Lloyd Kaufman (The Toxic Avenger, Poultrygeist, Tromeo and Juliet – to name just a few films from his prolific output) came to DCTV last night for a Shooting People/DCTV event to talk about his career, and his latest book Direct Your Own Damn Movie!. He talked about his experience working outside the system for many decades. Troma Entertainment is one of the longest running truly independent studios (founded in 1974), an incredible achievement. I wish I had written down some…

I’m knee-deep in accounts (such fun!) but wanted to mention this free Rooftop Films screening of David Modigliani’s Crawford in Chelsea Market tonight, Monday January 12th. Live music at 7pm (Matteah Baim), film starts at 7.30pm. Free beer! It’s a special screening to say farewell to Bush – now that’s something I can drink to!

It really saddens me that calls for fair coverage of the situation in Gaza in the US press leads to accusations of anti-Semitism which then seems to stop any possible dialogue dead in its tracks. This really is the “mobius-strip of issues” right now and that can’t be good for anyone. Surely any possible solution requires that the situation is discussed openly with all the issues on the table, which is just a teeny bit difficult if the evidence is…

Thanks so much to everyone who came out to celebrate the festive season with Shooting People and the Manhattan Edit Workshop last night. You can’t go wrong with beer, skee ball and cupcakes it seems. I was too distracted to take any pics but the intrepid Jesse Epstein was on the case (when she wasn’t playing Buckhunter!).

I’m at the second and final day of The Conversation today. I’ve been too busy to blog but you can follow updates from me and other attendees on Twitter. I’ll post an update when footage from the panels is put online. Lots of good ideas coming up that should be shared.

The PaleyDocFest starts tomorrow with a screening of Kristi Jacobson’s Toots, a film about the legendary New York City restaurateur Toots Shor, whose restaurant stood exactly where The Paley Center now stands apparently! I’m personally also looking forward to seeing James Moll’s Running the Sahara on October 24th. This is the unbelievable sounding story of three men who decide to run across all 4,300 miles of the Sahara Desert, averaging 50 miles per day for nearly 4 months without a…

I’m really excited to be heading to Berkeley, CA for The Conversation later this week. Partly because I love Berkeley and am always happy to have an excuse to visit the Bay Area, but mainly because The Conversation looks like it is going to be a brilliant couple of days of discussion about new ways of thinking about films, audiences, and platforms. The organizers are Ken Goldberg, Tiffany Shlain, Scott Kirsner and Lance Weiler and participants include Ted Hope, Peter…

Instead of yelling at your TV, send your thoughts via Twitter during the debate tonight. Some tweets will be added to the Current live broadcast. And if you’re in NYC you can participate in Hack the Debate in 3-D at Galapagos Art Space in DUMBO: HACK THE DEBATE – 3D! video_dumbo presents Current TV’s “Hack the Debate,” an interactive broadcast of the first presidential debate. For visual enhancement, video_dumbo will transform the Broadcast into 3D based on a new polarized…

Rooftop Films are doing a bunch of great screenings this week. Here’s the info: __________________________ Tuesday, Sept. 16th, 2008 Rooftop and IFP Independent Film Week present Trinidad FREE SHOW, FREE OPEN BAR! 40 years ago, Dr. Stanley Biber transformed a sleepy mining town in Colorado into The Sex Change Capital of The World. Venue: Along the water at Solar One Address: East 23rd Street and the East River in Manhattan Directions: 6 Train to 23rd street and walk East to…

I’m moderating this panel on Monday at 10am at the Conference during Independent Film Week. If you want to find out where the money is, and I know that you do!, please stop by. FILMMAKING 2.0 Show Me the New Money Where do you begin when navigating the wide variety of traditional and new media services, sites and opportunities being promoted to assist filmmakers in raising money? How do these tools and services differ from traditional private equity and film…