The Indie film world of mind-blowing mindjobs, clever screenplays, and eye poppingly different film excellence is extraordinarily small. All you have to do is pick a random film that I’ve highlighted and the degree of separation between it and all the rest of these films are just incredibly small. The acting talent overlaps, the screenwriters, editors, and directors are all infusing one another in various and sundry ways. It’s actually pretty cool.
And the coolest part about diving so deeply into these films and meeting many of these artists is that you begin to see the framework and support that under-girds these cinema experiences. More than once, after highlighting a new bootstrapped indie film, I’ve been invited to film festivals or showings with the director and screenplay writers. They are just so very thankful for even my little site’s boost to their publicity. And a couple of times I’ve had the cool opportunity of joining in. To meet the writers and the actors of some of these films is really a dream come true for a cinema geek like myself. My personal favorite was meeting Eric Heisserer at the premier of his screenplay for Arrival. These things are fantastic opportunities to meet extraordinary people and talk to them about their fantastic creations.
Anyway. Enough poetic waxing and random drivel making. Well, I just saw on twitter that one of my favorite movies I’ve covered here on this site, Coherence, is having a special screening with a bunch of the cast and crew. And of all the movies I’ve ever heard of, Coherence has the single most interesting genesis story. The film was crafted, in an outline form, and the actors were all given cards of talking points that they needed to hit during their scenes that were ad libbed as they went. The cast didn’t even know where the story was going. They were even told, at one point, to not be afraid, that the movie wouldn’t harm them in any way. So when the lights went out, or there was slamming on the doors, the cast were literally scared out of their minds when it happened. There are so many fantastic details in the making of this film…never mind the content of one of my favorite mindjobs of all time. All that to say, you could go join the cast and crew and take part in the Q&A, and ask brilliant questions for us! (I may even put a bounty out on anyone that could get me audio of the Q&A time if I am not able to make it. Which, I am still trying to negotiate my schedule for! We will see.) Anyway, this would be a fantastic chance to learn more about a fantastic movie from the inside out.
I’ve actually had the privilege of interviewing and chatting with a few members of the Coherence crew/cast I believe. I had a lot of fun talking with the Director, Creator, and Writer for this film, James Ward Byrkit. Chatting with him about how he made this film, and tons of the plot twists and turns was a pile of fun for me. I really don’t care whether these interviews get read – I just built this site as an excuse to reach out to these people I’m starstruck by! hahah.
Here are the relevant details:
SPECIAL Q&A WITH CAST & CREW: Director James Ward Bykrit and numerous cast & crew will be on hand for a special reunion Q&A immediately following the movie. This is your chance to ask these incredibly talented movie makers how they made such a great sci-fi feature film on a shoe-string budget so you can get inspiration and some practical tips to make your own!
Part of our THE LITTLE MOVIE THAT COULD series. Saturday, February 8, 2020 @ 7p, The Club: COHERENCE (2013, Oscilloscope, dir by James Ward Bykrit, 89mns)
The tickets are like 15 bucks or something. Which, by my math, is basically a normal ticket price. Now all I need is a plane ticket! Anyone want to buy me a plane flight from Denver to LA? Hahahah. Nah. You really don’t have to. You are too kind. (I literally just asked my wife if I could go to a movie screening in LA on February 8th…her response? “Are you being funny?” hahahah.
Location: The Club
Address: 1917 Bay Street 2nd Floor, Los Angeles, CA 90021
You can find out more about tickets here. Anyway, man I loved this movie. If you haven’t seen it yet – do it. You can find it here here and here. Or in Los Angeles on 2/8/2020. Can’t imagine a more fun place to see it for the first time!
Edited by: CY
