Thurs-Sat, Aug 5-7, times and prices vary. See www.fuckingfabulous.org for schedule.
No matter how rock 'n' roll the movies in their schedules may be, there's something too orderly about most film festivals. You stand in line at the theaters, shuffle in and out of your seats, and keep discussions about what you've seen between yourself, your date for the night, and maybe the nosy guy in line for the bathroom who can't keep his opinions to himself. The films may change but the format usually remains the same.
Back in 2001, Joel Bartenbach had an idea for a festival with more of a renegade vibe. True to the independent nature feeding much of the Seattle art scene, he wanted something totally fantastic and completely DIY. Something that exposed the outer reaches of the underground film community while simultaneously catering to non-film geeks, with screenings at more casual venues than your typical movie theater.
So he started the Lot 11 Film Collective, which in turn spawned the first Fucking Fabulous Film Festival three years ago. Organized by Bartenbach and his roommate Opus, the premiere event had three screenings a day (for three days) of national independently made shorts (and one feature-length film) at Coffee Messiah, the Olive Way cafe Opus owned until recently. Every screening sold out. And from there, things have only become increasingly more fabulous.
Now in its fourth installment, F4 hosts a collection of international work (this year includes submissions from Israel, Germany, France, and Australia) while maintaining a stronghold in grassroots Seattle (no corporate sponsorship here). Bartenbach has since left town, so Opus now works with filmmakers Rex Ray and Brady Hall (Polterchrist, Benny, Marty & Jerkbeast) to curate movies spanning the subjects of comedy troupes (Four Dead Batteries), comic-strip artists (Tony Millionaire's Maakies and Kaz' Underworld), politics, robot satire (the hilariously oddball Hillbilly Robot), graffiti, X-rated zombie porn, and more. The one criteria for selection is that the organizers believe the submission is, simply, "fucking fabulous." The screenings have moved to Oliwood Films, a large Pike Street studio that seats 150 in couches and folding chairs, and is a couple doors down from the Comet--where the second annual live music component to F4 will become the after-party, featuring such great punk, garage, and indie rock acts as Holy Ghost Revival, the Hospitals, the Popular Shapes, and the Charming Snakes. All in all, it's more rock 'n' roll than yer typical backstage-pass band documentary could ever be.
"We really like to keep the underground feel," explains Opus, a soft-spoken, ponytailed organizer. "We get to make stage props and put our own curtains up and set it all up, whereas you go into a regular theater and it doesn't have the same do-it-yourself feel."
With no submission fees required of the applicants and a modest admission charge from the audiences, F4 is more of a break-even proposition than a moneymaker. And as a truly underground festival, its curators are free to push the limits of both filmmaking and humor.
"We show stuff that festivals are too afraid to show," says Opus. "We have stuff that Spike & Mike rejected because it touches on subjects that are just not right--like these animated cartoons called Diaper Dyke & Captain Boyfuck that cover jokes that are incredibly wrong. But it's still funny and very worth seeing."
Equally important to the selection of films is the social element of F4. "For the past two years [the festival] was at coffee shops, and after it was done, people grouped together to talk. Usually [at movies] the lights turn on and you pile out. Oliwood has a lounge area and an outdoor area and you're encouraged to jump to the Comet or stick around and talk to people outside. Some of the filmmakers will be there as well."
F4's grassroots approach and casual setup encourages all types to attend both the screenings and the live music shows. "I try and mix the genres," says Opus, "so you mix together the film people, the rock 'n' roll people, the crazy Sick & Twisted people, the people who are into cartoons, and they'll all be in one place so their horizons get broader because they schmooze together." Add that to the fact that they'll all have witnessed a film about, say, a hamster learning kung fu and a band fronted by a red-faced monster, and you have the makings for a truly fabulous--albeit totally radical and irrational--film festival unlike anything else Seattle has to offer.
