This is another of my previous short works that I am finally making available online. This is one of my stranger short films, but it also happens to be one of the most well seen. The film, CLOCK PAINT EYEBALL screened at numerous places around the world (including some microcinema screenings in Seattle, San Francisco, Paris and Houston). Mike Nicholson did some great design work on the look and feel of the piece – and I cut it along with my longtime collaborator Aaron Vega. Check it out.
Lance Hammer’s BALLAST is now available on BLU-RAY and DVD. An amazing film that has had a well documented festival run and DIY distribution approach – now’s your chance to own it on DVD.
We’ve got a couple of different DVD projects in the works and with that, we’re developing some additional materials (AKA ‘Extras’) for these DVDs. Now that said, these projects don’t have huge resources or sprawling “making of” kind of featurettes – but they do have a few other things at their disposal.
Now, I’m aware of CLERKS 2 and the wonderful commentary track with Kevin Smith and Scott Mosier that’s named the “technical track.” It’s a blow by blow of how the film was made… SCHIZOPOLIS has a Soderbergh-the-reporter interviewing Soderbergh-the-director – and it’s hilarious. INSOMNIA has a great track with Christopher Nolan. My absolute favorite ‘extra’ is the commentary track on THE LIMEY, with screenwriter Lem Dobbs and director Steven Soderbergh getting into a heated discussion. These discs are all great, but all lean towards commentaries. Are there other additional materials you’ve come across that were simply done and made the film a richer experience? Let us know.
This is a short film I finished in 2006 (and part of the get all my short works online project I am ever so slowly working on). Originally this was a poem entitled Letter to City of Austin, Attention: Customer Rep Susan that I saw performed in Austin, Texas at La Zone Rosa, by the enormously talented Jacob Rakovan. And the actor in the film, Jeffery Mills, was someone I was trying to find the right part for, because I was dying to work with him… That’s how this marriage came to be.
My Electric Bill screened at handful of film festivals and screening series around the country — and I still find Jeffery Mills’ performance really, really strong and hope to find a way to work with him again in the future. Feel free to comment below and let me know what you think about our film.
Last week in Bend, Oregon, THE OVERBROOK BROTHERS had a huge weekend, winning 3 different awards at the 2009 BendFilm Festival. They include:
Best Actor – (Mark Reeb) The Overbrook Brothers
Best Screenplay – (John Bryant & Jason Foxworth) The Overbrook Brothers
Best of Show – The Overbrook Brothers
The Overbrook Brothers (Directed by John Bryant) This movie swept up three completely deserved awards: Best of Show, Best Screenplay and Best Actor (Mark Reeb). A hilarious and realistic comedy, it features the road trip of two brothers on a mission to discover their heritage and their escalating rivalry. Reeb delivers a performance that is a cross between Josh Brolin and John Malkovich.
The Overbrook Brothers will be screening in Philadelphia as part of the 18 1/2 Philadelphia Film Festival: 5 Days of World Class Cinema. We’re not sure that anyone from Team Overbrook can be there, but please, if you’re in Philadelphia, come out and see the film!
Philadelphia Film Festival – October 15th thru October 19th, 2009 Screening Date/Time: Friday, October 16th at 9:45 pm – Ritz Bourse A Screening Date/Time: Saturday, October 17th at 2:45 pm – Ritz Bourse C
In my “works-in-progress” kind of news, we have a finecut of my first feature film. Seeing the film, from end to end, is enthralling, scary, calming and humbling all at the same time. Of course it needs many, many more man hours of work and there are things that work and don’t quite work in the film, but getting to see it all in one fell swoop, “like a real movie” has definitely moved the film to its next stop on the train tracks of its life. I’m excited to show the film to a few carefully selected folks who can articulate what they think about it in its current form… I’m headed back into the editing room, but I can’t ever go back from where the film is now in its life… and that feels really good.
The Overbrook Brothers will be screening in Bend, Oregon as part of the 6th Annual BendFilm: A Celebration of Independent Cinema.
BendFilm – October 8th thru October 11th, 2009 Screening Date/Time: Friday, October 9th at 8:00 pm – Regal 5 Screening Date/Time: Saturday, October 10th at 10:00 am – Sisters Movie House Screening Date/Time: Saturday, October 10th at 8:00 pm – McMenamins 1
And on a very different note – a blog/information free-for-all/website that I’ve found absolutely wonderful and thought provoking in these tumultuous indie film times is Truly Free Film – written by producer Ted Hope. It’s not as much a call to action as it a bevy of ideas, information and solutions to nurturing and expanding our film culture. In my opinion, it’s a must read if you’re a media-maker.
In the slowly putting some of my works online project, here is a short film from 2004 called CREMAINS. Narrated by actor Steve Shearer and friend Marilyn Rodriguez, this short film sprouted from a much lengthier piece (never produced) called The Painted Ones that I had developed with good friend Aaron Vega. The Painted Ones never saw the light of day, but CREMAINS came to life and it’s a short film I am very proud of — and it’s done very well screening around the world. Music by the most prolific musician on the planet, Graham Reynolds.
The Overbrook Brothers will be screening in London, England as part of the 17th Raindance Film Festival. The lineup is a great one, including Steven Soderbergh’s The Girlfriend Experience, Ry Russo-Young’s You Won’t Miss Me – and many, many more. If you happen to be in London on Monday, October 5th – please come out and support the film! It’s one that I am incredibly proud of and it’s great to see in an audience setting (because it’s damn funny).
17th Annual Raindance Film Festival (London) – September 30th thru October 11th, 2009 Screening Date/Time: Monday, October 5th at 7:30PM – Apollo Cinema
I’ve been hesitant to post some of my shorter films online in the past. Part of me was being old-fashioned and another part of me simply liked the idea that these kinds of works had to be seen in festivals or microcinemas or DVD compilations. That said, over the course of the next [...]
The film I produced this past year, THE OVERBROOK BROTHERS, has a handful of upcoming screenings in the next two months. We’ve had a pretty good festival run in 2009 so far and I’m excited we’re going to continue on with many, many more screenings over the course of the fall. Here are [...]
My short film, EXPECTING (2007, 17 mins), will screen in NYC on SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 5th, as part of ROOFTOP FILMS 2009 SUMMER SERIES. The event will take place on the amazing roof at Open Road Rooftop, at Grand and Essex on the Lower East Side. Doors open at 8:00 PM, live music at 8:30, [...]
