With no more screenings and no awards, our time in Oxford was at an end. We had lunch at Waffle House (amazing) and started the long drive back to Nashville. Keegan didn’t want to push the serpentine belt so we drove 60 the whole way on cruise control, much to the chagrin of a lot of dickheads on the road. It took about five hours but we made it back after stopping for souvenirs at Loretta Lynn’s Kitchen. For some reason, there’s a giant plastic buffalo in front of the store overlooking the highway. It also has glowing red eyes.
That night we got pizza and watched the Grammys, which was fun even though most performances were awful. One more trip to the 3 Crows bar and then to bed. The next day we’d hop our flights back to Los Angeles and our day jobs. It’s nice to get away and see some films and share ours with new people. Hopefully there’s one or two more festivals in our future before we lay this puppy to rest.
Saturday. George woke up early and went on a tour of Faulkner’s house with his friends and some other festival-goers. Keegan got up early to take his car to the shop and find out his serpentine belt would most likely break on our drive home and there was nobody in town that could replace it. I slept in. We ate lunch at Applebees since it was walking distance from our hotel and then headed over to the theater for our 2:30pm screening of Luke and Brie Are on a First Date. To my pleasant surprise, we had a good crowd of about 70-80 people. For some reason the movie played with a mono track of sound instead of stereo so it was a bit rough in some patches, but otherwise pretty enjoyable. One older couple right behind us walked out after 45 minutes or so but no mass exodus. The q&a afterward was a little grim but they almost always are. A few people came up to us afterward and said they liked it so that’s all we can hope for.
Afterward, we all went to the town square to get ice cream and hang out. Dinner at Ajax was amazing and then back to the theater for Ballast. Keegan and George opted to see He’s Just Not That Into You instead and they proceeded to spend the entire rest of the trip discussing the best parts. Ballast was really good but not quite as amazing as I had anticipated it to be. My top 10 from 2008 remains unchanged. When that let out, we headed back to the square for the awards ceremony where we picked up zero trophies. There was an official afterparty but we skipped out and went to a dive bar around the corner and played darts and connect 4. Before bed we all said our prayers that Keegan’s car wouldn’t die in the middle of nowhere on the way home tomorrow.
We finally arrived in Oxford at 5:50 a.m. on Friday morning. All five of us piled into a room at the Holiday Inn Express and hit the hay. George, Keegan and I got up at 11 to make it over to Town Square for a filmmakers luncheon. Sean and Tara slept like bums. I’m terrible at meeting people and networking so the luncheon consisted of George, Keegan and I sitting at our own table and waiting for people to come to us. One dude did, Eric Snider and he told us about some drama involving Jeff Wells, who sounds like a douchebag. No point in going into that here. The luncheon was a bit too fancy for our tastes since we were starving so we dipped out and ate at Square Pizza. We were later told this place sucks. And it does. George then went off to hang with his local friends and the rest of us saw School Play. I went because the synopsis sounded eerily similar to a documentary I made in college and was curious to see another filmmaker’s approach to the subject. They weren’t there and attendance was slight but we all thought the movie was great. Really great.
We tried to see Prom Night in Mississippi but it was sold out like crazy so we met up with George and his cool friends Erin and Sean. They took us to Taylor Grocery for dinner, which is some famous catfish joint a few miles outside of Oxford. It took forever to get in and get our food but it was pretty damn good. After that we headed over to the evening’s party at some warehouse. Again, I didn’t really approach anyone for chit chat but did talk to Eric Snider some more and some other fine folks from Cinematical. Tara passed out a few postcards and I did the same but our self-promotion was severly limited and if nobody showed up to our screening it would be our own fault. There was also this official photographer walking around documenting the event but he always passed by us without taking any pictures. Total snubbery. We decided that if he wasn’t going to take our photo then we would take his, and tried to sneak ourselves into them. He caught on.
The Oxford Film Festival officially kicked off on Thursday but we spent the day hanging out in Nashville. It all started at Arnold’s, voted “Best Meat and 3″ by somebody and they were right. The country fried steak, mashed potatoes, green beans and mac and cheese I got were all killer. A little lounging, a little FIFA on Xbox and some bowling at a near empty alley filled out the afternoon and then we went to Baja Burrito for dinner. That place also owned.
That night, we strolled around Broadway Ave. and hit up a few honky tonks taking in the authentic sights and sounds but the real main course was for the late night; Roman Candle played a show at the Basement and we all had front row seats to getting our socks rocked off. I have seen them live a number of times but this was my first chance seeing their new stuff performed and it didn’t disappoint. Do yourself an enormous favor and check them out during their upcoming Spring tour and the new album, “Oh Tall Tree in the Ear” drops in May. Even though the show ended at 1 a.m., we immediately hit the road for the four and a half hour drive. Coffee, sunflower seeds and the music of the 60’s pulled us through.
The official South by Southwest lineup was unveiled yesterday and I have to say congratulations to two good friends who made the cut. Surprise surprise, Joe Swanberg will be debuting his latest film, Alexander the Last, which is revolutionizing a new way of distribution that you can read about here. Also, Zach Clark will be world premiering his new movie Modern Love is Automatic in the Emerging Visions section. I saw a rough cut a while back and can tell you now that you haven’t seen anything like it so prepare yourself. Also, Luke and Brie Are on a First Date co-star Lydia Hyslop is in it so that alone is worth the price of admission.
Speaking of Luke and Brie, we’ll be heading out to Mississippi on Wednesday and I’m stoked about that. I’d also like to announce that we’ll be playing at the Lake County Film Festival in the first week of March. It’s a small affair just outside of Chicago and so if you live anywhere around there, come check us out. More details to come obviously and I’ll be posting daily updates from our trip this week.
It’s 2009 and a new season of film festivals is upon us. First up is the Oxford Film Festival in Mississippi. I can’t remember if I drove through that state or not but regardless, it’ll be a new experience for me. I will be attending, along with actor/writer George Ducker, producer Tara Everhart, actor/composer Keegan DeWitt and cinematographer Sean McElwee. If you live anywhere near that state, you should come check us out at our Saturday afternoon screening. You can get tickets online at their website and you can have beers with us afterwards. More news soon!
I brought my camera to the screening of Luke and Brie at the Zero Film Festival on Saturday night but it was out of batteries so I’ve got nothing to show for it. Which is a shame because the event and the night were fantastic. Even though most of the cast and crew had already seen it on the big screen, we still got a few dedicated souls to check it out again and they were joined by a bunch of people I don’t know so that was great. All in all, I’d say we must have had 120-150 people there and they really seemed to enjoy the movie. It’s always best to play to a big crowd but twentysomethings in Los Angeles has to be the ideal audience for this movie. It was all really great and thanks to Rich and everybody who put on the Zero Film Festival. For an inaugural event, it was really impressive, especially the Downtown Indpendent theater, which was totally cool and will hopefully play lots of movies I want to see in the future because I’d love to frequent that joint. It was the first time I got to do a Q&A with Meg and George together, but as usual, it was mostly just awkward for us and the crowd and it was pretty brief and pointless.
Afterwards, I talked to some fellow filmmakers and heard that midweek attendance to screenings was pretty grim so I felt really lucky to have that primo Saturday evening slot. We went to Bar 107 and got hammered and danced and felt like important people. It’s stupid but seeing the movie with people is extremely rewarding and makes everything worthwhile. Actually, it’s not stupid. If you came out and watched it, thanks. Leave me some anonymous comments and tell me what you really thought.
