Year: 2013

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Truly Free Film

Indie Films Are Our Best Ambassadors To The World

“Indie films are our best ambassadors to the world. They show the diversity of who we are and they travel without passports. If people were only forced to observe commercial cinema, they would think we all wore superhero costumes and carried assault rifles. These movies speak to our more expansive nature.”

So ends the article The Wrap released on Wednesday regarding the wonderful news that The San Francisco Film Society’s funding from the Kenneth Rainin Foundation for artist grants shall go on indefinitely.  And yes that’s my quote — but I am sort of paraphrasing my wife’s grandfather, the producer Walter Wanger.

Read the whole article here.  It’s pretty great news: “This funding will allow filmmakers to afford to take creative risk away from day to day commercial concerns”.  But is that initial quote that keeps coming back to me.

Yesterday,

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These Are Those Things

What Are Great Short Films? Well, These Are Some.

This is my Pinterest Board of Short Films I like.

What have I neglected? What would you like to suggest we all watch? What do you think is the best short films of all time?

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Truly Free Film

Forward! The Digital Future: Embracing the Web Producers

By Rob Millis
 
Hollywood and New York came together in Las Vegas this week for the largest event in technology and entertainment, the Consumer Electronics Show. The future of film has always been determined in part by what happens at CES every year. The massive industry conference helped launch VHS, LaserDisc, DVD, Xbox and every other major technology used to distribute and watch movies. Canon, Avid, Sony and every other major supplier of production tech demonstrate their latest and greatest in Las Vegas too.

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Issues and Actions

Some Movies TRULY Improve The World

Two days before THE INVISIBLE WAR got an Oscar Nomination for Best Documentary (i.e. today), Congress announced it would hold a hearing on sexual abuse in the Military.

When it becomes more and more difficult for our mainstream media to examine complex issues in depth and with true soul, it is left to

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Truly Free Film

The Dream: Mark Zuckerberg’s Future Plans

By Reid Rosefelt
Imagine if an idealistic multi-billionaire became determined to reinvent independent film.

Imagine if he sought out the most talented, but not yet established, filmmakers in this country–the stars of the film schools, people, festival prize-winners, critically acclaimed directors whose movies have not turned a profit.   He invites each of these people to his office in California, where he takes them for a nature walk to explain his dream of a colossal experiment in cinematic collaboration, larger than anything the world has previously seen.  Not incidentally, he offers each of them a substantial salary to take part.    Most will grab the money or be curious; others will be suspicious of his motives or wary of being tied up and say no.  It will take awhile to put together the perfect group, but the entrepreneur is patient and won’t quit until he’s assembled hundreds of people, the best of the best of the best.  Of course, sometimes he’ll make the wrong choices, but one thing he’s known for is his decisiveness about letting people go when necessary.

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Truly Free Film

How To Get Ready For That Film Festival

You are in, and now you have all sorts of wonderful problems — the kind most filmmakers wish they could enjoy.  You know, you have to do all the things you have to do for a film festival.  I have tried to collect the various blog posts I have written or have found written by others that will really prepare you.  There’s a lot more to be written.  But this is a good start:

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Truly Free Film

Diary of a Film Startup Post 18: New Year Update

By Roger Jackson

Previously: How KinoNation Works

What a difference a year makes. This time in 2012 I was working for an humanitarian assistance NGO, just back from a village solar power project in Tajikistan, and about to fly to West Africa to set up a veterinary aid project in Mauritania. That contract ended in July, and by August I was fully committed to online film distribution and KinoNation. Quite a contrast.

We’ve been on a “coding sprint” throughout the holidays to hit our planned “soft-launch” later this month. Klaus and our software team have been doing what developers in start-ups do — writing code into the early hours. I usually work past midnight, but there’s always a twinge of guilt when I get up and see the emails that have flown back and forth at 4 in the morning.

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