SCREENING: Sasha Waters Freyer, Madison, WI, Apr. 4

Sasha’s (JSF, Vol.10) new documentary is screening at the Wisconsin Film Festival on Friday, 4/4, at 7pm. It’s called This American Gothic and is “a history of one of the most famous paintings in the world and a quirky portrait of Eldon, Iowa, population 998, site of the house that inspired it.” The hour-long film explores not just the painting as a symbol but the deep and sometimes strange [my word] importance of rural America to the national identity. For more info and to watch a trailer, visit her website.

Press release: The Journal of Short Film Releases Volume 10 (Winter 2008)

for immediate release

Columbus, OH (February 19, 2008) The Journal of Short Film released Volume 10 (Winter 2008) today. The JSF is a quarterly DVD magazine of today’s best, peer-reviewed short films. To date, the JSF has published over 100 filmmakers from 10 countries.

Volume 10 lives up to the Journal’s reputation for diversity, with three of its films coming from Eastern Europe and half of its filmmakers being women. As always, the collection contains most genres of film, including narrative, documentary, experimental, animation, and, for the first time, 3-D film.

Following is a list of the films in Volume 10:

1. CONVERSION – Nanobah Becker (2006, 9:00) CONVERSION portrays a Christian missionary’s dubious influence over a little girl and her family in the remote Navajo desert, circa 1950. 2. GUM AND TEA – EE Miller and Samuael Topiary (2005, 4:45) A collaborative meditation on intimacy and U.S. currency. 3. MILKY WAY – Ivana Mladenovic [Romania] (2006, 10:00) While Romania enters the E.U., Titinel and Mihai, two shepherds, live by their own rules in the outskirts of Bucharest. 4. PAPER – Elliot Blanchard (2006, 2:00) A man wakes up to unexpected new guests—and they have their own ideas about who should be in charge. 5. SCENIC HIGHWAY – Evan Mather (2007, 17:00) Baton Rouge’s colorful history is exposed in this darkly affectionate memoir. 6. HOME – Paul Negoescu [Romania] (2007, 14:00) On Christmas Eve, a taxi driver takes home a man returning from working abroad. 7. SISTER CITIES [3D] – Joe Merrell (2006, 10:15) Non-local awareness on a 3D walk through Los Angeles. 8. PAINTER OF THE LAND – Joel Fendelman (2004, 8:00) A glance at a man of a dying culture of farmers and how he uses the earth as his canvas. 9. WAR NEXT DOOR – Péter Politzer [Hungary] (2005, 10:00) It is Christmas night. The war is already raging in the neighboring city. 10. A WILD BEETLE CHASE – Sarah Jackson (2007, 13:10) Dr. Ivie searches for a beetle in Italy and shows that failure is just another step in the process. 11. HER HEART IS WASHED IN WATER AND THEN WEIGHED – Sasha Waters (2006, 12:45) When you die, everything you know disappears. A love letter to the abject beauty of human frailty. In three short acts.

The Journal continues to have a free and open submissions process. Submissions should be sent to The JSF, PO Box 8217, Columbus, OH 43201, USA. The Journal remains ad-free and committed to independent and underrepresented work.

Contact: Karl Mechem, publisher, The Journal of Short Film, contact@theJSF.org

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SCREENING: Joe Merrell, NYC, January 2008

Joe Merrell, our man in L.A. and JSF double-hitter (Vol.1, Vol.10), is having his work screened in the East Village in NYC in January. The venue is a sidewalk on 19 1st Avenue. The storefront at that spot is home to East Village Radio and its glassed-in DJ booth. During January, Ceci Moss, who does a show on Tuesday nights (10pm-12am) called “Radio Heart,” will be showing some of Joe’s work in the booth. Her program is an eclectic mix of music that can be heard on the street in front of the booth, streamed online, and through podcasts. If you’re in the neighborhood, stop by and check out the mirrored radio station and Joe’s work. Explore EVR here, and see the booth here.

SCREENING: JSF at the Detroit Film Center, 12/29

December’s DFC A/V show featuring the JSF includes Volume 3, followed by musical guests Rough Satellites, w/video accompaniment by Natasha Beste. Volume 3 is a great collection with a more-than-normal amount of humor. Check out the complete listing on the website.

Production note

Okay, as some of you might’ve guessed, we’re running slightly behind around here. Volume 10 was a little slow to collate, and the blog is clearly neglected. But we’ve turned a corner, and we’re charging into 2008 with new plans for world domination, . . . . or at least subversion. Happy holidays, and we hope everyone gets the arm bands we’ve sent.

SCREENING: JSF at the Detroit Film Center, 11/24

The next installment of the JSF screening at the esteemed DFC is happening this Saturday. Along with are special musical guests The Space Band. It should be a smashing show (film #11 is actually called “Demolition 7,” by Richie Sherman). Rumor has it the publisher will be in attendance. Feel free to hand him screeners if you’d like to submit to the Journal. For a list of the films, check out the listing in the left frame for Volume 2.

SCREENING(S): JSF at the Detroit Film Center, 10/27, 11/24, etc.

Brandon Walley up at the Detroit Film Center has programmed the Journal into the DFC’s A/V Club, resulting in a series of screenings to happen on the last Saturday of each month. The first installment will happen on Sat., Oct.27th, and will feature the screening of the full-length Volume 1 of the Journal PLUS live music and projection from local renegade noisemakers, The Eagles Club. If you haven’t seen Vol.1 yet, navigate leftward and read the listing of films and filmmakers that got the Journal off the ground back in 2005. If you have seen it, trust us that the films really deserve a theater screen.