Huffington Post
The Huffington Post recently ran an article listing the top three neglected indie films, and David Russo’s The Immaculate Conception of Little Dizzle got the first mention. The article cites a quote from Russo: “”The Immaculate Conception of Little Dizzle was extremely challenging to get made due to the perceived toilet humor in the script. But in the words of a janitor in the film, when asked about his janitorial-themed artwork, he replies, ‘Yes, there’s toilet humor, but there’s also toilet sadness, toilet triumph, toilet a lot of things. That’s because I’m a janitor and this is my world.’ I can’t defend my movie any better than that.” Congrats, Dizzle team. To read the full article, click the link.
CITY ARTS MAGAZINE PROFILES DAVID RUSSO
City Arts
Seattle Director David Russo’s bizarre debut, The Immaculate Conception of Little Dizzle, won a standing ovation at Sundance, and in Aprilbecame one of twelve movies available to forty million viewers via Tribeca Films, the new indie enterprise run by ex-Sundance director Geoffrey Gilmore. “Long after I’d accepted the death of the film,” says Russo, “it somehow resurrected and seems to keep on going.” Now Russo is directing the 3-D IMAX film Mind Blast, about the Blue Man Group invading a human brain to make it work better. “I wrote it after six months of researching modern neuroscience, numerous workshops with the Blue Man Group, and with a bit of assistance from San Francisco playwright Peter Sinn Nachtrieb.” Russo is a former Seattle janitor, like the heroes of Dizzle, and thinks success after failure is best. “That’s a particularly cool path because it’s exactly what great art is all about — continuing to survive and inspire over the long haul. Dizzle got what it got without any media hype; it was all word of mouth. People telling people. I’m most proud of that.” Read the full article at the above link.
MORE AWARDS FOR RUSSO’S LITTLE DIZZLE
Downtown Film Festival- LA
The Immaculate Conception of Little Dizzle screened at the Downtown LA Film Festival last week and garnered another award, this time as Best Feature at the festival. The Downtown Film Festival — Los Angeles is a nonprofit arts organization dedicated to showcasing cinema in the historic core of the Film Capital of the World. At the advent of cinema in U.S. in the early 20th century, downtown L.A. was the epicenter of the film industry. Downtown L.A. is also now the nexus of the city’s creative community of artists and filmmakers. Congratulations to Dizzle for yet another award as the film continues to gain national recognition!
LITTLE DIZZLE TO SCREEN IN LOS ANGELES
The Immaculate Conception of Little Dizzle
After winning raves in the Pacific Northwest, on the East Coast, in the Midwest, and in Canada, “The Immaculate Conception of Little Dizzle” will finally premiere in Los Angeles. Many of the principal actors will attend including Tania Raymonde. Dizzle will screen at the Downtown Film Festival next Wed, Aug. 19, at 7:30 pm
DAVID RUSSO WINS BEST DIRECTOR AT FANTASIA FILM FESTIVAL
Fantasia Festival
The highly successful 13th edition of the Fantasia Film Festival is drawing to a close today after a 3 week movie marathon. With a diverse line-up of high selection standards, the festival attracted more than 90 000 fans this year and saw 40% of its 195 screenings (most of these shown in Concordia Hall Theatre – 700 seats) completely sold out. With such eminent titles that had previously premiered at Cannes such as THIRST from South Korea’s Park Chan-wook, LASCARS from the French creative team of Emmanuel Klotz and Albert Pereira Lazaro and of course Quentin Tarantino’s INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS, and wonderful discoveries such as SANS DESSEIN from Quebec’s own Deadcat Films, Yang Ik-june’s BREATHLESS and Nicolas Alberny and Jean Mach’s 8th WONDERLAND, Fantasia has one again demonstrated the energy and variety of genre cinema. The Festival Awarded Seattle Filmmaker David Russo with the prize for best director.
LITTLE DIZZLE PREMIERS IN NYC
92Y
Seattle indie,The Immaculate Conception of Little Dizzle, premiers in NYC tomorrow night! Tell all your friends and relatives in the Big Apple. Dizzle recently sold out a 700-seat theater at the Montreal World Film Festival garnering reviews like “an independent triumph” and “it very well may be this generation’s REPO MAN” and “one of the most refreshing things you’re going to see anywhere this year”.
LITTLE DIZZLE TO SCREEN IN MONTREAL, LA, AND NEW YORK
Northwest Film Forum
Spread the word to your friends and relations in the Montreal, Los Angeles and New York City areas! Local indie, The Immaculate Conception of Little Dizzle, is set to screen nationally (and Montreal-ly) this month. For showing times, check out the above link.
DAVID RUSSO TO DIRECT BLUE MAN GROUP MOVIE
IMDB
Blue Man Group and producer Charlotte Huggins have set Seattle director David Russo (The Immaculate Conception of Little Dizzle) to take the helm of the yet-to-be-titled Blue Man Group movie. According to Variety, the Imax 3-D feature will be scripted by Lisa Robinson. The film will be the first to star the Blue Man Group, which has been seen onstage in hundreds of cities around the world and in commercials. The original Blue Men — Chris Wink, Phil Stanton and Matt Goldman — will star. Russo said the comedy will be about “the Blue Men entering the brain of a socially and creatively congested person and observing his neural patterns and his habitual brain functions and memory and altering it in a way that helps him bring his inside life outside.” Visual development on the pic is under way and will continue for several months. Production is scheduled for the first quarter of 2010.
Trailers for Seattle Films at Sundance and SXSW
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xscm3Wp0M-s]
The Immaculate Conception of Little Dizzle, dir. David Russo.
[dailymotion id=k6w1IRHeLs3o4EVmEE]
Humpday, dir. Lynn Shelton.
Sundance shines its light on Seattle films
Seattle 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.
