A while back I posted a call for Sundance and Slamdance filmmakers to send me information about their own DIY marketing and release plans. After the Sundance selection this week, many of its filmmakers are scrambling for publicists (Ted Hope has published a helpful list of indie film publicists here at his Truly Free Film blog) but others are also building up their own marketing infrastructure. One of those filmmakers is Mike Mohan, whose One Too Many Mornings is premiering in the new Next section. The film has an excellent blog containing posts from Mohan and his actors, including a video of them learning that the film was accepted to the festival while standing in front of the Stanley...

Tate Britain. Auditorium Tuesday, 8 December 2009, 18.30–20.00 Kojin Karatani `The End of Capitalism? Revolution and Repetition' Capitalism may be on the verge of extinction, but it will not end by itself, because states do everything possible to prolong its life. Setting out from Marx's...

...an angel looking as though he is about to move away from something he is fixedly contemplating. His eyes are staring, his mouth is open, his wings are spread. This is how one pictures the angel of history. His face is turned toward the past. Where we perceive a chain of events, he sees one...

So you didn’t get into Sundance…. I’m sorry. Trust me, I feel your pain. As a producer I’ve received both the acceptance calls as well as the rejection ones. (Actually, the rejection call is sometimes not even a call, but a form email or letter.) In some cases, I’ve known that the film probably didn’t have much of a shot, although in others, the rejection came as a shock — one that threw our director and production team into a quandary over the film’s future direction. So, what do you do if your film didn’t get into Sundance? The first thing: for a few days, forget about it. Don’t think about your film. This weekend go out to a concert, or a museum, or a park. Watch football. Probably don’t...

So what's your favorite film of the decade -- Lost in Translation or There Will Be Blood? Who's your favorite director -- the Coen brothers or Steven Soderbergh? We want to hear what our readers feel was the best in American independent and specialty films in the 2000's. Take our survey and the results will be printed in our upcoming Winter issue. And by taking the survey you'll receive a discount code to half-off a print subscrption. Enjoy!

by Ryland Walker Knight [The Resnais series playing at the PFA this month and next is part of a broader, traveling retrospective with a concurrent run in Chicago at the Gene Siskel Film Center and a proposed stop at the newly renovated Museum of the Moving Image in early 2010.] Parts of...

We are delighted to learn that we were selected “Critics of the Naughts” by IFC.com. “Naughts” doesn’t mean naughty, or that our efforts are for naught; it just refers to the decade of the 00s, now ending. So our thanks to Matt Zoller Seitz, filmmaker and film critic extraordinary, for his generous essay about our [...]

Joy oh joy. The Siren has found her copy of George Sanders' Memoirs of a Professional Cad. This was purchased some months ago for $95 on Amazon and it was worth every penny. The Siren let out a whoop of joy when she uncovered it in a box otherwise devoted to shoes and small trinkets. So, to...

'Why do we need a space? Online proletarian university now! Blog, video-lectures, podcast, pdf/doc/PP handouts, direct line with students, etc. Lecturers could prepare their seminars at home, people wouldn't pay for travels and could attend from any public library at their convenience. Lack of 'physicality'? No problem: social events in cheap spaces whenever possible (ie, every 3-6 months as Dave suggests).' - mrz