How low (budget) can you go?

The love and talented Christy Lemire talks to the makers of five ultra-low-budget movies -- including two of my faves from last year, Mike Akel's Chalk and Arin Crumley and Susan Buice's Four Eyed Monsters -- that are nominated for the John Cassavetes Award at this year's Spirit Awards. Among the revelations: Akel and Crumley, who based their movie on their real-life relationship, admit that blending fact and fiction meant the stress didn't stop when they switched off the vidcam. Says Crumley: "[W]e're in a relationship making a movie about the relationship and living together and using the space where we live as the set, so basically we didn't have a place to live.

"In the scenes where we're bummed out or going crazy or losing our minds, that's us losing our minds."

Speaking of the Spirit Awards -- which will be handed out Feb. 24 -- I've still got my fingers crossed for Michael Kang's The Motel in the Best First Feature category. And no, not just because I'm an old school Marvel Comics fan. On the other hand, yes, getting to title a blog post "Kang the Conqueror" would be pretty neat.

DVD viewing tip: 'The Motel'

Michael Kang's The Motel -- one of my favorite films released in 2006, and a Best First Feature nominee at the Feb. 24 Independent Spirit Awards -- has been released on DVD. Consider yourself tipped: It's well worth your time and money.