MVIFF / NY Comic-Con

Before I get to my stories about the great Martha's Vineyard International Film Festival, I want to announce that the fantastic New York Comic-Con is just one week away.  I've decided to stop going out to the San Diego Comic-Con because it's too expensive, and too much of a hassle to get all of my merchandise and personnel across the U.S. every year.  So now you can see me for sure at MoCCA Fest in April and at the NY Comic-Con at the Jacob Javits Center every October.

This year we moved to a new studio space, and the good news is, we're four blocks closer to the Javits.  But we have a smaller office now, and we realized we have way too much stuff - so we'll be offering a lot of my books, DVD's and even original art at deeply discounted prices.  So please stop by and check us out in Booth 2944 at NY Comic-Con, October 5-8.  I will be there every day signing and doing sketches. 

Since the beginning of the Martha's Vineyard International Film Festival, superbly run by Richard Paradise, I've been organizing the Animation Shorts program.  This year I had a great line-up of films from around the world.  Some of my favorites were:

"Pittari" by Pat Smith (my Scribble Junkies partner)

"New York City Sketchbook" by Willy Hartland

"Big Bag" by Daniel Greaves and

"Our Wonderful Nature - The Common Chameleon" by Tomer Eshed.

Wendy Zhao and Willy Hartland were fortunately there to help do a Q&A to a packed audience.  And we got to ride up to Martha's Vineyard by ferry from Manhattan, which was a first for me.  That sure beat taking the train, and I met some other filmmakers on the boat, like Romina Schwedler, who's from Argentina, which is where I'm going next month! 

Richard did a great job of organizing a terrific festival and I got to hang out with some of the other directors and that's one of my favorite things about film festivals.  If you have an animated short - or even a live-action one - please send it to Richard and go - it's a fantastic festival!!

See ya,

Bill

World Premiere of "Body of Water"..

I traveled down to Lima Peru for a workshop made possible by Fundación Telefónica, it was a great event and I was able to premiere a music video that I had literally just finished days before, "Body of Water" for the Blake Drummond Band.  I was happy the reaction was positive, lots of energy. There really is no substitute to screening on a huge screen in front of hundreds of people.  You can watch the video now on Vimeo here:


Also was able to meet lots of new friends, and watch some great films! I'll def be heading down to Peru again soon.

Stoner Films

Before I begin this episode of "Scribble Junkies", I have a pop-up quiz for you.  Which denomination of U.S. currency has animation on it?  And what is animated?  The answer will be found at the end of this blog.

So, back to the topic at hand. As a long-time fan of weird, off-beat films, I thought it would be interesting to make a list of the Top 12 "stoner" films.  Now, these aren't films like the ones Cheech and Chong made, that are about stoners.  No, these are the films that give you the feeling or near-experience of being stoned.

So, for better or worse, here is my list of the top stoner films, in ascending order:

#12. "Dead Alive", 1992, New Zealand, dir. Peter Jackson.  An over-the-top gruesome zombie comedy that just keeps getting weirder and weirder.  I also live the visual style that at times looks like a set made out of toys.

#11. "Crank", 2006, US, dir. Mark Neveldine, starring Jason Statham, Amy Smart, Dwight Yoakam.  A professional assassin is injected with a poison that will become lethal if his heart-rate drops.  I know it's an absurd premise, but that's what makes it a great stoner film.

#10. "Brazil", 1985, UK, dir. by Terry Gilliam.  A classic paranoid futuristic thriller, also visually delightful (which is a very important aspect for stoner films).  A high point is the plastic surgery facelift scene with Katharine Helmond.

#9. "Being John Malkovich", 1999, US, dir. by Spike Jonze, written by Charlie Kaufman, starring John Malkovich, John Cusack.  One of the most twisted concepts for a feature film, my favorite scene is when we see the POV of Mr. Malkovich selecting his handkerchief.  It takes boredom to new heights of surrealism.

#8. "This Is the End", 2013, US, dir. by Evan Goldberg and Seth Rogen.  Starring Seth Rogen, James Franco. What's great about this film is that it starts normally enough and then every 10 minutes, the plot makes an extreme twist into a whole new reality (kind of like drugs).

#7. "Yellow Submarine", 1968, UK, dir. by George Dunning.  Starring the Beatles, naturally.  There are two reasons why this is on my Stoner Films list: the amazing Beatles music and the totally trippy colors and designs of the late, great Heinz Edelman.  This is, in my mind, at the top of the list of the greatest animated films ever.

#6. "Koyaanisqatsi", 1982, France, dir. by Godfrey Reggio.  A souped-up documentary about a world gone haywire, and the cinematography is so extreme and amazing that the human brain just naturally goes into psycho-mode.

#5. "Mind Game", 2004, Japan, dir. by Masaaki Yuasa and Koji Morimoto. To my mind, this is the "Citizen Kane" of animation, but this isn't your normal animé film.  This film goes to a whole 'nother level of weirdness, plus the artwork is gorgeous.  Check it out, you'll love this movie!

 

#4. "The Saragossa Manuscript", 1965, Poland, dir. by Wojchiech Has.  I first saw this film while in college and it's still stuck in my brain.  It's a story within a story, ad infinitum.  After a while your brain gets so twisted around, it seems like it's going to explode.

#3. "El Topo", 1970, Mexico, dir. by Alejandro Jodorowsky.  A gunslinger travels across the Old West, with his 7-year-old naked son, killing lots of people - but the film is filled with all sorts of symbols and violent surrealism - a classic!

#2. "Trolls", 2016, US, dir. by Mike Mitchell and Walt Dohrn.  I've written about this film before, but just to remind you - the overly cutesy characters and backgrounds, the retro pop music and the way over-the-top psychedelic colors put this film at #2 on my list of stoner movies.

#1. "Forbidden Zone", 1980, US, dir. by Richard Elfman (Danny Elfman's brother), starring Hervé Villechaize, Susan Tyrell.  Probably the craziest low-budget psychotic film ever created.  What if Ed Wood dropped a lot of acid and made films in the 1980's?  You'd get something like this mind-warp masterpiece.

Plus, I've added one more bonus film:

"I Married a Strange Person", 1998, US, dir. by Bill Plympton.  I hate to self-promote, but whenever I appear at a Comic-Con I get dozens of people referring to this film as the weirdest film they've ever seen.  And I actually created the film for that purpose.  So I believe that qualifies this film to be on my Top Stoner Films list.

If you have any other suggestions, I'd love to hear them.

And the answer to my question from the beginning of this post - the right answer is a $100 bill, and the animated object is the Liberty Bell.  Congrats to all those who got it right!  And to all those who didn't, you've got to get your hands on more Benjamins...

--Bill P.

NYC Premiere of "Revengeance"

We've been holding back any public theatrical screenings of "Revengeance" because we didn't want to saturate the market, in case any distribution companies expressed an interest.  But I was asked to screen the film for the animation students at SVA as part of their "After School Special" program.  These New York City students are sort of like the future of the animation industry - so how could I turn that down?

We decided to turn it into an open screening, with free admission - and we advertised it on social media as the NYC premiere, and included a discussion between the film's writer/designer/co-director Jim Lujan and me (via Skype, since Jim's based in L.A.)  So with us discussing the film's background and production it really became something of an educational event, yet I could also invite my friends, people who worked on the film, and some hardcore fans who pay attention to my Facebook and Twitter accounts.  So we booked it into the wonderful SVA Theater on 23rd St.

I decided to come early to check the Skype and projection systems, when I discovered a long line running down the sidewalk.  I thought, "They must be having another event that starts earlier..." but no, these were students and fans who had heard about "Revengeance" and were determined to get a seat. Well, they were the smart ones, because it was totally sold out, and they had to turn away about 40 people, for fear of violating the fire codes.

                                                                       A packed house!

After the screening, I jumped on stage to tremendous applause, and Jim and I did a 40-minute discussion on how the film was made, followed by a few rounds of Q&A.  The audience fell in love with Jim - he's so entertaining!

Then I sat at the merch table and gave everyone a free sketch of the stars of the film, and as they received their signed postcards people gushed about how much they loved "Revengeance".  Afterwards, I met up with some of my animation buddies at "Trailer Park", a local dive bar, for drinks and a re-cap of the glorious event.  Now, two days later, I'm still receiving glowing e-mail responses.

                             with Mark Osborne, director of "Kung Fu Panda" and "The Little Prince"!

I hope some clever distributor picks up on the great buzz from Wednesday night and offers us a distribution deal - that would be nice!

My thanks to everyone who came out and made the show a success!

Bill P.