Interview with filmmaker John McLoughlin

Straight-Jacket Guerrilla Film Festival will be screening Underwood

How did you get into making films? 

I started out as a musician and songwriter and that led me to story development as a teenager.  After high school I went to NYC and studied as an actor with a few different coaches and wound up booking some small roles on a few network shows and managed to get one of my first script ideas developed into a feature film titled "Along the Way" with my old friend actor/director Andrew Bowen. That movie didn't quite find it's audience and everyone lost a ton of money.  I eventually left L.A. to focus on screenwriting began helping friends out on a handful small indie productions while I worked on getting "Underwood" made with a shoestring budget... and 5 years after cameras rolled on our first scene... here we are. Underwood launched onmazon Prime last month and has racked up over 70,000 views so far. Fingers crossed that it keeps going up.

*What inspired you to make your movie?

Underwood was the first project I developed after leaving L.A. - It's based on  one of my early short stories,  I've always loved a good ghost story and I felt that I had a plotline that people enjoyed reading so I just went to work filling out the gaps and developing the characters enough to hopefully engage the audience.

*How has your style evolved?

I used to think BIG and write even BIGGER... sky was the limit... and screw the budget!!! But then reality came along and kicked me in the balls enough times that I started thinking smaller and writing to match the budgets or lack thereof... like my father always told me as a kid... "if you don't get wiser... you just get older"

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

Oh man... we almost got shot and or arrested when shooting the cops scene in the woods one night... As an indie guerrilla filmmaker... you have to be resourceful and downright sneaky most of the time to get some shots made... be it begging, bartering and in many cases... "borrowing" a location. This one night we were "borrowing" a small patch of woods located in the Ocala National Forrest. 

So there we are with cameras, lights, cast and crew shooting a scene  were the leading man runs up to a police crime scene and the startled police officers draw their weapons and bark some orders at him... 

Well, as were were shooting that exact moment in the scene... along comes a REAL off-duty park ranger  who now thinks he's pulling up on and witnessing an episode of COPS doing a REAL drug bust in the woods!!! So he pops out of his car ready to assist our fake movie cops in busting the bad guys... only we WERE the bad guys too!!! All got cleared up but not before a lot of explaining and a few favors for the ranger and the scene turned out great.

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

I am guerilla...  I work in the fringes. I don't have access to studio money or resources so everything I do is breaking the rules and the norms of what Hollywood dictates as the the way you should do this. And if we all waited around for the Hollywood machine to discover us... nothing would get made.  My film "Underwood" is PURE independent problem solving 101. Every day on a micro budget you must find ways to get your shots in situations and places that you already can't afford to be... truthfully if I COULD do it the studio way... with studio money... I would still break rules and wind up cutting costs every place I could. I love knowing that I can make a full feature film with a tiny crew that people will watch and be entertained by. And I didn't have to spend millions in the process.

*What can we expect from your next film?

Not sure which one we will do next. I have a small stack of scripts on my hard drive and hopefully "Underwood" will open a few doors so we can possibly get some funding to make it. This one taxed my credit card pretty hard so everyone PLEASE give us a watch on Amazon Prime tonight!!! 

http://Underwoodmovie.com

Interview with filmmaker Ian Diaz

Straight-Jacket Guerrilla Film Festival will be screening Rebecca Gold

*How did you get into making films?

Stared as a runner for a post-production company because it had a sister production comapny, so I figured I'd move my way towards the production company, but that never happened and I became a TV graphics artist for 5 years, got fed up with not getting anywhere with my dream, quit my job, became poor, joined up with a friend, raised £14,000 through an ad in a magazine called Loot, (No internet at that moment in time), and shot my first feature film on super 16 in 2 weeks. There's more to this story than that but in a nutshell, that's how I got into movie making.

*What inspired you to make your movie?

Nothing, ever since I have known myself I knew instinctively that's what I wanted to do. The movie Close Encounters of the Third Kind made me realize that I wanted to be a director and writer.

*How has your style evolved?

Naturally.

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

We may have been the first people to do crowdfunding, we crowdfunded The Killing Zone back in 1997, by putting an ad in a free magazine called Loot in the UK saying "if you have no experience in film making and want to be part of a film production call this number", (well it was something like that cos I can't remember what we wrote). People rang, we told them they could give their money to a BBC or other film courses and learn nothing, or you can give us money, get thrown in the deep end and learn that way.  14 people said yes and we raised £14,000. One guy gave us £1000 and didn't even show up. People are strange, well back in 1997 LOL! :-) 

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

What?!

*What can we expect from your next film?

Season 2 of Rebecca Gold.

Interview with filmmaker Miguel Miyahira

Straight-Jacket Guerrilla Film Festival will be screening Gen Hi8

*How did you get into making films? 
I always liked the stories, and when I studied audiovisual, I loved the expressiveness of the cinematographic language and its narrative structures.

*What inspired you to make your movie? 
In this case, I set myself the challenge of creating a feature film with hi8 formats and justifying its use in a 90s context

*How has your style evolved? 
In this film I used camera narrative styles that I really like. Pretty handycam and a little cinema verité

*Tell us any strange or funny stories while making the film? 
I had to search more than 5 borrowed hi8 cameras. Only 1 worked.

*The Misrule Film Movement & Pink8 manifesto bring what to mind? 
Rupture of rules, search of new forms, underground, passion

*What can we expect from your next film?
As always, honesty

INTERVIEW WITH FILMMAKER TOMAS SEM

The Straight-Jacket Guerrilla Film Festival will be screening The Psychics

*How did you get into making films? I got a job as a production assistant on a feature from a mental hospital. After that I was hooked! 

*What inspired you to make your movie? I made my movie to honour all the dead people walking around as ghosts. 

*How has your style evolved? I prefer documentary style to get the authentic feel. My next movie is going to be shot on hi 8 and 8mm film 

*Tell us any strange or funny stories while making the film? Well. Our main location was haunted for real. The location owner's dead grandma kind of made some very disturbing noises that interfered with the sound recordings. 

*The Misrule Film Movement & Pink8 manifesto bring what to mind? The next generation of film making 

*What can we expect from your next film? Haunting's on a research station on the South Pole caught on analogue video!

INTERVIEW WITH FILMMAKER SYLVIA TOY

The Straight-Jacket Film festival will be screening Sequence 32

*How did you get into making films?

I was facing a dead end after 15 years as a playwright and was really depressed about it when one day I started actually listening to random conversations on the bus, on the street, at the store and I realised real life was a whole lot more interesting than what I was writing. I bought my first tape recorder. And when that wasn't enough, I started shooting grimy cellphone videos on the way to and from work. My husband thought what I was doing was interesting, so he bought me a camera and taught me how to use it.

*What inspired you to make your movie?

I am fascinated that probably most of the Universe is lifeless and much of it is a void. I am fascinated by black holes, by the randomness of asteroids, by the accidental way in which planets form. I am fascinated that one day The Big Bang happened. I wanted to create a creature who just happened one day like The Big Bang. I had researched deities for other projects for years and when I found the African god Mbombo who created the world by vomiting it up, it inspired me to develop the "First One" and its offspring the "Second One."

*How has your style evolved?

I came into filmmaking from 10 years of studying play-writing and 15 years as an actor performing scripted material. I love theatre but it was so liberating to collect B-roll going to and from work, to and from the grocery store and mix it all up on a timeline without any plot. My work has become more narrative in the past 5 years (you can't take the dramatist out of a playwright), but my mind produces funky stuff so I cannot help but stay real.

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

I start every project with simultaneous acting and design improvisations. I create a character and the character creates their backstory, subtext, through-line and story. I don't know how many times I almost suffocated on camera while trying to figure how to show birth.

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

It's insane for a mostly self-taught filmmaker whose roots are in avant garde theater to try to follow anybody's rules. So, I don't, especially since I first got pissed off after seeing the rule that video art can't be figurative. But when I read about Misrule and I see the Pink8 manifesto, I think "that sounds about right."

*What can we expect from your next film?

One of my strengths as an actor is humour. Developing SEQUENCE 32 was so physical that it really loosened me up and made me more confident about physical acting. There is and will be more physical comedy in my work since making this movie.

Paranoid Alice - The Alice Kennedy Tape (Live at San Alcatrez bootleg) surfaces online

A bootleg of the rock band Paranoid Alice called 'The Alice Kennedy Tape' (Live at San Alcatrez) has surfaced online resplendent in a Beach Boys 'Pet Sounds' album cover tribute. Many bands throughout the years have paid respect to this 1966 masterpiece and it's cover art, including the notorious criminal Charles Manson, who even wrote a song for the Beach Boys. 

Paranoid Alice are featured here in a different light. ''We recorded it how Nirvana did MTV Unplugged in New York. We're usually a hundred times louder so it was a curious twilight experiment''.

LISTEN HERE

                                  

FABRIZIO FEDERICO OF 'PARANOID ALICE' PICKS HIS CURRENT MUSIC MIX

What’s Your Band Called, Mate? Get to know PARANOID ALICE

THE PSYCH/GRUNGE BAND ANSWER YOUR QUESTIONS

 Robert Carr - Bass, Vocals

Favourite bands: Blink-182, Sum41, Anti-flag, Leftover Crack and Nirvana and I also love Jack Johnson, Colin Hay and Newton Faulkner 

Favourite movie: Currently it's Avengers: Infinity War but I also love Filth. 

First live gig: I've been going to live gigs for years and years but the first proper big gig was Blink-182 in Liverpool. I've seen them twice and loved it both times 

What I look for in a girl? Caring, compassionate, funny, driven and intelligent. I'm lucky enough to have found her 

Favourite dead musician? It has to be Kurt Cobain. Such a legend and music has been inspiring to me 

Hobbies: as a singer songwriter i enjoy music, poetry and booze. Duno if booze counts as a hobby but god knows I like a drink. And i used to be heavily into DC but I'm all about Marvel lately especially the cinematic universe.

Pets: I have a dwarf hamster called Franco, we currently have made him our band manager. 

 Fab - Guitar, Vocals

Favourite bands: Brian Jonestown Massacre, Iceage, The Doors, anything druggy.

Favourite movie: The Last Movie, it got Dennis Hopper blacklisted from Hollywood.

First live gig: The Spice Girls; I had to take my little sister when I was twelve. Posh Spice blew me a kiss.

What I look for in a girl? Intellectual and sexy.

Favourite dead musician? Syd Barrett, Lil Peep and David Bowie.

Hobbies: Visiting weird museums, film-making and practising witchcraft.

Pets: Had a snake called Snacks but my landlord stole him.

 Jack Gourley - Drums

Favourite bands: Parkway drive, Nirvana, Blink 182, Trivium, Arctic Monkeys all sorts of stuff really. 

Favourite movie: Of all time.... Jurassic park (insert theme here) 

First live gig: Love me some live gigs, the last one I went to I was lucky enough to see the prodigy before Keith flint took his own life. 

What do I look for in a girl? Yknow, someone who can match my enthusiasm for everything. 

Favourite dead musician: Has to be John Bonham for me as a drummer hearing the intro to when the levee breaks by zeppelin gives me chills 

Hobbies: Drums, drums and more drums? In all honesty though I do dabble with the music tech side of the world cant get enough, total gear head when it comes to tech, I'm also a fair carpenter, I like wood work and that sort of stuff. 

Pets: No pets, had a cat once.

Interview with Jesse Valencia about his new Brian Jonestown Massacre book 'Keep Music Evil'

When did you first come across the Brian Jonestown Massacre?
I first came across the BJM during my first time taking LSD, in early February 2008. A friend of mine had given me about four hits and showed me their music, and the next day we watched 'Dig!' After hearing Anton's call to revolution, I became infatuated with the band.

What was it about them that moved you to write this book?
What moved me to write the book was a daft challenge given to me by Anton himself after I suggested to him he should write a book counteracting the narrative of 'Dig!' He responded with, "Why don't you write a book?" and ten years later, here we are.

Do you have a favourite BJM album and song?
My favourite BJM album has to be 'Take It From The Man' and my favourite song is probably 'Straight Up And Down.' When the buildup explodes into that epic solo the happy molecules explode in my brain.

I believe you're also in a band, when did you guys first get together and what are the bands plans for 2019?
I first formed Gorky in 2000 or 2001. This year we've just released our third record 'Mathemagician' and just got back from our first tour. We're hoping to tour more this year and get to work on new music as soon as possible!

Did Anton cooperate with the books genesis?
"Cooperation" is a loaded word. He gave me initial permission to work on the book, but he didn't want to be involved in any way, understandably so, because of how bad "Dig" portrays him. Me not being a journalist, I just went for anyone who would talk to me. Some of them would say "I have to ask Anton first" and then he would tell them not to interact with me. Sometimes he would tell them they could and it worked out, but as time went on and I became more serious with the project there was more resistance on his end. Now where we're at is he's blocked me on Twitter, I assume for the reason that he does not want to give the book any attention, negative or positive, which has now triggered some of his followers to turn on the book, and me, which in turn has led to an arguably laughable boycott campaign. Those against it say I am either drumming up more sensationalism against the band or making a gentle puff piece, but since they can't seem to decide what is actually wrong with me or my work, or they make up lies to smear me, I assume they're just bullshitting themselves to give themselves a reason to be angry.

You had a lot of material to work with, how did you go about chronicling the book?
"Chronicling" didn't happen at all, whatsoever, because I never approached it from the perspective of journalism. I consider it a work of creative nonfiction, so what happened instead was draft after draft, probably thirty drafts or more, of writing the whole thing start to finish, editing things, throwing things out, adding them back in, adding new things in, until the story revealed itself. The book started to write itself after a while, and once enough pieces were it place and it felt right, it was time. The goal was always to create the best, most comprehensive history of the band in existence, something that would be strong enough to replace "Dig!" while not eroding its influence, and I believe I have achieved that.

What is it about the BJM that makes them such a cult band, the fans almost have a religious fanaticism about them?
I think what draws people to the BJM is their energy, but also their mystery. I believe the book solves a lot of the little mysteries fans are curious about, but there may be more questions than answers by the time it's done its rounds, and I for one am excited that their mystery and energy will go on.

Did Anton ever record a song with Charles Manson?
To find out the answer to that, you'll have to read the book!

Did any weird stories happen throughout the books making?
I wouldn't say "weird" but I would use the word "surreal." There was a moment in the writing of the book that I 'crossed over' into the world of the band and the broader psych scene - partying with the Dandy Warhols, playing shows with Gorky opening for Joel's band the Primary Colours, and then Matt Hollywood's band the Bad Feelings. It was like being in the movie. Immersed in that world, and it was so liberating. I was on probation for about half the time I was working on the book, and the world of the Brian Jonestown Massacre was an escape from that, so once it became "real" in so many words, my mind was just blown

I love the books title, tell me about the name?
"Keep Music Evil" is a phrase that Anton copped from another band and used it for his label. Over time the phrase in the BJM scene has taken on different meanings. For me, the phrase is the call to revolution: make art every day, believe in yourself, don't quit, and stick two fingers up at the establishment while you're doing it. It's the whole theme of the book. Hidden in between the lines is an instruction manual for artists.

Did Anton always have a fascination for cults?
I can't really speak for Anton, but as far as I know he's been fascinated with things like cults, esotericism, and the like since he was a child. I would argue that he has a fascination with secrets and secret knowledge, because if you listen closely, there's one hidden in every song.

Author Jesse Valencia

Gorky The Bank - Website

Buy The Book Here

Filmmaker Jenkinson Denzel-Southern talk's 'Cartel Land'

Tell us about your new film?
Cartel Land is the second film from Mavrik Studios. It focuses on the story of a young girl realising her headteacher is secretly the leader of a Colombian drug cartel.

Where did you get inspiration to tell this story?
The film actually was inspired from a short film I worked on while i was in college still. I came across the script for it again one random afternoon, I then decided to elaborate on it, and try make it into a much larger and grander film.

How did you fund your movie?
Being a start-up puts us in a very interesting position. While we don't have millions to spend on our films. It forces us to be far exact and detailed with what's on the page of our scripts, so when we turn the camera's we provide the most quality film for our fans.

What other projects do you have in the pipeline?
It's still early days in production but so far so good, we like to keep set light as we feel that's not only where Cast and Crew do their best work. But it's where we do our best work. We have our first mobile game coming up called: Billy The Kid. Which focuses on another character' a renegade angel: Billy Banks, but both projects come after our five year anniversary at the end of the month. All in all, it's a very exciting year ahead for the fans.