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.

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

Selected by...Andrew Bujalski

The Brattle Theater latest repertory series, starting this Friday and running to Wednesday, March 19, is a series of films selected by Andrew Bujalski. It's a very interesting selection of films, from Wattstax to Vertigo, Minnie & Moskowitz to Written On The Wind. But what has me really excited is the March 14 showing of Frank Ross's Hohokam! I've missed my previous two chances to catch it, I don't intend to miss this one. The trailer is above.

-Eric

Not Your Typical Bigfoot Movie

A kind reader pointed me towards the trailer for Not Your Typical Bigfoot Movie, which gets its world premier at SXSW 2008. If the trailer is any indication, it seems like it'll be a wonderful film. I hope it makes it to some New England fests so I can catch it. (And if it does, I hope it doesn't wind-up as a "midnight" movie as it did at SXSW. When it comes to staying up late, I've become a real wuss.) 

You can find out more about the movie at its web site or at its SXSW page.

-Eric

The Ostrich Testimonies

Here is the trailer and the link to the web site for the SXSW 2008 documentary the Ostrich Testimonies. It seems like filmmaker Jonathan VanBallenberghe found a truly unique and remarkable man in D.C. Cogburn, the man behind the Rooster Cogburn Ostrich Ranch. 

I also really liked what VanBallenberghe said in his director's statement: 

"I hope documentary filmmakers continue to directly address the 'big' topics like war, religion, genocide, and climate change. But I also hope that we continue to pay attention to smaller, lesser-known stories about private lives."

I wish him luck at SXSW!

  

-Eric

Living the dream: the creators of Homestar Runner

I stumbled upon this little video interview with the creators of Homestar Runner. 

It seems to me that they are living the dream.

-Eric

Trailer for Present Company

I love Frank Ross's Quietly on By. (Unfortunately, I missed two chances to see his last film, Hohokam. Once I opted to take a friend up on a free Red Sox ticket, and the other time I was sidelined by a nasty case of bronchitis.) So I was happy to see a trailer up for his next film Present Company. Fans of Ross's films will recognize some familiar faces.

You can read a synopsis of the film at Frank's web site: Molehill Independent