"Across the River" at Indie Memphis

John Harvey's "Across the River" has been accepted to the Indie Memphis Film Festival and is on the schedule to show at 8:45 pm Monday, October 16th. The plot revolves around a young man who has just died and bargains with the Grim Reaper to allow him to stick around to tie up some loose ends. Rock 103's Dennis and Ric -- Dennis Phillippi and Ric Chetter -- are the Grim Reaper and the Soul Eater.

Meet the Angry Filmmaker at Indie Memphis

On Sunday, Oct. 15, there's a 1 p.m. workshop with The Angry Filmmaker at Indie Memphis. Find out about this director/screenwriter/producer at his MySpace site and at his Web site AngryFilmmaker.com.

Shelby County taxpayers asked to help film company

The proposed Village Roadshow Pictures regional facility in Memphis wants public money. Here's an excerpt of the story by reporter David Williams in today's CA:

Rey Flemings, leading the movie company recruitment as a Memphis Music Foundation board member, wouldn't discuss the amount but said Friday it was small "in the world of corporate incentives."

The funds would supplement recent state film-incentive legislation that provides a rebate of 15 percent of in-state company production spending, if certain qualifications on the company and its spending are met.

The foundation is working with the city, county and other entities on the project, although there's not yet an agreement that could be presented to the City Council and County Commission as part of a funding request.

The proposed deal calls for Village Roadshow -- an Australian-based company behind "The Matrix" and other hits -- to spend $250 million on productions here over five years.

"We continue to build a case that film and music are real industries that are having and will continue to have great impact on the economic well-being of this community," said Flemings, who recently resigned his paid position as foundation president to work for hometown pop star Justin Timberlake's organization.

Timberlake plans to relaunch Stax Records in a partnership with California-based Concord Music Group, whose owners -- Norman Lear and Hal Gaba -- own part of Village Roadshow.

"These deals mean a lot in terms of job creation and tax benefits for local and state government," Flemings said, "and that's in addition to the real obvious soft benefits in marketing and civic pride."

Village Roadshow Pictures has made:
The Matrix
The Matrix Reloaded
The Matrix Revolutions
Ocean's Eleven
Ocean's Twelve
Miss Congeniality
Cats & Dogs
Two Weeks Notice
Mystic River
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
Eight Legged Freaks
Zoolander

"What Goes Around" at Indie Memphis

"What Goes Around..." has been accepted into the Indie Memphis Film Festival. It's a comedy-drama that follows Talal (Patrick Henry), a young man with cold feet, who after growing increasingly frustrated with the worrisome ways of his girlfriend Marie (Chris Brown), decides to see what else is out there. He thinks he's struck gold when he draws the attention of Angela (Lisa Miller) an attractive classmate who seems to have everything he’s looking for in a relationship: beautiful, smart, funny and sexy. But little does he realize; everything that glitters isn't gold.

The film is by Rod Pitts of Pittstop Productions.

"Memphis Muck" at Indie Memphis

"Life is too important to take too seriously."

What's it like to make music in Memphis? The 30-minute documentary "Memphis Muck" will be shown Oct. 16 at 8:30 pm at the Muvico in Peabody Place. Most of the doc was taped during a March 31 concert by Muck Sticky and includes music performed on the stage of the New Daisy as well as interviews with the Thoreau-quoting, feel-good, herbal-centric, R-rated musician/entertainer/actor as well as his other guests that night: El Dorado and the Ruckus, Taco & da Mofos and Mr. Safety discussing Memphis music, the creative urge and how it all comes together.

Kudos to Last Train From Memphis Entertainment

Last Train to Memphis Entertainment is proud to announce that two of their films have been selected to be shown at the Script-2-Screen Independent Film Festival and Movie Biz Conference, October 5th-8th. Ken Axmaker, Jr's film, Man-tute, has been selected to represent Memphis independent filmmaking. It will be shown opening night, Thursday, October 5th, with an introduction by the director. Man-tute will also be shown at it's regularly scheduled time, Saturday October 7th at 8:40 p.m. Axmaker's feature film, Service With a Smile, will also be showing Friday, October 6th at 7 p.m. Service is the film John Beifuss of the Commercial Appeal has called, " the Charles Bukowski meets Shemp Howard dipsomaniacal comedy..."

Axmaker says: "This is a great honor to have one of my films chosen to represent Memphis filmmaking. I think that this will help bring more attention and support to the Memphis independent film scene."

For more info on the films:

www.LastTraintoMemphis.com

to watch:

www.MySpace.com/lasttraintomemphis

For more info on the festival and movie biz conference:

http://www.script2screenfilmfestival.com/

Last Train to Memphis lineup

Last Train to Memphis Entertainment is proud to announce the October line up for the monthly shorts festival airing on WYPL-18. This is our fifth episode, and we have an excellent line up.

The Players:

Blown - Directed by Michael Cruickshank
Will O'Loughlen
Kaleo Quenzer
Rick Venable

Prom Queen - Directed by Ben Siler

Block - (a BR2 film) Directed by Melissa Crouch

Music for ending credits: Cat Head Biscuits and Gravy a duet by Nancy Apple and Rob McNurlin from the River Road or Rail album.

Be sure to watch the bonus film at the end of the credits-

South Dakota Trilogy in Three Minutes - Directed by Will O'Loughlen

The Times:

Sunday night/Monday morning 12 am
Thursday morning 2:00 am
Thursday night 10:30 pm
Saturday morning 1:30 am
Saturday night 11:00 pm

Congratulations to all the filmmakers. If you would like to submit a film or song to the festival, go to www.LastTraintoMemphis.com and click on the festival link.

or, http://www.MySpace.com/lasttraintomemphis

Please email us at: LTTM1@aol.com with any questions or comments.

FABA Film Festival

Did Indie Memphis reject your film, because they just had too many entries? Well have no fear, FABA! is here. On October 11th and the 12th we will be holding the first ever FABA! Film Fest at MO's (Memphis originals).

ENTRY IS FREE!!!!!

FABA! wants you to show us what you've got!

Shorts, Features, Documentaries... Bring it on!!!

Prizes include cash and DISTRIBUTION!!! Through Knight entertainment.

For entries, call 901 859 4979

Send all entries via US mail to :

For Artists By Artists
2121 Poplar ave # 74
Memphis TN 38104

All entries must be postmarked by October 7th

Li'l Film Fest 3 -- Watch out!

Now you can watch the little movies that made up last Saturday's "Li'l Film Fest 3: Kung Who?...No, Kung Fu!" Go to the LiveFromMemphis.com site here and sit back for unlimited minutes of chop socky hilarity.

Congratulations to John Pickle whose "Electric Ninja Acid Test" won the audience fave award. And thanks to everyone -- all 92 of you -- who participated in my production and to all who came to the screening and supported local indie filmmakers. I hereby christen all of you Associate Producers.

Indie Memphis lineup

Here are dates, times and titles for the Indie Memphis Film Festival. More details are to come, but now you can start filling in your calendar. Screenings are in two theaters at Muvico in Peabody Place, so there are two listings for each day.

More more details, see John Beifuss' blog about the upcoming festival.

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 13, 8:00
Come Early Morning, directed by Joey Lauren Adams (attending). Starring Ashley Judd with Nancy Ellen Mills and Ann Marie Hall.

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 14
1:00 This is Keith Rolyat
Stomp! Shout! Scream!
3:00 Youth Showcase
5:15 Films by Phil Chambliss
Shadow of the Hatchet Man
The Mr. Visit Show
The Devil’s Helper
7:00 Awards Ceremony

===

11:00 Workshop: SAG Indie
12:45 Last Thoughts
2:30 Documentary Shorts Program
A Cheaper Way to Go
The Cole Nobody Knows
Driving for Freedom
Bowl Digger
Confederate Pennsylvania
Crunch!
Soul of the Delta
4:45 The Proper Care and Feeding of an American Messiah
7:45 Shorts Program #1
Kubuku Rides (This Is It)
Electric Ninja Acid Test
Hyperthrust Overdrive
Peace
Love is Deaf
The Color of Motion
Attache
Testify
8:00 The Phantom of the Opera, (1925; Silent; B&W and hand colorized) with live accompaniment by The Alloy Orchestra

9:00 Live From Memphis Music Video Showcase

9:45 Rex Fears Dogs
The Other Side



SUNDAY, OCTOBER 15
12:45 Art From the Street
2:30 Dear Mr. President
August in the Empire State
5:00 American Cannibal: The Road to Reality
7:00 The Bottle Tree
Old Joy
8:45 Eat

===

1:00 Workshop: The Angry Filmmaker
2:45 Shorts Program #2
Ad Man
Anti-Arktikos
The Rabbit League Must Prevail
The Shovel
Imagine
Drinking Man
At Rope’s End
Katrina’s Wake
4:45 Jumping Off Bridges
6:45 Shorts Program #3
Made in Taiwan
Fence Dogs
Leave Me a Message
Mateo’s Tattoo
Give Me Ducky
A Riot in the Dark
Night Comes Down
Plenty 4 Days
The Bread Squeezer
8:30 When I Find the Ocean

MONDAY, OCTOBER 16
6:30 Cocaine Cowboys
8:45 Across the River
The Bridge

===

6:45 Fraternity Massacre at Hell Island
8:30 Delusions
Memphis Muck

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 17
6:15 Just the Two of Us
8:45 What Goes Around

===

6:30 Dia de los Muertos
The Garage
8:30 Grim Sweeper


WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 18
6:15 Severance
8:30 Found
A Reel Man

===

6:30 Bodies and Souls
Of Good Courage
8:15 Send in the Clown

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 19
6:45 The Importance of Being Russell
9:00 Mike McCarthy presents…

===

6:30 Playing With Rage
8:45 Nobody

"Grim Sweeper" in Indie Memphis

The world premiere of "Grim Sweeper" will take place Tuesday October 17th at Muvico in Peabody Place in Downtown Memphis as an official selection of the Indie Memphis Film Festival. For more info, go to Corduroy Wednesday.

"Katrina's Wake" at Indie Memphis

"Katrina's Wake" is screening in the Indie Memphis Film Festival Sunday Oct. 15 at 2:45 as part of a shorts program. Memphian LaVita Brooks is in this 30-minute fictional story of family who seeks refuge in their attic from the rising flood waters of Hurricane Katrina. "No food. No water. No escape. And, unfortunately, no one knows they’re there."

For more info, go to Kat Scratch Films.

"Eat" at Indie Memphis

"EAT" will premiere Sunday October 15th at 8:45 PM at the Muvico Peabody Place, presented as part of the Indie Memphis Film Festival (and you should check out more movies than just this one). Mark your calendars.

Indie Memphis rocks with an in-de-Muck doc

The notifications are going out now and we'll soon know which projects will be screened at the Indie Memphis Film Festival. I'll post 'em here when the full lineup is released, but if you're a filmmaker and you've been notified that you're in, let me know and I'll post the news with a link.


And in the shameless but robust spirit of being self- serving, I'll start with me: My 30-minute documen- tary "Memphis Muck" will be shown Oct. 16 at 8:30 pm at the Muvico in Peabody Place. Most of the doc was taped during a March 31 concert by Muck Sticky and has music and interviews with the philosophical, feel-good, R-rated musician/entertainer/actor as well as his other guests that night: El Dorado and the Ruckus, Taco & da Mofos and Mr. Safety.



From the Indie Memphis Web site:

Now in its ninth year, the Indie Memphis Soul of Southern Film Festival is a week-long event featuring films of a Southern persuasion. This is the nation’s only independent film festival focused on films relating to the American South. Works screened include films made in the South or by Southern filmmakers as well as films that deal with the Southern experience and themes that are particularly relevant to the South and Southerners.

The festival features screenings of more than 70 films, a juried competition with cash awards in several categories and a variety of panel discussions and lectures conducted by respected filmmakers, academics, authors and others from the industry.

All movies and events will take place at Muvico Peabody Place 22 Theaters, 150 Peabody Place in Downtown Memphis, unless noted otherwise.

Individual Tickets: $6; The Six-Pack: (six program passes) $25; Festival Pass: (unlimited entry plus Indie Memphis T-shirt or baseball cap) $60

Film @ the Brooks

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 21 | 7 pm
Film: Sketches of Frank Gehry
Brooks and AIA members: $5 per person
Non-members: $7 per person
Dorothy K. Hohenber Auditorium
For more information call 544.6208

The film will be introduced by Jim Lutz, associate professor of architecture at University of Memphis.

Director Sidney Pollack’s first feature length documentary about the acclaimed architect Frank Gehry. The two men have been friends for many years, which is reflected by the intimate dialogue between them. Spending countless hours in his studio, on job sites, and in his home, Pollack captures the essence of Gehry’s unique architectural process.

Co-sponsored by the Memphis Chapter of the American Institute of Architects (AIA Memphis) and Memphis Heritage, Inc. This film is a sanctioned event of Architecture Month and an opportunity to make connections between art and architecture.




NEXT TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 26 | 7pm
Film: Room
Part of the Undiscovered Gems Film Series
Brooks members: $5 per person
Non-members: $7 per person
Dorothy K. Hohenber Auditorium
For more information call 544.6208

"One of the more intriguingly unusual, thought-provokingly original and intellectually stimulating American independent movies of the year." -Camera Oscura

Room is a psychological drama about an over-worked woman from Texas who is haunted by psychic visions, driving her to extreme acts, which land her on the streets of New York City during the Christmas season. Cyndi Williams was nominated for a Best Female Lead Independent Spirit Award for her riveting performance.

Beifuss on Li'l Film Fest

From today's Playbook:

Everybody was kung-fu filmmaking...

...as you will see if you attend this year's third "Li'l Film Fest," to be held at 2 p.m. at the MeDia Co-op theater at First Congregational Church, 1000 S. Cooper. Presented by the local arts supporters responsible for the Live from Memphis website, the event is titled "Li'l Film Fest 3: Kung Who? ...No, Kung Fu," and it will showcase 10 short comic films with martial arts themes, including the self-explanatory "Kung Fu Baby"; "Electric Ninja Acid Test" by the dependably juvenile John Pickle; and "Kung Fu Fighting: A Literary Improvisation by 92 Terrific Memphians and Visiting Luminaries," a jigsaw-edited reading of the lyrics of Carl Douglas' 1974 No. 1 dance hit.

Admission is free. Visit livefrommemphis.com or call 523-9763.

Thank you John.

Extras for tomorrow

From Lindsey Roberts for the [Title removed 10-2-06 at request of producers] production:

Does your mother/father, grandmother/grandfather want to be in a movie? Give them a call. And then contact Lindsey at 725-0776 or lindsey@playhouseonthesquare.org.

Needed: 2 elderly women and 2 elderly men (any ethnicity), one of the men will make $300 a day as a featured extra and will be needed in the morning. The others will make $100 a day, and from what I know, they will be needed in the afternoon.

I will have more details later with regards to location, etc. So, I will give all who are interested the details at a later time.

Li'l Film Fest 3 -- Attendance mandatory, and cheap, too

Li'l Film Fest 3 is Saturday!

The third in the ongoing series of five-minutes-max projects by Memphis filmmakers is this Saturday, 2 p.m. at the MeDiA Co-op (First Congo Church, 1000 S. Cooper). The event, sponsored by Live From Memphis, is free, although donations on your part would be thoughtful and gracious. Go here for more on Li'l Film Fest 3, but you may already know it's a showcase for local filmmakers to keep the creative juices flowing.

Above are images from my entry, "Kung Fu Fighting: A Literary Improvisation," featuring the famous, the semifamous, the infamous and some merely notorious -- a cast of 92, one of which is a genuine Hollywood star!

But wait, there's more! There will be films by:

John Pickle, of PickleTV
Razor Teeth, of Funny Farm Films
Nick Ross
Galen Gower
Donald Meyers, of Don Meyers Digital Design
Will O’Loughlen
Natsuko Kobayashi
Edward Valibus Phillips, of Corduroy Wednesday
plus a bonus entry by Sarah Fleming (Piranha Empire) and Christopher Reyes (NinjaCat Media)

Mayor's theme thong

A lesson for filmmakers and location scouts here.

Li'l Film Fest: Sept. 23

Live From Memphis™ Presents LI’L FILM FEST 3: Kung Who?…No, Kung Fu!
A theme-based, mini-festival – the third one ever.

Live From Memphis™ is announcing round 3 of its quarterly film fest “Li’l Film Fest” to take place on September 23, 2006 at 2pm. The festival will be held at the Memphis Digital Arts Co-operative (1000 S. Cooper Memphis, TN 38104).

The following is a list of accepted films and filmmakers:

"Electric Ninja Acid Test" John Pickle
"Ninja in a Box" Razor Teeth
"Kung Fu Fighting: A Literary Improvisation" Jon W. Sparks
"Kung Fu Baby" Nick Ross
"Ragtime Kung Chew" Galen Gower
"The Ancient One" Donald Meyers
"Kung Fu Fightin’: scenes from Blown 2" Will O’Loughlen
"Death Match Arena" Natsuko Kobayashi
"Johnny Cage, You Are a Fool" Edward Valibus Phillips
*Look for a bonus entry by Sarah Fleming and Christopher Reyes!!

The event is free and open to the public; Live From Memphis and the MeDiA Co-op will be accepting donations. Support Local Filmmakers! For More information about the LI’L FILM FEST please visit: http://www.livefrommemphis.com/filmfest or call 523-9763.

Lil Film Fest is a new kind of festival, highlighting local talent while showcasing interesting happenings around town. Heres how the festival works: Every 3 months LFM staff members announce a new theme to the filmmaking community. Filmmakers then put their own unique spin on producing a short film. The theme for the second Li'l Film Fest was barbecue, and in the first Fest, the films had to have footage of the implosion of Baptist Hospital.

The winner(s) of the audience favorite balloting get a $200 cash prize and a spot in the next Indie Memphis Film Festival. Additionally, the li'l films must not exceed 5 minutes in length.

Live From Memphis™ is a grassroots organization representing Memphis music, film and the arts. We support and promote local musicians, filmmakers, artists, and industry professionals who are the lifeblood of the Memphis creative scene. It is our goal to connect creatives, grow opportunities, and gain exposure for our creative culture.