The Minneapolis St. Paul International Film Festival‘s vibe is different this year. I am not really sure how to describe it–maybe a veneer of professionalism. Less rough and tumble, more polish, less scrappy local flair, but still the clear commitment to the diversity of the film world. One thing remains, unlike big festivals, there are no press conferences with visiting filmmakers and actors, but rather a cozy Q&A in the cinema. They did however add the logo-laden backdrop common at big festivals to the area behind the panelists. As I chatted with the staff, one clear technical change this year is that there are no 35mm prints being shown. Last year there were six. The year before, I remember one filmmaker worried about the safe projection of his 16 mm film. Shipping of 35mm prints is extremely expensive, so a world of film options is open in this brave new world of technology. The world is officially 100% digital. Continue Reading
For those who love “Mad Men”, “Breaking Bad” and early 1960’s film noir, your long wait is over. My latest feature film “The Tiki War” has just completed shooting in Minneapolis. Set in a tiki bar in 1961 Chicago, this latest addition to my canon, which also includes the Russ Meyer tribute “Vixen Highway” and the German expressionist “Made in Berlin”, is slated for completion in fall of 2014.”The Tiki War” was shot in February at the Red Dragon Restaurant and Bar in Uptown. The late 1950’s exotica wall-paper, Naugahyde booths, Polynesian decor and Chinese stained glass, struck me as evoking the perfect look for The Tiki Room, the struggling tiki bar and show lounge where the story is set. Over one busy, bloody night before John F. Kennedy’s inauguration as President, three night club owners and two luckless entertainers battle over territory, honor, heroin and Cuba’s most potent rum. Continue Reading
The Twin Cities is blessed with a cornucopia of cultural and ethnic film festivals: Nordic, Black, International, Cuban, Polish, African, Latin, Asian. This past weekend, March 6 – March 9, the 6th Annual Italian Film Festival, organized by the Italian Cultural Center with the support of the MN Film Society, took place at the St. Anthony Main Cinema. Curated by Anna Bonavita, a local chocolatier and co-founder of the Cultural Center, this year’s selections went beyond the stylized Oscar-winning filmThe Great Beauty (incidentally not a particularly popular film among the Italians I spoke to opening night). Watching these films you go on a real journey—documentaries and independent films that go deeper into Italy. Unlike travel films or American films, by attending international film festivals, moviegoers settle into a culture and see it as it is represented for that culture. You may not understand the nuances of some references in the films, but you will feel more inside the place than if you are standing somewhere on a piazza. Continue Reading
“Lancastic!” a retrospective of eleven Burt Lancaster films, kicks off at the Trylon Microcinema on November 1 with Lancaster’s debut film, The Killers (1946). A film-noir classic, The Killers was directed by German-born Robert Siodmak, a master of shadow and light. Film critic Pauline Kael called Lancaster “a great specimen of hunkus Americanus.” But in his first screen appearance, playing a none-too-bright boxer who took more beatings than he ever gave, he is more like a bruised lily.The film’s first 13 minutes recreate almost word-for-word Ernest Hemingway’s short story “The Killers.” A couple of men turn up in a nowhere town. One fat, one thin, they look like a comedy duo. They’re not. Continue Reading
Check out this moving, short documentary film by Josh Chitwood about “the most stereotyped side of Minneapolis.” The video description says, “This piece communicates that [North Minneapolis] is not a ‘sketchy hood’, but a neighborhood where families and myself live life together and have true community.”You can follow Josh on Facebook: facebook.com/joshchitwoodtheartistNOTE: Josh’s film was entered in the RE/MAX Results City and Neighborhood film festival. According to Longfellow Community Council: “A screening of the 15 finalists will be held Thursday, November 14th, 2013 7-9pm at the Riverview Theater. Awards will be announced at the end of the screening. Admission to this screening will be $7.00 with all proceeds going to a scholarship program at Minneapolis Community and Technical College Film Department …” Continue Reading
As of this posting, The Uptake is short by more than $7,700 of its Kickstarter fundraiser deadline goal of $21,211 for its documentary project on the struggle for marriage equality in Minnesota; that deadline arrives on SEPT 6 at 11:59 p.m. The Uptake, a non-profit, citizen-propelled video news service, says its program on how Minnesotans successfully fought for marriage equality will be crafted for a national TV audience. The gubernatorial signing of Minnesota’s marriage equality legislation came just six months after the unexpected defeat of the discriminatory constitutional marriage definition amendment question on the November 2012 ballot. “That’s our story,” says The Uptake’s Mike McIntee. The Uptake can select interviews, demonstrations, legislative debates and protests from hundreds of hours of streamed and taped video from its own coverage and the video vault of the Minnesota United for All Families, the lead organization in the fight for equality.If the funding pledge deadline goal is made, the The Uptake will be good to go. But if the $21,211 Kickstarter pledge goal is not reached by 11:59 p.m. on September 6, the film will not be produced. The project will need to pay for such production costs as sifting through and selecting video clips from three years of coverage, scripting, digitizing the chosen footage for computer editing, music use fees, audio mixing, graphics and some promotion. Referring to the documentary’s small budget, McIntee says, “There’s some money in here for promotion and distribution, but not a lot. We’re hoping that once we get this made other like-minded organizations are going to help us out on that. It will get seen nationally. Free Speech TV is one outlet for that. I’m hoping that others will be available as well.” During the evening ramp up to the first, legal, same-sex marriage ceremonies at Midnight on August 1st, I assisted McIntee and Uptake videographer Bill Sorem at the Wilde Roast Restaurant at St. Anthony-on-Main. They were live-streaming interviews of couples, activists and political supporters of the marriage equality campaign that I was recruiting from the jovial and reflective celebrants. The three of us later added to that footage at Minneapolis City Hall before, during and after Mayor R.T. Ryback legally married the first group of 46 same-sex couples. You’ll see clips of the evening in my accompanying video. McIntee explained that if the target amount is not raised by the September 6 deadline, pledged gifts will not be processed – prospective donors will keep their money. If the deadline goal of $21,211 is reached or surpassed, donations will be tax deductible.Here is the link to the film project’s information and pledge page at Kickstarter.http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/uptake/how-minnesota-went-from-no-to-yes-on-marriage-equa?ref=cardCORRECTON 9/3/2013: It’s Kickstarter, not Quickstarter. Continue Reading
Our friends at The Uptake have gathered hundreds of hours of streaming and taped video of the campaign for marriage equality in Minnesota. Michael McIntee and his colleagues at the citizen-driven, Internet video news service are hoping to make a documentary for national distribution on how marriage equality prevailed in Minnesota. Their project needs to raise $21,211 through the Quickstarter fund raising mechanism by 11:59 p.m., September 6. Mike McIntee has told me that if that amount is not raised by the September deadline that the film will not be made. I think it is a story that has national import and should be told.Three weeks ago, The Uptake’s Bill Sorem asked me to help he and McIntee record Minnesota’s first, legal, same sex weddings at Minneapolis City Hall at midnight on August 1st. I also assisted them at a pre-ceremonies celebration at a packed and celebratory Wilde Roast Restaurant. McIntee and Sorem were live-streaming interviews of couples, activists and political supporters of the marriage equality campaign that I was recruiting from the celebrants. It was the best time I’ve had in a tavern since my grad school days in Athens, Ohio.The perceptive comments and the informal and emotional pageantry, vows and hugs of the evening that we capture, however, is only a portion of an archive of several years of unwavering Uptake coverage of the marriage equality movement.The defeat of the State Constitution amendment referendum question on the November 2012 ballot and the legalization of same-sex marriage just six months later are well documented. But only The Uptake has a large enough video archive for a major documentary. If the full amount is not raised by the September 6 deadline, your donation will not be processed. You keep your money. If the deadline goal of $31,211 is reached or surpassed, your gift will help complete the film and is tax deductible. I agree with McIntee and Sorem, this Minnesota story needs to be told. Click here to view the video promo that I have produced for the project using some of the footage that will show up in the documentary. Continue Reading
In the futuristic United States setting of writer/director James DeMonaco’s The Purge, the land of the free and the home of the brave is an unsettling place to live. Continue Reading
The sun is now staying out longer and temperatures are on the rise, which only means that, the dirty snow will begin to melt, the flowers will begin to bloom, and right around the corner is the biggest film event in the state of Minnesota.This week the Film Society of Minneapolis/St. Paul announced their entire lineup for the 2013 Minneapolis/St. Paul International Film Festival (MSPIFF), running Thursday, April 11 through Sunday, April 28. (Though it’s a gigantic program, it’s actually four days shorter than the festival last year.) Tickets will go on sale for Film Society members on Monday, April 1; and tickets for general public will go on sale Thursday, April 4. You can download a pdf of the entire catalog here.Over the next few weeks, along with other Daily Planet writers I’ll be covering the events, parties, film screenings, and guests. Continue Reading
