The phenomenon of zombies is two fold, the obvious one being people rising from the dead to serve the living. But the real enigma is how did a secretive Voodoo practice from Haiti find its way into our television screens and movie theaters (and on Memorial Day it can even be found on our streets!)
Zombie Walk Columbus has been running for years now. It begins in Goodale Park and makes its way along High Street. Thousands have taken part through the years and it has been welcomed as some sort of undead parade. But, where did it all begin? Where did the concept of the living-dead originate? And why do they need brains so badly?
Zombies: When the Dead Walk is a documentary that serves to answer these questions. It chronicles the cultural beginnings of the zombie ritual from Haiti all the way to its involvement in major motion pictures in the United States. The highlight of the documentary is Wade Davis, an anthropologist and writer who traveled to Haiti to find the formula used to create a zombie.
The film also does an amazing job of explaining how zombies have become such an integral part of modern day horror films. After World War I, American troops were sent to Haiti to protect U.S. assets (mainly coffee and sugar). When the troops returned, hundreds of soldiers were commissioned to record their tales amongst the Haitians. This sparked a rash of novels and films distorting some of the Voodoo practices.
The initial popularity of Voodoo films in American can easily be attributed as Western fascination with Black culture, in particular the fear of it. The films manipulate Voodoo’s practices to appear particularly threatening, as nothing sells better to the American public than that which they don’t understand. But later filmmakers like George A. Romero tweaked the racist elements and something else evolved. Our love for zombies comes from our fear of death. Death is seen as the release from pain. To not even achieve peace after death is, well, horrifying.
Q: What do dead people (as in zombies), pornography, mortgage foreclosures, genetically modified food, and strawberry jam have in common?
A: The longest running film festival in the US, the 57th Columbus International Film + Video Festival. Beginning with three “Early Bird” screenings in October the festival kicks off an amazingly diverse spread of films “you can’t see anywhere else”.
On October 15th at 6.30 pm at Studio 35 the Festival starts off with a bang with a screening co sponsored by Population Connection and the Ohio Sierra Club. Not Yet Rain is a powerful film about women’s access to family planning services and the recent legalization (but not necessarily available) of abortion procedures. Director Lisa Russell will be there to chat with at a reception after the film. On October 20th at 7 pm, also at Studio 35 the Festival presents Strong Coffee: The Story of Café Feminino. Shot mostly in Peru, Strong Coffee tells the amazing story of the women farmers who grow this high quality, certified organic, fair trade coffee. Closer to home is the October 27th 7.30 pm screening of We All Fall Down shot Ohio covers the American mortgage crises and its effect on the poor to middle-class sectors of the United States.
In November, from the 10th to the 15th the festival is showing Scientists Under Attack a German film about genetically modified food and corporate sponsored research (at Germania 11/10 at 8 pm), My Son, The Pornographer a film about a father’s visit to Prague, where his son directs porn movies (Arena Grand 11/11 at 7 pm), and on Thursday November 12 an evening of Award Winning Student Works (CCAD Canzani Center at 8pm). Friday the 13th means zombies of course, with Zombies: When the Dead Walk (CCAD Canzani Center at 8pm). Dress as a zombie and get in free! Saturday morning is for kids of all ages with Saturday Morning Cartoons From Around The World (CCAD Canzani Center at 10am). Children get in free.
Saturday evening is for grown ups with An Evening of Movies + Mead with Animation 4 Adults 2, cartoons for adults that includes hometown’s Jennifer Deafenbaugh’s Strawberry Jam. Stay for the award ceremony after the films and get a chance to meet the filmmakers. The festival wraps on Sunday with two very different screenings, The Magistical, a feature length animated film for kids (Drexel 1 pm) and closes with the Best of Festival winner One Water, (CCAD Canzani Center at 7pm), a stunning documentary that highlights a world where water is exquisitely abundant in some places and dangerously lacking in others, where taps flowing with fresh, clean water are contrasted with toxic, polluted waterways that have turned the blue arteries of our planet murky.
Most screenings are $5, some are free, CCAD screenings are free for CCAD students. For more information go to www.chrisawards.org.
Not Yet Rain ~ Thursday Oct. 15 [at Studio35] w/director, Lisa Russell in person!
6:30pm – 8:30pm
Studio 35 Cinema & Draft House (here)
3055 Indianola Ave, Columbus, OH
Join us after the film for a reception
with the director, Lisa Russell!
Not Yet Rain, a short film by Lisa Russell,
is a powerful film charting the course
of reproductive freedom in Ethiopia,
told through the voices of women who
have faced the challenge of finding safe
health care. Through their stories, we see
the important role that safe health care
plays in the overall wellbeing of women
and their families. www.notyetrain.org/
FREE Admission!
This screening is co-sponsored by Population Connection and the Central Ohio Sierra Club.
—
Please check out our Festival Events page for continued updates and a running list of events.
A returning Festival juror, this year for the Animation division, Matt Meindl in his own words is a kind of “hodgepodge filmmaker.”
Matt’s films are self-conscious and quirky, often including the filmmaker himself through image, voice, or narrative. Matt and I each returned to our hometown of Columbus a few years ago, and met one another shortly thereafter.
As a part of an ongoing attempt at highlighting the talented personalities behind the Columbus International Film + Video Festival, I conducted this recent interview via email.
———————————————–
Daniel King: Tell us a little bit about yourself, and what you’re currently doing.
Matt Meindl: Well, I’m very tall which makes it hard to find pants. When I was a teenager I started making monster movies with friends and eventually ended up at the University of Toledo, in the film/video program. The films I saw there by Chel White, Ann Marie Fleming and others really changed my idea of what a film could be and I began pushing myself to make work that was more personal and intricate.
I moved back to Columbus after graduating and have pretty much continued on that track. I’m currently trying to finish an experimental super 8 film that I’ve been shooting off and on for something like 5 years now called Inside Out/Side One. It’s a big nostalgic chunk of images and bits that are both old-timey and infinite. I’m trying to see how far I can take collage-style animation before I get bored with it. I’m also writing a new film about a regretful mummy.
Still from "Digital Underpants," by Matt Meindl (linked to streaming video)
DK: Your films blend a variety of visual languages, like stop motion animation, still images and eclectic film stock. Years ago, these were hallmarks of low budget filmmaking… but today it seems digital video is more economical than ever. What appeals to you about these practices?
MM: Yeah, I’m kind of a hodgepodge filmmaker. I’m always trying out different techniques and creating my own hybridized methods for animation, editing etc. The processes can be pretty tedious and shooting on 16mm and super 8 [film] may seem archaic but I think there is a certain look/feel/energy that is harder to achieve with digital media. Video is swell and cheap and practical but it’s also becoming more and more automated — which means that the results sometimes have less personality. But I’m not a total film purist; I shot Digital Underpants on HDV and I have all my film transferred to video for editing now.
So I sort of exploit what I like about both formats. I think it’s foolish to outright dismiss one or the other. People keep telling me that super 8 is disappearing but Kodak keeps releasing new stocks. In fact, there are more super 8 film stocks available now than in the 1970’s when the format was in its heyday!
DK: Recently you performed a live soundtrack to your film Mumble-Baby. That film strikes me as playful, but deeply personal… almost secretive. Can you tell me a bit about the imagery?
MM: Some of the imagery, especially the saturated sunset, was inspired by Richard Wright’s book “Uncle Tom’s Children” which I was reading at the time. Mumble-Baby was a student film that I made while I was both falling in love and listening to lots of prewar blues. So yeah, love and blues… two things that are emotionally resonant but also mysterious and elusive.
In the film, the wandering bluesman is always silhouetted in the distance, out of reach. You can never really get a handle on the blues because the world it grew out of is all but gone, which I guess makes it easy to romanticize. And love is even more intangible.
Still from "Mumble Baby," Matt Meindl
I think the playful aspects of the film come from using an optical printer to do the visual effects. Optical printing is an inexact science at best but can be great for experimentation.
I tried all kinds of techniques including multiple-exposure, bi-packing the film, re-photographing at different frame rates and blowing up super 8 to 16mm. I like to perform live music with it now because my singing on the original soundtrack is sort of embarrassing.
DK: Talk to me about where your recent film, T-Shirt of Me, comes from.
MM: T-shirt of Me is a super 8 comedy short with a pretty simple premise: what to do when someone gives you a t-shirt with a picture of your own face on it. It’s the idea that a lot of embarrassment and some grim social implications can arise from a silly novelty gift. Such a thing has never happened to me exactly but I have been in plenty of awkward situations that I over-analyzed to the point of ridiculousness, much like the main character (played by Natalie Lloyd) does.
The story came from Lyn Elliot, who teaches film at Penn State. We’d never met but I had seen her shorts at film festivals and thought they were uniquely funny. I read somewhere that she was interested in writing for other people so I contacted her, thinking we’d be a good creative match.
She emailed me the story and I wrote the screenplay from that so it was sort of a correspondence collaboration. I also showed Lyn an early version of the film and she suggested several cuts be made which improved things greatly.
T-shirt of Me recently screened at the Wexner Center for the Arts, the Boston Underground Film Festival and got an Honorable Mention at The United States Super 8 + Digital Video Festival.
DK: Do you know if Lyn saw any of your short films before writing the story? The subject seems well suited to your visual language.
MM: I mailed her a DVD with a few of my films so that she could decide if I was someone she wanted to work with. She hadn’t previously seen any of my shorts. And yeah, there is definitely a similar sensibility in our work. We both find humor in the mundane.
“Filmmaking used to feel like an imaginary friend but now it’s more like a Siamese twin.” – Matt Meindl
DK: If I handed you a million dollars today, how would you spend it?
MM: I ate lunch with Peter Kubelka once when he visited UT and he told me very politely, “You cannot earn a living making experimental films.” I put down my sandwich.
Kubelka is a significant avant-garde filmmaker whose work is preserved in the Library of Congress and even he has a hard time paying the bills.
So I have no grand illusions about making much money at this. I’m beginning to apply for grants and residencies but I’ll keep making films the way I want regardless ‘cause it’s too much fun and I’ve got lots to learn still. Filmmaking used to feel like an imaginary friend but now it’s more like a Siamese twin. Also, if you gave me a million dollars I’d take you out to Red Lobster. My treat.
DK: What have you seen in terms of the local film production community in Columbus?
MM: I can’t tell if Columbus’ film culture is expanding or if I’m just getting out more, but it does seem like there is a fair amount of new work being made and screened here. There are people making professional-quality (at least technically) shorts and features, trying to compete in the global film market. There are folks creating video art, installations and experimental work. I fall somewhere in between the two. In fact, I do a lot of my shooting alone in my apartment, hunched over my rickety animation stand. I think that sorta keeps me on the fringe of things, for better or worse.
My friend Sean McHenry is someone I like working with. I’m also a fan of Stacie Sells and Cassie Troyan who you recently interviewed.
There are other interesting people with fine arts backgrounds who are getting into filmmaking now and doing cool things. I’d like to believe that there is at least some degree of mutual respect among all of these folks as we’re all fighting a lot of the same battles for creation and community support.
DK: Filmmaking is often a highly collaborative process, requiring many hands to make short work of a huge multi-spindled beast. You’re willing to go it alone. Can you talk to me about the creative benefits of working alone in your studio?
MM: Films like Digital Underpants and Inside Out/Side One were made with no script or structure in mind. I was just going on feeling and instinct. And as I filmed I began to see a movie forming and tried to follow it to a satisfying end. Working off-the-cuff like that is much easier to do alone.
I can just start and stop when I want, shoot more weeks or months later when ideas come, work weird hours or holidays etc. It’s not that unusual, really. I think a lot of experimental filmmakers tend to be fairly autonomous.
Now, for scripted narratives like T-shirt of Me I do assemble a cast and crew because that’s a different kind of production process where you very much need lots of extra hands and brains. Those shoots tend to be more memorable ’cause of the friendships that develop and the creative energy that everyone drums up. And sometimes there’s catering.
DK: What keeps you creatively motivated when the energy runs low, or the money runs out?
MM: If I’m feeling low or lazy I might work on some element of a film that’s just busy-work like cutting out pictures or digitizing footage. That way I can still get a little something done each day. Working by myself on animated stuff is actually a great way to keep from going broke because it’s such a slow process and there’s so much for me to do that I can barely shoot more than a roll or two a month. So my expenses get spread out over several months or more. I do have to be careful though ’cause I pay for everything outta my own pocket.
Screenings & More:
T-shirt of Me will be screening at the Brooklyn Lyceum on July 10th as part of a Flicker NYC show (Flicker NYC)
Digital Underpants will be included in the Journal of Short Film, Volume 15 which is produced locally, available now, and includes works from 6 other filmmakers from around the world. (Journal of Short Film – http://www.thejsf.org/) (PS dear readers, an interview with its publisher coming soon!)
You won’t regret supporting a local filmmaker by picking up Matt’s DVD of T-Shirt of Me & Digital Underpants (in much higher, crystal clear resolution than the myspace versions) thru his Myspace page.
An interview with festival jurors Stacie Sells and Cassie Troyan.
This is a first installment, of a new series of profiles and interviews with festival staff, board members, and volunteers. Stacie Sells joins the festival as the Chair of the Social Issues division. She will be working closely with a team of jurors, including Cassie Troyan, throughout the summer leading to the festival event season which kicks off September 09.
OH!Film: Congratulations on joining the festival, and thank you for offering your time for this interview. Lets start with an introduction. Give me some context.
Cassandra Troyan: In terms of interests, I feel there are hundreds of different facets which inform my practice as an artist. I enjoy the work of philosopher Gilles Deleuze, appreciating cinema in general, (especially Eastern-European, French New Wave, German Expressionism, silent film, and musicals,) studying languages, and traveling abroad.
Stacie Sells: I am a recent graduate of The Ohio State University who majored in Art and Technology with a focus on more experimental video art. There isn’t a film or video program at OSU. I had to create my own by picking classes that lead me to my interests, such as the class in 1960s Avant-garde and Film Theory. This led to my recent obsession in the “old school” 1940 musicals.
OH!Film: Your film “Coup de Foudre” screened at this years Athens Film Festival as part of the Experimental Abstractions program in April.
CT: In “Coup de Foudre,” the initial intention aimed at using more personally aggressive actions as a way to subjectification, by acknowledging, then conquering stereotypes of femininity. For example, at one point I take a roll of saran-wrap and begin to bind my head with it until I can no longer breathe. Such an action suggests the silencing of women and removal of voice, although in the end with my tearing through the layers, it is representative of claiming a place from which to speak.
Still from Coup de Foudre
This sort of confrontation also occurs in the scene where the Jackalope character methodically descends a staircase, nude from the waist down. Even though this displays a partially nude female form, it is portrayed in a way in which the figure refuses just to stand docilely and be observed. By descending the staircase, and approaching the viewer below, the character situates herself in a place of movement and control. Culminating in the final filmic sequence, these ideas solidify through an intense montage of women experiencing different modes of violent control.
The German phrase written on outstretched arms, “Du weißt nicht, wogegen ich anzukämpfen habe” meaning, “You don’t know what I’m up against,” reaffirms each encounter as an affect which women face daily in society. The very last scene transgresses beyond assumptions of frailty, or women viewed purely as objects of desire, with a female form emanating brightness and declaring a position as an active subject.
SS: What else can I can say after that great explanation? This film is to bring front the issues we both strongly agree on and want to bring into the consciousness of the typical viewer.
OH!Film: This was a project in which you two collaborated. What did each of you bring to the table?
CT: This was very much a collaborative effort, and for me, even though the theoretical aspects might have leaned heavier in my direction, Stacie and I still shared a united vision with these elements. What works best within our process is that Stacie often helps me further realize esoteric ideas in aesthetic terms. We are currently working on Part II of the trilogy, and our collaboration is becoming even more egalitarian as we are now both, shooting, editing, and appearing within this video.
Still from Coup de Foudre
SS: I also believe that we worked equally on the video. Cassie sought me out initially, as she was searching to work with someone who was interested in the issue of how images socialize us within society, and especially how that relates to women. With Cassie’s vision it was more directly focused with her ideas in relation to the concrete image, but often I would take those ideas and interpret them through abstract imagery. I learned that within this collaborative process we were able to push each other’s ideas further than we might have been able to on our own.
OH!Film: Whats your take on film in Columbus?
CT: Sadly, I think it’s a little disappointing. I believe there are many venues for opportunities that have not been explored. One of the goals that Stacie and I actually have is to create/inhabit a space once a month to give video/film artists in Columbus a chance to exhibit their work.
SS: We are hoping to have the first showing some time in June. Depending on the success, hopefully it will become a reoccurring event that will provide a productive atmosphere or community that fosters feedback and support.
OH!Film: What else is there, besides video and film?
CT: At the moment, I’m working to help other artists through collaborative efforts. This is all part of a project called the Embodied Knowledge Ensemble and Volunteer Corps, initiated by Ann Hamilton’s and Michael Mercil’s graduate seminar. It is an especially exciting course because it allows for an interdisciplinary atmosphere by including students from the art dept., dance, etc. I also enjoy bike riding, playing racquetball, and baking bread.
SS: A few days out of the week I teach art classes up in Powell to all ages of children. I also have a local cottage industry business with my sister where we make mini cupcakes and sell to local customers called Little Darlin Cupcakes. I try to connect as much as I can in the art world with people in different areas of study and interest to expand my scope in the art world and show that we are all able to connect and work with one another.
This winter is giving us all extra time to sit in front of our iMovie and FCE and whatnot, so think about making an entry for the contest below.
* * *
From: J. Michael Lewis
Subject: [ColumbusMovieClub] Ohio Film Office Contest
Ohio Film Office Contest
—————————————
The Ohio Film Office is holding a contest! The goal is to get
residential filmmakers of Ohio some recognition for their talents and
skills.
The contest will begin February 18th and run for three weeks. The idea
is to get Ohio filmmakers to pair with bands and make a music video.
The video, once submitted, will be posted to a website (as yet to be
set up) which will actually be hosted up on YouTube. From there people
can vote for the videos for two weeks in order to narrow down the
field. Top entries will then be judged by a panel (members yet to be
announced).
As this is all about Ohio the videos will need to include “Ohio” as a
visual somewhere in it, be it a sign, sports team, or something else
cast in a positive light. The filmmakers MUST LIVE IN OHIO and this is
all about the INDIE.
The prize package for this is going to be pretty substantial and very
exciting. (That’s all I can say right now).
Further information, rules, prize info, eligibility, etc. is pending
and will be coming shortly. Be alert and stay tuned to hear more about
this exciting event!
This update is from Kevin Ward, GM at the Landmark’s Gateway Theater:
“We plan to have our first CineMUSEica here at the Gateway on Wednesday, February 25th. In order to have enough time to create this program we will be having an organizational meeting on Thursday, January 8th at 8:30pm at the Gateway Theater. I suggest you bring a sample of your work just in case we have the option to pair groups together. We will be covering all the logistics & the parameters you will have to work with as well as audio and video formatting.”
We close our festival tonight with the documentary A Promise to the Dead, an exploration of exile, activism, longing, and democracy through the words and memories of author/activist Ariel Dorfman. Stephen Holden of the New York Times called this film “A life changing experience…a profile in courage colored with the anxiety of a human rights activist faced with painful moral choices.”
(personal note: this is one of the best documentaries i’ve ever seen. this film seamlessly goes from a biography to a political history to a meditation on the individual’s role historic moments. it’s essential viewing for anyone who strives to be an activist or who wants to make a thoughtful film.)
DETAILS: Sun., 11/16, Canzani Center (CCAD), 60 Cleveland Ave., parking free in CCAD lots or on street, admission free for all students, all others just $5.
Thursday night is a big one for the CIF+VF. It’s our first multi-venue evening ever. If you can’t find a good time at one of these two events, . . . they probably make a pill for that.
DETAILS, EVENT #1: Student Division Winners @ CCAD; 8pm; 60 Cleveland Ave.; Admission free for students, $5 for others; parking free in CCAD lots; Join us for an evening of award-winning student films from around the world.
DETAILS, EVENT #2: “Pageant” + drag @ Axis; 8pm, 775 N. High Street (Short North); Admission $7 at the door; “Pageant” follows fifty men as they compete for the 34th Miss Gay America®. Following the film is a drag show (the Festival’s first!).
