Break-Out Box

Swem and  Film Studies has teamed up to bring some fine international films to campus. These are first-run films, not likely to ever make it to theaters here in Williamsburg. These films will be screened at the Kimball (in the screening room). Admission will be $1 dollar with W&M ID. More info is available here.  Also, don’t forget to keep tabs on Film Studies events here.

Our friend Paul Harrill is at the South By Southwest Film Festivals and Conferences in Austin blogging about his impressions and the films he’s screened. Check it out on his blog, Self-Reliant Filmmaking.

I just downloaded the Jaman video player. Like iTunes, it’s part library, part access point, part community…but in the case of Jaman, devoted solely to world cinema and independent filmmakers. It’s in beta mode, and uses some interesting peer to peer type technology called “Cascade” for distribution. I was able to watch some interesting cuban films, which, for me, alone was well worth it.

Some quotes they have on their web site:

Why should you install the Jaman Player? The press is saying… “You can contribute reviews and link videos to discussion groups. Moreover, you can read or supply comments on a film that are synchronized to the scenes as you watch.”
-Edward C. Baig, USA Today “It’s a cool product, and once you see the Jaman viewer/browser, you begin to think that a closed tool like iTunes is missing the Web 2.0 movement entirely.”
-Oliver Ryan, CNN “What makes it special is the way that it lets people comment on the films, see their friends’ reviews of them, etc, which… makes it the ‘birth of social cinema.’”
-Michael J. Miller, PC Magazine

Check it out here