The Poverty Jet Set

Gothamist recently did an interview with a couple of excellent people (siblings) I met back in Park City, Jeremy and Randy Stulberg. They had a film at Slamdance called Off the Grid: Live on the Mesa which by unlucky chance I didn’t get to see there, then missed again at the True/False Film Festival. I heard all about the film from them and have seen the trailer, but man, I can’t wait to see the film! Here’s a quick quote from the interview:

When people think of “drop outs”, they think of people who are anti-American conspiracy theorists. We were amazed and excited that most of our subjects defied those stereotypes. They’re some of the most patriotic Americans we know. It was inspiring because they really believed in those basic American ideals of freedom and democracy. Part of the reason they’ve chosen to “drop out” is because they feel that those ideals have been lost in the last decade, or so. That’s what drew us to the story.

I’ve been thinking about heading to the Mesa in New Mexico next month for my friend Peter’s “Swan Fest” which is a gathering of avant-garde musicians (such as this band from Portland, OR) and artists from all over the continent at his off-the-grid house. He’s been telling me about it for years and I can’t wait to go. Might not happen this year, but definitely next. Camping on National Forest land that abuts his property, making big fires, looking at the enormous New Mexico sky, playing music with friends. Sounds like heaven to me.

Technorati Tags: slamdance, offthegrid, newmexico, independence, filmfestival, povertyjetset, stulberg, camping, interview, documentary, film, truefalse

I’m off to the Mountain Film Festival in Telluride today! Hope to report some of the happenings from the field. Stay tuned.

Technorati Tags: colorado, film, filmfestival, travel, mountains, mountainfilm, telluride, adventure

Here’s another plug for an amazing project that good friends of mine here in Philly are doing. Faithful readers of my blog will know I’ve written about them before. But they are truly doing such great work, the project has come so far, and I’m so proud of them. Really. They wrote and perform live a new original score to the 1970 Czech New Wave film, Valerie and Her Week of Wonders. But honestly, they don’t even need a plug from me as they were recently invited to show at Jarvis Cocker’s Meltdown in London this summer and at MOMA in the fall! Amazing.

If you are in Philly, make sure to check out this screening!

Technorati Tags: london, valerieproject, meltdown, music, film, espers, jarviscocker, psychedelic

So this cat John Young, out in West Chest, PA, has been making things like this (see below) to project movies at ’secret locations’ and totally on the fly. Man, that’s hot. No doubt one of the sexiest machines I have ever laid eyes upon. Someone should bring one to Sundance next year.

Technorati Tags: idea, lo-fi, projecting, homebrew, gadgets, motorcycles, film, filmfestival, art

Man, it seems like every web site I touch these days goes BOOM! Even the Poverty Jet Set was down for a day. But, finally, we’ve shaken out the bugs, turned up the heat and everything’s niiiiiiiice and toasty again.

Audrey and I are enjoying the wunderbar festival der film, True/False Film Festival in beautiful and shockingly cool Columbia, Missouri (yes, you heard that right folks, shockingly cool.)

You’re in luck, too, cuz we’ve been video blogging from the festival and will have a vid up soon! Yay! Stay tuned…

It is with great relief that I bring you the last video blog post from the Sundance Film Festival 2007. Not that I didn’t have a lot of fun making them, but that I’m just totally and utterly exhausted from two straight weeks of films and craziness.

I calculated the official totals. I saw 54 feature films, shorts and video installations all together. *phew*

This video is kind of a two-parter. The first half, I go skiing with my friend, Chris Paine — director of the great muckracking film “Who Killed the Electric Car?”

Then, in part two… it’s party time! Check it out.

(oh, and by the way, this is a photo of me and my buddy, Sundance roommate and fellow projectionist Peter Kershinsky — a very cool fella from Seattle)

Did most of my projecting during the morning screenings, so I had a chance to wander around town with my buds. Sat in my hottub. Checked emails. Ate cheap pizza (finally).

The festival is really winding down. Only 36 hours to go from now. Very ready to come home!

We’ve been running at top speed for the past week, and boy, am I tired. I am sitting in the projection booth at the Park City Library Theater. It’s 8:11am. I got to bed at 2:17am because I was working the late show at the Egyptian. I. am. exhausted.

At this point in the festival, it’s hard to come up with funny, witty things to say on camera. The films, they’re all blurring together. The time has muddled down into a strange puddle of coming and going, random conversations, bus rides and ill-advised meals of free pizza.

Saying that, this video has come down to the essence of it all… personal taste and the almighty film review. Word-of-mouth, friends.

I had the unique opportunity to project the world premier of Crispin Hellion Glover’s new film “It is Fine! EVERYTHING IS FINE!” His films are weird enough that they don’t get widely seen. He’s also super paranoid about getting his films stolen, so he doesn’t distribute them on DVD. “Cult film” of the highest order.

This film is written and acted by a man with Cerebral Palsy. It’s his fantasy, a world where beautiful women swoon for him and everyone understands him without hesitation. It’s shockinng. But beautiful.

Also, I ate some really expensive pizza, visited an arcarde promoting a cool film, “Chasing Ghosts”, and I finally got to see some live music, Two Gallants… a short clip of which I included. Enjoy!

Okay, okay. Some of you have been asking, “why do you call your vlog Psychedelic Sundance?” Well, for one, it sure rolls off the tongue, doesn’t it? Nah, it’s not too psychedelic so far. But I thought, why not?

Anywho… here’s a video about some of the more psychedelia art around the fest, including Philly’s own klip//collective.

No promises.

Yup, chalk up another random celebrity meeting… didn’t really talk to the man, but shook his hand and said howdy. He executive produced (and I believe acted in) the film I talk about in this episode of the Sundance video blog.

It was a late night, but in the end, a rather bad day turned good and I had an awesome time projecting the great new mockumentary called “Finishing the Game”. It’s hilarious! Several hearty belly laughs, very whitty.

But also getting bogged down with traffic and some really boring films…

This truly is a weird place. I’m starting to think there are four types of people in town right now…

1. Locals (who are constantly on the verge of freaking out and ripping someone’s head off if another stranger asks them for directions)

2. Gapers (who are here to see celebrities, go to parties and generally hang on to the coolness of others… I might be partially indicting myself in this, as you’ll see by the video)

3. Cineastes (who are running around trying to cram in as many films as possible. How people watch 6 films a day boggles the mind. Also, industry types. Recognized by odd LA-style “mountain” clothes.)

4. Festival Staff (see locals, but insert forced smile.)

In any event, here’s my fourth video of the festival. I hope you dig it. It’s a bit longer than usual because, well, I’ve been doing a lot of talking to myself, er, my camera and (indirectly to all of yous). Enjoy the weirdness that is Sundance.

Oh yeah, and new photos up at my Flickr page.

Technorati Tags: blogging, sundance, povertyjetset, filmfestival, video, videoblogging, film

The crowds have begun descending on Park City, and we’ve started showing films! No big technical glitches yet, but I’m still holding my breath.

Working 16 hour days now… but of course, the perk of projecting is that a lot of the work is just watching the film (aka making sure nothing bad happens).

Technorati Tags: blogging, sundance, povertyjetset, filmfestival, video, videoblogging, film

Things are still relatively quiet around Park City. No nutty crowds quite yet.

The first film of the fest goes on tonight at the Eccles theater, so we’re all holding our breath. The last two days have been a strange combination of utter dread and fun times amongst the projection staff and production crew. I’ve been crash-coursing the projecting systems and still get knots in my stomach when I think about projecting world premiers of the only 35mm print in existence. Ugh.

To calm the nerves, we had our official dinner party last night, and a few of us spilled over to the volunteer party, followed by a condo party and a massive Jenga battle. Observe:

Technorati Tags: blogging, sundance, povertyjetset, filmfestival, video, videoblogging, film

Well, after a relatively painless flight, I spent the evening yesterday with Audrey’s parents in Salt Lake. We had a devilishly indulgent time, eating take-out Vietnamese and watching the full 2-hour episode of that horendously commercial-laden and rather unimpressive show, 24.

I haven’t yet put together the first episode of the Sundance video podcast, probably because I haven’t filmed anything overly compelling. All I did today was stand around waiting for my staff pass, my condo keys and my schedule. Now I’m at the public library emailing before I explore the town.

I’ll probably throw something together to upload tomorrow.

I know, I know… the antipation is killing you. Heh.

A couple nights ago, Audrey and I went to see what is surely going to go down as one of my all time favorite films. It’s a quiet little piece called “Old Joy” and… wow. Just, wow.

It’s one of the films that embodies what I regard as the highest forms of art — as simple as possible, yet exemplifying profound truths. This film is about sorrow, worry and confusion in the chaos of modern times, but also about beauty and stillness and nature. I think the characters are metaphors for some vague duality that exists politically in the American left (and inside me) — the hand wringers that can’t get over the dread of apocalypse and the free spirits who can’t get their hands dirty to make positive change.

One of the things I loved most about it is through these themes, it’s a quintessential Poverty Jet Set story. These dudes are saddened by today’s darknesses, yet they continue to search for peace. They are travelers. They are looking for value in things immaterial — friendship, beauty and peace. Kurt, played by Will Oldham, especially, is a seeker.

I could rant on about this film, but as it has literally less than twenty lines of dialogue, to write more would be a sin. Go see it, as soon as you can.

Technorati Tags: adventure, film, freedom, americana, oldjoy, povertyjetset

Here’s a quick teaser from a documentary-in-the-works by my friend Marc Brodzik. I’ve been helping shoot it, and believe me, this is only a small taste of the awesomeness that is Darren… the film’s gonna be sick. Stay tuned.

And as an extra special treat, because you braved the storm, read the blog this far, you are entitled to a peak at my glamorous personal defense of the almighty Speedo.

Technorati Tags: art, darren, film, magdalenus, performanceart, Philly, povertyjetset, speedos, video

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