AFI screening of THE FLY

As I mentioned back here, David Cronenberg is mounting a musical production based on his 1986 film THE FLY. Oh, and Howard Shore is doing the music for it. Well, to get you excited or to just remind you why this will be so wonderful, AFI is hosting a screening of the film with Cronenberg and Shore on hand for a Q&A next week. And it's going to be in the dome of the Arclight theater. Here is a link to the site for the play, they have production videos on there which look amazing. And here is where you can buy tickets, see you next week!

Congratulations Lex and Alexis!

Call me Uncle Red Beard.

Ben Russell at Cinefamily

Blasting out of Chicago, experimental filmmaker Ben Russell makes vibrant,
"tryppy" films as emotional as they are beautiful to sink in to. His Black
and White Trypps subjects range from elliptical trees in high contrast to a
crowd at a Lightning Bolt show to a Richard Pryor performance blown out
visually. Live at the theater, Russell will also perform The American War
(#10), a 16mm double-projection live performance involving film loops, mixer
feedback, a delay pedal, and a homemade light-sensitive synthesizer.

So if you like stark footage of trees, the music of Lightning Bolt, earnest
teenagers, Richard Pryor and/or 16mm projectors, you will be thrilled this
fine night.

August 19
8pm

Tickets - $12/$8 for Cinefamily members
Info here
The Cinefamily @ The Silent Movie Theatre
611 N. Fairfax Ave.
Los Angeles, CA 90036
(323) 655-2510

Azazel Jacobs at BAM

The film MOMMA'S MAN premiered to much acclaim at the Sundance film festival earlier this year. Unfortunately, we won't get a chance to show it at AFI FEST because it will have its theatrical release before our festival. But there is a retrospective of all of Jacob's earlier films showing at BAM in New York this week. I am proud to boast that these earlier works both premiered at AFI FEST first. In reading the BAM notes, I was delighted to see this quote by Aza about the last film we premiered of his: THE GOODTIMES KID:

"The GoodTimesKid was as fun and freeing as we hoped, and ultimately allowed my next film to happen"

To me that makes so much of our work worthwhile. (I need this reminding during these stressful months.) Congratulations to Aza, I wish I could be in Brooklyn this week with you.

AFI screening of NETWORK

AFI On Screen is hosting a screening of NETWORK this Wednesday and I get to introduce it!

When people ask me what my favorite movie is I usually complain about how you can't choose a favorite, ranking different filmmakers against each other is unfair, etc. But if I'm really pushed to pick a favorite I usually say NETWORK. This is because great films come from great writing and it does not get much better than this:

As relevant today as it was when it was first released, in 1976. (The year I was born!) I got free tickets to any Island Zero reader who wants to contact me.

New video from my friends Frangela

(And some other people from Best Week.)

See more funny videos at Funny or Die

The Original BSGLT

At Comic-Con 2008 there was one object more coveted than all the rest.... the Battlestar Galactica Toaster.

On this epic television series the derogatory term for robots is toaster. That makes this one-of-a-kind object a brilliant pop culture totem. Once this classic collectible was obtained by the Island Zero staff there was only one thing to do, make a BSGLT. Here are the pics:
(This episode of Island Zero was Executive Produced by Sue.)

7:35 IN THE MORNING

I just saw the brilliant first feature TIMECRIMES by Spanish filmmaker Nacho Vigalondo.It's a wonderful tale of an unlikely time traveler and the complications that are inevitable with causality.

Expect to hear more about this film from me in the future. But for now, enjoy his short film 7:35 IN THE MORNING. It's about seven and a half minutes long which I know is long in Internet time but I think you will enjoy it. It's a hostage romance musical... the less I say the better but this is how you make short films: with explosive originality.

Without further ado, 7:35 IN THE MORNING:

The morality of selling Manson paintings

I was discussing a film with a colleague the other day and they voiced a concern about giving publicity to sick/deranged individuals. An analogy was used that was something along the lines of "would you approve of selling paintings by Charles Manson?" Well the analogy wasn't really apt and the discussion went in another direction but I was just thinking...why not?

It's not like Manson is gonna get more famous for his paintings or that anyone will emulate him because now he can sell paintings. I'm asking you the Internet, what do you think? Is there any downside to selling artwork made by serial killers? If so what? And if there is a downside are you not just advocating that capital punishment is the only solution to the problem of societies' malcontents?

Seriously, this is an interactive forum, let me know if I'm way off base here.

Chris Carter presents GREAT EXPECTATIONS

As part of AFI ON SCREEN's program, Cinema's Legacy Chris Carter (of the X-Files) will be leading a screening an discussion of the film GREAT EXPECTATIONS. Carter will be explaining how David Lean's classic film was an influence on his work.

Carter began his career as a writer for Surfing Magazine. He got his start in the entertainment business in 1985 when Jeffrey Katzenberg, then chairman of Walt Disney Studio Entertainment, read one of Carter's screenplays and signed him to a development deal. Carter went on to develop projects for Twentieth Century Fox, where, in 1993, he created THE X-FILES. THE X-FILES was the winner of the Golden Globe for Best Drama in 1995 and 1997, Emmy-nominated three times for Best Drama, and winner of a Peabody Award for Excellence in Broadcasting.

This program is part of Cinema's Legacy, an ongoing series of conversations presented by the American Film Institute and the Skirball Cultural Center, where contemporary filmmakers---including some of cinema's greatest producers, directors, writers and actors---screen work they credit with encouraging and shaping their art. Now in its seventh year, this acclaimed series has featured numerous notable filmmakers including Richard Gladstein, Norman Jewison, Dennis Hopper, William Friedkin and James Horner.

I know some Island Zero readers are fans of the X-Files, I've got free tickets for any fans who contact me in time.

The screening and conversation will be August 26th at 7:30.

Science fiction showcase in August

Science fiction is a genre capable of the highest highs and the lowest lows (ENEMY MINE anyone?) This month AFI is proud to showcase four of the most original, and influential Science Fiction films of all time.

It’s telling that science fiction is one of the few genres that has not gotten its own list from AFI’s 100 years series (it was lumped in with fantasy.) Some legendary artists eschew the term and prefer more pretentious or confusing labels like speculative fiction. Much of the shunning or ghettoization of sci fi is in the past, it’s the era of the geek now (as it has been proclaimed in dozens of cultural journals.) Maybe this is the result of living in the strange cultural landscape where so many ideas first born in science fiction have come to life. One need look no further than the clamshell phones and blue tooth headsets on the classic Star Trek series to see the reality of this influence. So let's plug into some of the best sci fi films ever made and say a prayer for the missing android body of Phillip K Dick.