Tuesday, September 30, 2003

DCIFF Calls for Entries
TThe 2004 DC Independent Film Festival (DCIFF) will be held March 4 - 11, 2004. Completed U.S. and international feature-length, short, documentary, animation films may be submitted by November 15th for early consideration and a reduced submission fee. Final deadline to submit films for the 2004 DC Independent Film Festival (DCIFF) is December 15th.

Monday, September 29, 2003

HBO: K Street
Okay, last week the noble firm of Carville, Matalin and their fictional hanger-ons pushed the party line of the poor misunderstood RIAA. It was an advertorial for the greedy record industry who likes to sue 12 year olds and grandmas while ripping off artists and keeping CD prices articially high. "K Street" cloaked their Luddite attempts to stop technology and consumer choice in some high-minded conference room blather about theft and copyights. This is the same industry that tried to stop the cassette tape.

But if you thought that last week's client was bad, this week's was even worst - the terrorist-enabling, oppressive, backward government of Saudi Arabia. Carville et al, with no apparent sense of irony or historical memory, justified their efforts by saying that the Saudis had to be engaged, not confronted. Sounds a lot like the apartheid apologists of the 1980s. What was refreshing, and encouraging, was how many people objected to pimping for the Saudis, most notably, and nobly, Senator Barbara Boxer of California.

Are all the good clients taken? Who will Carville and Matalin represent next week? North Korea? Fidel? The French?

Sunday, September 28, 2003

RESFEST 2003
Do you shoot digital? Want to? Then check out RESFEST 2003 starting Friday at Grosvenor Auditorium at National Geographic. Highlights of the fest include a digital filmmaking seminar and rarities from Spike Jonze.

Monday, September 22, 2003

Georgetown Film Fest: Winners
The film festival wrapped up last night with the awards ceremony. Congrats to all the winners!

Special Jury Prize, Best Original Screenplay
By Any Other
Director: Derek Frank

Best Original Screenplay
Banana by Kevin Lee

Best Adapted Screenplay
Matthew and the Dead Body by Ryan Samul

Special Jury Prize, Best Documentary Short
Road to Calvary
Directors: Kelly Vorrasi and Bridget Venckus

Best Documentary Short
Larry in Relation to the Ground
Director: Ted Fisher

Special Jury Prize, Best Comedy Film
Homemaker
Director: Li Lin Wee

Best Comedy Film
Long Time No See
Director: Brett Eichenberger

Best Cinematography
Cycle
Director: Nguyen Tran Minh Chieu

**my personal favorite**
Best Experimental Film
The Diner
Director: John Roper

Best Animated Film
Into The Air's Memory
Director: Albert Ka Ho Yu

Special Jury Prize, Best Narrative Short
My Josephine
Director: Barry Jenkins

Best Narrative Short
Traces
Director: Michael Boland

Best Narrative Feature
The Suicide Auditions
Director: Peter Barton

Best Documentary
Straight Out
Director: Hrabba Gunnarsdottir

Best Director
Director: Guldem Durmaz for Koro

Saturday, September 20, 2003

Georgetown Film Fest: Highlights
Last night, I went and finally saw my friend Robyn Bennett's short film, "Table for Two." Beautifully shot and wonderfully written, it's a hilarious look at dating and the absurd lengths men and women go to impress. Two dates, two restaurants, two tables for two. A tremendous amount of work went into the film and that shows on the screen. I was present for part of the filming last year and wrote an article about the production.

Of course, I'm biased, but "Table for Two" was the highlight of the film block it was in. But there were several other interesting short films as well. "The Diner" by John Roper was both clever and moving. The movie was produced by taking hundreds of still photos and then weaving them together a la Ken Burns. I was also impressed by "What are You Having?" by Benjamin Meyer. It's a perfect short film about lost chances.

Friday, September 19, 2003

Georgetown Film Festival
No mere hurricane could stop the Georgetown Film Festival. Check it out this weekend to see indie movies from DC and around the world.

Monday, September 15, 2003

2003 Latin American Film Festival
Going on this week and next at the Kennedy Center and AFI Silver, check out the Latin American Film Festival. The festival features a wide range of interesting-looking movies from South and Central America.
"K Street" is One Dull Road
That Soderbergh can produce and edit a show as quickly as "K Street" is amazing - he's covering stuff which happened just last week. Unfortunately, "K Street" is way too accurate, too much like real life. It reveals the banal truth about DC - we are a town full of self-important blowhards trapped in dull meetings with one another. Filmed in a washed-out blue, the show is one static shot after the next of politicos talking on street corners, in conferences rooms, in meeting halls, even on Acela at one point. The most thrilling revelation is that Dean used a line Carville fed him. It's not TV, it's fictionalized C-SPAN.

Saturday, September 13, 2003

"K Street" Behind the Scenes
An article in today's Post follows the ever-evolving "K Street" which debuts on HBO tomorrow night. With its mix of real people and places with a few actors, it's an interesting idea - but how can you make lobbyists interesting and human? One of the writers for the show (which is largely improvised) says, "Our job is to show what goes on behind the process. What got you there. Who it is that really makes the decisions that influence our lives. This show is about power." I think the "K Street" will be more about Steven Soderbergh's skills as an editor - can he cut together a show which gives us something we can't find on C-SPAN?

Thursday, September 11, 2003

Guerrilla Film Fest
Join an "irregular unit fighting to challenge the Hollywood paradigm" Friday night at the Goethe-Institute in Chinatown. See some interesting movies and enjoy a reception at Fado's afterwards.
Rodriguez Wins Digital Freedom
Okay, this article has nothing to do with DC but its lessons are certainly applicable to filmmakers in Washington. Robert Rodriguez, the director who burst onto the scene with "El Mariachi", which he made for only $7k, has embraced digital technology for his new epic, "Once Upon a Time in Mexico". Digital costs less, frees him from Hollywood meddling (a la the doomed "Project Greenlight"), and lets him work from his home in Texas.

Wednesday, September 10, 2003

We're Off to See the Wizard!
Get your Judy Garland obsession out of your brain at the Sing-A-Long Wizard of Oz festival at the Kennedy Center, Sept 9-14. Audience members are encouraged to dress up as their favorite characters from this classic 1939 film. Mass singing is expected to break out for such tunes as, "Over the Rainbow." It's Rocky Horror for the Queer Eye generation.

Tuesday, September 09, 2003

FilmBiz Happy Hour Tonight
September 9th the charity of the month is The Arlington Community Temporary Shelter, Inc. (or TACTS). TACTS is a non-profit organization that offers a safe place for abused, homeless, and at-risk women and families. Help this charity out while you mingle with the local film community tonight at Jury's on Dupont Circle.

Monday, September 08, 2003

Are you now, or have you ever been a Republican?
"A liberal can go out and make ... 'The West Wing,' which is not even thinly disguised as a liberal view of politics, and do hours of propaganda every week, and no one questions it," claims writer and producer Lionel Chetwynd in response to beating he's received from press for "DC 9/11: Time of Crisis." The media has been critical of Chetwynd's unfashionable and overt Republican beliefs. He's right - "The West Wing" is liberal fantasy camp but what was wrong with Chetwynd's film was not its neoconservative roots, but that it just wasn't very good.

Sunday, September 07, 2003

DC 9/11 and Reflections from Ground Zero
"DC 9/11 - Time of Crisis" aspired to be a moving, inspiring story like HBO's critically acclaimed bio of Churchill in the 30s, "The Gathering Storm." However, for "DC 9/11" it looked like they didn't shoot a single frame of film in the actual Washington - all the exterior shots came from news reports and the interiors made C-SPAN's framing and art direction look interesting. It all looked very generic and a very pale shadow of the actual tragedy of the day. Timothy Bottoms looked liked W., and spoke better than the actual President, but his performance lacked the emotion and, dare I say, power of Bush. The real President engenders strong feelings, pro or con, while the Showtime President couldn't scare anyone. Plus, the whole movie had a very cheap and washed-out look to it - a comparison to the high-quality productions of HBO would be a brutal one.

Much more interesting was the slate of short movies on 9/11 which followed the feature. "Reflections from Ground Zero" presented nine short films from NYU students dealing with the impact of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on New York. "Twice a Day" by Kelly Atkins was particularly moving and managed to capture the sadness and loss of 9/11 in a very unique and creative way. But my favorite was "Unfurled" by Bryan Gunnar Cole. 9/11 is viewed from afar, and with the healing passage of time, as Cole shows us all the ways we Americans use the flag to express ourselves.

Saturday, September 06, 2003

Guerrilla Film Fest: Sept 12
Watch guerilla films at a German cultural center in Chinatown and then repair to an Irish bar for drinks. Is that diverse enough for you? See indie movies on September 12th at the Goethe-Institut Washington on 7th St. downtown. The event is hosted by the Guerilla Film Fest, a movement dedicated to challenging the Hollywood paradigm. $10 includes a night of short movies and an open bar reception at Fado's.

Friday, September 05, 2003

DC 9/11: Time of Crisis
Too soon, I'd say, but Showtime revisits Sept 11, 2001 in DC 9/11: Time of Crisis. Timothy Bottoms is uncanny as W. but the movie looks like a campaign commercial for Bush - and that's not good drama.

Monday, September 01, 2003

K Street - The Series?
Every bus shelter in DC seems like it's been plastered with posters for K Street, the new "It's not TV, it's HBO" series. Leaving the sanctified unreality of The West Wing behind, K Street purports to show the dirty world of politics as it's really conducted in DC. The show mixes the real actors with fake politicians, or viceversa, I'm not sure. That line is pretty blurry these days. Executive Producers George Clooney and Steven Soderburgh promise to "take us to the backrooms and power-lunches of the Washington elite." So, we're going to the Palm. Can they turn the banal world of routine Washington sleaze into interesting television? Tune in on the 14th to see.

(But what I'm really interested in is Soderbergh's adaptation of one of my favorite books of all times, A Confederacy of Dunces. Filming of this classic starts this fall.)