The Genre Director - Five days of Fantastic Sex, Food, Wine, Cinema

Fantastic Fest is the most fantastic, satisfying festival I have ever been to in 35 years of sporadic attendance at such events.

Located at the Alamo Drafthouse, a stylish new breed of multiplex in Austin, Texas, FF does not cater to cinema snobs or pretentious culture vultures, rather it provides the grass roots genre/fantasy fan with an eclectic selection of movie treats from around the world, some of which are just as intellectually and artistically grounded as anything that Cannes or Venice has to offer.

Shuttles are provided for regular pick up and deposit at the major hotels, but if you travel by car, there are acres of parking in front of the theatre. (Nothing worse than cutting it fine for a movie, then finding nowhere to park.) Lobby screens play trailers from the upcoming schedule; and posters old, new, and rare, decorate your passage to the theatre of choice. Then there is comfortable stadium seating (with leg room for us tall people. Woohoo!) in front of a bench that runs the length  of each row. On slips of paper provided, you write your food and drink order from an extensive three course menu, then stick it upright in the groove at the rim  of the bench. It doesn’t take long before your server returns, first with the booze, then the food, always staying low so as not to obscure the screen. Last orders are taken half way through the movie.

The standard of projection is excellent. Focus and light level is monitored constantly. Also there is no sound bleed thru from any other theatre. I remember, at one foreign festival, confronting the projectionist who had played reel 3 of DEAD END DRIVE IN ahead of reel 2. “Catastrophe…je suis désolée,” he said with studied indifference, a bent Gauloise hanging from his lip. No way was he going to stop and correct the mistake, the screening schedule was too tight. Hijo la chingaso!!

Bill Murray at the Lockhart Cavern Party.

No, the Alamo Drafthouse cares deeply about providing their patrons, be they Festival audiences or regular year round Austin moviegoers, with the best possible Cinema experience. This is the vision of Alamo Drafthouse founders Tim and Karrie League, and their hard working staff and volunteers carry out that mandate with enthusiasm. Because they all love movies. They are a splendid example of what exhibitors used to be before television - showmen.

In 5 days I saw SAUNA, ACOLYTES, DONKEY PUNCH, CHASER, CHOCOLATE, ZOMBIE GIRL: THE MOVIE,  THE BURROWERS, ALIEN RAIDERS, FEAR(S) IN THE NIGHT, THE SUBSTITUTE, DEAD GIRL, THE GOOD THE BAD AND THE WEIRD, FIGHTER, SPINE TINGLER!, in addition to hosting my MAN FROM HONG KONG and TURKEY SHOOT and joining Mark Hartley in Q & A for his NOT QUITE HOLLYWOOD. There were many more titles I did not have time to see. More on these movies next blog. But for now, click on the wonderful shot from a personal favorite of mine, the 100 Best Kills Party:

FF’s great line-up is courtesy of founder and head programmer Tim League, co-founder Harry Knowles (Ain’t It Cool News - it was wonderful to finally meet the great Harry), with additional programming by Alamo Drafthouse Cinema executives Karrie League, Zack Carlson and Lars Nilsen. Also contributing was Todd Brown (Twitchfilm.net), and Blake Ethridge (Cinema is Dope). And a special word of praise for tireless Thomas Hanawa, the Robo-Warrior of problem solvers; also guest manager and Yellow Rose of Texas Jill Lewis, one of the sweetest girls on the planet.

A generous quote from Todd of twitchfilm.net: “Man From Hong Kong director Brian Trenchard-Smith is the guy you most want covering your back in the middle of a zombie apocalypse.” Thanks Todd. He runs a great site. Check it out.

“There was also skeet shooting, debates, boxing, swimming, 100 Best Kills, World Air Sex Championships, karaoke, cave dwelling and Texas BBQ. A fabulous and exhausting time I strongly recommend to anyone choosing a festival to attend. You will not be disappointed.

I sat so long and dined so well at the Alamo Drafthouse that I must ramp up my exercise schedule for the next couple of weeks, starting today with three hours of fencing, my particular hobby. I leave you with a short film sent to me by my Hawaiian fencing buddy Colin Chock, that in some way captures the exhilaration of this great combat sport:

Tags: Film Blog, Director, Movie, Movie Blog, Filmmaking