#14

Got this in an e-mail this week. Since it uses the word "punters" I am assuming it is from someplace in the U.K.

JAFFAS DOWN THE AISLE
SHORT FILM FESTIVAL
---Films wanted---

Jaffas down the Aisle is a short film festival that provides a chance
for filmmakers to gain extensive exposure by screening their work to
hundreds of punters, other filmmakers and industry representatives.

In 1999, over 400 punters watched an eclectic selection of local and
international guerilla filmmaking, computer animation and claymation.
The festival received media coverage in The Age, 3RRR and Inpress, in addition to industry support.

March 2000
Two programs of Short films
Live Jazz & Giveaways

SHORT FILMS WANTED
The Festival wants your short film/animation/video
It only has to be under 15 minutes and engaging.
AUS $15 Entry
Entries close February 4th,2000
Selected Entries will receive
- Invitation to the Festival Launch Party
- Complementary Festival Double Pass
- Entry into Filmmakers prize draw

To receive an entry kit, just send us your postal details via email, or
give us a ring:
PH: (613) 9852-7937
Email: jaffas@earthling.net

Daniel Bishop
Jaffas down the Aisle
Festival Director

New CD's out that I must have include Iggy Pop's "Avenue B" and Phillip Glass' CD with Kronos Quartet which is the new soundtrack for the silent film "Dracula."

Where's the local Haunted House based on "The Blair Witch Project." It would have to be out in the woods and end in an old ramshackle house. But it would make a ton of money.

The Vortex has an interesting play this month called "Dirty Money" which, I think, is about prostitution. Thurs and Sun nights are only $8. The Vortex is on Manor Drive, east of downtown.

My friend's brother is in his college's production of "Dracula." I keep saying I want to see it but who can find the time. It's some small college here in Austin (Concordia?) and it goes on all month.

All the damn Peckinpah films at the Alalmo this month and next are on Thursday nights, one of the worst nights at work for me. Maybe I need a new gig.

There are exactly 3 frames of a male penis at the end of "Fight Club." Right before the credits. You almost have to look for it to see it. One of the best debates I had this week was whether the film had homosexual undertones or not. At least we all agreed that it is homoerotic, if you define "homoerotic" as erotic to homosexuals. Homoerotic isn't even listed in my dictionary. But it's old. 1970's or something.

Went to a party with a bunch of my friends from UT. Why do I do this? I love my friends, but some of their friends are such morons. (What does that say about my friends?) I don't hold back at these parties and so, I am probably the oldest and only openly gay person there. It's funny to watch these drunken college boys try and figure it all out in their intoxicated haze. My friend Flea always rents the party room at her apartments, the clubhouse, so the pool and hot tub are always open as part of this. At least 3 guys stripped down to their underwear and got in the hot tub. That alone was worth the angst of admission. My freind Jason the Bad MoFo, who is exceedingly heterosexual, his girlfriend Dom, who is about to make her first short at UT, and I watched his roomated Ellis the Pussy, getting all wet in his white cotton boxers. Ellis looks like a fucking male model. I asked him, "If you're here, whose on page 54 of the catalogue?" After the highlight of watching Ellis get half naked and all wet, and hearing Jason talk about how small his penis was, the party kinda went downhill, really.

There was one cute, sad looking young guy that I wanted to talk to desperately. He looked so lonely. He was a doll. Flea and Jason did not know who he was. Flea tried to talk me into macking on him, but I hadn't had enough to drink yet. And by the time I was really buzzing, he had disappeared into the night like a sandcastle disintergrating in the rain...

D.R.I. are playing a gig in November at Backstage. I didn't even know they were still around. They've been around for fucking ever. Can you imagine being 40 and still travelling around the country with your "seminal punk band" to gigs. Would anyone cry if D.R.I. broke up?

From Bob Ray, director of "Rock Opera:"

So maybe you missed your chance to see Rock Opera the first time around. Been kicking yourself about it ever since, haven't you? Well, now's your chance to make up for all your past mistakes. Redemption lies at the Alamo Drafthouse Cinema every Sunday night for the screening of Rock
Opera. Not only do they sell beer at the Alamo, on Sundays they have $5 all you can eat fresh baked pizza to boot. So come on down and enjoy the show. 

For more information on Rock Opera check out the official Rock Opera web site: http://lonestar.texas.net/~crashcam 

What is Rock Opera? 
Rock Opera premiered at the 1999 South by Southwest Film Festival (SXSW), and according to SXSW organizers, "Rock Opera could very well be the consummate SXSW film. Never before has the underground Austin music scene been brought to such glorious, pot-reeking life…[Rock Opera] possesses that delicious sense of the absurd for which so many indie films strive but very few achieve. Rock Opera could very well be the next Austin film to inherit the low-budget crown worn by Slacker and El Mariachi." 

Rock Opera tells the story of Toe, a local musician who struggles endlessly to put a tour together for his band. Toe will stop at nothing to achieve his goal, including betraying his friends and becoming an unwilling player in shady drug deals gone bad. 

Rock Opera was shot entirely in Austin and utilizes some of Austin's most infamous bands. The score was composed by Kurtis D. Machler (local musician, composer, engineer, and producer) and 16 Deluxe and the soundtrack includes several bands that define the Austin music scene including the Pocket FishRmen, Voltage, Ed Hall, El Flaco, the Crackpipes, Tallboy, Squat Thrust, Cherubs, the Phantom Creeps, Antebellum, Honky, El Insecto, Los Pinkeys, Horseshit Gunfire, Pong and more. 

The film was shot during the hottest Texas summer ever recorded and came to life with the aid of the local film community, the Austin music scene and many clubs (the Continental Club, Ginny's Little Longhorn, the Texas Showdown, the Bates Motel), stores (Scott's Pawn, Sugar & Spice, East 1st Laundry, Pleasureland), and homeowners around town. 

Try to make it down to the Alamo Drafthouse Cinema to check out the flick. 

Hopefully, we'll have a interview with Bob and Jerry Don Clark on the site soon!

Disney and Warner Brothers are both trying to get films about Mars space missions done for early 2000 releases. Disney's "Mission to Mars" is slated to be released 3/10/99 and stars Tim Robbins and Gary Sinese. It's directed by (ugh) Brian DePalma (will there be an homage to Hitchcock's "Sabatuer" involved?) Warner Brothers has set an April date for "The Red Planet" yet but may try and get theirs out earlier. "Red Planet" stars Val Kilmer.

Director Walter Hill was fired after he shot the 1/14/2000 film "Supernova." Now Francis Ford Coppola has been signed to finish editing the film. It stars James Spader by the way.

Now I remember why I like indie films.

Watched part of the Cinemateque Award presentation to Jodie Foster. She had this adorable young blonde guy in a tux sitting next to her looking regal and out of place. Who is that? Adam Hahn-Byrd, who starred in "Little Man Tate" gave a nice little speech that was honest and seemingly unscripted. He is real cute but his nose is huge. "Little Man Tate" is one of my favorite films. I didn't realize just how good it was until about the 3rd viewing. This is one of those "little gems" that not too many people have seen. But if you're a Jodie Foster fan, it's a must see. It was the first film she directed and also stars Diane Wesit, David Hyde-Pierce and Harry Connick Jr. The jazz score is spectacular.

My friend Tim came into town for the day to go apartment hunting. He is finally going to move his ass here. Look for his website and feature film soon (he he). Monday night, we went to visit some friends of his who are from Houston and are UT student. Their names were Rich and Kelly. They had made some films, so Tim and I took our short films too and we had a little private film fest.

Kelly showed us his first work (all of our stuff is on video of course). His film was a hilarious party scene that was so Warholian, it astounded me. Kelly's like 19 or 20, so he doesn't even know what Warholian means. It's just his intuitive, natural style. And his film, like many of Warhol's, are hilarious.

Kelly obviosuly gets his style from his roomate Rich who is usually behind the camera. I think Kelly is more interested in acting and Rich filmmaking. Rich showed us some of his work as well which was amusing, well-crafted and inventive. I was just fucking knocked out. 

I showed my short, which is 30 minutes of mind-numbing boredom (purposefully) and they were both very nice about it and gave me great feedback. Kelly said it reminded him of Kafka, which, of course, was about the most awesome thing anyone could ever say about my film. Rich told me that it was "very long," but said constructive and complimentary things about it as well. It was cool. The frist time I had shown my work to someone who I had never met before and who did not know what it was about. They didn't even come close to suggesting what my original intent of "plot" or "story" was, for the most part, but it was still great to see my film through such fresh eyes. And to feel that my film had meaning and ideas for others as well as myself.

After Tim showed his short "Inspired Travis," which is a sort of homage to "Taxi Driver," (which is sort of haunting now after Columbine), Rich showed us a couple more of the film he has made with Kelly. One was a "resume" piece that they made when Kelly was trying to get a gig at I (heart) Video. Apparently, they don't make you fill out a application, you have to bring them a film you've made or something. Cool. 

The most awesome thing they showed us, the last thing, which they waited to whip out on us, was a 20+ minute "mockumentary" about a young married couple who are also interpretive dancers. It is one of the most hilarious, well-crafted, well-acted character driver videos I have ever seen. Kelly is astounding. The girl in the video (who name I forgot, of course) was wonderful too. Their chemistry was just beautiful. But what is most amazing about their work is that it is edited in the camera. There's not a damn mis-step in the entire piece and it's all first take in the camera film. Kelly is a deleriously amusing character actor whose comic genius burst forth everytime he opens his mouth. But, being a bit young, he doesn't know when to stop always. This is why his work with Rich is so interesting. Rich intuitively seems to know when to cut away from Kelly's crazed chaos and turn the focus of their video elsewhere. It's just wonderful. Rich has this very natural sense of when to stop a scene, right when it is about to go bounding out of control, and cut off the camera. Their videos often rebounds after this into seemingly serious, quiet moments that shift the entire momentum of the piece and make all that has come before funnier and more interesting. These quiet moments, where the characters in the mayhem which has preceeded, slow down, speak clearly and expressively and honestly and realistically, make the films work. They take what could be amusing but amatuer home videos and elevate them to high comedy. They become artistic and cultural statements as well as film/video. Much like Warhol, they take the everyday craziness of the world around them, careening out of control into wild abandon, give it a human face, and make it art. But unlike Warhol, there is no sense of pretense. It's much more emotional and complex humor. It's pretty amazing work from such young filmmakers. Their potential truly seems limitless.

Saw "Rock Opera" again Sunday night and this time I watched it sober. There was also much more quiet in the audience so I could hear better and the volume wasn't balring into distrotion as in the premiere. I actually liked the film even better this time. More about this later...