Every time I write these days I apologize for not writing.   But there are a couple of reasons.  I expended a lot of x’s and o’s on my film opinions in the past decade and had my say on many issues.  I’ve been letting the field go fallow for a bit, letting the compost build up some, laying down some new soil to see what hybrids might take root.  One thing I’ll say is that in the past five years there have been three films which have won Best Picture Oscars and given me hope.  They are BABEL, CRASH and now HURT LOCKER.  I saw it last night and it goes on my 50 film list, now up to 52 with the addition of Harutyun Khachatryan’s BORDER.  I still think that Hollywood is a colonizing force rather than a liberating one.  But it used to be years between films of value.  I hope a sea change is coming, some kind of realignment, a new wave of real artists able to go beyond pop culture and political correctness.  We’ll see.

My other reason is below.  We’ve been very productive around here.  We finished up the 9 @ Night Film Series a couple of years back and opened it at Harvard and in San Francisco.  We finished PRESQUE ISLE, produced by the San Francisco School of Digital Filmmaking and this year SAND featuring Irit Levi and William Martin, the first of the new features from Citizen Cinema.  I was in Ukraine twice in 2009 making a feature documentary about Trotsky.  Citizen Cinema pictures COLLAPSE, SISTERS and MAELSTROM were produced and are in the edit room.  We’re looking for some new editorial interns by the way.  We’ve got a lot of good new work for people interested in learning the Direct Action style of editing.

And now IMBUED.  Working with Stacy Keach was an inspiration!  You’ve got to see his work along with that of Liz Sklar, Michelle Allen and Nancy Bower!  It’s a departure from the 9 @ Night era but a good amalgam of new and old and a film which explores the Adam and Eve in all of us.  Please try to see this film.  It is strong, full of heart and contains mysteries worth exploring.  And I assure you it’s worth the price of admission just to see Liz Sklar dance.  And Mickey Freeman’s cinematography.  Terrific.  Please let people know about this Kansas City Opening to be followed by an appearance at the Minneapolis/St. Paul Film Festival on April 29, and the Golden Apricot Festival in Armenia in July.  As always we’re doing this on our own hook with only people power and personal conviction to sustain us.  You can help us by forwarding this message to your lists.  And if you’re in the area, see you at the Kansas City Film Festival and the Screenland Crown Center.

Onward!