There are numerous film festivals that movie lovers can attend throughout the United States and abroad. It’s exciting to find movie fans that also provide feedback on movies they watched or their overall experience at film festivals. Here, filmmaker and movie reviewer Zachary Hadden provides some insight on the Bare Bones International Film Festival that took place during the spring season earlier this year:
It was an evening to remember. Free food. Happy people. Nervous film makers waiting to see the response of their projects first viewing. The first feature film up was The China Room (or The Chinese Room?) which was 100 min in length. A story of a group of individuals who were down on their luck. Each were hand picked to work at "The Office", a place where you obeyed the rules or you were fired or even worse, killed. When you progress in rank, you get a new set of rules added to your assignment. Sounds like life.
I am betting the movie was based on The Chinese Room Argument, a book written in 1999 dealing with artificial intelligence. Computers programmed in a structured environment to eventually break free to think on their own. This movie seemed to give the same argument from a human perspective and asks the question, when do we pull the plug? Fifteen people could watch the movie and get 15 different responses. It was an interesting film that made you walk away scratching your head.. But wait! You couldn't walk away too quickly as the film's first time writer/director/ producer/ editor was there to answer questions.
The scriptwriting began in 2003, production in 2006 which took 6 months and was shot in Washington DC with one Canon XL2 with standard video lense and a small light kit. It took 3 years to edit. The production value was good.. especially with a total budget of $10,000. It goes to show that persistency pays. Distribution is planned through Amazon and Create Space.
Also present was the writer and director for a short film called Now and Again. It was an interesting piece dealing with a moral mistake that affected the lives of a couple. The husband, a martial arts student, witnesses the injury to his wife at the hands of some hoodlums while he stood by and did nothing. He spends the rest of his life reenacting the event on what he should have done while his wife lives in a coma at a long term care facility. It was shot with a GL1 and GL2 using straight lenses and shot in less than 2 days with $0 budget. Yes that was $0 budget.
Watching the Watchman was about a guy, sitting inside the alarm clock whose sole responsibility is to switch on the alarm as advised. He barely wakes up in time from his snooze at his desk for the 7am alarm. He rushes down hallways and stairs to get to the control center... looks at his Timex which says 7am and reaches over and flips the switch. He has such a sense of accomplishment as the alarm goes off. On the outside of the clock the man sleeping wakes up. Mission accomplished! But wait! The awakening man reaches over and does the unthinkable….Hits the snooze button. A cute short film with good quality.
The final movie of the evening was a teen slasher film called The Dark Grim. It was fast paced with a few twists and turns and by the third act, you had no idea for sure who was going to make it. The story was a culmination of Friday the 13th, Night of the Living Dead and Buffy the Vampire Slayer all rolled into one. Very imaginative and good cinematography. They did experience a lot of drop frame especially towards the end.
It would have been nice to have Nathan Ashton there to dub out the generator humming in the background during most of the 3rd act. Otherwise it was a fun film to watch and they had great effects. My favorite part of the movie is when the hero, a former hockey star, after he seemingly mortally wounds one of the teen vampires, the vampire looks up at him and sarcastically asks, "now what are you going to do?" He replies.. "I'm going to tear your head off!" and he does. You had to have been there. From then on, he was pulling off body parts right and left as he kills off the entire Senior High Class turned vampires. Great flick and I my only regret was not getting to talk to the producers of this film.
I was out by 11pm!
Have a great weekend!
Zachary Hadden’s recent projects include The Deville Witch and Why I Love Tulsa
Stay tuned for part two of this film festival experience!
Have YOU attended any film festivals? If so, what was your experience like? If not, which film festival would you like to attend? Leave your comments below.
Main photo: Scout Seventeen
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Wednesday, September 2, 2009 at 10:30PM 
