Filmmobile

8.4.11 - Home Again

2011-08-08T13:03:00.000-07:00

40 Days
30 States
25 Screenings
18 Workshops
9000 Miles
1000 Participants
1 Trip of a Lifetime
A heartfelt thanks to everyone who was part of the 2011 Filmmobile National Tour... We'll never forget your generosity, your creativity and your community spirit. The cinematic revolution is alive and well in America!

8.3.11 - California's Callin'

2011-08-08T13:02:00.000-07:00

Wyoming, Utah, Arizona, Nevada... And the gas pedal falls off as we approach Las Vegas! We take this as a sign to spend the last night of the tour in a glamorous resort hotel, cavort in the pool and eat an enormous buffet dinner before heading home to the City of Angels in the morning. All good things must come to an end...

8.2.11 - High Plains Driftin'

2011-08-08T12:54:00.000-07:00

A zen breakfast at the Boulder Dushanabe Teahouse with Robert Schaller of the Handmade Film Institute and then it's time for the long drive back to Los Angeles... When thick white smoke starts pouring from the exhaust pipe, we're forced to make an unplanned pit stop in Laramie, Wyoming. The first mechanic we call says "Cracked block. Two weeks to fix!" Yikes! But Sean, the zen mechanic at the local GM service center, calms our fears. Turns out, Bluie is just struggling with the altitude a bit. Filmmobile gets fixed up with a little TLC while we watch rodeo on TV ("Man, I miss those days... Bull riding really gave me a thrill!" sighs another mechanic, covered in grease) and soon we're frisking into the sunset with the jackalopes along the high plains byways... Yee haw!

8.1.11 - Rockin' in Boulder

2011-08-02T16:10:00.000-07:00

After an entire day of eating nothing but junk food (too shameful to even post a photo!), it's time to head to Boulder where healthy living is a way of life. Big salads for lunch, followed by the traditional Monday afternoon tea ceremony at Naropa University (harmony, respect, purity, tranquility... thank you, Sensei Mike!) a dip in the creek, a conversation with the wise old owl, a bike ride (why is Los Angeles the only city in the entire country without a community bicycle program?) and a lovely last screening with friends and strangers gathered together, a gentle breeze blowing down from the mountains and beautiful images dancing on the screen... Bliss.

7.31.11 - From the Plains to the Mile High City

2011-08-02T15:58:00.000-07:00

Daybreak in Winner, South Dakota feels like being on the deserted set of a slightly sinister western. We fuel up on diesel and coffee at the L'il Feller Convenience Store along with the hopped-up hunters and motorcycle ridin' couples on their way to Sturgis and off we go.
At Mission, we stop at the only functioning restaurant in town--a Subway--to ask directions to Grandpa Roy Stone's place on the Rosebud Reservation near Parmalee. Five years ago, we were part of a team of folks from the Catalina Island Conservancy and Farmlab that helped build a ceremonial house; our time on the reservation, listening to many powerful stories of struggle and resilience, was one of the initial inspirations for the creation of the Filmmobile as a means to bring filmmaking tools and education to media marginalized communities. Seemingly untouched by the passing years, Grandpa Roy and his big white dogs come out to greet us; he tells us that, despite a couple of leaks, the house has been well used and much appreciated by the community throughout the seasons.
The road winds like a wagon trail through grassland dotted with pinto ponies and burned out trailers. The act of driving becomes a meditation. We go for miles and miles without passing another vehicle. A sign painted with the single word REMEMBER points off to the empty plain. The small towns contain orphanages, sanitariums and silos. The Goshen County Fair is advertising for a pig wrestler! Who says there aren't economic opportunities out here? It's rodeo time in Cheyenne, Wyoming and the teenage bronco busters swagger around the gas station mini-mart, handsome and invincible in their perfect cowboy hats. The Mile High City sparkles in the distance where my dear friend Betty is waiting up for us... Hang on, lady; we're almost there!

7.30.11 - Corny

2011-08-02T14:58:00.000-07:00

Fetch Bluie from the mechanic, score big at the local thrift store and it's so long Minnesota, hello South Dakota! Forget about Rushmore, we make a beeline for Mitchell, home of the world famous Corn Palace, the Oscar Howe Art Gallery, Enchanted World Doll Museum and 1972 Democratic presidential candidate George McGovern, who just so happens to be dining right behind us at the glamorous Chez Louis! Ooh la la!
We spend the rest of day chasing the sun across the plains... Sunset over the Missouri River: magnificent!

7.29.11 - Minneapolis to Mankato

2011-07-30T17:38:00.000-07:00

We loved Maria's corncakes so much yesterday, we have 'em for breakfast again today! Then back to the Walker to check out the freakily enchanting Midnight Party exhibition and contemplate inside/outside awhile with James Turrell's Sky Pesher. The Machine Project folks are heading back to LA today and we're heading to South Dakota. Onward, ho!
But we don't get too far... Just as we approach North Mankato, Minnesota, a crazy squeaking starts emanating from the vicinity of the front left wheel and sure enough it's smokin' like a son of a gun when we stop to take a look. Yikes! Luckily for us, we're just down the street from Service Rack where Tom, our new mechanic friend, tells us we've got a problem with the bearings but they'll have us on the road by tomorrow morning. This gives us a chance to mingle with teen rowdies and big bridal parties at the Best Western and explore the town... three bars and three sculptures on one block of Belgrade Street, cozy little houses with screened-in front porches, squirrels and rabbits running rampant, dads in garages doing dad things, kids riding bikes down the wide, leafy tree-lined streets, Canada geese waddling through the parks, trampolines and above-ground pools in every yard, flags a-flyin' everywhere... Ain't that America...

7.28.11 - Open Field

2011-07-30T17:37:00.000-07:00

Good morning! Lucas, our fellow houseguest at Chez Otto (check out his book Inherent Vice: Bootleg Histories of Videotape and Copyright), takes us to Maria's Cafe where we breakfast the best corn pancakes (Colombian or otherwise) I have ever tasted. Divine!
Time to head over to the Archdale Apartments where we've been invited by our new friend Jeff Hnilicka of Kulture Klub Collaborative to do a workshop with a group of formerly homeless youth in the beautiful backyard garden that has been planned, planted and maintained by the residents. This is without a doubt the tour's most vivacious Photobooth of Change... the whole place vibrates with positive energy!
Then it's off to the Walker for Summer Jubilee, the free, fun, all day, all-ages extravaganza presented by Machine Project as part of the Walker's Open Field program. The Jubilee is a glorious jumble of earbees, white sheep/black sheep, electric melons, a giant gherkin, custom compositions, yarn bombing, cowboys & angels, poetry phones, synchronized lawn mowing and much, much more. The filmmaking component is taking place in the Flat Pak House, a prefab air-conditioned oasis on the edge of the sculpture garden. Along with the Filmmobile animation workshops, Dean leads the crowd in some film pickling a la Tony Conrad. Yummy!
And speaking of yummy, Minnesota mosquitoes sure do love the taste of California blood! Descending with the darkness, impervious to Off and attacking through clothing with impunity, the swarm turns the screening into a bit of an endurance contest... Our bites have bites! We're slapping ourselves silly! The mighty few who remain until the end are rewarded with golden kazoos.

7.27.11 - Little Filmmobile On The Prairie

2011-07-30T11:25:00.000-07:00

Stockholm, Wisconsin has delicious "Swedish" donuts, an annual film festival, a natural history bookshop, and a free bike program. Not bad for a town of 66 permanent residents! It's also very near the childhood home of my childhood hero Laura "Little House On The Prairie" Ingalls Wilder. We could stay here all day but it's time to follow the mighty Miss up to Minneapolis where we're joining our friends and neighbors from Machine Project as part of their residency at the Walker Art Center. We're just in time for a(nother) pizza party with tasty pies turned out of a homemade oven on the Walker's rolling green lawn. The Walker staff are warm and welcoming, the Machine folks share their Minneapolis adventures and we meet dozens of local artists, activists, community builders and foodies working on inspiring projects across the city. Our brains are a-buzz and not just from all the free beer! After presenting a screening of the work of beloved animator Helen Hill at Powderhorn Park, we head over to the home of Walker Associate Film/Video Curator Dean Otto who has generously offered us lodging for the next couple of days. We stay up late into the night talking and admiring Dean's extensive and exquisite collection of thrift store art... I'm seriously coveting that Black Footed Ferret needlepoint!

7.26.11 - Going Green

2011-07-27T16:28:00.000-07:00

After an early morning stroll around the grounds, we reluctantly leave the Lynden's little paradise and hit the road. Today's destination is the mythical Pizza Farm but who knew there are so many roadside distractions out here in rural Wisconsin?
Stop 1: The Gobbler. This former supper club and "roadside attraction" was built by a local turkey farmer in 1967. For just shy of a cool million, it can be yours!
Stop 2: Hi-Way Harry's aka The New Gobbler. Where the elite of Johnson Creek meet to eat.
Stop 3: The Frank Lloyd Wright Visitors Center. The idea of paying $52 each to spend 2-1/2 hours touring Taliesen with a busload of yelling, doddering seniors is just too terrifying.
Stop 4: Wisconsin River, across from the Frank Lloyd Wright Visitors Center. Like swimming in liquid sunshine.... Heavenly. And free.
Stop 5: House On The Rock. The bathroom display in the welcome center is enough to scare the pickles out of us. No need to go any further.
Stop 6: The Amish! Like unicorns and ghosts, they graciously avoid being captured on film.
Stop 7: Coon Valley's Main Street Mercantile, home of tasty chocolate shakes and a whole lotta cut-rate foodstuffs, housewares, Louis L'Amour novels, "antiques" and more. Under New Management!
Stop 8: The Pizza Farm. Will we make it? The lush and luscious Wisconsin farmland goes on and on. It's green like we've never seen it. And if all this beauty isn't enough, here's the Mississippi River, rolling slow and majestic in the twilight. Breathtaking.
Finally we reach the tiny town of Stockholm, Wisconsin and, following some rather obscure instructions posted on a foodie blog, head out on County Road J.
Pizza Farm makes pizzas from fresh ingredients grown right on the farm. Pizza Farm only serves on Tuesdays in summer. Pizza Farm only serves from 5 to 9 pm. Good lord, it's 9:05! Turn right at the cemetery, watch out for the church, go down the dirt road, pull into the unmarked lane... We're here! And it's magic, with literally dozens of families picnicking under the stars: kids laughing, kittens mewing, wineglasses clinking, guitars strumming and delicious smells wafting from the woodburning ovens... By now it's 9:30... Are we too late? "Sure, we can throw one more on for you. What'll it be?" Local Italian sausage and sweet onions, please. The last pie of the night just might be the sweetest. Number 322.

7.25.11 - Suds n' Sculpture

2011-07-27T15:13:00.000-07:00

Waking up in the idyllic Wisconsin countryside is so peaceful... until the shooting starts. Who thought putting a rifle range next to the campground was a good idea? And who knew folks in these parts liked to get in a little target practice at 8 am on a Monday morning?
On to Milwaukee where there's a brewery or a brewery-sponsored public gathering space everywhere you look. Schlitz Park! Miller Field! Blatz Luxury Condos! Tastes Great! Less Filling! We honor Laverne and Shirley's work at Shotz Brewery by schlemieling schlimazeling all the way down Knapp street.
You could not get farther from tavern town than the Lynden Sculpture Garden just a few miles away on Brown Deer Road. Peg Bradley's collection of "50 monumental sculptures sited across 40 acres of park, lake and woodland" provides the tour's most tranquil setting. During the workshop, we discuss neo-folk music and the tribal symbols of northern India with our new friends. After a sunset picnic, we win the crowd over by providing free bug spray and then dazzle 'em with a spectacular presentation of the direct animation chain letter, the projector beam providing the only light in the deep dark Wisconsin night.

7.24.11 - Kreepy in Kanosha

2011-07-25T08:49:00.000-07:00

Due to some unfortunate circumstances at Project Lodge in Madison, we suddenly find ourselves with a free day. We bid Chicago adieu in the early afternoon and drive until we're hungry. Kenosha, Wisconsin it is!
Why is nearly every building downtown empty, for rent, for sale or all three? Who is Captain Porky? Why so many churches? Who left that disembodied arm there? How long will that trumpet player toot out the same off-key rendition of "Fly Me To The Moon"? What's up with the Civil War obsession? Who's living in a tent behind the abandoned Circle K? Why is the hair on the back of my neck standing up? We may never know the answers...

7.23.11 - My Kind Of Town

2011-07-25T08:41:00.000-07:00

Some days, you just wake up feeling lucky. There's a laundomat right around the corner, a coffeeshop with great people watching down the street and the most beautiful ballpark in America a few blocks away. Wrigley Field just happens to be hosting a Cubs vs Astros game on this languid Saturday afternoon and as we're standing around gawking at the marquee, a guy walks and says "Hey, I got two extra tickets... You want 'em?" The next thing you know we're sitting behind home plate, enjoying a brew and singing "Take Me Out To The Ball Game." Kosuke Fukudome busts it open bottom of the 8th... Cubs win: 5-1! At Montrose Beach, there's free showers and delicious food served by a waitress who says "Your bill is $33.33... that never happens! You should play the lottery!"At Golden Age, the amazing artist project space run by EPFC alumna Martine Syms and her partner Marco Kane Braunschweiler, the good energy continues as friends old, new and furry, former EPFC students, fellow filmmakers and gallery goers converge on the sidewalk for interactive cinematic good times. Highlights: Monkey the corgi barking along with the Echo Park pooches portrayed in Joff Winterhart's Dog Diary, Ben grilling up some fantastic sausages at an impromptu alleyway BBQ, and catching up on everything Martine, Vincent and Rachel have been up to since leaving the EPFC nest... You make us proud!

7.22.11 - Trippin'

2011-07-23T10:19:00.000-07:00

It's morning in America and we're headed for Illinois. Pit stop for a pork tenderloin sandwich at the famous and fabulous Mr. Dave's in North Manchester, Indiana, a cuisine well documented in our friend Jensen's film In Search of the Famous Hoosier Breaded Pork Tenderloin Sandwich. As we're finishing our tasty meal, a middle-aged matron approaches our table. Lowering her voice and leaning in conspiratorially she whispers: "I'm going to see Mr. Dave right now. I'm sure he'd love to meet you." Alas, the youth of the Windy City are a-waiting, a storm is a-brewing and we've got to be on our way. I can only picture Mr. Dave, sitting on a throne in a red velvet room, surrounded by perfectly breaded and fried pork tenderloin...the King of Cutlets!
Another giant deluge has us contemplating turning the Filmmobile into an ark but we manage to make it to the venue just slightly late. After a sidewalk animation session with some kids from the Chicago Filmmakers summer youth video camp, we meet Nekeed, Brooklyn, Elliot, Willie and Dan from Roadtrip Nation. Started in 2001, Roadtrip Nation invites young folks to travel the country in a big green RV and meet people who are passionate about what they do. We talk with the gang for a couple of hours about work, life, love, travel and making art... Our advice: stay open to experience, engage your community, follow your heart and explore the world!

7.21.11 - Defiance in the Heartland

2011-07-22T22:57:00.000-07:00

It's official: I'm addicted. I've been guzzling Rockstar Recovery like a dipsomaniac and now I'm paying the price... The newest member of the Rockstar family, Recovery (in the big yellow can) contains many "good for you things" like Electrolytes! B Vitamins! Milk Thistle Extract! 3% Real Lemon Juice! It also has lots and lots and lots of caffeine. My pounding headache can only mean one thing: more Recovery!
We also need to recover from last night's wacky antics so today's day off will be spent calmly driving through America's heartland. Another homecooked breakfast with the Family D (I could get used to this!) and off we go...
Down to Toledo and into the countryside. Small roads, small farms, small towns. Big leaping deer ornaments on lawns, big guys waving from porches, big freshly mowed fields gleaming bright yellow in the summer sun. Lured by the name and the band of the same, we stop for lunch in Defiance, Ohio. Over the Steak Manhattan at Bud's Restaurant, we talk to the sad-eyed teenage waitress whose annual highlight is the two-week Bible camp she attends in rural Louisiana "but that just happened a couple months ago so now I've got to wait practically a whole year to see my friends again." Small town USA is sometimes best enjoyed through the window of a moving car.
We decide to splurge on some air conditioning tonight. In Marion, Indiana we look for the picturesque old-time town square hotel we saw on the internet only to realize to our dismay that that particular hotel is in Marion, VIRGINIA. The choices in our Marion are a skanky looking 70's motor inn, several motels whose only drawing point listed on the marquees are "affordable rates" and chain hotels where all the non-smoking rooms smell like smoke. Ooof. See last sentence of previous paragraph.

7.20.11 - Detroit Hustles Harder

2011-07-22T11:34:00.000-07:00

After a hearty breakfast at Castle D, we head off to the Mt. Elliot Makerspace where Jeff and Ted run bike clinics and technology-based community workshops modeled on the FabLab concept that originated at MIT. Today, the room in the basement of the Messiah Church is absolutely bursting with pre-pubescent energy... Everybody wants to yell and run and poke and push and try everything all at once. I say, if you can't beat 'em, join 'em. There's only one possible way to up the intensity in this place: give every kid a kazoo and let 'em rip! The most spectacular cacophony ensues and my junior lady filmmakers learn a thing or two about animation while we're at it.
Afterwards we pick up some cold drinks and wander The Heidelburg Project, a mind-blowing site-specific installation by artist Tyee Guyson. Blight becomes beauty; art acts as catalyst for community, conversation and creativity.
At the Cass Cafe, we are treated to Beet And Berry Gazpacho, exquisite bathroom graffiti and VIP icepacks. Thanks, Sandy!
After this lovely interlude, it's off to the Hostel Detroit, the location Mike D's friend Lisa D (does everyone in this town have a last name beginning with "D"?) suggested for this evening's screening. I've heard Detroit described as "a Southern city in the North" and this little pocket of Corktown (the city's oldest neighborhood) certainly fills the bill... In the shadow of Michigan Central Station towering dark and vacant on the other side of the freeway, there is a real neighborhood here with well-kept homes and community gardens with bees and trees situated proudly amongst the empty lots and abandoned buildings. Dogs roam freely through twilight fields filled with wildflowers. Lisa D says a house in move-in condition in this area would run me somewhere in the $7,000 range. It seems unbelievable.
We set up in a big open grass field across from the Hostel Detroit and wonder who tonight's audience will be. Dave from the much loved and recently in limbo Burton Theater is here. Mike D and Lisa D are here. But who stays at a hostel in the hinterlands of a crumbling metropolis? Folks from Austria, Maryland, France, Russia and Texas, that's who. Folks who are on around-the-world trips, folks who are looking for a place to settle down, folks who fell in love along the way, folks who have Jack Kerouac fantasies of finding themselves on the road, folks who want to prove to the folks back home that Detroit is safe and welcoming to travelers. Several cyclists, out for their evening ride, are drawn to the light and join us as well.
The last member of our party tonight is another fellow from the neighborhood; let's call him "E." E tells us he buried his son three days ago and is looking to distract himself with some human interaction. He asks questions about the films, sings along during the musical portion of the evening (we dedicate a song to him and I believe I see him shed a tear during "You Are My Sunshine") and offers to help us pack up at the end of the night. Sweet man going through some hard times, we think as he ambles off into the night. After we arrive back in Ferndale, I realize my phone is missing from the place I left it on the dashboard of the bus. I search everywhere. No phone. The only person onboard that night besides Paolo, Mike D and me was E, for just a split second when he handed us a piece of equipment.
Paolo calls my phone. A man answers, barks "Wrong number!" and hangs up. Paolo calls again, introduces himself and explains the situation. On the other end, a fellow we'll call M says he just bought the phone for $50 because he's been "wanting one of these things for a long time" but, given the circumstances, he's willing to make a deal with us and return it. This is approximately 45 minutes after we said so long to E.
Suddenly we find ourselves starring in a Paul Thomas Anderson movie involving a three-year-old iPhone, the hottest night of the summer, a rolling blackout, two handsome Ferndale police officers, breast milk, intense negotiations and multiple locations, unmarked bills, the parking lot of a well-lit McDonald's, 8 Mile, a baseball bat and the phrase "We're cool here, right?" Suffice to say, adrenaline is running high. The upshot: an hour later, we are back on Mike D's porch, drinking Mexican cokes and downloading photos from my iPhone. As the handsome cops told me: Welcome to Detroit!

7.19.11 - From the Forest City to the Motor City

2011-07-21T22:54:00.000-07:00

As if hosting last night's screening wasn't enough, Mark and his wife Patti provide us with a delicious breakfast and access to what is no doubt one of the world's nicest showers first thing this morning before they head off to work. We run into our new Tremont friends in the park, the Filmmobile is a hot topic of conversation at Civilization, strangers pop their heads in to ask what's up with the big blue bus while we're sitting inside catching up on emails, and the folks at the Ukrainian Museum-Archives give us a personal tour. Never before have we been so instantly integrated into a community. And the rest of the city is no different: the waiter and the regular at the counter at the Western Market Cafe strike up conversations, the awesome people at Spaces activate the video vault and Rainbow Lightning for us even though they're in the midst of de-installing a show. At the Salvation Army thrift store across from the Agora Theater on Euclid Street, the salesladies couldn't be more patient as I try on every pair of vintage sunglasses on display at the front counter. The whole city is alive with possibility and positive energy.
There's a different kind of energy in Detroit and you feel it as soon as that Motor City USA vat comes into view at the side of the freeway. Driving down wide, wide Woodward Street (five lanes of traffic on each side of the street!) both sides of the American dream are everywhere in evidence, dazzling the eye and boggling the mind. Just outside the city, in Ferndale, live our friends Mike D., Marie and their young daughters. I've known Mike for years and he's always been an ardent supporter of underground and indie music through his massive collection and his radio show Skrockin' Yer Butow on 89.3 WHFR.fm Dearborn/Detroit. The three of us head over to the station where The Here and Now tape a late night interview and acoustic hobo rock set and treat our favorite DJ to dinner afterwards at Famous Hamburger in Dearborn, home of Henry Ford and the largest population of Arab Americans for a city of its size. Famous Hamburger, originally called Little White Castle, was started in Lebanon after its owner returned from an inspiring trip to the US. In 1989, the man emigrated to Detroit, changed the name to Famous Hamburger and voila! a fast food empire was born. Now that's American!

7.18.11 - Hello, Cleveland!

2011-07-21T22:08:00.000-07:00

Tom's gone home to Syracuse and Leah's gone home to Rochester so it's a little lonely waking up as a twosome again in Buffalo but some strong coffee and lots of stimulating talk with our ebullient hostess and Squeaky Wheel Programming Director Jax DeLuca about the joys and challenges community media and our pie in the sky plans for the cinematic revolution leaves us buzzing. There's time to check out a couple of Buffalo's many community gardens and enjoy a leisurely breakfast at Sweetness 7 before hitting the road... we blow kisses at Canada just across the water but alas, no trip to Toronto this time around.
We arrive in Cleveland smack dab in the middle of rush hour and meander through town to avoid commuter hell. Heeding the advice of Bruce Checefsky, a terrific filmmaker who very kindly spent a day showing me around Cleveland a couple years back, the destination we choose for tonight's guerilla screening is Lincoln Park in historic Tremont. The neighborhood--home to Lemko Hall, location of the wedding scene in the Deer Hunter--is quiet, its inhabitants evidently still recovering from yesterday's Taste Of Tremont. But the Prosperity Social Club is hosting Karaoke Night and serving stuffed cabbage rolls with mashed potatoes (food of my people!) so we park the Filmmobile in front of the Lincoln Park Baths, and start setting up. Almost immediately, we're approached by one of the building's residents but instead of shoo-ing us off the block, it turns out Mark is on the board of the Cleveland International Film Festival and couldn't be more gracious about hosting an impromtu screening in his front yard... a couple of phonecalls later and we have artists, community organizers, filmmakers and musicians riding up from all over the neighborhood to take part.
Afterwards, we have a nightcap at the Prosperity while Karaoke Night rages on. The most creative renditions of hits from yesterday and today ever performed are accompanied by interpretive dancing, high-fives, hoots n' hollers and jello shots tossed back with aplomb. Smooth Operator will never be quite the same. And as if all this isn't enough, the night ends with the most intense storm of the tour: thunder cracks deafeningly directly overhead, lightning flashes constantly and five inches of rain pour down in an hour... Let it pour! We're battened down in the Filmmobile...

7.17.11 - Shuffle Off To Buffalo

2011-07-19T22:30:00.000-07:00

Breakfast is bagels with the Feldman-Shanahan clan and discussion about the Erie Canal, new immigrants, freestyle ceramics, high school drop out rates and Rochester's community arts spaces like the Flying Squirrel and Writers and Books. Thus fortified on food and food for thought, we head off to explore the Victorian Mount Hope Cemetery where Susan B. Anthony is buried, the local kids learn to drive and wican "energy spots" abound. Downtown we gaze at some public art, peruse an awesome newsstand (complete with snack bar!), and walk the Genesee River before heading off to the George Eastman House. Quite honestly, despite the charming gardens, Eastman House is underwhelming but it is a small thrill to be in the same room with Alfred Stieglitz's camera.
And now: Buffalo and the esteemed Squeaky Wheel which is one of the grandmamas of community cinema orgs having been rollin' for more than 25 years now and definitely a role model for Echo Park Film Center. Since it's the last day of Buffalo Bike Week, tonight's event is a bike-in workshop and screening in the open lot next to the Squeaky Wheel... World On Wheels, the Here and Now's homage to international two-wheel travel, is especially well received. Ride one, ride all!

7.16.11 - Take Me Back To Bedford Falls

2011-07-18T23:04:00.000-07:00

Going home to Mom and Dad's most always means two things: home cookin' and clean laundry. Although it's been a few (ahem) years since college and these are not our biological parents, Joe and Lynn Duffy treat us as if we are long lost children during Saturday morning brunch at their lovely Marcellus, NY home and send us on our way both well fed (the egg casserole, muffins and rhubarb compote were to die for!) and restocked with enough clean clothes to last until Madison. They also tell us the best way to get to Rochester is not the obvious straight shot but a delightful detour through the Finger Lakes region. Skaneateles (that's "Skinny Atlas" to you, Bub) may be more chichi but it's Seneca Falls, home to Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Amelia Bloomer and the Seneca Falls Convention of 1848 as well as being the inspiration for the small town setting of It's A Wonderful Life, that was our favorite little village along the way.
We arrive in Rochester right on time and are greeted by Rick Hoch of Visual Studies Workshop and the thumping sound of disco music from the Pride celebration several blocks away. Rick gives us a quick tour of VSW's impressive archive and then... showtime!
We're joined by some friends and colleagues from the Metabolic Studio in Los Angeles as well as Tom's niece, Leah, who will be the Filmmobile intern for the next couple of days and a friendly fellow who brings Italian ices for everyone. A late night supper at Good Luck, complete with cookies and ice cream caps off a very tasty day.

7.15.11 - Salty in Syracuse

2011-07-18T21:41:00.000-07:00

In the west we have rest areas, in the east they have service areas. A service area is an okay place to sleep but it is definitely not the place to eat, even though the turnpike folks would like you to think otherwise. When you get off the 'pike, you see the real deal. In Canajoharie, NY they have an old Beech-Nut factory and a diner serving delicious breakfasts... try the Church Omelette: spicy!
By early afternoon we have reached our destination: the Everson Museum of Art in Syracuse, NY. We learn that Syracuse is known for its salt and the Everson is known for its ceramics - two things we love. After being welcomed by Tom (Preparator, my bosom buddy and former colleague at LA's Skirball Museum), Pam (Curator of Education and Public Programs), Karen (Registrar), Deb (Senior Curator) and Al (Musuem Technician, "amazing institutional memory!"), we tour the museum (Can we keep the animal outfits?) and then go on a little guided tour of Syracuse hot spots including The Coffee Nazi Place ("NO SOY MILK!"), the Chocolate Place (peanut butter truffles) and the Record Place (which also sells Bazooka gum).
The citizens of Syracuse work diligently at the workshops and prove themselves to be VERY good animators, so good in fact that they will later get special props from the Buffalo crowd... way to go! For the first time on the tour, we have a technical crew to assist with the screening set up and projection... we feel so pampered. Add to this the stunning outdoor setting, additional projections by the Urban Video Project, girls calling out "I love you!" to their boyfriends in the city jail tower across the plaza, a full moon rising and it's definitely a night to remember... Thank you, Everson!

7.14.11 - Oh, New Bedford!

2011-07-15T21:40:00.000-07:00

Begin the morning with a call-in to the Phil Paleologos Show to promote the Filmmobile's appearance at AHA! and then it's out of New York and into the traffic. It's one of those days when you're running behind before you even get your running shoes on. Is Darien, CT the whitest, WASPiest, priciest, preppiest place in the entire United States of America? I think it just might be; there's a Sperry Top-Siders shop at the freeway offramp! We grab a Whole Foods lunch and get the heck outta there. More traffic, construction, picturesque fishing villages on magnificent rivers and nuclear power. Welcome to Massachusetts! We change the lyrics of Jonathan Richman's "New England" to "Oh, New Bedford!" and sing it at the top of our lungs.
Artworks has sent an advance scout into the cobblestone streets of New Bedford to help guide the big blue bus to the parking lot workshop space (Thanks, Ron!), BridgeThink has put up a magnificent banner and the whole town is there to welcome us, literally, with open arms. Kids, babies, moms and dads, artists, filmmakers, old timers who heard the radio spot and just had to come down and check it out, and folks from as far away as Providence, Rhode Island are all here to make movies and make movies we do. Special thanks to the kid corps for their awesome contributions: Ben, Dylan and Ethan (aka flick flack...check out their online film reviews!), Isaac, Amanda and Emma. You're the best!
By 6 pm, the AHA! fest is in full swing: Singers and hand-clappers wearing the gaily colored costumes of the Portuguese island of Madeira parading endlessly around the picturesque streets! Every misunderstood teen within a ten mile radius skating their little hearts out in the town square! Reggae music filling the air from a temporary bandstand! Art everywhere! One of the organizers tells me: "Come down here almost any night and it's dead but once a month we throw the town a party." Party on, New Bedford!
As dusk falls, the magic of the moving image engulfs the crowd... even the Mayor stops by to take a photo on his iPhone and present us with the Pins to the City. Although we didn't get to go to the Whaling Museum, visit the fishing port or step inside the church Herman Melville once attended, we feel like we've definitely experienced the soul of New Bedford tonight through the open hearts of its citizens... We shall return!

7.13.11 - Brooklyn's Da Bomb

2011-07-15T07:27:00.000-07:00

Staying with our dear friends Pierre and Chelsea in Brooklyn is like being in a real life version of Sesame Street. There's the nice grandma! There's the friendly postman! There's the lady riding her bike to work! There's the organic grocer! There are the kids playing in the street! There's the neighbor drinking gin and juice and eating chicken on the stoop! I keep waiting to run into Bert and Ernie drinking lattes and pushing a stroller.

After a delightful backyard picnic, it's off to UnionDocs in Williamsburg where we are greeted by the sweetest gang of filmmakers and film lovers, who all say "We're so excited you're here!"We're joined by more dear friends: Animatrix Extraordinaire Heather Harkins, EPFC's 2nd Summer Artist In Residence, who just happens to be in town from Halifax and Paolo's college roommate Aaron and his lovely family Rachel, Maddy and Sam. Everyone meets, greets, and participates... and then we dance in the rain! The rainbow comes out, we dry off the seats in the backyard, the urbane and erudite Steve Espinola opens the show with songs about Charles Cros and Chinese hieroglyphics, The Here & Now sings while the next door neighbor smokes weed and dances along on his balcony, the Bingo Bunny does her thing, Smoking Yoga gets a laugh, and the Sound We See wows everybody. After the best Q&A of the tour, we say our goodbyes and trundle off to that cozy little brownstone in Fort Greene...

7.12.11 - Harlem Shuffle

2011-07-14T12:15:00.000-07:00

We leave some Filmmobile goodies for Alex and Grace, our Philly hosts-in-absentia who opened their home to us even though they are in the Poconos and we have never even met them! The kindness of strangers is a beautiful thing. The White Dog Cafe is not open for breakfast so we won't be able to commune with the spirit of Madame Blavatsky this time around.... Instead, it's off to the MegaBus and back to DC for Kristin while Paolo and I hit the road for Harlem. Goodbye, Pennsylvaia; hello New Jersey, home of the continuously honking horn, all kindsa trucks and the turnpike (we've all come to look for America).
That first glance of the NYC skyline always makes my heart leap up. Lady Liberty! Looking good!
This interstate and that exit, this fork and that park, this bridge and that Ave. (Lennox or X?) and here we are in Harlem at the Maysles Institute. I've been a major fan of the Maysles brothers films for years, but it was hearing Albert Maysles talk about his work and the Institute in LA a few years ago that really deepened my appreciation of their approach to filmmaking and got me itching to run out of that auditorium and make a film RIGHT NOW! Although we do not get the opportunity to meet Mr. Maysles, the spirit of direct cinema is alive and well on the streets of Harlem today as dozens of folks stop by to "make a movie without using a camera"and share stories of life and love in the neighborhood as the summer afternoon unspools around us like a Helen Levitt photo. It's days like this when the message is loud in clear: process, not product, is really the lasting part of art.

7.11.11 - Brother Can You Spare Some Brotherly Love?

2011-07-14T10:47:00.000-07:00

Last night's blinking fireflies have given way to morning sunshine streaming through the woods in this bucolic corner of Maryland. We breakfast on Rebecca's homemade crab salad and Utz ripple chips at Mr. Charles Market and talk about the potential of art to transform and connect us. It's sad to say goodbye so soon to this bright spirit and her magical world but I have a feeling this collaboration is just the first of many to come...
And so it's on to Philadelphia, home of cheesesteaks with Cheese Whiz, pretty doors and painted murals, where the people talk loud, talk a lot and don't hold back with the opinions. We park the bus in front of The Forum (just for the record, we don't recommend using the bathroom here unless it's absolutely necessary which in this case it was) and the first passer-by gives us the comprehensive low-down on every single potential screening spot in the entire city. Twice. Thanks, Dan! Kristin heads off in search of pizza, thrift stores and photogenic teenagers, Paolo explores the hinterlands in search of a mechanic who can diagnose Bluie's mystery rattle (broken bushings!) and I fulfill a decades long dream by visiting the Mutter Museum and spend a good hour checking out the Chevalier Jackson Foreign Body Collection. Some of those safety pins are huge! Ouch!
We reconvene for a late afternoon swim followed by dinner of moules-frites at Kristin's favorite Belgian Cafe. As directed, we cruise over to Clark Park, a city treasure established in 1895 "in the heart of Philadelphia's University City Neighborhood." Here we are joined by the chess players, the dog walkers, the night owl children, the yellow-shirted security guys, the lovers, the fighters, the cafe society, the community arts activists, the film buffs, the jive talkers and the dude who rolled up his own executive office chair to watch the show. Special thanks to Marcus (who described himself as "just an hourly wage earner" but turned out to have a fully functioning photography studio in the trunk of his car), Herbie (who zipped over from the Miranda July Q&A when his friend passed by and texted about some weird movies showing in the park) and the urban hobos who offered to share their chili with us. We are definitely feelin' the love, Philadelphia!

7.10.11 - Visionary Art for the People

2011-07-11T11:42:00.000-07:00

Coffee and almond croissants followed by a brisk walk to The Mall to check out the Smithsonian Folklife Fest (Peace Corps! Rhythm and Blues! Colombia!), subway back to Eastern Market for gelato and off we go. Baltimore is just a hop, skip and a jump away! We are welcomed to the American Visionary Art Museum by the visionary behind the Visionary, Rebecca Hoffberger, and spend the most delightful afternoon working with museum guests on the direct animation chain letter, leading a kazoo orchestra and filling our eyes, hearts and souls with the Museum's joyous collection... We love you, AVAM!

7.9.11 - Song of the South

2011-07-11T10:59:00.000-07:00

We say so long to North Carolina but still The South goes on and on... In Virginia we stop for lunch at the Dixie Dinner ("Fine Home Cookin' Since 1945!") in Petersburg, once the seventh largest city in the Confederacy and the site of a nine month trench warfare seige during the Civil War. We battle traffic and an have an exciting moment where the gas pedal stops working on the freeway before crossing the Potomac into the nation's capital ("Taxation Without Representation!") where we are greeted by Kristin Bedford, west coast Filmmobile Summer Screening Series team member and DC native. Kristin's own battles with bureaucracy earlier in the week have paid off in securing us the perfect outdoor screening space at Capitol Hill's Eastern Market. The neighborhood is calm, quiet and genteel; the afternoon light beautiful on the summer flowers and green trees... a far cry from the hustle bustle I associate with political Washington. "Well," says Kristin, "don't forget: this is a Southern city." Over the course of the evening, the people come together in the red brick square.... family, colleagues, neighbors, the curious, friends old and new, activists, even some folks from Los Angeles who just happen to be passing through. One young man tells us: "People from DC never take time to just sit and relax and enjoy public space... Thank you for bringing us together." After the show, our hostess Betsy makes a delicious late night snack of scrambled eggs, black beans and her husband's homemade pesto and we sit in the diningroom surrounded by mementos of decades of travel and social justice work, talking about adventures past, present and future...

7.8.11 - Organic This!

2011-07-09T09:53:00.000-07:00

Asheville is an organic town with a capital O. There's the Organic Mechanic, the Organic Shopper, the Organic Pharmacy, Organic furniture, Organic clothes and of course all kinds of delectable Organic things to eat and drink. Our new friend Cathryn recommends Sunny Point Cafe, a buzzing breakfast spot with award-winning Huevos Rancheros (beyond incredible) and a huge well-tended kitchen garden on site.
Cathryn also gifts us a film she made, Fully Awake, about another local institution: Black Mountain College. At the Black Mountain College Museum + Arts Center we learn all about the College, which existed as a radical learning center in the countryside near Asheville between 1933 and 1957, bringing together a dazzling array of artists and thinkers including "Willem and Elaine de Kooning, Robert Rauschenberg, Josef and Anni Albers, Jacob Lawrence, Merce Cunningham, John Cage, Cy Twombly, Kenneth Noland, Ben Shahn, Franz Kline, Arthur Penn, Buckminster Fuller, M.C. Richards, Francine du Plessix Gray, Charles Olson, Robert Creeley, Dorothea Rockburne and many others, famous and not-so-famous..." Maybe there's something in the water here because interesting approaches to art practice continue to thrive in North Carolina, including Elsewhere in Greensboro and Paperhand Puppet Intervention in Saxapahaw.
In Chapel Hill, the parking gods are smiling on us because we get the perfect spot right in front of the evening's venue, Local 506 (early home of Flicker, a small format cinematic celebration - thanks for the hookup, Norwood!). After some amazingly tasty Indian food and Southern-style BBQ'd pulled pork at Vimala's Curryblossom Cafe, we are ready to brave the thunder and lighting and open the animation station to our new rocker friends. At 1 am, the last band finishes up, we pack up the stuff, shut the bus doors and the rain POURS down, right on cue!

7.7.11 - My Home Lies Across The Smokey Mountains

2011-07-08T22:39:00.000-07:00

Eat our way through Tennessee: patty melts for dinner at the Waffle House in Lenoir City (famous for cotton mills and moonshine, and where our perky waitress Misty--there seem to be a whole lot of Mistys in Tennessee--offered up the parking lot as a screening venue) followed by shrimp and grits for breakfast in Johnson City. Drive through country that reminds us of Ukraine... fertile green fields, curving roads and little houses hunkered down in the hollows. And then up up up into the Great Smokey Mountains which are actually smoking! Magnificent. In Asheville, we pull into the venue: the backyard of the Wedge Brewing Company with an outdoor libations garden on one side, trains on the other and a whole lot of handmade film in between... Artists, kids, dogs, beer lovers and bingo fanatics all get into the act to make it a fabulous night. After closing time, we walk up to downtown and check out the bluegrass jam at the local pub... some serious banjo/mandolin and fiddle action going on here. Back to the brewery and the Filmmobile where the lonesome train whistle keeps us company through the night...

7.6.11 - Cinemas and Civil Rights

2011-07-08T13:31:00.000-07:00

Sleeping outside a 24-hr laundromat has its advantages... bathroom access and an opportunity to clean the clothes first thing in the morning while talking to all the curious and quirky residents of the upstairs apartment building (evidently, everyone in Birmingham works or has worked "in television"). Then off to the Sloss Furnaces where we learn that "the Magic City" came into its position as the industrial powerhouse of the South in large part because it possessed three things crucial to the production of steel: iron ore, coal and limestone. Oh, and lots of African Americans and recent immigrants who could be easily exploited as cheap labor. Next: we sneak into the palatial 1927 2500-seat Alabama Theater, aka Showplace of the South, which was saved from the wrecking ball by a group of local citizens including Richard, who continues to volunteer his time in keeping the movie palace in tip top shape. Richard tells us that all the cultures of the world are represented in the Alabama's decor and originally admission prices were the same for all seats, encouraging people of all social strata to sit side by side in cinematic harmony. Presumably, this did not include non-white folks who had their own theater, The Carver, around the corner. After a tasty lunch of hushpuppies, fried okra, fried green tomatoes and an oyster po-boy at Seafood D'Lite, it's time to explore the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute. The amount of hatred and horror contained in the American history on display here is almost overwhelming but the stories of individuals stepping forward and coming together to lay their lives on the line and demand change continue to humble, to inspire and to ask: What are WE doing right here and right now to make this world a better place?

7.5.11 - Let It Come Down!

2011-07-06T15:04:00.000-07:00

Oh, New Orleans, how we hate to leave you but hit the road we must so after breakfast at Cafe Rose Nicaud (conveniently located right in front of the Filmmobile's overnight parking spot), we're off to Mississippi. Old State Highway 11 makes for some good thrifting; Jean's Restaurant, apparently the only functioning eating establishment in all of downtown Meridien, provides us with a tasty lunch of meatloaf, fried okra, turnip greens and mac n' cheese for the tidy sum of $7. Wish I had room for that coconut pie! By late afternoon we're pulling up in front of Rojo, tonight's venue in Birmingham, AL where we'll be screening in tandem with the monthly meeting of the Sidewalk Moving Picture Festival. In two shakes, we're set up and showing films on the sidewalk for the Sidewalkers. The mellow evening sunshine gives way to some swiftly moving dark clouds, then a few flashes of lightning followed by some ominous thunder and then... the most torrential downpour EVER. Everyone scatters, the screen blows over, a flash flood takes over the street, the merch table is drenched, the umbrella flies away in a gust of wind, we're running around like wet hens, and still the garden cam keeps on clickin'. Record breaking speedy load in (no one got electrocuted! everything still works!) followed by a tasty dinner of Birmingham Paella (uh, jalepenos?), fine ale from Alabama's own Good People Brewing Company and all the low-down on the local film n' DIY scene. I could listen to those sweet southern accents tell tales all night but the bar's closing, they're kicking us out and we hunker down for the night in front of the 24-hour laundromat with the sound of rain on the roof...

7.4.11 - A Big Easy Independence Day

2011-07-06T08:31:00.000-07:00

The air is soft and heavy, the streets quiet and empty... it's like the whole town is sleeping late after overindulging on drink, music, flesh and all manner of other decadent pleasures the night before. We make our way slowly through the city, stopping wherever it suits our fancy... a tour of the new development springing up in the Lower Ninth (Pittville???), Cafe au Lait in Bywater, filming the decaying Charity Hospital and Dixie Brewery in mid-city, devouring enormous shrimp poboys at Parkway Bakery, sitting with the turtles on the banks of St. John's Bayou, paying respects at the graves of Voodoo Priestess Marie Laveau and Civil Rights pioneer Homer Plessy at sunset in Saint Louis Cemetery #1, joining the throngs on the banks of the Mississippi River for 4th of July fireworks, and wending our way through the dark streets of the French Quarter, back to our dear little home on wheels... lulled to sleep by the sound of songs sung acapella, bicycles on cobblestones, dogs barking, firecrackers and trumpets.

7.3.11 - Good Morning America, How Are Ya?

2011-07-06T07:58:00.000-07:00

A good night's sleep is a wonderful thing and even more wonderful when followed by a cup (or three) of tasty coffee, a bowl of local blueberries and some insightful conversation in a bright, open kitchen. Dave Nelson, you are a kindred spirit! We leave Shreveport with a song in our hearts and plans to return someday...
Off the interstate and onto the back roads... Bayous, gator farms, hot boudin... A magnificent thunderstorm over the Mississippi River, Lucinda playin' on the radio and "the longest bridge I've ever crossed over Ponchartrain." Arriving in New Orleans always feels like coming home, no matter how long it's been since the last visit.
We make a beeline for the Lower Ninth Ward and L9 Center For The Arts, a gallery/work space run by husband-and-wife New Orleans photographers Keith Calhoun and Chandra McCormick. Keith and Chandra's dedication to their craft and their community is truly inspiring. Instantly we are welcomed and made to feel at home. Our workshop includes four young filmmakers from the Zion Travelers Cooperative Center in Phoenix Parish, Miss Amalie the artist/mentor, Alberto the Colombian filmmaker, Michelle the non-profit consultant and Isaiah the young teacher. Afterwards, Keith and Chandra show us their most recent work: color photographs printed from negatives damaged in Katrina and frozen to prevent further deterioration. The images are powerful, compelling, beautiful, sad... evocative of a time lost forever and of the resilience necessary to not only survive but continue to create in the face of disaster.
We end the evening a few blocks away at a holiday weekend gathering at the Steamboat House where Southern hospitality is in full effect. We hear stories of Katrina and post-Katrina, of neighborhoods in transition, of promises and politics, of projects as yet unrealized. But there's laughter and levity to balance the heavy topics... and our first-ever show to feature simultaneous swimming and 16mm film projection! New Orleans is full of mysteries and gifts I can't begin to fathom but am so grateful to receive. To paraphrase my friend Jeffrey, "You might think you know, but you never know."

7.2.11 - The Bottoms Is The Tops

2011-07-03T14:36:00.000-07:00

Always a good idea to start the day with some art so after dosing up on coffee at Buon Giorno (where the teenage barista tells Paolo his beard is "emanating eclectic energy"), off we go to the Nasher Sculpture Center. It's Saturday, it's free day, it's tai chi day, it's musical stairs day, and it's kids day which leads to some fantastic freewheelin' energy in the tranquil setting.
Onward to Louisiana with only one stop for black walnut milkshakes at the Dairy Palace where we meet a man from Inglewood in the drive-thru line.
Take the Common Street Exit and hang a hard left on Texas Street and you will find yourself at the legendary Mini-Cine. You will know you've arrived when you see Dave and April jumping up and down in front. This historic neighborhood, known as St. Paul's Bottoms, was home to Huddie William Ledbetter and later on The Louisiana Hayride, a radio show broadcast from the Shreveport Municipal Auditorium that featured the sound stylings of Hank Williams, Elvis and a passel of other musical greats. Dave and April keeping the vibrant spirt of the place burning bright by revitalizing some of the beautiful old buildings on Texas Street and sparking a whole bunch of grassroots community arts events all over town.
Today, they've found the perfect place for our workshop and screening: a grassy knoll overlooking the Red River in the shade of an enormous tree. They spread out a summer feast of watermelon and water, we set up the tables and projectors, the people come and we while away the late afternoon and evening hours creating and watching films together in the lazy Louisiana heat as the cicadas sing and the trains roll by... It don't get much better than this, folks...

7.1.11 - Happy Canada Day... in Texas.

2011-07-03T13:44:00.000-07:00

Another rest stop overnight, another rattlesnake warning in the morning. Ho hum.
Smells of the open road: the desert right before a late afternoon cloudburst, feedlots, diesel, roadkill, freshly turned earth, spicy BBQ sauce, wood smoke. Detours into small town Texas where it's all about catfish, football, church, rodeo and (long horn) cattle. Lone stars, stars and stripes and endless outlines of the Great State Of Texas. A hand-painted sign reads PIG OUT ON FRIED PIE! We're pigging out on Americana.
In Fort Worth, we connect with Andy and Dana, dear friends and fellow marathoners who moved here from LA six years ago. We enjoy some fine Texas libations at The Flying Saucer and then off to the majestic Kessler Theater in Dallas for tonight's screening.

Tours come together in funny ways... you start with the friends, then contact your sister microcinemas, then the youth centers and community art spaces and museums, then the friends of friends... all the while connecting the dots on the map and the dates on the calendar... and when you still can't find a venue you give it up to chance. A couple of weeks ago I was reading the Sunday New York Times and came across an article about the Kessler and it seemed like a good fit for the Filmmobile. One phonecall to booker Jeff Liles (a one-time resident of Silverlake) and we had ourselves a venue. Ain't it nice how life works itself out sometimes?

6.30.11 - So Long, Santa Fe; Howdy, Texas!

2011-07-01T06:33:00.000-07:00

Back in the mid-90s, my band cub had a big white Chevy 20 affectionately named Anna Nicole who, just like her namesake, tended to go off the rails at the most inopportune times... El Paso, Denver, Phoenix, Minneapolis, Huntsville, Bangor, Lawrence and Philadelphia... I've done time in these fine cities and dozens more for transmissions, engines and messed up wiring, flat tires and literally hundreds of oil changes. In the end, we left her with the junk man in Tyler, Texas and walked away with tears in our eyes.
So I know all too well that slow and anxious feeling of pacing the fix-it shop, waiting/hoping/praying for my large vehicle to get healed from the latest ailment. There is mechanics and then there is just magic. Luckily for us, the guys at Hal Burton Truck and Equipment take good care of us and through some serious sweat and dedication they get us on the road again by mid-afternoon. The owl watches diligently. We give a sandwich, some water and a $5 bill to an old-timer camped out by an on-ramp near a LOVE'S truck stop... "What are you doing out here in this heat, sir?" "Just tryin' to git home..." Cross the state line and arrive at Cadillac Ranch at twilight; spray cans all over the ground, left by surly southern families and French tourists. At the Big Texan in Amarillo, lured by billboards stretching miles down the highway, we watch the latest challenger try to beat the house and eat a 72-oz steak, baked potato, salad and shrimp cocktail in an hour... Another uniquely American spectacle.

6.29.11 - Can't Get Away From Santa Fe

2011-06-30T23:47:00.000-07:00

A good sleep, coffee with honey and a little time sitting beside the koi in the pond... this is a good way to start the day. In town, we tour the Windsor Betts Gallery where MarLyn works, breakfast on enormous green chile burritos at Tia Sophia's, walk the labyrinth in front of the cathedral, check out the Museum of Contemporary Native Arts and purchase a little spirit guide owl from Mervyn, an artist who works in black pottery. Turns out we're going to need some guidance very soon because the Filmmobile is sounding a little rough and a stop at the local diesel mechanic reveals we got some bad fuel (blame it on Holbrook!) and it's wreaking havok on Bluie's ability to get up and go. Suffice to say, you learn a lot about life hanging out in a small town diesel repair shop. You drink a lot of coffee, you make friends with the dogs, you hear a lot of cussin'. And you end up staying overnight on the lot because the part you need has gotta come from Albuquerque and it's quittin' time. More time to watch the clouds...

6.28.11 - Do You Know The Way To Santa Fe?

2011-06-30T23:10:00.000-07:00

Tonto National Forest provides a lovely (and free) camping spot but soon it's out of the woods and into the fire. In Holbrook, AZ on historic Route 66 we stop for dinosaurs, the WigWam motel, a howdy-do at the Winner Circle (location of a scene in my 1993 road movie Learning How To Fail) and breakfast. We gallop through Gallup. Wind and dust storms dog us on the way to Santa Fe... almost get blown right off the road at one point... Hit Santa Fe at sundown... Warehouse 21 is youth paradise with a concert space, theater, recording studio, silkscreen studio, fashion design studio, gallery, media lab and plenty of room inside and out to just hang out. How does Anna keep it all going? The kids drag couches outside and join in the direct animation chain letter. Bingo goes over big. Projections powered entirely by stored solar energy. Trains go by. Families and cyclists stop on their evening strolls/rides to watch a while. Community.
EPFC's General Manager Eve LaFountain hails from Santa Fe and her mom, MarLyn has most graciously offered up Eve's old room for our Santa Fe stay. After the show, we follow MarLyn to her lovely adobe home off the old Santa Fe Trail... from the rooftop we watch the angry red glow of the Los Alamos fire, 40 miles away across the pinon trees... the smoke of the fires can't keep the millions of stars from shining brightly in the night sky overhead...

6.27.11 - Hot In Arizona

2011-06-30T19:10:00.000-07:00

Went to sleep last night at a rest stop and woke up to a snake alert! Paolo at the wheel. In Blythe, California, we cruise by some tempting food choices while I try out the Filmmobile's brand new AutoNet to Skype with my mother and sister in Paris. Hello, crazy world of technology! By the time we get to Phoenix, its 115 degrees, baby birds are dropping dead on the pavement and I'm sweating so much my face looks like a tomato. Despite our bedraggled state, we're welcomed with open arms by the facilitators and students of Art Intersection , an amazing creative space for folks of all ages in historic downtown Gilbert, AZ. After a lively direct animation and Photobooth of Change workshop, we hit the local BBQ joint for some serious meat eating and then back for bingo, movies and a giant chocolate cake in celebration of student Sam's birthday. A great start to the tour!

6.26.11 - Off We Go!

2011-06-30T18:31:00.000-07:00

16mm projector, clear leader and Sharpies? Check. Trusty Nizo Super 8 and box of film? Check. Garden
Cam? Check. Solar panel? Check. Ukulele and Red Suitcase Drum Kit? Check. AutoNet? Check. Bingo Bunny? Check. Road atlas? Check. The Sound We See? Check. Lisa and Paolo? Check. Big blue bus? Check!!!
OK, America, here we come...

FILMMOBILE SUMMER SCREENING SERIES: THE SAVAGE EYE 7.2.10

2010-08-29T14:57:00.000-07:00

FILMMOBILE SUMMER SCREENING SERIES: THE DECAY OF FICTION 6.11.10

2010-06-20T14:47:00.000-07:00

FILMMOBILE IN BAKERSFIELD 5.17.10

2010-06-20T14:45:00.000-07:00

FILMMOBILE AT THOMAS STARR KING MIDDLE SCHOOL 5.26.10

2010-06-20T14:44:00.000-07:00

Venice YouthBuild 3.8.10

2010-03-08T15:45:00.000-08:00

Filmmobile in Baja, Mexico November 6-8

2009-11-21T22:37:00.000-08:00

La Casa del Tunel, Tijuana 11/6/09
Casa de Paz, Ensenada 11/7/09
Mexicali Rose Centro de Arte, Mexicali 11/8/09

Honk! Honk! It’s the EPFC Filmmobile, an eco-friendly cinema and film school on wheels!

2009-11-20T17:05:00.000-08:00

A project of the Echo Park Film Center, the Filmmobile takes EPFC programs on the road to better serve our own community and facilitate exchanges with communities beyond the boundaries of Echo Park.

In 2007 with help from local sustainable energy and design experts, we transformed a former school bus from a diesel-guzzling hunk of metal into an eco-friendly mobile cinema and educational facility with the ability to provide free documentary film screenings and filmmaking workshops in non-traditional venues to media-marginalized populations, specifically at-risk youth, girls and young women, recent immigrants, the homeless, people of color, seniors and low-income earners. These programs provide a fertile meeting space for the exchange and validation of ideas, knowledge, and experiences, empowering individuals to share their unique stories with the world. The bus itself serves as a model of sustainability through the implementation of green technology while simultaneously regenerating the long and noble tradition of itinerant cinema.

Join the rambling cinematic revolution! Send us your films, host a screening, take a workshop, spread the word… The Filmmobile is coming soon to a park/school/community center/beach/back yard/parking lot near you!