A Look Back With Dwight Edwards of The Filmcake: The 2003 Festival
In the Guest Spot today, we have Dwight Edwards, the man behind the very cool Okie-film website The Filmcake. Dwight has attended deadCENTER every year since 2002 (we’re willing to forget the two years he was absent, as he was there in spirit), and even contributed to our live blog of the festival in 2009. Every Wednesday until the festival, we’ll feature his look back at the deadCENTER film festivals of old, starting with 2002. This week: 2003
When deadCENTER moved from the lovely confines of UCO to downtown Oklahoma City, I somehow missed out in the transition. Now it seems almost inconceivable that I would miss two festivals in a row. I returned in 2005 and have attended every one since. But just because I missed out then, doesn’t mean I still can’t go back and revisit a couple of films from that 2003 festival. For this week, I watched two short films from that festival–Five F***ing Fables and Nice Night for Murder.
Five F***ing Fables — A short film–”5 separate, slightly immoral stories”–from Signe Baumane. Baumane’s animation adds a touch of mischievousness to the hand-drawn DIY school that also features the likes of Bill Plympton and Don Hertzfeldt. If you’ve ever wanted to see the vulgar drawings that reside in the spiral notebook of middle school boys come roaring to life, then Baumane is the animator for you. Five F***ing Fables explores, in that intimate hand-drawn style, the fantasies and fears of sex and murder. Coarse subject matter paired with at least the appearance of a crude animation style doesn’t always add up to a whole lot for me. But late at night, after a few (or many) Stella Artois, this is the sort of film that can be a lot of fun.
This 7-minute short film is included on the Ten Animated Films by Signe Baumane DVD and is available on Netflix.
Nice Night for Murder– This film screened at deadCENTER in the Student Competition. Twin brothers Robert & James Dastoli put together a little film that hints at classic film noir. While the results are a little shaky, it is certainly a solid effort from a couple of filmmakers who were still in their teens when it was made. Although forgivable, the film is a noticeably rough around the edges. On a couple of occasions, due perhaps to stilted line readings, overbearing music, and the look of the digital camera and lighting, it looked like the film might just veer off into porno territory. While displaying a phallic-shaped parcel, a character utters the line: “What are we going to do with the package?” Is that a MacGuffin in your pocket, or are you just happy to see me?
Judging from their website, it looks like the Dastoli brothers tend towards the type of films (like sci-fi) that better illustrate their visual effects. This one wasn’t so effect laden. So this may not be the best representation of their filmography. Nevertheless, it was a solid effort. And that illustrates one of the great things about deadCENTER. It allows emerging talents to be showcased. A shaky effort from a young filmmaker can be more encouraging and fulfilling than a solid effort from a veteran. One tip for aspiring filmmakers of any age: there is no need to pad your running time with an exhaustive credit roll (especially if the cast & crew are small to begin with). Get in and get out. I don’t need to know how many hats you wore (or how many credits you rack up) to know whether or not your film is any good. Too often, the length of the end credit sequence is inversely proportional to the quality of the film.
This 23-minute short film and a bunch of others by the brothers (including a couple of shorts screened in the 2002 deadCENTER Star Wars Films competition) are available for download at the Dastoli Digital site.
–Dwight (www.thefilmcake.com)
Next Wednesday: The 2004 festival…
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