Vimeo Awards- Narrative Category from Vimeo Festival on Vimeo.
As I’ve mentioned before, I got to be one of the judges for The Vimeo Awards this year. All of the 20 finalist films were worth watching. And it was a total pleasure to discuss them with fellow judges and hear the passion for the work, even when we disagreed. Check them out, particularly these final five and let me know if you agree, and why (or why not).
Just don’t try this at home — or without proper adult supervision!
One of my most used apps is Dropbox, and for a limited time they are running a promotion. It’s free to use so there’s no reason not to try it out.
Take a tour. Dropbox is software that syncs your files online and across your computers. Put your files into your Dropbox folder on one computer, and they’ll automatically appear on any of your other computers that also have Dropbox installed (Windows, Mac, and Linux too!). You can even download Dropbox apps for your smartphone or mobile device (iPhone, iPad, Android, and Blackberry). Everything in your Dropbox is available from theDropbox website, too.
Go to this link, and download it. For everyone that does, they will increase by storage capacity by 250MB up to 8GB, so you’ll help me out too.
It’s that time of the year that we’ve reserved for remembering what we are thankful for, and for giving back to those less fortunate. It is an incredible privilege to use your labor to produce art, whether we get to do it as a means to earn our living, or as an additional extension of who we are and what we care about.
Today’g Guest post from filmmaker and mentor Rodney Evans captures our thanksgiving quite well.
Passionate. Brave. Generous. Determined. Rebellious.
These are some of the words that come to mind when I think about the teen Documentary Lab students at Reel Works. Working with them for the past year has been a profound, life-changing experience for me. It has been such a privilege to watch these seventeen students develop the skills and fortitude that it takes to be a successful filmmaker in today’s world.
Not only is this jaw dropping wild, it is a beautiful well shot film.
Last week Iranian Filmamaker Jafar Panahi had his trial in Teheran. He has not been allowed to make a film in five years. This post is Jafar Panahi’s defense, his closing remarks, presented to the court of Iran.
Your Honor, I would like to present t my defense in two parts.
Part 1: What they say
In the past few days I have been watching my favorite films again, though I did not have access to some of them, which are among the greatest films of the history of cinema. My house was raided on the night of March 1st, 2010 while my colleague Mr. Rasoulof and I were in the process of shooting what we intended to be a socially conscious art house film. The people, who identified themselves as agents of the Ministry of Intelligence, arrested us along with other crew members without presenting any warrants. They confiscated my collection of films as well and never returned them to me. Subsequently, the only reference made to those films was by the prosecutor in charge of my case, who asked me: “What are these obscene films you’re collecting?”
I have learned how to make films inspired by those outstanding films that the prosecutor deemed obscene. Believe me I have just as much difficulty understanding how they could be called obscene as I do comprehending how the activity for which I was arrested could be seen as a crime? My case is a perfect example of being punished before committing a crime. You are putting me on trial for making a film that at the time of our arrest was only thirty per cent shot. You must have heard that the famous creed “There is no god, except Allah”, turns into blasphemy if you only say the first part and omit the second part. In the same vain, how can you establish that a crime has been committed by looking at 30% of rushes for a film that have not been edited yet?
Most industries and practices get stuck in a rut of doing things the way they’ve always been done. The film world is a stellar example of this phenomenon. Most practices are designed around the way the world used to be, not how it is now. The film world and it’s economy used to be based around scarcity, but now we live in a world of abundance. Adapting to this change will bring new opportunities. The first step is acknowledging that change.
Some Job Opportunities in Indie Film with Ted Hope (part 6) from Hope for Film on Vimeo.
If you missed the prior posts on Job Opportunities in Indie Film, watch them here:
Part One, Part Two, Part Three, Part Four, Part Five, Part Seven.
Special thanks to Chris Stetson for shooting, editing, and posting this.
