The STIFF Programs are now out in the wild. You can pick one up many locations around town, but your best bets are:
- The Rendezvous'
- Central Cinema
- Capitol Hill Arts Center
- Easy Street Records (QA and West Seattle)
- Scarecrow Video
- Rebar
Bloodstone
Team Leader: Craig Packard
Genre: Comedy
Odds: 10 to 1 (the long shot)
Craig Packard also has a feature film playing in STIFF 2008 called Big Plans. Craig told me that he spent quite a bit of time living in LA, trying to get screenplays made into movies, but eventually became frustrated and moved back to Seattle to go the indie route instead. He has the means, patience and the other strengths that come with completing a feature. What makes Craig the longshot for this years’s WFC is that as of the kickoff Craig was actually a one-man crew. He told me not to worry and that he would be able to put together something cool. I honestly believe him, but starting out as an army of one comes with some obvious disadvantages. I can see that there will (hopefully) be few arguments on set, but I can’t help wondering how Craig is going to pull it off. One of my favorite music performers last year was Ricky Lee Robinson. Here’s to hoping that Bloodstone becomes my favorite one man band from STIFF 2008.
Coming up… Handicapping the Weekend Film Challenge – Team Ramrod
I got a message from Frank and Cindy director G.J. Echternkamp wondering what he could do to help promote his film. G.J. was worried about his screening time because he was "going up against the weiner dog movie".
Well, he should be worried because tickets to Shane McDougal's Weiner Take All are selling like hotcakes. At this rate, both screenings are going to be packed. I honestly had no idea it was going to be such a hot ticket.
But, if you are not into a documentary on weiner dog racing, you should really check out Frank and Cindy. It is one of my favorites of the fest. It is a great little doc that G.J. did on his mom and step-dad which seemed like it started as a way to make fun of him and the one-hit wonder status he earned in the 80's while with the band OXO. What starts out as a joke turns into a pretty heart warming tale. The subjects are great. It's like watching a cross-between American Movie and an episode of Intervention. Be sure not to miss Frank & Cindy.
Peek
Team Leader: Dan Tharp
Genre: B-Movie
Odds: 5 to 1 (sleeper pick)
Peek Productions blew onto the STIFF scene last year with their short film Soup (actually, it would almost be a misstatement to call Soup a short film since it clocked in at around 40 minutes). When people find out that Soup was essentially a movie about a cook’s rise to prominence in the culinary arts by peeing in the soup, they sometimes roll their eyes and automatically discount it. But the truth of the matter is that Dan Tharp and Damon Morris actually did an incredible job mixing some real depth of character and a strong story into that off-beat humor. They told me about some current documentary projects that sound interesting and more importantly are probably helping them grow as filmmakers in a variety of ways. This is their first year taking part in the WFC, so on paper Peek isn’t the strongest team. I think it would be a real mistake to count them out though. But, they might just prove to have the right mix of quality and funny to bring home the glass STIFFY. They are my sleeper pick for this year.
Coming up… Handicapping the Weekend Film Challenge – Bloodstone
I just got word from For Christ Sake co-producer, Aaron Goldstein that there would be a couple more notables attending STIFF 2008. Don’t make me start a “celebrity” category on this blog. Alex Borstein, who is the voice of Lois on the Family Guy (as well as a ton of other film and TV credits), and the very funny Will Sasso who starred for five seasons on FOX's hit sketch comedy series "MADtv" giving TV viewers a reason to stay up late with characters like the accident-prone handyman 'Paul Timberman' and offbeat impressions of Bill Clinton, Kenny Rogers, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Steven Segal and Randy Newman; will be in town to attend their screenings of For Christ’s Sake (Sunday, June 8th at 9:30 PM, Central Cinema and Saturday, June 14th at 8PM, Jewel Box Theater). 
Any press that would like to schedule interview should email contact (at) trueindependent (dot) org
The city has recently been cracking down on the capacity at many Seattle nightclubs and the fire marshal has brought the capacity of Neumos down from 700 to a little over 500. Since the venue sold over 500 tickets in pre-sale (in under 2 hours), this basically meant that we wouldn’t have been able to get any of our badgeholders into the event. So, the Moby show has been moved to The Showbox at the Market. Aside from the fact that all of our programs and posters have been printed with Nuemos as the location, this should be good for everyone all around. Chad from USC Events told me at last night’s wildly successful Tiesto show, that the extra capacity at the Showbox would mean that all of our badgeholders would be allowed admission and they would even have a special VIP area for STIFF badgeholders. It would also mean that they would be able to open up additional ticket sales to people who missed out on the presale.
So, there it is.. Moby has been moved to the Showbox Market on Sunday, June 8th. Doors Open at 8PM. 21 and over only. $20 adv or door. There are still a few All-Access badges to STIFF 2008 available for $50 that will get you into all STIFF films, comedy and music (Including Moby!). You can buy badges here! I hope to see you all at STIFF!
Looking for something harder than SIFF? Try STIFF - By Mark Rahner, Seattle Times
Down A STIFF Shot of True Independent Film By Sarah Llyod, Seattle.net
SIFF and STIFF get into tiff, pix nixed by Steve Miller, Rotten Tomatoes
Chasing the Devil: A Look Inside the Ex-Gay Movement – Moving Pictures Magazine
The Project – Elliott Kotek, Moving Pictures Magazine
STIFFed – Nercore for Life Blog
A lot of people have forwarded this article to me that ran in the Seattle Times a couple days ago about blog postings regarding SIFF’s opening night screening of Battle in Seattle and the ensuing afterparty. I’m not 100% sure what kind of reaction that they are hoping for. It honestly doesn’t make me happy when people are pissed off at SIFF. Of course I think its silly to charge people $50 - $200 for admission to a movie, and I think that Battle in Seattle is an opening night choice that lends itself to easy criticism. But who is really at fault here? I think that for the most part, there are just some people who want to donate to an arts organization and there are a lot worse places to spend your money. I’m happy that there are people out there supporting the arts.
Sure there are probably people who looked at that $200 as a way to tell their friends at the watercooler on Monday that there were partying with celebrities. It’s tough to feel sorry for those people if they didn’t like the movie and want to complain afterward. The crappiest part is that SIFF didn’t tell anyone that it was going to be a cash bar. I know some people probably did an analysis and figured they’d drink at least fifty bucks worth of alcohol anyway and maybe didn’t bring their wallet to the screening. Sucks for those people, but its not like I can gloat about all of the free booze they would have gotten at STIFF because our bars are all cash bars too (The only difference is that for $50 bucks, a person could get an All-Access Badge that would let them into every STIFF show, including Moby, for the entire duration of the festival).
Like I said, it doesn’t make me happy when people are mad at SIFF. I’m not in any kind of hurry to see the end of SIFF. Sure it pisses me off when things happen like the recent Bookie fiasco, and I wish more people were interested in some of the real indie stuff that was going on locally than they were in hanging out at a party with celebrities, but I can’t fault SIFF for trying to capitalize on that market (there were obviously plenty of people who didn’t mind shelling out the money for the tickets).
And it’s not like SIFF only shows movies like Battle in Seattle. I have been exposed to some incredible movies that I never would have heard of if it wasn’t for SIFF. They are showing some really good local stuff this year too. Aside from Bao Tran’s Bookie, I’ve heard great things about Deidre Timmons’ A Wink and a Smile.
Deidre was the Director of last years 2nd place winning Weekend Film Challenge Film, Rotten to the Core. She has some serious talent and I couldn’t be happier for her. I also read recently that Joe Shapiro and Andy McCone were participating in this year’s Fly Filmmaking Challenge.
Andy was responsible for one of the most fun shooting assignments I have ever had and those guys have been a part of STIFF from the very beginning. It has been a lot of fun to watch them hone their skills to perfection. I’m really glad to see SIFF taking notice of how talented they are.
I am always reminded of one fact though, the NIT used to be THE post-season basketball tournament that every team wanted to get into. Now, teams are disappointed if they get selected for the NIT. This only means that things can always change. But, being the biggest film festival in town isn’t the end goal for us. If our existence can serve no other purpose than to be a sandbox for local filmmakers to hone their skills and help remind SIFF to shine their light on local talent, then I will be content with this endeavor, forever. If I can also come across some weird films to share with people, then I am in seventh heaven. If Seattle can become a town where audiences care more about the really cool local stuff going on than finding out what color toenail polish Michelle Rodriguez wears, whether they end up finding it at SIFF or STIFF doesn’t make as much difference to me as whether or not it happens. If we can play a small part in that transition, that is all I need.
Here is a fun STIFF 2008 Trailer put together by Spencer Fornaciari, a member of our screening team:
P.R.o.K.
Team Leader: Andy Peters
Genre: Mockumentary
Odds: 3 to 1
In the interest of full disclosure, I need to say that I have been slowly working on a documentary about the alternative Comedy Scene in Seattle for about the past year. P.R.o.K. or The People’s Republic of Komedy is a huge part of that project, so this may be a bit biased. But, I think that these guys are some of the funniest human beings I have ever had the opportunity to know. A few months ago a filmmaker came up from LA for a screening and I invited him to check out their weekly show Laffhole. I later found out that he is actually a pretty accomplished stand-up comic who works with people like Sarah Silverman, Brian Posehn and Paul F. Thompkins on a regular basis and he told me that Laffhole blows away any room that they have in LA, so there are obviously a lot of people in town who agree that the P.R.o.K. rocks. Travis and Kevin consistently churn out hilarious short films for Pabst and Dewars (the Laffhole sponsors), not to mention films for their own wildly successful Entertainment Show that happens once a month at the Sunset in Ballard. So, there is no doubt in my mind that the P.R.o.K. mockumentary will be funny. The real question is, will funny be enough to win?
Coming up… Handicapping the Weekend Film Challenge – Peek
