This documentary provides probably as much of the story of outsider artist Henry Darger as you are ever likely to learn. Darger was a recluse who avoided all but a few people during his relatively long life. Upon being admitted to a hospital late in life, his life’s work, an enormous and truly unique trove […]
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Strictly Film School
A pretty amazing site given that its authored by a single person. This site is devoted to serious and usually esoteric cinema much of which is difficult if not imposssible to find on video. In a nutshell, it teaches the average joe, myself included, just how little he/she really knows about film. The author is […]
Continue readingTV-Turnoff Week is this week, April 24-30
Can’t say I support this cause. I mean, really, does it make sense to categorically denounce all television? But in case you are more sympathetic, here’s the mission statement of the TV Turnoff Network. Speaking of cultural literacy, this image is from Stanley Kubrick’s A Clockwork Orange (VHS 1942).
Continue reading‘nother list: This time it’s Roger Ebert’s 101 Movies you must see before …
The criterion is different from his list of the greatest films in that he chose titles for their cultural significance. Included are lesser films that nevertheless attained iconic status including Carrie, The Crying Game, Easy Rider, The Exorcist, and Fight Club. Most major directors are represented by no more than a single film, intentionally. My […]
Continue readingAIVF is on the ropes
The Association of Independent Video and Filmmakers, the publisher of The Independent Film and Video Monthly, and host of trainings, films festivals, and filmmaker seminars and networking events for thirty years is in what look like desperate straits. The organization is probably known by every independent filmmaker but its effectiveness and importance have waned during […]
Continue readingFilmmakers up in arms: Smithsonian sells out – Can they do that?
The Smithsonian has cut a deal with Showtime allowing them the right of first-refusal for works created using Smithsonian archival material. This means that if a filmmaker uses materials owned by the Smithsonian in his/her film, then Showtime on demand is given dibs on airing it first, unless they choose not to. Many filmmakers and […]
Continue reading“The 50 Greatest Independent Films”
A British film website called Empire Online has a list of what they deem “The 50 Greatest Independent Films” Here it is along with Media Services call numbers for the ones we own. In countdown order: 50. El Mariachi VHS 294749. Run Lola Run DVD 9248. Cube DVD 7847. Blood Feast 46. Texas Chainsaw Massacre […]
Continue readingMust-see video: Ilha das flores = Isle of flowers (1989) VHS 2926
What starts out as a humorous take on the food chain from a middle-class Brazilian perspective suddenly evolves into a scathing indictment of the social system as it looks at what becomes of the garbage produced by the inhabitants of Porto Alegre, Brazil. This 13-minute film is little-known in the US, but it garnered enough […]
Continue readingCool ALADIN e-books: VideoHound’s Golden Movie Retriever, 2006 Ed. and International Dictionary of Film and Filmmakers , 4th Ed.
Gale Virtual Reference Library is a group of reference works in digital format. Videohound contains an “extensive listing of movies available on video–more than 23,000 in all”, however it does have a serious shortcoming. The electronic edition lacks many of the great cross-referencing indexes and subject lists that set the print version apart from its […]
Continue readingHistorical Nuclear Test Film Archive
The Department of Energy’s website has streaming video of about 75 nuclear tests from the 1940s to the 1970s, many recently declassified – the site is much more exhaustive than anything I’ve seen on this subject previously. link
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