“This film has cross-over appeal that connects with progressive hippies and Tea Party members alike. It’s about government raids on local and organic farmers.” I’d had a long working relationship with the distributor who was telling me this over the phone, but in the past Jessica had been a broker for classics of the silent era as well as representing some of the biggest names in both the realm of foreign and contemporary arthouse movies. This was a very different and far cry from Dersu Uzala. It was a debut low-budget documentary called Farmageddon: The Unseen War on American Family Farms.   READ MORE

The Oscars are tonight but surely the recent blog-a-thon covering that topic has quenched your thirst on that subject. Let’s move on to food, which comes to my mind thanks to my friends Chris and Huong, who are opening a new restaurant. They invited various acquaintances and family in for free meals and drinks to help them put a new staff through their paces and, of course, hopefully stimulate word-of-mouth. The restaurant business is a tough gig with high-risks and a cut-throat market. But the artistry aligned with this basic necessity is undeniable, and cinema is full of examples. Skipping past the recent Julie & Julia, I’ll focus on international or indy fare. READ MORE