The Journal of Short Film Blog’s Short Hiatus

The JSF Blog will return in 12-14 days. The publisher is having its asbestos removed. The rest of the website and Store will remain up and running, as usual.

Screening(s): Brian Liloia; Newburyport, MA, and Anthology @NYC; Sept.

Brian Liloia’s film ¡SI, SÉ PUEDE! is the most topical film the JSF has ever published. The immigration film was finished within a month of the massive street protests in April and released in Volume 4 in July. Catch the film at the Newburyport Documentary Film Festival in Newburyport, MA, during the weekend of Sept. 29th. For more info on the festival, go HERE.

Another of Brian’s short films, THE IMMORTALITY OF MAN, will play during a NewFilmmakers screening on September 20th at the Anthology Film Archives in NYC. For more info on the series, go HERE. This film is funny and very different from the other; the title is very tongue-in-cheek.

Film School Gets the Business Page Treatment

I noticed that there was little or no comment last week over the NYT story about film schools setting up new courses in “technology.” Read “When Film School Isn’t Enough, the EnterTech Age Dawns” here. The story reports that numerous film schools are creating degree or certification programs in what they call the “convergence of entertainment and technology.” Spoiler alert: that phrase doesn’t seem to be a euphemism. These programs, with input from Hollywood executives, are exploring how the film industry can adapt to changing technology. These aren’t history classes; it appears they’re “how does Hollywood make money in the 21st century” classes. Or maybe ie., “Our 80-year old business model isn’t making the returns our investors are demanding, how can we make money off these kids on the Internet?” classes.

But as our lukewarm outrage was brewing, we realized that none of us has actually been to film school. So perhaps these kinds of business classes are common in film school. What do we know, our ranks are an ebb and flow of publishing dropouts, underground filmmakers, grad school dropouts, and slacktivists. But our first instinct is to say get an MBA already. Drop us a line, if you have any insider information for us. For now we will pretend to reserve judgment.

Production update:
We’re in the thick of assembling Volume 5. By the end of the week, everything will be final and the DVD will go into production.
We’re trying to use some more recycled packaging, but of course it costs more than the alternatives. As always in this country, doing the right thing costs more, see ethical food, hybrid cars, urban living, etc. We’ll keep you posted.
We’re also working on setting up some screenings around the country for the fall and winter. We’ll let you know as soon as they are finalized. If you’d like to see a screening in your burg, let us know.

JSF Production Update

Well, another Labor Day has come and gone. The publisher took a break from his usual union busting to bring us all donuts . . . at the office. Then he went off to Kennebunkport or wherever he goes with Sumner or Rupert or whomever. We were left to fight over who has to stuff envelopes, who has to make the schedules for the Toronto and New York film festivals, and (apparently) who gets to sit on the couch and explain the appeal of NASCAR. Whoever DVR’ed the entire Sony HD 500 California Speedway Nextel Cup race isn’t funny. “500” = five hundred miles. This is perhaps as far from short film as one can get. On the other hand, a savvy editor could make a nice political film from the beginning of a NASCAR race; did you know they start those races with a prayer over the P.A.?

Moving on, the publisher said I could make our exciting announcement today, so here it is: Volume 6 will have a noted guest editor—Sam Green! We’re bicoastal! Columbus has been graced with Sam’s presence in the last few years, whether it was at his screening of The Weather Underground or while working on his short film Lot 63, Grave C. Sam lives in San Francisco and divides his time between teaching, filmmaking, helping run the Free History Project, and being generally awesome. We’re very happy to have him on board for a while.

Vol. 5 news? It’s coming together. The release date will be in mid-October. We’re working on a new design, as Vol.5 is the first volume of our second year. We’ll keep you posted.

Lastly, bon voyage to Lucy Raven, who was a guest editor on Volume 5. She was in town working on a project , but is heading back to New York City this week. Hopefully we’ll see her again at our next NYC screening. Watch for the next issue of her audio release The Relay Project.

"Paul and the Badger, Episode #1"

This blog post writes itself, the publisher tells me. Last week, the Chicago Underground Film Festival gave the Best Narrative Short award to Paul Tarrago’s “Paul and the Badger, Episode #1.” None of us were there, but the publisher heartily endorses the award, having seen the film at the N.Y. Underground Film Festival in March. He says you won’t find a better film about mortality that involves a contemplative badger puppet, he guarantees it. Watch it HERE. Note the key scene in which they call Uncle Duncan for help, asking him, “What’s the difference between dying for a cause and suicide?”

We don’t usually link to online videos (unless it’s vérité stuff like THIS), but this film might make your day. Note: it’s 11 minutes long and will be hard to disguise at work. Apologies for the quality of the video; this is one of the reasons we don’t believe in online video.

Paul Tarrago is a member of the London-based film collective Exploding Cinema.

Submission Fees, Festival Policies, and Without a Box(tm)

Over the last week or so, there has been a lively discussion about festival and venue submission fees and Without a Box(tm) on the Frameworks listserv. Many experimental filmmakers on the list seem rather put off by what Without a Box (WAB) is doing and its potential impact on film festivals and other venues. In short, WAB is selling a service where a filmmaker pays a flat fee ($500) to mass-submit to festivals and venues. WAB covers the submission fee for that festival, and/but gets a cut of it from the fest or venue.

Here is what a few people had to say about it:

>All in all, I found WAB to be very unhelpful and unconcerned with
issues confronting experimental film, formats and issues.

>If you see withoutabox listed for a festival, then you know that festival cares little for you and your film or for ANY filmmakers.

>The Ann Arbor Film Festival accepts entries from WAB, and we DO care for filmmakers and their films.

>If a festival wishes to use the withoutabox system then they must impose a fee. The festival effectively has no choice.

>Thus as withoutabox spreads, so do the entry fees.

The discussion is not just about WAB, however, If you travel back through the thread a few days, they discuss the pros and cons of submission fees, in general. Click HERE to start reading the WAB discussion. To go farther back in the discussion, click HERE for the summer archive; this page is sorted by subject, and start reading at “The Tank” on August 21st.

We'd like to say again that the JSF has no submission fees.

Short Film on the Big Screen, . . . in France, Anyway

What does a big-budget short film look like? You’ll have a chance to watch 19 of them when ”Paris, Je T’aime” opens in the semi-near future. This French feature is a two-hour collection of 5-minute films directed by big names. The subject is, predictably, Paris. And “love,” maybe. And probably smoking and being nonchalant. Each film is set in one of 18 different neighborhoods.

Just how big-budget is this feature? I saw a budget estimate of $16 million and 5 production companies attached, including Canal+. But we’re not judging. It’s a fine idea. We have always said that short film belongs in movie theaters.

The list of directors is strong. Among them are Olivier Assayas, Ethan and Joel Coen, Alfonso Cuarón, Christopher Doyle, Alexander Payne, Walter Salles, and Gus Van Sant.

The U.S. release date isn’t scheduled, yet, but I predict it’ll be in Dec. or Jan. Watch the so-so trailer HERE (find the film annonce), if you’re bored or like Natalie Portman.