Short films fare better in new distribution paradigm

Shorts have always gotten short shrift in distribution, with features pushing them aside, however, the web is changing the rules and paid downloads looks like a good way for shorts to have some life in distribution and earn a little cash for their makers. One evidence point for this trend is a recent story in Variety, “Sundance expands online plan” by Michael Jones reports that the 2008 Sundance Film Festival will be pay filmmakers in the shorts program for Internet downloads through iTunes, Xbox LIVE and Netflix. According to the festival, year some short films saw revenues in the “tens of thousands of dollars,” even after iTunes and the Sundance Institute took their fees.

New Media and a Smile in New Hampshire

Join me and fellow panelists Kevin Anderton and Steve Garfield at the New Hampshire Film Festival on October 12th from 1:30 to 3:30pm for a panel titled “Future Now: New Media and the Modern Filmmaker” at the Portsmouth Public Library. The session, to be moderated by John Herman, will explore the creative and cultural intersection of filmmaking and new media. Bring your ideas and questions to share.

Later the same day at 4:15pm my new short, Smile Boston Project, screens at the Music Hall along with Front Wards, Back Wards. Hope to see you there!

Shadow of the House is a rare and beautiful gem

This weekend at the Newburyport Documentary Film Festival I has the pleasure of seeing Shadow of the House, an intimate documentary by Allie Humenuk that presents a portrait of photographer Abelardo Morell. The film shows his process and daily life behind the work without interpreting it for you, presenting no experts telling you about the importance of Morell’s work, instead, you see that for yourself, as if you had walked into a beautifully mounted exhibition without placards or a program.

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Smile Boston Project joins slate of documentaries at Newburyport Documentary Festival

This weekend my short documentary, Smile Boston Project, (which won Best Short Documentary at the Woods Hole Film Festival) joins a slate of wonderful documentaries screening at the Newburyport Documentary Festival. Check out the schedule, if you live in the area, consider a day trip on Saturday or Sunday to catch some of the wonderful documentary films screening this year. On Saturday night the festival is screening Beth Murphy’s Beyond Belief, which won Best Film at the Woods Hole Film Festival. On Sunday afternoon at 1:45pm Smile Boston Project screens along with Steven Delano’s No Bigger Than A Minute, which premiered in October 2006 on PBS. There will be a Q&A following the screening. Then at 4pm Bren Bataclan (the subject of my film) and I will be at a reception at A Hog On Ice Gallery. If you plan to come to any of the screenings, I suggest you purchase tickets in advance, many of the films are expected to sell out, and opening night on Friday is already sold out.

An interview with Christen McArdle on preserving the Ann Arbor Film Festival

This week’s Art Film Talk interview is with Christen McArdle, the Executive Director of the Ann Arbor Film Festival, the oldest festival of its kind in North America showcasing avant-garde, documentary and independent films from around the world. We talk about the festival's fundraising campaign and the censorship controversy the festival has been involved with.

Art Film Talk: Kleiler’s theory of film festivals

In Episode 15 of Art Film Talk I talk with David Kleiler about his theory of what makes for a good film festival, it was a fun conversation on a stoop outside of the closing night party and award ceremony at the 15th Woods Hole Film Festival.