Thank Richard Armstrong and Henry Miller for this short query.

I have been involved professionally in the dramatic arts for twenty 
five years since receiving my Bachelor of Fine Arts (Majoring in 
Theatre Performance) from York University in Toronto.    I began my 
apprenticeship to the film industry in 1986.  I have done every 
conceivable job from production assistant to camera operator to props 
buyer to wardrobe to make-up to driving, directing and producing.  I 
edit and arrange music and I write songs.    Perhaps I'm a 
jack-of-all-trades, but I consider myself an apprentice.  It is clear 
to me that the rapid pace of technological change is opening up 
exciting possibilities for the motion picture industry.  One of the 
most challenging facts is the rise of interactive motion pictures or 
gaming.

I'm particularly interested in the relationship between power and the 
motion picture industry.   Is Jerry Mander's book, 'Four Arguments For 
The Elimination of Television", just a whacked out rant or is there 
genuine substance to it?  What about Noam Chomsky's discussions about 
Manufacturing Consent?   Ideas and observations like these create 
within me an ambivalence about what I do as an artist.   I resist the 
temptations  of commercialism, but I need to take care of my family.  I 
know this is a very common experience for people who are serious about 
their art.

I have many questions:
Where does the money come from?  Who benefits from world wide 
domination of large and small motion picture screens?   What are the 
industrial orthodoxes for selecting, producing and distributing and are 
they sacrosanct?   How do these orthodoxes help or hinder the 
development of intelligent democratic processes?  How do these 
orthodoxes perpetrate cultural genocide?   Are we so sure we know the 
right way to make movies when this art form is so dynamic and new?   
Are there non hierarchical  methods people in small communities can 
employ effectively to express their stories in motion pictures?

If you know of writers who are passionate about these questions, please 
let me know.
I must confess my lay status as an academic.  I'm a journeyman.  I'm 
open.  Help me.

Thanks for your time.

Kimberly Smith
Creative Action Digital Video
http://www.creativeaction.ca


On 13 Sep, 2006, at 5:30 AM, Henry Miller wrote:

> Don't want to be the first one!
>
>
> On 9/12/06, Richard Armstrong <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>>
>> Does anybody remember this email? I am truly puzzled as to why people 
>> don't
>> respond to this opprtunity to publicize their practice. Is it a 
>> question of
>> logistics or ideology? Go on, enlighten me... (I should perhaps add 
>> that the
>> British writer Jonathan Romney seems very happy for me to render a 
>> profile
>> of his work at Metro).
>>
>> Earlier this summer, Saul Symonds, the editor of the film website 
>> Light
>> Sleeper, mooted a new section on the site consisting of profiles of 
>> film
>> writers
>> in which individuals are invited to offer for publication a short  
>> bio with
>> a
>> little background to their practice, themes and preoccupations.
>>
>> I warmed to the idea since I am in the process of amassing a series of
>> similar profiles of writers with a view to setting up a website 
>> devoted to
>> film
>> literature. (These profiles are currently published in the Australian 
>> film
>> magazine Metro and so far include Bazin, Adrian Martin, C.A Lejeune  
>> and
>> Pauline
>> Kael amongst others).
>>
>> Saul's idea has not so far elicited the interest he had hoped for - 
>> it  is
>> summer after all, not everyone is around, in the mood etc. Perhaps 
>> now would
>>  be
>> a more apposite moment to encourage people to contribute to an  
>> interesting
>> site which already carries pieces by people such as  Jean-Pierre 
>> Coursodon,
>> Raymond Durgnat and Ronald Bergan. (So no inconsiderable  venture!). 
>> As a
>> film
>> writer, I am endlessly fascinated by the diversity of  film-literary
>> practices
>> out there. As a film writer, you have an opportunity  to come up with 
>> a more
>> considered profile of your practice than the  usual byline allows.
>>
>> Saul can be found at  [log in to unmask]
>> (mailto:[log in to unmask]) .
>>
>> Richard
>> * * Film-Philosophy Email Discussion Salon. After hitting 'reply' 
>> please
>> always delete the text of the message you are replying to. To leave, 
>> send
>> the message: leave film-philosophy to: [log in to unmask] For 
>> help
>> email: [log in to unmask], not the
>> salon. **
>
> *
> *
> Film-Philosophy Email Discussion Salon.
> After hitting 'reply' please always delete the text of the message you 
> are replying to.
> To leave, send the message: leave film-philosophy to: 
> [log in to unmask]
> For help email: [log in to unmask], not the salon.
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>

*
*
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