Episode 7: Start of Production

That's it. The first day of shooting is in the can... or digitalized to be more exact.

Only 3 weeks (minus one workday) of all-nighters to look forward to.

Wife #1 and Therapist #7

Ari Gold is not the best ever. But he is pretty close.



From Entourage Season 3 Episode 15

Distribution for African filmmakers

A little article from Variety about distribution (or lack thereof) for African films.

Little reminder of things to come

Start of production: less than a week

New website + remodeled blog: 6 weeks

Movie release: December 2010

DVD release: February 2011

Episode 6: Forming the team

I know i've been quite absent this recent weeks, but I have an excuse from my parents.
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Yaounde, Cameroon - July 7, 2010 - H7 Films has finalized casting on its next film, Sexually Friendly.

Tatiana Matip (Confidences by Cyrille Masso, 2005) and Jacques Ekwa will play the two major roles in a comedy that follows two single friends who decide to spend Valentine's Day together before they see their evening take an unexpected turn.

Shooting for the film written and directed by Henri Melingui begins at the end of July in Yaoundé.

The simultaneous online and theatrical release of Sexually Friendly is scheduled for the month of December 2010.

About H7 Films:
Founded by Henri Melingui in January 2010, H7 Films is a production company that will distribute her own films in African theaters but also worldwide online (streaming and downloading) through its future website.

Henri Melingui is also the editor of the movie blog Quartier Boz'art. (http://eng-henrimel.blogspot.com/)

"A yellow F***ing sticky something"

Ari Gold is far from happy he wasn't told James Cameron is directing Aquaman.



Entourage Season 2

Life after James Bond

A nice little picture showing that even if your name is Sean Connery, life after James Bond can be hard. Very hard.



From Zardoz (1974)

Action movie's All-Star Game

You name them, they are in the Expendables. If not, they're just not bad-ass enough...

Music Day

It's June 21st, time to listen to some music to kill time...

DVD of the Week: Charlie Wilson's War

A Congressman who snorts cocaine, hangs out with strippers, only employs young women in his office, never says no to alcohol, always finds the words to get a smile or a laugh (thanks to Aaron Sorkin, the writer ) and at the same time helps defeat USSR in Afghanistan ...

Seriously, what else do you need to watch Charlie Wilson's War?

DVD of the Week: Up In The Air

For those who know me, it wouldn't appear to them as a surprise that I love a film about a character who does not hide his desire to never start a family, whose profession is to hop from companies to companies to inform employees that they are fired and cherishes the fact that he only has to spent forty miserable "days" at home and the rest between airplanes and airports.

More seriously, Up In The Air is an example of a film that makes you smile (and think a little along the way) and will let many of you surprised to have spent 90 very pleasant minutes despite its very bleak subject -in appearance.

By the way, girls, did I say George Clooney is in it?

2009. Directed by Jason Reitman. With George Clooney and Vera Farmiga.

A little something about Nollywood

A nice little article about Nollywood (Nigeria's film industry) and the cinematic black hole Africa is turning into.

The SelfHelpless Movie - part 2

You may or may not remember it, but I posted an article (that I didn't translate, so you actually don't remember it) a few months ago about the Self Helpless movie. The film was directed by a small team of friends from the East Coast of the U.S. that has decided to shoot a small independent film and make it available for free on Bit Torrent.

I must admit that despite its free availability, the trailer didn't make me want to invest an hour and a half of my life in The SelfHelpless. On the flip side, if the distributors of Alice in Wonderland or Iron Man depended on me to earn a living, they would be unemployed, so make an opinion for yourself...

A month after the movie came out, the producers announced proudly on their blog that SelfHelpless has been downloaded 60,000 times. They are now asking everyone who saw the movie for free to contribute financially by buying DVDs, ashtrays, T-shirts, etc. ...

A not-so-stupid strategy, that could be turn out to be profitable given the low-budget. Except that 60,000 free downloads on BitTorrent does not automatically mean that the film was seen by 60,000 Web users (you tend to take more of a product than you actually need or use when it is free), and even less that those who saw the film in its entirety have liked it enough to contribute financially after the fact.

Slightly more puzzling to me is the insistence of the producers producers to show they are not seeking any return on their investment nor to get hired by the Hollywood machinery by using this film as a calling card. Unless of course, this is only a facade, although I think they really are sincere in their approach.

Because, beyond basic human greed, if their little film is actually good but they don't care about accumulating debts without getting enough money back, how will they go about shooting a second?

Ask the Greeks, you always end up repaying your debts ...

DVD of the Week: Pulp Fiction

I could write pages and pages about the movie of this week, but I'll just say once again that Pulp Fiction is easily among the top 5 of my favorite movie.

Yes, at 2 hours and a half, the film could easily be shortened by 20-30 minutes. And as far as originality goes, Tarantino is to cinema what Kanye West is to music: someone who recycles little-known works (sometimes more than just little-known) and lets the general public rediscover them.

Still, the movie's pretty cool, isn't it?

We're all gonna die!!!

Woody Allen as a kid in Annie Hall. 1977.

DVD of the Week: Looking for Eric

Eric Bishop is a postman in Manchester, and the least you can say is that going through a rough patch.

His relationship with his two sons is deteriorating by the minute, his daughter still holds him responsible for the break-up between him and his ex-wife. In addition to this, he has to deal with the bad weather in Manchester. In short, his life is far from being a lot of fun.

One evening, as Eric adresses the poster of his idol Eric Cantona, the famous number 7 of Manchester United, he appears to him in real life and decides to help him regain control of his life.

By the way, if you don't know who is Eric Cantona, shame on you, first of all. And a little clip that would help.

Musical Interlude: Camille

Simply Camille... live on French television. "La demeure d'un ciel"

Episode 5: Start of Preproduction

You may have noticed that my articles are few and far between these days, but that's for a good, don't worry.

This is simply because the "Between Friends" project is finally entering preproduction. Another good news is that I finally found a better title than "Between Friends" (not very difficult to do you might say). You will know about the new title later on, when the first poster is ready.

Pre-production is not that much fun because it means:

1. Assembling the cast
2. Preparing the shooting schedule
3. Storyboarding, costumes etc...
4. Rewriting the script

All this in addition to the construction of the website.

If all goes well, filming will begin in July and the website will be ready in early August.

In short, a lot of work in the horizon, and always exciting stuff on the blog in the meantime.

Sexy Sneakers

Lebron James and Nicole Scherzinger in a Nike commercial

Musical Interlude

"Hero" from the 500 days of Summer soundtrack.