Medicine for Melancholy

Yesterday, the Independent Film Festival of Boston ended its 2008 run. Over the past few days, we saw some great films like Lynn Shelton's My Effortless Brilliance and David Redmon and Ashley Sabin's Intimidad. But as great as those films were, nothing could quite match the impact that Barry Jenkin's Medicine for Melancholy had on us.

Watching the trailer at the top of this post will only give you a hint of what to expect. The images, the music, the actors are all just amazing. See this film whenever you can.

Visiting the web site and reading the director's statement in the press notes PDF yeilded a truly unexpected pleasure, this quote:

"I'd completely given up on the prospect of ever making another film, and then Justin Barber threw himself behind me, willed this thing into action. We weren't many but, but damn if we weren't able. Cast and crew included, there was never more than eight of us physically making this film; most times there were six. I worked for eight months as a director's assistant on a film who's crew hovered near a hundred persons. Never in the course of production did our eight-person team feel less significant." - Barry Jenkins

That team at Strikeanywhere Films made a far better movie with just eight people and a minimal budget, than most others with much greater physical resources. Anyone who thinks that any serious film needs a budget of $5 million or even $500,000 needs to take a look at Medicine for Melancholy to see that great films aren't about budget. What matters is what ends up on screen.

-Eric

Added 5/2/08: DIY Filmmaker Sujewa has a great interview with Barry Jenkins here.

CMS Media Spectacle

Tonight at MIT, the Institute's Comparative Media Studies program is hosting its annual Media Spectacle. Although I won't be there due to other plans, it sounds like a great time. Maybe next year...

-Eric

More Geeks Than Usual

This Friday, as I walked around MIT - where I work - I noticed large groups of somewhat geeky looking people laughing, talking, and smiling. Now, MIT is a haven for geeks, but most MIT students work far too hard and are under far too much stress to be as happy and joyful as the people I saw here on Friday.

Who were these happy, geeky people?


Attendees of ROFLCon! (Not to be confused with ROLFCon.)

I found it very exciting that ROFLCon was occurring at the same time as the Independent Film Festival of Boston, just a couple of miles away. ROFLCon promoted the IFFB showing of the documentary Second Skin - see the trailer for Second Skin above - and featured panels with the creators of Homestar Runner, Jibjab and more.


SXSW proved that a geek is a geek is a geek, whether you are into film, music or internet culture. I'd love it if the folks at ROFLCon and IFFB got together to make sure that the two fests coincide and collaborate next year!


-Eric

If in Atlanta...

On April 16 the short film Ana's Time, written, directed and edited by Alice Cox, will make its premier at the Atlanta Film Festival.

Alice is at least partially responsible for sparking my interest in filmmaking; I attended a filmmaking course she taught during MIT's Independent Activities Period in January 2005.

I also worked for a couple of days as a PA on the set of Ana's Time, on and around Veteran's Day 2005. Even though I didn't have a clue what a production assistant was supposed to do, everyone was kind and generous, and I had a wonderful time.

If you are in Atlanta, go see this film! It plays as a short, right before Kentucker Audley's Team Picture*. I wish I could be there to see it myself.

*Coincidently, the DP on Ana's Time was Mike Gibisser whose own feature film "finally, lillian and dan" played at Harvard Film Archive's Independents Week 2007 on July 2 and July 6. Which film played immediately before "finally, lillian and dan" on July 2? Kentucker Audley's Team Picture.

-Eric