Cinefile

Fly Away on USB-delivered Movies

Look out airports of the world, you've got a new wave of movie technology heading your way. The portable entertainment distributor, Flix on Stix, has recently showed off their brand new rental kiosk system at the Airport Revenue News Conference's "Game Changers" exhibition. So, if you're on the go and you just have to satisfy your craving for a taut French thriller or get in some comfort food with a Hollywood romantic comedy while waiting for your six-hour delayed layover to Denver, Flix on Stix is your answer.

As if you couldn't guess, the kiosk's distribute USB flash drives to consumers, allowing them to watch titles in a portable and non-internet dependent kind of way. The flash drives can be plugged into computers, laptops and other media devices for instant viewing. It's part of the growing flash drive movie delivery trend that started to emerge a few years ago. It's only now that we're seeing some practical applications for the technology.

Though interest was skyrocketed after the showing of the kiosks, no material plans were made for placement of the machines. Not yet. For more on Flix on Stix, check out their website, here.

Made in Mahattan

The folks over at the Mahattan Film Festival are thinking outside of the box. The festival has always been about getting emergent filmmakers the funding and resources they need to get their works made. This year, the festival takes that initiative a step further with the Filmmaker Revenue Sharing Program.

The program is designed to allow filmmakers to promote and screen their films at the festival, while collecting 50% of the revenue earned from selling festival and screening tickets. Participation is open to those with films in competition and also those looking fund their own projects. The MFF has prompted filmmakers to go out and sell tickets on the internet, using social media as a major source of advertisement.

It's certainly not a perfect system, but it does speak to the mutual benefit of the promoter and the filmmaker. The more exposure and sales that the festival gets, the more exposure and sales the filmmaker gets. If anyone out there is interested in learning more, and possibly participating, head on over to manhattanfilmfestival.org. The festival runs from July 22nd - 31st.

Spaghetti and Politics

When you think of spaghetti western movies, you don't usually think of political trends that reflected on the times. You think about grizzly gun slingers, surf guitar soundtracks and tense build-ups to bloody shootouts. Well, author Austin Fisher says there is more to these iconic genre movies of the '60s and '70s - a lot more.

In his book, Radical Frontiers in the Spaghetti Western: Politics and Violence in Italian Cinema, Fisher explores the deep-seated themes that Italian westerns were saying about the turbulent times in which they were made. Dissecting the movies of filmmakers such as Damiano Damiani and Sergio Corbucci, Fisher shows how far-left ideals of the time were injected into the films in the face of the miltant political climate of the time. An extremely interesting read for any fan of classic spaghetti westerns, Radical Frontiers hits shelves and digital shelves on May 24th.

SXSW Under the Hood

So, this year's South By Southwest Festival has wrapped and it certainly has been another year to remember. Many bands, companies and technologies made their appearance for the time, and of course, so did quite a few movies. But what exactly are the origins and ideals of the festival? Where did it come from? Who organized it? Why is it so successful? Underwire reports that filmmaker and journalist, Alan Berg, screened his documentary on the festival, Outside Industry: The Story of SXSW during the festival. 

The documentary details the rise of SXSW from it's snotty beginings in 1987 as an alternative to overly exclusive music festivals in New York to it's ever-transforming position as a multimedia sensation. Berg covers the various ups and downs that the organizers have experienced over the years, including the difficult decisions of how to sustain the festival without losing it's original ideals. The film suffered some legal drama over the years because of Berg's need to have the artists represented sign off for free and not really know where (or if) the doc would be distributed.

As of yet there are no plans to distribute Outside Industry in any theatrical or home video format.

Taking the Service Entrance

French writer/director Phillipe Le Guay, whose credits include Nightshift and The Cost of Living, has recieved U.S. distribution of his latest film, Service Entrance. Indiewire reports that Strand Releasing will distribute the filmmakers movie in America in late 2011. The move came after the film made it's North American debut at Rendezvous with French Cinema in New York.

Service Entrance is set in Paris during the early '60s. It centers around a burgeois couple - a bored husband and socialite wife - as their lives are rattled when two Spanish maids come to work for them. The film had already garnered a great deal of interest, even before it's screening at the Berlinale.