Eat The Medium

Posted on
Reply

Circuit

With a narrative assembled from unrelated story sketches that I’d been fabricating with Hartford Art School classmate Michael Mongillo over several years since graduation, Circuit was originally conceived as a feature. Financial constraints–coupled with the evolving scope of the project–forced the film into a tight (if scraggly) twenty minute short. Utilizing friends for the cast and crew, many of them H.A.S. grads themselves, and a handful of locations around New England, Circuit was shot over a period of two years and edited at Boston Film/Video Foundation’s then-new digital editing facilities. Thanks to Vimeo, it can now be seen in it’s entirety here. Below is the original Film Threat Video Guide Review (yes, they used to print magazines on paper):

A series of very short, bizarre and often humorous vignettes that flow like an odd stream of consciousness into each other, Circuit immediately sucked me into its strange world where I remained a welcome captive for an all-too-brief 20 minutes. A particularly enjoyable scene featured a gaggle of animal rights protesters getting the crap beaten out of them by several rogue cops. Created on an obviously limited budget, writer/director Jay Hollinsworth manages to deliver an entertaining little film which I heartily recommend, especially for those of you with nothing better to do than get drunk or high and watch odd things on the tele.

- Scott Russo

Happy Independent Video Store Day!

Posted on
Reply

Clearly inspired by Record Store Day, Independent Video Store Day was conceived by Dan Hanna, owner of Eyesore Cinema in Toronto, as a way to celebrate those businesses still in existence where film is appreciated as something other than another disposable commodity. With Netflix growing even more indifferent to indies, settling on quantity over quality (and doing a splendid job of damn near alienating their entire customer base with insipid decisions and backtracks), this couldn’t come at a better time.

God’s Little Miracle

Posted on
Reply

So, as anyone who’s visited this blog recently has noticed, my projects seem to have slowed to a crawl. This can be attributable to a handful of factors, most notably the appearance of a brand new, screaming mass of snot, spit, urine and breastmilk poop (he’s actually a good kid, just going through a collicky phase), and some serious reorganization. All that said, please forgive the broken links and missing media files you may come across and have some patience, all will be put right in time. And hopefully, soon, I’ll have something to actually blog about… other than diaper jokes, narcissistic baby anecdotes and tired generalizations about how being a parent really changes you, man.

Hell Bent for Candler

Posted on
Reply

Austin filmmaker Kat Candler is making a short film called Hellion. Sadly, the plot is not based on the 42-second instrumental that leads off Screaming For Vengeance. Honestly, I don’t know how you’d write an adaptation of a Glenn Tipton/K.K. Downing twin-guitar tribulation, but I’ll waive my ban on linking to ads to give props to this admirable attempt.

Anyway, she and Producer Kelly Williams are raising funds through IndieGoGo and, although they’ve already reached their modest goal, I can attest to the fact that you can never have enough funding. Plus, Kat is, hands-down, one of the kindest, most generous people in the local film community, and her film will star Jonny Mars from Wuss and Madison Burge from Friday Night Lights. Get more info and donate right here.

Jonathan Ames To Have Company

Posted on
Reply

Awesome news: author Sam Lipsyte, with whom I briefly shared the bare-knuckled, two-hand touch gridiron of Astoria Park (until a windowshade tear of my left hamstring forced me into early retirement), is developing a comedy for HBO. If you haven’t read The Ask, or any of his earlier books: Home Land, Venus Drive or The Subject Steve, you are missing out on some bleakly funny, satirically dense comic gold. Set your TiVos now!

These Days pt. 2

Posted on
Reply

To make an already-too-long-story somewhat shorter, The music video for the Foo Fighters’ “These Days” was cranked out in two and half weeks (which included a harrowing 44-hour edit marathon) and premiered on April 15th on Fuse TV. I was flown out to NYC to meet the filmmakers of the 10 other videos from Wasting Light on the preceding Tuesday—the day the album dropped. In addition to meeting, and commiserating with, the other directors, we met the band at a taping of Hoppus on Music, and managed to play a minor role in their all-out media assault surrounding the release of the album… a campaign which included SNL on Saturday, The Daily Show on Monday night, the taping with us at Fuse, and then that afternoon’s appearance on the Letterman show, which culminated with a two-hour set at the Ed Sullivan theater all done in homage to the Beatles 1964 television appearance. So, as bananas as the experience was at times, it was ultimately worthwhile… and now we finally have online rollout dates for www.fusemusic.com and www.foofighters.com simultaneously. They are as follows:

Monday (5/9) @ Noon EST
1. Bridge Burning
2. Rope
3. Dear Rosemary

Tuesday (5/10) @ Noon EST
4. White Limo
5. Arlandria
6. These Days

Wednesday (5/11) @ Noon EST
7. Back & Forth
8. A Matter of Time
9. Miss the Misery

Thursday (5/12) @ Noon EST
10. I Should Have Known
11. Walk

Rock Doc Summer

Posted on
Reply

I have no idea why this happens but I guess things do occur in cycles. I have friends/acquaintances involved in four music documentaries screening around the country this summer and I wholeheartedly recommend that you track every one of them down:

Color Me Obsessed – I have to imagine this film is Gorman Bechard’s dream come true. A self-described ‘Mats fanatic, Bechard has put forth a ballsy, unique proposition—a music documentary that sings the praises of a band without using any of that band’s music. Instead, the film is a comprehensive collection of interviews with fellow Replacements fans like Greg Norman and Grant Hart from Hüsker Dü, Craig Finn from The Hold Steady, celebrities like Dave Foley and Tom Arnold, and writers like Greg Kot and Robert Christgau, just to name a few. It’s been recommended to put this mix tape together for pre and post-screening enjoyment.

Searching For Elliott Smith – A touching tribute to an extremely talented and extremely troubled artist who was never comfortable with his increasing popularity. This is the first real document of Smith that he actually took part in and also has the cooperation of former girlfriend Jennifer Chiba, someone who still, years after Smith’s death, is saddled with the undeserving burden of being a target of the lies, accusations, and outright libel that emanate from the darkest corners of the internet. It’s a chance for his loved ones to finally remember him as a person and appreciate the legacy of his music without the tabloid bullshit as accompaniment.

Blank City – A chronicle of the “Cinema of Transgression,” a film scene clearly born of, and filled with, the music of NYC’s No Wave movement of the early eighties. Fueled by a brilliant soundtrack assembled by music supervisor Dan Selzer, owner and founder of Acute Records, the movie sketches out this post-punk, DIY school of filmmaking born of the fury, talent and bad taste of filmmakers like Amos Poe, Richard Kern, Nick Zedd and Jim Jarmusch. Also, of special interest, it just finished its run at the Magic Lantern (a theater which holds a very special place in my heart) last week. Which brings me to…

SpokAnarchy – An unflinching look at how a punk scene can rise and flourish—in its own rollicking, unique fashion—in the middle of a cultural wasteland… in this case, Spokane, Washington circa nineteen-eighties. David and Theresa Halsell, Jon and Heather Swanstrom, Cory Wees, and Erica Schisler all collaborated to craft this authentic and deeply satisfying testament to the liberating and transformative power of punk rock. Through interviews with the movers and shakers in the scene and beautifully scarred, analogue period footage (some of which I was happy to provide), the film offers a glimpse into what can bloom anywhere there’s creativity, desire and a heavy dose of dissatisfaction.

Find ‘em, watch ‘em.