With rampant statements by major media outlets that Mumblecore is primarily a cinema movement of white men from the middle class, filmmaker Sujewa Ekanayake wrote on Sunday a harsh critique of both the movement and the way its been handled by the media. Following is an excerpt of the original post as well as a clip from his comment at All these wonderful things:

According to this San Francisco Chronicle article about 1 in 3 people in the US are non-"white". Mumblecore filmmakers or as the IFC Center calls them - Generation DIY, have been identified as a grass roots movement in the indie film press & also in the mainstream press. So, I would think that it is reasonable to expect a movement that comes from "the people" to have some key players who are not "white". Yet, pretty much (if I recall correctly) all the Mumblecore movies I 've seen so far (Kissing On The Mouth, LOL, Funny Ha Ha, Mutual Appreciation, The Puffy Chair, Dance Party, USA, Hannah Takes the Stairs) have featured an all-"white" cast and all the celebrated Mumblecore directors who are on their way to Hollywood & indiewood fame & wealth are all-"white". Mumblecore may have aesthetic/film technique differences from mainstream American film & television, but, when it comes to not collaborating with minority talent, Mumblecore is like 1950's Hollywood or mainstream television from that era.

Read the rest of the post here.

let me put this in another way. why is m-core the only bunch of real indie filmmakers being celebrated right now by the collective forces of film festivals, media, distribution companies? (i am thinking that it is because m-core is an easy thing to sell to lots of "white" people) why weren't indie filmmakers like Gene Cajayon, Greg Pak, director of Charlotte Sometimes (title?) not celebrated as a group - they knew each other, worked on or at least in some ways helped each other out, made good real indie films, etc. Also, for all we know, there are tons of great, diverse, political, fiction filmmaking pockets out there in the fests or being self-distributed, but the collective light of the scene/industry is not shining on them.

my critique is not just about the m-core filmmakers, it is also about an industry/scene that should be engaged in issues of diversity, opportunity, politics, etc. as it has been in the past, as it should be because it claims to be independent (and it is independent from Hollywood)/progressive/liberal/concerned with justice, etc. what happens when indie fiction film loses interest in the real world, and also important issues?

Read the rest of the comment here.