DATE NUMBER ONE

Date Number One (in several parts) on YouTube - A January 2012 Project

2012-01-14T00:31:00.000-08:00

::
Part 1 (for YouTube purposes, not Story 1 in its entirety), 1st 3 mins of the movie:

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more coming soon...
*
- S
::

Date Number One available through Dynamo Player

2011-05-04T23:01:00.000-07:00

$1.99 for a 7 day rental. Check it out, via Dynamo Player - a new & exciting distribution option for indies, look below title of blog at top of the page for the movie, or click here.

- S

Date Number One is coming soon to the web

2011-05-04T21:37:00.000-07:00

Stay tuned, it's gonna be like that watching movies through the web service :), but only cheaper, & better?, well, at least certainly more indie/DIY. In a couple of days most likely.

(still no DVDs however, hopefully by June 15 of this year they will be available, but, in the meantime, this - show being available to watch on the web - is a great improvement over how things have been for the last 5 years! - yup, it's been pretty much 5 years since the movie premiered in DC in May 2006)

- S

DNO clip at the new main blog

2011-04-08T10:40:00.001-07:00

At NYC DIY Filmmaker blog. - S

DVD coming this year...

2010-09-07T00:57:00.000-07:00

*

... working on it.

- S

Blog/site for the December screenings of DNO in Brooklyn

2009-11-23T16:59:00.000-08:00

Here.

Link to page with all the info re: the December NYC screenings of Date Number One

2009-11-23T14:42:00.000-08:00

For the moment, here at DIY Filmmaker blog.

More info & DNO related material coming to this blog as we get closer to 12/1.

News

2009-11-22T16:20:00.000-08:00

8 screenings in NYC in December 2009! DVDs!

Kickstarter project to support Date Number One December 2009 screenings/distribution work is alive!

2009-11-04T23:49:00.000-08:00

Check it out, & support if you can (deep thanks & great rewards for backers):

Date Number One December screenings at Aeon Logic Art Gallery, NYC

2009-11-03T10:27:00.000-08:00

DATE NUMBER ONE

a comedy about several first dates

a film by sujewa ekanayake

Every Wed & Fri of December (except 12/25 Fri)

7 PM (doors at 6, opening act at 6:30)

Aeon Logic Art Gallery

4 Malcolm X Boulevard

(Malcolm X & Broadway, Bed-Stuy,

nearest subway: Kosciuzko Street on the J line, map)

Brooklyn, New York 11221

Event contact: Sujewa Ekanayake, 240-354-3394, wilddiner@aol.com

Website: http://datenumberone08.blogspot.com/

About Date Number One:

A writer,

A ninja,

A woman who is working on saving the world,

and a guy who works at a bookstore

searching for love in

DATE NUMBER ONE

http://datenumberone08.blogspot.com/

A movie by Sujewa Ekanayake

Date Number One, a comedy about several first dates, is made up of 4 different stories: Story 1 - Start Over, about a writer who tries to get back together with his ex-girlfriend, Story 2 - Just Another Ninja Searching For Love, about a ninja who goes on a blind date (ninja is played by John Stabb Schroeder from the DC punk band G.I.), Story 3 - A Romantic Dinner For 3, about a woman attempting to add a third partner to a romantic relationship, and Story 4 - The Superdelicious French Lesson, about a first date where a character learns a little bit of French in an unusual way. The movie has been discovered to be: "Witty" (GreenCine Daily), "Funny" (The Chutry Experiment), and "Sexy, Sexy, Sexy" (Hollywood Is Talking).

Starring John Stabb Schroeder, Julia Stemper, Jennifer Blakemore, Shervin Boloorian, Dele Butler (formerly Dele Williams), Steve Lee, Kelly Ham AKA Kelly Ryan, Subodh Samudre, Jewel Greenberg

Not Rated * 90 Minutes * yummy

SCREENED AT: Goethe-Institut - Washington, DC (World Premiere, May 2006), Northwest Film Forum - Seattle (May 2006), Capital City Microcinema - Kensington, MD (June, October 2006 & March 2007), Sangha - Takoma Park, MD (July 2006), Pioneer Theater, New York City (August 2006), Warehouse Screening Room - Washington, DC (November 2006), The Armory - Kensinton, MD (July 2007), Jackie's - Silver Spring, MD (May 2008), Aeon Logic Art Gallery - Brooklyn, NY (February 2009).

"The film is about as charming as they come...presents a world in which cultures don't clash, they mesh. It's refreshing to see characters who all appear to have a natural optimism, as opposed to the typical indie-film predilection for bitterness and cruelty. "- Michael Tully, Rotterdam & SXSW film festivals selected filmmaker & indieWIRE blogger http://blogs.indiewire.com/tully/archives/010529.html

"I found the characters and the premise sexy, sexy, sexy."- Jerry Brewington, Hollywood Is Talking blog, on Story 3 of Date Number One http://hollywoodistalking.com/Blog/508/

"...witty...often inventive...and, even better, airy: characters are given time and space to spell out their views...views that never bear the artificial markings of a Hollywood screenwriter's compulsion to reduce them to sound-bites."- David Hudson, Editor, GreenCine Daily blog http://daily.greencine.com/archives/002353.html

"FIVE really entertaining, fully realized romantic interludes...a shamefully rare achievement"- Tom Kipp, Seattle audience member,former film reviewer for Seattle alternative weekly The Stranger http://diyfilmmaker.blogspot.com/2006/05/interview-with-seattle-audience-member.html

"Heartfelt...poignant...I loved it!"- Jon Moritsugu, award winning filmmaker

"...somehow, someway, in the end, the love of the characters, the positiveness of the film, and Sujewa’s disregard for conventions wins you over. The act of making this film wins you over. There is only a positive through line in this film, and that is rare to see, especially when dealing with characters in their late to early thirties."- Amir Motlagh, director of the popular '04 Atom Films' short Still Lover & upcoming feature Whale

http://stilllover.blogspot.com/2006/10/date-number-one-review.html

"Date Number One is quite funny...twentysomethings and occasional thirtysomethings looking for romance recall Richard Linklater's philosopher slackers and Jim Jarmusch's minimalist attention to conversation...also a subtle, thoughtful film...might be understood as the anti-Crash depiction of life in the city...depicts a comfortably multi-ethnic community...I'd happily recommend it."- Chuck Tryon, media professor & blogger,The Chutry Experiment blog http://chutry.wordherders.net/archives/005873.html

Date Number One website & blog:

http://datenumberone08.blogspot.com/

Wild Diner Films: http://www.wilddiner.com/

!Thanks!

Start Over - Story 1 from Date Number One

2009-05-02T00:32:00.000-07:00

Start Over - Date Number One Story 1 from Sujewa Ekanayake on Vimeo.

Sujewa on The Obenson Report podcast on Mon 2/9

2009-02-09T01:32:00.000-08:00

I will be one of the guests on The Obenson Report podcast on Mon 2/9 night - show starts at 8 PM (i am on at 8:40 PM). I'll be discussing my new documentary Indie Film Blogger Road Trip (podcast host Tambay Obenson is featured in the doc) & D.I.Y. filmmaking/self-distribution. We'll also talk about Date Number One a bit, I'm sure. Tune in, check it out!

First 4 minutes+ from Story 2 (ninja story) from Date Number One

2008-12-23T21:17:00.000-08:00

While we wait for the DVD (early January), let's check out a clip from Date Number One. Here's the official description (from YouTube page) of the clip:

The opening 4:15 minutes from segment 2/Story 2 of Sujewa Ekanayake's 2006 (re-edited in 2008) comedy feature Date Number One. In this scene a ninja buys a gift, in preparation for a blind date, from a local bookstore. Clip features John Stabb Schroeder as the ninja, Subodh Samudre as the bookstore worker, and Rashard Harrison as another customer. For more information on Date Number One, please visit: http://datenumberone08.blogspot.com/. Date Number One Copyright 2004-2008 Sujewa Ekanayake/Wild Diner Films.

And here's the clip (enjoy!):

Date Number One on Facebook

2008-12-09T20:49:00.001-08:00

Check out the Facebook group for this movie here.

Princeton Holt's review of Date Number One

2008-12-03T17:04:00.000-08:00

NYC filmmaker Princeton Holt checked out the movie & wrote a review, check it out here.

Interviewed at FilmInFocus, Movie City: Washington, DC

2008-09-19T16:58:00.000-07:00

Just saw that Focus Features' site Film In Focus published an interview that they did with me several months ago; very cool, check it out.

Also check out the Movie City: Washington, DC section at FilmInFocus; several interesting articles about DC & the movies.

- Sujewa

DVD face design

2008-09-04T12:29:00.000-07:00

Still needs more work on the DVD cover design. Should have the DVDs ready for sale before this month is over.

- Sujewa

Should have Date Number One DVDs available for sale around 9/15

2008-08-25T22:07:00.000-07:00

Ordered a test copy of the DVD today; to see what the DVD cover design & face design looks like in the 3 dimensional world, also to test out the movie itself in the DVD. Once I check out the test DVD I'll order the first batch of DNO retail DVDs; next week. So, finally, about 4.5 years after starting this project, people will be able to see it on DVD, starting around 9/15.

Will post up ordering info. once I have the first batch of retail DVDs in my hands. The DVD will be $12, postage paid by me for US orders; more details before 9/15.

- Sujewa

A Somewhat Lengthy but Hopefully Meaningful Introduction to the New Movie Date Number One

2008-05-25T03:47:00.000-07:00

As the Baltimore, Maryland based filmmaker Armando Valle, after seeing the final/2008 version of Date Number One in Silver Spring, Maryland at Lo-Def/Jackie's Back Room in late May 2008 described the movie in his blog, Date Number One is "a charming, DIY feature romantic-comedy presenting a refreshing, positive outlook on the trials of contemporary dating. A multi-ethnic cast, among them a seductive Indian man, a french-speaking hottie, a curvy blonde seeking a blissful three-way bi-sexual relationship, a Buddhist African-American woman, and a lonely career Ninja seek love in the modern city. The episodic film, completed through a long period by Ekanayake, exhibits a vibrant 'can do' attitude that's spreading along the world of independent cinema today."

From the beginning of the project the goal was to create a D.I.Y. (do-it-yourself or real independent, completely outside of the limitations and control of Hollywood or indiewood) Populist (a film that may be accessible to the vast majority of Americans) movie, thus Date Number One displays the results of working creatively and well under an ultra-low/"no" budget production situation (the cost of the film was under $10,000, from script to screen and DVDs); that being, among other things, a movie with scenes featuring charming, open, inviting, hopeful, and refreshing humor and events and a multi-ethnic cast. During the 2004 - 2008 period I, writer/director Sujewa Ekanayake, coupled production & distribution work on Date Number One with writing about and promoting real independent filmmaking and self-distribution on my indieWIRE carried blog DIY Filmmaker Sujewa (http://www.diyfilmmaker.blogspot.com/). The result of these activities is increased web and rest-of-world visibility of real independent filmmaking, including self-distribution, and a movie that tells 4 stories about first dates; Story 1 - Start Over, about a writer who tries to get back together with his ex-girlfriend, Story 2 - Just Another Ninja Searching For Love, about a ninja who goes on a blind date (ninja is played by John Stabb from the Washington, DC punk band G.I.), Story 3 - A Romantic Dinner For 3, about a woman attempting to add a third partner to a romantic relationship, and Story 4 - The Superdelicious French Lesson, about a first date where a character learns a little bit of French in an unusual way.

Date Number One, in its 2006 form, was discovered to be "Witty" by David Hudson at the film blog world popular GreenCine Daily blog, and "Funny" by media professor Chuck Tryon at The Chutry Experiment blog, and "Sexy, Sexy, Sexy" by Los Angeles area based filmmaker and blogger Jerry Brewington of Hollywood Is Talking blog. I believe the new & final 2008 version of the movie retains all of the positive elements of the 2006 version, and increases their effectiveness through a shorter running time, better transitions, and more music.

The 2 hours long 2006 version of Date Number One screened in Washington, DC, Seattle, New York City, Kensingon, Maryland and Takoma Park, Maryland. The 85 minutes long 2008 or Final Version of Date Number One has, as of this writing, screened in Silver Spring, Maryland and is looking forward to traveling around America and the world and delighting new friends.

- Sujewa Ekanayake
May 25, 2008
Kensington, Maryland, U.S.A.

DATE NUMBER ONE Screening Thu 5/22 Silver Spring, MD!

2008-04-25T05:14:00.000-07:00

Get all the info. at the brand new LO-DEF Indie Film Screening Event site.

Here's the basic info:

"The LO-DEF Screening Event & Wild Diner Films presents:

A writer,
A ninja,
A woman who is working on saving the world,
and a guy who works at a bookstore
searching for love in

DATE NUMBER ONE

http://datenumberone08.blogspot.com/

A movie by new director Sujewa Ekanayake

Thu May 22
8 PM
FREE
The Back Room @ Jackie's
http://moviesatjackies.blogspot.com/
8081 Georgia Ave.
Silver Spring, MD 20910

Event contact: Sujewa Ekanayake, wilddiner@aol.com, 240-354-3394"

Read the rest of the announcement here.

Thanks & see ya at the show!

- Sujewa

Date Number One press & reviews links

2008-03-28T04:32:00.000-07:00

This is not all of them, but some I had up at DIY Filmmaker Sujewa blog for a while, here they are for anyone who is new to this project:

Date Number One REVIEWS
The Chutry Experiment
Hollywood Is Talking
GreenCine Daily
Boredom at its Boredest
Still Lover

Date Number One PRESS
On Tap 7/07
Cinematical 10/06
IFC.com 9/06
Tom Kipp interview, Seattle, 5/06
indieWIRE 11/05

More links coming next week.

- Sujewa

Wild Diner DVD site is up

2008-03-22T20:23:00.000-07:00

The old space of the Date Number One site, at http://www.wilddiner.com/, has been renovated as a DVD sales site. Much work is still necessary on that site, however, the basic pages are up at the moment. The site will be completed in the coming days. Some pages - previously hosted at the old wilddiner site - & pointed to from links from various other sites, blogs, & blog posts of mine maybe missing for a few days.

2008-03-20T14:54:00.000-07:00

ninja & blind date from story 1 (John Stabb Schroeder & Jewel Greenberg)

GreenCine Daily blog's editor David Hudson on Date Number One

2008-03-18T03:10:00.001-07:00

"...witty (I particularly like the recurring references to a band's unlikely popularity in Ohio), often inventive (the story in which the first date isn't really the first date at all is particularly well-written and performed) and, even better, airy: characters are given time and space to spell out their views on abortion, Buddhism, quantum physics or the ongoing war in Sri Lanka, views that never bear the artificial markings of a Hollywood screenwriter's compulsion to reduce them to sound-bites."

- David Hudson, Editor, GreenCine Daily blog

Read David's full review of DNO here.

About

2008-03-16T16:52:00.000-07:00

Date Number One, a comedy about several first dates, is made up of 4 different stories:

1. Start Over: about a writer who tries to get back together with his ex-girlfriend
2. Just Another Ninja Searching For Love:
about a ninja who goes on a blind date
3. A Romantic Dinner For 3:
about a woman attempting to add a third partner to a romantic relationship
4. The Superdelicious French Lesson:
about a first date where a character learns a little bit of French in an unusual way

Written, produced, directed, photographed, edited and distributed by Sujewa Ekanayake.
Date Number One Copyright 2006 Sujewa Ekanayake/Wild Diner Films

Store - Buy the Date Number One DVD

2008-03-16T16:40:00.000-07:00

DVD will become available for purchase from here & other places at some point in the near future.

Screenings

2008-03-16T16:30:00.000-07:00

2009

December 2009 screenings at Aeon Logic Art Gallery in Brooklyn, NY

2008

Thu May 22, 8 PM FREE

LO-DEF/The Back Room @ Jackie's

http://moviesatjackies.blogspot.com/2008/04/lo-def-debut-event-date-number-one-new.html

8801 Georgia Ave

Silver Spring, MD 20910

::
previous screenings:

2007

MARCH 2007

screening #13
* March 15
Capital City Microcinema/
Kensington Row Bookshop
3786 Howard Ave., Kensington, MD 20895 301.949.9416
7:30 PM
$5

JULY 2007

screenings #14 - 20
a Washington, DC area 1 week run
July 12 - 18
Armory Building
3710 Mitchell Street
Kensington, MD 20895 :: map
7:30 PM daily
$7

*
2006

screening # 1 & 2
THE WORLD PREMIERE
Sat May 13, 2006
7* PM & 9 PM, $8
Goethe-Institut
812 7th St., NW
Washington, DC 20001
202-289-1200
directions

* 7 PM show is a partial benefit (50% of tix sales $s) screening for DC social service org We Are Family

*
screening # 3 - 7
THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST PREMIERE
Fri May 19 - Sun 21
7* PM & 9:30 PM daily
$8, $5 for NWFF members, $6 for seniors
N orthw est F ilm F orum
1515 12th Ave
Seattle, WA 98122
206-329-2629
directions

* Sat 5/20 7 PM show is a benefit for Seattle social service org
Real Change
* no show on Fri 5/19 @ 7 PM

*
screening # 8
THE MARYLAND PREMIERE
Sat June 24 7 PM $5
Capital City Microcinema
Kensington Row Bookshop
3786 Howard Ave., Kensington, MD 20895 . 301.949.9416 MapQuest
Directions

*
screening # 9
Thu July 13 8 PM $5
Sangha
7014 Westmoreland Ave
Takoma Park, MD 20912
301.891.3214

*
screening # 10
!the nyc premiere!
Thursday, August 31, 9 PM
The Two Boots Pioneer Theater
155 East 3rd Street
(between Avenues A and B, closer to A)
New York, New York
212-591-0434
ticket prices:
$9 adults, $6.50 members
buy tickets here

*
screening # 11
THU OCTOBER 5 :: 7:30 PM :: $5
Capital City Microcinema
Kensington Row Bookshop
3786 Howard Ave., Kensington, MD 20895 301.949.9416 MapQuest
Directions

*
screening # 12
!The Final Screening of 2006!
SAT NOVEMBER 4 :: 8 PM :: $6
a benefit screening for We Are Family, a DC non-profit that assists the elderly
WAREHOUSE Screening Room
1017-21 7th St., NW
Washington, DC 20001
202-783-3933
directions

Clips

2008-03-16T16:25:00.000-07:00

Check out Story 1 (of 4) from Date Number One here.

Press

2008-03-16T15:45:00.000-07:00

More links coming soon. In the meantime, check these out:

Armando Valle 5/08

On Tap 7/07

Cinematical 10/06

DV Guru 10/06

REVIEW # 4, by filmmaker Amir Motlagh, on Still Lover blog

IFC.com story on self-distribution, profiles Date Number One

REVIEW # 3 august 06 GreenCine Daily blog

GreenCine Daily article on real indie films mentions Date Number One june 13, 2006

REVIEW # 2 may 06 Hollywood Is Talking blog

REVIEW # 1! may 06 The Chutry Experiment blog

IndieWIRE, 11/2/05, Production Report November '05, "Date Number One" profile

The Chutry Experiment, 11/1/05, DC Screens mentions "Date Number One" & distro blog

GreenCine Daily blog, 10/16/05, mentions Sujewa Ekanayake, wilddiner.com, and "Date Number One"

Still Lover Blog - May 17, 2005 Interview: "Sujewa Ekanayake has ideals, yup,
ideals son!"

Kensington Gazette (MD) - COVER STORY - April 13, 2005 Edition
"Festival Highlights Indie Filmmakers"
article about "Date Number One" director Sujewa Ekanayake

Shervin Boloorian: Poetry, Policy and Punk Mariachi in the Nation's Capital
Voice of the Hill/October 2004, pages 34 - 36
article about "Date Number One" Story #2 actor Shervin Boloorian

About the Writer/Director of Date Number One, Sujewa Ekanayake

2008-03-16T15:43:00.000-07:00

Sujewa Ekanayake

Films

Recent features:

*Brooklyn Fantastic, feature comedy, 2009-2010

(in production as of 12/17/09, to be released in spring 2010)

- Producer, Writer, Director, Videographer, Editor, Distributor

*Unlimited Dreamtime (aka The Screening), feature documentary, 2009-2010

(in production as of 12/17/09, to be released in winter 2010)

- filmed under 2 Week Film Project guidelines

- Producer, Director, Videographer, Editor, Distributor

*Indie Film Blogger Road Trip, feature documentary, 2008

- Producer, Director, Videographer, Editor, Distributor

* Date Number One, feature comedy, 2006 (re-cut in 2008 for the DVD release in late February 2009)
- Producer, Writer, Director, Videographer, Editor, Distributor

* Capital Heartbreak & Sweetness: 17 DC Poets, 1 hour long documentary/performance video featuring DC area poets, 2002
- Director, Videographer, Editor

Recent shorts:

* Magnus & The Air Quotes Woman (2007), short - 5 mins., available at Funny or DIE on the web, will be available on a DVD in 2009

* Rock Collection (filmed in 2007), short, in post, will be released in 2009

Earlier work:

* Wild Diner (1999), feature - 70 mins., might be re-edited and released as a short at some point in the future or maybe released as originally screened on a future DVD

* Fresh Coffee (1992), short - 15 mins., might be made available on a DVD in the future

Blogging

I blog at several places, including at DIY Filmmaker until end of '09, & then mostly at Filmmaker Sujewa

Other info.

I live in Brooklyn, New York and travel often to DC/Maryland. Right around mid-30's in age. Born in Sri Lanka & have been living in the US, mostly in the DC area, since the mid-80's. Moved to Brooklyn in December 2008.

::

So that's the short bio & resume. A more detailed one may be coming soon.

Contact: wilddiner@aol.com

- Sujewa

Cast & Crew

2008-03-16T15:30:00.000-07:00

CAST
John Stabb Schroeder
Julia Stemper
Jennifer Blakemore
Shervin Boloorian
Dele Williams
Steve Lee
Kelly Ryan
Christine D. Lee
Fritz Flad
Subodh Samudre
Jewel Greenberg
Rob Morris

CREW
Fritz Flad
Alex Ramsey
Matt Wilmott

Music By

2008-03-16T15:02:00.000-07:00

Seznec Brothers
Shervin Boloorian
The Punk Mariachi All-Stars

MySpace

2008-03-16T15:00:00.000-07:00

Date Number One on MySpace

Contact

2008-03-16T14:45:00.000-07:00

Sujewa Ekanayake
Producer, writer, director, & distributor of Date Number One
wilddiner@gmail.com

Promotional Media

2008-03-16T14:30:00.000-07:00

coming soon...