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For nearly 15 years, Heather Fink has made her living on movie and television sets. She mixes sound, and occasionally writes screenplays and directs. It’s what she loves to do. But Fink has also grown upset over the long hours that she and other crew members are being asked to work in order to get shows and films completed on time and on budget. That frustration has left her not only willing, but ready to go on strike.

“We’ve never had this much momentum and unity, so we cannot settle for anything less than meaningful change with a contract that will protect generations to come,” says Fink. “We need this contract to change the way we live.”

On Thursday morning the possibility that Fink and her fellow union members will soon be hitting the picket line moved a step closer to reality. The International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees,...

The 11th annual Coney Island Film Festival, running Sept. 23-25, offers an exquisite blend of freak show, burlesque and cinematic oddities, featuring movies about reformed gang members, unwitting superheroes, rock ‘n’ roll heaven and tons and tons of short films.

The fest opens with the portrait of a real-life Coney Island badass, Keith Suber, a reformed gang member who now teaches kids that violence isn’t the solution to their problems in the documentary The Last Immortal, directed by Charles Denson.

However, the highlight of the festival — in Bad Lit: The Journal of Underground Film’s opinion — is the headbangin’ documentary Heavy Metal Picnic by Jeff Krulik and John Heyn, which beautifully relives the glory days of ’80s era rock ‘n’ roll Maryland in all its raucous glory. Featuring footage from an outrageous backwoods farm concert and a reunion among its (slightly) more mature participants. Read the official Bad Lit documentary review here.

Ladies and gentlemen, meet Professor James Franco. The man who redefined prolific will be teaching a third-year directing course at Nyu's Tisch School of the Arts, focusing on making short films out of poetry. (You know, like a bleak, existential take on "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening," starring your best friend.) Twelve lucky students will be allowed to soak in the knowledge imparted by the shape-shifting, occupational chameleon. At $46,000 per annum for a three-year course. Some people will contend that Franco got the gig based solely on his celebrity, while others defend his authority on the merits. Said student, Heather Fink: "We choose [courses] because of the films we want to make, so somebody who wants to strengthen how they work with actors would work with James. I think using celebrities is great. We want successful people who know about the business." [...]...