Making it in the film business is hard when you’re a “nobody” but the digital revolution has given aspiring directors a better chance to find an audience. Still, it’s difficult to bridge the gap from online fame to global distribution deals. That’s where FROM HERE TO AWESOME steps in with a discovery and distribution festival that helps unknown filmmakers get noticed.

The festival was founded by indie filmmakers who know a thing or two about getting their work noticed online, namely, Arin Crumley (Four Eyed Monsters), Lance Weiler (Head Trauma), and M dot Strange (We Are The Strange). Vote for your favorites during the month of April to have your say in which ten films will be screened globally! To get started, check out this selection from the festival titled “The Tragic Story of Nling” which was created entirely from paper print-outs:

Now, please give a warm welcome to documentary film lover extraordinaire, Ben Huffman, who reviewed Incident at Oglala in his first contribution to Fresh Cut.

Incident at Oglala (1992) is an account of the tragedy that occurred at the Pine Ridge reservation in South Dakota in 1975. [The entire film can be viewed on Google Video: part 1 and part 2.]

Two FBI agents and one Native American associated with the American Indian Movement (which was then considered a radical and subversive organization) were killed during an unexplained firefight. The film addresses the arrest and double life sentence of Leonard Peltier, a decision that has been widely disputed and protested because of the conflicting evidence that was presented during his trial (The band Rage Against The Machine was a strong supporter of the Peltier cause, devoting the song “Freedom” to the tragedy).

If nothing else, the film offers insight into Native American culture of the 1970’s, and Peltier’s story serves as a metaphor for the wider injustice suffered by Indian people during that time.

As a side note, pay attention to the way the news of the tragedy is delivered over the airwaves and through television broadcasts. I find it to be unsettling how the news was not only delivered, but how the majority of the United States most likely sided with our government almost immediately.–Ben Huffman

Just when you thought Reel Geezers was the Web’s only hope for an amusing movie review show, film buffs Richard Knight and David Kodeski have come to the rescue with Movie Queens. A gimmicky web show in the best sense, Movie Queens is “all about film from the queer perspective” and it certainly lives up to its motto, “cinema veri-gay”. The show is jam-packed with great movie clips, funny montages and witty banter. David and Ricky cover topics “near and dear to movie queerists”, namely, plastic surgery, chick flicks, homoerotic superhunks, camp classics and classic classics. When you visit the site, be sure to click on “videos” and watch the mini-episode to see their interview with Bruce Villanch of “Get Bruce” fame. May the Movie Queens reign on!

Special thanks to B.Ingram for the tip!

Snack and Drink is an animated documentary short by Bob Sabiston and Tommy Pallotta of Flat Black Films (and Waking Life fame). The filmmakers follow Ryan Power, an autistic teenager in Austin, Texas as he walks to a local 7-11 to get a snack and drink. The live footage was rotoscoped with a wild variety of animation styles by different artists. The result is a surreal and beautiful glimpse into a world that resembles our own but is perhaps even more real.

While exploring videoart.net, I came across this short film, ‘Charlie Rose’ by Samuel Beckett by experimental filmmaker Andrew Filippone Jr. The re-mix of the popular PBS series “Charlie Rose” shows the host engaging in an absurd conversation with himself about the state of technology today. His repetition of the words “google”, “Microsoft” and “yahoo” place these entities in a farcical context while at the same time implying their disturbingly large importance in our lives. Say “google” three times and it begins to sound like gibberish. Say it yet a few more times and you recognize the power contained in that word. The filmmaker explains,

“Something has happened to PBS favorite “Charlie Rose.” The erudite conversations and sober intellectualism have been replaced by an absurd world where illogic, inane dialogues, and open hostility rule. The one-on-one interview between Charlie and his guest begins as usual but quickly goes awry, so much so that Charlie is warned that, somewhere, a man named “Steve” is “not happy.” Though this seemingly random statement might confuse us, Charlie understands it for what it is — a threat. But who is “Steve” and why is he angry? And why does the mere mention of his name stop Charlie cold?”

This year, the National Geographic Channel asked college students from around the country to create a film or PSA for their Annual Preserve Our Planet Film + PSA Contest using the theme “what you do counts.” From now until March 28th you can vote for your favorite short film and Public Service Announcement once per day from among the top finalists in each category.
Check out this amusing finalist, “Animal Cracker Nature Show” by American University student Genna Duberstein:

In this disturbing/wierd 1995 film titled Evidence by Koyaanisqatsi director Godfrey Reggio, the camera is turned on the viewer - in this case a group of young children watching television. The extreme closeups of the children’s zombie-like faces plus the music by Philip Glass create an ominous tone that seems appropriate in a time when children watch an average of three to four hours of television a day (AACAP). Wait until the end to find out what the kids are watching!

Here is a quote from the experimental documentary filmmaker himself,

“It’s not that we use technology, we live technology. Technology has become as ubiquitous as the air we breathe, so we are no longer conscious of its presence. So what I decided to do in making these films is to rip out all the foreground of a traditional film–the foreground being the actors, the characterization, the plot, the story–I tried to take the background, all of that that’s just supported like wallpaper, move that up into the foreground, make that the subject, ennoble it with the virtues of portraiture, and make that the presence.”

People in Order’s Age is part of a series of short films that assembles the people of Britain in a given order. In just 3 minutes, we meet 100 different people who are arranged according to their age, starting from age 1. See other great films featured exclusively online at the Portable Film Festival (A note for filmmakers: a new call for submissions will be open until May 30th, 2008).

Produced by Hassan S. Ali and Dorothee Royal-Hedinger

For the Lakota tribe in South Dakota, growing industrial hemp is not just a risky business — it’s a means of survival.

“Standing Silent Nation” by Suree Towfighnia and Courtney Hermann chronicles the ongoing legal battle between the government and the Lakota over their right to grow and sell industrial hemp on tribal land.

One of the most talked about films at the South by Southwest Film Festival this week is Shot in Bombay, a documentary about the making of the 2007 Bollywood film, Shootout at Lokhandwala.

The subject matter of that film seems powerful enough to merit an accompanying doc: In 1993, a handful of robbers were surrounded by hundreds of Bombay police officers who engaged them in one of the worst midday shootouts in Indian history.

But British filmmaker Liz Mermin was attracted to more than just the historical context. Bollywood superstar Sanjay Dutt, who was one of the stars of Shootout at Lokhandwala was on trial during the making of the film, and he was linked to a 1993 bombing that killed several hundred people. As the case unfolded, Dutt was granted bail several times to work on the film, and they had to schedule filming around his trial.

Unlike the Shootout at Lokhandwala, though, the doc doesn’t seem to rely as much on star power. And in fact, it sounds hilarious, mostly because of the eccentricities of the director, Apoorva Lakhia. The Times of London describes his approach to filmmaking:

Shootout’s gung-ho director, Apoorva Lakhia’s approach to filmmaking involves yelling “Cut” “Super!” “Mindblowing!” or all three, after each take, which he frequently okays. The heavily tattooed and chain-smoking filmmaker is clearly delusional. He behaves as if he is the Indian Tarantino, and lacks empathy for his inventive hardworking crew.

A short excerpt of Shot in Bombay is below: