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APR. 15, 2008 - IN THIS NEWSLETTER:
Toronto After Dark Film Festival EXPANDS TO 8 THRILLING NIGHTS for 2008!
Toronto After Dark Announces Its 2008 CALL FOR FILM ENTRIES!
Rue Morgue Presents terrifying new French chiller INSIDE, This Wed, Apr. 16 - WIN TIX!
Toronto After Dark & Hot Docs present DREAMS WITH TEETH, Apr 24, 26 - WIN TIX!
Check out the THE SLIDESHOW & VIDEO CLIPS!
Join Toronto After Dark at FACEBOOK!
Event Listing: More upcoming THRILLING CINEMATIC EVENTS!
Toronto After Dark Film Festival EXPANDS TO 8 THRILLING NIGHTS for 2008!

Greeting Cinemaniacs!

In this first newsletter of 2008, We have exciting news at Toronto After Dark Film Festival, our premiere showcase of amazing new horror, fantasy and thrilling genre cinema from around the world. Following last year’s huge success where our festival was attended by over 6,500 enthusiastic film fans over 7 nights, a 51% jump on year one, we are expanding this October to a whopping 8 Nights of Cinematic Thrills!

So be sure to circle these dates in your calendars now: Friday - Friday, October 17-24, 2008. All screenings will be at the Bloor Cinema, in central Toronto, and we’ll also be having a social event every night after the last screening of the day has ended (usually around midnight!). To get the max fun out of the fest, especially if you are coming from out of town, you might want to plan some time off!Another thing to perhaps think about if you’re a film fan, is saving for our every popular Festival VIP Pass, which gives amazing value and priority access to the whole fest. All 100 passes sold out last year! Key dates of when we are selling passes, tickets and making film announcements, as well as tips for how to best schedule for the fest, are available on our Key Dates page here. If you have any questions about this year’s fest, please feel free to contact us.

See you this October After Dark!

- Toronto After Dark Film Fest Team
Toronto After Dark Announces Its 2008 CALL FOR FILM ENTRIES!

Toronto After Dark Film Festival is thrilled to announce its much anticipated 2008 Call For Entries! We welcome submissions of all forms of international and independent thrilling cinema including horror, sci-fi, fantasy, animation, crime, action, documentary, music videos and cult/bizarre films, both in short form and feature-length. To see our complete entry details or submit your film online right now click here.
PLEASE TELL your filmmaker friends!
Every year, we sadly always have some filmmakers whose films we can’t consider for screening at Toronto After Dark as they have missed our deadline for our call for entries. Please help us give every filmmaker a chance to screen at our fest, by helping us get the word out to filmmakers. If you know any friends who are filmmakers, please let them know about our Call for Entries by forwarding them this e-mail or posting details of our Call for Entrries on your website or profile. Or if you work or frequent somewhere where filmmakers hang out, we’d really appreciate if you could print off this black & white, letter-size Call for Entries Poster available here and pin it up for us! Thank you so much.

Rue Morgue Cinemacabre Presents terrifying new French chiller INSIDE, This Wed, Apr. 16, 9.30 PM at the Bloor Cinema!
Rue Morgue magazine presents

A Special Screening of Alexandre Bustillo and Julien Maury’s “INSIDE”
Wednesday, April 16 @ 9:30pm exclusively at The Bloor Cinema, 506 Bloor Street West - Toronto, Canada

*THIS MONTH ONLY ON WEDNESDAY* 35mm print! Classic Trailers!

If any horror film demands to be seen on the big screen with a crowd, it’s France’s INSIDE (a.k.a. À l’intérieur). The goriest, most beautifully shot slasher film ever made, it follows a very pregnant young woman who discovers a stranger in her house - a savage killer determined to take her unborn baby. A tense, blood-drenched game of cat-and-mouse ensues. Too extreme for a North American theatrical release, this may be your last chance to see the most talked about genre movie of the Toronto International Film Festival in a theatre. Warning: Pregnant women are advised against seeing this film!

One Night Only! Ghastly Prizes!
Plus! Evangelical Satanic Faith Healing with Pastor Morgan Wilkes and Victor Marshall of Cloven Path Ministries!

“To call this the most visceral slasher film of all time is an extreme understatement.”
Dread Central

WIN 1 OF 5 PAIRS OF TICKETS TO THE SCREENING WITH TORONTO AFTER DARK! ENTER THE CONTEST BEFORE WED, APR 16, 10 AM. WINNERS WILL BE NOTIFIED BY 11 AM. CLICK HERE TO ENTER NOW.
Toronto After Dark & Hot Docs present DREAMS WITH TEETH, Apr 24, 26, featuring legendary sci-fi author HARLAN ELLISON!

TORONTO AFTER DARK FILM FESTIVAL
Is pleased to co-present “Dreams With Sharp Teeth”
at the 15th Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival

From the producer of Grizzly Man comes a literary documentary that will send you back to your bookshelf, out to the library and into the bookstore. Harlan Ellison may be the greatest unknown writer of our time. Like Ray Bradbury and Kurt Vonnegut, Ellison’s work was originally shunned into the literary ghetto, but now it defines its own unique genre. This is a portrait of the artist as a rage-a-holic. Passionate, intelligent, wounded, hilarious, contentious-words don’t do justice to a man who manipulates them so well. Infinitely watchable, Ellison speaks to his life and creative process with the same fervour, self-awareness and imagination that he uses to write. Dreams With Sharp Teeth brings Ellison’s magnetic personality and prolific work to life, featuring appearances by Robin Williams and Neil Gaiman, as well as an original score composed and performed by Richard Thompson.

Screenings at:

ISABEL BADER THEATRE, 93 Charles St. West
Thu Apr 24 9:30 PM

BLOOR CINEMA, 506 Bloor Street West
Sat Apr 26 9:30 PM

Ticket info:
Evening screenings (between 6 pm-11 pm) are $12 each. Order advance tickets and pass sales at the DOCUMENTARY Box Office (87 Avenue Road, 2 Blocks North of Bloor, upper level of Hazelton Lanes), online at www.hotdocs.ca, or by phone at 416-637-5150.

WIN 1 OF 5 PAIRS OF TICKETS TO THU, APR 24, 9.30 PM (ISABEL BADER THEATRE) SCREENING WITH TORONTO AFTER DARK! ENTER THE CONTEST BEFORE WED, APR 16, 10 AM. WINNERS WILL BE NOTIFIED BY 11 AM. CLICK HERE TO ENTER NOW.

Check out the THE SLIDESHOW & VIDEO CLIPS!
To get you in the mood for this October’s cinematic mayhem, we hope you enjoy this short slideshow featuring some of the most memorable moments of last year’s Toronto After Dark, attended by over 6,500 fans over 7 Amazing Nights! We’ve also compiled and added a page of short video clips from last year for fans to watch. Not to be missed is the hilarious collection of interviews with Zombie Walkers! Check out the video clips page here.
Join Toronto After Dark at FACEBOOK!
If you’re a facebooker, be sure to join Toronto After Dark’s facebook group here,as in-between newsletters, we sometimes run facebook-only giveaways! You can also send a friend add to Fest Director Adam Lopez here. MySpace users can befriend the Toronto After Dark festival profile here.
More upcoming THRILLING CINEMATIC EVENTS!

Here’s some other Toronto fests, screenings, and events that we think fans of Toronto After Dark and thrilling genre cinema will get a kick out of. Click on the links to get full event details and times. Also be sure to look these the events below up on Facebook, as many of them also have groups or event pages you can join to meet other fans:

FESTIVALS & ONE-OFF EVENTS

JUSTIN ERICKSON’S PIN UP GHOULS (MAY 2) - come out to the Gladstone Hotel for a night of devilishly devine artwork with some cinematic flair from the ferocicously talented Justin Erickson, also known for his design work on Rue Morgue Magazine. Co-presented by Toronto After Dark.

OVER THE TOP FESTIVAL (APR 30-MAY 4) - this year the fun fest features a number of kick-ass genre film screenings including Japanese action insanity with MACHINE GIRL and indie fright flick 100 TEARS. Oh, and Crispin Glover, live and in person with his latest twisted masterpiece!

VAGRANCY FILMS PRESENTS AN UNCUT 35 MM SCREENING OF LUCIO FULCI’S LEGENDARY ZOMBIE! (MAY 8, Revue Cinema, 9.30 PM) Complete with very rare 35 mm trailers from the retro vault.
Co-presented by Toronto After Dark

TORONTO JEWISH FILM FESTIVAL (MAY 3-11) - this year Toronto After Dark is proud to co-present the first ever Jewish Zombie Comedy, NIGHT OF THE LIVING JEWS, an hysterical short which screens with the twisted Sundance hit WRISTCUTTERS: A LOVE STORY (SAT, MAY 10, 11.30 PM) at the Bloor Cinema

WORLDWIDE SHORT FILM FESTIVAL (Coming JUN 10-15) - the very best short films from around the world, including a number of likely Oscar nominees. The freaky and creepy Midnight Program is co-presented by Toronto After Dark and programmed by our fest’s very own Todd Brown.

MONTHLY SCREENINGS & VENUES (Check Link Below For Listings and more Info)

BLOOR CINEMA - Home to Toronto After Dark, the Bloor is a great bet for several new genre films and cult classics like Rocky Horror every month.

TRASH PALACE CINEMA - Twice-monthly screenings of retro-trash and B-movie gems. A not to be missed experience for cult cinema lovers!

TORONTO JFILM POW WOW - Promoting monthly screenings of kick-ass Japanese cinema!

FOX THEATRE - now back to life under new genre-loving ownership. Expect some awesome thrills every month! This month’s mouthwatering highlights include Peter Jackson’s insane twisted puppet flick MEET THE FEEBLES and for sci-fi horror fans an ALIEN/ALIENS double bill!

WILDSOUND FEEDBACK FILM FESTIVAL - unique monthly event where filmmakers get feedback on their movies, from the audience and film critics, straight after their screenings.

ARE WE MISSING YOUR THRILLING CINEMATIC EVENT? Please contact us.

Toronto After Dark 2008 is Coming. Tell Your Friends!

Please help us spread the word on our exciting 3rd Annual Festival by telling your friends, and forwarding this e-mail on to anyone you think might be interested. We want as many fans as possible to check out the cool films we will be putting so much effort into bringing to the city this October!

Finally to make sure you keep getting our newsletters be sure to add news@torontoafterdark.com to your e-mail address book or list of trusted e-mails.

- See You After Dark!

Festival Wrap & Recap

The 46th Ann Arbor Film Festival shone brightly last week with
record attendance. Filmmakers descended on Ann Arbor from around the
world, including Juan Camilo Gonzalez from Columbia premiering his
animated film Los Tres Errantes, Jaehyung Ju from South Korea with his
gorgeous experimental film Lucid Dreaming, and Maverick
Litchfield-Kelly, producer of the suspenseful “i”, visiting the U.S.
for the first time from London, England. During his trip, Maverick
posted his first blog

ever - here’s some of this thoughts on his Ann Arbor experience:

“I am sitting at home in London, musing on the festival. I think it
was a great introduction to US festivals and US culture. Ann Arbor was
described to me as a pocket of sanity in the midwest. I thought it was
a lovely town, full of lovely quirky people….What did I learn? I
learned about the MC5s, and their history in Ann Arbor history. I also
found out that Iggy Pop came from Ann Arbor. I also learned about the
depth of love people felt for the Ann Arbor Film Festival, the oldest
festival of its kind in the US, which this year celebrated it 46th
year.”

Along with established filmmakers such as Jim Finn, Ellen Kuras,
Robert Todd, additional participants in the festival included Mitch
Levine of The Film Festival Group, Emily Berger of the Electronic
Frontier Foundation, Film Threat’s Chris Gore, and Larry Flynt in
support of Joan Brooker-Marks’ new documentary Larry Flynt: The Right
to be Left Alone. To see photo highlights from this year’s programs
and events, visit our album

on Flickr.

This year’s festival also received some stellar media coverage,
including reviews on indieWIRE

and Cinematical

by Kim Voynar. The festival’s executive director, Christen McArdle,
also appeared on Concentrate’s in-depth profile called MasterMind

.

Soon we’ll also share some video highlights from this year, including
the memorable Q&A session with Larry Flynt.

We’re Talking Feedback

For those of you who experienced this year’s festival, we encourage
you to rate and review films on our website

. By providing this direct feedback, you’re participating in a
valuable conversation with filmmakers.

And if you have not yet been counted in our survey, now’s your last
chance as this will close on April 16th. Click here

to get started and help us set the course for the AAFF’s future.

A Huge Thank You!

The Ann Arbor Film Festival is truly a community-driven event, made
special by the commitment of staff, volunteers, interns, board
members, donors, members and contributing filmmakers. To view a full
list of festival credits, please visit our website here

.

We would like to extend our appreciation of our fantastic sponsors
for this year’s festival, including: The College for Creative Studies

, one of the nation’s leading art and design colleges; Film Detroit

, a new initiative from Visit Detroit to assist film projects doing
their production in Southeast Michigan; IndiePix

, offering a massive catalogue of top independent films from around
the world; OurStage
, a truly democratic online contest for filmmakers and musicians to
win audiences and awards; Borders

, one of the world’s biggest book, movie, and music retailers,
headquartered in Ann Arbor, MI; TimeFlux
, dedicated to the future of time travel; and the Michigan Theater

, one of the nation’s most revered historic movie theaters. You can
view our entire cadre of sponsors for the 46th AAFF here

.

Mark your calendars! The 47th Ann Arbor Film Festival will take
place March 24 - 29th, 2009

Scott Smith is both an up and coming author and filmmaker. His novels are landmarks in the development of contemporary American fiction. The film versions of his works are also very good. The 1998 film adaptation of his novel A Simple Plan is generally regarded as one of the single greatest crime dramas of the last few decades. Naturally, Smith decided after this triumph to enter the field of horror fiction to prove that his skills were not limited to crime fiction.

Among the end results of Smith’s new interest in horror writing are both the novel The Ruins and the movie adaptation of the same name. The Ruins is about the downside of visiting tourist resorts such as Cancun, Mexico. Some friends visit Cancun and after a while they get bored. They decide to explore the countryside and come across an ancient Mayan temple. There, they encounter an evil that has lurked at the temple waiting for some nice, juicy victims to wander by.

The Ruins is a great horror suspense film. The acting and direction are decent and it has excellent special effects. However, the movie has nudity that is all too pointless. There is simply no reason to include nudity in this movie. Despite this drawback, The Ruins is the scariest movie of the year thus far. It is also the most suspenseful. The vines scene is especially scary and suspenseful.

The original novel was a great scary and suspenseful read. Given the fact that the writer of the screenplay is also the author of the original novel, you would expect that the movie were also be every bit as scary and suspenseful as the novel. Your expectations are all richly rewarded by this hair raising movie that will leave you clutching on the edge of your seat in the most terrifying movie event of the year thus far.

The main problem is that it has nudity that like nudity in so many American movies made since the 1970’s is completely pointless and is simply not needed. On the other hand, the bad guy killer in The Ruins is not one of those seemingly immortal characters out of the slasher flicks. Instead, he was a relatively ordinary fellow who the audience could relate to.

This is a most entertaining and suspenseful movie that the audience will well worth find worth the $10 or so cost for tickets.

46th AAFF Awards Announced

The 46th Ann Arbor Film Festival awards have been selected by this
year’s jury
. Twenty-five filmmakers from around the world were awarded more than
$18,000, with experimental, documentary, narrative and animation all
represented. To learn more about each awarded film, you can easily
search on the festival website
.

Ken Burns Award for Best of the Festival - $3,000

The Betrayal (Nerakhoon) - Ellen Kuras

Gus Van Sant Award for Best Experimental Film - $1,000

Office Suite - Robert Todd

Michael Moore Award for Best Documentary Film - $1,000

kids + money - Lauren Greenfield

Lawrence Kasdan Award for Best Narrative Film - $1,000

Diente por Ojo - Elvind Holmboe

Chris Frayne Award for Best Animated Film - $1,000

Spontaneous Generation - Andrew Cahill

The Mermaid - Lisa Barcy

The Barbara Aronofsky Latham Award for Emerging Experimental Video
Artist - $1,000

Energie! - Thorsten Fleisch

Tom Berman Award for Most Promising Filmmaker - $1,000

Doxology - Michael Langan

Peter Wilde Award for Most Technically Innovative Film - $500

Yours Truly - Osbert Parker

Prix DeVarti for Funniest Film - $1,000

On the Assassination of the President - Adam Keker

Griot Editorial Award for Best Editing - $500

I, of the Cyclops - George Kuchar

autFILM Award for Best LGBT Film - $500

Cat Dancers - Harris Fishman

Award for Best International Film - $500

Nijuman no Borei - Jean-Gabriel Periot

The VUE/DFC Award for Best Michigan Filmmaker - $750

Mort - Dean Denell

buzzards steal your picnic - Terri Sarris

The EMPA Work Life Award - $1,300

Beginning Filmmaking - Jay Rosenblatt

Kodak/Filmcraft Imaging Award for Best Cinematography - $1,500

Li: Patterns of Nature - John Campbell

Ghostly Award for Best Sound Design - $500

Observando El Cielo - Jeanne Liotta

The Eileen Maitland Award - $500

Teat Beat of Sex - Signe Baumane

Honorable Mentions - $1,050

The Last Moment - Deco Dawson

Number One - Leighton Pierce

The Juche Idea - Jim Finn

Faux Mouvements (Wrong Moves) - Pip Chodorov

My Olympic Summer - Daniel Robin

Victory Over the Sun - Michael Robinson

Ellen Kuras (from The Betrayal)

Energie!

Cat Dancers

Office Suite

Congratulations to our awarded filmmakers and to all filmmakers
participating in the 46th Ann Arbor Film Festival!

To learn more about this year’s festival you can read Kim Voynar’s
in-depth feature review “Dispatch from Michigan”

on indieWIRE.

Day 4 - Animation in Action

Program Change and Upcoming Highlights

Due to unforseen circumstances, the scheduled projector performance
from artists Sandra Gibson and Luis Recoder has been cancelled. In its
place, there will be an additional screening of the films in
competition shorts program Break in the Chain of Light

Fans of animation will have plenty to choose from tonight at the Ann
Arbor Film festival. At 5:30 pm in the Main Theater, we’ll be
screening a block of films showcasing a variety of different styles in
a competition program called All That Is Animated

. At 9:30 pm, juror Bill Plympton

will provide a live demonstration of his animation process, as well
as screen numerous clips and two world premiere animations.

The State Theater will be joining in on the excitement again tonight
with our midnight screening of Leningrad Cowboys Go America

, the quirky comedy from famed Finnish director Aki Kaurismaki
(featuring a cameo appearance by director Jim Jarmusch).

Advance online tickets end six hours prior to each program’s start
time and are still available for all weekend programs, including Larry
Flynt
, Live Earth

, The Betrayal (Nerakhoon)

and Strange Culture

.

For full program details, visit http://46th.aafilmfest.org

Day 3 - The Ann Arbor Film Festival Is In Full Effect!

Today’s lineup includes two very different cats. At 7:00 PM in the
main theater, we have the feature documentary One Bad Cat

, a colorful and complex story about the artist Reverend Albert
Wagner. At 10:00 PM in the Screening Room, the documentary Cat Dancers

will play as part of “Out Night”, bringing us a one-of-a-kind story
of the world’s first exotic cat entertainers.

We’ll also be Cracking the Space-time Continuum

in the Main Theater at 9:30 PM. This screening is for those unafraid
of exploring new cinematic ground and travelling to other worlds. And
at 7:30pm Debra Miller is presenting Queer Realities: Fact and Fiction

! with short LGBT-focused films from around the world for “Out
Night.”

For those of you who are night owls, our first midnight movie of the
festival plays at the State Theater. Tom Waits appears in the film Big
Time

.

Come join us at the party going on at the Michigan and State
Theaters this week!

For more information, visit the festival website at
46th.aafilmfest.org

46th AAFF Day 1 - Opening Night

What’s the hot ticket in Ann Arbor that’s melting away all that
snow? Opening Night for the 46th Ann Arbor Film Festival! Festivities
will begin at 6:00pm with drinks and our catered gala reception in the
Grand Foyer of the Michigan Theater. Tickets are only $20 and are
available in advance online until noon Tuesday, March 25th (to
purchase click here
). Walk-up tickets will also be available starting at 5:30pm at the
Michigan Theater Box Office. This event will sell out so we recommend
getting there early.

For the Screening Program of Opening Night, doors will open at
8:00pm. Featured this year are eleven memorable films in competition,
with Michael Langan’s experimental comedy Doxology kicking off the
evening in perfect AAFF style. Osbert Parker’s eye-popping noir
animation Yours Truly, is a follow-up to his award-winning film from
the 45th AAFF. Enter into the realm of nature with Safari, Catherine
Chalmers vividly startling new film. Jem Cohen’s evocative portrait of
singer Patti Smith, Smells Like Teen Spirit, concludes the evening
with just the right note. Advance online tickets (students/seniors $6)
to the Screening Program are available until noon Tuesday (click here

). Walk-up tickets will also be available for this program at the
Michigan Theater Box Office.

The 46th Ann Arbor Film Festival takes place March 25 - 30th.

To view the entire program and order advance tickets, please visit:

http://46th.aafilmfest.org/

PROJECTIONS: 46th AAFF Set to Launch Show full header

The Ann Arbor Film Festival Newsletter

Shorts Shine in Competition Programs
Additional Special Programs
Panels & Presentations
Filmmaker Focus: Lynn Hershman Leeson

We’re less than a week away from the 46th Ann Arbor Film Festival.
Tickets are selling fast, so don’t miss out on those programs you’ve
been eyeing! Full program information, trailers and advance tickets
are available at this year’s colorful website

.

Short Films Shine in Competition Programs

This year’s festival features 14 programs of short films in
competition. On Wednesday, March 26th, The Aftermath of the Clash

features powerful short films that explore the internal and external
impacts of conflict, including Jean-Gabriel Periot’s stunning Nijuman
no Borei (200000 Phantoms) and the North American premiere of Sylvia
Schedelbauer’s Remote Intimacy. On Thursday March 27th at 9:30pm, Pip
Chodorov’s Faux Mouvements (Wrong Moves) makes its U.S. premiere in
the Cracking the Space/Time Continuum

program of adventurous experimental films. And Saturday, March 29th
at 9:00pm, I
llusions of the Body Snatchers

presents an unpredictable, delightful collection including new work
from Phil Solomon, Michael Robinson and Jennet Thomas. You can view
more complete list of short competition programs here

.

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Additional Special Programs

This year’s festival will also feature special programs exploring
the earth and its colorful inhabitants. Films from the Live Earth
series

address the climate change crisis and provide inspiration for taking
action. Jim Trainor presents Animals and Their Limitations

, a dark and humorous program of his remarkable animated films. Debra
Miller returns for another edition of short films for “Out Night” at
the AAFF with Queer Realities: Fact and Fiction!

And Nathaniel Dorsky returns to the AAFF with three of his sublime
silent films in Devotional Songs

.

Panels & Presentations

Also slated for the festival are Mitch Levine of The Film Festival
Group, Christopher Holland of B-Side Entertainment, and Bob Alexander
of IndiePix for an intensive short film distribution panel titled
Multiplying Eyes

. The AAFF is also excited to have Chris Gore of Film Threat return
to host Flipping the Coin

, a provocative panel about copyright and fair use that includes
Emily Berger of the Electronic Frontier Foundation. Exploring the
mind-bending side of this year’s time-based theme, film professor Dan
Herbert will present a lecture A Brief History of Time Travel in
Cinema

.

< = > = < = > = < = > < = > = < = > = < = > < = > = < = > = < = >

Filmmaker Focus: Lynn Hershman Leeson

The AAFF is committed to championing bold, pioneering, and
artistically-inspired filmmakers. And we’re dedicated to bringing
creative, quality content to our audience. This month we hear about a
new project in development from Lynn Hershman Leeson, whose Strange
Culture

screens at the 46th AAFF on Saturday, March 29th at 10:00pm.

1. What’s your newest project about and what motivated you to make
it?

The newest project is about the history of the feminist art movement
and the impact it had on culture. I began to shoot this footage nearly
40 years ago when I felt something important was going on.
Consequently I have all of the women who were part of this when they
were 20, 30, 50, 70 and we see their aging as the movement progresses.

It is more than just a film about art, it is about freedom of
expression, it is about civil rights, it is about integration. It is a
crucial element of culture that this innovative and insistent work
found its way, after a long battle into our language of art. The
struggles were enormous and inspiring. Tactical and funny.

2. What’s your approach and process for making this film?

The film shows the themes of the 60’s and how the woman’s movement,
including the first demonstrations at the Miss America pagaent,
affected women, art and culture. How the revolution in art happened,
what it meant, what innovative forms occurred and how the women broke
the glass ceilings that had denied access to the art world. I have
stories, incidents, performances, that no one knows happened. I think
this will tell this important story in a way no one else has been able
to do.

3. Is there anything unusual or different to how you’ve approached
previous work?
I believe it is more accessible, probably more conventional in some
sense. But I wanted a broad audience and I have an editor working now
who did the film Citizen King, an 8 hour epoch and I felt he
understood the subtleties of prejudice that show up ini this film.
Actually not so subtle. What is innovative is the distribution model.

I intend to put this all on line, all 300 hours, so people can access
the entire interviews, not just a segment in the 90 minute version. I
also intend to have what i call a “womanpedia” a wiki that is robust
enough to allow images and footage to be added, making the history and
process ongoing, corrective and interactive.

4. What are the objectives of your project, both internally (for
yourself) and externally (for the world)?
My hope is that this will bring about a deeper understanding of the
passion and courage of the first generation women who opened the
gallery and museum doors to women. It will clarify a history that is
not only skewed but in many cases does not even exist. Women on my
crew were shocked to learn that even in 1960-70 most galleries would
not show women.

It is also a deeply affecting inspirational story of freedom, on many
levels. In some cases this is the only footage that exists of
important women, such as Marcia Tucker, the first woman curator, who
founded the New Museum.

5. What are the most challenging aspects of your project content,
structure and/or story-wise?
I think the challenge is making it accessible, funny and moving, like
most films.

6. Have you discovered anything unexpected or surprising so far on
this project?
Absolutely, I have found that young women have a deep thirst for this
missing information. They are moved and deeply appreciative any time
they see some of this remarkable footage. That is very gratifying.

To find out more about Lynn Hershman Leeson, you can visit her
website: www.lynnhershman.com

A Press Release from the folks at the Chicago Underground Film Festival:

We are now accepting submissions for the 15th Chicago Underground Film Festival. Entry Forms and complete guidelines for submission are available now at http://www.cuff.org

The CHICAGO UNDERGROUND FILM FESTIVAL is dedicated to the work of film and video makers with defiantly independent visions. As Roger Ebert said, “What you get for your money is not just admission to the films, but admission to a subculture.”

Radical beyond independent, the “underground” culture supports films that go beyond expectations and genre, to include a menu of films made with passion, obsession, and drive. In addition, CUFF has consistently honored the history of underground and independent cinema by presenting tributes and retrospectives of filmmakers such as Tom Palozzolo, Richard Kern, Kenneth Anger, George Kuchar, John Waters, and Paul Morrissey.

Panels and workshops augment the diverse programming, and every evening of screenings is followed by a great night of parties, events and concerts. Jury awards are presented in the following categories: Narrative Feature, Narrative Short, Documentary Feature, Documentary Short, Experimental, Animation, and “Made in Chicago” - along with an Audience Choice award.

Past success stories include filmmaker Sarah Jacobson, who debuted her film MARY JANE’S NOT A VIRGIN ANYMORE (six months before it screened at Sundance). Some other CUFF films that have received national theatrical distribution include: THE MANSON FAMILY, MEN CRY BULLETS, THE ACID HOUSE, and the Oscar-nominated films WEATHER UNDERGROUND and THE DECLINE OF WESTERN CIVILIZATION PART 3.

Chicago Underground Film Festival
presented by IFP/Chicago
October 29 to November 2 2008

UPCOMING DEADLINE
May 15, 2007 - Early Deadline
Entry forms available at http://www.cuff.org

ENTRY FEES
$30 per entry postmarked by May 15,
$35 per entry postmarked by June 16,
$40 per entry received by July 15.

Entry Fees are not required from filmmakers who have screened at CUFF
in the past.

MISSION AND OBJECTIVE
Our mission is to promote films and videos that dissent in form, technique, or content
from the “indie” film/video mainstream and to present adventurous works that challenge and transcend expectations…if you suspect your film is “underground,” it probably is.

CUFF TESTIMONIALS
“I like the word ‘underground’ as in the ‘Chicago Underground Film Festival.’ The word ‘independent’ carries a stigma of whininess. ‘Underground’ means a good time.”
- John Waters, receiving the Director’s Tribute award at the 1997 Deauville Film Festival

“It oftentimes takes as long as a decade for film festivals to become established with audiences and moviemakers alike, but in just six years, the Chicago Underground Film Festival transformed itself from a hole-in-the-wall operation focusing almost exclusively on local product to the largest underground film fest in the country, with films and tapes being submitted from around the globe. The reasons, of course, are savvy programming and solid marketing.”
- John Petrakis, The Chicago Tribune

“I had the best time of my life at this festival. Your lives are so much better than all those people who think they’re having a good time in Hollywood.”
- Penelope Spheeris, Director, WE SOLD OUR SOULS FOR ROCK AND ROLL

Special festival guests to include

Larry Flynt, Steve Kurtz, Ellen Kuras & Jim Finn

Following the recent First Amendment legal victory by the Ann Arbor
Film Festival, famed free speech advocate and Hustler magazine
publisher Larry Flynt will be in attendance. He will join
producer/director Joan Brooker-Marks for a no-punches-pulled Q&A
following the screening of her new tell-all documentary Larry Flynt:
The Right to be Left Alone

which plays on Saturday, March 29th at 7:30pm.

Also on Saturday at 10:00pm, Steve Kurtz will join the Q&A following
a screening of Lynn Hershman Leeson’s Strange Culture

, which utilizes a creative approach to examine and re-create the
bizarre F.B.I. arrest of the Buffalo artist Kurtz due to bio-terrorism
charges. Still on trial, Kurtz will be joined by Lucia Sommers from
the Critical Art Ensemble Defense Fund, who can answer questions he
cannot address for legal reasons. Earlier on Saturday at 5:30pm, the
festival is honored to welcome cinematographer extraordinaire Ellen
Kuras, along with her co-director Thavisouk Phrasavath, following a
screening of their 23-year-in-the-making documentary The Betrayal
(Nerakhoon)

. Rounding out this “All-Star Saturday” is Jim Finn, to present a
world premiere of his anticipated The Juche Idea

. Mixing together North Korean archival propaganda films, the Juche
teachings of Kim Jong-il, and a documentary exploration of a modern
day Korean artist residency, Finn has created a masterful work
examining the underpinnings of North Korean culture and media.

For full program details and advance tickets, please visit our
Festival website: http://46th.aafilmfest.org/

To view our new animated 30-second festival PSA, you can view it
online here
.

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For all of you filmmakers out there, the AAFF would like to share an
opportunity to win money and to save money from two of our partnering
organizations.

Hello Female Filmmakers-

My name is Brooke Keesling and I’m a programmer for LUNAFEST, a film
festival of SHORT FILMS which are ‘By, For and About Women.’

We would love to have you submit your films for possible inclusion in
the 2008 LUNAFEST. We accept SHORT FILMS (30 minutes or less) in all
genres: Comedy, Drama, Documentary, Experimental, Student Directed,
etc. Themes to consider would be women’s health, body image,
sexuality, aging, spirituality, sports, relationships, cultural
diversity, breaking barriers and the environment.

*If your film is chosen by the LUNAFEST Board of Advisors for the
2008 program, LUNA will award you $1000. In addition, your film will
be shown at over 100 venues nationwide with 100% of the proceeds to go
to charities including The Breast Cancer Fund.

If you are interested, please print the entry form at this link (if
you submit to me directly, you need not pay the entry fee!):

http://www.lunafest.org/pdfs/LunaFest-EntryForm.pdf

Then send 2 copies of your DVD by APRIL 1, 2008 (please ignore the
April 30 deadline-it’s wrong!) to:

College for Creative Studies

attn: Brooke Keesling/Animation Dept.

201 E. Kirby

Detroit, MI

48202-4034

Thanks and I look forward to watching your films! -Brooke

Questions? brooke@boobiegirl.com

http://www.lunafest.org/legacy.cfm

Our friends at Discmakers focus on serving independent filmmakers,
which includes great rates on short-run DVD needs. They’re also
providing new eco-friendly packaging

options to help reduce waste.

They’ve offered the AAFF community an extra $25 off any replication
orders through June 30th, 2008 and so we’d like to share it with you.
Simply use the code “DSCXP-30024″ when placing your order on their
website
.

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Let us get to know you better. The AAFF survey is online

and waiting for your personalized keystrokes. Help us set the course
as we head toward our 50th anniversary!

Full Program Line-up Announcement for 46th Ann Arbor Film Festival

This year “It’s Time to Watch” the Ann Arbor Film Festival, taking
place March 25 - 30th. With more than 36 film screenings, daily free
events, live film-based performances and multiple world premieres,
audiences will have ample opportunities to watch and be amazed this
year.

This year’s extended Opening Night Gala, Tuesday March 25th takes
place from 6 – 8pm in the glorious Grand Foyer of the Michigan
Theater. Attendees will enjoy festive food, spirits, desserts and live
music. Following the opening remarks, some of this year’s most
memorable short films in competition

will screen starting at 8:30pm.

Over 100 films in competition from 20 countries will compete for
more than $18,000 in awards

at the 46th Ann Arbor Film Festival. We’re showcasing experimental
films that may open new dimensions in the space-time continuum,
animated films brighter than life, silent films of sheer splendor,
narrative films that collide with reality, and bold documentaries
about unforgettable artists and individuals who changed the world.

Special programs at the 46th AAFF include Nathaniel Dorsky’s Silent
Films of Devotion

, Out Night with Debra Miller

, highlights from the Live Earth series

on climate change, a live projector performance by Gibson + Recoder

, Midnight Movies with Leningrad Cowboys Go America

, and Bill Plympton

premiering new animations.

For full program details and advance tickets, please visit our
Festival website: http://46th.aafilmfest.org/

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We want to hear from you - the AAFF survey

is online and waiting for you to join our conversation. Help us set
the course as we head toward our 50th anniversary!

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The Ann Arbor Film Festival is pleased to have been selected to
invite our community to participate in the first awards event to honor
nonfiction film. You can find a complete description of the awards
program and the films selected for audience participation at the
awards site http://www.cinemaeyeawards.com

.

There are 9 titles nominated for the Audience Award, which are
presented on the “nominees” page on the voting site. There you will
have a chance to stream 10 to 20 minute previews of these films for
free, giving you the opportunity to catch up on titles you may have
heard about but not had the chance to see yet — and informing your
voting selection.

The voting period for audience participation is from March 1 to March
10. Vote Today! And join with us and members of our festival community
in helping to determine the Audience Award for the top nonfiction
independent film of 2007.

A new review by this writer of the 1935 classic The Devil is a Woman, is now up at FlickZone.

Here they are:

Hammer Film Yahoo!Group WebRing

United Kingdom Entertainment

Horror Online

Judging from its Official Website Spirit Camp looks to be a pretty promising movie.

The b-independent website has added a series of articles relating to producing movies on extremely low budgets.

From the folks at the San Antonio Local Film Festival:

Casting for San Antonio Local Film Festival PSA

The San Antonio Film Institute is producing a 3-4 part series as a public
service announcement for 2008. The series consists of one and a half
minute spots that chronicle a filmmaker and his crew during the process of
producing their first short film. The project is written and directed by
award winning film maker and longtime photojournalist for KSAT 12 Sam Lerma.

~Character Breakdown~
Male lead age 25-35.
Female age 21-30
Male - twenty-something
All ethnicities

~The Concept~
We follow a group of friends through the ups and downs of a filmmaking
project in a series of 3 spots. The Twist: The 4th spot is the
one and a half minute project that the actors completed in the fictional
series.

~The Payoff~
The actor’s finished project will be screened at the opening of the San
Antonio Local Film Festival in October. Last years SAL Film Festival
sold out nearly over 500 seats at the Aztec Theatre and we hope to make
this year bigger and better. This will also be used to promote the
festival at various film screenings and forums throughout the summer
leading to the festival. Cast and crew will be well fed and hydrated on
shoot days. Also, any necessary expenses, such as parking, will be
reimbursed.

To be considered please email your headshot or current photo and resume
with your contact number and email address as soon as possible to
darmiller@henrysmiller.com

You will then receive a time slot for the audition Friday February 22,
2008. Please list your availability on that day so casting can schedule
you accordingly. You will receive the audition location and sides and
all additional information when you are assigned your audition slot.

If you have any questions about the project please feel free to contact
Darlene Miller at 210.394.3066

~ About Us ~
The San Antonio Film Institute (”SAFI“) is a 501 (c) 3 organization
dedicated to serving San Antonio filmmakers and their audiences. SAFI
was granted
nonprofit status in 2007 and is governed by a board of directors and
operates through these and other volunteers. For it’s first two years, the
primary function of SAFI has been to produce the San Antonio Local Film
Festival (”SAL“).

SAL is a yearly film showcase that provides an opportunity
to support local filmmakers by providing cash awards, educational
opportunities, and a screening for the city of San Antonio and supporters of
independent film.

Cold Fusion Video has just had a website redesign.

It also has a great big contest the details of which are as follows:

Welcome to the completely redesigned, all-shiny Cold Fusion Video Reviews! Come explore the revamped WordPress-powered digs — and participate in the rootin’-tootin’ Great Typo Hunt! Terrific prizes — honest!

The Great Typo Hunt
If there’s one thing people have consistently called me on, it’s the staggering number of typos in the reviews here. My excuse up until now has been that the HTML editor I’ve used for years has a lousy spellchecker. But no more! From here on out, spelling will be as clean and smooth as a baby’s bottom!

Now the only task is to clean up the old boo-boos, and this is where you come in: The Great Typo Hunt! I’m giving away three custom compilation CDs of film score music, tracks you rarely hear anywhere!

Each typo you’re the first to discover is an entry; the more you find, the more chances you have to win! “Typos” includes misspellings, malapropisms, incorrect internal links, malformed HTML… any of it!

To enter, simply send me the typos you find (in enough detail that I can find them and correct them) at “coldfusiontypo at gmail dot com”. Good hunting!

From the Rogue Cinema email list:

By Duane Martin:

Well folks, it’s that time again. The new issue of Rogue Cinema is up
and running.

This month we got lots of great stuff including:

Interviews:
An Interview with Gerald Nott, John Reynolds and Clint Glenn - By Nic
Brown
An Interview with Heather Amos - By Nic Brown
An Interview with Kirsten Babich - By Nic Brown
An Interview with Matt Hundley - By Brian Morton
An Interview with Paul Rinehard and Darby Kern - By Nic Brown

Articles:
Cinema, Art, Commerce and Entertainment - By Josh Samford
Movie Mashups 16: Bitter Flesh + New Blood
Why I Love Independent Film, and You Should Too! - By Brian Morton

Film Reviews:
100 Tears (2007) - By Nic Brown
30 Years of Fun (1963) - By James L. Neibaur
Bad Boy Bubby (1993) - By Jason Patfield
Cloverfield (2008) - By Brian Morton
Cracker Crazy (2007) - By Josh Samford
Crawlspace (1972) - By Duane L. Martin
Die and Let Live (2007) - By Duane L. Martin
Happily Ever After (2007) - By Duane L. Martin
In the Name of the King: A Dungeon Siege Tale (2007) - By Nic Brown
It Came From Uranus! (2007) - By Duane L. Martin
Murders in the Zoo (1933) - By Charles Rector
Piranha (1978) - By Nic Brown
Postal (2007) - By Nic Brown
Silent Voyeur (2004) - By Josh Samford
Street Trash (1987) - By Jason Patfield
The Devil’s Daughter (1973) - By Duane L. Martin
The Ninja Always Rings Once (2007) - By Duane L. Martin
The Stink of Flesh (2005) – By Jason Patfield
Trash Flicks for a Media Blitz (2007) - By Josh Samford
Welcome to Dreadville (2007) - By Duane L. Martin

Book Review:
Dying To Belong: Gangster Movies in Hollywood & Hong Kong - By James
L. Neibaur

Television Review:
Dexter (2007) - By Brian Morton

February 2008 Sleepover Girl:
Heather Lei Guzzetta

This issue also includes a new item on the cover. A genre related
comic from James A. Roberson called The Roberson Review. There’ll be
a different comic on each month’s cover. Thanks to James for being a
part of Rogue Cinema!

I also want to welcome Jason Patfield, who’ll be providing film
reviews and other material for Rogue Cinema. He’s a film maker in his
own right and a really cool guy, so it’ll be great to get his
perspective on different movies. Welcome Jason!

I hope you all enjoy the new issue!

Rogue Cinema - http://www.roguecinema.com

Deep Blue Edit is the home page of independent filmmaker Sean McHenry.

Damon Zex is a legend amongst public access cable TV producers (remember public access?) and video horror fans. It appears that he is planning on a comeback. Let’s hope so.