SAGIndie

The Los Angeles Film Festival is right around the corner (literally: the corner of Sunset and Crescent Heights), and tickets are now available for this year’s slate of events and screenings.

Highlights (completely subjective, of course) include:

- Robert Towne discusses the City of Angels, and the role L.A. has played in his life and films. A must for Chinatown fans, which means anybody who loves movies. As for Tequila Sunrise, the less said, the better.

- Movies at the Ford Amphitheater. The eclectic programming includes the Russian vampire flick Night Watch, the popular nature doc March of the Penguins, and a live set by The RZA which will feature the erstwhile Wu-Tanger dropping science over a backdrop of classic cartoons.

- The North American premiere of Down in the Valley, the latest San Fernando Valley opus not directed by Paul Thomas Anderson. Starring Evan Rachel Wood (a guest at our Sundance Actors Only Brunch) and Edward Norton (not a guest at our Sundance Actors Only Brunch), it looks like a mash-up featuring elements of Midnight Cowboy, Being There, and the woefully unappreciated Pauly Shore masterwork, Encino Man.

Of course, there is much, much, much more I could go into here. However, you people out there keep calling with your contract questions, hang ups, and marriage proposals. So, as much as I’d like to let the phones ring, I’m gonna get back to work.

As for you, better log off now and go get in line for tickets to The RZA Cartoon Hour. They’re gonna go fast.

I’m back from Cannes, and back to the same old grind.  I lived through the 12 hour flight from Munich (!) and the incredible turbulence somewhere over Nova Scotia, just in time to hit the last day of warm weather in Los Angeles.  Now, it’s grey skies and fairly cold weather.  Hhhmmm, maybe that Mediterranean wasn’t so bad.

Upon my return, I had to instantly get back into SAGIndie mode.  I had the honor of announcing the winners at NYU’s Student Screening (here in L.A. - go figure).  I managed to give out the awards without prejudice, or throwing out there that I went to USC’s film school, and therefore actually HAVE a job.  I didn’t watch any of the films but I’m sure that they are all deserving of the "auteur" status they so wildly crave.  (Everyone knows that USC students are only in it for the fame, money, and the chance to meet Robert Evans - that’s why we’re so successful in Hollywood).

On Friday, I spoke on a panel for the Le Femme Film Festival.  Shockingly, the panel consisted of women.  Not shockingly, the panel actually knew what they were talking about.  It’s always pretty cool to be on panels, because you can really tell a lot about people by the questions they ask.  This audience, while not huge (about 50 people) actually had decent questions, when they were finally allowed to ask them.  One woman was crazy, I mean, BRAVE enough to volunteer that she worked for a bank that actually FINANCED films.  She had to be escorted off the premises by the National Guard.   I managed to slip her my card and a SAGIndie hat.  Hey, you never know.

So life at SAGIndie continues.  Now that Paul’s back from vacation, and has sobered up (at least for the minute - we’re going to a cocktail party tonight), we are back and hard at work.  I have to diligently prepare for a stressful weekend next week in Vegas for CineVegas Film Festival.  I’ll be sure to give the scoop.