Joaquin & Craig

My Facebook Birthday Reminder for Week of November 2nd:

Craig Saavedra - Director/Producer

I met Craig and Joaquin in 2008 at Cinequest 18. I wasn’t the only one to fall for this film entry.

“Sherman’s Way“(music plays) was recognized with:
* Audience Award for Best Feature: Cinequest Film Festival 2008
* Audience Award for Best Feature: Newport International Film Festival 2008
* Audience Award for Best Feature: Gaia Film Festival 2008
* Special Jury Award: Jackson Hole Film Festival 2008

“Sherman’s Way” was a delight to view. As a little red MG came into its own with a remodel and a new shine, so did the players of the film. Sherman (Michael Shulman) made the needed changes to help find his way. Palmer (James Le Gros) attempts to reconnect with family.

A good portion of “Sherman’s Way” was filmed around Clear Lake, California. I haven’t been to that region of the state, but Joaquin Sedillo’s gorgeous cinematography put it on my ‘places to visit’ list.

Sherman’s Way: Written by, Tom Nance.

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NETFLIX
DVD and streaming

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Just for fun: Heinz Midnight Snack

Mackenzie Phillips

It was the opening night of Cinequest-19 where I spotted Mackenzie Phillips (American Graffiti, One Day at a Time) at the California Theatre. I told her that it was nice to see her. To which she replied, “Nice to be seen.” I asked, “Did she had something to share with San Jose Metblogs?” Yes, she told me about her tell-all book that should be out in the spring. It took a bit longer than spring, but her controversial memoir “High on Arrival” is now out. Mackenzie is making the talk show rounds and, this evening she will be on with Larry King @ 6:00 PM.

Yes, I enjoy the films of Cinequest, but part of the lure is meeting the producers, directors, actors, TV and movie stars. I’m looking forward to Cinequest Film Festival 20 next February.

Alejandro Adams give the extras instructions

Our first job was to sit in the church sanctuary pretending to be the congregation while two actresses, Jennie Floyd and Marya Murphy, sang some hymns and read church announcements. This was a very easy job to perform while they shot it over and over from different angles. I’m not going to lie, it was HOT outside and we were all happy to just be sitting in the air conditioned church. Some of us agreed later that after a few takes we sort of were paying about as much attention as one usually does during church announcements and hymns, so our vaguely pleasant but bored looks should come off as very realistic.

Next they asked to film us entering the church. This took several tries as we all sort of single file walked quickly through the church doors and into our seats, as if we had all been outside the church chanting “Open-Open-Open” and couldn’t wait to get in. Adams and crewmember Ali Allie patiently asked us to please walk slower and in smaller groups, and eventually we got it.

Walking around outside the church was the next scene. We were put into groups and stood in different spots on the grounds; Allie would say “Action!” and each group was asked to walk to a different spot. These scenes were harder to get through as the temperature was far into the 90s that afternoon and we were sweating up a storm. At least most of us women were wearing dresses, but most of the men had long sleeved shirts, some with jackets. My group also had to walk up several stairs to a dead end balcony about three times; a friend I had brought complained that I had not told her she would be doing cardio work! But we all survived.

Jennie Floyd speaks with Alejandro Adams

At different points during the day we were let into the Fellowship Hall where there was a bounty of snacks and drinks set out for the crew and extras. I noticed the teens especially were thrilled with all the chips, granola bars and sweets available; the adults were mostly interested in the cold water, juice and soda. All in all it was a very relaxing few hours we spent at the church and we were well taken care of. Alejandro Adams was polite and soft-spoken as usual, and the crew was professional and did their jobs as quickly as possible.

When the main shooting was over Adams explained that we were able to leave, however he did need a couple extra people to shoot one final scene. Joann Landers and I were included. About six of us plus the two actresses went into a small church room where we sat down around a conference table. We had to pretend to be discussing the “sermon” we had “just heard” and then Jennie Floyd was to pipe up with a line that was completely shocking, insensitive and inappropriate. The extras just had to go silent as Marya Murphy then had to respond in a manner that was so heartbreaking I wanted to get up and give her a hug after each take. Luckily we only had to do that scene a couple times over; I don’t think any of us could take Marya’s increasingly heartrending performance.

Marya Murphy takes a break from filming

We were let go after that. Jennie Floyd assured me her character was not the insensitive jerk she appeared to be in that scene, and Marya has told me the movie is not depressing; I’m not sure I believe either of them, but there are certainly 20-25 people at that church who cannot wait to see this movie when it comes out! We all would like to thank Alejandro Adams for inviting us into his movie family and letting us be a part of his film. His crew are wonderful people and those he casts are always incredibly talented. We certainly wish him much success with Child of God!

Alejandro Adams’ films:
Around the Bay
Canary
Babnik
Amity
Child of God

Students Catalina Corral and Lizette Calderon enjoyed being stars for a day

Steve Voldseth

It was during Cinequest 18 that I first met Steve Voldseth. He was starring in the Alejandro Adams film, Around the Bay. I am so pleased to report that Steve and Alejandro are once again teaming up. And to top it off, extras are needed!!!

Date: Saturday, June 27th. Location: West San Jose. Time: 3:30 – 5:00 PM. All ages welcome.

Contact Alejandro – alejandroadams@gmail.com for the, location, wardrobe and scene details.

See Variety

Alejandro and Marya have kept in touch with me since the festival and I knew they were preparing to begin their fourth film, Amity.  So when Marya recently asked if they could use the front of my house to shoot some scenes I jumped at the chance.  I had no desire to be in the film myself, but I am a firm believer in Alejandro’s genius and was honored to be able to help.  I offered to supply refreshments while they were there and just planned to stay out of the way as much as possible.

Of course, the reality of having your house in a film shoot in June means that you should finally take down the Christmas lights that are still hanging, and wash off the fake window snow (oops).  Also make sure your lawn is mowed, flowers trimmed, driveway swept, porch washed and cars parked elsewhere.  In addition, the cast and crew need access to a bathroom, and don’t forget you volunteered to provide snacks.  It was a lot of hard, happy-to-help work getting the house prepared.

Actor Michael Uimari eyes craft services as Sam Lopez takes still shots

The crew arrived just before three in the afternoon on Saturday.  Director/writer Alejandro Adams arrived with Production Assistant Susan Cochran and crew Sam Lopez and Ali Allie.  Marya Murphy and actors Greg Cala, Michael Uimari and Peter Runyon (who also supplied the limo for the shoot) arrived a few minutes later.  They immediately started setting up their equipment on the front lawn and made decisions on what else needed to be done.  We moved cars away from the front of the house, we moved cars away from across the street, and we re-arranged the snack tables.  Alejandro placed a chair in the middle of the lawn for a prop, and they started setting up their shots for the scene.

This is where the problems of movie making became evident.  After moving all cars away from the house, including pushing a car with a dead battery out of the way, up pulled the mail carrier to the front of the house where she always parks.  I ran over and asked if she could please move the truck, as we needed the area for the limo.  She gave me a really irritated look, pulled the truck over across the street, and for the record, I didn’t receive any mail yesterday.  Hmmm.

Marya sits in for Peter while Ali and Alejandro figure out the shot

 The scene they were shooting was not more than five minutes long, but the process actually took from 3pm until after 6pm.  The experience was pretty much exactly as I had expected, mostly a lot of sit around and wait, but it was still interesting.  They filmed in the yard and they filmed inside the limo, but we outsiders could only hear the very small bits that happened on the lawn.  For this reason I could not tell you a whole lot about the movie itself, but I can certainly tell you that I cannot WAIT to find out what was going on inside that limo.  It was all very secretive and kind of creepy, with three tough looking men getting into and out of the limo and a mysterious cell phone being passed back and forth through a window.

Speaking of the cell phone, it’s MY cell phone starring in that scene.  Alejandro needed a flip phone but had not brought one, so I volunteered my own.  Now when the world finally realizes what genius filmmakers the Adams’ family are I can tell my grandkids, “That’s MY house and MY phone in the film!”

Racing shadows from the house: Peter, Alejandro, Ali

 From the film’s website you can read that Amity is a testosterone-driven but poignant character study about a divorced Air Force sergeant (Greg Cala) who rents a limousine to celebrate his daughter’s high school graduation but ends up spending the evening with the limo driver (Michael Uimari), a former Army grunt who is also divorced. 

I can’t tell you much about the scene that I saw, but I can tell you the various problems we came up against on a relatively quiet day.  From the neighbor’s air conditioning unit that cycled on and off to the low flying planes from Reid Hillview airport, there were constant little things that you never think about.  Also, I will never again look down on films that have editing goofs, seeing now how incredibly impossible it is to keep control of everything around you.  We had various neighbors’ parked cars moved in and out of shots, and even the prop beer bottle they used was often forgotten in the scene.

But the noise, AH the noise!!  I live in a very quiet neighborhood, and in fact yesterday was unbelievably quiet.  I remarked to a fellow observer at one point that there had not been one car to drive by as we were filming.  Perhaps I jinxed our luck.  In the very next take, which they were doing solely to tape the ambient sound, we had:

Marya and Ali shoot the limo from every angle

 The next door neighbor coming out to check her mail in the noisiest way possible, the neighbor’s loud car pulling into the driveway and honking the horn, a big loud truck drive past, and the neighbor across the street coming out of their house right into the shot and standing to stare at what was going on before finally getting in their car and driving away.

All of that in less than a three minute period of time.  I laughed with the sound man, because what else are you going to do?  Except do it all over again. And again, and again.

For sure, making a movie on an open set is not easy.  We had gardeners, hammers, loud birds, some dogs barking and fighting nonstop down the street, motorcycles driving past, and neighborhood teenagers stopping to gawk right in front of the cameras.  But it wasn’t only outside noise that was a problem.  The air conditioner in the limo had to be turned off during filming because of the noise.  So they would run the AC for a couple minutes to cool it down, turn it off and start filming, and then jump out covered in sweat a few minutes later.  Marya’s glasses kept fogging up and the poor actors were stuck in suits and ties.

Actors Greg Cala and Peter Runyon take a break from shooting

No, being on a film set is not that exciting, and being privy to the least action packed portion of a scene which was shot over and over and over again might seem like a boring afternoon.  However, having seen their previous film Canary and having heard such wonderful praise for Around the Bay, I could not help but feel that I was part of something exciting and important in the film world.  You should keep an eye on this powerhouse couple of Adams and Murphy; the film world is already taking notice, it won’t take long before viewers everywhere become enamored/enraged/intrigued/incensed/captivated with them too. 

Amity website

Around the Bay showing at Niles Film Museum on June 12 (with the short film Passion Flower)

Canary showing at Fantasia Film Festival in July 2009

Babnik website

Our own San Jose Repertory Theatre is a really beautiful venue, even more so inside than out.  They also generously support our community and youth, and are a huge contributor to the Cinequest Film Festival.  San Jose would not be such a fun place to live without the Repertory Theatre.

However, upon exiting the balcony from a recent show that I attended, I happened to look down at the steps and was shocked at the condition of the carpet.  Threadbare, dull and worn, it really showed the effects of having thousands and thousands of feet walking through over the years.  It was so disappointing to see how worn it was, and it really takes away from the great beauty of the rest of the building.

So I was surprised and very happy to hear that the SJ Rep has received a Challenge Grant to remedy this exact problem!  Emeritus Board member John Michael Sobrato has pledged to pay half the cost of new carpet if The Rep can bring in the other half with contributions.  This is a very generous gift, and one I hope will not be missed.  In even more wonderful news, The Rep has already raised one third of the matching funds.  The other 2/3 must be raised by June 30, 2009, and despite their very generous regular donors, they need funds specific to this fundraising goal.

Offers as generous as this don’t come around very often.  It is my sincere hope that although we are all in some very tough times, the people of the South Bay can help pitch in to take advantage of this offer.  If you could contribute just five dollars it would be so appreciated.  If you could contribute $20 or $50 it would bring them even closer to their goal.  They only have one month to collect donations in order to receive this Challenge Grant; I hope we can all pull together and help The Rep achieve this goal.

Time is of the essence.

Please contact Development Associate Janet Herrington to make a donation to this cause.  She can be reached at 408-367-7264 or JanetH@sjrep.com. 

Earlier this month, Cinequest asked us all to send in our suggestions for the 2010 Cinequest Maverick Spirit award.  The deadline to send in your ideas (to Publicity@Cinequest.org) is early this Friday.  Then during this CQ Happy Hour we will be asked to vote between the Top 10 names that were presented.  It is sure to be another fun filled time with the Cinequest family.  Give it a shot, come on down and say Hello!

Jeffrey James Lippold

With the convenience of NETFLIX I just don’t get out to the movie theater much. But when my daughter, with her connections, invited me to see the controversial ‘Angels & Demons’ free with her, I said, “OK”. Then remembering that Jeffrey had a part (Carabinieri Captain) in the film, I had to say, “Yes!, When can we go.” I met Jeffrey (Jeffrey James Lippold) at Cinequest 19. He starred in ‘Samurai Avenger: Blind Wolf’, and I became an instant fan…

I’ll get my mind off of Jeffrey and offer this advice for enjoying ‘Angels & Demons’: Get your popcorn and soda before taking your theater seat. Once Harvard symbolist Robert Langdon (Tom Hanks) takes on the secret of the Illuminati; the killing of Catholic cardinals, you won’t want to miss a scene. My daughter’s visit to Rome caused her to whisper, “I was there!” as the film took us to the architecture along the ‘Path of Illumination’.

Angels & Demons is now in the saved section of my NETFLIX Queue – I will see it again.

Angels & Demons Decoded: A study of Dan Brown’s novel.
Tue, May 26, 8:00p and Wed, May 27, 12:00m
Comcast – Channel – 62

iTunes Angels & Demons game application $4.99

Lippold, 'The Drifter'

Director Kurando Mitsutake dropped Spaghetti and Sushi into a blender, hit the liquefy button and poured out a spoof film of perfect consistency … ‘Samurai Avenger: Blind Wolf.’

This is not a film for the faint of heart or should I say, not for the queasy of stomach. Those who like blood and guts won’t be disappointed. Maybe some Intel 3-D next time?

The storyline did its job, which was to support the action scenes. The narrative gave intervals of relief from the gore with a laugh or with weapon (sword) education etc.

I asked Jeffrey James Lippold (Drifter/Lead) if the film’s take on swordplay and the soul of the samurai was based on fact. He said that some may have come from myth and folklore, but that some might have been performed at one time.

I thank Cinequest for the opportunity to be among the first to view ‘Samurai Avenger: Blind Wolf.’ A film destined to attract a huge world following.

(How this photo of Lippold, ‘The Drifter’, came about. During the Q & A – He politely declined when someone asked about his physique and calls to remove his shirt rang out. For me, he gave a little bit.)

Last chance to take it all in: Monday 3/2

9:30 PM at the Repertory Theatre

My first film for the evening was How am I not Going to Love You? (Como no te voy a querer?), the U.S. premiere of a Mexican film about young soccer fans in Mexico City. Although the CQ blurb makes it sound like the film is about the relationship between the two young people, Hugo and Julia, I found the conflicts in Hugo’s family were the more compelling story. Focusing on that story, the movie becomes a story about mistakes made, and how they can be overcome. It’s a really moving story, and the best I’ve seen so far in the festival. Highly recommended. How am I not Going to Love You? will be shown again Thursday, March 5, at 9 pm at the Camera 12.

Next was Living in Emergency: Stories of Doctors Without Borders (CQ program blurb). This documentary follows two groups of Medecins sans Frontieres volunteer doctors in Liberia and Congo. Their passion to help the people of these war-torn countries and their disappointment and struggle to accept that their resources and abilities can’t hope to satisfy their monumental medical needs are the focus of the film. Particularly evocative is the story of Davinder Gill(?), a young doctor sent on his first volunteer mission to a remote village in Liberia, where his post represents the only organized medical facility in an entire province. The difficulty of getting needed supplies and support at his remote location drive him near the edge, and make him the most dramatic figure in the movie. Again a highly recommended film. Living in Emergency will screen again Sunday, March 1, at 11 am at the Rep, and Monday, March 12, at 12:45 pm at Camera 12.

Finally, I saw Corpse Run, billed as a romantic comedy about the video game generation, and presented last night in its world premiere. The film was made on a microscopic budget, which shows in the video-quality picture and is even explicitly noted in segments where establishing shots are replaced with on-screen text; but that wouldn’t matter if the story was really captivating. Unfortunately there are a few weaknesses there, too, which I might be hypercritical about being a 30-something geek myself. For one, the dialog is occassionally marred by scenes where the characters seem to be reading Wired magazine articles about the psychology of (late) Generation X to each other; and in another instance in characters who might represent LA geekdom in their designer shirts and hairstyles, but who aren’t believable as geeks when compared to the engineers I work with in my day job. On the other hand, the romp through the cultural icons of the born-in-the-70s generation, from the Atari 2600 and Muppets drinking glasses to Ranma manga and Everquest, was great fun, and there are lots of laugh-out-loud (I should say, “LOL”) moments, so this is still a worthwhile and fun film, but don’t expect to really believe in it if you are a geek yourself. Corpse Run shows again Sunday, March 1, at 1:30 pm at the Rep, and Wednesday, March 4, at 5 pm at Camera 12.