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Seattle Film and Music Blog

Children’s Film Festival gives kids a window to the world

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childrensfilmfestivalSeattle Times:
“Children learn about the world through these films,” says Liz Shepherd, director of Northwest Film Forum’s festival for young people. “Kids can see things they never get to see otherwise, and be inspired by that.” The 4th Annual Children’s Film Festival Seattle will showcase 86 films (features and shorts) from 25 countries, including a documentary on a beloved character from children’s television; a selection of animated shorts from a legendary husband-and-wife team; and a story from China about the hard road to learning selflessness.

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Women in Film Seattle Feature Focus: Beth Harrington

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bethharringtonWomen in Film Seattle:
Beth Harrington was born in Boston and transplanted to the Pacific Northwest and you’ll find out why when you read about her. Her work often focuses on exploring American history, music, and culture. She’s been active in various film communities, most recently having served on the board of Film Action Oregon as well as the Oregon Media Production Association. Beth is a past President of Women in Film/New England and a former Vice President of Women in Film/Seattle. Beth Harrington’s independent production Welcome to the Club – The Women of Rockabilly, a music documentary about the pioneering women of rock & roll, has been broadcast on public television and screened at festivals throughout the U.S. and abroad, and was honored with a 2003 Grammy nomination. Currently Beth is in the final production stage of a feature-length music documentary about the Original Carter Family called The Winding Stream.

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IFC Interview: Lynn Shelton on “Humpday”

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IFC:
If there were a prize for most outrageous premise at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival, Lynn Shelton’s “Humpday” would be ahead of the pack. The film follows Ben (“The Puffy Chair”‘s Mark Duplass) and Andrew (“The Blair Witch Project”‘s Joshua Leonard), two hetero friends who on a drunken night out come up with a plan to shoot themselves having sex with each other as a submission to their local alt-weekly’s annual amateur porn festival — it’s art, you see, and neither is willing to be the one to back down when sobered up the next day. IFC’s Alison Willmore sat down with the Seattle-based Shelton to talk about homemade porn and best bromance.

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Get To Know: Pearl Dragon

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Seattle Subsonic:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LHTAHnvjjGk&eurl]
Check out this video profile on one of Seattle’s musical gems, Laprell Nelson, aka Pearl Dragon. The video was produced by Gabriel Miller and Patricia O’Brien of the Seattle Channel (21), and debuted this past Thursday night on Art Zone in Studio with Nancy Guppy. Born in Eugene and raised in Skyway, his Pacific NW roots give credence to the local swell in Seattle’s music scene, hip-hop or otherwise. He has another project in the works with Phil Nelson of Kay Kay And His Weathered Underground, and you can even find a cover of the Replacements’ touching, acoustic guitar-driven “Skyway” on his MySpace.

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New Winter Film Series in West Seattle

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West Seattle Movies on the Wall:
West Seattle Blog and Hotwire Coffee are sponsoring the first Winter Movies on the Wall series set for March 4th, 11th, and 18th. Unlike its summer counterpart, Winter Movies on the Wall will be screened indoors in the West Seattle Christian Church activity center. Nominations for all-ages friendly movies are now accepted on the film series’ official site above.

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John Spalding’s LoveLand album to be released in February

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Three Imaginary Girls:
LoveLand, the now-posthumous project of local music John Spalding has, is set to release its album The Beautiful Truth this next month. The project is a benefit to raise money for Spalding’s widow (which is why there were many benefit shows throught January) and the album is officially being released on Tuesday, February 17 on Tigre Blanco Records.

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“Parents” to Premiere at Sedona Film Festival

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daymyparentsProst Amerika Film:
After a successful “sneak preview” at the Northwest Film Forum with more than 200 guests, the Seattle film The Day My Parents Became Cool is set to debut at the Sedona film festival. The festival runs from February 24th to March 1st.
Parents, as it is affectionately known by those who worked on it, is set in a bizarre world where all of the adults on the entire planet have literally “become cool” and desire to look and act just like their teenage kids, which provides both comedy and horror.

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Sundance shines its light on Seattle films

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worldsgreatestdadSeattle Times:
This year’s Sundance Film Festival marked a watershed for Seattle’s film industry, with three movies made in the city premiering at the nation’s largest venue for independent film. The festival ended this week, prompting the question: What happens next? For Seattle filmmaker Lynn Shelton, it’s basking in the warmth of a festival success beyond her wildest imagination. The movie she wrote and directed, “Humpday,” premiered in the U.S. Dramatic Competition and became one of the most talked-about movies at the festival. On Monday, David Russo’s “The Immaculate Conception of Little Dizzle” got a boisterous ovation at its premiere in the Library Theater, the exact place Russo always dreamed his movie would play. “I was very excited to find that the movie functioned very much the way I’d envisioned,” Russo said. Comedian Bobcat Goldthwait also shot his latest film, “World’s Greatest Dad,” in Seattle. “I prefer to make movies so they don’t look like they’re from Los Angeles,” Goldthwait said after the Tuesday premiere, adding that he liked the idea of shooting the dark comedy under overcast skies but was thwarted by unusually sunny June weather.

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Berlin Loves Michael Vermillion

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mike-vSound Magazine:
As a country-tinged singer-songwriter in Seattle, Michael Vermillion is one of many guitar-slingers vying for the western shirt crowd. In Germany, though, he is something more; the charming and disarming American songwriter who sets der Radiozuhoerer hearts a twitter. At least it’s easy to imagine that after listening to a recent interview that Vermillion scored on Germany’s Radio 1 in advance of a show that he recently played at some joint filled with beer-swilling Germans who surely were weeping in their steins by the end of the night.

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Used CDs: Indie Retail’s Secret Weapon

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Seattle Weekly:
The little guys are able to cling to a life raft not accessible to the corporate giants: used CDs. And because a combination of factors has recently led to a spike in the number of people looking to sell off their CD collections, the used market has been a glimmer of sunshine because of the higher markup on previously owned CDs as opposed to new ones. While new CDs may be getting pushed out of the market, owners of all three local indies say there is definitely still a market for the compact disc-so long as it’s a used one priced at around $6.99. Though Mike Batt, co-owner of Silver Platters, says the store is relatively new to the used-CD business, that business has grown: Used CDs now make up about 18 percent of Silver Platters’ revenue, tremendous growth for something in its infancy. Similarly, Jason Hughes of Sonic Boom says used-CD sales at his stores have gone up and now account for about 10 to 15 percent of their revenue, whereas it used to account for about 8 percent.

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