In Thom Pain, the film which opened the 2017 Indie Memphis Film Festival last Wednesday, Rainn Wilson repeatedly teases the audience with the prospect of a raffle for valuable prizes, but never delivers. On Monday, after more than 200 film screenings at the Halloran Centre, Studio on the Square, Hattiloo Theater, Circuit Playhouse, Playhouse on the Square, and the Malco Ridgeway Cinema Grill, the closing night Memphis Grizzlies Grizz Grant screening finally delivered on the promise of a raffle.
Indie Memphis’ Executive Director Ryan Watt says that the twentieth anniversary festival set a record for attendance by attracting more than 12,000 filmgoers during the past week. A program of encore screenings, technically still part of the festival, at the Malco Collierville Towne Cinema this weekend will push that number even higher.
Good Grief directors Melissa Anderson Sweazy (left) and Laura Jean Hocking (right) pose on the red carpet with Indie Memphis Film Festival Executive Director Ryan Watt.
At the Audience Awards, presented at the closing night reception, the Memphis-made documentary Good Grief completed a rare sweep of Hometowner feature awards. The film, directed by Melissa Anderson Sweazy and Laura Jean Hocking, was previously awarded Best Hometowner Feature on Saturday night at a raucous awards ceremony at Circuit Playhouse, as well as the Audience Choice for the Poster Contest. Previous films that have won both audience and jury awards include Phoebe Driscoll’s Pharaohs Of Memphis in 2014 and G.B. Shannon’s “Fresh Skweezed” in 2011. The record for most prizes won at Indie Memphis by a single film belongs to Morgan Jon Fox’s OMG/HAHAHA, which won five trophies in 2009.
The other big winner to emerge from this year’s festival is Matteo Servente. The Memphis director won two short film prizes for two different short films: “An Accidental Drowning” won the MLK 50 prize for Civil Rights-related films, and “We Go On” won the Hometowner Short Film competition. “We Go On”, with a screenplay by Memphis writer and Burke’s Books owner Corey Mesler, had previously won top honors at the Memphis Film Prize. Servente who came to Memphis from Italy ten years ago, dedicated his wins to the cause of immigrant’s rights, saying “This is what happens when you don’t build that wall!”
Hometowner Narrative Short Audience Award Winner Nathan Ross Murphy receives his trophy from Indie Memphis’ Ryan Watt.
The Narrative Feature award went to Cold November by Karl Jacob, and directors Landen Van Soest and Jeremy Levine took home the Documentary Feature award with For Akheem. The Hometowner Documentary Short award was won by “Blackout Day” by director Graham Uhelski.
Audience Award for Narrative Feature went to Mark Webber’s Flesh and Blood, while the audience chose Sideman by Scott Rosenbaum for Documentary Feature. The audience’s favorite Hometowner Narrative Feature was Nathan Ross Murphy’s “Muddy Water” and Lauren Squires Ready won the Documentary Short audience nod with “Bike Lee. Katori Hall’s “Arkabutla” was the audience choice among the MLK 50 films.
Good Grief and the award-winning short films will be on the program this Saturday at the Malco Collierville Towne Cinema. For more information visit the Indie Memphis website.
The countdown of our Best Of Indie Memphis poll results rolls on! In case you missed it, here’s part 1.
“Above God” (2005)
Brett Hanover is one of the best talents to emerge from the Media Co-Op scene. He was still in high school when he made a big splash at Indie Memphis. From the beginning, it was clear he has a knack for finding exactly the right subject for his documentaries. In 2005, he fielded two short docs: “Shaivo”, an experimental treatment of the line between life and death, inspired by the conservative cause celeb Terri Shaivo case, and the now classic “Above God”. One of the crazier sites that went viral in the early days of the internet was Time Cube, which presented an unbelievably extensive theory of the universe that made flat earthers look like pikers. Hanover managed to track down and get an interview with Time Cube guru Gene Ray, who described his mental powers as being “above God”. Hanover didn’t take the easy way out and just point and laugh at Ray—he tried to understand him. And that’s what made the first short film on our list something really special.
“Brett Hanover made this in high school and it featured one of the best scenes in a documentary ever. When the main subject falls asleep on camera. And being 15 or however young he was at the time, Brett was already smart (and ruthless) enough to keep that epic shot in his final cut rather than view it as a misstep. Brett’s style was both antiquated, yet somehow very fresh, and when I first saw this strange film I instantly knew Brett was one of the most promising filmmakers around, and I couldn’t wait to see what he would create in the future.” -Morgan Jon Fox
What Goes Around… (2006)
2006 was a banner year for local filmmakers at Indie Memphis. After Craig Brewer’s Hustle & Flow made a big splash at the box office in 2005 and at the Oscars in 2006, it seemed that anything was possible. The first generation of digital rebels were making their second features, and a whole new crop emerged as both the technology and know-how got better. In 2006, there were seven Hometowner features (“And all of them good!” said Les Edwards in my Memphis Magazine history of Indie Memphis.) Since the very beginning, the Indie Memphis crowd had been diverse in terms of sexuality and gender, but it was overwhelmingly white until Rod Pitts and his crew stormed into Indie Memphis 2006. PItts was a University of Memphis film student when he followed the Poor & Hungry blueprint and got his friends together for What Goes Around… The film is a sex comedy with a big heart featuring outstanding performances by soon-to-be local indie film legend Markus Seaberry, Christina Brown, Arnita Williams, and Domino Maximillian. Pitts also contributed heavily to that year’s Hometowner winner Just The Two Of Us by Keenan Nikkita.
Rod Pitts on the set of What Goes Around…
Pitts threw himself into helping others with their projects, most notably DeAara Lewis’ 2007 film Tricks. But he never directed another film himself. He faced a series of escalating health problems, including a stroke, and was diagnosed with lupus. He died in May, 2012; that fall, he was awarded Indie Memphis’ first ever Lifetime Achievement Award.
“Rod Pitts was a brilliant filmmaker, and What Goes Around was an interesting love story.”- Markus Seaberry
“Rod Pitts, man! Damnit it breaks my heart when I think about what a beautiful soul he was and how much he had left to offer the world with his incredible talent. He knew how to capture real humanity on screen, something that it seems you either have in your arsenal or you don’t. He had it, and he was just getting started.” -Morgan Jon Fox
Fraternity Massacre at Hell Island (2006)
The biggest box office hit of 2017 so far is It, which finally brought Stephen King’s Pennywise to the big screen. But eleven years ago, Memphis producer/director Mark Jones was way ahead of the game. Fraternity Massacre at Hell Island, Jones’ first feature, was a slasher movie parody whose villain was, you guessed it, a knife-wielding clown. To add a little social satire edge to the comedy, Jones’ lead character decided to confess his love for another fraternity brother at the same time they’re being stalked. Which one is scarier to toxic masculinity, Jones asks: Serial killers or coming out of the closet?
“The only film I’ve ever known of to be shot almost entirely on Mud Island. Killer clowns, adventure, hilarious and a great cast.” -Anonymous
Indie Memphis’ Greatest Hits 2: Triumph, Tragedy, and Restaurants
Eat (2006)
Here’s a pro tip for you: If you’re a low-budget filmmaker, don’t write a film with 54 speaking parts. Still, if I could go back in time and tell my 2006 self what a logistical nightmare it would be to keep track of all those actors on a production that cost less than most used cars, I would have probably done it anyway. Heady from the success of Automusik, my then-girlfriend Laura Jean Hocking and I wanted to do something more ambitious. We had met while working in restaurants together, and we collected funny waiter stories for years. It’s the perfect venue for comedy, so we decided to write a screenplay mashing up our story file. Our setting was three restaurants—a fine dining establishment, a corporate fast casual, and a dive bar—each with a girl named Wendy on the floor. I would direct and Laura, who had been working as crew on Memphis productions for years, would use the opportunity to learn to edit. We held auditions and got together a huge cast to simulate the crush of people you meet working in the service industry. Among our Memphis a-list acting crew were two then-unknown musicians named Amy LaVere and Valerie June. The shoot was an extraordinarily difficult two weeks—especially considering we were all working full time day jobs. We made many lasting friends on that shoot, and soon after our sold-out premiere at Indie Memphis, Laura and I decided to get married.
“A generation from now, Eat will be the film people look to for a Who’s Who of the mid-’00s Memphis film scene.” – Adam Remsen
Indie Memphis’ Greatest Hits 2: Triumph, Tragedy, and Restaurants (2)
The Book of Noah (2007)
Hardcore punk musician Patrick Cox made his debut in Eat before becoming the breakout star of Drew Smith’s first directorial feature, The Book of Noah, and he capitalized on it in a big way. He soon left Memphis behind for the wilds of Los Angeles, where he was cast in a series of bit parts and heavy roles (including Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight Rising) until landing a major role in Two Broke Girls. Now he’s got 48 IMDB credits under his belt and will be appearing in the new DC movie Aquaman.
“There were a lot of “firsts” in that movie for all of us,” says Smith. “It was the first time I wrote a feature, the first time I directed, the first film Ryan Earl Parker shot, and the first that Pat Cox starred in. It was intimidating, not only for the amount of work we had to do, but more so for the amount of people that believed we could do it. We spent just about every weekend together for two years shooting it. I was terrified I’d let them down, but I couldn’t have asked for a better group of people to help get the film done.
“We had no budget, so everything you see in the film was donated: actors, locations, gear, crew, editing. That is with the exception of Noah’s van. It had been abandoned, and I paid a tow truck company $300 for it. It was a piece of junk, but it ran, and we used it to haul gear to the locations. It finally died with about five scenes to shoot, so we shot those scenes by towing in with a rope to the location, or Ryan shooting while I bounced on the back bumper to simulate the motion. When we were finished, we left it in front of Ryan’s house until someone reported it as abandoned and the city towed it away.
“Because I wanted the dialogue to be as natural as possible, I told the actors to reword the script to fit their speech patterns. Apparently for me, that meant cursing a lot more. When we screened at Indie Memphis, my family came along with a lot of folks from my church. I must have counted myself saying the F-word about 40,000 times. At the end of the movie, I was embarrassed and already trying to figure out how to cut out some of my cursing. My priest came up and shook my hand, and he leaned into my ear and whispered “Great F-ing Movie.” It was kinda my proudest moment. Indie Memphis gave me that moment, and that’s why I still try to help with the festival as much as I can. It’s a great F-ing Festival.”
Indie Memphis’ Greatest Hits 2: Triumph, Tragedy, and Restaurants (3)
The American Astronaut (2007)
Filmmaker Corey McAbee created The American Astronaut in 2001, and it slowly spread through the festival circuit for the next decade. Festival director Erik Jambor brought it to Indie Memphis as one of his first acts, and its mix of sci fi and musical comedy made it a cult favorite. In the years that followed, McAbee returned to Indie Memphis with Stingray Sam and Crazy and Thief.
For this installment of Never Seen It, we welcome Jon W. Sparks, editor of Inside Memphis Business. Sparks is a longtime journalist who came from a community newspaper in New York City in 1981 to work at The Commercial Appeal. Since taking a buyout 10 years ago, he’s written for several local and national publications before taking the helm of Inside Memphis Business. He is also an actor familiar to Memphis film and theater fans for his appearances in both locally produced films and on the stage. We were joined by Sparks’ wife, Memphis College of Art professor Maritza Dávila, and my wife, filmmaker Laura Jean Hocking.
Our film is Orson Welles’ masterpiece Citizen Kane.
Chris McCoy: Tell me what you know about Citizen Kane.
Jon Sparks: I know it makes most of the top ten, if not five, lists of the greatest movies ever. But I’ll be the judge of that.
JS: I know it’s heralded for the brilliance of its writing, the concepts, the ending, the black and white cinematography. Orson Welles, of course, leaves a mark on everything he does. Maybe not always good, but he leaves a mark. And I have seen a little bit here and there.
CM: Anything specific?
JS: I’m remembering shouting crowds and Joseph Cotton. I think there were some spinning newspapers.
Never Seen It: Watching Citizen Kane with Inside Memphis Business Editor Jon Sparks (5)
119 minutes later…
JS: I’m not accustomed to being on this side of the recorder. This is uncomfortable.
CM: I know! OK. Citizen Kane. What did you think?
JS: When you see films that are biographies, essentially, this film set the standard cinematically, and in so many ways. Movies made today that are biographies don’t have the surprises and the approach this one does. This one is fresh today, because of the story angles it takes and the conclusions it reaches with each scene, the time line going back and forth, with Joseph Cotton reminiscing about the old days. But even then, it’s stitched together differently from anything today.
CM: It’s not a three act play, for one thing. It’s six or seven. It lays out the whole story in the opening newsreel. There are no plot surprises after the first ten minutes.
JS: It’s interesting that the newsreel looked so rough. It was really cheesy, the effects were pretty low grade, which is what you would expect out of a newsreel. Then it begins to tell the story, and it’s very theatrical. They even stage a lot of things in a theater.
Title card from the newsreel sequence.
CM: Does the acting feel theatrical?
JS: The acting is all uniformly good, but you can recognize the skills of the theater people doing it.
Laura Jean Hocking: When they’re talking over each other, that seems very theatrical to me. I don’t think you saw that very much before this movie. I associate it with like, Rosalind Russell and the sort of sassy dame stuff. There’s so many things that happened for the first time in this movie.
JS: You pointed out when they started the shot with a close up of a face and then pulling back into the establishing shot. But the acting was so incredibly skillful. I was knocked out by Everett Sloane’s Bernstein. I love how, in the beginning, an editor is barking out orders to reporters: ‘Go find that guy! What’s his name? Its Bernstein! The manager!’ Then the next time he’s mentioned, it’s again ‘What’s his name? Bernstein!’ It’s like he’s so inconsequential, but he’s the thread that goes through Kane’s life. He never divorced him or ran away from him. Bernstein was there and he understood Kane probably better than anyone.
CM: Bernstein’s take is the most objective of all of them. He never really took Kane seriously, but he didn’t hate him, either.
Agnes Moorehead as Mary Kane.
JS: But he understood him well enough to function with him. The same actor did him from old to young, but in a way he always looked old….And that’s just one great performance. Anges Moorehead, forget about it! She’s got that face that is so hard, and here she is a mother giving up her child.
CM: Her voice breaks when she says ‘Charlie’, and that’s the only bit of emotion that she lets slip through. It tears your heart out! One of my favorite things that has trickled through films ever since is the ‘Citizen Kane shot’, where there are two people in the foreground framing one person in the background. The two people in the foreground are talking about the person in the background, but the person in the background doesn’t know they’re being talked about. That happens at least twice in this movie. The first time it’s mom and dad and the banker, with Charlie framed in the window in the background. The second time he does it, there’s a freakin’ musical scene going on! He shows you how the composition is going to work in the first angle, then he goes to the reverse angle and boom, it’s exactly the same shot from before, with two people discussing Kane’s fate while Kane is dancing around trying to get their attention. Welles rubs your face in it.
The first instance of the ‘Citizen Kane shot’.
Ten minutes later, the second instance.
#2 in context:
Never Seen It: Watching Citizen Kane with Inside Memphis Business Editor Jon Sparks (2)
Maritza Dávila: I thought the acting was so natural. The first wife was such a lady, and you could tell she always had to act like that, so proper. And Orson Welles. Wow.
LJ: How old was he?
CM: I think he was 24. It’s ridiculous. I’ve wasted my life.
MD: His acting…even when he is so restrained, you can just feel it in him, the feeling that, ‘I have to win!’ All that childhood trauma that he was never able to get rid of. The same behavior that he has with his guardian, he continues that behavior over and over again. With everything.
CM: He would redirect that energy towards somebody else, but it was always the same energy.
…
JS: I love some of the choices Welles makes. When he gets married for the first time, they tell the whole story with a series of scenes at the breakfast table. They just get farther and farther apart….Now the other relationship, a bit more traditional.
Never Seen It: Watching Citizen Kane with Inside Memphis Business Editor Jon Sparks (4)
CM: He uses the other relationship to sneak in the jigsaw puzzle, which is really the overarching metaphor for the whole thing. He just sneaks it in there. That’s one of the things that’s great about the screenplay. Everything pays off. Everything you think is just a throwaway detail turns out to be a setup.
MD: The comedic relief throughout the whole movie is so well placed.
CM: One thing that struck me this time through—and maybe this is a result of reviewing movies all the time—is that this is so much denser than anything you see today.
JS: Part of that is at the beginning. They hit all these high points and then never visit them again. I thought, well OK, they tell the story fast, then they’re going to tell it slow. But they didn’t do that. They filled in the spaces. The death of his first wife and son is never dealt with at all. The stock market crash and the Great Depression is the same thing. They kind of go, ‘Oh, well, we don’t have as much money as we used to.’ But expanding on those obvious points is something that would be done today. They would show it with all the tears and everything.
CM: And hearing you say that makes me think, if I was giving advice on a screenplay, I would give that note. ‘Why don’t we get to see him losing all his money? Why don’t we get to see his wife and son dying?’ I would have given bad notes to Orson Welles.
LJH: Once his wife and kid leave you never see them again. You don’t have to.
JS: And that’s good writing, to only say something one time, and say it right. You see that in beginning writers. They’ll tell you the same thing a bunch of different ways, because they’re just so in love with the idea. Just express it one good way.
CM: Have faith that your audience is smart enough to put the pieces together.
…
CM: So, Mr. Editor of Inside Memphis Business, this is a movie about business and wealth and capitalism.
JS: He was a very rich man who was on the side of the poor man. He was going to devote his life to making the plight of the underdog much better. He was clearly going to make the country great again, in some fashion.
CM: It’s very relevant today, because he feels like Trump. He even does the ‘Lock her up!’ stuff.
JS: That was prescient.
CM: Obviously, the character is based on William Randolph Hearst, but he becomes Teddy Roosevelt for a minute there.
Never Seen It: Watching Citizen Kane with Inside Memphis Business Editor Jon Sparks (6)
MS: One thing that occurred to me, with all of the things that happened to him, he never matured.
LJH: When Susan leaves, he throws a tantrum and tears her room up.
MD: That was the most out of control he found himself. And then he died. Before that, he was like, ‘I want to make you a singer. Not because you want to be a singer, but because I want you to be a singer.’ He was just putting all of that need into every single person he meets..
CM: And when she says she doesn’t want to be up there in front of an audience that doesn’t want her, he says, ‘That’s when you have to fight them!’ This time, I was like, wow, that’s exactly the wrong thing to do.
JS: He has the resources that, if people don’t want him, he can change. He can buy a newspaper. But she is stuck in that one role, playing that one thing. She doesn’t have the versatility that he has, but he doesn’t see that. If there is anything that’s repeated, it’s that insecure side of him that people kept reminding him of. You just want to be loved. You just want to love yourself. That’s what she tells him when she finally stomps out. He says ‘I need you to do this!’ She says, ‘Oh yeah. It’s about what you need. Adios! Tear up the room! I’m outta here!’
…
CM: What is this film’s view of business, of capitalism?
JS: It was not very positive, as Hollywood films often are. It had a very low opinion of business. In the very beginning, before we see him as the shabby character he really is, we see him as a heroic trustbuster. This comical character, his stepfather, is the goof. But he’s a typical trust guy. He’s a slumlord who embodies all the evils of capitalism. So Kane goes after him, but not because he believes it.
CM: Kane is not a Marxist.
JS: Kane is a Kane-ist. He’s just sticking it to the old man because he’s the old man…They don’t really make a whole lot about how Kane acquired these newspapers and built an empire. They throw a little bit at you about how he says, ‘We need to raid that newspaper and get their best people.’ Then he just does it. There’s no particular shrewdness that you see in any of that. There’s no great lessons to be learned about how to run your business. You do have the conscience, Jed, who is something of a besotted conscience, who tries to keep him a little bit honest. For god sake, don’t start a war!
Never Seen It: Watching Citizen Kane with Inside Memphis Business Editor Jon Sparks (3)
CM: The point of view that the Spanish American War was a media phenomenon was not a widespread thing in 1940. People did not think that yet. And they were literally in the middle of a media push to start another war. I feel like it has a much more sophisticated take on politics than on business.
JS: Yes. And again, just an interesting, savvy, storytelling. He runs for office and fails.
CM: Do you think we’re seeing what would have happened if Charles Foster Kane would have won?
LJH: You have the fraud at the polls headline and everything!
JS: I think it’s futile to try to draw too many parallels between the movie and today. What’s happening today has destroyed satire as an art form. Veep is one of the funniest shows on television. You can laugh at the jokes, but the absurdity of the situations aren’t quite as effective compared to our daily headlines.
CM: You’ve been a journalist for a long time. This is about journalism more than it is about business or politics. Kane today would be, who, Murdoch? Roger Ailes?
JS: He’s more of a Murdoch. Ailes was more ideological about it. Murdoch is all about acquiring the properties and getting the reach.
CM: …and this is all collateral damage from Murdoch’s drive to be number one in the ratings. Which is also kind of Trump’s thing. He really doesn’t care about anything about ratings.
JS: His stated need was to go get the people. He wanted to be the voice of the people, and for the people to come to him. He wanted people to love him, and that was through numbers, how it worked for him. Of course today it is so different. Back then one story in one place could make a huge difference. Now a story has to appear in a lot of different places to make any big deal about it.
LJH: But now you see a story that pops up in multiple places and then Fox News will go ‘No! No!’ and it will disappear. Who is even listening to them?
CM: In Kane, you see the end of that phenomenon. You see the Kane network slowly lose relevance because people stopped believing it. I feel like that’s the process you’re seeing right now, a disenthrallment. They’ve finally gone too far. There’s too much evidence. Trump not only is Kane, but Trump is Susan. He gets in the opera house and has to sing, only to discover he’s not a good singer.
JS: But Susan goes on tour. You see Inquirer papers all over America proclaiming her a great singer, and saying ‘sold out audiences!’ But then people go see her and she’s not a great singer. The truth really does matter.
…
CM: So, is Citizen Kane the best movie ever made?
JS: No. It’s not the greatest movie ever made, but you shouldn’t wait until you’re 67 to see it. It’s a movie that needs to be seen. It’s important on a number of levels. It’s an incredible story about America…In a way it’s like Death of a Salesman. It shows how business and money can take over someone’s life and crush you.
CM: What’s better?
JS: I don’t know…
CM: Vertigo is the one that overtook it in the Sight & Sound poll. Is that better?
JS: I don’t know. I do love Hitchcock.
CM: Personally, I don’t agree. I think this is better than Vertigo. I don’t even think Vertigo is Hitchcock’s best movie. I like Rear Window better. So what do you think is better than Citizen Kane?
JS: I think probably the two Godfathers, just in terms of sheer scope and artistry. There’s brilliance from top to bottom. Another one of my favorite films is Seven Beauties. And I have a real soft spot for 8 1/2.
Snowglobe‘s orchestral pop rock has long been one of Memphis’ best exports. For the single from their self-titled 2016 album “We Were In Love”, they found the perfect video collaborator in experimental filmmaker Ben Siler. The Memphis auteur has crafted a complex, heartfelt story of lost love and mental illness using subtle gesture and rapid fire editing.
The video stars Natalie Higdon, Savannah Bearden, Danny Bader, Kittie Walsh, Snowglobe’s Jeff Hulett, Erica Qualy, and Inside Memphis Business Editor Jon Sparks, with editing by Laura Jean Hocking.
Music Video Monday: Snowglobe
If you would like to see your music video on Music Video Monday, email cmccoy@memphisflyer.com
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.
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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.
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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 Matthews
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.
Film critic John Beifuss was honored with the Indie Memphis Vision Award at the awards ceremony last Saturday night at Circuit Playhouse. The Vision Award is given to “someone who has made a lasting impact” on the Indie Memphis Film Festival and the Mid South cinema community as a whole. Presenter Ryan Watt, the festival’s executive director, presented the award, called Beifuss “Memphis’ pre-eminent film journalist and critic” and praising his “dedicated coverage of the film festival as well as independent film in general, giving the art of filmmaking and unwavering presence in the press due to his efforts.” The normally unflappable Beifuss’ voice cracked with emotion as he accepted the award. After the takeover of the Commercial Appeal by Gannett earlier this year, Beifuss was taken off the film criticism beat and reassigned as an entertainment reporter, leading to a letter writing campaign and social media protests from his readers.
Breezy Lucia
Film critic John Beifuss accepts his Vision Award at the Indie Memphis Film Festival’s awards ceremony on Saturday, November 5 2016 at the Circuit Playhouse.
Other awards at the 19th annual festival includes Deb Shoval’s AWOL receiving both the Best Narrative Feature and the Audience Award, Maise Crow’s Jackson receiving both the Best Documentary Feature and the Audience Award, and Ala Har’el’s LoveTrue receiving both the Best Departures and Audience Awards for experimental features. This is the first time in the history of the festival that three films have won both audience and jury awards.
The Hometowner Feature awards went to Madsen Minax’s Kairos Dirt and the Errant Vacuum and the Audience Award went to Kathy Lofton’s I Am A Caregiver. The jury awarded Best Hometowner Narrative Short award to Graham Uhleski and Daniel Ray Hamby’s “Doppleganger”, while Best Hometowner Documentary Short went to “A.J.” by Melissa Anderson Sweazy and Laura Jean Hocking. Hocking also won the Hometowner Narrative Short Audience Award for “How To Skin A Cat”, which she co-directed with C. Scott McCoy (which, full disclosure, is this columist’s filmmaking nom de guerre). The winner of the Hometowner Narrative Short Audience Award was “The Rugby Boys of Venice” by Jared Biunno. Special Jury Prizes when to Kevin Brooks for his skateboarding short “Keep Pushing” and actress Gabrielle Gobel for her role in “Teeth”.
The Indie Award went to Sarah Fleming for her roles as first assistant director and cinematographer on multiple productions in the festival, although the presenter did single her out for serving on the crew of Free In Deed while both six months pregnant with her first child and sporting a broken foot.
Early estimates suggest a record turnout for Indie Memphis 2016, which spanned seven days and screened films at downtown’s Halloran Centre, Overton Square’s Circuit Playhouse, the Malco Ridgeway Cinema, and Collierville. For more information on Indie Memphis’ year-round programming schedule and a complete list of the winners, visit the Indie Memphis website.
There are several Memphis filmmakers with multiple projects appearing in this year’s Indie Memphis Film Festival. One of the most prolific local filmmakers is Laura Jean Hocking, who boasts involvement in eight different projects screening during the weeklong festival. She co-directed the short narrative film “How To Skin A Cat” and the short documentary film “A.J.”; and created music videos for John Kilzer and Alex Da Ponte. As an editor, she cut the music documentary Verge and the narrative feature Bad, Bad Men. Melissa Anderson Sweazy’s music video “Bluebird”, and did initial assembly on frequent collaborator Sarah Fleming’s “Carbike”. Oddly enough, it all started because of her culinary prowess.
Jamie Harmon
Filmmaker Laura Jean Hocking
It was early 2000s and Laura Jean Hocking was doing craft services and props for her friend’s films. While helping out with her husband C. Scott McCoy’s film Automusik Can Do No Wrong, Hocking wound up peering over the shoulder of The Invaders director Prichard Smith. “I watched Prichard edit, and it just clicked. It was an epiphany,” said Hocking. “And I knew right then and there that I wanted to do this for a living.”
Hocking’s epiphany sparked an insatiable thirst for editing jobs. After she purchased an instruction book for Final Cut Pro, and completed every lesson in it, Hocking set out to edit a feature film she had just finished writing with McCoy. “It was 52 speaking parts, and everyone thought I was out of my mind to tackle that as my first editing project,” recalls Hocking. “After that, I wanted to edit any and every thing.”
Solomon Phillips in Laura Jean Hocking’s video for John Kilzer and Kirk Whalem’s song ‘Until We’re All Free’
More than 15 years later, Hocking pretty much has. She’s also produced, directed, or written countless other films. Two of her Indie Memphis projects in particular showcase Hocking’s ability to tackle subjects that can elicit a wide range of emotional responses.
In “A.J.” a short documentary that introduces audiences to the delicate work of the Kemmons Wilson Center for Good Grief, Hocking, fellow producer/director Melissa Anderson Sweazy, and producer/cinematographer Sarah Fleming decided to focus on an element of grief underexplored in documentaries — recovery. “We see the dark side represented in film plenty,” said Hocking. “We wanted to show how people get out of grief and how they get to the other side of it.”
‘A.J.’
On the flip side, the short film “How to Skin A Cat” demonstrates of Hocking’s ability to transition from the somber to the asinine within a single production year. And if you pressure Hocking enough, she’ll tell you it’s the film that she might love just a tiny bit more than her other film-children this festival, due largely to the ability to pay the actors and crew, thanks to the $7,500 in IndieGrant funds the project received. “Do you know how big that was? To be able to pay our actors?”Hocking asks.
In spite of a rapidly expanding filmography, Hocking has her sights set on the Memphis horizon and the future of Bluff City filmmaking. When people ask if she ever would consider moving to L.A., Hocking’s answer is a flat no.“Why would I want to move to L.A.? Here, I can make a difference,” Hocking notes. “It’s here that I have artistic freedom that isn’t usually given to you by way of a big studio.”
With a location of choice and the support of a close-knit film community, Hocking is poised to continue her constant self-challenge to try all things new in the world of filmmaking. And because her personal belief is to never cease trying new things, we are likely in store for watching a filmmaker whose list of works will continue to push norms. “After all,” Hocking added, “If you’re not learning, you’re dying.”
Look to the credits of each short film represented in the 2016 IndieGrants bloc, and you’ll find recurring names of actors and crew members collaborating on one another’s projects.
That’s the film community here — a tight-knit family willing to lend a hand to artists scraping up funds to bring their vision to the screen. But what could a DIY filmmaker accomplish with a full crew and professional resources for production? Mark Jones, who started the IndieGrant program in 2014, wanted to find out.
“My starting IndieGrant is both from an artistic point of view and an economic point of view,” Jones, whose resume includes the 2012 comedy Tennessee Queer, says. “Film is art. Film is jobs. I thought that if Indie Memphis could help fund short films, then perhaps one of those short films made in Memphis could get some funding, and then it could be made as a feature film here in the city.”
What started as two $4,500 grants and two $500 grants has grown considerably in just two years. Now, two winning film proposals not only receive $5,000 while two others receive $500, but they are also awarded an additional $2,500 from FireFly Grip and Electric for lighting work and equipment, and, beginning this year, $1,500 from LensRentals and $1,000 for sound mixing from Music + Art Studios.
“I think you’d be hard pressed to find another film festival the size of Indie Memphis or perhaps bigger that gives this much out in grants to local filmmakers,” Jones says.
Seven films, financed between the 2014 and 2015 Indie Memphis festivals, will debut at 8:15 p.m. on November 1st at the Halloran Centre. That includes Sarah Fleming’s Carbike, a city-trotting, sightseer told through the perspective of two Japanese visitors; G.B. Shannon’s touching family drama Broke Dick Dog; the Flyer‘s Chris McCoy and Laura Jean Hocking’s road trip comedy How to Skin a Cat, which depicts the Collierville, Midtown, and rural divide; Morgan Jon Fox’s Silver Elves, an almost dialogue-free, true crime reverie; On the Sufferings of the World, an collaboration between experimental auteur Ben Siler, director Edward Valibus, actor Jessica Morgan, and musician Alexis Grace; Dirty Money, by Jonas Schubach, who also served as cinematographer on Indie Memphis’ closing night feature documentary Kallen Esperian: Vissie d’Arti and Jones’ black comedy Death$ in a $mall Town.
How to Skin a Cat
IndieGrant serves as a launch pad — a motivator to stay accountable and follow through with a film, says Joseph Carr. He’ll make his directorial debut at this year’s festival after a $500 IndieGrant and a few thousand dollars in personal fund-raising. Returns is inspired by the years he worked in a bookstore, watching as the digital takeover made in-store interaction almost extinct.
“The film is a profile of people who love their profession and, while struggling with honest bouts of ennui, continue to provide their service in the face of an uncertain future,” Carr says.
A testament to the community’s kinship, Carr committed to filmmaking after working on Sarah Fleming’s crew as a production assistant. Years later, he was cast in Fox’s play Claws and, later, in Feral. Fox produced Carr’s short, along with two others in the block, Fleming’s Carbike and Jones’ Death$ In A $mall Town. Carr, in turn, produced Fox’s Silver Elves.
Death$ in a $mall Town
“The Memphis scene is like a family, and, at some point, we’re all working on each other’s productions one way or another. It’s always an honor,” Fox says.
Since 2002, Fleming has captured multiple perspectives of Memphis. Carbike depicts the city through the eyes of tourists. Aside from Fox playing an amiable Airbnb host, the dialogue between lead actors Kazuha Oda and Hideki Matsushige is in Japanese.
“[Carbike] is part of a larger series focusing on stories of Memphis visitors — all of which are inspired by true stories,” Fleming says. “I’m a huge fan of this city and enjoy exploring our unique landscape.”
At last year’s festival, Jones was asked why there were only two big winners. Rather than hand two people $5,000 each, why not give 10 people $1,000?
“My response was that I want to see the bar raised,” Jones says. “The IndieGrants are important to me because I want to see Memphis grow as a film city. This is one way I can directly help make that happen.”
Indie Memphis announced its full lineup for the 2016 festival at a bustling preview party at the Rec Room last night.
Bad, Bad Men,
The most striking feature of the 150-film collection is the strongest presence by local filmmakers since the early-2000s heyday of DIY movies. The Hometowner Competition boasts six feature films, including Old School Pictures’ Bad, Bad Men, a wild comedy of kidnapping and petty revenge by directors Brad Ellis and Allen Gardner, who have racked up several past Indie Memphis wins. Bluff City indie film pioneer Mike McCarthy will debut his first feature-length documentary Destroy Memphis, a strikingly heartfelt film about the fight to save Libertyland and the Zippin Pippen rollercoaster. Four first-time entrants round out the Hometowner competition: Lakethen Mason’s contemporary Memphis music documentary Verge, Kathy Lofton’s healthcare documentary I Am A Caregiver, Flo Gibs look at lesbian and trangender identity Mentality:Girls Like Us, and Madsen Minax’s magical realist tale of lunch ladies and gender confusion Kairos Dirt and the Errant Vacuum.
‘Silver Elves’
Usually, Hometowner short films comprise a single, popular, programming block; This year, there are enough qualified films to fill four blocks. Sharing the opening night of the festival with the previously announced Memphis documentary The Invaders is a collection of short films produced by recipients of the Indie Grant program, including G.B. Shannon’s family dramedy “Broke Dick Dog”, Sara Fleming’s whimsical tour of Memphis “Carbike”, Morgan Jon Fox’s impressionistic dramatization of the 1998 disappearance of Rhodes student Matthew Pendergrast “Silver Elves”; Indie Grant patron Mark Jones’ “Death$ In A Small Town”, actor/director Joseph Carr’s “Returns”, experimental wizard Ben Siler (working under the name JEBA)’ “On The Sufferings Of The World”, and “How To Skin A Cat”, a road trip comedy by Laura Jean Hocking and yours truly.
Other standouts in the Hometowner Shorts category include three offerings from Melissa Sweazy: the fairy tale gone dark “Teeth”; “A.J”, a documentary about a teenage boy dealing with grief after a tragic accident, co-directed with Laura Jean Hocking; and “Rundown: The Fight Against Blight In Memphis. Edward Valibus’ soulful dark comedy “Calls From The Unknown”, Nathan Ross Murphy’s “Bluff”, and Kevin Brooks’ “Marcus”, all of which recently competed for the Louisiana Film Prize, will be at the festival, as will Memphis Film Prize winner McGehee Montheith’s “He Coulda Gone Pro”.
The revived Music Video category features videos from Marco Pave, Star & Micey, Preauxx, The Bo-Keys, Vending Machine, Nots, Caleb Sweazy, Faith Evans Ruch, Marcella & Her Lovers, John Kilzer & Kirk Whalum, Alex duPonte, Alexis Grace, and Zigadoo Moneyclips.
Internationally acclaimed films on offer include legendary director Jim Jarmusch’s Paterson, starring Adam Driver; Manchester By The Sea from Kenneth Lonergan; and Indie Memphis alum Sophia Takal’s Always Shine. Documentary cinematographer Kirsten Johnson’s spectacular, world-spanning Cameraperson, assembled over the course of her 25 year career, promises to be a big highlight.
Michelle Williams and Casey Affleck in Manchester By The Sea
The full schedule, as well as tickets to individual movies and two levels of festival passes, can be found at the Indie Memphis web site.
“FISH,” opening at Crosstown Arts on Friday, is a collaboration between Christopher Reyes, Sarah Fleming, and Laura Jean Hocking (Chris McCoy, the Flyer’s film editor is Hocking’s husband). Originally conceived as an experimental film project, the show morphed into a multi-media immersive installation.
Guests enter a cool, dark, shimmering space, much like an aquarium. On the north wall is a mural by Reyes with seahorses and gumball machines and martini glasses and cats and fish that bounce on the surface. On the opposite wall are portholes with films by Hocking of fish, Jacques Cousteau, coral reefs, and floating astronauts. The east wall shows more films of fish; these by Fleming are more subtle, less frenetic, she says. A soundscape completes the under-the-sea mood.
“FISH”
“There’s so much stress and uncertainty in the world,” Hocking says. “This show doesn’t have an agenda except beauty and joy.”
Blue drinks with Swedish fish, sushi, and Goldfish crackers will be served during the opening.
Breezy Lucia 
Jamie Harmon 
