Review

Rapp Sheet — 4-17-10: KC FilmFest, Here, There, Everywhere (Not Necessarily In That Order), Part II

Still from Steven Tanenbaum's "PRE," a post 9/11 story of performers working in the dark comedy "Mono." The title refers to the 90 minutes before performance time and documents the everyday backstage drama and trauma as seen through a very specific cultural and temporal lens. It screens in the Kansas City FilmFest Saturday, April 17 at 3 p.m. Image: courtesy of KC FilmFest and the director

The Kansas City FilmFest, April 14 through 18, rolls into the weekend with promising films, workshops and celebrations. Come be a part of all of it and have an experience that only happens once a year! All the details are at http://kcfilmfest.org.

And again, if you missed any of these, I'm sorry.  But hopefully you won't have to say the same thing tomorrow!

WENT:

Shorts Program 9: Metro-Student Showcase was a lovely and truthful collection of short films from student filmmakers, and proof positive that the talent level of this city is on a rise; Lady Be Good:  Instrumental Women in Jazz. Please, please, someone distribute this most entertaining and smile-making documentary. This hits at the soul and and is as a good a time as a night at the Mutual Musician's Foundation. Say — won't the film festival's Saturday night party be there?

Red 54 by homegrown filmmaker Brynne Copping is inspiring, disturbing, beautiful, and even more example of the strength of our community's unique talents.

Still from "Red" by local filmmaker Brynne Copping. Image: courtesy of KC FilmFest and the director

Fanny, Annie & Danny has a breezy Bay-Area feel to it and blown up larger than my screener copy was even more evocative and just plain funny. Great editing style and exploratory surgery of the Id from director Chris Brown. Hope to see a timely release of this little gem. (See yesterday's column for more information. It screens again Sunday, April 18 at 3:15 p.m.)

Bob Rosen was captivating and thought stirring in his seminar, Narrative in Life/Narrative in Film. A seminal film preservationist and former UCLA dean, Rosen examined the passions for the story and shared some soul resonating wisdom. Coupled with a greatly informative and ultimately encouraging seminar by Dennis Fallon and Shawn McClaren at Third Eye, the day was a filmmaker's and writer's dream.

SOON, TODAY:

Speaking of panels, it only ratchets up today, when several experts from the festival submission field take on Festival Strategies (10-11:30 a.m. at the JavaPort, 208 W. 19th Street). If you have a short film ready to submit, or want to make that short film you want to submit, or want to know what not to do next time, there is a band of sympathizers waiting for you with free Roasterie Coffee and words of encouragement. Between panels, take a tour of the new StudioPort and get a refill on your coffee for The Reviews Are In (12:30-2 p.m.). If you've ever wanted to know why some of your favorite reviewers hated some of your favorite films, this is the opportunity to ask KC's own Robert Butler and other expert critics.

Shorts Program 6: Around the World (10:45 a.m.-12:20 p.m. at the main festival site, AMC Mainstreet 6). Let's face it, folks, not all the best shorts in the world come from KC. You'll feel as if you traveled to several worlds today … all in the comfort and fidelity of the Mainstreet.

The Littlest Ones: A Dogumentary (1-2:30 p.m. at AMC Mainstreet 6). Do I really have to explain why this calls to me?

Sill from "The Littlest Ones," by Grant and Kasey Babbitt. This "call to action" film addresses pet overpopulation, unncessary animal euthanasia, and the strains on shelters, with visits to the Lawrence Humane Society and Safe Harbor Prison Dogs Program. Image: courtesy of KC FilmFest and the directors

In the On The Web panel (2:30-4 p.m. at Screenland Theatre at the Crossroads), you can interact with several local talents making their mark on the Internet.

How To Tuck Your Shirt (3-4:35 p.m. at AMC Mainstreet 6) is a simple and hysterical tutorial from the delightfully deadpan James Schweers, who directs, stars, and deservedly steals the show. (It screens with also anticipated PRE).

James Schweers will make you laugh in "How to Tuck Your Shirt," a short that screens before the feature, "PRE," Saturday, April 17 at 3 p.m. Image: courtesy of the KC FilmFest and the director

And, of course, if you've been following the previous columns, the toughest toss-up in the history of my film viewing experience: Imbued (7:15 p.m. at AMC Mainstreet 6), the story of a chronic gambler's collision with a lost lady of the night by the great Rob Nilsson, live and in person, or A Boy and His Dog (7-8:30 p.m. at Tivoli Cinemas in Manor Square in Westport) the restored print of the classic cult film of the '70s, also live and in person with director L.Q. Jones. Okay — who's it gonna be, film-fellows? We can flip a coin during an earthquake, or you two can fight it out in the desert …

TO BE:

Lovely, Still is all that and more. This refreshingly alternate fare, depicting a December-December romance between Martin Landau and Ellen Burstyn transports us into the psyches of two very real and realized characters. Nobody makes mainstream films for the older set anymore, and this is wonderful alternate fare to the effects-laden, younger-skewed, short-attention-span editing that makes up the majority of films these days. Landau embraces his character in a way reminiscent of the loneliness of Gene Hackman in The Conversation, and Burstyn is on her game as the object of his affection. Prodigy Nicholas Fackler, despite his relatively young age, has an innate understanding of the mindset of this generation. If you think love is tough as a young person, the walls are even higher in the golden years. The AARP embraced this film, and understandably so. Grandparents fall in love, too, you know. This love story comes from the heart and doesn't let you go until you understand the depth of their challenges as a couple. Inevitably bound for mainstream distribution, this is a film well-worth cuddling up to, will definitely coax some tears, and may actually make you feel like growing old with someone.

SPOTLIGHT:

"After spending a significant amount of time in Southern Italy passing a couple summers with my Italian relatives I knew that I had to tell the real story of traditional Italian culture," says David Marker, director of Zampogna: The Soul of Southern Italy (Sunday, April 18, 5:30- 7 p.m. at AMC Mainstreet 6).

"Having grown up in the United States I had been exposed to a lot of stereotypical portrayals of what Italy and Italians were like. I knew that I was Italian American, but I wanted to truly know the indigenous culture that my great grandparent’s emigrated from, unfiltered through the mainstream media. As a musician my interests were sparked by the folk music that I had never heard of or even heard mentioned in the United States, other than some old field recordings by Alan Lomax. In the summer of 2007 I spent five weeks in Sicily with my cousins and purchased a zampogna, a traditional Italian bagpipe. The instrument was so unique, almost “other worldly” as if I had brought it into present day from a time machine. The music was so raw and genuine. To me it was the most pure expression of what was truly 'Italian.' There was a real beauty in it. I felt proud that it was a part of my cultural past. I brought the instrument back to the United States and began to teach myself how to play it. There are only a small handful of zampogna players here. It is a dying art in Italy. I knew that I had to tell the story of this music and this disappearing traditional culture — not just the culture of the music, but what the music represents, which is an agrarian pastoral culture, a handmade culture in tune with its natural surroundings that values the methodical rhythm of every day life, good and bad. The zampogna was the physical manifestation of this culture, its human expression."

In this delightfully humble film, we follow an Italian-American as he journeys through the inner sanctum of Italy's folk music culture. Marker takes us through the deep roots of his ancestry, beginning in his great grandfather's Sicilian Vineyard. Beyond meeting the endless charming characters that populate his journey, he meets the most profound influence of all: the odd and little-known instrument known as the zampogna. This unique Italian bagpipe becomes a metaphorical manifestation of the music, language, culture and spirit of southern Italy.

Marker felt confident as he embarked upon the film, knowing in his heart this was the right project to embark upon, his search for the primordial beginnings of his heritage drawing him.

"Given my ability to speak Italian, the journey was easier than for most," says Marker. "The fact that I was familiar with the southern culture and had family there who could help me logistically. And the fact that I was learning to play this instrument and could thus speak this musical 'language,' I felt that I was in the best position to introduce this culture, to bridge the gap to an English speaking world, to other Italian-Americans as well.

"I’m so sick of seeing Italian culture boiled down to hollow stereotypes," Marker continues.  "I’m even more put off when I see Italian-Americans buying into them. The tourist trade has worsened this. This is not the culture that Italian-American immigrants came from. They were peasants. They were not frolicking in the Trevi fountain or riding in gondolas in Venice. They were shepherd and farmers in the mountains of southern Italy and Sicily. They were humble people but had the life and vitality in them to produce beautiful and creative music — peasant music, but music that came from the soul and reflected their humanity in the purest form. This is a rarity in not only music but in most art in our modern commercialized world. I wanted to capture this, if not to make a beautiful film, but also to preserve it. And selfishly I wanted an excuse to go live this culture while it is still here, before it vanishes."

Still from "Zamponga." It screened April 16 and repeats on Sunday, April 18 at 5:30 p.m. Image: courtesy of KC FilmFest and the director

The film is a cultural journey of discovery, and Marker based the the “plot” progression of how the Arabian Nights tales function: in effect, a protagonist who is embarking on a geographic progression. "It isn’t always clear where they are geographically but you know that the place is exotic," he says. "The people you encounter are mysterious often magical. To me music and poetry are in a way the closest thing to 'magic' in a real world. I wanted the viewer to be somewhat disoriented and feel somewhat enchanted with who they encounter in the film. There will be new sights and sounds and interesting people. A sense of purpose and discovery. For me the purpose was to 'follow the trail of the zampogna' in an effort to understand my ethnic heritage. The zampogna was my key or my window into this traditional lifestyle. The geographic progression was to make it farther north the annual zampogna festival, the climax of the film. To stop along the way and meet the people who live this lifestyle and try to understand why it is dying out."

Marker was a one-person crew, carrying his camera, HD-camera, and mics on his back, climbing grades in up to 46ºC (114ºF). He spent two weeks sleeping in a hut in his great grandfather’s vinyard during the production. "I had to completely immerse myself into the culture," Marker reflects. "I lived with the musicians and their families and gained their trust for them to share their intimate music with me. I had never made a film before so I was learning as I went a long. I put a lot of trust in my still photography composition skills to get cinematic shots."

Marker has had positive response overall from the Italian-American community, and hopes to overcome a cultural barrier with Italians who have a lot of ethnic pride and are skeptical of someone telling them that their general notion of Italy is essentially inaccurate. "There is also sort of this awkwardness when I tell them it’s about Italian music and they have absolutely no idea what that means because traditional Italian music is completely unknown to most Italian Americans," he says. "That’s Amoré does not count as traditional Italian music!"

The film is playing in New York in September at the John D. Calandra Italian American Institute as part of their documentary series and at the World Music and Independent Film Festival in Washington, DC, in August. Marker is currently working on showing the film in Sicily and Calabria as well.

"I want audiences to completely re-examine their notion of what 'Italy' means to them," Marker adds. "I also want the audience to witness what is being lost as we abandon traditional ways of life and move towards a more commercialized industrialized existence where everything we are exposed to has been filtered through a focus group and dumbed-down for mass appeal. You will not find a more pure and genuine expression of humanity than what traditional music like this has to offer. There is a scene in my film where a Calabrian farmer is singing to the pitch of the zampogna being played by his son. It is more of a cry, like he is expelling all of his angst and emotions. Every time I watch this it sends chills down my spine because it’s such a raw and visceral expression of humanity."

-re-

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