RSS 2.0 FeedLate July 2011, Featured Articles, Film
Film on the Fringe
The Independent Filmmaker’s Coalition of Kansas City, one of the nation’s oldest independent film organizations, compiled the best of their recent short films and teasers for the 2011 KC Fringe Festival.
IFCKC brings the best of their Westport Café basement offerings to Fringe this year with two distinct programs split between four showings. Each program begins with the silent, short film Fringe Follies, especially made for this year’s festival by local filmmaker, Todd Norris. Norris’ film embodies everything Fringe, casting fellow festival performers and starring burlesque darlings Annie Cherry as herself and Damian Blake (a.k.a. Artemus Vulgaris) as the tramp. The film is a cleverly sweet introduction to all things Fringe.
Several of the offerings in Program One are clips and promos for upcoming projects. Ranging from a behind-the-scenes look at Vixen Pin-up Photography, clips from Stephen and Mary Pruitt’s “dark redemptive drama” Terminal, and Tim DePaepe’s thoughtful documentary, AB, about little-known modern artist, Albert Bloch, the viewers are introduced to Kansas City’s truly diverse film community.
To touch briefly on some of the other offerings:
- Gone are the days of quiet living room dramas with Matt Connolly’s, A Good Crease. It’s an exaggerated depiction of our own unconventional and dysfunctional families with a happy ending only a mother can provide.
- Dustin Adair’s Pro Choice is a comedic short involving a couple’s ideal future child through the use of selective genetics. While not a topic that usually provokes a steady stream of laughter, the giggles continued well into the credits.
- James Schweers’ 4:30 perfectly encapsulates the strange magnetism of customers to female bookstore employees. Record store and other retail gals will empathize as well.
Also included are senior thesis films from recent graduates from the Kansas City Art Institute. Michael Dirnberger’s Working Blues is a lackluster, albeit mature look at the current U.S. unemployment situation and Frank Gotay’s A Brush With Life explores the tedious internal creative process of an aging artist.
Resurrected from the 2009 IFCKC contest, Every Picture Tells A Story, Timothy Harvey’s Playing With Fire features fire performer, Yosh. The piece could seem out of place if it wasn’t edited so seamlessly and if this wasn’t Fringe, where everybody is free to let their freak flag fly.
Support your local filmmakers and visit Fringe Central this week for the Best of IFCKC Shorts; these are not your little brother’s Youtube videos.
REVIEW:
Kansas City Fringe Festival
Best of IFCKC Short Films
July 24–28, 2011 (Reviewed Program One July 24)
Fringe Central
1730 Broadway, Kansas City, MO
For more information visit www.kcfringe.org
Film, Theatre Contributor
Calli Parker studied film production and English at the University of Missouri-Kansas City. After working on various projects in Kansas City, she relocated to Los Angeles where she served as a production manager and assistant director on short and feature films. Currently residing in Kansas City, Calli continues to collaborate with the talented filmmakers and artists of the emerging arts community.
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KC Events this week and beyond
Looking for something to do this weekend? Click here for the KC Events calendar of theatre, classical music, dance and jazz events through 2011. Highlights of this week's classical music and dance offerings are in Don Dagenais' "City Classics." For current Theatre listings visit Victor Wishna's "City Stage." Enjoy!
Real, raw and “Worth” it
A gritty drama tackling deep ethical dilemmas, "Worth" is intense and utterly engrossing as it entwines an ostensibly “normal” middle-class family and the seedy underbelly of society.
Vaudevillian mixture of space, science, and Scientology
“Jet Propulsion” spins a stranger-than-fiction tale in which a founder of the American space program worships Pan and cozies up to L. Ron Hubbard.
"Super Spectacular!" lives up to its name
With six operas for 84¢ apiece, “Super Spectacular! To Opera with Love” is one of the biggest bargains at the Kansas City Fringe Festival. It is also spectacularly energetic, creative, and downright funny.
Kevin J. Thorton, that's him
“Showman,” because there really is no other single word to describe the force that is Kevin J. Thorton, strutted, preened, skewered, sang, and soliloquized Friday night at the Kansas City Fringe Festival. His hyper-magnetism shone in his one-man show, "I Love You (We’re F*#ked)."
Promising premise lacks follow-through
A great premise alone could not save “Bill Murray’s Cousin Live in Concert!” from missing the mark Friday evening at the Kansas City Fringe Festival.
Fringe Festival 2011
The 7th Annual KC Fringe Festival is an unfiltered, uncensored sampling of Kansas City’s cultural arts and runs July 21–31st, 2011. The 11-day festival is jam-packed with live theater, dance, performance art, visual art, spoken word, puppetry, storytelling, film and fashion.
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