Golden Dragon Parade! Cindy Bennett hostess with the mostest! Gong Hay Fat Choy!

www.shazbennett.com

I love the Golden Dragon Parade! Chinatown 2009

www.shazbennett.com

Martha Cooper show at Subliminal!

I stood in line today to buy my husband the Shepard Fairey/Martha Cooper
"Leap of Faith" - That's Love! http://tinyurl.com/ca5jj3

Go get the print and check out the rad Martha Cooper show!
www.shazbennett.com

One more gone...

Sadly, Godzilla from the Box Office was also layed off from AFI FEST.
Times are really tough. I don't know who will keep everyone in line.
Godzilla, Destoyer of Worlds really loved working at the festival and is
looking for new opportunities.

www.shazbennett.com

Battlestar and BSGLT's

We don't have cable so, after I was fully one hundred percent addicted to "Battlestar Gallactica" (I watched all 4.5 seasons and special features and webisodes in 2 months), last night I knew just where to go to watch the new episode.

I ran over to Lane and Susan's who made us delicious BSGLT's for this auspicious occasion.

What is a BSGLT you might ask? You can read about it here highlighted on Tastespotting.com

I need this toaster, the bad part about watching TV in "real time" is waiting every week!!! Oh well, it's a small price to pay for the beloved spaceship in search of a home. Lane and Susan, you know we'll be over every Friday night right?
So say we all.

Victory Tour 1984!

When I was home for Christmas, I was going through some old stuff and
found the rad shirt from the Jacksons Victory Tour 1984!! Yow!
I love that it's a muscle shirt!
So cool, I think I'll wear this today! Victory!!!
www.shazbennett.com

Change in 2009

I didn't realize how many people I communicate with only via facebook, myspace and twitter until I had to send out a "change of job" email letting all my friends and associates know... I jokingly thought I should put something up on my blog but perhaps it's not such a bad idea.

Anyway, the two gals I was hanging out with last night worked with me at Sundance and I was telling them about my problem, we were laughing about how back in the day we only had one email for the entire Sundnace Los Angles office it was: sundancela@somethingsomething.com and there was only one computer that was hooked up to "the internet", anyway, my job in the morning was to check the "email" and then print out the individual emails and put them in the staff boxes. Indiewire was just a little newsletter and I'd print it up and make copies for Geoff, Michelle, Lynn and Cooper - now look at Indiewire they're all fancy and new and apart of Snag Films.

Everyone keeps asking me, "what do you want to do?" Well, having just left my job 48 hours ago after 10 years and since I've been working in film festivals since before Al Gore invented the internet... I'm going to have to pause on answering that one...

On my website you can see I've been performing and telling stories for years and voiceovers (my dream job would be to be the voice of some sexy robot on Adult Swim).

I've developed and optioned scripts and my short films and performances have played all over the world... so that'd be cool to do more of that for sure - I would consider giving away my non-existent child to write on a TV show!

And I love film festivals, I love watching new films in the dark for the first time with the filmmakers - it's thrilling when the audience laughs in the right place and gasps at the right moments - it's truly awesome to know you programmed those films and got them up on the big screen!

I'm also obsessed with online festivals and watching films online. I just got my Roku set up. I spend hours on Criterion.com and TheAuteurs.com - Matt Dentler has my other dream job right now.

Ah the options, the opportunities abound!
Off to Sundance 2009, I wasn't planning to go this year since things were so tight at AFI but I bought the sweatshirt cuz I started there before 1985 when it was the US Film Festival but still quite an accomplishment for the old dame!

Anyway I babble... I'm unemployed I got time!

So, here is the email I would have sent you if I had your email for those of you who I know that didn't know:
As many of you know, I am no longer working for AFI FEST, due to financial constraints at AFI.

I have loved being a part of AFI FEST the past 10 years. During those years I ushered in the 22nd Anniversary of the festival and programmed some extraordinary films in Los Angeles that otherwise might not have found their audience. We (myself and others who have already left AFI) created the alternative film screening series AFI at ArcLight and the rocking Music Documentary Series and one of my favorite cultural programs AFI PROJECT: 20/20. Most importantly, I was very fortunate to have met some amazing artists, many of whom have become dear friends along the way.

These are times of great challenge and great change. Non-profits are suffering under the weight of our nation's economic turmoil and AFI FEST is no exception. I hope the festival and AFI’s exhibition programs are able to continue, as it’s never been more important in the larger film industry.

In the meantime, I am looking forward to the new opportunities and challenges ahead and plan to stay in Los Angeles (unless the perfect job appears in Barcelona). I would appreciate any information you may have or come across about positions at other film festivals, cultural institutions, or production/distribution companies.
I will no longer be checking my former sbennett@afi.com address. Please change your address books - since this is on the internet: DM me on twitter, message me on facebook or myspace and I'll update ya or you can go to my website - I'm not too hard to find.

Dovetailing on the economic situation and keeping the cinematic revolution alive I look forward to programming some gems in various venues around the city this month. Let me know if you want to know more.
xo
shaz

www.shazbennett.com



Here we are in front of the iconic Albertsons!

Mayan Calendar

Please note from now on I will only be setting meetings and schedules in Mayan time.
Please download these widgets to stay on my schedule.

Looking foward to 2012.
Thanks!

Change Chocolate Bar

Stacey brought us all Barack Obama Chocolate bars from her trip to
Washington DC.

I love chocolate but there is something so wrong about this....
www.shazbennett.com

Brigitte Cornand presents CHERE LOUISE, an intimate portrait of legendary artist Louise Bourgeois, REDCAT, Monday Jan 12

I love Louise Bourgeois' art!
Check out this film on Monday!
If you haven't made it to MOCA yet to see her work...all I can say, is do yourself a favor and GO! You can thank me later.

FILM AT REDCAT PRESENTS Brigitte Cornand Chere Louise
Los Angeles premiere
France, 1995, 50 min., b/w and color, Beta SP
Mon Jan 12 | 8:30 pm $9
Documentarian Brigitte Cornand first met Louise Bourgeois in 1994 and over the next dozen years made a trilogy of intimate videos about the iconic artist, now 97, through an idiosyncratic form of collaboration between filmmaker and subject. The first installment of the trilogy, Chere Louise traces the inspirations, autobiographical sources and everyday routines that shape Bourgeois'; powerful art.
Film at REDCAT. Presented in conjunction with the retrospective Louis Bourgeois, on view at MOCA Grand Avenue through Jan 25. Info at moca.org.

"...a slow and insistent penetration into Bourgeois's daily practice.

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.