By MCN Editor editor@moviecitynews.com

“Digital movie delivery is a deceit,” says Facets Multimedia

Posted Friday, July 15th, 2011 - Comments Off on “Digital movie delivery is a deceit,” says Facets Multimedia
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Membership in Facets Multi-Media’s DVD rental service has soared by nearly 40% in the past year. Membership affords free rentals from Facets’ library of over 65,000 titles, including art house, classic, foreign, documentary and silent films on DVD, and – for those with the technology to support it – VHS.

“At this moment, the digital delivery of movies is a deceit,” said Milos Stehlik director of Facets. “It’s like 1,000 channels of television, with nothing to watch. For anyone who loves movies, DVD is today still the best option.”

Facets continues to focus on expanding its video library with many import releases and independently produced films on DVD.  These are all available to rent by mail – a service Facets pioneered with VHS in 1983. “The DVD is a fragile and temporal medium, and DVDs go out of print very quickly. Many of the films in the Facets DVD library are rare and now out-of-print,” said Stehlik. Facets also keeps – and continues to collect – films in VHS which never made the transition from VHS to DVD.

“For us, the overriding principle is to make all the great films available and accessible to our members,” said Stehlik. “Our commitment is to preserve the art of film. For now, the DVD format is still the best platform. This may change in the future, but the future isn’t here yet.”

While Facets is committed to collecting and lending films in DVD and VHS formats for as long as the disks or tapes hold out, they are also hard at work on a new and innovative means of online movie delivery. Even then, Facets would continue to preserve those films which are not available for online streaming or download in DVD or VHS – “as long as there are players to play them back.”

The Facets DVD collection includes not only releases from mainstream studios, but from thousands of independent DVD publishers and Facets’ own DVD publishing label. The Facets collection is astonishing and unique for its breadth and depth, with films from the birth of the silent film era to the work of cutting-edge film directors fresh from some of the world’s great film festivals.

Memberships at Facets (which include free shipping of DVDs, no late fees, online rental queue, and recommendations by a knowledgeable staff of film experts) start at $8.99 and range to $23.99 per month. The Chicago-based non-profit organization was founded by Stehlik in 1975.

For further information about Facets movie rental plans and online catalog, visit www.facetsmovies.com or call 1-800-532-2387.

Facets Video | 1517 W. Fullerton Ave. | Chicago, IL 60614 | Facets Multi-Media, founded in 1975, is a non-profit, 501(C)3 organization, and a leading national media arts organization.

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It shows how out of it I was in trying to be in it, acknowledging that I was out of it to myself, and then thinking, “Okay, how do I stop being out of it? Well, I get some legitimate illogical narrative ideas” — some novel, you know?

So I decided on three writers that I might be able to option their material and get some producer, or myself as producer, and then get some writer to do a screenplay on it, and maybe make a movie.

And so the three projects were “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep,” “Naked Lunch” and a collection of Bukowski. Which, in 1975, forget it — I mean, that was nuts. Hollywood would not touch any of that, but I was looking for something commercial, and I thought that all of these things were coming.

There would be no Blade Runner if there was no Ray Bradbury. I couldn’t find Philip K. Dick. His agent didn’t even know where he was. And so I gave up.

I was walking down the street and I ran into Bradbury — he directed a play that I was going to do as an actor, so we know each other, but he yelled “hi” — and I’d forgot who he was.

So at my girlfriend Barbara Hershey’s urging — I was with her at that moment — she said, “Talk to him! That guy really wants to talk to you,” and I said “No, fuck him,” and keep walking.

But then I did, and then I realized who it was, and I thought, “Wait, he’s in that realm, maybe he knows Philip K. Dick.” I said, “You know a guy named—” “Yeah, sure — you want his phone number?”

My friend paid my rent for a year while I wrote, because it turned out we couldn’t get a writer. My friends kept on me about, well, if you can’t get a writer, then you write.”
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