| A Mexican immigrant tale in reverse | | Posted Saturday, December 30, 2006 2:54:57 PM by Blog57 Team | | After a career spent editing other people's movies, Mark Becker says he set out to make a short documentary "as a way of getting my feet wet making my own films." But as he shot Romantico, about a pair of Mexican street musicians in San Francisco, Becker knew he had something special. "The plan was to make a 10-minute film about these musicians playing for tips in the neighborhood," he says. "But when one of them had to go back home to be with his family in Mexico, I had an epiphany -- it would be an immigrant tale in reverse," says Becker. "It turned into his experiences of being dislocated from his family in the first place, then being forced to go back and find out what he left behind." When we first meet mariachi singer Carmelo Muñiz, he's barely scraping by as an illegal alien in the Mission District.... | |
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| | | Redford Launches Films For Phones Challenge | | Posted Saturday, November 11, 2006 7:03:17 PM by Blog57 Team | | ROBERT REDFORD's Sundance Institute has challenged six film-makers to make short movies for mobile phones. The independent directors will be charged with creating for the first films especially for phones, Redford announced this week (08NOV06). Redford says the project will create a platform for "artists to develop and grow opportunities for audiences and consumers to see work they might not normally see". He also wants to resurrect the tradition of short films. He adds, "I always loved shorts and I thought they were very entertaining," he said. "So I thought why couldn't we bring that back?" The films - three to five minutes in length - will be premiered at a phone industry conference in Barcelona, Spain in February 2007. The filmmakers include LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE directors JONATHAN DAYTON and VALERIE FARIS.... | |
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| | | Independent Film Festival presents intriguing films | | Posted Saturday, November 11, 2006 1:07:09 PM by Blog57 Team | | This Wednesday, the Northampton Independent Film Festival (NIFF) will launch its twelfth annual five-day run of independent films at several venues on campus and in town, including Seelye Hall, Stoddard Auditorium and Graham Hall. The festival, which is strongly focused on independent work, will include a variety of films. "We're looking to build off last year," said Executive Director David Leo of the festival. "It's really gratifying how the region and the artistic community have embraced this. It's allowed us to blend the works of local and regional filmmakers with truly outstanding entries from across the country and around the world." The festival promises to be a success, featuring a variety of genres, including drama, documentary, shorts and family films.... | |
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| | | This Week's Best Bet | | Posted Tuesday, November 07, 2006 11:07:37 AM by Blog57 Team | | By now, you've heard about the latest edition of the Windsor International Film Festival, which runs from Thursday to Sunday. There's a lot to be excited about: 40 showings of 28 independent films. One flick that should stoke rebels of all ages is Paul Rachman's feature documentary "American Hardcore." This 110-minute epic chronicles the rise and fall of hardcore punk rock across the U.S. in the early 1980s. See rare footage and new interviews with all your favourite angry bands of yesteryear: Black Flag, Bad Brains, Minor Threat and the Dead Kennedys. It's an essential history lesson for those who call themselves underground. American Hardcore hits the screen at 11:15 p.m. on Friday and Saturday at Palace Cinemas, 300 Ouellette Ave. Rated 14A. Single tickets cost $10, available by calling 519-252-6579.... | |
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| | | POP BEAT | | Posted Sunday, October 29, 2006 10:59:55 PM by Blog57 Team | | Avoid the crowds in the Castro on Tuesday and check out the all-local lineup at the Independent's Halloween bash. The Rockstar Masquerade will feature Thriving Ivory, Finding Mercury, which did a bang-up job of keeping the crowd at the Castro Street Fair entertained earlier this month, and 2006 Air Guitar Championship finalist Stinky Ricky. Just a few blocks away, in the Western Addition, the Cramps will be serving up classic-horror-flick-dipped hillbilly punk with a side of the super-campy and seriously strange at the band's annual Halloween show at the Fillmore. The Cramps are being joined by former White Zombie bassist Sean Yseult. Los Angeles singer-songwriter Jake La Botz is wrapping up his Tattoo Across America Tour with shows in San Francisco and Hollywood. For the past month, the "postmodern bluesman" and tattoo enthusiast, who has also appeared in a handful of indie films, including Steve Buscemi's "Animal Factory," has been playing solo sets at tattoo parlors all over the country to promote his fourth CD, "Graveyard Jones." Catch him Wednesday at One Shot Tattoo in San Francisco's Inner Sunset neighborhood (1239 Ninth Ave., Suite A).... | |
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| | | Independent films star this weekend in Livermore | | Posted Wednesday, October 25, 2006 6:59:31 PM by Blog57 Team | | LIVERMORE ? All the final touches are being made to prepare for this week's California Independent Film Festival. Wednesday through Sunday will be jam-packed with events, some promising to be studded with celebrities. The 8-year-old festival is honoring actor Edward Asner with the Lifetime Achievement Award this year. Asner, well-known for "The Mary Tyler Moore Show" along with other TV shows and films, will receive the award at a tribute reception Friday. "We really lucked out," festival director Tim Neeley said. "Everybody seems really happy, and they would love to see him." Other events include a celebrity poker tournament hosted by Adrianne Curry and Christopher Knight of "My Fair Brady" and an opening night showing of "The Powder Puff Principle" starring Clint Howard.... | |
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| | | DISPATCH FROM THE HAMPTONS: Leading Independent Producers Gather to Toast Ted Hope at 3rd Annual Industry Salute | | Posted Saturday, October 21, 2006 2:53:58 PM by Blog57 Team | | With a mix of sincerity and silliness, leading independent film producer Ted Hope was saluted Thursday night at the Hamptons International Film Festival by an leading group of filmmaking colleagues and industry friends. The event, presented in conjunction with indieWIRE, ranged from toast to roast as M.C. Rosie Perez, filmmakers John Waters and Todd Solondz, fellow producers Christine Vachon, Jason Kliot & Joana Vicente, Anthony Bregman, Scott Macaulay, Ross Katz, This Is That colleagues Anne Carey and Diana Victor, and former Good Machine business partner James Schamus stood to speak about Hope (others including Hal Hartley and Ang Lee sent taped messages). It was the Hamptons fest's 3rd annual Industry Toast, previous recipients include Sony Pictures Classics' Marcie Bloom and Picturehouse president Bob Berney.... | |
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| | | TOKYOPOP Ventures into Independent Films | | Posted Friday, October 20, 2006 12:54:26 PM by Blog57 Team | | Lament of the Lamb follows the physical and mental torment of a man who discovers that he is cursed with a hereditary disease that makes him crave blood. A metaphor for teenage alienation, twisted sexual desire and insanity, Lament of the Lamb presents psychological horror at its best. Stu Levy, TOKYOPOP CEO & Chief Creative Officer, is producing the film. "We are honored to be spotlighted at one of the world's most significant film festivals. I believe what impressed the committee most about Lament of the Lamb was the distinctive East-meets-West approach to our production," Levy stated. "We'll script the story in Hollywood, attach a Japanese director, cast in the West, and shoot in Eastern Europe. Clearly, this production represents what TOKYOPOP as a media company is all about, from its business model to its creative approach." According to a statement from Tokyo International Film Festival Chairman, Tsuguhiko Kadokawa, "Co-productions with a wide range of countries have increased in number, not to mention a spate of Hollywood remakes, as a burgeoning cinematic diaspora transcends the confines of national and regional borders.... | |
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| | | Jonathan Ball, 60, actor and singer, did local, national stage, film work | | Posted Tuesday, October 17, 2006 2:57:27 PM by Blog57 Team | | Jonathan Ball, a Cleveland-born actor who died Sept. 5 at age 60, took on roles in such traditional stage musicals as "Kiss Me Kate" and in such off-beat independent films as "The Pterodactyl Woman from Bev erly Hills." In the yet- to-be-released film "Stein, Gertrude Stein," Ball crosses the gender line by playing Stein's companion, Alice B. Toklas. A few years ago, he portrayed a character who was the focus of an episode on television's "Law and Order." "He was pretty big, but he was the corpse," his sister, Andrea, said. Although it was not a speaking part, Ball's face was quite visible in the program, plastered on buses and fliers aimed at getting the public to provide information to help solve a crime. The real Jonathan Ball's death is a coroner's case.... | |
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| | | SOUND LOUNGE PROMOTES TWO TO MIXER POSITIONS | News | Post Magazine | | Posted Friday, October 13, 2006 2:53:57 PM by Blog57 Team | | NEW YORK - Sound Lounge (www.soundlounge.com) has promoted Paul Weiss and Cory Melious to mixer positions. Both joined the facility in 2002 as assistant mixers and have further developed their skills for television and radio spots, broadcast promotions and independent films. The promotions continue Sound Lounge's practice of developing mixing talent in-house. .... | |
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