Harvey Pekar : My Oscar Weekend his article

POLITICS Is Focus at Texas Film Festival
ABC News - USA
March 11 — It'll be politics as (un)usual at the South by Southwest film festival, where the focus in President Bush's home state will be on the very forces ... <http://abcnews.go.com/wire/Entertainment/ap20040311_1416.html>

VERDICT: Passion Audience Mixed on the Film
Islam Online - UK
... According to many reports, this independent film (produced by the small, relatively new company, Newmarket Films) had the third largest mid-week opening ever. ... <http://www.islam-online.net/English/ArtCulture/2004/03/article05.shtml>

TRIBECA Film Festival gets $3 million
Crain's New York Business - New York,NY,USA
The Tribeca Film Festival received a two-year, $3 million grant from the Lower Manhattan Development Corp. for its signature event and other programs. ... <http://www.crainsny.com/news.cms?newsId=7536>

GOV. Schwarzenegger Picks Up Film Festival Award
Reuters - United States
... Arnold Schwarzenegger, the former action film star, on Wednesday accepted a Maverick Spirit Award at the Cinequest San Jose Film Festival. ... <http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=peopleNews&storyID=4543761>

FIRST Israeli film festival opens
AzerNews - Azerbaijan
... are open for the public. In 1981, the San Francisco Jewish Film Festival pioneered the screening of independent films on Jewish subjects to national audiences. ... <http://www.azernews.net/view.php?d=3654>

GAY director turns to grunge era
Gay.com UK - UK
... The Hollywood Reporter says Van Sant and Pitt, who appeared in indie film Hedwig and the Angry Inch and controversial Bertolucci drama The Dreamers, have been ... <http://uk.gay.com/headlines/5940>

NEWS FROM FESTIVALS
* Dubai Media City sets inaugural festival dates
* Northwest Film Forum is moving
* Canada’s NSI Festival Filmexchange was hot!
* Films in Progress: from Toulouse to San Sebastian
* Fica awards notification
* WorldFest Houston closes new prime sponsor
* Hi Lo : High Concept, Low Budget Fest
* Skip City D Cinema Festival
* Tiburon fest line-up unveiled by its director
* Stuggart gets animated early April
* Cinequest launches online fest content distribution
* Twini Mini Film Festival opens this monday
* 19th Mar del Plata latino line up revealed
* Durango Fest line up
* Time of the writer festival in Durban
* Cinequest San Jose Fest opening
* Facts on markets and MIFED strategy
* Festivals give accurate indicators of art-house BO success
* MIFF moves to spring away from MIFED dates
http://www.filmfestivals.com/htm/festivals.shtml

ON location: An indie scene born
Miami Herald - Miami,FL,USA
... first Sunlight Award: $25,000 cash and $125,000 in donated equipment such as film ... first-ever award for independent films, hoping to turn the city into an indie ...

A Grande US film deal
Montreal Gazette - Montreal,Quebec,Canada
The hit comedy La Grande séduction has been sold to New York indie distributor Wellspring which plans to launch the French-language film across the US in late ...

RAIDERS of the Art House; Is Piracy a Threat to Indie Film? Indie Wire - USA ... But should the indie film world be worried about piracy as a threat? Viewpoints differ among the experts. "It doesn't affect our ...

SXSW Unveils Slate of Panels for 2004 Film Conference
Indie Wire - USA
by Eugene Hernandez. Organizers of the annual South by Southwest Film Conference have ... The panels at the SXSW Film Festival are amazing," said ... <http://www.indiewire.com/onthescene/onthescene_040226sxsw.html>

IT'S reel fun at SXSW
Dallas Morning News (subscription) - Dallas,TX,USA
... Even if people don't like a film," SXSW programming chairman Matt Dentler says, "they'll stick around and have a helpful discussion with the filmmaker. ... <http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/fea/texasliving/stories/030904dnlivsxswff.9531d.html>

BREAK on through to l'autre side
The Globe and Mail - Canada
... Instead, she left for Hungary to work on the independent film The Baroness and the Pig, where she struck up a fortuitous friendship with co-star Patricia ... <http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/ArticleNews/TPStory/LAC/20040310/FALLS10/TPEntertainment/TopStories>

DUBAI International Film Festival next Dec
Dubai Interact - Dubai,United Arab Emirates
Cultural understanding and international harmony will be the themes of the inaugural Dubai International Film Festival, Dubai Media City’s newly launched ... <http://www.dubaiinteract.com/Media_SectionDisplay.aspx?Sectionid=88DC0EFB-ACD2-48CD-86D3-4B1D2CC0F9B3&Articleid=0231EB80-A7D7-44CF-9BD9-A33F8487EF5B&DisplayObjectMode=Article&DisplayMode=Detail&ObjectId=db6a4287-cdf1-4450-847c-80c894badebe>

NAFTI marks 14th TV and Film Festival
GhanaWeb - Accra,Ghana
... Mr. Loh was speaking at the official launch of the 14 Film and Television Festival of the Institute in Accra. The festival initiated ... <http://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/entertainment/artikel.php?ID=53420>

IRANIAN Films at Amnesty Int'l Film Festival
Central Asian and Southern Caucasus Freedom of Expression Network (CASCFEN) - Azerbaijan Mehr NA - Four Iranian films are to go on screen at the 6th Amnesty International Film Festival (April 1-5). The festival is due ... <http://www.cascfen.org/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=1401>

WAR themes the Fresh Film Festival
RTE Interactive - Ireland
War will be the theme of the seventh Fresh Film Festival, Ireland's young peoples' film festival, which runs in Limerick from Wednesday 24 to Friday 26 March. ... <http://www.rte.ie/arts/2004/0310/freshfilmfest.html>

NEW York Underground Film Festival
Village Voice - New York,NY,USA
With the city's anti-war protests peaking, the New York Underground Film Festival opened with the "bring the war home" invective of the Weather Underground ... <http://www.villagevoice.com/issues/0410/sinagra.php>

INDIE film gets airborne
Reuters - London,England,UK
LONDON (Hollywood Reporter) - To make an independent film in Britain requires the stamina of a steeplechaser, the obstinacy of a donkey and boundless enthusiasm ... <http://www.reuters.co.uk/newsPackageArticle.jhtml?type=entertainmentNews&storyID=472307&section=news>

Disney to Make Movies from Judy Blume Books
AFP - Mar 09 2:23 PM
The Walt Disney Co, author Judy Blume and independent producer Jane Startz have agreed to make movies based on Blume's hit kids books like "Are You There God? It's Me Margaret," Disney said on Tuesday.

PIERSON, Bingham, and Maslin Talk "Passion," Miramax, and Indies ...
Indie Wire - USA
... case Monday night in Pleasantville, NY, where a discussion about whether "The Passion of the Christ" is an independent film kicked off a chat about indie film ... <http://www.indiewire.com/onthescene/onthescene_040310ind.html>

NORTHFORK FILM REVIEW
Channel 4 News - London,England,UK
American indie from the Polish brothers, starring Nick Nolte, James Woods and Daryl Hannah. Northfork is a film so obsessed with a sepia-tinged vision of a ... <http://www.channel4.com/film/reviews/film.jsp?id=124954>

PREVIEW Reviews
New York Press - New York,NY,USA
... funny anymore. Nor is he interesting. He’s become the Dennis Miller of indie film, painful to watch but impossible to get rid of. ... <http://www.nypress.com/17/10/film/previewreview.cfm>

GRRRL, Interrupted
Minneapolis City Pages - Minneapolis,MN,USA
On February 13, agit-pop film punk and indie-art activist Sarah Jacobson died of uterine cancer. She was 32. Her decade-plus career ... <http://www.citypages.com/databank/25/1214/article11964.asp>

THE Pontanis Come Clean!
Village Voice - New York,NY,USA
... No wonder those childhood scenes looked so familiar. Another indie film starring locals premiered the same night. While having a ... <http://www.villagevoice.com/issues/0410/flylife.php>

NEW York is stage center for new Hollywood films
Newsday - Long Island,NY,USA
... this month in New York, where the movie industry ... about $10 billion each year, New York's film ... an organization whose aim is to promote New York City. ... <http://www.newsday.com/news/local/wire/ny-bc-ny--newyorkmovies0309mar09,0,1988206.story?coll=ny-ap-regional-wire>

NURI Bilge Ceylan Talks About The Truths of "Distant"
Indie Wire - USA
... Turkish director Nuri Bilge Ceylan's third feature, winner of both the grand jury prize and best actor accolades for its two leads at this past Cannes Film ... <http://www.indiewire.com/people/people_040308ceylan.html>

THE Rewrite Stuff
Tacoma News Tribune - Tacoma,WA,USA
... Features"; and Stewart Stern, an Oscar-nominated Hollywood screenwriter whose best-known film ... had about the state of screenwriting in Hollywood and on the indie ... <http://www.tribnet.com/entertainment/story/4828188p-4766827c.html>

FULL Frame Sets Full Slate of Docs for April Fest
Indie Wire - USA
North Carolina's Full Frame Documentary Film Festival has released its 2004 slate of 97 titles to be screened during the event's five day run, taking place ... <http://www.indiewire.com/onthescene/onthescene_040308full.html>

ACTION picks up for 'Hollywood East' studios
New York Newsday - New York,NY,United States
... Kaufman Astoria Studios' clinching of the film comes as New York City's film industry is showing signs of life after languishing during the recession. ... <http://www.nynewsday.com/business/ny-bzpinkvr3699901mar08,0,6094849.story?coll=nyc-business-headlines>

BELLY twins to dazzle at Bollywood awards
Indian Television - India
... at the Trump Taj Mahal Casino, Atlantic City ... as InStyle, YM, Time, Muscle & Fitness, New York ... and almost every celebrity from the Indian film industry ... <http://www.indiantelevision.com/headlines/y2k4/mar/mar61.htm>

BROTHERS share chores on feature film debut
Kansas City Star - Kansas City,MO,USA
... The winner of top prizes at the DC Independent Film Festival and at the New York International Independent Film and Video Fest, “The Flats” will screen at 7 ... <http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/entertainment/movies/8108270.htm>

NO More Mr. Nice Guy: An Actor's Tough Choices
Washington Post - Washington,DC,USA
... which opens March 26. And he's in the independent film "Off the Map," directed by Campbell Scott. Later this spring, he reprises ... <http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A33748-2004Mar5.html>

ACTOR big on the buzz of acting, filmmaking
Contra Costa Times - Contra Costa County,CA,USA
Aside from providing a maniacally fun filming experience, Cannata says it inspired him on his own independent film, which had a tight, though slightly less ... <http://www.contracostatimes.com/mld/cctimes/entertainment/8128430.htm>

MOVIE offers, news reports from across globe in case of ` ...
Kansas City Star - Kansas City,MO,USA
... Cuevas could expect to get from $25,000 to $75,000, said Elizabeth Fowler, an independent film and TV producer in Los Angeles. The ... <http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/news/nation/8124092.htm>

MERCHANTS of menace
Times Picayune - New Orleans,LA,USA
... Loggia's frequently roaring performance is a beaut, and the arc built for Buscemi's character inverts expectations and offers the actor, the king of indie-film ... <http://www.nola.com/entertainment/t-p/index.ssf?/base/entertainment-0/1078653692153730.xml>

KODAK envisions a global network
Democrat and Chronicle - Rochester,NY,USA
... I think,” Gerard said, “industry ... consumers worldwide will buy more of those devices this year than digital and film ... Here she is in New York City ... <http://www.democratandchronicle.com/biznews/0307L33GS4I_business.shtml>

SIMMONS HOPES KISS OF DEF WORKS IN NEW HOLLYWOOD BID
New York Post - New York,NY,USA <http://www.nypost.com/business/20020.htm>

THE New Testament Meets Cosmo, as Pop Culture and Religion ...
ABC News - USA
... As fundamentalists became more prosperous, a new industry arose to sell ... convergence of religion and pop culture has reached into film ... In New York City ... <http://abcnews.go.com/sections/living/US/christianpopculture040306.html>

FILM Fever Spreads as States Vie for Jobs
The Ledger - Lakeland,FL,USA
... after California and New York. ... state is nurturing its industry ... another $250,000 from the city ... Without new state incentives ... Wilmington's film workers routinely ... <http://www.theledger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20040307/NEWS/403070432/1039>

JOHN Ritter film to kick off Jewish Film Festival
The Journal News.com - Westchester,NY,USA
The Jewish Film Festival of Westchester, a homegrown series that takes on big issues, begins its sixth season March 14 with "Manhood," the last movie with John ... <http://www.thejournalnews.com/newsroom/030704/b1007filmfests.html>

CULT Filmmaker Kiyoshi Kurosawa Gets Retrospective
Korea Times - Seoul,South Korea
... s films have appeared in film festivals in Cannes, Berlin, Rotterdam, Toronto, Tokyo and recently, in Korea at last year’s Pusan International Film Festival. ... <http://times.hankooki.com/lpage/culture/200403/kt2004030716503611700.htm>

MOVIES you may have missed
Parsippany Daily Record - Parsippany,NJ,USA
For the sixth year in a row, the Myhelan Indie Film Festival in Chester will screen independent films from all corners of the globe right in your own backyard. ... <http://www.dailyrecord.com/entertainment/entertainment1-myhelan030604.htm>

NEW boss for Venice film festival
BBC News - London,England,UK
Italian movie producer Marco Muller has been appointed director of the Venice International Film Festival. The 51-year-old - who ... <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/3535499.stm>

THIRD Tribeca Film Festival announces lineup
Newsday - Long Island,NY,USA
NEW YORK -- Touching on topics from South African democracy to misery in a Brazilian prison, the third Tribeca Film Festival will screen 150 works while ... <http://www.newsday.com/news/local/wire/ny-bc-ny--deniro-filmfestiv0305mar05,0,5204049.story?coll=ny-ap-regional-wire>

ACTOR under fire from unions over nursing home business
San Jose Mercury News - San Jose,CA,USA
... Workers fired from his Manteca nursing home flew out to the New York opening of Thekkek's award-winning independent film, ``Beyond the Soul,'' in November to ... <http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/local/8120507.htm>

MAN without a band
Newport Daily News - Newport,RI,USA
... said recently. "The fact that we can attract this level of performer shows that we are really part of the independent film world.". <http://www.newportdailynews.com/articles/2004/03/06/news/news3.txt>

300 movies to be showcased at HK film festival
Xinhua - China
BEIJING, Mar. 5, (Xinhuanet) -- Nearly 300 movies from more than 40 countries and regions will be screened at the HK International Film Festival. ... <http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2004-03/05/content_1346017.htm>

TOUCHING 'The Station Agent' a gem of a film
Tulare Advance Register - Tulare,CA,USA
... What "The Station Agent," one of the best films of the 2003 and the latest entry in Signature Theatres' Independent Film Series, does feature is a gentle story ... <http://www.tulareadvanceregister.com/news/stories/20040305/localnews/20480.html>

LESBIAN portrayal wins big
Washington Blade - Washington,DC,USA
... 29 on ABC, and the “have-nots” at the 19th Independent Spirit Awards, aired the night before on the Independent Film Channel and Bravo. ... <http://www.washblade.com/2004/3-5/arts/film/filmB.cfm>

GYLLENHAAL Is 'Wonderful' and 'Happy'
Zap2it.com - USA
The indie dark comedy "Wonderful" is set in post 9/11 New York and stars Gyllenhaal as a competitive cake designer who battles it out with a rival (Edie Falco ... <http://www.zap2it.com/movies/go?path=/movies/news/story&general_id=20734>

BEST Academy Awards For Years,” Says Media Expert Ted Baehr NewsMax.com - USA ... Next year, I want an independent film, Mel Gibson’s ‘The Passion of the Christ’ to do well. I don’t think ‘The Passion ... <http://www.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2004/3/4/144950.shtml>

Harvey Pekar : My Oscar Weekend
Cruise, Weinstein ruin Independent Spirit and Return of the King conquers all
Wednesday, March 10, 2004

I went to L.A. with my wife and kid for some movie-award ceremonies given on Feb. 28 and 29. We got in on the 27th tired from the long trip, but rested and recuperated in time to go to a party HBO was throwing that evening, where we reunited with some of American Splendor's (the film) chief creators: producer Ted Hope, the husband and wife director/writer team of Bob Pulcini and Shari Springer Berman, and actors Judah Friedlander, Paul Giamatti and Hope Davis, who were up for Independent Spirit awards, supposedly given to independent film artists overlooked by the big corporations controlling the Oscars.

The reunion was a happy one. We socialized and kept up with each other over long distances about matters other than film. Giamatti and I, avid book collectors, gave each other tips about where to find obscure volumes. I was often sick during the post production of American Splendor, and Bob and Shari constantly called to check on my health.

The Independent Spirit Awards took place on Feb. 28. American Splendor had been nominated for five awards there, but the film had been shown in art houses only. Not enough viewers, therefore, had even seen Splendor to give it much prize backing. Beyond that, everyone was thrilled with Sofia Coppola's Lost in Translation , which indicated that the House of Coppola would continue to flourish. That film's star, Bill Murray, had a big following, but on the other hand, American Splendor had no stars, though Giamatti and Davis were superb performers. American Splendor might not have won anything anyway. Maybe it was too far out, too innovative, what with the multiple casting and genre mixing. In any event, American Splendor went 0 for 5 at Independent Spirit, while Translation cleaned up awards. That kind of bugged me. I know I'm frequently called a loser, but I'm not nuts about losing.

Something else that bothered me at the awards was the notion that these Independent Spirit people might not be so independent. Why was Tom Cruise, a good Hollywood company man, taking part in the program so prominently? Why was Harvey Weinstein, often identified as a scoundrel who browbeats writers and directors, so lavishly praised during the proceedings? What was Jack Valenti doing in an Independent Spirit comedy sketch? Was American Splendor an independent film? It had a very small budget and was shot in less than a month, but had received the backing of HBO. It's been argued convincingly that big corporations are taking over promising independent films and squeezing profits from them.

On the 29th we went to the Academy Awards. One of the highlights of the day was that our limo driver was an old Russian Jew. He was a friendly, extroverted guy, and I got a chance to talk a little Yiddish with him. He knew L.A. too, and gave us a guided tour as he drove. That cheered me up and started pulling me away from the 0-for-5 depression that'd bummed me out the day before.

Lord of the Rings: Return of the King , as you probably know, dominated the Oscars. It won in all 11 of the categories in which it had been nominated. People were going crazy voting for it, and it even won the best song award with what to my ears was a pretty bland tune. Unfortunately, the only Academy Award category American Splendor was nominated in, Best Adapted Screenplay, also had Lord of the Rings competing in it. Guess who won? But what could compete with the special effects, action and the moral simplicity of Lord of the Rings ?

Host Billy Crystal, an inventive and technically superb comedian, moved things along smoothly and amusingly. He presided over the same industry-celebrating show we've come to expect every year, but it was more honest and less self-congratulatory than the Independent Spirit Awards.

When the Oscar program was over, I went to a party where a number of people I didn't know told me they liked American Splendor a lot. That helped me too. Flattery gets you everywhere. I had a real good time at the party, engaging in a long, interesting conversation with a woman about the lack of information Americans get from news services in this country.

Well, eating a nice salad and having a stimulating political conversation with someone who praised me wiped the last shards of self-pity away. Temporarily, anyway.