MY TOP FIVE CRIME FILMS OF 2011

ANIMAL KINGDOM

THE GUARD

SNOWTOWN

DRIVE

DOWN TERRACE

THAT'S ALL YE KNOW AND ALL YE NEED TO KNOW.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Short Sharp Interview: Victoria Watson

PDB: You've had three rather cushty short stories published in the last few months, when did you write them?

VW: I started writing ‘I Should Have Seen it Coming’ and ‘KeepingQuiet’ in Spring this year. I developed them over the summer and they were released in October. I wrote ‘Inside’ in October and it was released shortly after. It’s funny because I often let a story stew in my mind for a while before putting it down.

PDB: Which short story writers float your boat?

VW: Darren Sant, another Trestle writer, has done a lot for my writing this year and reading his stories has been a big thrill for me. I adore his ‘Tales from the Longcroft Estate’. I’ve always loved Roald Dahl’s ‘Tales of the Unexpected’ so I guess that’s where it all started.

PDB: How much of your writing is based on personal experience?

VW: I think, as a writer, there will always be some things that you use. ‘I Should Have Seen it Coming’ came about after I’d been to a psychic night in a pub so the setting was inspired by something I’d seen in real life. Characters have traits I’ve noticed in people, a lot of my characters are amalgamations of people I’ve met and their characteristics as well as pure invention on my part.

PDB: Which is the most important, the story or the storyteller?

VW: I consider myself a conduit for a story. Although the ideas are coming from me, I still think the story is most important although, without the storyteller, there’d be no story.

PDB: Do you have any interest in writing for television or films?

VW: I’d love to write for TV or film, theatre or radio. I studied a Masters in Creative Writing so I have had a little bit of experience in writing for different mediums although I worry about the stylistics. I don’t tend to worry about the ideas.

PDB: What's on the cards next?

VW: I have two stories that are currently in my head and I have started writing them but they’re in the early stages at the moment. I’m 20,000 words into a novel and I would like to concentrate on writing that in 2012.

Thanks for the chat Paul, and also the opportunity you gave me to appear in ‘Brit Grit Too’.

Find out more about Vic Watson at Elementary Watson.

Writer Graham Smith meets Private Eye Harry Charters

Graham Smith, the reader, reviewer and writer, meets his old friend, gumshoe detective Harry Charters.

GS: So Harry have you had time to read my account of the tales you told me.

HC: Hey kid, how many times have I told you to call me Mr Charters?

GS: Sorry Mr Charters.

HC: That’s better. No I haven’t read your book an’ I’m not gonna. I’ve been there and lived it. The only reason I’d read it would be to check that you told things the way I told ‘em to you

GS: I told ‘em just the way you told ‘em to me Har ... er Mr Charters. I wouldn’t dare do anything else. You know that. Can you tell me about how you became a private eye?

HC: When I left the Army an old friend was being conned so I looked into it and things took off from there. Back in them days I was keener than a straight blade and before I knew it I had me a staff of ten and plenty of money.

GS: What happened to your staff and your business?

HC: My staff left when I lost interest in the business after the “bad case.”

GS: You’ve never yet told me about the “bad case.” Can you tell me anything now?

HC: Another time kid, another time.

GS: I’ve heard you called a vigilante. How does this description sit with you?

HC: I’ve been called worse. Names don’t hurt a man none, but there are some things that can rankle a proud man. If you don’t believe me ask the Chicago wiseass.

GS: So you’re comfortable being called a vigilante then? Happy that people see you as someone who takes the law into his own hands?

HC: I right wrongs, redress injustices and settle scores I figger need settling. If people wanna call me a vigilante then that’s their choice. Sounds kinda dameish though. What would be the masculine of that? Vigiluncle?

GS: The stories you told me which I wrote up were all fantastic snapshots of your life. Do you have anymore to tell?

HC: I have lots of tales to tell kid. Some short, some longer and one or two that would take all night. Bring me over a bottle of bourbon and I’ll tell you a few of ‘em.

GS: Are they like the ones you’ve already told me or are they different?

HC: I could tell you tales of how I used to solve crimes quicker ‘n the cops, tales of how I saved lives, tales of how I failed others, stories about me and stories about my actions. You know they wanted to keep me in the Army and train me up as some kind of super soldier? To hell with that. I saw war close at hand and I didn’t like what I saw.

GS:  When you told me the story about Mr Spratsky, the rube who lost at cards. You said that you used to do a bit of boxing. When and why did you start boxing?

HC: I started boxing in a suburb of Paris back in ‘44. We were waiting for reinforcements before pushing forward again and a few of us were bored, so we started a boxing tournament after we raided a sports store and stole a coupla pairs of gloves. During my career I only got beat twice outta thirty two fights, five times I won and the rest of them saw me disqualified for punching my opponent all the way to the ground.

GS: You have Nasty Drunk and Melancholy Drunk on your shoulders. What can you tell me about them?

HC: Nasty Drunk gets me into fights and causes me to make mistakes because of my bad temper. Melancholy Drunk makes me realise what a failure I’ve been and reminds me of all I done wrong. I’d say that Melancholy Drunk is by far the more dangerous of the two.

GS: What’s next for you Mr Charters?

HC: Gonna drink me some bourbon and watch the world go by. Pick up a case or two to pay the bar bill. Repeat until I get me a pine overcoat and an earthen hat.

GS: Thank you for your time Mr Charters. Will I see you again soon?

HC: Sure thing, just bring a full bottle of bourbon. And kid.

GS: Yeah?

HC: Call me Harry.

Read Harry Charters' Chronicles here.

Graham Smith's Amazon author page is here.

B R STATEHAM - CALL ME SMITTY (BOOK TRAILERS)

Make a video - it's fun, easy and free!
www.onetruemedia.com

CALL ME SMITTY BY  B R STATEHAM

DRUNK ON THE MOON NOMINATED IN PREDATORS & EDITORS POLL

MY HORROR/ NOIR SHORT STORY, DRUNK ON THE MOON HAS BEEN NOMINATED IN PREDATORS & EDITORS 2011 READER POLL AS ONE OF THE YEAR'S BEST HORROR SHORT STORIES.

ALSO, 13 SHOTS OF NOIR HAS BEEN NOMINATED IN THE BEST BOOK COVER SECTION.

CHECK 'EM OUT AND VOTE FOR THEM OR WHOEVER BLOWS YOUR SKIRT UP!        

Short Sharp Interview: Jochem Vandersteen- 'Son Of Spade'

Q1: What is White Knight Syndrome?

It's the tendency to rush to the aid of any female they see who appears in any form of distress AND the title of my first novel. It features Noah Milano,  a Los Angeles security specialist and estranged son of a mobster looking for redemption.

When he's hired to bodyguard a beautiful and rich teenage girl he's drawn into a web of family secrets, homicide and the dangers of falling in love. It came out a few years ago in paperback and is available now in Kindle-format (http://www.amazon.com/Knight-Syndrome-Milano-Mystery-ebook/dp/B006N0MBI0/ref=ntt_at_ep_dpt_6).

Q2: When did you first get interested in Private Detective fiction?

It all started watching Spenser for Hire on TV, followed up by reading the books. That led to the classics and newer stuff. 

Q3: Marlowe or Spade?

The character of Spade, but the writing of Marlowe's Chandler.

Q4: Have you ever fancied becoming a real life gumshoe?

Not really, I'm a wimp and my wife won't appreciate the late nights and femme fatales ;-)

Q5: Who is Mike Dalmas?

Mike Dalmas is a husband, father and vigilante... He's also the lead character in a series of digital shorts coming out at Trestle Press (http://www.amazon.com/Mike-Dalmas-Story-Find-ebook/dp/B005P9FSQC/ref=ntt_at_ep_dpt_1), written by me. They're more action-oriented than the Noah Milano stuff. Think a mix between Jack Reacher and The Brady Bunch. Mike Dalmas left Special Forces to become a dedicated family man, but when his daughter gets molested he had his revenge, killing the pervert who committed the crime.

Now the Bay City cops keep him out of jail if he takes care of their dirty work. The things their badge won't allow them to do but for which Dalmas has the right skill set.

Q6: How difficult is it writing in a second language?

I've been reading a lot in english since I was a kid, so it comes pretty naturally. 

Q7: What's up next?

I'm writing some superhero stuff at http://godling.blogspot.com/, a new Mike Dalmas will be coming out soon enough and I'm writing a new Noah Milano novelette. Also, I'm trying out a horror story that could be the start of a series featuring an updated Harvey Banks, an old character of mine (http://www.members.tripod.com/~shforum/deadline.htm).

Thanks Jochem.

Jochem's essential PI related blog SONS OF SPADE is here.

Jochem Vandersteen

 is the founder member of The Hardboiled Collective.

Inspiration Forum Interview

I'm interviewed by Fiona McVie at the Inspiration Forum.

Pop over, if you fancy!

A New Christmas Story at Guilty Consience

AND MAY ALL YOUR CHRISTMASES BE WHITE is my Christmas short story over at Luca Veste's Guilty Conscience.


And there's good stuff over there from the likes of Julie Morrigan and Nick Quantrill. 


Can't say fairer than that!

Merry Xmas!

Guest Blog: Kent Adamson On Deanna Durbin and the Christmas Holidays in Hollywood

There is a fascinating little movie that has shown up spliced into several parts on YouTube. One of the most defiant and rebellious feature films ever turned out in Hollywood stars the often nauseatingly cheery Deanna Durbin as a hard bitten hostess in a southern brothel. It co-stars the usually lighter than air smiley hoofer Gene Kelly as a pathological liar and murderer. They are lovers and marry. It was written by the gifted and maniacal Herman J Mankiewicz, who is better known for his work on the script of “Citizen Kane” and producer of the surrealist extravaganza “Million Dollar Legs”. “Christmas Holiday”  is directed with more dark shadows than three Val Lewton movies by the bitterly brilliant ex-pat Robert Siodmak best known for his blacker than pitch, and blacker than  black crime thrillers “The Killers” and “Criss Cross”. Though it is called “Christmas Holiday”, it was released in the summer of 1944, and is colder than the Hollywood snow that never melts.

The production world in Los Angeles is always aglow with holiday sights and sounds every year in late summer. July/August is generally the deadline for completion of the projects and supporting materials for fourth quarter Christmas time releases. Never is the disjunction greater between the world depicted on the screen and life as it is really lived by people who shovel real snow. Rarely do they match up, especially in older classic era studio features, “Christmas Holiday” is an exception.

The chubby child star Deanna Durbin of the 1930’s had grown into a lovely young woman by the mid 1940s. Siodmak introduces her in a sexy skirt slit up to her neckline, singing mournfully in a smoke filled bar on Christmas Eve. What is important here is not the plot, but the manner in which every element of the film unfolds against its own grain. From the casting choices, to a WWII “Dear John” letter prologue that sets the plot in motion, to the hopeless fatalistic conclusion, it turns all holiday expectations inside out. Even when Durbin seeks solace in a midnight mass on Christmas Eve, she doesn’t join in singing her praises with the choir. She breaks down in a pool of bitterly lonely and needy tears. She cries for hours as the church shuts down around her.

This film was a favorite of my dear and much missed friend, actress Ann Savage. She had an ambivalent relationship with the holidays. Though she loved the food, music and friendly camaraderie of the season, it was an especially painful time for her as she grew older. It was a time of year that also gave her joy as it brought out her spirituality, hope and faith. She remembered and honored those who had been most loving to her, and prayed for their souls. Her beloved mother Louise had passed away at Thanksgiving. Her third husband Bert, whom she adored, left the world on New Year’s Eve. Her step-son Bert Jr. died thirty years after his father to the day, on New Year’s Eve. Ann visited with her mother and Bert Sr. at Hollywood Forever Cemetery most frequently during the holidays. Ann herself left the world on Christmas day. Every year since, the expectations of holiday cheer as shown in the movies manufactured in Hollywood have been heavily leavened with celebration of the great spirits and beautiful souls who have graced this world.

Deanna Durbin and Ann Savage were both born in 1921. Durbin was born in Winnipeg Canada, and just turned 90. She left Hollywood in the 1940s and resides comfortably in Switzerland, refusing to look back. Ann Savage spent her teenage and young adult years in Hollywood. She left California in the 1950s to travel the world, returning to Los Angeles often. She spent her last three decades in Hollywood, and had a significant relationship with Winnipeg. She is now infinite.

Bio: Writer/Filmmaker Kent Adamson co-wrote the book “Savage Detours”. He will spend his Christmas Holidays with family, friends, Ann Savage at Hollywood Forever and “Christmas Holiday”.

Link for Christmas Holiday: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vHrZyUO3b24

Guest Blog: Eric Beetner on Decade Definers.

DECADE DEFINERS

by Eric Beetner

I used to sit around and talk movies endlessly with friends in high school and college. It helped that I went to film school and worked in a video store all through high school. Now with two kids and no discernable social life I turn to you, the anonymous cyber-masses to throw my petty opinions upon.

Of course if we were all hanging out on a basement couch like the good ol days, I’d tell you about my new books out - Dig Two Graves and Split Decision. But that would be shameless and I’ll let the string of 5-star reviews, year-end best of lists (A Nick Quantrill pick!) and author endorsements (Scott Phillips, Sean Doolittle) do that for me. I’m here to talk movies.

So I was thinkin’, what crime films embody their decades? Not even the best, but the films that say what it is, or was, to be a crime story in that era. Here’s what I ended up with. Tell me what you think – this is a dialogue.

1950s - I only went back so far for space considerations. We’ll do a follow up if you want. But for now, I vote The Asphalt Jungle (1950). It is the ultimate heist movie and right then, in the thick of Film Noir, is features an entire cast, top-to-bottom, of bad guys. And damn if you don’t root for every last one of them.

Also The Killing (1956). Still in the mold of a Noir Kubrick’s experiment in style both stubbornly stuck to the splintered structure of the novel (Clean Break by Lionel White) but it showed that art in crime cinema could exist.

1960s - Bullit (1968). In the 60s crime was cool. Of, rather, crime was allowed to be cool on screen. It doesn’t get cooler than Steve McQueen. Sure, he’s the cop in this one but Bullit shows a growing acceptance of the anti-hero not the mention a giant leap forward in the car chase. 

Bonnie & Clyde (1967). Of course Bonnie & Clyde’s greatest contribution to the advancement of crime cinema was the violence. And once again, cool rules. Unapologetic, unredemptive and sexy as they committed crimes, Bonnie & Clyde reached back in time to show us what a film made in the 30s wouldn’t have been allowed to. 

1970s - You think I’m going to say The Godfather, don’t you? I’m not. Both Godfather films are an island unto themselves. (I’m still in denial that #3 even exists, no matter what decade) But they didn’t influence other crime films so much. You don’t see endless copies of Godfather films. I think people knew better.

 Dirty Harry (1971) signified something, I’m still not sure exactly what. But boy is it the 70s in a nutshell. Afraid of authority and yet acknowledging that vigilantism may be the only way to true justice. And if you want to talk about influence, few cop movies to come out from the next 20 years didn’t have some of Harry’s DNA in them.

Get Carter (1971) I was going to put The French Connection here but decided it was basically the same message as Bullit with a slightly better car chase. Great, no doubt, but Get Carter brought us revenge cinema, a genre that still gets play today.

1980s - To Live and Die in LA (1985) Talk about being of the decade. Soundtrack by Wang Chung, features a middle eastern terrorist, the line “I’m gettin’ too old for this shit”, tight jeans, a car chase in the LA river. Violent. It glorifies the criminals as much as the cops, excuse me – secret service agents. There are still some pleasures to be found here and points to the film for going dark as hell. Doesn’t hold up as much as I would have thought when I first saw it and thought it was awesome. But this was crime cinema in the 80s.

The Untouchables (1987) Sort of a redemption for the crime film. A reminder of where it came from and a challenge laid down by DePalma for the others to step it up and stop with synthesizers and neon and get back to story and character. I wish it had worked. 

Really I should put Beverly Hills Cop (1984) or 48 Hrs (1982) in this spot because the crime comedy became the go-to for a while. Still is, really, but boy it seems like no one can get the formula right, can they?

1990s - Hard Boiled (1992) Yep, a Hong Kong actioner by John Woo. Did anything explode our notion of the crime film than Hong Kong in the early 90s? They were the cinema equivalent of Nirvana’s Nevermind album. Everyone who saw this or The Killer was influenced. And if you say you weren’t – you’re lying.

Reservoir Dogs (1992) Exhibit A of the Hong Kong influence and QT proved you could do it in America. And on almost no money. Dogs is always accused of being a copy of HK films and maybe that’s why the copies of Reservoir Dogs all seemed so lame. A copy of a copy. 

2000s - Gone Baby Gone (2007) Sure, not enough people saw this and it has baggage in the form of Ben Affleck, but first of all I think this is a truly great film. Second, it is a prime example of the new morality in crime films of the new millennium. More crime stories deal with implications of the violence, the actions, the attitudes of the characters than ever before it seems. Or maybe I just love this movie a whole lot. (this is where the whole discussion part of this came in handy during college) And hey, after The Town, Affleck has been vindicated and we can’t deny he’s a hell of a director.

Memento (2000) Beyond launching Christopher Nolan as an A list director, this film encapsulates so many of what came before. Crazy structure like The Killing, high art on low budget like Reservoir Dogs. Morally questionable like Hard Boiled. And every now and then a film comes along that breathes new life into a genre dangerously in peril of growing stale.

So what’s next? The Aussie’s sure have been cranking out some great films lately.  Aw, who am I kidding, I never get out anymore. That reminds me, TV sure has gotten good lately . . .

Bio: Eric Beetner is the author of Dig Two Graves, Split Decision (book #3 of Fight Card) co-author (with JB Kohl) of One Too Many Blows To The Head and Borrowed Trouble. His award-winning short stories have appeared in Pulp Ink, D*cked, Off The Record, Grimm Tales, Discount Noir, Murder In The Wind and the Million Writers Award: best new web voices. For more info visit ericbeetner.blogspot.com

Out Now !!! Between These Pages,These Places by Frank Duffy

‘There is pitch darkness between these pages. Glimpses of something on the edge of your vision. Sudden jolts and slow burning tension. There is fear and madness. And violence.

There are vivid images that ooze across the page like mercury, crawling into the crevices of your imagination, only to lay dormant until they strike during your sleep.

Frank Duffy’s Between These Pages, These Places is a rich and dark collection of horror and murder. Of relationships that snap. Of lost souls and howls of pain and anger. And it is a masterfully chilling collection of urban horror that you will never forget.’ 

MY 15 BEST CRIME NOVELS/ NOVELLAS OF 2011

YEAH, I KNOW I CHOSE FIVE BRIT GRIT BOOKS  OVER AT LUCA'S PLACE BUT THAT ONLY SCRATCHED THE SURFACE. SO, I'VE NARROWED IT DOWN TO FIFTEEN AND IT WAS STILL HARD!AND I STILL HAVEN'T INCLUDED SHORT STORY COLLECTIONS!

Declan Burke – Absolute Zero Cool

Heath Lowrance - The Bastard Hand

J J Connolly - Viva La Madness

Charlie Williams- One Dead Hen

Anthony Neil Smith - All The Young Warriors

Gerard Brennan - The Point

Dave White- Witness To Death

Nigel Bird- Smoke

Josh Stallings- Beautiful, Naked & Dead

Ray Banks- Dead Money

Julie Morrigan - Convictions

Richard Godwin - Apostle Rising

Jason Michel- And The Streets Screamed Blue Murder!

Tony Black - Truth Lies Bleeding

Les Edgerton - The Bitch

And, yeah, The Bitch isn't out yet but it will be soon...

Guest Blog: PaidtobeNice.com On SKANKENSTEIN

I started sending a movie poster around the internet that my boyfriend created for a film I’m writing called Skankenstein. It was Halloween time this past year and my boyfriend was kidding around and came up with the title Skankenstein and the tag line "this dead hooker ain’t no joke".  I actually studied joke history – dead hookers, dead baby jokes, urban legends, etc.  in a class when I was an undergraduate at The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. I also took a course called Black Popular Culture there with Michael Erik Dyson, who now teaches a course on rapper Jay-Z at Georgetown University in Washington, DC. I try to keep up on ebonics stateside and in England (SE5 8QW) where I used to live.  One of my new favorite movies is Attack The Block. Good on ya, Joe Cornish.

Skankenstein is not straight up blaxploitation.  With Skankenstein, I'm infusing messages also about women’s empowerment with the other film tagline: She’s every woman; it’s all in her – a twist on the Chaka Khan song “I’m Every Woman”. I have storylines about women working together to better their situations. I’m a firm believer females need to get their acts together when it comes to inter-sex/gender relations instead of putting each other down and I want to show this in Skankenstein.

I’m also campaigning for women to believe they are “bapable” – a combination of beautiful and capable, when American television is doing well with the buzz-word “adorkable”, a combo of adorable and dorky. I think this word keeps women at the level of playthings. I think there can be better entertainment than vagina jokes. The word Skankenstein is a term in Urbandictionary.com to mean mega-slut. Women need to own the rhetoric of words that put us down – like slut and skank. Women in the US started doing Slut Walks. Sticks and stones, right?

When I write I draw from a number of influences.  I just got back from England where I gave a talk on women’s studies and visual rhetoric at The University of London’s Center for Cultural Memory. I’m in a masters of fine arts program in screenwriting in Southern California and am learning how to write for tv and film. My professors have shown us crazy films like Six Shooter by Martin McDonagh and The Long Goodbye directed by Robert Altman, based on the Raymond Chandler book. 

Skankenstein is a departure for me. I usally enjoy writing comedy. I like watching both comedy and drama. I have a thing for movies like Death Proof too- where women work together to kick butt.  I started watching bizarre films like those by Alejandro Jodorowsky and ones about female bikers doing away with male bikers when I was in my late teens. My neighbor who makes the best pibil burritos tells me I need to watch Vicente Fernandez movies too. Fringe is my favorite American crime noir (+ sci-fi) program. Olivia Dunham is an awesome female protagonist. Fringe keeps my interest over shows like Bones which have gone the way of almost romantic comedy. 

I’m hoping more people find out about Skankenstein because I’m an Asian-American woman, long thought of as playthings. Listen up world, we’re not toys either. I don’t adhere to the stereotypes. I was raised by a tom-boy mother who beat up her brothers and jumped over barbed wire fences and climbed trees and has the scars to prove it. My dad’s really cool too. My sister and I have been given the competitive advantages and freedom to be who we are due to laissez faire child rearing policies.  I don’t make jewelry or design fashion or laugh with my hand over my mouth and I’m not subservient. I write movies where people die.  As you may have noticed- all the cool films I’ve mentioned above were written and made by men. The keepers of the horror related and noir genres in film are men. Isn’t it time we got some fresh air with this?

I’m enjoying writing crime fiction more than I thought I would.  I’m really glad that the Skankenstein poster brought us to this blog. We’ve gotten really positive attention about the artwork from all over- people from Japan, Eastern Europe, France, and the UK via Facebook. I’m hoping people get the messages and don’t dismiss Skankenstein  as anything trivial, racist or sexist. Rest assured – it’s going to be a riot -  zingers are in there, things explode, corpses come back to life. You’re going to have copious amounts of fun when you read/see it.

Stay tuned and find out more:

www.twitter.com/paidtobenice

www.ctscanhollywood.wordpress.com

Butter Knife is at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7oIBnF4aECg

There’s a black Corvette and some interesting women in it.

IT'S ALL BEEN RATHER LOVELY!

A couple of very nice Xmas treats this weekend:


Over at GUILTY CONSCIENCE, Chris Rhatigan included BRIT GRIT in his top five books of 2011.


DAZ'S SHORT BOOK REVIEWS gave 13 SHOTS OF NOIR a brilliant review.


And BRIT GRIT TOO is one of Amazon's top twenty HOT NEW RELEASES IN HARD BOILED MYSTERIES. 

What could be nicer than that?

BRIT GRIT TOO IS OUT NOW ! ! !

Edited by Paul D Brazill, Brit Grit Too collects 32 of Britain's best up and coming crime fiction writers to aid the charity Children 1st children1st.org.uk/

The BRIT GRIT mob is coming to kick down your door with hobnailed boots. Kitchen-sink noir; petty-thief-louts; lives of quiet desperation; sharp, blood-stained slices of life; booze-sodden brawls from the bottom of the barrel and comedy that's as black as it's bitter--this is BRIT GRIT

Table Of Contents.

1. Two Fingers Of Noir by Alan Griffiths
2. Looking For Jamie by Iain Rowan
3. Stones In Me Pocket by Nigel Bird
4. The Catch And The Fall by Luke Block
5. A Long Time Coming by Paul Grzegorzek
6. Loose Ends by Gary Dobb
7. Graduation Day by Malcolm Holt
8. Cry Baby by Victoria Watson
9. The Savage World Of Men by Richard Godwin
10. Hard Boiled Poem (a mystery) by Alan Savage
11. A Dirty Job by Sue Harding
12. Squaring The Circle by Nick Quantrill
13. The Best Days Of My Life by Steven Porter
14. Hanging Stan by Jason Michel
15. The Wrong Place To Die by Nick Triplow
16. Coffin Boy by Nick Mott
17. Meat Is Murder by Colin Graham
18. Adult Education by Graham Smith
19. A Public Service by Col Bury 
20. Hero by Pete Sortwell
21. Snapshots by Paul D Brazill 
22. Smoked by Luca Veste
23. Geraldine by Andy Rivers
24. A Minimum Of Reason by Nick Boldock
25. Dope On A Rope by Darren Sant
26. A Speck Of Dust by David Barber 
27. Hard Times by Ian Ayris
28. Never Ending by Fiona Johnson 
29. Faces by Frank Duffy
30. The Plebitarian by Danny Hogan 
31. King Edward by Gerard Brennan
32. Brit Grit by Charlie Wade 

Guest Blog: Kent Adamson on After the Triumph of Your Birth

The superb directorial debut of Jim Akin, After the Triumph of Your Birth, breaks boundaries as a personal film. It is unmediated storytelling from the heart, brain, and hands of a director using digital tools as instruments to communicate in words, visuals and music. Carefully crafted, it expands form and content in truthful and intimate ways. It is a touchstone of modern digital movie and music culture, the singular achievement of a lone filmmaker testing himself against the limits of new digital technology.

After the Triumph of Your Birth explores the interstices of life. It probes the personal corners of time in the lives of its characters, visiting the internal spaces that have long been missing from American film. A diverse cast conveys human life and love in the heart of a modern megalopolis. Most notably, legendary soul singer Maria McKee makes her feature film debut and gives a rare on camera live performance in the film. It is an L.A. road movie on foot. The city has never been more lovingly shot nor seemed as hidden onscreen. It opens a world of secret inner desires and fears amid the beauty of hidden paths, side streets, rusty rail yards and panoramic vistas, as it makes its trek from the desert to the ocean.

The visual language of After the Triumph of Your Birth flows like California Plein-Air Painting in motion. It is set to rich harmonies and musical counterpoints. The approach to filmmaking is direct, made possible by the recent shift in technology, which allows infinitely programmable digital tools to respond and operate like finely tuned instruments.  New creative doors have opened, as they did in the 1950s and 60s, when the availability of compact lightweight 16mm cameras, smaller lighting units, portable sound recording and high speed film led to filmmakers breaking new ground in Direct Cinema and Cinéma Vérité. At that time the Arriflex camera became a standard with filmmakers, and new subject matter emerged from people as diverse in background and discipline as artist Andy Warhol and psychologist Albert Maysles.

Writer/director Jim Akin’s path to feature filmmaking did not follow the usual steps of a longtime Los Angeles resident. The avenues of film school to television to feature length project were replaced by a period of intensive self schooling while maintaining a successful professional career in music and still photography. Beginning with cameras and music at an early age, he initially found work as an in demand multi-instrumentalist for studio sessions and live tours.

As the music business converted to digital sound recording, mixing and mastering, he trained himself on the new format workstations. This led to producing and engineering several music albums while still maintaining his profile as a musician and singer. Finding that it had become possible to retain complete creative control and ownership of music projects led to running a self-owned record company. As the combination of digital cameras and production tools combined with post production solutions like Final Cut Pro and After Effects, it was clear that professional quality equipment was readily available for all phases of any film and sound project.

Conception and Pre-Production

In its earliest stages, After the Triumph of Your Birth began as a series of camera tests and experiments. Filming commenced with no shooting schedule, budget, or deadline. Establishing a lead actor, Tom Dunne, and initial locations in the desert, a series of tests of light and image were begun with the Canon 5D Camera. Eventually production would be augmented with two additional Canon 7D cameras. Equipment trials tested light and image for highlights, detail, warm dimensionality and depth of image before arriving at acceptable production presets for each of the three cameras. The cameras were finely tuned to his personal feel with the same precision given a rare guitar or concert piano. Having developed a look for the picture, Akin began to develop the flow of story content.

As the story outline and characters began to take shape, the fluidity of the production tools was matched on the writing side by expanding the script to take advantage of the varied strengths of each actor in the cast. Male lead, Tom Dunne had developed intuitive creative shorthand with the director after playing together in bands for several years. Versatile vocalist, songwriter and live performance star Maria McKee has recorded and toured together with Jim Akin, and they’ve released several acclaimed albums. Multitalented Tessa Ferrer can trace the roots of her powerful singing and acting style back to her grandparents who were the beloved Rosemary Clooney and Jose Ferrer.

With this combination of talents, Jim Akin began production of songs for the movie. The score was developed during the shoot, as music was tested against footage from After the Triumph of Your Birth shortly after each scene was shot. Recorded as part of the ongoing work flow, the soundtrack became a production project on its own terms. As more cast was added, more dimensions were brought to the project with the rock and roll/vaudeville style of Rob Zabrecky. Finally, the young but compelling voice of nine year old Dean Ogle added a unique strength to the cast.

When singer Maria McKee joined the production as an actress and creative producer, she began developing her character with Jim Akin as an acting challenge apart from anything she had previously attempted in film or music. Early in her career, she was signed to a major music label, and had made several videos to promote her albums. Maria has appeared in videos directed by Martin Scorsese, Mary Lambert and Julien Temple. Surrounded by show business from birth, she was raised in a family with roots that go back to the Vaudeville era. Singing and acting came to her naturally as a child prodigy. Her songwriting is known for its strong point of view, realistic emotions and characters.    

Born and raised in Los Angeles, Maria McKee’s affinity for Southern California goes back many generations in her family. They were original homesteaders, and she was christened in Plaza Church (a location in the movie) at the site of the first Pueblo de Los Angeles. In her debut performance, Maria enacts the search for human contact, emotion and community in a highly disconnected modern Los Angeles. She holds the screen beautifully in dramatic dialogue sequences, sings and plays keyboards on the film score, and sings directly on camera. Her interpretation of the soul classic “Save Me” is the centerpiece of the film. It was performed and recorded live, direct on camera, in a bravura performance of immediacy and spontaneity. 

PRODUCTION

Jim Akin shot After the Triumph of Your Birth single handedly with no crew. On location, he was the director, cinematographer, sound recordist and production department. He started and stopped three cameras and aimed the microphone for sound while making each shot. In post, he served as both editor and his own digital filing assistant. He mixed and mastered final digital sound and picture. The immediate responsiveness of the actors and equipment allowed the production to change direction on the set, evolving creatively as the film was shot.

  

The natural process of the production moved it completely away from the mechanistic, industrialized approach to filmmaking which has dominated the creation of feature films since the early twentieth century. In the hands of the studios film language became a mannerist form, vernacular shorthand, solving questions of expedience in shooting coverage and achieving communication with the widest possible audience. The same breakdown of shots that had become commonplace in feature films, also translated handily to television production. Even in academic training, the standard approach of commercial filmmaking also began to corrupt the teaching of the art of film.

For Akin, pushing the limits of the tools also meant pushing the form and language of film, and the boundaries of self. The language of film has expanded in the digital era. Filmmakers have turned genre inside out, as well as looked back at expressive silent movie techniques, and even widened the relationship between music and dialogue through the style of the early ‘transition to sound’ era.

After the Triumph of Your Birth is filled with abundant language onscreen, in dialogue and voice over narration, sometimes sung, in superimposed titles, and in words on found locations. Its visual compositions are complex and rich in vivid color. The camera carefully studies nature, while the characters express themselves directly in heartfelt terms, with a stream of passionate ideas. Each character finds their place in the film through a non dogmatic series of dialogues. Their thoughts in voice over, and in music, often challenge their actions, with songs and music score providing ever deeper levels of meaning.

Giving as much significance to the soundtrack as he did to creating imagery, writing the script and capturing the performances of the actors, Jim Akin produced a score that stands on its own as a musical narrative. There are quiet instrumentals and extended passages of inspired vocalization. The original songs composed for the project are sung by the characters for emotional development and as harmonic exposition, flowing in onscreen solos and duets. Throughout, the cast gives inspired acting performances and moments of musical brilliance.

The film is at all times aware of nature, even when the characters fall out of synch with their surroundings. The relationship between harmony and counterpoint is a central source of tension between characters and against the framework of the movie, as the story constantly moves forward. In a brilliantly depicted Los Angeles, action, language and music cry out between people within the film as they express thought and emotion directly to the audience.

JOY OF CREATION  

Jim Akin’s stated goal at the start of the project was to fully explore the joy of creation in a new format and medium, while achieving maximum use and mastery of digital tools. He undertook the full exploration of obsession while questioning everything during production from every point of view. The final film was spun through a process of technical, spiritual, intellectual, and mechanical assessment.

The creative process can be healing if the artist allows for pleasure in the experience of creation. With humility, the spirit and experience of the artist can enrich life. The grace of putting something back into the world at the end of a long search of dreaming, suffering, and keeping the aim high while accepting both gains and losses, is to portray the spark of life.

After the Triumph of Your Birth is a compressed allegory. It captures the absurdity of the way life unfolds, allows elements of chaos and random experience to direct the plotting of character movement and the shape of the production. It grants access to the deep focus, shared experience, feelings and thoughts of writer/director Jim Akin as he stretches form and style to open something new and different in his portrayal of people.

It is a movie of quiet ambition, one that questions itself as it plays. The beauty and inspiration of the imagery come from the real locations and people of Los Angeles. Through the sensitive handling of the characters, the meaning of a scene can be allowed to emerge in a brief moment like the delicate glow of a slowly breaking smile.

The driving and joyous search of the director results in a movie of found places and people living together in simultaneous disjunction and harmony.

It is a movie filled with the generosity of acceptance.    

A movie that says: Time is. We are. I am.


Bio:Writer/Filmmaker Kent Adamson has contributed to over one hundred feature films, and countless hours of broadcast programming. He has worked with major studios and small independent productions. His happiest times on any set were making his own Super-8 movies and working with Oliver Reed and Charles B. Griffith.