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Interview with Richard Wolstencroft (Festival Director) of the Melbourne Underground Film Festival (the tenth edition) of the sometimes controversial and always cutting edge film festival. Richard gives an insight into this year's festival and takes aim at the wider at the Australian Film Industry.
Richard also screens his feature film the completed version of The Beautiful and The Damned at this year's MUFF.
Click here to download the show or subscribe in iTunes
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Interview with Serhat Cardee (Writer/Director) of Cedar Boys (AUS) a new dramatic feature film that stormed the Sydney Film Festival in June and saw it picked for theatrical release in August in Australia.
Vanguard
The White Stripes Under Great White Northern Lights (D) Emmett Malloy, USA (World Premiere)
An intimate look inside The White Stripes' cross-Canada tour, as Jack and Meg White touch down in remote northern communities and surprising city venues.
Real to Reel
The Art of the Steal (D) Don Argott, USA (World Premiere)
This art-world whodunit investigates what happened to the Barnes collection of Post-Impressionist paintings—valued in the billions—that fell prey to a power struggle after the death of owner Albert Barnes.
Bassidji (D) Mehran Tamadon, Iran/France/Switzerland (International Premiere)
For three years, Mehran Tamadon immersed himself into the very heart of the most extremist supporters of the Islamic republic of Iran (the Bassidjis) to understand their ideas.
Cleanflix (D) Andrew James and Joshua Ligairi, USA (World Premiere)
The Mormon religion preaches against the content of R-rated films, so several Utah-based entrepreneurs started offering "clean" versions of Hollywood movies at specialty DVD stores. But the thriving industry runs into legal problems and its own sex scandal.
Collapse (D) Chris Smith, USA (World Premiere)
From the acclaimed director of American Movie, this portrait of radical thinker Michael Ruppert explores his apocalyptic vision of the future, spanning the crises in economics, energy, environment and more.
Colony (D) Carter Gunn and Ross McDonnell, Ireland (World Premiere)
Several beekeepers around the U.S. cope with colony collapse disorder - the phenomenon that has caused millions of bees to mysteriously disappear - in this beautifully shot debut from a gifted directing duo.
Google Baby (D) Zippi Brand Frank, Israel (International Premiere)
In India, the latest form of outsourcing is surrogate mothers who carry embryos for couples who can't have a child. Director Zippi Brand Frank follows an entrepreneur who proposes a new service - baby production for western customers.
How to Fold a Flag (D) Michael Tucker and Petra Epperlein, USA (World Premiere)
The makers of Gunner Palace follow U.S. soldiers as they create new lives post-Iraq—from a Congressional candidate in Buffalo to a cage fighter in Louisiana—set against the backdrop of the 2008 election.
L'Enfer de Henri-Georges Clouzot (D) Serge Bromberg and Ruxandra Medrea, France (North American Premiere)
Film archivist Serge Bromberg uncovers a treasure trove of imagery from an unfinished film called L'Enfer starring Romy Schneider and directed by the French master Henri-Georges Clouzot, known for Wages of Fear and Diabolique.
The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers (D) Judith Ehrlich and Rick Goldsmith, USA (World Premiere)
Daniel Ellsberg was a valued strategist inside the American government until he leaked the Pentagon Papers and exposed the lies of the Vietnam War. This thrilling documentary chronicles this momentous chapter in history and how Richard Nixon's obsession over the case brought down his own government.
Presumed Guilty (D) Roberto Hernández and Geoffrey Smith, Mexico (World Premiere)
Two young Mexican attorneys attempt to exonerate a wrongly convicted man by making a documentary. In the process, they expose the contradictions of a judicial system that presumes suspects guilty until proven innocent.
Schmatta: Rags to Riches to Rags (D) Marc Levin, USA (World Premiere)
Veteran filmmaker Mark Levin (Slam) looks at the past and present of New York's garment district, from its heyday as a base for immigrant labour and unions to its recent decline.
Snowblind (D) Vikram Jayanti, USA/United Kingdom (International Premiere)
Rachael Scdoris, a blind 23-year-old, doesn't let her disability stop her from competing in one of the most gruelling endurance contests in the world: the Iditarod dogsled race traversing 1,100 miles of Alaska's most rugged terrain. But being blind is only the start of her challenges.
The Topp Twins: Untouchable Girls (D) Leanne Pooley, New Zealand (North American Premiere)
Fun, disarming and musically provocative, the Topp Twins are New Zealand's finest lesbian country-and-western singers and the country's greatest export since rack of lamb and the Lord of the Rings movie trilogy.
Videocracy (D) Erik Gandini, Sweden (North American Premiere)
This penetrating look at the media empire of Italy's prime minister Silvio Berlusconi reveals how his reality TV shows full of bikini-clad women enriched his friends and beguiled a nation.
Special Presentation
Good Hair (D) Jeff Stilson, USA (Canadian Premiere)
Rendered speechless by his daughter's question—"Daddy, how come I don't have good hair?"—comedian Chris Rock embarks on a quest to understand African American hair culture.
Sprockets Family Zone
Turtle: The Incredible Journey (D) Nick Stringer, United Kingdom/Austria/Germany (Canadian Premiere)Join a logger heard turtle on an extraordinary journey through the fascinating underwater world and witness how changes in the oceans are affecting marine life in this beautiful and spectacular ocean adventure.
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Midnight Madness Opening Night
Jennifer's Body (D) Karyn Kusama, USA (World Premiere)
Jennifer's Body tells the story of small-town high-school student Jennifer (Megan Fox) who is possessed by a hungry demon and transitions from being "high school evil"—gorgeous (and doesn't she know it), stuck up and ultra-attitudinal—to the real deal: evil/evil. The glittering beauty becomes a pale and sickly creature jonesing for a meaty snack, and guys who never stood a chance with the heartless babe take on new lustre in the light of her insatiable appetite. Meanwhile, Jennifer's best friend, Needy (Amanda Seyfried), long relegated to living in Jennifer's shadow, must step-up to protect the town's young men, including her nerdy boyfriend Chip (Johnny Simmons). Written and executive produced by Oscar®-winner Diablo Cody (Juno).
A Town Called Panic (D) Stéphane Aubier and Vincent Patar, Belgium/Luxembourg/France
(North American Premiere)
An outlandish animation style captures the absurd wit and surreal adventures of plastic toys Cowboy, Indian and Horse.
Bitch Slap (D) Rick Jacobson, USA (World Premiere)
In this campy action comedy from the creators of Xena and Hercules, three hot-blooded women try to uncover some booty in the desert using feminine charms, fists and machine guns.
Daybreakers (D) Michael Spierig and Peter Spierig, Australia/USA (World Premiere)
Ethan Hawke, Willem Dafoe and Sam Neill star in this sci-fi horror about a future populated by vampires where humans are the minority.
George A. Romero's Survival of the Dead (D) George A. Romero, Canada (World Premiere)
Master director George A. Romero returns to his world of the undead, this time pitting two feuding clans in the middle of the fallout of a zombie epidemic.
The Loved Ones (D) Sean Byrne, Australia (International Premiere)
A troubled teen's prom dreams are shattered by a series of painful events that take place under the mirrored disco ball, involving syringes, nails, power drills and a secret admirer in this wild mash-up of Pretty in Pink and Misery.
Ong Bak 2: The Beginning (D) Tony Jaa, Thailand (Canadian Premiere)
Martial-arts superstar Tony Jaa stars in and directs this epic tale of revenge set hundreds of years in the past. Featuring a huge cast and hordes of elephants, this prequel takes Jaa's skills to the next level, showcasing him as a master of a wide range of martial-arts styles - while proving him to be a promising director as well.
[REC] 2 (D) Jaume Balagueró, Paco Plaza, Spain (North American Premiere)
In the follow-up to the acclaimed [REC], a SWAT team enters the old apartment to control an epidemic with terrifying results.
Solomon Kane (D) Michael J. Bassett, United Kingdom (World Premiere)
From Robert E. Howard, the legendary creator of Conan, comes this tale of a savage mercenary in sixteeth-century Century England who owes the devil his soul and seeks to redeem himself by fighting evil.
Symbol (D) Hitoshi Matsumoto, Japan (International Premiere)
Japanese comedy superstar Hitoshi Matsumoto (DAINIPPONJIN) stars in and directs this absurd and outlandish comedy about a man trying to escape a unique dilemma.
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I guess you have all heard Wes Craven's pseudo- psychological justifications for what he does, particularly specious with regard to his position that the original “Last House on the Left” was an anti- Vietnam diatribe.
Please. Spare me.
I am inclined to believe he- as we- finds something cathartic in horror, as opposed to John Carpenter's motivation, which by his own admission is the cashola and the kudos. (No problem with that, BTW.)
As many of you edge toward equally specious (and unnecessary) justifications for your taste (I saw a reviewer only last night declare ‘I liked the movie “300”; so sue me!) I replied ‘no lawsuits coming from this neck of the woods. We live in (partially) democratic environments, for the time being. Let’s make the most of them by killing once and for all the term 'guilty pleasures'.
In a world with precious few pleasures, you are not obliged to preface your tastes with apologies, no more than a film maker should use questionable revisionism to justify his own lurid preoccupations; completely unnecessary. Don't forget, even the trashiest of horror films are attempting to do something most mainstream movies do not- to jolt us out of our complacency, and turn our thoughts to matters metaphysical; why are we here, what happens when we die, what are nightmares for, what place has 'fear' in our makeup, etc. Yes, even Sage Stallone’s clumsy gore fest.
Even he asks questions like ‘what is the shape of rage’, ‘what primal beast lurks in the heart of all man and what does it take to unleash it’, and ‘how does my Dad make his muscles look so ripped at 60?)
Chemicals account for our love of horror. As horror fans, we go places others fear to tread, because it gets our juices going. Try to remember that as horror fanatics, you are at odds with the critics- those who bleat 'how can you watch that crap'- on a conscious level because you feel at home in being jolted from your complacency, and on a subconscious level, your mind is stretching to satisfy some basic questions about life and death.
I don't know you any of you, and have no right to psychoanalyse you, but reading between the lines I sense you love horror films for the reasons I do; because they explore- often without meaning to- some fascinating philosophical questions. I don't differentiate between the 'good' and the 'bad', as these words have no meaning for me. I appreciate trash, as much as I appreciate boutique efforts like 'Jacobs Ladder' and 'Stir of Echoes', because they satisfy my desire to transcend this mortal coil, and seek out that which lies beyond.
And they are fucking good fun to boot.
But I digress; going back to Craven, I have the same reservations about the pseudo 'verite doco style artistic choices' of the original “Last House” as many others do, and I most certainly resent the fact that the primary author of the piece used the 'Vietnam bullshit' to justify his grunge drenched choices. My guess, based on the accounts of those who were there, is that the production values were not deliberate stylistic choices adopted to reference a certain US incursion into Indo China, any more than this harrowing film was a deliberate metaphor for that same incursion.
This is sheer revisionism. And it is bogus. Only Craven knows Craven’s mind, but the evidence at the time tells us without a doubt that Craven and his cronies were doing nothing more elaborate than grinding pulp (which is fine and no shame), and he spent the rest of his career justifying the style, the politics and the mythology of 'Last House' with his Johns Hopkins mouth.
Why?? The bottom line is he and Seany went from porn to grind house, (still fine) did his best with next to no dough and produced something for shock value. And it's pretty fucking good. The rest is bogus rationalisation, and we all know most humans can go days without water and weeks without food, but not one day without a healthy rationalisation.
Watching Craven in the accompanying doco on the “Last House” special edition trying to play this shit with a straight face was like watching an orang-utan high on mescal trying to jam a square block into a round hole; sad because you like the poor brute, but still sad.
Let me just say this; I admire Craven for his early film work. You probably know the ones I am talking about- perhaps we agree on the good ones, and perhaps even the bad. I must say I have a fondness even for the much maligned 'Deadly Friend'.
The thing is, I want to make it perfectly clear, and I call Craven on his 'justifications' for 'Last House'- not his work as such.
It is easy for me to sit back and criticise a working film maker, when I have only had one film made of a script.
Let's agree on one thing- it is fucking hard work making films, even bad ones- and I am very cautious about putting shit on someone else's work. I admire anyone who gets ANYTHING made, and I give them one star just for 'showing up'; getting off their arse and doing it, rather than talking about it.
I do, however, reserve the right to call bullshit when I hear it- whether it be Craven, myself, or anyone.
And reading an interview with him in an old issue of 'Total Film' again making the offending comment, I simply feel, as I have said, that Craven's revisionism of the thematic intentions of 'Last House' to be inauthentic, insincere, and not a little cowardly. He should be proud of what he has achieved, and stand by it for what it is rather than trying to justify it according to some very spurious socio cultural or political rationalisations.
I don't believe Gaspar Noe once held 'Irreversible' up as a critique of American military incursions into Iraq using the metaphor of skull crushing or forced rape. At least, it isn't in the disc commentary, and I did not notice it in any of the press. I will readily accept that it could be a comment on the dark side of masculinity, or power and repression over women, just as 'Last House' might similarly be, but I don't for a second buy the contention that they are anti war diatribes, any more than I believe 'Chainsaw' is a critique of urbanisation and the death of the small town America. They are horror films. Simple.
You can say otherwise, and you might have your own reason or agenda for saying it, but there are enough genuine political allegories out there without attaching meaning to every film that comes down the pipe with some higher meaning when they are simple, visceral, even primal entertainment.
They are what they are, period; and that is all they need be. Leave the politics to the 'politicians', and hope and pray they leave the film making to the sincere and the articulate.
When Craven or any film maker makes these rationalisations, he panders to the rank and file who question his work, when I think he would be better served simply telling them to 'fuck off'. He doesn't need to justify his films- he has nothing to justify. He has earned the right to do any film he wants; and when he feels pressured to back pedal and patch up the visceral impact of his films with bogus diatribe, he makes it harder not only for the rest of us in his pandering to the delicate minded pussies, but sets back the cause of freedom of speech by decades.
Craven was a damn fine film maker, and his early work needs no Vaseline before being rammed up our arses. 'House' and 'Hills', in particular, are classic examples of 'fuck you' film making of the first order, and he has the right- same as any of us- to do the viewing public dry and not pull out.
I suspect his edge has been softened over the years- partly because he has aged, and partly because the stress of the backlash surrounding 'House' must have been murder for him, and who wouldn't be tempted to knock off the sharp edges of their subsequent work. He is only human.
But 'Last House on the Left' stands as a testament to first class classic hardcore horror film making; it is unrivalled in it's impact, and if there are those out there with delicate sensibilities who cannot digest it in it's sheer raw simplicity without some post partum sugar coating- a la being assured it is a Vietnam allegory hence letting them 'off the hook' for watching such sadism and being a little self conscious of the fact that they might actually like it- then they can fuck right off and take their hypocrisy with them.
Stand your ground, Wes. 'House' is what it is, without the political commentary, and you know it.
And fans of Craven and horror?
Keep the faith- I know you will. You, like me, have probably been doing this most of your life, and will continue to seek out new worlds beyond this temporal plane-via the fine art of film.
Forgive they who judge, for they know not what they do...
Authorised by "The Society for the Eradication of Bullshit Artistry." (SEBA)
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Sue Lawson interviews with film editor, Michael Tronick, to discuss his career which includes such credits as Beverly Hills II, Less Than Zero, Midnight Run, Days of Thunder, Hudson Hawk, Scent of Woman, True Romance, Under Siege 2, Eraser, Remember the Titans, The Scorpion King, Hairspray, Mr & Mrs Smith and Bedtime Stories just to mention a selection of projects he has been cut in Hollywood.
