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LAT: Crossing This Line May Cost Gibson

In the LA Times today, Robert W. Welkos and John Horn consider the impact of Mel Gibson's drunk driving arrest in Malibu this weekend, given the subsequent reports about his "anti-Semitic tirade" on the scene. Gibson, who has since apologized, admitted he is an alcoholic, and called his own remarks ...

SF360: Chris Metzler and Jeff Springer, from the Salton Sea to San Francisco

The area surrounding the doomed Salton Sea is home to a singular collection of kooky characters, even by California standards. Fifty miles from Palm Springs, the "sea" is a manmade lake that was once a major Southland vacation spot and real estate developers' dreamscape. Now it's Nowheresville, populated by iconoclasts, free thinkers, and sunbaked lunatics. Yet they were kindred spirits, in some unexpected way, with San Francisco documentary filmmakers Chris Metzler and Jeff Springer. The duo's acclaimed debut, "Plagues and Pleasures on the Salton Sea," brims with affection for these freaks and their freaky, freaky habitat. Michael Fox report...

BritDoc 2006.3: It's All Over Now

Thank you, Mel.

Reuters: Michael Moore gets lots of Republican hugs

Michael Moore -- gadfly filmmaker, liberal activist and political lightning rod -- says he finds himself being hugged by a lot of Republicans these days. On the streets of Traverse City, where Moore is working on last-minute preparations for a bigger-and-better sequel to the film festival he launche...

"War Tapes" and "37 Uses for a Dead Sheep" Take First BritDoc Fest Prizes

"The War Tapes" by Deborah Scranton and Ben Hopkins' "37 Uses for a Dead Sheep" won the inaugural won the international competition and best British documentary prizes respectively over the weekend at the first annual BritDoc documentary festival in Oxford, England. "37 Uses" follows the travails of the Pamir Kirghiz people along their long journey from Russia, to China, Afghanistan in their quest to preserve their culture from Communism. They finallly settle in Turkey where they face a new foe, globalization. "War Tapes" is the first war film to be shot by soldiers on the frontline, showing life for a group of U.S. soldiers in Iraq. Xiaolu G...

Fortissimo Inks UK Deals for "The Bridge"

In the UK...ICA Films has nabbed theatrical and DVD rights to Eric Steel's "The Bridge," while Channel 4 has acquired TV broadcast rights. Fortissimo Films brokered the deals for the U.S. film and said today that Steel's doc, about suicides at San Francisco's Golden Gate Bridge, will screen at this ...

the long tail: hits and niches

Another Notch on the COCAINE ANGEL Bedpost