Mormonsploitation and More
The program is coming together. A great Cecil B. DeMille silent with musical accompaniment at the Paramount….and a prominent Iranian video artist on display at a local gallery…and the recipient of the Virginia Film Award has accepted our invitation. Unfortunately, there’s a restraining order from our publicist preventing me from naming names prematurely.
I’ve gotten woefully behind on my previewing of festival submissions, and I’m staring guiltily at a pile of tapes across the room. Meanwhile, suggestions are pouring in and I’d better get cracking.
I did watch a fantastic film called THE HOLE STORY, one of last year’s criminally unreleased independent features. The protagonist’s search for a hole in the ice (and you want to see this film even though that’s basically the film’s story) is, by turns, pathetic, comic, and heroic. It takes on metaphysical dimensions, and does relate to our theme. If it doesn’t make it into the festival program, I will try to get the film into next year’s Film Society schedule.
I also watched a clever remake of a 1922 “Mormonsploitation” film called TRAPPED BY THE MORMONS. It seems that before their polygamous ways were appealingly rendered on HBO’s “Big Love,” Mormons were portrayed as vampiric threats to society. The film is funny and would be a good late show. It just has the misfortune of being comparable in style to Guy Maddin’s work. His films have a visual panache that this film can’t touch.
Don’t miss THE POWER OF NIGHTMARES at The Bridge in Belmont on Wednesday and Thursday, May 24 (Part 1) and 25 (Part 2 and 3), at 8pm! It’s an enlightening exploration of the rise of both Islamic fundamentalism and American neoconservatism over the last half century, and director Adam Curtis is equally talented as a visual essayist and collagist.
I’ve gotten woefully behind on my previewing of festival submissions, and I’m staring guiltily at a pile of tapes across the room. Meanwhile, suggestions are pouring in and I’d better get cracking.
I did watch a fantastic film called THE HOLE STORY, one of last year’s criminally unreleased independent features. The protagonist’s search for a hole in the ice (and you want to see this film even though that’s basically the film’s story) is, by turns, pathetic, comic, and heroic. It takes on metaphysical dimensions, and does relate to our theme. If it doesn’t make it into the festival program, I will try to get the film into next year’s Film Society schedule.
I also watched a clever remake of a 1922 “Mormonsploitation” film called TRAPPED BY THE MORMONS. It seems that before their polygamous ways were appealingly rendered on HBO’s “Big Love,” Mormons were portrayed as vampiric threats to society. The film is funny and would be a good late show. It just has the misfortune of being comparable in style to Guy Maddin’s work. His films have a visual panache that this film can’t touch.
Don’t miss THE POWER OF NIGHTMARES at The Bridge in Belmont on Wednesday and Thursday, May 24 (Part 1) and 25 (Part 2 and 3), at 8pm! It’s an enlightening exploration of the rise of both Islamic fundamentalism and American neoconservatism over the last half century, and director Adam Curtis is equally talented as a visual essayist and collagist.
posted by Richard Herskowitz at 2:19 AM
1 Comments:
Why not show a film from the nascent Mormon film industry? ("God's Army" and "Saints and Soldiers" are probably the best known of the lot -- but for a really interesting choice, check out "Singles Ward," an LDS romantic comedy.) For a late show, perhaps an old film from the evangelical-Christian cinema? ("Thief in the Night" would be a fun choice.)
What experimental films have you scheduled?
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