Items

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  2020-12-10

  ‘Songbird’ Review: ‘The Purge’ Meets the Pandemic in Hollywood’s Awful First Attempt at a COVID Movie

  This is a review of the movie "Songbird". I watched it when it came out, closer to the start of the Covid pandemic and my partner reminded me of it recently. This review does a much better job at summarizing the issues of the film. It was so bad, not even from a movie and writing standpoint, but it just felt incredibly way to soon to create and release something that feels almost mocking of the pandemic. Big thumbs down.
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  2020-12-03

  WB Movies Going Straight to Streaming

  Warner Bros. announces its intentions to simultaneously release its films in theaters and on its streaming service, HBO Max. This illustrates the changes in business practices that film studios have had to consider due to the pandemic’s effect on the theater industry and audiences’ willingness to go see movies in theaters at this time. This decision would be a somewhat controversial one as filmmakers gave polarizing reactions to their films being released this way.
• 2020-03

  Finding Joy in the Little Things

  As someone with anxiety, existing during the pandemic lockdown of 2020 was very difficult. I found myself even more anxious with health-related thoughts, especially at the beginning of the lockdowns in March of 2020. There wasn't a ton of accurate information being disseminated, and I remember my family and I religiously sanitizing everything, including shopping bags. One of the ways we kept each other sane was by recreating experiences at home. For example, I created a "home theater," for my boyfriend. In reality it was just a sign that said "Home Theater," with a few movies we could stream, but it made the experience fun. We joked about the little movie "tickets" I made (scraps of paper) as well as the theater seats (pillows propped on the bed). In the end, it was moments like this that made the first wave of Covid bearable.
• 
  2021-04-03

  #JOTPYFuture from Frost

  #JOTYPfuture Hoping for some Marvel movies with friends :)
• 
  2021-03-21

  LIFE DURING LOCKDOWN

  During the first month of the lockdown in Santa Monica, California, Catherine Butterfield and Ron West started making short films for their friends and family, attempting to find humor in the very strange situation we all suddenly found ourselves in. Entitled LIFE DURING LOCKDOWN, they assumed it would be a very short lived project. A year later they still find themselves doing it, and in fact are on their 61st film as of March 21, 2021. At one point, having run out of interesting things to say about their own relationship, they started to tell stories using the marionettes Catherine and her mother created when she was in high school. These films fall under the banner BUTTERPOTTS PLAYERS PRESENT, are much more technically advanced, (Catherine taught herself iMovie) and employ the voices and sometimes even the faces of talented actor friends who were willing to play along: Jean Smart, Bob Odenkirk, Richard Kind, Peter Onorati, Priscilla Barnes, Kiff Vandenheuvel, Nancy Youngblut, Nancy Ritter and a host of others.
• 
  2021-02-19

  #JOTPYPhoto from Diving Beetle

  This pandemic has been interesting in the sense that I have reawoken once dormant passions for the film series known as Godzilla and the art of practical effects in film. #JOTPYPhoto @pizzaremix @kfelge @Bentoske @G0LDENGUTS @BigMooed
• 
  04/17/2020

  David Mavro Oral History, 2020/04/17

• 
  04/19/2020

  Don Sawyer Oral History, 2020/04/19

  Don is a 57-year-old African American man. He works for a marketing research company and also makes films. He had COVID-19 at the time of the interview and discussed the symptoms he experienced. Don discusses how COVID-19 impacted his job. He talks about how Trump and the federal government handled COVID-19 and governors governed their states throughout COVID-19. He remarks on the shortage of PPE, ventilators, and the lack of COVID-19 tests. Don was unable to get a COVID-19 test unless he was hospitalized due to the shortage.
• 
  05/20/2020

  Kelly Cook Oral History, 2020/05/20

  This is an oral history interview regarding COVID-19 and its effects on the interviewee and her family and friends. Interviewee wanted the title to be "Virtual Death."
• 
  2020-06-05

  Opening Hollywood

  On Friday the governor explained how Hollywood will reopen after months of lockdown due to the novel coronavirus pandemic.
• 
  2020-05-12

  Sequestration

  The intention of my short film “Sequestration” is to serve as an atmospheric piece that reflects the fears of our current reality. I aimed to achieve a sense of uneasiness in this film through the audio and visuals captured in my own neighborhood in South Florida. The unusual emptiness resulting from the circumstances of COVID-19 inspired me to play off of the themes of loneliness and isolation when capturing footage. Despite the dark nature of this film, I really enjoyed making it and it served as a great stress reliever amidst the coronavirus pandemic. I think it is important to take advantage of the therapeutic effects that creating art can offer us in these difficult times.
• 
  2020-05-14

  Virtual Film Festivals

  After years of working on a new short film about the Seattle's iconic Space Needle, it was scheduled to screen at a number of film festivals. But then came the CoVid19, quarantine, closures of movie theaters, etc. Several film festivals either cancelled their festivals entirely, or transitioned to virtual film festivals online. Normally, film festival premieres come with lots of face-to-face parties and networking - hanging with other filmmakers and celebrating the excitement of taking our work out into the world. It's a time to 'stand in the spotlight' and connect with live audiences. But instead, a new type of festival experience is happening, and for me, it hasn't been bad, just very different. The Cascadia International Women's Film Festival screened my "Space Needle: A Hidden History" in May. Located in Bellingham, Wash., the festival organized a live conversation with an art critic, one of the participants in the film, and me. We talked for about 40 minutes - longer than the typical Q & A at a traditional festival. I answered questions from the comfort of my living room and toasted the event online with a beer. I felt honored by the thoughtful questions of a journalist and a brilliant dancer in the film, and the fact that we didn't have to squeeze in to a 10 min. window. The interview streamed on Facebook. Viewers tuned in from all over the country and the world. (Hopefully, they'll start referring to the Needle as a 'she' since the shape was inspired by a sculpture called, 'The Feminine One.') I later learned the organizers had as many, if not more, viewers as in previous years. For another festival, By Design at the Northwest Film Forum in Seattle, I videotaped an introduction to the film that screened before a real-time stream. That was convenient though I felt a bit stilted talking to the camera on my computer. As a film festival attendee, I liked that I was able to watch films online during a window of time, instead of having to make painful decisions about which films to see when several were scheduled at the same time, and if lucky, I could watch on my own time during a designated window. No hassle standing in lines to get tickets, waiting to be admitted and scrambling for seats. No sticky floors and spilled popcorn, coughing or snoring audiences. I'm glad I didn't have to fly anywhere or drive long distances, though I miss being with fellow filmmakers and the in-person synergy that happens when a bunch of us get together in the same space.
• 
  2020-05-12

  Remnants of Normalcy

  When quarantining started, I had mixed feelings about not attending school or work, not seeing my small circle of friends, and not getting to take mini explorations out in the city. I'm an introvert who dies to get out of the house. The house I've lived in for my entire life has brimmed with tension and toxicity in recent years. Outside is where I've found my peace and my place in the world. School is my space to grow as an artist, to tap into my capabilities, and to be - or at least find - myself. My job is my step into independence and my career as a filmmaker. My friends are my soul connections, they breathe life into me with their jokes and smiles. My lone adventures around New York City remind me that the world is enormous, full of energy and life, and I can end up wherever I choose. These elements of my life give me the confidence and hope I need for the future. I appreciate these moments dearly. This short film speaks to all of that.
• 
  2020-05-12

  News From Inside

  A story about what’s home, about what the feelings of a home are for me. Two very different spaces that were protagonist in my own personal journey through the pandemic. A film diary, an intimate account of what now are images of memories that don’t even feel real.
• 
  2020-05-12

  This Is Not Normal

  A meditation on the uncertainty and absurdity of the pandemic through the eyes of a college senior.
• 
  2020-04-01

  Chinatown, NYC April 1, 2020 7:37 AM

  I drove over one morning to shoot a final roll of 120 film before dropping off 10 rolls at my newly re opened lab. I kept trying to photograph absence. It's gone from one of the densely populated areas of NYC to one of the most vacuous.
• 
  2020-04-07

  2020 Melbourne International Film Festival Cancelled

  Announcement of cancellation of the 2020 Melbourne International Film Festival due to the pandemic