Underground Film Links: June 12, 2011
By Mike Everleth ⋅ June 12, 2011
- This week’s Absolute Must Read is a letter Hollis Frampton wrote to MoMA regarding a planned retrospective of his work in 1973. The hitch: The museum wanted Frampton to give them his films for free. Too bad he’s not still alive because we need more letters like this written, especially in today’s “free” internet culture. My favorite line: “I leave it to your surmise whether [Maya Deren’s] life might have been prolonged by a few bucks.”
- In case you missed it on the Underground Film Journal, Jonas Mekas reprinted the very informative and insightful comment he left here on his own website. Good stuff on the demise of his Movie Journal column.
- If you can name the three dudes and know where they’re sitting in this photograph, then you are a 100% underground film nerd. (And, yes, I can
- Chris Hansen continues his production diary for his film An Affair. Day Three found the filmmaker running afoul of a pimp. (By proxy, but for real.) Day Five was a much nicer steadicam shoot and Hansen has the pictures to prove it.
- Marcus Rosentrater covers a Film Love event, curated by Andy Ditzler, for CinemaATL, a website about all things cinematic in Atlanta, Georgia. The theme of the screening was all about transformation.
- The Portland Underground Film Festival is happening this weekend and the Portland Mercury has a quickie preview, including an awesome photo of local bad boy Bob Moricz.
- The Washington Post profiles ’70s filmmaking crew the Langley Punks, who made short underground sci-fi and horror comedies in the D.C. area. They’re getting a retrospective at the AFI Silver Theater, which is pretty sweet.
- Joseph Mael interviews filmmaker Danny Plotnick in advance of a retrospective screening and DVD release.
- Mike Plante has some news and updates about his Cinemad Presents distribution efforts.
- For ExBerliner, Walter Crasshole interviews Julia Ostertag about her new punk documentary, Noise and Resistance.
- Yes! Weekly calls Heavy Metal Parking Lot “16 perfect minutes” and interviews the co-director Jeff Krulik.
- Michael Varatti has a truly epic piece on the mostly forgotten cult classic Vegas in Space.
- Las Vegas Weekly interviews Cinekink founder Lisa Vandever, who has brought a touring edition of the fest to Sin City.
- For Electric Sheep, Virginie Sélavy interviews Gregg Araki about his latest film, Kaboom.
- So, how did Mike White fare on his recent Impossibly Funky book tour? So great that’s he’s never doing another tour ever again. (Guess I won’t see him in L.A.)
- Chopping Mall is all fired up about the U.K. preemptively banning The Human Centipede 2.
- This picture that Don Swaynos posted up makes me physically ill. Just wanted to say that.
- Fangoria is reporting that the godfather of gore, Herschell Gordon Lewis, will have his latest treat, The Uh-Oh Show — which the Underground Film Journal has seen and loved — finally released on DVD in August.
- Here’s a press release about a new initiative coordinated by Fandor, Kino Lorber and Microcinema International that will feature simultaneous theatrical and digital premieres.
- The SF Weekly has a great write-up on and even more awesome pictures of Peaches Christ’s Midnight Mass screening of Sleepaway Camp, the cult slasher flick.
- Max Farber discusses the “perpetual new” of the underground, focusing on James Vogel’s The City and Sarah Jacobson’s Mary Jane’s Not a Virgin Anymore.
- Cineflyer reprints Tom Kohut’s review of Jaimz Asmundson’s The Magus and its place in the context of occult cinema.
- We’re sorry to hear that filmmaker Robert G. Putka is depressed.
- Filmmaker Dinorah de Jesús Rodriguez has a lovely obituary for her late friend, animator Karen Aqua.
- Bill Plympton reports on his own book chat and movie screening at the Museum of the Moving Image, which was held over Memorial Day weekend.
- For the Chicago Sun-Times, Grace Wang looks at the lack of decent film criticism in China.
- Mark Evanier has a hilarious article on why drive-in movie theaters suck.
- Not underground and these kinds of articles always kind of irritate me, but it’s worth reading what kind of videos make money online.
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Yeah, but that Hollis Frampton letter, well he must have spent the better parts of two days writing it and he did it for free!