Araya, Flyway, OpenIndie, PTTP and other SFTF

Some updates on current cool stuff:

I had a chance to catch Araya this week, and have to say - it's beautiful. Go see it now at IFC Theatres while you can see it on film. It's a great restoration of a lost film by the folks at Milestone (who re-released Killer of Sheep) and it's a beautiful print and a beautiful doc story. The NYTimes review suggested it was a snooze, and that couldn't be further from the truth - I was fascinated the entire time. Highly recommended.

My friend Signe Baumane emailed me to let me know her great film Teat Beat of Sex is available on DVD. In typical Signe fashion, it's a hilarious, over the top animated film with 15 short "lectures" on sex. Order now.

I'm speaking soon at the Flyway Film Festival. Their schedule is up online now, and I'm impressed with the line-up as well as with the great tweets by their director Rick Vaicius @flywayfilmfest. I'm also speaking soon at Power to the Pixel's Cross-Media forum at the London Film Festival. My speech promises to be a snooze, but the other speakers are great.

There's been a lot of press about this lately, but kudos to Arin Crumley and team for launching the campaign for OpenIndie. It's a great idea for indie film community building that should be supported. It's just a beginning, but an important one. Check it out.

Last, a non film related plug - The absolute best part of my summer has been visiting Governor's Island as often as possible. This is the last weekend of the season, so if you haven't been go there now.

Just a few cool things on my mind today.