Michael Morgenstern

Interview with the Rhode Island Film Festival!

The Rhode Island Film Festival posted an interview I gave about my film. It’s a preview of the plot, explained in an (endearingly?) rambling fashion. What happened to all the lessons I learned from my Speech and Debate teacher?? It’s filmed by Kieran Delaney, who I got to

Videos from Greece & Bulgaria

It turns out that when you upload something from an iPhone on Pixelpipe, it will post it everywhere even if the upload fails. I had about 5 copies of the same videos, some of them not working at all. Here’s all of the videos in one post. I’ll

Leaving for Greece, Bulgaria & Italy

I leave in a few hours for a trip to Greece, Bulgaria, and Italy. I may be posting oncer or twice, but I will be primarily video blogging when I have the chance! With a jailbroken iPhone, cycorder, and pixelpipe, I will be able to upload videos as soon as

Rhode Island, more press, and a respite from insanity

This week has been an absolute whirlwind. After hosting a conversation with Sophie Barthes and Andrij Parekh of Cold Souls, I headed on a morning train to Rhode Island to catch the film festival. The festival game is a perfect study in vested interests. A festival is looking to improve

Launch of Digital Democracy TV!

I’ve been involved for a few months with the good folks at Digital Democracy, who are working with groups around Burma’s border to bring better communication technology to the region. It began with a study by co-founders Emily Jacobi and Mark Belinsky, which found a correlation between access

Castle on High screening at Docufest Atlanta!

Great news! I just received an email from Eric Panter, Festival Director of the Atlanta Underground Film Festival, with the announcement that Castle on High will now be screening at Docufest Atlanta! If you will be in Atlanta on August 30 at 6:00 PM or know somebody who will,

Castle on High at the Rhode Island Film Festival!

Well, the time has finally come when I can show you all my movie at the film festival. It’s going to be a fantastic experience, and I really hope you all can make it! The film festival will be a great opportunity to get my work out there and

Effects shot for Imaginary Friend

I created this several-second shot for a friend a few months back. Scenes like this one are difficult for a filmmaker because, unless you have a very big budget, you can only create a hole in a wall once. This means that some scenes have to be shot without the

Seeking a yearly clock

I’ve been scouring the internet for this everywhere, and I’ve concluded it’s not being sold. I’m looking for a large clock (about two feet or more in diameter) that ticks once a day and goes in a circle once a year. It would have watercolor paintings

Firefox ftw and I never even noticed. (EDIT: maybe not...)

Back when Mozilla Firefox was first gaining popularity, I used to check W3Schools’ browser usage chart, which breaks down browser marketshare as reported by a number of websites. I kept hoping impatiently that Firefox would overtake Internet Explorer. Well I just checked tonight and, as it turns out, this occurred

Derrida and banana bread

I noticed this sign at Film Forum in New York. What an endorsement!! To understand it fully, though, we will have to dig deeply…

Embryo Adoption??

The front page article of this week’s Village Voice discusses a new niche sect of the Pro-Life movement that seeks to rebrand a frozen embryo as a child with human rights, and the process of in-vitro fertilization as “adoption.” It’s a fascinating read. From Village Voice: Since 1997,

The Turmoil in the Industry: Part Three

In the last two posts I have covered the challenges facing our industry – financing its films when the distribution model is defunct, monetizing the Internet where users expect to pay nothing, and conquering the crowd logic of moviegoers and the advertising budgets of the big players. The situation seems dire,

The Turmoil in the Industry: Part Two

In part one of this series, I laid out the challenges facing the indepedent film industry today – namely, financing its films when the distribution model is defunct. In this post I will explain some of the particular challenges of the internet. Indie film has never had a great model, and

RestFest: The Festival for the Rest

I want to create a film festival for films that got rejected from other festivals. To be in it, you submit your film along with at least 30 festival rejection letters. It will be called “RestFest: The Festival for the Rest.” Then, everyone would get high and watch the films.

The Turmoil in the Industry: Part One

After over 100 conversations and meetings with industry leaders here in New York, I have not come up with a paying job, but have come to some pretty interesting preliminary conclusions. The independent film industry in New York City is on life support, and it has been since even before

Two months, and what a ride!

I write this from my parents’ house in Los Angeles. I am visiting home for the first time in two months, and the brief pause from my day-to-day has given me time to reflect. It’s been a roller coaster of two months, and it feels more like a year.

Okay fine, I love Twitter. There, I said it.

As the token blogger/iPhoner/techno-geek of my friends, I am often asked, “what do you think of Twitter?” The question is usually posed with a sideways glance and a look of utter confusion: neither my friends nor I know what to think of it. My answer always begins, “I’

Waiting for justice

Tomorrow morning at 10am, the California Supreme Court will announce its ruling on Proposition 8. We’ve been waiting since the November election for a verdict on the constitutionality of this ballot measure: can the California population vote on a measure that restricts a preexisting right of other citizens? Also,

On Food Stamps: Julie's Great Experiment

Could you survive on $35 of food per week? That’s the typical budget of a person on food stamps, and eating within it requires discipline, creativity, and an awareness of the options available. My friend Julie Flynn has put herself to the test for an entire month, eating vegan

Vote for me in Massify contest!

I’ve entered a short film concept in Massify’s online competition. Please check it out here and vote for it! Hope you enjoy it – please leave comments on the page! The film is set in the year 2015, and explores our relationship to technology and how it is likely

Real Estate Sucks

This week I got my first taste of what it feels like to be a New York renter, and let me tell you – it’s terrible. The NY real estate market has softened considerably in the past year. It used to be that a buyer would have to enter apartments

A quick update

The mid-Atlantic is beautiful in April. My friends who went through the bitter winter get angry at me for saying that – the sun doesn’t bake down and it’s certainly not swimsuit weather. Coming from a 60°F purgatory, 40°F is so refreshing when standing in a jacket.

Get Your Calendaring Together!

I know a lot of very organized people who have their lives in order and are always responsible with their daily schedules. What blows my mind, though, is how few of them have really figured out their calendaring solution such that their calendars work for them. There’s no excuse

Want some good reading? Try your browser history.

People have different ways of browsing. Some go on a completely linear path, some keep a few linear paths. I tend to have 10-20 windows open and jump around as haphazardly as a gopher on a hot plate. Your internet usage patterns says a lot about your attention, your productivity,