Authors — Jason Guerrasio

25 NEW FACES ALUMNI

With the summer issue going live on the site tomorrow, which includes our 10th year doing “25 New Faces of Independent Film,” we thought it would be fun as a lead up to list “The 25” alumni. Click on the year below to read up on your favorite 25s of years past (sorry, ’98 – ’00 aren’t online). And keep your eyes peeled to the blog in the coming weeks as we’ll be catching up with some of these names to see what they’re currently up to. (If you were a 25 New Face, it’s not too late to let […]
by Jason Guerrasio on Jul 22, 2008
FROM HERE TO AWESOME ANNOUNCES LINE UP

Along with their DIY DAYS, FHTA will also use the event in L.A. this week to unveil the films that will be showcased in their traveling distribution film festival around the country in the next six months. They are… FEATURES Abel Raises Cain – directed by Jenny Able and Jeff Hockett An unprecedented glimpse into the life and bizarre career of infamous media prankster, Alan Abel, told from the viewpoint of his daughter, Jenny. An offbeat portrait of an eccentric father, the film takes the audience on an unusual ride through the myriad of outlandish stunts and satirical campaigns that […]
by Jason Guerrasio on Jul 21, 2008
SANS THUMBS?

In a post earlier today on his website, Roger Ebert says he will no longer be involved with the show that has made him a film icon. “After 33 years on the air, 23 of them with Disney, the studio has decided to take the program named “Siskel & Ebert” and then “Ebert & Roeper” in a new direction,” he writes. Time.com is also reporting that Ebert’s co-host, Richard Roeper, will also be leaving the show (his last appearance will take place in mid August). Ebert has been off the air since 2006 due to medical problems and a dispute […]
by Jason Guerrasio on Jul 21, 2008
DGA’S DIGITAL DAY

Over at Scott Kirsner‘s CinemaTech blog, he highlights the agenda for next week’s Directors Guild of America‘s annual “Digital Day.” An excerpt: Digital Day takes place in LA next Saturday, August 2nd, and the agenda looks interesting: sessions on motion capture, 3D television, virtual worlds, and developing content for the Internet and mobile phones. The theme this year is “Size Matters: Creating Content for Big and Small Screens.” Speakers include 3D cinematography gurus Vince Pace and Steve Schklair and directors Eric Brevig (Journey to the Center of the Earth), Penelope Spheeris, Marshall Herskovitz and Demian Lichtenstein. Click here to learn […]
by Jason Guerrasio on Jul 20, 2008
“OFF THE GRID”

Nominated as one of the “Best Films Not Playing at a Theater Near You” at last year’s Gotham Awards, Jeremy & Randy Stulberg’s Off The Grid: Life on the Mesa examines a group of people who have given up the amenities we all take for granted to live an existence that includes little food, water and no electricity. In the middle of the barren prairies of New Mexico, a small community of war vets, hippies and runaways live “off the grid” in what they believe is the last strand of the American Dream, but the Stulbergs find it more often […]
by Jason Guerrasio on Jul 18, 2008
INDIEWIRE SOLD TO SNAGFILMS

While we were all sleeping last night the folks at indieWIRE were preparing the announcement of a deal with the site SnagFilms. What is SnagFilms? (I had to look it up myself) Variety describes it as “Hulu-style free streaming with social networking in that films stream for free but can also be shared or posted to Facebook pages or blogs.” The doc distrib site was created by former AOLers Ted Leonsis and backed by Steve Case and Miles Gilburne. Its Beta version launched today with 250 titles supplied by PBS, National Geographic, IndiePix, Arts Alliance America and Koch Lorber with […]
by Jason Guerrasio on Jul 17, 2008
Migrating Talents: Inside the Flaherty Seminar

The 54th edition of the notorious Flaherty Film Seminar (June 21-27) kicked off with some steamy words from president Patti Bruck. “We’re not here to discuss film,” she insinuated; “we’re here to argue about film.” Begun in 1955 when Robert Flaherty’s widow Frances gathered filmmakers, critics, and musicians to discuss the potential of the moving image, the Seminar has evolved into one of the more idiosyncratic and invigorating stops in the film world, with an almost Nietzschean will for conflict. No titles or filmmakers are announced beforehand; all screenings, meals, and discussions are mandatory; filmmaker/audience hierarchies are abandoned in favor […]
by Jason Guerrasio on Jul 16, 2008
THE CLASS TO OPEN 46TH NYFF

In an announcement sent out today, the Film Society of Lincoln Center has chosen Laurent Cantet‘s Palme d’Or winner The Class as the opening film of the 2008 New York Film Festival, marking the film’s American debut (the film will be released later in the year through Sony Pictures Classics). Two showcases at the Walter Reade Theater have also been announced. “In the Realm of Oshima” will celebrate the work of Japanese filmmaker Nagisa Oshima and runs thoughout the festival while the annual “Views from the Avant-Garde” will feature a 30th anniversary of Guy Debord‘s In girum imus nocte et […]
by Jason Guerrasio on Jul 15, 2008
A MEETING OF THE DIY MINDS

Here’s something to mark down on your calander complements of the folks at From Here To Awesome. DIY DAYS | fund :: create :: distribute :: sustainJuly 26th 9:30am to 7:30pm Under Spring, 1745 North Spring #4, Los Angeles, CA 90012 What’s an independent filmmaker to do in these times of a failing industry, piracy and so much damn competition? The industry pioneers behind Head Trauma, Four Eyed Monsters, and We are the Strange created From Here to Awesome to help artists find their way. And from the awesomeness was born DIY DAYS, a day to bring a bunch of […]
by Jason Guerrasio on Jul 9, 2008
A Step Into the Mainstream

Canada’s Patricia Rozema has had an eclectic career, spanning films as diverse as her 1987 debut Cannes feature, I’ve Heard the Mermaids Singing to her Yo Yo Ma feature, Six Gestures: Suite No. 6 for Unaccompanied Cello to her 1999 Jane Austen adaptation, Mansfield Park. The themes and approaches of these films — Rozema’s concentration on adult eroticism, feminism, religious skepticism, and social revolution — would not seem to be the kind of interests which would speak to the upright members of the American Girl enterprise, protectorate of the indomitable Kit Kittredge and her wholesome doll sisters. Yet, the sweetly […]
by Jason Guerrasio on Jul 7, 2008

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