Osvaldo's at the Tribes Art Symposium

So, my wonderful friend, Lauren Drever, is an insanely gifted visual artist and sculptor. In addition, Lauren has traveled to the far corners of the world and has been able to merge those experiences with both her work and her personal charitable efforts. She has finally put together an event that will combine feature these two elements. On March 14th, Lauren will open the Tribes Art Show in her home city of San Francisco. I'm excited to announce that Osvaldo's will be a part of the lineup at the opening. The event will be supporting the Turtle Will and Koolinary non-profit organizations. For all event details, locations and information related to the non-profits please visit http://tribesartshow.com/. If you will be in the San Francisco area that weekend please stop by!

Radio Appearances Next Week...HBO On Demand RIGHT NOW!

So I'll be appearing on two radio shows next week to discuss Osvaldo's. The first one will be the Victor Cruz Morning show on urban latino radio which is an internet radio station that is blowing up. I was with Victor last summer to discuss our films, the festival scene and a whole bunch of other topics. Victor is a great guy and a great actor. The second show will be an interview with my man Spike Spillberg on his blog talk radio show. Spike and I met down in Miami last summer at the American Black Film Festival. When I confirm the dates and times I will post them on here for you guys to check out. And I didn't know this until last night but Osvaldo's is officially available on HBO On Demand! Just go to HBO movies, click on ALL MOVIES and then find Osvaldo's on the list. Let me know what you think of the film.

Osvaldo's on HBO

What's up everyone, So Osvaldo's will finally be making its début on HBO THIS THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 4TH AT 11PM ON HBO ZONE AND HBO ON DEMAND. The time is eastern standard. I can't tell you how excited I am for the film to be on HBO. I never thought something like this would happen and to actually realize this is special. I hope all of you get a chance to check it out and I will be doing a live blog update kinda thing as it screens so make sure you stop by here at some point. If you miss it Thursday there will be more broadcasts of it and of course you can always order it on demand for free. Thanks everyone for the support.

Randy

Osvaldo's in the 2010 Texas Black Film Festival

Osvaldo's is an official selection of the 2010 Texas Black Film Festival in Dallas, TX. I'm excited to be a part of this festival again as my previous short film, "Harlem's Blues" won an honorable mention award in 2007. Let's hope we take home the big prize this time around! There will be more details soon. Thank you again for all the support of the film!

Gilles Peterson May Have Saved My [musical] Life

The current music scene is awful. It sucks. I am no longer interested in being a witness to the self-destruction of hip hop nor am I interested in destroying my brain with terrible pop music. People forget that pop music used to be amazing. Now its garbage. I struggle to find good new music. But I may have come across the one person who can spark a Randy Music Renaissance. His name is Gilles Peterson. I knew a little bit about him through his Brazilian jazz projects. But I didn't realize that he had a radio program on bbc radio one in the UK. My man Shaka hooked me up with a show of his that features the great Madlib and J-Rocc. So after listening to that show I found the other ones and have been obsessed with it ever since. Part of the reason is that I've really been interested in expanding my musical horizons and coming across different musical interpretations. I've noticed that I'm really into electronic/synthesizer based music and Gilles Peterson plays a lot of that stuff. He's definitely opened my eyes to a whole new world because I wouldn't know where to start to get this stuff. It's also cool because it exposes the DOPE music scene in London and the UK which I would love to experience firsthand at some point. I'm always down for another reason to travel. Anyway, here is a link to the latest installment of the show. Click on "listen now" to hear it. It's only up for 7 days per episode so don't miss out on listening. The other great thing is that they have a track listing for EVERY single show since 2002 so you can start to build your own collection. In fact the link I'm posting features the track list for this particular show. I hope you guys enjoy. Let me know what you think. http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00ny75n#segments

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Osvaldo's at the 2009 Queens International Film Festival

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What's up everyone? Osvaldo's will be screening at the 2009 Queens International Film Festival THIS SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 14TH AT 2PM at the Holiday Inn Manhattan View located on 39-05 29th Street in Long Island City in Queens. I apologize for such a late notice but I didn't get the screening information until recently. I hope some of you can make it out. Here is the link to buy tickets if you are interested: http://www.queensfilmfestival.com/films/detail.asp?fid=561 Thank you for all of the support so far for the film.

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Osvaldo's in Boston Latino Film Festival

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Osvaldo's is an official selection of the 2009 Boston Latino Film Festival! I am excited to be a part of the program and this makes the 6th out of 7th month that the film will be screening. This is our 8th festival so far. I am really humbled by the success and I hope there is more to come. If you are in the Boston area or know people in the boston area please come out. It will be screening on SATURDAY, DECEMBER 12TH AT 4:30 PM AT CAMBRIDGE COLLEGE LOCATED AT 1000 MASS AVE; STORE FRONT. I hope people can make it out. If there is more information I will pass it along. And just for the hell of it here is the trailer for the film: [youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cWqB7KYQH2M&w=600&h=338]

The Anniversary

One of my best friends was Timothy Ruiz. Tim was an intelligent, religious, compassionate and vibrant young man. He came from an outstanding family and was simply one of the best people that I have ever or will ever know. Sadly, Tim was taken away from us. My first year at NYU in 2005, I did a short documentary on Tim's family a year to the day of his passing. It is entitled "The Anniversary." I never did anything with this film. I showed it at school and to his family and that was it. It was too personal and hurtful for me to just push it out there. This is the first time that I am putting it out here publicly. I am very proud of this not necessarily for the filmmaking but because I knew it was something I had to do and I did it. It would not have been possible without his fantastic and amazing family who I need to do a much better  job of keeping in touch with. They are the best. I also want to thank Daniel Patterson for shooting it and Darius Clark Monroe for doing sound. But I want to thank them even more for supporting me through that process. It meant a lot to me. Please watch it in its entirety. I am leaving out the details of his death because it is at the end of the film. Let me know what you think. Here goes...

[vimeo http://www.vimeo.com/19183251 w=600&h=450]

The Anniversary from Randy Wilkins on Vimeo.

Say Grace Before Drowning

Nikaytu Jusu is a thesis candidate at the Tisch School of The Arts graduate film program. She is a schoolmate of mine and is a very talented director. She has enjoyed some nice success early on in her career. She is close to wrapping production on her new short "Say Grace Before Drowning" and she has just released a teaser for the film. It is shot by the very talented Daniel Patterson and I believe it is edited by the multi-talented Keith L. Davis. Check it out and please support Nikki's film when it drops in 2010. [youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HTv3jiYPH2k&w=600&h=338]

P.S. I used the word "talent" three times so you know this is gonna be good.

P.S.S. Apologies to Nikki for using the youtube version but the vimeo embed code wasn't working on here for some reason.

UPDATE: If you want to know more about Nikki and her work please visit http://nikyatu.wordpress.com

Collapse...

Continuing in the movie a day challenge, I am going to give my impressions of the new documentary, "Collapse" by Chris Smith. Collapse features former LAPD cop turned investigative reporter, Michael Ruppert and his theories on the direction in which our global society is heading. He comes from a significant intelligence background with both of his parents working in some capacity with the CIA, and in fact since he was a teenager, Ruppert held above top-secret classification within the CIA. He has been following all forms of intelligence for over 30 years and paints a harrowing picture of our future. In its most simplest terms, Ruppert's premise is that when our natural resources eventually run out, our present global pardigm and system will collapse. This seems like a rather obvious statement to make but the film shows that this is way more complex than we imagine. "Collapse" goes into great detail to illustrate how oil lies at the foundation of everything that we do, spend, consume and expend. I think the film does a fantastic job of presenting Ruppert as an outsider character. The singular interview a la Errol Morris is a simple but wildly effective approach to letting the man use his own voice. I don't think there would be any other way to present Ruppert and his theories and capture the essence or danger of what they contain. There is an intensity, passion and sadness to the man that the film succeeds in capturing. The cinematography is beautiful for something that is so straightforward. It looks like an interrogation in a basement that looks like the Saw movies and there is a constant dolly shot that adds a creepiness and threat of danger throughout the piece. I think the film overall is great.

Now to the meat of this thing. I totally buy what Ruppert has to say. You can call me a conspiracy theorist or whatever but the man knows too much and analyzes the information too well for it to be dismissed. I wish I could go into detail but I don't want to ruin the film for those who haven't seen it. I will say that the issue is way more complex than just saying oil rules the world and Ruppert makes that abundantly clear. I do believe that we are running out of the one currency that makes this world go round and I do believe that we have to begin to figure out ways to adapt to this changing world. Collapse has definitely made me re-think a few things and I appreciate when a film can impact me in that way.

Here is the trailer:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lJ3r93ELuB4&hl=en&fs=1&w=600&h=338]

Madvillainy 2 Snippets

So for those of you that don't know I am pretty much obsessed with Madlib and DOOM. If you check my ipod I have hundreds of songs by them. You can throw J Dilla  into that group as well. When Madlib and DOOM came together a couple years a back for their album MADVILLAINY I can't tell you how gassed I was. It is one of the best albums I will ever hear in my entire life. Here is the first album if you wanna check it out: http://www.imeem.com/artists/madvillain/album/31jG7SoB/madvillainy-album/

Naturally, you expect for the duo to drop another album because of its critical acclaim and audience approval. We have gone a couple years without hearing anything from the new album. Now we may have come a cross a sneak peek of what is to come soon. I don't know if these are demos or actual tracks on Madvillainy 2 but they do come from J-Rocc who is a part of the Stones Throw camp. These tracks are ridiculous and now I am officially amped for the new joint to drop. Here is the clip of J-Rocc spinning some of the tracks on east village radio. Enjoy and let me know what you think.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NKs3hsFzNfg&hl=en&fs=1&w=600&h=338]

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A Film A Day Keeps the .... Away

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So I have been told from two different prominent sources that filmmakers are supposed to watch films, like all the time. In order to improve your craft, you have to see the work from others and learn from them. As an up and coming director, I realized that this was a truism that I had to heed. I know this seems rather obvious but putting it into practice can be troublesome at times. I must admit I have not been doing a great job of this lately. A lot of it has to do with the Yankees winning the world series (which will be its own post soon) and actually working on a film. But I realized that I just used those things as an excuse. So I'm taking up what Spike has told me a couple times and that is to watch a film a day. With a little bit more free time coming my way I decided to spend part of it just watching movies. I started my challenge yesterday and I plan on writing about each film that I see here on the blog. Keep in mind that there is no preconceived criteria for what I am going to watch. It can be a blockbuster, a horror film, a short, a documentary, a neo-realist, a revenge flick, whatever. I just have to see one a day. I am not sure if I can keep it up but I am going to do my best to accomplish this. So like I said I started this up yesterday with "By The People." on HBO. If you don't know, this is the President Obama documentary. The one cool thing about this film is that I work with one of the editors, the amazing Geeta Ghandbhir. Actually, I had the pleasure of working with all the editors of By The People, Sam Pollard and Arielle Ansalem, on When The Levees Broke. So this was a nice way to start off the film a day thing. I knew going into the film that it wasn't about Obama per se. The larger focus of the film was on the actual campaign and the people behind it. This piqued my interest because I heard so much about the people who comprised the campaign that it was nice to actually see some faces. Long story short, I was disappointed. The film feels rushed to me. In an attempt to satisfy the timeline of events, I think the film falls short of getting into any depth about major moments that occurred. One topic that I wanted way more coverage of was the Sarah Palin choice. Ever since she was announced as the vice presidential candidate I was severely intrigued by how everyone in the Obama camp felt about it. The film skims over the reaction leaving us with sound bites from the campaign trail and not from inside the walls. Now I understand part of this may have been at the behest of the Obama people, but this is just one example in which we fly by landmark moments in the campaign without really gaining insight that the filmmakers access could have provided the audience. What was nice to see was the intense dedication that the workers and volunteers gave the campaign. It was inspiring to see such young, smart and innovative people not only commit to a historic process, but also be more than capable of accomplishing success. Despite its shortcomings, the opportunity to shed some light on these trailblazers makes the film worth your time to see. I'm sorry for such a quick write up of the film, but I'm pretty sleepy. It's been a long day.

I saw COLLAPSE tonight which has had a big initial impact on me so I will talk about this film in depth tomorrow.

Randy v. Randy The Black Filmmaker

I must concede that as I write this I am both sleepy and tired. I want to go back to bed but I can't and I am tired from all this legal, festival and assistant editor stuff that I have been dealing with over the last couple weeks. So that may be the reason why I feel the way I do at this particular moment about being a filmmaker and more specifically a black filmmaker. Now, this subject has been discussed ad nauseum for decades. I'm not gonna get into the whole "am I a filmmaker or a black filmmaker" debate. I'm a black guy who makes films. That pretty much ends that discussion. But I do think about the burden of representation that is often times brought upon by a third-party. Is it unfair for a black artist (or any other artist of color) to simultaneously create high quality, engaging art while also making a social statement EVERY time they make something? I used to think the answer was yes but now I'm changing my mind. Of course there are times when you have to be conscious of the images you are creating and how they will be received. I am and will never be an advocate of making or supporting caricatures. But are there moments where we can just be artists? Where we can be free of social implication and simply make something because we like the story we want to tell or paint a picture because it looks nice or choreograph a dance out of sheer personal expression? I just feel that at times the social responsibility is overwhelming and quite honestly not the primary reason I wanted to be a filmmaker. I want to tell stories that everyone can connect with and not just my people. I would like some criticism or discussion to center around the actual integrity of the work and not what it means in the grand scheme of life. Again, I'm tired and may just be blabbing nonsense but there are days when I would like to be judged as Randy and not as a black guy who makes films.

45th Annual Chicago International Film Festival

Osvaldo's  is an official selection of the 45th Annual Chicago International Film Festival! It is very exciting to be a part of such a historic festival. This can do a lot to get the film some really great exposure. The screening time will be SUNDAY OCTOBER 18TH AT 6:30PM. The screening will take place at the AMC River East 21 which is located at 322 E. Illinos Street. I will be out there for the screening so if you will be in the area please come through and introduce yourself.

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Osvaldo's News

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So I have a couple updates for all of you regarding Osvaldo's. The momentum is increasing and the exposure is expanding. So the updated news is:

  • The film is an official selection of the Mid-Atlantic Black Film Festival in Norfolk, Virginia from September 16-19. I don't have word yet on the screening time yet but I will let you all know shortly.
  • The film will be AVAILABLE IN ITS ENTIRETY ON BET.COM STARTING NEXT WEEK. Osvaldo's is one of ten films being featured by the Urbanworld Film Festival on the popular website. So if you aren't able to visit the festivals to see it on the big screen you can see it on your computer from next week on through december. This is a great opportunity for the film and everyone involved and I am humbled that Urbanworld and BET thought enough of it to be showcased in this manner. Its pretty exciting.
  • I'm being featured on Spike Lee's production company's website www.40acres.com in the "featured filmmaker" section. Stop by there and check it out. Its exciting to be a part of it and I would like to thank Spike, Jason, Eden, Earl and everyone else over at 40 for giving me some shine. Sign up as a member so you can get updates on what Spike is doing.
  • Finally, Osvaldo's will be a part of SHORTS PROGRAM 3 AT THE ORLANDO HISPANIC FILM FESTIVAL. For more information on that screening block visit www.ohfilmfestival.com. I will have the links to this festival, the mid-atlantic film festival and 40 acres' website in the links section so it is easier for you guys to check everything out.

Peace out.

Osvaldo's Accepted into the OHFF

What's up everyone. I just wanted to share the news that Osvaldo's is an official selection of the 2009 ORLANDO HISPANIC FILM FESTIVAL in September. From what I hear, the city and the festival are going hard to promote the festival and all the films so we're real excited to be a part of the program. That makes five festivals so far for the film. The success is very humbling and I am very appreciative of all the support that it is getting. When I get more details about the screening I will pass them on. Also, please be on the lookout for details regarding the Urbanworld Film Festival in New York in September as well. I should be getting that info real soon.

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Another Fantastic Screening of Osvaldo's

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So yesterday was the encore screening of Osvaldo's at the HBO Latino International Film Festival. I have to say that it was a great success. The theater was almost filled to capacity and there were a lot of people on hand to show support. I had mentioned this before but I was really excited about this particular screening because I knew some of the cast and crew members were going to be in attendance to see how all of their hard work had paid off. It felt really good to see how proud and happy they all were when they finally saw the final piece. We all went through a lot to get it done and everyone involved did it out of support of my vision and their passion for film making. I was really happy to share it with them. We recevied a lot of positive feedback as well. Its always a little nerve racking when you are screening your work to people you don't know or people who have no idea what you do all day when you tell them you're a filmmaker. But in all honesty, I'm very confident in Osvaldo's and I know its a strong film so the nerves dissipate once the film begins. Its reassuring to know that you can make a strong film about a family and their trials and tribulations and people respond to it and appreciate it. I'm not big on gimmicky films or sensational kind of films. I just like to tell honest, emotional stories about everyday people. Its nice to see that audiences can connect to that and enjoy themselves at the same time. Things are looking up and I hope they continue that way.

Now let's hope we win an award tonight!