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Submitted photo
A scene from the documentary “Unspeakable: The Life and Art of Reverend Steven Johnson Lebya.”
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Difficult movies, unearthed
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By Dylan Thomas
Minneapolis Underground Film Festival offers ‘real art films, done by artists ... on their own’ WHITTIER — Ted Dewberry spent a year living on a movie set.
Considering the movie was “Group Home,” based on Dewberry’s sometimes touching, sometimes troubling experiences working for seven years in a group home for the developmentally disabled, it was less than pleasant.
“Grim and dismal” was how Dewberry put it, actually, describing the grubby furniture scavenged from the streets of Eagan in order to transform his home into the location of the title. But that’s the kind of commitment it takes to produce a film on a shoestring — no, make it dental floss — budget of around $800.
“I just started to put one foot in front of the other and said, ‘I’ve got to make this thing. If I don’t make it, I’ll regret it forever,’” he said.
Persistence and passion are two traits Dewberry shares with many of the other filmmakers taking part in the Minneapolis Underground Film Festival at the Minneapolis College of Art and Design (MCAD) in August.
There’s a third: the desire — some described it as a need — to tell a story that is too personal, too hard to categorize, too challenging, too something to ever sell in Hollywood. And if it doesn’t sell in Hollywood, chances are most of people won’t ever see it.
Minneapolis cinematographer Greg Yolan would argue films that aren’t considered commercial for one reason or another often are among the most deserving of
exposure.
Some of the country’s better-known underground film festivals take place annually in New York, Boston and Chicago. After working with local filmmakers, Yolan, a native of Rio de Janeiro who made Minneapolis his adopted hometown after attending MCAD in the ’90s, decided we need one, too.
“These are art films, but not like the kind you’d see at the Lagoon, because those are done by Miramax, which is owned by Disney, which is the biggest studio in Hollywood,” he said. “No, these are real art films, done by artists, by filmmakers, on their own.”
It’s not for lack of talent that these filmmakers remain underground. Yolan won the Kodak Vision Award for his cinematography on “Long Gone,” a feature-length documentary screening on the second day of the festival that follows a group of train-hopping hobos around the American West.
Often, it’s because they tell stories that are dark or don’t fit into a particular genre or eschew traditional narrative that their films remain buried.
Nicole Drending of Mahtomedi said a large film festival found a place for her movie “Operated by Invisible Hands,” a love story with a happy ending. But she’s had a much harder time winning screenings for her new film “Rebel,” which tells the story of a developmentally disabled man’s first sexual encounter, aided by his meth-addicted brother. It’s a bit dark, Drending admitted.
“I’ve had really great experience with certain films I’ve made, but this particular film gets really mixed responses,” she said.
Certainly, the films in the festival are not middle-of-the-road fare. But Drending said that’s the appeal of an underground film festival: movies that, as she put it, “blow your socks off.”
Not that it’s all dark stuff, although several of the movies definitely fit that description.
L.A. filmmaker Eric Gerber will present “Snare,” a non-narrative short that follows an artist through the woods and that, beyond that, is difficult to describe. Gerber said many moviegoers want to be challenged, but can’t find that experience at the local theater.
“I think there’s a lot of people out there who are curious, who want to see these films, but there isn’t much access,” he said.
Gerber described the underground film festival as a showcase of pure vision, uncorrupted by the financial and artistic pressures of mainstream movie making. And for a filmmaker, that’s inspiring.
It’s inspiring for audiences, too, as long as they’re willing to do some cinematic spelunking. Every trip underground promises the opportunity to unearth a gem.
“You’re not going to see these movies at the cineplex or on FOX, you know?” Yolan said. “You are only going to see these films at this film festival.” Go See It The Minneapolis Underground Film Festival is Aug. 29–31 at the Minneapolis College of Art and Design, 2501 Stevens Ave. S. Festival passes are available for $29 in advance or $39 during the festival. Admission to single shows is $8 for adults, $4 for students. A full program and links to movie trailers are available on the festival website, minneapolisundergroundfilmfestival.com.
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Whittier neighborhood
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Art beat // Closing and opening
By Dylan Thomas
Art of This leaving current space, but won’t cease to existLYNDALE — A few weeks before they planned to shutter their Nicollet Avenue art space for good, John Marks and David Petersen of Art of This Gallery reflected on “Open Summer,” their ongoing, open door, last blast summer project. A free-for-all residency program that eventually enrolled 80-some artists, the slowly percolating “Open Summer” was building steam as it headed into its, and the gallery’s, grand finale at the end of August. And for all the potential pitfalls in telling some seven dozen people where the gallery key is hidden, about the worst thing that happened all summer was when someone spilled salsa in the refrigerator and never cleaned it up.
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On the mat // Green yogis in Linden Hills
By Sarah McKenzie
Devanadi Yoga, a new studio near Lake Harriet, is a trailblazer in the local yoga community. The small 525-square-foot studio, tucked behind the Bruley Center on West 43rd Street in Linden Hills, is the first yoga studio in the state to be certified by the Green Yoga Association for its environmentally friendly efforts. The studio’s green practices include using non-VOC paint, controlling the thermostat to keep the building energy efficient and encouraging students to walk, bus or bike to class. Tanya Boigenzahn Sowards, studio director/owner of Devanadi Yoga, said being green is “core value of the studio and it ties back to the yogic philosophy of doing no harm.” “Minneapolis frequently ranks as one of the top green
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Everyday gardener // Q&A
By Meleah Maynard
Struggling tomatoes, rain barrels and rootbound plantsEven though spring started in earnest in March this year, it still seems like summer is going by too fast. So, fast, in fact, my inbox has been a bit stuffed with questions. As always, I’ve replied directly to people who asked for help with various things. But here in the column I’m going to cover some of the questions that seem likely to be of interest to a lot of gardeners. By far, the questions I’m getting most are about tomatoes, so I’ll start there. Q: My tomato plants look good and have a lot of flowers, but I’m not getting a lot of fruit this year. What’s going on?A: It’s been too hot for tomatoes to set fruit
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Flavor // A smokin’ sensation on Nicollet
By Carla Waldemar
If you’re wondering what caused the traffic stand-still on South Nicollet the other evening, let’s just say I should have kept my window shut. When passing cars got a whiff of possibly the best aroma in the galaxy — I’m talking about barbecue, of course — they halted to demand, “Where’d you get that?” At C&G’s, of course. Greg Alford launched C&G’s Smoking Barbecue exactly a year ago; the anniversary balloons in the otherwise-Spartan, clean-as-a-whistle hole in the wall provided the only touch of whimsy in this serious business. Greg was born in Louisiana, which may explain his superior taste in food. He grew up in Detroit, one of 12 kids whose mamma set him to cooking when he was 5, he
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Wild city // Eating the yard
By Mary Jean Port
I love August. It is so lush. All summer, as I nurse the garden along, I anticipate these eating days. We now have too much of everything: tomatoes, green beans, heat, humidity, and also thunder, for those of us who have a dog frightened by it. I have been working our piece of ground for 14 years, and have good soil to show for it. Back when we first started, my husband was more of a lawn guy. He liked the idea of a garden, but drew a line in the grass with his toe. Don’t dig up anything beyond here, he said. So I dug my first of what are now 10 beds, and planted the pumpkin right on his line. The vines ran out of the garden and took over the whole backyard. My husband good-naturedly threw up his hands. We started with vegetables, and
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Kid rock
By Sam Lane
Twin Town Guitars hosts a camp that gives young musicians a chance to play and perform in a bandMore than 60 excited, camera-toting fans packed Cause Spirits and Soundbar on a warm August afternoon waiting for two headline bands to take the stage. The hotly anticipated musicians weren’t well known. They weren’t 20-somethings trying to strike a record deal. They weren’t middle-aged men trying to relive their youth. They were kids, ages 8–17, who spent prior weeks at Twin Town Guitars, 3400 Lyndale Ave. S., preparing for their first concert. In an economy where budget cuts deal constant blows to public school music programs, the owners of Twin Town have spent the last three summers providing a haven for aspiring
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