Author Archives: Lars Nilsen

1. Watch This: THE RUSH – A Year with No SXSW

   April 29, 2020 1:42 pm Leave a Comment

   From AFS Head of Film & Creative Media Holly Herrick:

   Independent film is vital to our culture, but the infrastructure to support a career in filmmaking is elusive in the United States. The system that we have in place for independent film includes brilliant people and institutions who are leveraging their best thinking and sweat equity so that visionary work at all budget levels can be made and seen, but the fact is that most emerging artists are under-resourced at every phase of production and distribution. Sometimes this means that filmmakers leverage all of their own resources to get work made, which can result in severe threats to their livelihoods.

   Enter Covid-19, which in the film world, means that all of the existing cracks in our infrastructure have become gaping holes. Removing the film festival—the vital launch for any independent filmmaker—from the eco-system leaves filmmakers stranded. With no way to gain momentum for their projects or artistic profiles, they can’t take their next step. For many of the filmmakers selected for SXSW, participation in that festival marked major career leap, one that might mean finding distribution for their work, but almost certainly would help secure their next jobs and opportunities.

   The major blow dealt by the cancellation of SXSW was quickly overshadowed by the devastating death toll of Covid-19 and apocalyptic reports from Italy and New York, then the terrible news of job losses and the rising food and housing insecurity. A new short from director Rebecca Stern on The Atlantic posits that our collective mourning for these tragedies doesn’t mean we can’t recognize the threat to our artistic community at this time. Artistic loss and misfortune are something for our film world to grieve, and to be seriously worried about. Artists are set back, and permanent consequences for our culture are certain if we don’t find a way to create opportunities for work to be produced and effectively distributed.

   The artists featured in Stern’s THE RUSH tell the personal story of how the cancellation of SXSW directly affected filmmakers in our community. Sarah Brennan Kolb (GOOD OL’ GIRL), Jessica Wolfson and Jesse Auritt (THE PAINT WIZZARD), and Kevin Ford (THE PUSHBACK) had films years in the making that had big plans for their SXSW premieres. We got to know all of these artists well through our programs—Sarah, Jessica and Jesse were recipients of AFS Grants, which brought each of them major momentum at critical phases in their projects. Kevin Ford brought THE PUSHBACK to AFS’s Works In Progress program, where he workshopped his rough cut. The cancellation of their premieres is not something we could have helped these filmmakers to plan.

   We hope you have a chance to watch this 5-minute piece and hear from these filmmakers in their own words.

   If you want to be a part of filmmaker support at AFS, consider a donation to our grants program.

2. Flashback to Austin’s Wide Open Cinema Exhibition Landscape in the ’60s and ’70s

   April 28, 2020 3:47 pm Leave a Comment

   All of us who are incorrigible movie fiends have our go-to spots. Obviously the AFS Cinema is A-1 on all of our lists, but we also hit up the Arbor, Violet Crown and the Drafthouse locations, as well as the Paramount Summer Series. And we have our guilty pleasure spots where we indulge in the fruits of Hollywood’s billions while eating popcorn doused in some complex molecular compound formulated to taste like the platonic ideal of butter.

   Hey, the heart wants what the heart wants.

   As of this writing, all of these locations are closed for the quarantine. Not surprisingly we find ourselves wistfully remembering past moviegoing experiences. Few of us are lucky enough to remember Austin’s theatrical landscape in the ’60s and ’70s, but the ads that follow still fill us with an unaccountable warmth, similar to the aching nostalgia that Wes Anderson once called “a memory of a dream.” Let’s take a timeless tour through some of Austin’s theatrical past.

   At the Fox Theater (6757 Airport Boulevard) and Aquarius 4 (1500 S. Pleasant Valley) we have the made-in-Austin OUTLAW BLUES held over for its 6th week. A Mercedes dealership now occupies the spot where the Fox was and condos now occupy the Pleasant Valley location.

   At the Southside Drive-In  (710 E. Ben White), the Nazi Zombie classic SHOCK WAVES plays on a double with the Shaw Brothers super-robot movie INFRA-MAN. This is a great double feature. A giant Wal-Mart now dominates this corner of Ben White and I-35.

   

   The Varsity Theater (2402 Guadalupe) has a revival of the two Agatha Christie Miss Marple adaptations and is opening the lefty double feature SACCO AND VANZETTI and HARLAN COUNTY USA. Good stuff. This location supported a Tower records for many years and currently the building reflects the complex cultural fabric of the Drag with a Wells Fargo, a Dunkin’ Donuts and a Baskin Robbins.

   

   Here are a couple of very different films screening at the Showtown USA Drive-In (8100 Cameron Road) now the site of an office complex. I wonder if they had seen more than the poster of BELLE DE JOUR when they booked it.

   

   Another venue that took a sudden interest in international art films was the Studio IV (212 E. 6th Street) now the site of Voodoo Doughnuts.

   

   And finally, the classic gimmick of the green blood makes its way to the Burnet Drive-In (6400 Burnet Road), now the site of a self-storage facility. The “green blood” came in little packets and definitely caused those who drank it to experience some pretty weird things, like standing in a long restroom line at a drive-in theater.

   

    

3. Streamers: Alamo Drafthouse Preshow Wizard Laird Jimenez Presents Taiwanese Fantasy Kung Fu

   April 27, 2020 1:45 pm Leave a Comment

   When we asked Laird Jimenez for some streaming recommendations, we knew not to expect the ordinary. In his capacity as head video honcho at Alamo Drafthouse, Laird supervises the creation of those often bizarre preshows that many of us are missing so much right now. And, as head programmer of the Weird Wednesday series in Austin, he provides even larger helpings of strangeness. So here, direct from the “Peach Boys and Ginseng Monsters” bookmark tab on Laird’s browser is a selection of Taiwanese fantasy bashers. Enjoy.

   Taiwan was not untouched by the martial arts explosion that started in Hong Kong and swept the planet in the 70s. Hong Kong producers and talent looking to save money and work outside of the studio system boosted the homegrown film industry in Taiwan, and international audiences were hungry for kung fu bashers. It was a combination that led to a flood of exports clumsily dubbed in English or hastily subtitled, often given titles by distributors that evoked Bruce Lee either indirectly (see the 1000 movies with “Dragon” in the name) or directly (GOODBYE BRUCE LEE: HIS LAST GAME OF DEATH).

   Meanwhile in the United States a special effects revolution was underway. Science fiction and fantasy spectacles featuring exciting new uses of rotoscoping and compositing were breaking box office records. STAR WARS, SUPERMAN, and E.T. were international hits, filling screens around the globe with brightly colored lasers, flying superheroes, and strange creatures.

   

   In Taiwan the martial arts film and these new special effects spectacles came clashing together in a most wonderful and weird way. Movie heroes who before were only masters of a specific fighting style could now shoot lasers and/or fly and carry on conversations with singing, dancing humanoid ginger roots. Fantasy films were nothing new to Hong Kong and Taiwanese cinema, of course, but this new crop of films were made with technology previously unheard of for audiences hungry for more Western style spectacle and martial arts action, making the older films seem downright stagey by comparison.

   These movies are colorful pop art sugar rushes, full of narrative digressions, broad comedy, and a charm that stems from their low budgets and presumably short production schedules. Elements of folk tales butt up against elements straight up lifted from Hollywood productions (soundtrack cues especially), and it’s all anything but predictable. I’d place their existence somewhere between a game of exquisite corpse, collage art, and neon colored junk food.

   The best of these movies star Taiwanese actress Hsiao-Lao Lin as a gregarious young boy, including at least two movies in which her character’s name is “Peach Boy” (or Tao Tai Lang, a boy literally born from a peach based on the Japanese legend of Momotarō). There’s nothing particularly unusual about an adult female performer portraying a young boy (these kinds of gender swaps are even written into the text of many martial arts stories as women surreptitiously infiltrating male spaces by posing as the opposite sex). Why Lin was so regularly cast as a young boy, however, is a bit mysterious to me, and I can only chalk it up to producers seeing it work once and repeating it the same way they would anything else.

   CHILD OF PEACH (1987)

   Dir. Chung-Hsing Chao, Chun-Liang Chen

   Start with CHILD OF PEACH (a particularly zany clip from CHILD OF PEACH circulated the meme rounds without context a year or so ago, even popping up on Everything Is Terrible’s feed) then brace yourself for its superior and even weirder sequel MAGIC OF SPELL. Be prepared for ridiculous costumes, potty humor, and crude matting on the optical effects. There’s a third loosely connected film MAGIC WARRIORS as well, though a quick search on YouTube only resulted in copies that verge on unwatchable.

   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bXdgyfugzUs

   MAGIC OF SPELL (1988)

   Dir. Chung-Hsing Chao

   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KiYt8Y01xMU

    

   KUNG FU WONDER CHILD (1986)

   Dir. Tso Nam Lee

   Lars Nilsen favorite Tso Nam Lee, whose films played at previous Old School Kung Fu Weekend events at AFS, directed Hsiao-Lau Lin in the laserific KUNG FU WONDER CHILD (sometimes spelled KONG FU WONDER CHILD).

   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1dlnB9sWROc

    

   FANTASY OF DEER WARRIOR (1961)

   Dir. Ying Chang

   For examples of earlier efforts in this sub-genre there’s 1961’s FANTASY OF DEER WARRIOR, which feels a bit like watching a 1960s TV production of ALICE IN WONDERLAND in the woods.

   

   https://archive.org/details/TheFantasyOfDeerWarriorEnglishSubs

   LITTLE HERO (1978)

   Dir. Hung-Min Chen

   And 1978’s LITTLE HERO (find a dubbed version if you can for maximum enjoyment, though the most readily available one on YouTube is subtitled) represents a good halfway point between old school kung fu and the new wave of fantasy tinged productions. LITTLE HERO is based on a long-running comic book series about masked villains and a variety of animal themed heroes and villains. It stars Polly Ling-Feng Shang-Kuan (Polly Shang Kwan) as a young boy (the titular Little Hero). She earned this bit of typecasting by appearing in King Hu’s DRAGON INN as a woman who poses as a man (just in case you need to tie your Taiwanese fantasy martial arts viewing to the Criterion Collection).

4. Vulcan Video: The Exit Interviews Part 2: Encounters With the Nice & Famous

   April 24, 2020 1:08 pm Leave a Comment

   Our series of recollections by former Vulcan Video employees about the much loved and now departed video store continues with some anecdotes about the many famous people who made their way through the aisles. You’ll hear about the ones who paid their late fees, the ones who paid strangers’ late fees, and the ones who rented their own movies many times. Somehow, none were jerks and all were nice.

   Of special interest is the behind the scenes story of the famous Jimmy Kimmel/Matthew McConaughey “commercial” for Vulcan Video. They were probably degenerate Hollywood weasels right? Nope. Super nice and supportive. Maybe watch the commercial first if you haven’t seen it, then check out Chapter Two of the Vulcan Video Exit Interviews here:

   Also, since there are a lot of great stories that don’t really have a home in the thematic edits we are preparing, we are going to share the occasional Easter Egg, just a short cut with maybe one fun little story. This one is about the rivalry between I Luv Video (we luv them too!) and Vulcan Video, culminating in a few beer-and-glory-soaked Sunday trivia showdowns at the Alamo Ritz. We’ll let Brian, Susan and Maxim tell you all about it.

   If you missed the first installment of the Vulcan Videos: Exit Interviews series, click here, and enjoy.

   Please continue to support film culture in Austin. There’s a pretty cool Film Society here in town that works hard every day to keep film culture alive. You can support them (aka us) here.

5. Listen Here: Awesome Cult Movie Audio & Music Mixes by Kier-La Janisse

   April 22, 2020 11:13 am Leave a Comment

   Film writer, programmer, producer, Miskatonic Institute Of Horror Studies founder and all-around creative force Kier-la Janisse has long been a guiding light for other cinematic and cultural explorers – she can usually be found about 1000 miles and 5 years ahead of the rest of us.

   Among her many projects is this completely astonishing batch of music and other audio mixes. A lot of it is film-based but other cultural obsessions are touched on as well.

   Some of our favorites are the Soft Sounds Of Cult Cinema:

   And the theoretical soundtrack album for the as-yet-unmade sexploitation film EMMANUELLE IN CHINATOWN, which, knowing Kier-La, is likely to be made at some point notwithstanding the long odds against it:

   There are a LOT more here and they are all great listens. Give them a shot and enjoy.

   If you get tired of listening to great music and film audio, you might listen to this podcast of Janisse in dialogue with AFS Lead Programmer Lars Nilsen about some of her adventures in film programming.

   AFS Viewfinders Podcast: A Dialogue With Master Film Programmer Kier-la Janisse

    

6. Happy Birthday Elaine May: Watch this Classic Nichols & May Sketch

   April 21, 2020 12:30 pm Leave a Comment

   If you’ve been haunting the AFS Cinema in recent years, you may have gotten the distinct (and correct) impression that we are fans of Elaine May’s work as a writer and director. We’ve shown A NEW LEAF and ISHTAR to audiences who have greeted these films with even more laughter than they received on first release, when mass audiences were perhaps less receptive to this style of comedy. In truth, her humor was always ahead of its time and the subtlety – and sublimeness – of the gags needs careful and intelligent reading. Those of us who feel that ISHTAR is a great comedy may have been in the minority for decades, but the reinforcements are arriving by the day, as younger audiences appreciate the freshness and modern qualities of that long-derided movie.

   On that note, here’s a little discussion with Rick Linklater from a 2017 AFS Cinema Screening of ISHTAR.

   The work of the comedy team Nichols & May – that’s her fellow great director Mike Nichols of course – is mostly known to us from their recorded audio work, though they also worked in nightclubs and halls. Their work has been preserved on video, but mostly it is of a sort keyed to family audiences. That’s why the following bit is such a treasure. It’s daring observational sketch comedy, from two people whose powers of observation border on the Herculean, and who have the acting skills to put it over.

   So, in tribute to Elaine May, born on this date in 1932, we present this sketch. Note that the audio takes a few seconds to come in, and the motion stabilization that someone has applied to the video may induce seasickness, but we think you will agree that the material is worth it.

7. Streamers: AFS Family Style Programmer Stacy Brick on Films for Kids

   April 20, 2020 11:38 am Leave a Comment

   We asked guest programmer Stacy Brick—whose Family Style series at the AFS Cinema is a showcase for films that the whole family can enjoy—for some picks that will help you and your kids break out of the same rut of four or five movies. Here are her suggestions.

   ---

   Let’s face it – things are bleak in the “Family” section of all the major streaming services right now. It’s not easy to find something to watch that you can all enjoy together.

   I’ve put together a round-up of some of the best Sunday School and Family Style screenings from the last few years that are currently available online. I’ve also added in a few other favorites. I can guarantee that these will bring laughs and interesting conversations with your kids for days (if not weeks) to come.

   Now, pop some popcorn, get comfy, and stream away!

   

   TIME BANDITS

   Eleven-year-old Kevin discovers he can travel through time by pushing through a wall in his bedroom. He joins a band of dwarfs to hop through time and space to steal riches – meeting the likes of Napoleon, Robin Hood, and King Agamemnon along the way. The film is directed by Terry Gilliam and written by Gilliam and his Monty Python mates. It’s a great way to introduce your kids to the troupe, whose “Monty Python’s Flying Circus” is now streaming on Netflix. Be prepared for them to start jumping out from behind corners yelling, “No one expects the Spanish Inquisition!” At least that’s what’s happening at my house.

   Streaming on: HULU, ITUNES, GOOGLE PLAY, AMAZON

   

   THE INCREDIBLE SHRINKING WOMAN

   Lily Tomlin is a housewife who begins to shrink after a reaction to the chemicals in common household products. In the vibrantly colored suburban neighborhood of Tasty Meadows, Pat Kramer juggles housework and two wild children while her husband Vance (Charles Grodin) writes advertising jingles – which help sell the products that cause Pat to start shrinking. Once she shrinks to dollhouse size, grabbing the attention and hearts of America, she becomes a target for an evil organization hoping to learn her secret and use it to shrink everyone on earth.

   Streaming on: ITUNES, GOOGLE PLAY, AMAZON

   

   THE WORLD OF HENRY ORIENT

   Two 14-year-old prep school girls become fast friends in this quirky coming of age comedy. Val has a crush on famous avant-garde concert pianist, Henry Orient, who is busy trying to seduce married women. The girls follow Orient around Manhattan with many mishaps and misunderstandings along the way. The slow motion sequence of Val & Gil romping through Manhattan is one of the best film tributes to the city. The film feels honest and fresh over 50 years after its release. Peter Sellers stars as Henry Orient in his American debut. After this one, introduce your kids to Inspector Clouseau!

   Streaming on: AMAZON

   

   MON ONCLE

   Jaques Tati directs and stars as Monsieur Hulot in his first color feature. The film centers on Hulot’s quest to connect with his sister’s family, the Arpels and his nephew in particular. The Arpels are a modern family set on dragging Hulot into their stark, modern existence but he is much more comfortable in his old, crumbling neighborhood with familiar vendors and packs of dogs wandering around upturning trash bins in the cobbled streets. Tati uses Hulot’s slapstick to show how consumerism and technology actually make day-to-day life more complicated despite promising otherwise. Even though it’s subtitled, the dialogue in the film is unimportant (most of it is unintelligibly spoken) which, along with all the sight gags, makes this an ideal comedy for children of all ages.

   Streaming on: ITUNES, AMAZON

   

   THE BLACK STALLION

   You probably saw this one countless times when you were a kid, but how much do you remember? Take it from Roger Ebert who said, THE BLACK STALLION has “terrific energy, beauty, and excitement. It’s not a children’s movie; it’s for adults and for kids.” Make sure you watch this beautiful film on a TV, the cinematography is stunning.

   Streaming on: ITUNES, GOOGLE PLAY, AMAZON

   

   SPACEBALLS

   Despite its PG rating, there is lots of salty language in this one (along with one F-bomb at the end). I wouldn’t program it in the theater – but times are different right now. If you have an older kid (10 or up) who’s into STAR WARS, they will love this. And honestly, so will you. There are so many ridiculous jokes about 80’s pop culture you haven’t thought of in forever, it will make your head spin. Plus John Candy!

   Streaming on: HULU, GOOGLE PLAY, ITUNES

8. WATCH: Vulcan Video: The Exit Interviews – Hear Stories From Clerks In A New Series

   April 17, 2020 11:01 am Leave a Comment

   One of our favorite local businesses closed recently, but let’s get this out of the way: It was not unexpected; the sky is not about to come tumbling down on all of us; Austin is not over.

   But this is a moment to hear from the people who, over the course of many years, worked at Vulcan Video, rented us videos, gave us some very good advice, occasionally some very bad attitude, and, above all else, embodied a huge part of what we mean when we refer to Austin Film Culture.

   The people that you will meet, or renew your acquaintance with, in the videos that will follow over the next few weeks, are true scholars – some of them have the sheepskin to prove it, others come from the film school of hard knocks. All of them care a lot about movies and about the connections that movies foster among people. We admire them, and we are grateful to all of them for sending us their recollections and observations.

   We have not been bound by any need to sugar-coat the experiences recounted here, but, despite some of the more unorthodox business practices you will hear about, we think that Vulcan was a heroic citadel among not only video stores but, in fact, among all cultural institutions. Shaggy and spiky though it may be, the legacy is staggering and will live on and on, like a particularly stubborn MS-DOS point of sale system.

   We start the series with an episode about some badly behaved customers. We have ten times as much material about beloved customers and we’ll share that as well, but, let’s face it, we need to get people hooked first, and that means we start with a shot of the strong stuff.

   Thanks to all the Vulcans everywhere. The candle may have gone out but the flame still burns.

   If you prefer podcasts, you can also follow along on the AFS Viewfinders podcast (available via your favorite podcast platforms).

   Stay tuned for more installments in this series.

9. Streamers: Explore the Best of Avant Cinema with Tara Bhattacharya Reed

   April 13, 2020 4:33 pm Leave a Comment

   As a member of the Experimental Response Cinema collective, Tara Bhattacharya Reed has curated many a thought-provoking screening of avant-garde cinema. So, while so many of us are homebound, we thought we’d reach out to Tara for something a little different and more outside the usual highways and byways of online content.

   Here are some of her recommendations for cinema that might possibly cleanse the sliding doors of your perception, at least temporarily.

   

   COMMUTE

   (Bruce Baillie, 1995) Available via Amazon Prime

   Bruce Baillie (1931-2020) films an afternoon spin in the rain, from the passenger seat of his old Honda. An audiotape series entitled the “Dr. Bish Remedies (Radio) Show,” designed to alleviate commuter boredom, serves as the gentle soundtrack to this miniature excursion.

   Baillie captures the warmth of Dr. Bish’s rambling monologues and strange personae, interspersed with found sounds, music and a variety of miscellaneous (non) broadcasted materials. From a visual standpoint, Baillie provides the viewer with a dreamlike sojourn in the vehicular space, where time is suspended and they are free to engage or disengage from the surrounding sights and sounds at will. –Meditative.

   

   NO DATA PLAN

   (Miko Revereza, 2019) WATCH >>

   “Mama has two phone numbers. We do not talk about immigration on her Obama phone. For that we use the other number with no data plan”

   Miko Reverezo’s powerful travelogue reveals a stark and personalized portrait of an undocumented immigrant making a crossing through a dystopic ICE-aged American landscape, by rail. Through an examination of the precarity, boredom and fantasies of its voiceless narrator, the audience is guided moment by moment into the hidden shadows of life, navigating claustrophobic spaces, barren vistas, dreams, anxieties, paranoia, hidden histories and the story of the narrator’s mother and her much younger lover. Fugitivism in the 21st century never hit home, so hard.

   

   UN RÊVE SOLAIRE

   (Patrick Bokanowski, 2016) – WATCH >>

   A phantasmagoric experience with a hint of déjà vu upon first time viewing. This is the second feature film from experimental filmmaker Patrick Bokanowski, the actors are now fully unmasked, at one with the spectator as they traverse through kingdoms of shadow and light, fire and water, abstraction and figuration. Michèle Bokanowski intuitive compositions enhance the fluidity of images throughout the film. A true partnership of grace and beauty.

   

   PEACE AND ANWAR SADAT

   (Ulysses Jenkins, 1986) WATCH >>

   A continuous screening in the LACE Video Room, featuring Ulysses Jenkins.

   I attended “Radical Presence: Black Performance in Contemporary Art”  curated by Valerie Cassel Oliver in New York in 2013. Last week I looked back at the catalogue did some research on the exceptional video art of African American video/performance artist Ulysses Jenkins, whose work featured prominently in the exhibit. His work combines archival footage, text, photos and image processing, and his compositions might be described as “threnodial” in nature. “Peace and Anwar Sadat” is a spellbinding exploration on myth making and African American identity and a heartfelt tribute to peace activist Anwar Sadat. The four-part video work on world peace and our fascination with the earth’s apocalypse.

   

   JOHN LENNON, YOKO ONO & CHUCK BERRY WITH DAVID ROSENBOOM ON THE MIKE DOUGLAS SHOW

   (1972) WATCH >>

   After the death of experimental music composer and biofeedback researcher Richard Teitelbaum last week, I went deep diving into the web to search for a wonderful clip I saw of Teitelbaum’s fellow composer and sometime collaborator, David Rosenboom, with Yoko Ono, John Lennon and Chuck Berry on the Mike Douglas show in 1972. The group (sitting on the floor) engage in deep conversation about biofeedback techniques and their uses, followed by a blissed out performance featuring Rosenboom with John and Yoko at the very end. Well worth the watch.

   

   THE GRAND BIZARRE

   (Jodie Mack, 2018) WATCH >>

   Jodie Mack’s The Grand Bizarre is exclusively playing on MUBI from April 9 – May 8, 2020 in MUBI’s Undiscovered Series. Jodie Mack is among the most refreshing experimental filmmakers around today. Using experimental modes and animation techniques, “Grand Bizarre” explores patterns and textiles from across the globe, examining their functionality as well as their recurring themes and motifs throughout different cultures. Mack’s effervescent homemade soundtrack adds to the film’s uplifting and pleasurable experience.

    

   Bonus Round

   CERTAINTY IS BECOMING OUR NEMESIS

   WATCH >> A program of curated experimental films available March 27-May 2, 2020 from SF Cinematheque (festival online)

   88:88

   by Isiah Medina (2015) WATCH >>

   Atoosa Pour Hosseini Celluloid Works (Vol One)

   (2015 – 2017) WATCH >>

10. Watch This: The TV Commercials Of HAUSU director Nobuhiko Obayashi

    April 10, 2020 1:19 pm Leave a Comment

    We recently received word of the passing of Nobuhiko Obayashi, who is probably best known to many for making one of the most unique films in all of cinema history, the surrealistic teen haunted house movie HAUSU.

    That film is only one of many wonderful titles made by the late master. We certainly recommend that you watch as many as you can. In the meantime, enjoy a few examples of his work in the Japanese TV commercial industry.

    Special thanks to Marc Walkow for providing these many years ago, and to Laird Jimenez at Alamo Drafthouse for excavating the old files and uploading some of the ones that were not otherwise available on YouTube. The videos aren’t translated and the video quality isn’t the best but the magic is all there.

    Thanks for all the memories, Mr. Obayashi!

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XEqA84R0lYU

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cGO0nVCsUUw

11. Watch This: Low Budget Horror Auteur Andy Milligan’s Bizarre TV Sitcom

    April 9, 2020 12:18 pm Leave a Comment

    Andy Milligan was a virtual hurricane of creativity – he wrote and staged plays for years and then switched his focus to making micro-budget horror and erotica films. He also happened to inspire an uneasy combination of terror and loyalty among the members of his stock company.

    His films, while not for everyone, can be enjoyed on many levels. While they have very low budgets, the production values are better than could be expected in some ways, especially in the costume department – Millington himself made many of the clothing items. They are also very well-written, and Milligan’s virulent misanthropy really shines through. It’s his special gift, and the bickering sequences in his films are always highlights.

    There’s an excellent biography of Milligan called “The Ghastly One” by Jimmy McDonough. It’s been hard to find in recent years but a new edition is coming out on April 15, presented by director and Milligan superfan Nicolas Winding Refn. The films are a little out there too. AFS Programmer Lars Nilsen recommends his Sweeney Todd adaptation BLOODTHIRSTY BUTCHERS and the rancorous THE RATS ARE COMING, THE WEREWOLVES ARE HERE starring the amazing Hope Stansbury.

    One Milligan rarity Lars had never seen until today was his sitcom project, made in conjunction with playwright Donald Tobey. It is called THE ADVENTURES OF RED ROOSTER and has been posted to YouTube by star George Meyers. It’s a highly unusual and, one would think, deeply non-commercial, series about a group of wacky characters who are marketing a get-rich patent medicine called the Red Rooster Rejuvenator, sort of a proto-Viagra.

    As the great Michael Weldon of Psychotronic Video Magazine has written, “if you’re an Andy Milligan fan, there’s no hope for you.” This is unlikely to add many names to that list of the doomed, but for those who are already over the fence, you may enjoy it.

    https://youtu.be/XA0u5HbhN_w

    You can follow the continuing adventures of Red Rooster on Meyers’ YouTube page.

    Note: this page has been updated with new info about the new edition of the book “The Ghastly One.”

12. Streamers: Director Kat Candler Recommends Some Favorite Films & TV

    April 6, 2020 10:52 am Leave a Comment

    As part of our ongoing response to the Coronavirus crisis, we are asking some of our best pals for home streaming recommendations.

    We go way back with this week’s guest. Kat Candler was a part of Austin’s film community for many years, making her own films and serving as an all-around catalyst for the moviemaking ecosystem here. AFS was honored to be able to help her with several grants along the way.

    Her feature film HELLION (2014) made a major splash at Sundance and Austin’s secret was out. Soon she was directing, producing and writing for television. Her run on Ava DuVernay’s show Queen Sugar started with directing and progressed to show-running. Her career has taken her (so far) from zero-budget indie shorts to the cutting edge of the peak-television revolution. We can’t wait to see what the next few years hold for Kat.

    Here are her picks, which, understandably, feature a television series.

    

    BILLY MADISON (Amazon Purchase)

    1995, D. Tamara Davis
    This is my all time favorite comfort film. It just makes me smile and laugh because it’s so deliciously dumb. It’s an escapist movie at its finest.

    

    SHOPLIFTERS (Amazon Purchase)

    2018, D. Hirokazu Koreeda
    This is in my top ten of the last decade hands down. I love Hirokazu Koreeda with all my heart and soul. And this film is pure humanity and empathy and love. It’s about a family of shoplifters but as it untangles it’s so much more layered, complex and heart exploding. And if you can find it, his film AFTERLIFE from early 2000 is one that was my entrance into his work. That film buried its way into my heart and hasn’t left ever since.

    

    ATLANTICS (Netflix)

    2019, D. Mati Diop
    It’s a story about a young woman who’s married off while the man she really loves is lost at sea. And to say anymore would take away from the surprise and poetry of the film. It took me by surprise and left me unpacking it long after. And if you’re so  inclined Mati Diop’s short of the same name is on the Criterion Channel.

    

    AMERICAN FACTORY (Netflix)

    2019, D. Julia Reichert, Steven Bognar
    When a Chinese businessman takes over an old GM factory in rural Ohio, Chinese workers come to the states to work alongside their American counterparts and the insights and observations are extraordinary and human.

    

    PEAKY BLINDERS – series (Netflix)

    Five seasons (2013-2019)
    My latest television obsession. I devoured all 5 seasons. Cillian Murphy, Helen McCory, Sophie Rundle, Tom Hardy, Noah Taylor, Adrien Brody, Finn Cole, Sam Neill, Paddy Considine … wrapped up with Steven Knight’s words and scrumptious cinematography. That’s all.