Rooftop Films presents Scenes from Texas
Friday, July 18th, 2003
8:00 Live music by The King's County Moonshiners [details below]
9:00 Movies from the largest state in the lower 48.
Scenes from Texas
Up north, we still tend to think of Texas as a frontier land Ð the strange, wild lands of Dallas and Houston where oil millionaires wear ten-gallon hats and drive pick-ups with gun racks; the border lands of El Paso and Corpus Christie where sheriffs battle in the desert and on the sea against smugglers carrying narcotics, weapons and human beings; the no-man's lands of Austin and Marfa where artists who reject the coasts roll in like tumbleweed. The stories we hear about Texas have the air John Ford's The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance—the air of a place clinging to its dangerous past but being dragged into a modernizing, civilizing world: 43 people are arrested in Tulia and jailed in an unlawful, racist drug bust, and only set free after years behind bars; the space shuttle breaks up and scatters fiery metal from Waco to Nacogdoches; amidst prayer circles and pro-gay protests the anti-sodomy laws are overturned.
Today's Texas is rich territory for a filmmaker with a sense of place—or with an overwhelming sense of dislocation. A filmmaker who watches the evening news and takes on the unexpectedly burdensome expectations placed on the weatherwoman. A filmmaker who sees a guy biking gallons of soup around her neighborhood, and, rather than chalking him up as a loony, talks to him, rides with him, eats with him, films him. A filmmaker who might stop and cry in joy and fear for a little girl so oblivious to the monstrous industrial landscape she dances in.
There is innocence and alienation in Texas, these days. There are movies filled with introspection and desperation, here at Rooftop Films.
THE FILMS: The Soup Peddler Lisa Kaselak (26:18)
The slow food movement moves on a bike in Austin, where David Ansel delivers gallons of hand-made soup to subscribers, otherwise known as "soupies." Ansel believes that Americans are especially alienated from their food, and that his all-natural, tenderly concocted recipes allow people to eat well with a conscience. He proves that livable, connected neighborhoods can support human-scale, environmentally responsible micro-businesses such as his. Too bad he doesn't deliver to NY.
Untitled (Snow White) Eileen Maxson (1:00)
Maxson recasts Disney films with B-movie dialogue, hilariously questioning the perceptions of women in these children's "classics." Here, Miss White is coerced down a dark path.
Gretchen and the Night Danger Stephen Collins (24:00) bungalow16@yahoo.com
An awkward high-school girl wants more attention from her boyfriend and less from her mother. This subtle and sad black comedy from Steve Collins -- the only man to have shown a movie in each of Rooftop Films' 7 seasons -- features some of the finest performances yet by Collins' regulars John Merriman and Courtney Davis. Plus another dance spectacular.
Untitled (Cinderella) Eileen Maxson (1:00)
Cinderella's got a bad rap.
INTERMISSION
Weekend Forecast with Nara Gamble Eileen Maxson (6:00)
Maxson continues her explorations of female fear and anxiety, as represented and experienced in the media. Here, she poses as a TV news weatherwoman, stranded in a blue-screen void and questioning her role and self-worth.
El Paso Vietnam Adele Ray (16:00) adeleray@yahoo.com
Through old photos and footage, the director explores the personal history of the marriage of her assured Vietnamese mother and headstrong G.I. father.
Untitled (Lady and the Tramp) Eileen Maxson (1:00)
The Tramp settles into the ugly realities of married life.
The Adventures of Mad Matt Scott Rice (27:00)
srice2@austin.rr.com
James Bond. Indiana Jones. Mad Matt: as a teenager, Scott Rice directed 50 episodes of the "Mad Matt" series, action movies starring his younger brother. This incredibly touching memoir includes hilarious film clips and "outtakes" (which had to be left in because editing was nearly impossible), and also sad and cruel behind-the-scenes footage of Scott lording over his three younger siblings. This is the type of revealing family story which will both remind you why you hated your brother so much and make you wish you could be a kid again.
Girl in Garage Jeremy Eilers (4:00) jk_eilers@yahoo.com
There's something amazingly beautiful and sad in this little girl's ease and joy amidst the ominous desolation and noise. A stunning comment on man's place in an industrial world, on the loss of childhood innocence, on our values and expectations as viewers, on kids' songs, pig tails and little yellow dresses.
Special thanks to Spencer Parsons of Cinema Texas for his continuing curatorial assistance.
THE MUSIC:
8pm: While none of The King's County Moonshiners have actually been to Texas, they've all seen pictures of the place and even have friends who have visited. These dudes seamlessly combine the elements of what make Texas Texas: dry heat, sweat, oiliness, haberdasheries, spittoons, saloons, insects the size of your forearm, venomous varmints, pork rinds, and small-town sheriffs with questionable ethics. When people talk of New York as having so much to offer, this is exactly the type of thing they're talking about. If you like movies, films, Texas, rooftops, jackalopes, or search-and-destroy roots-choked rawkl—and I think you probably do—then this event is for you!
