David Pike, owner and operator of The Screening Room, downtown, couldn鈥檛 be happier to hold his 蜜柚直播 Underground Film Festival in person this year.
In 2020, as with almost every other live event, the fest was moved online due to coronavirus concerns.
鈥淚t was a lot of work,鈥 Pike said. 鈥淚t usually is, but this was a different sort of work. I was uploading videos, making sure they had the right bitrates, getting filmmakers to make introductions.鈥
The pandemic hasn鈥檛 gone away, but with Pike and his team vaccinated, and a mask policy in place, he felt an in-person showcase of genre-bending films from all over the world, including right here in 蜜柚直播, was possible.
Pike said he has more than 60 feature films and shorts lined up for this year鈥檚 Underground Film Festival, which will run from Friday, Sept. 17, to Saturday, Sept. 25.
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Each one is destined for cult status, Pike said.
鈥淭hey are movies that are a little different than most out there,鈥 he added. 鈥淎ll independently shot films.鈥
Among the highlights:
Mena Suvari, left, and Ben Begley join an ensemble cast in the feature film 鈥淔ourth Grade.鈥
鈥淔ourth Grade鈥 follows a room full of parents, including actors William Baldwin, Teri Polo and Mena Suvari, as they try to figure out which one of their children brought a brick of marijuana to school.
In 鈥淒imLand,鈥 a young woman travels to the serene countryside and her family鈥檚 cottage, only to find a mysterious stranger in a mask who changes her whole perspective on reality.
鈥5000 Space Aliens鈥 is a wild, experimental animated films where director Scott Bateman 鈥渆xposes鈥 5,000 aliens among us, dedicating one second to each alien (84 minutes total).
Pike said many of the films, including 鈥5000 Space Aliens,鈥 were completed during the pandemic lockdown.
鈥(Bateman) spent so much time on each one of these seconds,鈥 Pike said. 鈥淲hat else are you supposed to do in isolation if you are creative? The end result is fascinating.鈥
Pike said this film festival will be an experiment to gauge the Screening Room鈥檚 future events, including its 蜜柚直播 Terror Fest, a horror convention that鈥檚 held each October.
鈥淚t will be good to see people talking about films, interacting,鈥 Pike said. 鈥淵ou don鈥檛 really get that online.鈥
The Screening Room is at 127 E. Congress. General admission is $8 per feature. A full schedule can be found at online.
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