Which brings me to Day 4 - the final day that we attended the festival.
The first screening of the day began at noon and the place was packed! It was Raiders of the Lost Ark: The Adaptation. Back in 1982, a group of teens began a shot by shot remake of the original film! It took 6 years to complete. The "star" and producer Chris Strompolos grew up before our very eyes! He was at the screening and his stories were amazing!
He talked about the great lengths the boys went through to get as close to the original film as possible without the use of the internet or even a VHS copy of the movie. They took a lot of risks, which resulted in such things as broken arms, burnt bodies, and a head stuck in plaster. The hand that went along with that head finally had to write on a piece of paper "Hospital" in order to get the assistance he needed.
Had there been no time limit, I'm sure that the audience could have continued asking Strompolos questions for hours. Amazing and fascinating!
Next up was Neil Hamburger's Tribute to Dora Hall. You don't know who Dora Hall is? That's weird! (Not really.)
Dora Hall was married to the founder of the Solo Cup Company. He used his resources to let Dora explore her dream of becoming an entertainer. He financed record releases and TV specials and would both package things with Solo Cups and allow consumers to redeem their proof of purchase for copies.
A small dose of her stuff went a long way for me and it was the first time during the festival that I considered leaving before the end! It was being stuck in someone's bizarre fantasy world - one that creeped me out a bit! Here is (one of) the number(s) that just about put me over the edge:
I was glad I stayed until the end, though, as the last video was my...um...favorite. It was a weird Twilight Zone wannabe that didn't actually have Dora in it.
Neil Hamburger is quite the character. It was disappointing that no one had any questions for him at the end. I think we were all speechless. And exhausted.
After this screening, Rick and I decided to take a little break and go get some food before the final event we planned to see. I had a minute when I was close to wanting to go home, but was SO happy that we stuck to our guns and went back to see the film Dangerous Men.
The festival program described it as being "THE holiest of all Holyfuckingshits" and I would say that's pretty accurate!
I sat there, mouth agape, for the duration!
It's one of those films made in earnest with high hopes/expectations. Hadrian of Cinefamily told us a story about how he had gone to see it in the theater (which was rented out by the filmmaker) and was the ONLY person who had shown up so far for the run. While watching the film with a room filled with people, I imagined him sitting there ALONE with no other witnesses around him...
Perhaps the audience reaction wasn't what was originally intended, but it's undeniable that we all had a pretty freakin' good time watching it.
One of my favorite moments was a flashback scene in which the main character (I guess...she wasn't actually in the end) presented her (now dead) boyfriend with a gift. It was a little scene of owls made of seashells that she had made herself. I can't imagine coming up with this randomly. I can only conclude that John S. Rad (creator/writer/director/producer/COMPOSER/etc.) was plucking this from a specific and real experience in his life.
Here is the very beginning of the film. You'll get the feel, even before any cast appears.
Dangerous Men (excerpt) from Cinefamily on Vimeo.
Amazingly, a cast member came to the screening. She played the maid, but told us all that later Mr. Rad told her that he should have cast her as the lead. The lead, by the way, once stole a pair of her shoes.
The biggest gem she let us in on, though was this. John S. Rad had told them all that this film was going to be "as big as E.T."
Priceless.
And an awesome way for us to conclude our experience of the Everything Is Festival!
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