With a day or so to reflect upon TFF 2018, Unseen Films’
Steve Kopian (SK) and Joe Bendel (JB) joined me as I asked about their
experiences.
* * *
What surprised you most about the festival this year? I’m
thinking film-wise, but if you want to talk about Q&A’s, events, or snacks,
please go ahead.
SK: Tribeca this year
surprised me on several fronts. First, at the risk of getting strange looks
from the festival people, the selections were really bland. Normally there are a
bunch of titles that pop out at the start that make you go, “Oh, wow,” and this
year there really wasn’t that. I know most of the writers were not really
excited until people started to see stuff and the talk started. Yes, LOVE, GILDA
was a hot film, as was DISOBEDIENCE, but there wasn’t the instant list of
must-sees as in previous years.
Of course with every
year there were the titles that surprised me that I didn’t expect to amount to
anything. I don’t like Rachel Dolezal and yet I found that I really liked THE
RACHEL DIVIDE. THE MISEDUCATION OF CAMERON POST was unexpectedly even-handed.
The villains of the piece were not truly evil. SONG OF BACK AND NECK probably
shouldn’t have worked, but did, gloriously. I also didn’t realize how good the
Master Classes were. This was the first year
I went to a Master Class, and I was blown away. Oh, and the fact that
I didn’t have a long list of truly awful films surprised me. I mean there are
stinkers, but truly big piles of poo, not so many.
JB: In the past,
Tribeca’s award-winners have never really amounted to much, but this year TO
DUST could be different. Although not my top pick from the festival, it has a
distinctive sensibility as well as a humanistic core that could appeal to
viewers beyond the film festival/art-house scene.
SK: You are absolutely
right about the winners not amounting to much. More times than not, they are
head-scratchers. I think that’s especially true since they only do electronic
balloting, which I don’t think really is accurate because so many people don’t
vote and because you can stuff the ballot box if you have willing friends. I’m
actually shocked that all of this year’s winners—DIANE excepted—were films
people really liked. DIANE has me curious simply because I don’t know anyone
who hasn’t complained that the ending doesn’t work to the point of lessening
the film. (And that whooshing sound
is my credentials being pulled for next year)
Apart from some of the titles just mentioned, what releases are you
telling your non-film-crazed friends or family members to keep an eye out for?
SK: SATAN & ADAM
is just a hell of a tale with amazing music. The short EARTHRISE was the first
great film I saw, and it still haunts me almost 100 films later. THE GOSPEL
ACCORDING TO ANDRE was a film I fell in love with and I was talking up to anyone
who would listen. CARGO is just a great horror film and I was talking it up well
before I did any interviews for it.
I admire EARTHRISE, but I wasn’t blown away by it. Its ideas
impressed me more than the visuals, but I think you were impressed by
everything about it. The short film I really liked was LABORATORY CONDITIONS.
CARGO I think we’re in agreement on; in fact, I think we saw it at the same
screening.
SK: I freely admit
that part of my love of EARTHRISE stems from the fact that I was and am a space
kid. I was watching everything space from when I was toddler. I mean, one of
the first things I bought when I had money was G.I. Joe in a space capsule. It
was all Batman and space stuff growing up. I would watch the launches and anything
I could see. EARTHRISE touched the nostalgia, but it also beautifully explained
what the astronauts were doing. It was the first time I ever heard of a trip as
more of a job than of something mythic. They were doing a job and the pictures
were secondary. That was never something anyone ever made clear. It’s kind of
like the line from Hitchhiker's Guide—“Zaphod’s just this guy you know” while this is “Space travel is just a
job.”
What are some other titles you’ve been championing?
SK: One film I was
hawking like mad, even before I saw it, was WHEN LAMBS BECOME LIONS. I’m a huge
fan of the director Jon Kasbe, and this was my chance to get the word out
about this amazing director. No one makes films like him. No one has his eye,
and I was telling everyone to see the film because I wanted everyone to get in
on the ground floor.
Does warning people to
avoid a film count? I was saying, and still am saying, rude things about 7
STAGES… which along with films like GREAT PRETENDER and GHOSTBOX COWBOY were
just must-avoid nightmares.
JB: SATAN & ADAM
could definitely be the next SEARCHING FOR SUGAR MAN. It was definitely the
best in show. However, that short film LABORATORY CONDITIONS will leave viewers
dying for a feature treatment. It was like watching the original FLATLINERS for
the first time back in the day.
Exactly. It has the kind of premise many filmmakers would botch
at 90-120 minutes, but somehow pulls it off in only 15 minutes.
SK: You know, your
combined love of LABORATORY CONDITIONS has me planning on trying to track down a
copy to see it. I hate it when that happens.
Okay, so now let’s do “big picture.” Any themes in the
programming, either intentional or not, that really worked—or didn’t?
SK: I don’t know. I
know the blandness of the selections going in didn’t really work for me. Okay,
yes, the programming of the big events was really off. I mean, there were three
music events—Patti Smith, The Blue Note Concert, the SONGWRITER premiere and a
couple of other things—all on Monday night, all against each other. I know that
is how things fall sometimes, but everything all at once? I could also quibble about a
few films being in oddly chosen sections. NIGHT EATS THE WORLD was not in the
Midnight section for example.
Does the
way that a film is submitted affect that? I don’t know enough about the inner
workings of any festival to comment. But I am always interested in the public
face, the branding.
JB: Tribeca has always
struggled to establish an identity beyond “it’s big and it’s in New York,” but
they shrewdly carved out a niche programming sports films. It seemed like there
were fewer this year and they were clearly de-emphasized as a track unto
themselves.
On the other hand,
there was an impressive selection of music-related films, like the terrific
SATAN & ADAM, the somewhat flawed but entertaining BLUE NOTE RECORDS, BLUE
NIGHT (which has some merit), HOMELESS: THE SOUNDTRACK, RYUICHI SAKAMOTO: CODA,
MR. SOUL, and STUDIO 54. If they can recommit to their sports programming and
build off this year’s music selections, they could really be on to a winning
formula. (Also, the block of science fiction short films is a semi-tradition worth
keeping.)
SK: I agree the sports films
weren’t quite the same this year. I’ve been going to the festival for nine
years and they were always the one thing you could count on. This year, aside
from CROSSROADS, which takes a cliché formula about an underdog team “triumphing”
and turns it into something truly exceptional, the films were not up to
previous years. And of course I really would like to know what WHEN SHE RUNS
was doing in the sports track when it’s a sports film where there is almost no
focus on sports.
Is there a moment that stands out for you, that you’ll remember
for quite a while?
SK: Lots of personal
moments. The CARGO interviews were great. Getting to really talk to Mike
Gingold on several occasions. We’ve crossed paths for years but we actually got
to talk in screenings and an interview. Getting my friend Julie to the
festival. Seeing Patti Smith live. Meeting Jon Kasbe. Of course getting to talk
film endlessly with everyone. No one moment.
Finally, a random thought:
Who thinks BATHTUBS OVER BROADWAY is as great as I think it is?
SK: I loved it. What
annoys me is that on opening night at the festival they did a mini-musical,
which it seemed like a good number of volunteers saw and talked about
endlessly. They kept saying I had to see the film, and I was very unlucky for
having missed it. But right now I’m waiting to see it again. I figure it had to
be picked up.
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