Rare Experimental Cinema Masterpieces

*Reifezeit (1976)  - Sohrab Shahid-Saless

*Endless Flaneuring (2018) - Isao Yamada

*Pregnant (2015) - Fabrizio Federico

*Heimat Is A Space In Time (2019) - Thomas Heise

*Sorrows (1969) - Gregory J Markopoulos 

*Carol (1970) - Ed Emshwiller

*Fragments Of Decay (1983) - Henri Plaat

*Light Years - The Film Diaries Of Tim Cawkwell (1968) - Tim Cawkwell

*Treefall (1970) - David Rimmer

*From The Cloud To The Resistance (1979) Jean-Marie Straub

*Constellations (2012) Helga Fanderl

*Boi Neon (2015) - Gabriel Mascaro

*Herbeas Corpus (1986) - Jorge Acha

*Landscape (2003) - Sergei Loznitsa

*Addio Anatolia (1976) - Stavros Tornes

*Respice Finem (1968) - Jan Spata

*Soleil (1988) - Pierre Clementi

*Experiments (1981) - Dirk De Bruyn

*The Sound Of The Shaking Earth (1990) - Rita Azevedo Gomes

*The Astronauts (1959) - Chris Marker

*Zone (1995) - Takashi Itoh

*Tetraedar (1967) - Vjekoslav Nakic

*Dieu Sait Quoi (1994) - Jean Daniel Pollet

*Montanas Ardientes Que Vomitan Fuego (2016) - Helena Giron

*The Death Of Maria Malibran (1972) - Werner Schroeter

*Compline (2009) - Nathaniel Dorsky

*Pneuma (1983) - Nathaniel Dorsky

*New Old (1979) - Pierre Clementi

*Nostos I (1979) - Thierry Kuntzel

*Laisve (2000) - Sharunas Bartas

*Own Death (2008) - Peter Forgacs

*21-87 (1964) - Arthur Lipsett

*Invisible Adversaries (1977) - Valie Export

*New Left Note (1968-1982) - Saul Levine

*The 4th Dimention (1988) - Zbigniew Rybczynski

*La Fille De Nulle Part (2012) - Jean Claude Brisseau

*Everything Visible Is Empty (1975) - Toshio Matsumoto

*Sicilia (1999) - Jean Marie Straub

*La France Contre Les Robots (2020) - Jean Marie Straub

*Once Upon A Time In Anatolia (2011) - Nuri Bilge Ceylan

*Nausea/Balanti (2015) - Zeki Demirkubuz

*The Sun & The Moon (2008) - Stephen Dwoskin

*The Man Who Left His Will On Film (1970) - Nagisa Oshima

*The Passing (1991) - Bill Viola

*India Song (1975) - Marguerite Duras

*The Hart Of London (1970) - Jack Chambers

*The Forgotten Colours Of Dreams (2018) - Johnny Clyde

*Utopia (1983) - Sohrab Shahid Saless

*Beduino (2016) - Julio Bressane 

*The Story Of Sin (1975) - Walerian Borowczyk

*The Embryo Hunts In Secret (1966) - Koji Wakamatsu

*Narcissus & Psyche (1980) Gabor Body

*Night Noon (2014) - Shabhavi Kaul

*Lete (1968) - Marcel Hanoun

*Birdsong (2008) - Albert Serra

*Sinbad (1971) - Zoltan Huszarik

*Mirror (1975) - Robert Bresson 

*Institute Benjamenta Or This Dream That One Calls Human Life (1995) - Quay Brothers

*Affettuosa Presenza (2004) - Franco Piavoli

*The Birch Tree (1967) - Ante Babaja

*Dont Deliver Us From Evil (1971) - Joel Seria

*Die Andere Heimat (2013) - Edgar Reitz

*Lovesong (2001) - Stan Brakhage

*April (1961) - Otar Losseliani

*Soul Of The Cypress (1921) - Dudley Murphy

*The Kingdom (1973) - Katsu Kanai

*Blood Beat (1983) - Fabrice A Zaphiratos

*The Other Side Of Underneath (1972) - Jane Arden

*The Blue Planet (1981) - Franco Piavoli 

*L'Imitation Du Cinema (1960) - Marcel Marien

*The Devils Cleavage (1975) - George Kuchar

*Copacabana Mon Amour (1970) - Rogerio Sganzerla

*Le Grand Depart (1972) - Martial Raysse

*Space Is The Place (1974) - John Coney

*Tokyo X Erotica (2001) - Shibireru Kairaku

*Manji (1983) - Hiroto Yokoyama

*Monday (2000) - Sabu

*Pafnucio (1977) - Rafael Corkidi

*Vampires Of Poverty (1977) - Carlos Mayolo, Luis Ospina

*Phantasmagoria 2: Labyrinths Of Blood (2018) - Cosmotropia de Xam

*Rampo Noir (2005) - Suguru Takeuchi, Hisayasu Satō, Akio Jissoji, Atsushi Kaneko

*Decoder (1984) - Muscha

*Chappaqua (1966) - Conrad Rooks

*Vakratunda Swaha (2010) - Ashish Avikunthak

*The Ghost (1982) - Herbert Achternbusch

*Marsal (1999) - Vinko Bresnan

*The Lighthouse (2006) - Maria Saakyan

*Save The Green Planet (2003) - Jang Joon Hwan

*In The Shadow Of The Blue Rascal (1986) - Pierre Clementi

*Gambling, Gods & LSD (2002) - Peter Mettler

*Arrebato (1979) - Ivan Zulueta

*In the Shadow Of The Sun (1981) - Derek Jarman

*Relativity (1966) - Ed Emshwiller

*Aus Der Ferne (1989) - Matthias Muller

*The Scream (2019) - Philippe Grandrieux

*Unrest (2017) - Philippe Grandrieux

*Song & Solitude (2007) - Nathaniel Dorsky

*The Red Sea (1992) - Michael Maziere

*Aus Den Algen (1986) - Schmelzdahin

*Les Chants (1981) - Jean Paul Dupuis

*Lapse (1981) - Claudine Eizykman

*Antler (2018) - Atoosa Pour Hosseini

*Saint Bathans Repetitions (2016) - Alexandre Larose

*Crepuscule Aux Aresquiers (2014) - Martine Rousset

*The Wind Is Driving Him Towards The Open Sea (1968) - David Brooks

*Homeo (1967) - Etienne O'Leary

*Sun Strobes Light Shows Nitobe (1965) - Sam Perry

*Voluptuous Sleep (2011) - Betzy Bromberg

*Om (1968-72) - Myron Ort

*Never Comes Tomorrow (2016) - Rainer Kohlberger

*Thief Or Reality (2001) - Antoinetta Angelidi

*Code Verse (2018) - Ryoji Ileda

*Reality's Invisible (1971) - Robert Fulton

*The Lighted Field (1987) - Andrew Noren

*Pandora (2020) - Los Ingravidos

*Three Diary Pieces (1985) - Nina Danino

*Rey (2017) - Niles Atallah

*In The Shadow Of The Blue Rascal (1986) - Pierre Clementi

*Faust Sonnengesang (2011) - Werner Fritsch

*Brouillard - Passage 14 (2014) - Alexandre Larose

*Mediterranee (1963) - Jean Daniel Pollet

*I Cannot Tell You How I Feel (2016) - Su Friedrich

*The Parallel Street (1962) - Ferdinand Khittl 

*Aka Ana (2008) - Antoine D'Agata

*Midwinter Hue (2017) - Willem Van Der Zanden

*Bouquets 21-30 (2005) - Rose Lowder

*T-Wo-Men (1972) - Werner Nekes

*Les Soviets Plus L'Electricite (2001) - Nicolas Rey

*Apple Pie (2016) - Sam Hamilton

*Parental Leave (2020) - Matthew Taylor Blais

*Psalm 2: Walking Distance (1999) - Phil Solomon

*Villatalla (2011) - Jeannette Munoz

*4 A Metro Barbes Rochechou Art (1983) - Teo Hernandez

*Tables D'Hivers (1979) - Teo Hernandez

*Private Imaginings & Narrative Facts (1966) - Edward Owens

*Still In Cosmos (2009) - Takashi Makino

*Lamentations A Monumental For The Dead World (1985) - R Bruce Elder

*Sada (1998) - Nobuhiko Obayashi

*Coast Of Death (2013) - Lois Patino

*Reason Over Passion (1969) - Joyce Wieland

*Rumi (1999) - Narcisa Hirsch

*A Mal Gam A (1976) - Ivan Zulueta

*Sink Or Swim (1990) - Su Friedrich

*Parsifal (1982) - Hans Jurgen Syberberg

*Idees Fixes/Dies Irae (1977) - Antonietta Angelidi

*Studies For The Decay Of The West (2010) - Klaus Wyborny

*Jaime (1974) - Antonio Reis

*Ana (1982) - Margarita Cordeiro

*The Room Called Heaven (2012) - Laida Lertxundi

*Ticket Of No Return (1979) - Ulrike Ottinger

Interview with filmmaker Vitória Vasconcellos

Fogo Infinito will premier at the Straight-Jacket Guerrilla Film Festival

*How did you get into making films? 
At first it was just about editing little videos for my mother and sister on iMovie, then it quickly became a way through which I developed my English speaking skills and next thing I knew, filmmaking became the only way through which I can properly understand the world. And explain how I see the world. Because I never had much money for filmmaking, despite attending the University of Southern California School of Cinematic Arts, filmmaking also became a way to explore places, practice my creativity and resourcefulness and meet passionate artists. 

*What inspired you to make your movie? 
This movie was supposed to be a visual identity for a poem about oblivion that I had written years ago. A couple of days after we shot, COVID happened and I ended up editing Fogo Infinito during quarantine, which substantially changed the story. Instead, I saw myself cutting and writing a movie that reflected the impact of loneliness and toyed with the idea of ownership, ultimately thinking about the questions: are humans only humans when we are in a community? Do we lose ownership of ourselves when we are isolated? 

*How has your style evolved? 
At first, I just wanted to adapt a poem I had written while following the motto of Cinema Novo (“a camera in the hand, an idea in the head”), but I ended up trying to bring some style references from Agnes Varda’s work in Cleo from 5 to 7, since Fogo Infinito deals strongly with mortality; and I also believe my film evokes a bit of Andrea Arnold’s style when it comes to the way she portrays the human-nature connection. 

*Tell us any strange or funny stories while making the film? 
It was my brilliant idea to shoot the final scene at this VERY COLD beach in California (and being from Brazil I’m used to the warm Atlantic sea and I often forget that American beaches are ridiculously cold). In the scene, I had to fake drown as the tide carried me, but the water was so cold that I kept shaking involuntarily when I was supposed to be “dead”. So apparently we freaked out the few people that were at the beach who would stare at me and not understand (what is this floating thing? is it dead? WHY is it shaking?) because they couldn’t see the camera. We also got kicked out of the garden where we shot the third scene by a cop, we told him “but every filmmaker trasspasses here, it’s a California tradition”,to which he just agreed and let us go. 

*The Misrule Film Movement & Pink8 manifesto bring what to mind? 
Freedom. As an actor-director with no money who just went around with one friend and a camera and shot Fogo Infinito on the spot, going against everything I’m taught at USC, Pink8 manifesto reinforces my freedom as a filmmaker. As I “wrote” and put together the movie in my laptop, I embraced the lack of plot and the nature of street filmmaking. The Misrule Film Movement encourages me to continue making unconventional films and to not obey the restraining rules of Hollywood filmmaking, which, in my opinion, often hurt films and put them in a box. 

*What can we expect from your next film? 
My next film is a crazy censorial trip that reflects the effect that PTSD can have on someone’s life. We made it with a very limited budget but a lot of heart and I’m excited for the world to see it, specially because it’s directly inspired by what I learned after being temporarily disabled after getting hit by a car.

Interview with filmmaker Zygmunt Cendinsky

Interferencia will premier at the Straight-Jacket Guerrilla Film Festival

How did you get into making films? 
After making a couple of experimental short films with a borrowed video 8 camera in the late 80s I started working with different filmmakers collectives who started making short films in 16 mm with all kinds of cameras (Arri BL, Bolex, Zenith, etc) all organized as self-managed cooperatives. Later, when the year 2000 arrived, all these collectives dispersed and each one followed its own path in different ways, some directly linked to industrial and advertising cinema and others, as is my case to this day, still linked to alternative, independent, experimental and underground cinema, the visual, scenic and performative arts. 

What inspired you to make your movie? 
This film was based on a failed project in the mid-90s based directly on the documents of the interrogations of CIA agent Dan Mitrione by the Uruguayan guerrilla group Movimiento de Liberación Nacional-Tupamaros in the late 1960s in Montevideo, Uruguay. We did not know that a film called "State of Siege" (Costa-Gavras, 1972) had already been made based on the same event. So, surprised to realize that little gap in our research and thinking about how anachronistic the whole proposal could be, the project gradually mutated into an interstellar science fiction plot in which the CIA agent became a high official of a criminal syndicate called "United Narcotics Organization" in a direct reference to the novel "Nova Express" (William Burroughs, 1964). 

How has your style evolved? 
Since I started making short films in the late 80's with video 8 cameras, through all kinds of 16 mm and 35 mm cameras in the 90's, until now I'm working with the aesthetics of smart phone cameras, the search has been to escape from any stylization of the image and a devaluation of it as an artistic product. Rather than style, the process has been to explore different aesthetics and how these are directly linked to their forms of production.  In the case of the film "Interference" this was recorded seven years ago and its aesthetic makes direct reference to the sci-fi films of the 50s and the American spy TV series of the 60s in which the cold war was parodied, but evidently, Kafka, Dr. Caligari, Dr. Mabuse, Alphaville and the Glauber Rocha of Terra em Transe were also present from A to Z. Satire and parody in discourse is a theme that I have not stopped working on since my first works in film and also in the various artistic practices that I continue to carry out in the performing, visual and performing arts. 

Tell us any strange or funny stories while making the film? 
Everything was strange in this film and nothing was funny, it was literally a bad trip like the one that the protagonist of the film had, the agent Jack Martinez (Francisco Denis), but as Fritz Lang (Metropolis, "M" The Vampire of Düsseldorf, Dr. Mabuse) said at some point... Cinema for me is a vice. (Lang, 1964). 

The Misrule Film Movement & Pink8 manifesto bring what to mind? 
One thing: that when I hear the word "producer" I immediately pull out a revolver. 

What can we expect from your next film? 
The next film is called "Panoptic Files of the Present-Future: Tropical Quarantine, which is an experimental project already in the process of recording transmedia cinema made completely independently in collaboration between 16 visual, multidisciplinary, sound and performance artists about the global quarantine experienced in Caracas during the months of June and July of this year 2020 as a result of the Covid-19 virus that currently continues to affect the human population of planet Earth.

Interview with filmmaker Fran Martin

La Estrella will premier at the Straight-Jacket Guerrilla Film Festival

How did you get into making films? 
At the age of 12 I was diagnosed with mononucleosis, a disease that forced me to stay locked up in my house because of the severe symptoms I had and the possibility of infecting my friends. For a month the only thing that kept me entertained were my toys and a digital camera that with only 512 Mb of memory allowed me to portray them in heroic and risky poses. I asked my dad to buy me a Telgopor template to make the streets of a city to scale, adapt shoe boxes to make the buildings and look for my big brother's toy cars. I made up a short story where my Spider-Man doll had to face some villains. With the camera I made an improvised attempt to capture him in action. I downloaded the pictures to the computer, manually synchronised the music of the original film and, passing photo by photo in the digital viewer, I showed my relatives the final result. Without realising it, what had kept me busy all afternoon was called StopMotion. At that moment, I realized that I wanted to make movies. During the following years I tortured my friends to be actors, extras or directors of photography for the short films I wanted to produce. Even though, as they were made by 16-year-old children, they lacked an outstanding quality, one could already appreciate a certain sense of composition in the image, a concern for continuity and editing, but fundamentally a willingness to narrate through sound. None of this is casual, I was raised in a cultural family. A sister an actress, another a designer, a brother a philosopher, mother a visual artist and father a storyteller and above all an excellent observer and listener. Films were always present in my life, through classics (El ciudadano Kane, Casablanca), national directors (Lucrecia Martel, Carlos Sorín, etc), international ones (Hermanos Coen, Alejandro Iñarritu, etc). 

What inspired you to make your movie? 
The project originated in my fourth year at the university. My older sister (who has a degree in theatre), after having starred in several plays, told me that she wanted to star in a film and that I should write a script for her. I kept in my memory a character from my childhood "The Star", a house painter who worked fixing the openings in my paternal grandmother's house. "The Star" was a very particular character, whom I deeply admired. He was apparently rough, short and with big hands, muscular in spite of his age, about 50 years old. He didn't have the hands of a painter, but he was very delicate and meticulous. He used to tell me legends of mythological animals while drawing them on paper and pencil in perfect detail. One day, when I arrived at my grandmother's house he was waiting for me and asked me to beat him up. I couldn't understand what he meant and he insisted that I hit him. I stood in front of him and threw a very clumsy punch. He easily dodged me and put his fist very close to my face. That day he confessed to me that he had been a boxer, but that because of a betrayal in his last fight he had decided to quit the sport. My little head at that moment exploded, how could anyone go from being a boxer to a house painter? Being a boxer was the closest thing to being a superhero and a painter... well I was a painter. For many years I treasured that memory. It was time to take that story to the movies. A small but complex story. I imagined that the path of a boxer should be much more complex than that of a boxer and even more so if it was a mother-boxer. With these triggers I began to weave the threads of the story. 

How has your style evolved? 
Usually when we think about the “style of an artist” we put our selves in a place of hope. We hope, as viewers, that our speculations or respectability to that artists get satisfied when we consume his art. I always say that I will or could talk about my style as a movie director in the future, probably when I be an old man waiting for death. I the meantime I would try to make the movies that I would like to see and not worried about an “aesthetic line”. Although I understand what we mean when we talk about the “artist style” and I can talk about things that I like or inspire me. I have a strong commitment with the things we try to name “reality”. That´s why when I make “The Star” I try to get involved with all the boxing mood. I know that the line of making art that I´m (TRYING) to fallow it´s a political one. We have a world that we need to change. 

Tell us any strange or funny stories while making the film? 
The project already had approximately 90 pages of script when I met Mario Pereyro, a 60-year-old boxing trainer in charge of the most important gym of the Civil Association of Boxing Technicians in the province of Córdoba. He would be the one designated to train the actresses in the techniques and choreography that would be part of the film. At the same time, I met with a professional actor whose physical characteristics attracted me to the character of Miguel, the trainer in the film. However, as the training of the actresses advanced, in which I also participated by training, assisting the teachers or collecting anecdotes from that immense world, I saw how Mario surprisingly presented several of Miguel's characteristics. One icy winter night we met in the gymnasium to shoot the movie teaser. A very simple scene where Victoria would be training and her son sleeping in the stands of the gym. The actor who plays Miguel didn't show up due to certain circumstances. Julieta, my sister, Victoria's actress, approaches me and proposes to offer Mario the character of Miguel. Mario had never in his life stood in front of a camera, but I trusted him and his responsibility. We offered him and he automatically said yes. From that moment on, and thanks to that small decision, the project acquired a freshness and a very big impression of realism. Where the professional actors and actresses who shared (or did not share) the scene with Mario, felt revitalised and challenged to relate the naturalness of words and actions with which Mario performed. 

The Misrule Film Movement & Pink8 manifesto brings what to mind? 
The thing that i really like about this manifesto is that it tries to bring a way of making  films thinking out of the industry. And it´s connected with my last answer. Manifestos must exist and they take place in their being. They are a way to talk and discus and thats why we are here. The Pink8 manifesto it´s also like a recipe for making movies but I would like to say something about it. To really understand what this (and all) manifesto it´s talking about, we need to know and understand the other ways of filming. This is the kind of question that i would love to answer it in a bar drinking a bear. 

What can we expect from your next film? 
This is a very difficult question to answer my friend. Right now I´m making my second movie. This time a documentary. It´s a movie that I´m making since 2016. Here I´m gonna let you the synopsis but I can´t talk no more about it because… I just don´t know where I´m going to, but I love it. In 2016 

Daniel Mollani, a former guitar concert artist and music teacher, they diagnose cancer. Daniel, on the verge of turning sixty, had been my teacher guitar for five years and one of my mentors in the artistic field. Paradoxically, his excellence with the guitar had not given him recognition, on the contrary, society had forgotten him, confining him to his home and his poverty. However, Daniel never lowered his arms and remained firm in the composition of works, writing in newspapers and novels never edited, always fantasising about the idea of shooting your own movie. For the next 4 years, Daniel ran away from his reality, began to ramble on time travel, with the ability to connect with your ancestors through of archival materials and I even have conversations with his pocket watch that he recorded with his new camera. I accompanied him teaching him to post produce his images, to think about your camera settings and to make your ideas come true. When Daniel showed me what he had been working on I couldn't believe the simplicity and sensitivity of their achievements. He had recorded the subtleties of life, the aromas and flavors that the rest of us could not capture mired in our work daily. Through cinema, he had found a new meaning in his life.

Interview with filmmaker Ricardo Ceballos

Los Olvidados will premier at the Straight-Jacket Guerrilla Film Festival

* How did you get into making movies? 
I started as a theatre actor, then I made television in my country, soap operas, but I felt something else was missing, and I found the cinema, it caught me, but I needed more, I wanted to tell the story, from my vision and I dared to lead 

*What inspired you to make your movie? 
It's about people in street situations, either for reasons beyond their control, or by their own decision, I was inspired to see how people in that situation were adding up in my country, and it made me reflect and want to see their underworld a bit How has your style evolved? I feel that I am still missing, I have not even reached what I want, in my country it is difficult to make movies, I have no resources, this is my first film, but then I have recorded 3 more feature films, there is more mastery of the technique and the way to tell the stories, but always with the limitations that I present in my country. 

*Tell us some strange or funny story while making the movie? 
I have the support of a small staff, people who like me want to do things for their state, for their country, but I have to do everything, like a man orchestra, cook, do art direction, act, direct, almost everything and it is Something funny but with all the discipline of the command, to see how I have and we have with my team of people to do everything with so little, an austere cinema. 

*What does the The Misrule film movement & Pink8 manifesto bring to mind?
I want to expand my mind and soul with cinema, I love cinema and independent movements, tell and see stories from the bowels of a city, far from an ultra-commercial stereotype that can also be valid, on the street there is so much to tell and with New festivals and platforms have the way of uniting diverse cultures, languages and being heard. I am fascinated by weighing down the old machinery of cinema and shouting that there are other ways here 

*What can we expect from your next movie? 
Intimate, little can say a lot, something condensed from so many feelings and situations that we ordinary people, of flesh and blood, go through and that can be someone's reflection and help. always in the critical and deep of being, questioning something and looking for answers

Interview with filmmaker Michael Cuenca

Jerry Powell & the Delusions of Grandeur will premier at the Straight-Jacket Guerrilla Film Festival

*How did you get into making films? 
I used to play with action figures ’til I was maybe 11, or 12. And I’d come up with all these stories and I’d tape them with my parents’ camcorder. During school, instead of writing essays, etc. I would make short films, too. So I’d put all this effort into that sort of stuff. By then I was becoming a huge cinephile and I took a film history college course when I was 16 and still in high school (dual enrollment). I was blown away by all this stuff I had never been exposed to: from the great silents to the French New Wave, etc. I started writing scripts in my late-teens. And I tried to get people to give me money for them, with no luck. So I started to save everything I earned. I made my first feature film — which I couldn’t complete and ended up cutting it down as a short — in 2008. 

*What inspired you to make your movie? 
Well, JERRY… in 2011 I was living in an artist house. You know, a bunch of people — musicians, filmmakers, creatives — living together in a house, splitting rent, sharing rooms, rooming in the backyard in a tent. I was unemployed and was living with Joe Halter (who plays Jerry), and whenever our mutual girlfriends would go out to their band practice, we’d just hang out, having nothing better to do. Joe would slip into this New Jersey persona.. This character was a misanthrope, pissed off at everybody and everything. And I wanted to make a series of sketches to showcase Joe’s talent and this character. So when I first started writing what became JERRY POWELL, it was very episodic. Hence, the first quarter of the movie. And then I got the idea to just make it into an entire DIY feature. Why not? I thought it would be fun. Putting this character into this crime-fiction universe, stylized in black and white… and he also was an unreliable narrator. Pretty much inspired by all the stuff at the time that I was reading, or exposing myself to. 

*How has your style evolved? 
Since JERRY? JERRY was made in 2011. And my latest feature I’LL BE AROUND was completed earlier this year. In a way, that flick encapsulates everything I’ve learned in my past dozen years as a filmmaker. I do love long takes. I wish I could do more of them, but, it’s tough when you make guerrilla/DIY films. Anything can happen. I don’t think my style would truly evolve without some financing, to be honest - haha. 

*Tell us any strange or funny stories while making the film? 
Wouldn’t call it funny. But it’s on the strange side. When we were making the flick… a hood pulled out a gun on us. It’s the scene where Jerry is talking to the camera and Donna yells out, “Street dogs!”. Small crew. Shooting at nite. Pretty much wearing all-black. DP Ammo was buried behind a cloak over the camera. So maybe this guy thought that Brittany Samson (“Donna”) was yelling out, “Street thugs!”. We don’t know. This guy is with his homies or whatever, hanging outside of their car in a parking lot. And he’s a bit away from us. But he’s yelling random stuff out while we’re shooting. And Joe, who never breaks character stops and goes, “Wait…” looking out in that guy’s direction and he goes, “I think that guy’s got a gun.” And we stop and go, “What?” We look and the dude is leaning against his car, gun resting on its side, on the roof of the car. And he says, “Fuck you sayin’, Hawaiian Boy?” Jerry’s wearing this tropical-esque shirt in the scene. And the dude comes directly towards us, gun behind his back, his buddies egging him on from their position. He goes up to Joe and starts cussing him out. And Joe completely becomes submissive — which was a good thing. And he tells the guy that hey, we’re just shooting a movie, we’re not causing any trouble, etc. And I look, the next parking lot over, this cop had pulled over a car and were talking to the passengers. This guy with the gun, looks at us, looks at Joe, sees the camera, waits a beat and goes, “Okay”. And he leaves. Just like that. We get the fuck out of there. The funny part is that the guy had a limp the entire time because one of his legs was in a cast! And this was our first official day of shooting. The next day I get an email from our scriptee and she wrote, “You guys are very brave for what you’re doing and I wish you good luck on the project but I have to quit.” (!!) Now, the strange part is that in front of this building we were shooting behind of— the building is on Sunset Blvd. in Los Angeles, very busy area — maybe a month before this, a young man had been shot and killed. The young man actually lived in the building. A couple of years go by and Joe moves into, not only the same building, but finds out he moved into the guy’s same apartment! 

*The Misrule Film Movement & Pink8 manifesto bring what to mind? 
Punk rock. Just do it. 

*What can we expect from your next film? 
I was set to make a sequel to my experimental second flick BY THE WAYSIDE, catching up on the characters eight years later, but due to life circumstances and what have youse, we’re going to have to wait maybe a year or two before we tackle that one. If we tackle that one. Would love. The first flick was entirely improvised, without a script. This time we have a script, but the dialogue will be improvised. And I think we came up with a fantastic story that will make the first one better when watched back-to-back. I’ve been filming THE BOYS ABOUT TOWN since 2018. That one follows the friendship of two best friends in their early-twenties, and both are obsessed with the Mod subculture and just alternative music in general, and it’s about their friendship and the changes you go through in your early-twenties. I have an anthology movie, slightly interconnected stand-alone stories, that I’LL BE AROUND co-writer Dan Rojay, and ‘Oblivion’* writer Asheel Elfman and I penned. Very excited about that one. After the anthology one I’m taking a crack at my first serious non-comedy. 
Oblivion was my half-hour long punk-inspired web series that we worked on from 2008-2010.

Interview with filmmaker Allabhya Ghosh

Lockdown will permier at the Straight-Jacket Guerrilla Film Festival

*How did you get into making films? 
From a very young age, I like to think and telling stories.I was famous in my primary to high school friends for the every day new stories.The stories come from my life.In my childhood, I used to live near the Zamindar palace at Tollygunge in Kolkata.I never entered the palace;But my imagination was very comfortable to revolted around the garden and in the beautiful palace.Those imaginations become my everyday story. My stories and fantasy were looking for methods of expression.In those days a bioscopewala was very popular among children.I got confirmed that I would make myself a bioscopewala. But the dream was broken.I was unable to create a projector with useless spectacular spectacles.But I made a pinhole camera and was start dreaming with antagonistic images. 

*What inspired you to make your movie? 
This is not a story of a day.From early days I am very home keeping.In my childhood, I used to play wedding game with dolls like a girl.In fact, by the doll I arranged for family drama, parade and fight in those days.This was the first methods of my dramatic expression.After that, I start writing, drawing & clay modelling was interested in art, music, drama, and literature.In group theatre; Joined.When I was acting film, television and opera theatre; Writing script for others; I was not satisfied.I started the children's street drama group.My friend wanted to make a short film on my story.I was not only a screenwriter of his film, I helped him in direction, shot division, music design, make-up, artist selection and other activities.The film was selected at the Kolkata International Film Festival.I was surprised; I had a small credit in the credit list.I left all my jobs and decided to make my own movie.I became more poor.But among the difficulties, I have succeeded in making my debut film "The Thief".Life inspires me to tell the story at any cost through any art form.The demand for large canvas and composited art inspired me to make my own movie. 

*How has your style evolved? 
The style of my film depends on the story or the subject.I have no definite style. panning, tracking or static camera, dialog or without dialog, music or without music, silent or sound in my film give importance to the storytelling.I look forward to a new style of storytelling for my every movie.I like versatility in my films.I am not grammatically correct. My filmmaking style comes naturally, spontaneously with its love of art, with the passion of the heart. 

*Tell us any strange or funny stories while making the film? 
This is my first independent film which is people’s film and it is about people and for people. "Lockdown" is an experimental mobile film. This film has been made with some Facebook friends from India and Bangladesh during quarantine. 
1) What is love; it is eaten or coated? 
2) Who did you benefit from being born? (What's so significant about a birthday?
3) Is your religion human or animal? (Does religion provide you to eat or does it prove the eligibility of the usefulness of the biodata?
4) What do you mean by politics? (Giving speech or ration to please the people or licking the position of king? 
5) Are you afraid of Corona virus or are you afraid of illiteracy and poverty? (What is the biggest virus indeed?
6) If death really knocks your door, what would you do to make it wait? 
7) What would you do if you were made the Prime Minister or President of this country or the God? (Would you be careless about what happens? Would you sing? Would you dance? Would you clap on the side in joy? Or travel abroad happily? 
8) What do think at the moment? Are people's lives expensive or the economy of the world? 9) Do you realize something new in life from being locked at home? (Is it freedom or subjugation?
10) What do you mean by educated? At what stage are you now; educated, uneducated or semi-educated) We are trying to make a film at home using the time during quarantine to find the answers of some questions. 

*The Misrule Film Movement & Pink8 manifesto bring what to mind? 
I think need a parallel culture. And I also feel proud that I am practising the culture which is completely against the ruined mainstream. Misrule Cinema Movement (2010-2016) & Pink8 manifesto have a great backing for independent filmmakers to the government's disbanded, micro budgets films. 

*What can we expect from your next film? 
Film is very expensive media for us.We are tirelessly trying to make independent films without compromising arts. We think ; this type of film is not art for art's sake . It is art for human's sake.We are trying to rise ethics, integrity, individuality, dignity, love, faith, etc more important human values.Which are the basic ingredients of all cultures and religions . We are friend of general people

Interview with filmmaker Hector M Aguilar

Some Be will premier at the Straight-Jacket Guerrilla Film Festival

*How did you get into making films?

Since I was five years old I have been attracted to tell stories. Back then I was doing comics. At thirteen I took my mother's VHS camera and made movies with my friends in the summer. At the age of 17 Bad Taste, Fando and Lis and 8 1/2 confirmed to me that I wanted to dedicate my life.

*What inspired you to make your movie?

I love being behind the camera, telling stories. I am fascinated by the power that cinema gives you to create your own micro-universes within it. And the impact that cinema can have and how you can affect someone with a film.

*How has your style evolved?

For the past 10 years I have been making video clips for independent bands. That helped me to polish the technique and to define my style. I'm still searching.

*Tell us any strange or funny stories while making the film?

Recording Some Be here in the city where I live, Cancun, it was a scene on a big avenue, with abandoned traffic and dead bodies on the pavement. We asked permission to close the avenue for a few hours and the traffic police supported us. We were starting to block the scene, when suddenly ambulances, Federal Police, the Army and the Navy arrived, as they had reports from citizens calling emergency numbers. They hadn't realized we were recording from a movie. In less than 15 minutes we already had the press and the media with a drone flying over the film set. This is understandable in a city where violence from drug cartels has increased in recent years. That day we gained 1000 followers on our fanpage.

*The Misrule Film Movement & Pink8 manifesto bring what to mind?

I think that these types of movements are very necessary so that the world knows other voices and another way of doing things.

*What can we expect from your next film?

Well, currently we are about to start the development stage to raise my second film, a social story and also comes the second part of Some Be, which is being rewritten day by day with everything that is happening in the world with this pandemic that we live.

Interview with filmmaker Peter Rajesh Joachim

Blood Empire will premier at the Straight-Jacket Guerrilla Film Festival

*How did you get into making films? 
Film-making has always been a passion of mine. A perfect escape mechanism to get away from life's troubles. Also my mother was a well known stage and drama director so she played a major role in my decision to get into films. 

*What inspired you to make your movie? 
I was always fascinated by the darker side of humanity and their struggles to achieve salvation. There is nothing complex in Blood Empires. A simple examination of character tests and circumstances. 

*How has your style evolved? 
I learnt alot from my first film and fine tuned my skills especially in the areas of pre and post-production. I am eager to start production on my second feature which is going to be a comedy about the adventures of people who seek fame in Hollywood. 

*Tell us any strange or funny stories while making the film? 
On the 3rd day of production our lead actress dropped out which caused us a lot of grief but we managed to persevere and get the film made. I remember how supportive the cast and crew were towards the production. We went out and got the coverage for the day and also got some amazing off script shots which lightened the mood of everyone. Looking back one could say that was one kind of a funny experience we all can never forget. 

*The Misrule Film Movement & Pink8 manifesto bring what to mind? 
A relatively unheard of movement started by film-making students in USA. A kind of anti-studio, anti establishment movement which supported DIY principles which is very common today. 

*What can we expect from your next film? 
Laughs, action and fun.

Interview with filmmaker Laura Grace Robles

Alice In Acid Wonderland will premier at the Straight-Jacket Guerrilla Film Festival

How did you get into making films? 
While studying art at the University of Texas at San Antonio I took a video art class with Leslie Raymond, now the Ann Arbor film festival executive director. I was assigned to make my first short film. It was then that I developed a love for film making. After that i couldn’t stop making films. The class was very inspiring and motivating for dreams I had of becoming a director like my Mother. 

What inspired you to make your movie? 
I was wandering YouTube watching all kinds of different versions of Alice In Wonderland, so I thought it would be cool to compile some of these different versions into my own acid version. 

How has your style evolved? 
I’ve always tried to contribute some kind of dream like interpretation to my films. Eventually I started becoming more interested into the “ACID” idea of psychedelic transformation for my films into to an acid dream experimental video art film form which I conceptualised my films with an Acid Dream Experimental Video Art film making manifesto which i wrote after directing DICA The Acid Dream Experiment and my latest film Alice in Acid Wonderland. Tell us any strange or funny stories while making the film? The funny thing I guess is that even though I was directing Alice In Acid Wonderland an acid film I never really actually tripped on acid. 

The Misrule Film Movement & Pink8 manifesto bring what to mind? 
It brings to mind challenges that most film making standards don’t expect you to follow through with. Its exciting how DIY the movement is and accepting to those rebel artists who have been doing these sorts of things all along. 

What can we expect from your next film? 
I’m not sure what to expect from my next film but I do know it will be very dream like and have some kind of psychedelic characteristics. I’m thinking of directing a film titled Acid Cinderella.