2/5/12,
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Here's your daily dose of an indie film in progress; at the end of the week, you'll have the chance to vote for your favorite.
In the meantime: Is this a movie you’d want to see? Tell us in the comments.
Hicks on Sticks
Tweetable Logline:
In 1 car and 3 vans, towing 1 portable skateboard park, 4 skaters and 2 bands traveled 2800 kms to put on 8 shows in 11 days with no money.
Elevator Pitch:
In the summer of '99, skateboarders were outlaws in small towns everywhere. This is when Ian Comishin decided to take his home grown skateboard company on tour. The idea was to bring skateboarding and music to kids in small towns, something they would usually only see in cities or in magazines. Ian put together a team of four professional skateboarders and two bands. Financial sponsorship fell through at the last minute, but they built a portable skateboard park out of donated materials and set out across Western Canada to do what they love... 
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2/5/12,
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Ti West is back to his scary tricks with "The Innkeepers," his anticipated follow-up to his indie horror smash "The House of the Devil." In the haunted house thriller (which debuted at last year's SXSW film festival to solid notices), West updates the setting from the '80s-set "House" to the present day, to tell a spooky tale set at the real life (and reportedly haunted) Yankee Pedlar Inn. Sara Paxton ("Shark Night 3D") and Pat Healy ("Compliance") star as two young hotel clerks on a mission to prove that the historic site is indeed inhabited by ghosts.
[Editor's Note: This interview originally ran prior to the film hitting VOD. It opens in theaters this Friday, February 3.]
West caught up with Indiewire to discuss his latest foray into horror and the creepy true story that inspired him to make "The Innkeepers."
The story behind the reason you made “The Innkeepers” is almost as... 
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2/5/12,
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Why She’s On Our Radar: Chilean director/writer Marialy Rivas turned heads at the just-wrapped Sundance Film Festival with her sexually provocative debut, “Young & Wild.” Rivas, an award-winning short filmmaker (her short "Blokes" screened at the festival last year), walked away from this year's edition with the World Cinema Screenwriting Award, which she shared with her co-writers Camila Gutiérrez, Pedro Peirano and Sebastián Sepúlveda.??
“Young & Wild” centers on Daniela (Alicia Rodriguez), a 17-year-old girl raised within a strict evangelical family who secretly writes a sexually charged blog.
Rivas was inspired to make her foray into feature filmmaking after coming across a similar blog spearheaded by Gutiérrez, whom she approached to become one of the film’s co-writers. At the Sundance awards ceremony, Gutiérrez gave the best sound bite of the night in accepting her award:... 
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2/5/12,
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Ameena Matthews, one of the most visible members of the Chicago gang violence cessation group CeaseFire and one of the most beloved stars of Steve James' documentary about the group, "The Interrupters," made a trip to the Colbert Report last night to promote the February 14 airing of the film on PBS's Frontline.
"The Interrupters" follows Matthews and her CeaseFire colleagues as they use street-level tactics to fight gang violence in Chicago's Englewood community. The film won the Cinema Eye Honors award for best film earlier this year, but has been snubbed by the Oscars.
Time Magazine named Matthews' performance the 5th best on film in 2011. Check out Indiewire's interview with Matthews here.
Sporting a flashy pair of lightning bolt earrings, Matthews schools Stephen on what it means to be an interrupter and why her work is important: The Colbert Report
Get More: Colbert Report Full Episodes,Political... 
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2/5/12,
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With two movies to his name, British director Ben Wheatley has established himself as a master of relentlessly bleak, character-driven narratives with surprising flashes of comedy and multiple layers of subtext. "Kill List," which follows dark comedy "Down Terrace," feels like the apex of this approach, even though it's only his second feature. Skillfully delivering a tense, violent story of raging hitmen while telling a much stranger tale beneath the surface, Wheatley blends formulas to create one of the richest texts on midlife crises to come along in quite some time.
"Kill List" may involve murder, religious fanaticism and guts galore, but these elements represent a universal conundrum. Jay (Neil Maskell), an ex-military man, struggles with his droll suburban existence while in constant deadlock with his needy wife Shel (MyAnna Buring) and attending to the needs of their clueless young son. Wheatley opens with a frantic argument between the... 
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2/5/12,
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The International Film Festival Rotterdam has chosen Andrew Haigh's "Weekend" as the winner of their MovieSquad IFFR Award. The jury deciding upon the winner for the award is unique in that it consits of five members aged 15 to 19 years old.
There were twenty other films in the competition and other films nominated for the award by the jury were Christophe van Rompaey's "Lena" and Ruben Ostlund's "Play."
Full Press Release
PRESS RELEASE 2 February 2012
Andrew Haigh’s Weekend is young people’s jury favorite in Rotterdam
British film Weekend by Andrew Haigh (UK, 2011), selected in IFFR’s Bright Future section, has won the MovieSquad IFFR Award. The young people’s jury announced the winning film during the International Film Festival Rotterdam this afternoon during the MovieSquad Award Ceremony.
The MovieSquad jury consisted of five members aged 15 to 19 years: Nick Golterman,... 
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2/5/12,
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Paladin announced today that it will release "Otter 501." The film is a documentary/narrative hybrid that chronicles the rescue of an orphaned baby otter, told through the Facebook video posts of its rescuer.
The film will have its world premiere at this week's Santa Barbara Film Festival. Paladin will release the film this spring.
Full press release reprinted below: Paladin announced today that it will release OTTER 501, a new film that chronicles the true story of an orphaned baby otter who is rescued on the Northern California coast, per company president Mark Urman. The latest project from the award-winning and acclaimed filmmaking team at Sea Studios Foundation, OTTER 501 will have its world premiere at this week’s Santa Barbara Film Festival. Paladin plans a spring release for the film. A unique hybrid of fact and fiction that takes the traditional wildlife documentary into new and exciting storytelling realms, OTTER 501 is... 
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2/5/12,
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As the New York Giants face off against the New England Patriots at the Super Bowl this weekend for the NFL championship, Indiewire's curation of Hulu's Documentaries page offers a look into the dreams of victory of a number of other athletes. The fighting spirit shines through in the inspirational stories of college football teams, marathon runners, horse racers and one particularly determined mixed martial artist.
In "Harvard Beats Yale 29-29,"Kevin Rafferty recounts the historic 1968 football game between the rival universities, which saw two undefeated teams facing off to a wild and unexpected conclusion. The film is one of the quintessential docs on football, revealing the story of what's considered to be the most famous game in Ivy League football history.
College football is also the focus of "Heart of Geauxld." The Louisiana State University's Fighting Tigers - whose Cajun heritage is signaled by the title's unique spelling... 
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2/5/12,
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February is usually seen as a burial ground for movies. But look past the studio offerings and you'll find a slew of high quality indies, and foreign-language films that are definitely worth a trip to your local art house.
From Jafar Panahi and Bela Tarr to Ben Wheatley and Joshua Marston, check out Indiewire‘s picks for the seven best options, and then check out the full calendar; there’s many worthy films that didn’t make this list.
1. This is Not a Film (February 29, Palisades Tartan)
What's The Deal? In December of 2010, renowned Iranian director Jafar Panahi received a 6-year prison sentence and a 20-year ban from filmmaking due to his open support of the opposition party in Iran's 2009 election. In "This is Not a Film," which was secretly shot on an iPhone and a digital camera by Panahi's close friend Mojtaba Mirtahmasb and smuggled into France in a cake for a last-minute submission to Cannes, Panahi... 
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2/5/12,
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"Gasland" director Josh Fox was arrested yesterday while documenting a public hearing concerning the topic of hyrdaulic fracturing (fracking). As Indiewire reported yesterday, Fox was later released.
The arrest, whose lack of ground is attested to by Fox in the clip (he explains how he received permission), was also questioned by a female voice who asked the representatives on the panel "What about transparency?"
"Gasland" and "Gasland 2" attempt to uncover the oil and gas industry's coverup of the alleged adverse effects of fracking.
Last night, after Fox was released, he headed to MSNBC's "The Ed Show," where he explained to Ed Schultz why he was at the public hearing. Fox also addressed "Gasland 2," which he says is very nearly done.
Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy 
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