Stonehenge/Date Number One

Last Sunday, May 18th, I attended the first ever Baltimore Stonehenge mass casting call at the Creative Alliance Patterson theater. Stonehenge is a DC-based event which brings hundreds of actors auditioning before area filmmakers and getting people paired up with projects. Over 120 actors auditioned, and I'm glad to report that, despite the rainy weather, the event was a success. I saw plenty of potential talent at this first 'Charmhenge' that I hope to call upon for future film projects. There was a wide scope of actors there, from cute, lively child actors to charming, attractive actresses; and from interesting mature character actors to multi-ethnic leading men. I can even name some of talent that shone at the event--actors with names like Giselle Gilpin, Rob Patterson, and Kami Locklear. I'm glad to report that there were no 'stage disasters' at this Stonehenge in comparison to the DC March Stonehenge (where a couple of actors just bolted from the stage), and I was glad to see that the Baltimore acting pool held its own.

*****

Last night, I drove down to Silver Spring, MD, for a screening of DC filmmaker Sujewa Ekanayake's 'Date Number One'. The event took place at Jackie's (8081 Georgia Ave), just a few blocks from the AFI Silver Spring theater. Sujewa is working with Jackie's management to program a series of local shorts and features all thru this summer (the next screening looks to be on June 26th).'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. 'Date Number One' will have a one week run at Jackie's this summer, in case you missed it and want to go and check it out.

*****

Memorial Day weekend is here again. This time I opted to make it a working weekend, instead of going out of town for a vacation. At least, I'll be saving on those exhorbitant gas prices. I got projects to write, and an apartment to thoroughly clean in preparation for a big film production meeting next weekend. I will definetely make some time for 'Indiana Jones And The Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull', as well as heading down to DC for some salsa dancing on Saturday night. This Puertorro needs a little play!

LIGHTSTRUCK!

I think I'm paying a bit of a price for having many drinks after the great LIGHTSTRUCK UMBC student film festival screening last night. My friend, filmmaker Shane Logue, his lovely friends, and me ended up closing up the Ottobar, then the party carried over all over locations in Charles Village.

LIGHTSTRUCK this year was really a great event and I was impressed with the work of fellow UMBC film students. In fact, I dare say this was the strongest showing of student films I've seen from any film school here in MD. Shane Logue, who's still completing his feature length debut 'Hachigame', screened his very well-made short, 'Cain And Able', a b+w silent-film-styled tale of an illusionist trying to win the love of his assistant. He won an award for the piece which he actually shot on film! Other filmmakers made equally striking efforts, such as Daphne Gardner, whose short 'Hunting Boy' had one of the greatest, freshes voices I've seen from a young filmmaker. Many filmmakers don't have a 'voice', a palpable signature and feeling that emanates from the screen, but this girl has it. Jordan Eberlein and his partner Dominic Garcia also made their marks with films such as 'Negocium', a gorgeously-shot b+w short about a lawyer feeling drawn to his assistant, and 'Over Black', an elliptical, metaphysical tale of two men whose lives collide in the realm of dreams. James Smyth also made tracks with a lyrical, experimental time-lapse piece called 'Blue Rocket'.

And to start it off, the event kicked off with a fascinating live-animation presentation from Eric Dyer and his class of animation students. Dyer has gotten wide acclaim from festivals such as Sundance, which featured his experimental animation a couple of years ago. He and his team had a setup with large turntables which spun different zoetropes, as other team members filmed closeups of those spinning zoetropes. Then, another member edited the shots on the fly, while yet another participant performed a live musical score. I've not seen anything this adventurous done with film in a long time! They did the same presentation at a Brooklyn art museum very recently, and if they do it again elsewhere I reccommend you go.

The packed screening made me proud of being again a part of UMBC, and I can't wait to make my short and get that degree in the fall.

*****

Done! I can say I'm done with my spring Biology Class. I suspected I wasn't going to ace that class without making a considerable effort and overcoming some last minute obstacle. And sure enough, I got thrown an Indiana-Jones-sized boulder my way (Doesn't the new movie look fantastic? I can't wait!), when my car got towed with just three to spare before my final exam on Monday. I would say 'Unbelievable', but in this city I pretty much expect shit like that to happen regularly. I managed to scramble, run across town, track down where my car was, take a taxi, and--thanks to the angel who was behind the taxi wheel--was able to get my car out of the impound lot in time to turn my final notebook and take the final exam. I think I'm going to do very well on the class to.

This confirms my belief that you must have confidence in Life. If you don't let it break you down, if you cultivate your spirit and optimism, it brings great things your way.

Horror-101.com booms

This past weekend I found a bit of news that has me smiling wide: Horror-101.com, the website I launched in September 2006 and that I run with my business partner Alex Divincenzo, has experience a substantial boom. We're now routinely getting over 30,000 hits per month, already over 110,000 on this year so far, and could very well end the year with a quarter of a million hits. Woot! This has given me an extra oomph and I will be working hard to continue to grow the site in the months ahead.

Horror-101.com concentrates just on the critical aspect of horror cinema. When I started the site, I knew it was a very concept, but we're finding out that there's an audience out there of dedicated horror cinephiles that do care a lot about the quality of their fright films. For them, I do the site. Although we're a long ways of from catching up with leading sites such as Bloody-Disgusting.com, Fangoria.com, CHUD, or Dread Central(we think of these sites as brothers instead of competitors, really), i believe we're slowly gaining in stature in the horror genre community and I hope this growth continues.

Most people may have me tagged as just a horror filmmaker, but in reality I care about all filmmaking in general. In the future, I intend to make a wide range of films, not just horror. But I have a certain fondness for the genre because that's how I started my lifelong love affair with cinema--thru my excitement for scary flicks when I was a teenager. I hope to communicate this fondness to a new generation thru Horror-101. We intend to be a beacon for the fans and a resource for a new generation of horror filmmakers, even as we intend to become a repository for the critical mass of the best the genre has offered.

Horror-101 should continue to grow in the near future. More reviews, more news, more opinion pieces will be forthcoming. We're still struggling with finding writers dedicated to the genre, but this comes from one of the big lessons we learned in our first year--you can expect to keep writers ,no matter how much they may love the genre, to write for free. For this reason, we will begin to explore ways to make the site commercially viable this fall(without compromising our critical approach to horror films. we don't take studio screeners nor are our reviews 'for sale' thru advertising).

So, if you're a horror fan, come pay us a visit. I'm encouraged to see that a little seed of vision I had a couple of years ago is blossoming and gaining hold. It tells me I need to continue to work toward my goals, more specifically making the short film this fall and the feature that will follow after that.

*****

I slaved over the final Biology notebook all this past weekend. The final exam is tonight. I can't wait to be done with this class. And looks like I'll be reaching that finish line with a good grade later tonight. One race ends, and another one begins--I intend to focus on my short film and Horror-101 all thru the summer. And, oh yeah, I got to find another place to live by mid-August too.

MD Film Fest '08 Wrap-Up

The 10th annual Maryland Film Festival took place this past weekend, and, boy, did I have a good time. I had such a great time that I needed a day to recover. I didn't per se get into a lot of screenings this year, but there was so much going on between screenings, workshops, networking and partying at the tent village that I got a full experience. I even went to the Closing Night party, drank, talk to many friends, danced a bit, and managed to get back home at an indecent time.

Here's what I saw at the festival:

--'Medicine For Melancholy'--I hear about this indie film from DC filmmaker/blogger Sujewa Ekanayake, and also from Indiewire.com's SXSW festival coverage. San Francisco filmmaker Barry Jenkins made this touching, sensual, and polemical film about an african-american couple hooking up, disconnecting and re-connecting again during a long Sunday day. The film looked great with a de-saturated color palette to the point it was almost black-n-white. Also, the piece gives you a lot to think about with its characters' discussions on race, cultural identity, indie culture, and gentrification of San Francisco. It sounded great with a soundtrack composed of original music as well as select indie rock tracks.

--'Waiting For Hockney'--I think this was my favorite screening of the entire weekend. A made-in-Baltimore docu, 'Hockney' traced the wondrous journey of artist Billy Pappas, a MICA (Maryland Institute and College of Art) graduate, who spent 8 years obsessively creating a pointillistic portrait of Marilyn Monroe. All that time, he's completely supported by his family, and even bank-rolled by a local architect (to the cost of $300,000.00!). Once he's done, he and his support team become convinced that the only way to properly bring this work of art into the world-at-large is by showing it exclusively to post-modernist artist David Hockney. The rest of the documentary traces their stranger-than-fiction quest to gain an audience with the re-known artist. Not only is the subject matter of this piece highly enthralling, but it was also the work of a first-time documentarian named Julie Checkoway.

I had to miss the subsequent screening of a film called 'Chop Shop', because Pappas was in attendance, along with his masterful drawing. There was a very long line waiting to view his work. I waited on it, and it was worth it. The drawing was magnificent; so realistic, you could almost touch Marilyn's face. To truly admire its detail, you need to pour over the work with a magnifying glass. I spoke to Pappas for a minute, and he was a very charming, intelligent man. I wish him the best in finding his great work a suitable home. This docu was so great that they should truly consider creating a fictionalized script from the story and get a good film made from it. Believe me, it would be a hit.

--'Spine-Tingler'. This was a documentary by Jeffrey Schwarz on the well-known horror producer William Castle, who produced such gimmicky (yet very succesful) films in the 60s such as 'The Tingler' and 'Homicidal'. This film was a labor of love that took several years to complete. Fans of horror, as well as classic Hollywood film fans, will find this film of high interest when it hits DVD later this year. I also watched Castle's 'Straight-Jacket' at the Saturday night free outdoor screening, truly a great piece of Camp cinema starring Joan Crawford at the outset of her career.

--'Bi The Way'. Yet another compelling documentary, this time about bi-sexuality. The filmmakers travelled back and forth on the United States to capture stories of both female and male bi-sexuals, and in the process they give the most honest look that this sexual orientation has ever gotten. The film wasn't so much racy nor graphic, but it was just honest, specially with interviews with many bi-sexuals, sex-researchers, college professors, and the like. The piece also had a focus on the openly accepting way in which the 'Whatever' generation (age 16 to 30) deals with bi-sexuality. Perhaps the best story in the whole film is that of 11-year Josh, son of filmmaker Jonathan Caouette (sp?, director/subject of 'Tarnation'), a precocious child who has started asking serious questions about his possible future sexuality at his young age. His comments were sincerely funny and disarming.

--'At The Death House Door'. This sobering docu comes from the same team (Steve James and Peter Gilbert) who brought us 'Hoops Dreams', perhaps the best documentary of the 1990s. Reverend Carroll Pickett counseled 95 different prisoners on their way to the lethal-injection chamber in Hunstville, TX between 1983 and 1995. During those grievous years of service, Pickett kept tapes of his experiences of each individual execution. His emotional and deeply spiritual journey from a pro-Capital punishment supporter to an anti-Death Penalty advocate is the subject of this very well made documentary. The film also details the heartbreaking case of Carlos De Luna, an innocent man who was wrongly convicted and executed in 1989. The piece will be shown on the Independent Film Channel later this month, and the filmmakers have made it available for advocate screenings across the country. It will surely be available on DVD sometime later this year. I suggest you watch it. It'll touch you very deeply.

And that's what I managed to enjoy at this year's fest. I truly wish I could have seen more. For example, I tried to get into the Comedy Shorts screening on Friday afternoon to catch my buddy Dave Kratz's short 'Nintendik' (which you can see on Youtube.com. Just do a search for the film title), but the screening was sold out. There was truly so much good stuff at this film festival that three individuals could have caught 10 different screenings a piece through the weekend and still have had a great time. Congratulations to Jed Dietz, Skizz Cyzzick and Eric Allen Hatch on a very well programmed festival.

I still think they need some midnight screenings on Saturday night, as well as a bit more genre work, but it was a fine festival nonetheless.

Lastly, the CAMM (Creative Alliance MovieMakers) Kegger on Saturday afternoon was a blast. I caught up with some many fiends, and we all made a toast to CAMM's continued success as the best resource for Baltimore filmmakers. Kristen Anchor, Scott Kecken, Lee Boot, Margaret Footner, Jed, and Megan have worked very hard to bring CAMM from its humble auspices at a Pep Boys storefront in Highlandtown to the gorgeous arts/film center that currently stands on the old site of the Patterson theatre. I'm very proud to be associated with these people and wish them continued success.

Maryland Film Festival '08 Picks

I've found a few minutes to check over the Maryland Film Festival '08 schedule, and I think I've spotted some special films to catch this weekend. The festival gets started tonight with a premiere screening of shorts at MICA Brown Center at 8pm. I won't go into the dates and times when the specific films will be screened; for that you may check the schedule at Maryland Film Festival website. The good news is that this year's festival is chockfull of fascinating choices, everything from socially-focused documentaries to etchnically-driven films. In fact, there are some many interesting films this year that I had to stop jotting down potential films to see once I got to 19! I can only catch 9 to 10 screenings at the fest each year, because I do like to eat and sleep during the weekend. This what stands out for me:

--'Black List', a docu in which many sucessful black men from all walks of life are interviewed. Their opinions and stories are apparently very revealing and thought-provoking

--'The Listening Project', a docu about, well, listening. But, more specifically it's about the lost ability of people to actually listen to one another's opinions. In the film, several interviewers ask questions of foreigners about what they think of the US. The film is an exercise on how crucial listening is to the process of communication.

--'At The Death House Door', another docu. This one is from the team behind the hit basketball docu 'Hoop Dreams'. 'Death House' deals with the real life story of a penitentiary chaplain who listened to hundreds of men on death row. He started believing on the death penalty after suffering a family tragedy, but his experiences counseling the prisoners turned him around, and now he believes that some innocent men have been put to death.

--'Medicine For Melancholy', an indie feature about a young black couple attempting to reconnect in San Francisco after an ill-advised one-night stand. The film also explores issue of racial identity in a nation that's becoming increasingly homogenized.

--'Out Late', a docu. This one is about gay and lesbian people who have waited until well into their senior years to come out to friends and family. 'Bi The Way' is yet another docu about the current 'whatever' generation and its attitude/exploration of gay, lesbian and bi lifestyles.

--'Row Hard. No Excuses' documents two middle-aged men attempt to win an extremely ardous annual rowing competition which people participate in for no particular reason other than the experience and the challenge (there are no prizes). Sounds like a inspired look at the the triumph of the human spirit.

--'Paper Covers Rock', an indie feature about a young mother's attempt to reconstruct her life after a failed suicide attempt. What makes particular interesting is how the filmmaker approached the project only for its artistic aspects irregardless of commercial considerations. His film is apparently the first one in a series.

--'Bamako', an African feature. It's being presented as an under-regarded Critic's Pick. The film is being lauded for its colorful and inspired look at African life.

--'Waiting For Hockney' is a docu which traces the journey of a local Maryland Institute College Of Art (MICA) graduate who becomes obsessed with creating a perfect large-scale engraving of Marilyn Monroe. He sacrificed much to the endeavor and it took him 8 years to complete the piece. The film deals with the issue of artistic obsession (something I know a little about).

--'Chop Shop' is an indie debut feature that's lauded by Robert Ebert as the American version of 'City Of God'. The film concerns a young empoverished boy's attempts in Queens, NY, to grow and capture the American Dream. It's getting a lot of buzz, so I think I'm gonna be there for its screening.

--'White Lies, Black Sheep' is an indie feature which details the journey of a black man who feels more attracted to white rock music culture and who turns his back on his afrocentric family and culture. This film, like 'Medicine For Melancholy', deals with issues of shifting cultural identity in the United States.

And those are just the beginning. There seems to be so much other great stuff. Like 'American Teen' (a hit at Sundance), 'Spine Tingler! The William Castle Story' (if you're a horror fan, you know who he was), 'Intimidad' (an indie feature about a young Mexican family trying to make ends meet at the border), 'Low And Behold' (an indie drama set against the backdrop of Katrina-ravaged New Orleans),'Baghead' (a comedy from the acclaimed directors of 'The Puffy Chair'), 'We Are Wizards' (which takes a look at the strong sub-culture of Harry Potter geeks) and many others.

There seems to be a lack of genre pics on the schedule this year, which is a shame. Some horror, fantasy or sci-fi should have been represented. Lastly, there's a strong representation of 'mumblecore' films this year (which I won't list). I'm not gonna mince words--I hate 'mumblecore' films. Watching films about white hipsters and their meandering unpleasant lives and dragged-out breakups isn't my cup of tea. And before anyone goes 'Oh, my, that's racist!', I'm sorry, but that's what they are--boring films by self-absorbed white hipsters. Sincerely--Skip them and watch the plethora of other good, multi-faceted films in display at this weekend's fest.