Tag: POV

DEADSTREAM – Review

Joseph Winter as Shawn Ruddy in DEADSTREAM. Photo Credit: Shudder.

DEADSTREAM is a little comedy horror flick that looks as if it were made on the cheap (which it probably was) but which turns its limited budget into an asset. Joseph Winter wrote and directed with wife, Vanessa Winter, and stars as an internet celeb named Shawn Ruddy who’s made a living by putting himself in danger. In each episode, he faces one of his fears for fun and profit. Apparently, that kept food on the table until he went too far in one adventure and lost his sponsors in disgrace. For his comeback after a six-month exile, he chooses to live-stream his night alone in a reputedly haunted house. That makes up the entire movie.

On the plus side, Winter makes this more visually interesting than most of the hand-held camera productions flooding screens ever since THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT, by using multiple cameras. He’s got a POV on his head, plus a selfie stick so we can alternate between what he sees and his reactions. He’s also planted cameras around the house’s reported hot spots (alleged previous deaths and spectral sightings) which he and we can follow on his tablet. We can also read his audience’s comments as they scroll, and even watch some of them talking to him.

As expected, spooky and gory things occur. A couple of people turn up who may, or may not, prove helpful. Winter’s character scares easily, and overreacts to the slightest sound and movement. A lot. Your enjoyment of the film will turn on whether he holds your empathy, or just becomes annoying. There’s nothing subtle or low-key in Winter’s performance. He’s wired electronically and emotionally throughout, which befits his character in the situation, but might prove as exhausting to follow as it was for him to film.

Be prepared for more blood, guts and jump starts than giggles as the protagonist’s long night of terror unfolds. It’s not rated by the MPAA as of this writing, but serves up enough frights and icky sights for an R. In his acting hat, Winters shoulders a big burden, since he’s almost always in frame, and delivers most of the lines in the spouses’ script. There are elements of humor and some social satire in the feedback from his fans’ and detractors’ reactions to what they’re witnessing in real time. The F/X part of the budget was spent wisely, providing plenty of scary and yucky bits of bang for the buck.

It ain’t great cinema but that was certainly not the goal. Enjoy this piece of escapism on its own terms. The Winters are early in their careers, and seem clever and resourceful enough to attract investors and keep their production wheels turning.

DEADSTREAM is available for streaming on Shudder starting Thursday, Oct. 6.

RATING: 2 out of 4 stars

The Alliance of Women Film Journalists Announces Special EDA Award Saluting POV’s Female Filmmakers; Winner Announced June 6

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The Alliance of Women Film Journalists (AWFJ), a membership organization of leading women film journalists and critics from across the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom, announced seven nominees for a special EDA award, created to celebrate POV’s 25th anniversary. The winner will be announced at POV’s 26th-season launch party at its headquarters in Brooklyn, N.Y. on Thursday, June 6, 2013.

With this EDA award, the AWFJ will honor the best female-directed film from the curated program MoMA Selects: POV, a 25th Anniversary Retrospective, presented at New York’s Museum of Modern Art in February and March of 2013. A jury of five AWFJ members selected the nominees.

The nominees are Better This World (directors: Kelly Duane de la Vega, Katie Galloway), Complaints of a Dutiful Daughter(director: Deborah Hoffmann), Dark Circle (directors: Judy Irving, Christopher Beaver), The Education of Shelby Knox (directors:Marion Lipschutz, Rose Rosenblatt), Granito: How to Nail a Dictator (director: Pamela Yates), Maya Lin: A Strong Clear Vision (director: Freida Lee Mock) and Where Soldiers Come From (director: Heather Courtney).

AWFJ president Jennifer Merin noted, “For the AWFJ, and those of us on the jury, creating this special EDA award has been an extraordinary opportunity to revisit and recognize the women and films that POV has showcased. It is a reminder, too, of the importance of POV’s quarter-century dedication to airing compelling works at the highest level of documentary filmmaking.”

The jury includes Merin and AWFJ member film critics Leba Hertz (San Francisco Chronicle), Lisa Kennedy (The Denver Post), Sara Voorhees (NBC/KOB-TV, Albuquerque, N.M.) and Susan Wloszczyna (USA Today).

“It is exciting to have such an illustrious panel of journalists and critics reviewing POV films from our entire history,” said Cynthia López, co-executive producer, POV. “These female directors have not only told compelling personal stories, but have also created documentaries that have had a profound effect on the American and international political and social landscape. Jennifer Merin and the jury, through their long and varied careers, are real role models for women, wherever their paths may take them.”

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Nominees:

Better This World – 2011. USA. Directed by Kelly Duane de la Vega and Katie Galloway.
The story of Bradley Crowder and David McKay, accused of intending to firebomb the 2008 Republican National Convention, is a dramatic tale of idealism, loyalty, crime and betrayal. Better This World follows the radicalization of these boyhood friends from Midland, Texas, under the tutelage of a revolutionary activist. The results: eight homemade bombs, multiple domestic terrorism charges and a high-stakes entrapment defense. Winner, 2012 Writers Guild Award for Best Documentary Screenplay and Gotham Award for Best Documentary.

Complaints of a Dutiful Daughter – 1994. USA. Directed by Deborah Hoffmann.
This life-affirming exploration of family relations, aging and the meaning of memory and love chronicles the progression of a mother’s Alzheimer’s disease and the evolution of her daughter’s response to the illness. Deborah Hoffmann’s desire to cure the incurable—to assuage her mother’s confusion, forgetfulness and obsessiveness—gradually gives way to an acceptance that proves liberating for both daughter and mother. Nominee, 1995 Academy Award, Best Documentary Feature.

Dark Circle – 1989. USA. Directed by Judy Irving and Christopher Beaver.
This chilling, but ultimately hopeful, film explores how all of us have been affected by the nuclear age. Denounced by officials and shunned by broadcasters when it was first released, Dark Circle raised many issues that have gone on to become today’s front-page headlines.

The Education of Shelby Knox – 2005. USA. Directed by Marion Lipschutz and Rose Rosenblatt.
A self-described “good Southern Baptist girl,” Shelby Knox pledged abstinence until marriage. But when she discovered that her town of Lubbock, Texas, had high rates of teen pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases, she became an unlikely advocate for comprehensive sex education, and profoundly changed her political and spiritual views along the way. Winner, 2005 Sundance Film Festival Excellence in Cinematography Award: Documentary.

Granito: How to Nail a Dictator – 2011. USA/Guatemala. Directed by Pamela Yates.
In a stunning milestone for justice in Guatemala, former dictator Efraín Rios Montt is standing trial on charges of genocide and crimes against humanity for his brutal war against the country’s Mayan people in the 1980s—and Pamela Yates’ 1983 documentary, When the Mountains Tremble, provided key evidence in bringing the indictment. Granito: How to Nail a Dictator tells the extraordinary story of how a film, aiding a new generation of human rights activists, became a granito—a tiny grain of sand—that helped tip the scales of justice.

Maya Lin: A Strong Clear Vision – 1994. USA. Directed by Freida Lee Mock.
This Academy Award-winning feature documentary captures a decade in the life of visionary artist Maya Lin, who was only 21 when her design for the Washington, D.C. Vietnam Veterans Memorial—polished black granite inscribed with the 57,661 names of those who died in Vietnam—was selected in 1981. The monument was attacked as “dishonorable” and “a scar,” but Lin remained committed to her vision, and her tribute to sacrifice and quiet heroism was built as planned. Since then, she has completed a succession of startlingly original monuments and sculptures that confront vital American social issues. Winner, 1995 Academy Award, Best Documentary Feature.

Where Soldiers Come From – 2011. USA. Directed by Heather Courtney.
From a small, snowy town in northern Michigan to the mountains of Afghanistan, Where Soldiers Come From follows the four-year journey of a close-knit group of childhood friends who join the National Guard after graduating high school. As the young men transform from restless teenagers to soldiers looking for roadside bombs to 23-year-old combat veterans, the film offers an intimate look at the Americans who fight our wars and the families and towns from which they come.