Local filmmaker Solan Jensen with Joshua Marie Wilkinson are screening Made a Machine by Describing the Landscape: a film about Califone. The premiere will be at:

Gold Town Nickelodeon
Wednesday, September 21 at 8 pm
$10 admission (includes 2 raffle tickets for DVDs and more)

Solan says, “the 68 minute documentary was shot between 2004 and 2008, and follows the acclaimed scrap-folk indie-rock band on the road and in the studio. Featuring heretofore-unseen live recordings and interviews, the film is a lovingly crafted tribute to Califone and its fans, an exploratory, intimate, and at times experimental take on both creative process and performance.”

Also upcoming at Gold Town is The Manhattan Short Film Festival. Everyone will be handed a voting card upon entry and asked to vote their favorite film. Votes are tallied by each cinema and sent back to Manhattan Short HQ where the winner will be announced on Sunday, October 2, in New York City. Admission includes a slice o’ pizza at the 5pm shows. Showtimes are:

Monday, September 26 at 5 pm
Thursday, September 29 at 5 pm
Saturday, October 1 at 2 pm

The Flip video cameras are somewhat inexpensive and great for dangerous shots that might be hazardous to the health of your fancypants camera. JUMP movie maker Antoine says:

I went to Costco the week of Sept 18th and noticed they were liquidating the Flip HD video cameras. The 60 minute version is $29.99! The 120 minute version is $49.95! While these are not the best cameras in the world, they are in HD (720p I think) and perfect for a beginning filmmaker. I bought one just to use for rough and dangerous shots like strapping it to the front of my car while driving or suspending from my kite. The possibilities are endless. It looked like they had 10 or 20 in stock.

Kelli Burkinshaw is teaching a video/film production class this Fall at UAS.

COMM218-J01: Studies in Human Communication: Introduction to Audio and Video Production
Fall Semester 2011, Thursday 5:30p – 8:30p (9/1 – 12/17)

The class focuses on what it takes to make a successful media production and is designed for students interested in utilizing different forms of video or audio media to tell a story.

It covers the art and skills of creating content, video or audio and delivering a compelling finished product. This can include the production of commercials, corporate videos, event videos, and wedding videos, with an emphasis on creating compelling stories in whatever you do.

A production can range in size from a family making home movies with a prosumer camcorder, to a multiple-camera setup shoot in a television studio.

Morally Improv-erished is hosting a pair of workshops with Michael Robinson of Vancouver Film School which explore spontaneity, creativity and how art is based in complimentary choices. Improv is a great route to developing short films and I’d encourage you to try it out if you’re thinking of making a film for the winter festival.

There are two workshops, both on Saturday, September 17

Creativity by Choice

Creativity by Choice touches on the natures of Creativity, Spontaneity, and Offers; and how art is based in Complimentary Choices. Participants will discover that they are more creative than they thought, more spontaneous than they knew, and more artistic than they believed. This workshop is appropriate for all levels.

The Cinema Game

The Cinema Game teaches fierce awareness to any offer, how character is created in reaction, how to make excellent choices, how to share focus dynamically, and how the heart of any performance is rooted in what the actor does, not what they say. It also teaches how comedy is generated from expectations, and how believability in performance is maintained by the actors’ attention to the rules of social behavior that are particular to the place and event. This workshop is appropriate for experienced actors, directors, and improvisers.

More information is available at the Morally Improv-erished website.

JUMP Society filmmaker, Roald Simonson, sends in the following news…

Internationally-known opera director, puppeteer, furniture designer, and food artist Doug Fitch is visiting Alaska for the first time from New York City. Doug has a recent success directing Janacek’s “The Cunning Little Vixen” at Lincoln Center with the New York Philharmonic. He has directed operas in Los Angeles, Santa Fe, Paris, and Chile, has worked with Jim Henson and the Muppets, Disney, consulted on numerous projects of industrial design, and staged a series of experimental feasts in Japan and southwest France.

Doug will be giving an illustrated talk at the Silverbow Backroom on Wednesday, August 10th, at 7:00 p.m. The talk will be free and the public is invited to attend.

An idea of the range of Doug’s projects can be found at his website:

http://douglasfitch.com/Doug_Fitch/DougFitch.html