Woods and Water

Inspired by the words of Werner Herzog in “Traveling Alone, on Foot“, Ian Soroka documents his journey by bicycle from Berlin to Istanbul. Follow the full travelogue here.

17 April, Fairfield Iowa: an introduction

Hello from Fairfield Iowa! A few weeks left to go, I’m settling in with the reality of this trip. I’m currently in the middle of farmland America, visiting friends. I want to explain the purpose of this trip and this website.

I decided to do this trip more or less in 2008 when Monica and I talked about driving to Istanbul. And somehow it has morphed into my way of avoiding my post-collegiate existential crisis, a way of seeing where my family came from, and a means to see friends, all on two wheels.

Werner Herzog is also an inspiration for this trip. I want this to be the culmination of my filmmaking education. Though I’m on my bike and not walking this distance as he has professed, I’m purposely taking minimal equipment. Some may find it curious or even counter-intuitive that I don’t plan on bringing a video camera of some sort along with me. I by no means want to carry my home along with me on my bike like backpackers in the backcountry or other touring cyclists who need to be self sufficient. I want to force myself to interact with people out of necessity, people who speak with alien tongues; I want to have search for food and place to sleep at night. I’m not on the bum, I’m a traveling student… and I’m 22.

This is not just for friends and family, this site is to be an audio/visual travelogue of the route, its trans-historical, political, and linguistic borders. Berlin to Istanbul, Bismark to the Pashas, I want to seek out crumbling monuments, memories, and culinary and musical inspirations…

I’ll be carrying a change of clothes, a sweater, a solo bivy tent, spare tubes, my toothbrush, my Hasselblad camera, a sound recorder, and Don Quixote as I’ve been meaning to read it.

For you, I’ll try to be diligent with my postings…..

And I apologize in advance for my poor HTML skills, may they improve in the future.

Blue-Tongue Films

In today’s New York Times Arts section, Michael Cieply discusses the formation and success of Blue-Tongue Films, a “loose-jointed Australian moviemaking collective.” While their  ideals and means of convergence differ slightly from Mutually Made, their collective model is something that we both admire and consider to be the backbone of our own movement:

Blue-Tongue Films is unusual in that it has a name…but is not really a company, with shared profits, nor a true cinematic movement, like Dogme 95 in Denmark. Rather it is an agglomeration of filmmakers who helped one another into the business and have simply stuck together in jobs that vary from film to film.

You can read the full article here

Take Away Show #98: KAZUKI TOMOKAWA

video by vincent moon for la blogotheque

see more at www.vimeo.com/temporaryareas or www.vimeo.com/blogotheque

DIY: The Next New Wave-The New Independents

Independent film making is rapidly taking on a completely new meaning.  Over the last several years a great deal has happened that has allowed for a new model to arise, which puts control directly into the hands of the filmmaker and the fans. It seems that we are now on the cusp of revolution in the way independent films are being made and seen. Below is an exciting article detailing some of the big changes that have taken place and will soon take place. Some of the points made: Festivals are dead and fans are the new studios.

“I want to assure everyone that this is not a joke. I understand ‘revolutionize’ is an enormous word and should not be taken lightly so I want to make sure we are all clear on the definition of what the word revolutionize means. Merriam-Webster defines the word revolutionize as follows:

revolutionize
transitive verb
1 : to overthrow the established government of
2 : to imbue with revolutionary doctrines
3 : to change fundamentally or completely ex: revolutionize an industry

This idea could revolutionize the entire independent film industry, and the only reason I say “could” instead of “will” is because to make this a reality, film fans and a majority of the filmmakers out there must work together, believe in and fight for this idea.

This idea, if realized, would not only make it possible for an indie filmmakers to sustain but to also to make hundreds of thousands of dollars overnight.

Believe me, I understand how preposterous this all might sound. When my team and I were fishing around for ideas on a ways for filmmakers to sustain, our goal was to catch a fish, but for some magical reason, we caught a whale. This idea was so big that at first we didn’t even know what we were looking at, but once we stepped back far enough we realized that this idea could change EVERYTHING…”

…read the full article here

original article written by Ben Hicks for the workbook project

Best of Eastern European Animation: Jiri Trnka’s The Hand

The Hand (Ruka, 1965) is a Czech animation by renowned animator Jiří Trnka.

“This was Trnka’s last, and some say greatest, film. An artist, happy in his life, devotes his time making a pot for his favorite flower. But a giant hand appears and orders him to create a statue of a hand instead. He resists at first, but the hand is all powerful and he is forced to submit, at the cost of his liberty and ultimately his life. This darkly humorous allegory on totalitarianism, which won the top prize at the Annecy International Animation Festival, was banned in Communist Czechoslovakia.”

excerpt obtained from www.rembrandtfilms.com

DIY: The Next New Wave – 10mph

Throughout the long process  of bringing our documentary Home is Wherever You Are to fruition, James and I have become extremely interested in the new model of DIY film making, which seems to be setting the stage for a complete revolution in the way independent films are both made and seen.

With the hope that it may be of some help, I would like to share with you my ongoing research regarding this new film making model.

About a month ago, I stumbled upon a film entitled 10mph. The film is about a few former 9-to-5ers who quit their jobs and set out on a cross country road trip on a segway. What’s interesting about this film is not so much the film itself, but a segment on their website that explains their process of trying to get the film distributed. It’s interesting to read and may perhaps provide you with some ideas.

www.10mph.com/diy

-Tristan

Les Savy Fav at Fun Fun Fun Fest in Austin, TX

(Excerpt taken from The Calcutta Blog)

You can read all you want about indie pioneers Les Savy Fav and their legendarily eccentric live performances, but witnessing frontman Tim Harrington up close and filthily clad in everything from a fish mask to tight blue underwear is another story. This year’s annual Fun Fun Fun Fest in Austin, TX saw LSF at their very best. While the band’s three musicians powered through noisy yet anthemic rock tunes, Harrington immersed himself in the festival’s wet crowd. Systematically jumping in and out of the audience, painting his body with makeup, and even making out with a few crowd members, Harrington’s tour de force stage presence is something to be reckoned with.

James Longmire caught the show with a Panasonic HMC 150, marking the first Calcutta contribution from Austin-based filmmakers Mutually Made. His following video of Le Savy Fav’s set closer, “The Sweat Descends,” captures Harrington at the zenith of his uncanny ability to connect the band and the audience as he plants a ladder in the crowd and performs in all of his hairy, sweaty glory. Check it:

Words by Edward Shore