Films Gone Wild

Editor’s column/daily commentary welcoming feedback and opinions.

Interview with the STARRING JERRY AS HIMSELF team at Slamdance 2023

By John Wildman 3 years ago

My personal thoughts on STARRING JERRY AS HIMSELF: This is a very entertaining (and at times harrowing to watch) film about a man going through an extraordinary experience thinking he could be extradited because he is at the center of a major bank fraud investigation. It is a nightmare that anyone with elderly parents has somewhere in the back of their minds. However, Jerry has one very special thing in his favor: He has a genuine zen regarding where his place is in the world at this time in his life. So, as we watch this creative approach to his story including a reenactment of this adventure with each member of Jerry’s family participating, ultimately we are buoyed by that knowledge.

Interview with Cat Brewer and Matt Maxey (SIGN THE SHOW) at Slamdance 2023

By John Wildman 3 years ago

My personal thoughts on SIGN THE SHOW: I have had this film at a few of my film festivals last year and not only is the film a delight in how it informs us about signing at live events, as well as celebrating the people who sign and making the connection with the performers whose music and art are translated to the Deaf and Hard of Hearing community, but Cat Brewer couldn’t be a better conduit to deliver this film to audiences, herself. The film has a joy to it, bottom line – and you could figure that out watching with the sound off.

Interview with Tracy Droz Tragos (PLAN C) from Sundance 2023

By John Wildman 3 years ago

My personal thought on PLAN C: I want each and every one of my film festivals to screen this film. I haven’t felt an urgency after watching a documentary on the crisis with female health care and the medical providers trying to provide that care since AFTER TILLER. Of course, I live in Texas which has literally put a bounty on women’s heads if they find themselves in a bad situation with an unwanted pregnancy and don’t want to wear a red cloak and be breeding chattel. Find it, watch it, and GET THE WORD OUT.

Sundance/Slamdance Diary #1

By John Wildman 3 years ago

The last time I was in Park City for Sundance and Slamdance was 2020. Of course, all shit broke loose a couple months later in March when the zombie apocalypse began (checks notes), COVID pandemic, I mean. Now, I frequently rail against and tense up at the idea of regional fests being a kumbaya experience for filmmakers because the Eric Kohn/Indiewires of the world use that to dismiss the importance or viability of them and the films that screen there business-wise (because, if it doesn’t happen in Europe or Asia or the island of Manhattan then it’s just not important, right?).

Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival 2022 Interviews – ROOTS OF FIRE & FINDING HER BEAT

By John Wildman 4 years ago

Dawn Mikkelson and Keri Pickett’s Finding Her Beat, and Abby Berendt Lavoi and Jeremey Lavoi’s Roots of Fire have the obvious familial ties front and center: Finding Her Beat has Jennifer Weir and Megan Chao Smith (and heir daughter Josie) as the beating heart in its dynamic look at the women who have essentially unapologetically staked out their place in the world of Taiko drumming, and the husband and wife filmmaking team of Jeremey and Abby Berendt Lavoi successfully embedded themselves in the very tight kit “family” that makes up the insular Louisiana community that revolves around and feeds off their French music and culture.

Free Chol Soo Lee and short film Long Line of Ladies: The Sundance Interviews (2021/2022) – Take Two…or three

By John Wildman 4 years ago

Here is the second round of Sundance interviews on Films Gone Wild that we have had over the last couple years. These interviews include my good friends Angela Tabora and Erin Lim from the incredibly fun and informative Bitch Talk podcast out of San Francisco continuing the next generation of the Daily Buzz show created by the legendary Irene Cho. The spirit of those interviews combining our three points-of-view would make Irene happy, and this very diverse trio of films speaks to one of the hallmarks of what the show has always been in terms of introducing audiences to a wide range of films – and not just chasing after celebrity.

Ninja Thyberg’s Pleasure, James P. Gannon’s Deerwoods Deathtraop, Margaret Brown’s Descendant and more! Catching up to Sundance 2022, 2021

By John Wildman 4 years ago

We have a tremendous backlog of Films Gone Wild interviews that we are going to try and catch up on during the next month or so. We’ll start off with three films that we spoke to during the Sundance Film Festival – both the 2022 edition and even going back to a 2021 highlight. A couple of these interviews include my good friends Angela Tabora and Erin Lim from the incredibly fun and informative Bitch Talk podcast out of San Francisco. We have been teaming up on the next generation of what was the Daily Buzz show created by the legendary Irene Cho for a couple of years now. The spirit of those interviews combining our three points-of-view would make Irene happy, I think, as it remains true to her mission to not just talk to celebrities, but to discover new filmmakers as well as some cool veterans and occasional famous person and talk about the films that fascinate us and dig into their work in a fun way.

Brace yourselves, THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE RINGS OF POWER might just surprise and entertain the doubters

By Sarah Hornstein 4 years ago

Before you stamp your large Hobbit feet or pound your Dwarvish axe on the ground, perhaps wait until you’ve seen the series. Have they dissuaded all of this particular Tolkien fan’s fears? No. Have they set up a show that could be wildly successful and well received by even the most critical hardcore Tolkien enthusiast? Definitely

Nicola Rose talks about creating an unusual romance hybrid film in GOODBYE, PETRUSHKA

By Luke Y. Thompson 4 years ago

In the Russian ballet Petrushka, a Punch-like figure pines for a ballerina who rejects him, and gets killed in a duel. The combination of longing and presumed-crazy ambition imbues Nicola Rose’s Goodbye Petrushka, in which impulsive, puppet-making film student Claire (Lizzie Kehoe) impulsively quits school to go to France, where she longs to study more serious puppetry…and the handsome, recently retired figure skater Thibaut (Thomas Vieljeux) she ran into in New York before they both left.

As Claire attempts to navigate a new life as an au pair, she tries to coax Thibaut into making a skating puppet ballet with her. But her culture shock and his girlfriend just might stand in the way.