Stylish, alien, tragic and lonely.

Hey locals, only one more screening of The Nomi Song! Friday night at Bell Auditorium, aka "The nation's first dedicated non-fiction screen." Nicer seats and higher prices than the old rundown Bell, and worth it.

COPYRIGHT DOCUMENTARIES

Copyright Criminals focuses on sample-based music and has a pretty sweet trailer posted under a Creative Commons license. The film is co-produced by U of Iowa professor Kembrew McLeod who once trademarked the phrase "freedom of expression" as a rather depressing joke. Kebrew's new book, Freedom of Expression: Overzealous Copyright Bozos and Other Enemies of Creativity can be downloaded or purchased.

The Copyfight: A Documentary About the Copyright Reform Debate by Yaz Santissi looks to be a broader and more academic look at copyright. In an email conversation, Yaz says, "My objective for the copyfight documentary is primarily to stimulate public debate about copyright legislation and inspire activism. The best way to do that is to release it to the general public directly." Yaz is making good on my intentions with Blogumentary and has posted tons of interviews with such luminaries as Laurence Lessig and Siva Vaidhyanathan.

Bit Torrent Release date: April 3, 2005

See also:

DarkNet

Stay Free

illegal-art.org

FreeCulture.org: an international student movement for free culture

February 21, 2005 at 10:07 AM in Film, Media | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

COPYRIGHT KILLS CULTURE

The Globe and Mail: How copyright could be killing culture
The high cost of getting permission to use archival footage and photos threatens to put makers of documentaries out of business

I'll say it does. This article shows how the definitive documentary on the American civil rights struggle, Eyes on the Prize, may no longer be sold or broadcast because archival footage rights have expired. (See also Wired News article)

A study from American University underscores the problem: Untold Stories: Creative Consequences of the Rights Clearance Culture for Documentary Filmmakers

In it's current form, I could not afford to legally distribute or broadcast Blogumentary. I own most of the footage, and thank God for the Prelinger archive - but licensing some of the news footage would be prohibitively expensive for me alone. Some of the footage I'd argue is fair use, since the film is media criticism. But other clips are there to help tell the story. Either way, if I was legally challenged I can't afford a lawyer.

Copyright is killing culture in this country, if you play by the rules. The rules have become a system of stuffing the pockets of corporate media conglomerates, far beyond the original intention of making sure artists get paid for their work. The scale has tipped too far. Push it over, I say.

January 19, 2005 at 04:26 AM in Film | Permalink | Comments (15) | TrackBack

ROBOT STORIES OPEN IN MPLS!

I've been waiting for Robot Stories to come here. Filmmaker Greg Pak has been working outside the system, bringing his film directly to theaters, city-to-city and spreading the buzz. Plus -- ROBOTS!

"Robot Stories" opens TODAY, Friday, January 7, in Minneapolis!

Peter Olsen, "Robot Stories" cinematographer and Minnesota native, will attend some of the Minneapolis screenings in person -- you can catch him at the 5:45 and 7:30 Saturday shows and the 7:30 Sunday show.  He'll conduct Q&A sessions -- should be great!  Please feel free to pass on word to your pals in the Twin Cities.

"Robot Stories"
January 7-13 in Minneapolis

Oak Street Cinema
 309 Oak Street SE
 Minneapolis, MN 55414
 612.331.3134
http://www.mnfilmarts.org/
 7:30 & 9:20 nightly; Sat. matinees at 3:45 and 5:45

Cinematographer Peter Olsen in person
Saturday, 5:45 and 7:30 shows
Sunday, 7:30 show

January 7, 2005 at 06:16 PM in Film | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBack

I'M IN GOOD COMPANY

It's always been my hope and my dream to be listed in the same paragraph as Emily Goldberg, Dan Bergin, Matt Ehling, and the Wellstone doc-makers. They turned me on to documentary filmmaking, they showed me the way. Dare I say it? They're my heroes.

The Everything Cinema
CITY PAGES 1/5/05
BY ROB NELSON

The message of 2004 seemed to be Act local!--so let me mention that it was without a doubt the strongest year for Minnesota movies in the decade since I started this beat.

Among the highlights: Documentarian Emily Goldberg delivered Venus of Mars, whose flared colors and propulsive editing rhythms were acutely synched to the story of love, art, and gender in loud, glam flux. Civil rights lawyers Jeanne-Marie Almonor and John Shulman brought their urgent case to the big screen with Justice, a drama whose spirited system-bucking extended to skipping the festival circuit in favor of coming straight to the people at the Riverview and the Edina. (It's airing on the Black STARZ! network three times Tuesday.)

And there was more! Producer Daniel Bergin commemorated the state's rich African American history in North Star: Minnesota's Black Pioneers (airing Sunday at 6:00 p.m. on TPT-17). Prior Lake native Mara Pelece explored the effects of globalization on national identity in her film Between Latvias. Doc-maker Matt Ehling (Urban Warrior) continued his vital investigation of civil liberties with Security and the Constitution. Chuck Olsen took a playful surf through the world of online web logs in Blogumentary, whose all-access style of first-person nonfiction could have given it an alternate title: Open-Source Me. Michael Wilson made the most hotly anticipated Minnesota indie ever with Michael Moore Hates America, a movie you didn't need to hate Moore (or John Kerry) to admire. And in Wellstone!, Laurie Stern, Lu Lippold, and Dan Luke not only did right by the late senator's legacy, but presented their long-awaited work at the perfect time to give us a boost in the pre-election home stretch.

January 5, 2005 at 04:10 PM in Blogumentary, Film, Local | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

COLOUR ME KUBRICK TRAILER

[via Sharyn]

Sin City trailer looks pretty freakin' cool too, in spite of Bruce Willis.

Tenacious D interviewed about their upcoming movie, and scrum-diddly-icious possum rugs, and how they could've saved the election if they rocked Ohio.

More Online Viewing Enjoyment:
Gentle Asian fellow rocks the crap out of a percussion keyboard [Quicktime, 15 MB]
Jesus Christ Action Figure (cross not included) [Quicktime, 4.5 MB]

December 30, 2004 at 02:49 AM in Film | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

MY ARTIST OF THE YEAR: JEHANE NOUJAIM

Disclaimer: I have a teensy bit of guilt for not choosing a blogger or vlogger as my Artist of the Year. I actually had to choose a long time ago. But, I swallow that teensy bit of guilt and it dissolves quickly. Control Room had a huge impact on me, as a documentary filmmaker. I'm proud of my choice and stand by it. Besides, how could I only choose ONE vlogger or blogger? You are all artists of the year in my book. (Pretty smooth copout, eh?)

City Pages 12/29/04
JEHANE NOUJAIM
by Chuck Olsen

I'm one of those geeks who gets most of his news from the internet, which bestows upon me a mystical power over mainstream media's trite conventions and obvious biases. Our government puts up a smoke screen, our media reports it: Indeed, there appears to be hot vapor emanating from the White House. I like to think I can see through all that and ask, Where's the fire?

But I have an embarrassing admission: I got duped. If anyone was reporting on the real fire--the unpleasant consequences of our actions in Iraq--it was Al Jazeera. Donald Rumsfeld called Al Jazeera "Osama bin Laden's mouthpiece." I tend to distrust anything that sputters out of Rumsfeld's wiry mouth, but somehow this idea penetrated my critical radar. Enemy propaganda. Not to be trusted.

Arab American filmmaker Jehane Noujaim presents a far more complex reality in her documentary Control Room. Noujaim gained access to both Al Jazeera headquarters and the U.S. military's Central Command offices in Qatar. Though only 20 miles separate the two, their perceptions of the U.S. presence in Iraq are light years apart. Noujaim (unlike you-know-who) wisely avoids pandering to either worldview, instead placing her loyalty with her captivating characters, including burly and genial Al Jazeera reporter Hassan Ibrahim and Lt. Josh Rushing, the disarmingly honest and charming press officer from CENTCOM. Rushing starts out parroting administration talking points, but his sincere and candid conversations with Ibrahim give rise to cognitive dissonance; you can almost see the bridge of understanding being forged in their eyes.

Noujaim's camera shows us perhaps the most important conversation of our time. Different channels, different truths--and these days, we need all the truths we can get.

Chuck Olsen is a Minneapolis-based blogger and the director of Blogumentary.

More artists that resonate strongly: 12 Rods, Daniel Bergin, Jon Stewart, Lawrence Lessig, John Cassavetes, Brian Wilson, Jonathan Caouette

December 29, 2004 at 06:24 PM in Art/Design, Film, Media | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

NANOTECHUMENTARY

N is for Nanotechnology, a 30-min. documentary about nanotechnology.

But hold the phone... here's a documentary T-bone can relate to all-too-well:

Laura, Tim W., and Tim S. were all born with developmental disabilities and are now living outside an institution for the first time in years. Our House, a feature length verite documentary [...] strings together a mosaic of humor and pain all taking place under one roof.

Watch the trailer and brace yourself for extreme fun!

Is anyone else proud I didn't say "Tardumentary"?

December 13, 2004 at 12:36 AM in Film | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

HOUSE OF FLYING DAGGERS

Tonight we were treated to a cozy secret screening of Zhang Yimou's Oscar-nominated House of Flying Daggers. People, go see this film. Think Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon meets Romeo and Juliet. The fighting scenes are pure visual poetry, the landscapes are exquisite and beautiful. Ziyi Zhang (Crouching Tiger, Hero) is a knockout. I have to say the love story didn't really grab me, and it is a little slow at times (I was hoping for an epic clash at the end.) But, the orchestration of certain scenes is so unforgettable, the feast for the eyes so tasty, you'll want to see this on the big screen.

Other folks said Yimou's Hero was better, so that's definitely next on my list. I'm also looking forward to seeing Ziyi Zhang in Memoirs of a Geisha, although I'm a little worried about the choice of Rob Marshall (Chicago, Annie (?)) as director. Something I wouldn't normally say: Spielberg would have been a good choice.

ArtForum's Best in 2004 Film [via kathryn]

December 4, 2004 at 12:35 AM in Film | Permalink | Comments (8) | TrackBack

ODDS-N-SODS

ITEM! Jonathan Caouette's blog kindly linked to my video clips of his post-screening talk. Tarnation didn't make the Oscar doc short list. AIIIIGH! Neither did Control Room! WTF. My head a'splode. IndieWire's Anthony Kaufman head also a'splode.

ITEM! I just met Donovan. Yes, the Donovan. There are certain things I will miss about my job.

ITEM! Chuck has been under the weather lately. It's been a helluva week.

ITEM! Lastly but not leastly, everyone check out T-bone's new blog, Straight Outta Frogtown! Welcome to the Upper Midwest Blog Association, dude.

December 3, 2004 at 05:18 PM in Film, Local, Weblogs | Permalink | Comments (9) | TrackBack

BOOK OF CINEMA

Matthew Kadish is a filmmaker in Hollywood (no, seriously) and his new blog is off to a promising start: Book of Cinema

November 17, 2004 at 03:51 PM in Film | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBack