My First Time Attending the Cucalorus Film Festival! - 11/12/17
This weekend was the 23rd Annual Cucalorus Film Festival held in Downtown Wilmington. It was first year going, partially for the assignment but mainly because I had not been before, and I wanted to before I graduated in the spring next year. I had a great time, going to more things than I thought I actually would and really seeing a little bit of what people love about going to Cucalorus every year.
The first thing I went to was the opening reception for the festival at Pour Taproom on Wednesday evening. I meant to go to the kickoff party the previous night, but I thought it was also on Wednesday night, so I missed out on that one. So this event was a small social event where people could drink beer and wine and talk with other filmmakers before the start of the festival. I had a good chat with some good acquaintances: Patrick Aycock, a guy who I met around March or April helping with a Directing class project he did and graduated in May, and Sean Gallagher, someone I have known for a few years and will graduate together in the spring. Us three kind of clinged together the majority of the time, I think because we only knew each other. We did meet this one young lady who came up to us and started chatting. She was an actress who came to try networking and figuring out where she could maybe find roles I think. Her name was Cierra (not sure on the spelling), and I believe she came up to us because we were some of the other younger people there, so she could have comfortable just talking to some people closer to her age. She asked us what we did, what we were working on, and just little things about ourselves. I had to leave early, so I couldn't mingle too much, but it was still a good time.
The screening I went to first was on Friday afternoon. It was the Barn Door Shorts block, which highlighted short films made in and that were about the Southern United States. My main reason for going was to network and meet Jillian Carney, a person who graduated in May this year and has been working for a division of the Walt Disney Company. Her film "Chains" was playing, and I recently did Sound Design for her 495 project last semester that is almost done in Post called "Please Wash Your Hands," so I thought this would be a good chance to meet her. She was just as lovely in person as in our message conversations when we would talk about the movie ("Please Wash Your Hands"), so it was great meeting her. I also got to see some other people I had not seen in a while, like my friends Adam Fackelman and Alan Keathley who were in the UNCW Film Studies program too that I believe both graduated. I even met another recent graduate named Hugh Stephens and his friend Stephanie, the latter of whom I worked with once before. That whole interaction part of Cucalorus was one of the best things about the festival, getting to see old and new faces and making more connections.
There were some other great shorts in the Barn Door Shorts block as well. Most of their names escape me, but most I found were wonderful. One was about a painter who would break into houses of people who bought her paintings so she could perfect those artworks, and it had just the most beautiful low-light cinematography. There was one dealing with water pollution, another about a crooked bum trying to convince his sister to let him see his daughter, and then "My Nephew Emmett," a short surrounding the real life death of Emmett Till.
Last night (Saturday), I went to two screenings that night after I was on set all day in Dunn, North Carolina for a friend's Directing class project. The first one was for an artsy comedy film called (and I have to look this up every time I have to say it), Snowy Bing Bongs Across the North Star Combat Zone. WOW! What an interestingly strange but silly and comedic movie. It was based off this comedy theater trio in New York called "Snowy Bing Bongs," and the movie reflected the kind of oddity and humor that came from their performances. Sequences like a random 90s style musical performance on a TRL-esque show hosted by Reggie Watts and an audience Q&A in a Black Box Theater in the middle of the film just scratch the surface of the kind of quirks the movie has that works very well in its favor.
The other screening that night was for a film called "Assholes," a movie about two sexually active drug addicts who start seeing each other, catch Herpes, have lots of anal sex, and get into weird scenarios. This movie is intentionally strange in its gross-out humor that just needs to be seen to believe. I actually cannot begin to truly describe some of the insane directions this film goes in that are both hilarious and kind of disturbing. It's a movie you want to forget but show to everyone you know.
Last night was also a great night of social gathering because I got to see some old friends who graduated in May like Riley O'Dell, Nick Watson, and Conner Keesling, and I got to spend some time with some of my fellow Flicker Officers like Sean Froeb, Audrey Wolff, and Marika Adair, who are all wonderful people. It goes back to one of my favorite parts of the festival which is the social aspect of it.
Cucalorus was such a great time to where I almost wished I had time to do just a little more, but it was a good weekend.
The first thing I went to was the opening reception for the festival at Pour Taproom on Wednesday evening. I meant to go to the kickoff party the previous night, but I thought it was also on Wednesday night, so I missed out on that one. So this event was a small social event where people could drink beer and wine and talk with other filmmakers before the start of the festival. I had a good chat with some good acquaintances: Patrick Aycock, a guy who I met around March or April helping with a Directing class project he did and graduated in May, and Sean Gallagher, someone I have known for a few years and will graduate together in the spring. Us three kind of clinged together the majority of the time, I think because we only knew each other. We did meet this one young lady who came up to us and started chatting. She was an actress who came to try networking and figuring out where she could maybe find roles I think. Her name was Cierra (not sure on the spelling), and I believe she came up to us because we were some of the other younger people there, so she could have comfortable just talking to some people closer to her age. She asked us what we did, what we were working on, and just little things about ourselves. I had to leave early, so I couldn't mingle too much, but it was still a good time.
The screening I went to first was on Friday afternoon. It was the Barn Door Shorts block, which highlighted short films made in and that were about the Southern United States. My main reason for going was to network and meet Jillian Carney, a person who graduated in May this year and has been working for a division of the Walt Disney Company. Her film "Chains" was playing, and I recently did Sound Design for her 495 project last semester that is almost done in Post called "Please Wash Your Hands," so I thought this would be a good chance to meet her. She was just as lovely in person as in our message conversations when we would talk about the movie ("Please Wash Your Hands"), so it was great meeting her. I also got to see some other people I had not seen in a while, like my friends Adam Fackelman and Alan Keathley who were in the UNCW Film Studies program too that I believe both graduated. I even met another recent graduate named Hugh Stephens and his friend Stephanie, the latter of whom I worked with once before. That whole interaction part of Cucalorus was one of the best things about the festival, getting to see old and new faces and making more connections.
There were some other great shorts in the Barn Door Shorts block as well. Most of their names escape me, but most I found were wonderful. One was about a painter who would break into houses of people who bought her paintings so she could perfect those artworks, and it had just the most beautiful low-light cinematography. There was one dealing with water pollution, another about a crooked bum trying to convince his sister to let him see his daughter, and then "My Nephew Emmett," a short surrounding the real life death of Emmett Till.
Last night (Saturday), I went to two screenings that night after I was on set all day in Dunn, North Carolina for a friend's Directing class project. The first one was for an artsy comedy film called (and I have to look this up every time I have to say it), Snowy Bing Bongs Across the North Star Combat Zone. WOW! What an interestingly strange but silly and comedic movie. It was based off this comedy theater trio in New York called "Snowy Bing Bongs," and the movie reflected the kind of oddity and humor that came from their performances. Sequences like a random 90s style musical performance on a TRL-esque show hosted by Reggie Watts and an audience Q&A in a Black Box Theater in the middle of the film just scratch the surface of the kind of quirks the movie has that works very well in its favor.
The other screening that night was for a film called "Assholes," a movie about two sexually active drug addicts who start seeing each other, catch Herpes, have lots of anal sex, and get into weird scenarios. This movie is intentionally strange in its gross-out humor that just needs to be seen to believe. I actually cannot begin to truly describe some of the insane directions this film goes in that are both hilarious and kind of disturbing. It's a movie you want to forget but show to everyone you know.
Last night was also a great night of social gathering because I got to see some old friends who graduated in May like Riley O'Dell, Nick Watson, and Conner Keesling, and I got to spend some time with some of my fellow Flicker Officers like Sean Froeb, Audrey Wolff, and Marika Adair, who are all wonderful people. It goes back to one of my favorite parts of the festival which is the social aspect of it.
Cucalorus was such a great time to where I almost wished I had time to do just a little more, but it was a good weekend.
Comments
Post a Comment