FREE CINEMA NOW

It doesn't take a rocket scientist to draw the analogy between Canelo and today's DIY filmmaker. If you haven't already seen Luis Bunuel's Viridiana , then watch the clip below and discover some profound truth. You always know how to cut to the core of me Bunuel.

At a recent social gathering, I found myself debating in dialogues about the "craft" of directing, the approach to acquiring cheap/free/affordable actors and the ability to single out strong screenplays. Mind you, those are all valid and very real concerns for the "Director." But what struck me during these debates was the vernacular coming from this pool of artists. Most indie filmmakers that I meet are deeply obsessed with the textbook language that comes with "directing"; almost to the point where I'm turned off by each of them as individual artists. Is that unfair? Maybe. But what has always stimulated me about the cinema and its iconic directors, were their projected sensibilities, their ambition and their ideas that were announced BEFORE the cameras started rolling. I guess in today's circumstances, the act of "filmmaking" has grown to be a towering, romantic pedastal for most novice filmmakers. I can't tell you how man...

Friends and followers, I have an upcoming video art exhibit at the I AM Logan Square Gallery in collaboration with filmmaker Amir George , curator at The Cinema Culture . Press Release: FROM: I Am Logan Square 773-278-4257 / info@iamlogansquare.com FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Film Is Dead: Edges of the Digital Frame A Radical Video Exhibition That Celebrates the New Wave of Underground Cinema “Film Is Dead: Edges of The Digital Frame” is a radical video exhibition that celebrates the new wave of underground cinema. Incorporating aspects of video appropriation, off-kilter narratives and culturally conscious video mash-ups, the works of Nelson Carvajal and Amir George represent an underexposed avenue of truly independent filmmaking—one that steers clear of traditional “film school” tropes and textbook rhetoric. Film Is Dead: Edges of the Digital Frame, a video exhibition that celebrates the new wave of underground cinema, will open on Thursday, February 2...

One of the special features on the DVD of Jean-Luc Godard's Week End (New Yorker Video label) is a short interview with director Mike Figgis (Leaving Las Vegas). Halfway through the interview, after pointing out the iconic and technical significance of Godard's body of work, Figgis makes a fascinating aside: Godard's recent reaffirmation as a "modern" filmmaker is a direct result of his singular commitment to expressing a cavalcade of ideas without ever giving his audience a shred of attention or consideration. In short, Godard was the uber-artist for employing tunnel vision in his approach to the medium. Yes, he was a philosopher and a technical wizard in the art of filmmaking. But audience engagement was the last thing on his mind. Godard never aimed to capitalize on a single idea or selling point--he wanted to avoid making industries of such things. So you can see why I sat up and panicked. It's December of 2011. The new year is days away. Furthe...

It's going to be a cloudy day for you if you come to realize that your core online fan group is solely comprised of grandma and cousin Kenneth from Wichita, Kansas. I always cringe when I see independent filmmakers create a Facebook fan page, Twitter page or even a Myspace FILM page and then...they just walk away from it. It's as if they're convinced that simply publishing these pages will attract fans/followers/potential viewers outside of their close friends and family. But this isn't a FREE CINEMA NOW entry that is going to beat you over the head on how you absolutely must be rigorous in your quest to build your online brand (even though I'm pretty sure every post that I've written pulsates with that message in some way). Rather, let this entry be a potent reminder that audience management/cultivation through social media is still very real and very VALUABLE. If social media wasn't valuable, why would VOD cable marketers develop an app for us...

"In documentary we deal with the actual, and in one sense with the real. But the really real, if I may use that phrase, is something deeper than that. The only reality which counts in the end is the interpretation--which is profound." - John Grierson We live in such a strange time. It seems like there is social unrest at every corner of the world. And as filmmakers, we are storytellers. But what stories are we telling? It's hard to get through the day without checking on the latest #OccupyWallStreet update. We're all affected by such monumental civic events.  Facebook news feeds are riddled with individuals asking for cameras/collaborators to cover this nationwide event...or at least their perspective of it. In recent years, documentaries have been quite popular with mainstream audiences (look no further than the Palme d'Or-winning Fahrenheit 9/11 ). Stories on war, education, prostitution & even dolphins have found their core audience (and in so...

"Piracy is great." - Harmony Korine Last week Facebook pissed off a lot of its users, detractors and indifferent site visitors when it introduced its new feature : the "Timeline." As if privacy was erased yesterday, a good chunk of Internet bloggers questioned the ethos behind having one's entire life available in a social media platform. But am I missing something? Aren't we over the whole privacy hump already? Are people still under the spell of attaining some romantic mystery? These people need to get with it. This is OUR era: An open, free network of information, ideas and innovation. Non-transparent walls are not welcomed.   Facebook isn't doing anything it wasn't bound to do anyway. A massive social network that spent years building a base of active users HAS to raise the level of access and interactivity at some point. The only logical way of doing this is by highlighting and exercising the key trait of every user (and of every...