Jason goes to Holehead--Closing Night

Now it's all over, including the writing.

Sunday was a closing night party all day, Art & Beats with local artists and music. But I was volunteering at the Niles Film Museum during the day, so I missed most of it. What I did see looked pretty cool, and I did like the "Arts and Meats" sausage BBQ outside. The Louisiana Hot Links were delicious.

But really, I just came up for the movie, starting with the short THIS LITTLE LIGHT. A cool little atmospheric piece mostly in darkness (so the sound editing had to be excellent) periodically illuminated by a match. And it slowly reveals the horror right behind its main character.

And finally, the closing movie was ZERO KILLED, a documentary exploration of death from Austria. Since 1996, director Michal Kosokowski has provided a unique service. People have acted out their murder fantasies with him. They write the scenario, he films it. The only condition is they must act in their movie--either as a killer or as a victim. After collecting these murder fantasies for over a decade, he brings some of them back to discuss their films and their thoughts about death and killing. The conversations are wide ranging, and juxtaposed with their films. Topics such as torture, revenge, war, the death penalty, etc. are discussed, and answers are mostly left to the audience.

It's a very good film, and probably one that would benefit from a second viewing. There were a few things making this a less-than-ideal screening. First and foremost, the acoustics in the Terra Gallery are pretty bad. Loud and echo-y, and you can hear everyone talking on the other side of the screen (where the party space and bar were still open.) I know they explored the option of showing the film outdoors but decided against it (that has its own issues--traffic noise, streetlights, etc.)

Second, the digital projection there was pretty low resolution. Pretty badly pixelated. But that's something I can usually power through and not let it bother me.

And finally, I was a bit drunk (did I mention there was a bar there) and struggled a bit to stay awake. In fact, I might have taken a tiny catnap in the first 10 minutes or so. But I still saw enough to know it's a quality film. So here's hoping it plays again somewhere in the Bay Area.

And that, finally, my friends, is the end of Holehead 2012, and the end of the film festival year (at least for me.) I guess all that's left is to congratulate the Award Winners. Congratulations, everyone!

Another Hole in the Head 2012 Audience Awards:

Best Feature: PORTRAIT OF A ZOMBIE
Best Short:  WELCOME WAGON
Best Local Feature: DAY JOB
Best Local Short: WELCOME WAGON
Best Foreign Feature: NERVO CRANIANO ZERO
Best Foreign Short: GAME

Staff Pick: SATURDAY MORNING MASSACRE

[Update: As of this writing, this isn't up on the festival website, but I have it on good authority that EUROCRIME: THE ITALIAN COP AND GANGSTER FILMS THAT RULED THE '70S also won Best Documentary. I trust that will be updated soon.]

Total Running Time: 94 minutes
My Total Minutes: 307,872