Writer / director John August published his thoughts about illegal downloads of his movie The Nines in a blog post here and here.

People are going to watch the pirated version, and there’s nothing I can do about it. Sony, Interpol and the MPAA will do their best, but as the guy who made the movie, I honestly want people to see the movie. If the only way you’re going to watch The Nines is illegally, so be it.

I really admire and respect his perspective, as a filmmaker you want people to watch your movie, and if they wouldn´t watch it in cinema or on DVD, it´s better they watch an illegal copy than not watching it.

I strongly encourage people to buy the DVD to honor the work of him, i will definitely, but since the mills in Europe grind a little bit slower i have to wait until march (the DVD is realeased at the end of Jan. in the USA, and i want to save the shipping…).

As The One Ring just states “The Hobbit” will go into production with Peter Jackson and Fran Walsh as Executive Producers.

I´ve been waiting for this announcement since the beginning of the LOTR trilogy, and i really hoped that Peter Jackson would be in charge again, the trilogy is a cinematic experience that probably can only be topped by “The Hobbit”.

I’m very pleased that we’ve been able to put our differences behind us, so that we may begin a new chapter with our old friends at New Line. ‘The Lord of the Rings’ is a legacy we proudly share with Bob and Michael, and together, we share that legacy with millions of loyal fans all over the world.

So the shooting should begin in 2009 and the first of the two Hobbit films will be released in 2010, and two years are not that far away.

I´m very eager to watch the development process of these movies.

I just came home from the Rayday, a little event where you can watch a movie before it launches in cinema (initiated from the Austrian magazine Ray).

Tonight the movie Free Rainer from Hans Weingartner was shown, a German / Austrian co-production. The movie is about the ongoing stupidification (don´t really know if that word exists, but i think you get the meaning) of the audience of television.

It´s an excellent portrait of the current tv landscape, dozens of reality and casting shows, pseudo reportages and other nonsense. This movie is a must-see, excellent characters, very funny and profound plot, awesome actors.

I hope the movie will be translated into english, but if you understand german you should definately watch it.