Films Gone Wild

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

Legacy Award honoree Craig Barron: Launching the Niagara Falls International Film Festival – A lot of heart but at times it also felt like going over the Falls in a barrel

By John Wildman 7 years ago

The combination of the films’ subjects, as well as the attendance of Welles’ mom and dad, Alison and Jeff, made for an emotional, but uplifting evening. Following the screenings at the historic Riviera Theatre the filmmaker awards were announced and a check for $1000 went to charities benefitting Firefighters and First Responders. During the awards ceremony, upon receiving the award for Best Narrative Film, WATERLILY JAGUAR producer Jonathan Piumelli announced that he and art director Shannon Lee got engaged the night before. It was a sweetly uplifting way to end the inaugural NFIFF.

FILMS GONE WILD: WAYWARD SON, JACK SQUAT, PATRICK, The 2018 Memphis Film Prize teaches the rest of the film fest world how to do it right

By John Wildman 8 years ago

Gregory Kallenberg kicks off the Film Prize. This is the way you “baptize” your filmmakers and give them a kick in the pants to start off a fest. He sets the tone of “We’re all in it together, filmmakers, jurors, staff, and film fans – all of us.” If you’re not onboard after Gregory’s opening remarks, the filmmakers first “pitches”, and the legendary Film Prize tequila toast, then it’s possible someone should check your pulse.

FILMS GONE WILD: My four favorite genre – Park City at Midnight category – at Sundance 2018

By John Wildman 8 years ago

Sundance is really a friend to horror and genre films no longer. You get the feeling looking at the schedule the last couple of years that there seems to be a preference for GREASY STRANGLER outlandishness and cinematic pranks, as opposed to breathtaking “scare the crap out of you” cinema. Who is the genre lover in the programming staff? Something tells me they wouldn’t admit to it if there was one.

FILMS GONE WILD: The Harvey Weinstein Revelations Need To Be the Tipping Point – It’s Up to Men Everywhere (Not Just in Film) to Finally Raise the Bar

By John Wildman 8 years ago

And that’s the balance I think men need to strike, even when it (as it so often does) go against every instinct to “fix things” and “problem solve.” We need to be ready to stand up and speak out when a loved one, or a friend like Rose or my other film fest friend, or in fact, a complete stranger needs us to do so. But we also, need to never assume we’ve got all of this gamed out, that we’ve got it down, we know the score.

FILMS GONE WILD: If you are a guy debating the Tim League Alamo Drafthouse problem, try starting by listening to what the women are saying first — Films Gone Wild

By John Wildman 8 years ago

I was wrong and I was wrong because it is so very easy to be wrong as a male in this arena. It is so incredibly easy to think of me first. It is beyond easy to not consider everything that vitally needs to be considered simply because I have a penis. It is a painful admission to make even as I seek to correct it and do better.

FILMS GONE WILD: Alamo Drafthouse and James Cameron, guess what? You aren’t helping.

By John Wildman 9 years ago

Those films are going to make the “Make America Great Again” crowd (which everyone knows is actually code for “Make America White Again”) stop for a moment and reflect and decide that they shouldn’t be tacitly saying, “We’re okay if you eliminate (read, “kill if you have to, but by all means force to leave the country”) all the blacks and Jews as long as we get those clean coal jobs back like you promised.”