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My Cousin's Baby Layne And Other Things On B&W 35mm

Thinking About Film Festivals

Film festivals, as we all know, kick a lot of ass. It is a time and place where filmmakers, old and young, new and experienced, gather to celebrate the awesomeness of cinema. I am very excited about submitting a future film to Cucalorus or any out-of-town festival. I have been working on an extended cut of the Gypsy Fire documentary (in which more live performance has been added) and realized that I want to shoot more. Perhaps this will happen. I just think that shooting live performances is an epic adrenaline rush. In any case, we shall see what the future holds. As for the Port City Paranormal documentary that shall enter the editing stage next semester, I am very excited to work with Mike Munch on assembling the film. I think that we have strong content and that this documentary could be both inspirational/endearing and sobering. By sobering, I mean that the footage will tear down the walls that have been built by modern craze reality shows such as Ghost Hunters (the real deal is nothing like these overdramatized shows). PCP can be developed into a humbling piece and I look forward to submitting it to film festivals across the nation.

Cucalorus Happenings

There were many events that I wanted to attend at Cucalorus. I wanted to see Precious, but I knew that it would be playing at theaters such as Mayfaire in the near future. I also wanted to see The Messenger, starring natural born killer Woody Harrelson, which is a film for which I have heard many great things. I have never been able to attend a Blue Velvet tour, and considering the fact that it is one of my favorite films by one of my favorite directors, and would love to do so in the future. Stinking Bishop Shorts (featuring Too Bare Or Too Bush) was on my list of things to attend, however it was sold out.

The following is an excerpt from the Cucalorus response paper:

The screening of documentary shorts containing the mighty “Titan” had remarkable films. The “Solitary Life of Cranes” gave viewers an extremely well shot perspective of crane operators in London; talking heads were not depicted. “A Film From My Parish – 6 Farms” served as an unexpectedly interesting experimental documentary. The film was shot on a digital camera supposed purchased by the director on eBay and edited together by incorporating the use of stop-motion, animation, and montages that attempted to recreate motion, an example being the rapid juxtaposition of photographs of a path through the woods that replicated a forward tracking shot.

The feature that I would like to discuss is The House of the Devil by writer, director, and editor Ti West. Ti hyped his film really well before the screening began and a movie critic joined in, claiming that this is the movie that audiences should be seeing instead of Saw VI; I agree, but that’s as much hype as I can award the little horror flick. The plot is as follows: Samantha is a sophomore in college and has very little money, so she takes a babysitting job at a spooky house in the middle of nowhere. The man who hires her is played by Tom Noonan (I love Tom Noonan!) and is later revealed to be a member of a satanic cult. The majority of the film involves following Samantha around the empty house before being captured and sacrificed to the devil. The screenplay was lacking in creativity, but Ti directed the actors well and the film looked and felt like a 1980’s horror flick, and I applaud him for realizing that stylistic choice which he set out to achieve.