I started my volunteer work at PPP department for upcoming PIFF. My current assignment is translating and manual data inputing for all foreign guests' info coming to this unique 3 day film pre-market session. There are very interesting guests attending this session and I hope to broaden my contacts and secure future working relationships with these guests if possible.

PPP films are generally ultra-low budget compare to American standard, mostly lower than 1 mil to the max I have seen is 2-3 million budget for a feature. Various directors are touting its scripts in hopes of securing funding and on the other hand, investors are looking for quality cinema works that will earn reconigition as well as making modest profit. (Film investment is notoriously fickle and unpredictable return.) The program already boasts excellent track records with various film projects earning high marks from internation film festival communities. People from last year already seen some of the earliest glimpse of the this year's indispensable cinema works. There is even a Japanese filmmaker coming from NYC, although I'm not sure how her film qualified. (The PPP session is open for "Asian" film projects, only.) If she's successful, I should try this venue as well.

I'm not sure the extent of information I can divulge at this stage about the program as you may find them on the webpages and books that I'm working on now. However, I only can hope to record the experience and knowledge as much as I receive first hand, if I'm not always in half-drunk stage after works. ^o^;;

WashingtonPost: Hollywood Sees the Big Picture With DVDs. "As the DVD has grown in popularity, so has the clout of video stores. Blockbuster once had to agree to share revenue and buy a studio's entire catalogue of DVD and VHS releases to secure the hottest titles. Now, the retailer has more leverage. It still buys some studios' entire DVD outputs and shares sales revenue, but with other studios it buys DVDs on a title-by-title basis and does not share revenue. Further, Blockbuster does not share DVD rental revenue with the studios." DVDs in America, Cellphones in Japan, Internet in Korea. Follow the trend and the content, and the money, will follow.

INSULTINGLY STUPID MOVIE PHYSICS. Make believe, you hear?

Salon.com: Happy birthday, Leni Riefenstahl. No doubt, one of most influential filmmakers living today.