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From the "On The Scene" Archives: 
by Bryan Wendorf (indieWIRE/2.2.2000) -- The Sixth Annual Slamdance Film Festival began with the near arrest of a participating filmmaker. Iranian refugee Farhad Yawari, maker of "Dolphins," was handcuffed and came close to spending his trip to Park City on the wrong side of cell bars for "intent to solicit business." A new city ordinance this year attempts to ban handbills, flyers, or other advertising materials from being handed to passersby, or placing them on cars, buildings or sign posts. Farhad was eventually released with a warning, but representatives of the Park City P.D. and city council visited festival director Peter Baxter to make it clear that the ordinance was a reality and that future transgressors would not be so lucky. The enforcement of this legislation appeared to be selective as mere moments after Baxter informed me of the story I walked down Main Street and by the time I reached the bottom of the hill I had collected a pocket full of flyers from other Slamdance, No Dance, Slamdunk and yes, Sundance filmmakers. The threat of legal trouble had little impact on the rest of the event and spirits at Slamdance remained high among filmmakers, festival attendees and staff for the remainder of the week. Things turned out well for Farhad as well with his silent, dreamy 40-minute featurette "Dolphins" receiving an audience award as well as special recognition from Slamdance publicist Margot Gerber for best grassroots promotion. Apparently his efforts paid off. The festival kicked-off appropriately with a screening of Bret Stern's mock-doc "Road To Park City," a lightweight, but entertaining mix of "Spinal Tap" humor and "indie filmmaking 101" which seems ideally suited for the student market if not theatrical venues. Following the screening, shuttle buses delivered fest-goers to the opening bash where Skyy Vodka flowed freely and the crowd danced into the night to techno music accompanied by visuals provided by Josh Ferrazzano, director of the hypnotic experimental narrative "System Noise." Several Slamdance selections are Rotterdam-bound including Documentary and editing prize winner "The Target Shoots First," Chris Wilcha's insightful video diary that gives an inside look at corporate culture's attempts to understand and exploit alternative music in the early 90's. Toting his video camera to work each day at the New York offices of the Columbia House music club, Wilcha makes smart use of the diary format. Wilcha will also present "Target" at March's New York Underground Film Festival. See it. Also heading for the Netherlands are Veit Helmer's "Tuvulu" and Robert Siegel's "Swimming." "Tuvulu" is a visually stunning fable set in a decaying public pool in Eastern Europe and expressively told with a minimalist sound design. My favorite narrative in the festival, it was rightfully acknowledged for best cinematography. "Swimming" is a charming coming of age story that won me over through a sweet performance by Lauren Ambrose. Another sort of coming of age tale was the angst-ridden "7-Teen Sips" directed by professional skateboarder Stephen Berra. The story, which takes a sympathetic look at the disenfranchisement that leads to events like the Columbine killings, resonated with the packed house of young viewers, but will likely alienate and disturb many older audiences. The beyond capacity crowd at the second screening worked against the film as the rising body heat caused the video projector to shut down for several minutes. The Jury prize for best feature went to "Good Housekeeping," an entertaining White trash comedy that comes off like a mix of "War Of The Roses" and Jerry Springer. Director Frank Novak showed his support for Slamdance by donating furniture for the festival's popular (and free!) Filmmaker's Lounge. For the first time films screened in the lounge were eligible for the festival's "Spirit of Slamdance" award voted on by the participating filmmakers. Their choice was Lee Demarbe's "Harry Knuckles and the Treasure of The Aztec Mummy," a spoof of chop socky and the Indiana Jones series. Other lounge favorites included documentaries "Hell House," "Moonshine" and "Pacifier" a clever short in which director O. Perez interprets a letter he wrote to Penthouse Forum at the age of 13. Feature length works were also added to this year's lounge lineup including "Searching For Roger Taylor," Aaron Barnett's quest for the reclusive former Duran Duran member which becomes a snapshot of 80's pop culture and a history of the music video. Early evening happy hours allowed for performances supporting several special programs at the fest. A punk rock party helped launch the festival's new web-based Anarchy shorts competition that will continue through out the year. Anarchy director Shane Kuhn reported nearly 1 million hits to Slamdance.com during the festival week. The Bare Naked Ladies participated in Slamdance karaoke following the screening of Jason Priestly's "Barenaked In America" and singer songwriter Amy Cook performed in support of "Amargosa," the documentary by Todd Robinson looking at seventy-six year-old dancer Marta Becket. Also, a late night party with singer Shawn Colvin was held for Jeff Stolhand's second feature "What I Like About You," a romantic comedy about a struggling bookstore owner, produced by Film Threat contributor Merle Bertrand. All the while rumors circulated the party about Film Threat CEO Chris Gore's television pilot being picked up by the FX network. (The show is described as the McLaughlin Group meets Siskel and Ebert). Slamdance closed with a sold out screening of Dwight Yoakam's directorial and writing debut "South of Heaven, West of Hell." Stars Bridget Fonda and Vince Vaughn were in attendance. Following the film, Yoakum and his band performed one last drunken debauch following a brief awards ceremony. Despite efforts by some Park City officials to prevent Slamdance and its offspring from occurring, the festival's sixth year not only went ahead as planned, but was also a definite success. The friendly and supportive atmosphere of Slamdance makes it a much-needed compliment to Park City's other festival. Slamdance is the scruffy kid brother that reminds us that his big brother was a rebel once too. The success of Slamdance continues to inspire others with the result that just about any available space in Park City has some sort of festival or screening taking place. Here's a brief rundown of what was left: SLAMDUNK: Located at Harry O's. I missed any competition screenings, but Monte Hellman's brilliant "Two Lane Blacktop" can't go without mention. The parties included nightly raves with special guests like D.J. Mark Farina and The Crystal Method. NO DANCE: The first DVD based film festival, No Dance's highlights included Todd Verow's "The Trouble With Perpetual Déjà Vu," Patrick Hasson's "Waiting" starring Will (Tromeo) Keanan, and the documentary "Mau Mau Sex Sex," a look at two aging exploitation pioneers. INDEPENDENDANCE: Held right across the hall from Slamdance in a tiny room where the short film "The Regular Menu" screened every 15 minutes luring the curious as they exited the Slamdance screening room. TROMADANCE: Sharing screening space with No Dance, the Troma team presented a day of free screenings of films such as "El Santiago Vs. Wigface" by Rusty Nails and my favorite, "A Waiter Tomorrow," Michael Kang's hilarious John Woo spoof. DIGIDANCE: Held on the outskirts of Park City, in the bowels of the Best Western motel, this was the first incarnation of an all digital showcase. The fest was wildly uneven. Programming highlights included the docs "Night Waltz: The Music of Paul Bowles" and the upcoming Seventh Arts release "Better Living Through Circuitry," Jon Reiss' look at rave culture. LAPDANCE: This sounded good on paper and I love those South Park boys, but this overcrowded party -- with no free drinks and strippers with too many clothes on -- had me looking for the exit before the announced performance by one of Les (Primus) Claypool's side projects. When I asked the nearly in-tears girl working the door where the exit was, she hugged me. [Bryan Wendorf is director of the Chicago Underground Film Festival (http://www.cuff.org) and recently joined the board of directors of IFP/Midwest. He is also a contributor to Newcity, a Chicago news and arts weekly.] | |
