STAGED READING of "HOT/COLD"

Oh, I'm involved in this, me Daniel, if you are a reader of this blog you are invited to come and check this out. It is going to be very cool. Here's the nitty-gritty or more-so the press release for the event.



HOT/COLD is a short film in development from award-winning filmmaker Frank Mosley, an Arlington, Texas resident whose love for film and theater has collided for this one-night only event. Fresh off his first feature film, HOLD, due out this summer, Mosley has returned to the passion project that has long eluded him. To help jumpstart this production, he hopes this live performance might ignite public interest and provide a whole new perspective into the evolution of a single project.

Four Day Weekend Theater of Fort Worth, located in the heart of Sundance Square, is hosting a staged reading of Mosley’s latest script about disillusionment, loneliness, choice, and responsibility. It will be an entertaining and unique kind of fundraiser that hopes to secure some money for producing the film this summer. Although there is no admission fee, Mosley hopes that even the smallest donation will help produce the vision that this minimalist theater production alludes to.

The reading, narrated by drama instructor Jennifer Mazza-Nguyen, will be acted by cast members Danielle Pickard, Crystal Pate, Morgana Shaw, and John Elliott. The film’s composer, Fort Worth musician Clint Niosi, fresh off his hit album, “The Sound of Dead Horses Beaten Against Cold Shoulders”, will be performing a live “first draft” of the film’s score to accompany the actors. Fort Worth photographer Paul Leicht has also taken a series of portraits and abstracts that will be projected on three background screens as a commanding triptych to round out this aural experience.

Mosley will speak on behalf of himself and his producers Robby Storey and Daniel Laabs to illustrate the potential pinnacle this film will take on once funding is successfully raised. He hopes to submit the finished film to both national and international festivals, and also present an alternate, “one-long-take only” installation version of the tale to galleries and museums across Texas.

Any further inquiries will be contacted with an online, full-color press packet for circulation and interest.
This night will also be taped by filmmaker and writer Shaun Hamill for his latest documentary, both a chronicle on the making of HOT/COLD, as well as a meditative investigation into the creative and collaborative process.

So, join us for a fun night of theater and cinema, of sight and sound, where you, as an audience, can help put the finishing brushstrokes on this canvas, filling in the gaps as both spectator and curator. We hope you enjoy it.

There will be two performances, one at 7:30 pm and the other at 9 pm, on the evening of Tuesday, April 14th. Please join us in the lobby afterwards for drinks and discussion.

the sky looked crazy today before it rained

:)

Looking forward to AFI

So for AFI, I'm going to catch a couple films I missed and support other new exciting films in this festival. I am also one support duty for UTA. My little film school has a huge presence this year at AFI Dallas, there is, the big one, The Other Side of Paradise, which was made by Justin Hilliard and Ryan Harsell, two people I have never met save for facebook and association with one of the stars of their film and mine, Frank Mosley. Also playing is Sai Salvarajan's short The Management of Grief, a met Sai a few years ago during a tour up at Video Post & Transfer, now called & Transfer, but then it wasn't. Then Justin Wilson, who I've never met or heard of, has a film called One Nation. All things considered, I am looking forward to meeting these guys and seeing their films.

I am also looking forward to another chance to see David Lowery's St. Nick, again. It was easily one of the strongest voices in SXSW and his presence was noted on a couple other films there that I really liked. If you are reading this, the film that should be at the top of your list of things to see is St. Nick. Otherside is sold out, so it really will be luck that gets you into that or you were smart unlike myself and bought your tickets to see that the night they went on sale and sold out. I am really amazed and surprised at their success. So I hope I can get into see that (fingers crossed).

So many good films we saw at SXSW are also screening here at AFI and I have to recommend a few if you get a chance to get out to the fest. I Come From the Woods and Treevenge are both screening in the midnight shorts catagory and were also part of the same compilation at SXSW, which was one of the best round of shorts we saw in Austin. As far as features, I would also suggest 500 Days of Summer, now this isn't really a small film at all, it is huge, but it was a really nice film that I would definitely say was worth the watch. I heard nice things about The 2 Bobs, and Big Fan with Patton Oswald looked pretty funny. Sister Wife was really interesting and is playing in the Documentary Shorts Competiton. Naiti Gamez's Love, Sadie is in competition with Sleet/Snow, but I really liked it, it was one of top shorts at SXSW, and if you come out to see my film you'll get to see that one too. I will be going to see Dungeon Masters is playing, I didn't hear much about this, but it looks funny. I will also be checking out Grace, which just looked disturbing but was on my list of films to see at SXSW, so... HUG is also playing in my competition, and we saw that at SXSW and was really cool, wasn't a favorite but I definitely liked it a lot.  Moon is also screening, we saw that, I didn't see all of it so I may catch the rest of that one. Bart said Rip was good. 

Oh well, I post more films I am looking forward to seeing at afi later in the week.

d

Where has Adrian been? ... by Adrian

SXSW is over. I'm back in Arlington, where there is no festival, no 5 films a day, no free pass to all kinds of stuff, and most importantly... no free food.

I'm back at school. Stress, Embarrassment, Anxiety, Confusion... Life.... starts again.

I'm extremely unmotivated and uninspired to do much of anything. Where is the Adrian from last year? That guy who never slept and never stopped moving. Did he die? How did he do so much? Is that why I'm so burned out now? Am I burned out or am I just being lazy? Where are my socks? Am I going to graduate?

I keep telling people that "My Suicide" was my favorite movie at SXSW. Was it? I really enjoyed it and I loved the style, but was there something better that I forgot about? I'm in class right now, or I was when I wrote this, so I can't look up everything I saw and revisit them and decide what I liked about them and weigh them against the other films.

I'll see if I can find some time to do that later... but when do I have time?

Today I'm helping an intro student shoot a documentary, then later I'm climbing.

Tomorrow I'm helping with the documentary again.

Thursday I'm supposed to go to Fort Worth to try to lock a jewelry store, and AFI starts.

Friday through next week is AFI and casting and finding locations... Can I do all of this?

Of course I can. I accomplished more tasks than this in one day last semester, so all this should be cake for me.... but then we're back to the question... "Am I the same Adrian from last year?"

-Who am I?

I think he's a Jack-Ass

The shorthorn published a really nice article about us and Sleet/Snow in today's paper. check it out.

Top Ten of SXSW

Here is Daniel's top ten favorite festures

1. Afterschool

Probably the most important film of this festival. It is a satire, but more then that, it is also perfect. By the end you are practically going nuts, your brain almost can't handle it. You feel tense. But the most important thing is you feel. That feeling is strong, and unique.

2. You Won't Miss Me

We saw this opening night, and it immediately resonated with me. I truly cannot wait to see this film again. It is dark, it is depressing, but above all it is real. Gritty and real. You feel humiliated, betrayed, lost, and ultimately alone, it is hard to like this movie if you can't identify or decode it's harsh language. Very much like Afterschool, this film makes you feel things, it is just that they are both refined and subtle.

3. Winnebago Man

I think you are always affected by a film when at its completion the applause is so loud and heartfelt. I won't attend to the every detail because I have not posted my notes on this profoundly inspired documentary about an angry man. I mean, I predict people will be talking about this film for years and years to come. It is that good.

4. My Suicide

I didn't want to like this film, for a lot of reasons. It is immature, it is an over-the-top-preach-a-lesson type of movie, but it is really great. The editing, the main actors, (Joe Montanga sucked 90% of the time he was on screen), the music (the TV on the Radio cover of Daniel Johnston's "Walking the Cow" is worth a viewing alone), the story, this film was as much as I didn't want it to be one of the best films I've seen this year. Not my favorite of the fest, but definitely one of the best films of the year. 

5. The Immaculate Conception of Little Dizzle

I wrote about this previously and I really liked this film. It earned every second of your time, it made you love it so much, and the film makes you want to hate it. It is essentially about pooping blue fish,. But it is amazing to witness this film evolve into what ultimately becomes a truly worth while experience. I think technical proficiency would understate how cool this movie is to look at.

6. Alexander the Last

I really liked this movie. I was simple, fun, and contextually fulfilling. I have to say though the thing that impressed me the most about this film was Joe's camera work. It looked really great, the visual aesthetic of each sequence was really neat to watch. It was as cool as St. Nick, but it was a very pretty movie. A lot of improvised elements really stood strong in this film. Really cool.

 

7. St. Nick

Some told me during the festival that it could have been a short, but I'm glad it wasn't. One of the things I liked most about this film is how it lets you think. Like You Won't Miss Me & Afterschool, you really had to look at yourself and pay attention to what you were thinking about during the screening. Each image draws your attention to a thought or a subtext, and like the boy, when you do have the courage to speak it is often so self-centered and introspective, your are curious if in fact you are alone in your thoughts. It sits on this list also for its powerful freaking sound design.

8. We Live In Public/Sweethearts of the Prison Rodeo

In both of these films, you could watch two different filmmakers, continue with the work and style they have established for themselves. If you've seen and liked their previous films, I recommend these, they totally do it again, with new subjects.

9. Beeswax

Bujalski's latest film, his third film, does not disappoint. It is about the relationship between two sisters, it is fun and meaningful. Maybe I'm just still so in love with his other two films that it is hard for me to not like this movie. But seeing Beeswax in the theater, let me see an audience react to a subtle comedy like this for the first time. I'd put this on par with Bottle Rocket, but the heart of this one is a bit grander. I shook this guy's hand three times but couldn't sum up the courage to talk to him.

10. Creative NonFiction

I enjoyed this film a lot, funny and insecure. It was one of the most enjoyable films at the festival. Great story, low budget, exactly the kind of thing you hope to see when you are about to embark on a long laborious journey.

Favorite Shorts

1. Sunday Mornings

2. I come from the Woods

3. Isis Avenue

4. A'mare

5. Recieve Bacon/Butthole Lickin'

6. "C.R.U.F.F."

7. Love, Sadie

8. Auto Pilot

9. Warm Fuzzy Feeling

10. Sleet/Snow (because I made it.)