::BRIGHTON FRINGE FESTIVAL 2007::

::US INDIES NIGHT - Sunday, May 20th @ The Ocean Rooms::

Tonight we presented a stunning collection of new work from the US indie scene in which all the films were a UK premieres and, in most cases, the only time they would be seen outside of America. The evening included a 'celebrity' DJ (Fringe Festival director, Nick Stockman) spinning a mix of US hits from the 1940s to the present and an excting new London VJ, Boldi Csernak.

ALDO PEREZ - Director Adrienne Grierson - 10 mins
Remarkable film about an even more remarkable man: Perez is the New York comic to see. Described as a musician, songwriter, singer, poet, actor, dancer, 50% comedian, 50% clown and 50% guru. This one-man opera production has been shocking and rocking the NY comedy scene for years. Here's a typical review of his act:

"Perez looks like the love child of John Waters and Jim Carrey and is as funny as both of them. A natural, gifted physical comedian...his style of performance is so radical, so ten-steps-ahead of itself, that I didn't so much laugh as sit there with my face frozen in awe. If Lenny Bruce ever decided to do a circus act, this would be it."

UK PREMIERE

NEW YORK STORY - Director Nicolas Jenkins - 6 mins
Another fascinating chapter in the life and sexual development of Genesis P- Orridge, lead singer and founder of 70s punk phenomenon, Throbbing Gristle, and his life partner, 'Lady Jaye'. Their aim is to create a new gender, the pandrogyne, an 'hermaphroditic entity'. Sexual identity, glamour and weird love. ..an everyday story of life in the Big Apple.

UK PREMIERE

FERNANDO'S FIRST SNOW - Director Jared Katsiane - 4 mins
Gentle, moving film about a young migrant's first winter in America and the loneliness of being a 12-year-old in a strange country.

UK PREMIERE

JOEL KUWAHARA - LOS ANGELES VIDEO BLOGGER
Joel is a senior producer with The Simpsons and a talented film-maker whose slick, fast-paced video blogs about LA's arts sub-culture have gained him cult status and a devoted following of hundreds of thousands around the world. For last year's US Indies event, he gave us exclusive permission to show a selection of his favourite blogs - the first time they had been seen 'off-net'. Produced to high technical standards, these fascinating mini-docs revealed aspects of life in America's largest city not seen on TV or in Hollywood movies. For tonight's screening Joel has kindly agreed to give us a selection of his latest blogs.

A re-cut version of the film we made about Joel Kuwahara last year will also be screened tonight, based on self-filmed footage in which he answers questions put to him by Final Cut.

UK PREMIERE

SHUTEYE - Director Bill Plympton - 7 mins
Creepy film noir animated murder mystery that starts in a sleazy hotel where the local cops are investigating a series of gruesome murders - and become victims of the evil force behind them. What Jaws did for swimming, Shuteye Hotel does for sleeping.

UK PREMIERE

NEVER FELT PRETTIER - Director Michael Grodner - 3 mins
Powerful and highly filmic music video promoting a new song from LA band, Planes Mistaken For Stars.  The film explores themes of religious guilt, taboo and shame as experienced by a young Catholic woman haunted by past sexual indiscretions.

UK PREMIERE

DO YOU BELIEVE IN RAPTURE? - Director Braden King - 4 mins
This film is about the thrill of live performance and a last goodbye to the legendary New York music landmark, CBGB’s which closed last year. An unusual music video starring the legendary Sonic Youth, it pays tribute to all the great acts that appeared in this iconic venue during its 30+ years of existence.

UK PREMIERE

I DON’T THINK SO - Director Nicolas Jenkins - 10 mins
The Ladyboys of Bangkok are back in town and tonight we bring you this unusual documentary about their New York counterparts. Cult NY director, Jenkins, went backstage at the 2006 Latex Ball, NY’s largest celebration of ‘vogueing’ to film his transgender subjects. Unused to being filmed in such an intimate manner, their defences slip to reveal a profound vulnerability beneath the defiant posing.

UK PREMIERE

THE WINTER PEOPLE - Director John Stimpson - 14 mins
Exceptionally well-made ghost story about a mother and daughter who drive down to Cape Cod at the end of summer to close up their beach house.

UK PREMIERE

PORNOGRAPHIC APATHETIC - Director T. Arthur Cottam - 5 mins
From the award-winning cult rude-boy film-maker, this is a verbally explicit and hilariously deadpan no-sex 'porn' film that has gained the following accolades: Best Short Film, Milano Film Festival Audience Award (Experimental), Brooklyn International Film Festival Best Script, Vallecas Puerta del Cine Christopher Wetzel Award for Independent Film Comedy, Gene Siskel Film Center 10' Hotter Jury Award for Best Short Film, Valley Film Festival Special Jury Prize, Visionaria Most Effectively Offensive, Boston Underground Film Festival Finalist, USA Film Festival. Not bad, eh?

UK PREMIERE

THE MORNING GUY - Director Mark W. Gray - 5 mins
He's a morning person, but she definately isn't. A clever and very original comedy about one man's unique way of expressing himself and the pressure it puts on his marriage. Stay tuned!

UK PREMIERE

CARLA COPE - Director Aileen McCormack - 5 mins
Powerful 9/11 drama about a young woman who loses two close friends in the destruction of the Twin Towers: a fireman and a policeman.

UK PREMIERE

DEAR SWEET EMMA - Director John Cernak - 5 mins
Creepy, animated back comedy about a pensioner whose husband has gone missing. Apparently.

UK PREMIERE