We will have our own press release shortly, I just wanted to start the promotion now. IndiePix is delighted to team up with Rooftop and Shooting People for this landmark event.

Rooftop Films announces “Rooftop Panorama”
Three Special Days for the Rooftop Community to Come Together
June 12-14, 2008

see all the details … (more…)

Last night at the IFC Center, for the third week in a row, Woodstock Film Festival partnered with Thom Powers’ Stranger Than Fiction to present a sold-out screening of a nonfiction gem. The first two incarnations, a presentation of Barbara Kopple’s MY GENERATION and Leon Gast’s WHEN WE WERE KINGS (both Oscar-winning docs that were followed by incisive Q & As and packed afterparties) were sold-out, very successful events, but last night’s screening of Jonathan Demme’s THE AGRONOMIST, his moving portrait of legendary Haitian radio journalist Jean Dominque, took the proverbial cake. The post-screening Q & A with Jonathan Demme, producers Peter Saraf and David Wolff, and Dominique’s stately, articulate widow, Michele Montes moved many audience members to tears, and actor-activist Danny Glover arrived for a surprise appearance onstage. Kudos to Meira, the Woodstock team, and the indefatigable Thom Powers for such a successful run!

Yep, I know how to party! I am sitting on some rocks under the sun, chatting with friends as live music plays in the background, babies frolic, food is nibbled and wine is sipped. And I am talking about. . . . film festival strategy!
After a few days at the 3rd annual Guth Gafa Film Festival in Donegal, Ireland, I decided to foregoe Cannes and take a “vacation.” Yes, a lot of people think that my job is ALL vacation — receptions, free film screenings, schmoozing — but a lot of it really is WORK, and I thought that a holiday with no 11 a.m. screenings, business card exchanges, industry receptions, and panels about distribution would be a welcome respite. Yet, it is clear to me now that documentary and distribution is not just a 9 to 5 job to me (well, it was always clear, but perhaps now even more ridiculously obvious). I guess one could say I set myself up; my best friend Inka is a documentary filmmaker who has worked for the renowned Finnish documentary festival, DocPoint, and aside from talking about British celebrities, rice pies, Benecio del Toro, and our exes, we end up talking about documentary. Which is all well and good, and in fact, made me feel especially lucky to have the “job” that I have, and be able to bring the knowledge I’ve gained over 2-3 years of distributing, acquiring, “festival-ing”, and producing to my friendly conversations. This also hammered home just how different, for better or worse, the funding and distribution process is in Finland versus the United States. Both Inka and my new friend Iris Olsson, who made the Full Frame President’s Award-winning film Summerchild taught me a lot about the way that funding for nonfiction film works in such a small country, leaving us all with questions about the pros and cons of the two different models. In Finland, there are three different government-supported funders to whom aspiring documentarians can turn to in order to get funding for their projects. Inka got several thousand Euros to develop her script for her feature documentary after university. I expressed some sense of jealousy that one knows exactly where to go with a film idea, and that the state helps with artistic projects rather than leaving the starving artists clawing each other over the scraps that private wealthy investors might decide to throw out to us in the States. That said, there is no such thing as private investment in Finland, so if one of these three entities (read: just a few powerful people) decides a filmmakers’ project is not worth it, it dies on the spot. Whereas crafty American filmmakers, after maxing out all of our credit cards and ruining any kind of chance of a mortgage (sans meeting that perfect wealthy spouse), can suck it up and find the odd friend of a mother’s friend who sits on charity boards and likes to give 501(c)3 write-offs (this actually happened to me), or cobble together cash through IFP pitching, the odd and increasingly competitive grant, and creative fundraisers.
I’d love to hear European and American filmmakers weigh in on their thoughts about which is better/worse, or if they are just two manifestations of a very non-lucrative career which makes struggling inevitable.

It’s a frequently heard line from a desperate executive: “theaters will always be here because it is magical to get into a room with other people in the dark.” Or some variation on that theme. But it’s not really magic at all. And increasingly the magic doesn’t work. Not at any price!

The contemporary British artist, David Hockney, who (among other things) worked with photo collages, produced (in 1983) a work entitled “Luncheon At The British Embassy”. This work can help us understand what is going on in a theater and why the magic is going away. Follow the “more” button for the details! (more…)

Mimicking New American cineastes’ Gus Van Sant and Larry Clark, French-Canadian pic transcends neither, using the back-story of teen suicide among aimless ‘we don’t care, why should you’ characters. Props go to filmmaker Yves for creating pretty visuals here and there, but it plays like an MTV mush of MY OWN PRIVATE IDAHO, KIDS, VIRGIN SUICIDES, and ELEPHANT, with the pathos and complexity of none (and I couldn’t stand VIRGIN SUICIDES). The problem may lie in what appears to be a trading off of relevant Quebecois issues for American posturing – teens pondering suicide may be the same the world over (actually, that’s not true), but c’mon – give me some history here. Nothing expanded upon, of little nutritional value, and those grating Cat Power “solos”…yeurgh. I’m curious to see what Yves will come up with, though – a few years from now.

PVC-1 is one of the most painful cinematic experiences I’ve had in a long time. Simple and brutal in its portrayal of a rural South American family destroyed by a gang of thieves (based on a true story), the film transcends the territory cerebral shockmeister Michael Haneke established in 1997’s FUNNY GAMES (and its weaker re-make) by giving torture a human face. Clinging to rosary beads, desperately begging for her God’s intervention, a woman is transformed into a human time bomb when a band of petty criminals strap an explosive around her neck. In exchange for her life, they want 15 million pesos (about $8,500), which they believe lies hidden somewhere in the modest farmhouse. When the criminals disperse, her husband and children begin the torturous journey to save her life. The journey takes on Christ-like proportions, taunting you with the threat of crucifixion and playing with your faith in fate. When the moment finally comes, you’re caught offguard, upset by your own hope, and devastated. The final shot is an act of courage in and of itself. Senseless, seemingly arbitrary, and at times punctuated by brief moments of strange beauty, PVC-1 paints a tragic and true portrait of village life and violence in South America. The apocalypse is everywhere.