The March March parade up Broadway makes everyone smile. I was talking to someone about it afterwards and she said how nice it was to see grown-ups jumping up and down and grinning inanely and what an incredible sense of community an anarchic parade like this creates. Amen! Here’s the evidence. This fine lady was giving out buttons that said I AM LOVED in lots of different languages Esther Robinson (a Swami here this year), with Sky Sitney (Silverdocs) Stephanie…
I arrived in Columbia, Missouri yesterday and was immediately swallowed up into the documentary joys of True/False (not to mention the excellent cheeseburgers at Booches). I’m about to join the March March parade up Broadway and then see Ondi Timoner’s We Live in Public followed by Jamie Jay Johnson’s Sounds Like Teen Spirit. My kind of Friday night! Here are some photos from the last 24 hours. True/False cupcakes in the Ragtag Me in a Jamie Jay Johnson (Director of…
Among the other new films that are in the running for “Film Of The Month” there are these three little oddities about personal violence. Nothing as graphic or cartoonish as yesterday’s horror selection but perhaps all the more disturbing for that… “Slip” is a Lynchian nightmare which also continues the 1980′s retro vibe of “Neon Killer”. It’s stylish, well crafted and delightfully short. “Cake” is a fantastically well made short film which continually refuses to do what you expect. Quite…
Blimey there’s something blood thirsty happening in Film Of The Month. A quick glance over the recently uploaded films brought these two B-Movie gems to my attention and since I am, at heart, quite a sensitive soul, I rather wish it hadn’t. However you can’t fault either the Brother’s Peretti or Ben Robinson for the gleeful enthusiasm they bring to their task of making me look away. “Nightshifters” is one of the best examples of comic book CGI I’ve seen…
This video by Jonathan Jarvis does a great job of explaining the current credit crisis in clear, visual terms. The Crisis of Credit Visualized from Jonathan Jarvis on Vimeo. Hat Tip: PSFK
Man on Wire is way ahead in the Shooting People Oscar Poll. If you’re a member get voting now. There’s money in it for the lucky winner!
I’m currently in the process of writing an article about remix culture and the notion of the Commons. It is taking me in all sorts of fascinating directions, from Girl Talk to Brett Gaylor’s open source film about the musician, RIP: A Remix Manifesto. From Creative Commons to Brad Lichtenstein’s work in progress What We Got: DJ Spooky’s Quest for the Commons. I like this animated video by Laura Hanna and Gavin Browning that examines the notion of the Commons…
Scottish Screen have provided a very handy downloadable guide to the world of short film distribution. It covers all the bases from festivals to sales agents to digital distribution. If you are even considering making a short film you should read this guide. One of the things I am learning is that thinking about distribution AFTER your film is made is usually way too late. You should be thinking about the goals you have for your film from day 1…
Recently I’ve been thinking a lot about storytelling and about how narrative shapes our lives. I’m really interested in learning more about digital storytelling – which seems to me to have very different goals than traditional documentary in that it is all about “ordinary” people telling their own stories, and hopefully empowering themselves in the process. The Center for Digital Storytelling are doing some interesting work in this area, training people to use “the tools of digital media to craft,…
This film is currently Film Of The Month on the Watch Film site… and quite right too, if you don’t enjoy this then I think you have no soul…
