Stay in the loop!

With The Auteur heading to the great world of Theatrical, DVD, and Internet distribution over the coming weeks, now is a good time to subscribe to our feed to make getting updates easy! On the right side of the blog you'll see an easy way to signup for email updates, and below that a RSS feed subscription service for those of you in that world.

Also, head over to the website to sign up for the very special Auteur email list. We haven't sent out an email to those signed up over there, so you still have time to be a recipient of that very special news bulletin. Might even include a premiere party invite...

Thespian Malkasian wins Award in Florida!

Our hugely talented leading man, Melik Malkasian, has been named BEST ACTOR IN A COMEDY at the Ft. Lauderdale International Film Festival!!!  

He joins other winners JANE LYNCH (Best Actress in a comedy) and Kristin Scott Thomas (Best Actress/Drama); not bad company at all. Way to go, Melik!

Check it out here.

CUFF!

Chicago Underground Film Festival.

The screening last night KILLED.  Some old friends were in the audience (some of whom acted in and worked on the movie) so it was an extra special night!  A riotous reaction was had to FULL METAL JACKOFF, as usual.  

Watched Digital Distribution panel with Matt Dentler from Cinetic Rights Management (who is repping The Auteur) and others this morning. Very easygoing and informative.  Then I was on the CUFF Director's Panel with two documentarians and Chusy Haney-Jardine, who made ANYWHERE, USA.  

Lance Hammer, the BALLAST director, was in the audience and referenced several times by folks on the panel, for his work (and the documenting of that experience) in self-distributing his film.  I sat next to Mr. Jardine, whose movie was the opening night film here (and also played in competition at Sundance).  He was very down-to-earth and we bonded over our love for low-fi filmmaking. 

 

Also saw the other CRM-repped film at CUFF, We Are Wizards-- a documentary about serious Harry Potter fans.  VERY funny and original (thanks to amazing subjects and remarkable craftsmanship).

Waiting for a photo of my panel by a wire photographer who promised to send me one-- so in the meantime, enjoy this (none TOO fascinating) video of people piling into the Viaduct to see The Auteur!

Denise and I at Lake Michigan

Giovani Knox and Comic Book Extraordinaire Ezra Daniels after the screening.

FLIFF!

The Ft Lauderdale International Film Festival is the world's longest film festival - meaning the festival itself lasts longer than any other -- almost an entire month.  Are these people insane?

Seriously, this fact can be attested to by the Guiness Book of World Records seal on the cover of the catalog.

In addition to this fun fact, FLIFF is a great time. THE AUTEUR enjoyed a raucous screening at the cutest theater called Cinema Paradiso.  It used to be a church, this theater, and it gave us a perverse sort of thrill to be showing this particular movie there.  

Crowd was wildly enthusiastic, laughing and gagging in equal measure.  

Met lots of cool filmmakers.  One of the best parts of any festival experience is co-mingling w/ the locals and being in a stranger's car on strange roads-- a person whom you who neither know nor trust-- and getting that feeling of both "I'm gonna have fun and get drunk with the locals," and "this person is gonna thrill-kill me."

To Chicago now.  

Cinema Paradiso!

Wanted to share a picture I just got from James on his way into the afterparty in Florida. Sounds like it was a great screening and I hear that those Floridians know how to pour a strong drink!

Ft. Lauderdale and Chicago

The Ft. Lauderdale Film Festival is throwing us an Auteur party!  I will be arriving with one of the stars of the movie, Ms. Denise Chanterelle Dubois, and we will be likely hanging out with what I like to picture as a combination of High-Society Floridians and hardcore porn nerds.  More on that when it happens...

The last time I was in Florida was with Film Geek at the Sarasota Film Festival, and my producer Byrd McDonald and I were at a party with Katherine Harris!  And then we met her again the next day!  Hopefully something that scary will happen around Halloween, when Denise and I fly from Florida to....

Chicago Underground FF!

This will be something of a homecoming for me, as I took my 2nd feature BLOODY MARY there way back in 1996.  It was a super atmosphere-- the programmer Bryan Wendorf let me stay at his house, the screening was packed and people were laughing, and-- seriously, now-- Roger Ebert wrote about the movie.  In a positive way.    

It was like summer camp, this place, this CUFF-- and I met some awesome film people: Tommy Pallotta, Marne Lucas, Dante Harper, Sarah Jacobson (RIP), and many others.  

This year we have a prime Thursday night (9pm) screening, and Matt Dentler-- who heads up Cinetic Rights Management (which is repping THE AUTEUR), will be there for the IFP Filmmaker's Summit (all day long on Nov. 1st) talking about the ins and outs of digital distribution.  Matt mentioned the festival (and us) the other day on his blog.

In other news, the IFC featurette that came out during our run at Tribeca (and went seriously viral) continues to be very popular and now has over 7 million views.  Check it out here.  

If anyone knows how to turn those kind of numbers directly into cold hard cash, please let us know...  

Florida Press

New review (kind of) of the film out in Florida. Honestly not sure what to make of it, but a little press is a little press, right? If anyone has Leslie Nielsen's info, please forward to him with Arturo's regards...

Read the review here

Florida and Chicago...in one weekend

Our heart goes out to our fearless director James - next week he heads to Florida and Chicago to attend the screenings of The Auteur. He's going to need some company, so hoping you'll come out and have a beer with him after the screenings.

Incredible London Screening!

On the way home to Portland after an incredible Raindance screening. Sold-out, raucous crowd seemed to love the movie. If the ensuing partying is any guide, the film definitely got everyone in a good mood.

Everyone at Raindance has been incredible. While we are exhausted, it's still hard to leave this awesome festival.

Time to rest up for three state-side fests in the next three weeks! And, our Portland premiere is less than 7 weeks away!

Auteur Screening Tonight!

   

Last night, we had the good fortune of catching Les Claypool's hilariously spot-on mockumentary ELECTRIC APRICOT, which, you know, reminded us of Portland hippies and how much we love them.  A behind-the-scenes look at a "jam band" on their way to a Cochella-like music festival, the movie feature surprisingly strong music and some hilarious performances, especially from Claypool himself.  We got to hear him talk after, which was super-cool. 

We are less than 4 hours away from the U.K. premiere of THE AUTEUR.  

The gang is frantically getting dolled up, rushing to make our dinner reservations, and in general enjoying our London adventure.  

Today we attended an awesome workshop led by Stacey Parks, whose book has been a battle-

guide for us.  She was great, and we invited her and her cool assistant to our screening tonight.  

We've met a great many people, and are totally stoked about tonight! Fingers crossed, wish us luck, and check back for at least one more blog from our trip ends! 

Raindance Film Festival

The AUTEUR team is in London for our UK Premiere!  We're having a swell time: going to pubs, getting really drunk, seeing movies, meeting other filmmakers (and getting really drunk with them), etc.  

Tonight we're going to Les Claypool's movie ELECTRIC APRICOT, which sounds quite hilarious.  Tomorrow night is our premiere and we are PUMPED.  

Also excited cuz we just found out we are in the Chicago Underground Film Festival!  This fest is an absolute BLAST and we are thrilled to be included in the lineup.  It takes place October 29th thru November 2nd...

THE AUTEUR gets a rep

THE AUTEUR just signed a deal with Cinetic Media's new Digital Rights Management Division to rep our film.  Um, yay!  This is the company that sold Little Miss Sunshine and Napoleon Dynamite.  

We are very excited about the online, on-demand, and DVD possibilities for the movie, and partnering with this amazing company will help insure its success.  

For more info on this new enterprise, click here.

Cocktoberfest

Cocktober is here and THE AUTEUR has things to do.  

We are leaving for London on Monday to show the British our outrageous porn comedy.  The Raindance Film Festival is the largest independent film festival in all of England, and we are SO honored to have our UK premiere there.  ALSO, Kim Deal from The PIXIES is one of the festival jurors this year!  This is especially meaningful to writer-director James Westby, who has had a Pixies-boner for most of his life.  

And get this!  The festival has an online tv station where you can watch a really neat (and exclusive) behind-the-scenes making of The Auteur video!  Just click here.

More great news cumming soon!

Raindance is coming!

We've booked our tickets, found places to stay, and the Auteur team is headed across the pond!  More details to follow. 

Busy week!

Busy couple of weeks for The Auteur. Los Angeles screening was a blast, and Outfest kept us busy. Saturday's screening sold out and the crowd was wonderful - great Q&A too!

Today, a very fun review came out from Variety - check it out!

Also, get your tickets for the PiFan festival - they are going fast!

Lastly, some really big news coming from The Auteur soon, so keep in touch! Become a fan over on Facebook to stay in the loop.

Outfest!

Well, a week into Outfest and it's going well. The Auteur doesn't screen until this weekend, so the team has been enjoying seeing the other films at the festival and meeting fellow filmmakers. Outfest has a great energy around it, and these people sure know how to party. It's been interesting to see here! picking up films as well - a couple of more serious acquisitions for the network which is pretty cool to see. The Auteur is almost sold out for this weekend, and we're starting to get some press bites. We'll see how the week rounds out!

Indie Films Direct

Really great article/review/interview over on Independent Films Direct came out yesterday.

"It will go down as one of the finest indie films of 2008. It's crude and bombastic. It's sublime and tender. In Westby's capable hands, the film shoots not one single blank."

Nicer words have not been spoken about the film! We're honored to have such a glowing review from an group we so respect. Check it out!

Los Angeles Screening!

We're so pleased to be screening at this years Outfest in Los Angeles. As our premiere Los Angeles screening, we think the festival is the perfect showcase - fun, inclusive, and Hollywood in the summer!

Get over to the box office (open now!) and get your tickets!

The Auteur at Outfest
Date: Saturday, July 19, 2008
Time: 4:30pm - 6:30pm
Fairfax: Regency Fairfax Theatre
7907 Beverly Blvd. @ Fairfax, Los Angeles, CA

Which films do you think are awesome?

Check out this new video from the FHTA team, nice inclusion of some Auteur clips - thanks guys! Happy to still be rocking our way through the FHTA process, we'll see where it leads. Thank you all for the recent surge of success, we've really seen and heard it around the net. Keep those friend requests and subscriptions coming.

enough is enough?

So, the IFC youtube video is doing pretty well, at least by most standards, right? As of the moment, the interview is hitting about 1.8 million views, which is, oh, I don't know about 1.7 million more than expected. The clip is currently accounting for %89 percent of IFC's channel views across Youtube, and it's up against peeps like Wes Anderson and Javier Bardem... But anyway, that's not the point. The point is, 1.8 isn't enough, meaning once you've had 1.8, 2 million feels so close. So, let's do it, huh? Let's hit that 2 million mark, just to give fodder for another blog post down the road calling you all out to help it hit 5 million. Thanks for watching y'all, seriously.

alls not quiet

Sorry for being quiet lately, but The Auteur team needed a moment out of the internet eye after Tribeca. We've got some major news a' brewin', but can't really spill it yet. Tribeca was an incredible premiering ground and some major press, new festivals, and new ways to get the movie out there have come out of it.

Check out this really positive review from a fellow film geek over on his neat-o blog Filmicability. Thanks for the kind words Dean, right back at you.

So, while we percolate it all into bite size pieces for you (not that percolators really make bite-sized pieces so to speak), make sure you check out our channel on YouTube (youtube.com/theauteurmovie) and get your butt over to From Here To Awesome and show your love for The Auteur.

RealTV Films coverage

Here is the show feed from RealTV Films channel over on Blip.tv.

Head over to RealTV on Blip to see Katie, Viva, Leslie and the rest of the gang interviewed.

*we claim no responsibility nor comprehension really of the music choices...

Tribeca Film Festival 2008: The Auteur

Pretty cool IFC interview for Tribeca. Check it out and share if you like it!

Fox Business hour

So, the Fox Business hour clip (see below) has vanished from the internet. We're not saying anything, but seems like The Auteur is a little too steamy for someone over there in Fox land. We're going to dig it up somewhere and get it posted, because we think it's hilarious.

In other news, we updated the press on the website, so go check out the tasty coverage. http://theauteurmovie.com

Last screening is tonight at Tribeca, been quite a ride so far, much more to come.

Check out Katherine Flynn, James and Melik on Fox Business hour-

John Breen's Tribeca photos

John Breen (Frank E. Normo) has been kind enough to share some of his personal photos from the first weekend at Tribeca. Check them out on Facebook.

The Auteur premiered last night to a packed house at the Tribeca Film Festival. The screening was incredible and the crowd energetic and borderline riotous at moments! After the Q&A the cast, crew, and festival peeps partied at the premier party hosted by Corio in SoHo. Check out the photos on our flikr stream or on facebook.

Adult Video News

Wow, it's been an incredible 48 hours for the film. Press has picked The Auteur up as one to watch this year at the fest and it's a bit overwhelming. James and Melik are interviewing right and left (check out this Movie City News interview). In the strangest paradox, NPR and AVN have covered the movie in the same day. To prevent any confusion- that's National Public Radio and Adult Video News, ironically, both the "industry standard".

While NPR is incredibly inspiring and all that, a coverstory on AVN.com is something to write home about. The best part though has to be that when we all heard about it, James couldn't access the website from the public wifi he was on. Smutty smut smut. Well, at any rate, check it out here: http://avn.com/performer/articles/29783.html

In other news, look for our leading starlet, Katherine Flynn this Friday on Access Hollywood, details to follow.

From Here To Awesome!

It is long due that we plug our participation in the brilliant new online film festival, FROM HERE TO AWESOME. Put together by fellow indie filmmakers, the festival promises to push the self-distribution model into the mainstream. It is also built on the idea that the "cream rises to the top" so get your butt over there and check out The Auteur submission video. To help you in this mission, check out the video embedded below (watch for the ever-sexy Malice giving her "how-to" at the end...)

NY SUN

Just found out the NY Sun included The Auteur as one of their five "opening week All-Star" movies. A major compliment, and we're in good company too, with Guy Maddin, Trucker, Elite Squad, and The Caller. Pretty darn cool. Check it out yourself and spread the word!

See the article HERE.

Auteur blog is up!

With a week away from the world premiere of The Auteur at the Tribeca Film Festival in New York, we thought we'd better finally get this blog up. With so much involved in getting this movie out there, we have been sadly remiss in our bloggingness. Hope you can join us for the week of the festival, and as we continue to roam with The Auteur.