Author: Ted Hope
Scarlet Street: produced by Walter Wanger, directed by Fritz Lang, starring Joan Bennett, Edward G. Robinson.
Evidently the link was taken down for copyright reasons. I was told Walter never made a penny on this one as he had to sell off the rights to pay some bills. I was hoping everyone could then see it, but…
You missed it at SXSW? You missed it at Locarno? You read the great reviews and you want to see what it is all about. Well you can check out Sean Baker’s latest at:
A moving and fun speech by Lana Wachowski
Chris Dorr’s recent post on MoviePass helped me recognize the world as it truly is today. It wasn’t MoviePass that I needed to recognize. It was that the same thing that allowed Independent Film to flourish is the same thing that is now spurring on innovation everywhere. Once filmmakers stopped asking for permission to tell their stories, the floodgates opened to a far more diverse approach to culture generation. To the powers that be the end of permission looks like anarchy, but to the leaders to come, this is the stepping stone to necessary change. And we are seeing that now.
The last seven days have done a good job convincing me we can build this world a whole lot better and that we have the passion and know-how to keep an ambitious and diverse film culture from falling into ruin. I have been doing some meetings, going to events, meeting folks — the days are long, but the inspiration has been great. It does so much good to observe things done well and I gathered quite of few as of late.
The documentary world has knit together a series of alliances, models, forums, and structures that the fiction film world should really take note of. When the sun was setting today, and I was recognizing that it was such a inspiration-filled last few days, a dark shadow past over when I realized much of that uplift was from another form. That’s not a bad thing really. It’s nice to have role models. Indie filmmakers the world over should thank their documentary siblings for all they have given us.
What inspired me (and in no particular order)?
By Roger Jackson
Previously: Time to Go Live!
Card-Counting Christians
Just back in Los Angeles after 4 days in Arkansas at the excellent Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival. So great to have a deep immersion in indie film, watch back to back movies and hang out with passionate filmmakers. I loved Holy Rollers, the true story of a tight-knit group of Christians running a very successful operation dedicated to beating casinos at Blackjack. Motivated not just by their multi-million dollar winnings, but by a deep hatred of the rapacious casino industry, this is a superbly executed movie by filmmaker Bryan Storkel.
Paper Lion
I was invited to the festival to speak at a workshop on “New Waves of Distribution.” Talked to lots of filmmakers about KinoNation. Universally positive feedback. Everyone just wants their films watched, and make a little cash back. Hopefully we can revolutionize the process. So
