Tag: Curtis C. Jackson

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Film/TV Film/TV/Etc. Blog

Indie Memphis 2020: You Need To Relax

Yogi Chris Makoto, creator of ‘A Still Place’

Indie Memphis’ move online has been a necessity during the COVID pandemic. But it has also turned into an opportunity to expand the geographic reach of the festival, and introduce innovative programming.

“We wanted to offer something midway through the festival, after hopefully so much binging of films, for viewers to have a different relationship with their screen,” says Indie Memphis Artistic Director Miriam Bale.

The Goundings screenings are here to help people unwind a little bit from the cares of the outside world, to “counter screen fatigue with meditative installations, music, pets and other tools to remember to feel connected to your body and surroundings.”

The centerpiece of Groundings is “A Still Place”. “It’s an hour-long meditation in Akiko’s zazen studio on the big island of hawaii, watching the sun rise, listening to the world awaken,” says Bale.

Chris Makoto Yogi is the writer and director of August at Akkiko‘s, which appeared at Indie Memphis 2018, about a young man seeking his roots in Hawai’i who befriends a yogi deep in the forest. He filmed “A Still Place” in the same meditation studio. The hour long video of Akiko Masuda’s dawn meditation is meant to immerse the viewer, similar to the Norwegian “Slow TV” concept. “This is something that would normally be a video installation,” says Bale. “But we want people to experience it together online.”

“I see the piece as an offering, turning any space into a still place in Hawai‘i so that we can all pause and reflect on sound, light, our selves,” says Chris Makoto Yogi.

“A Still Place” live watch party is at 2 PM on Saturday, with viewers incouraged to use the slowly changing light and natural sounds to enter a meditative state. It will be followed by an interactive talk on Embodiment in Digital Spaces at 4 PM.

As the sun goes down, the outdoor screenings get started at the Levitt Shell with the Hometowner Narrative Shorts competition, including Michael Butler’s pandemic panic story “Empty”; Matteo Servante’s “La Sirena”, written by Melissa Anderson Sweazy; Jon Crawford’s “Taffy”, starring Curtis C. Jackson; “Barley” by Daniel R. Farrell; “Rebirth: A Film by Chenay Barnes”; Abbey Myer’s sexual assault drama “Orifice”; recipient of a 2019 Indie Grant; Martin Matthew’s period piece of Black love in the 1950s “A Beautiful Tragedy”; R. Jason Rawlings’ story of Hurricane Katrina survivors coming home in “Natives”; and Justin and Ariel Harrison’s “The Little Death”, a heartfelt story of miscarriage.

Hawai’i returns to the spotlight with the first ever Indie Memphis screening at the Grove at the Germantown Performing Arts Center. Cane Fire is a documentary about the troubled history of one of the most beautiful places on Earth. Kauaʻi, known as Hawai’i’s “Garden Isle”, was the center of Hawai’ian agriculture. As the center of power of the planter class, it became a crucial player in the coup that toppled the native monarchy and the eventual pushed for statehood. Not coincidentally, it also became the center of the Hawai’ian labor movement, and the site of a number of bloody battles between pineapple company security and strikers. Director Anthony Banua-Simon mixes the personal, historical, and political in this insightful film. 

CANE FIRE – Trailer from Anthony Banua-Simon on Vimeo.

Indie Memphis 2020: You Need To Relax

The early show at the Malco Summer Drive-In is Gillian Hovart’s delicious black comedy mockumentary thriller I Blame Society, which you can read about in my Indie Memphis cover story.

The late show couldn’t be more appropriate drive-in fare. Crash is David Cronenberg’s 1996 adaptation of the J.G. Ballard novel about a group of people with a particularly dangerous technofetish—they get off on automobile accidents. Holly Hunter stars in this relentlessly transgressive psychological thriller that has taken on new meaning in the age of the online death cult.

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By the way, Ballard’s most controversial novel, which he called “a psychopathic hymn”, was also the inspiration for a technopop song that is often cited as the progenitor of Industrial music: The Normal’s “Warm Leatherette”. Join the car crash set.

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Tickets and more details can be had at the Indie Memphis website. 

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Film/TV Film/TV/Etc. Blog

Oxford Virtual Film Festival Presents an LBGTQ Hero, a Feminist Sports Doc, and Memphis Filmmakers

‘Being’ by Cathleen Dean

For Memorial Day weekend, the Oxford Virtual Film Festival has a strong and varied lineup of shorts and documentaries.

Queen of Lapa by Theodore Collatos and Carolina Monnerat is a stunning vérité portrait of Luana Muniz, the guardian angel of trans kids in the favelas of Rio de Janeiro. Eventive tickets available here.  

Queen Of Lapa /// Trailer from Factory 25 on Vimeo.

Oxford Virtual Film Festival Presents an LBGTQ Hero, a Feminist Sports Doc, and Memphis Filmmakers

In Life in Synchro, one athlete describes synchronized skating as the most feminist sport on Earth. The all-women events have been gaining popularity for years, and this documentary by Angela Pinaglia traces its history and push for Olympic recognition. Appropriately, the film will be offered as a synchronized screening with 40 other film festivals as part of Film Festival Day on Saturday, May 23rd, with an online Q&A with Emily Fitzgerald, a former competitive skater on the Dearborn Crystallettes; Heidi Coffin, a 68-year-old adult skater on the Maine DownEasters; and Peggy MacDonald, who was a skater on the first synchro team in 1956 and went on to coach the first national champions of the sport in 1984. The Q&A will be moderated by Women Sports Film Festival’s Co-Founder Susan Sullivan. Eventive tickets available here.

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The Black Lens Shorts bloc’s seven films includes “Soul Man” by Kyle Taubken, which was Indie Memphis’ Best Hometown Narrative Short award winner in 2019. The acclaimed short features an iconic performance by Curtis C. Jackson as a Memphis soul singer facing the end of his life. Eventive tickets available here.

Curits C. Jackson in ‘Soul Man.’

If you’re looking for something a lot more outré, the always entertaining Fest Forward bloc has you covered. Closing out the six experimental and animated offerings is “You Are Headed for a Land of Sunshine” by Memphis filmmaker Laura Jean Hocking, which was originally created for the Response 3 dance and multimedia art show in 2019. Eventive tickets available here.

‘You Are Headed For A Land of Sunshine’ by Laura Jean Hocking

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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.

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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

Matteo Servente’s “We Go On” Wins Second Memphis Film Prize

After two days of crowded screenings, The Memphis Film Prize has awarded director Matteo Servente’s “We Go On” as the best film of the festival.

“We Go On” is written by Corey Mesler, Memphis novelist and proprietor of Burke’s Books in Midtown. The film stars Curtis C. Jackson as a man in hospice care, Bill Baker as his loquacious  friend, and Emma Cystal as a perhaps overly friendly nurse. The film was shot by Ryan Earl Parker and produced by Joseph Carr.

The $10,000 prize winner was determined by a combination of audience and jury votes. This is the second Memphis Film Prize awarded, after last year’s winner “He Could Have Gone Pro” by McGehee Montieth. Read more about the Film Prize in this week’s Memphis Flyer.

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Theater Theater Feature

Playhouse’s The Gospel at Colonus; New Moon’s The Laramie Project: 10 Years Later

CREDIT: By Chris Neely. Courtesy of Playhouse on the Square.

I remember being so intimidated by Gospel at Colonus‘ co-creator Lee Breuer. The relentlessly experimental director and playwright conducted his improv workshop like a drill sergeant, barking out the names of famous painters and sculptors from the sidelines. He’d say, “El Greco,” and we’d adjust our improvs to reflect the painter’s stylistic flourishes. Then, as the room transformed into a colorful passion play, he’d change the scene to something by Goya or Bosch or Diego Rivera. And we, his students, would all change our missions accordingly. This was never a test of our acting or improv skills, of course. It was a cultural literacy exam. And, although I didn’t fully understand it at the time, Breuer wasn’t especially interested in good acting, in the conventional sense. He was looking for translators.

Playhouse on the Square’s explosive production of The Gospel at Colonus may seem like a clever (if culturally sketchy) adaptation of the least-studied play from Sophocles’ Oedipus cycle. More accurately, it’s a translation aiming to reclaim the ecstatic nature of early theater and root out the meaning of things that are difficult to convey with words. Using a range of classic gospel styles and full-throated pulpit storytelling, The Gospel at Colonus invites audiences to participate in a blind king’s transformation from accursed sinner to acclaimed hero in his final hours. It’s easy to mistake this for a comparative exercise, mingling Greek and Christian myth. It is simpler than that. It’s the appropriation of a script we all know (church), in the service of a script we don’t know, because A) theater’s meaning has changed and B) Oedipus at Colonus is eclipsed by Oedipus Rex and Antigone. Literate congregants may also recognize allusions to Samuel Beckett’s Endgame folded into a stew that is vibrantly existential.

Playhouse director Tony Horne knows how to stage a no-holds-barred musical. To that end, The Gospel at Colonus is an exercise in both abandon and restraint. Dance is minimal but choreographer Emma Crystal uses it to generate and amplify tension in ways we don’t normally associate with Broadway. Kathy Haaga’s epically scaled set stops time, dropping the audience in the middle of a classical ruin, as ancient as it is postapocalyptic. It’s a space built for poetry and magic and with the help of music director Julian T. Jones, the cast delivers.

Curtis C. Jackson brings a James Brown-like pleading to old Oedipus. He’s answered in kind by his sister/daughters Antigone and Ismene, gorgeously sung by Claire Kolheim and Rainey Harris. The show belongs to the chorus and when it’s rocking, this chorus can absolutely take you to church.

Ten years after Matthew Shepard’s death, the Tectonic Theater Project — a New York-based theater company best known for creating a docudrama called The Laramie Project — returned to the scene of the crime to re-interview primary sources and take the town’s temperature. From those interviews they created The Laramie Project: Ten Years Later. This epilogue, currently on stage at the Evergreen Theatre, explores a phenomenon we’ve come to describe as “trutherism,” and Laramie’s need, as a community, to define itself as something other than the homophobic place where Shepard was killed.

In 2004 ABC’s 20/20 revisited the slaying. The show suggested that both the media and the court had gotten Shepard’s murder all wrong. Shepard’s death was recast as a robbery and drug binge gone bad. Ten Years Later plays out as a deliberate refutation of 20/20‘s shaky revisionism. It shows that nothing changes the reasoning behind the killer’s victim choice and brutality.

There’s not one standout performance in the New Moon Theatre Company’s Ten Years Later. It’s a show about teamwork. This creative team, assembled by director Gene Elliott, works. Both The Laramie Projects are exercises in minimalism in the spirit of Thornton Wilder’s Our Town. This time, the story moves beyond Shepard and his killers to explore the art of persuasion, bias confirmation, and the kinds of stories we tell ourselves about who we are. And how these stories we tell ourselves about who we are duke it out until there’s only one story left standing.

Strong stuff, beautifully acted.