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It’s not a great time to be a federal employee, and unfortunately, that includes our friends at the National Archives (Officially known as the National Archives and Records Administration, or NARA). Those of us who work largely in documentaries, will inevitably end up using, or at the very least, searching the vast archives of, well,…
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In 1996, a little independent feature titled Bottle Rocket launched the careers of Owen Wilson and Wes Anderson. (Okay, Luke Wilson was in it too.) The story, written by (Owen) Wilson and Wes Anderson centers on two friends who along with another buddy, scheme to go on a vague crime spree of some sort. Just…
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As young filmmakers, Dara Bruselovsky and Ben Szemerenyi are navigating an uncertain industry future, while also focusing on creating their own projects. In this (our first!) podcast episode, Dara, the creator and director, and Ben, producer and co-writer, discuss how they work together, and the challenges they now face as they look to turn their…
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I’m not sure exactly when the law was passed, but at some point, all movie sites became obligated to highlight and celebrate “spooky season.” As it is already the middle of October, we’ll have to make up for lost time to retain our movie site license. Now then, let’s go back to 1922, and one…
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Sure, today John Carpenter is revered as a master of horror and suspense. Oh, and some pretty evocative music too. But back in the early 1970’s he probably wasn’t all that different from you, dear reader. Carpenter’s first feature, Dark Star, started as a student project at USC. After two years of working on the…
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There’s a an Oscar-nominated short that has been viewed over 487 million times on YouTube, making it the most-watched Oscar-nominated short ever, and probably the most-watched short film period, depending on your definition of short film. There’s a good chance you’ve seen it before. Maybe like me, you’ll think you didn’t see it before, but…
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One of the guiding principles in starting this site was to write minimally about AI. Why? For one, it is covered relentlessly everywhere. Secondly, the term “AI” is often misused and applied to a wide range of things in the film world, from cataloging footage to generating “complete” films. Simply saying “AI is bad” or…
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I’m sucker for the silly, and even more so if a quasi-pun is involved, so when I recently saw an ad for the Bumble Bee Tuna “CANS” Film Festival, they sucked me in. Although billed as a “festival,” Bumble Bee is really hosting a competition, in which you can submit a 60-second or less film…
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The Phoenixville Film Festival just concluded its third annual edition in downtown Phoenixville, Pennsylvania. Festivals this young usually have significant growing pains and issues to overcome if they are to become bigger, more prominent festivals. Bearing in mind, of course, that doesn’t have to be the intended goal of a festival. That said, the Phoenixville…
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Well, John Waters fans, it looks like you’ll only have one more chance to attend what must be (hey, we never made it) a rollicking good time. Launched in 2017, in the mountains of Connecticut, the three-day event combined a cabin stay, with Waters film festival with camp activities for adults, but with Waters twists:…