DIGITAL L.A. : WORLD OF INDEPENDENT FILM TAKING TECHNOLOGICAL TURN.

Byline: David Bloom 

While the spring edition of Internet World besieges the Los Angeles Convention Center this coming week with a dizzying array of Net-minded sessions and exhibitions, another interesting tech-minded gathering - the Los Angeles Independent Film Festival - is also getting under way.

The 5-year-old festival runs for a week beginning with an independent music festival Wednesday night at the Troubadour in West Hollywood, followed by 70 films, documentaries, shorts and music videos.

Of most interest to the technology-minded, however, are a new-media center at the festival headquarters and two panel discussions on April 17 regarding the implications of digital filmmaking and distribution, trends that are just beginning to reshape the movie biz (see Sunday's L.A. Life for a fuller exploration of the issue).

But why, one asks, does a festival focused on independent films include all this other stuff, from new media to offbeat bands?

``I think there's such a blend these days,'' said festival founder and director Robert Faust.

``And it's only going to get better'' because of the digital revolution, Faust said. ``I think more people are going to be running around making films.''

At the 1:30 session, one of last year's stars of the digital video circuit, ``The Cruise'' director Bennett Miller, is part of a panel talking about making digital feature films.

The panel will be moderated by Jonathan Wells, the editor of Res magazine, which focuses on digital filmmaking and sponsors its own digital-only traveling film festival.

The second panel, beginning at 4 p.m., will look at how digital alternatives will ease the huge distribution and marketing challenges facing independent filmmakers.

``The second panel is about the Internet being a way to break down the barriers to viewing these things,'' Faust said.

The panels will be held at the Laugh Factory, across the street from the festival's headquarters at the Directors Guild of America, 7920 Sunset Blvd.

The new media center will be set up at the DGA for most of the festival's run, showing off some of the latest digital products.

Sponsor DVD EXPRESS has erected a Web site at www.dvdexpress.com devoted to the festival, with short clips of participating movies. Fans will be able to vote for their favorites at the site, as well. Click on an icon labeled ``backstage pass'' to get to the viewing site.

The Thursday night opening film is Phil Joanou's latest, ``Entropy,'' while the closing night film is ``The Big Brass Ring,'' directed by George Hickenlooper and based on a never-shot Orson Welles script.

All the films will be shown either at the DGA headquarters or two nearby theater complexes on Sunset Boulevard. Tickets can be purchased over the phone for all events at [phone].

Wired country

Barry McCloud started doing impressions on stage at the age of 4, got into a rock and rockabilly band at 13 and was a folk-music impresario for much of the 1960s in London.

So how did this old-school Brit with roots in seemingly every other kind of tunes not only get into country music, but actually get into it enough to create a just-released CD-ROM called Country.Com's Century of Country Music?

``The reason I got into this was I've just really enjoyed country music for over 30 years,'' said McCloud, a jovial, self-deprecating fellow with a ready laugh.

In 1968, he was managing a bluegrass band whose music first piqued his interest in country, an interest further raised when he heard a few albums of classic stuff. That got him started.

Within a few years, he was writing album liner notes for country artists, but often had a difficult time finding reliable historical information.

``I was going to a dozen different (reference) books and not really finding what was needed,'' McCloud said. ``That was precomputer. Then, when (personal computers) came along, it was like manna from heaven. I started doing interviews, started coming to Nashville about four times a year.''

He got sidetracked into a recording and performing career, and working with the trade journal Music City News, but eventually put out ``Definitive Country: The Ultimate Encyclopedia of Country Music.''

When it came time to write a follow-up, however, publishers wanted to do more of the same.

``I said, `What for? It's been done,' '' McCloud said. Then StarWorks, an interactive publisher, contacted him about making a CD-ROM version of his book.

``I said, `Well, I'm home,' '' said McCloud, who loves the electronic format because ``you're not tied to a number of pages; you can almost go out and indulge your whim. If it was technically feasible, we could go out and do it.''

The disc is packed with stuff: biographies on 1,300 artists, audio clips of interviews with 45 of them, a sophisticated search engine that can find things like all songs with the word ``Memphis'' in the title, lengthy discographies on major artists, an industry address book, fan-club listings, album recommendations and a calendar of notable events in country history.

The greatest joy, of course, was having an excuse to talk to all-time greats such as the late, much loved bluegrass pioneer Bill Monroe, he said.

``I interviewed Waylon (Jennings) and Johnny Cash together,'' McCloud said. ``That had to be the biggest hoot other than interviewing Hoyt Axton. He was just hysterical. He said, `I've had a 13-month career that's lasted 30 years.' ''