Best of Iron Mule Short Comedy Film Festival01:44PM / Monday, August 03, 2009
NORTH ADAMS, Mass. - Continuing a decade-long tradition of screening films  that won't be found at a multiplex, MASS MoCA brings the Best of Iron Mule Short Comedy Film Festival to the Berkshires on Thursday, August 6, 2009, at 8:30 PM. Named for a 1925 slapstick comedy by "Fatty" Arbuckle that featured Buster Keaton, Iron Mule is a monthly short comedy film series in New York City. Since 2002, the series has brought together a collective of filmmakers and film lovers to celebrate the finest in short comedy.
Travelling north, the curators of the festival have handpicked a "best of" selection which will screen outdoors in Courtyard C under the stars (moving inside if rain threatens). According to Time Out New York, the festival has "only two submission requirements-each film must run under half an hour and be funny-they showcase everything from two-minute gag shorts made by high-school students on computers to character-driven narratives shot on 35mm by advertising executives."
Films screened at the Iron Mule have gone on to be seen on HBO, Cinemax,the Sundance Channel, Comedy Central and the BBC, and have also screened at Cannes, Sundance, and the HBO Comedy Arts Film Festival among many other places. In its seven years, Iron Mule has shown nearly 650 movies. Name writers, actors, and comedians whose work has appeared at the festival include Stephen Colbert, Chris Elliott, Dana Gould, the cast of The Human Giant, and writers for the Daily Show, Saturday Night Live, the Sarah Silverman Show, Late Night with Conan O'Brien, and The Tonight Show. But Festival founders Victor Varnado and Jay Stern aren't impressed with names; they pride themselves on showing funny, smart, short comedy films from any source.
The films will be organized into the "blocks" for the screening: low budget, animation, documentary, and music/dance. At least two filmmakers, Dale Goodson and Will Carlough, will be in attendance as well as Varnado and Stern. The films to be shown include: Beep, written and directed by Victor Varnado about a couple whose relationship struggles to survive a new answering machine; The Carlough Bros., written and directed by Will Carlough which follows the brothers on a death-defying adventure cross-country to discover the terrifying secret behind Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2: The Secret of the Ooze; Deere, John, written and directed by Mitchell Rose, a fantasy about a man and a machine; and Lo-Tech Animation, written and directed by Jim Torok.
Other films are Masters of the Universe, written and directed by Kevin Maher, a personal story of growing up by this writer, director, and comedian; The Old Negro Space Program, written and directed by Andy Bobrow, the untold story of forgotten American heroes--the Blackstronauts; Portrait of the Artist at 16, written and directed by Jay Stern and M. Sweeney Lawless in which we meet a 16-year-old artist and his demons; Fuel, written and directed by Dale Goodson about man's insatiable hunger for fuel; The Dentist, a film that explores the relationship between the Uncooperating Patient and the Enthusiastic Dentist written and directed by Signe Baumane; Kunstbar, a visit to the artiest bar around, written and directed by the Petrie Lounge, and more.
Jay Stern has directed and produced over 30 short films which have screened in festivals across the U.S., Canada and Europe, and directed over 20 theater productions, including several New York premieres. In 2010 he will direct Poe... and the Museum of Lost Arts, starring Theo Bleckmann, Rinde Eckert, and Pamela Z at the 3LD Art and Technology Center in New York City. Jay is also a founder of the award-winning internationallysyndicated Quicksilver Radio Theater Company. His first feature film The Changeling opened in New York City in May 2007. His next feature, The Adventures of Paul and Marian, is currently in preproduction. Stern is a PhD candidate at the European Graduate School, where he studied with Peter Greenaway, Claude Lanzmann, Agnes Varda, John Waters, Jean-Luc Nancy, and Jaques Derrida. Learn more about Stern at www.jaystern.com.
Victor Varnado is a comedian, actor, writer, and director. As a comedian he has appeared on Late Night With Conan O'Brien, Jimmy Kimmel Live! and Comedy Central, and as an actor he has appeared alongside Eddie Murphy, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Julia Stiles, and Werner Herzog. As a director, Victor has worked with Charlie Murphy and Dave Attell (in Warner Brother's Twisted Fortune) and most recently with Michel Gondry for Victor's latest short film Roboto Supremo. His latest feature, The Awkward Kings, a documentary about alternative African-American comedians, is scheduled for a February 2010 release. Learn more about Varnado at www.bestalbino.com.
The Best of Iron Mule Short Comedy Film Festival is part of MASS MoCA's Thursday night film series which continues on August 13 with Purple Rain Sing-A-Long and Found Footage Festival on Thursday, August 20. The series winds up with Labyrinth Sing-a-Long on August 27. All Thursday night films begin at 8:30 P.M., and tickets are $10. Patrons who buy tickets to three of the films can attend the fourth in the series for free.
Tickets for Best of Iron Mule are$10. MASS MoCA members receive a 10% discount. Tickets are available through the MASS MoCA Box Office located off Marshall Street in North Adams, open from 10 A.M. until 6 P.M., every day. Tickets can also be charged by phone by calling 413-662-2111 during Box Office hours or purchased on line at www.massmoca.org. |
