Austin360 blogs > Austin Movie Blog > Archives > 2006 > September > 12
Tuesday, September 12, 2006
Steal this movie!
Statesman readers who have attended any free sneak previews in the past couple of years might be familiar with the paranoid-seeming anti-piracy measures studios take these days: Magnetic-wands at theater doors checking for cell phones, prints that are watermarked so that bootlegs can be tracked to the theater where they were made and security guards with night-vision goggles, watching during screenings to catch viewers with concealed video cameras.
All understandable when you’re screening “X-Men 3” or some other blockbuster-in-waiting a week before civilians can see it. The temptation to get such stuff on the Internet must be huge.
But I’ve been greatly amused this week, seeing those night-vision dudes police Toronto Fest screenings of, say, “The Journals of Knud Rasmussen,” a documentarylike film about explorers making contact with a tiny Inuit tribe.
Isn’t the big problem with art and foreign films the fact that so few people seem to be interested in them? If I were “Rasmussen” directors Zacharias Kunuk and Norman Cohn, I would be thrilled beyond belief to hear that people were so eager to see my movie that they would watch a jittery handheld bootleg of it that took hours to download online. I think that would be better news than an Oscar nomination.
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Controversial Bush film underwhelms critics
Remember “Death of a President,” the mock documentary that stages the assassination of President Bush? USA Today has a piece about reaction to the film at the Toronto Film Festival:
“The movie didn’t score any huge critical success here. The consensus seemed to be that the political conclusions — that American politics drives truth out the window — didn’t seem to be worth the artistic effort to pump up the volume.”
Going, going …
Thursday is the last day to catch “The Quiet,” Strangers With Candy” and “Quinceanera” at the Dobie. The Arbor is also saying goodbye to “The Quiet,” along with “An Inconvenient Truth.”
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‘Music’ gets distribution
— The Austin-made documentary “Before the Music Dies”, a favorite at this year’s South by Southwest Film Festival, has scored a distribution deal with Austin-based Bside Entertainment. The filmmakers are Andrew Shapter and Joel Rasmussen.
— The Iraq documentary “The Ground Truth: After the Killing Ends” opens Friday at the Dobie. After the 7:30 screening that night, there will be a Q&A featuring Dave Bills, chairman of the Austin Chapter of Iraq Veterans Against the War; Hart Viges, a member of Iraq Veterans Against the War; and Perry Jeffries, volunteer veterans coordinator for Operation Truth.
— The first South Padre Island Film Festival will run Sept. 22-24 with a lineup of 26 films.
— Monday brings a new schedule at the Bullock Museum’s IMAX theater:
“Superman Returns: An IMAX 3D Experience” Monday through Thursday: 3 and 7 p.m. Friday and Saturday: Noon, 3 p.m., 7 p.m., 10 p.m. Sunday: 3 and 7 p.m.
“Ride Around the World: A Cowboy Adventure” Monday through Thursday: 11 a.m., 2 p.m., 6 p.m. Friday and Saturday: 11 a.m., 6 p.m. Sunday: 2 and 6 p.m.
“Deep Sea 3D” Monday through Thursday: Noon
“Texas: The Big Picture” Monday through Thursday: 10 a.m., 1 p.m. Friday and Saturday: 10 a.m. Sunday: 1 p.m.
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