Temple of Schlock has the skeevy ad mat for 1977′s Too Hot to Handle, of which I’ve appropriated part of the image just because I think the site needs a half-naked lady on it today.

More stories about the films and filmmakers at Migrating Forms this week: CinemaScope on Ben Rivers and Sylvain George; Jonathan Rosenbaum on Raul Ruiz; and n+1 on Harun Farocki.

Courtney Sell writes about his inaugural AssDance Film Festival.

Cartoonist Sam Henderson reprints an old review of his of Robert Downey Sr.’s Up the Academy, a film I really want to see again and see if deserves the maligning it typically gets.

Robert Koehler has several dispatches from the Post-Sarkozy Cannes: Moonrise Kingdom; After the Battle; Rust & Bone; Mekong Hotel; Paradise: Love.

The always awesome J. J. Murphy reviews Amy Seimetz’s Sun Don’t Shine, saying “the real surprise turns out to be the film’s assured and poetic visual style.”

Making Light of It scans and posts the article “Film, Perception and Cognitive Psychology” by Virginia Brooks from Millennium Film Journal.

IndieWire reports on Robert Beavers presenting the work of Gregory Markopoulos.

BadAzz MoFo reminds me that I miss Jack Davis poster artwork.

The seventh annual Montreal Underground Film Festival features four nights — and one matinee — of experimental short films from all over the world, plus two feature films. The fun takes place May 17-20 with the opening night event being held at Sala Rossa before the rest of the fest moves to Peut-être Vintage.

The opening batch of short films includes Winnipeg filmmaker Aaron Zeghers‘ The Story of Thomas Edison, plus films by fellow Winnipegger Scott Fitzpatrick, Simon Lacroix, Erin Weisgerber, Charles Fairbanks and many more.

Several other Winnipeggers have films throughout the rest of the fest, including Heidi Phillips‘ The Last Harvest and Noam Gonick’s Hirsch. Representing the U.S. are Neil Ira Needleman‘s Prelude & Erotiloop, Tony Gault‘s Ghost of Yesterday and Ben Popp‘s Lazslo Lassu.

The two feature-length films both screen on the last day of the fest, including Larry Wessel‘s epic documentary on Boyd Rice, Iconoclast, and the Portugese zombie movie Beyond the Grave by Davi de Oliveira Pinheiro.

The full film lineup is below. For more info, please visit the official Montreal Underground Film Festival website.

May 17

7:30 p.m.: “Opening Night”
Irma, dir. Charles Fairbanks
Dove, dir. Ezo
How to Talk to Kids, dir. Scott Fitzpatrick
Toxic Park, dir. Cinzia Sarto & Ehita Frigato
Lesbian Hand Gestures, dir. Coral Short and Mascha Nehls
La Théorie du pareil, dir. Simon Lacroix
Peptalk, dir. Dayna McLeod
Chants silencieux, dir. Agnes Quillet
Propaganda 1, dir. Louis Fried
The Sound of Breathing, dir. Erin Weisgerber
The Story of Thomas Edison, dir. Aaron Zeghers
Square Dance Hypnotist, dir. Allan Brown

May 18

6:00 p.m.: “Dear Diary”
Thong, dir. Dayna McLeod
Narcissus, dir. Coral Short
Sans_Importance, dir. Jean-François Boisvenue
Winter’s End, dir. Wrik Mead
The First 40 Days, dir. Slava Mladenora
One Storey, dir. A. Moon
Ecstasy of St-Agnes, dir. Slawomir Milewski

8:00 p.m.: “Industrial Porn”
Awe Shocks, dir. Anja Dorniden and Juan Gonzalez
Barge Dirge, dir. Lindsay McIntyre
Black Chalk, dir. Irene Bindi
Men at Work, dir. Panu Johansson
Atracados/Moored, dir. Filipe Afonso
Forsaken, dir. Heidi Phillips
Front Street Yard, dir. David Ellsworth

10:00 p.m.: “Vidéo Art/Bonbons à la cannelle”
Bikini Coconut, dir. Eugénie Cliché
Melancholy Cheese Arrhythmia, dir. M. Woods
October 9th, dir. Mihee-Nathalie Lemoine
Miroirs grafignés, dir. Isabelle Lapierre
Everything Is Happy, dir. Tara Nelson
What does It Mean?, dir. Mihee-Nathalie Lemoine
Imagine, dir. Jonathan Lemieux
Canadian Time 2, dir. Christine Kirouac
Cahiers 1-4, dir. Kim Kielhofner
You Make Me Iliad, dir. Mary Reid Kelley

11:30 p.m.: “Mythic Spaces/Gloomy Places”
The Last Harvest, dir. Heidi Phillips
Crépuscule, dir. Éric Falardeau
The Red Hood, dir. Danishka Esterhazy
Dwelling, dir. Anne Golden
I See a Light, dir. Aaron Zeghers
Shadow Beyond Time, dir. John Tzourelekis

May 19

4:00 p.m.: “FAMILLE n.f. ( lat. familia )”
Ghost of Yesterday, dir. Tony Gault
Family Movie, dir. Anita Schoepp
Deep Six, dir. Gwynne Fulton
106, River Road, dir. Josh Weissbach
1945, dir. Inger-Maren Slagsvold
http://, dir. Bartosz Kruhlik
Carbon, dir. Craig Webster
Grandfather Never Saw the Sea, dir. Christine Huerzeler

6:00 p.m.: “RUSTY HEARTS & SUNSHINE”
Empire Builder, dir. Kevin Obsatz
Empty, dir. Jackie Traverse
A Life’s Work, dir. Adam R. Levine
Hirsch, dir. Noam Gonick
Postface, dir. Frédéric Moffet
Hockey Dyke in Canada, dir. Lamathilde
Madame Dubois et les cyclo-machines, dir. Claudia Chabot
Where We Were Not Part 1: Feeling Reserved, Alexus Story, dir. Jessica MacCormack

8:00 p.m.: “HAND-PROCESSED BUGS”
Pop-Up Windows, dir. Alexander Miehle
The Pool, dir. Christine Lucy Latimer
Focus, dir. Lindsay McIntyre
BbUgG, dir. Ezo
Koh, dir. Adam R.Levine
Fruit Flies, dir. Christine Lucy Latimer
Rivière au tonnerre, dir. Pierre Hébert
Focus, dir. Christine Lucy Latimer
Sinecdoquanon, dir. Ezo
Exploration of Surface and Decay, dir. Kelsey Braun
Galactic Docking Company, dir. Clark Nikolai
If I Can Fly, dir. Yoachim Bélanger
Axiom, dir. Sally Grizzell Larson
Zombie Drangonfly Discotheque, dir. David Montgomery

10:00 p.m.: “DIGITAL BREAKDOWN / ANIMATION”
When the Sun Turns Into Juice, dir. Steven Woloshen
Light, dir. Emily Baxter
Lazslo Lassu, dir. Ben Popp
An Urban Lullaby, dir. Sojin Chun
At One’s Fingertips, dir. F. Sanmartin & David Sanz
3 x 2, dir. Erin Sexton
Thin Red Line, dir. Paul O Donoghue aka Ocusonic
Wingdings Love Letter, dir. Scott Fitzpatrick
Red Nickel, dir. Eugénie Cliche
Pargu, dir. Sean Grounds
Prelude & Erotiloop, dir. Neil Ira Needleman
Ceibas: We Things at Play, dir. Evan Meaney
Red Rider’s Lament, dir. Jeremy Bessoff

May 20

12:00 p.m.: Iconoclast: Boyd Rice, dir. Larry Wessel. An epic documentary in three parts! This film profiles the controversial underground artist, musician and fascist intellectual, Boyd Rice, who has been friends with Charles Manson and pioneered the world of “noise” music. An in-depth exposé of true underground culture.

5:00 p.m.: “Walk, Don’t Run”
Modern Island, dir. Eva Kolcze
The Night of the Moon Has Many Hours, dir. Mauricio Arango
Las Vegas/Les Prés, dir. Benjamin R. Taylor
Private Views, dir. Isabelle Hayeur
Pilgrimage, dir. Marc Pelletier
From One’s Silence to Other’s, dir. Panu Johansson and Annika Rapo
R. Seymore Goes North, dir. Rhayne Vermette

7:00 p.m.: Beyond the Grave, dir. Davi de Oliveira Pinheiro. In a post-apocalyptic world that’s ruled by magic and mayhem, a police officer desperately searches for a possessed serial killer.

Entering into its third year, Crossroads is the San Francisco Cinematheque‘s celebration of the best modern avant-garde and experimental film. Curated by Cinematheque Artistic Director Steve Polta, it will run on May 18-20 at the Victoria Theatre at 2961 16th Street (at Mission).

Some of the special programs this year include a tribute and retrospective to Cinematheque co-founder Chick Strand featuring three of her experimental works, Kristallnacht (1979), Soft Fiction (1979) and Angel Blue Sweet Wings (1966); plus, a screening of the complete works (so far) of young filmmaker Laida Lerxtundi, whose work explores “how filmic moments can be imbued with emotional resonance;” as well as a program of live expanded cinema performances by Kerry Laitala, Greg Pope and Gerritt Wittmer & Paul Knowles.

The rest of the fest consists of screening blocks of short experimental films, including Ken Jacob‘s latest, Seeking the Monkey King, plus new work by Jesse McLean, Paul Clipson, Peggy Ahwesh, Deborah Stratman, Christina McPhee, Ben Russell, Sylvia Schedelbauer and a ton more.

The full film lineup is below. For more info, please visit the website for the San Francisco Cinematheque.

May 18

7:00 p.m.: “There is a presence lingering…”
Remote, dir. Jesse McLean
Love Rose, dir. Bobby Abate
Leonora, dir. Eliane Lima
With-Me-Not-Me, dir. Olivia Ciummo
Song for the Collectors, dir. Tommy Becker
Craig’s Cutting Room Floor, dir. Linda Scobie
One Way to Find Out, dir. Scott Stark
The Pool, dir. Christine Lucy Latimer
Araneae, dir. Paul Clipson
The Ape of Nature, dir. Peggy Ahwesh

9:30 p.m.: “Awe Shocks: Illusion Reigns”
rites of alchemy and movement, dir. Moyah Pravda Newsreel
Village, silenced, dir. Deborah Stratman
Penumbra Blind, dir. Christina McPhee
Snakes and Ladders, dir. Katherine McInnis
Awe Shocks, dir. Anja Dornieden and Juan David González Monroy
Seeking the Monkey King, dir. Ken Jacobs

May 19

2:00 p.m.: “Woman with Flowers: Celebrating Chick Strand”
Kristallnacht (1979)
Soft Fiction (1979)
Angel Blue Sweet Wings (1966)

4:30 p.m.: “Contemplation is a monstrous task…”
Don’t Look Directly Into the Sun, dir. Kathleen Rugh
These Blazeing Starrs!, dir. Deborah Stratman
Dark Enough, dir. Jeanne Liotta
End Transmission, dir. Yin-Ju Chen and James T. Hong
Landfill 16, dir. Jennifer Reeves
Curious Light, dir. Charlotte Pryce
Valleys of Fear, dir. Erin Espelie

8:30 p.m.: “APPARENT MOTION: Celebrating the Art of Projection”
Myth of Persistence, dir. Gerritt Wittmer and Paul Knowles
The Color Red Bleeds Blue, dir. Kerry Laitala
Cipher Screen, dir. Greg Pope

May 20

3:00 p.m.: “…for there our captors demanded songs of joy”
Man Is Always On the Stairs Between the Pleats of Matter and the Fields of the Soul, dir. by Jing Niu
L’eau, l’air et les songes (Water, air and dreams), dir. Cécile Ravel and Jean-Marc Manteau
Their Bird, dir. Rei Hayama
Crusts, dir. Alexander Stewart
Last Time, dir. Julia Shirar
Light Licks: By the Waters of Babylon: This Could Be the Last Time, dir. Saul Levine
A Child Goes Burying Dead Insects, dir. Rei Hayama

5:30 p.m.: “California Dreaming: Films by Laida Lertxundi”
Footnotes to a House of Love (2007)
My Tears Are Dry (2009)
Llora Cuando Te Pase/Cry When It Happens (2011)
A Lax Riddle Unit
Farce Sensationelle! (2009)

7:30 p.m.: “Voices for New Atlantis”
9214, dir. Takahiro Suzuki
The Voice of God, dir. Bernd Lützeler
Sounding Glass, dir. Sylvia Schedelbauer
FF, dir. Deborah Stratman
River Rites, dir. Ben Russell
Slow Action, dir. Ben Rivers

1. For this week’s Must Read, I don’t know if this is a one-off or a series, but I hope it’s a continuing series. Mike Plante of Cinemad has posted up an article from the old print version of the online zine — and it’s a doozy! Stan Brakhage meets Godfrey Reggio!
2. I don’t know about anybody else, but I’m completely digging BadAzz MoFo’s poster hall of fame series of posts. Here’s a great one for The Land That Time Forgot and The People That Time Forgot, movies most people have probably forgotten since they suck so bad. Also, Slave Girls From Beyond Infinity, which apparently isn’t as sleazy as it sounds.
3. Donna k. gushes over Troy, NY’s EMPAC again and perhaps for the last time.
4. Migrating Forms is going on right now and there were lots of write-ups about the films and filmmakers, such as Palaces of Pity, Yael Bartana, Phil Collins, It’s the Earth Not the Moon, and Eric Baudelaire.
5. If you’re looking for something interesting to watch, Phantom of Pulp has a fun DVD and Blu-ray guide.
6. I liked this image of a prop (I’m guessing) from Fantasma’s latest production.
7. Making Light of It has some film frames from Carl E. Brown.
8. Robert Maier has an excellent background article on Liz Renay, the actress who would dare to replace Divine!

Having been around for eighteen years, the Chicago Underground Film Festival has continually changed what it defines as “underground.”

So its 19th annual edition, which will be held on May 31 to June 7 at the Gene Siskel Film Center, feels like its most experimental edition in recent years.

While things kick off on the 31st with the Vice-produced anthology film The Fourth Dimension by Alexsei Fedorchenko, Harmony Korine and Jan Kwiecinski, the rest of the fest is packed with feature-length and short experimental work, documentaries and alternative narratives.

Some of the experimental feature highlights include the vastly prolific Robert Todd‘s Master Plan, which examines theories of modern housing from private residences to prisons; Australia’s two-person art collective Soda_Jerk’s epic rip on media piracy, Hollywood Burn; Michael Kosakowski’s compendium on murder fantasies, Zero Killing; L.A. filmmaker Daniel Martinico’s meditation on the acting process, Ok, Good; Sabine Gruffat’s study of Dubai vs. Detroit, I Have Always Been a Dreamer; and Ben River’s acclaimed Two Years at Sea.

On the short experimental front, there’s Bryan Boyce‘s wildly popular Walt Disney’s Taxi Driver; a new short film by Reynold Reynolds, Secret Life; one of Kerry Laitala‘s Chromodepth experiments, Chromatic Revelries; plus work by Jesse McLean, Kelly Sears, Roger Beebe, Mark Toscano and lots more.

There are also several feature-length documentaries, including Boston Underground Film Festival co-founder Josh Koury‘s Escape From Planet X, about two scientist/filmmakers; another scientist profile doc Heaven + Earth + Joe Davis by Peter Sasowsky; Ashley Sabin and David Redmon skin trade exposé, Girl Model; and Xan Aranda’s performance doc Andrew Bird: Fever Year.

Plus, there are a few international features, such as Germany’s Heavy Girls by Axel Ranisch and Headlock by Johan Carlsen; Portugal’s Palaces of Pity by Daniel Schmidt & Gabriel Abrantes; and from the U.S. Lindsay Denniberg’s Video Diary of a Lost Girl.

Tons of great stuff! The full film lineup is below. For more info about the fest in general, please visit the official Chicago Underground Film Festival website.

May 31

8:00 p.m.: The Fourth Dimension, dir. Alexsei Fedorchenko, Harmony Korine, and Jan Kwiecinski. Three different directors explore the concept of the “fourth dimension” in a trio of short films.

June 1

6:00 p.m.: “They Live By Night”
Christ Church – Saint James, dir. Stephen Broomer
Secret Life, dir. Reynold Reynolds
Hull, dir. Tara Nelson
Curious Light, dir. Charlotte Pryce
Forms Are Not Self-Subsistent Substances, dir. Samantha Rebello
Waking Things, dir. Melika Bass

8:00 p.m.: Heavy Girls (Dicke Mädchen), dir. Axel Ranisch. A put-upon bank teller spends his nights caring for his mother who is suffering from dementia and who escapes from his care one night.
Screening with:
The Night of the Moon Has Many Hours, dir. Mauricio Arango

10:00 p.m.: Journey to Planet X, dir. Josh Koury. This documentary profiles Eric Swain and Troy Bernier, two scientists and amateur sci-fi filmmakers currently working on their most ambitious project.
Screening with:
Chromatic Revelries, dir. Kerry Laitala

June 2

1:00 p.m.: “The Dead Talk Back”
For Adolfas, dir. Joel Schlemowitz
Once It Started It Could Not End Otherwise, dir. Kelly Sears
Remote, dir. Jesse McLean
Deja Vu De Jour, dir. Mike Olenick
Waning, dir. Gina Haraszti
Bomb Shelter, dir. Colin Polombi
Maurice, dir. Patrick Kack-Brice
Ransom Notes, dir. Kelly Egan
Coming Attractions, dir. Peter Tscherkassky

2:00 p.m.: Master Plan, dir. Robert Todd. This experimental documentary examines modern theories on housing, from personal homes to prisons.
Screening with:
Cartography, dir. Sara Mott
Sing As We Go, dir. Marianna Milhorat
Slab City Prom, dir. Jordan Blady

4:00 p.m.: Girl Model, dir. Ashley Sabin and David Redmon. An analysis of the supply chain of young female models between Siberia, Japan and the U.S.
Screening with:
Strong Is Beautiful, dir. Dewey Nicks

5:00 p.m.: Heaven + Earth + Joe Davis, dir. Peter Sasowsky. This documentary profiles the quirky artist and scientist who has done such things as recording the sounds of micro-organisms and encoding Greek philosophy into fly DNA.

6:00 p.m.: Ok, Good, dir. Daniel Martinico. An aspiring Los Angeles actor spirals ever downward during the grueling process of trying to find steady work.
Screening with:
The Ghost of Fatty Arbuckle, dir. Melissa Friedling

8:00 p.m.: Hollywood Burn, dir. Soda_Jerk. An epic remix of hundreds of Hollywood media sources to tell the story of a band of video pirates fighting against the copyright commandments delivered by Moses.
Screening with:
Why Is the No Video Signal Blue?, dir. Andrew Norman Wilson
Migration, dir. Douglas Urbank
Unusual Red Cardigan, dir. John Smith
Rhythmus 21st Century (Straight), dir. Eric Fleischauer
A.G.O.D. 2012, dir. Thorne Brandt

10:00 p.m.: “Wild Rebels”
Fanfare for Marching Band, dir. Danièle Wilmouth
Damage Control (AKA-Bullwinkle Film), dir. Adam Paradis
Walt Disney’s Taxi Driver, dir. Bryan Boyce
The Life and Freaky Times of Uncle Luke, dir. Jillian Mayer
The Room With No Corners, dir. Jenna Caravello
Beginnings (Alpha & Omega), dir. Roger Beebe
The White Coat Phenomenon, dir. Kristin Reeves
By Foot-Candle Light, dir. Mary Helena Clark
Nature’s Voice, dir. Peter Jessien Laugesen
Flexing Muscles, dir. Charles Fairbanks

June 3

1:00 p.m.: Zero Killed, dir. Michael Kosakowski. This film combines a series of short filmed “murder fantasies” along with a questioning of the people who devised the fantasies on their feelings about killing.
Screening with:
Elko, dir. Alexander Yan

2:00 p.m.: As Above So Below, dir. Sarah J Christman. This experimental documentary explores modern perceptions of transmutation, of transforming discarded material into new permanent forms.
Screening with:
First Law: Quail Ct., dir. Mike Gibisser
Scene Box, dir. Sheri Wills

4:00 p.m.: “Attack of the Eye Creatures”
February 2008 & June 1967, dir. Mark Toscano
Crusts, dir. Alexander Stewart
Keratin Reserve, dir. Joshua Solondz
(K)now (T)here, dir. Hey-Yeun Jang
This Must Be the Place, dir. Luis Arnías
Peril of the Antilles, dir. Fern Silva
Traces 1-6, dir. Scott Stark
Undergrowth, dir. Robert Todd
Jubilation, dir. Tommy Heffron
Flash Art (Circles and Rectangles), dir. Scott Wolniak
River Rites, dir. Ben Russell

6:00 p.m.: Palaces of Pity (Palácios de pena), dir. Daniel Schmidt & Gabriel Abrantes. Two pre-adolescent female cousins visit their ailing grandmother and fantasize about living medieval lives.
Screening with:
Leafless, dir. Nazlı Dinçel
The Evil Eyes, dir. Bobby Abate

8:00 p.m.: I Have Always Been a Dreamer, dir. Sabine Gruffat. This documentary compares and contrasts a city on the rise — Dubai, UAE — and a city on the decline — Detroit, U.S.A.
Screening with:
Century, dir. Kevin Jerome Everson

8:00 p.m.: Video Diary of a Lost Girl, dir. Lindsay Denniberg. An immortal female entity tries to form a new bond with the reincarnation of her former lover.
Screening with:
Derivation, dir. Hyun-Suk Seo

June 4

6:00 p.m.: Two Years at Sea, dir. Ben Rivers. Jake is a hermit who lives in the forest near Aberdeenshire, Scotland trying to complete his mysterious projects.
Screening with:
Tear It Up, Son!, dir. Ross Nugent

8:00 p.m.: Headlock, dir. Johan Carlsen. A desperate mother needs to prove to the world that her son is a genius and not mentally challenged.
Screening with:
And I Will Rise If Only to Hold You Down, dir. Jennifer Reeder

June 5

6:00 p.m.: “The Dead Talk Back”
For Adolfas, dir. Joel Schlemowitz
Once It Started It Could Not End Otherwise, dir. Kelly Sears
Remote, dir. Jesse McLean
Deja Vu De Jour, dir. Mike Olenick
Waning, dir. Gina Haraszti
Bomb Shelter, dir. Colin Polombi
Maurice, dir. Patrick Kack-Brice
Ransom Notes, dir. Kelly Egan
Coming Attractions, dir. Peter Tscherkassky

8:00 p.m.: I Have Always Been a Dreamer, dir. Sabine Gruffat. This documentary compares and contrasts a city on the rise — Dubai, UAE — and a city on the decline — Detroit, U.S.A.
Screening with:
Century, dir. Kevin Jerome Everson

June 6

8:00 p.m.: Zero Killed, dir. Michael Kosakowski. This film combines a series of short filmed “murder fantasies” along with a questioning of the people who devised the fantasies on their feelings about killing.
Screening with:
Elko, dir. Alexander Yan

10:00 p.m.: Journey to Planet X, dir. Josh Koury. This documentary profiles Eric Swain and Troy Bernier, two scientists and amateur sci-fi filmmakers currently working on their most ambitious project.
Screening with:
Chromatic Revelries, dir. Kerry Laitala

June 7

6:00 p.m.: Video Diary of a Lost Girl, dir. Lindsay Denniberg. An immortal female entity tries to form a new bond with the reincarnation of her former lover.
Screening with:
Derivation, dir. Hyun-Suk Seo

8:00 p.m.: Andrew Bird: Fever Year, dir. Xan Aranda. This concert film captures the final show of 2009 of musician Andrew Bird and his band.

1. This Week’s Must Read — if you can get through the New York Times paywall — is Manhola Dargis saying that Shirley Clarke is “one of the great undertold stories of American independent cinema.” Ain’t that the truth! Dargis tries to give Clarke as much due as she can in just one article on the occasion of the restoration of The Connection and it’s release in NYC this weekend.
2. Glenn Kenny also urges folks to go see The Connection in no uncertain terms.
3. Man, NYC really is the place to be this weekend as donna k. teases Brent Green’s latest installation, To Many Men Strange Fates Are Given, which is on view at the Edlin Gallery this week.
4. Just a reminder: There’s only a few days left to contribute to the Chicago Underground Film Festival’s Kickstarter campaign. Help support the longest-running underground fest of all time!
5. And, in that vein, Scott Macauley notes that Kickstarter is people, which is a simple concept, but if you overlook it will cause your campaign to flame out before it begins.
6. And, in a similar vein to that, Anthony Kaufman ponders that Withoutabox may have passed by its usefulness  a long time ago.
7. Here’s another piece by Scott Macauley where he interviews documentary filmmaker Jessica Oreck.
8. David Hudson has moved his insanely popular and helpful “Daily” list of film links over to Fandor, which, obviously, you MUST read!
9. It appears that Ed Halter and Thomas Beard have become the “must-interview” pair of 2012, as well they should running the awesome Light Industry.
10. Landscape Suicide has two fabulous stills from Nathaniel Dorsky’s August and After.
11. Bill Plympton claims certain folks are mad at him for his “Guess the director’s height” game, but we think it’s a genius concept. Filmmakers: Is your height directly relational to your success?
12. This round-up of academic studies on the use of railroads in motion pictures shows exactly why Film Studies for Free is essential reading, even if it’s not particularly “underground” orientated.
13. Michael Varrati tries to convince us that Stephen King’s Maximum Overdrive is a good movie. He does certainly make me want to watch it again…
14. BadAzz MoFo has started a fun new feature: Examining the awesome posters for terrible movies. The first two entries are highly entertaining: 1990: The Bronx Warriors and Escape From the Bronx.
15. Not underground, but we might have to start a new regular feature each week based on Divine’s charge of Raymond and Connie Marble in Pink Flamingos. This week, we hereby find Samuel L. Jackson guilty of Assholism for the casual calling for the firing of New York Times film critic A.O. Scott just because he didn’t like The Avengers.

Heading into its 5th year in 2012, the Arizona Underground Film Festival is now open for submissions. The Regular Deadline is coming up on May 18.

Five years is a big anniversary for a young festival, effectively announcing that yeah, it’s here to stay. So, AUFF is planning something extra special this year and are looking for films that want to be a part of it.

So, check it out.

Other Sponsors:

1. Black Biscuit is an experimental feature film by Fabrizio Federico that was produced with no script and with a cast of non-actors, including homeless people, pimps, the disabled and a former child ping pong champion.

2. Empire City is a new book of photography by visual artist Ron Diorio that also includes an 8″x10″ print and a DVD of three short films by Diorio.

Want to become a sponsor of Bad Lit: The Journal of Underground Film?

Bad Lit sponsorship is an easy and affordable promotional program for artists, filmmakers, distributors or other businesses who want to get noticed, but don’t have big budgets. Please visit our advertising page for more info.

May 7
7:00 p.m.
Microscope Gallery
4 Charles Place
Brooklyn, NY 11221

Hosted by: Microscope Gallery

In anticipation of the 4th annual edition of the experimental media festival that bears the film’s name, the Microscope Gallery will screen James Fotopoulos‘ feature-length Migrating Forms.

Migrating Forms is a modern underground film classic, having won the Best Feature award at the 2000 New York Underground Film Festival and the Made in Chicago award at the Chicago Underground Film Festival the same year. The movie uses a combination of classic experimental, minimalist techniques and a film noir vibe to tell the story of a doomed romance between a solitary man and the woman he has physical relationship with. Many critics have compared the pacing and awkward, painful sexuality of Migrating Forms to David Lynch’s seminal film Eraserhead.

While Migrating Forms has long been available on DVD, this special event will present the film in its original 16mm b&w glory, with the filmmaker in attendance for a post-screening discussion. The feature-film screening will be preceded by Fotopoulos’ short film Growth, which was made to be included in the feature, but instead became it’s own stand-alone work.

Bad Lit: The Journal of Underground Film reviewed Migrating Forms back at the 2000 NYUFF.

The below clip from the film is NSFW:

Toronto’s Images Festival celebrated its 25th year back on April 12-21 and gave out a bevy of awards, many with cash prizes, to several experimental film and video makes.

Images is unique among most experimental festivals in that a large portion of it is devoted to gallery installation pieces, many of which won awards including the top one, the Images Prize. This award, which is sponsored by Canadian filmmaker Atom Egoyan went to media artist Gary Kibbins for his Girl Sitting on Blue Chair. And, best of all, if you’re in Toronto and missed this piece, you can still check it out Trinity Square Video until May 19.

The second top prize of the festival, the Deluxe Cinematic Vision Award also went to an installation piece, Joshua Bonnetta’s Strange Lines and Distances. (Unfortunately, this is no longer on display.)

On the more traditionally screened videos side of the fest, experimental video maker Jacqueline Goss took the Overkill Award for her recreation documentary The Observers and Belgian filmmakers Sirah Foighel Brutmann and Eitan Efrat won the Marian McMahon award for Printed Matter, among other winners.

Images also gave out awards to two student media artists, one to Emilie Serri for her film So Certain I Was, I Was a Horse and Sunjha Kim for her video [s].

The full list of award winners and prizes is below:

Images Prize
Sponsored by Atom Egoyan, this is the grand prize of the festival, awarded in recognition of the Best Canadian Media Artwork in the festival. The recipient receives a $1,000 cash prize.

Gary Kibbins (Kingston, Ontario) for his installation Girl Sitting on Blue Chair which is installed at Trinity Square Video (401 Richmond Street West, #376) and is on view until May 19, 2012.

Deluxe Cinematic Vision Award
This prize is sponsored by Deluxe and honours excellence and innovation in the visual realization of a work by a Canadian film or video artist. The recipient receives $2,500 worth of production services in the Toronto office donated by Deluxe.

Joshua Bonnetta (Ithaca, New York) for his installation Strange Lines and Distances which was installed at YYZ Artists’ Outlet.

On Screen Award
Presented and sponsored by the Images Festival, this award honours the strongest new international film or video in the festival. The recipient receives a $500 cash prize.

Lav Diaz (the Philippines) for his film Florentina Hubaldo, CTE which screened on our closing day at Jackman Hall.

Honourable Mention to Ben Rivers (United Kingdom) for his film Two Years at Sea.

OCADU Off Screen Award
Sponsored by the Ontario College of Art and Design University (OCADU), this award honours the strongest new Canadian or international installation or new media work in the festival. The recipient receives a $500 cash prize.

Duncan Campbell (United Kingdom) for his installation Arbeit on view at Images at 204 (204 Spadina) until April 28.

Steam Whistle Homebrew Award
Presented by Steam Whistle Brewing, this award honours excellence and promise in a local artist. The recipient receives a $500 cash prize & Steam Whistle prize pack.

Kandis Friesen and Nahed Mansour (Montreal/Toronto) for their video Tape 158 : Document 2B.

Overkill Award
This award was established by the Images Festival in 2000 to honour former Executive Director Deirdre Logue, (1996 through 1999 festivals) and is presented annually to a film, video or installation artist whose work approaches extremes of incorrigibility through form and/or content and challenges our notions of edgy, experimental practice. Sponsored by an anonymous donor, the recipient receives a $500 cash prize.

Jacqueline Goss (New York) for her film The Observers.

Marian McMahon Award
Sponsored by Akimbo Art Promotions with film stock support from Kodak Canada, this award is given to a woman filmmaker each year to honour strong work in autobiography, the complexity of “subject” and the spirit of Marian McMahon. The recipient is invited to attend the Independent Imaging filmmaking retreat, held every each June in Mount Forest, Ontario facilitated by Philip Hoffman.

Sirah Foighel Brutmann + Eitan Efrat (Belgium) for their film Printed Matter.

York University Award for Best Student Film
Presented and sponsored by York University’s Department of Film, the recipient receives a $300 cash award generously donated by the York University Department of Film and $250 worth of Super-8 to video transfer services from Frame Discreet. The recipient is determined by audience vote.

Emilie Serri (Concordia University) for her film So Certain I Was, I Was a Horse.

Vtape Award for Best Student Video
This longstanding award is presented by Vtape, Toronto’s video art distributor and includes a $300 cash prize generously donated by Vtape.

Sunjha Kim (Academy of Media Arts, Cologne, Germany), for her video [s].

Tom Berner Award
This award, sponsored by LIFT, (The Liaison of Independent Filmmakers of Toronto) commemorates the late Tom Berner, who for many years supported and nurtured Canadian filmmakers. The award is presented annually to an individual who has provided extraordinary support to the cause of independent filmmaking in Toronto: The 2012 Tom Berner Award goes to Milada Kovacova.

2012 JURY AWARDS

Our jury felt so strongly about two projects that they added two awards to recognize these contributions to the 25th Images Festival:

Supportive Space Award
This award is presented to Gendai Workstation.

2012 Jury Prize
This award is presented to Adam Gutch + Chu-li Shewring (United Kingdom) for their video Hoof, Tooth and Claw.

Bad Lit: The Journal of Underground Film has long been a huge fan of the Spooky Movie International Horror Film Festival. Every year we’re extremely impressed with the way it pokes, prods, pushes and stabs the horror genre in entertaining new directions through its diverse selection of boundary breaking movies. Some of our favorite horror flicks of the past few years — such as James Eaves‘ Bane, Rona Mark‘s Strange Girls and Stuart Simpson‘s El Monstro Del Mar — came to us through Spooky Movie.

This year will mark Spooky Movie’s seventh year in existence and it should prove to be a major milestone in the fest’s history as it will move to a new home at the prestigious AFI Silver Theatre in Silver Spring, Maryland. As the festival busily prepares for their biggest edition yet to be held on October 10-18, we thought we’d check in with its founder and director, C.W. Prather, who also directed the amazing horror host documentary Every Other Day Is Halloween.

Bad Lit: One of the truly great aspects of Spooky Movie is the diverse range of types of horror films that get programmed. Is there a definite mission of the festival to broaden the scope of what’s considered horror? Or do you just program what you like?

C. W. Prather: Since 2006 the Spooky Movie International Horror Film Festival’s central objective is to spotlight innovative, independent and international horror, science fiction, underground and cult works. That’s the official company line. We have worked hard to remain consistent with a vision that the fest is an advocate for all that the genre has to offer – films that can both challenge and entertain the audience in the theatrical setting.

As the fest gets bigger, the challenge for us is to always have plenty of room for films that might be more provocative or difficult to classify. This is why the submission process, where filmmakers send in their works (which we are in the middle of right now, so please submit!), is so important.

Some of our audiences’ favorite films from over the years have come in through this: Strange Girls, Murder Loves Killers Too, Skew, El Monstro Del Mar and Colin, to name just a few.

Naturally, the films we program I stand behind as the founder and director, but it really is about finding a perfect balance we want an audience to experience.

When September rolls around and we make our final choices, there are always some very tough decisions regarding some brilliant films we passed on.

It is one of the reasons why we will always be, like Telluridie or Mill Valley, a non-competitive festival. Each of the films – features as well as the shorts – is part of a larger experience for our audience, it seems disingenuous, for us at least, to try and judge any one above another.

That always sounds so snobby, but it is true, and it is still the core of the mission.

BL: What’s the brief rundown of the history of theaters where Spooky Movie has screened over the years?

CWP: Our home base for the first five years was at a fantastic first-run movie house in Northern Virginia – Cinema Arts, next to George Mason University in Fairfax, VA. They spoiled us from the start – being in a real movie theatre, with the smell of popcorn and an excited local audience. It was a destination, and felt like it. We loved it there – hardcore horror fans loved it – it always felt like home whenever we would go back.

There were two drawbacks with this location, however; the first was that it was a first-run theatre, which meant they had very specific contracts they had to honor with the studios, which impacted our screening times. And second, being in the thick of the Virginia suburbs with no metro access meant we were limiting the potential audience.

There were exceptions to this obstacle – when Lloyd Kaufman came out for the DC area premiere of Poultrygeist: Night of the Chicken Dead, we pulled in people from DC and Maryland, but by and large, the Potomac River, or maybe it is the DC beltway, has some strange preventive power with people in this area.

People from Silver Spring, Maryland are more willing to drive 2 hours to Richmond, Virginia than 30 minutes to Fairfax, while Virginians would much rather drive 90 minutes to Baltimore than over to Silver Spring. Its just something very, very odd about this area. Both funny and infuriating, and I’m as guilty as anyone else.

This became crystal clear with us in 2009 and 2010 when we did Opening Night for the festival at the AFI Silver Theatre and Cultural Center, which is in Silver Spring, and the rest in Fairfax, Virginia at Cinema Arts; it was obvious we were programming to two different audiences, and made it very difficult to promote or anticipate.

Last year we had the opportunity to move the festival to a new arts space venue in Arlington, Virginia. Location wise, this couldn’t have been better for us. We were still in Virginia, but right on top of a subway station less than a mile from DC itself. They also gave us the freedom to really expand the festival, which helped in securing some of the best films on the circuit last year, like The Dead, Midnight Son, The Oregonian and Helldriver, and brought more and more filmmakers out.

From most every possible point, that was our most successful festival, and we were all really looking forward to returning this year – but then we got the opportunity we couldn’t refuse, which was to move the entire fest to the AFI Silver, which had always been my personal goal with Spooky Movie. So we move again this October!

BL: The fest has held special screenings there in previous years, right?

CWP: Correct. As I said, we had our opening night events there two years in a row: Herschell Gordon Lewis was there for a special 45th Anniversary screening of Two-Thousand Maniacs in 2009, and then in 2010 we scored an early release screening of the great Tucker and Dale Vs. Evil. Both were a lot of fun.

We also programmed a couple of stand-alone events during the summers, including Peaches Christ and Mink Stole with a special screening of the wonderful All About Evil. I think that really showed all of us what could be done.

BL: What does being at AFI Silver this year mean for the festival just in terms of the physicality of the theater, e.g. its geographic location within D.C., the number of screens you’ll be on, the projection quality, etc.?

CWP: The AFI Silver is – hands down – the best venue in the “DMV” (DC/Maryland/Virginia) and a quantum leap forward in our growth, even after last year, which was awesome.

All three of their theatres are state of the art and can screen most any format, including HDCam and 35mm. They also have projectionists on hand who do this 365 days a year, which is tremendous.

While I will miss being in Virginia (I live 5 minutes from last year’s venue), and hope much of our core audience follows us there, the Silver is close to the subway in an area that has really exploded with regards to restaurants, people and activities, which will also help when we begin looking for partners for possible after-parties and such.

BL: Spooky Movie also always has great events surrounding the regular film screenings. Are you planning anything special this year?

CWP: My focus right now is on the programming and in making the festival’s foundation more secure. We are currently working an advisory board made up of local filmmakers and professionals on the right directions we should be going for the long haul.

However, it is our hope that some of the films we are already lining up may lend themselves to some fun. These things always seem to come together in the 11th hour. I just hope there are gourmet tater-tots involved. And maybe a television vampire. Then you know its a real party!

BL: So Count Gore De Vol will be making an appearance?

CWP: You cracked my code! Absolutely! We are expanding the fest from four to nine nights this year (October 10-18), so if I get my way the Count might be making more than one appearance! Hell, if he’s not careful he might be behind a concessions stand or bar. Seriously, though, he remains a local favorite and we could not have made it 7 years without his help.

BL: Horror isn’t always the most well-regarded of genres within the cinema world outside of its hardcore fans and makers. Does holding a full Spooky Movie festival at the AFI Silver Theatre lend an air of respectability to the genre overall?

CWP: That’s a lot of pressure for one festival at one theatre!

I don’t know about about the throngs at large, but locally, long time movie fans here in the DMV know that whether the AFI was in Silver Spring, Maryland (which it has been now for 10 years), or downtown DC (when they were in the Kennedy Center for over 25 years), that there has always been a place in AFI’s programming for the challenging, the cutting edge and the creepy. Everything from The Vanishing to Shakes The Clown to Reservoir Dogs to John Woo’s The Killer – all played in DC before most anywhere else because of the AFI. And since their move to Silver Spring, it has absolutely continued.

In fact, the new films Spooky Movie will be programming in October will be alongside classic repertory Halloween offerings, including their annual screening of Nosferatu with live music, or the zombie films AFI screens in connection with the Silver Spring Zombie Walk, which attracted close to 5000 people last year.

BL: Are you hoping maybe some of the classic or artsy film fans who may not necessarily into horror or are casual horror fans will pop in for a film or two?

CWP: Of course! These are legitimate film fans who come out to the AFI Silver, but not everyone has to enjoy or “get” horror films.

I do hope that those who give Spooky Movie a shot will discover what many of us already know, which is that horror, or genre, filmmaking is where you will find the most creative and fun true independent filmmaking going on today. And not just here in North America, but from all over the world. Year in and year out, it is a fantastic barometer into our collective unconscious.

This October the Spooky Movie International Horror Film Festival will find itself in very privileged company, among fests like the European Union Film Showcase, the AFI Latin American Film Festival and without a doubt SilverDocs, in my opinion the best and most inspiring documentary film festival anywhere, all of which call the Silver their home. It is a little intimidating for us coming in.

Naturally I hope that many of the regulars at the Silver give us a shot, but I am just as focused on making it the place for the hardcore genre fans who are owed just as much respect as any other film fan. I think both can find a home with us – the artsy and the fartsy. Don’t forget, Mike, that David Lynch’s Eraserhead was funded by the AFI.

Website: www.spookyfests.com

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Spooky-Movie-The-Washington-DC-International-Horror-Festival/35142648410

Twitter: http://twitter.com/#!/spookymovie

Photo Credits:

AFI Silver Theatre exterior: Brian Maze

Peaches Christ and Mink Stole: C.W. Prather

C.W. Prather portrait: Himself