Tag: censorship

Categories
Truly Free Film

The Really Good Things In FilmBiz 2014

Let's look at the bright side!
Let’s look at the bright side!

Some rituals help keep us focused throughout the year. This marks the 4th time I have looked back at all the good things that occurred in the film biz and listed them out for all of us. Tracking them through year, keeps me from abandoning hope. Sometimes they may just be the silver lining in the storm cloud, but nonetheless they keep me going, keep me convinced that in fact we truly are: building it better together. I hope they do something close to that for you. It’s been a good year, and I have thirty two morsels to tempt you with. And of course the year’s not through yet, so perhaps you have some to add to this too. 

If you’ve encountered elements of this list earlier on my postings in Film Comment and on Keyframe, pay careful attention as I have weaved some new points into all for your reading pleasure. And if you like a little of the bitter to wash down the sweet, don’t forget the list of 30 Bad Things In 2014’s Film Biz here.

Continue reading “The Really Good Things In FilmBiz 2014”

Categories
Truly Free Film

30 Really Bad Things In FilmBiz 2014

IMG_9903It is now time for my complete list of The Suck In Today’s Film Biz. Earlier this week, I’ve dropped some bits on Keyframe and Filmmaker Mag. IndieWire picked it up. There’s so much that is wrong, it is easy to share the wealth. But here is all of those combined lists  plus many more. Can’t you hear everyone screaming “OMG, there is so much too fix! It is time we made this really work for ambitious and diverse film once and for all!”?  We wish, right?

I have been chronicling the negative in our film industry for sometime now — six years in these type of posts, but my original rant goes back to 1995 for Filmmaker Magazine.  Much of what I have stated in years’ passed remains still in need of getting done. Dig in to my past lists and when you combine them you will have well over 100 things that we could be doing better.  You’d think with so much wrong, more people would stand up and say “this has got to change!”. Where is the film industry’s national leadership? For the first time I believe we are capable of conceptualizing what an entire systems reboot could be — and one that looks out for ALL the stakeholders.  Isn’t it time for a international summit on this?

I have been also chronicling the good too, but today that’s for another day. Come back tomorrow for my comprehensive list of 30 Good Things In The Film Biz 2014.

By detailing what we have failed to do, done wrong, or continue to ignore, we build a road map of how we can improve things for the future. Here’s my contribution to that map for 2014.  Let’s build this better together.

  1. The “Winners Take All” Blockbuster Model Has Stomped “The Long Tail” Flat (in Hollywood). And as much as I hoped people would try to resist
    Continue reading “30 Really Bad Things In FilmBiz 2014”
Categories
Truly Free Film

Are We Accepting Censorship As A Given?

The Surveillance State’s seemingly shy cousin is starting to strut more on the dance floor. The siren song of censorship grows louder as governments and multinational corporations rock out to it as a means to fortify their power and wealth, knowing the rest of us will remain silent if we too believe we can accumulate even more green before the music ends and we have to take our seat.  Isn’t it time we got our priorities in order?

You’ve seen what is happening, right?  Russian forbids profanity in the media.  China draws hard lines on what can and will be said.  The European Court allows history to be erased from search.  And here in the US not only do we continue to train ourselves to police ourselves, armed with the knowledge that Big Brother, I mean the NSA,  is always watching, but we limit our own access — as well as our ability to innovate — by continuing to progress to a “he-who-pays-the-most-can-and-will-control-all” state and the consequent end of Net Neutrality.

Continue reading “Are We Accepting Censorship As A Given?”

Categories
Truly Free Film

What Issues Do Filmmakers Need To Track?

If filmmakers don't track core issues, they will find their form abandoned in the parking lotA creative life is a precarious thing.  Actions occur that could profoundly effect your ability to earn a living doing what you love.  We get blindsided again and again, sometimes not recognizing things until they are too late to alter them.  It’s one of the reasons I have tried to meticulously track for you what are the good thing and bad things happening in indie film these days.  Yet, it seems to me we all need to do a better job of tracking them if we don’t want to get trapped in a future we won’t be part of..

My thought is that we should be able to define a series of issues in which we can put events, ideas, and articles into as they occur, helping each other stay on top of them. 

The first step is to define the issues.  That is what I am doing today .

Continue reading “What Issues Do Filmmakers Need To Track?”

Categories
Truly Free Film

Over 30 Really Bad Things In The Indie Film Biz 2013

"It Feels Like A War Zone" 30 Really Bad Things About #IndieFilm Biz 2013
“It Feels Like A War Zone” 30 Really Bad Things About #IndieFilm Biz 2013

Note: If you’d like to share this post, please use this link: http://bit.ly/18A5DN9

Ah…  I have given my thanks so now it’s that time of the year when I get to complain about what’s wrong — and what hasn’t yet been fixed.  I have done this before (several times), but this is that post on where we are right now. Like always, I suggest you don’t forget that lists like these only make the foolish despair.  After all, we can build it better together.  Let’s take this post as an action list. All are opportunities to truly ToDo. It does not need to be this way.

  1. The film business lives in Bizarro World, thinking we do something for the love of it, but in fact creating something far far far away from what we actually love — and thus making it so much harder to do what we love in the process. We have turned our strengths into our weaknesses. The worst of course is we now take it for granted that this is how it is and this is what the film biz needs be (if you are not fully following me here, I suggest you click on the link above).  It’s not and it doesn’t but I don’t hear a whole lot of folks saying we need a complete systems reboot of the whole film ecosystem (see #2).
  2. It’s not enough to just think outside the box.  The box is a trap and a false representation of a reality.  We have to break the box, probably smash it to bits and then
    Continue reading “Over 30 Really Bad Things In The Indie Film Biz 2013”
Categories
Truly Free Film

Should Museums Ban Films?

By Ben Kalina

I spent much of the past 4 years directing Shored Up, a film about coastal development, sea level rise and the science and policy debates surrounding these issues.  It was a long process with many twists, the biggest of which came when Superstorm Sandy hit and brought a dramatic new context to the film.

North Carolina figures prominently in Shored Up, initially as a contrast between the state’s forward-looking coastal development policies and the slippery slope of groins, jetties and beach replenishment in other states like New Jersey.  But this contrast was turned on its head as the North Carolina Legislature started to reverse many of these laws in 2012.

XKalina_ShoredUp2

As a result of North Carolina’s role in the film I’ve been actively planning a screening tour across the state this coming January.  It was to kick off with an event in Wilmington and culminate with a showing and panel discussion at a Science Café event in the North Carolina Natural Science Museum.  All seemed to be going well and this was shaping up to be a great opportunity to reach press and politicians with the science and policy issues that the film covers.

Continue reading “Should Museums Ban Films?”

Categories
Issues and Actions

Petition Against Florida’s Ban On Films With Gay Characters

Perhaps you’ve heard of the plan to deny films (like all the oscar nominated movies this year) that don’t promote “family values” which to some mean gay characters.

Luckily some people are doing something about it.  For a start you can sign this petition started by R. Michael McWhorter (thank him by following him on Twitter) :

http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/no_florida_film_censorship/

Continue reading “Petition Against Florida’s Ban On Films With Gay Characters”