Wholphin

Part loving art-doc recreation, part comedic musical, INTERKOSMOS may be the best communist propaganda since 1955, a genre that excelled in style and mathematic form. It revels in the Russian avant-garde cinematics that bled into its bombastic government documentaries. Once some human issues come up (birds and bees and astronauts), the film gets realistic and funny. Although you are never quite sure what filmmaker Jim Finn takes seriously, alternating between laughs and existentialist atmosphere, as if it was a predecessor to the new Daft Punk film Electronoma.

Following the space exploits of cosmonauts Seagull and Falcon, East Germans on their way to conquer moons of Jupiter and Saturn, INTERKOSMOS blends the deadpan but beautiful vibes of newreels, NASA static drone cameras – and actual musical sequences with a drill team – to a great new film that’s almost educational. The feature started out as a sequel to one of Finn’s short films about a gerbil, hoping to send the little guy in space. The film kept growing until humans in spacesuits and dance numbers were added. It would win art direction awards if film fests had them. The music is original but drawn from 70s German pop and real communist morale boosting riffs. There’s even exit music. The scenes and dialogue are also new but inspired by real training films.

While its perfect for film fest crowds and art fans who’s temple is the Museum of Jurassic Technology’s oil painting lounge dedicated to the Russian rocket dogs who did not return from space, Interkosmos could also play on PBS. And I seriously, seriously want it to play to Russian audiences over 50 – can anyone make this happen?

DVD available now from Facets Video, 24.95 capitalist-pig dollars.

The Silent Movie Theatre in Los Angeles is reopening – with new sound and style. The SMT is old but the inside is amazing, and now sound films are running with the silents. Grand re-opening is tomorrow, 10/25, with a solid Halloween lineup.

A lot of great old stuff will be showing there, but in December there is a series of new indies: “The New Naturalists”, featuring The Puffy Chair, Mutual Appreciation, Old Joy, Apart from That and Frownland. Check out all their great lineups on their website. Official press release here:

Hadrian Belove of Cinefile Video, Sammy Harkham of Family Books and Dan Harkham of the Silent Movie Theatre have teamed up to launch The Cinefamily, a new venue for revival programming– from foreign to independent, from classical to cutting edge, from silent film to live music, and from exploitation to experimental. Our home is the world famous Silent Movie Theatre on Fairfax. The theater will reopen on October 25th with a bigger screen, more comfortable seating (including plush, leather sofas), and state-of-the-art projection and sound. The Cinefamily is committed to the presentation of silent films with live musical accompaniment, while expanding our calendar to embrace all forms of cinematic experience. There will be an adventurous program of regularly-scheduled events devoted to specific genres and audiences including:

Silent Movies w/ live musical accompaniment- Every Wednesday Night
Musicals, Concert Films & Special Music Events- Every Thursday Night.
Mini-Festivals- Every Friday and Saturday
Holy F*cking Sh*t (Incredibly Strange Cinema)- Every Saturday Late Night
Noir Matinees- Every Sunday afternoon
Asian Cinema Night- Every Sunday evening
Experimental Cinema- Monthly
Movie/Movie-Notable people present their favorite movies- Monthly
Short Films before features
Oodles of Special Events- Ongoing

What is The Cinefamily?

The Cinefamily is an organization of movie lovers devoted to finding and presenting interesting and unusual programs of exceptional, distinctive, weird and wonderful films. The Cinefamily’s goal is to foster a spirit of community and a sense of discovery, while reinvigorating the movie-going experience. Like campfires, sporting events and church services, we believe that movies work best as social experiences. They are more meaningful, funnier and scarier when shared with others. Our home is the Silent Movie Theatre, one of Hollywood’s most beloved and beautiful cultural landmarks. There, The Cinefamily will provide a destination spot for Los Angelenos and others to rediscover the pleasures of cinema.

http://www.silentmovietheatre.com/

Live in San Francisco? Like short films? Like experimental freak out beauty? Then run to the great ATA this weekend for their 2nd Annual ATA Film & Video three day fest of “original, independent & underground� cinema. On Wednesday October 10th, the Opening Night Party will feature an eclectic music selection by dj_spaceinvader & Niles of mk2 reality enhancement, and will premiere local filmmaker Paul Clipson’s new super 8 film “Illuminations� with live musical score by Jefre Cantu-Ledesma.

On Thursday, October 11, the night starts with the experimental shorts program “Auteur Space�, anchored by the haunting Paradise Drift (Martin Hansen), following people whose bodies are on earth but their souls seem elsewhere. Followed by the political program “Reelpolitik�, a strong collection of films that are minimal yet very lyrical, including the mystical, endearing films Marmot (Olga Chernysheva); Tetescha Us (Stefanie Wuschitz) and La Parabolica (Xavi Sala).

The Friday, October 12, early program is “Mnemonics�, avant shorts of really nice, classic design like hand painting and scratching, and reinventing found footage. Flight Home (Tadashi Moriyama) is engaging, following these animated sort of Sim City guys in a strange universe, and Paul Clipson’s Echo Park is a luscious, epic lightshow. The later program is “States of Matter�, mixing a variety of films from rough art performance to articulate cut and paste animation. Sissy Boy Slap Party (Guy Maddin) and Phantom Canyon (Stacey Steers) are great standouts.

Also on the scene are ATA Film & Video Festival Installation Films:
Btween calm & chaos & calm & chaos… (Dayv Jones); Cantata In C
Major (Ronnie Cramer); Contraction (Marlon Gonzalez); Fanatica (Marco Castro); Hybrids (Niloo Tehranchi); La Fuerza Eyaculatoria del Ojo/The Ejaculatory Power of the Eye (Sara Sama Acedo); Three Decades of Static (Yin-Ju Chen); Todo Disfraz Esta Hecho de Recuerdos/All Disguise is Done of Memories (Manuel Olias).

Go support true indie art!

One of our favorite films from CineVegas 2006 is being self-released on DVD in a beautiful special edition with a photo book. Variety critic Robert Koehler told me it was his favorite American film made last year. Please check it out and see some true independent cinema.

from co-director Randy Walker:

Dear friends,
Well, after 24 festivals, 3 awards, a “limited
engagement” theatrical run in theaters across the US,
a Croatian television appearance, a nod and a shove
from WHOLPHIN:

http://www.wholphindvd.com/wordpress/2007/05/lost-pet-apart-from-that/

…these quotes:

“”an original and resonant feature debut…fashioned
by young artists with a defiantly personal sense of
visual design and pace, along with considerable
sympathy for their exceptionally human characters.”
-VARIETY

“…its characters are more akin to the American
grotesque of Raymond Carver and Flannery O’Connor than
any film precedents, save perhaps early Cassavetes.”
-THE LIST

…and let’s not forget this one:

“The sort of film you could threaten naughty children
with.”
-some guy in Scotland

…Jen and I are happy to finally announce the
official release of the APART FROM THAT SPECIAL
EDITION DVD/CD/ART/PHOTO PACKAGE, now available at

www.foreignamericanpictures.com

Here’s everything:

1. DVD including special features:
-behind-the-scenes documentary
-auditions
-deleted scenes
-interviews
-exclusive trailers for films
currently on the festival circuit that Jen and I are
in love with

2. CD SOUNDTRACK with original score composed by
Christopher Shainin, Patrick Shainin and Brian Olpin.
Also includes “Ulla’s recordings of sounds,” along
with other music and dialogue from the film.

3. ART+PHOTOGRAPHY BOOK; hard-bound/cloth cover,
consisting of over 50 photographs from the production,
combined with illustrations and correspondence from
the cast and crew.

If you know of anyone who might be interested in the
film, we are also on myspace:

http://www.myspace.com/apartfromthat

And you can also check out the ad for the book on
YouTube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wkoPApMaLyE

much love,
Randy & Jenny
APART FROM THAT
www.foreignamericanpictures.com

Great lost films are not from 1919, but from the last 10 years.

If you hear about a great, unique independent film that premiered at Sundance, you assume it got to theaters, is out on DVD, is in the indie film world consciousness. Nope. There are hundreds of great films that premiere at the big fest that still disappear a year or two later. Theatrical and home video distribution is not guaranteed for anyone outside of celebrities it seems. Even films with style, distinctive settings and hot topic plots may not find a superhero to get them out to the public.

one of five posters made for the film

Around seven years ago, Shemie Reut was a cinematographer on music videos in New York when he decided he needed a break. Heading upstate, he ended up in a job as a camp counselor at Paradox Lake, specifically for autistic children. Blown away by the kids and environment, he wrote a script about a 20-something guy looking to get out of the city and taking the same job at the camp, and returned a year later to shoot it the film.

In the opening of the film, lead actor Matt Wolf encounters an autistic man on the subway that opens his eyes to that world.

The resulting film is PARADOX LAKE, a beautifully subtle drama, following Wolf as his life changes within the camp. Looking for a new world to escape to, he struggles with a tough counselor and tries to date another one, all while taking care of the autistic teens.

Some of the kids seem to have luck predicting events. This gets intense as Wolf befriends an autistic girl who is playing a hide-and-seek game of sorts. The new world Wolf is searching for finally shows up.

Reut does a wonderful job of mixing the narrative and the real world, balancing an interesting story with the deep, unique atmosphere of the camp. While the start of the film and overall plot is scripted, the film changed with the kids’ reactions and scenes and story elements were then improvised. Handheld cameras follow everyone, but the film is not messy. It actually flows quite smoothly in image and plot. Reut talks about how the style was affected by the situation.

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The camp kids knew a film was shooting, and their families gave permission, but it didn’t really change the kids’ daily routines. Reut knew this was better than bringing in all actors. Using the real camp environment and kids lends an undeniable authenticity to the film.

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The lead autistic girl who Wolf becomes intertwined with is a real camp kid, not an actor. After capturing some footage of her, Reut felt she could lend something special to the film and worked with her family on the scenes. This takes the film from a simple drama to a level of magical realism.

After a long editing process with all the raw footage, PARADOX LAKE premiered in competition at the 2002 Sundance Film Festival, and later won Best Film at the Los Angeles Film Festival. LAKE then enjoyed a long festival life around the world and played on the Sundance Channel. Unfortunately, no distributors took a chance on the small film with no stars, and still has not played the art house circuit or come out on DVD.

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