Lance Around Orlando

Stevie Salas & Christina Fon Rock the Audience During the Q & A

Mrs. LanceAround’s maternal side of the family came from rural Minihaha Springs, West Virginia. Her mother’s grandmother was a full blooded Native American. Like many people who lived in that part of the country at that time, this was a source of shame and embarrassment for Mrs. LanceAround’s family. Therefore, it was not talked about.

Rumble: The Indians That Rocked The World is a documentary that demonstrates just how much Native American influence there is in modern day rock and roll music. Ironically, the reason it’s not known is the same reason that Mrs. LanceAround’s family never spoke about her great grandmother’s heritage.

This fascinating documentary takes a look at some of the most popular songs of our era and demonstrates how they were directly influenced by Native American culture. Indeed, several prominent musicians may have been assumed to be black but were, in fact, Native Americans. These include such musical icons as Jimi Hendrix, Link Wray, Charley Patton, Mildred Bailey, Jesse Ed Davis, Buffy Sainte-Marie, Robbie Robertson, Randy Castillo and even movie Executive Producer and 1988 lead guitarist for Rod Steward, Stevie Salas, who was in attendance for this film.

The film provides side by side comparisons of old, indigenous tribal ceremonies compared to modern pop music where the rhythm and drumming is demonstratively identical.

One point of interest was an old photograph that showed three bathroom doors. One was labeled “white,” one was labeled “black,” and the middle one was labeled “Indian.” This kind of blatant prejudice is seldom exposed in our school systems.

This well made film will open your eyes to a piece of our American history that has been unspoken for far too long. After the film, Executive Producer and featured subject Stevie Salas spoke with the audience.

Stevie Salas Speaks About His Experiences as an Indigenous Musician and Making This Documentary
You know, if you look at my birth certificate, it says my mother’s white and my father’s white. If you ever saw a picture of my mother and my father you would laugh at that. They’re not even close to white. I’ve got nothing against being white. As a matter of fact, when I was playing rock and roll in the early days with Rod Stewart, I never felt like I looked Native. I felt like I fit right in with the rest of them.

Native American people don’t have a lot of role models to look up to. We can’t look up to Geronimo forever. We wanted to find some new ones. It sounds crazy, but it’s true. There was an unwritten history of influence going on.

We all thought Charley Patton was a black man.

Has anyone ever seen a photo–you always see ones in American history that say, “black bathroom, white bathroom”–I’ve never seen one that said, “Indian bathroom.” I’ve never seen one. They [my other producers] found one.

How we got so many big stars is most of these guys I knew and I grew up with. We all came up together. I was able to call people personally. If you’ve got to call an agent it never really works, it’s one in a million and it’s all bullsh**.

Being in the film wasn’t just about being an Indian. Every Indian just doesn’t get in the film. This was about Native American people who influenced pop music history.

I’m a guitar player, who wanted to be a rock star, who happened to be an Indian.

Tell all your friends–we’re going to go theatrical this summer and we want to do some good box office.

Jennifer Consults With a Moviegoer Outside the Enzian After the Film

Unrest
Perhaps the bravest among us are those who stand up to fight, even when they can’t stand up. That’s the dilemma that faces many people inflicted with severest form of myalgic encephalomyelitis. One such person is Jennifer Brea. This is her story. This is her film. And it is one of the most powerful documentaries we’ve ever seen at the FFF. It’s incredible.

For a Monday night film, the Enzian was surprisingly full and there was a palatable buzz inside the theatre suggesting an anticipation for the film we are about to see.

I am surprised because the documentary, Unrest, is not the kind of film that normally generates such buzz. In fact, at the end of the film a member of the documentary selection committee will make a point to say the FFF usually does not show “Medical Docs.” But there was something about this movie that was attractive to them–something beyond the fact that the filmmaker, Jennifer Brea, was a local who graduated from Trinity Prep in Orlando.

Jennifer is a brilliant, Harvard educated woman who has traveled the world until one day she came down with a flu like virus. Suddenly, she found herself bed bound; often unable to sit, walk or even speak coherently. Confronted by a medical community that seemed too eager to insist her illness was, “all in your head,” Jennifer did what seemed most natural to an intelligent person in academia: she picked up a camera and started to compile as much data as she could about her condition.

It soon became obvious that she suffered from myalgic encephalomyelitis–A diagnosis that is often referred to by the name “chronic fatigue syndrome” although this name is considered a somewhat offensive description for such a debilitating illness that goes well beyond simple fatigue. According to the film, approximately 25% of people suffering from ME have symptoms so severe, they spend the majority of their time trapped in their bed. Even the slightest exertion can cause severe pain and exhaustion.

With no cure and very little research available, Jennifer managed to film her journey. Along the way, we are introduced to many others inflicted with this debilitating disease. The miracle of modern technology allows these patients who are bedridden to communicate with one another from their beds via the internet.

Together, this group and those that support and care for them, formed an organization called The #MillionsMissing. They explain that 20 million people worldwide are missing from their lives because of ME. In a powerful moment during the film, there are scenes from cities all over the world where the shoes from someone inflicted with ME are placed in prominent public spaces to represent those who could not be present to protest for themselves. And even when those with ME are able to attend a protest, they often need to lie down and/or endure a great amount of discomfort just from the effort of coming to the protest.

Perhaps nothing is more striking than the story of the Danish teenager who was forcibly removed from her parents’ home because the unenlightened doctor believed that the parents attentions to their daughter were the cause of her inability to rise from her bed. After many years being removed from her family with no visible improvement under the care of this physician (who has the aptly ironic name of Dr. Fink) the daughter was returned to her home after the government received many protests, testimonies and support from those who also deal with the ravages of ME.

At the end of the film, it was revealed that the number of patients with ME who commit suicide far outpaces those of the general population. And yet, the funding our country provides to those seeking  cure and treatment for ME is a minuscule fraction of the funding provided for many other maladies that affect far fewer people.

In a sad commentary of the inner workings of our society, the movie highlights speculation that funding and proper education for ME will never increase until drug manufacturers can figure out a way to monetize such treatment.

Perhaps the most powerful moment in the film was the revelation that Multiple Sclerosis used to be considered an “hysterical” and completely “psychosomatic” condition until the day that PET scans were invented and doctors were able to physically view the white plague on the brains of an MS patient. Even in our supposedly enlightened 21st century society, many people continue to consider ME something that is “all in your head” and caused by laziness, hypochondria or hysteria. The film has clips of famous comedians who would do routines about chronic fatigue syndrome describing it as the disease where a person wakes up and decides they just don’t want to go to work that day.

The resolve, the truth and the passion the documentary reveals about those inflicted with this dreadful disease is that, in fact, they want nothing more than the ability to get up and go to work.

Jennifer Brea, the main subject as well as the director, co-screenwriter and one of the producers of this excellent documentary was in attendance during the film and gave an insightful Q & A after the movie. It soon became evident that there were many people in attendance who have personal experience in dealing with this disease. A few shared their very moving stories.

Q & A with Jennifer Brea
Q: You obviously started taking a lot of movies of yourself, at what point did you realize, “I’m making a film.”

A: I’ve come to learn during this process that I was an artist without a medium. I was a writer for a long time. Then I lost the ability to write or read or think when this first happened to me. So I started recording these videos that you see in the film on my iphone. It was a way to process what I was going through and a way to understand and cope with that. It was really hard. It was really lonely. It was when I found that community online and I realized I wasn’t just battling with something alone; I was battling something that so many people go through–it was that and realizing just how little access I had to healthcare. I couldn’t go to a doctor or emergency room without the fear of being dismissed or abused and not being examined or taken seriously.  It was when I realized that larger social injustice at the heart of this that I wanted to make a film. I needed to believe the world was still humane and just. Simply the fact that nobody could see us; that people couldn’t see these stories, that we could bring them out into the light that things might change.

Q (From LA): At one point you say that people thought MS was hysterical until they invented the CAT scan and you saw the white spots. At another point in the movie you had someone who ran a woman through a bunch of tests and she came back and said because of this, this and this I can see you have ME. Does this mean we now have a diagnostic criteria or do we still have a ways to go on that?

JB: That’s a really perceptive question–and a complicated one.  There have been at least 6000 studies done. They’re not very widely read; but they’re there. There are a huge number of potential biomarkers. There are things we know that are consistently abnormal within patients with this condition: natural killer cell function, which is your body’s first line of defense against cancer and viral infections as well as all of these metabolic abnormalities that you find around energy metabolism. But the challenge is not only does it need to be abnormal in patients like me it has to be unique and it has to be cheap. A laboratory has to be able to find it and to scale it. I can go to a research lab and you can find all kinds of things that are abnormal with me. A general practitioner can spend all day running the tests he would run and he would never find anything. So there’s a gap between research and practice that’s really where the next step is. Researchers and clinicians need to find how to take what we know in the science and turn it into medical education and practical clinical care. They’re working on it. They’re working on cheap tests that could diagnose this accurately.

Q: Is part of this because it expresses itself mentally and may seem like confusion or depression? Are there mental symptoms?

JB: Well there are definitely mental symptoms and there are a lot of cognitive symptoms that are a core part of the disease. Some people are physically affected, some people are cognitively affected. At the beginning I was both. I could not lift my head off the pillow. I could not write more than a sentence of an email without passing out for an hour. It was because my brain would just hit a wall and I had a hard time with complex processing functions. I still do. I have a hard time filtering out sensory information. A lot of us look like kids with autism; we need to wear protective headgear and the light is hard and the stimulation is hard. Those are core features of the disease. In terms of depression, if you were someone who couldn’t go out or see friends or family or do anything that mattered to you for years I think that’s enough to make anybody sincerely depressed. I’m lucky. I never got depressed during this. It took an incredible amount of cognitive choice and daily stamina to stay alive. It’s really hard to live that way. It’s unimaginable to wake up every day in the same room and never know if you’re going to get out. For someone who’s mildly affected, they can run for a mile before they crash.

Q: I’ve been sick for 26 years [pauses in tears] I just want to reiterate the point that you made that the immunological studies–I had zero natural killer cells when I was tested and I had such a low CD4 count they told me I probably have aids. I wanted to mention that my apparent cause was a toxic mold environment when I was a teacher. Have there been a lot of people that you know who became ill after mold exposure?

JB: Yes, definitely. Thank you for sharing your story and for coming here. We don’t know what connects all of this. There’s many different triggers and you can have one trigger that causes many different diseases or many triggers that cause a common disease. I know that for a lot of people mold is a huge issue. I don’t know to what extent it caused my illness but I am extremely sensitive to mold. Some people have environmental exposures that cause this and some people have viral or bacterial infections that cause it. I had a friend that had chemotherapy for a brain tumor and it caused this. What happens to people who have their immune system compromised in this way is that you then have these other viruses that are in all of us and they start to reactivate and reek havoc and part of why I’m here today is because of drugs that a very small percentage of people have access to, including a new antiviral that if I didn’t have access to it within 48 hours I’d have been laid out permanently in that same place. My hope is that this will accelerate the research and give more people access to the kind of care that I’ve been so lucky to have.

Q (From LA): What is your goal? What would you like to see happen?

JB: I hope that people can recognize how serious the disease can be and get to know these patients that medicine and the outside world never see. The film focuses on the 25% of people that are home bound or bedridden. I really want for these patients that our communities and medical professionals recognize that we exist. It’s horrible that some of these citizens remain in the shadows and I’m hoping this helps to bring them to light and it starts to create real change.

Matthew Curtis and Mrs. LanceAround at Last Year’s Preview

Matthew Curtis Says This is a Great Year to Come to the FFF

Social Justice…Politics….Immigration are just some of the hot button topics that seem to pervade many of the films at this year’s film festival. We are at the preview for the 26th annual Florida Film Festival. Once again we’re speaking with Matthew Curtis, Programming Director for the FFF. The festival takes place starting this Friday the 21st of April and continues through 30 April 2017.

LA: Matthew…180 films this year…

MC: It’ll be 182!

LA: 182 out of how many possible selections?

MC: 2041, that’s a record number.

LA: And you’ve seen them all…

MC: I’ve seen every one except for an international showcase feature, called I Dream In Another Language which they were not able to get me a preview screening. But Valerie, our Marketing Manager, saw it at Sundance and loved it.  It’s a film set in Mexico about a linguist that goes down to study a forgotten language. The only two people that remember the language are two guys that hate each other and haven’t spoken in 50 years. It’s supposed to be absolutely great. Valerie is so passionate about it that [Programming Coordinator] Tim and I said, “Sure, let’s do it!” The film just got picked up by FilmRise, the same distributor that’s got Manifesto and they were willing to give it to us. I still want to see it. I’m hoping for a preview link soon. But I’ve seen everything else.

LA: When you say you’ve seen them all, is that all 182 or all 2041?

MC: [laughs] No, I’ve not seen all 2041, otherwise you wouldn’t be talking to me. No, I’ve seen about a third of the submissions. That’s why I have six different selection committees.

LA: How many people on each selection committee?

MC: Three

LA: Three people on each selection committee. You have a lot of categories for the films. Are the categories predetermined prior to the films being submitted?

Billy Crudup Appears on Friday the 28th.

MC: We know our American Independent Competition, there’s going to be Narrative Features, Doc Features and Doc Shorts and Live Action Shorts and Animated Shorts. We know we’re going to have International Features and International Shorts.  We know we’re going to have International Animation. There are some wild cards. The second Doc Shorts program is new this year as is the second International Shorts Program. Sometimes it’s a mixed bag of stuff, sometimes it’s all, you know, German Shorts or Italian Shorts or International Documentary Shorts. We do have some wild cards that change from year to year. But we know the basic structure. We know there’s going to be Music Films, Food Films, Midnight Movies…

LA: So do the selection committees know which category they’re going to be selecting for?

MC: Yes!

LA: If you have a certain number of categories and you have X number of films, what is the process by which a film gets chosen for the festival?

MC: We start looking at films in September. (Call for entries opens mid-August.) Committees start getting together in October.

LA: Does everyone in every committee see every film they could possibly select?

MC: Yes, unless it’s been killed already by the rest of the committee.

LA: And how does a committee member, or group of committee members, kill a film?

MC: At least two people see every film. Generally two to four people see every film. If two people see the film and think it’s horrible–there’s no way it’s going to move forward–then we just move on. So, minimum two people, maximum four or five.

LA: I thought you said the committees were three people?

MC: They are–three people without Tim and myself.

LA: The four or five includes you and Tim?

MC: Correct.

LA: How does a film achieve final approval?

MC: Oh, we have final selections meetings starting in mid-January before I leave for Sundance.

LA: Explain that meeting to me…It’s a group of who?

MC: We all get together…

LA: Who’s we?

MC: The entire committee and Tim and I. Based on ratings, we’ll have our top 30 or 40 based on ratings in that category. We’ll put them all up on the board in post-its…and…we’ll start arguing. We’ll put up for the festival what we’re unanimous about…which might be three or four out of the ten Features in competition…and the rest we’ll just fight over.

LA: Give me an example of three or four films that just barely squeaked into the festival…

MC: No, I’d rather not do that! I’m really proud of everything that’s in the festival. But some films can be unanimous…some films can be alternates. There are things we accepted for the festival that we’re not playing because we couldn’t get them. They pulled for somebody else or they were bought by a distributor and the distributor pulled them…so there’s a lot of factors that go into the programming of 182 films.

LA: So give me an example of three or four films that from the moment everyone saw them they were just included.

MC: Katie Says Goodbye. As soon as we saw that we were instantaneous this is absolutely going to be…it was even early in the process…this is going to be one of the best films we get. It’s in the Narrative Features Competition…Olivia Cooke, Mary Steenburgen, Jim Belushi, Christopher Abbott. We knew it was going to be one of the best films we were going to see. Strad Style in the Doc Feature competition, which went on the win the Audience Award and Grand Jury Award at Slamdance. I’d have to think about some of the other stuff. In the music section, once we saw Rumble: The Indians Who Rocked the World we knew that was a keeper. There’s no way…it was so well done…such great music…such an interesting topic that we haven’t seen before…we knew that, provided we could get it after Sundance, that it would make the festival.

LA: What you’re saying is…Rumble: The Indians Who Rocked the World, Strad Style, and especially, Katie Says Goodbye are your favorite films in the whole festival!

MC: NO! That’s not what I’m saying at all…NO! What I’m saying is that, on first viewing by the committee, we were unanimous on how good they were.

LA: I will strike it from the record! Let it be known now and forever, Matthew Curtis will NEVER reveal what his favorite movies from the Florida Film Festival are because, as we all know, every movie is his favorite movie!

MC: NO! That’s not true either. I wouldn’t say that either. Let’s just say there’s an extraordinary amount of really good films at the festival this year. There’s a lot of things that are really challenging…envelope pushing…and we’re excited about that.

LA: What are the movies that are going to be the most talked about this year?

MC: The Cate Blanchett film, Manifesto.

LA: What makes that so special–That’s in the Spotlight?

MC: Yes, that’s in the Spotlight. Well, we’ve never seen anything like it before. She plays 13 different roles. The whole narrative comes from manifestos, writings and essays from 20th century thinkers; including futurists, dadaists, people like Jim Jarmusch, and it’s brilliant. It’s also very challenging and demanding for the audience.

LA: What film are you a little nervous about?

Really Interesting and Experimental Doc

MC: I’m not nervous about Manifesto, we’re only playing it once. I think it will have more walk outs than most of the other films in the festival. We’ll see. We’ll see. It’s just extremely challenging. There’s a film in the Doc Feature Competition, Rat Film, about inner city Baltimore that’s really interesting and it’s experimental–kind of a hybrid documentary that’s challenging and fascinating and really, really, interesting. The midnight stuff is crazy. That trailer we showed for Bad Black which is from Wakaliwood, Uganda. It’s like Mystery Science Theatre 3000. The film’s made for $200. It’s a school of filmmaking in Uganda where they recycle footage and use tons of green screen and it’s narrated like MST3K. It’s absolutely insane.

LA: What is it about this year’s film festival that is really unique or that you’re proud of or that will really stand out?

MC: I think this year’s festival might be a little more political than previous years; a lot more films dealing with human rights issues, social justice, it’s our most international festival ever.

LA: There seems to be a lot of films dealing with immigration issues.

MC: Yea, there’s immigration, refugee issues. We’ve got a lot of things that are really gonna blow people away. There’s more countries represented this year, 40 countries, than ever before. Last year I think we had maybe 32 countries represented.

LA: How long have you been with the FFF?

MC: Since the beginning–this is my 21st year as Programming Director. But I’ve been here all 26 years.

LA: 26 years ago, how many films were there, approximately, and how many were from other countries?

MC: Not a quarter of the program! What is interesting is even a lot of domestic films that are in competition are films that were shot in other countries. Like we have films in the American Independent Competition Shorts Program, one is shot in Venezuela, it’s a kidnapping thriller, One’s shot in Germany, there’s another film, Red Apples, that takes place at an Armenian wedding–there are even films that are “technically” domestic films (because they’re USA production money) or made in USA grad schools or film schools, but they’re shot overseas. So I do think there’s more of an international flavor than ever before.

LA: Didn’t one of the films have what looked like an American film and it looked like a lot of Muslim characters and they were speaking Farsi?

MC: It’s called A Stray and it features one of the actors from Captain Phillips…

LA: The one who was nominated for an Academy Award?

MC: No, the other guy (Barkhad Abdirahman) he’s coming…the actor’s coming. It’s set in the Somalia refugee community in Minneapolis–as if, like, everybody knew that! It’s a Muslim community. A young man is basically thrown out of his house. He’s homeless. And he ends up befriending a stray dog; how their friendship helps him get through it. That’s in Somali and English both.

LA: What makes a film considered Domestic or International?

MC: Where the production money comes from–it’s where the majority of the production money originates from.

LA: Okay, and in conclusion, give us an update the expansion planning for the Enzian, a project you refer to as “Enzian Forever”.

MC: We just cleared a parking hurdle–which is great! We’re like four and three quarter million raised out of the original budget of six million. But it’s been a couple years now so that’s probably gone up. I think we’re still a couple years away, but we’re moving forward. Things are positive. Hiring David Schillhammer as the new Executive Director, he’s been very successful in the arts as head of the Philharmonic for 16 years. David is very well liked and respected. I think that was an excellent move.

LA: There you have it, ladies and gentlemen, the update on this year’s 26th annual Florida Film Festival with Festival Programming Director, Matthew Curtis. It’s going to be fabulous. If you are going, please leave a comment and let us know which films you are seeing and why. Or, write your own review or synopsis of the film you just saw. Let’s join the conversation about our favorite Film Festival.

Rob Reiner Teams Up With Son Nick

Being Charlie
Rob Reiner is one of our favorite directors. Like many older Americans, we first encountered Rob playing Archie Bunker’s son-in-law, “Meathead” in Norman Lear’s hit TV sitcom All in the Family. But it was his brilliant direction of writer William Goldman’s The Princess Bride in 1987 where we fell in love with his movies. Other favorite movies he directed include: This is Spinal Tap, Stand by Me, When Harry Met Sally, Ghosts of Mississippi, The Bucket List, and, of course, two of our all time favorite movies written by the brilliant Aaron Sorkin: The American President and A Few Good Men.

When we heard Rob had directed a movie written by his son Nick Reiner (along with Matt Elisofon) we immediately put it on our list. NumberOneSon warned us that the movie did not get a lot of positive reviews. After watching the movie, we understood why. It’s not an easy movie to watch. The ending isn’t tied up in a neat little bow. There are a lot of unresolved issues. But it’s a very good movie. And, if you happen to suffer from an addiction, it’s a must see movie. Any addict will tell you the path to sobriety and fulfillment is long, difficult and littered with setbacks. This movie has it all.

As usual, Rob manages to find the humanity in each character. His direction is well paced. He gets good performances from his cast. Most importantly, he tells a compelling story. Nick Robinson gives a strong performance as Charlie, a young addict struggling to find sobriety while his father (played by Cary Elwes) runs for governor of California. Nick is surrounded by a competent supporting cast, including Morgan Saylor and Common. But it is Devon Bostick playing Charlie’s friend Adam who gives a standout performance.

Based on the real life experiences of Rob’s son, Nick, this was a touching and personal film by one of our great American directors.

Shorts Program 4: Modern Love
For the most part, the FFF is the highlight of our year. We enjoy great, independent film. We learn so much for the fabulous documentaries. And we meet some of the industries most celebrated stars. Yet there is one thing we about the FFF that can make it challenging for us. Since the films are not rated, we often find ourselves watching movies that are a bit too raunchy, particularly for Mrs. LanceAround. Such is the case for this group of shorts. The collection includes roommates with boundary issues, familial sex acts, childhood amputations, candid conversations about all aspects of sex and a zany, staged dinner party for a 40th anniversary.

Lost in the shuffle is a wonderful, sarcastic spoof called, Too Legit. It explores the absurd allegations by US Senator Todd Akin who stated on national TV that if a woman is “legitimately raped” the body has a way of “dealing with” that situation to prevent pregnancy. Although it was also disturbing to watch, the important social message was powerful resulting in this film receiving a Special Jury Award for Achievement in Political Satire.

Also of note was the entertaining short, Syrah, which explores the concept of a Siri-esque phone program deciding to take matters in her own hands as she guides a couple around the city.

Special Screening of “The Greasy Strangler”
A few years ago, the FFF featured a special midnight screening of an unnamed film. So confident are the FFF faithful, the theatre was packed and patrons were treated to a wonderful mockumentary, Exit Through the Gift Shop. That movie was so enjoyable, Mrs. LanceAround, NumberOneSon and I were eager to see this year’s special midnight screening.

Although younger and more hip NumberOneSon mostly enjoyed The Greasy Strangler, Mrs. LanceAround and I found ourselves wishing we had skipped it and gone to bed early. For us, the thing that makes Ed Wood movies so special is that Ed Wood truly thought he was making great movies. I’ve never had a liking for movies that are intentionally made to be bad movies. In my opinion, all this movie did was succeed wildly at being bad!

Steve and Holly Join Mrs. LanceAround For Their First Film Festival

One of the our great pleasures is introducing someone new to the FFF. Our good friends, Steve and Holly, have lived in Central Florida since they were children. They’ve occasionally seen movies at the Enzian. But before tonight, they’ve never attended the FFF.

Mrs. LanceAround and I invited them to join us for the animated shorts. Frankly, we’re a little nervous. Sometimes the animated shorts can be a little raunchy. They can also be eclectic and esoteric. What would our friends think?

This year there are 17 animated shorts, the longest being 10 minutes and the shortest only 2 minutes. At least if there are a couple bad ones, they won’t last long. As usual for this popular program, the Enzian theatre is packed. Here’s a rundown of each short and The conversation Steve, Holly, Mrs. LanceAround and I had on the drive home from the Enzian:

All Your Favorite Shows!
A fascinating amalgamation of animation and live action intermingling emotional scenes from famous movies with the story of a young boy who can’t keep his eyes off his cell phone or his mind from wandering to places that images on the cell phone take him.

LA: I loved the creativity
Holly: I did too. I thought it was really good. I loved it. I loved how they cut in so many different film clips.
Steve: [Nods head in agreement with us]

Panic Attack!
What happens when you worry too much. This film explores possible images and emotions that go through a person’s mind when their deepest anxieties creates a slippery hold on their reality.

LA: I liked her a lot more than I liked her film.
Holly: Me too! You know, it could be since I’ve had panic attacks and I don’t find them funny. I find that mental illness is such a hard topic in our country. And not that you can’t be light hearted about it, but I think it’s not recognized enough to make jokes about it; in my mind. But that’s just me, because I’ve had panic attacks.
Mrs. LA: Oh, I have too. When I was 25 I was also having panic attacks. I thought there was something wrong with my heart. They took me to the hospital. They checked me out. They discovered it wasn’t physiological, it was psychological.
Holly: That one was hard for me to watch; only because of that. The visuals were kind of real to what you go through in that. But it was funny. If you’ve never had a panic attack, it would have been easier to watch.

T.P.
After seeing this film, Holly commented, “What movie has ever gotten you rooting for toilet paper before?” A stop motion animation five years in the making, this clever film follows a brand new roll of toilet paper in a less than sanitary gas station rest room. Is escape possible?

Holly: What about T.P.?
LA: It took five years to film that.
Holly: Really? Did it say that?
LA: No, I just did some research before we came. It was stop motion…
Steve: …Which is really time consuming! It was really difficult…it came on right when we were served our food; so it was difficult to watch. I was impressed by it. I knew what it was…stop motion…very challenging to do.
Holly: I actually felt sorry for the toilet paper. A little short film that made me feel sorry for the toilet paper is definitely a good film. I felt real bad for it.

Meaning of Life?

Tales of Mere Existence
FFF favorite, Levni Yilmaz returns with more simplistically drawn tales exploring such diverse topics as: What do pigeons think about their lives? What keeps me awake at night (besides my rude neighbors?)  and what do you do when you accidentally run into your ex in the supermarket?

Borrowed Time
In this sophisticated CGI short, an old west sheriff returns to the scene of a life-changing accident that he has spent a lifetime trying to forget.

Holly: You didn’t like this one, but it was the best shot. It made you cry?
Mrs. LA: Yes.
LA: I thought that of all the animators, this is the most talented.
Steve: Talented, yea!
Holly: It looked more like an animator from Pixar.

Perfect Houseguest
Most of the time, mice are seen as dirty rodents, best to be gotten rid of! This cute short attempts to turn the table on that perception.

Holly: I thought it was really cute. I thought it was sweet.
LA: My thought was that the filmmaker really identifies with the mouse. You know, this thing that everyone hates but is underappreciated and does all the hard work.
Holly: I could see it as a short they show before a kid’s movie.

A Monster Teenager

Welcome to My Life
Steve, Holly, Mrs. LanceAround and I agree that this is the best animated short of the night. It’s an allegorical story of a day in the life of an atypical teenager. By having the protagonist be a monster, this creative short offers a fresh perspective as it explores issues of acceptance, relationships and coming of age in a non-threatening way that is sure to touch the hearts of anyone who is, or has been, a teenager!

Holly: That was really good.
Steve: It was really well done.
Holly: You wish they would show that in high school.
Steve: Yea. I liked the monotone voices too.
Holly: My favorite line was, “He goes to my church.”
LA: Exactly. That was my favorite line too.

The Loneliest Stoplight
Two time Oscar nominee Bill Plympton takes a look at a lonely stoplight in the middle of an intersection somewhere in the middle of nowhere. With characteristic Plympton finesse, this stoplight becomes a metaphor for the loneliness we all feel. When a congested freeway appears nearby, sharp eyed Holly recognizes the shape of the highway as similar to a shape Bill has drawn on the wall of the Eden bar in a nature scene!

Holly: I liked it.
Steve: It was pretty simple.
LA: The entire movie I’m thinking, “Why does he want to make a film about this?”
Steve: There was not much there.

Flaws
The world is full of flaws. This beautifully rendered charcoal drawings present an allegory of life in the service industry. It utilizes an animation technique in which all frames are drawn on a single sheet of paper.

LA: That was fascinating
Steve: I didn’t like it.
Holly: Neither did I. What did you like about it?
LA: To me, it was the allegory. It started off with “life is full of laws.” Then they put an “F” in it to say, “Life is full of flaws.” Then it was all these people like another brick in the wall. It was basically like Pink Floyd. There are certain films where you get the impression that all the filmmaker is trying to do is to evoke emotion. That was one of them. I didn’t think VERY highly of it.

Pure Concentricity
A liberal dose of shaving cream in a natural environment occasionally encroached by a naked male body creates a stop motion feast for the eyes.

All of us have difficulty remembering what this film was about
LA: Was that the one with the shaving cream?
Steve and Holly [together]: YES!
LA: Oh my goodness, that was so fascinating!
Holly: Really?
LA: I knew it was shaving cream. So the whole time I’m watching it I’m like, “OK, we’re going to create this effect…”
Steve: …That was challenging…
LA: “…We’re going to put down some shaving cream, then film it, then put down some more shaving cream, then film it.” Meanwhile, the bottom part of the shaving cream would melt. It was just one of those things that was creating images–and I liked the images! It was just one of those, “Hey, this is a fun film experiment.”
Holly: I couldn’t figure it out!
LA: What’s there to figure out?
Holly: Yea!

Seedier Side of Life

The Lingerie Show
I’ve never been to an orgy. I’ve never taken drugs. I’ve never even been drunk. So I have no idea what that seedier side of life is like. But if it’s anything like this dark, mixed media animated short, then I’m just as happy not to know. The protagonist experiences her boyfriend ODing after a drug-fueled orgy.

Holly: After I heard her talk about it…I would have rather heard her talk about it before I watched it. Because when she said it was the writer’s sister…I don’t know…I thought some of it had been a dream. I’ve never experienced that side of life.
LA: Are you trying to convince your husband you’ve never had a lingerie sex orgy?
Holly: No, I haven’t. And I’ve never been attracted to a gay man.
LA: Now Mrs. LanceAround is always attracted to the gay men.
Holly: Oh, really?
LA: It’s one of the reasons I don’t have to worry 😉
Mrs. LA: Actually, I love gay men. There’s no “misunderstanding.” I feel very comfortable around them.

Bottom Feeders
I really don’t know what to say about this film. Some kind of surrealistic creatures live on top, another kind lives on bottom. Somehow they reproduce and/or kill one another in this Darwinian tale of adaptation and natural selection.

Holly: I didn’t like it.
LA: I was just trying to make sense of it.
Holly: It seemed like the animal had babies. But then, they were like down in the ground.
LA: I thought the message was, the people up there, when they die, become the people down there. That’s what I got out of it. You get to spray the sperm up to them. This is one of those that says more about the filmmaker than the film.

There’s Too Many of These Crows
Perhaps these crows were inspired by Hitchcock’s famous thriller, The Birds. No matter how much man-engineered fire power is produced, the birds always seem to win in the end–even during the closing credits.

LA: Yea, it was The Birds on steroids.
Holly: It was funny at the end. I don’t remember what made everyone laugh.
LA: Because the crows started coming through the credits.

Bob Dylan Hates Me
A paparazzi-esque young filmmaker has a couple of encounters with Bob Dylan only to discover that most famous people dislike paparazzi behavior. The filmmaker has a lot of talent but needs to realize that famous people are just as human as the rest of us if he is going to succeed in this industry.

LA: My reaction to that film is, “you’re in the film business. You want to be a professional filmmaker. And you can’t speak to a star without tripping over yourself.” He had such low self esteem they could basically just crush him. I thought, “You’re not going to make it in this business!”

Bye…Bye…

Glove
Based on the true story of an astronaut who’s space glove goes flying off into space during a spacewalk. This short gives thoughtful (though technically inaccurate) musings on the future travels of his glove. poetic and thoughtful, Holly and Mrs. LanceAround loved this one.

Holly: This one your wife and I loved. You had technical issues with it.
LA: I loved it from a poetic standpoint. But there’s no way that glove reaches the edge of the solar system, let alone the galaxy, let alone the universe.
Holly: I loved the soundtrack. I loved the music.

Heila Omur
A filmmaker explores what life might be like for a bacteria that swims into the belly of a man and begins to take over his reality.

Holly: I didn’t like that one.

Our Crappy Town
Every teenager encounters that moment when everything seems right in a relationship–everything but one. For example, what happens if you really, really have to go to the bathroom but you don’t want to spoil the moment. This raunchy tale appeared to make some in the audience cringe while others howled in laughter.

Holly: I didn’t like it, but my husband did.
Steve: I gave it a three!
Holly: I gave it a one!

Animated Filmmakers

Q&A With the Filmmakers
There were four filmmakers representing three different movies: Laura Harrison the director of The Lingerie Show, Andrew Coats, Co-Writer & Co-Director and Amanda Jones, Producer of Borrowed Time and Eileen O’Meara of Panic Attack.

Q: What inspired Borrowed Time?

Andrew: Well, it all started when I killed my dad…[generous laughter from the audience.] There’s a long story for that. Overall it started with us trying to tell a story we hadn’t seen in animation as much. We generally treat it as a genre. As you’ve seen tonight there’s a lot of stories that can be told. We wanted to try to do something that was more straight and a western was something that we enjoyed. That’s where the genesis of that was. As far as the story goes, it was through the long process of trying to find what we were wanting to say. It used to be sort of about forgiveness. That was too difficult to tell in the amount of time we had. So we made a way to find a story about closure which is something a lot of people can relate to. It came from that and looking back at your life; mistakes you’ve made, and finding closure–even though they might be horrible, terrible or difficult to remember.

Q: The stopwatch was awesome. Did the film come from that or did that happen as you were writing it?

Andrew: The watch was always there; part of a memento of his life. Whenever I lost somebody in my life, the objects that came from them in some way always made me think of them when I picked them up. What it meant changed a few times.

Q: What was the inspiration behind your film?

Laura:  It wasn’t a planned thing. I met this writer. We liked each others work. She’s not super smooth, neither am I. I loved her writing, she loved my animation. I tend to be interested in fringe paint–people who are living outside mainstream culture. It was a character driven interest. I just liked the voice. The writer narrated it. It’s a fictionalization of her family’s life. This is her sister. It’s kind of a documentary.

Eileen: With Panic Attack I have so much anxiety I needed to find something useful to do with it. Every time I would come home I would think, “I need to remember this. Draw a picture about it; write it down.” My animation was doing it as all one shot where it was one thing transforming into the next in sort of a subjective human state.

Q [From LanceAround]: I have two questions, first for Eileen, tell us about the structure of the animation between trying to portray something as you see or feel it and just trying to convey the emotion and how you work those two things out.

Eileen: That’s a good question. I think I just tried to imagine how I saw it and draw it. I’d do a video test of it and sort of say the lines in my head as I watched the video. Sometimes I would just throw out the picture because it didn’t work with it. Sometime the picture and the voiceover would match and sometimes contradict each other. I guess it was a matter of trial and error.

Q [From LanceAround]: Laura, what was the photograph at the end of the two people in the laundromat?

Laura: It’s actually the author and her sister. I didn’t want to make a caricature of this person. I just wanted people to know these are real people, real life. They’re not pompous, you know?

The Sheriff

Q: The sheriff looked like the Marlboro man. Who did you model the character after?

Andrew: He’s a mix of a bunch of different characters. We looked at a lot of spaghetti westerns. There’s some Clint Eastwood in there. It wasn’t anyone in particular. It’s got a little of my dad in there. It’s got a little of me in there.

Q: What drew you to your animation style?

Laura:  That’s interesting. Some of it came out of limitations–I’m not that skilled as an animator. I’m more of a painter and more interested in texture. A lot to do with the material and my own limitations as an animator.

Andrew: I grew up watching Disney films and I was really interested in doing animation when it started becoming more popular. I always loved acting and drawing so it seemed like the perfect marriage of the two.

Eileen: I really like drawing, I find it very calming. I usually use a much finer line, but since this one the content was about panic I used a much bigger line and much more limited palette so it felt a little more agitated.

Q: [From LanceAround]: For all of you, is this your full time job? And what is your ultimate goal? In other words, what do you want to be when you grow up?

Eileen: I do freelance animation but I also do other stuff. I do research for TV shows. I like getting paid to do animation. But it’s more liberating when you’re your own boss.

Amanada: I’m a script supervisor in animation, that’s my day job. But I’m definitely going to go the producer route.

Andrew: She’s an awesome producer. I will vouch for her. I’m an animator by day. So this was made on weekends and after work for five years.

Laura: That question terrifies me, actually. I do book trailers for authors. This piece I did was supposed to be a book trailer and I turned it into a film. My next project is to work with yet another writer.

Q: What’s a book trailer?

Laura: A relatively new category. Authors are now using this marketing tool–a trailer. It’s kind of like a voiceover type deal and illustrate it.

The Long Drive Home
For the entire hour long car ride back home, we engage in a lively conversation inspired and fueled by the FFF. We go deeper as we share personal experiences with each other. As we hug and wave goodbye at the end of the night, we realize that, once again, the FFF has become more than just FILM and more than just FOOD. The third F stands for FRIENDS.

It’s the perfect place for friends to share both food and film and, most importantly, a deeper and more intimate relationship with one another.

That’s the thing that makes the FFF so special for us!

This Son is Not Ready to Let Go of His Mama

Lolo
Tres Bien!

Although I don’t speak much French, the filmgoers in the seats behind me were French and had come to enjoy this French film. They spent the entire movie laughing uproariously. Often, I would hear their laughter before I had a chance to read the subtitles and could then join them in the joke. One line of French I did recognize was the phrase, “Tres Bien,” which several of them said many times at the end of the film.

Very good!

Originally, based on the description, I was not planning to see this movie. But in my interview with Matthew Curtis, programming director for the FFF, he highly recommended it. He mentioned that the dialogue was particularly witty. He was right.

The story revolves around a middle age woman who is seeking companionship. Or, at the very least, a good one night romp. She meets a Frenchman when he accidentally dumps a tuna fish he had just caught into her lap. One thing leads to another and they are soon living together in her apartment.

However, her 19 year old son lives there as well and has not quite gotten over his Oedipal inclinations. Pretty soon, he is concocting elaborate and humorous ways to sabotage mom’s new love affair. Upon reflection, mom begins to realize why all her other affairs ended in disaster.

The little twist at the end of the movie is the perfect comedic conclusion.

The movie was written and directed by two time Oscar nominated writer Julie Delpy, who also plays the starring role. But it’s Vincent Lacoste who steals the show with his charming, impish portrayal of the mother’s son.

This is a great romantic comedy; perfect for a date night flick.

Would You Buy a Home Where Seven People Were Murdered? Of Course!

The House is Innocent
This is the film. Hysterical.

Every now and then at the FFF a movie is so good it becomes an instant “all time favorite.” At this festival, that film is The House is Innocent. Although, to be honest, it could also include another delightful short, Pickle.

In The House is Innocent a quirky couple named Tom and Barbara, with a love of the macabre and a delightfully whimsical sense of humor, are looking for a house to buy. During one tour, they happen to notice the home at 1426 F Street in Sacramento, California, right next to the home they were looking to buy, was also for sale. They didn’t know that in the 80’s a 71 year old woman killed seven tenants who were renting there, buried their bodies in the yard, then continued to cash their social security checks. As soon as they heard the story about the history of the house, they decided they had to buy it. And, it was cheap!

Tom and Barbara went about renovating the home with a spirited eye towards its dark history. In one shower, they put up a curtain decorated with yellow police crime scene tape. On the exterior, they put up a sign that said, “Don’t blame me, I’m innocent. The House.”

While the homeowners are the onscreen star of this brilliant short, the real stars are Nicholas Coles’ directing and Michael Madrid’s editing. While Tom and Barbara turned a house of horrors into a wacky tourist attraction, Nicholas and Michael turn a short film into a sharp, crisp documentary that you won’t soon forget.

This one is, surprisingly, a lot of fun and, definitely, a must see.

Are They Courageous or Just Crazy?

The Babushkas of Chernobyl
This is an incredible, unforgettable documentary about a group of a few hundred women who lived on the outskirts of Chernobyl when the nuclear reactor exploded in 1986. They were immediately and permanently evacuated. However, this was the only home they had ever known. So they snuck back in, having to crawl through a barb wire fence and walk over 70 kilometers to their homes.

30 years have elapsed and many of these women are still alive. They insist they are better and healthier than if they had chosen to remain in the evacuation zone. While the group consists almost entirely of women, they do point out that there are two “useless men.” These men are not shown in the film.

Every now and then, government workers come into the site, measure radiation, and check up on the residents. While the women fish and grow their own food, the entire area is teeming with high doses of radiation. The women offer the workers a taste of their food. Shockingly, they eat some. Afterwards they explain that it would be a huge insult to these women to refuse their food so they simply, “eat as little as they can get away with.”

Other trespassers into the exclusion zone are young video game players who are hooked on the game S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl. They sneak into the zone, drink water from the contaminated river and approach the reactor itself. The movie does not identify them nor does it reveal whether there are any negative effects from these excursions.

Somehow, during the movie, the filmgoer may notice a subtle change. Undoubtedly, when one first hears about little old ladies choosing to live in a nuclear exclusion zone, one instantly thinks they must be crazy–or worse. The movie gradually dispels this notion. One comes to appreciate and even love these gentle spirits who have the determination and courage to continue to call this nuclear wilderness, “home.”

Would You Film Someone’s Suicide?

Left on Purpose
Spoiler Alert–The protagonist of this documentary kills himself at the end. The filmmaker films the discovery of the body.

Normally, I try to not provide spoilers. However, with this film the filmmakers decision to not intervene once he obtained the knowledge that his subject had concrete plans to commit suicide completely overshadows any other aspect of this film. In our opinion, it crossed a line. It’s a shame because the subject of this film deserves to be celebrated. He also deserved to have someone intervene on his behalf. More about this later. For now, let’s look at the film.

If you grew up in the 60’s you knew the names Abbie Hoffman, Jerry Rubin, Paul Krassner and other anti-war activists who created the Yippies. Not as well known was Mayer Vishner. Although 15 years younger than Hoffman, Mayer was brilliant and debonair. He didn’t seem to crave the spotlight like his more famous friends but he occasionally appeared behind the microphone and was always behind the scenes helping to develop strategies that cast a spotlight on this movement.

By the time of this documentary, Mayer is now an old man. Alcoholic. Clinically depressed. He lives in his same West Village apartment drinking gallons of beer, wearing a different T-shirt every day and seldom wearing a pair of pants. Afflicted with OCD, his small apartment is covered floor to ceiling with mementos from earlier days.

Early in the film it becomes obvious that the filmmaker is drawn into a dilemma when Mayer makes it clear he wants to end his life. They discuss the Heisenberg dichotomy of the filmmaker who now has become entrenched in his own film. From that moment, the movie weaves a tale that looks at Mayer’s history and contribution to society while at the same time wrestling with the moral dilemma of whether or not to sit back and allow the protagonist to follow through with his plans.

As I pondered this quandary at the end of the film, a sudden realization went off like a light bulb in my head. During the entire movie, the audience does not know whether or not the filmmaker will intervene and/or whether Mayer will actually kill himself. This directorial choice to keep the audience in the dark heightens the dramatic element of the film–and steps right over the line as far as I am concerned.

This was a mentally ill man who needed help. This man clearly stated he was going to kill himself. There was a responsibility to notify authorities and get him help. He was not dying from a disease. He was not making a political statement. He was depressed, alcoholic and OCD–All conditions that could be treated. He said he was lonely and didn’t see himself capable of having a relationship. Yet the film was filled with people who clearly loved and accepted him.

At the end of the film, Mrs. LanceAround stated she felt sick to her stomach. For the last two days she has done nothing but speak about how much this film upset her. If that’s what the documentarian was going for, he succeeded.

And shame on him.

A Response From The Audience

Curtis and Mary Muse on the Film

As I was pondering these thoughts, I overhear Curtis Murray speaking with his girlfriend Mary Gabucan. I ask if I can interview them for the blog. Mary excuses herself for a moment while Curtis gives me his feedback.

“I don’t know, I’m conflicted,” begins Curtis. “I understand mans wanting to make his own decision and I can respect that. There are other heroes from that era that I respect that have gone that same route. Hunter Thompson comes to mind. His was recent and that was very impactful for me.

“At the same time, it seems, watching the film, that it probably was because of his depression. It seemed to be, watching the film, that he refused to see that there were two women in his life that were interested in pursuing some sort of relationship with him. His depression kept him from seeing that.

“Instead of giving away the money, (this refers to a moment in the film where Mayer is paid $50,000 from the University of Michigan for his extensive collection of memorabilia mostly from the 60’s) he could have used the money to order his apartment, quit drinking and lose weight. He had a lot to give. He could have furthered the Occupy movement which now has faded and [he could have] furthered social justice now. That would have been something he could give. Instead of doing that, which would require lots of work…that’s why I’m conflicted. I condemn him for taking the road that he took. I understand it…but the only thing I know is what I saw in that film. That’s only a small snip of a man’s life. There’s no way I could really know everything about it just from that. But from seeing the film that’s my take away from it.

“It was very well done. I understand the filmmaker taking the position that he took…I mean…the brain behind Abbie Hoffman? That man had a lot to give. That’s something special. I don’t know if there’s any books written about him, but I’m certainly going to look him up.”

At this point, Mary rejoins us. She says, “There was a moment where I couldn’t watch, like towards the end. I couldn’t watch him do it so I turned away from the screen.”

Curtis jumps in, “I said I was conflicted cause I understand his choice is in keeping with the principles he stood for–Freedom of choice–and that was his choice. However, I think he had a lot more to offer.”

“There are a lot more choices he could have made,” agrees Mary.

“There are other guys who made that option,” bemoans Curtis. “When Hunter went out, I didn’t leave the house for a week. They could have given more. Granted, Hunter at the time was in a wheelchair. He waited as long as possible. But we all knew that was eventually going to be the route he took. Vishner didn’t seem to me he needed to go the way he did. It seemed that there were two options. He could have de-cluttered his apartment. He could have quit drinking He could have tried to organize activists in New York city. If you’re going to go out, go out with a bang. Maybe I understand the whisper because he wasn’t vocal. But Vishner could have given people direction. He had a lot to offer. He just didn’t see it.”

I ask Curtis how he wants me to identify him in the blog. There’s a long pause as he seems to consider the implications of that decision. Then, both he and Mary give me their full names.

“I really appreciate your comments,” Mrs. LanceAround says to them. “I’m really disturbed by the movie so I appreciated your even handed, intelligent response. I’m wanting to know why the hell someone didn’t have him committed and get him the medications he needed and get him off the alcohol so he could make a rational choice. I don’t feel like he was taken care of.”