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Music Video Monday: “It’s Just What We Talked About” by Daykisser

Daykisser is a Memphis indie band consisting of vocalist Jesse Wilcox, drummer Michael Todd, guitarist Kenneth Piper, and bassist James Rose. For “It’s Just What We Talked About”, they were joined in Calvin Luber’s Young Avenue Sound studio by vocalist Anna Utley, violinist Basil Alter, and Matt “Pistol” Stossel on pedal steel.

“The melody came in Spring 2020,” says Wilcox. “Some songs write themselves, others you have to sit with for a long period of time to complete. This was the latter. It took me over a year to finish.”

For the video, Wilcox wanted “stained glass, dancers, and a large, empty room, all of which reflected the big energy and sonics of this song.”

He got that at Grace St. Luke’s, where he and Piper had gone to elementary school. “Returning to a familiar place from childhood can give you nostalgia and warmth, and I think those sentiments were somehow captured in the video.”

The video was directed by Andrew Trent Fleming, who created one of the carefully choreographed one-shots that he has made his speciality. “With his combined experience as a director and DP, Drew Fleming took it to the level it deserved,” says Wilcox. “It was our first time collaborating together and it was truly a valuable experience for me.”

If you would like to see your music video featured on Music Video Monday, email cmccoy@memphisflyer.com.

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Cover Feature News

2020 Vision: Indie Memphis Film Festival Moves Outdoors and Online

The 23rd edition of the Indie Memphis Film Festival will be like no other. Like most activities that rely on bringing groups of people together, theatrical film screenings were brought to a screeching halt in mid-March by the coronavirus pandemic. The shutdown came at a particularly bad time for Indie Memphis. In recent years, the nonprofit has expanded from throwing an annual celebration of the art of cinema to offering year-round programming. That led to a deal with Malco Theatres to take over a screen at Studio on the Square, where Indie Memphis could showcase the eclectic collection of independent, art house, international, and just plain weird films they have been bringing to the Bluff City since 1998.

“We were set for an April opening,” says Indie Memphis executive director Ryan Watt. “Malco had just put in the new seats a week before everything started shutting down.”

Mississippi’s Oxford Film Festival was one of the first of the thousands of festivals worldwide that had to unexpectedly figure out how to carry on in the new environment. Eventive, a Memphis-based cinema services company, stepped into the breach. Eventive, which was originally founded to overhaul Indie Memphis’ ticketing system, developed a new system that allowed festivals to present their programming online, and Oxford became the test case.

Watt and Indie Memphis artistic director Miriam Bale were watching closely. “I have so much sympathy for people like Melanie [Addington] at Oxford, who were out front. We did have the advantage of learning from them. But the other thing that was always a challenge was planning things out in advance. You’re thinking not ‘What do people need right now?’ but ‘What are people going to need and want in October?’ This has been both the longest and the shortest seven months ever. There’s new crises every week, every month. I think it’s been really hard mentally on everyone and really hard economically.”

Failure was not an option. “We made the decision early on: We’re not going to cancel,” says Bale. “We saw a lot of film festivals canceled. We were just gonna exist in whatever form we could.”

But would there even be films to show? Indie Memphis typically gets thousands of entries every year, but the pandemic hit just as many filmmakers would be finishing up their projects. Watt says submissions were down, but ultimately, the creative community came through. “I was very pleasantly surprised, considering there was basically no production from March on — aside from some intimate projects that people could do at their house.”

The plan that took shape over the long, chaotic summer was to mount what Watt calls an “online and outdoor” festival. During the festival, which runs October 21-29, all of the narrative features, documentaries, shorts, experimental films, and music videos will be available online through Eventive. Memphis audiences are invited to outdoor, socially distanced screenings at venues such as the Malco Summer Drive-In, the Levitt Shell, and The Grove at Germantown Performing Arts Center, as well as pop-up screenings at Shelby Farms, the riverfront, and the Stax Museum.

As things were coming together, the Indie Memphis crew got another shock. Watt, who took over as executive director in 2015, announced his intention to resign at the end of the year.

“It’s really bittersweet,” says Brighid Wheeler, senior programmer and director of operations. “There was a point a few years ago when it was just me and Ryan sitting in the office, scrambling to put a program together, not knowing the future of Indie Memphis. In the following years, what he has done — between the amazing team he’s assembled, incredible board of directors, etc. — is nothing short of incredible, and a true testament to what leadership looks like. His leadership has given Memphis and our filmmaking community what it has always needed and deserves: a place to grow, thrive, and create in the city we love so dearly.”

Under Watt’s leadership, Indie Memphis has grown from a cozy local festival to an industry leader. In 2019, the festival attracted more than 12,000 ticket buyers, and the organization’s revenue topped $800,000. He oversaw the expansion of artist development programs, including the Youth Film Festival and the Indie Grants program. Under his watch, Indie Memphis mounted a major push to increase diversity among both the filmmakers and the audience, with programs such as the Black Creator’s Forum. In a film industry historically dominated by white men, Indie Memphis 2020 stands out with 43 percent of features directed by women and 50 percent directed by people of color.

“Ryan is such a good executive director because he approaches it like a creative producer,” Bale says. “He knows what needs to be done. But even more than that, he loves recognizing the vision of people, whether it’s local filmmakers or all of his staff. He is so good at letting us all shine. … He’s so empathetic, and sees who people are and how they can best shine. And it’s really incredibly rare in this business.”

Watt says his decision was not taken lightly. “I will always call this a dream job. That’s why it’s really hard to walk away from it. It’s meant everything to me. This is a kind of job that just kind of becomes your identity. But at the same time, as I told the staff, everything I’ve done up till now has been five- or six-year stints, where I kind of dove into something that I had very little experience in, because of the challenge and the excitement. So I think it’s just sort of the right time to hand things off. But it’s been awesome — something I will always treasure.”

Highlights from the Indie Memphis 2020 Lineup.

Film About a Father Who

Many directors describe their works as labors of love, but few earn that title as thoroughly as Indie Memphis’ opening night feature, Film About a Father Who.

Lynne Sachs says she decided to make a movie about her father, Ira Sachs Sr., in 1991. “The first material I shot, which was with my dad on this trip in Bali, where I talk about my sister and me getting angry at him and running away, was shot on VHS,” she says. “The earliest footage is from 1965. I did not shoot that, but you can see Ira [Sachs Jr.] as a baby. He was just a few months old. My mom must’ve shot it. I can tell you — because I’ve mined every bit of it — that we have 12 minutes of footage of my whole childhood.”

Film About a Father Who

Ira Sachs Sr. had a legendary career as a real estate developer and entrepreneur. He developed one of the first hotels in the ski resort town of Park City, Utah — ironically, now one of the centers of the film universe, as home to the Sundance and Slamdance Film Festivals. An early adopter of mobile phone technology, Sachs is seen early in the film wheeling and dealing while skiing down immaculate powder slopes.

But he was also an unreconstructed member of Memphis’ legendary counterculture. He smoked marijuana religiously and took pride in never venturing out to the square world beyond East Parkway. In the 1970s, he bought a crumbling Victorian home on Adams Avenue in Downtown Memphis for $14,000 and renovated it, at least enough to live in. It’s now the site of Mollie Fontaine Lounge restaurant.

“When my dad lived on Adams [Avenue], he never locked his doors,” says Lynne Sachs. “So when I look back on that, I can say, ‘Whoa, I had this kind of hippie life for part of the week, and isn’t that interesting? And isn’t that different from all the other middle-class kids’ parents?’ But on the other hand, you had no idea who was going to walk in. There was always this ambiguity between being very much a free spirit and being vulnerable and awkward and open to something that you don’t want. … It wasn’t easy to be growing older, but my dad’s girlfriends were always staying the same age.”

In this confessional documentary, Lynne Sachs creates a warts-and-all portrait of a mercurial and ultimately fascinating man. “I would have long periods of time, like a year at a time, where I was scared to make it, or I’d say I’ve had enough, this is exhausting. I had to reckon with that space between rage — which I had plenty of times — and forgiveness, which was part of almost every interaction that my dad and I had. I would go from one extreme to the other. A good photograph has a pure black and a pure white — and then it also has all of those grays in between.”

Coming to Africa

Anwar Jamison’s third film bops along to the buoyant groove of high life, the music of contemporary Ghana. Coming to Africa is the result of the Memphis director’s long-standing fascination. He says that all too often Americans see Africa as a place of poverty and war. But the reality is much more complicated.

“It felt silly, how much we buy into the one image of it that we generally see,” he says. “I saw the reactions just from still pictures I would show people. Like, ‘Would you believe this Apple Store is in a mall in Africa?’ People really were surprised like, ‘Oh, I just, I didn’t consider that.’ And that crosses all boundaries of race class. In America, we’ve always been less knowledgeable about foreign countries than they are about us. There’s a certain comfort level we have. We’re Americans. Everybody follows our trends. That makes us lazy when it comes to really understanding other people’s cultures. So I just knew it would be great subject matter for a movie.”

Coming to Africa

Jamison plays Adrian, an ambitious executive climbing the corporate ladder while flitting freely from one girlfriend to another. But when he is passed over for a promotion in favor of a less-qualified white colleague, he quits his high-powered job and joins his brother Adonis, played by poet Powwah Uhuru, on a vacation to Accra, the prosperous capital city of Ghana. There he meets and falls in love with Akosua, played by Nana Ama McBrown, and finds a life richer than mere ambition.

It took Jamison years to put together the bi-continental production, which saw him casting in Memphis and Accra simultaneously. His co-star, McBrown, is “literally the biggest star in Ghana,” he says. “It was amazing, being around her and seeing people’s reactions and how she carries herself. She’s really a superstar. You drive around the city, and every five minutes, she’s going to be on some other billboard.”

Jamison didn’t plan to be McBrown’s co-star. He originally cast a Memphis actor as his lead so he could concentrate on directing and “show up to the set in sweatpants.” But when the crew was already in Ghana, disaster struck. “The lead actor that I had secured for the movie, this guy doesn’t get on the plane two days before we’re shooting! We’re supposed to start shooting on Monday. He’s flying out Saturday morning and he’s given me these fake excuses. Then he sent me a text that said, ‘You’ve been really cool about everything, man. But I think maybe Africa was just too much at this time.’ And that’s when it clicked for me. He’s just scared to come over here. At the last minute he got cold feet. I turned to my producer and said, ‘See? That’s why we’re doing this movie. So people don’t have to feel like that.'”

We Can’t Wait

Director Lauren Ready has two Indie Memphis Audience Awards on her shelf: One for 2017’s documentary short “Bike Lee,” and the other for 2018’s “You Must Believe.” She was watching Street Fight, the Academy Award-nominated documentary about now-Senator Cory Booker’s run for mayor of Newark, New Jersey, when she had the idea for her first feature. “I thought, ‘Oh my gosh, we’ve got to capture what’s happening in Memphis!”

Tami Sawyer, the hero of the Take ‘Em Down 901 movement that sparked the removal of Confederate monuments from Memphis public spaces, was running for mayor against popular incumbent Jim Strickland and Willie Herenton, the city’s first Black chief executive. “History is unfolding,” Ready recalled. “Regardless of the outcome of the election, the fact that there’s a Black millennial female running for mayor who just became a County Commissioner a year ago — there’s a story here.”

We Can’t Wait

Ready met with Sawyer to negotiate a deal to create We Can’t Wait. “I basically said, ‘In order to capture this, I have to be fair. So I want to make sure that you will give us access to the good, the bad, and the ugly. I can’t just tell this beautiful story, because that’s not how it’s going to go. I had my hopes about how it would come out, from a story perspective. I was hoping that history would unfold in such a way that it’d be like, ‘Wow, we just documented the first Black female mayor!’ But I also knew that that might not be the case.”

Sawyer did not win, but that just might have made We Can’t Wait a richer story. Ready’s cameras offer a fly-on-the-wall view of an insurgent candidate learning hard lessons in real time. Sawyer’s charisma and the depth of her commitment shines through as she battles through a dramatic campaign. “It was a roller coaster,” says Ready. “In the documentary, there’s so much foreshadowing. We didn’t realize as we were capturing it.”

We Can’t Wait is part of a tradition of political cinema vérité that goes back to the 1960 film Primary, capturing John F. Kennedy’s campaign against Hubert Humphrey for the Democratic presidential nomination. Ready credits Sawyer’s bravery for allowing her access. “I’m really grateful that she trusted me and my team to do this, because there were many times where she could have said, ‘Okay, we’re done. Leave. I don’t want this. Turn the camera off.’ She never did any of that.”

Sawyer declined to participate in the editing process, allowing Ready freedom to tell the story as honestly as possible. “It’s a moment in time,” says the director. “It’s what our cameras captured in that moment, as opposed to this very specifically, carefully crafted piece that makes her look a certain way. No, this is what we got. You get to see what we got, and nothing about it is doctored in a way that makes it seem like anything other than what we saw.”

I Blame Society

When Gillian Horvat’s 2015 short film “Kiss Kiss Fingerbang” won the Jury Award at South by Southwest, she thought her dream of directing Hollywood feature films was in reach. Winning at a prestigious film festival was sure to open doors. But it didn’t work out that way. She found work creating documentaries on film history, but the real breakthrough eluded her. “I was talking with my producers on another movie, and we were having trouble beating that stigma of being a first-time director, which is much, much stronger for a woman than for a male director.”

Horvat mentioned an old documentary project she had abandoned years before. “I would go around and interview all my friends in very ominous locations, like an empty parking lot or the middle of the forest. I asked them whether they think I would make a good murderer, and they were like, ‘No, that sounds crazy!'”

I Blame Society

When she showed them the film, the producers loved it, and I Blame Society was born. The film deftly twists fiction and reality. It’s not quite a mockumentary: funny, but not a full comedy; tense, but not a traditional thriller. Horvat, who wrote, produced, and directed, stars as a stylized version of herself, a struggling filmmaker in Hollywood. Her manic pixie demeanor is a front she developed from being told repeatedly that her female protagonists are “not likable.” Desperate to succeed, she sets out to make a film unlike anything seen before. She self-consciously starts down the path toward homicide, filming her every move with GoPros and iPhones. Her first crime is shoplifting, but once she films herself succeeding at the crime, she returns the items to the store. Then she proceeds to breaking and entering. Once she gets her first taste of murder, she wants more, and her nice-girl routine starts to look more and more like a sociopath’s front. “That’s definitely drawing from life,” Horvat says. “I’m super polite, but I’m full of rage.”

I Blame Society is a masterful black comedy in the tradition of Heathers or Man Bites Dog, drawing laughter and blood in equal measures. There’s also an unmistakable political subtext. “This film is an early, post-#MeToo film. Female filmmakers are now being told that the problem has been fixed. They have a seat at the table, and everybody cares. But in my opinion, very little has changed. Maybe a few toxic people have lost their jobs, but they’ve been replaced by other men who just can watch what they say better and maybe aren’t so handsy.”

Instead of dictating stories with “strong female leads,” Horvat says producers need to empower women to tell their own stories. “I think seeing women on screen who are messier and complicated and make mistakes is going to be a lot more validating, and also is going to make it easier for men and women to work together, because it’s going to turn around these mistaken perceptions.”

The Memphis Masters

“It almost feels like a responsibility,” says director Andrew Trent Fleming. “If you can tell stories about your hometown, you kind of have to, because no one else is gonna do it.”

Fleming got his chance to explore a significant chunk of music history when Brandon Seavers, CEO of Memphis Record Pressing, contacted him to produce a series of short documentaries to accompany reissues of Stax classics. The Memphis Masters gets the original players back together to discuss the creation of records such as the Bar-Kays’ Gotta Groove, the Staple Singers’ “If You’re Ready (Come Go With Me),” and Melting Pot by Booker T. & the M.G.’s.

The Memphis Masters

“The project itself is like a dream for a filmmaker like me,” Fleming says. “I’m a huge music fan, and I just love telling music stories. These Memphis artists are heroes of mine. I’ve been hearing about Booker T. since I was a kid. Just getting to sit down with Steve Cropper — I feel really lucky that I even get to do that! I never take it for granted.”

To provide context, Fleming also got some contemporary artists to talk about the impact Stax music had on their lives. “We had Robert Trujillo from Metallica talking about how the Bar-Kays were one of his favorite bands, and why he got into playing music in the first place. He’s a bass player inspired by James Alexander, and that’s just crazy to me! Would you ever think Metallica would be talking about the Bar-Kays? We talked to Mike Mills from R.E.M., who absolutely loves Big Star. We got Walshy Fire from Major Lazer, who talked about Johnnie Taylor’s ‘Who’s Making Love.'”

Shot in a creamy black-and-white, Fleming gives his subjects the respectful treatment they deserve. “I don’t feel like a filmmaker. I feel like a huge fan who gets to sit in the room with the camera. I think the best way to make a documentary is just to try to learn about something.”

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Film Features Film/TV

1917

The year 2019 was a banner one for Memphis short films. One of the best — and certainly the most technically challenging to produce — was “A Night Out” by Kevin Brooks and Abby Myers. Winner of the Memphis Film Prize, “A Night Out” is done in one continuous, 10-minute shot by cinematographer Andrew Trent Fleming, who follows actress Rosalyn Ross up and down the stairs at Molly Fontaine’s. The hard part was to make it seamless while passing through different lighting conditions and requiring a dozen actors to hit their marks exactly right at the same time.

The origin of the seamless, one-shot trick is Alfred Hitchcock’s 1948 film Rope. Hitch took advantage of a then-new camera that held 10 minutes worth of film and staged his parlor murder mystery as a play on a soundstage. The cuts in the 74-minute film are concealed with camera moves and lighting tricks.

Ten years later, Orson Welles would take Hitch’s innovation and run with it. The unbroken, three-minute-and-twenty-second opening shot of Touch of Evil sets up the entire plot and introduces the main characters with spectacular swoops and daring close-ups.

The modern vogue for long takes began with Alfonso Cuarón’s 2006 Children of Men, which features a climactic battle sequence that takes six minutes to unfold as Clive Owen runs through an urban hellscape. Since then, bravado long takes have popped up in everything from Gaspar Noé’s trashy psychedelic dance picture Climax to Cuarón’s sentimental prestige picture Roma. But these films use long takes as a seasoning. The last film to attempt the full Rope trick was Alexander Sokurov’s 2002 film Russian Ark

Enter director Sam Mendes (who most recently directed two James Bond movies) and his war film 1917. The story is based on the experience of his grandfather Alfred Mendes on the Western Front during World War I. It opens with a pair of English soldiers napping on a beautiful April morning near the Belgian-French border. Lance Corporals Schofield (George MacKay) and Blake (Dean-Charles Chapman) have no idea what kind of day they’re about to have when their commanding officer picks them for a mission.

After fighting over the same few acres of ground for more than a year, the Germans have unexpectedly withdrawn to a new position. An English battalion, which happens to include Blake’s brother, is set to launch an all-out attack to capitalize on this unexpected development. But Allied high command has discovered that they’re charging into a trap. Since the Germans cut the telephone lines on their way out, Blake and Schofield must carry word to Colonel MacKenzie (Benedict Cumberbatch), telling him to call off the attack. The pair of buddies sets out to cross nine miles of battlefield to deliver the message that could save 1,000 lives.

Mendes’ best move in 1917 was tapping Roger Deakins, our greatest living cinematographer, to shoot this intimate story of individual heroism set against the backdrop of an epic conflict. With digital imaging technology, lightweight cameras, cranes and dollies with fully programmable computer controls, and CGI to paint over the gaps, Deakins’ task is superficially easier than Hitchcock’s. But there’s really no comparison. Rope was a bottle show, while 1917 takes place outdoors, ranging up and down trenches stuffed with soldiers, through bunkers rocked by shelling and craters filled with corpses.

Not so quiet on the Western Front — George MacKay (above) risks life and limb in 1917.

The best sequence in a film made of nothing but impossible images comes after night falls on the worst day of our protagonists’ lives. Schofield sneaks through a bombed-out French town, his progress lit by flashing explosions, shimmering flares, and a raging bonfire. Deakins uses the flickering shadows like a German Expressionist, creating ephemeral representations of our hero’s haunted mental state.

The other great film from the 1950s that pioneered the long take is Paths of Glory. If 1917 has a direct inspiration, it’s Stanley Kubrick’s searing 1957 World War I film. Both Kirk Douglas’ one-shot tour of the trenches and his march across No Man’s Land are directly referenced by Mendes to great effect. But the visual callbacks to a legendary anti-war film raise issues that 1917 skirts. Not that Mendes shrinks from putting the horrors of war in your face — far from it. But Kubrick is explicit that war is empty vanity. Mendes is focused on the technical trickery, pacing his film like a first-person shooter to keep you engaged in the action. It wouldn’t do to lose your attention while Blake and Schofield trudge through a field with no one to shoot at them. Maybe Truffaut was right when he said “Every film about war ends up being pro-war” — especially one like 1917 that looks so damn good.

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Film/TV Film/TV/Etc. Blog

Indie Memphis Day 3: Legends, Queens, and Sorcerer

Varda by Agnes

Indie Memphis 2019 kicks into high gear on Friday with its first full day of films and events. The first screening of the day comes at 10:40 AM with the music documentary The Unicorn, director Tim Geraghty’s portrait of gay psychedelic country musician Peter Grudzien.

Indie Memphis Day 3: Legends, Queens, and Sorcerer

3:30 at Playhouse on the Square is the second annual Black Creators Forum Pitch Rally. Eight filmmakers will present their projects they want to film in Memphis on stage, and a jury will decide which one will receive the $10,000 prize, presented by Epicenter Memphis. The inaugural event was very exciting last year, and with this year’s line up of talent (which you can see over on the Indie Memphis website), it promises to be another great event.

Over at Studio on the Square at 3:40 p.m. is the final work by a giant of filmmaking. Varda by Agnes is a kind of cinematic memoir by the mother of French New Wave, Agnes Varda. It’s a look back at the director’s hugely influential career, made when she was 90 and completed shortly before her death last March. Here’s a clip:

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Part 2 of the unprecedentedly strong Hometowner Narrative Shorts competition field screens at Ballet Memphis at 6:15 p.m. “Shadow in the Room” is an impressionistic short by director Christian Walker. Based on a Memphis Dawls song, and featuring exquisite cinematography by Jared B. Callen, it stars Liz Brasher, Cody Landers, and the increasingly ubiquitous Syderek Watson, who had a standout role on this week’s Bluff City Law.

Waheed AlQawasmi produced “Shadow In The Room” and directed the next short in the bloc, “Swings.” Based on the memoir by ballerina Camilia Del, who also stars in the film, it deftly combines music from Max Richter with Del’s words and movement.

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“A Night Out” is Kevin Brooks and Abby Myers’ short film which took this year’s Memphis Film Prize. It’s a technical tour de force—done entirely in a single, 13-minute tracking shot through Molly Fontaine’s by cinematographer Andrew Trent Fleming. But it also carries an emotional punch, thanks to a bravado performance by Rosalyn R. Ross.

In “Greed” by writer/director A.D. Smith, a severely autistic man, played by G. Reed, works as a human calculator for a drug lord. But while he is dismissed by the gun-toting gangsters around him, he might not be as harmless as he seems.

Indie Memphis Day 3: Legends, Queens, and Sorcerer (4)

Andre Jackson’s tense and chilling “Stop” finds two men, one a cop and the other a mysterious stranger from his past, reunited by a chance encounter on the road.

STOP Teaser Trailer from Andre Jackson on Vimeo.

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Kyle Taubkin’s “Soul Man” earned big applause at the Memphis Film Prize, thanks to a heartfelt performance by Curtis C. Jackson as a washed-up Stax performer trying to come to grips with his past.

Soul Man – Teaser #1 (2019) from Kyle Taubken on Vimeo.

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Director Morgan Jon Fox, whose documentary This Is What Love In Action Looks Like is one of the best-loved films ever to screen at Indie Memphis, returns to the festival with his latest short “The One You Never Forget.” A touching story with incredible performances by two teenage actors, this film has had a killer run on the festival circuit that climaxes with this screening.

At Ballet Memphis at 9:00 p.m. is the Hometowner Documentary Short Competition bloc, featuring new work by a number of Memphis documentarians. Matthew Lee’s “9.28.18” is a wonderfully shot, verité portrait of a very eventful day in the Bluff City. Indie Memphis veteran Donald Myers returns with heartfelt memories of his grandfather, Daniel Sokolowski, and his deep connection with his hometown of Chicago in “Sundays With Gramps.” Shot in the burned-out ruins of Elvis Presley’s first house, “Return to Audubon” by director Emily Burkhead and students at the Curb Institute at Rhodes College presents an incredible performance by Susan Marshall of Elvis’ “Heartbreak Hotel. Shot in the churches of Memphis and rural Mississippi, “Soulfed” by Zaire Love will tempt your appetite with an examination of the intimate connection between religion and cuisine. “That First Breath,” a collaboration between Danielle Hurst, Madeline Quasebarth, and Kamaria Thomas, interviews Mid-South doulas and advocates for a more humane and natural childbirth experience. “How We Fall Short” by Brody Kuhar and Julie White is a six-minute dive into the Tennessee criminal justice system. “Floating Pilgrims” by David Goodman is a portrait of the vanishing culture of people who live on boats in the Wolf River Harbor. “St. Nick” is Lauren Ready’s story of a high school athlete fighting debilitating disease. “Fund Our Transit” by Synthia Hogan turns its focus on activist Justin Davis’ fight for better transportation options in Memphis. And finally, Zaire Love’s second entry, “Ponzel,” is one black woman’s search for meaning in an uncertain world.

The competition feature Jezebel (9:30 p.m., Hattiloo Theatre) by director Numa Perrier focuses on the story of a young black woman in Las Vegas who is forced to take a job as a cam girl when the death of her mother threatens to leave her homeless. The emotional heart of the film is the conflict that arises when the protagonist discovers that she kind of likes being naughty with strangers on the internet, and the dangers that arise when one of her clients gets too close.

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Outdoors in the big tent block party, the premiere musical event of the festival happens at 8:30 p.m. Unapologetic Records will celebrate the release of its new compilation album Stuntarious IV with a show featuring performances by A Weirdo From Memphis, IMAKEMADBEATS, C Major, Kid Maestro, She’Chinah, Aaron James, and Cameron Bethany. Expect surprises and, well, lots of mad beats!

Finally, at midnight, a pair of screenings of classic films—for various definitions of the word “classic”— at Studio on the Square. Queen of the Damned is Michael Rymer’s adaptation of the third novel in Anne Rice’s vampire trilogy. Pop star Aaliyah starred as vampire queen Akasha, and had just finished the film when she died in a plane crash in the Bahamas. The film has become something of a camp classic, and is probably most notable today for inspiring a ton of great Halloween costumes.

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The other screening is Exorcist director William Friedkin’s masterpiece Sorcerer. Starring Roy Scheider as an anti-hero in charge of a ragtag group of desperados trying to move a truckload of nitroglycerin through the Amazon jungle, it’s a gripping ride through human greed.

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Come back tomorrow for another daily update on Indie Memphis 2019.

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Film/TV Film/TV/Etc. Blog

Indie Memphis Day 1: Hometowner Shorts Will Rock Your World

C.W. Robertson, Rheannan Watson, and Syderek Wilson in ‘Always Open: The Eureka Hotel’.

My advice to people who are first-time film festival goers is always the same: Go to a short-film program. The movies you will see at a film festival are different from what you normally see in a theater or on your favorite streaming service. That’s the point. For the audience, film festivals are communal events dedicated to discovery. But not every film is for everyone. That is also the point. For filmmakers, film festivals are about finding your audience. It’s a two-way street. The big advantage of a shorts program is that, if you see something you don’t like, it will be over soon, and you’ll get to see something different that you might like better.

That probably won’t be the case with Indie Memphis’ opening night at Crosstown Theater. After the opener, Harriet, is the first of two blocs of the Hometowner Narrative Shorts competition, which has the strongest field in years. The screenplay for the first film “Always Open: The Eureka Hotel” secured writer/director Jamey Hatley the first ever Indie Memphis Black Filmmaker Fellowship for Screenwriting. The Eureka Hotel has five stars on Trip Advisor, but it’s invisible from the outside — unless you have a reservation. The proprietor, Mrs. Landlady (Rosalyn R. Ross) seems to exist out of time, always there to help folks in distress, such as a young woman in trouble (Rheannan Watson) who is being forced to head north by her father (Syderek Watson) and brother (C.W. Robertson).

Darian Conly, aka A Weirdo From Memphis, and Ron Gephart in ‘Life After Death’

You think your worries are over once you’ve passed on? Sorry, no. Noah Glenn’s “Life After Death” slayed at this year’s Memphis Film Prize. Written by Glenn and Julia McCloy, shot by Andrew Trent Fleming, the film stars Sean Harrison Jones as a man attending a support group for the legally deceased. The comedy also features rapper A Weirdo From Memphis in his acting debut.

‘Now The Sun Asks To Rise’

“Now The Sun Asks To Rise” is the latest beautiful and tragic short from writer/director Joshua Cannon. John Sneed and Joy Murphy star as a parents overcome by grief for their daughter. Their sadness touches everything, even the musician father’s love of music. Beautifully shot by Nate Packer and Sam Leathers and deftly edited by Laura Jean Hocking, this one is a real heartstring tugger.

Shi Smith in ‘Tagged’

“Tagged” by director Daniel Ferrell was the winner of one of last year’s Indie Grants for narrative shorts. Shi Smith stars as a brash graffiti artist who never saw a blank wall she didn’t want to decorate. On the run from the law and the local gangs patrolling their turf, she just won’t quit until the art is finished. The film features some ace photography from Ryan Earl Parker.

Kharmyn Aanesah in ‘The Bee’

I haven’t seen everything screening at Indie Memphis 2019, but I would be shocked if the best performance by a child actor came from someone other than Kharmyn Aanesah in “The Bee.” Director Alexandria Ashley’s finely tuned film features Aanesah as a young woman named McKenzie who is obsessed with preparing for her school’s upcoming spelling bee. But when a jealous classmate makes a cutting remark, she finds herself suddenly self-conscious about her appearance. This incisive film, which tackles head-on the brains vs. beauty dilemma that society imposes on young woman, is supported by an equally great performance by Chontel Willis as McKinzie’s long-suffering mother.

Nathan Ross Murphy in ‘The Indignation of Michael Busby’

You can see actor Nathan Ross Murphy in the Hometowner feature Cold Feet. But he’s never been better than in the film he wrote and directed for this year’s festival, “The Indignation of Michael Busby.” He plays the title role, a Walter Mitty-type salaryman who has a secret crush on his co-worker Rose (Rosalyn R. Ross, of course) is dismissed by co-worker Nick (Jacob Wingfeld), and bullied by his boss Tom (Allen C. Gardner from Cold Feet, returning the favor). He escapes into fantasy, but soon reality itself breaks down, and a shift in perspective tells a very different story. Well shot by Eddie Hanratty, it’s a strong closer to the night’s program.

Come back to Memphis Flyer.com for continuing coverage of Indie Memphis 2019.

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Music Video Monday: Joe Restivo

Music Video Monday is getting jazzed.

You’ve probably seen Memphis guitarist Joe Restivo playing with the Bo Keys, or the Love Light Orchestra, or in any of the other ensembles where he regularly provides six-string support. But he’s more than a sideman. His new album Where’s Joe?, released last week on Blue Barrel Records, shows off more than just his raw chops. His melodic sense is on full display in this music video for “Starlight Motel”. Directed by Andrew Trent Fleming and Jason Lee, it’s an ode to the seedier side of the hospitality industry, ending with a confab in front of every Midtowner’s favorite dive, The Lamplighter. Take a tumble.

Music Video Monday: Joe Restivo

Joe Restivo will be playing at the Green Room in Crosstown Concourse on Thursday, August 1.

If you’d like to see your music video featured on Music Video Monday, email cmccoy@memphisflyer.com

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Music Video Monday: Top 10 Memphis Music Videos of 2018

Memphis music was vibrant as ever in 2018. Every week, the Memphis Flyer brings you the latest and best video collaborations between Bluff City filmmakers and musicians in our Music Video Monday series. To assemble this list, I rewatched all 34 videos that qualified for 2018’s best video and scored them according to song, concept, cinematography, direction and acting, and editing. Then I untangled as many ties as I could and made some arbitrary decisions. Everyone who made the list is #1 in my book!

10. Louise Page “Blue Romance”

Flowers cover everything in this drag-tastic pop gem, directed by Sam Leathers.

Music Video Monday: Top 10 Memphis Music Videos of 2018 (13)


9. Harlan T. Bobo “Nadine” / Fuck “Facehole”

Our first tie of the list comes early. First is Harlan T. Bobo’s sizzling, intense “Nadine” clip, directed by James Sposto.

Music Video Monday: Top 10 Memphis Music Videos of 2018 (11)

I used science to determine that Fuck’s Memphis Flyer name drop is equal to “Nadine”.

Music Video Monday: Top 10 Memphis Music Videos of 2018 (12)

8. Aaron James “Kauri Woods”

The smokey climax of this video by Graham Uhelski is one of the more visually stunning things you’ll see this year.

Music Video Monday: Top 10 Memphis Music Videos of 2018 (10)


7. Daz Rinko “New Whip, Who Dis?”

Whaddup to rapper Daz Rinko who dropped three videos on MVM this year. This was the best one, thanks to an absolute banger of a track.

Music Video Monday: Top 10 Memphis Music Videos of 2018 (9)


6. (tie) McKenna Bray “The Way I Loved You” / Lisa Mac “Change Your Mind”

I couldn’t make up my mind between this balletic video from co-directors Kim Lloyd and Susan Marshall…

Music Video Monday: Top 10 Memphis Music Videos of 2018 (7)

…and this dark, twisted soundstage fantasy from director Morgan Jon Fox.

Music Video Monday: Top 10 Memphis Music Videos of 2018 (8)

5. Brennan Villines “Better Than We’ve Ever Been”

Andrew Trent Fleming got a great performance out of Brennan Villines in this bloody excellent clip.

Music Video Monday: Top 10 Memphis Music Videos of 2018 (6)


4. (tie) Nick Black “One Night Love” / Summer Avenue “Cut It Close”

Nick Black is many things, but as this video by Gabriel DeCarlo proves, a hooper ain’t one of ’em.

Music Video Monday: Top 10 Memphis Music Videos of 2018 (4)

The kids in Summer Avenue enlisted Laura Jean Hocking for their debut video.

Music Video Monday: Top 10 Memphis Music Videos of 2018 (5)

3. Cedric Burnside “Wash My Hands”

Beale Street Caravan’s I Listen To Memphis series produced a whole flood of great music videos from director Christian Walker and producer Waheed Al Qawasmi. I could have filled out the top ten with these videos alone, but consider this smoking clip of Cedric Burnside laying down the law representative of them all.

Music Video Monday: Top 10 Memphis Music Videos of 2018 (3)

2. Don Lifted “Poplar Pike”

I could have filled out the top five with work from Memphis video auteur Don Lifted, aka Lawrence Matthews, who put three videos on MVM this year. To give everybody else a chance, I picked the transcendent clip for “Poplar Pike” created by Mattews, Kevin Brooks, and Nubia Yasin.

Music Video Monday: Top 10 Memphis Music Videos of 2018

1. Lucero “Long Way Back Home”

Sorry, everybody, but you already knew who was going to be number one this year. It’s this mini-movie created by director Jeff Nichols, brother of Lucero frontman Ben Nichols. Starring genuine movie star (and guy who has played Elvis) Michael Shannon, “Long Way Back Home” is the best Memphis music video of 2018 by a country mile.

Music Video Monday: Top 10 Memphis Music Videos of 2018 (2)

Thanks to everyone who submitted videos to Music Video Monday in 2018. If you’d like to see your music video appear on Music Video Monday in 2019, email cmccoy@memphisflyer.com. 

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Music Video Monday: Chris Milam

It’s just another gig for Music Video Monday.

There are lots of songs about life on the road. But when it’s the Rolling Stones or Bob Seger singing about the hardships of the tour, it falls a little flat. Those songs are more like humblebrags than honest laments. But the video for Chris Milam’s “Kids These Days”, shot by Andrew Trent Fleming, and co-directed by Milam and MVM frequent flyer Ben Siler, rings true to the struggles of the small timer trying to break in to the business. But it’s not all grim grind—there are little moments of magic that keep Milam going. It’s those evocative mood swings that make this video work so well.

Music Video Monday: Chris Milam

If you would like to see your music video featured on Music Video Monday, email cmccoy@memphisflyer.com

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Music Video Monday: Top 20 Memphis Music Videos of 2016 (Part 2)

Dr. James Gholson leads Craig Brewer’s ‘Our Conductor – Artists Only Remix’

 Let’s do this.

10. Kphonix “When It’s Tasty”
Director: Mitch Martin

What goes with disco better than lasers? Nothing.

Music Video Monday: Top 20 Memphis Music Videos of 2016 (Part 2)

9. Hormonal Imbalance “That Chick’s Boyfriend”
Director: Jamie Hall
Rising Fyre Productions gives Susan Mayfield and Ivy Miller’s gross-out punk the no-holds-barred video they deserve. Not safe for work. Or life.

Music Video Monday: Top 20 Memphis Music Videos of 2016 (Part 2) (2)

8. “Our Conductor – Artists’ Only Remix”
Director: Craig Brewer
When the Memphis Grizzlies hired Craig Brewer to make a promotional video to help persuade Mike Connelly to stay, he gathered an A team of Memphis talent, including producers Morgan Jon Fox and Erin Freeman, cinematographer Ryan Earl Parker, assistant director Sarah Fleming, Brandon Bell, and Firefly Grip and Electric. Prolific composer Jonathan Kirkscey was tapped to write an inspiring score, which would be performed by musicians from the Stax Music Academy and members of local orchestras, and the Grizzline drummers. Dancers from Collage Dance Collective, joined jookers from the Grit N’ Grind Squad.

After a shoot at the FedEx Forum, Editor Edward Valibus cut together a b-roll bed to lay the interviews on. His rough cut turned out to be one of the best music videos of the year.

Music Video Monday: Top 20 Memphis Music Videos of 2016 (Part 2) (3)


7. Brennan Villines “Crazy Train”
Director: Andrew Trent Fleming
This unexpectedly poignant Ozzy cover was the second music video Villines and Fleming collaborated on this year, after the stark “Free”. Where that one was simple, this one goes big.

Music Video Monday: Top 20 Memphis Music Videos of 2016 (Part 2) (4)


6. Lisa Mac “Mr. Mystery”

Director: Melissa Anderson Sweazy
There’s no secret to making a great music video. Just take a great song, a great dancer, a great location, and some crackerjack editing. All the elements came together brilliantly for Sweazy’s second entry in the countdown.

Music Video Monday: Top 20 Memphis Music Videos of 2016 (Part 2) (5)

5. Marco Pavé “Cake”
Director GB Shannon

Shannon used the WREC building as the main setting in his short film “Broke Dick Dog”, and he returns with a cadre of dancers and a stone cold banger from Pavé. Go get that cake.

Marco Pavé "Cake" Music Video from VIA on Vimeo.

Music Video Monday: Top 20 Memphis Music Videos of 2016 (Part 2) (6)

4. Chackerine “Memphis Beach”
Director: Ben Siler

This three minute epic keeps switching gears as it accelerates to a Jurassic punchline. Its sense of chaotic fun took the prize at the revived Indie Memphis music video category.

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3. Yo Gotti “Down In The DM”
Director: Yo Gotti

It was Yo Gotti’s year. The Memphis MC racked up a staggering 101 million views with this video, which features cameos from Cee-Lo Green, Machine Gun Kelley, YG, and DJ Khalid. The video must have worked, because the song peaked at number 13 on the Billboard Hot 100.

Music Video Monday: Top 20 Memphis Music Videos of 2016 (Part 2) (8)

2. John Kilzer & Kirk Whalum “Until We’re All Free”
Dir: Laura Jean Hocking

Two things brought “Until We’re All Free” to the list’s penultimate slot. First, it’s a perfect example of synergy between music and image, where both elements elevate each other. Second is the subtle narrative arc; Amurica photobooth owner Jamie Harmon selling false freedom seems suddenly prophetic. The social justice anthem struck a chord with viewers when it ran with the trailers at some Malco theaters this spring. The parade of cute kids helped, too.

Music Video Monday: Top 20 Memphis Music Videos of 2016 (Part 2) (9)

1. Don Lifted “Harbor Hall”
Director Lawrence Matthew
s
Matthews is a multi-tasker, combining visual art with hip hop in his live performances and controlling his videos. His two videos from his album Alero feature his beaten up domestic sedan as a character. Its the total artistic unity that puts “Harbor Hall” at the pinnacle of 2016 videos. Because my rules limited each musical artist to one video, Matthews’ 11-minute collaboration with filmmaker Kevin Brooks “It’s Your World” doesn’t appear on the list. I chose “Harbor Hall” because of its concision, but “It’s Your World” would have probably topped the list, too.
Here it is, Memphis, your Best Music Video of 2016:

Music Video Monday: Top 20 Memphis Music Videos of 2016 (Part 2) (10)

Keep those videos coming, artists and filmmakers! Tip me off about your upcoming music video with an email to cmccoy@memphisflyer.com.

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Music Video Monday: Indie Memphis

This week marks the return of the music video competition to the Indie Memphis Film Festival.

In 2000s, Indie Memphis co-sponsored a music video competition with the much-missed community arts web site Live From Memphis, but the Music Video Showcase has been AWOL for five years. In an era where YouTube is the most important venue for new music discovery, the music video is more important than ever, so Indie Memphis will feature two blocs of music videos during the seven day festival, which begins tomorrow, Nov. 1.

The Hometowner Music Video bloc bows at the Orpheum Theatre’s Halloran Centre on Wednesday, Nov. 2 at 8:10 PM. 23 videos from the fusion of Memphis musicians and filmmakers reflect the city’s explosive creativity the Flyer has been covering on our Music Video Monday series. Among the MVM alums is our best music video of 2015, Vending Machine’s “Let The Little Things Go”, directed by G.B. Shannon.

VENDING MACHINE "Let The Little Things Go" Music Video from GB Shannon on Vimeo.

Music Video Monday: Indie Memphis (2)

Another MVM alum is Andrew Trent Fleming and Marco Pavé’s scorcher, “Black Tux”:

Music Video Monday: Indie Memphis (3)

The third MVM alum is the Halloween-appropriate “No Loving But Yours” from Crown Vox.

Music Video Monday: Indie Memphis

Indie Memphis’ newest category is Sounds, which includes both music themed features and music videos. The Sounds video bloc, which is open to videos from all over the world, will screen on Friday, Nov. 4 at 4 PM. Among the highlights of the 18 videos in competition are this naughty puppet party from Eric White:
 

El Muppet Song from Eric White on Vimeo.

Music Video Monday: Indie Memphis (4)

And finally, there’s this highly acclaimed, thumb wrestling epic from Etienne Fu-le Saulnier:

MUSIC VIDEO LITTLE PARTY QUEEN from Fu-Le Saulnier Etienne on Vimeo.

Music Video Monday: Indie Memphis (5)

You can buy tickets to the video blocs or festival passes at the Indie Memphis website. If you would like to see your music video on Music Video Monday, email cmccoy@memphisflyer.com