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(Please scroll down to view relevant text and links in bold
type. ZXZW Alternative Fest.)
reference:
http://www.filethirteen.com/events/sxsw/sxsw_DAY2.htm
SXSW
- Day Two, Saturday, 3/11/2000
Before I spent the godawful amount of $60 for a Film Pass
to SXSW, I had thought I was just going to hang out this week,
see what was going on and vibe the scene. One of my plans
was to go to the ZXZW alternative fest. I had been invited
by one of the festival organizers. So, that's where I went
on Saturday night.
ZXZW was at Trophy's Sports Bar on South Congress. I
had never been here before. From the outside it looked pretty
seedy and the inside did nothing to dilute this impression.
Trophy's is one of the scariest bars I've been in for a long
time. It's full of haggard looking locals and 50 year old
women who should really be home enjoying a good book. This
isn't the kind of place you would take your mom, unless of
course, she has a mountain man fetish. I felt totally out
of place there. This, of course, was silly, but I felt that
way none the less. After the night got rolling, however, and
the younger crowd got there, the place seemed far cooler.
I watched a few stragglers drag in, listened to the band,
which would play later, set up, checked the projection equipment,
and had a beer. I looked at my watch and wondered when it
would all begin.
At a little after 7, announcements were made and the
films started. As the night progressed more and more people
filed in until, by the end at 10pm, it was a packed house.
One thing that was mentioned is a lawsuit SXSW has against
ZXZW. The organizers of this anti-fest claimed to have signed
an agreement to not use the name ZXZW after this year. They
are looking for a lawyer.
Here are the shorts that were played as a part of ZXZW
and what I thought of them.
Sploosh - Silly and pointless short about a sea
monster. It's got a guy with a hilarious Scottish accent in
it but not much else going for it. It is mercifully short
at 4 minutes. (Canada)
The Collector - A curious yet typical B&W modern
noir about a Bully who gets his comeuppance from a creepy,
young Asian guy. It was filmed very stylistically and was
interesting even after we could see where it was going. (California)
Death and a Salesman - Shot in Houston. A short
film where Death comes for a used car salesman and ends up
making a purchase instead. The actor playing the salesman
wasn't as vibrant as he should have been and death wasn't
as creepy as he should have been. Amusing fun regardless.
The final joke is a dozy! This one also showed last year at
the first ZXZW. (1995, Texas - director Brazil J. Grisaffi)
http://www.grisaffi.com/joe.html
All Cheerleaders Must Die (excerpt) - Looks like
it could be made for Troma. It's funny, gory, shot on DV and
full of swinging teenagers. Okay, they actually look like
20-somethings pretending to be high school students, but that
just makes it more fun. The best thing about the film is that
just when you think it's getting stupid, something funny happens
again. I'd love to see the whole thing someday and I can't
imagine why Troma wouldn't pick this one up. (California)
http://www.geocities.com/allcheerleaderdie
Reign of the Dead (15 minute trailer) - This is
a wonderful postmodern riff on the Romero lore of zombie ideology.
Taking off from the 60's cult classic, the modern conspiracy
theorists here blame the government, and not a meteor, for
all the flesh-eating undead walking the Earth. The film may
have had some cheesy dialogue here and there but overall it
was interesting and amusing. (Pennsylvania)
http://www.reignofthedead.com
Mountain of Terror - Unfortunately this is the
only film shown at ZXZW that had no blurb in the program.
It's a shame too because this is the best of the lot, one
of the funniest and most loving salutes to Z-grade films ever
made. Paying homage to the laughable film "The Creeping Terror,"
the filmmakers here again use rolled up carpeting for a monster.
But here, there is a little more "costume" involved. It's
a hilarious monster. The film also contains one of the most
amusing and clever uses of a "Mountain Man as Doomsayer" that
has ever be put on film. There's just so much to love here.
And even though it is obvious this is a no budget video short,
it's fun and worthwhile. There is no blood or no gore, just
an audience in stitches. And rightly so.
Killer Rock n Roll Zombies from Texas - Pointless
and nonsensical, this short was still interesting and fun.
A zombie roams around town doing nothing until he finds a
flyer and auditions for a local rock band. It doesn't really
have much to offer however one assumes that there is a feature
length version just waiting for funding. (Austin - director
George Hewitt)
http://punkrockvideos.com
"Barn
of the Blood Llama," (excerpt) - Austin's Kevin
West, who is working on his new feature "Rowdy
Round-Up Night of the Killer Piñatas," starring my
bud Xanna Don't, had to cut his finished feature down to 25
minutes for the festival. Of course, the finished product
made no sense. Still, the film had plenty to like. Shot on
8mm with overdubbed sound, the film had plenty of interesting
images. Color was used interestingly, miniatures were beautiful
additions to the transition shots, and there was just enough
cheese to keep you giggling. There was humor and silliness.
At times, the film denigrates into sheer stupidity, and West's
performance as a simpleton named Jug left a lot to be desired.
But, in the end, I really wanted to see more. (Austin - director
Kevin West) http://www.laits.utexas.edu/klw/welcome.html
And intermission moment was another highlight of the
fest. Taped from some cable Science Fiction awards program
in 1978, Bernie Taupin introduces William Shatner doing his
poetic and smarmy version of "Rocket Man." It was the most
wonderful and horrid mangling of a song to be heard for decades.
Listen in wonder as Shatner plays with the inflection of the
syllables of the title to make us think. Is it Rocket Man…
Rocket, Man… or Rock-It Man?" What a beautiful and surreal
moment of magical history. Thank you for this, guys!
The Second Hand (excerpt) - A beautiful and artistic
looking film, the excerpt here really gave us no indication
of what the film was about. It doesn't matter though because
the glorious images and the seeping colors really made us
want more. The organizers said Bob Ray (director of Rock Opera)
shot the film. I'm dying to know more and see more. (Austin
- director Troy Miller) http://www.spookymovie.com
Attack of the Bat Monsters (trailer) - One of
my favorite films of the Austin Film Festival. This trailer
cannot do justice to the glorious wonder that is Kelly Green's
"Attack of the Bat Monsters." When is the next time I can
see the film again? (You can read more about the film in our
coverage of the 1999 Austin Film Festival). (Austin - director
Kelly Green)
Rock n Roll Frankenstein (excerpt) - What a hilarious
idea for a film! A mad scientist makes a monster out of the
body parts of dead rock stars. In a goofy homage to "Young
Frankenstein," the lab assistants drop Jim Morrison's penis,
rendering it useless, and in a hurry grab another one. Whose
penis? You ask. Why none other than Liberace. Trouble is that
this opens up the film to the most offensive and typical gay
jokes imaginable. It gets to be too much. Still, it's a great
idea for a film. (New York) http://www.rrfrankenstein.com
The Creepies vs. Monster Number Two (trailer)
- Silly homage to classic Asian B&W monster flicks. Basically
a glorified rock video. (California)
Mondo Ford - Purporting to be an Italian documentary
on the JFK assassination and the rise of Gerald Ford, this
senseless black and white marvel is humorous for a while.
Eventually it denigrates into utter nonsense. (Austin - director
Nico Fratelli)
The Collegians are Go!! - But after a while you
just wish they'd stop. This black and white local flick wants
to be a fun rock 'n' roll zombie film but it eventually gets
bloated down in it's own silliness. Worse yet, it seems to
have a definite hang up on dead presidents. This film might
be fun if it were put together by college students but as
a film made by almost 40 year old grown-ups, it just seems
a bit sad. This one was made by the festival organizers, so
it's easy to see how it got accepted. The performance of Patty
S., however, does make most of the film forgivable. (1998,
Austin - director Dean and Chuck Collegian) http://www.flojo.com/collegians
Harry Knuckles and the Treasure of the Aztec Mummy
- Funny, clever, interesting and unique. This 8mm film pays
homage to 60's spy flicks, zombie monster movies, Mexican
mummy films, Mexican wrestling films, porno loops, karate
flicks, and much, much more. For it's 25 minute running time,
you are never bored or restless. It's just one amusing and
interesting moment after another. The most original and accomplished
film of the festival. It won the "Best of Fest Golden Zombie
Award). (This film also won the Spirit of Slamdance Award
at Park City this year). (Director is Lee Demarbre). http://www.epoxygroup.com/harry
And that was the festival. Overall it was
a night of interesting, humorous and creative films. I don't
normally like Zombie flicks but there was just enough variety
here to make the event fly by. It was really a good time.
As the seats were cleared out for the rock show, which was
to be the capper for the evening, I made my way to the bar
to get another drink. There I met up with Xanna and Anna-Mari,
the scripter of Kevin
West's new film "Rowdy
Roundup: Night Of The Killer Pinatas," She was pissed
because the festival hadn't shown the trailer for the new
film. We all decided to head to her place to see the trailer.
I rode with some guy I had never met before. He told me about
how he was travelling the country making computerized maps
for some cyber company. It was really weird. He said he hadn't
lived in a house for like 15 months or something.
Anna-Mari's house is really nice. We all
gathered around the TV to see the trailer. There were several
people there, most of which I did not know. Kevin
West, the director, and Earl
Saathoff, the DP, of the film were there. Fitz, who plays
in a band called the Defrockers and a couple of nice looking
young ladies were also present. Fitz told me that his band
was playing at Flamingo Cantina on 3/29. I really want to
see them.
The trailer for "Rowdy RoundUp" was pretty
bad. It did feature a lot of female semi-nudity and some interesting
clips from the film. I have heard so much about the film that
it was really hard to judge. They had shot a special narrative
for the trailer where a character, I think her name is Tin
Starr, runs around in buttless chaps and talks about he film.
It was all rather drab and uninteresting. There were a couple
of clips with Xanna and her acting seemed really bad. Perhaps
that is what the film calls for. There were a lot of things
that looked like they could be funny. I still can't wait to
see the film.
I hung out for a while and talked to the
young ladies and Fitz as well as Anna-Mari. One of the girls,
it turns out, was Barbara Jean Whitberg, the girl who was
in the trailer wearing the see-through chaps. She is also
in "Attack of the Bat Monsters." She said that Kelly Green
has finished the film but she doesn't know when it will be
shown again for sure.
The other young lady was Deborah Abbott.
She may look like Xena the Warrior Princess and even make
some money doing look alike gigs, but she has a style and
personality all her own. She seemed like a very nice person.
She spent some time telling me her stories about auditioning
and trying to get an agent. She also told me about some of
the film she was in and some she was auditioning for.
Barbara and Deborah gave me a ride back
to my car at Trophy's. I had wanted to see some of the bands
playing but I was just too dog ass tired. I went home and
crashed.
New news:
Patti Smith will be playing at Waterloo Park next weekend
for SXSW! Awesome!
reference:
http://www.filethirteen.com/events/sxsw/sxsw_DAY2.htm
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