Cucalorus

This year I got to experience Cucalorus in a whole new light, as a Pegasorus pass holder!  From competing in the 10x10 film race I got access to the whole festival.  The first screening I went to was A Light Beneath their Feet (2015) which was directed by Valerie Weisse.  I choose the film because it was in the magnolia block and featured a actor I loved, Taryn Manning.  The screening was a coming to age story that followed the relationship between a bipolar mother and her care taker daughter.  The film was easy to watch and amusing and had points of psychological drama.  Taryn was once again casted as a mentally unstable woman.  I think she is starting to type cast her self for these types of roles.  Her well known role in Orange is the New Black was a much stronger performance.  I think there was a lack of energy in film which made it lack suspense and excitement.  It was a strange viewing, there was so much commotion during the screening.  There was so many people walking in and out of the theater.  One woman left the room every 5 minutes.  I was getting very annoyed but then realized at the end of the viewing it was an actress in the film Maddie Hasson.  I started to figure that she either didn't like watching herself on screen or had seen the film one to many times.  Over all I think there is a definite audience for the film, mothers and daughters specifically.  I don't see the film really reaching any other audiences besides the two though.  The question and answer portion left little to peak my interest as well.  The producer and one of the actress Maddie Hasson came up to answer questions.  I was really hoping to see Taryn at the Q&A.  The answers they gave were rather uninspiring and mostly just deferred the answers the directors vision.

The second screening I went to was a short block called Shishito.  This was known as the "weird" short block.  Shown at Jango's play house, it was a packed theater and had lots of excitement in the room.  The films I watched all had a really fresh perspective and expanded my ideas of story telling.  One film I really enjoyed was Half Wet.  This very weird animation reminded me of a pastel world similar to Yellow Submarine.  The voices and sound design really made the film for me.  The combination of familiar and bizarre made the film engaging and funny.  The pseudo love story almost made the film relatable but in the most obscure way.  Either way I thoroughly enjoyed the short and would want to see more from the director. The second film that really stayed with me was Red Luck.  The editing style of staggered slow motion and repeated sequences brought emphasis on the characters action.  For a film with no dialect it really dove you into the psychological perspective of the man of threat.  Even though the costume choice was bazar it was a strong choice and brought you into the world of this crazed man.  The screening of cyberGenesis really opened me up to the idea of crowdsourcing.  I had never seen a film done by crowdsourcing and it was cool to see what kind of impact and content you can get from strangers from all around the world.  The drawing portion really stood out to me.  Several weeks ago I was asked to draw a word on a index card for a crowdsource project.  So I liked getting to see what kind of impact it would have in a larger project.  Overall the short block was my favorite to go to.  Watching these smaller projects did bring some inspiration to what is possible to make with a small crew or smaller budgets.  Like the film Surface that seemed to be only a go pro and the ocean.  It makes films seem more relatable and obtainable for me.