Indie Memphis 2008

Indie Memphis and the Memphis College of Art are honored to welcome Bill Plympton to Memphis and present his latest feature…

Idiots & Angels
Monday, Nov. 2 @ 7:30 pm at the Studio on the Square *Presented on 35mm film.

$5 for the General Public
/ Free for Indie Memphis members and Memphis College of Art students with valid ID

Bill Plympton is scheduled to attend and participate in a Q&A after the screening.

Idiots & Angels

In Bill Plympton’s latest feature, Idiots & Angels, a selfish and morally bankrupt man, wakes up one morning with wings on his back. Even more troublesome than their embarrassing appearance is the wings’ tendency to want to do good deeds.

After much ridicule, he desperately tries to rid himself of the good wings, but eventually finds himself fighting those who view the wings as their ticket to fame and fortune. Is Angel’s misguided soul capable of being rescued?

Told through Plympton’s trademark animation style Idiots and Angels is a dark comedy about a man’s battle for his soul.

Bill Plympton Lecture
Tuesday, Nov. 3 @ 7:00 pm at the Memphis College of Art

Free and open to the General Public.

Bill Plympton

Legendary animator Bill Plympton’s work is instantly recognizable. The simple beauty of the pastel sketches set in motion is often in stark contrast with the filmmaker’s fevered surreality and sharp humor. Plympton began his career as an illustrator and syndicated cartoonist in the 1970s before realizing his dream to become an animator with 1983’s Boomtown. In 1988, he received his first Oscar nomination for the now-classic animated short Your Face. His short Push Comes to Shove won the Jury Prize at the Cannes Film Festival in 1991, and was later incorporated into The Tune, which became the first animated feature entirely hand-drawn by its creator.

On Tuesday, Nov. 3 at 7:00 pm, Bill Plympton will speak at the Memphis College of Art as part of their Visiting Artists Lecture Series. Plympton will show short films from throughout his career, talking about each film and how to enjoy them. Free and open to the public, the one-hour lecture will take place in Callicott Auditorium.

Indie Memphis members and newsletter subscribers are also invited to attend Bill Plympton’s Master Class, which will take place Tuesday, Nov. 3 at 9:00 am, also in Callicott Auditorium. In the three-hour Master Class, Plympton will show his short films, talk about the creative and business aspects of his work, and do live drawings to illustrate the secret of his success. He will also show an exclusive sneak preview of his new work-in-progress feature film Cheatin’. Attendees of the Master Class will get a free Bill Plympton drawing.

Indie Memphis and the Brooks Museum of Art continue their year-round collaboration with this special program of restored Art House essentials.

Admission is $5 for Indie Memphis members and members of The Brooks, $7 for non-members, and is free with Indie Memphis ‘09 Silver or Gold Pass or Brooks VIP Film Pass.

Jules and Jim

Jules and Jim
Thursday, Oct. 22 @ 7:30 pm
at the Brooks Museum of Art

** New, restored high-definition digital transfer.

Hailed as one of the finest films ever made, legendary director Francois Truffaut’s early masterpiece Jules and Jim (Jules et Jim) charts the relationship between two friends and the object of their mutual obsession over the course of twenty-five years. Jeanne Moreau stars as Catherine, the alluring and willful young woman whose enigmatic smile and passionate nature lure Jules (Oskar Werner) and Jim (Henri Serre) into one of cinema’s most captivating romantic triangles.

An exuberant and poignant meditation on freedom, loyalty, and the fortitude of love, Jules and Jim was a worldwide smash upon its release in 1962 and remains as audacious and entrancing today.

The Seventh Seal

The Seventh Seal
Thursday, Oct. 29 @ 1 pm & 7:30 pm
at the Brooks Museum of Art

** New, restored high-definition digital transfer.

Disillusioned and exhausted after a decade of battling in the Crusades, a knight (Max von Sydow) encounters Death on a desolate beach and challenges him to a fateful game of chess.

Much studied, imitated, even parodied, but never outdone, Bergman’s stunning allegory of man’s search for meaning, The Seventh Seal (Det Sjunde Inseglet), was one of the benchmark foreign imports of America’s 1950s art-house heyday, pushing cinema’s boundaries and ushering in a new era of moviegoing.

Winner of the Special Jury Prize at the 1957 Cannes Film Festival.

La Strada

La Strada
Thursday, Nov. 5 @ 1 pm & 7:30 pm
at the Brooks Museum of Art

** New, restored high-definition digital transfer.

There has never been a face quite like that of Giulietta Masina. Her husband, the legendary Federico Fellini, directs her as Gelsomina in La Strada, the film that launched them both to international stardom. Gelsomina is sold by her mother into the employ of Zampano (Anthony Quinn), a brutal strongman in a traveling circus. When Zampano encounters an old rival in highwire artist the Fool (Richard Basehart), his fury is provoked to its breaking point.

With La Strada, Fellini left behind the familiar signposts of Italian neorealism for a poetic fable of love and cruelty, evoking brilliant performances and winning the hearts of audiences and critics worldwide.

Winner of the first official Academy Award for Best Foreign-Language Film, awarded in 1956.

Rashomon

Rashomon
Thursday, Nov. 12 @ 7:30 pm
at the Studio on the Square

** New, restored 35mm film print.

Brimming with action while incisively examining the nature of truth, Rashomon is perhaps the finest film ever to investigate the philosophy of justice. Through an ingenious use of camera and flashbacks, Kurosawa reveals the complexities of human nature as four people recount different versions of the story of a man’s murder and the rape of his wife.

Toshiro Mifune gives another commanding performance in the eloquent masterwork that revolutionized film language and introduced Japanese cinema to the world.

Audience Awards

Audience Award - Feature
Lovely By Surprise
Directed by Kirt Gunn

Audience Award - Documentary
Wheedle’s Groove
Directed by Jennifer Maas

Audience Award - Short
Woke Up Ugly
Directed by Ryan Parker

Audience Award - Hometowner
I Am A Man: From Memphis, A Lesson In Life
Directed by Jonathan Epstein

Indie Memphis Film Festival awards previously announced on October 11th are…

Special Festival Awards

Southern Soul of Independent Film Award
Ghost Bird
Directed by Scott Crocker

Ron Tibbett Excellence in Filmmaking Award
Shooting Robert King
Directed by Richard Parry

Narrative Feature Jury Awards
(Jury: Steven Beckman, Elvis Mitchell, Heidi Van Lier)

Best Narrative Feature
That Evening Sun
Directed by Scott Teems

Special Jury Award for Ensemble Cast
Easier With Practice
Directed by Kyle Patrick Alvarez

Special Jury Award for Innovative Filmmaking
Stingray Sam
Directed by Cory McAbee

Special Jury Award for Emotional Storytelling
Children of Invention
Directed by Tze Chun

Documentary Feature Jury Awards
(Jury: Peter Gilbert, Toby Leonard, Gabe Wardell)

Best Documentary Feature
Luckey
Directed by Laura Longsworth

Special Jury Award for Direction
Invisible Girlfriend
Directed by David Redmon & Ashley Sabin

Short Film Jury Awards
(Jury: Skizz Cyzyk, Christopher Holland)

Best Short Film
The Ballad of Friday and June
Directed by Tate English

Best Animated or Experimental Film
Near the Egress
Directed by Antonio Martinez

Special Jury Award
Adelaide
Directed by Liliana Greenfield-Sanders

Special Jury Award for Documentary Short
Jennifer
Directed by Stewart Copeland

Jambor Award for Meritorious Jamboriousness
I Am So Proud of You
Directed by Don Hertfeldt

Hometowner Jury Awards
(Jury: Melanie Addington, Paula Martinez, Steve Montal)

Best Hometowner Feature
The Conversion
Directed by Edward Valibus Phillips

Special Jury Award
Memphis Movement - Jookin’: The Urban Ballet
Directed by Ellis Fowler

Best Hometowner Short
Woke Up Ugly
Directed by Ryan Parker

Special Jury Award for Visual Storytelling
Iwa
Directed by Kenneth Coker

Special Jury Award for Someone to Watch
The Non-Invasion
Directed by B. Siler

Special Jury Award for Portrayal of Living History
I Am A Man: From Memphis, A Lesson In Life
Directed by Jonathan Epstein

Music Video Showcase
(Jury: Michael Harring, Jennifer Maas, Augusta Palmer)

Best Music Video
America
8 Ball
Directed by 8-Ball & Joe Gotti

Runner Up
Sun Never Goes
The Perfect Vessels
Directed by Graham Burks

Audience Choice Award
Love
Snowglobe
Directed by Christopher Reyes

Li’l Film Fest 11: Musical Horror
(Jury: Craig Brewer, Cory McAbee, Joe Swanberg)

Grand Jury Award
Spacestation 2010
Directed by HG Ray

Audience Choice Award
Frankenstein vs. Dracula: The Opera!
Directed by Adam Remsen

Read about the Indie Memphis 2009 Awards Celebration in the John Beifuss’ blog for The Commercial Appeal, The Bloodshot Eye, and in the Memphis Flyer.