Arts & Entertainment
Inside The Screening Room
The Hygienic Celebrates Indie Film At The 18th Annual Screening Room
Unwanted pregnancy, violent post-apocalyptic nihilism, aliens in New London, and infamous hoaxes were all fodder for film at the Hygienic’s 18th Annual Screening Room on Saturday.
The independent film festival, like the Hygienic Gallery’s annual Salon des Indépendents art show, was open to anyone and all submissions were accepted, with no judges, no jury, no fees, and no censorship. The only criteria, says Andrew Bell, director of the Hygienic Filmworks Division, is that the movies could not have been screened in the region previously.
This year’s festival featured about 20 films, which is roughly the same number as last year, says Bell, although because of the large number of submissions the screening start time was moved up to 2 p.m. instead of the originally advertised 6:30 p.m. However, the films played continuously at the El 'N' Gee in New London and people popped in throughout the evening to at least catch a flick or two.
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While some of the filmmakers had submitted movies in previous years, the festival attracted a number of first timers, says Bell. “It’s a young amateur crowd but some pieces definitely stand out,” he says. “It gets better every year. It’s much easier to make films now. You’re seeing a lot of young people express themselves though film.”
Most of the movies were short. Chartier/Botelho’s Confined, Greta Stroebel’s I Miss You, and Andrew Proctor’s Let’s Stay In Bed All Day, for instance, were just three minutes long. D. Spinelli’s In Search of Alien Life in New London and Watrous Brothers Productions’ Pursuing Nostalgia, were among the longer entries but even they were not longer than half an hour.
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Rich Watrous says he’s a big fan of Pursuing Nostalgia but he admits he’s biased--the film was produced, written and directed by his three sons, Elisha, 20, Alex, 19, and Sam, 18. Elisha wrote the script, Alex directed the film and composed the score, and Sam acted in the movie. “This was their first 30 minute film,” says Watrous. They’re hoping to get it screened at other film festivals too, he says, but his sons are already working on their next film project. “What’s fun for me is watching them go on to creativity,” says Watrous, who is an artist himself.
As you might expect, the entries varied greatly in subject matter and quality but Nate Semel, for one, was impressed by what he saw. “They were very, very good,” he said after attending the screening. “They were done by amateurs but very sophisticated with special effects.”
Semel’s favorite was the special feature presentation of Abel Raises Cain, a touching and humorous documentary by Westport native Jenny Abel about her father, infamous hoaxer Alan Abel. A born satirist, Alan Abel has made a career of duping the media into covering strange and untrue stories that he dreams up to make larger points about society.
Abel has fooled everyone from The New York Times to Phil Donohue, garnered national coverage for a nonexistent presidential candidate, and angered thousands with his fake campaign against breast feeding and his phony school for panhandlers.
Bell says he contacted Jenny Abel after discovering the film on YouTube and offered to feature the documentary at the festival. “I chose the movie because Alan’s mission and the Hygienic’s mission are one and the same,” says Bell, noting that both have an anti-establishment perspective.
Although bad weather prevented Jenny Abel from attending the event and to host a planned discussion of the film, the movie was well-received. “That’s something every young filmmaker should see,” said Rich Watrous. “It shows how they could take their film craft and do something like that. He actually hoaxed the whole world.”
The second Screening Room event, featuring the film Burial Boys, will be held Feb. 12 at 228 State Street, New London.