Screening Gotham: All-Positive Friday!

As per Reeler tradition, our weekly look at some of the more uplifting movie news of note from around New York:

--The Four-Eyed Monsters saga continues still, nearly five years after its conception and six months after it scored $100,000 as the Emerging Pictures/indieWIRE Undiscovered Gems audience award-winner. And naturally, it's another milestone: The online film community Spout is sponsoring the film's appearance on YouTube, evidently making it the first feature ever broadcast on the site. For every 4EM viewer who signs up for a Spout membership, its bosses will donate $1 to paying off filmmakers Arin Crumley and Susan Buice's production debt. It costs you nothing, though I know you're already a Spout member from that time it sponsored us not so long ago. But if I'm mistaken, now's your chance to get with the program and help a couple of broke-ass New York filmmakers in the process.

--Speaking of Spout, which appears to be taking over the world, it has hired ex-Cinematical/Netscape/AOL film editor Karina Longworth to contribute blogs and podcasts to the site starting next week. Congrats to Karina and big ups to Spout for digging further into the New York film scene.

--OK, enough of that. Jamie Stuart, whose Reeler interview last week with Kubrick aide Leon Vitali stormed the Web at light speed, is back with another nifty coup. This time it's legendary cinematographer Vittorio Storaro, in town for the Open Roads: New Italian Cinema series. Aspect-ratio fetishists, this is your article.

--Finally, thanks to indieWIRE for passing along the progress of the electricity consumption doc Within the Grid, produced by Brooklyn-based Systemic Pictures and featuring representatives from a group called -- wait for it -- Lightning Strike and Electric Shock Survivors International. This one has buzz written all over it.

Posted at June 8, 2007 12:47 PM