MicroCinema Fest - War Journal 2006
By John Oak Dalton • Aug 30th, 2007 • Category: Articles, FilmmakingOnce upon a time “microcinema” meant the garage and basement and parking lot venues used to show underground movies; soon it grew to include the movies themselves. I began writing for the Microcinema Scene website at its inception several years ago and became involved in a film festival that grew out of Canada and blossomed in South Dakota and last year landed in the outskirts of Chicago. In the past I had judged and MCd and taught workshops, but this year I was mostly going to enjoy myself.
For the first time I showed two things–one, the promotional short film I worked on last year, “Postcards from Farmland,” and the second “B-movie Man,” the sardonic documentary short about my b-movie career cooked up by a couple of students at Ball State University, my alma mater. Both played nicely enough. We saw a nice mix of work before the rains came and cut things a bit short. Interestingly, two shorts screened barnside last year–Live on Tape Delay and Permian Flow–were both in the Fest this year.
That night we continued another more personal tradition–Game Night. This time filmmaker Jon Solita brought the board game “Puerto Rico,” which he, Jay Neander, my brother, and I played late into the night. Jon would be crowned King of Puerto Rico, and all retired with visions of flickering screens dancing in our heads.
The next day dawned with more traditions; the Filmmmakers Breakfast, workshops, and then Laser Quest.
I did not get there in time Wednesday for the Roundtable, but on Thursday Jon Solita and Jay Neander led a well-informed HD workshop. I had just gotten into shooting HD before I left my last job and still had a lot to learn myself. I think some of the older guys realized that the tech was starting to move more rapidly, and equalizing the playing field quite a bit. In fact I saw a marked improvement in production value at this year’s Fest than I had seen in previous ones.
After the workshop it was back to LQ. Wally Fong, a former Laser Quest employee who deals death with every flick of his blood-thirsty gun, had the misfortune of being born in the peaceable kingdom of Canada; but once a year, he joins his saber-rattling North American friends to the South and gets out a whole year of aggression.
Much blood was spilled, but we all arrived more or less intact for the Fest kickoff.
The Fest started off with Matt Meindl’s Go Barefoot. I think last year everybody realized that this University of Toledo filmmaker was a unique talent, so it was good to see him in the pole position at this screening. This one is another story that embraces childhood indulgences and pairs it with sophisticated storytelling. I hope he sold every DVD he had with him, his stuff needs to get out there.
Next was the rawboned comedy The B-Team from the usual gang of suspects at the University of Illinois Carbondale, which seems to have a good thing going there in the media department. Like some past work from this school, it was a “throw every joke out there and see what sticks” parody, this time of “The A-Team.” Some hits and misses, and loses points for naming the villian “Dalton” instead of the hero, but really nice production values and superior FX with enough laughs to carry the day.
Kaleo Quenzer’s Ad Man was essentially a goofy monologue about a hapless soul who wants to go into advertising but really has no concept of how to do it. Essentially a one-joke premise, and your enjoyment of the performance and the story’s central conceit will determine your mileage on this one. I enjoyed it.
Fest coordinator Steve Coulter screened Fate Twisted Simply, which I saw a preview of last year. Considering that Steve is (I believe) just a senior at the University of Iowa this is a surprisingly resonant tale of father/son relationships, with a nicely understated performance by Steve’s own dad in the lead. Some of the production values were a bit more raggedy than much of the other work from this group of Palatine filmmakers, but Fate features one of my favorite scenes in all of microcinema: a crisply-edited, joyously-performed dance sequence that springs up out of a chatty party scene.
After intermission we came back to Shogo’s Exile, his third short in as many years at MCF. Shogo DP’d a project I worked on screening later in the fest, Sex Machine, so I’m a little biased here, but even before “SM” was a reality I admired his deadeye shooting. Although the storytelling wasn’t as strong as in last year’s Cloud Symphony, his videography is as good as it gets, in my opinion.
People were rolling on the floor during Double Dip: Or, How Four Discs of Pearl Harbor Ruined My Life, a raw, raunchy short about a dude whose life falls apart when he gets hooked on the Special Edition of “Pearl Harbor.” Great ideas and performances made this one of my favorite comedies in the Fest.
The night ended with the crime drama Jigsaw by Scott Staven, a thematically complex, nonlinear story with some strong performances. The story seems to be going every which way until the end, when it ties up more tightly than you might have imagined. It is a moody thriller that demands your attention, and a lot of its details were discussed (or explained) after its screening. This is one I would like to watch again to see how it all hangs together.
The next day was Friday. I MC’d this day at the Fest, and it was a good day to be introducing work, though some of them I had to watch backwards through the rear projection.
First up was Live on Tape Delay, a sketch comedy show that played “barnside” last year and was about the funniest thing in the entire Fest, including things that were actually being shown. This year this wild show got its proper respect as part of the proceedings.
Next, fest veteran Jason Santo was given his due with a half-hour slot to play what he wanted, which he used to show the raunchy comedy Aphrodisiac. Santo is more well-known for his heavy drama, and I think though the raw humor sat a bit uneasily on his shoulders there was fun to be had throughout. Santo invited me to be a part of Microcinema Scene when it launched a few years ago, and he and I have remained in touch over the years. I have admired his body of work and contributions to the microcinema world.
Then Palatine’s own Marc Muszynski showed Tough Love, a noirish spy thriller that was stylishly done, but somewhat hindered by the fact that the two leads, both veteran spies and assassins, did not look old enough to order martinis (shaken, not stirred). Unfortunately this is a common problem to microcinema and rears its head again here, despite good production values.
My Imaginary Friend Lars Stevens from director Brian Amyot (who brought us Double Dip) was another caustic, oddball short about a guy with an imaginary friend who might not be so imaginary after all.
My pal Gary Lumpp screened The Road To next, a brief noir short with a lot of twists and turns packed into five minutes. Although not as polished as some entries, the storytelling caught the audience’s attention. Gary and I met on the old Triggerstreet message boards long ago, and I still say he gives the best script coverage of anybody I know.
Director Brian McQuery was up next with Vacant, a hard-nosed cop drama told in an energetic fashion. Interesting for its nonlinear storytelling, but the storyline felt as if it needed to expand past its roughly twenty-minute running time. We will see if McQuery grows this into a feature; it would be worth seeing.
After a break, we saw Pat Gets A Cat from director Adam Bertocci, about a lonely guy who adopts a cat, and begins imagining that it is a young woman. Some found it to be sweet, others a bit kinky, depending on one’s mindset. A lot of talk about the subtext of this one at dinner later.
From New Zealand came Futile Attraction, a winning comedy about two mismatched singles who are forced together on a reality show. A bit overlong, and hammers the same points a few times, but really nice performances from the whole cast made it enjoyable.
All that before dinner!
Back from dinner, and on to the short that landed several prizes in Palatine including Best of Fest: Oculus. I had reviewed Mike Flanagan’s short at the Microcinema Scene website some time before, and was watching it again; I was standing backstage shivering and one of the guys asked if I was cold. I answered, “No, this thing STILL scares the shit out of me!”
Next was a new one from the Dastoli Brothers, a pair of technical wizards who have been regulars in the Fest since their high school days just a few short years ago. Southwestern Orange County vs. the Flying Saucers was another loony FX-laden eye candy short, and though it was visually astounding not as cohesive as some of their other work. Still, much respect for what these young auteurs have done over their brief careers.
Then came the much talked-about Desperation, from director Jon Clark. This pegged a number of awards at the fest, though it made everyone’s skin crawl. A young woman is trapped in a car wreck with her leg pinned, and is misfortunate enough to be found by two budding serial killers out for an evening of fun. Heavy sledding at times, but nice work from the three leads, and crisp storytelling work from Clark, kept everyone in their seats.
Next was a one-joke horror short called And Then There Were Nun that was cleverly executed over its short four-minute running time, a palate cleanser after Desperation.
Back came the intensity with Sean Gormley’s Blackout, about a drug-fueled psychologist whose excesses become his undoing. This one picked up best photography for S. Tyler Wilson, an extremely talented young auteur whose directorial work–including Abomination and Tomorrow’s Lullaby, two of my favorite micro shorts–has nabbed many kudos in the last two Fests.
Wrapping up the evening was Stump the Band, a tongue-in-cheek b-movie about an all-girl punk group who run afoul of a bunch of backwoods crazies, including a guy called “Coach” who collects human feet. Pretty much hits all the genre beats from skinny-dipping to spatter to a monstrous man-child who, curiously, acts like a dog. Director Bill Holmes packed the seats with an appreciative local crowd to send this night home.
Saturday afternoon rang in with the first of Canadian director Carey Lewis’ shorts, The Split. Lewis bowled the crowd over with last year’s Best of Fest Streets of Wonderland, a powerful drama about junkies at Niagara Falls preying on tourists, and one addict’s struggle to break free. The Split was, surprisingly, a jokey, edgy crime short about two thick-headed low-grade crooks set up to take a fall. Equally surprising was the more loose approach taken to the production, a little rougher around the edges than Streets. But quite funny throughout, with a running gag built around a trip to the bathroom a highlight.
Next was El Reporte from Puerto Rico and director David Saldana. I think some of the Fest’s younger hipsters did not connect with this easygoing if a shade overlong tale of a young business exec’s sidetrack-filled trip across the island for a business meeting, and the lessons about cherishing life that he learns along the way. But this story warmed my aging heart, and I could overlook some soft editing and a few gaps in production value. Engaging performances also helped. Nice to see more micro from the non-English-speaking world.
Bill Kersey’s Permian Flow screened ‘barnside’ last year, and it was generally agreed should have been in the Fest. Kersey makes thoughtful short nonfiction works with nice shooting and editing, and this was a solid addition to his body of work.
Paper Due, from director Daniel Vendt, was really designed to be a showcase for his interest in musical composition, and succeeded on that front; but otherwise was just a clever little sketch about a college kid who forgets to bring a paper to class.
The afternoon closed out with Transformers, another funny outing from director Carey Lewis about the same pair of knuckle-headed crooks and their attempt to blackmail a rich guy, with surprising results. A little funnier and sharper-looking than the first short about these characters, and worth seeing more of.
After dinner, the Dastoli Brothers returned with one of their more lo-fi productions, a gangster adaptation of a Shakespeare classic called Gangster Movie. It’s nice to see the brothers showing some skills on the acting/scripting side as well.
Ryan Graham took on the zombie genre next with Livelihood, about a different kind of zombie plague; where the zombies simply try to return to normal society, and face a variety of problems and prejudices. A wide-ranging social satire with a steady stream of laughs, though carries on just a shade too long. This one features another performance from Scott Graham, the director’s brother and–as I said in my Oculus review at Microcinema Scene–an actor I think is a rising talent in microcinema.
The Father, Unblinking by Ziggy Attias was a very beautifully shot, though I felt a bit emotionally distant, short about a taciturn farmer who finds his young daughter has died rather suddenly.
The United States of Nooo! was a very loose-limbed, tongue-in-cheek documentary from Jay Bauman and Mike Stoklasa, riffing on that ill-fated pop culture moment in the new Star Wars trilogy when Darth Vader is born. Stoklasa narrates the proceedings in a likeably easygoing, self-referential way. At times there seems to be a bit of mock in this doc, but an older Russian woman who slowly edges away from Stoklasa when he imitates the birth of Vader is too priceless not to be real. I think personally that this short got the biggest laughs of the Fest, and was a welcome treat from two microcinema vets.
The Fest closed with Christopher Sharpe’s Sex Machine, on which I have co-writing credit and have written about elsewhere ad nauseum. Rather than offering my slanted review, I will quote from the Q&A afterward, with me taking questions from the crowd. A guy in the back raises his hand:
Q: How much was the movie made for?
A: I think about $8,000.
(Murmur of surprise)
A: And they paid me $6,000 of that, so–
(Ripple of laughter)
Q: So they actually made it for $2,000?
(Crickets chirping)
A: No, that was a joke, but see me after, you and I could work together!
And that was the end of Microcinema Fest 2006!
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John Oak Dalton is a Community Television Station Manager by day, and a DIY acolyte by night. In the 80s he made Super-8 movies and his own basement mix tapes. In the 90s he hosted a cable-access show and made his own zines and minicomics. In the 21st Century he began working with grassroots video and microcinema and writing b-movies, and has more than a dozen projects on the shelf, on screen, in development, or in production.
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