Entering it’s 5th year with a snowy salute – yes, it is snowing in May in Mammoth Lakes, Calif. – the Mammoth Lakes Film Festival opened tonight with In Fabric, a film at once haunting and campy, filled with hand wringing scares and tropes from horror films past.
Weird and wonderful, the feature is both homage to horror movies and full-on send-up of same. There’s a crimson dress that is literally and figuratively a killer, purchased at a high-end department store run by a coven of sexually deviant witches.
The film switches hapless wearer/protagonists just past the half-way mark, moving from the growing terrifying misadventures of a single mom in search of love to that of an engaged couple, who come into the dress through a thrift shop purchase for a bachelor’s party.
Both frightening and often absurd, the film also strikes a glancing blow at consumer culture and dating services, moving audiences from appreciation of its strange and audacious wit to jump scares and an overall aura of the genuinely creepy that lingers after the film ends.
At the opening night party at the Polo Event Center in Mammoth, festival director Shira Dubrovner and programming director Paul Sbrizzi celebrated the festival’s epic growth and five-years-and-counting run in an intimate, pristine, and natural setting.
The party featured some awesome beverages from Devils Creek Distillery, a family owned purveyor of rye, rum, and bourbon here in Mammoth Lakes. Rum, mint, lime juice, simple syrup, and angostura bitters were used to craft the First Chair; the Smoke Jumper was served with an impressive infusion on-site of hickory smoke with bourbon, Aperol, sweet vermouth, and orange bitters.
Also on hand were tasty cheese, meats, breads, and fruit from Bleu Handcrafted Foods, plus Blue Moon beer, and fine wines from Black Box.
Post party, we are enjoying our stay at the beautiful, serene Sierra Nevada Resort and Spa, both rustic and chic in style, and just a great place to call “home” between and after films. Plus there’s cool carved bears on the sign outside, and beyond the hot tub, a sweet 18-hole mini-golf course — a snowy one at the moment.
Haven’t attended the Mammoth Lakes Film Festival yet? LA residents, the snow is really pretty, the roads are completely clear, and some screening and event tickets are still available – come join us. We will be covering the festival nightly, exploring the always-interesting, stimulating, and diverse features, docs, shorts, panels, and parties.
- Genie Davis; Photos: Jack Burke