Cleveland International Film Festival 2010

This year, the marketing team behind the Cleveland International Film Festival asked people to submit stories of how the festival has affected them. Authentic Films then produced several trailers for the festival, each featuring a series of these stories chained together, sharing a theme.

Since Rose and I met and went on our first date because of the film festival, we were asked to participate. So of course we brought the kids along for the filming, and as you'll see, Max steals the show. (Our trailer is called 'Family, Friends, Love'.)

Forget it, Jake.

A couple of nights ago, Rose and I watched Roman Polanski's "Chinatown." Jack Nicholson was at the top of his form--in fact, one is reminded what a truly great actor he is (was?). All throughout this amazing film, I couldn't help but think of the pathetic "A Few Good Men," in which Nicholson also starred. It seems that he and Tom Cruise were cast in that film with the intention of conveying the message, "here's a great actor from yesterday (Nicholson), and a great actor from today (Cruise)." But putting Tom Cruise next to Nicholson on the screen is like putting White Zinfandel next to Grand Cru Bordeaux--a laughable contrast that only makes sense to the simplest of minds. A film like Chinatown (produced by a Hollywood studio, it should be noted) literally makes me want to cry when I think about the wretched debris being turned out by the mainstream studios today. But, as people are fond of telling me, they're just giving the public what they want. And to that I say: my disgust with mainstream American taste is not misplaced. So there.

I can't wait to see Waking Life!

Ghost Dog is another quiet gem by Jim Jarmusch. It’s good to know that a director can move on after a dud like Night on Earth. My all-time favorite is still Down by Law.

Rosie and I watched Cecil B. DeMented last night – highly, highly, highly recommended. John Waters’ films are exquisitely twisted, but for some reason they leave me feeling so much better about the world that I did before. If you haven’t seen this film, and 1998’s Pecker, you really should. Masterpieces. And hey, you can never get enough of Baltimore, right?

Robert Banks... boy genius. Rosie and I had quite an interesting session today with Robert, shooting footage for several films, including an OS promo piece. Look for Robert's work to premier soon on Opensewer. He'll also be showing several of his films at the BBC Short Film Festival in London this September. So, if you're in the neighborhood, take a moment to drop by. Some photos from today's shoot: