The Five: 01.07.25 Edition

We are back! But the truth is we will never leave you. And neither will the truth.

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“So, what is hope, and what is hope for? Hope is an emotional temper that emboldens the heart to be active, it is a condition, a mood, an aura of being. It is a feat of the imagination, both courageous and ingenious, a vitality that inspires us to take innovative action to defend the world. Hope is essential to our survival and our flourishing.

We achieve this vitality of spirit by rejecting the relentless promotion of despair and opening our eyes to the beauty of things, however imperilled, degraded, or difficult to love the world may appear to be. We try to view the world not as it is packaged, presented and sold to us but as we imagine it could be. We do not look away from the world, we look directly at it and allow the spirit of hope - the necessary driver of change -- to inspire us to action.” —Nick Cave - The Red Hand Files

Have a cup of coffee, join us and contemplate a few things why don’t you? Give us 3-5 minutes, two or three times a week, and HFF’s The Five will give you links, ponders and wonders relevant to those who desire a non-dependent cinema ecosystem (and a few other things too!).

The Five: 01.07.25 Edition:

1 Amazon enters the MAGA-movie era, and I have something to say about it.

2 #MustSee: Marco Brambilla’s latest video art piece

3 Yup. The Cultural Collapse is getting worse.

4 How you can get specific advice from me for free.

5 Updates to the HopeForFilm newsletter!

But before you begin, let me remind you that today (1/7) is the last day for our EOY 2024 20% an annual subscription. Rates go up tomorrow!

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ICYMI: A recent change or two to HopeForFilm

I have recently made two changes to this newsletter. Please let me know if you like them, although it will take awhile to complete them.

Your are going to have to visit the online version of this newsletter to see them though. If you go to the website, you will notice a slew of additions to the navigation bar. They are two types: Tags & Columns. The difference is the Columns (“The Five” and “Hopeful Conversations”) you can subscribe or unsubscribe to separately to. Both come with a subscription to HopeForFilm, but you can exclude any part of the subscription. So if you only want to get my links, ponders, and wonders, just “subscribe” to TheFive. Ditto if you don’t want to get the interviews I do with filmmakers or executives, then “unsubscribe” to HopefulConversations. Many readers have requested I return to interviews, and I am going to try to accommodate, although actual work remains a barrier.

The other tool I am using is “Tags” and then selecting to add those tags to the navigation bar on the top. Let me know if you have suggestions for additional Tags.

I have written over 350 posts and it would have been nice to figure this out from the get go. But I failed. So it will take some time to sort it out. Your patience is appreciated. I hope it helps make this experience better for you.

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Can I offer you some advice? For free!