STRANGERS WITH CANDY - Teaser Trailer - Exclusive First Look [YouTube]

Art Flicks Sparkle on Cell Phones

Art-house flicks for cell phones and iPods might teach Hollywood a thing or two about mobile entertainment if the movie bigwigs would just pay attention to the tiny screen, experts say.
This week at the San Francisco International Film Festival, 20 movies made for mobile devices with 2-inch-by-3-inch screens will be shown as part of the festival's Pocket Cinema program.
Some of the films tackle very big issues, like Katherin McInnis' spookspeak, a four-minute film parodying the National Security Agency's Echelon electronic eavesdropping program.
McInnis' movie blends text and audio of about 300 watchwords that, when used in e-mails or cell-phone conversations, allegedly trigger further scrutiny by the NSA's spy systems.
"The idea behind spookspeak is to warn people that their conversations might not be private," said McInnis, a San Francisco-based visual artist and documentary filmmaker. "I find it really disturbing that I have to worry about what I say when e-mailing friends in Iran."
Also on the program is Suprematist Kapital (.mov), by San Francisco filmmakers James T. Hong and Yin-Ju Chen, which tells a five-minute history of Western capitalism.
"It was inspired by years of paying off student loans," said Hong.
The Pocket Cinema program highlights the art world's contribution to mobile video, which the entertainment industry hopes will be the next big content boom. Fox, for example, is releasing mobisodes of the TV show Prison Break, while Touchstone Television Productions is producing a version of Lost just for mobiles.
"Think internet video circa 1999 with networks optimized for video and (with) a built-in payment engine," said Seamus McAteer, senior analyst with MMetrics, a San Francisco market research firm. "The business will mature much faster than internet video."
The entertainment industry could learn a lot about mobile film from the art world, said Joel Bachar, founder of Microcinema International, which has been distributing independent and experimental films for more than a decade.
Bachar said videos that use less movement and fewer edits are easier to download and watch on a mobile. Also, mobile art videos that combine the use of sound and images to convey a nontraditional type of narrative are a lot easier to consume on a cell phone than a TV series.
"Simply repurposing television shows for the cell phone," he said, "is not a good use of the medium."
Already, some 2 million Americans watch video once a month on their mobile devices, according to MMetrics.
This is likely to increase as network operators like Verizon Communications offer more programming. The company recently cut a content deal with internet video provider Atom Entertainment to offer its content to subscribers.

TRIBECA FILM FESTIVAL: "Lunacy"

CINEMATICAL.COM: If it was possible for collaboration between Luis Buñuel and Terry Gilliam the result might look something like Lunacy, the latest oddity from Czech filmmaker Jan Svankmajer. This bizarre "horror film," as the director simply labels it, is a vile and depraved examination of mental illness and the methods used to treat it. Wickedly funny and astonishingly conceived, the film is a nonstop cavalcade of shocks, surprises and enchantments. I loved every minute of it, and I can honestly state that I won't see a more brilliant picture at Tribeca this year.

Based loosely on writings by Edgar Allen Poe and inspired by the Marquis de Sade, Lunacy exists in a kind of overlap of present and past, seemingly set in 19th century France but anachronistically punctuated with modern inclusions like automobiles and bluejeans. It tells the ironically tragic story of Jean Berlot (Pavel Liska), a troubled young man on his way home from his mother's funeral. During his stopover at a country inn, he meets The Marquis (Jan Triska), a wealthy nobleman who invites Jan to come and stay with him on his estate. There, Jan witnesses a blasphemous ritual and an eccentric form of therapy, which The Marquis imagines may be helpful in the healing of Jan's own psychological ailments.

The men travel to a nearby asylum run by Dr. Murlloppe (Jaroslav Dusek), who, apparently mad, himself, has a penchant for wearing fake mustaches. The hospital, which encourages its patients' insanity and allows them to run about freely, is as ludicrous as the people residing there. Feathers fill the air, whether from the numerous chickens wandering around or from the pillowcases being torn apart by the lunatics. The atmosphere of the place is dreamlike, both fantastic and nightmarish.

Jan decides to commit himself after falling in love with a nurse named Charlotte (Anna Geislerová), who confesses to him that things at the asylum are not what they seem. He plans to rescue the woman and escape with her, but eventually his own illness impedes his ability to succeed in his goal.

Svankmajer, a student of surrealism and puppetry, sprinkles Lunacy with stop-motion interludes involving meats and brains and eyeballs. Inserted between the film's scenes, the shorts make the story somewhat episodic, though not negatively, and give something additional to look forward to, for those of us who are delighted by tongues animated to appear as though they are copulating or crawling back inside the mouths of horse skulls.

Lunacy is a marvel of imagination and assemblage that must be seen to be completely understood. It is a curiosity, a debauchery, a tribute and a satire. It is not a work of art because Svankmajer, in his introduction of the film, says it is not. So, instead let me call it an ingenious, penetrating entertainment, one that will first stun your senses and then will play on and on inside your numb, paralyzed brain.

Akeelah And The Bee

Akeelah Anderson (Keke Palmer) is a precocious eleven-year-old girl from south Los Angeles with a gift for words. Despite the objections of her mother, Tanya (Angela Bassett), she enters various spelling contests — tutored by Dr. Larabee (Laurence Fishburne), her principal and proud neighborhood residents. Her aptitude earns her an opportunity to compete for a spot in the Scripps National Spelling Bee.

QuickTime Trailers.

RV

An overworked executive, Bob Munro (Robin Williams), persuades his wife, Jamie (Cheryl Hines), and children to give up their Hawaiian vacation for some “family bonding” on a cross-country RV trip. But it’s all a ruse. Bob has other, more career-oriented reasons on his mind than spending quality time with his family in the Rocky Mountains. Through a series of misadventures Bob inadvertently learns the true meaning of family.

QuickTime Trailers.