Movies Til Dawn

Who knew? "City Island" not only has made it Poland, Brazil and Russia without so much as a "thank you" from the international distributors to the filmmakers, but now we seem to be something of hit in Tel Aviv. Thanks to a lovely man who found me on Facebook, I've been made aware of our films positive reception--and "O" as I'll call him also enjoyed it along with his wife. This thrills me . For the movie to work outside of the Eastern Tri-State New York kind of nabe is terribly exciting. Initially, O wrote me to tell me that: My spouse and I have just seen City Island today here in Israel and it was absolutely brilliant!!! The crowed was laughing hysterically from the very beginning in a way seldom seen in none-Hangover type movies and people were discussing it all the way to the parking lot. The endless fightings around the dinner table, the secret smoking and the BBW (!?) parts were hilarious but I personally find Andy Garcia's audition sce...

First, thanks for the many lucid and adventurous ideas about selling our movie. Resolved: the internet has become the omnipotent source for information--these days the newspaper ads seem to exist largely to direct you to a theater where you can see a movie you've heard about on the web--and we'll be regularly Facebooking and Tweeting. As the release nears, I'll be posting production stills galore which will also hopefully drive up people's interest in the movie. Over the past couple of weeks I've been dropping my son off at soccer practice at a park adjacent to the Santa Monica Airport--an airfield devoted entirely to flight schools and private aircraft. The sight of all of those cool little Cessnas and Piper Cubs got me thinking again about aviation (many MANY years ago I took a lesson or two) as well as wondering about the history of Santa Monica Airport. It turns out that it was formerly known as "Clover Field"--and that name still exists as a nearby st...

A few nights ago, "City Island" was screened at a mall in Paramus, New Jersey, in what is known as an OTX screening. Basically, an audience is recruited from a shopping mall and asked if they'd like to see a free movie that hasn't been released yet. The victims are asked in return to fill out a questionnaire which asks things like "which parts did you enjoy most", "which did you enjoy least", "tell us your favorite scene" , "tell us your least favorite scene" etc. (The questions aren't these exact ones and may be just slightly more sophisticated...but only slightly). There is also a "focus group" afterward, wherein the moderator asks participants what other movies they would liken this one too and--the hundred thousand dollar question--would you recommend this movie to your friends and/or family? The purpose is to give the company releasing the film information on the the films strong points and weak points. Presum...

Yet another country that's not America seems to be showing "City island"--this time it's Brazil! So you see, upside is down, wrong is right and, as far as I can tell, the best way to get your film shown around the world in every possible exotic locale is to make sure that it takes place in a small, working-class neighborhood in the United States and has nothing whatsoever to do with anything that could possibly be construed as having "global" appeal. Unless, of course, all families really are the same and thus the movie translates beyond borders. Below, dig the poster that's being used--and can anyone accurately translate the title? (I read it as "Confusion Is Family" and the tag line as: "His Cousins Genetics Explains It". Could this possibly be correct? If so, heavy...) The ad was sent to me a couple of days ago for "approval"--as if I was somehow going to brave the multiple language and time-zone issues and try to re-di...