I See Nussink!
A year or two ago I read that Hogan's Heroes is very popular in Germany. That makes sense to me somehow. Set in a German WWII prisoner-of-war camp (not a concentration camp, which would have created a whole different vibe), the bumbling and ineffectual Germans in the show allow the Germans of today to simultaneously distance themselves from the war and still indulge in some good old-fashioned postwar national guilt. This may or may not be the point of Hogan's [fuck you] Heroes, taking place on Friday, March 19, at 911 Media Arts. It's put on by Elias-John Swann, described as an artist and filmmaker, who has assembled a group of perverts, musicians, and film theorists to deconstruct this TV Land staple.
Speaking of overcoming adversity in unusual ways, Brian Thomas Wright and Kayla Van Allen have come across an interesting strategy for self-distribution. Like a lot of people, they got tired of making short films and decided to make a feature. Without name stars, and burned out on the festival circuit, they've decided to take their movie to English pubs across the country. The Good Lot is about a former track star who "rediscovers what is important in his life and rekindles the drive to reach his Olympic dream." Based on the description, the distribution strategy sounds more interesting (hey, it got me to write about it). You can check out this independent film at the George & Dragon Pub (206 N 36th St) on Sunday, March 21.
When it comes to making independent films on film, nobody is more prolific than Chicago-based filmmaker James Fotopoulos. As an underground filmmaker who's been known to make multiple films in a year (which doesn't count shorts and experiments with video), he'd be one to talk to about both filmmaking and distribution. Luckily, he's coming to Consolidated Works this weekend and will give a lecture on this very subject on Saturday, March 20, at 3:00 p.m. He's in town to support three screenings of his deeply unsettling film The Nest, which comes straight from the New York Underground Film Festival. He will also introduce every screening.
Hey kids, the Seattle Student Film Festival is back. Last year's show packed the Little Theatre, and this year's show has moved to Consolidated Works and will be part of the Satellites Independent Film Festival. The show will take place on April 15, but I mention it now because if you are a current or recent student and you have a short film (20 minutes or less, preferably less) that you would like to submit, you have until Monday, March 22, to send it in. I believe it's free to submit, and you can download the application from www.uwfilmclub.com.
Oh! I almost forgot! Over at the Little Theatre on Saturday, March 20, there's a children's program called Lumpy Lunacy: The Art of Claymation. It's for children of all ages, and looks at animated clay characters from Gumby and Pokey to the work of fantastic Czech clay animators.
