Friday Film Slate Rocks at Mammoth Lakes Film Festival 2019

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A wide variety of entirely unique film-going adventures marked Friday’s packed slate at the Mammoth Lakes Film Festival 2019.

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Shorts Block 2 began our programming day with a mix of comedy, drama, and even a musical. From the U.K., Deadpan is an hilarious dark comedy about a stand-up comic’s true love: who can’t laugh, or she literally might die. Ready for Love was also brilliantly funny, a three-time approach by the mythical Amber Lee Weatherbee as she attempts to become a contestant on The Bachelor. Hastings quietly projects a disconnect – and a connection – between mother and daughter when one of several siblings flies home to celebrate her mother’s birthday.

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Heirophany is an evocatively shot black and white work in which two teens plot to steal a backpack full of rabbits; one witnesses a dramatically beautiful falcon,  and changes his mind. Director Kevin Contento explained that the short’s unique location in Bell Glade, Fla. was chosen in part because he lives 40 minutes south of that community. “Before I went to film school, I was into falconry and went to that area with an experienced falconer who lost his bird while we were there. He got it back, but I wanted to give the story more of an abstract feel but use the location and also include a simpler story about rabbit hunters in the sugar cane fields.”  He chose black and white in part because he’s an Ingmar Bergman fan,  but also because he felt the approach “allows you to give yourself more to the story.”

Difference, a cleverly constructed short from Iranian director Ali Asadollahi, follows the funny/sad story of three young men who accuse each other of hallucinating one of the three,  insisting that each is correct and the others are wrong.

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Rewind was a stunning film from Ying Liu Hatch. The Chinese/American short dazzles with its original music and a delightful, moving twist involving true love an A.I. The lush cinematography by Sean Odea contributed to the film’s magic. Hatch says “We shot in eight days, and my biggest accomplishment was the use of the metro in the first scene. I had to write a special proposal – and shamelessly used my crew’s credits – to get clearance. We had a four hour limit, and shot late at night. In the metro station we had to find a guy to turn on the escalator again, as it was turned off for the night.” The crew was able to add a second 3.5 hour session the next day, by convincing the metro’s powers-that-be that the film would be good publicity. Hatch’s passion project was the first production she’s shot in China.

Feature doc Buddy, from acclaimed international director Heddy Honigmann, crafts a moving story about six service dogs and their owners. The poignant story shapes beautifully realized portraits of each dog and their person.

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Preceding Buddy, was a terrific stop-motion short, Dani. Director Elizabeth Hogenson, appearing with  the real-life cancer survivor and titular character of Dani, says the film started after she overheard her roommate’s actual conversation with her mother, which Dani had taped for use in a podcast she created. “It moved me, so I asked if I could take her phone recording and turn it into a stop action animation, which I was studying in grad school.”  She felt that the “use of stop action is so tactile and connected, it makes it more comfortable when dealing with something so heavy.” Dani, who just finished chemotherapy this February, had not listened to the recorded conversation since Hogenson first made the film. “It made me emotional all over again,” she attests – the same affect the short had on many members of the viewing audience.

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Juan is an international documentary that touches on elements of magical realism in the story of director Adrian Geyer returning to the site of his parents’ transformative visit to iconic folk artist Juan Felix Sanchez’ mountain home. Set in the voluptuously beautiful mountains of Venezuela, the film offers a poetic view of the meaning of art and find in purpose in one’s life. “It was magical discerning the same steps my parents took. This is the third part of a project I’ve been working on about Sanchez. I did a short film, and an art installation. It was really complex to do it,” he says, touching on the months-long process of securing some of the interviews with those who knew the late Sanchez when he was alive, and the 8-hour rugged horseback trek to Sanchez’ former home the site of many of his carvings and chapel. With an altitude of 13,000-feet and absolutely no amenities available, Geyer rose to the challenge literally in terms of creating this insightful work.

Paired with this feature was Autumn Waltz, a palpably tension-filled depiction of an encounter between a couple fleeing a besieged village and encountering hostile soldiers.  The Serbian film is edge-of-your-seat thrilling.

Rounding out the films viewed was something much lighter, the Nick Kroll-starrer Olympic Dreams, a loose romantic dramedy between a lonely volunteer dentist and a young cross-country skier athlete. The film’s setting was undeniably fresh and exciting: shot in the actual Athlete Village during the Winter Olympic Games, and featuring real Olympic athletes including romantic lead Alexi Pappas. Director Jeremy Teicher is an area local; the film had a strong improvisational flavor, doubtlessly attributable in part to Kroll.

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The film was paired with the truly tear-bringing – yet also richly humorous – short Jack, in which lead and writer Ryan Gaul successfully culls humor and heart-felt poignancy from the necessity of putting a beloved cat to rest. Gaul says “I’ve watched it about 600 times and it still affects me. The genesis of it was a sketch at the Groundlings (comedy theater), but our decision was to make it more real.” Director Nick Paonessa adds “There was a little improv in it, but the script was pretty tight. I cut three minutes out of the film because I worked to find real balance between what was sad and what made you laugh.” Although the film took literally just five hours to shoot in its entirety, it took the cast and crew a year to set it up and make.  “We purposely wanted to shoot something simple. It just felt meant to be. It’s really a film about this character’s unwillingness to confront the reality of this situation, and come to terms with it.”

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Post-screenings, the festival hosted filmmaker and other screening attendees at Mammoth Rock n’ Bowl for pizza, beer, bowling, and talk about films, of course.

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  • Genie Davis; photos: Jack Burke, Genie Davis

First Full Day of Film Programming at Mammoth Lakes Film Fest 2019

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The first full day of film programming at the 2019 iteration of the Mammoth Lakes Film Festival kicked off with two strong shorts programs, included a brilliant documentary, and moved on to coming of age film that accented feminism and fantastical situations.

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In the Mojave to Mammoth shorts block, each film was entirely original and dynamic. Among the standouts: Remission, gave a mix of abstract animated images and profoundly moving live action sequences filmed in the desert and mountains. Visually astonishing, creator and artist Paul Kaiser was working to create a personal experience that was relatable to any audience, based on the fact that he served as Special Ops during the Iraq war, was kidnapped, and escaped, and the adjustment traumas he went through on his return. Director John Charter said that “One of the driving forces was that Paul lost contact with his children. We chose different creatures and locations for the film to express a tone of longing and loneliness, and express his dedication at an cost.” Kaiser described using Jungian images to express “my experience in a way that trasnferred my story.” A fine artist by profession, Kaiser paired with Charter make an awe inspiring team in a dazzling tour de force. The film is party of a trilogy, Kaiser says. “We are completely a three part series of shorts dealing beyond the typical tropes.” The second in the series will deal with mental illness, PTSD, and suicide.

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With Follow, director Byron Stankus and his half brother, writer Gregor Patsch, along with lead actress Alison Blaize, created a taut suspense thriller about an ominous stalker following a woman on a solo trek along a Sierra Nevada trail. Stankus, who appeared with his lead, related that “We used a DSLR and four lenses in a two day shoot because the first day got rained out. Most scenes were shot in one take.”

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It also serves as a cautionary tale about what one posts to social media.

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Miracle Desert was a perfectly crafted prize, directed and written by Mark Hosack, the short depicted a supernaturally ominous El Diabolo and a dangerous sheriff both after two buried-in-the-sand hapless semi-criminals.  Hosack first wrote the short as the concluding scene for a feature project 14 years ago. “We almost had the feature up and going, but it fell apart, I had three babies, and then a friend of mine, who produced this film said, let’s do it.” They flew the accomplished actors into Las Vegas but were short on cash. “My friend had $1000 and we pushed it up to $4000 in black jack, but then lost. On our way back, we did it again, and this time we won $8000 and were able to complete the film. Proving it’s easier to get funding in Las Vegas than in Hollywood.” Despite enduring a sandstorm and two and a half days of shooting in a dry lake bed in high heat, the short turned out letter-perfect; Hosack is currently in pre-production on the feature version of the film, and looking for additional completion funds – in our opinion, it will be a worthy investment.

Also in the Mojave to Mammoth line up: Sound of Silence is a doc short about a severely deaf young man overcoming obstacles to become a downhill skier of great skill; Climb-It Change, also a doc, discusses researchers and rock climbers investigating the impact of climate change,; and the emotionally powerful Red and White doc includes astonishing and terrifying first person footage of an actual avalanche in Iran.

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In Shorts Block One, Tunnel Ball offered a hilarious tgake by Australian director Davis Jensen about a new school in which everyone but him is an identical person named Brett. “It was based,” Jensen asserts, “on a toxic environment in a private school experience.” He’s currently writing a school-based murder mystery; this was his grad school film.

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“Get Up Pierrot,” an animated short from Gurleen Rai and F Anthony Shepherd features an archetypal sad clown. Rai says “It was all intuitive work. Every work we put out a new short episode on Instagram about this character, then base our next episode on audience response.” Shepherd adds “It’s about rejection, and includes Commedia Dell’arte even in the naming of his character.” The images are drawn by Rai on printed paper and scanned into photo shop, Shepherd adds music and shaping.

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Enough is Enough is an intense, brilliantly executed dramatic standout from director/writer Jess Kellner. New Jersey-based, Kellner shot on location in the state. “I consider myself a funny guy, but my favorite movies are dramas such as There Will Be Blood. All are very visual and so was this film, which I approached with minimal dialog.” Kellner also cast himself in the film. “My brother DP’d the project, and having him aboard was really helpful. It was a real team effort. My lead actress I cast from seeing her in a play after reaching out for recommendations from theatrical directors and filmmakers.” He shot on an ARI Alexa, on a very low budget, but the short looks like it cost a great deal more to produce. The story of a a woman forced to question her fidelity to a chronically sick husband was compelling and intense; it’s pitch perfect, and left the audience wanting far more.

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Nobody Likes You as Much as I Do features the dry with of Jerzy Rose, directing and writing a piece that pushes relationship issues to the fore in the story of a pair of American academics who met up with a former student and worry about her welfare following a drunken night on the town in Paris.

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Other films include the surreal One about the deadly dreams of three Iranian boys, which included vivid animated images with live action; and Liberty, from director Faren Humes, an intimate look about the upheaval brought about when redevelopment occurs in the oldest public housing space in Miami.  “That spurred ideas of grief and loss and long standing bonds torn apart. i was trying to materialize that feeling,” Humes says.

Cold Case: Hammarskjold is a riveting documentary from director/writer Mads Brugger intent on solving the mysterious death of U.N. leader Dag Hammarskjold. The case leads him into uncharted territory, uncovering a hidden South African-based organization also responsible for spreading the AIDS epidemic. Fascinating, conspiratorial, funny, and frightening, Brugger’s work here echoes his satirical docu-series and past feature docs which won awards at Sundance in 2010 and 2012. The compelling and terrifying film – while also managing to be amusing – is already scheduled for release through Magnolia pictures.

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In competition here at Mammoth Lakes was Knives and Skin, a highly feminist high school coming-of-age story that also involves the horrifying inciting incident of a teen girl’s death,  a passionate young lesbian relationship, and the trauma-induced coping-mechanisms of three hardly-stellar mother figures. Edged in fantasy, vividly costumed and colored, the slightly surreal narrative feature includes brilliant use of acapella 80s and 90s pop hits. Director Jennifer Reeder’s visual palette and exceptional cast wowed, even if the story-line occasionally strained. Undoubtedly, the film will make a cinematic mark.

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Actress Marika Englehardt appeared for a q and a with fest programming director Paul Sbrizzi. “Shooting the film was magical and bizarre. Here we were, out in the sticks of Illinois, and there was pink and glitter everywhere.” Citing the director’s “strong vision,” she noted that the film is currently a hit on the festival circuit, and will be soon headed for Toronto. “It had a mystical scale and time line,” she notes. Englehardt herself is currently at work on the Netflix series Easy.

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Rounding out a full festival day: a late night happy hour at Mammoth’s craft brew emporium The Public House, where the beers were diverse and the soft pretzel and honey-mustard as tasty as the conversation with filmmakers.

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Above, Mammoth Lakes Film Festival director Shira Dubrovner with filmmaker Mark Hosack of Miracle Dreams.

Looking for something extraordinary to do this Memorial Weekend? – Mammoth Lakes Film Festival, now its 5th year, should fit the bill.

  • Genie Davis; Photos: Jack Burke

 

 

 

Mammoth Lakes Film Festival Opening Night: In Fabric Haunts

 

Shira Dubrovner, festival director with Paul Sbrizzi, director of programming
Shira Dubrovner, festival director with Paul Sbrizzi, director of programming

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.

A1 in fabric

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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

Festival gold sponsors, and sponsors of opening night and party, Paul and Kathleen Rudder
Festival gold sponsors, and sponsors of opening night and party, Paul and Kathleen Rudder

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

 

And the Winners Are — Mammoth Lakes Film Festival Winners

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Award winners and presenters, above

After the last screening at the Mammoth Lakes Film Festival, MLFF winners were announced at a lively after-party held in town at the Sierra Events Center. We were gratified to have chosen many of the winners among our own festival favorites.

Shorts, which were uniformly excellent,  received special mentions as well as official winners:

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Award winner narrative Shadow Animals director Jerry Carlson and shorts awards presenters

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Special mention for director of Nevada, above, right – Emily Ann

  • ominious and dark, In a Month received a special mention for its dystopian vision of darkness and madness
  • painterly in style and ambiguous in interpretation, Babies, filmed in the Palestinian Territories outside Jerusulem, also received a special mention
  • narrative grand jury shorts winner went to Shadow Animals, the gorgeous horror-laced take on social mores from Sweden
  • Nevada,  the utterly charming claymation film about a couple and their potential baby, took special mention in the animated category.
  • Grand jury winner in animation: Cocoon, Cocoon, a fresh take on caterpillars and butterflies with visually lush claymation and stop-action animation.
  • Grand jury award for best doc short: David and the Kingdom, a beautiful and moving story of a now-Zen-like former hunter. The film had its world premiere at the festival. Writer/director Brian Paccione said “I can’t think of a better place to premiere the film, because our subject, David, would look at the mountains and have a lot to say. “

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Cocoon, Cocoon director Ori Goldberg, above; director of David and the Kingdom, Brian Paccione, below.

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Feature-length documentary film awards:

  • Jury award for best documentary feature went to the fast-paced thriller of a doc, White Tide.  “We made a film about a guy who looked for buried treasure. And isn’t that what we do as filmmakers? Search for buried treasure?” asked director Theo Love who added “I didn’t think we would win! The first day of shooting, the guy we were supposed to shoot didn’t show up and we shot two hours of turtles humping with Panavision lenses,” he laughed.
  • A special mention in the doc feature category went to Buddha.mov
  • Bravery Award for documentary feature: Minding the Gap, a harrowing and insightful look at three skateboarding friends growing up, grown up, and dealing with a cycle of familial and spousal abuse.
  • Audience Award: Crime + Punishment,  a thoroughly exacting and riveting story of police corruption.

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Above, doc jurors with White Tide winners; center, director Theo Love 

Below, presenter Flula Borg with Crime + Punishment winner and festival director Shira Dubrovner

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Feature length international winners:

  • special mention to the melancholic vampire feature from Finland, Vidar the Vampire
  • jury award: the haunting Polish film about the end times and family life, Tower. A Bright Day.

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Above, presenter Vincent Spano with Vidar the Vampire winner

English-language narative winners:

  • Jury award to the “film about empathy and being better to each other out there in the real world, according to director Gus Krieger, the poetic My Name is Myeshia.
  • Audience Award: Rock Steady Row, the exuberant university-set, stolen-bike-ring contemporary Western. Writer Bomani J. Story said “This is all kind of amazing considering this all stemmed from me getting my bike stolen in college.” Presenter Flula Borg joked “I was in a film that won this two years ago, so there’s a nice symmetry to this.” Note: Borg’s film, then Buddymoon, now HoneyBuddies is an hilarious must-see.

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Above, juror with My Name is Myeshia winners

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Above, presenter Flula Borg, left, with crew and lead actor from Rock Steady Row

No award given but our own special mention should be made for the delicious small bites catering from Dan Molnar, and the Orson the Bear sculpted wooden awards, created by carver Josh Slater at Bear in Mind carvings, whom festival director Shira Dubrovner terms “the best.”

Founder and director Dubrovner and programmer Paul Sbrizzi created an absolutely terrific 4th year of MLFF – here’s to 40 more.

The full list of Juried and Audience Awards is below:

  • Jury Award for Best Narrative Feature, with a $1,000 cash prize, $10,000 Panavision Camera Rental Grant and $10,000 Light Iron Post Production Package, goes to My Name Is Myeisha.
  • Jury Award for Best International Feature, with a $500 cash prize, goes to Tower. A Bright Day.
    • Special Mention goes to writer, director, actor Thomas Aske Berg for his performance in Vidar the Vampire.
  • Jury Award for Best Documentary Feature, with a $1,000 cash prize, goes to White Tide.
    • Special Mention goes to Buddha.mov.
  • Jury Award for Best Narrative Short, with a $500 cash prize and $5,000 VER Rental Grant, goes to Shadow Animals.
    • Special Mentions go to Babies and In A Month.
  • Jury Award for Best Documentary Short, with a $500 cash prize, goes to David and The Kingdom.
  • Jury Award for Best Animation Short, with a $500 cash prize, goes to Cocoon, Cocoon.
    • Special Mention goes to Nevada.
  • Special Jury Award for Bravery, with a $500 cash prize, goes to Minding the Gap.
  • Audience Award for Best Narrative Feature, with a $1,000 cash prize and $5,000 Panavision Camera Rental Grant, goes to Rock Steady Row.
  • Audience Award for Best Documentary Feature, with $1,000 cash prize, goes to Crime + Punishment.

 Narrative Features Jury: Tim Rhys (MovieMaker Magazine), Nicole Sperling (Vanity Fair) and Rachel Winter (Producer).

Documentary Features Jury: Allison Amon (EVP Sales & Development, Bullitt), Lindsey Bahr (Associated Press) and Peter Baxter (Filmmaker; President/Co-Founder, Slamdance).

International Features Jury: Shalini Dore (Variety), Alonso Duralde (TheWrap) and Vincent Spano (Actor).

Shorts Jury: Ana Souza (Sundance Film Festival) and Scenery Samundra (Tru Thoughts, NTS Radio).

  • Genie Davis; photos: Jack Burke