Filmies Meeting, 6 p.m. May 8

Funimation will be our guests at the next Filmies group meeting Tuesday, May 8, 2007, at the PourHouse, 209 W. Fifth St. in downtown Fort Worth.
In case you don't know, Funimation folks brought us Dragonball Z, Basilsk and other great anime via Cartoon Network and other media, plus the live-action film Shinobi on DVD, which I wrote about in February. Anime is Japanese animation.

Debra J. Kennedy, Funimation vice president of marketing and a University of Texas at Austin alumnae, will be the guest speaker.

Funimation is a Tarrant County-based company -- who knew? -- and they're doing a lot of cool things. So come out to the PourHouse and get the inside scoop.

Filmies is a Fort Worth Sister Cities International Film Special Interest Group. We meet monthly to hang out, talk about movies and have a beer after work.

Learn about our upcoming international film series that will be held simultaneously and in partnership with the Lone Star International Film Festival in Nov. 8-11, 2007.

RSVP to Lisa Gail Barnes at Sister Cities (lisa@fwsistercities.org), or request more information.

Kala Premiers

Joko Anwar’s new film Kala (Dead Time) hit theaters in Jakarta last weekend to raves.

“The reviews have been overwhelming. The buzz on the Internet and from filmgoers has been great,” Anwar told Filmies over the weekend.

Anwar’s film blends Indonesian culture and classic Indonesian horror films with film noir to create a film unlike any seen by audiences, according to the review in the Jakarta Post. The film evokes Dark City and Naked Lunch, the review says.

This is Anwar's second directorial project. His first was 2005's Janji Joni (Joni's Promise). Previously he wrote the script for the hit Indonesian film Arisan!.

Anwar cast his Kala with popular Indonesian stars, including Shanty, Fachri Albar and Fahrani.

The trailers look great, with cool cinematography. Hope we get to see it.