rrrojer.net

http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/adamcurtis/2011/05/all_watched_over_by_machines_o.html

Very much looking forward to Adam Curtis’s latest.

Ashely/Amber Official Trailer
Edited by Guy Weltchek & Rebecca R. Rojer

Check out www.ashley-amber.com for more info about the film.

Friday, February 11 @ 4pm
Berlinale Shorts I: Press Screening
CinemaxX 5
Potsdamer Straße 5, Berlin
Press only; no Q&A

Tuesday, February 15 @ 10pm
Berlinale Shorts I
* official world premiere *
CinemaxX 3
Potsdamer Straße 5, Berlin
Q&A to follow screening; 8,00€

Wednesday, February 16 @ 6pm
Berlinale Shorts Go Arsenal: Artist Talks II
Kino Arsenal 2
Potsdamer Straße 2, Berlin
Artist Talk (no screening); Free

Friday, February 18 @ 5:45pm
Berlinale Shorts I
Colosseum 1
Schönhauser Allee 123, Berlin
Q&A to follow screening; 8,00€

Saturday, February 19 @ 5:45pm
Berlinale Shorts I
CinemaxX 5
Potsdamer Straße 5, Berlin
Q&A to follow screening; 8,00€

Friday, February 25
Soho House Berlin
Details TBA

For more info, visit ashley-amber.com and check out the Berlinale Program.

Ashley/Amber is about the anti-war movement in the USA…

Yes, the film is a conflict-ridden entanglement of various themes related to the character of a young woman: an excursion into the world of porn, a friend deployed in a war and the growing engagement within the student peace movement. Besides the intelligent cinematic linking of these areas, the director Rebecca Rojer captures much of the real-to-life atmosphere in Harvard, where the film plays and where she herself is a student. One doesn’t ‘just’ see a fictional film, but really gets informed about conditions in certain regions of the world. I was not previously aware that there was such a strong resistance movement in the US – including occupied buildings and political discussion groups. Through the specific quality of the 16mm material that Rojer uses, you feel like you’ve traveled back to the era of 1970s activism. And at the same time you are aware that it’s about very real occurrences in today’s world.

Full Interview
Ashley/Amber Official Site

I am very excited to announce that my thesis film, ASHLEY/AMBER, has been selected to screen in the 61st Berlin International Film Festival’s Berlinale Shorts Competition.

The film, a dark comedy about an antiwar activist who finds fame only after she is outed as the one-time star of an internet porn video, will premiere on Tuesday, February 15 at 10pm, with additional screenings on Friday, 2/18 at 5:45pm and and Saturday, 2/19 at 4pm. It will also screen at the Soho House Berlin on 2/25.

Thank you and congratulations to my incredible cast & crew!!

Official Press Release

“Ballad of the Black Gold”
video by Sam Ellison (Ashley/Amber‘s cinematographer!)
song by Reflection Eternal (Talib Kweli & DJ Hi-Tek)

I met Bert over the internet. He had seen the casting call for Ashley/Amber and wanted to know if I needed any crew. I was a little reluctant because he was a complete stranger, but I had a good feeling about it. He turned out to be a total MVP on set— I don’t know how we could have gotten through production without him. On top of that, he’s an awesome guy.

Anyway, now Bert is fundraising for his own thesis, a low-budget horror film about a lake monster. He is shooting on 16mm, so all you film-lovers out there especially should really should look inside your hearts & wallets to support the art students trying to prove that real film is not a dying medium.

You can donate as little as $1 ($20 gets a DVD), and speaking from experience, small donations really make a difference on set! Think about all the media you watch for free on the internet— and all the people who make art out of love, maxing out their credit cards in the process. You get to enjoy it and not pay a penny. Well, here is an opportunity to make a tangible contribution. It is a good feeling!

Lake Horror – A 16mm Monster Film — Kickstarter

He faulted the new video not for its failed attempt at Sontagian camp but for portraying the university as a kind of summer camp for élites. “It’s a variation on Marie Antoinette in the garden of Versailles,” he said. “I’m surprised they didn’t dress the girls as shepherdesses. In the ancien régime, this is the kind of thing that would have prompted the French Revolution. Are we supposed to send this to struggling youths in Asia and Africa?”

The New Yorker

(For those of you fortunate enough to have missed it, he’s speaking about these 17 minutes of institutionally-sanctioned musical theater hell.)