End of the Sawdust Trail

End of the Sawdust Trail, a great modern silent film by my good friend, and talented filmmaker Andy Brodie, is now available on DVD. It's funny, thoughtful, and only $5.

The short was shot in black & white on Super 8mm, giving it a very distinctive look. The original score was composed and performed by Jason Webley, who also appears in the film.

In addition to the film itself, the DVD contains several bonus features, including a sound-only track of the film score and a performance from clown Ron "Toto" Johnson, who also appears in the film.

But don't believe me, believe the great Neil Gaiman, who described the film as a "haunting clown-noir."

The Effenheimer

In the hot summer of 1999, I co-founded an online satire mag which took a shot at becoming The Onion of college newspapers. We called it The Effenheimer.

Our crew was mostly staff from the Iowa State Daily or cast members of Grandma Mojo's sketch comedy troupe, and some of us were both - Greg Jerrett, Ben Gran, Dave Roepke, Cartoonist Carmen Cerra and Web Dude Cory Schmitz. We pushed out a new issue every two weeks for about eight months, then the site sat there until the domain expired. None of us thought much about archiving such things, so the whole deal was considered lost ... until we realized a few days ago that a fractured version was still accessible through the magic of the Web Archive.

So it was with equal parts excitement and fear that I browsed the archive last night. We built The Effenheimer from the ground up on a bed of enthusiasm, creativity, modestly priced draft beer and Cafe Beaudelaire's Pommes Frites. It was also something I did when I was 21 years old.

I found some sharp satire, plenty of bad taste and quite a few funny ideas that could have used more revision. It's a fine line between homage and rip-off, and we stood proudly on that line when it came to The Onion. We copped several of their go-to setups, like the straight and gag article written together - Iowans Enthralled by Politics, Barbecued Beef.

Several articles remind me instantly of the experiences they grew out of, like Freshman Coed Confident her High School Relationship Will Stand the Test of Time and Local Band Completely Sucks. I'm pretty sure I wrote both of those, but I have a hard time remembering for sure who did what, and we opted for no bylines for some reason. But I do have to give Ben Gran credit for the still transcendent Conspicuous Consumption for Christ article.

I love the polls, like "Who is your least favorite apostle or Beatle?", or little bits of absurdism like Standings for Effenheimer 9-pin No Tap Bowling League.

There were at least two other college satire startups at the same time, including the fledgling CollegeHumor.com. Greg and I even met some of our "competitors" at a journalism conference in NYC. We were funnier, but they were better organized. Guess who came out ahead?

Of course, it was soon after The Effenheimer I was asked to contribute to the legitimate (paying) satire site Suck.com, and only a few years after that I traded in a fairly successful career as a newspaper and online journalist for the quiet desperation of a screenwriter.

Still, it's with a heavy dose of nostalgia, a bit of pride and just a little embarrassment that I add these remaining traces of The Effenheimer to my archive.

Daytrotter Barnstormer II

I recently was lucky enough to catch the last show of the Daytrotter Barnstormer II Tour, which true to its name, was held in a barn just north of Des Moines.

The five bands/performers each had a strong, unique voice. The whole show felt curated, not just one band after another.

What stuck with me the most - the songwriting of Dawes, the frenetic arrangements of Suckers and the "Nashville Skyline" croon of Christopher Denny. All have sessions free to listen to and download at Daytrotter.

There's a nice recap of the tour at Crawdaddy.

Jewish Eye for the Gentile Guy

Fatherland will be touching another international base when it plays in Israel as part of the Jewish Eye World Jewish Film Festival.

Puzzle Films

I'm a bit behind on this, but I recently learned Warren Buckland, my ol' film studies prof., has edited a new book, Puzzle Films: Complex Storytelling in Contemporary Cinema.

I've already read and enjoyed the chapter on frustrated time in the films of Charlie Kaufman, and look forward to reading the chapter by my fellow Chapman alum Yunda Eddie Feng, among others.

My third ride on the Black Maria

The Black Maria Film Festival made its annual stop in the Capital City this weekend. As has become my tradition, I only made it to one of the two programs.

This year's event was different for a couple reasons. John Columbus, founder and director of the festival, was in town to introduce the program and conduct a Q&A with Arthur C. Smith, director of the doc Ice Bears of the Beaufort.

The program I caught also had much less narrative than past programs. Five of the nine films were docs, one was experimental and the last three were animated. None were what you would call a traditional narrative. I imagine this was more the luck of my draw than a trend throughout the festival.

My favorite was Yours Truly from director Osbert Parker, a noir story animated with photo cut-outs and real objects in a miniature 3D environment. The mix of media is unique and surreal, and while the occasional jumps into impressionism were a little jarring, I enjoyed every moment of it. You can watch it online here.

I was grateful for the chance to talk briefly with John Columbus after the program and thank him for the traveling festival. There's more on him and the fest in this NPR story.

Food Inc. | Big River Man

I'm back home after a five-hour night drive - one of many things to file under "not as easy as it used to be." Sunday, I made it to three more screenings and had a delicious Cuban pork sandwich at the Ragtag.

Food, Inc. is going to be huge. It's a catch-all overview of industrialized food and a strong call for action some of the big offenders. Despite being an episodic advocacy piece, slick graphics, animation and visual panache give it momentum. Michael Pollan and Eric Schlosser feature prominently, and if you've read their books don't expect a lot of new ground to be broken.

Playing to a doc film fest audience in a college down, Food, Inc. elicited applause and cheers throughout. Director Robert Kenner said he will be screening the doc for Tom Vilsack, and Kenner, Schlosser and Pollan are all optimistic that the new farm bill will go in a new direction. The film is scheduled to open in LA/NY in June, then expand.

Big River Man is my favorite kind of doc - a profile of a truly bizarre individual. In this case it is the story of Martin Strel, who director John Maringouin described as "an overweight drunk who just happens to be the greatest distance swimmer in the world." The film follows Strel and his media hungry son as Strel attempts to swim the entire Amazon river. What follows is very funny and utterly bizarre.

I also caught O'er the Land, a non-narrative film with some fascinating moments, though also many of the characteristics that turn me off from these type of films. It screened with Bitch Academy, a Russian short about a school in St. Petersburg where women, many of them educated and successful, learn to dress sexy and behave in ways that will make men give them money. It moves from funny to sickening and back, crossing many lines of sexuality, dignity, identity, etc. But by never showing the women or the egomaniacal male instructor outside the classroom environment, it also lacks a certain context.

Bitch Academy has apparently also screened under the English title "Vixen Academy," making it this year's winner of the Indie Doc Which Most Sounds Like a Russ Meyer Film Award.

No Impact Man | Secret Screenings

I went into No Impact Man expecting the story of a man moving completely off the grid, but was more interested to learn Colin Beaven and family's year-long experiment would take place in their NYC apartment. Their year of using less suggests many "necessities" are really no more than "habits." Part of the experiment is clearly publicity stunt, and the family and the film acknowledge that.

As with so many good docs, an even more compelling story emerges underneath the premise. Beaven's wife Michelle is much more reluctant about the experiment, while also trying to convince Beaven to have a second child. Their quiet battles are a poignant picture of the compromises, concessions and gamesmanship in a marriage.

The look of the film seems geared towards television viewing, the focus on clarifying the information. Though, at the Q&A, directors Laura Gabbert and Justin Schein said they used no artificial lighting, in an effort to subscribe to the No Impact ethos themselves.

I also caught two of the festival's "secret screenings."

Secret Screening Silver is a gorgeous looking film. The director's camera exposes and contextualizes things his subjects may not even realize themselves.

As with No Impact Man, the premise (following three elderly greeters of returning soldiers) is more of a framing device for an exploration of aging and loneliness. When greeter Bill confesses his life doesn't mean anything to him, so he tries to make it meaningful for someone else, the note of despair rings as loud as the note of service. As moving as the majority of the film is, by the end it feels like the filmmakers are wallowing in this matter-of-fact melancholy.

A few things about Secret Screening Green kept me from fully investing in the film or its characters. It is a stark look at two Brazillian boys and their families' lives of poverty. The compositions are rich and cinematic, particularly in framing this simultaneously agrarian and industrial world.

But long atmospheric sequences are punctuated with stagey dialogue between characters. These scenes often begin with pre-set camera moves to both characters in perfect frame, engaging in dialogue with self-conscious exposition. I have no categorical problem with a director staging, coaching or otherwise manipulating a scene. But in a film which seems so intent on exposing the reality of these boy's lives, it didn't feel right to me.

That said, many people at my screening, including a good friend of high cinematic standards, were quite moved by the film.

Saturday at True/False

I'm back in my hotel room after three docs and the Gimme Some Truth gameshow. This festival is something else. Throngs of people march the streets, from venue to venue, crowding into restaurants and coffee shops along the way. And for what? To catch a glimpse of Tom Cruise, or see a young starlet get arty/naked? No - these crowds are pumped up to see the true face of war and poverty.

This festival is so much about exhibition done right. I've never seen such challenging films greeted with midnight Star Wars premiere enthusiasm before. I will walk away not thinking "I saw this, this and this," but rather "I experienced this festival." I also experienced Shakespeare's Pizza and several Newcastles, and will now slink into bed.

True/False

I'm sitting at the bar at The Ragtag, waiting for my 2nd screening of
the day.

I'm blown away by the coordination & enthusiasm around this event.
Like the much smaller Siouxland Fest, it's driven more by audiences.
Screenings are full & energetic, not just showcases for other
filmmakers.

I'll post more later in the weekend.

New Toy

Through the miracle of Craigslist (and with thanks to Patrick for the tip), I am now the proud owner of this cherry little Bolex 8mm camera. I bought it from a very nice old gentlemen who bought it new in 1961. He had also made a leather case for it, had extra lenses and some other bells and whistles.

I don't have any immediate plans for what to do with it, but couldn't pass it up. I predict any future short films will include a "flashback" in grainy 8mm.

Who votes for these things?

I jumped into a discussion at Nikki Finke's blog about whether or not the Independent Spirit Awards are too dominated by higher-profile, specialty division films. My take:

The question of who votes gets to the core of why the ISAs drift to the mainstream - access.

Eligible voters are members of LA Film Independent or NY, Chi, MN IFP. These people are filmmakers, though in many cases that may be more aspirational. Fact is, all one needs to be a member is to pay a fee of around $100.

I was a member the last two years, though I let mine lapse this year. I would get the occasional screener DVD, and they’ve tried to arrange others via Neflix and online streaming, plus some screenings in LA and maybe NY.

So it’s up to a membership with fringe connections to see a slate of nominees that are often difficult to find. If you didn’t catch the smaller films during their one-week run at your local art house, and they haven’t been released on DVD, good luck finding them - even if you’re an ISA voter.

The ISAs consistently nominate a stronger crop than the Oscars, and I give them credit for considering some ultra-low budget fare alongside specialty material. But given their voting body, the winners will tend to be the most widely distributed.

The same line of reasoning should be applied to Academy voters - film professionals, but not necessarily experts in a given category and less likely to have seen smaller films, shorts, etc. Critics Associations probably offer the most valid evaluation of a year's films, but their press releases will never be as sexy as the events at the Kodak Theater or on the Santa Monica beach.

Damn right this opinion is sound

So, you know those people who comment at the end of episodes of Sound Opinions? Well, last week I was one of those people. And you thought they were all mumbly hermits, calling from the bowels of their ... wait a minute, that's hitting a little close to home.

Now anyone who's always wanted a recording of me rambling on about Buddy Holly can have it. You know, for posterity.

Seriously though, Sound Opinions is a great show I've been podcasting for years, which now airs on IPR as well.

Romance in Durango

Just when you (and I) thought Fatherland was done on the festival circuit, I've learned it may have a few screenings left. One will be in March at the Durango Film Festival in Colorado. I believe this is the 22nd festival to screen the film.

For those who haven't been able to attend a festival screening, we will hopefully have some other distribution channels open soon. Whether it be DVD, downloads, whatever - I will post details here.

And seriously, "Romance in Durango" as the title for this post? Put a lot of thought into that one, didn't I? If I were still working at a newspaper, I'd slap myself for that.

Fatherland Distribution / O' Canada

Canadian short film distributor Ouat! Media has acquired the rights to Fatherland, and will be seeking outlets for the film. Ouat! specializes in broadcast and Internet distribution.

You can check back to Fatherland's page at Ouat! Media for details in the future. I'll update here as well, particularly if and when the film is available for purchase or download.

Farewell to the Varsity Theater

Last night was the final screening at the Varsity Theater in Ames. Coupled with the closing of the Ames Theater more than 10 years back, this leaves Campustown with no theater and the City of My Birth with only two multiplexes.

The Varsity was built in 1938 by local theater owner Joe Gerbracht, and had been remodeled into two smaller screens in the mid '90s.

Even when the theater was bought by Cinemark, management of the Varsity fought to bring art house fare to the screen. When "family-friendly" Cinemark refused to show American Beauty (of all films) on their major corporate screens, it was the Varsity that convinced their overlords to let them show the film, resulting in the theater's best-ever box office returns.

I moved away from Ames in 2002, and hadn't been back to the Varsity since. But I developed a special bond with the theater while I was film critic at the Ames Trib, and did what I could to promote the joint.

The Varsity was by no means the perfect cinematic experience. The 1990s renovation gave the historic interior a generic feel, and the theaters were split into long and narrow, short and wide, respectively. Many nights the operation was a one-man show, leaving nobody to sell you a ticket or popcorn while the reels were being changed.

But whatever the flaws of the theater, it's where I saw some of the films that I still think about today. L.A. Confidential, Fight Club, Pulp Fiction, Monster's Ball, Gosford Park, a packed midnight screening of the MST3K movie - these just off the top of my head.

More importantly, the theater was in Campustown - a part of the community. I could walk there, maybe stop for a beer or a cup of coffee along the way. That kind of experience was already rare when I was growing up. For my son, it may well be non-existent.

Back in the day, I would have railed against the corporate swine who shut the theater down. Don't they understand that art can't be reduced simply to commerce? Where is their sense of duty to the community? But I've worked enough in the industry to understand the thin margins at all levels, including exhibition. And we true believers can't close our eyes clap our hands enough to bring the local theater back to life.

So it's more in mourning than anger that I raise a glass to The Varsity Theater - a noble venture whose time has sadly passed.

Audience Approval

While Fatherland has likely wrapped its festival run, we learned this week that it was the third-highest rated film by the audience at the Port Townsend Film Festival in September.

Audience awards are notorious for Chicago Machine style ballot stuffing, so this is especially encouraging as nobody affiliated with Fatherland was able to attend this festival. They liked us. They really, really, etc.

There has also been a major development on the distribution front, which I hope to post sometime this weekend.