Month: October 2017

1957 Movie Review: THE BLACK SCORPION, 1957

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THE BLACK SCORPION, 1957
Movie Reviews

Director: Edward Ludwing
Starring: Richard Denning, Mara Corday, Carlos Rivas, Mario Navarro, Carlos Múzquiz, Pascual García Peñat
Review by Kevin Johnson

SYNOPSIS:

Recent volcanic eruptions release an army of giant scorpions to the surface; a team of doctors and army officials work up a plan to try and stop them.

REVIEW:

The problem with the monster films from the “Golden Era” of cinema is that, after the well-budgeted, decently refined classics, one inevitably have to watch the less-than-stellar crop of B-movies that, frankly, may not hold up as well from before. These are the films that are wonderfully ridiculed by the Mystery Science Theater 3000 crew. And, unfortunately, I don’t have Tom, Mike, Joel, or Crow to help me through it.

Still, there’s something revelatory when watching these films. The term “Golden Era” in relation to entertainment doesn’t exactly refer to the overall quality but the streamlined, consistent, large number of films actually produced. So, to see the lower-quality and weaker films that were produced gives a clearer picture of the specifics and details of the overall production of films created in this time period. In other words, it averages out one’s perception of the regulated, controlled studio system.

Two geologists go to investigate a series of volcanic eruption taking place in Mexico. When they find evidence of isolated destruction and several dead people stricken with poison, it’s soon discovered that a number of massive scorpions were freed from their obsidian-trapped prisons from the eruption. They attack the local villages and soon set their sights on Mexico City.

If there’s one thing to gleam from a film like this, it’s the regularity to which studio executives and filmmakers maintained a strict necessity for certain conventions – specifically, the need for a female lead and a romantic subplot. And while a variation of this “rule” certainly exist today, the extent to which it was utilized in the 50s is obviously glaring, especially in films with little subtlety. The Black Scorpion, in a nutshell, completely shifts gears to “park,” to try and develop a chemistry between scientist Hank Scott and Teresa Alvarez. It doesn’t work.

It’s a shame, too. The movie starts of very well—intriguingly so. The geologists find a few dead bodies and large-scaled damage, and the local village panics as rumors spreads, injuries mount up, and spooked ranchers rant about sightings of monsters in the fields. Even the introduction of the female lead works – after all, she’s just a brave rancher who’s just trying to find help in all the paranoid madness. Too bad that, by the thirty-minute mark, the film’s flaws become much more pronounced. Several doctor and military characters exposit plot points just to advance the movie (and are just terrible, terrible actors), and, as mentioned before, the romantic moments add nothing to the overall film or the distinct characters’ relationships. And that’s leaving out the unnecessary poor-acting from the young help, Juanito (Mario Navarro), who just gets into random trouble to try and create tension. It doesn’t work, either.

But what DOES work is the special effects from supervisor Willis O’Brien, who was friends with Ray Harryhausen, the special effects wizard for The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms (looks like the connections never end!). Watching the giant scorpions wreck havoc on trains, buildings, people, cars, tanks, and even helicopters is quite amazing, mainly because everything moves really fast and yet remains clear in visual action. And, to be blunt, the scorpions are vicious with their attacks.

There are also a couple of awesome creatures taken from unused sequences from the film King Kong; specifically, the spider that chases Juanito in the cave, and a strange worm-like creature that assaults a scorpion. It’s pretty cool to see some 1933 beasts return from hibernation to see them in action. What’s not so cool is the close-ups of the scorpions’ faces. While awesomely creepy and scary the first time around, they filmmakers rely WAY too much on it, which just makes it ultimatley annoying in the end.

Still, The Black Scorpion is a decent indication of the “less-than-average” type of film made in the 50s. It’s more indicative of the mediocre B-films of that time period, like how the myriad of B-horror films might explain something about the naughts of this decade. While I won’t try and convince people to watch this film, it does make an interesting study. And the special effects are at least worth it, so there is that.

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THE BLACK SCORPION

1957 Movie Review: AN AFFAIR TO REMEMBER, 1957

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AN AFFAIR TO REMEMBER MOVIE POSTER
AN AFFAIR TO REMEMBER, 1957

Directed by Leo McCarey
Starring: Cary Grant, Deborah Kerr
Review by Michael Aloisi

SYNOPSIS:

A man and a woman both involved in relationships, meet, fall in love and plan to meet each other again in six months to spend their lives together. But does it happen?

Review:

The ultimate playboy, Nickie Ferrante, played by the always enjoyable Cary Grant is about to get married to a famous millionaire. While on a cruise to America to be with his fiancé, he meets Terry McKay (Deborah Kerr), a beautiful woman who is also involved in a relationship of her own. Nickie is at first embarrassed and impressed that she can resist his advances, for almost no woman can. The two begin to spend time together while stuck on the boat for the long journey across the ocean. Slowly but surely they fall madly in love.

Knowing they need time to straighten out their lives and break it off with their current relationships, they make a plan to meet in six months at the top of the Empire State Building. Time ticks by and the two never talk, but work towards their goals to get together. Finally when the day arrives Nickie waits on the 102nd floor, but Terry never shows. Thinking she deserted him Nickie slips into a deep depression as time slips by and the fate of the couple hangs in the balance.

The first hour of the movie takes place almost completely on the cruise ship, with one interlude in Italy. It is thoroughly enjoyable to watch Grant and Kerr play a flirty game of cat and mouse as they both fall for each other. Yet the second half of the film, while the two are apart, lacks the chemistry and enjoyment that the first half does. It feels a bit long and slow and even has two completely unnecessary and long musical numbers that does nothing to help the film. And the fact that the climatic twist in the film is so simple to solve you want to yell at the characters for being stupid, is a bit hard to swallow in modern times. The ending is also a bit anti-climactic and rushed but still satisfying. The chemistry between Grant and Kerr is what placed this movie at number 5 on the greatest romantic movies of all time list by AFI. Those expecting to be knocked over by this classic film should lower their expectations and just appreciate a story of real love.

For those who love Sleepless in Seattle, this movie is a great accompaniment since it mentioned in it several times and even inspired the ending. In fact after Sleepless was released over two million copies of An Affair To Remember were sold! Yet no one seems to remember that Affair is a remake itself of a 1939 film called Love Affair.

 

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AN AFFAIR TO REMEMBER

1957 Movie Review: 3:10 TO YUMA, 1957

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3:10 TO YUMA, 1957
Movie Review
Directed by Delmer Daves
Starring: Glenn Ford, Van Heflin
Review by Alan Barkley

SYNOPSIS:

Against all odds, a man must deliver a captured outlaw to the afternoon prison train.

REVIEW:

In 1974 Toronto took the bold step of enhancing its system of electric streetcars at a time when they had been virtually abandoned in North America as city transportation. A new design was in order and industrial designer Claude Gidman was the handed the task and the question: should a new streetcar be a sleek urban bullet of contemporary design or something less dramatic. Gidman chose to extend the visual legacy of the streetcar rather than upend it and, while the new design incorporated relevant ergonomic and environmental upgrades from the 1930s version, riders experienced the newer streetcars like compatible cousins of the vintage cars that shared the same downtown tracks. 3:10 to Yuma which began as a short story in 1953 and has seen two film adaptations made in 1957 and 2007 exists in much this way: spanning five decades, these three iterations of the story shift along on the same rails, each version advancing the narrative while remaining deferential to its predecessor.

Elmore Leonard’s short story was published in 1953, the year after the successful release of High Noon in which tension builds towards the arrival of a fateful train carrying outlaws sworn to kill Gary Cooper’s marshal. Echoing High Noon’s ticking clock, Leonard’s lawman guards a prisoner in a hotel awaiting the arrival of the 3:10 train that will take the outlaw to a prison in Yuma Arizona. Standing in the way of the lawman’s duty is the outlaw’s vicious gang surrounding the hotel and the handcuffed outlaw himself who uses all his wiles to undermine the deputy’s resolve.

Screenwriter Halsted Welles kept Leonard’s hotel conflict as the centerpiece of the 1957 film adaptation and backed it up with an invented story of a rancher (Van Heflin) living on hard times who accepts Wells Fargo’s two hundred dollars to take outlaw Ben Wade (Glen Ford) to the prison train. In turn, writers Michael Brandt and Derek Hass (2 Fast 2 Furious) kept Halsted’s backstory for their 2007 adaptation but upped the ante for Christian Bale’s rancher, giving him the additional burdens of a sickly son and an amputated foot, his legacy from the Civil War.

If all this seems like excessive motivation it’s certainly true that audiences didn’t always want such explicit crosses for their heroes to carry. The short story’s deputy marshal doesn’t need special reasons to do his job and both films depart from the original’s understated hero who performs his duty bravely and competently because those qualities are simply part of who he is. Leonard’s story cares less about the hero’s character arc and more about the hero’s character.

These days, however, the John Wayne cowboy is a hard sell. We prefer our heroes to have a plight that intersects with the plot and we want those personal challenges to be detailed and specific. We’ve become suspicious of virtues like courage and resolve that appear shopworn when they’re presented without context. So if Halsted and Hass and Brandt gilded the rancher’s hardship lily, their strategy moves us closer to the action, creating serious doubt about an outcome that might otherwise have felt like a forgone conclusion.

Writer Welles fleshed out the personality of Elmore Leonard’s Ben Wade and created an amalgam of ironic charm, ruthlessness, and womanizing that Hass and Brandt retained including the pivotal scene where Ben Wade seduces the lady bartender while hunting posses and fleeing gang members whirl around him. Ben Wade energizes both movies the way Robert Louis Stephenson’s rogue pirate Long John Silver lit up Treasure Island, his villainy at once repellent and attractive, confounding the viewer’s judgment while pulling one deeper into the story. Glen Ford brought Ben Wade to life in 1957 and Russell Crowe added cockiness and unpredictability to the part in 2007.

Haas and Brandt correctly saw the 1957 version as a two-act play and added a rollicking middle section full of fights, horseback chases, and deadly confrontations that we tend to think western movies are all about. And director Robert Mangold makes the most of it, transforming the earlier black and white film into a vivid and active wild west setting for the solid drama.

Remakes don’t succeed when wrong choices are made about what to keep and what to discard. The 3:10 to Yuma films work because they never try to eclipse the original. It’s interesting to see Halstead Welles’ name listed in the screenwriting credits for the 2007 film, along with Brandt and Haas. Although he had died by the time the new version had begun Welles, like Elmore Leonard before him, had already made his contribution.

 

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310 TO YUMA

1957 Movie Review: 12 ANGRY MEN, 1957

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12 ANGRY MEN MOVIE POSTER
12 ANGRY MEN, 1957
Movie Reviews

Directed by Sidney Lumet
Starring: Henry Fonda, Lee J. Cobb, Ed Begley, Martin Balsam, John Fieldler, E.G. Marshall, Jack Klugman, Ed Binns, Jack Warden, Joseph Sweeney, George Voskovec, Robert Webber
Review by Christopher Almeida

SYNOPSIS:

A dissenting juror in a murder trial slowly manages to convince the others that the case is not as obviously clear as it seemed in court.

OSCAR nominee for Best Director, Best Picture, Best Screenplay

REVIEW:

‘All rise…the court is in session…’ Well, actually, it isn’t. The real drama in this Court Room happens in the Jury room. 12 Jurors have to come to an anonymous vote. While everyone votes guilty, our male protagonist, Juror 11, isn’t quite so sure. This case has to be treated delicately – after all, the defendant has the death penalty for murder.

The hero comes in the form of Henry Fonda. The star has appeared in 106 films. The most famous are 12 Angry Men, The Grapes of Wrath and On Golden Pond.

The director comes in the form of Sidney Lumet, who has made the transfer from television to film. However, don’t let that discourage you- judging by this film, he has done it successfully. Lumet churns the issues around the room using character and innuendos and as a result raises the stakes at a steady pace. For further evidence- it won him the Golden Bear award at the Berlin International Film Festival. The film also won three Oscar nominations.

Lumet’s transfer from one Medium to another may explain the number of close-ups. This isn’t bad thing at all – it does create a nice intense, powerful atmosphere. The close-up shots come in handy when searching for empathy. Lumet gives close-ups to every other character except for the hero at the start of the film. It is almost to the effect that we are examining the evidence and, indeed, the other jurors. This creates the most empathy because we don’t know how it’s going to end and neither does Henry Fonda.

Most heroes, in films, are sure of their objective half an hour into a film, this hero is unsure throughout.

At this point you must be thinking what is Henry Fonda’s character name? This is first thing that separates it from other films. We don’t learn any of the character’s names. The film concentrates on hero and his journey. Not a single line is wasted; all the characters are sculpted using actors from the highest caliber. Another distinction is the cinematography. Which mainstream film uses more close-ups than long shots? Yeah, I heard you- except for The Blair Witch Project! The film together with Rose’s screenplay is a masterpiece.

Reginald Rose’s screenplay is very well crafted. Themes of stereotyping, second chances and ageism are perfect ingredients for the story’s substance. A nice cool beer on a hot day and sitting in your deck chair is the only description I have for the story’s substance without using a clinched word such as refreshing. The themes are well placed- two words- pitch perfect!

The only flaws here is that it relies on stereotypical characters to create predictable sub-issues; Sub-issues such as young, naïve boy and angry man. However, Lee.J. Cobbs does such a powerhouse performance that the flaw blows right over your head.

Target audience? It is for anyone who wants to think afterwards ‘Hmm…Now that was worth seeing!’ But seriously though, the ideal target audience is for 20- to however mature you may be.

Twelve Angry Men requires concentrated viewing but that doesn’t mean it’s boring. The dips into and out of story using light humour gives it a nice balance.

 

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12 ANGRY MEN

Film Review: LOTS OF KIDS, A MONKEY AND A CASTLE (Spain 2017)

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Lots of Kids, a Monkey and a Castle Poster
Spanish actor Gustavo Salmerón steps behind the camera to capture the winsome eccentricities of his extraordinary mother Julita, who had three dreams: having lots of kids, owning a monkey, and living in a castle.

Director:

Gustavo Salmerón

Writers:

Beatriz Montañez, Gustavo Salmerón 

Stars:

Julieta Salmerón, Gustavo Salmerón

 

With a castle as a tim set and the film set in Spain, this doc called LOTS OF KIDS, A MONKEY AND A CASTLE plays like a fairy tale.

The film begins with the director’s mother, 80-year old Julita, talking to the camera expressing her three wishes.  Her three wishes form the title of the movie – children, a monkey and a castle.  She says she has 6 children and a monkey but getting a castle was the difficult part.  The film goes on.

The monkey part did not go so well. Julita purchased an aggressive monkey that ended up biting her and attacking another woman when it broke its chain.  They finally had to let it go.  The doc has pictures of the monkey but no live footage.

No one would imagine Julita’s middle-class family coming into money, enabling them to make the harebrained purchase of a castle.  All was captured on film as 15 years earlier, her son Gustavo began filming his eccentric family.  Even though since then they lost their property and castle to the economic crisis, the family members have not been deprived of the disarming spontaneity or the kindheartedness that mark their domestic squabbles.

So what is this documentary about?  It is a home movie of sorts but about the director’s mother.  Before one can dismiss the film as nonsensical personal crap, the film exhibits lots of charm which is the reason this documentary got a standing ovation from the audience during the screening at the Toronto International Film Festival.

The character of the Julita grows on the audience.   Oddly she shares a lot of common traits as my own mother – bless her! when she was still living.  She was a hoarder, she was a controller with very one serving her whims and fancies, she spoke loudly, she was fond of eating and she was loved by all her friends.  The first part of the doc has her son, the director and husband search for two vertebrae of her great grandmother.  He believes keeping the vertebrae is bad karma.  Of course, the hidden item is finally found, and hidden in the weirdest way. The granny is shown to be quite the hoarder,  As they go through hundreds of boxes everything from old teeth, to hat decorations to two urns of the mother’s parents ashes turn up.  It is an amusing revelation of the woman’s life history, while remaining amusing at that.  One inserted musical segment with her playing classical on the piano while her family members move around the house and garden is particularly  riveting, reminiscent of the song of CAMELOT sung by Richard Burton played with Jackie Kennedy going about the house in the film JACKIE.

The film contains sensitive material as well.  Julita speaks candidly of her husband not touching her any more once she became fat.  But old photographs reveals her quite the beauty when she was young.

The film is a glorified home movie – but at least it is an excellent one at that!

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fXk5pf-JsHI

 

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Film Review: BAD GRANDMAS (Canada 2016)

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Bad Grandmas Poster
Four grandmothers accidentally kill a con man. When his partner shows up, things go south quickly.

Director:

Srikant Chellappa

Writers:

Srikant Chellappa, Jack Snyder

Stars:

Pam Grier, Judge Reinhold, Florence Henderson

It has barely been two weeks since two films about old ladies hits the screen.  There was THE BEST OF THEIR LIVES and now BAD GRANDMAS, a Canadian feature where one granny accidentally kills her friend’s bad son-in-law resulting in all other cronies trying to hide the body and cover up the deed.

The film’s first scene shows an American flag out front of a building of an insurance company in this IndieCan production.  Obviously, the film is set in the States (Southern U.S.A. to be more accurate) to expand the film’s marketing base.  All the grandmas in the film thus speak with a southern drawl.

The film contains typical scenes of the elderly ladies doing jumping jacks and smoking up, trying to look cool, things that have been done in films on old farts before.

Four grandmothers spend their twilight years in peace playing card games and baking cakes.  Their world is turned upside down when one of ladies (Bobbi played by Susie Wall) son-in-law Jim (David Wassilak) cons the lady.  In the process of trying to fix the problem, Mimi (chief protagonist, ringleader and brains played by Florence Henderson) accidentally kills him. Things go from bad to worse but the ladies are smarter than they seem.  The premise does not sound original and this plot of accidental killing has been done more than once in other films, for example in the best film dealing with accidentally killing, Robert Carlisle’s THE LEGEND OF BARNEY THOMSON, where a barber’s accidental killing leads to another to another.  BUT BAD GRANDMAS is hardly funny, despite many opportunities for comedy.  The film is a clear textbook example where timing is essential in comedy.

The addition of the character of the investigating Detective Randall Mclemore (Randall Batinkoff) is puzzling.  His character is a smug rather good-looking man who charms the daughters of the grandmothers.  He does not add much humour either but not for want of trying.

There is also one bug flaw in the script.  If the ladies have in their possession  the CCTV video of the villain kidnapping Bobbi, why don’t thy just go to the police in the first place?

The film is performed by a cast of mostly little heard actors except for veterans Pam Grier and Judge Reinhold,who do nothing to lift this piece out of the doldrums.

The film contains countless attempts at humour but none too successfully.   The only laugh out loud joke for me is the one when one of the grandmas remarks after seeing a dead body: “This makes me more nervous than a long tail cat in a room full of rocking chairs.”  But this is not because the joke itself is funny but because it has ben ions when I used to repeat that line.  The film improves during the second half, story-wise.

BAD GRANDMAS attempts to cash in on the successful comedy BAD MOMS by adding the murder angle.  Better skip this one and wait for BAD MOMS AT CHRISTMAS or BIG DADDY 2 where the 2 grandpas (played by Mel Gibson and John Lithgow) are added to the story.

Trailer: http://indiecanent.com/movies/bad-grandmas/

October 2017 – Read Interviews with Winning Short Filmmakers

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Interview with 15 winning short filmmakers from around the world. Interviews by Matthew Toffolo:

Interview with Director James Bowsher (WITHHELD)
https://matthewtoffolo.com/2017/10/06/interview-with-director-james-bowsher-withheld/

 

Interview with Director Steve Hally (TWISTED SOBRIETY)
https://matthewtoffolo.com/2017/10/09/interview-with-director-steve-hally-twisted-sobriety/

 

Interview with Director Andi Osho (AMBER)
https://matthewtoffolo.com/2017/10/06/interview-with-director-andi-osho-amber/

 

Interview with Directed Eric Shahinian (FOREIGN SOUNDS)
https://matthewtoffolo.com/2017/10/06/interview-with-directed-eric-shahinian-foreign-sounds/

 

Interview with Directed Elaine Chu (MANEKI-NEKO)
https://matthewtoffolo.com/2017/10/06/interview-with-directed-elaine-chu-maneki-neko/

 Interview with Director Jana Stackhouse (THE MAN WHO DOESN’T SLEEP) https://matthewtoffolo.com/2017/10/03/interview-with-director-jana-stackhouse-the-man-who-doesnt-sleep/

 

Interview with director Anthony Bennett (MY LITTLE BROTHER)
https://matthewtoffolo.com/2017/10/03/interview-with-director-anthony-bennett-my-little-brother/

 

Interview with Animation Director Peter Zhaoyu Zhou (KARMA)
https://matthewtoffolo.com/2017/10/03/interview-with-animation-director-peter-zhaoyu-zhou-karma/

 

Interview with Director Margaret Costa (MY NAME IS JOAN)
https://matthewtoffolo.com/2017/09/24/interview-with-director-margaret-costa-my-name-is-joan/

 

Interview with Director Igor Gavva (SUITCASE)
https://matthewtoffolo.com/2017/09/23/interview-with-director-igor-gavva-suitcase/

 

Interview with Director Andrea Behring (BAGGAGE)
https://matthewtoffolo.com/2017/09/23/interview-with-director-andrea-behring-baggage/

 

Interview with Director Dan Pal (COUNTING)
https://matthewtoffolo.com/2017/09/23/interview-with-director-dan-pal-counting/

 

Interview with Director Andrew Galloway (WALLY)
https://matthewtoffolo.com/2017/09/23/interview-with-director-andrew-galloway-wally/

 

Interview with director Katie Maguire (THE SESSION)
https://matthewtoffolo.com/2017/09/23/interview-with-director-katie-maguire-the-session/

 

Interview with Director’s Blair Bomar & Olivia Applegate (GRACE & GRIT)

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Interview with Festival Directors Nick John Whittle & Stuart Wheeldon (9LadiesFilmFestival)

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9LadiesFilmFestival is a distinguished independent film festival showcasing short films from around the world to an audience of film fans and movie-makers.

Contact

What is your Film Festival succeeding at doing for filmmakers?

9LadiesFilmFestival brings cinematic exposure for independent filmmakers. That’s what filmmaking is essentially about: getting audiences to see your creation. And with exposure comes possibilities. It isn’t just about letting the common man see your film. There are scores of studios out there watching indie films. If they see something that ticks boxes they’ll grab it. Famous case in point: Paranormal Activity.

There are also the laurel stamps for the winners. Films showing laurel stamps in their credits are proven to be the ones most watched. True, it’s not necessarily the mark of an all-round incredible film but it shows it has been scrutinized by professionals and that one element of it (or several) passes muster. It also proves that the filmmakers have a belief in their product and have put in the man hours (and money) to get it through the festival process.

What would you expect to experience if you attend the festival this year (2017)?

Our finalists this year will enjoy a specific location for their live screening, from historical houses to modern cinemas. We’ve worked hard to secure theatres that in some way add a cultural essence to the screenings. This isn’t just town-hall-and-sandwiches stuff; it’s a festival with a difference. Always has been.

9LadiesFilmFestival promotes the work of inventive, original, free-thinking and independent filmmakers; to raise their profile throughout the web and connect them with established industry professionals around the world. One of the ways we do this is by creating and taking care of your online presence; creating a web page for your winning film and promoting it like hellfire across social media platforms.

What are the qualifications for the selected films?

9LadiesFilmFestival accepts short films and documentaries and we take submissions from filmmakers all around the world. We stipulated that the language of the piece has to be in English (or at least subtitled) but we’ve left things very free and easy deliberately. The films are required to be either 9 mins or less or 10-29 minutes long. The whole theme of this year’s festival is “nine” in honour of our parent company’s title.

 Do you think that some films really don’t get a fair shake from film festivals? And if so, why?

We believe every film gets a fair shake. Film festivals are an essential part of the growth of an indie moviemaker. If the festival is managed correctly and in a just and reasonable way everyone has equal chance of becoming a winner. Festivals open gateways to the Bigger Picture, to distribution possibilities…a festival like ours represents equal opportunity for everyone – from beginner to expert.

What motivates you and your team to do this festival?

A passion for making great movies and helping others through the process.

How has your FilmFreeway submission process been?

We have found the FilmFreeway submission process very good, we are already up on the number of entries for the current time of year. With recent tweeks to the way the FilmFreeway program works it is easier to manage the film festival process. And it seems that more and more filmmakers are now using the FilmFreeway Submission process.

Where do you see the festival by 2020?

We’d like to think the festival will have grown to the point where we can award substantial funding and great distribution opportunities to the winners.  There are a huge number of inspiring and culturally stand-out filmmakers out there and we look forward to viewing their work.

 What film have you seen the most times in your life?

Nick: Casino Royale (the good one!)

Stuart. The Red Shoes

In one sentence, what makes a great film?

Basically, a great story. A movie is like a book in some ways with scene cuts instead of page turns…if you’re bored by the plot of a book you won’t turn a page. On the other hand, if you love it, you can’t stop turning pages. A movie is also story – whether you pour millions of dollars into a project or not, if the story doesn’t hit the spot it won’t be successful. Add superb characters to your story and plenty of subtext and you have a winner.

There is a technical consideration as well, something we like to look at in the festival. Sound, direction, visuals, lighting, props are all taken into consideration as technical achievements of a movie. After all, they are important aspects of the art.

 How is the film scene in your city?

We are fortunate that in the Midlands the film scene is thriving, there are a number of very good Independent Cinemas that show films that otherwise wouldn’t get a release, the indie film making scene is also very good, with the likes of cities such as Nottingham, Sheffield and Birmingham all  have a thriving Indie scene.

9LadiesFilmFestival1.jpg

Nick John Whittle – Producer. Nick is an award winning writer and producer based in Birmingham. His work includes the award winning film Faith, The Adventures of Joshua (TV mini-series), No Way Back (short/horror) Nick’s cinematic influences include Beckett, Hitchcock, Buñuel, Mamet, Allen, Jarmusch, and Bergman. http://www.imdb.com/name/nm7825353/. nick is the co- director of the 9ladiesfilmfestival.

Stuart Wheeldon. Writer/Director Stuart is an award winning writer and director and founder of Nine Ladies Film. Stuart’s work as included theatrical plays, radio and film shown and featured around the world. His work includes In Limbo, The Telephone, The Collector (Pre-Production)and The Wasteland.  Stuart was also the founder of 9ladiesfilmfestival which in it’s first year attracted over 200 entries from around the world. http://www.imdb.com/name/nm7240661

 *****

Interviewer Matthew Toffolo is currently the CEO of the WILDsound FEEDBACK Film & Writing Festival. The festival that showcases 20-50 screenplay and story readings performed by professional actors every month. And the FEEDBACK Monthly Festival held in downtown Toronto, and Los Angeles at least 2 times a month. Go to www.wildsound.ca for more information and to submit your work to the festival.

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Interview with Festival Director Vanna Nauk (Fresno’s State Asian Pacific Film Festival)

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The Asian Pacific Islander Programs and Services will be hosting the 1ST EVER Asian Pacific Islander Film Fest at Fresno State! They will be hosting this event along with CineCulture! It’s a two day event beginning on Friday, October 20, 2017 to Saturday, October 21, 2107.

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What is your Film Festival succeeding at doing for filmmakers?

We are providing them a space to display their work in Fresno, which is the fifth largest city in California, so we were definitely due for an Asian Pacific Islander Film Festival of our own.

What would you expect to experience if you attend the festival this year (2017)?

I hope that I see a sense of solidarity amongst the Asian Pacific Islander groups here in the Central Valley, and I hope that this can be an opportunity for others outside of our group to see that Asian Pacific Islanders are actually very talented in film. Overall, I hope to feel a sense of pride amongst my peers.

What are the qualifications for the selected films?

Sense it is an Asian Pacific Islander Film Festival, the films have to have some sort of Asian Pacific Islander element in there or involved in the making.

Do you think that some films really don’t get a fair shake from film festivals? And if so, why?

I do, I think that some ethnic groups are overlooked, which is why we are trying to promote Southeast Asian films as much as possible because their visibility tend to go silent.

What motivates you and your team to do this festival?

You do not see very many Asians on screen, so we decided to create a space for ourselves.

How has your FilmFreeway submission process been?

FilmFreeway has been extremely helpful and the submissions are pouring in quite rapidly.

Where do you see the festival by 2020?

I hope that the festival becomes an annual event that will connect the university with the community. I see a lot of potential in our greater Asian Pacific Islander community here in the Central Valley, and I hope that this Festival will grow into something that they can take pride.

What film have you seen the most times in your life?

Hercules [laugh out loud]
In one sentence, what makes a great film?

The theme/plot!

How is the film scene in your city?

The film scene in our city is most renowned for the Reel Pride Film Festival, which is one of the largest, if not the largest, LGBTQ Film Festival in the west coast. We also have Filmworks and Cineculture, which are great film organization here in Fresno. However, there are definitely room for the film scene to grow here.

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Interviewer Matthew Toffolo is currently the CEO of the WILDsound FEEDBACK Film & Writing Festival. The festival that showcases 20-50 screenplay and story readings performed by professional actors every month. And the FEEDBACK Monthly Festival held in downtown Toronto, and Los Angeles at least 2 times a month. Go to www.wildsound.ca for more information and to submit your work to the festival.

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Interview with Festival Directors Betsy Uhler Colombo & Alexa Roman (LA Dance Film Festival)

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The LA Dance Film Festival aims to provide a supportive and enriching environment for both emerging and established dance filmmakers. The festival is open to filmmakers from around the world. LADFF accepts films from a variety of genres as long as dance is the main storytelling component.

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What is your Film Festival succeeding at doing for filmmakers?

Our film festival has been successful at fulfilling our mission, which is twofold: 1) to create opportunities and exposure for dance films from around the world, and 2) to unite the Los Angeles dance and film communities.

 What would you expect to experience if you attend the festival this year (2017)?

Attendees to our festival in January 2018 should expect to see a wide variety of short dance films from around the world. We have some fantastic submissions coming in across all styles and genres of dance, and are looking forward to sharing a selection of them with our local community of dance film lovers.

 What are the qualifications for the selected films?

Qualifying films are under 30 minutes in length, and incorporate dance as a core narrative component. We have two categories: fiction and nonfiction.

 Do you think that some films really don’t get a fair shake from film festivals? And if so, why?

It’s hard for us to speak to other festivals but we take a lot of steps to ensure we are as objective as possible in how we assess films. We have a submissions team comprised of dancers, filmmakers and dance filmmakers. Our team watches every film and scores it against a multi-point rubric. We use the scores to determine the final selections for the festival. Separately, we have both a Jury Award and an Audience Award. Those awards are determined by people who are independent from the festival staff.

What motivates you and your team to do this festival?

We are motivated by our desire to provide opportunities and exposure for dance films from around the world as well as unite the dance and film communities here in Los Angeles. Dance film offers something different than traditional films and it’s not a commonly known genre. We wanted to make Los Angeles a place where dance filmmaking and dance film viewership thrive.

How has your FilmFreeway submission process been?

Great! We love FilmFreeway. We also use WithoutaBox and we offer an extended deadline on WithoutaBox.

Where do you see the festival by 2020?

We’d love to be able to expand to a bigger venue and offer multiple days of programming so we can reach a wider audience and offer screening opportunities to a greater number films.

 What film have you seen the most times in your life?

Beverly Hills Cop. Maybe Beverly Hills Cop III.

If we’re talking dance films, I’ve seen Confrontation (dir. Shannon Janet Smith and Steven Butler) the most as it has played at three festivals I’ve attended, was part of a StandardVision Showcase and we screened it at our festival. Thomas Freundlich’s film Cold Storageis a close second. [Alexa]

 In one sentence, what makes a great film?

A great dance film uses the art of dance to tell a compelling story in a unique and entertaining way. It leaves the audience asking questions, entertaining new thoughts or discovering untapped emotions.

  How is the film scene in your city?

Los Angeles is the film capitol of the world, so… pretty good!

 

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 *****

Interviewer Matthew Toffolo is currently the CEO of the WILDsound FEEDBACK Film & Writing Festival. The festival that showcases 20-50 screenplay and story readings performed by professional actors every month. And the FEEDBACK Monthly Festival held in downtown Toronto, and Los Angeles at least 2 times a month. Go to www.wildsound.ca for more information and to submit your work to the festival.

SUBMIT your TV PILOT Screenplay or TV SPEC Script
Voted #1 TV Contest in North America.		 Screenplay CONTESTSUBMIT your Short Screenplay or FEATURE Script
FULL FEEDBACK on all entries. Get your script performed