As often happens with start-up companies, there's been a delay in the launch of IndieFlix, the independent DVD distribution company. The party was supposed to happen Thursday, July 14, at the Northwest Film Forum, but it's been postponed until the fall. IndieFlix still sounds like a good idea, and I'll tell you more about it when they're actually ready to go.
Here's something that is happening, and it sounds really cool. On Friday the 15th, the Northwest Screenwriters Guild is bringing independent writer/director/producer Kurt Inderbitzin to town to talk with local screenwriters and producers. In the interest of broadening the knowledge base of Seattle filmmakers, the NWSG has been extending free admission to members of the Seattle International Film Festival, Northwest Film Forum, 911 Media Arts, IFP/Seattle, Women in Film, PNWA, Indie Film Group, and students of any of the local film schools. If you are foolishly not a member of any of these groups, you will be asked to contribute $10, but only full-on members of the NWSG have the added bonus of being able to pitch projects to Mr. Inderbitzin on Saturday.
Who is Kurt Inderbitzin? When he was President of Abandon Pictures, the company produced the acclaimed Shakespeare update Scotland, PA, along with several other feature films. Before that Inderbitzin served as Vice President of Orly Adelson Productions, which developed and produced a host of TV movies of the week. More importantly for this event, he has experience hosting seminars on finding suitable script material, how much you should pay to option a book or script, choosing the proper shooting format, film-festival strategies, and what to look for in a distribution deal. He's sure to have answers, or at least opinions, on anything you might want to know about writing or producing a commercial feature film. The event will take place at 7:00 p.m. at the Clear Channel building (351 Elliott Ave W).
For those who aspire to deepen their appreciation of films that are already out there, the Magic Lantern series continues at the Frye Art Museum. Hosted by film impresario Robert Horton, this month's edition is called Wong Kar-wai: Assembling Pieces of Time. Running in conjunction with the exhibit of Oliver Herring's fragmented sculptural portraits, it'll deal with Kar-wai's gorgeous films of romantic longing like In the Mood for Love, Happy Together, and Chungking Express. It'll also get into his collaboration with the supremely talented cinematographer Christopher Doyle, and their tendency to start shooting without a finished script, just actors and an appropriate mood. It's the sort of method French New Wave filmmaker Jean-Luc Godard used, but to a strikingly different effect.
For the thinking man or woman who prefers lowbrow entertainment, it's hard to go wrong with Michael Crichton. Yul Brynner stars in Westworld, the futuristic story of animatronic robots who go on a killing spree, playing Wednesday night on the beer-soaked back patio of Linda's. Westworld is kind of like what would happen if somebody gave guns to the robots in the Hall of Presidents: full-on mayhem. ■
