Henry Dodd on Fairfax Cable
Is a movie featuring a talking hot dog a "megahit movie"? Decide for yourself Sunday night as Henry Dodd, a low-budget movie filmed in Fairfax, comes to Fairfax cable. Cox Cable TV Channel 10 broadcasts this movie about the quest to be a real man on Sunday, August 31 at 7:00pm.

Labor Film Fest @ AFI Silver
A film fest about the labor industry conjures up images of sweaty teamsters and mandatory 30-minute coffee breaks. Yet, perhaps because it's sponsored by the AFL-CIO, the DC Labor film fest, running Sept. 4-7, avoids these unfavorable associations and instead concentrates on ordinary working people. The festival features "labor-related films" such as Dirty Pretty Things and Christ in Concrete. There will also be a photo exhibit, a filmmakers forum and discussions with labor activists. Hopefully the projectionist won't go on strike. You can find out more on AFI's confusing web site.

Cheap Shots at Midnight
Sponsored by the Washington Psychotronic Film Society, Visions is offering the CHEAP SHOTS program every Friday and Saturday nights at midnight. Discount shots and cheesy movies - what could be better?

I saw Charlotte Sometimes on Saturday night and must say that the excellent reviews this thoughtful romantic story has received are richly deserved. It's one of the smartest and deepest films I've seen all year. The characters are so well-drawn and so real that they really stay with you. In the Q&A session afterwards, director/writer Eric Byle stressed his interest in character development over plot. These are characters that he's obviously lived with for a while. And in Charlotte Sometimes, he examines them patiently, slowly but there's some things about them that we will never know - just like in real life. It's a lot more mature approach to filmmaking and one that hearkens back to the great, character-driven movies of the 70s.

Charlotte Sometimes at the Avalon Tonight
"Every once in a while I go to see a movie, out of maybe 400 movies I see in a year, that with its authority, and its mood, and its tone, and its tension, simply captures you; totally absorbs you. That's what Charlotte Sometimes did to me...." Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times.

Charlotte Sometimes premieres tonight at the historic Avalon Theater on Connecticut Avenue. Come out for the 7 PM showing and join writer/director, Eric Byler, for a Q&A session.

Georgetown Film Fest Party at Grille 88
It's time for another Georgetown Film Festival party! This one takes place on Thursday night at Grille 88, the semi-swanky lounge on 18th Street in Adams Morgan. With Skyy vodka and the usual crowd of filmfest regulars, it should be an interesting time.

Lucrezia Blozia asked me to post this. How could I resist the Cher of the trannie set?

"PHAG is seeking submissions of short comedy sketches (6 - 8 minutes/pages) and short films (3 - 5 mins.) for a live Sonny and Cher -type show hosted by Johnny Kat and Lucrezia Blozia (the Sonny and Cher of the trannie set). PHAG starts in November and we are concentrating on these four themes first:

Pimps, Hos And Gangstas (hip-hop/urban life/Blaxploitation)

Purple Haze And Goldfinger (60s pop culture)

Pear Harbor And Godzilla (Japanese Culture, pop and otherwise)

Pimples, Heartbreak And Graduation (teen life/high school)

We're looking to get submissions in by September 1 so we can see which show is in the best shape and make that the first show.

Please e-mail lucrezia_blozia@hotmail.com if you need more info."

Fairfax Filmmakers Profiled by the Post
Richard Michaels Stefanik and Gloria Barltrop seem to have gotten all of Fairfax involved with their community filmmaking project. Their movie, Henry Dodd, was shot on equipment from Fairfax Public Access and will show on the cable access channel later this month. Learn how you can make a movie for less than you ever thought possible.

Lights. Camera. U Street?
The Washington Post today looks at "U Street Blue," a short movie filmed on U Street by students in Howard University's graduate film program. With "Dive: The Movie" filmed at Kingpin and now "U Street Blue" it's clear that funky U Street holds a great appeal to indie filmmakers.

Take a Class on Filmmaking
Local film celebrity Jorge Bernardo will be teaching "So You Want to be a Filmmaker" at First Class on Thursday night. Jorge is a great guy, an accomplished filmmaker and an experienced teacher.

Dive: The Movie
Sure, you spend a lot of time in bars, so why not make a movie in one? "Dive" is a black comedy which was filmed at Kingpin on U Street and stars Veen Viscal, who is one of the bartenders and co-owners. The short film is billed as, "A lightning speed subversive ride through the underground of now. Filled with goths, punks, junkies, and drunks!
All mixed up in to one intoxicated night and one fun flick." It's playing this week at Signal 66.

FilmBiz Happy Hour
Come out tonight, August 12th, for the Film Biz Happy Hour. Held the second Tuesday of every month, this networking event for the film community in DC raises money for deserving charities. It's a great event and a chance to meet nice people involved in DC's film business.

Guerrilla Film Fest
Do slick and awful movies like the much-maligned Gigli make you long for something more authentic, something far removed from the slick, mult-million dollar world of Hollywood? Then the Guerrilla Film Fest is for you. This new festival, which will be at the Goethe Institute on September 12th, is a new vehicle for guerrilla filmmakers to showcase their work. Filmmakers have until August 8th to submit their work.

Cinemania in Silver Spring
Think you're obsessed about movies? Maybe you're not as crazed as you think. Watch Cinemania, a loving profile of film fanatics in NYC, and decided for yourself. Admitting that you have a problem is the first step. Director Stephen Kijak will be at the AFI Silver on Saturday August 2 to provide therapy for cinephiles.