Cucalorus Film Festival showcases over 130 films
Sarah Bode | Staff Writer
Issue date: 11/18/09 Section: Lifestyles
Wilmington's Cucalorus Film Festival was showcased in various venues around town from Wednesday, Nov. 11 to Sunday, Nov. 15. In 2008, the movie madness drew many from all over the world and the Southeast. Over 10,000 tickets were sold. This year over 130 films were showcased in the non-competitive atmosphere that festival director, Dan Brawley, and his team put together.
Cucalorus is a hodgepodge of all sorts of events pertaining to film, the filmmaking industry, the filmmakers and of course the audience. Sarah Bryan is a senior in film studies at UNCW, and her favorite thing about Cucalorus is, "the variety of great work."
"There is such a diverse selection of film genres, production modes, story lines, editing, music, just everything, and yet all of the films chosen for the festival are of a high caliber," Bryan said.
Cucalorus strives to showcase a lot of variety in their final screening selections, from the animated short, "Horn Dog," directed by Bill Plympton, to the feature romantic comedy, "TiMER," directed by Jac Schaeffer.
Sophomore Crystal Groover said she laughed all the way through "TiMER." "It was just quirky enough not to be considered a main-stream Hollywood kind of movie, but it wasn't so out there that non-film buffs, like me, could still enjoy it."
One of the shorts shown this year, "Notes," directed by Marc Russo, was done with stop-motion photography. The film was about a man who drew alien cartoons on individual Post-It Notes and lined them up on the wall. While he was drawing, the sticky notes would move about, following him or re-arranging themselves.
"I thought it was interesting how well-made ["Notes"] was. It must have taken a lot of time for him to put that all together," Wilmington resident Molly Baker said.
The feature that followed the screening of "Notes," "Billy Was a Deaf Kid," directed by Rhett & Burke Lewis, was about the time spent between Billy, his brother and his brother's girlfriend. The film was shot with handheld camera-work, making it seem like a family home video.
"It's just great to know whatever film I choose to go see, it will be a well-made one," Bryan said.
One of the more popular films of the festival was Lee Daniel's "Precious," a film supported and promoted by Oprah. It was about a young woman who finds herself in a sexually abusive relationship with her father, an angry mother whom she waits hand and foot on, and the struggle that is the public school ninth grade.
"[It] was [a] hard film to watch due to its subject matter, but that didn't make it any less, phenomenal," Bryan said.
"I'm glad I live in a place where a festival like this is right at my fingertips," Groover said.
Next year make sure to check out the festival that has been cited by Southern Tourism as one of their Top 20 fall events.
Cucalorus is a hodgepodge of all sorts of events pertaining to film, the filmmaking industry, the filmmakers and of course the audience. Sarah Bryan is a senior in film studies at UNCW, and her favorite thing about Cucalorus is, "the variety of great work."
"There is such a diverse selection of film genres, production modes, story lines, editing, music, just everything, and yet all of the films chosen for the festival are of a high caliber," Bryan said.
Cucalorus strives to showcase a lot of variety in their final screening selections, from the animated short, "Horn Dog," directed by Bill Plympton, to the feature romantic comedy, "TiMER," directed by Jac Schaeffer.
Sophomore Crystal Groover said she laughed all the way through "TiMER." "It was just quirky enough not to be considered a main-stream Hollywood kind of movie, but it wasn't so out there that non-film buffs, like me, could still enjoy it."
One of the shorts shown this year, "Notes," directed by Marc Russo, was done with stop-motion photography. The film was about a man who drew alien cartoons on individual Post-It Notes and lined them up on the wall. While he was drawing, the sticky notes would move about, following him or re-arranging themselves.
"I thought it was interesting how well-made ["Notes"] was. It must have taken a lot of time for him to put that all together," Wilmington resident Molly Baker said.
The feature that followed the screening of "Notes," "Billy Was a Deaf Kid," directed by Rhett & Burke Lewis, was about the time spent between Billy, his brother and his brother's girlfriend. The film was shot with handheld camera-work, making it seem like a family home video.
"It's just great to know whatever film I choose to go see, it will be a well-made one," Bryan said.
One of the more popular films of the festival was Lee Daniel's "Precious," a film supported and promoted by Oprah. It was about a young woman who finds herself in a sexually abusive relationship with her father, an angry mother whom she waits hand and foot on, and the struggle that is the public school ninth grade.
"[It] was [a] hard film to watch due to its subject matter, but that didn't make it any less, phenomenal," Bryan said.
"I'm glad I live in a place where a festival like this is right at my fingertips," Groover said.
Next year make sure to check out the festival that has been cited by Southern Tourism as one of their Top 20 fall events.
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