The Projection Booth - Special Episode

Special Guests: Russ Collins & Amanda Bynum
On this special episode of The Projection Booth, Mike looks at the Cinetopia film festival in Ann Arbor and the state of the state's film scene. This episode also includes upcoming festival deadlines, festivals, screenings and a very special event at the Corktown Cinema in July that you won't want to miss.

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Music Used This Episode:
David Bowie - "Panic in Detroit" - Aladdin Sane
Alex Skolnick Trio - "Detroit Rock City - Goodbye To Romance: Standards For A New Generation
Uncle Leon & the Alibis - "Telegraph Road" - Drunk
John Linnell - "Michigan" - State Songs
Fedde Le Grand - "Put Your Hands Up For Detroit" - Output
The Dirtbombs - "Broke in Detroit (Again)" - If You Don't Already Have A Look
The J. Geils Band - "Detroit Breakdown" - Blow Your Face Out: Live

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Transcript:

Welcome to a special episode of The Projection Booth.

I’m Mike White, Rob St. Mary is currently on a mission to the heart of Lake Woebegon. He’s been sent by butchers to collect a bill.

On this episode I’m flying solo and talking about the state of the state. That is, the state of Michigan and the state of film at the moment. This is by no means a comprehensive look but just a cursory glance at some of the highlights.

In a little bit I’ll be playing back an interview I did with Russ Collins and Amanda Bynum of the Michigan Theater about the Cinetopia International Film Festival. Also, I’ve got a very important announcement about The Projection Booth that I’ll share a little later on. But first, I want to announce the call for entries at a few Michigan film festivals.

First off, the Blue Water film festival is currently accepting entries with a deadline of Friday June 15, 2012. The main rules for entry is that the film -- feature or short -- must have been shot in the State of Michigan or Ontario, Canada OR The individual submitting the film must have participated in the production of the entry and have a permanent address in the state of Michigan or Ontario, Canada. Yes, the Blue Water has opened up their catchment area to include not just Sarnia and Windsor but all of Ontario. All the way from Hudson Bay down to Peelee Island.

If you haven’t been to the Blue Water film festival up in Port Huron, I can’t recommend it enough. I was up there last October and it was a great time. Not only is the area gorgeous but the films were great and the folks running the festival are some of the nicest you could hope to ever meet.

For more information, visit Blue Water Film Festival.

That’s the thumb. Right in the lower middle of the state we’ve got the East Lansing Film Festival
. They’re celebrating their 15th year this year with their festival in November. Their cut off date is July first, 2012. They’re accepting entries via WithoutABox.com.

Be aware that if your film was 1/4 produced, directed, or financed in one of the states bordering Lake Michigan (if you’re bad a geography that’s Michigan, Indiana, Illinois and Wisconsin), you can submit it to the Lake Michigan Film Competition.

I’m not aware of any other Michigan film festivals currently accepting entries. Unfortunately, there’s not a really good central repository for that kind of information -- or at least none that I know of. The list that I made of Michigan film festivals a few years ago is completely out of date with most of the URLs leading to 404s.

In more pleasant news, let’s talk about some festivals that are still alive and kicking.

Cinetopia is a brand spanking new film festival that’s taking place May 31st to June 3rd in Ann Arbor. They’re kicking off events on May 31st with movies running all day on June first, second, and third at the Michigan Theater, State Theater, and Angell Hall in beautiful Ann Arbor.

Let’s play back the interview I did with Russ Collins and Amanda Bynum of the Michigan Theater.

ROLL INTERVIEW

Welcome back to the Projection Booth. That was Russ Collins and Amanda Bynum of the Michigan Theater in Ann Arbor talking about the first annual Cinetopia International Film Festival. For the full schedule of what’s playing and when; visit the Michigan theater’s website.

I’m definitely going to be there as much as I can. It’s going to take a lot to make me miss the screenings of The Stewardesses in 3D, Cane Toads, Superman, and What’s Up Doc.

I was going to say that June begins a busy month for folks interested in attending film festivals in Michigan...

However, the Media City Film Festival isn’t in June, it starts May 22nd at the Detroit Film Theater with the rest of the week happening at the Capitol Theater in Windsor. This is the 18th edition of this annual fest and it features more than 75 new film and video artworks by artists and filmmakers from across the globe. $20 Canadian gets you the full festival pass.

There are nightly screenings, as well as receptions, panels, artists’ talks along with other special events. As a bonus to American cinephiles, the Detroit Bus Company will be offering free cross-border shuttle service from Detroit and Ann Arbor to the fest. For a schedule, tickets, bus reservations and more, visit media city film festival dot com. As MC Hammer would say, a run for the border is in order.

Over on the west side of the state, the Waterfront Film festival happens June 14th through 17th in Saugatauk. If you need an excuse to get over to Saugatauk / Douglas, this is it. Check ‘em out online:
Waterfront Film Festival.

The fifth annual Detroit Windsor International Film Festival will take place June 20th to 24th in Downtown Detroit. Their opening night gala -- with the films Beauty Queen and Surf Detroit -- will happen down at the Detroit Film Theater. Visit their website for details. I once tried to surf in Detroit. Didn’t work out so well.

Up in Traverse City we’ve got the Traverse City Film Festival... funny how that works; the name of the festival is the same as the city in which it takes place... That’s happening July 31st to August 5th. One of these years I’m going to get my butt up there -- whether it’s for the festival or just to enjoy the area.

It’s a little early to announce this one but the Detroit Docs festival will happen in November - the 15th through the 17th - down at the Corktown Cinema. Rob and I have mentioned Corktown a few times before on the show. They’re set to open their indoor theater by the end of the summer. It will be a 150 seat art house slash rep theater with screenings Tuesday through Sunday every week down at their new space at 2051 Rosa Parks Blvd.

I say new space because these are the same guys that used to run the Burton Theater where I had the kick-off event for the launch of Impossibly Funky. They were *thee* source for seeing out of the ordinary flicks that just weren’t going to play the more -- and I know this is a bit of a oxymoron -- mainstream art house theaters. Stuff like Enter the Void, Santa Sangre, Double Take, et cetera.

So, the *indoor* space opens at the end of summer. In the meantime they’re doing outdoor double feature nights starting in June where the Corktown Cinema is teaming up with other local businesses like Supino’s Pizza, Bikes and Murder and.... drumroll please.... The Projection Booth.

Yes, Rob and I have been asked to come down and host a special live version of The Projection Booth on Saturday July 7 where Corktown Cinema will be playing a double feature of Jack Woods’s Equinox and Ishiro Honda’s Mothra. We’re not exactly sure how a live version of The Projection Booth is going to work -- if we’re going to talk about both films and give them the PB treatment or just one, how easy or hard it’s going to be to find appropriate interviews for one or both features... But we’ll nail that down and let folks know what to expect as we get the details worked out.

Personally, I’d love it if we could get in touch with one of the stars from Equinox, Frank Bonner, who’s known to most folks as Herb Tarlek of WKRP. Otherwise, I’d love to interview those tiny little ladies, The Peanuts, who sing the Mothra song....

I’m not allowed to share the rest of the films being shown the other nights... at least not yet... but there are some great ones. There’s even one night of films that we’ve covered on The Projection Booth before so you know I’m going to be pimping the hell out of that. And, no, it’s not Salo and Free Enterprise, though those two films might make a good combination. Salo could definitely help get the bad taste out of one’s mouth after watching Free Enterprise.

There’s a special night of Detroit-themed pics, too but I’ll tell you that neither Action Jackson nor Robocop will be in effect. Visit their website: Corktown Cinema.

Once again, that’s Saturday July 7th down at the Corktown Cinema at 2051 Rosa Parks Blvd. in Detroit. Visit our website - for more details.

All right, that wraps up this special episode of The Projection Booth. Be sure to join us next week at our regular time and place or, to put it another way... See you next Wednesday.

2012 East Lansing Film Festival Call for Entries

The Call for Entries for the 15th Annual East Lansing Film Festival (ELFF) is now open!

ELFF screens more than 100 films from around the world as well as from local and regional filmmakers. All genres of Feature, Documentary, Short film and Student film are shown in venues and on the campus of Michigan State University and in East Lansing. Submit your film to the 15th annual East Lansing Film Festival!

Submit online via withoutabox.com or download an entry form (see side bar) and mail it in with along with 3 DVDs and a check made out to ELFF.

**If your film was 1/4 produced, directed, or financed in one of the states bordering Lake Michigan (MI, IN, IL or WI), please submit to the Lake Michigan Film Competition (LMFC). The LMFC awards cash prizes to the best films in the following categories: Feature, Documentary, Short Film, and Student Film. Click on LMFC for more information about the competition and to download a submission form for LMFC or visit withoutabox.com to submit online.**

EARLYBIRD DEADLINE May 15, 2012!

Blue Water Film Festival Announces 2012 Dates

March 6, 2012 - Port Huron, Mich. The Blue Water Film Festival is proud to announce the dates of their upcoming fourth annual festival as October 5 and 6, 2012.

"Every year the Blue Water Area has embraced what the festival offers in terms of entertainment, culture and cutting edge film making by Michigan talent," said Jeremy Stemen, the festival's Executive Director. "Our goal is to become an established annual event attended by locals, tourists and of course, the film industry. We feel a strong connection to the local community that has supported us and we're pleased to announce that we will be presenting an exciting fourth festival this October."

The Blue Water Film Festival made its mark in previous years by bringing movie premieres, celebrities and critically acclaimed independent films to downtown Port Huron. It features the best in film making created in or by residents of Michigan and Lambton County, Ontario.

Fans of the Blue Water Film Festival can "Like" the event's page on Facebook or follow @BWFF1 on Twitter. For more information about the Blue Water Film Festival, please visit www.bluewaterfilmfestival.com.

The annual Blue Water Film Festival strives to bring movies, movie stars and movie makers to Port Huron. The movies shown at the festival are diverse and enjoyable to people of all ages. For one week a year, our community has the opportunity to see the stars of tomorrow in Port Huron today.

New Novella from CdC Contributor!

I'm very excited to announce a new novella by Cashiers du Cinemart 16 contributor Karen Lillis, WATCH THE DOORS AS THEY CLOSE, which has just been released on the Spuyten Duyvil Novella Series. The story is set in both Brooklyn and Appalachian Pennsylvania, as it looks back on a troubled relationship that has just ended. In the tradition of Annie Ernaux's Simple Passion or Jean Rhys' city novels, the narrative traces the dynamics and subtle shifts in the affair, all while painting vivid scenes of New York Bohemia and American rural poverty at the turn of the Millennium.

Find out more about the book and Karen's East Coast & Midwest book tour, buy a book AND support the upcoming book tour in a few clicks.

What Readers Are Saying About WATCH THE DOORS AS THEY CLOSE:

"What I love most about Karen Lillis? writing is it makes me want to be a writer. We need more writers excited about the world than people who neuter it."

—Scott McClanahan, author of Stories and Hill William

"Aren't you tired of 'literary fiction'? When a writer assumes she knows you already, that you two are just alike, the same kind of clever, the same kind of ironic, but in her case maybe a little more so? This book cuts right through all that. It's naked. Naked as a knife."

—Mike DeCapite, author of Creamsicle Blue

"This brave new work tracks a thoroughly modern relationship, told as reflective, moody missives to the reader in the days after the doors have closed on love. The intimate feel of the read explodes and exploits the failure of the central relationship. Lillis is a master of the hauntingly-focused close-up."

—Connor Sites-Bowen

Be sure to visit IndieGoGo and support Karen's tour!

Rob St. Mary Joins The Projection Booth Podcast

For Immediate Release:

February 29, 2012 - Detroit, MI - Filmmaker & journalist Rob St. Mary officially joins The Projection Booth podcast (http://projection-booth.com/) with the latest episode. Having previously participated in discussions about Peter Watkins's “Punishment Park,” Daniel Minahan's “Series 7: The Contenders,” Kinji Fukasaku's “Battle Royale,” and Harold P. Warren's “Manos: The Hands of Fate,” St. Mary officially joins the podcast with the special anniversary episode of the show on Frank Henenlotter's “Frankenhooker.”

"It's been a crazy year," says Projection Booth co-founder Mike White. "With more than sixty episodes under my belt, I can say that the show started big and has continued to just get bigger ever since." Indeed, The Projection Booth boasts and all-star roster of guests including Menahem Golan, Uwe Boll, John Waters, Monte Hellman, Miguel Ferrer, Nancy Allen, Keith Gordon, Patrick Warburton, and many more.

White promises that the show is just getting started and lays out plans for future discussions of fantastic films like “Salo: 120 Days of Sodom,” “Freejack,” “Miami Blues,” “Silent Partner,” and “Zardoz.” "I'm incredibly excited about the ‘Raw Talent’ episode," White confides. "We're talking to the writer, director and star of this ground-breaking adult film. There aren't too many movies where Ron Jeremy gets in a karate fight. Only two come to mind."

"Before I was a part of the podcast, I was a fan," says St. Mary. "Mike has a great eye for underappreciated films and I hope I can return the favor." No stranger to cult films, St. Mary has been connecting people to great cinema past and present. St. Mary worked at what is considered the first video store in the nation, Thomas Video, and one of the better art house theatres in the Metro Detroit area, the Main Art Theatre. Before that, St. Mary made his own foray into filmmaking with a feature length documentary, “The Separation on State Street,” and an independent vampire/comedy, “Tainted” (available via Troma Entertainment).

Since 2001, St. Mary has been a radio news professional. During that time, he's been honored over two-dozen times for his feature and investigative work by statewide and national journalism organizations. Now, St. Mary is bringing his keen investigative spirit and sharp interview skills to The Projection Booth.

Started in March 2011, The Projection Booth is a weekly podcast with new episodes available every Wednesday via iTunes or Stitcher. The podcast is also syndicated via Jackalope Radio (http://jackaloperadio.com/) out of Kansas City, Missouri where it plays every Thursday at 7PM EST/6PM Central.

Follow The Projection Booth on Twitter at http://twitter.com/proboothcast

Get Cashiers du Cinemart 16 for FREE

Do you have Amazon Prime? Then get a free copy of Cashiers du Cinemart #16 right now for your Kindle (or Kindle app -- the one on your phone, iPad, etc). Get it here.

Projects

Being without a day job sometimes has its advantages. I've had ample opportunity lately to begin researching in earnest some upcoming projects including helping Greydon Clark out on an autobiography and writing a book tentatively titled "Gould and Sutherland in the '70s." This may just become "Gould in the '70s" as I'm having some trouble connecting with Donald Sutherland.

It's kind of funny. Sutherland's publicist has been blocking me, asking why I would want to write about both of these guys "since they were only in one movie together." I had to really restrain myself from being a know-it-all and saying, "Actually, your client was in three films with Mr. Gould; M*A*S*H, Little Murders, and SPYS." I'm going to try to go around this person if I can but things aren't looking so good at the moment. If anyone has a better line to Donald Sutherland, I'd love to try it.

In the meantime, I'm having a heck of a lot of fun watching and re-watching Elliott Gould's output from the '70s and researching these films. I've even been lucky enough to track down some of his appearances on TV in things like an Olivia Newton-John special. Whoo-boy! I've re-pitched Gould on working with me on this project (if it were a non-Gould/Sutherland book) and await his response. Regardless, I'm going to go ahead with the project and just hope that he'll see fit to be a part of it. He has had a fascinating career and his work in the '70s was something of a microcosm of what that decade represents to me.

Of course, work on the podcast still continues. I've been very fortunate to speak to some fascinating folks and have had a blast recording these with a wide range of co-hosts. I can't believe it's been almost a year since that started. It's been both a highly-frustrating and rewarding process.

Thanks to everyone who's been so supportive while I've been off. I appreciate all the books that people have been buying and the links folks have been passing my way.

CineKink Announces Kinky Line-Up for Ninth Annual Festival

CineKink NYC returns for its ninth annual appearance on Tuesday, February 7th, bringing with it a specially-curated program of films and videos that celebrate and explore a wide diversity of sexuality. In addition to screenings, plans for the festival also include a short film competition, presentations, audience choice awards, a fund-raising kick-off gala and a concluding afterglow party.

Billing itself as "the kinky film festival," the event will run February 7-12, 2012. Presented by CineKink, an organization dedicated to the recognition and encouragement of sex-positive and kink-friendly depictions in film and television, works presented at CineKink NYC will range from documentary to drama, comedy to experimental, mildly spicy to quite explicit - and everything in between.

The kink-filled festivities begin Tuesday, February 7th, at 8 PM, with a fundraising kick-off extravaganza to be held at Katwalk (2 W. 35th Street), a pansexual celebration that, in addition to music and sexy performances, offers several cinematic gems up on the screen.

The festival then moves to Anthology Film Archives (32 Second Avenue, NYC), Wednesday, February 8 through Saturday, February 11, with several different film and video programs scheduled for each day. An awards celebration and an AfterGlow party complete the festivities on Sunday, February 12.

WEDNESDAY
Among the headliners, first up on Wednesday, February 8 at 7:00 PM, the festival's CineKink Season Opener screening of CABARET DESIRE, inspired by New York’s real-life Poetry Brothel, weaves together several erotic vignettes. Then, at 9:00 PM, AFTER FALL, WINTER is a sexy, funny and darkly poignant story about two people who desperately crave intimacy, yet resist revealing their true selves.

THURSDAY
On Thursday, February 9 at 7:00 PM, it's (A)SEXUAL, a documentary look at what it’s like to be without sexual desire in a society that is otherwise obsessed. Then, at 9:10 PM, KINK & KINSHIP is a program of short works that celebrate the special sense of community a shared kink tends to engender.

FRIDAY
On Friday, February 10 at 6:30 PM, the lives of several people are turned upside down when they meet Cecile, a character who symbolizes DESIRE. At 9:00 PM, COUPLINGS is a sexy collection of shorts about two-somes, three-some and more-somes. And in SEXUALLY FRANK, at 10:40 PM, a group of long-time friends finds that sex is no less befuddling now than it was during puberty.

SATURDAY
Kicking off Saturday, February 11 at 12:30 PM, many hijinks ensue in SWEET PRUDENCE & THE EROTIC ADVENTURE OF BIGFOOT, when the mythical beast is spotted at a remote nudist resort. At 2:45 PM, a special industry showcase, BRING IT!, features a dazzling array of talent from today's adult cinema, all stepping up with a hot sampling of their recent creative endeavors. At 5:00 PM, STAGE BROTHER follows the quest of a young woman who dreams of making it in the world of adult entertainment. At 7:15 PM, in SIRWIÑAKUY, two Bolivian strangers participate in their own kinky version of a sirwiñakuy, an indigenous tradition where a man brings home a trial “wife.” And, closing out the festival's regular screening schedule at 9:45 PM, the romantic drama “3” tells the story of Hanna and Simon who, on the brink of their 20th anniversary, separately become enamored with the same younger man.

SUNDAY
CineKink NYC concludes the evening of Sunday, February 12 at 6:00 PM, with an Awards Celebration, including encore screenings of jury-selected best shorts from the week and presentation of the annual festival awards, to be followed at 9:0O PM by the CineKink Afterglow Party, one last chance to mingle with like-minded festival-goers and enjoy a few additional screenings, this time in a relaxed play party setting. The locations for both events will be announced at a later date.

For more information and advance tickets, visit www.cinekink.com.

Cashiers du Cinemart 17 - Call for Entries

I've gotten some questions if there's ever going to be a Cashiers du Cinemart 17. Why not? The last issue worked out well in terms of print-on-demand (not so much on the hand-printed issues as I have yet to get those all stapled, folded, and mailed).

Do you want to be a part of CdC #17? Here's the breakdown of what I'd need when:

• Idea/pitch of what you want to write about by 2/29/12
• Rough draft by 5/31/12
• Final version by 7/4/12

Don't forget that I'm a fairly harsh editor. I take a lot of pride in what goes into each issue of CdC -- except when it comes to my own shameless stuff.

Send your ideas/pitches to mwhite at impossiblefunky dot com. Just beware of my spam filter.