BUNKER HILL returns to Lawrence, May 9.



Just got this in - for those who may have missed the BUNKER HILL screening in March, it will open in a limited engagement at Liberty Hall in Lawrence, KS starting on May 9.

This is the opening salvo in BH's release, which the filmmakers are handling themselves -
as reported by Jon Niccum of the Lawrence Journal-World:

Filmmakers forge distribution network

Lawrence filmmaker Kevin Willmott came to this realization: “Nobody cares about your film more than you do.”

And Willmott learned it the hard way after his second feature, “C.S.A.: The Confederate States of America,” was bought by a major distributor ... and the company didn’t quite know what to do with it.

“Filmmakers have this romanticized reality with distributors. ‘If I could just sell my movie to so and so, I will have finally arrived. I will have made it.’ That’s just not true,” he says

So Willmott decided to launch his own company in order to distribute independent, socially relevant and specialty films.

Micheaux Motion Pictures — named after pioneering black filmmaker Oscar Micheaux (1884-1951) — intends on using a hybrid model of placing its films in a network of theaters throughout the country, in addition to in-house DVD sales and barnstorming appearances by cast and crew.

The company will launch its first project today, when Willmott’s own “Bunker Hill” begins an engagement at Liberty Hall, 644 Mass.

“This is not a new idea for me,” he says, admitting he was inspired by the recording industry after established musical acts began to take personal control of their recordings.

He says, “It’s the hole in the independent film chain. You get the money on your own, you do all these things on your own, then in the end when it’s done, you sit around and go, ‘Well boss, are you gonna call?’”

Willmott is joined in Micheaux Motion Pictures by local writer/producers Tom Carmody, Greg Hurd and Scott Richardson. They settled on the Micheaux name (which is in the public domain) after working with the family of the legendary artist.

“It’s in honor of Michaeux obviously, and this is what he did at a time far more difficult than now,” Willmott says.

Next month the company will screen “Bunker Hill” at the ACLU headquarters in Washington, D.C.

“The independent filmmaker has to be proactive,” he says. “You can’t become this passive person waiting for someone to get it. Your job is to get it to the audience.”

So, it appears that BUNKER will make its way through the country for the rest of the year...
will keep up to date with it as information becomes available.

Unemployed... with ghosts and Munchausen (Spot The ThemeTM posting)

Still in the midst of job hunting... not that unusual for the time of year for me - I bounce back and forth between The Real World of Job and film freelancing since I got my foot in the proverbial door -- an uneasy balance, but one I've had to maintain. Since the bulk of my work is usually in features, I , of course, live in a place where there's lots of it... well, if I work for free, that is. But that would be true even if I lived in an industry area, to gauge by ads on Mandy.com and Craigslist.

And I just have not managed to make any inroads into the commercial/corporate video world... a bone every now and then, but nothing to rely on. Then again - the few commercial jobs I have done did pay better, but I can't say that I've ever seen the final result, nor do I really care to. And as I've mentioned before, when I've decided to go all out on the freelance route, it usually results in long, painful periods of cash deprivation. Such is the dichotomy that is My Life.

It has allowed me to catch up on DVD watching, however - one small glistening jewel in the dung mountain. A good part of April was spent watching the films of Seijun Suzuki - mainly his later period films, three of which are considered The Taisho Trilogy - ZIGEUNERWEISEN, KAGERO-ZA and YUMEJI. All three films are set in the 1920s and although all three are different, the best way to describe them would be Japanese Arthouse with supernatural overtones weaving throughout. Most of the Suzuki films I'm familar with are the yakuza films he did in the 60's that people rave about (quite rightly) - these three are quite different in tone, although there are visual touches that remind one of some of that early work. The films are also quite long - two and a half hours, and leisurely paced. Not being Japanese, I'm quite sure there's a lot going on that I'm missing, but there are interesting touches that made the watching experience rewarding. The Trilogy is available on Netflix - if you're into Japanese film, it's worth adding them to your queue.

Just watched recently was the new DVD release of Terry Gilliam's THE ADVENTURES OF BARON MUNCHAUSEN - previously available in a bare bones release, this 2-disc Special Edition finally does justice to the film in a format that's readily available to everyone. MUNCHAUSEN's previous Special Edition was a Criterion Collection laserdisc that had a commentary by Gilliam and was packed with lots of extras - but it was hard to find and pretty pricey on eBay... not to mention that you had to have a laserdisc player!

The new release from Sony is about as cool as the Criterion release - it doesn't port Gilliam's original commentary from that set; instead, it features a new commentary by Gilliam done in tandem with co-writer/actor Charles McKeown, and it's a pretty good one... both sort of bounce things off of each other, and it's entertaining. Gilliam is one of the few directors who does great commentaries, and it's better when he has someone to play off of (like his commentary for TIDELAND, done with writer Tony Grisoni.)

The second disc has an hour and a half documentary on the Munchausen Saga - all of the main players are heard from, and it's as entertaining as the main feature. Some of the material from the Criterion laserdisc is used here, such as location video, but in truncated form. Also from the laserdisc are four deleted scenes (but without commentary), and a presentation of storyboards of scenes that had to be eliminated from the script, due to budget and time contraints. On the laserdisc, these were accompanied by Gilliam's explanation of the scenes, but for this release, they do something even better: Gilliam and McKeown aurally act out the storyboards as they're presented.

For fans of the film and of Gilliam, this is a release that's been long overdue, since the Criterion release never got to DVD format... still be nice to have it, but there's not much to be disappointed with the Sony release (also on Blu-Ray). Now it would be great if they'd do the same with THE FISHER KING, whose Special Edition is only available (as of yet) on Criterion laserdisc.

Looking around, I just discovered the following, scheduled to be released this August:




Hopefully, I'll be able to afford it, if I'm working by summer.

What's been going on?

Well, first - ACADEMY OF DOOM!... there was a good turnout at the KC premiere. Quite a few of the guys from Mizzou came over - Chip, the director couldn't make it, due to being in Southern MO with a class, but we did hear him via phone just prior to the screening.

So, how was it? Happily, I can say that I was thoroughly entertained - I did get to see a very early and rough assembly of it about a year and a half ago, and though you could tell there was a movie there, it was going to require a lot of shaping - and Robert Swope, the editor, was up to the challenge. The movie was a lot of fun to watch (definitely 2/5ths of whiskey -- 3 bong hit movie), and it'll be interesting what the luchador crowd will make of it. The film should be making the festival rounds later in the year, along with its companion film MIL MASCARAS: RESURRECTION. (Both will debut at the RioFan festival in Rio DeJaneiro that starts next week - playing with SONG OF THE DEAD!)

more SUSPENSION activity - especially if you're in the L.A. area June 1 [per co-director Ethan Shaftel]:

At 7:30pm on Sunday, June 1st, to kick off the DVD release, 
SUSPENSION will have its public LA premiere at Norris Theater on USC 
campus.  This is a special treat for many of us involved with the 
movie that attended USC Cinema.  And to top it off, we'll be having a 
nice Q and A session afterwards with our local USC alumi (and our 
lead actress and co-director thrown in for good measure!) available 
to answer questions: star Annie Tedesco, writer/producer Aris 
Blevins, producer Kevin Obsatz, Director of Photography Ben Van 
Cleave, Editors Hillel Aron and Meg Decker, sound designer/mixer 
Kevin Roache, and co-directors Alec Joler and myself.

Tickets are FREE to everyone, and there should be ample seating to 
bring whomever you like!  Also, Norris Theater has AMAZING picture 
and sound and ridiculously comfortable seats. Make reservations here.

We got probably our best review yet the other day at 
eFilmCritic.com. ; I'm sure you'll be seeing 
quotes from this review on our future posters!  And finally, If you 
have a chance, check out our slick new website, designed by Team A
Design.  Our DVD Presale will start in two weeks, where 
you can pre-order your special SIGNED copy!  More info soon...


If you have a chance to go, I highly recommend it.

Currently, I'm working on articles for the next MICRO-FILM issue, and slowly
tweaking a documentary on my desktop, while waiting around for word of the next job.
Which is... well, who knows? Last year at this time, I was on one film, and looking
at having 3 projects to keep me busy and solvent - of those, TOGI was the only one
of the three that actually shot -- NEVER SUBMIT (or as I know it, NEVER COMMIT) kept
getting pushed back, and eventually bit the dust in the summer; the other film is
still in limbo, and may possibly shoot this summer - or it may not.

As much as I love what I do, it's an extremely inconstant line of work - at least in NE KS.
You might take a peek to the right to see a new link - SCRIPT GODDESS, a blog
I recently discovered by a script supervisor who writes a lot more elequently
about the job we do.

I still plan to do that last print zine issue, about my adventures in film...
maybe sooner than I think.

Just a bit of fun...

CLOVERFIELD?! MY ASS!

Watch a legend make it look easy...

ACADEMY OF DOOM! Unleashed on April 18 at KC Filmmakers Jubilee


Mil Mascaras taking care of business

The time is ripe for KS/MO indies to finally see the light of day... just got word that this film (originally titled WRESTLING WOMEN VS. THE BRAINIAC) will debut at this year's KC Jubilee on Friday, April 18. You can check the Jubilee site for more info, once it's posted - the screening time is 11pm at the Tivoli theatre.

Here's the blub:

ACADEMY OF DOOM weaves a complex storyline involving mysterious characters and stolen brains. Shot in the psychotronic style of the no-budget Mexican “lucha” films of the early 1970s, this film tells the story of a series of bizarre murders at a famous wrestling women's academy. Appearing in a featured role is the legendary luchador, Mil Mascaras. The film was produced as an exercise in the use of technology for filmmaking by the Department of Computer Science, in the College of Engineering, at the University of Missouri-Columbia. Many of the supporting actors are MU students--who also participated in varied crew and post-production capacities.

This was directed by Chip Gubera, who did SONG OF THE DEAD - I'd worked with Chip several times before, and I was familiar with Mexican Lucha films... it was irresistible. I'm curious how the finished product will play, but if you like your movies with girls in wrestling masks, wrestling action, brain-sucking monsters, girls with flamethrowers, ninjas and dwarf assassins with jetpacks, you'll more than likely have a good time with it.

Alcohol and other substances are strictly optional.

I have to admit the jetpack assassin is what made me sign on... and the flamethrower girls were icing on the cake.

Premiere Night



Liberty Hall marquee 3/29/08

Well, I think that it was successful... there was an excellent turnout; the 7:30 screening sold out, which prompted a second screening at 10pm... and judging from audience reaction, they seemed to get the film. So it was a very gratifying experience -- as it always is, to see the finished product after so much hard work, and to see that it WORKS, and as well as you pictured it... and I'm just a cog in the wheel. The guys below should be feeling the same, x 1000.


Kevin Willmott and Greg Hurd, BUNKER HILL co-writers

Of course, now comes the other part - selling the movie and getting it out there for the public to see, which if the public does in droves, will make EVERYBODY happy - especially potential investors for the next film.

BUNKER HILL plays out as a solid piece of entertainment, which has a bit more to offer the audience to think about, well after the lights come up and everyone heads up the aisles... It's a contemporary take on The Western, with The Outsider coming into the community, everyone confronting a situation larger than themselves, allies and enemies forming, and rough justice being dispensed before the credits roll. Kevin and Greg's take on that genre archetype was to slyly subvert it in some ways, while still paying homage; and to do a social commentary on events in the country since 9/11 .

There will be a LOT of comparisons with JERICHO -- I guess if one thinks of it in terms of great minds thinking alike (DEEP IMPACT/ARMAGEDDON, INDEPENDENCE DAY/MARS ATTACKS, 1984/BRAZIL, etc.), rather than the uninformed and knee-jerk reaction of "ripoff", one will be able to appreciate different approaches to the same premise -- two big differences in the two is the riff on the Western that BH does, and that the events that are the catalyst for the story are much more ambiguous than in JERICHO -- mainly due that ambiguity is more accepted in a two hour movie than in a television show. Unless you happen to be J. J. Abrams; but that's another post - not necessarily this one, but...

Actually I think that fans of JERICHO will appreciate BUNKER HILL, if they're open to it and can get past the taste of the bitter pill, Cancellation.

I won't get too detailed in reviewing, since I'm obviously not a neutral party... but I think that people will enjoy the film once it's available. It's another step up the ladder for Willmott - and after BH gets out, then people should be ready for the next step up when THE ONLY GOOD INDIAN is finished. More about that later in the year... maybe.

It's Coming... BUNKER HILL


James McDaniel and Scott Allegrucchi


About 24 hours from now, I'll be getting ready to sit down in anticipation of my first look at BUNKER HILL, over at Liberty Hall in Lawrence, KS.

I'll be bursting to share my thoughts afterwards (biased as they will be, as being part of the production crew)... until that time, you might want to check out some recent items:

The Lawrence JOURNAL-WORLD has an article by Jon Niccum in anticipation of tomorrow's premiere.

An audio interview with singer Kelly Hunt (who has a small role) and Kevin Willmott - you also can hear Kelly perform the song she wrote for the film.

Until tomorrow...