From the Dec 2 – Dec 8, 2004 issue

Film

Blow Up

Cocktail Party Conversations

by Andy Spletzer

Hot on the heels of the grand opening of the new Northwest Film Forum space, 911 Media Arts is hosting a gala open house on Thursday, December 2, to celebrate not just their 20th anniversary as an organization, but to also show off their brand new space. Located at 402 Ninth Ave N (at Harrison), just south of Mercer, it sits in the heart of the developing Cascade neighborhood, next to Cinema Seattle, CoCA, Consolidated Works, Open Circle Theatre, and right by KEXP. Along with drinks and food and live entertainment, 911 will be christening its new gallery devoted to moving image and digital art with Language Willing, an exhibition by nationally known, Seattle-based media artist Gary Hill.

I must admit that the gala comes at a perfect time, at least as far as cocktail party conversation is concerned. Word has it that Film Threat DVD has picked up the enthusiastically lowbrow movie Jerkbeast for distribution, so congrats to Brady Hall and Calvin Reeder, and I look forward to hearing about their next twisted project. Also coming soon to a video store near you, the ghostly ghost story Inheritance has just landed a December 28 video release date. Starring Jen Taylor, the voice of Cortana in the Halo video games, and shot by Eric Adkins, the DP for Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow, Inheritance is also celebrating its status as an official selection for New York's HD-Fest this December. Looking even further forward, Sue Corcoran's Gory Gory Hallelujah will get a theatrical release in January thanks to Indican Pictures, a fact that you may already know if you read Entertainment Weekly's November 12 Holiday Movie Preview Guide.

If I were to stop now, that would be enough to get you through 911's opening gala, but I'm happy to say there's still more good news. The Sundance Film Festival has just announced its lineup, and included among the films in the dramatic competition is Robinson Devor's Police Beat. Cowritten by The Stranger's Charles Mudede, the movie is based on a series of true stories drawn from his Police Beat columns. It's a hallucinatory look at a week in the life of an African-born bicycle cop as he suffers from lovesickness and jealousy when his girlfriend takes a vacation without him. Shot in sumptuous 35mm CinemaScope (props to cinematographer Sean Kirby for that), it is as much a love letter to the city of Seattle as it is a crazy, unconventional, fascinating movie. This is not just good news for Devor, Mudede, and the producers, but it's also good news for the Northwest Film Forum's Start-to-Finish Program, which helped shepherd the movie along.

Of course, just because Police Beat was accepted doesn't mean it's finished quite yet. Like so many movies that came before, they now have to raise finishing funds so they can complete the final sound mix, cut the negative, and strike a print. They've got some good, hard work ahead of them.

andy@thestranger.com