Underground film fest entertains

Another year, another Halloween, another family weekend and another awesome MicroCineFest. If you are reading this article and getting excited about an underground film fest, it sadly means you have missed MicroCineFest 2002, which took place Oct. 30 to Nov. 3.

Anyway, let us jump right into a short wrap-up. The fest started quietly with the new Jon Moritsugu film, Scumrock. The film follows two parallel story lines. One is about a pretentious 28-year-old filmmaker trying to put his personal vision and mark on the film world. The second is about an angry punk rock girl trying to succeed in a scene overflowing with loud angry punk bands. Both characters are passionate about their art yet somehow continually fail. They just can't get beyond their personal demons that will forever inhibit their ability to succeed like the artists around them.

This film may not be as funny or fun to watch as his others (like Terminal USA), but it definitely has its place in the Moritsugu repertoire. The themes of aging, art and fear all link back to him as a filmmaker, and could probably be felt by anyone trying to put their art out in the world. If you are interested in seeing the genius of Moritsugu, the lovely MSE library has a copy of Terminal USA. Watch it, love it and worship the insanity.

Let's cut to Friday. At 6 p.m. there was the ever-hilarious Comedy Shorts program. This show delivered the goods. With work from Baltimore natives (like the SikeTrike crew) and CineFest regulars Jason Woliner and James Dean Conklin (who had to have at least 10 films in this year's fest), this was the show to see. There were a couple shorts from this past year's Johns Hopkins fest, including big hit Timmy's Wish and a few with easy yet frequent humor (like Alias: The Lost Episode or The Adventure of Fratman and Pledgeboy). But the highlight of the show had to be Fits & Starts.

This short film absolutely blew me away. With it's surrealist David Lynch qualities and strict rigid Wes Anderson style humor, this movie cannot disappoint. It starts with two people drinking orange soda. They suddenly stop and begin having a conversation through cassette recorders (not actually speaking to one another). Their relationship is unknown, the situation is unknown, the time period is unknown and then suddenly there's a musical number.

There is no way to accurately describe this film in words, but keep the title in your head if what I have said intrigues you (that is Fits & Starts, by Vince Di Meglio).

Another show that had people talking was Jesus Christ Vampire Hunter. I'm sure the title says it all. Vampires are killing off all the lesbians, and the ultimate superhero, Jesus Christ, has come to the rescue. He teams up with the beautiful Mary Magnum and a Mexican wrestler named El Santos for an action packed adventure.

While the concept sounds fantastic, the film just does not do it justice. When you have a superhero who is Jesus Christ, you have many opportunities for humor. Director Lee Gordon Demarbre does not really go all the way, and the movie ends up suffering for this. The action is slow and the sound editing is weak. If the editor made the fighting sequences a little tighter, the film would have been much better. His last film, Harry Knuckles and the Treasure of the Aztec Mummy, is far superior.

Moving right along, next we'll hit up the sold-out Saturday animation program. This was a huge show both in terms of the audience and the number of films (18). The shorts ranged from CGI to claymation to cel-animation to just still photos.

Jay Barba and Brian Farrelly (the duo who brought you Welcome to Purgatory) were back this year with two new animated shorts, Return to Purgatory and The Year Christmas Almost Wasn't. Our very own John Standiford (owner of the Charles Theater) had his film, Plain English, in the program as well. It consisted of still photos and edited conversational tapes from the O50s (very, very funny).

My favorite of this show would have to be My Girlfriend's Dead. This was pretty much a music video for a Vandals song. A small stick figure is annoyed that everyone asks where his girlfriend is (she recently dumped him) so he starts telling everyone she is dead. The tune is very catchy and the film gets continually more violent. If you are interested, it is off their CD, Hitler Bad, Vandals Good.

Well, there were hours and hours of other shows, tons of underground and independent film, but I will stop here. I hope this gave you a taste of CineFest, and if you did not go this year, I hope you are interested now.