Film

Blow Up

by Andy Spletzer

Festivals

Anyone can start a film festival these days, and sometimes it seems like everyone will. You don't even need to show films made on film anymore, as projected video works just as well for most viewers (though it's only excusable when the project originates on video, in my opinion). Aside from a venue, the most important ingredient for a successful new festival is attitude, and the Fucking Fabulous Film Festival has that in spades.

Located on Capitol Hill at the corner of Denny Way and Olive Way, the FFFF takes place Thurs-Sat Aug 14-16 at Coffee Messiah (1554 E Olive Way) and the Bar (formerly Hamburger Mary's, 1525 E Olive Way). As you can tell by the gleeful cursing in the festival's name, this is a collection of "underground" films/videos geared toward the Spike and Mike's Sick and Twisted crowd. Out of the lineup, I've only seen Jerk Beast: The Movie (Fri Aug 15 @ Coffee Messiah; Sat Aug 16 @ the Bar), which is essentially a public-access show writ large. For it to work, it needs to maintain a certain level of energy in both its profanity and absurdity. I'm happy to report that it does, with the Jerk Beast character spewing enough attitude to make a professional wrestler jealous, while the competition between two of the characters--as to whose dead girlfriend is better, for example--is entertainingly offensive. Now I have to catch the filmmakers' previous movie, Polterchrist, which is also playing the festival (Thurs Aug 14 @ Coffee Messiah). Jerk Beast: The Movie will play again Monday night at the Sunset Tavern, but not as part of this festival.

Along with these two features and several collections of shorts, the FFFF has one more feature that seems perfect for Seattle. My Name Is Buttons (Fri Aug 15 @ the Bar; Sat Aug 16 @ Coffee Messiah) is Flowers for Algernon (or The Lawnmower Man, for those less literary) done in reverse. A boorish Noam Chomsky fan gets fired from a chain bookstore and, to make some easy cash, signs up for a series of medical experiments from a Patch Adams-styled clown doctor. The drugs he's prescribed succeed in making him happier... by making him dumber. Full programs for the festival can be found throughout the neighborhood, or on the web at www.Lot11Pictures.com.

A festival doesn't always have to last multiple days, as is proven by the 12th Annual Twin Peaks/David Lynch Festival Night, which takes place on Saturday, August 16, at the North Bend Theatre (125 Bendigo Blvd N, 7:30 pm). Along with a feature film (either Eraserhead or the Twin Peaks pilot) and some short films, many of the show's cast members will be in attendance, and there will be live music too. All for the non-nmember price of $8, which is a bargain.

The last thing I want to mention is that August 16 is National Home Movie Day, and as with a home movie festival, there will be a celebration of all things "home movie" over at 911 Media Arts that Saturday. At 6:30 p.m., there will be a mini-clinic geared toward the preservation of small-gauge films, and at 7:30 p.m., screenings of home movies and other stuff from the '20s to the present day. Suggested donation: $5.

andy@thestranger.com