Saturday, March 31, 2007

Casting at Lisa Lax class

From Lisa Lax at actlink@aol.com:

Sharon Ward from the Sharon Ward Agency in Jackson will be our guest Monday night, April 2nd 7-9pm

She is casting for a project and will see all my people at class.

You will have the opportunity to spend time with the copy and partner before you're put on tape since you are part of my class.

You do not need to go to the open call, Monday.

You have to confirm your space. The sooner the better: actlink@aol.com

The breakdowns are as follows:

Caucasian teens / male and female 16 to 18 years of age
Caucasian males / good ole boys, but not rednecks ages 20's and 30's
Caucasian female / hot mama, model look great figure ages 20's and 30's
Caucasian female / mother character who is just a little intimidating
ages 40-50.
Various other types as well.

Sharon is also looking for talent for other projects!

Also, if you are not signed with her she will audition you Monday night for representation with her agency in Jackson. She's very busy lately, lots of projects going on!

Revised casting call

Casting call for independent movie being shot in and around Memphis area.
All ages needed.

Open auditions to be held at Germantown Community Theater, 3037 Forest Hill Irene, Saturday April 14, Sunday April 15 noon-5pm. Call backs April 16 + 17. NOTE- Germantown Community Theater is NOT AFFILIATED with the production; they are only kind enough to let us use the space. Please do not call GCT with questions or for information. Those wishing to audition should bring resume and recent headshot, or contact Jo Galiata at 482-1726 on how to email. Headshots can be taken at theater for $1.

Due to budget constraints, this will not be a paying job, although full consideration will be given in the credits.

Synopsis: A family man loses everything and begins abusing alcohol and prescription drugs. He slowly self-destructs and begins hallucinating and witnessing bizarre murders. He struggles to pull himself together and learns the awful truth about his life.

Parts being cast:

Allen Clay, mid-30's, husband and writer.

Joyce Clay, mid-30's, wife and mother.

Chris Clay, Allen and Joyce's child.

David Nichols, Husband and father, Allen's sarcastic friend, mid-30's

Lacy Nichols, David's wife, Lacy's friend, mid-30's

Nat(han) or Nat(alie) Nichols, David and Lacy's child, Chris's friend.

Car Dealership Manager, sleazy we-tote-the-note manager, any age

Landlady, crass slumlord, mid-50's-60's

Evan, nepotistic warehouse janitor, mid-40's-60's

Keith, Evan's lazy nephew, mid-20's-30's

Cheating Business Man, mid 30's-40's

Secretary, sarcastic and aloof, mid-20's

Ellen, regal publishing executive, mid-40's-60's

Roy, landlady's son, mid-20's

There are also several other non-speaking/minimal speaking parts available
as well as many extras needed.

Appointments for audition will be made for April 14 and 15 between Noon and
2PM. Open auditions from 2-5PM both days. Parents bringing children are
encouraged to schedule an appointment, though open audition is accepted.


Contact Jo Galiata (901) 482-1726 for further information.

Friday, March 30, 2007

El Dorado and the Ruckus

What do Craig Brewer and I have in common? We've included one of the best bands around in our projects. El Dorado and the Ruckus was featured in Black Snake Moan (Craig's) and Memphis Muck (my doc).

So read today's story in the CA and go buy some of their raw, weird, smart, punk-the-entrails, sinister Delta blues. Savory stuff.

Thursday, March 29, 2007

Tennessee film incentives -- they're here

The state has formally rolled out its film incentive plan. Excerpts from David Williams' story in the CA are below. The full story is here, and details of the plan from the state's Web site are here. Nashville Business Journal story is here. Let's make some movies...

Tennessee is rolling out its film incentive program, highlighted by a $10 million fund for rebates, a headquarters relocation refund plan and grants for in-state filmmakers.

Linn Sitler, Memphis & Shelby County Film and Television commissioner, said Tennessee is "significantly competitive" with other states when the rebates on production spending, which can rise to 17 percent, are combined with a 15 percent refund for companies that establish permanent headquarters in the state and meet certain conditions.

"Last week we had the Robert Johnson company in town. They would not have been looking at us, quite frankly, if it weren't for the combination of the headquarters incentive and the $10 million fund," Sitler said.

Sitler said others states are "giving away the farm" to lure individual movies, while Tennessee's incentives are most generous to those who would set up shop in the state for multiple projects.

Wednesday, March 28, 2007

Casting call for indie

This from the eCallboard. For further info, call the number below.


Casting call for independent movie being shot in and around Memphis area.
All ages needed.
Open auditions to be held at Germantown Community Theater, 3037 Forest Hill
Irene, Saturday April 14, Sunday April 15 1-5 pm. Call backs April 16 + 17.
Those wishing to audition should bring resume and recent headshot. Headshots
can be taken at theater for $1.

Due to budget constraints, this will not be a paying job, although full
consideration will be given in the credits.

>The movie is about a man who loses his family and begins self-destructing.
>He abuses alcohol and prescription drugs and begins hallucinating and
>witnessing bizarre murders.
>
>There are several speaking parts including:
>
>Landlady: Slumlord with a crass demeanor. Late 40's-50's.
>
>Joyce Clay: Mother and wife, mid 30's.
>
>Lacy Nichols: Mother and wife, Lacy's friend, mid-30's
>
>Secretary: Aloof and sarcastic, mid-20's
>
>Ellen: Regal publishing executive, mid-50's-60's
>
>Waitress: Small role, two to three lines, any age.
>
>Secretary #2: Same as above.


Contact Michael Crohan (901) 335-0077 for information.

CC by CU in LTTM on WYPL

Cowboy Up Productions is proud to announce that Last Train to Memphis Film Fest (WYPL-18) will be airing a new teaser trailer for the feature film Curbside Confessions, as well as a short titled Cherry Blossom during the month of April. The schedule is as follows…

Sunday night 12 midnight
Thursday 2am & 10:30pm
Saturday 1:30am & 11pm

The show is a jam packed hour of indie films/videos from local artists, as well as people across the country. Enjoy!!!!

Monday, March 26, 2007

Highly recommended

If you missed it so far, this is the last week of this months episode.

This month's edition of the fest includes great films by some excellent filmmakers. Our host for this month is the man who is everywhere and in everything, Donald Meyers.

Previews:
Trailer for Strange Cargo, a Paradox Production

The Films:

Whatever Happened to Floor Monkeys? The Movie- directed by Del Curlin. A nine-minute spoof about how some filmmakers can blow their own artistic insights and visions way out of proportion.

The Other Side of the Pillow- directed by Sarah Fleming. In the mundane existence we call life, is change really possible?

What It's All about- directed by Tammy Marqueerius. Created by Old School Productions for the Barbeque themed Lil Film Fest.

The Morning Ritual- directed by J. Lazarus Hawk. Produced by Craig Brewer, The Morning Ritual won Indie Memphis 2001, received honorable mention at the Nashville International Film Festival in 2002 and received the Darrel award from the Memphis Science Fiction Association.

Music for ending credits:

Change Your Mind - sung by Rusty Lemon from the The Morning End album.

Be sure to look for the BONUS FILMS after the ending credits!

A Live From Memphis music video production of Psychochauffeur by Organ Thief directed by Christopher Reyes.

A Subteens live concert footage produced by Live From Memphis

The Times:

Thursday- 2:00 a.m.
Thursday- 10:30 p.m.
Saturday- 1:30 a.m.
Saturday- 11:00 p.m.

For more info or to enter a film, go to www.LastTraintoMemphis.com
Check with the Library Channel web site or our web site for scheduling info.

Friday, March 23, 2007

Production company coming to town?

John Beifuss reports on a movie production firm sniffing around Memphis:
Local officials were hopeful Thursday that Robert L. Johnson, the African-American billionaire who founded the Black Entertainment Television network, might move his new movie production company to Memphis.

"Of all the cities we've been to so far, Memphis has been the most impressive," said Damon Lee, executive vice president-production for Johnson's fledgling Our Stories Films company. "We've been very impressed with not only the locations but also the commitment and the hunger to bring movies to Memphis."


Wednesday, March 21, 2007

Memphis-made doc at MIFF Saturday


A group of Memphians have made a documentary that shares the story of NASA's Columbia Shuttle's failed re-entry and the aftermath.

The film "Of Good Courage" is being shown as part of the Memphis International Film Festival on March 24 at 10 a.m. at Studio on the Square. All aspects of the film -- directing, editing, production, scoring, etc -- were done in Memphis except the interviews that were shot in Texas.

The film, which won a trophy for first prize in the Trail Dance Film Festival in Oklahoma, is a documentary about the people of a small east Texas community who helped in recovery of the Columbia Shuttle and its crew.

The documentary was co-directed by David Wayne Brown and David Perry of Conaway Brown Inc., a Memphis advertising firm. It was produced on behalf of a not-for-profit Hemphill citizens group dedicated to building a memorial to the astronauts and two others who lost their lives in a helicopter crash during recovery efforts. A soundtrack includes original music written by composer Chris Nemec.

For more information about the film, call 458-1652.


Monday, March 19, 2007

Film at the Brooks

Sunday, March 25, 2 pm
African Film Series: Totsi
Free with museum admission
Join us for this Academy-Award winning film set amidst the sprawling Johannesburg township of Soweto—where survival is the primary objective. Tsotsi traces six days in the life of a ruthless young gang leader who ends up caring for a baby accidentally kidnapped during a car-jacking.



Thursday, March 29, 7 pm
Film: Matthew Barney: No Restraint
Purchase your tickets on-line

$5 for Brooks members, $7 for non-members
A documentary about the enigmatic modern artist Matthew Barney that traces his journey to Japan with Bjork, where he creates a "narrative sculpture" involving 45,000 pounds of petroleum jelly and a factory whaling vessel.


Thursday, April 12
Saturday, April 14
Sunday, April 15
Full Frame Documentary Film Festival
Purchase your tickets on-line

Times to be announced

Brooks members: $40 for a festival pass (10 films total) or $5 per film

Non-members: $50 for a festival pass or $6 per film
Recognized as the premier documentary film festival in the United States by The New York Times, the Full Frame Documentary Film Festival celebrates the power and artistry of documentary film. Many of the films shown at the festival have gone on to be Academy Award nominees and winners.

Memphis International Film Fest

The Memphis International Film Festival opens Thursday and runs through Sunday.

The festival showcase some 60 films from 13 countries with more than 40 filmmakers, cast and crew members scheduled to attend. Included are narrative features, documentaries, shorts, experimental films and music videos, including four in the "International Masters Series": Claude Chabrol's "The Flower of Evil," Tsai Ming-liang's "Goodbye, Dragon Inn," Pedro Almodovar's "All About My Mother," and "The Devil's Backbone," from Guillermo del Toro ("Pan's Labyrinth").

The event is organized by the Memphis Film Forum, a not-for-profit "dedicated to the promotion of education, economic development and cultural diversity through the cinema arts."

Read the CA's John Beifuss on "Oh, Mr. Faulkner," the opening-night selection for the 8th annual MIFF.

Tickets to the opening night's events are $10. It includes the 7:30 p.m. screening of "Oh, Mr. Faulkner, Do You Write?" at Malco's Paradiso and an after-party at Dan McGuinness East, 4698 Spottswood.

Remaining screenings are at Malco's Studio on the Square, beginning as early as 10 a.m. and as late as midnight. Tickets to individual programs are $6 for matinees and $8 in the evening.

Isaac Hayes is scheduled to appear at a tribute to his career as a film actor and scorer at 7 p.m. March 24 at the Studio. Tickets are $10.

VIP passes good for all events are $35 each, or $30 if bought in advance. Student passes are $15 each.

Passes and advance tickets are available at malco.com.

Acting class tonight

Acting for the Camera
Monday March 19, 2007
7:00 pm - 9:00 pm
(This event repeats every week.)
Location: 174 Leif Cv. Cordova, TN 38018
If you plan to attend contact Lisa Lax at laxcast@bellsouth. net. This is for older teens and adults. Class time is 7-9. Cost is $25 for one class and $85 for 4 classes (that do not have to be used consecutively) .

Thursday, March 15, 2007

'Ought' in Nashville

Please join us in Nashville for the premiere of “OUGHT”
Thursday, March 22, 2007, 7 p.m.
at The Palace Theatre, 146 N. Water Avenue in Gallatin

From the directors of ‘Lenders Morgan’, ‘Bernee’: Jon Russell & Tracy Cring.

A hit and run accident, seen in the aftermath through the eyes of the notorious driver, prominent attorney, Johnson Reynolds.

Starring Denton Blane Everett (Mad Bad, Prison Break), Geoff Falk, Valri Bromfield (Grace Under Fire), Jan Falk, Sarah Ewell and many others.

Tuesday, March 13, 2007

Li'l Film Fest 5: Craig Brewer Exposed!

Well, maybe not exposed.

5th Li'l Film Fest: The Legend of Craig Brewer will be this Saturday (March 17th) at 2pm at the MeDiA co-op (1000 S. Cooper, Midtown). For more info, go here.

The lineup:
"Brainstorm" dir. Tatsuya Graham
"Do You Know Craig Brewer?" dir. John Pickle
"Dream and Achieve" dir. J. Lazarus Hawk
"Intense Black Guys and Bitchy White Women" dir. Timm Scalita
"It's Hard Out Here for a Gump" dir. Jon W. Sparks
"Maggie Lynn" dir. Elizabeth Harris
"The Secret History of Black Snake Moan" dir. C. Scott McCoy
"Trail Spice" dir. Tom Foster
"What's Brewin' Craig" dir. Donald Meyers
*Plus bonus fun stuff by Christopher and Sarah!!!

Come out and Support Local Filmmakers!!

Sarah Fleming
Creative Director
Live From Memphis, LLC

Monday, March 12, 2007

Delta Axis: March delectations

Please join us for our contemporary art and film events this month.

Wednesday, March 14, 7:30 p.m.
Indie Memphis Micro Cinema Club #27
Power House, 45 G.E. Patterson (between Main & Front Streets)
Free Admission, Donations Recommended
The Best of Ottawa International Animation Festival 2006
Featuring:
· OIAF 06 Signal Film (2006) Nathaniel Akin & Bruce Alcock / Global Mechnic / Canada / 0:30
· guy101 (2005) Ian Gouldstone / Royal College of Art / UK / 8:00
· Dreams & Desires: Family Ties (2006) Joanna Quinn / Beryl Productions International Ltd / UK / 9:50
· Mr. Schwartz, Mr. Hazen & Mr. Horlocker (2006) Stefan Mueller / FH Wiesbaden University of Applied Sciences / Germany / 7:40
· Tyger (2006) Guilherme Marcondes / Brazil / 4:30
· The Possum (2005)Chris Choy/California Institute of the Arts/USA/5:20
· Lightning Doodle Project [pikapika] (2006) Takeshi Nagata & Kazue Monno / Tochka Factory /Japan / 4:00
· Rabbit (2005) Run Wrake / Sclah Films / UK / 8:30
· Crossing the Stream (2006) Skip Battaglia / USA / 4:00
· The Runt (2006) Andreas Hykade / Studio Film Bilder/Germany / 10:00
· The Carnival of the Animals (Karneval Zvirat) (2006) Michaela Pavlátová / Negativ Film Productions / Czech Republic / 12:00
· Jason Forrest: War Photographer (2005) Joel Trussell / USA / 4:12
· Who I Am and What I Want (2005) Chris Shepherd & David Shrigley/ Slinky Pictures /UK / 7:30

Wednesday, March 28th from 6:00-7:00 p.m.
Artist Studio Visit
Murray Riss
516 South Main Street
Free for Delta Axis members, $5 for non-members
The Artist Studio Visit includes a light reception and discussion with the artist, Murray Riss, in his studio at. Please note this is a change from the usual Thursday evening program.

Murray Riss was educated at City College of New York, Cooper Union School of Art, and the Rhode Island School of Design. He established the photography department at the Memphis College of Art and taught there from 1968-1986. He was an adjunct lecturer in photography and film at Rhodes College from 1971-1986. Currently he is a professional photographer for magazines, advertising agencies and corporations with clients locally, nationally, and internationally. His work has been shown in group exhibitions at the Museum of Modern Art, the New Orleans Museum of Art, and the George Eastman House Museum of Photography; and in solo exhibitions at the Minneapolis Institute of Art, the Art Institute of Chicago, and Harvard University. Riss’s upcoming exhibition, Painted Portraits, opens in the Beverly & Sam Ross Gallery at Christian Brothers University, on March 16.

Friday, March 23, 6-9 p.m.
Opening reception for
Paul Behnke | Sallynoogin Drawings and
Dwayne Butcher | Art Made With a Ring
Delta Axis @ Marshall Arts
639 Marshall Avenue
Exhibition dates: March 23- April 28, 2007
Gallery hours: Saturday 1-5 p.m. or by appointment

Both artists are presenting new work inspired by their recent life experiences. Behnke has recently returned from a three-month stay in Dublin where the images and ideas for the Sallynoggin Drawings were engendered and the work was completed. Butcher’s works were all created since his marriage in fall 2006, hence Art Made With a Ring, and explore changes in the artist’s life and artistic direction.

Paul Behnke was born in 1965, in Memphis, TN. He received a B.F.A. in painting from the Memphis College of Art in 1999 and is currently living and working in St. Augustine, FL. Behnke’s work is represented by The Hallward in Dublin, Ireland and Zeitgeist Gallery in Nashville, TN.

Behnke’s Sallynoggin Drawings were begun with the intention that they would be soundly connected to a specific location and time. However, as the images progressed from notebook jottings of experience, environment and memory, to more complete drawings, their meanings began a steady shift from specific reactions to broad allusions. The finished works signify the faulty concepts of security, place and distance and give form to the rituals and obsessions that sprout from these notions.

Butcher has shown his minimalist influenced and abstract expressionist based work in most galleries and alternative spaces in Memphis, TN, as well as in Dallas, TX, Carbondale, IL, Jackson, TN, Nashville, TN, Little Rock, AR, and Jonesboro, AR. Butcher has curated guerrilla shows in non-traditional spaces such as; abandoned apartment buildings, old warehouse spaces, backyards, and established the “world’s smallest gallery” at the P and H Café. Butcher is the curator of Caseworks, an exhibition space for new and emerging artists, with openings that run in conjunction with the Art Museum at the University of Memphis. Butcher is the director and co-founder of Artmemphis.net, an artist registry and art related calendar serving the Mid-South.

Art Made With a Ring encompasses new work Butcher has created since being married in October 2006. While his style has not changed significantly, his approach and process have changed substantially.


Showing through March 31
Mary Ellen Carroll
ME LIKE BLACK
Power House, 45 G.E. Patterson (between Main & Front Streets)
Gallery hours: Thursday-Saturday 12-6 p.m., Sunday 1-6 p.m.
Carroll’s new body of work makes use of the city of Memphis not only as a physical original but also a cultural, social-political and economic original as well – a site of authenticity. All of the works in the exhibition have the subject of impersonation as their conceptual and philosophical basis. Included in the exhibition will be ME LIKE BLACK, two neon signs that are inverted mistakes that reference the 1960s book Black Like Me by white journalist John Howard Griffin, a civil-rights activist and friend of Dr. King who disguised himself as a black man and chronicled the experience. Four new silkscreen paintings produced with Brand X Editions will be shown from Carroll’s One Star Press series You and Me is based on the difference between how we see ourselves and how we are seen by others. The week before the exhibition’s opening, the performance Whatever It Takes, an impersonation of the escaped Haley, the female polar bear that FedEx relocated from Chicago to the Memphis Zoo, was documented and is presented in the exhibition.


Support Delta Axis – become a member!
Members receive free admission to our monthly Artist Studio Visit, a free ticket to a screening at the 10th annual Indie Memphis Film Festival in 2007, and invitations to special parties and events. Membership is $50 for individuals and $75 for couples. For more information call 901.494.6543 or email info@deltaaxis.org.

Memphis International Film Fest -- here's the plan

What can you expect to see this year? How about 58 films from 13 countries, and more than 40 filmmakers, cast & crew in attendance? With 3 days and 4 nights of shorts, documentaries, animated and feature films, you are sure to find something to please your cinematic palate. Opening Night (Mar. 22) takes place at Malco’s Paradiso with screenings Friday through Sunday (23-25) at Malco’s Studio On The Square.

The festival will showcase filmmakers from around the globe and right in our own backyard such as the Thursday Night Opening Night pairing of a Romanian Short film—A Very Small Trilogy of Loneliness from Romanian Director, Bogdan George Apetri (nominated for a Student Academy Award) and the Opening Night Feature—Oh, Mr. Faulkner, Do You Write? - John Maxwell's critically acclaimed one-man show based on the life of William Faulkner filmed before a live audience in Faulkner's home town of Oxford, Mississippi—a true departure from the typical opening night films, this film is NOT to be missed.

On Friday, members of the cast and crew of 2 blues-oriented documentaries will join the audience for Jook Joint Jam and Iron City Blues. Jook Joint Jam was filmed live on location at Ground Zero, owned by Morgan Freeman in Clarksdale, MS and includes interviews with Morgan Freeman and performances by George Thorogood and Eddie Shaw. Iron City Blues takes a look at the lawless town of Iron City, TN through the eyes of Bluesman Big Mike Griffin. Memphis Music takes center stage on Saturday night with a special tribute to Soul Man Isaac Hayes at 7 pm and our MIFF Awards Party that will shake your soul downtown at The Warehouse featuring Craig Schuster. Admisson to each of these events is $10 or free with a Festival Pass.

Special programming during the festival includes the International Masters Series. This year’s IMS films are: Todo sobre me madre (All About My Mother), Fleur du mail, La (The Flower of Evil), Espinazo del Diablo (The Devil’s Backbone), and Bu San (Goodbye, Dragon Inn). These films will be shown in their original 35 mm format – a true treat for the cinephile.

In addition to the films, the festival features special events, parties and workshops each day of the festival. Partnerships with SmartSound, Apple and Mania TV will provide 3 different workshops to help filmmakers on their path to success. SmartSound representative Richard Manfredi will be presenting the features and application uses of their computer program Sonicfire Pro 4. Presenters from the local Germantown Apple Store at Saddle Creek will be showing how Apple software can help you to create a master DVD to give your film that professional presentation touch. A panel discussion and Q&A session with various guests that utilize the internet for independent films will include topics such as Networking, Marketing, Distribution, and Broadcasting. Panelists include Chad Bardon - Content Manager for Mania TV (Internet Broadcasting Network), R.C. Knight – Executive Producer for Knight Entertainment (Internet Distribution) and Sarah Fleming – Live From Memphis (Internet Promotion & Marketing). Mania TV will also be taping and broadcasting from the festival at www.maniatv.com each day.

Individual screenings are $8.50 per person ($6.50 for matinees screenings) based on first come, first served seating with Festival Passholders receiving priority seating at all festival events – Opening Night tickets are $10 per person. Festival passes which allow priority seating to all film screenings and seminars and to the MIFF Awards Party are $30 in advance via the festival website www.memphisfilmforum.org or at the door for $35. A special discounted pass ($15) is available to students with valid ID. The festival is presented by the Memphis Film Forum, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization dedicated to the promotion of education, economic development, and cultural diversity through the cinema arts. MIFF 8 sponsors include Malco Theatres; FedEx; TCB Entertainment, the Memphis and Shelby County Film and Television Commission; The Tennessee Arts Commission & the Greater Memphis Arts Council; and the Tennessee Film, Entertainment and Music Commission, Memphis Convention and Visitors Bureau, InBaselne, Howard Flynn Law Group, the Memphis Flyer and Avid Software. More information can be found on the Memphis Film Forum website at www.memphisfilmforum.org.

Wednesday, March 07, 2007

Hold the ramekins...

"Eat" from the Oddly Buoyant crew will be screened at the Brooks Museum in Memphis as part of its 1st Wednesday series. Free for members, $6 for non-members. Cash bar. For more information: www.brooksmuseum.org.


Saturday, March 03, 2007

BSM needs you this weekend

From Deadline Hollywood Daily.com:

One of the most interesting movies so far this year, Paramount Vantage's Black Snake Moan, received great reviews. So it's all the more surprising that the #8 movie not only didn't do better at the box office, but its per-screen average was so weak. Playing in 1,252 venues, the Christina Ricci-Samuel L. Jackson starrer should have only a $3.4 mil weekend after making just $1.3 mil at the box office Friday.

Two older actors needed for commercial: REVISED

(Updates with age range)

Two actors for a public service announcement / political commercial. There is no pay and screen time is a few seconds. Possibility of paid work in the future.


Needed are a male and female to play younger grandparents -- age range is late 40s to early 50s. No words to memorize - just looking at the mail and the wife touching a shoulder at his sadness at the pile of bills - and then a second scene with the happy grandchild running and hugging.

The shoots will take little time - quick shot by the mailbox and front door - no lighting waits and no sound hassles -- just 2 secs of sad and 2 secs of happy and several takes

Contact is 484-5684

Memphis International Film Fest: Mar. 22-25

Purchase Festival Passes Online from now until Wednesday, March 21. Advance passes are available for the discounted rate of $30 through PayPal. Festival passes will be available at the door for $35.

Students may purchase a pass for only $15. A valid, current student ID is required, and it must be presented at the door in order to obtain this rate.

Go here for online purchases. And here's the MIFF web site.

Friday, March 02, 2007

Craig vs. Wendi

The CA's Wendi Thomas and filmmaker Craig Brewer go at it over "Black Snake Moan" on the AppealTV website. She didn't think much of "Hustle & Flow" and here she and Craig have, as they say in diplomatic circles, a full and frank discussion. A longer version is here.

Reviews of Black Snake Moan

John Beifuss of the CA and Chris Herrington of the Memphis Flyer have a couple of the smartest reviews you read on Craig Brewer's "Black Snake Moan" -- not only for their observations of the film, but of their assessments of how critics elsewhere see this movie and the South in general.

Excerpt from Beifuss:

Many of the critical nay-sayers are decrying what they perceive to be sexist and racist stereotypes in the film, but there's an element of regional condescension at work that impedes serious analysis. Apparently, you can mock the South with impunity, as long as you're claiming to defend it.

Perhaps it's true that Southerners are among those most likely to be embarrassed by the white trash/black bluesman conventions embraced in "Black Snake Moan." Yet Southerners also are the biggest fans of extreme, even cartoonish depictions of their behavior. Often, the impulses co-exist: I'm sure I'm not alone among Memphians in thinking the world would be a lesser place without either William Faulkner or Jethro Bodine.

What a mess of contradiction! But do we really want it any other way?



... and from Herrington:

When you make a movie about a white "nymphomaniac" chained to the radiator of a black bluesman's farmhouse, suffuse it with humor, and pitch it as a straightforward entertainment set in a world that sometimes feels as slightly exaggerated as a live-action Disney feature, perhaps you should expect critics to get a little discombobulated.

Last Train To Memphis -- March schedule

LTTM's Shorts Fest for the month of March on WYPL-18!

This month's edition of the fest includes great films by some excellent filmmakers. Our host for this month is the man who is everywhere and in everything, Donald Meyers.

Previews:

Trailer for Strange Cargo, a Paradox Production


The Films:

Whatever Happened to Floor Monkeys? The Movie- directed by Del Curlin. A nine-minute spoof about how some filmmakers can blow their own artistic insights and visions way out of proportion.

The Other Side of the Pillow- directed by Sarah Fleming. In the mundane existence we call life, is change really possible?

What It's All about- directed by Tammy Marqueerius. Created by Old School Productions for the Barbeque themed Lil Film Fest.

The Morning Ritual- directed by J. Lazarus Hawk. Produced by Craig Brewer, The Morning Ritual won Indie Memphis 2001, received honorable mention at the Nashville International Film Festival in 2002 and received the Darrel award from the Memphis Science Fiction Association.

Music for ending credits:

Change Your Mind - sung by Rusty Lemon from the The Morning End album.

Be sure to look for the BONUS FILMS after the ending credits!

A Live From Memphis music video production of Psychochauffeur by Organ Thief directed by Christopher Reyes.

A Subteens live concert footage produced by Live From Memphis

The Times:

Sunday- midnight
Thursday- 2:00 a.m.
Thursday- 10:30 p.m.
Saturday- 1:30 a.m.
Saturday- 11:00 p.m.

For more info or to enter a film, go to www.LastTraintoMemphis.com
Check with the Library Channel web site or our web site for scheduling info. This is a weekly schedule that will begin on March 3.