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Did you know that the character of the dude in The Big Lebowski is largely inspired by Jeff Dowd, an American producer that the Coen brothers met in 1985 while they were trying to distribute Blood Simple ?
Like the character played by Jeff Bridges, Dowd is a joint smoker and an inveterate Russian white drinker. He was also a radical protester during the Vietnam War and was part of the Seattle Liberation Front. A true Dudeist.
The cult comedy’s origins have long been traced back to film producer Jeff Dowd, the model for the Dude. But Peter Exline is just as integra
Silent Panic takes over L.A. Screens this July
Silent Panic takes over L.A. Screens this July
Indie Rights are excited to announce the limited theatrical debut and Digital HD rollout of Kyle Schadt’s suspense thriller Silent Panic. A simple camping trip changes everything for three friends when they find a dead body in the trunk of their car, but cannot agree on whether or not to tell the police. They try to conceal the body, but the guilt weighs heavily on them as they debate what to…
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My interview with Jeff Dowd, the inspiration behind the Big Lebowski
Chip Marshall and Jeff Dowd of the Seattle Seven, circa June 1970, awaiting conspiracy trial. Photograph by Barbara Rothkrug. Jeff Dowd was the inspiration for Jeff “The Dude” Lebowski in the Coen Brothers’ The Big Lebowski.
Finally got around to adding some of my interview columns for Indiewire from way back in the day to my portfolio.
Written while I was also senior editor in 2002-3, subjects include writer-director-genius Claire Denis, Sundance Film Festival head Geoff Gilmore, film producer Ed Pressman, legendary film rep (and "Big Lebowski" inspiration) Jeff "The Dude" Dowd, film distribution pioneer Eamonn Bowles, MoMA senior film curator Larry Kardish, and director-producer Gary Winick.
If anything, it's a pretty telling comment on how much independent film has changed in the past 10 years.
Click here or on the title link above for the full story.
Enjoy,
M
The Dude - the real 'Big Lebowski'
New Post has been published on
New Post has been published on http://cinemaassassin.com/louisiana-international-film-festival-mentorship-program-announces-call-entries-inaugural-festival-festival-staff-appointments/
LOUISIANA INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL AND MENTORSHIP PROGRAM ANNOUNCES CALL FOR ENTRIES FOR INAUGURAL FESTIVAL; FESTIVAL MAKES STAFF APPOINTMENTS
FESTIVAL FEATURES FOUR DAYS OF FILM, MUSIC & PANELS
ALSO SHOWCASES “1963” AN EXHIBITION OF PHOTOGRAPHS BY BOB ADELMAN;
FESTIVAL RUNS APRIL 18-21, 2013 www.lifilmfest.org
Baton Rouge, Louisiana – (December 5, 2012) ––The Louisiana International Film Festival and Mentorship Program (LIFF), a brand-new film festival celebrating indigenous and international films with an ambitious Mentorship Program is announcing a call for entries for its inaugural Festival to be held April 18-21, 2013 alongside the Mississippi River in Baton Rouge and New Orleans, Louisiana, according to Festival Executive Director Chesley Heymsfield.
The first submission deadline is January 7, 2013. Interested filmmakers can submit films at http://www.lifilmfest.org and at withoutabox.com.
Chesley said, “We founded The Louisiana International Film Festival and Mentorship Program to act as a conduit for our state’s ample and untapped creativity. LIFF is more than a film festival; it is a bridge between the local people who dream of becoming filmmakers and those veteran artists who know that mentorship can help to promote social change through direct access to opportunity. The Louisiana International Film Festival and Mentorship Program exists to promote Louisiana’s budding film industry year-round with mentorship and education while at the same time nurturing the state’s international reputation as a place of—and showcase for—artistic creativity. ”
“We’re thrilled to have the amazing vision and experience of a great staff and Advisory Council of The Louisiana International Film Festival and Mentorship Program,” Chesley said. “Their joint contributions will help pave the way for both a wonderful slate of films as well as lay a foundation for the year-round mentorship program that underpins this Festival. Many of these people have an extensive background in mentoring. I’m happy to announce our staff appointments and we will announce our Advisory Council prior to the Festival.”
Chesley announced a number of staff appointments for LIFF. Joining the Festival and Mentorship Program as Co-artistic Directors are Jeff Dowd and filmmaker Dan Ireland. As Roger Ebert says about Dowd, “Everybody knows somebody like the Dude – and so do the Coen brothers. They based the character The Dude, played by Jeff Bridges, on a movie producer and distributor named Jeff Dowd, a familiar figure at film festivals, who is tall, large, and shaggy and brimming with enthusiasm. Dowd is much more successful than Lebowski (he has played an important role in the Coens’ careers as indie filmmakers), but no less a creature of the moment. Both dudes depend on improvisation and inspiration…” Dowd was a producer of Ferngully: The Last Rainforest and the Sundance Award-winning Zebrahead. As a marketing maven, Dowd helped introduce “specialized” marketing to the film industry with such films as The Black Stallion, Chariots of Fire, Gandhi, War Games and Hoosiers. Dowd was on the board of the Independent Feature Project and the International Documentary Association. He also helped Robert Redford start The Sundance Institute and Sundance Film Festival and served on their Advisory Board.
Director Dan Ireland has written, produced or helmed two dozen films including John Huston’s last film The Dead. Dan’s 2006 feature, Mrs. Palfrey at The Claremont took home Audience Awards at Palm Springs and Newport Film Festivals; The Whole Wide World earned nominations at Sundance and Verona and took home an American Independent Special Jury Prize at Seattle. Ireland has been known for launching talent into the mainstream, including actress Renee Zellweger and more recently, Academy Award nominee actress Jessica Chastain, who made her feature film debut in Ireland’s film of E.L. Doctorow’s Jolene. In addition, Chastain won the Seattle International Film Festival Best Actress Award for her performance in the film. Dowd and Ireland have known one another for more than thirty years; they met working on the Seattle Film Festival, which Ireland co-founded and served as co-director with Darryl Macdonald in 1976. Aside from his duties here, Ireland will continue to direct, including his upcoming comedic feature, Mr. Lively for producer Raffaella De Laurentiis. Shooting will commence early next summer, with the cast to be announced at a later date.
She has also appointed recent Baton Rouge transplant Alan V. Abrahams as Music Program Director. Abrahams is an award winning record producer with more than 40 years experience and over 80 albums produced that have topped charts domestically and internationally. His productions have ranged from Joan Baez, Kris Kristofferson and Taj Mahal to Jazz legend Les McCann and International superstars Ladysmith Black Mambazo.
Abrahams said, “We at The Louisiana International Film Festival and Mentorship Program are truly excited to incorporate our rich musical heritage that is Louisiana Music from New Orleans, Lafayette, Baton Rouge and throughout the state as a backdrop to the atmosphere of our festival. Our rich history as the birthplace of Jazz and early Rock and Roll combined with our deep Blues legacy is unique to anywhere on the planet. Combine Zydeco, Cajun, Second Line and Swamp Pop and we look forward to welcoming our attendees with the musical gumbo that is Louisiana and we believe that our inaugural event will be an annual tradition like no other!”
Chesley also appointed Los Angeles filmmaker and photographer Clinton H. Wallace as Strategic Partnerships Coordinator. Wallace will interface between the Festival, its partners and sponsors. Wallace is currently serving as lead producer on the feature drama Blue Dream directed by Gregory Hatanaka and starring Walter Koenig, James Duval and Dominique Swain, and as executive producer on the horror thriller Machete Joe.
Chesley has also appointed New Orleans-based actress and producer Shanna Forrestall, who acts in The Last Exorcism and the upcoming Olympus Has Fallen filmed in Shreveport, to serve as Louisiana Liaison and provide a bridge between local and out of State talent.
The four-day festival, presented by The Louisiana Office of Lieutenant Governor (Louisianatravel.com); Louisiana Technology Park; The Credit Bureau of Baton Rouge and Noesis Data, opens Thursday, April 18th with an opening night and post-premiere party in New Orleans. In the days that follow, festival guests will enjoy: competition screenings competing for the “Spoonbill Award,” named for the colorful bayou waterfowl; a producers’ conference at Raleigh Film and Television Studios Baton Rouge at The Celtic Media Centre; an Earth Day program on film and the environment at the Old State Capitol; a free “Movie on the Mississippi” outdoor screening; performances by Louisiana musicians; a seafood cook-off; and out-of competition screenings of upcoming studio films.
Louisiana Lt. Governor Jay Dardenne said, “The Louisiana International Film Festival and Mentorship Program enhances and preserves Louisiana’s thriving film industry. We are thrilled to support this organization that celebrates film production in Louisiana and educates Louisianans, providing them the skills necessary to work in the film industry in their home state.”
In addition to films, LIFF will present a special photo and multimedia exhibition by the renowned Bob Adelman (www.bobadelman.net) titled “1963”. A foremost chronicler of the civil rights movement, Bob Adelman is a world-renowned photojournalist, author, editor, teacher, and book producer. In his late twenties, affected by the burgeoning civil rights movement, he volunteered to take pictures for the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) and the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), documenting the boycotts, marches, sit-ins, demonstrations, and the work of Malcolm X, James Baldwin, and Martin Luther King, Jr. in Harlem, Atlanta, Alabama, Washington and across the Deep South, including Dr. King’s “I Have a Dream” speech in Washington in the summer of 1963. He took pictures of Andy Warhol for Esquire and Roy Lichtenstein for Life. His photographs have been exhibited at the Smithsonian and are included in the collection of the Museum of Modern Art. The Festival plans to screen films programmed alongside the “1963” special photo and multimedia exhibition.
Dowd’s vision for the Festival and Mentorship Program is expansive: “The Louisiana International Film Festival and Mentorship Program is rising up from a world where uniquely American storytelling and musical forms like blues and jazz were born. Today, we combine Louisiana’s rich culture, a vibrant musical scene and New Orleans Jazz Fest, and the best tax incentive program in the United States with filmmakers highlighting Louisiana’s diversity and culture—which has survived in the face of monumental adversity in the last decade. We intend to empower a new generation to be able to tell stories with the oldest and latest tools of the trade. My vision includes job creation within the ‘industry’ and also in the sustainable economy of the future when some of these new artists show what is possible.”
Ireland’s interest in becoming a part of LIFF and the Mentorship Program stemmed from the time he shot his television feature, Living Proof for producers Renee Zellweger, Neil Meron and Craig Zadan in New Orleans, in the summer of 2008. Ireland said, “I was always inspired by the amazing talent in Louisiana. After spending over three months in New Orleans, and falling in love with the people and their world, I knew I was destined to become a part of it. When Jeff Dowd approached me about becoming part of LIFF and the Mentorship Program, I jumped at the chance. Not only was it a chance to start up a film festival, but more importantly it is a way to encourage new talent to emerge and become the next generation of artists that lead the way in our industry, and beyond. After seeing the feature Beasts of the Southern Wild, I knew that Louisiana was ripe with visionaries that have the talent to explore new filmmaking possibilities. To me that’s the most exciting thing about being a filmmaker/artist, being bold, taking risks, and having the will, the determination and craft to expand the way we look at our world.”
