John Wildman

SHORTS AND TO THE POINT: Mira Lippold-Johnson’s award-winning BAD THINGS makes you root for an ending you shouldn’t want

By John Wildman 8 years ago

I think BAD THINGS is a movie that needs to find its audience. It’s been really surprising and wonderful to show it to people who love it. After my screening at WTxFF, I was in another theater waiting for another film to start when a group of women sitting in front of me turned around and told me they’d seen BAD THINGS earlier in the day and were still talking about it. They’d been discussing the ending and debating things about the characters — and they wanted to let me know how much they loved the film. After that, winning the Storyteller Award was bonus!

SHORTS AND TO THE POINT: Natalie Dickinson and Arianne Martin’s SKINNY balances the uncomfortable, the funny, and the horror in its look at a woman’s eating disorder

By John Wildman 8 years ago

We both were super on-board with throwing our vanity out the window for this one. As women in this industry, we are constantly judged on the way we look. We wanted this film to be relatable and genuine, and we wanted to highlight the mental and emotional focus of this story, so we checked our egos at the door and stayed true to our vision of rawness and honesty.

SHORTS AND TO THE POINT: Tracie Laymon’s MIXED SIGNALS is an award-winning comedic look at navigating the choppy waters of male-female attraction in the #METOO era

By John Wildman 8 years ago

Making the film, I really tried to put myself into the male character’s POV. In doing so, I had more empathy for men and realized how confusing my own signals can be, even with the best of intentions. I think if both men and women worked harder to step into one another’s shoes more often, then we might have hope of communicating better and truly understanding one another.

FILM FESTIVAL NEWS: Jake Graf Honored at aGLIFF 2018’s Full Lineup includes the fest’s first Breakthrough Honoree, and a diverse schedule of films befitting the festival’s dedication (and title change) to the true definition of inclusiveness

By John Wildman 8 years ago

The All Genders, Lifestyles, and Identities Film Festival (aGLIFF) announced the official selections for the film festival’s 31st edition. Screening exclusively at Alamo Drafthouse Lamar (1120 S. Lamar Blvd.) in Austin, Texas on September 6-9, aGLIFF will open with the previously announced CALL HER GANDA, directed by PJ RAVAL, with Ondi Timoner’s MAPPLETHORPE, starring Matt Smith, set to make its Texas Premiere as the Closing Night selection.

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.

FILM FESTIVAL NEWS: Laura Somers’s RICH KIDS leads winners at Women Texas Film Festival (WTxFF) 2018

By John Wildman 8 years ago

Women Texas Film Festival Founder and Artistic Director Justina Walford said, “Our decision to update the naming of our awards came out of the fact that we wanted to honor filmmakers based on why we program these films: for their leadership, storytelling and vision. From the beginning we wanted to not simply screen films envisioned and created by women, but to push forward the risk takers. Taking those risks makes us stronger filmmakers and it should be lauded at every turn.”

SHORTS AND TO THE POINT: Will Robbins’s stark short MINORITY delivers a nightmare scenario for white racists that is all too familiar to black people

By John Wildman 8 years ago

MINORITY lands us in a “reverse world” scenario where a white man in a hoodie falls under suspicion of a black convenience store clerk because he is “shopping while being white.” Countless Facebook political debates have posed this scenario to racists and racist-apologists since Trump’s political ascension in 2016 (and, frankly, long before), but Robbins astutely keeps his film as basic and direct as it gets.