The countdown is ON for our **major** March 1st DVD/VOD release event that will connect the screenings and festivities in Vancouver, LA, Denver, Chicago, New York and Atlanta and bring them to YOU at weliveinpublicthemovie.com beginning at 5:30pm PST.   The grand hostess of the LA branch of this affair will be none other than the gorgeous Eliza Dushku, who released this statement about WE LIVE IN PUBLIC:

“We Live In Public is an extraordinary film that I have followed since it won the Grand Jury Prize at Sundance last year.  The film has travelled the globe and captivated audiences with an extremely powerful message regarding today’s Internet culture. In addition to being a compelling doc about entrepreneur Josh Harris, WLIP asks the hard question: what happens when we start to live in a virtual world rather than in the physical one. Witnessing Ondi document Josh’s joy and suffering caused by living a public life on the web, the film challenges us to look at whether or not social networking is worth the loss of our own privacy and dignity. As an actress in a culture of celebrity, I know all too well that I exist in my own virtual “pod” and this films sheds light on my own existence.  As Ondi Timoner’s producing partner on her next project, a Robert Mapplethorpe biopic, I’ve been thrilled to support her current journey with We Live in Public.  You must see it to believe it.  I ask you to join us. I am honored and excited to be a part of the 6-city live streaming broadcast, video on demand and DVD release with Ondi and her followers.  Using today’s technology, we will come together from all corners of the country to a common place and send off this astonishing film for a wide release.  Congratulations, Ondi.

Thanks, Eliza — we love you!

Ondi and Eliza at Sundance 2009

If you are going to be in any of our hub cities on March 1st, come join us live!  Details on weliveinpublicthemovie.com.

We’re packing our bags and heading back to the scene of the crime, and by crime we mean Park City, Utah, home of all things Sundance.  WE LIVE IN PUBLIC, as you probably know, took the Grand Jury Award for Best Documentary at Sundance 2009 and director Ondi Timoner also won the Grand Jury Award for DIG! in 2004, making her the first filmmaker to take home the award twice in the festival’s history.  This endears them to us greatly.  We are thrilled to return to screen WE LIVE IN PUBLIC as a part of the Sundance Institute Film Series.

Wednesday, December 2
Park City Library, 7pm

In their words:

“Timoner offers a fascinating ten-year chronicle of internet pioneer Josh Harris as he launched an art experiment involving more than 100 artists living in a New York City bunker under 24-hour surveillance. Timoner couples Harris’s footage from his exhibitions with rousing vérité of her own for a sexy, yet cautionary tale where we all become Big Brother.”

Ondi will be there in person for a post-screening Q+A!

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!

In anticipation of our UK theatrical premiere on Friday November 13th, WE LIVE IN PUBLIC will be screening at the Irish Film Institute in Dublin Ireland tonight!

Irish Film Institute
6 Eustace Street
Temple Bar
Dublin 2
T: 353 1 679 5744
info@irishfilm.ie
Tuesday November 10 2009
18:30
More info:http://tinyurl.com/yj9yrha

Grab a friend and come on out!

The roommates ducked down to Anaheim for a baseball game and ended up getting snapped by the New York Daily News.   Via Gawker…

http://gawker.com/5386797/jason-calacanis-manages-to-annoy-angels-stadium-security-guards

Ha!

The San Francisco Bay Guardian had some kind words to say about our documentary to mark the theatrical release of our film in their fair city. Check out the piece that just ran:

San Francisco Bay Guardian
“Documentarian Ondi Timoner (2004′s DiG!) turns her camera on a longtime acquaintance, internet pioneer Josh Harris, as talented and maddening a subject as DiG! trainwreck Anton Newcombe… Fascinating…”
http://www.sfbg.com/entry.php?entry_id=9201&catid=85&l=1

It has been a lovefest between WE LIVE IN PUBLIC and the SFBG for awhile now.  Look at this rave review in the lead-up to our 2009 Sundance Grand Jury win!

We Live in Public, directed by Ondi Timoner
Fascinatingly addictive, this follow up to Timoner’s cult classic Dig! (which won the Sundance Grand Jury Prize in 2004) follows the bi-polar exploits of Internet pioneer Josh Harris. This man predicted every single step of the internet and the jaw dropping footage of his “experiments” are here to prove it. In 1999 he created a quasi-cult community in the basement of New York, in which people were given pods to sleep in, free food, drugs, and all night raves while every move was being recorded and shared. Even now, the uncompromising footage has the power to warp the viewer into his Orwellian vision of the future. But wait — that’s not all: Harris then goes on to rig 32 motion-sensor cameras in his house, creating the first website to stream his and girlfriend’s every life moment. I can’t express enough how awesome this film is, or how horrifyingly revealing of where our own society has headed. You wanna talk about the film of Sundance ’09? Look no further.
LINK

Come see us at the Roxie, SF.  Starts tomorrow Oct. 2nd.  BUY TICKETS HERE

We are now doing daily postings of the bits and bobs from the 5000 hours of footage that we collected over the course of making WE LIVE IN PUBLIC.   Get our ***widget*** from the home page of our site and click on WEB EXCLUSIVES to see a new clip every day.  And please… post our widget on your blog, site, facebook account and wherever you shake your sh*t online!

If you can’t make it to our theatrical opening at the NuArt and our fete at the Shangri-La, come hang out with us and the folks at LiveStream for our streaming webcast **tonight**!  The action starts around 9pm PST, during the post-screening Q+A session with Ondi and Josh.  Then the cameras head off to the party to shoot the fun. Tune in to weliveinpublicthemovie.com to see the webcast.

And for you Los Angelenos who want to be there in the flesh:
We will be at the NuArt Theater in Los Angeles for a week, but if you go today, bring your ticket stub to the after party for entry.
More info about our NuArt theatrical run HERE
BUY TICKETS HERE

After party info:
Hotel Shangri-La
1301 Ocean Ave
Santa Monica, CA 90401
Starts 10pm

Love WE LIVE IN PUBLIC?  Then you you will be a fan of our extra-awesome widget.  In addition to being a handy source of info about our theatrical dates and so forth, there’s a little button on there called “Web Exclusives” that will take you to secret bonus content that isn’t in the film and our first installation is live NOW.  We will be rolling out new extra footage and great scenes that hit the cutting room floor over the next few months, so go to the HOME PAGE OF OUR SITE and find it.   But don’t stop there!  PLEASE SHARE the widget with the world by putting it on your facebook or myspace page, your blog, your site and everywhere else you can think of to help us spread the word!  Click that little Share button and go to town .   Thanks!

You might not know that between DIG! and WE LIVE IN PUBLIC, director Ondi Timoner made a documentary called JOIN US.  The film follows the story of four families over two years as they attempt to break free from one of the 5000 active cults in America.  It features not only an intimate look at the inner workings of the only accredited live-in cult treatment center in the world, but also includes in-depth interviews with the abusive yet persuasive cult leader himself.  The doc is premiering tonight on the Sundance Channel — check out the SCHEDULE.  You can also see scenes from the film and the trailer at joinusthemovie.com.  Tune in!

“Creepy… An interesting, eerie film…” Ain’t It Cool News
“An unusually intimate experience… Intense drama!”  Variety