A story in today's New York Times talks about a film and television titles competition coming up at South by Southwest. One of the 18 finalists is Mike McCarthy's "Cigarette Girl," which gets a parenthetical mention in the story:

(Among the entries at South by Southwest, “Cigarette Girl,” an independent film about a world in which smoking restrictions have murderous consequences, is one that recalls the Bass oeuvre: guns, cigarettes and people flicker between the real and the abstract, over a cool-toned soundtrack.)

Read the NYT story here.

Richard Banks of the Memphis Business Quarterly interviewed Memphis & Shelby County Film and Television Commissioner Linn Sitler in a blog item titled "What the Movie Industry Means to Memphis."

Sitler explained some details about film incentives available here and the financial impact of filmmaking in Memphis.

Read the blog here, and meanwhile, since it's Oscar time, the blog ran a list of films produced in the Memphis area or with a Memphis connection that got Academy Award nominations or wins:

Hallelujah, 1929/30: 1 nomination
The Firm, 1993: 2 nominations
The Client, 1994: 1 nomination
The People vs. Larry Flynt, 1996: 2 nominations
Cast Away, 2000: 2 nominations
Walk The Line, 2005: 5 nominations and 1 win
21 Grams, 2003: 2 nominations
Hustle & Flow, 2005: 2 nominations and 1 win
In The Valley of Elah, 2007: 1 nomination

“Festivals enhance the cultural life of a city. We have judges and special guests who fall in love with Memphis and want to come back. It’s a pattern we see over and over.”

Erik Jambor, executive director of Indie Memphis, said these words as part of his presentation Thursday morning to the Greater Memphis Chamber’s Breakfast Forum.

Read Joe Boone's story in the Daily News here.

John Michael McCarthy - aka the Godfather of Memphis indie film - is one of the instigators of the upcoming tribute to Sivad (see posting below).

Here's a link to Les Smith's story and video on Channel 13/MyFox Memphis on JMM's re-creation of one of the Fantastic Features episodes from those black-and-white days of yore and gore.