Cultural differences 101 – or the trailer for AJ Annila’s Sauna from it’s American distributor IFC.
edit: And here’s the Finnish trailer.
edit2: Changed the source of the American trailer because of the damn annoying autoplay in Fangoria’s player.
This might be old news to many but for some reason this is the first time I’ve heard of the singing Tesla coils aka. the Zeusaphone. This is so incredibly awesome I don’t know what to say, so I’ll just link to a Popular Science article and embed a YouTube video.
There’s a lot more on YouTube, for example Super Mario theme and of course Popcorn.
I think it was Star Wreck that just happened to be the first feature film ever released for free on the Internet. After that, we’ve seen such masterpieces as We Are The Strange and Four-Eyed Monsters being released on the Internet, and now it’s time for a new film to emerge for free, torrent-based distribution: Blank.
I’m quoting TorrentFreak’s blogger enigmax, under CC-By-Sa -license:
Times are certainly changing and slowly but surely people are beginning to realize that rather than trying to fight piracy and destroy file-sharing networks, the best approach is to embrace your one-time rivals and try and create something positive.
Established in 2000 by director Rick L. Winters, Annodam Productions is an independent film company. A forward looking outfit, Annodam will premiere its latest movie Blank, worldwide today.
Blank is the story of a Johnny, a young boy who witnesses the violent death of his parents and older sister. Roll on some 20 years later and Johnny becomes involved in crime with his adoptive father – who is also a crime boss. While watching a game of poker Johnny discovers who murdered his family and sets about planning his revenge. Johnny unwittingly becomes involved with a pair of serial killers and the whole movie climaxes with a bizarre and shocking end.
While the plot may seems standard Hollywood fare, the way this movie has been financed and is set to be distributed is not – Director Rick L.Winters explains, “The thing that makes this film unique is that it is a co-op based concept where the entire cast and crew worked on a deferred percentage of the film’s gross. In other words, the cast and crew own a percentage of the film’s gross, so the profits are not going to Hollywood executives but instead into the pockets of the filmmakers themselves.”
After receiving several distribution offers for Blank, Rick turned them all down.
“I have seen firsthand the greed that lurks in the Hollywood corporate circles,” he said while explaining that after he released his first film, the cast and crew couldn’t understand why a distribution company was making all the money. So instead, Rick decided to let the audience distribute Blank for him – via BitTorrent.
“This time around the fate of the cast and crew getting paid is in the hands of the audience who watch the film. No Hollywood bank accounts being filled to turn out more crappy remakes,” he said, while adding that the future of film is “in the home market, through peer to peer distribution.”
Today, Blank is released on DVD for $14.99, via online streaming and of course, for free on BitTorrent. “No one should have to pay for a film they did not like,” says Rick. “No one should be denied the right to enjoy the art of film.”
The idea is that if people like the movie after they have seen it, they should go to the Blank website and make a donation. People are asked to donate what they feel the movie is worth, and in return will be invited to follow the production of the next movie, which they will have helped finance through their donation.
Rick told TorrentFreak, “I am excited with the aspects of peer to peer distribution and the possibilities. Giving everyone the opportunity to see my film for free in hope of receiving donations is a little nerve wrecking – wondering if I will receive enough donations to make my next film. The concept is still scary for independent filmmakers who don’t have the big budgets like the big studios and most of the time drain their personal accounts and run up credit just to get their film made, in hopes of recouping the cost of making the film.”
Several large BitTorrent sites including Mininova will be offering Blank, but undoubtedly it will spread to many others too. Rick L. Winters is also writing a book which will document the whole process so that others can use the same methods to distribute their own movies.
“I can only hope for the success of this endeavor to show the world that the revolution of peer to peer distribution can no longer be ignored and the time is now,” Rick told TorrentFreak. “I decided to try the concept of a coop base film in hopes of encouraging other independent filmmakers to come together and create and share the art of film for EVERYONE to enjoy.”
Congratulations to Rick and the crew for effectively ending the piracy of their movies and we wish them the best of luck with ‘Blank’ and all future success.
You can grab the torrent for the movie from Mininova.
Remmeber when we asked people to remix the Iron Sky teaser? Well, we’ve got a bunch of great remixes but this one takes things… a little bit further:
Rust Sky teaser — something similar to Iron Sky. Not really a remix, but a copy, but not really a copy. License: Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0
We’ve got a big script meeting coming up tomorrow so naturally I decided to brush up on the latest conspiracy theories. However I wasn’t exactly prepared for the idea of Chuck Norris leading a revolution against the US goverment:
The call by some right wing leaders for rebellion and for the military to refuse the commander in chief’s orders is joined by Chuck Norris who claims that thousands of right wing cell groups have organized and are ready for a second American Revolution. During an appearance on the Glen Beck radio show he promised that if things get any worse from his point of view he may “run for president of Texas.”
I bet you’re thinking that this shit has to be made up. But no, Glenn Beck is the latest greatest hope for the American rightwingers with a radio show and his own show on Fox News (and formerly CNN).
Today in his syndicated column on WorldNetDaily Norris reiterates the point: “That need may be a reality sooner than we think. If not me, someone someday may again be running for president of the Lone Star state, if the state of the union continues to turn into the enemy of the state.”
On other news. Well, actually more like “not on the news” since this is more from alternative sources, it seems a American neo-nazi with a $10 million trust fund had stockpiled materials for a dirty bomb. What would have happened we’ll never know, since allegedly his wife shot him.
I think this might be a good time to be slightly worried about what’s happening in the land of the free. And not least because we all know Chuck Norris is so tough his pickup truck runs on Vin Diesel.
In 2005 a group of young Finnish filmmakers released Star Wreck: In the Pirkinning. In 2006 they founded Energia Productions Ltd. These are their stories.
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