The Toronto International Film Festival has a late-night series that brings out devoted horror fans; a group of artists and activists put a spotlight on LA's waterway; the indie band Allah-Las returns to its roots at Amoeba Records; and film director Ned Benson talks about his accidental trilogy, "The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby."
TIFF14: Kevin Smith's 'Tusk' and audience fandom at Midnight Madness
When Kevin Smith premiered his new movie, "Tusk," in the Midnight Madness program of this year's Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF), it was a career high for the filmmaker. (No, that's not a pun on how Smith is promoting "Tusk" through tie-in strands of medicinal marijuana at L.A.'s Buds & Roses.)
Smith told The Frame producer Michelle Lanz that being part of the famed late-night section of TIFF for the first time in his career "...makes a fella feel good. I can still show 'em something new after two decades doing the job."
"Tusk" is a comedy-horror flick about a crass podcaster played by Justin Long (the guy who was the Mac in those Mac ads with John Hodgman as a PC). He gets captured by a sadistic old man who wants to turn him into a walrus. Yes, a walrus.
Colin Geddes, the programmer for TIFF's Midnight Madness section, told Lanz: "'Tusk' was so committed in its WTF-ness, that I had to pick it."
Since 1997, Geddes has been selecting the movies for the Midnight Madness program. Each year he gets hundreds of submissions, but can only choose 10 films. Of those that get screenings there's a chance a career could be made. That happened in 2002 when Eli Roth's "Cabin Fever" premiered and sparked a fierce bidding war among film buyers who wanted the distribution rights.
But Geddes says that what he keeps foremost in his mind when programming Midnight Madness is the unique and committed audience.
"Out of all the films at the festival, the Midnight Madness audience I would say is the audience that is most excited to be there. At the same time they're also really smart and savvy cinephiles. We have directors and actors that [believe] no one's going to be around for a Q&A at 1 o'clock, 2 o'clock in the morning. [But] my audience always does me proud and always asks sharp and pertinent questions and they really surprise the talent."
Toronto local Boyn Deen is one of those devoted audience members. Standing at the front of the line to see the Belgian slasher film, "Cub," Deen explained why she and her friends attend Midnight Madness:
"Some of these movies will never see another screen in North America. Some of the movies never get distribution in North America. You can't get it on DVD. So you want to see something weird and new? You do Midnight Madness."
To learn more about TIFF's Midnight Madness mayhem, check out their blog.
Play the LA River launches a year-long festival of creativity and discovery
The City of Los Angeles is leading an effort to restore much of the Los Angeles River to its natural state. That will take decades and — get your checkbooks out — about a billion dollars. But a group of local artists and activists is already using the river as a stage for creativity and discovery.
On Sept. 13, as part of the Frogtown Art Walk, Project 51 will launch Play the L.A. River, a year-long festival designed to encourage citizens to explore the waterway. The festival will include a wide range of art events and performances. Project 51 is also distributing a deck of playing cards that serves as a guide to activities along the 51-mile-long river.
The Frame's host, John Horn, spoke with Cathy Gudis, an Associate Professor of History and director of the Public History Program at UC Riverside and an organizer of Play the L.A. River.
Interview highlights
Gudis on how the project came together:
"Play the L.A. River is a project [created by] a group of people who have very diverse interests — artists, designers, scientists, urban planners. And we wondered about the ways in which the river is such a significant part of the city, yet isn't necessarily a place that many people know how to get to. The L.A. River is 51 miles long, it passes thru 18 cities, it connects all our different neighborhoods and it's the reason why we organized Play the L.A. River so that we could actually address that entire expanse."
Gudis on the relationship of the arts to the river:
"The arts have had a longstanding role in drawing public attention to the fact that, one, we have a river and, two, that it is a river. So, for instance, Frank Romero has a mural that's downstream from here and it has icons that are both specific to the river, but also to the founding of L.A. itself."
Gudis on Project 51's guide to the L.A. River
"We thought, let's make a deck of cards. We've got 51 miles, we just need one more site [to make a full deck]. And then we realized 52 cards [is] not quite enough. So we have 56 sites that are covered in a site guide that's also a deck of playable cards."
Gudis on what the organizers hope the event will accomplish:
"I'm most excited about the ways we might be able to galvanize crowds that will intersect with the river over a period of a year. In either small groups, or medium-sized groups or online to post what they find. And to be able to speak very loudly about what we as Angelenos want for the L.A. River."
Allah-Las: How working at a record store helped the band get its start
As U2, Beyonce and Radiohead are pushing the digital platform to sell albums, lesser-known bands are selling more records through vinyl. At least that's the case for L.A.’s garage-rock band Allah-Las.
The band formed in 2008 when most of the members were working at Amoeba — L.A.'s largest record store. Drummer Matthew Correia says that's also where the band's sound was shaped.
"We worked upstairs ... switching CD cases into new ones and we listened to a lot of records that way."
One record Correia was influenced by was "I Tried to Save This Love of Ours" by Faine Jade — a '60s psychedelic-garage-rock band.
Correia says when he learned to play drums, he played along to this song.
"I think it was just the way they recorded the drums for those demos. Not a lot of mics, and things are kind of simple. And I think that I was used to hearing things that were polished and turned down, and that affected me. I thought it was pretty cool."
Another record the band stumbled upon at a record store was "Back to Stay" by Bridget St. John.
Bassist Spencer Dunham says he was attracted to the '60s British folksinger's voice, which sounds a lot like Nico from The Velvet Underground.
"That's one of the most heartbreaking songs I've ever heard and it was produced by someone who was involved with Pink Floyd's early records and they used this thing called the celestial organ on it, and it has this very ethereal vibe."
Singer Miles Michaud says he frequented Amoeba throughout high school and discovered a lot of artists he would have never found otherwise. Michaud says, "It was the beginning of a long musical journey."
Allah-Las new album, Worship the Sun, will be released in record stores on Sept. 16.