Blog-o-STIFF

Symphony of the Superhero Tears the Roof off Benaroya Hall

Last Night I had the extreme pleasure of attending Mateo Messina’s benefit event for Children’s Hospital at Benaroya Hall.  A couple members of the Symphony Guild are also STIFF volunteers and one of our friends is a childhood friend of Matt’s, so we have actually gone for the last few years.  Many symphonies can be a bit on the boring, but these events never are.  Aside from the fact that Matt’s music is incredibly cinematic, he always includes unusual guests and I really look forward to these shows. 

 

 
This year’s was called Symphony of the Superhero and featured some incredible talent.  Seeing Cut Chemist standing in front of an orchestra and choir with a couple turntables and mixing in their sounds along with Lili Haydn’s violin and the music of The Malandros, in front of a large video screen was one of the coolest things I have ever seen (the phone pic really can’t even come close to doing it justice).  I have never wanted to stand on my seat and dance at Benaroya hall before.  The after party at the W Hotel was also pretty fun as Blake Lewis stopped by to jam with Cut Chemist.

 

I’m sure that the video from last night’s show is going to take a few months to cut together and get online, so in the meantime, check out this clip from a couple years ago featuring Alice in Chains performing Kashmir.  When you see the ads for this thing next year, make sure to buy a ticket.  Not only will you see something that will blow your mind, you are helping out an incredibly worthy cause

 

Bronx Paradise - Tonight!

bronx paradise, originally uploaded by Clint Berquist.

One of my favorites of this year's fest is playing (Fri June 12, NWFF, 9:30 pm; Sat June 13, Rendezvous, 4 pm). Come check out Bronx Paradise. The Stranger's Lindy West says:

"An intimate, mockumentary-ish look inside one man's road rage, Bronx Paradise is a nicely constructed little hard-knock story about a bald dude named Wayne who yells a lot. A LOT. And beats the shit out of people. And punches girls in the head. All of which is confusing, because Wayne, a semicriminal family man, is the moral center of the film. His constant aggro freak-outs are grueling and the shoestring budget can't quite pull off gritty mob-movie swagger, but it has a scrappy charm."

Walk into the Cage - Tonight!

walking to the cagel, originally uploaded by Clint Berquist.

Local Filmmaker Matt Hickey takes us into the world of MMA with his independent film, Walking to the Cage. This isn't the big, high-sponsorship and high-dollar fighting that they show on Pay Per View bars like the Liquid Lime in Kirkland. This is its low-budget bastard offspring where hard-core mofos work 10 hours a day at some menial job and spend every other waking moment training to work out their aggressions by squishing somebody's head (and often pay for the privelege).

Over the holidays, Kevin Gilbert, the old STIFF Program director, was telling me about taking some classes at a gym to stay in shape and thinking about fighting in some bouts. I told him I had just seen this movie and mentioned that almost everyone had experienced some sort of injury in the process.

Filmmmaker Matt Hickey and several of the fighters will attend. Check out what the Seattle Weekly's Damon Agnos has to say about it here:

Unlisted Tonight at 7PM

unlisted, originally uploaded by Clint Berquist.

Check out this great review of the documentary Unlisted by Judy Lightfoot.  You can join us for a second screening of Unlisted tonight at Central Cinema 7PM. Filmmaker Delaney Ruston will attend and participate in a Q&A afterward.

The Weekly Wire Recommends - On Paper Wings

On Paper Wings, originally uploaded by Clint Berquist.

Kevin Capp of the Seattle Weekly recommends tonight's screening of On Paper Wings in the Weekly Wire. On Paper Wings screens tonight with Forced Into Comfort at 7PM at the Northwest Film Forum. Plenty of tickets will be available at the door. Read Kevin's review here.

I Speak Soccer Review - Damon Agnos, Seattle Weekly

I Speak Soccer HighResPhotoFinal, originally uploaded by Clint Berquist.

Damon Agnos over at the Seattle Weekly wrote this review of I Speak Soccer, which has it's final screening tonight at the Northwest Film Forum at 7:20PM. I Speak Soccer has been one of the big success stories of 2009. All of the turnouts have been really well attended. If you want to attend tonight's screening, you should plan to get there early. There will be a handful of tickets available at the door, but Presales have been off the charts and it will certainly sell out.

American Collectors Review By David Schamder - The Stranger

american collectors, originally uploaded by Clint Berquist.

David Schmader did a nice little write up on the SLOG yesterday about American Collectors  (CLICK HERE). The screening went incredibly well last night. Lots of fun to actually have a few of the collectors in the audience.