So the Best Doc category shortlist came out and we are sad to announce that The Academy wasn’t badass enough to include our film.  Maybe the soundtrack scared them off (what’s this… David Bowie? Sigur Ros? The Pixies? Sniff…) or maybe they couldn’t handle the fact that we didn’t include an interview with an environmentalist — we don’t know.   Other great and notable docs that were not shortlisted include the amazing ANVIL! THE STORY OF ANVIL by our friend Sacha Gervasi, CAPITALISM: A LOVE STORY by Michael Moore and TYSON, by James Toback.  Some awards-watchers are getting our back and taking public note of the oversight.  Check it out:

New York Times
The Oscar Race for Documentaries: Who Got Snubbed?
“Among the documentaries whose Oscars dreams ended on Wednesday were some well-regarded and widely discussed films, including…  WE LIVE IN PUBLIC, a film by Ondi Timoner about the fallen dot-com millionaire Josh Harris and his increasing obsession with issues of surveillance and privacy.”

Variety
15 Docs on Oscar shortlist
“The year’s highest-grossing docu, Michael Moore’s “Capitalism: A Love Story,” which opened Sept. 23, in time for the Academy’s Sept. 30 cutoff date, did not make the list. Other high-profile docs absent from the list include ‘The September Issue,’ ‘Tyson,’ ‘Anvil! The Story of Anvil,’ ‘It Might Get Loud’ and ‘We Live in Public.’”

Collider
15 Documentaries on Oscar Short-List; ANVIL!, WE LIVE IN PUBLIC and CAPITALISM Not Among Them
“While there are some deserved, if unsurprising, inclusions such as Food Inc. and The Cove, what’s more interesting are the films that didn’t make the cut. I’m upset about the We Live in Public, which won the Grand Jury Prize award in the U.S. documentary category at this year’s Sundance Film Festival. ”

Film Junk
Anvil! The Story of Anvil Among Academy Award Documentary Snubs
“…Considering the kinds of docs typically recognized by the Academy Awards, it’s easy to see why people might be turned off from the genre. Year after year, they seem to place higher value on “important” subjects, rather than deft storytelling and artistic merit… there are all kinds of other critically acclaimed films that were shunned including: We Live in Public”

Movieline
9 First Impressions of the Oscars’ Documentary Short List
“Wow. After all that innovation, audience outreach and Academy dispensation, We Live in Public still got screwed… Nothing against the films or filmmakers, many of which are very good, but come on.”

In any case, congrats to all the filmmakers who made the list, particularly Louie Psihoyos who made THE COVE and Robbie Kenner of FOOD, INC!

WE LIVE IN PUBLIC plays our second screening tomorrow night in Montreal at the RIDM, which is apparently a French acronym for Big Documentary Festival.  We got a whopping 5 STARS off of The Gazette film reviewer, Mark Tremblay who raves that we are, “one of the most compelling and technically accomplished films you’re likely to see this year.”

Last chance!  SATURDAY NOVEMBER 21st, report to Cinema ONF at 9:15pm!  Click here for INFO.

We begin a theatrical run in The Land Of The Artist Formally Known As Prince tonight, Friday November 20th at the Lagoon Cinema, a Landmark Theatre.  Get your tickets now — this is a one week only engagement!

Click HERE for showtimes, theater and ticket info

Thanks so much for the warm welcome in anticipation of our arrival.  Chris Hewitt in the Pioneer Press listed us first out of “the five best movies in theaters now”, alongside WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE and the Coen Brothers’ A SERIOUS MAN.  He writes, “Shocking and powerful, this documentary starts out profiling Internet pioneer Josh Harris but becomes the story of how Harris’ obsession with all things www brought about his ruin. *** 1/2″ Full article: The five best movies in theaters now

The Star Tribune also raves, “WE LIVE IN PUBLIC is a whirlwind look at an eccentric personality in a turbulent time. It’s a story of hubris punished… It also asks pointed questions about how far people will prostitute themselves for attention, how the virtual world forms and deforms our personal lives. *** 1/2″  Full article: “We Live in Public” follows a dot-com Mad Hatter

And vita.mn, an online arbiter of cool things to do in the Twin Cities, posted a great article profiling director Ondi Timoner. ”Like DIG!, her 2004 documentary about dueling indie-rockers, Ondi Timoner’s WE LIVE IN PUBLIC is both a study and product of extreme obsession… intensely immersive.”  Full article: ‘Public’ affairs with Ondi Timoner

Thanks and see you at the Lagoon!

Indulge me in this excuse to pull out my high school French.  Bonjour, nous allons a Montreal ce soir.  Ok, I’m over it.  WE LIVE IN PUBLIC has two upcoming screenings at the Rencontres Internationales Du Documentaire De Montreal (RIDM) festival in Montreal Canada, and the first one is TONIGHT!

November 19  9:30pm
Grande Bibliotheque

November 21 9:15pm
ONF Cinema

Click HERE for info about the screenings.

Gather up your amis and come out to support WE LIVE IN PUBLIC!

“This is a remarkable film about a strange and prophetic man [4 STARS]“ Roger Ebert in the Chicago Sun-Times

We begin a theatrical run in The Land Of The Artist Formally Known As Prince tomorrow, Friday November 20th at the Lagoon Cinema, a Landmark Theatre.  Get your tickets now — this is a one week only engagement!

Click HERE for showtimes and info.

We are coming to you, Land of the Big Arch,  bringing documentary magic to delight and astound you.  We kick off the fun TONIGHT, November 19th, 2009 as part of the 18th Annual Whitaker St. Louis International Film Festival.  We are playing at the Tivoli 1 at 7pm.

We have three screenings at the 22nd International Documentary Film Festival (IDFA) in Amsterdam.  This has become the largest doc fest in the world and we are excited to be there for it!   Ondi is in Amsterdam and will be at the Thursday and Friday screenings for post-film Q+A sessions.

Showtime info:
Munt 11  Thursday Nov 19th  5:45pm
OBA   Friday Nov 20th  8pm  — TONIGHT!
Tuschinski 4  Nov 28th 9pm

Get your tickets HERE!

Also, this Friday November 20th, WE LIVE IN PUBLIC opens theatrically in Minneapolis at the Lagoon Cinema, a Landmark Theatre. Get your seats, grab your friends and go!

Our London theatrical run at the Odeon has been going so well, they’ve asked us to stick around for another week.  Do not pass go, do not collect 200 dollars, get your British bum over to the Odeon and catch us while you still can!  Click here for tickets and screening times.

For those of you in Manchester, Belfast, Bath, Newbury, Edinburgh and Northampton, we have upcoming screenings in your neck of the woods as well in the upcoming days.   Below is the current screening info as we take this little blog post to press, but click HERE for the most up-to-date info…

WE LIVE IN PUBLIC UK Screenings

Wednesday 18 November

London – Odeon Panton Street

Thursday 19 November

London – Odeon Panton Street

Manchester – Cornerhouse – Time 20:30

Friday 20 November

Belfast – Queen’s Film Theatre

London – Odeon Panton Street

Saturday 21 November

Belfast – Queen’s Film Theatre

London – Odeon Panton Street

Sunday 22 November

Belfast – Queen’s Film Theatre

London – Odeon Panton Street

Monday 23 November

Belfast – Queen’s Film Theatre

London – Odeon Panton Street

Tuesday 24 November

Bath – Little Theatre Cinema – Time 20:45

Belfast – Queen’s Film Theatre

London – Odeon Panton Street

Newbury – The Corn Exchange

Wednesday 25 November

Belfast – Queen’s Film Theatre

London – Odeon Panton Street

Newbury - The Corn Exchange

Thursday 26 November

Belfast – Queen’s Film Theatre

London – Odeon Panton Street

Tuesday 22 December

Edinburgh – Edinburgh Filmhouse

Wednesday 23 December

Edinburgh – Edinburgh Filmhouse

Monday 25 January

Northampton – Forum Cinema

Tuesday 26 January

Northampton – Forum Cinema

As Ondi and Josh jetset around the world, WE LIVE IN PUBLIC will make an appearance at the 18th Annual Whitaker St Louis International Film Festival this Thursday November 19th at 7pm at the Tivoli 1.  This is a great festival with tons of amazing films and we are excited to be a part of it.  Tell your Missouri friends!

Check out what some journalists and bloggers have had to say on behalf of WE LIVE IN PUBLIC recently.  Links included wherever they were available — some of the press has not been made available online yet!

Empire Magazine
“There is no doubting [Josh Harris'] grasp of the fame-obsessed, gadgetphile psyche… frantically compelling… chilling. [FOUR STARS]“

The List
“Harris occupies the dangerous netherworld on which genius and mental fragility occupy a precarious balance.  WE LIVE IN PUBLIC is compulsively addictive, if remarkably unsettling as things get ugly.”

Heat Magazine
Heat’s Top 10 Films: The Best Films To See In Cinemas Right Now!
“Ondi Timoner, who made ace doc DIG!, succeeds again with a study of a bonkers… internet entrepreneur.”

Rock Sound
“Exploring the genius behind Josh Harris, a man who could predict the future of the internet, WE LIVE IN PUBLIC is an interesting and thought-provoking documentary.”

Shadows on the Wall
“In documenting the story of one of the internet’s chief innovators, filmmaker Timoner explores the profound way online communities have changed Western society. It’s a fast-paced, entertaining movie, and it really makes us think.”
http://www.shadowsonthewall.co.uk/09/dh.htm#weli

Huffington Post
ReThink Interview: Josh Harris — Nostradamus of the Net Tells Your Online Future
“The timing is right for Ondi Timoner’s excellent new documentary…”
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jonathan-kim/rethink-interview-josh-ha_b_336255.html

Wired
Review: WE LIVE IN PUBLIC Profiles a Web Eccentric
“Ondi Timoner always looks for the love and humanity in the subjects of her documentaries…”
http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2009-10/27/review-we-live-in-public-profiles-a-web-eccentric.aspx

Telegraph (UK)
Why It’s Impossible To Commite Digital Suicide – Even If You Really, Really Want To
“[WE LIVE IN PUBLIC] is part history lesson, part cautionary tale… I was gripped, sickened, horror-struck.”
http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/technology/basheerakhan/100004116/why-its-impossible-to-commit-digital-suicide-even-if-you-really-really-want-to/

Electric Sheep
WE LIVE IN PUBLIC: Interview with Ondi Timoner
“Excellent… WE LIVE IN PUBLIC offers a fascinating insight into the way that living through technology can affect our physical lives and personal identities”
http://www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk/features/2009/11/01/we-live-in-public-interview-with-ondi-timoner/

Slash Film
End of an Era: Miramax President Quite, Disney All But Shutters The Label
“The big-ticket indie represented by Miramax is almost a dinosaur… and there’s been a great deal of commentary in the past six months about the death of the American indie. But if it is truly dying, then how did we get Big Fan, World’s Greatest Dad, Precious, We Live in Public, That Evening Sun, Black Dynamite (bought by Sony Classics, but not made by them) and many other true indies this year? The landscape is changing, and fast, but it isn’t dying. This is a changing of the guard, if a difficult one.”
http://www.slashfilm.com/2009/11/02/end-of-an-era-miramax-president-quits-disney-all-but-shutters-the-label/

AdPulp
Control Your Screens, Or Your Screens Will Control You
“Back away from the screen. Turn the cell phone off and walk outside for at least one hour. Do it now…”
http://www.adpulp.com/archives/2009/06/control_your_sc.php

Sound Screen
“[Josh Harris] decides to launch a ‘social experiment’. In return for abandoning their lives for a month the prisoners (for once you are in, you are not allowed to leave) are granted free food and drink. There’s a cereal bar! And an arms room bursting with all manner of guns, rifles and weaponry! It doesn’t take long for events to spiral out of control….”
http://www.sound-screen.co.uk/index.php/2009/10/the-times-bfi-london-film-festival-live-blog-reviews/

Fuck Off Film
“I found this documentary just fucking fascinating… this is a great watch and for me one of the surprises of the year.”
http://www.fuckofffilm.com/movie-and-film-reviews/2009/11/11/we-live-in-public.html

The Blarg
Quick Movie Review: WE LIVE IN PUBLIC
“[WE LIVE IN PUBLIC] left me feeling embarassed for Harris, ashamed of what humans are capable of, and terrified for the future that lies ahead. I can’t wait to see it again.  Big Brother is now.”
http://theblarg.wordpress.com/2009/10/22/quick-movie-review-we-live-in-public/

Imagine This.
“WE LIVE IN PUBLIC is the most f*cked up movie i have ever seen, because it’s real and it’s happening.”
http://journal.marisaduma.net/2009/11/08/imagine-this/

Mellotron Sounds
“If you get the chance to catch this on a big screen, jump at it. This one seems like it very well could define a generation…”
http://www.mellotronsounds.com/2009/11/trailer-rush-splurge-i.html

The Web And Me
“[WE LIVE IN PUBLIC] did speak to some of the fears I have about extreme Internet use. One of these is my worry about the effects of obsessive use on human interactions and other behaviours… Yes, Google Streetview is cool, but if I can see the pansies on my front porch, what do the authorities see? (Hi guys!)”
http://thewebandme.blogspot.com/2009/10/we-live-in-public.html