Year: 2013

The Brave New American Art House

Post author By Ted Hope
Post date January 28, 2013
51 Comments on The Brave New American Art House

Art House Convergence Welcome Address

by Russ Collins, Director

(Ted’s note: I have participated in the AHC three times now. Over the last 6 years, the American Art House Exhibitors have gotten organized. Their mission of instituting best practices for community theaters is lifting our culture. I have found it incredibly inspiring and exciting. Filmmakers everywhere should take note as to what’s afoot.)

January 15, 2013 – for the Art House Convergence conference, Zermatt Resort, Midway, Utah

Welcome to the Art House Convergence. Welcome as we celebrate the Brave New American Art House. Thank you for taking the time and trouble to gather here in Utah with colleagues and friends and, with strangers who will soon be friends, to execute the mission of the Art House Convergence.

The mission of the Art House Convergence is to increase the quantity and quality of Art House cinemas in North America. We hope you will help us pursue this mission by: 1) constantly improving your own Art House; 2) helping colleagues make their Art Houses better places for audiences to experience cinema art and 3) working to make all Art Houses serve as highly effective community cultural centers.

This conference would not be possible without the hard work of a dedicated group of volunteers. Thanks to the Art House Convergence Conference Committee – if you participated in one or more of those Friday calls that happen throughout the year as we plan the Art House Convergence, stand and be recognized.

It is wonderful to see so many of you here! How many are here for the first-time? Wonderful, welcome to Utah to the Art House Convergence. How many of you are staying, for at least a day or two to go to Park City and check out the Sundance Film Festival?

I see a lot of friends; friends that have grown from the 25 brave souls who came to the first Art House Convergence to this year, with nearly 350 registered delegates, the sixth annual gathering of community-based, mission-driven cinema operators.

The strong theme of this year’s conference is The Brave New American Art House. So, what’s the Brave New American Art House?

The Brave New American Art House is a set of ideals that looks something like this:

Tags Art House Convergence, exhibition, Guest Post, Russ Collins

Truly Free Film

Sundance Proves A Filmmaking Renaissance Is Happening In The Bay Area

Post author By Ted Hope
Post date January 27, 2013
101 Comments on Sundance Proves A Filmmaking Renaissance Is Happening In The Bay Area

What would Variety, Hollywood Reporter, IndieWire, The Wrap, MovieCityNews, Filmmaker Magazine & Deadline report if a single film company took the following awards at Sundance this year?

Narrative Grand Jury Prize
Audience Award For Narrative Film
Best Directing of a Narrative Film
Best Directing of a Documentary Film
Special Jury Award For Documentary Film #1
Special Jury Award For Documentary Film #2

I can’t help but think they would announce the arrival of a powerhouse.

Well, allow me the pleasure of breaking such an announcement.

Truly Free Film

Truly Free Film In Academia: JUNO – an open case study live! TODAY!!

Post author By Ted Hope
Post date January 26, 2013
1 Comment on Truly Free Film In Academia: JUNO – an open case study live! TODAY!!

By Adam Collis

Today, Saturday, January 26th, Arizona State University will be hosting an all day inter-collegiate video conference with members of the Juno team, including director Jason Reitman, screenwriter Diablo Cody, editor Dana Glauberman, cinematographer Eric Steelberg, title designer Gareth Smith, financier-producer Nathan Kahane, producer Mason Novick and Fox Searchlight President of Production Claudia Lewis. Participating in this Interactive Open Learning Experience/Experiment are students from ASU, UCLA, Duke, University of Montana, Quinnipiac University and Yale. Film students and film lovers can also watch online. The event is called Anatomy of a Feature Film: JUNO and all the details are at http://www.facebook.com/AnatomyofaFeatureFilm

I’d love for you to watch the event. But I’m writing today to share the story of how all of this came together and why sharing film events like this one is important.

Tags Adam Collis, Arizona State University, Claudia Lewis., Diablo Cody, diDana Glauberman, Eric Steelberg, Gareth Smith, Guest Post, Jason Reitman, JUNO, Mason Novick, Nathan Kahane

Truly Free Film

Corrupted By The Individual Hero

Post author By Ted Hope
Post date January 26, 2013
2 Comments on Corrupted By The Individual Hero

Stay with me on this one… It may start personal, but it is about the stories we tell and why…

Yesterday, Vanessa and I began the marathon of unpacking our life in San Francisco. Probably 7 more such sessions to go… Boxes galore!

Our place in SF is 1/2 the size as what we left in NYC (such is the not-for-profit life!). Aching back, some broken dishes, but each new box is a promise and a hope. And every time we empty one, I get more energized.

You don’t get many chances to change your life, or to embark on grand adventures with

Truly Free Film

Forward! Pirates Know Best

By Rob Millis

Last week Kim Dotcom — the notorious king of piracy — unveiled Mega, his new, barely legal file sharing site that is sure to be a haven for illegal video sharing. Film distributors are up in arms and a renewed cry for harsher consequences has reached the ears of Congress.

Yet there is no legislation, lawsuit or technical restriction that can stop piracy. In an industry riddled with conflicts of interest, many leaders of media companies are reluctant to speak frankly, but every single one of them knows they cannot protect against piracy in any absolute way. We can put up roadblocks, we can scramble data, but there is always a way around digital security.

So how do we defend against piracy when there is no way to secure content?

Tags Forward!, Guest Post, Kim Dotcom, piracy, Rob Millis

Truly Free Film

Google with Friends? Facebook’s Graph Search and What it Means to You

Post author By Ted Hope
Post date January 24, 2013
1 Comment on Google with Friends? Facebook’s Graph Search and What it Means to You

By Reid Rosefelt

IMPORTANT NOTE:

As I was finishing my recent post on Facebook’s Graph Search, Tom Scott’s Tumblr blog on Facebook’s new Graph Search feature, “Actual Facebook Graph Searches,” went viral. Scott searched things like others of Jews who like Bacon, married people who like Prostitutes, and current employers of people who like Racism, and more disturbingly, family members of people who live in China and like Falun Gong, and Islamic men interested in men who live in Tehran, Iran. It’s likely that some of these “likes” were intended to be ironic. I’m doubtful that that people would say they liked Prostitutes, even if they did, andGizmodo found people with dubious likes for “Shitting my pants,” as well as some creepy things that might not be ironic. But as has been noted a lot, it would be hard for people in China to say they were joking about liking the Falun Gong.

I advise all of you to go to “3 Privacy Changes You Must Change Before Using Facebook Graph Search” (Gizmodo) and Facebook Graph Search: Now Is The Time to Go Over Your Privacy Settings (ABC News). I also think it would be worth studying The Facebook Privacy information page.

Last Tuesday, Facebook introduced a new feature called Graph Search at a highly hyped press conference. Wall Street, which had been expecting a phone ,was not impressed, and the stock dived by 6.5% (it’s since recovered). On the other hand, the social media bloggers almost unanimously called Graph Search a triumph and Mashable declared: “Facebook Graph Search Could Be Its Greatest Innovation.”

What is it? Graph Search gives you the power to tap into the web of connections between you and your friends in a way that has never existed before. For example, if you type in a question like “Which of my friends like Moonrise Kingdom?” you will be shown a list of your friends, weighted by the ones you interact with the most, i.e., best friends on top. You could also ask, “What films do my friends like?” and presumably–I haven’t seen it yet–the films at the top of the list will be the ones most liked by your friends. You can also add other variables to your search like “Which of my female Los Angeles friends who speak French like Moonrise Kingdom?”

Tags Facebook, Graph Search, Guest Post, Marketing, Reid Rosefelt, social media

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