Bellflower opens this Friday at the Ritz and in anticipation for its release I got a chance for a quick Q & A with the film’s director and star Evan Glodell. Evan started out his path to Hollywood while in college for engineering. One day he decided to just drop everything he was doing and to move to Hollywood to become a filmmaker.

The road to Bellflower’s release was not an easy one; Evan had a hard time raising funding and awareness for his film. But he continued to pursue and ended up doing it on his own terms for basically next to nothing, creating almost everything in the film with his own two hands.

Being interested in filmmaking myself I had a great time talking to Evan about the challenges of making his film and the lengths he went to get it completed.

First off tell me a bit about Bellflower, what was the origin of the project?

I got the original seed for the idea after a really intense relationship and breakup.  I started writing the script in 2003, and finished the first draft in early 2004.  I have been sort of working on collecting props for it and actors, and just trying to figure out how to get it made since then. We didn’t start shooting till 2008.

There seems to be a rich mythology in the film, from Lord Humongous to the gang of Mother Medusa; how thought out was that and how did you come up with a lot of it?

Its one of those things where the first version of the script really just focused on the relationship of the two friends, between mine and Jessie’s character who were building a flamethrower.  That is where it started and after years of rewriting the script sort of evolved into the gang, the Medusa car and Tyler and Aiden’s obsession with Lord Humongous.

There are clearly things we referenced, but we were afraid we would just dilute it. Everything that he talks about that Lord Humongous is supposedly like is all kind of a joke too.  They are saying Lord Humongous is like the perfect man and they are just making up their own rules as to who he actually is.

So the name Lord Humongous is just a way to joke and talk about it.

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A quick pass through Kickstarter will return any number of movie projects. We’ve featured some great ones right here on Geekadelphia. One thing you don’t see a ton of? Special effects and CG. The folks behind ARELLA are stepping in to fill that gap, creating a 5-7 minute sci-fi/fantasy film with some serious production value. ARELLA will feature an original score, CG, and a real sword created by the film’s art director. That’s serious commitment.

Although the team wants to keep the details of the plot under wraps to avoid spoilers, here’s what they’re willing to share:

Martin Neumann is concerned when he notices that his apartment is being watched by a tall powerfully built figure. In a bout of curiosity he tracks the figure into an alleyway and discovers not only that the strange man has special qualities but that the stranger’s interest in him may be due to his best friend Susan Beckford. For unknown to her she possess a hidden power that may be the key to humanity’s salvation.

Arella is a live action fantasy short film, written and directed by Chuks Oyem and produced by Chidi Ozieh. We have assembled a team of young, independent film making talent from Philadelphia and New York, to create the ultimate short film, portraying a city under siege from a Hollywood-scale biblical disaster. We are aiming to make a concise and energetic short film with an emphasis on intriguing storytelling.

The group is getting close to their funding goal; be sure to check out the video for a look at some of their previous work and some more hints about the film. Did I mention that the art director is a sword maker?

The Project: ARELLA

Creators: Chuks Oyem and Chidi Ozieh

The Sweet Spot: You can get a digital copy of the film and a “Thanks” credit by pledging as little as $1, and for only $20 you can get a hard copy DVD as well as a making of featurette.

Funding Deadline: September 22nd, 2011

More Info: Check out Rubic House’s other projects on their website, and get all the details on ARELLA itself straight from Kickstarter.

Every Monday (or Tuesday!) Geekadelphia features a Kickstarter created by local Philadelphians. Check ‘em out and support our local geek scene. If you have a project that you’d like featured on site, contact geekadelphia@gmail.com

Have you seen them? Strange tiles embedded in the asphalt throughout Philadelphia that read “TOYNBEE IDEA IN KUBRICK’S 2001 RESURRECT DEAD ON PLANET JUPITER.”

Where did these things come from? What do they mean? Who is responsible for putting them there? Such questions vexed Philadelphians Jon Foy, Justin Duerr, Colin Smith and Steve Weinik so much that their shared obsession resulted in Resurrect Dead: The Mystery of the Toynbee Tiles. Like Eraserhead and 12 Monkeys before it, the film perfectly captures the sense of weirdness that seems to permeate life in our city.

Yet it is also a surprisingly moving experience that offers insights on topics ranging from the oft-ignored magic of daily life to the nature of obsession. At the heart of the film is Duerr, a charismatic and intelligent staple on Philly’s art/music scene whose fascination with the tiles and their creator gives the film much of its emotional resonance. He is joined on his quest by Smith and Weinik, artists in their own right, and together the men embark on a shared journey that leads to a suitably strange and wonderful resolution of the central mystery.

Premiering at Sundance earlier this year, the movie earned first-time director Jon Foy the prestigious Directing Award in the film festival’s documentary category. After an ambitious rollout onto various VOD platforms last month, the film will make its hometown debut at International House for nightly screenings this Thursday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday that will be followed by Q&A sessions featuring all four of the men (each of whom are artists in their own right) as well as executive producer Doug Block. As a longtime tile devotee myself, I jumped at the chance to meet with Foy, Duerr, Smith and Weinik at Old City’s Café Ole for a roundtable discussion about everything from the tiles themelves to Philly’s indie film scene.

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There may be other areas better known for the film industry, mainly Hollywood, but as many of you may know there is a history of great filmmaking in Philadelphia. The most well-known, of course, being Rocky. The film was a massive success and made several of the city’s landmarks famous around the world. Other films like World War Z are based on the city, but are in fact filmed elsewhere. Whether the city is the inspiration or the location, it doesn’t matter; Philadelphia is an ideal film location.

I know that it hasn’t been released yet but World War Z promises to be one of the most exciting films of 2012, so it needed to be in the list. This film will almost definitely come to life when played on a 3D Blu ray player, bringing the pretend Philadelphia to your living room. (more…)

Here at Geekadelphia, we are all about new, digital, and future. But that doesn’t mean we can’t get a bit wistful about old, analog, and outdated every once in a while. The cool thing about digital media is that everything is searchable, instantly categorized, and indexed. Nothing ever gets lost. Unfortunately, that means that nothing gets found either, and that’s kind of a shame.

From 1967-1975 a Swedish TV crew traveled to the US, shooting footage for a documentary on Angela Davies, Stokely Carmichael, and the Black Power movement. At some point after they got home, the footage went into storage at a public television station and was promptly forgotten. Fast forward 30 years, and the footage is discovered and The Black Power Mixtape: 1967-1975 is created. The silent film footage is accompanied by current commentary and music from the people whose lives have been influenced and formed by those who walked before them, including Philadelphia’s own ?uestlove (!)

Tomorrow, Thursday, September 8th at 7pm, the Philadelphia premiere of this documentary will be screened at the Piazza at Schmidt’s as part of the Awesome Fest. Immediately afterwards there will be a discussion panel featuring Dr. Molefi Asante (Temple University), Chill Moody (hip-hop artist), Gregory Walker (founder, The Brothers Network), Michael Dennis (ReelBlack), and will be moderated by Nicole Gilles (Multicultural Director, GPFO).

This film is a must see. For more information, check out Awesome Fest’s official website.

Those 10pm screenings of familiar favorites are coming back to the Ritz at the Bourse starting September 9th.

This years series includes not only  the familiar favorites (like one of my all time favorites, Jurassic Park), but the premier of what looks to be one of the most controversial films of the year… The Human Centipede II: Full Sequence.

Have a peek at the schedule below. Definitely looks to be a lot of fun for film buffs looking to see some of their favorites on the big screen. I’ll probably be checking out at least 5 or 6 of them myself.  See you there!

• Sept 9th & 10th : Jurassic Park
• Sept 16th & 17th : Back to the Future
• Sept 23rd & 24th : Clue
• Sept 30th & Oct 1st : Scott Pilgrim vs. The World
• Oct  7th & 8th : The Human Centipede II: Full Sequence
• Oct 14th & 15th : The Princess Bride
• Oct 21th & 22th : Zombie
• Oct 28th & 29th : Shaun of the Dead

Pic lovingly stolen from Affentod’s flickr via Cinedelphia

Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark is the sort of remake that Fright Night should have been. The film takes a beloved made-for-TV horror film and updates it in a way that, while still somewhat faithful to the original, is definitely still in the same spirit. Del Toro once again shows that even if he is not behind the camera, he excels at picking the right people for the job.

Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark is the tale of a troubled young girl named Sally, who is sent to live with her father and his girlfriend at a mansion they are renovating. While exploring one afternoon the young girl is drawn by voices, and finds a hidden basement to the mansion. Inside the basement Sally sets free a dark force on the house that attempts to seduce the young girl with promises of acceptance.

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Another month, another post about movie screenings at the Dock Street Brewery in West Philadelphia.

By now, you know the deal. Tuesday. 8pm. $1 off small, $2 off large on select pizzas. $1 off select drafts during film. In a recent press release from the brewery, they mentioned having a brand new projector screen. Awesome.

Scope out the schedule below. Enjoy!

• August 30th: The Fighter

• September 6th: Dark City

• September 13th: Conan: Can’t Stop

• September 20th: Urban Roots

Fun fact: Urban Roots is a new documentary by the folks who brought us The 11th Hour. As of now, this is the only Philadelphia screening of the film.

Dock Street
701 S. 50th Street (19143)
(215) 726-2337
www.dockstreetbeer.com

Fright Night is the latest offering this summer in Hollywood’s constant stream of remakes, reimagings and sequels. While I enjoyed the original, it never was the strongest film even when it was first released. I felt that if they didn’t either take the film in a totally new direction or fix some of the plot/pacing issues the original had, the film would not fare well with current audiences.

Fright Night is the story of Charlie Brewster (Anton Yelchin) who finds out his next-door neighbor Jerry (Colin Farrell) is a vampire. No one believes him and he must rid the neighborhood of this scourge (which has an eye on his girlfriend and his mother) as people in his neighborhood continue to disappear at an alarming rate.

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Film and music fans get ready – the second annual Philly F/M Festival will descend upon us September 22nd to the 25th.

Taking cues from SXSW and CMJ, the festival will span all types of music, from indie to electronic to metal and all the way back around to hip hop. In addition to music, there will also be film screenings of documentaries about music. We Don’t Care About Music Anyway takes a look into the Japanese experimental music genre, while Sound It Out gives people a glance into the last vinyl record shop in Teesside, North East England.

There’s also a history of Beatboxing in Beatboxing: The Fifth Element of Hip Hop, as well as one that will draw the most Philadelphians – Meet Me On South Street, a documentary about the history of the local rock ‘n roll bar, J.C. Dobbs.

Spanning four days and over fifteen venues, both indoor and outdoor, the festival will boast more than 100 artists, with at 15 of them at the “headline-level” (meaning bands even your mom has probably heard of). Some of the big names include Deadmau5, The Descendents, The Dead Milkmen, Hot Water Music, and The Suicide Machines.

While many of the performances will be held in Fishtown and Northern Liberties, other venues include the Festival Pier, Trocadero, and TLA. Last year’s festival – which took place at 30 venues and had 300 artists (with none at the headline level) and 60 films – drew 13,000 visitors. The projected number for this year is 25,000.

Tickets are available per day or in the form of an “all-access badge,” which lets you see all there is to offer.

Philadelphia F/M Festival
September 22nd – 25th, 2011
www.phillyfmfest.com

The Owl Collection is a program of 9 short films produced by the students at Temple University, showing this Wednesday at Headhouse Square on 2nd Street, between Pine and Lombard at 7:30 pm. The shorts offer everything from documentaries to zombies, and showcase the strength of the film program at Temple in a cohesive collection.

They will be showing the collection two nights starting this Wednesday with another showing scheduled on October 5th at The Ambler Theater. The first showing will be free and local restaurants and shops in the area will have discounts that night.

It looks to be a lot of fun for fans of independent film, so come out and support Temple Film students! You can find out more info here at OwlCollection.wordpress.com

TeeFury.com’s MVP and Philly’s own Scott Derby is back with another amazing geeky tattoo design, available for 24 hours only!

This time it’s Joss Whedon’s Firefly that gets the tat treatment with Captain Malcolm Reynold’s (played famously by fangirl favorite Nathan Fillion) “I aim to misbehave” quote. All you Browncoats and Whedon-ites would be remiss in not picking up this awesome shirt!

No procrastination allowed! This baby is only available until midnight today, Monday August 22nd. At the sweet sweet price of $10 (+s/h), you won’t feel like you’re misbehaving by spending the cash on this tee. Head over to TeeFury.com and get yours now!