Environmental Graffitti

These photos are so cool! I went to the Griffith Park Observatory over the holiday - it was so relaxing and amazing...even with a million tourists... it's hard to be stressed out when you're looking at the world from space.

"Hey they forgot to wind the sundial?" What movie?

My favorite films of 2008 and can't wait for 2009

Every year Indiewire compiles a list of top favorites from the editors of indieWIRE and industry insiders. Included in these "industry insiders" are festival programmers and acquisitions folks.

I have a love/hate with "top ten" lists but I always love to read this one since Festival Programmers see so many films that don't break through and have seen so many films overall that I love to see what makes it into these lists. I can never narrow mine down to ten - that's one thing I love about my job is I actually like movies and honestly like a lot of them. If you asked me my top ten favorite films of all time, I would be more selective but in any given year, I like films for a variety of reasons... sometimes, a film stands out, because I feel like it's a new talent and someone to watch out for their next film and sometimes, the film captures the mood of that year and time. And sometimes a film stands out enough to even make it into the "of all time" list but mostly I just love films.

Here is my list with some additions that I forgot!
Also, my friend had posted sarcastically lovingly, I'm sure: "A list of films you can't see in the theatres or rent - how helpful!" Well sir, many of these are available on Netflix and others are available on that new thing called "the internet". Plus, many of them played in festivals, like AFI FEST and smaller regional festivals - once again making festivals so important!

I had a really hard time narrowing it down to 10 - there are 15 I think stood out above the rest. (Note: unranked, alphabetical order)

"The Class"
"Encounters at the End of the World"
"Frozen River"
"Happy-Go-Lucky"
"Hunger"
"Man on Wire"
"Milk"
"Momma's Man"
"The Order of Myths"
"Rachel Getting Married"
"Secrecy"
"Slumdog Millionaire"
"Synecdoche, New York"
"Waltz with Bashir"
"Wendy and Lucy"
"The Wrestler"

And films released I forgot that are awesome:
"The Pleasure of Being Robbed"
"California Dreamin' (Endless)"

Best as yet undistributed films of 2008:
"Acne"
"Afterschool"
"Anvil! The Story of Anvil"
"Goodbye Solo"
"Finally Lillian and Dan"
"Intimades de Shakespeare y Victor Hugo"
"I'm Gonna Explode (Voy a Explotar)"
"Last Days of Shishmaref"

I forgot to mention in the undistributed:
"Prodigal Sons"
"Dear Zachary"
"Of all the Things"

From my last year's best undistributed films:
"Silent Light"
"Still Life"
"Flight of the Red Balloon"

I love that Matt Dentler added these categories:
My new obsession is finding films online!

Web Series:
1. "Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog"
2. "Wainy Days"
3. "The Stagg Party"

Original Viral Video:
1. "Where the Hell is Matt?"
2. "Prop 8: The Musical"
3. "JC Penney's 'Beware of the Doghouse'"

New Film Portal:
1. Hulu
2. YouTube Screening Room
3. SnagFilms

Relaunched Film Portal:
1. Amazon VOD
2. Joost
3. Babelgum

Happy Hunting

Happy New Year 2009

So long tree 2008...
www.shazbennett.com

R.I.P. VHS

What am I going to do with all my VHS?
I'll have to have a night of Shaz before the VCR goes...
First Polaroid and now VHS.... so sad.

www.shazbennett.com

AFI FEST FILMS available on line

My new obsession online is The Auteurs and the Criterion Collection online - I've been watching and reading about some amazing films I haven't seen in awhile that I love!

There is nothing like being in the dark watching films on the big screen... still this is pretty cool.

It got me thinking about what AFI FEST FILMS were online that I hadn't seen in awhile and I found a few - I'm sure I've missed some but here's a start.

Enjoy! See you next year at the festival.

AFI FEST ONLINE VIDEO ON DEMAND

SWEET MOVIE – AFI FEST 1993

AMBUSH – AFI FEST 1999

MIFUNE – AFI FEST 1999

4 MONTHS 3 WEEKS 2 DAYS - AFI FEST 2007

DRAMA/MEX – AFI FEST 2006

AMORES PERROS – AFI FEST 2000

YOUR LIFE IN ’65 – AFI FEST 2006

CASHBACK – AFI FEST 2006

THE BANDS VISIT – AFI FEST 2007

THE FOG OF WAR – AFI FEST 2008

A SOAP – AFI FEST 2006

A VERY LONG ENGAGEMENT – AFI FEST 2004

THE LIVES OF OTHERS – AFI FEST 2004

CARAMEL – AFI FEST 2007

HONEYDRIPPER – AFI FEST 2007

HARD CHOICES – AFI FEST 1987

SOLARIS – FILMEX 1972

THE ART OF FLIGHT – AFI FEST 2005

TRULY HUMAN – AFI FEST 2001

BURNING MAN – AFI FEST 2005

CONFESSIONS OF A SUPERHERO – AFI FEST 2007

Read more about the film at The Auteurs site:
DOLLS – AFI FEST 2003

ELECTION – AFI FEST 2006

TRIAD ELECTION – AFI FEST 2006

Not to send to Festival Programmers

Just a little tip to aspiring filmmakers....
This bloody bat came in the mail during the submission process with a
scary note attached, "watch my movie."
Please note, this did not help get the film in the festival....

The College Years

Recently, everyone has been posting old photos of themselves on Facebook - which has made me look back in my files and realize that I only have one old photo of me from the University of Utah daze. It's not because I threw them all away in embarrassment or anything like that or as my friend Brian just posted on Facebook, "why does everyone else's photos look cute and fun, for me, it's like being emotionally raped over and over" - I laughed about that for days.

For me, it's just that I've moved so many times since college, and stored my stuff in people's basements that I can't even remember their names... somehow the photos have disappeared - when I become president of the world - I hope someone finds them in their basement somewhere and posts them for me to see.

I loved these photos in TIME from an aspiring college photographer of Obama. If anyone I went to college has any of me, I think I was there... let me know. In the meantime enjoy... a slew of hilarious photos from our president and one of me and my dog Furious Styles - named after Boyz in the Hood so now you know when I was in college.

Prop 8 the Musical

See more Jack Black videos at Funny or Die

The Tree 2008

I want to go out and do stuff but I'm hypnotized by the tree!
Happy Holidays! Yow!

www.shazbennett.com

I love Documentaries!

I'm such a documentary junkie - Jean-Pierre gets so mad at me cause have our Netflix queue is full of documentaries.

What luck that today you can read two awesome posts from folks who have a lot to say about docs.

Eugene Hernandez great post from IDFA: http://www.indiewire.com/movies/2008/11/iw_insider_euge.html

Thom Powers new post: http://stfdocs.com/blog/comments/wanted_documentary_critics/

I would add to the list of great documentaries one must see:

SOUTHERN COMFORT
SILVERLAKE LIFE: A VIEW FROM HERE - bring your tissues.
ENCOUNTERS AT THE END OF THE WORLD
SEX: THE ANNABEL CHONG STORY
SHAKESPEARE AND VICTOR HUGO'S INTIMACIES
ALONE IN FOUR WALLS
PRODIGAL SONS
CRUMB
AMERICAN MOVIE

Oh I could go on and on... docs rock.

O Superman

Walking around Silverlake on a sunday....
Now I have that Laurie Anderson song stuck in my head. Huh huh huh
huh.....O Superman.
www.shazbennett.com

Clamstastic!

Greatest birthday ever!
www.shazbennett.com

Roscoes

Always improves the day.
Was having a deja vu about going to Roscoe's last year about the same
time....
www.shazbennett.com

Tanarexia!

Ah the search of the Tan!

Gonzo beer

My husband loves me so much - he brought me Gonzo Beer for our anniversary.
Te amo, mi amor!
www.shazbennett.com

i think this is called karma!

Right wing church has to lay off staff because of Prop 8 supporters.


http://wonkette.com/404434/christian-group-lays-off-hundreds-after-spending-all-money-on-prop-8-passage#more-404434

love this photo

i'm a sucker for this kind of stuff!

Repeal Prop 8 - the election sinks in.

Man, I have been celebrating Obama's win for a full week! First of all this was us in the box office working at AFI FEST the night of the election.
It still sometimes hits me and I'm giddy again.

However this Prop 8 is such a bummer and such a travesty! Redefining marriage - we have redefined marriage hundreds of times because we have been wrong. Starting with interracial marriage which was illegal in many states in America as late as 1967. Our president's parents couldn't have married in 1/3 of the states in the US when he was born.

And as my friend Amy Saeed said in a beautiful email recently, if her family was going off a "traditional" marriage, she could have been married to some distant Afghan cousin when she was a teenager.

The majority should never vote on the rights of the minority, our ancient Greek philosophers talked about that and other concepts - change often is rejected by groups because they can't always see beyond what they think they know - that's why civil rights are almost always decided in the Courts.

I got married this year and while Jean-Pierre and I have been together for six years and were already legally domestic partners because I work for a company that's progressive enough to recognize that....not everyone works for that kind of company... still when we stood up in front of our friends and family and got married - it was revolutionary and so amazing.



I am a minister legally too and have married 4 couples as seen here - including my dear friends for the third time legally this summer - they have been together for 19 years - we should all be as lucky to find this kind of love. This was a photo taken at the wedding of all 5 couples - we're all bummed prop 8 passed.

As many of you know I grew up Mormon so it's such a drag that the church put in all this money to pass Yes on 8 - I get that and I'm mad about that too... I am looking forward to the rally on saturday and maybe because I grew up Mormon and know some great Mormons including my whole family, don't blame the whole group, especially since the voters here in California were the ones who cast the ballots.... and sadly, it's not just the Mormons who are against this... Catholics, Protestants, and other "christians"

I find it a little funny that all these folks that voted for Prop 8 would never have voted for Mitt Romney because they think he's in a cult!

What the hell happened to all the smart californians who voted overwhelming for change and diversity and hope???

Then I started reading about some folks who want to boycott Sundance because it's in Utah... I get it - there is a desire to do something!!

But as several people including me have pointed out - Sundance has been a proponent and a haven for diversity - including and screening films from under represented voices including GLBT filmmakers.

I think this is an interesting article from Indiewire about the issue.
http://www.indiewire.com/ots/2008/11/park_city_09_in.html

Boycotts do work but many Mormons in Utah would be thrilled to have Sundance leave and I totally get what Cooper says about the irony and power of Sundance being there isn't lost on him.

In my final point on this rant I want you to hear this moving, passionate speech from MSNBC Keith Olbermann on Prop 8 and Marriage.

Inside the mind of Bill Plympton!

Bill Plympton talking about animation.
www.shazbennett.com

Working at AFI FEST

www.shazbennett.com