Holowicki

Just a few weeks ago, I reserved my spot at the first Moving Pictures Film Festival. Amidst holiday shopping, travel arrangements and a touch of the flu this took me awhile to digest.

Three hours of short films from film makers all over the world. They ranged from cartoons to political to sci-fi, to mainstream breakup love story to just plain bizarre.

Amongst those were a film about a past life cowboy named Stingray Sam, from the old city of Mars city of Durango-casinos and all. Three themes discuss the roles of the liar, the beggar, the judge, with biblical quotations from Psalm 44 and John 4:41.

“Pocus” is a silent sweet tale of a breakup that was preceded by the story of how an illusionist/mime and his girlfriend first met in a park, a sort of Eternal Sunshine Theme. A funny tale about how he then proceeds to rip up a picture only to have it accidentally or magically repair itself.

“The Wailing Room” is about two dueling air drummers who duke it out on a couch as if it their only way of communicating.

Double Back is Table 16’s short about a couple meandering about life set to oscillating scenes between sweet and innocent, pop culture and drugs, black and white to color: replete with guns and industrial music.

11 short films then intermission then more film. Free popcorn and snacks were really great too.

Two more films appeared that I felt were worth mentioning. “The Small Assassin” is an interesting story about a man who suspects his own baby is to blame for the attempted murder of the child’s mother in what appears to be ordinary household accidents. The man gets suspicious and admits to the wife these are no accidents.

“My Name is Lisa” is about a mother’s progressive mental degeneration exhibited onto her child as the child pleas and argues with the mother, all while burying herself in internet activity, frustrated by the mom’s dementia.

Stingray Sam appears again in a second episode to a bizarre finale about melding men together to make more men accompanied by a strange lyric at the end.

All in all, a great night of entertainment. Definitely not-so fine. The true test will come in February when the Big Dam Film Fest will hold its annual event. Being that the Moving Pictures event is from a completely different format may assist to determine if there is enough cultural diversity in Quincy and Hannibal to hold three annual film events.

Steve Holowicki

Holowicki

Next Saturday will be the first annual event of the Moving Pictures Film Festival.

The website reads, “This will be a first time non-profit short film festival put on by the Not So Fine Arts Society. The overall purpose of this is to not only expose an audience to a diverse collection of films, but also to offer a genuine theatrical experience emphasizing a traditional presentation of cinema.”

Presented by Quincy’s Not So Fine Arts Society, the festival’s films are being collected and managed by local filmmaker Chris Kelly of Table 16 productions.

The event will be held at the State Room on Dec. 17. Tickets will be on sale at the door for $10 and seating is limited. Doors open at 7 p.m. and the show is at 8 p.m. Full bar and traditional theater snacks, along with some other not-so-fine surprises will be along the way.

For more info, go to http://www.facebook.com/#!/events/254427801265419/.

I plan on attending the event, so see you there!

Steve Holowicki

Holowicki

This past weekend, I went to the Hannibal film festival. I know I would typically be writing about music, but I have a special affinity for film, too.

Anyhow, one of the guys on from Quincy’s Big Dam Film Festival committee asked me if I wanted a free ticket and I said “yes.” Well, he ended up flaking out on me, and there I was, stranded without a ticket. So, I thought, “I’m gonna go anyway!”

It was held at the end of the main commercial strip in the B&B Theater’s Main Street Cinema 8, 100 S. Main St.

I went Saturday afternoon, not Friday when the festival began. Starting at noon that day, at any given time, there were two theaters operating showing indie films from all over the world.

Admission was $5 for each segment, which included a short and medium film and a feature, taking running nearly two hours a segment. If you wanted to see additional segments you had to pay another 5 bucks, which I thought was excessive.

Two of the more notable films were “Virtual JFK” and “World of Art.” “Virtual JFK” is an editorial depiction of what the country and hence, the Vietnam conflict, would have been like had Kennedy not been assassinated. Very accurate from a technical perspective and very interesting conceptually.

The second was “World of Art,” an obscure representation about a man named Art who gets casts into the real life settings of the world’s most notable works of art in progress. Shot entirely in southeastern Michigan, Art meets the real Mona Lisa, Auguste Rodin’s the Thinker, and Van Gogh in his famous straw hat painting his self portrait, among others. The visual effects of this film were far beyond what one would deem as indie, from the costuming, the set designs down to people getting pulled into the art frames and cast into the scene from which they were created.

What made the festival special were the peripheral events. There was a screenwriting workshop and an actor’s workshop both offered by renowned playwright and screenwriter Ron Simonian for an extra $15 a piece, with all proceeds going toward the Mark Twain Boyhood Home & Museum.

Thursday night featured an opening night cocktail party, and music by the Slasher Kings at the Hannibal Arts Council. Friday night featured a murder mystery cocktail party and Saturday and Sunday featured a Meet and Greet Brunch with members of the cast and crew from several of the films.

Although the turnout appeared to be small, it was a great time and great that the festival coordinators made an entire weekend out of it. I’ll plan on going next year, too!

Steve Holowicki

Begley

“Alternative to what?” a friend asked incredulously, when I shared the news about my new alternative arts blogging gig. Resisting the urge to wax snobbish and weave a tapestry of nonsense for him, I instead gave pause and considered his point.

In a nutshell, alternative art is an alternative to a putting art in a box, or perhaps more appropriately, a frame. Performance, found art, high concepts, soundscapes, installations, film, independent theater, design, community projects and any number of other possible avenues of expression could be covered here.

Artists are constantly pushing the envelope of expression and technique. They blur the lines between inspiration and entertainment and enrich our communities in the process. Through this forum, I hope to bring some attention to their creativity and craft.

While certainly not the only angler with its line in the water, an organization that has taken the alt-art bait hook, line-and-sinker is the Quincy Not So Fine Arts Society (NSFAS). Spearheaded by four Quincyans, the hodgepodge organization is “Dedicated to Illuminating the unheard/unseen music, theater, film, art, cooking and writing of Quincy and bringing it to the masses,” according to its Facebook page.

Not So Fine Arts Society logo

Having promoted such events as an “iron belly” competition, a traveling farce based upon the Lincoln Douglas debates and numerous other concerts and art exhibitions, the NSFAS has certainly made strides in helping to haul ashore the myriad of talent lurking in the waters of Quincy’s underground art scene.

While speaking with Alex Sanders, one of the group’s organizers, it was made clear that the laissez-faire approach to selecting the artists and styles of expression they choose to support has been an important key to their success thus far. “It’s really just about creating a venue for people to express themselves and get their creativity out there,”  Sanders said.

The primary vehicle for delivering their guerrilla arts message has been the Internet, so check out their Facebook page and get your face to the next event.