strange but true film fest!

This month, there are four film festivals slated.
Well, four that I know about! It's certainly possible that I have missed one or two along the way...but I doubt it.
Jim Reed's Psychotronic Film Society of Savannah got the show started this weekend.
The Strange But True Documentary Film Festival provided seven films over a two-day span. Whew! And I was there for every single one of those films!
I lived on popcorn, sweet & salty trail mix, and ginger ale!
True story!
With every movie ticket, a free concession item was included.
I went ahead and bought the Gold Pass, which wasn't really golden in hue.
It was invisible, actually.
No physical representations of it existed, sadly.
The image above?
I manufactured that as a keepsake from a promotional photo in one of the interviews about the event.
Just in case you thought it looked professional.
(smile)
The Gold Pass brought the cost of the seven tickets - and seven concession items - down from sixty-seven buckaroos to a mere fifty dollars. What a deal!
What types of people were highlighted in the documentaries?
Three films featured musicians, but there were three others about an artist, a dancer, and one racer.
Then there was "Eurocrime!: The Italian Cop and Gangster Films That Ruled the 70s" - that was the one I came to see!
As well as featuring interviews with a wide range of actors from those action-packed films, we were even treated to a post-film Question & Answer session!
Which actors were highlighted? Henry Silva, for one. Franco Nero, for another. And in between, John Saxon, Fred Williamson, Richard Harrison, Antonio Sabato, and even some directors! The amount of information was almost overwhelming!
The Q&A was with Mike Malloy, the writer/director/interviewer/editor of the four-years-in-the-making documentary. This was the second time he had come to town for one of his movies. Very nice!
What to talk of next? How about the dancer! Tap-dancer Jesco White even made it to an episode of "Roseanne", after the 1991 "Dancing Outlaw" became a widely-swapped video sensation. Incredible! Even more incredible? That May 1994 episode also featured my man, Joseph Gordon-Levitt! He was so young then!
"Dancing Outlaw" and the short 1994 video about Jesco's time in Hollywood (and his triumphant return to West Virginia) were shown as the last screening on Saturday. Plus, it was a "mystery" documentary, so no one knew what to expect. Well played, Jim, well played!
The artist was the focus of the first film of the festival. "Here Is Always Somewhere Else: The Disappearance of Bas Jan Ader" was about a 33-year-old Dutch artist who used gravity in his works. No, really! His videos feature him falling off roofs, falling onto a ladder, falling off a bike into a river. Then, in 1975, he forsook his wife to go to sea in a 3.8 meter sailboat. Sad, really. Watch the entire video here.
Next up, here at least, will be the documentary about Mickey Thompson. The man could drive any wheeled vehicle, especially those which he designed himself! "The Man In The Iron Cage", from 1984, had captured his attempts, and ultimate win in 1982, of a fierce off-road race, the Baja 1000. The man was killed two years later, but the tires and wheels he designed live on. Amazing what I have learned at, or because of, this "strange but true" film festival!
Here's a great video, narrated by his son, about his dad's innovative skills and racing dreams. Or should that be innovative dreams and racing skills? Either way, the man was amazing. Drag racing, land speed records, funny cars, indy cars, car design, truck racing in stadiums... wow. And he was only 59 when he died. Imagine what else he could have brought to the world of racing!
Now, what about the musicians whose tales were screened? Oddly, they all seemed to be of the same age: mid- to late-50's.
The one on Saturday, sandwiched between the Italian gangsters and the dancing mountaineer, was "My Name Is Jonah". Born John Washnis, the man's name changed after a voluntary stint in the military, possibly in Vietnam, in the late 1960's. [sidebar: I had a friend who underwent a similar transformation after his first stint aboard ship. He went from Karl Unterbrink to Ray Gomez. Seriously.]
Perhaps he felt a kinship with the character in the Bible? I don't know, but I know this: he was the oldest of four in a religious family.
Now, he is known simply as Jonah, a self-professed red-hot, all-man, superhero, fantasy barbarian, rock star adventure wizard. He even stars in five free comic books. And, when not fighting crime, he plays a pretty mean harmonica!
(smile)
Sunday saw two men of music after the film about the racer. The first was about Jon Miki Thor and his same-name band. "I Am Thor" contains footage from his early years, as a hunky blond bodybuilder who could really sing! Astonishing and talented eye-candy he was, too! Over time, their following here in the States had really fallen off. Then, a few years ago, he and the band agreed to a three-concert gig over in Europe... and truly found their audience. Packed concerts! Enthusiastic fans! How gratifying! Watch the trailer here.
The second music film, and the final film of the festival, was "The Source Family", which followed the rise and fall of Jim Baker, lead singer in a psychedelic rock band.
Eventually renaming himself Father Yod (get it?), the tall, charismatic man managed to convert lost youth on the Sunset Strip into purveyors of health-food, makers of music, and members of his commune. The fundraising activities came under fire when he "went through the change" and became focused on "balling" the commune's young women more so than anything else. Forced to leave California because of the under-age sex going on, the group settled in Hawaii. Over the course of five years, the 143-member clan had more than fifty babies.
That had to be trying for a man who just wanted to play God. I think he tired of the responsibilities of truly being a family man with so many children looking to him for guidance. One day, he decided to man a kite...and crashed from the sky, much as Icarus had. His death led to the dispersal of the family, until several of them reunited years later.
What a story!
What a film festival!
What a weekend!

Thanks, Jim, for broadening my horizons!