Dear Documentary Insiders,
I don’t want to use this weblog as a complaining station, but could someone please give me more hours in the day!
Al Gore, Martin Scorsese, World Premiere docs, Doc Talks and more, who has time to write?! Promising an update soon.
Yours,
SJ
PS: Read the chutry experiment – he’s writing!
The 4th Annual Silverdocs/AFI/Discovery Channel Documentary Festival started Tuesday night. I had planned to go to the opening night film and party. But – well – something happened. I’ll start at the beginning. I flew in Monday. But, I stay with my Aunt and Uncle in Baltimore. It’s only a 40-minute drive to Silver Spring. Tuesday night we went to dinner based on the assumption that the opening night film, Boffo! Tinseltown’s Bombs and Blockbusters, started at 9:00. That gave us plenty of time to go eat, come home, change and make it to Silver Spring in time for the festivities. However, on our arrival home I re-checked the start time of the film and it was not 9:00, it was 7:00! There was a misprint in the program. It was too late – we would never make it in time. I was bummed, but I was also tired, so in a way it was a relief. The film, which details America’s new pastime of predicting box office results, is directed by Oscar winning filmmaker Bill Couturié and will air on HBO.
Wednesday I went with my family to visit more family and eat a world famous Cheesesteak in Philly (Pat’s or Geno’s? Neither, Jim’s!)
Yesterday I hit the festival in full force. And the next few days are just packed. Can Mr. Smith Get to Washington Anymore? premieres tonight. It’s sold out – but we hear there may be a few tickets available right before the screening. Come and check it out!
I’ll try to get more festival news up later.
I’m leaving for Silverdocs shortly. And I’ve got a lot going on there.
I’ll be blogging everyday from the festival.
I’m covering the festival for Documentary Magazine.
indieWIRE’s got me covering for them.
And I’m repping a film that’s world premiering there!
So…read my blog updates daily.
Check out IDA’s mag.
Read indieWIRE daily.
And come to the World Premiere of Can Mr. Smith Get to Washington Anymore?. The filmmaker will be there as well as the producers, the subject of the film, Jeff Smith, and more.
Oh…and be sure to say hi.
I just realized while I was ordering in Chinese that I was sitting home on a Saturday night reading the documentary Oscar rules. It’s about that time…
The Road to Guantanamo poster, the LA Film Festival line-up, fair use. The doc community is talking. Why am I so quiet? Just busy!
Planning to blog from Silverdocs next week and will also be covering the aforementioned LA Film Festival at the end of June.
I got an email 2 weeks ago asking me to pledge to see An Inconvenient Truth, Davis Guggenheim’s new doc about global warming that stars Al Gore. I saw it in January at the Sundance Film Festival and have been talking about it ever since. Check out AJ Schnack’s blog for his full report on ticket sales, the impact and what other doc speculators are saying.
The Arch City Chronical blog reports:
Jeff Smith film Sold Out
“The documentary of Jeff Smith’s 3rd CD campaign that will show at Silverdocs Film Festival sold-out today in 30 minutes. But there could be stand-by tickets the day of the show and there’s always the possibility that they wll add another screening. So if you’re heading to DC, check in and see if tix become available.”
It seems like everywhere I look people are busy talking about Cannes. In the midst of all the Cannes news and views Silverdocs announced their massive doc lineup for the 4th annual June fest in Silver Spring, MD, just around the corner from DC. Tickets went on sale and stuff is already selling out. Looks like I’ll be there with a film myself. Keep your eyes on this space for more news on that. It’s an exciting time!
Back at SXSW I loved Air Guitar Nation. The 2006 Air Guitar Championships are going on now! Inspired by my fondness for the doc about this unusual pastime I’ll be heading to the LA regionals at the Roxy on Saturday night. Hope to see ya there.
Music films are a crapshoot.
The fans like it.
The fans hate it.
The filmmaker is a huge fan and can’t see the faults in the band…or the film.
Someone who’s never heard the music before finds the film boring.
Someone who’s never heard the music before finds the film fascinating.
You know you’ve got a good film when anyone can watch it, fan or not, and be into the story for 90 minutes.
loudQUIETloud: a film about the Pixies got me. I knew the Pixies hits, Here Comes Your Man, Where is My Mind, Monkey Gone to Heaven, but other than that I never really paid attention. By the time they broke up in 1992 I was drowning in goth, shaving half my head and filing my fingernails into points. (Thank goodness that passed.) I knew people that liked the Pixies, but it still didn’t sway me to buy any of their albums. So…walking into the movie last night was a gamble. If it was just for fans, I would be bored. Thank goodness it wasn’t, and I wasn’t. In fact, the film does something most music films don’t do; it shows vulnerability, honesty and dare I say it, reality. As soon as you see Pixie sister Kelly Deal doing cross-stitch and drummer David Lovering on the beach with his metal detector, it’s all over, the film’s gotcha.
The band formed in Boston in 1986 and broke up in 1992 due to “tension between the band matesâ€. It’s tough to be together writing songs, practicing, recording and touring and it took its toll on the Pixies. But breaking up couldn’t stop Pixies music from inspiring other rockers (Kurt Cobain sited them as a huge influence), spawning hordes of fans worldwide and making everyone ask, “Will the Pixies ever get back together?†In 2004 they reunited for a worldwide tour and the whole thing is covered in Steven Cantor and Matthew Galkin’s loudQUIETloud: a film about the Pixies. And when the camera follows the band from the low rumble in the quiet backstage to facing the audience erupting into lights and music, well, I got chills. In addition to the well-mixed live concert footage the film is complemented with an original score by Daniel Lanois.
The filmmakers are looking into their options for theatrical distribution, hopefully this summer and a two-disc DVD by Christmas. But to tide you over, here’s the trailer.
loudQUIETloud: a film about the Pixies screened as part of the AFI’s 5th Annual Music Documentary Series. The series continues next Wednesday with George Michael – A Different Story and the final film in the series screens May 10th, Leonard Cohen I’m Your Man. Tickets here.
