Festivals Are For Lovers
BODY ELECTRIC played to its biggest audience yet at the 13th Annual St. Louis Film Festival. Over 80 people came to the evening of shorts titled “Weird Science”. A full house. Though the film felt well received and there was applause, it was difficult to gauge reaction considering the late hour didn’t allow for a Q&A and that we were the first in a line of 8 short films. “An audience isn’t sure whether or not to applaud between films or not.”, my producer / long time friend Bill Janczewski reminded me. That may be the case. This is the spin I’m putting on it, though.
We were before our time. The audience wasn’t ready for the artistic revolution we brought them and, though intrigued, they were confused how to voice it. (of course it was our beloved Orson that said, “I know what being ahead of your time is. It’s called being in trouble.”)
Regardless of my personally disturbing need of affirmation, it was an honor to be included in a week of wonderful cinema from around the world (and here I want to give a special thanks to Andrea Sporcic and Bobbie Lautenschlager for their warmth and support). Some of the best works had to do with love. Love of film.
In 1980, a Los Angeles cable channel received a new programmer in the guise of Jerry Harvey. Z Channel became one of the best champions of cinema ever known. In an age before video stores, HBO (as we know it today) and DVD, if you didn’t see a film in the theatres you didn’t see it. A lot of what we now know as great films would have been lost to obscurity and undeveloped tastes if not for Jerry Harvey’s love of movies. Z CHANNEL: A MAGNIFICENT OBSESSION tells the story of his love...a love that, though it saved film, couldn’t save Harvey’s own troubled life. He died in a murder/ suicide. Though Z Channel essentially died with him, Harvey’s legacy carries on. He touted filmmakers such as Peckinpah, Altman, Cimino and other foreign giants by having on air film festivals. He restored films like HEAVEN’S GATE, THE WILD BUNCH, DAS BOOT and ONCE UPON A TIME IN AMERICA so he could broadcast the unadulterated versions on Z Channel. In essence he introduced the idea of a director’s cut long before DVD. I know I’ve been ranting more about the subject than the film itself, but the subject of this documentary was the passion for movies. That is what you will be talking about as you leave the theatre. The film ends with a quote from Louise Brooks, which I’ll paraphrase here: “It’s not the work you leave behind that matters. It’s how you inspired others to continue forward and experience life that means anything.” Director Xan Cassavetes’ work on Z CHANNEL inspired me to discover more lost films and share all I discover about them. The fact that this documentary inspires discourse makes it an effective one.
Two other documentaries sought to spark discourse on slightly more serious topics. FUNDAMENTAL FAIRNESS is produced by the aforementioned Roberta “Bobbie” Lautenschlager, grande dame of the St. Louis film scene and a cherished friend, and directed by Patrcia Scallet. It reveals the plight of the “second man” in a famous St. Louis murder. One implicated purely so the “first man” could lessen his sentence. The problem is that Bill Hanes may not be the man he was convicted as. Was Hanes wrongly accused? Did he have fair council as is guaranteed to us by law? This film addresses these questions, but on a grander scale, it brings into question the entire justice system, potholes and all. Though times have changed and death row cases such as Hanes’ require the defense attorneys be scrutinised as to their experience with such cases (another question in Hanes’ case), time may have run out for Bill Hanes to regain his life. The case is 22 years old and outside of the statute of limitations. The Missouri governor has been asked for clemency, but fairness is something we should not always expect from our courts as the Honorable Jimmy Edwards revealed. “The only thing different between us (the innocent) and the convicted is that they got caught.” What would Kafka make of that, I wonder?
THE PURSUIT OF PLEASURE wanted to talk about sex. Specifically, women, sex and the pleasure they are supposed to get from it. Filmmaker Maryanne Galvin interviewed 6 women who found freedom in sexual pleasure. Not just the act itself, but the right to examine it. Despite women’s lib, a woman is made to feel outcast or “dirty” if she even appears interested in her own pleasure. This documentary strove to lift the topic out of the taboo.
As far as narrative films go, I was only able to attend one. Fortunately for me, CUBA LIBRE is a magical gem. Through the eyes of a movie loving boy we look back on Cuba in 1958, the year before the rise of Castro. It was a year when the lights went out, but darkness did not prevail. First time director Juan Gerard (and I eagerly await his next work) was strongly influenced by his love of movies and family here. With his wife and writing partner Letvia Arza-Goderich he has made more than a Cuban CINEMA PARADISO (although, by his own admission, Juan was more inspired by HOW GREEN WAS MY VALLEY and it shows). The film opens with the colors of nostalgia. All is lush and clean like the stuff dreams are made of. As the passion of revolution takes hold of the lives around our narrator, aspects of real life come in. Real blood. Real tears. Real emotion. It shatters the movie inspired world and enriches it. The cast is lead by Harvey Keitel (also a producer as he was when he shepherded Tarantino in his directorial debut) but it is the fresh faces of Latin cinema that make the film live (including an early turn from Gael Garcia Bernal).
A real amateur is someone who acts out of love. I had the pleasure of lunching with Juan and Letvia and found them to be true amateurs. Their love of cinema is only outshined by an obvious love of each other. They reminded me of why a festival can be the warmest place to experience new films. Not just because of the fellow artists you meet, but the fellow lovers as well.
We were before our time. The audience wasn’t ready for the artistic revolution we brought them and, though intrigued, they were confused how to voice it. (of course it was our beloved Orson that said, “I know what being ahead of your time is. It’s called being in trouble.”)
Regardless of my personally disturbing need of affirmation, it was an honor to be included in a week of wonderful cinema from around the world (and here I want to give a special thanks to Andrea Sporcic and Bobbie Lautenschlager for their warmth and support). Some of the best works had to do with love. Love of film.
In 1980, a Los Angeles cable channel received a new programmer in the guise of Jerry Harvey. Z Channel became one of the best champions of cinema ever known. In an age before video stores, HBO (as we know it today) and DVD, if you didn’t see a film in the theatres you didn’t see it. A lot of what we now know as great films would have been lost to obscurity and undeveloped tastes if not for Jerry Harvey’s love of movies. Z CHANNEL: A MAGNIFICENT OBSESSION tells the story of his love...a love that, though it saved film, couldn’t save Harvey’s own troubled life. He died in a murder/ suicide. Though Z Channel essentially died with him, Harvey’s legacy carries on. He touted filmmakers such as Peckinpah, Altman, Cimino and other foreign giants by having on air film festivals. He restored films like HEAVEN’S GATE, THE WILD BUNCH, DAS BOOT and ONCE UPON A TIME IN AMERICA so he could broadcast the unadulterated versions on Z Channel. In essence he introduced the idea of a director’s cut long before DVD. I know I’ve been ranting more about the subject than the film itself, but the subject of this documentary was the passion for movies. That is what you will be talking about as you leave the theatre. The film ends with a quote from Louise Brooks, which I’ll paraphrase here: “It’s not the work you leave behind that matters. It’s how you inspired others to continue forward and experience life that means anything.” Director Xan Cassavetes’ work on Z CHANNEL inspired me to discover more lost films and share all I discover about them. The fact that this documentary inspires discourse makes it an effective one.
Two other documentaries sought to spark discourse on slightly more serious topics. FUNDAMENTAL FAIRNESS is produced by the aforementioned Roberta “Bobbie” Lautenschlager, grande dame of the St. Louis film scene and a cherished friend, and directed by Patrcia Scallet. It reveals the plight of the “second man” in a famous St. Louis murder. One implicated purely so the “first man” could lessen his sentence. The problem is that Bill Hanes may not be the man he was convicted as. Was Hanes wrongly accused? Did he have fair council as is guaranteed to us by law? This film addresses these questions, but on a grander scale, it brings into question the entire justice system, potholes and all. Though times have changed and death row cases such as Hanes’ require the defense attorneys be scrutinised as to their experience with such cases (another question in Hanes’ case), time may have run out for Bill Hanes to regain his life. The case is 22 years old and outside of the statute of limitations. The Missouri governor has been asked for clemency, but fairness is something we should not always expect from our courts as the Honorable Jimmy Edwards revealed. “The only thing different between us (the innocent) and the convicted is that they got caught.” What would Kafka make of that, I wonder?
THE PURSUIT OF PLEASURE wanted to talk about sex. Specifically, women, sex and the pleasure they are supposed to get from it. Filmmaker Maryanne Galvin interviewed 6 women who found freedom in sexual pleasure. Not just the act itself, but the right to examine it. Despite women’s lib, a woman is made to feel outcast or “dirty” if she even appears interested in her own pleasure. This documentary strove to lift the topic out of the taboo.
As far as narrative films go, I was only able to attend one. Fortunately for me, CUBA LIBRE is a magical gem. Through the eyes of a movie loving boy we look back on Cuba in 1958, the year before the rise of Castro. It was a year when the lights went out, but darkness did not prevail. First time director Juan Gerard (and I eagerly await his next work) was strongly influenced by his love of movies and family here. With his wife and writing partner Letvia Arza-Goderich he has made more than a Cuban CINEMA PARADISO (although, by his own admission, Juan was more inspired by HOW GREEN WAS MY VALLEY and it shows). The film opens with the colors of nostalgia. All is lush and clean like the stuff dreams are made of. As the passion of revolution takes hold of the lives around our narrator, aspects of real life come in. Real blood. Real tears. Real emotion. It shatters the movie inspired world and enriches it. The cast is lead by Harvey Keitel (also a producer as he was when he shepherded Tarantino in his directorial debut) but it is the fresh faces of Latin cinema that make the film live (including an early turn from Gael Garcia Bernal).
A real amateur is someone who acts out of love. I had the pleasure of lunching with Juan and Letvia and found them to be true amateurs. Their love of cinema is only outshined by an obvious love of each other. They reminded me of why a festival can be the warmest place to experience new films. Not just because of the fellow artists you meet, but the fellow lovers as well.
posted by FHW | 9:05 PM
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