Recently KQED, the public station in San Francisco, CA, ran an article entitled: “For Cinephiles, Netflix Is Less and Less an Option” — see this link. The article is a very detailed story about the search for a very prominent, if somewhat older, black independent film, Sweet Sweetback’s Baadasssss Song. NetFlix wasn’t the resource that [...]

Hollywood’s focus on superheroes, comedies, and animated movies for kids is leaving a door wide open for independent filmmakers. As more people stay away from movie theaters opting to stay at home and watch movies on demand on better televisions – this summer has seen a 15 percent drop in tickets sales – there is [...]

People more than ever before pull out a smartphone or tablet to watch video. It’s at the point where the TV is on in the room, but so is a Kindle, a laptop and maybe a cell phone with a pretty sizable screen. We handle more than one thing at a time. In fact, most [...]

Has it come to this so soon in our wondrous and new tech-driven world? YouTube apparently telling musicians on independent labels that they’ll have to remove work from the site if they don’t agree to unfair royalty terms. That’s the way it seemingly stands as YouTube prepares to launch a Spotify-like music streaming service sometime [...]

Among all the problems in the world, “too many films…” is certainly not one of them. Let’s think about this for a moment. Are there too many pieces of music — not just contemporary or pop music in all its many genres, but music? Are there too many books on too many different subjects and [...]

  HR Giger, the Swiss artist who innovated the lexicon of conceptual design for Hollywood films, has died today. He was 74. The preternatural visions that live on have been germinating, serpentine, for the last 35 years in a cinephiliac collective unconscious.  One can say the artist’s work was an artificial channel for conducting nightmares [...]

It takes a certain level of conviction to stay true to one’s roots when balancing the demands of a bustling metropolis. The filmmaker  Yared Zeleke is an Ethiopian storyteller who swims against the current, making films that detail his experiences back home and abroad. His first feature, currently in development, was selected as one of [...]

Ted Hope asks: When did “independent” become a negative word?Ted Hope writes: “I hereby declare my independence”Ted Hope proposes: “a sustainable film culture built on creative and financial independence” But How is that going to happen? Apparently stung by an individual who did not want to be called an “independent filmmaker”, an individual who said [...]

Terms and Conditions May Apply is a new documentary film by Cullen Hoback and released to theaters in the last couple of weeks by Variance Films. The film has won recognition at SLAMDANCE and Newport Beach International Film Festival — and we became aware of the film there. With it’s theatrical release, more attention has [...]

In the business of independent film distribution the driving force in how the industry navigates is sales: the money coming in from the films coming out.  Theaters, much like the now trending and conquering online streaming platforms, must adjust their cost and technology to a plethora of factors including but not limited to the demand [...]