Day two of Hell’s Half Mile was a long one, filled with feature length and short films, free seminars, live music and director Q&As. Be sure to keep checking in with the Delta Collegiate for our daily coverage all weekend long.
Free class provides crowdfunding techniques to aspiring filmmakers
By Isaac Deville, staff reporter.
The second day of Hell’s Half Mile opened with the Crowdfunding for Independence class held at the Delta College Planetarium. The free class offered aspiring filmmakers a crowdfunding and distribution action plan intended to create a lasting, direct relationship with audiences.
“[Crowdfunding] is an opportunity to present an idea or project to a group of people who are willing to be investors. They know they aren’t going to make money off of it… It’s an opportunity to support an artistic endeavor,” says Mitchell H. Jarosz, a Delta emeritus English instructor.
In the spirit of the festival, presenter Christina Raia asked her audience the three hells: “Who the hell is your audience, where the hell are they, and how the hell do you get them to donate?”
According to Raia, it’s not as easy as just making a Gofundme page; filmmakers need to be creative to get donations. She gave the audience an example using the short film “Time Signature.”
“Because of the theme of time traveling, the filmmaker was offering that for anyone who could afford $25 or more in donations, they would have their face photoshopped into any time in history that the funder wanted,” says Raia.
Attendees of the class seemed to find the information useful.“It was very informative. Besides going to a film festival to see films you also go to get information on the industry itself,” says William Mosqueda of Grand Rapids.
Alan LaFave, festival director, also praised the event. “It adds something interesting for the filmmakers. Something that we’ve not been able to provide before. Mostly we’re about connecting films and film audiences. This helps to provide a connection between the filmmakers and the audience in a possible contribution/funding way,” says LaFave.
Photos by Jessica Sierocki
Eight short films, eight short reviews
By Cameron Kerkau, managing editor.
The first of three short film programs screened on Sept. 23 at the Delta College Planetarium. Here are eight short reviews of the films included.
- “My Luchador,” directed by Shea Sizemore – With his wife’s support, a retired Luchador refuses to take off his mask, even though he’s ridiculed in his office job for it. This was a quirky, quiet film about a touchingly unconditional love.
- “Rotatio,” directed by Ian McClerin, Shannon May Mackenzie – An artist uses her work to make sense of a critical life event. The honesty and simplicity of it makes this a successful, emotionally satisfying short.
- “The Border,” directed by Norman Tamkivi – A post-apocalyptic film about snipers tasked with protecting the border of a northern stronghold from infected southerners. This short tries to tackle three acts in 23 minutes. Top-notch production value doesn’t save “the Border” from a weak script.
- “Tampoon,” directed by Jeanne Jo – A supernatural tampon conspires against Miranda and her airhead boyfriend’s date night. Only seven minutes long, there’s not much to say about this one with spoiling the funny bits. If you ever get the chance to check this outrageous short film out, don’t skip it.
- “The Disappearance of Willie Billingham,” directed by Matthew Richards – A darkly imagined future in which the death penalty has been replaced with the slow process of amputating murderers piece by piece. This moody meditation on “cruel and unusual punishment” was highly effective, though I could do without its heavy reliance on narration.
- “I Wanna Be in All Your Movies,” directed by Josh Freed – A mini-documentary about a short film director, his frequent leading actress, and their decade long on-again, off-again relationship. To be honest I didn’t expect to care for this one too much, but it turned out to be one of my favorites of the program. I guess I’m a sucker for honest depictions of relationships.
- “Something to Say,” directed by José Ángel Lázaro – A popular local band plays its last show in a Madrid bar. In its 17 minute run time “Something to Say” creates an atmosphere of authenticity, especially in its interactions between the band members.
- “The Urge 2: It Lies Within,” directed by Christopher Angus – An animated comedy about a hapless vampire on his quest for a quick bite. Most of the humor in this short relies on the vampire’s flatulence and a lot of the jokes don’t land, but the animation is strangely beautiful and makes interesting use of three-dimensional space.
HHM Film Review: “Autumn Fall”
By MaCayla Jablonski, editor-in-chief.
As “Autumn Fall” began it’s screening at the Delta Planetarium I walked into the theater on accident, but boy am I glad that I did.
“Autumn Fall” is a Norwegian film written, directed and produced by Jan Vardoen starring Helge Jordal, Ingeborg Raustol, Bjorn Sundquist, Hege Schoyen, Sverre Anker Ousdal and Hilde Louise Asbjornsen. According to the HHM program, yhe film is considered a narrative, drama romance and runs about 95 minutes.
The film begins with an older, former actor, drunken man named Jeppe harshly criticizing a local theater show. When Jeppe gets thrown out of the show for being belligerent, we pick up a few more important characters. More importantly we’re introduced to a younger woman named Ingvild who is the light coordinator at the local theater. After the ruined show, Ingvild denies drinks with her friends in the show, and finds herself in a pub, sitting across from Jeppe, the drunken, crazy man who interrupted her show.
Ingvild takes it upon herself to get this unstable man home safely. She shoves him in a taxi cab and leads the driver to Jeppe’s home. While walking him to his front door, Ingvild looks back to find the taxi cab driving away without her in it. Jeppe welcomes her into his home by offering her a place to sleep on his sofa, promising to control himself and his urges. Ingvild accepts, knowing she has nowhere else to go at this time of night. To our surprise, she woke up to a completely different man.
That morning, Jeppe was a complete gentleman. He offered her a new toothbrush, made her a gorgeous meal and made her specialty drinks, which she surprisingly enjoyed. The plot thickens when Ingvild invites Jeppe to the bedroom and initiates some serious love making. The next few scenes included Ingvild talking to her friend about Jeppe’s newfound loveable qualities, the couple sharing new experiences and learning with each other, and the couple actually becoming a couple.
Questions arise when Ingvild takes Jeppe to meet her mother. Her mother, a feminist book collector, is not impressed with Jeppe. She rips into him about his past roles in plays and mentions a previous interaction between the two that didn’t go too smoothly.
I honestly didn’t see myself enjoying a Norwegian, sub-titled love story, but I truly did leave that theater with tears streaming down my face. The film had a thickening, developed plot, and was filled with breathtaking, local Norwegian imagery. Watching the film, you can tell that it had huge amounts of time put into it. I wholeheartedly recommend watching this film as soon as possible.
Local bands bring HHM day two to an end
By MaCayla Jablonski, editor-in-chief.
Friday night closed with live music beginning at 10 p.m. with Norty, a multi-instrumentalist from Grand Rapids. Norty is known for his electronic take on music and his high-energy live performances.
“If you guys don’t scream on three this song is gonna suck!” exclaimed Norty during his set.
While on the stage at The Empire Room, Norty received great feedback from the decently sized crowd who danced, cheered an screamed as Norty requested.
Second to perform on stage was “The Sunburns,” a band from the Detroit area. “The Sunburns” are a punk-rock group consisting of a lead guitarist/ singer, a drummer, a bassist and another guitarist.
This was their third time playing in Bay City, but their first for Hell’s Half Mile. According to lead singer Brent Chappell, the first time The Sunburns came to Bay City was to play a fundraiser show at Bemo’s bar. Cole Waterman, the festival’s music coordinator, heard The Sunburns play at the fundraiser in Feb. and asked them to perform in this years show.
Chappell took an intermission during their set to talk about the town. “Bay City is f-ing cool. I know a lot of you are trying to get out, but just remember, a lot of people are trying to get in too. Really! Bay City is actually one of the coolest places I’ve ever been,” says Chappel.
In an interview after their show, Chappell had this to say about the festival, “If I had the time off, sure, I’d be here again. [Hell’s Half Mile] is a secret little pod, you know, in the middle of Michigan that nobody knows about and it should be more well known. This festival does so much for the arts.”
The third performance of the night shifted gears to a mellow-punk vibe, with the Detroit band “Siamese”. Consisting of four members, Johanna Champagne, Steve Thoel, Angie Kaiser and Joe Sausser, their sound could be described as dark, punk, synth-pop.
“The live music is our favorite part of Hell’s Half Mile,” says Stacey Babcock, a 27-year-old crowd member from Caro. This is Babcock’s fourth time coming to Hell’s Half Mile and she enjoys watching the crowds numbers multiply every year.
The headliners of the evening were “The Erers,” another band from the Detroit area. The crowd cheered as they began and crowded tightly around the stage. Viewers of the show showed positive feedback throughout the entire evening.
“The bands here are great. They’re obviously not high-end names, but they’re local and they manage to make it feel like a huge concert. That’s awesome to me,” says Keith Bellon, 21-year-old, Bay City resident.