Dorothy Dandridge is one of the greatest stars that ever lived. I defy anyone to try to watch her and not be fully drawn in and seduced by her charm, wit, and beauty. If it wasn’t for racist tendencies she’d be as well known as Marilyn. Maybe history will catch up to reality and tackle that injustice eventually; but… Last month I posted a Dandridge clip, and with great pleasure offer up another tidbit today.
I am the walrus I mean hedgehog in the fog. Go explore, but never forget what sits by the fire. This should be San Francisco’s National Film Anthem, IMHO.
Hedgehog in the fog from Vikram Dakad on Vimeo.
Last year I wrote out 15 really good things about the indie film biz (2011). My first instincts at looking at the list, are that the 15 from last year are still in process this year. Maybe I was a bit ahead of the curve. Maybe I should hold this post until 2013. But I don’t think so — we have much to celebrate this year too.
So what are the new developments that are now taking hold? Unfortunately, my mind hasn’t found the answers as quickly as others have (and here too) even if I do consider myself quite the optimist. Okay, make that a pessmistic optimist, but an optimist nonetheless. I have struggled to hit the same number as last year, but I did it, and even exceeded it — and hopefully you’ll continue to fill in the list with what I forgot.
By Reid Rosefelt
had breakfast recently with Jaie LaPlante, the Executive Director of the Miami International Film Festival. Jaie has healthy 13,000 fans on his Facebook page, but like most people, he’s hungry for more.
I explained that he shouldn’t worry much too much about the number of fans–the thing that matters is how active his page is–he should be concerned with the number of likes, comments and shares. What was he doing to stir up traffic? Jaie said he had a guy named Igor Shteyrenberg who was merrily posting all day long. “He shouldn’t posting so often,” I said, repeating a truisms I’d rattled off so often in blogs and lectures. “All Facebook research has proven that you should never post more than two or three times a day.”
Umm….wrong. Rules don’t apply when you have great content.
Despite–or maybe because of–the constant postings, I later discovered that Miami had one of the liveliest festival pages I’d ever seen. Igor turned out to be the George Takei of movies,
by Emily Best & Liam Brady
EMILY: Recently I was a guest on an awesome show that brings together musicians, filmmakers, and entrepreneurs to talk, play, and pontificate. Here’s the first question we were asked: we all know how much technology has helped music and film, but what about the challenges it poses?
There’s no doubt in my mind that the greatest challenge technology poses to the arts is fragmentation. In a world where the audience’s attention is so divided, how do you make something stand out?
It’s pretty simple. When people make money doing something, more money enters that system. And it is pretty simple in the reverse: when some people make a bucketload and those that invested in it make virtually nothing, less money flows into the system.
If distributors don’t pay creators their fair share of the profits, their won’t be movies made. Or maybe the investors will get wise and stop selling the distributors the film. After all we are at a time that you can really do it yourself (by doing it with others). And to be clear, “fair share” doesn’t mean paying them what contract swindles them out of — it means paying them an ethical cut. And that sure in hell ain’t 12.8% of the profits — which is what happened on one of the most successful indie films of recent times.
