THE GIRL WHO SOLD THE WORLD - 'The strange universe of Youtube Filmmaking'

An upcoming film dedicated to Kurt Cobain of legendary band Nirvana is being set for release in 2019 by outspoken ''Youtube filmmaker'' Fabrizio Federico, ''the film captures the spirit of Kurt's morals, not his life, but about how straight men like him can be in harmony with both their male and feminine side. We are Zen. I think Kurt was a great example of that vibe, he wanted to point us towards a more progressive society, saying 'why bother hurting each other, and all that other crap' you know, nevermind, as the lad once said.''

It's an ugly film, so ugly that it's the perfect experimental pop culture film for a new generation of 'Me Too movement' supporters. April's terrifying reality; spat out by the modelling industry, burned out, and now being tortured by her own inner demons is brought to light by the films soundtrack of doughy classical, Indian and trap music, including an end credits anthem called Wrong's by Mao, (their last album was recorded at Aleister Crowley's old haunted home facing Loch Ness) which is very uplifting in a Total Eclipse Of The Heart, way, that Kurt would have loved, his pop sensibilities were always the secret weapon behind Nirvana's power.

''The idea of the 'It girl' was first personified by actress Clara Bow in the movie 'It' (1927) which helped usher in the age of the wild flapper girl in the roaring 20's along with other intellectual sirens such as Louise Brooks. The role of the vivacious, sexual, youth-quake secretly fascinates every teenage girl early in life, and who must secretly and subconsciously try to, live up to/ or tame. Before either eventually self-destructing or simply growing out of it. 
In world culture, magazines, music videos, books and films have depicted this prototype historical personality of the goddess Maenad, her name literally translates as "raving ones". 
Over the years there have been many 'It girls' who have captured our hedonistic times, and our public's imagination with either cheap karaoke or artistic flair, girls like Kate Moss, Twiggy, Kim Kardashian, Cornelia Guest, Cara Delevingne, Paris Hilton, Kendall Jenner - but there are strange and tragic examples also of young ''it girls' lives being cut short by the seductions of glory and fame, such as, Gia, Donyale Luna, Tara Palmer-Tomkinson, Peaches Geldof and Edie Sedgwick.''

In the film her problems first started either after April become an edgy out of control teen model in Hollywood, or after joining a Las Vegas cult and being abducted by aliens while living near Area 51, nobody knows, it just started one day. 
Today she exists in five different realities. 

Now living in London, April is not a virgin, but one of her personality's, called Sam, wants to desperately lose her virginity at any cost. While she falls apart right in front of our eyes, she screams, scratches and bites away while combing her hair to smithereens, eating disgusting cold cheese and milk while switching personalities; whom one of them likes the taste of her own bloody tampons in a hot bath, wearing just a bright green 'Pulp Fiction' UV wig. 

Federico's been planning and toying with his new film Teddy Bears Live Forever for the past 2 years, capturing a sonic mess that resembles the warped feeling of destruction in Aprils own sweet bleached mind.
The female psyche is deeply explored in the film, Federico spent a week filming in a single room filled with 70's Carpenters albums, ladybirds, Disney films, paintings and snakes capturing the mindset of April's fragile like glass breakdown.

Teddy Bear's has a built in mythology, the idea of paradise lost. Ancient mythical allegorical lands like Arcadia, Atlantis and April's titanic memories of her disembodied identity, it's weird and just plain heartwarming. 

April's dream like sense of living in limbo, after retreating into an imaginary world without a place and purpose, is indulged by her old fashioned 60's Carnaby Street grandfather, but her multiple personality disorder keeps her isolated from the world; re-living her faded out unreachable past.
''The film was also inspired by the Fibonacci sequence, UFO's and men with a strong feminine side such as Kurt Cobain and the tormented but brilliant missing guitarist 
Richey Edwards.''

The films shades of greatness is best summed up by Federico and his enthusiasm for misrule cinema ''learning how to make a feature film nurtures independence, confidence and staying power. But it also free's your imagination and passion for making a connection with something beyond everyday drudgery.''

Q: What Nirvana song, comes to mind when watching Teddy Bears Live Forever?
A: Id say it's best summed up by 'Rape Me' & 'Come As You Are'
I grew up with him, I learnt a lot from Kurt when no one else could reach me.

OFFICIAL WEBSITE: http://fabriziofederico.co.uk/

Interview with filmmaker Brando Improta

Role Play will screen at the Straight Jacket Guerrilla Film Festival

How did you get into making films ?

It's my dream since I was kid. One day I bought a cam and started to making short movies and videos. I pursued this dream every day in my life, it's a tough job but it's also a wonderful one.


What inspired you to make your movie?

My inspiration for “Role Play” came from the Hollywood classic movies of 40's and 50's. Noir, thriller, mystery... Hitchcockian' plots above all. Black and white was the logical consequence for this work. Then I put in a bit of action to modernise the movie and speed up the plot. I think it's an interesting mix of genres.


How has your style evolved?

I don't think I have a fixed style. I try to adjust myself to the genre that I have to shoot. I love comedies, but when I do thriller like this I change my mind, take inspiration from movies I like in this genre, from the time that I want to evoke. I change my mind continually. It's a good exercise, the right way to learn something new every time.


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

We had two problems with some little animals on the set. First: the mansion served as the murder site in the first act of the movie was abandoned for a long time. So the mansion was full of country rats, and the lead actress was literally frightened by them. We had to shot some of her close-up and scenes in another place, because at a certain point she was too scared to act.
Second: we shot some scenes in a park. There was a little cat on a tree. The lead actress is a cat lover, and the cat was to small to jump and get back down. She was concerned about the fact that, if the cat had stayed on the tree, he would've starved to death. So, to reassure she, I climbed on the tree and rescued the cat. It was a very hard day.


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

I think it's a very logical one. I often edit the film alone, I love to be a main character in my movies, and I don't link short movies. So, many of rules of Pink8 are already in my soul. Among all, I think that the director it's the force behind every movie, not the budget, not the production, but only the perseverance and creativity of directors. And to have a manifesto like this would be an inspiration for young filmmakers.


What can we expect from your next film?

My next will be a romantic comedy that I will edit in two different versions: a movie and a web series. With some differences in the continuity, and some differences in the screenplays. It will be a very funny love story.

Interview with filmmaker Leandro Bartoletti

San Telmo Tapes & The Other Magic will be screening at the Straight Jacket Guerrilla Film Festival

* How did you get into making films?
I really do not know. Cinema was always part of my life. I became a confirmed cinephile at six years of age.
In my childhood, I thought I would be a writer, I did not understand what a filmmaker's profession was like (now I do not understand it either, but I learned to hide it).
At age 15, I started making short films with a home camera. The actors were my friends from the neighbourhood. And I believe that there a passion was born, an obsession, which continues to this day.
I studied at the Cinematographic Research Center (CIC), and had the opportunity to direct a few short films and won some awards at national and international festivals. Then there was a long period in which I was writing scripts that did not materialise, due to lack of funding or because they were too ambitious for the local industry. Finally, in 2015 I was able to release my first feature film, "Silo", a documentary about the founder of the Humanist Movement. Currently I am working with several projects simultaneously.

* What inspired you to make your movie?
The filmmaking process of this film is quite particular and unconventional, because it is a film that took almost ten years of work with many blows and interruptions.
It all started in the summer of 2008. Raúl Teba is a Spanish actor and brother of life. I lived in San Telmo, a very mythical and tango neighborhood in the city of Buenos Aires. And he had already created the "Gato Muñoz", his alter ego, with the aim of composing songs that would shape the reality that surrounds us.
With a camera and a group of friends, we decided to go outside to film many improvisations with Raúl and the neighbours of San Telmo. A fake documentary, without scripts, without a budget, without a technical team, inventing stories. And incredible things happened.
There is a love story. Missencounters. Wrecks of the past. And a chain of unusual events that transform Raúl into a multifaceted and charismatic underground singer.
This is the apocryphal origin of a legend. This is the story of Gato Muñoz and his days in San Telmo.
Later the project stalled. Raúl returned to Spain to continue his musical career and I stayed in Buenos Aires developing other projects.
But everything flows. Between 2014 and 2015, we made a many scenes in Ecuador (Quito and Guayaquil) and Raúl returned to Buenos Aires to record a new album and we took the opportunity to add new improvisations.
Finally, at the beginning of 2018, after a very extensive post-production, we managed to have the final cut of this self-managed and anarchic film.

* How has your style evolved?
It's a complex question because I was working on "Gato Muñoz" while I was working on other feature film projects. I think that all the filming of "Gato Muñoz" was a return to the origins: to recover the creative freedom that I had when I was 15 years old, when I made shorts with my classmates. Without conditioning. Without the vices of the big industry. With total freedom (even with debauchery), without a script, looking for reality on the street, allowing the characters to enter and make their contribution, allowing everything to unfold without certainties, allowing the magic to appear and explode.

* Tell us a strange or funny story when making the movie?
The whole process has been very fun. The experience of the filming in 2009 and 2015 has been very funny, because this film was a children's game that we did with Raúl, allowing us to do what we wanted without any commitment. We also had our fights, strong clashes, the creative process was very intense.
It is important to mention two filmmakers who played a key role and made a great contribution: Naya Kuu, Spanish director, who worked as a cameraman, acted in a scene and helped us add many elements of fiction in the plot. And Federico Sidañez, a brother of life, who fulfilled the roles of actor, co-producer, camera, director of photography and sound engineer, all simultaneously.
If I have to mention the funniest moment, it was probably the scene that we filmed with Raúl and two chefs in a bar. The whole sequence is totally improvised, a very impressive chemistry was generated among all and the result was brilliant, I have a lot of fun when I see those scenes, especially when I remember the moment they were filmed.

* The Misrule Film Movement & Pink8 manifesto bring what to mind?
It was a great surprise for me to discover the Misrule Film Movement & Pink8 Manifesto because most of my films fit perfectly with that vision of cinema and the world.
I did not know the Movement or the Manifesto, I had never heard anything about it. And the impact was very big.
"Gato Muñoz" is a movie that was made with super-stars from the street, without a budget and with very little sporadic money, 98% improvised, I had to use my savings to make it. In this case, the executive producer (and not the director) is the absolute protagonist of the film. On one occasion we evaluated the possibility of editing all this material to make a short film but that did not happen because we are not lazy!
Other important characteristics of "Gato Muñoz" is that the actors did not know what they were doing, they were surprised and participated in the film without knowing it. There is no 3D, the scenes were done without preparation.
The errors are beautiful. And this film is full of errors, of anxiety, of impatience, of crudeness, of imperfections.
Beyond the results, "Gato Muñoz" is a film that we made with our hearts and we are proud to participate in the Straight-Jacket because we consider it the ideal space for a film of this style.

* What can we expect from your next film?
Currently, my priority is the distribution of the feature films "The Other Magic" and "Gato Muñoz".
At the same time, I am finishing the post-production of the documentary "El Mensaje" (second part of the trilogy started in "Silo"). A film without a budget that has been filmed in 18 countries in America, Europe and Asia. And we were able to do it thanks to the audiovisual contributions made by people of different nationalities. A collective film about a new spirituality that is being born around the world. Because we are convinced that the world as we know it is coming to an end. The 21st century will be spiritual or it will not be.
I am also working on the postproduction of a fiction feature film, "Captain Menganno", where we tell the true story of a superhero from Buenos Aires. Yes, it is a true story. It is a more industrial film, with a lot of funding and well-known actors, but where we could maintain the independent and guerrilla spirit, especially thanks to the important work of our cinematographer, Kino González, who designed a technique that he called "Jam", with a lot of improvisation, bravery and freedom.
For the future, we are finishing writing the scripts of several films: "Invaders" (based on the spectacular book by Alejandro Agostinelli); "O.V.N.I", about the life of a famous UFO researcher, Fabio Zerpa. We are also finishing writing "The Conclave of Shadows", "Ningunism" and "Kronos".
And we do not rule out the possibility of filming the sequel to "Gato Muñoz", where we will find Gato in his maturity, exploring new paths, always traveling the world, mutating and self-transforming.

THE OTHER MAGIC (2018, ARGENTINA)

*How did you get into making films?
I really do not know. Cinema was always part of my life. I became a confirmed cinephile at six years of age.
In my childhood, I thought I would be a writer, I did not understand what a filmmaker's profession was like (now I do not understand it either, but I learned to hide it).
At age 15, I started making short films with a home camera. The actors were my friends from the neighborhood. And I believe that there a passion was born, an obsession, which continues to this day.
I studied at the Cinematographic Research Center (CIC), and had the opportunity to direct a few short films and won some awards at national and international festivals. Then there was a long period in which I was writing scripts that did not materialize, due to lack of funding or because they were too ambitious for the local industry. Finally, in 2015 I was able to release my first feature film, "Silo", a documentary about the founder of the Humanist Movement. Currently I am working with several projects simultaneously.

* What inspired you to make your movie?
While I was doing the postproduction of "Silo", I had the opportunity to attend the Abadía Áurea, an imposing, very Gothic mansion in the city of Buenos Aires, where ceremonies, rituals, performances, workshops, etc. are held. The first impact was visual: the staging of the esoteric ceremonies. The second impact occurred when I had the opportunity to meet the founder of this venture, José Luis Parada Sabio, and all the people who participate. I found a group of young magicians who are very committed to a path of deep spiritual search. They seek the Light traveling the path of Darkness. And always with the concept of "Magic for all", the Magic is not reduced to certain circles, to an elite, but that it goes out into the streets and goes through the lives of people.
I discovered new realities that I barely suspected. A force that grows and expands in the underground, below the surface. Magic, insurrection, utopia, the spirit of the time. I hope that the spectators can enjoy the experience of discovering a totally new Universe that they hardly suspected and that is there, waiting for us to open our perception, without prejudices and without moral ties.

* How has your style evolved?
When I made short films, I did not find a style that would unify all my projects. From my first film, "Silo", I think that all the obsessions, searches and worries began to find their way. Real stories with characters that challenge the world that surrounds them, that are in an internal search, that resist and never give up.
In the case of "Silo", it is a rather traditional documentary, with interviews and archival material, a journalistic style. "The other Magic" allowed me to travel in other directions, to experiment, to look for visual and technical resources to try to capture in the film everything that is felt and experienced in the ceremonies and rituals of the Golden Abbey. David Lynch has been a great influence (especially the last season of Twin Peaks). It is not only about informing or providing information, but about finding a climate, that the film can shake and interpretate the viewer from the visual. I do not know if we have achieved it but anyway I am very proud of the result.
Now I want to deepen that line. Poetic documentaries, without interviews, trying to get to the heart of the matter without so many explanations.

*Tell us any strange or funny stories while making the film?
They were four long years of intense work, without budget and without resources, working with the enthusiasm of a whole team of professionals who were totally committed to the film. Each day of shooting was a battle we had to fight.
Self-managed cinema is very difficult but it has its advantages. Everyone is working for free, therefore, if they are doing it, it is because they really love it and feel they can contribute something. There is a very strong group spirit that fills you with vitality.

My favorite moment: On the last day of filming, we worked for 16 continuous hours and without rest. At dawn, with the sun peeking, we performed a very important ritual of the film. All very tired and exhausted, but absorbed by the energy of the theme. Now I see this scene and it moved me to tears: we could do it because everyone was working with the heart.

* The Misrule Film Movement & Pink8 manifesto bring what to mind?
I did not know the Misrule Film Movement & Pink8 Manifesto. I had never heard of it. And it really was a big surprise because "The Other Magic" (and my other film at the festival, "Gato Muñoz") fits very well within the objectives of the Movement.
I already consider them my cinematographic brothers. I feel very identified with all the principles because they are the same principles that I adhere to since I started making my first short films.
Something very important is that the protagonists of this documentary also adhere and carry out their activities with very similar ideals. The same flags, the same principles, the same road. For that reason I think the Straight-Jacket is a great opportunity to strengthen the ties between all the guerrillas and conspirators (filmmakers or whatever) that we are united in a great network, away from the big corporations, defying the critics and scholars, in a constant search, without concessions.

* What can we expect from your next film?
I'm currently working with several projects simultaneously, so I'm not sure what my next movie is. In the immediate future, my priority is distribute two films ("The Other Magic" and "Gato Muñoz"). At the same time, I am working on the postproduction of two feature films ("El Mensaje" and "Captain Menganno") and developing new feature film scripts (some documentaries, others fiction, all based on real stories).
There is a particular project that is worth highlighting. José Luis Parada Sabio (the protagonist and co-scriptwriter of the documentary "The Other Magic") is writing a fiction feature film entitled "El Conclave de las Sombras" (The Conclave of the Shadows), which takes place at Abadía Áurea and will be performed by magicians who already We met in the documentary.
The same approach but from a purely argumental point of view where Alesteir Crowley, the Knights Templar, Jesus Christ and Baphomet live together (SPOILER ALERT: Jesus becomes Baphomet and vice versa!). Our intention is to film it in 2019, coinciding with an important eclipse that will take place in the province of San Luis, in Argentina. A self-managed film, independent, anarchic, esoteric, dark but luminous at the same time, with elements of horror and the fantastic genre, very much in the style of Grant Morrison and other authors of comics.

Interview with filmmaker Jalaladdin Gasimov

Sholler's Archive will be screening at the Straight Jacket Guerrilla Film Festival

*How did you get into making films? 

 I have 3 diplomas and I have worked in 3 diverse fields and succeeded. Nevertheless, my biggest passion in life has always been to write scripts and shoot movies. I have shot my first movie at the age of 50 and time will show either I am talented in this field, or not.

*What inspired you to make your movie?

I have obtained all information in “The Archive of Sholler” movie from my father - Gasimov Gazanfar, and all these historic events happened in my homeland inspired me to shoot movies.

*How has your style evolved?

A director has a distinctive filmmaking style that differs from other directors, and my style includes telling stories that have never been told before and showing landscapes to people that have never been shot before.

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

While shooting movies, I decided to shoot awesome waterfalls which I had discovered in my homeland. We managed to reach them with difficulty. 

Articles about my discovery of waterfall:

https://report.az/en/ecology/7-waterfalls-found-in-azerbaijan-photos/

http://igaz.az/en/news/384

http://igaz.az/en/news/383

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

It is a reliable movement which judges all movies in a just way.

*What can we expect from your next film?

My next movie will cover environmental issues, for example, how people's greediness jeopardises our earth.

Interview with filmmaker Nick Faust

I Can't Sleep will be screening at the Straight Jacket Guerrilla Film Festival

*How did you get into making films?

I’ve been trailing behind the movies my entire life. It's mom’s fault. Back in the late fifties, she took me on her arm to see Disney and Jerry Lewis pics. All through high school I reviewed movies with a byline for the Evansville Press, our local paper —  Evansville, Indiana, where I grew up; a medium sized city at the southern tip of Indiana, the middle of the US midwest. 

Before that, around eleven years old, I rode my bike to the University of Evansville every Friday night to attend their foreign film series. My parents thought, since it was the university, why not?  By this point in my development, I’d read all the cinema books at the library. HITCHCOCK/TRUFFAUT, over and over (probably because it had a lot of photos), and a big book by Parker Tyler on foreign films and sex in the cinema, also with photos!  

So, eleven, twelve, thirteen, I was viewing Truffaut, Antonioni, Fellini, Bergman, Kurosawa, Godard, Rossellini, among others; along with the usual: Elvis movies, William Castle, Corman’s Poe series, musicals, roadshow epics, older Hitchcock pics and other classics when I could catch then on TV: everything, really. Loved Tarzan movies - actually, I loved the almost completely naked Boy a lot, even before I understood why. Peter Lorre as Mr. Moto, James Dean in REBEL WITHOUT A CAUSE; THE SEARCHERS, and all sorts of John Wayne war movies were constantly played on television. Mom would not, for some reason, let me watch horror movies on TV. Later, though, I happened upon CURSE OF FRANKENSTEIN and HORROR OF DRACULA in a double feature down town, and that as they say was that.  

Back then, a movie was a movie; I didn’t make a distinction between what I saw at the university and elsewhere: LA DOLCE VITA or KISSIN COUSINS, they were images with sound on the big or little screen. Can’t remember what I thought LA NOTTE was all about at twelve, but I don’t think it really mattered. The images carried me away, hypnotized me. 

By high school, some basic ideas about the movies had formed inside my head. The reviewing gig happened because - late 60s now - so called “youth films” had emerged and the older movie critics in town were at a loss. They couldn’t see any difference between THE WILD ANGLES and EASY RIDER. I loved both and could, in a very elemental way, discuss the difference. So fate made it possible for me to represent the “youth” of Evansville at the movies. 

Today, one can get a film degree in college, but in 1972 a theatre degree was a more practical option for someone like me. Making movies meant buying film, developing costs, equipment. The desire was there, but actually making a movie was not as easy as it is now. Consequently, I received a BFA in Theatre: Acting and Directing at Webster University, and an MFA in Directing at Tulane. Following that, I was a professional theatre director working all over the United States, and have been for nearly forty years. 

Throughout my career, I collaborated with a lot of writers - playwrights. Over time, these playwrights started working on screenplays. I worked with them. 

So years after mom carried me into the Grand Theatre in Evansville, Indiana to see Disney and Jerry Lewis, I was finally able to apply a lifetime of film knowledge and theatre experience to the movies; the work of others, and eventually my own. 

*What inspired you to make your movie?

I CAN’T SLEEP came out of a period when I owned Video Alternatives, a video club on Magazine Street in New Orleans. I had acted in a number of short films made by others, and had been writing with a playwright, screen treatments for a producer of exploitation movies in Hollywood. This producer would send us ideas for different types of violent murders that she thought would sell. No story or characters. Just lists of atrocities. One that made quite an impact was - I kid you not - “What about a killer baby? Audiences love stuff like that. Just don’t make it funny.” Sharing this with the people who worked at Video Alternatives, we began to make up our own list of atrocities, as a sort of joke. When the lists became more and more extravagant, the idea to actually make a movie that was somehow based on this process came about. I conceived the main storyline: a severely depressed screenwriter facing an impossible deadline, unable to work because his wife had left him for another man. Josh Nagel, an employee and friend, and I composed different episodes, then later played around with their order. I got hold of two Canon XL1s, plus other equipment and in a flurry of creative energy shot the film in about six days. 

We shot mainly in my house and around my neighborhood. A few scenes necessitated space bigger than my living room, so I rented a warehouse for two nights. This was August in New Orleans. The warehouse was not air conditioned and we shot there one night for an uninterrupted ten hours. But somehow that contributed to the film’s overall effect. 

*How has your style evolved?

On stage I developed a style that draws mainly from Peter Brook’s THE EMPTY SPACE, where the immediacy of a theatrical event, within the context of particular material, dictates staging and theatrical conventions. Brook warns against choices that follow the excepted way of doing things merely because that's how it’s done. Style, therefore, does not conform to any external rules of craft or tradition. Craft exists to serve our particular need at any given moment. The sky’s the limit. Use the rules to break the rules. 

So any description of style - an overall signature style - becomes difficult because there are so many other factors that go into it. 

Frankly, I don’t think about style as much as I think about what it is I’m trying to do, and how I want to hold an audience’s attention. 

The kinetic effect of montage seems to be a fairly consistent element in what I’ve done so far. But this is not really by design. 

Have always figured, since I’m shooting digital or HD and don’t have to worry about film and its expense, once I start shooting actors in a specific location, a shot list is merely a point of departure. With a specific idea for the scene locked in my head, it makes sense - to me - that I let inspiration motivate what and how I cover a scene. If anything at all hits my eye as unexpected, interesting, unusual, or just odd, I photograph it. Why the fuck not?  Actors tend to relax the more they go through a scene; most enjoy the chance to play things more than just a few times. Instead of waiting around, everyone is up and working. We’re all exploring the material. 

I never concern myself if the unplanned footage will cut together. That’s a problem to be solved later. Besides, with a little effort and ingenuity, one is always able to connect the best bits. 

I can end up with a lot of footage to sift through, that’s true. But as far as choices are concerned, I’d rather have more to choose from than not enough. 

What happens, then, is the editing process really does become the final rewrite of my script. I rediscover what it is I was trying to make or do. From my imagination to the page; words focused and refocused into a script; pages broken down into shots that are photographed. From infinite possibilities in my mind’s eye, to the finite reality of the footage, my ideas evolve and become more focused. This takes time, certainly. But time is often a good thing. Over time, what’s in your head gives way to what’s on the screen in front of your eyes: you begin to see what you meant in the first place.  

This is no doubt why montage appeals to me more than anything else. I write with images; each visual progression, like a sentence, has a subject, verb, and predicate. The montage is a train of thought that, I hope, the viewer is able to follow, from beginning to end. 

Of course, in I CAN’T SLEEP, there’s one long monologue shot from a single angle, continuous, even though I cut to reactions a few times. I shot the monologue this way because there really didn’t seem to be any reason to cut out of that particular point of view. Story-wise, the locked down camera creates a feeling of “real time” that corresponds with the character’s desire at the moment to be taken seriously. So I plant the camera and let the actor do his thing. And I really like that actor and what he does. 

My point is, one does what seems right in the moment. A predetermined concept would not stop me from braking my own conceptual rules if that’s what could better communicate the essence of something to the audience.  I want to reach out to the viewer, and sometimes that means disrupting the rhythmic flow so the viewer doesn’t become complacent. 

The editing rhythms of a film carries the viewer’s interest over and above content.  Watch any movie directed by Terence Fisher, and you see what I mean. 

Am I answering the question? 

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

There’s a scene in the movie where a bunch of guys carry a screaming girl into the bushes to rape her, I suppose. We shot that just outside my house, late at night. The actress didn’t actually scream, for obvious reasons. 

Well, it was during this scene when the police drove by. They stopped to watch the guys carry the girl into the bushes, and finally, before I could say “cut," with a mixture of confusion and concern, they stopped the shot to ask what was going on? We told them we were shooting a student short. They laughed and drove off. Never once asking the actress if that was true!  

The night we shot the lengthy scene in the warehouse, it was insanely hot and humid. Actors and crew were edgy, to put it mildly. I shot the scene in sequence, with two cameras; I let the actor with all the physical action figure out his business on camera, without rehearsal. No matter what, we kept rolling. With the two cameras - changing position for each dramatic beat - I wasn’t worried about cutting. What I got was, within the context of shooting, genuine.

The actor taped to the chair, Scott, is someone I’d worked with before. I knew he would be adventurous and not in any way prudish over what happens. He’s a terrific actor. 

So we’ve been shooting for hours and have finally reached a middle point in the scene. The taped up actor is alone, his fate has finally becomes evident; hysteria mounting. Coaching from off camera, I pushed and pushed Scott, yelling, “do it again … AGAIN” and so forth, over and other. Scott’s performance became more and more urgent, gut wrenching, horrifying. Out of the corner of my eye I could see the crew horrified - by me. They clearly thought I was torturing Scott to get good footage. Scott’s cries as he twisted and turned, nearly naked on the chair, was all the evidence they needed. I figured at any moment they would stop what was going on! 

Finally, I let Scott’s character exhaust himself. As the scene came to a moment of silence I said, “cut.”  

There was a long pause. 

Then Scott looked up, without missing a beat, a smile on his face, “hey, that was pretty neat, wasn’t it?  Can I take a break now? I have to piss.” 

It was the smile of a good actor pleased with the work we’d done. The crew spontaneously broke into applause. It was a funny moment, also rather moving. Scott was surprised by the emotional warmth that came through the physical heat that night. Which was good luck for me because after the break, his real trial by fire was to be shot.   

They still thought I was a sadist. But, hey, what the fuck …..it’s a sadistic scene … ! 

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

The Misrule Film Movement and Pink8 Manifesto help to sweep away all those preconceptions that get in the way when it comes to making a movie. Just point the camera at the object of interest and shoot. What else is there? 

Well, a lot, actually, but within the context of these liberating guidelines, the basic elements rule. That seems to be the point. 

Besides, Fabrizio’s movies, particularly, are so good and so confidently conceived and composed — and so personal without announcing it to the world — watching them and speaking with him gives me the confidence to go out with my camera and just fucking do it. Stop thinking about it, stop planning to do it; just fucking make something. 

I CAN’T SLEEP was shot and edited a while ago, but I kept it on file because it seemed to upset people who watched it. What started as a horror movie morphed into something else entirely: a crazy, crude meditation on the creative process; an artist’s imagination pushed into the darkest corner of creation. A lot of people that I showed the film to expected a straight on horror romp, I guess. When it became clear it was not that, they either thought it was terrible or immoral. 

Now, I share it with you, hoping of course that someone likes it, but not afraid if that doesn’t happen. That shift of attitude is a direct result of Fabrizio’s Pink8. 

Since, I’ve been working on other pieces. THE CONQUEROR WORM and MEDICATED MONTAGE, both shorts (which does not correspond with Pink8, I know), have been like work outs, preparing for the next big one. 

*What can we expect from your next film?

I act as well as direct. Over the last decade I’ve been in a number of movies produced by Big Biting Pig Productions here in Kentucky, where I now live, and have done voice overs for others. 

This coming July and August, I’m going to be playing two different roles, written specifically for me, in Matthew Rivera and Evan Sennett’s new film, not yet named, which is part of their LUCKY LUCIFER series. We’re shooting in Toledo, Ohio and Louisville, Kentucky. They continue to work on the script, so I haven’t seen it yet. But I’ve got some idea of the two roles. Amusing and perverse. Both, my middle names. 

Have also acted in Thorkell Ottarsson’s feature, SUICIDE SERVICE, shot in Norway over a year ago, soon to be distributed in Europe. Thorkell has another feature film planned, with me playing a mad - as in, insane -  theatre director. He told me, “this will be the bastard Nick.” Okay! 

In the meantime, I’m writing what will probably be a short about an older man - surprisingly like myself - thinking back on a sexual encounter he had in Quebec, Canada, with an older man, when he was fifteen years old. DEATH IN VENICE - book and movie - play into it somehow. The sexual memory will be explicit, arousing, and not in the least bit tragic.  In fact, it’s a happy memory as far as the old guy is concerned, which so far, is the point of the film.  

I’m going to play the old guy, myself, and I’ve cast the older (younger) actor who will be the erotic memory man. Am talking my daughter, Erin Evie, into being the director of photography.    

Interview with filmmaker Fernando Ramos

Awakening City will be screening at the Straight Jacket Guerrilla Film Festival

*How did you get into making films?

I began as a Film Buff. After I started working  as Scriptwriter and Film Critic. Then I started directing.

*What inspired you to make your movie?

The fight to preserve and occupy public spaces as a way to enforce citizenship and democracy.

*How has your style evolved?

I am on my second movie still, so it is hard to answer. I am in Constant evolution.

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

We were followed by some people from Fortaleza City Hall while shooting. I guess we have bothered the mayor with our Film, which was totally against his intentions to destroy Portugal Square.

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

I am not Aware of such movement and manifesto.

*What can we expect from your next film?

Lots of risk and bold creativity, in order to detour budget limitations.

Interview with filmmaker Allabhya Ghosh

The Thief will be screening 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?
In a scene of my movie on the bridge when my film's hero lost his best friend; And the heroine lost her boyfriend;According to the script, I was needed rain tears to make the scene heavy.The date of the shooting was a rainy day.According to the script, at the end of the scene from the background, a train is leaving the station.It was surprisingly accurate without instructions.
A bull followed us; When we were shooting on the ground in the outdoor.Leaving the camera, we went out of the place.But still the bull was chasing us.Then our focus goes to a member of the unit, who wore red shirts.
He quickly separated herself from the group and kept out the redshirt from his body.Then the bull was very calm.We used the red shirt in the film for the dress of young hero.Now it is very funny, but then we were afraid.
When the thief was eating meat with theft, the sequence was very fun.He shared the meat with the dog; The dog's name was Chiki. The meat was over to take more shots.It was difficult to control the dog.

*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 Pedro Ribeiro

200 Minutos will be screening at the Straight Jacket Guerrilla Film Festival 

*How did you get into making films? Telling about how I got into filmmaking is the same way to me as talking about my interest in art. The way all kinds of art touches people is what moves me to keep working on making films (and other artistic manifestations). You can tell anybody from any culture anything in 23.97 frames per second, that’s amazing! I discovered this power that Cinema has when I was 16 years old, when I had to make a short film as homework in school. Since that, I decided to make films for the rest of my life. 

*What inspired you to make your movie? Once I read that you only learn how to make a film making a film. I remember the filling I had when I watched “Before Sunrise (1995) – Richard Linklater” for the first time, I told myself: “he made a film with great dialogues and two actors, this is amazing”. That inspired me to make this film, we took our own recourses and started doing it, and it was the best film school I have ever took in my hole life. 

*How has your style evolved? What I think as a filmmaker is: the style comes to improve the film itself. If you ask me: “what do you prefer? A super elaborated camera movement or a single close on the face of the actress?”. I would say: “well, what is the most important for the narrative? If its the camera movement, ok, let’s do it.. if it is the single close.. ok let’s do this one”. For that, all my style when I direct a film is based on what is important.. not even for me, but for the film. If you watch this movie you will see that the sequence plans are there for a reason, the elaborated shots are there for a reason as the “tripped shots” are there for a reason too. That’s what I think about my style, and that’s what is involved in this film. 

*Tell us any strange or funny stories while making the film? There is a car accident in the film, and I decided to do that in a studio, with projection and flashes of light. But, we had to film all the scenario to Project the background, so, I was with the producer and her assistant in the car, at the night, driving in the downtown of Curitiba – city where we live in Brazil. The producer’s assistant was sitting in the back, with the camera filming the streets while I was driving. Then, we stopped in a part where there was some gang dudes in the corner. One of them looked at us and said: “why are you filming? Are you from the cops?” and came angry towards us. My friend took the camera off and said: “no, we are film students, we are doing a Project”. But the guy didn’t believe him and came more angrily shouting things like: “I am gonna give you what to record, I will kick you all down!!”. In that moment I realized that if we kept there we would literally die, because the man was coming faster and faster in our direction, and he really didn’t want to just talk. At the end, the traffic light got green and I ran the car so fast we could only hear that guy spitting on the car. Well, making this film almost costed our lifes... literally. 

*The Misrule Film Movement & Pink8 manifesto bring what to mind? The part I mostly liked in this manifesto was: “no shorts you lazy!”. We have problems with new filmmakers that think making a feature film is impossible – of course, it isn’t easy, but not impossible. Once a Brazilian filmmaker called Joel Pizzini said: “if you have to choose making four shorts or a feature.. well, make a feature”. Other part of this manifesto I liked was the first point, because I see a problem in film schools, I say that because I made this film while I studied in one. The problem is: “many of the filmmakers don’t have this passion for making movies, they have a passion for making a career”. This kind of things makes me sad, well, of course it’s good to have a career, make this the way you pay your bills, I want that for my life, but if you lose this passion in making movies, and think about Cinema ONLY as business, well.. I sincerely think there’s something wrong with your philosophy.. with all the respect. I see in this manifesto a way of coming back to making films with courage, as a career or not, we are all making films.. because we love doing that, and as Glauber Rocha (another Brazilian filmmaker) said: “making a film is an act of courage”. 

*What can we expect from your next film? We are in pre-production phase of another feature film, but this one is about violence and segregation. You can expect a film, as you can see in this one, that will work for the best of the narrative (the actor’s interaction, the misé-èn-scene, the script, etc.), all to communicate the problems we see in the society nowadays. Well, if the film will be good or bad, the time and you (spectators) will be able to tell me.. but most importantly, you can expect that we will keep making featured films.

CONTROVERSIAL FILMMAKER'S NEW MOVIE TRAILER

''This film has no rules, it's an orgy of sight & sound stitched together to create mania.''
Movie-maker Fabrizio Federico's vision for his next film Teddy Bears Live Forever is miles away from being finished but finding it's voice organically is something that excites the underground filmmaker who is currently working on the editing phase of the film, ''I let the stars lead the way, Im at a crucial number in the Fibonacci sequence.''

A cryptic, doughy, non-linear, scratchy ride focusing on April, who has multiple personality disorder, but how did this happen? Either her problems first started after April become an edgy out of control teen model in Hollywood, or it happened after she joined a Las Vegas cult and was abducted by aliens while living near Area 51, nobody knows, it just started one day. Today she lives in five different realities.
Now living in London, even though April is not a virgin, one of her personalities called Sam wants to desperately lose her virginity asap. Watch as April sets out on her twisted journey in order to forever quiet down the diabolical voices in her head.

''The idea of the 'It girl' was first personified by actress Clara Bow in the movie 'It' (1927) which helped usher in the age of the flapper girl in the roaring 20's along with other wild child beauties such as Louise Brooks. The role of the vivacious, sexual, youth-quake secretly fascinates every teenage girl early on, and who secretly and subconsciously tries to live up to, or, tame these urges before either eventually self-destructing or growing out of it. In modern international culture countless magazines, music videos, books and films have depicted this prototype personality of the goddess Maenad, her name literally translates as "raving ones".'' 

Over the years there have been many 'It girls' who have captured our hedonistic times and the public's imagination, such as Kate Moss, Twiggy, Kim Kardashian, Cornelia Guest, Cara Delevingne, Paris Hilton, Kendall Jenner - but there are even more examples of tragic lives cut short due to the pressures and seductions of glory and fame, such as, Gia, Donyale Luna, Tara Palmer-Tomkinson, Peaches Geldof and Edie Sedgwick to think about.''

Teddy Bears Live Forever captures the life of a faded 'It girl' called April.

Teddy Bears Live Forever will be released in 2019
Official Website

Interview with filmmaker Greg DeLiso

Hectic Knife will be screening at the Straight Jacket Guerrilla Film Festival

 *How did you get into making films? I saw Jurassic Park in the theatre when I was 6 and I immediately became a Spielberg-kid that was bitten by the bug.  From there it was just continuing to see more movies that I loved and seeing ones that made it seem more possible to do myself.  Indies like Clerks.

 *What inspired you to make your movie?

My friend and I were making each other laugh and making weird short films and we kind of just combined the two and that's how Hectic Knife evolved.  It almost wasn't a move.  But, a few months into shooting we realised that we had so much material and just kept adding to it, that we sort of realised we were making a movie and ten we went full force in that direction and it became a 5 year+ commitment. 

 *How has your style evolved?

Um, I'm not sure, I'd like to 

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

That little kids head exploding was a huge learning experience.  I had the idea of; “killing kids in the movie!” (brilliant idea right?) But, it was an homage to Carpenter’s Assault on Precinct 13 (the killing a kid idea) and the head explosion is obviously Scanners. But, to do it, I thought we should have a fake head that looked like the kid and then explode that — not realising that we could just lock the camera down, shoot the kid standing there and then remove him from the frame and then explode a ball of anything in the heads place. So, we got a mold made of this poor kids head and it cost over a thousand bucks, which was like a tenth of our budget at that point, and the whole thing could’ve been way less complicated and cheaper had we not done all the extra work making the mold. And then of course when we finally shot the scene, I only realised in editing that all that extra work to do the mold didn’t matter.

 

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

Google!  Haha, hold on!  I like movies like Field of Dreams and stuff. I also like anyone that tries to make a movie and love most anyone who finishes theirs. However you get to that finish line, from Dogme 95 to this stuff to 10 years of meticulous prep like Kubrick, to stop motion in your parents basement... I don't care just make your movie and make me laugh and cry when the curtain gets pulled.

I like Harmony's Letterman appearances and his script for Kids more than most of his movies. But he seems cool. Gummy is fun, I love the slap boxing scene and he seems like he'd be fun to hang out with. 

 

*What can we expect from your next film?

Bigger, badder, better...