back to blogging

FB stati cannot begin to describe a few of my days these days...check this space later today and onward for more news, official, if not ground breaking, ground making news.

Kickstarter project for "Date Number One" December screenings

Opening 9 minutes of Indie Film Blogger Road Trip

Film has its World Premiere on 2/17/09 at Anthology Film Archives in NYC. Here's the opening 9 mins:
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Magnus and The Air Quotes Woman

Description: A man threatens to break up with his girlfriend if she does not change an annoying habit.
Starring Christine D. Lee and Rob Morris.
Written & Directed by Sujewa Ekanayake. Sound: Fritz Flad.
In 2006 & early 2007 this story was a part of the feature Date Number One, now it is a separate short.
Release date: 12/29/07.
Running time: 3 minutes+
Copyright 2006 - 2007 Sujewa Ekanayake/Wild Diner Films.

PINK on the "Viral Show"

Nice behind-the-scenes story on show...


Online Videos by Veoh.com

-Blake

PINK Webisode 03 - Watch it here!!!

Hey Guys, my web series is getting a lot of buzz... check out the third episode right here.



Thanks,
Blake

Sujewa now blogging, for the most part, at the Wild Diner Films blog

Suddenly very active with production, so, until there are big news items to share on my iW carried blog (DIY Filmmaker) or this blog, I will be doing my day-to-day blogging & updates at the Wild Diner Films blog. A DVD release (for Date Number One) & new screenings, 9 new no budget features (to be produced over 18 months), and a short about race & indie film are the new projects that I am working on - read all about them here.

- Sujewa

New Web Series "PINK" Now Online!

"PINK" is officially now online! Here are first two episodes...







There are three other ways to check it out too...

YouTube:
www.youtube.com/pinktheseries

Myspace:
www.myspace.com/pinktheseries

Official "PINK" Website:
www.pinktheseries.com

Please take a moment to watch the show and remember to catch a new episode every Tuesday for the next 10 weeks (they're only 3 mins. long).

We'll also have it available on iTunes in the near future along with offering high-res HD downloads.

Stay tuned... :)

Thanks!
Blake Calhoun

Date Number One, 7/12 - 18, 2007, Kensington, MD!

D A T E ** N U M B E R ** O N E
http://www.wilddiner.com/
a comedy about several first dates
a movie by sujewa ekanayake

Thu July 12 - Wed July 18, 2007
Armory Building
3710 Mitchell Street
Kensington, MD 20895 :: map
7:30 PM daily
$7

Film's Description: "Date Number One", a comedy about several first dates, is made up of 5 different stories: Story 1 - Just Another Ninja Searching For Love, about a ninja who goes on a blind date (ninja is played by John Stabb Schroeder from the DC punk band G.I.), Story 2 - A Romantic Dinner For 3, about a woman attempting to add a third partner to a romantic relationship, Story 3 - Washington "City Of Love" DC/Start Over, about a writer who tries to get back together with his ex-girlfriend, Story 4 - Air Quotes Woman, about a woman who always uses air quotes, and her search for a new boyfriend, Story 5 - The Superdelicious French Lesson, about a first date where a character learns a little bit of French in an unusual way. The movie has been discovered to be: "Witty" (GreenCine Daily), "Funny" (The Chutry Experiment), and "Sexy, Sexy, Sexy" (Hollywood Is Talking).

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Featuring Hot DC Indie Film Stars John Stabb Schroeder, Julia Stemper, Jennifer Blakemore, Shervin Boloorian, Dele Williams, Steve Lee, Kelly Ham, Christine D. Lee, Fritz Flad, Subodh Samudre, Jewel Greenberg

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Not Rated * 115 Minutes * yummy

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SCREENED AT: Goethe-Institut - Washington, DC (World Premiere, May 2006), Northwest Film Forum - Seattle (May 2006), Capital City Microcinema - Kensington, MD (June, October 2006 & March 2007), Sangha - Takoma Park, MD (July 2006), Pioneer Theater, New York City (August 2006), Warehouse Screening Room - Washington, DC (November 2006).
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Director will attend the screenings. Brief discussion, Q & A period after each screening for those audience members who are interested in such things.

"The film is about as charming as they come...presents a world in which cultures don't clash, they mesh. It's refreshing to see characters who all appear to have a natural optimism, as opposed to the typical indie-film predilection for bitterness and cruelty. "
- Michael Tully, Rotterdam & SXSW film festivals selected filmmaker & indieWIRE blogger
http://blogs.indiewire.com/tully/archives/010529.html

"I found the characters and the premise sexy, sexy, sexy."
- Jerry Brewington, Hollywood Is Talking blog, on Story 2 of Date Number One
http://hollywoodistalking.com/Blog/508/

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"...witty...often inventive...and, even better, airy: characters are given time and space to spell out their views...views that never bear the artificial markings of a Hollywood screenwriter's compulsion to reduce them to sound-bites."
- David Hudson, Editor, GreenCine Daily blog
http://daily.greencine.com/archives/002353.html

"FIVE really entertaining, fully realized romantic interludes...a shamefully rare achievement"
- Tom Kipp, Seattle audience member, former film reviewer for Seattle alternative weekly The Stranger
http://diyfilmmaker.blogspot.com/2006/05/interview-with-seattle-audience-member.html

"Heartfelt...poignant...I loved it!"
- Jon Moritsugu, award winning filmmaker

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"...somehow, someway, in the end, the love of the characters, the positiveness of the film, and Sujewa’s disregard for conventions wins you over. The act of making this film wins you over. There is only a positive through line in this film, and that is rare to see, especially when dealing with characters in their late to early thirties."

- Amir Motlagh, director of the popular '04 Atom Films' short Still Lover & upcoming feature Whale
http://stilllover.blogspot.com/2006/10/date-number-one-review.html

"Date Number One is quite funny...twentysomethings and occasional thirtysomethings looking for romance recall Richard Linklater's philosopher slackers and Jim Jarmusch's minimalist attention to conversation...also a subtle, thoughtful film...might be understood as the anti-Crash depiction of life in the city...depicts a comfortably multi-ethnic community...I'd happily recommend it."
- Chuck Tryon, media professor & blogger, The Chutry Experiment blog
http://chutry.wordherders.net/archives/005873.html

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Date Number One website: http://www.wilddiner.com/
blog: http://www.diyfilmmaker.blogspot.com/
::
!Thanks!

Two Months?

Wow, no one has posted here in a while! Hope everyone's projects are doing well.

I thought I'd just share a few quick things about my current project and a couple new things too...

My film "Killing Down" played at the Cannes Film Market recently and the DVD should start popping up in Europe and the Middle East in the near future. No domestic deal has been inked yet, but we have several offers. Still trying to find the best fit and honestly not in a huge hurry.

My new feature is moving ahead nicely too. Hope to shoot it in the late fall or early spring next year. Can't reveal too many details just yet, but I did just get word today that a name actress is very interested in one of the lead roles. So that is very good news! I will be posting more info about this very soon at my blog and in the trades.

Last thing is I'm developing a new Web Series too, and we're going to shoot it in late July and plan to "premiere" it shortly after Labor Day. Pretty excited about this new project for many reasons, but mainly because it's so different. We're producing 10 three-minute webisodes (the "pilot") with a very serialized/graphic novel feel to them. Got a couple recognizable actors for this show too, so I hope it helps build an audience. One interesting side note is I'm using AFTRA on this show instead of SAG. Seems a lot of web shows are going with an AFTRA contract. I've been told they're easier to deal with and have better plans. We'll see and I'll let folks know how the experience works out. A new website dedicated to this project along with a Myspace page will be up in the near future.

I'll definitely post info here too if anyone still read this. Sujewa, you still out there? :)

-Blake

One week run of Date Number One in DC area July 12 - 18

Little over a year after its 2 screening/one night world premiere in DC & after playing a weekend in Seattle & a few more one night only screenings in NYC, DC, Takoma Park MD & Kensington MD, Date Number One will have its first one week run July 12 - 18, in the DC area, in Kensington, MD. Get all the info. here:


http://diyfilmmaker.blogspot.com/2007/04/date-number-one-july-12-18-kensington.html





- Sujewa

About 30 years after completion, Killer of Sheep gets theatrical run

Charles Burnett's Killer of Sheep was shot on weekends in the 1970's for around $10,000, as a grad school thesis project. Now, about 30 years later, the much praised film is receiving a theatrical release. Read all about it at GreenCine Daily.

- Sujewa

Remix HEAD TRAUMA screening this SAT.

Come catch a very special REMIX presentation of HEAD TRAUMA as it plays on
the big screen one final time in Philadelphia. This is the kick off to a number of national and international remix HEAD TRAUMA presentations - more details soon.



WHAT:
SPECIAL REMIX screening of HEAD TRAUMA - a collision of music, movies,
theatrics and gaming.
music - Live soundtrack performances by Bardo Pond, members of Espers, Fern
Knight and DJ Chief Wreck'em
movies - HEAD TRAUMA and a special screening of a short claymation
adaptation of Edgar Allen Poe's classic THE PIT AND THE PENDULUM
theatrics - sets, props and characters from the movie will emerge from the
audience - lights, fog and creepy fun
gaming - use your mobile phone to interact with the movie and watch in
amazement as all the phones in the theater ring at once!

WHEN:
This Sat. March 31st @ 7:30pm

WHERE:
Philadelphia's International House (37th and Chestnut) on the U of Penn's
campus - on street parking and two parking garages in walking distance

HOW MUCH:
$14 for all seats - seating is on a first come first serve basis

FOR MORE INFO:
http://www.ihousephilly.org/programs-live-at-IHouse.htm show info and advance tickets
http://www.headtraumamovie.com for more info on HEAD TRAUMA

The Kensington Real Independent Film Festival, September 6 - 9, 2007!

In lovely Kensington, MD. 15% of tix sales $s from each screening goes to the filmmaker, plus other goodies. Screening at the 250+ seat Armory Building. More info. here.

- Sujewa

The Real Indie Films News Blog

Check it out here. Some IF filmmakers are mentioned there already.

- Sujewa

IndieFilmPedia group blog set up

At Lucas McNelly's 100 Films blog there is a quite a bit of enthusiasm by a handful of people, yours truly included, about starting a web based independent film encyclopedia - a wikipedia for indie films, if you will. As a very early step in harnessing this energy, the group blog IndieFilmPedia has been set up. Interested people at the 100 Films blog have been invited to start organizing material for the wiki at the IndieFilmPedia. Maybe this will turn out to be something, maybe nothing, maybe a better working tool will be discovered, but, for the moment, here it is. We'll see what Lucas & the 100 Films commenters will want to do, I am certainly all for the project (as time permits).

- Sujewa

Conversation about creating an indie film encyclopedia on the web

At the 100 Films blog, at the comments for this entry, there is a long conversation happening about creating a web based indie film encyclopedia, kind of like a wikipedia for indie film. Go check it out & join in if ya feel like it.

- Sujewa

Lucas @ 100 Films wants to review your real indie film

Read all about it here. And here is a bit of the post where Lucas talks about his new project:

" I've been trying to think of ways to make the no-budget filmmakers who, in my opinion, are an extremely important niche in the indie world, all that more viable to the larger film community. One method I've come up with is using the internet to write about them in much of the same way I'd write about the latest release from Focus Features. This serves two purposes: 1) it provides much needed exposure (even if it is only a little bit) for filmmakers who work very hard with little to no recognition, and 2) it's a critical voice by which they can get a sense of just how their film plays to someone who isn't inclined to dole out empty praise or criticize needlessly[1]. And being a no-budget filmmakers myself, I figure shining as much light on others as possible has to have some benefits, in terms of karma."

And here again is the total post at 100 Films.

- Sujewa

American Messiah at AFI Dallas

(Also posted at my blog):

So -- the schedule is finally official, and I can now announce publicly that The Proper Care & Feeding of an American Messiah will screen at the AFI Dallas International Film Festival.

The film will screen twice during the festival, at the Magnolia Theatre in Dallas:

Screening #1: Saturday, March 24th, at 4:30pm
Screening #2: Sunday, March 25th, at Noon

Very pleased to be screening at such a prestigious fest! Scheduled to be in attendance: uber-indie filmmaker David Lynch, Sydney Pollack, Lauren Bacall, Laura Dern, Sarah Polley, and Jack Valenti!

Schedule note: David Lynch's new film, Inland Empire, will be screening directly after mine on Saturday, March 24th. Mr. Lynch himself is supposed to be in attendance to receive an award from the festival. Now, I ask you, wouldn't it be cool if he came just a little bit early to catch a little film about a guy who thinks he's a messiah?

updates on my '07 feature Filmmaking For The Poor

No site/page for this film yet. But until the project is done & or until I set up a site for the film (& possibly even after that), updates on my new feature Filmmaking For The Poor, a comedy about low budget filmmaking, can be found here. I am working on the script now and I expect to be able to shoot this movie starting in May - June. Most likely the movie will have several stories about low-budget filmmaking, including one inspired by making & self-distributing Date Number One.

- Sujewa

Turning your festival experience into cash

exploring some ideas along that line, check it out here. add your own tips & ideas through Comments on that post.

- Sujewa

date number one screening no.1 of 2007!

3/15/07

photo copyright 2007 sujewa ekanayake/wild diner films

Filmmaker Mag blog post re: my microinvesting in indie films idea/project

Scott at Filmmaker Mag blog places a little side project of mine in wider economic development context. Check it out here:
http://www.filmmakermagazine.com/blog/2007/02/filmmaker-as-financier.php

- Sujewa

Killing Down in Indie Slate

There's a piece on my film Killing Down in the new issue of Indie Slate...

http://www.indieslate.com/

Instead of focusing on the normal "How I Made" the film, the article talks about my foreign distribution and delivery requirements, etc. I haven't seen the story yet, but hopefully it's got some good info in it for filmmakers.

You can get a copy at most Borders Books or Barnes & Noble.

Also, just an FYI - we have two offers we're currently considering for our domestic rights. However, we might do a "service deal" to keep more control. Can't decide. Since we did well on our foreign sale we have more flexibility to choose on the domestic side.

One way or another though the movie should be available pretty much everywhere later this spring and summer. :)

-Blake

So what do we think about self-distribution now?

In early '06 a few filmmakers, myself included, had a long discussion about the prospects & potential of self-distribution - the discussion was spread out over several blogs, most noticeably at David Lowery's blog. 2006 proved to be a year that, in my opinion, offered an unprecedented amount of highly visible (possibly due to blogging) self-distribution activity in indie film. Now I am interested in what interested people think about self-distro, post-'06. So at my main blog there is a post to get the conversation started. Check it out, comment if you feel like sharing some opinions & observations. Specially filmmakers who self-distributed a work in '06 or filmmakers who are thinking about doing so in '07. Thanks! So go here to get started.

American Messiah DVD available

Well, I've chosen the CustomFlix route for releasing The Proper Care & Feeding of an American Messiah (for now, anyway -- still seeking a distribution deal, of course).

You can buy the film (a 2-disc special edition with the film, a making-of documentary, and 30+ minutes of deleted scenes) at: http://www.customflix.com/221546

Filmmaker Profiles DIYdistribution

Hey everyone,
In the current issue of Filmmaker, you can read about the efforts of several indie filmmakers in DIY distribution. In addition to jumping off bridges, there's articles by Lance Weiler, director, Head Trauma), Jay Craven (writer-director, Disappearances) and Lance's interview with EricBassert about Inland Empire.
Here's the link.

Four Eyed Monsters interview at The Workbook Project

Check it out here.

Gordy Hoffman Interview

I just published an interview with Gordy Hoffman (writer of Love Liza, director of A Coat of Snow, founder of The BlueCat Screenplay Competition) at the WDF blog. Check it out here.

- Sujewa

Date Number One MERCH at a CafePress store

Made a cool yellow t-shirt with black art (ad art from the '06 World Premiere, pictured), a coffee mug, button & a couple of magnets & an '07 calendar. A fun effort to raise some cash for the many distribution expenses that will come due this year as I distribute Date Number One. Check out the CafePress store & if ya wanna support the project, buy something please. The most important merch item of them all, the DVD, is on the way (definitely this winter/before March). Here's the store link. Thanks!