Scenes from Blue Whiskey

Stayed downtown when I was a judge at the Blue Whiskey Film Festival at the end of July, and really got to feel like a South Loop guy for a week.

In the middle of the week I had a night off from judging the Fest, conveniently when my pal Henrique Couto was screening his film BABYSITTER MASSACRE for an appreciative crowd at the Chicago Horror Society.  The Chicago crowds are tough--cheering loudly every time somebody got murdered--but I was among my people nonetheless.  I hope to attend another screening there soon.

Here I am doing a Q&A with Dax Phelan, director of JASMINE, one of my faves at the Fest.

Kinda looks like the Rat Pack with all that swag going on, but this is the Judges Panel.

Last but not least I try to grab a picture with Festival Director Michael P. Noens at the end of every Fest.  We should take it at the beginning, when we are less tired.

Looking forward to next year!

Live from Blue Whiskey 2016

This post first appeared, in a slightly different form, at my newsletter I Was Bigfoot's Shemp.  You can subscribe here.

I spent last week gorging on movies at the Blue Whiskey Independent Film Festival in suburban Chicago.  I have been involved with these folks since this festival's inception and have watched as it has grown and matured over the years.

One way the film fest has differentiated itself is by focusing on having cast and crew on hand to be interviewed live or via Skype, but an even greater differentiation point is having the judges screen the films live with an audience, counter to most festivals I have worked on (where you watch the entries by yourself and all the votes are tabulated).  In what is sometimes long and frequently lively discussions, our deliberations at the end can often sway each other one way or the next.  Watching 30 or so movies in a week, and then debating them, takes both physical and mental fortitude in the kind of "Nerd Extreme Sports" I like.

My personal favorite of the fest this year was Dax Phelan's cerebral Hong Kong thriller JASMINE.  It was a cool noir with the kind of unreliable narrator that I enjoy.  But the Chicago-centric romantic comedy OPEN TABLES by director Jack C. Newell was hard to beat, with nice performances, a domino-tipping plot, and good cinematography to make a pleasing blend (that won Best of Fest).

On the shorts front, I was utterly charmed by director Becca Roth's LUCKY PENNY, about a lonely barista who tries to seed the world with good luck in the form of pennies from her tip jar.  My sensibilities were much in line with director Megan St. John's rural crime caper BROILED (which won Best of Illinois) but director Benjamin Cappelletti with his apocalyptic dark comedy SKAL introduced me to another guy who is probably going to push me out of the way some day.

Those are my top five, but there were cool things and good performances all up and down the festival lineup.  Plus I got to eat Chicago pizza multiple times, and who can complain about that?  You can go to bwiff.com to learn more about the film festival.

Live from Hoosierdance

This  post originally appeared, in a slightly different form, in my newsletter I Was Bigfoot's Shemp, which you can subscribe to here.
 
Last weekend I had the opportunity to attend the Hoosierdance International Film Festival in Kokomo, Indiana, where I was a festival judge for the screenplay competition. We selected a tidy little screenplay called DIRTY WINDS about the American Revolution and its impact on a group of people.  But look how sweet I got treated at the festival:

First I went to the Indiana short films bock, where I got to meet some like-minded people.  To me, this is the best part of any fest, especially a grassroots one.  I always say you can't push anyone's career ahead of yours, but if you catch the rocket, you can pull other people in your wake.  And that's what this is about, proving you are a normal person who seems able to meet deadlines and keep promises.

I saw a lot of good things, and I know I missed some things that played well, but from what I saw there were some standouts.

UNEXCEPTIONAL by Scott Carelli was a funny little alien invasion movie that played like the opening salvo to a full-length work.  RANDOM by Cindy Maples was a very tight genre short that I can't say much about without giving away the game.  But probably my favorite was MISREAD by Ryan McCurdy, about a schlub hired to drive a woman around who reads lips for a living.  The production was a little uneven, but I like stories I haven't heard before.

Next I went to the student films block, where I saw all the people that will push me out of the way one day.  They had a large, warm crowd for a mix of narrative and documentary shorts. David Stallard did an interesting doc called THE BLUE FLASH about an old guy who built two roller coasters in his backyard in rural Indiana.  THE NETWORK by Adam Nelson was a very polished-looking post-apocalyptic riff.  But what knocked me out was THE UNKNOWN COUNTRY by Alex Cook, about two orphaned brothers hanging on in a bleak rural setting. Very good acting and directing signaled that this guy has a tremendous upside.

Part of why I missed a few screenings was that I really ended up enjoying downtown Kokomo.  You can see when you visit that they are making an effort to revitalize the area with little shops and cool places to eat and have coffee.  They even have a self-proclaimed Geek Street, with a comic book shop, gaming store, toy store, with an Irish pub, coffee shop, and hipster record store all within shouting distance.  For me, a street of dreams, indeed.

I Snapchatted all day from there to test the app out for a work project.  You can find me on Snapchat at John Oak Dalton, to catch me next time.

I enjoyed being a part of Hoosierdance in just its second year, and I hope they have more to come.  At the end of the month I will be at the Blue Whiskey Film Festival in Chicago, and will have much to report from there.

City of Shivery Shoulders

Saturday night in the Windy City screening Scarewaves at Chicago Filmmakers, hosted by the Chicago Cinema Society.  A receptive screening and a good Q&A afterwards with me and director Henrique Couto.  Screenwaves streets everywhere across America October 27.

Live from Phantoscope!

Me with Henrique Couto at the Phantoscope High School Film Festival in Richmond, Indiana.  I was there as a festival judge and Henrique was there as a speaker to mold young minds.  I have known him since he was an impressionable high school kid in Dayton, Ohio and he has had an interesting and eclectic body of work since then.

Kindler, Gentler Machine Gun Hand

Check this out:

THE CINEDELPHIA FILM FESTIVAL presents

Sunday, April 14, 2013, 7:30 PM
ARMY OF WOLVES (2013) World Premiere

Deep behind enemy lines, a new war has begun  As the story goes, the Nazis turned to occult-based experiments during the waning years of WWII in an effort to thwart the Allied forces through unorthodox means.  The successful Lycanthropy Experiment was one such experiment, an attempt to breed an army of gun-toting werewolves, but the whole thing went horribly wrong as a group of American soldiers will soon discover.

Filmed amongst the rugged landscape of Central PA (Germania, Ansonia, and Morris to be precise) back in 2005 by the Polonias alongside frequent collaborator Jon McBride (WOODCHIPPER MASSACRE), additional footage has since been shot and the film has been re-edited into its current and final incarnation.  Filled with regional actors, strange visual effects, and inventive camera work (wolf-cam!), Army of Wolves is a real treat for low-budget horror fans and the cinematic adventurous.

If that doesn't appeal, you can still see me getting legit machine-gunned in the face in the trailer here.

This movie has been rattling around for a long time.  Check out some thoughts on it here.