SXSW on Amazon—French electronica, Dark Web subcultures, and two great shorts
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SMH
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Must have been one of those "you have to see it to appreciate it" things, because most of those offerings seem to be more about weighing navel lint than anything else.
Seems to me if this is the zeitgeist of youth tech culture today, we're in bigger trouble than I thought.
On the bright side, they managed to put it out there to see, so at least they're getting more exposure than they would have under the circumstances.
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...
SMH
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Must have been one of those "you have to see it to appreciate it" things, because most of those offerings seem to be more about weighing navel lint than anything else.
Seems to me if this is the zeitgeist of youth tech culture today, we're in bigger trouble than I thought.
On the bright side, they managed to put it out there to see, so at least they're getting more exposure than they would have under the circumstances.
It's only ~17% of what SXSW would have been.
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I put all of these on my Watchlist on Prime Video (currently binging Stargate SG-1, yes, all 10 seasons), and I just noticed Waffle stars Katie Marovitch from College Humor! She plays a "mysteriously orphaned heiress Katie," which is perfect since her persona on CH is a drug fiend/probable psychopath (played for laughs, of course). Will definitely be watching this first.
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What Sajuuk said—one headline idea I had initially was "Amazon/SXSW doesn't encourage hope for digital fests, but we found films to like." For now, the "big" and "promising" feature films at these spring festivals are holding out on opting for digital screening alternatives since so much industry business seems to rely on festival premieres/receptions/deals. But if those fall festivals suddenly start converting to online-only, too, maybe the equation gets a bit trickier—do you hold your project for an entire year or do you want this thing you've been working on for years to see the light of day?
Anyway, the full, original SXSW film lineup had plenty of stuff that jumped off the page, so there's plenty of reason to still feel fine about youth (film) culture. In addition to King of Staten Island and Insert Coin, here were a few others to keep an eye out for elsewhere:
The Show
Director: Mitch Jenkins, Screenwriter: Alan Moore
"A new mystery from the extraordinary mind of legendary comic book writer Alan Moore, creator of Watchmen, V for Vendetta and The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. Cast: Tom Burke, Ellie Bamber, Siobhan Hewlett, Sheila Atim, Alan Moore (World Premiere)"
Console Wars
Directors: Jonah Tulis, Blake J. Harris
"In 1990, Sega assembled a team of misfits to take on the greatest video game company in the world, Nintendo. Console Wars goes behind the scenes to meet the men and women who fought for both sides in this epic battle that defined a generation. (World Premiere)"
Less Ars-y, but still would've wanted to see...
Cut Throat City
Director: RZA, Screenwriter: Paul Cuschieri
"Cut Throat City is a powerful and hard-hitting heist drama by RZA, set in New Orleans’ Lower 9th Ward following Hurricane Katrina. Cast: Shameik Moore, Tip ‘T.I.’ Harris, Demetrius Shipp Jr., Kat Graham, Rob Morgan, Keean Johnson, Denzel Whitaker, Sam Daly, Isaiah Washington, Wesley Snipes, Terrence Howard, Eiza Gonzalez, Ethan Hawke (World Premiere)"
*Note that one has a trailer already https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jn0ZSwD0dJI
Golden Arm
Director: Maureen Bharoocha, Screenwriters: Ann Marie Allison, Jenna Milly
"Golden Arm is a female buddy comedy about a wimpy baker who gets roped into the world of ladies arm wrestling by her truck driving best friend. Cast: Mary Holland, Betsy Sodaro, Olivia Stambouliah, Eugene Cordero, Aparna Nancherla, Dawn Luebbe, Ron Funches, Ahmed Bharoocha, Dot-Marie Jones, Kate Flannery (World Premiere)"
That's just a smattering of would-be SXSW 2020; there were plenty of others, too—docs about Air Jordans, the Magic Castle, female rock drummers and features that mash rom-coms with the end of the world or put Shea Whigham in mysterious situations (which I'll always watch after Homecoming S1)
Anyway, the full, original SXSW film lineup had plenty of stuff that jumped off the page, so there's plenty of reason to still feel fine about youth (film) culture. In addition to King of Staten Island and Insert Coin, here were a few others to keep an eye out for elsewhere:
The Show
Director: Mitch Jenkins, Screenwriter: Alan Moore
"A new mystery from the extraordinary mind of legendary comic book writer Alan Moore, creator of Watchmen, V for Vendetta and The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. Cast: Tom Burke, Ellie Bamber, Siobhan Hewlett, Sheila Atim, Alan Moore (World Premiere)"
Console Wars
Directors: Jonah Tulis, Blake J. Harris
"In 1990, Sega assembled a team of misfits to take on the greatest video game company in the world, Nintendo. Console Wars goes behind the scenes to meet the men and women who fought for both sides in this epic battle that defined a generation. (World Premiere)"
Less Ars-y, but still would've wanted to see...
Cut Throat City
Director: RZA, Screenwriter: Paul Cuschieri
"Cut Throat City is a powerful and hard-hitting heist drama by RZA, set in New Orleans’ Lower 9th Ward following Hurricane Katrina. Cast: Shameik Moore, Tip ‘T.I.’ Harris, Demetrius Shipp Jr., Kat Graham, Rob Morgan, Keean Johnson, Denzel Whitaker, Sam Daly, Isaiah Washington, Wesley Snipes, Terrence Howard, Eiza Gonzalez, Ethan Hawke (World Premiere)"
*Note that one has a trailer already https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jn0ZSwD0dJI
Golden Arm
Director: Maureen Bharoocha, Screenwriters: Ann Marie Allison, Jenna Milly
"Golden Arm is a female buddy comedy about a wimpy baker who gets roped into the world of ladies arm wrestling by her truck driving best friend. Cast: Mary Holland, Betsy Sodaro, Olivia Stambouliah, Eugene Cordero, Aparna Nancherla, Dawn Luebbe, Ron Funches, Ahmed Bharoocha, Dot-Marie Jones, Kate Flannery (World Premiere)"
That's just a smattering of would-be SXSW 2020; there were plenty of others, too—docs about Air Jordans, the Magic Castle, female rock drummers and features that mash rom-coms with the end of the world or put Shea Whigham in mysterious situations (which I'll always watch after Homecoming S1)
...
SMH
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Must have been one of those "you have to see it to appreciate it" things, because most of those offerings seem to be more about weighing navel lint than anything else.
Seems to me if this is the zeitgeist of youth tech culture today, we're in bigger trouble than I thought.
On the bright side, they managed to put it out there to see, so at least they're getting more exposure than they would have under the circumstances.
It's only ~17% of what SXSW would have been.
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these type of events just make me say WHY?
seems like a wank fest of terrible people who somehow have money.
seems like a wank fest of terrible people who somehow have money.
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Maybe I missed something, but Alma Jodorowsky is already pretty good at writing music - her band Burning Peacocks' debut album, "Love Réaction" - is really, really good.
https://www.last.fm/music/Burning+Peacocks
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DvjvsylrKpI
https://www.last.fm/music/Burning+Peacocks
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DvjvsylrKpI
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Semi of topic, but thanks for mentioning artist Corine... never ever heard of her, but listening to a few of her clips on yt made me think whoa, french electronica, pretty interesting.
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It's pretty shocking how many films are being delayed, especially considering there is an alternative distribution method that didn't exist twenty years ago. It's just sad that more companies aren't taking advantage of basically the entire world being locked up and desperate for a distraction. Nothing new is getting made at the moment, all my favourite TV has shut down production (for good reason, it's not worth risking people's health), so you'd think this would be the perfect time to put out stuff for the digital market, but seems not.
I wonder how much of this is the 'film purity' bollocks that gets touted, or simply not willing to risk the cash.
I wonder how much of this is the 'film purity' bollocks that gets touted, or simply not willing to risk the cash.
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It's about promotion and money, which is largely still tied to traditional distribution methods. Sure, a lot of indie films could get dumped onto various streaming platforms, but unless they get promoted in some way, which takes money, they'll just drop off the "new releases" list into the unseen depths of these services.
I watched the movie Time Trap a few months ago when it dropped onto Netflix, based on remembering a positive review in an Ars movie festival article:
https://meincmagazine.com/gaming/2017/11/ ... film-fest/
I don't think it's all that well known though, even though it's free on Vudu with ads, so people don't necessarily have to pay anything to watch it:
https://www.justwatch.com/us/movie/time-trap
Another film Ars promoted in that article, Meerkat Moonship, doesn't look to be available for streaming at all, 3 years later:
https://www.justwatch.com/us/movie/meerkat-moonship
Film festivals may appeal to hardcore cinephiles, but the main audience for them are film critics and film/TV executives. The film critics can generate a fair amount of buzz from a single screening of a film, while the executives can then offer a platform to show it on, along with money to promote it. Meanwhile, the number of people that can actually see a film at a physical film festival is limited enough that you haven't exhausted your potential audience for the film for a later theatrical, or even straight-to-video, release. Film Festivals aren't an end goal for the films, but a stepping stone.
To that end, the value these online festivals provide can be questionable. Movies typically pay to submit to a film festival, and they don't make money off of the screenings. There's the questions of how much, if any, money Amazon Prime was offering to include these films in this "online festival," I'm guessing $0. For a film that's hoping to get a payday and be widely distributed and promoted, I don't think there's much appeal to letting the entire subscription base to a streaming platform have free access to the film for a week. That leaves the films a little more desperate for attention, that even available for free may only grab a few viewers of a subscriber base, to help build buzz. It's not surprising that it's mainly shorts then that are allowing this, as shorts on their own don't have much value, so there's no real money loss providing it for free, but if it can get buzz, it might get picked up by a producer to expand/remake into a feature.
As for Netflix and other platforms just buying up some films to put on their platforms, that's likely happening to some extent, but this festival was to have 125+ films. That's a lot of films for even the current glut of streaming services to just swallow up whole. Without festivals to build buzz, each platform is likely just choosing the films that have been submitted to them based on what they guess might be popular. You don't get the situation where a film is a surprise critical hit and quickly builds buzz from its screening, generating a bidding war between competitors. And the streaming services may be a bit cautious with picking up a film that hasn't been "proven" by a traditional theatrical screening in some way. So there's benefits to both the film creators and the distributors to wait for a future film festival before screening a film in the hopes of being bought.
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It would have been nice if the article mentioned that. I just sent an email to a film buff friend and had to send a second retraction because neither of us are in the US.
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Thanks for the recommendations. I'm planning to watch Le Choc du Futur tonight, but in the meantime I had a look at the shorts.
Waffle was not bad but I was really blown away by Still Wylde. I'm going to keep an eye out for more from Ingrid Haas.
Waffle was not bad but I was really blown away by Still Wylde. I'm going to keep an eye out for more from Ingrid Haas.
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