AMERICAN MOVIE
Thursday, August 8th
the Movie...
Directed by Chris Smith (1999, 107 min)Hollywood Forever Cemetery / $12
His dream was a long shot.
Ambitious, friendly, fallible, bumbling, persuasive, relentless and eventually heroic, Mark Borchardt wanted to be a filmmaker. In Menominee Falls, Wisconsin, making a film seemed out of reach, but with a rag tag group of his childhood friends, family and small town eccentrics, they attempt the impossible: make a horror movie. This brilliant documentary follows Mark for two years as he tries to make the movie, and the results are hilarious, heartwarming and ultimately, inspirational!
Award winning director Chris Smith deftly covers Mark and his crew, taking us into the private corners of this oddball group; their ambitions, fears and doubts in the face of adversity. This unique and moving portrait carries us from derision to admiration as these humble folks pull together courage and independent spirit for the sake of art, with a genuine beauty of the human spirit that fictional feel-good movies can never touch.
American Movie swept Sundance when it premiered, scooping up the Grand Jury prize, and is itself a shining example of independent filmmaking. Come celebrate this extraordinary film and Sundance’s ongoing tradition of bringing indie film-makers to light and kick off Sundance’sNEXT WEEKEND
LA Film Festival!