AOF Fest - Day 1 (Friday, July 25, 2008)

Today was the first day of the 4th Action on Film Festival. I have attended and had films showing each year of it's existence. This year I have two films showing, Welcome to the Party (which was 3rd place in the 2007 DVXuser All-Hallows fest), and IRH: The Flight of Apollo 11 (which was written and directed by Brad J. Silverman, the guy behind the latest feature I've been working on, No Greater Love).

I've decided to chronicle my festival experience through the blog, since this blog needs content!

So, I'll review the films I saw today, but first let me say I really do enjoy going to AOF each year. The staff there is terrific. Josh is the festival coordinator again this year, and I got a chance to say hello in passing to him, he always does a great job. Also got to say hi to Del Weston today, he started the whole thing. They have moved their location to Pasadena this year, which is a welcome shift. I think it's a much better location than years past. Now onto the reviews.

Running Dragon - Short

I missed the first few minutes of this film, but caught most of it. It was a unique look at a man who was adopted as a child from Vietnam and completely forgot about his old culture. He was so young at the time he was adopted that he just assumed the identity of an American. Interesting film.

The Arab - Short

Didn't quite care for this short film. It basically was set in a house where many people from all of Europe (France, England, Ireland, etc) hid from the "arabs". It was weird, and I sensed a hidden agenda message, but never quite got what it was.

My Wife is a Zombie - Short

Interesting short, especially considering it was "inspired by true events" which makes it even creepier. Basically a man kills his wife and kid thinking they're zombies... yeah.

Broken Fences - Feature

First feature I saw today. First let me say the lead female was excellent, her acting is to be commended. The film itself didn't work too well for me. The story was extremely depressing, and I never really felt connected to the characters, I didn't know what their history was with one another or whatnot. The basic premise is about this man, who's son is getting out of jail (he was put away for armed robbery, which apparently he wasn't really involved in) the son says he's changed, so the dad allows him back, only to have bad event after bad event happen, which eventually leads to several murders (at the hands of the son) and then the dad kills the son... really depressing to say the least...

Face of Justice - Short

Went and saw this short film because a few guys I know worked on it. Jerry Turner directed the film, he also worked on getting some second unit shots for Smuggler's Ransom. Also, Herman Witkam did the score, he did some of the score on IRH. Anyway, I had seen the film online before, but it was cool to see it on the big screen. Some of the acting was unbalanced in spots, but the gunfight at the end was cool. Get some squibs on the actors next time though. ;)

Ghost Town - Feature

The second feature I saw during the day. This film was a western about a man who's dad had been killed by another man, and he enacted revenge on that family, and disappered. The film happens many years later, now the man has a daughter, in her 20's, as does the son of the other man who was killed. They meet eventually and fall for each other, not knowing their past... this movie ends quite depressing as well, I also felt it wasn't given a high enough budget, as I think period is quite tough to pull off low budget, I think the film suffered technically because of that.

Appartion - Short

This short was of particular interest to me, as it is nominated for Best Horror Short Film (as is Welcome to the Party). After seeing this short (which felt REALLY short, at only 7 min. length) I was pleased to feel my film is still in the running for the award. The film really never went anywhere. It was about a guy who got killed when these three friends were on a camping trip, and he keeps appearing to this girl... and that's it. Yeah, it didn't really go anywhere.

GPS - Feature

This film had SO much potential... I really wanted to enjoy it 100%, but the payoff just wasn't there for me. Basically it's about these two guys who are "GPS Hunters" they go on these GPS hunts for fun, it's like a club or something, they follow coordinates, and get new coordinates, etc. Interesting concept. Anyway, they get a GPS hunt invite from this dude who stole a bunch of money, so they think maybe at the end the money will be there, so they decide to do it, and kind of rope a group of their friends to tag along. Well, someone starts attacking them during the trip, and one by one the friends die. We find out later it's one of the guy's jealous sister, who was always mad she wasn't treated right, and wants the money from their parents will to go to her... that's the payoff... it didn't work for me at all... I was on board right until the end, really was. The score for the film was great, by a guy I've worked with a few times before, Justin R. Durban.

Overall a fun day at AOF today. Looking forward to seeing more films this week.