Incite

MPAA Finds Itself Accused of Piracy

The MPAA appears to be using loopholes it denies to others who want to copy films.

This Film Is Not Yet Rated looks at the motion picture ratings system created and run by the MPAA. Director Kirby Dick submitted the film for rating in November. After receiving the movie, the MPAA subsequently made copies without Dick's permission. Dick had specifically requested in an e-mail that the MPAA not make copies of the movie. The MPAA responded by saying that "the confidentiality of your film is our first priority."

Dick later learned that the MPAA made copies of the film to distribute them to its employees, despite the MPAA's  stance on unauthorized copying. Ah, there's nothing like the smell of hypocrisy in the morning-apparently the prohibition against copying films without the copyright owner's consent doesn't apply to the MPAA. A lawyer for the MPAA justified the organization's apparent hypocrisy by saying that Dick had invaded the privacy of some MPAA staffers, which justified the MPAA's actions.

This is from Ars Technica:  MPAA admits to unauthorized movie copying

The original article is from the Los Angeles Times:  The MPAA Finds Itself Accused of Privacy
where there is more information.

Is a Cinema Studies Degree the New M.B.A.?

Ok, this was too good to pass up! The New York Times says film is the professional language of the future. I guess that makes it official!

RICK HERBST, now attending Yale Law School, may yet turn out to be the current decade's archetypal film major. Twenty-three years old, he graduated last year from the University of Notre Dame, where he studied filmmaking with no intention of becoming a filmmaker. Rather, he saw his major as a way to learn about power structures and how individuals influence each other.

"People endowed with social power and prestige are able to use film and media images to reinforce their power - we need to look to film to grant power to those who are marginalized or currently not represented," said Mr. Herbst, who envisions a future in the public policy arena. The communal nature of film, he said, has a distinct power to affect large groups, and he expects to use his cinematic skills to do exactly that.

At a time when street gangs warn informers with DVD productions about the fate of "snitches" and both terrorists and their adversaries routinely communicate in elaborately staged videos, it is not altogether surprising that film school - promoted as a shot at an entertainment industry job - is beginning to attract those who believe that cinema isn't so much a profession as the professional language of the future.

Read more: The New York Times > Is a Cinema Studies Degree the New M.B.A.?

I Want a Movie! Now!

I'm in Heaven! Netflix will soon be able to send your choice of DVD movies directly to your TiVo over the Internet.

From Newsweek:

"Sept. 13 issue - Netflix and Tivo ushered in an age of couch-potato bliss. Netflix lets its customers browse through its huge movie catalog on the Web and rent DVDs through the mail without having to worry about late fees. TiVo lets people digitally record their favorite shows and zoom through the ads. But now couch potatoes are perched on the cusp of true paradise. Soon they won't even have to stand up to trudge to the mailbox; fat broadband pipes will let them directly download movies over the Net to their television."

Read more: I Want a Movie! Now!

Michael Moore's "Fahrenheit 9/11" Coming June 25th

From indieWIRE:

Michael Moore's Cannes Palme d'Or winning doc "Fahrenheit 9/11" will open nationwide in U.S. theaters on June 25th. In an arrangement through the Fellowship Adventure Group, the newly created special-purpose company formed by Harvey and Bob Weinstein, the film will be released in partnership with Lions Gate Films and IFC Films. The Weinsteins, through the Fellowship Adventure Group, will personally finance and control distribution and marketing of the controversial documentary....

"Fahrenheit 9/11" Coming June 25th

Keep the Sex R-Rated, N.Y.U. Tells Film Students

By DANIEL J. WAKIN

In October, a film student at New York University pitched an idea for her video-making class: a four-minute portrayal of the contrast between unbridled human lust and banal everyday behavior.

Her professor approved. The student, Paula Carmicino, found two actor friends willing to have sex on camera in front of the class. The other students expressed their support. But then the professor thought he should double-check with the administration, which immediately pulled the plug on the project.

Continue reading Keep the Sex R-Rated