Horror Feature “My (Best Friend’S) Head Exploded” to Premiere in June: "Writer/Director Scott Bryan’s puppet-filled existential horror feature, “My (Best Friend’S) Head Exploded,” will have its two-weekend world premiere this June.
“My (Best Friend’s) Head Exploded” is a rebellious, existential, terrifyingly messy puppet feature made out of material things by actual people. It tells the story of Lydia, a coming-of-ageless vampire forced to deal with the loss of her best friend, Sam, after the pair conjures a moment of complete clarity which causes Sam’s head to explode.
In the aftermath, Lydia must contend with old ghosts, generational trauma, oppressive authority figures, and the confusing fear of infinity to set reality right and save her own sanity.
“I love making weird stuff that a studio would be afraid of and a computer couldn’t replicate,” Bryan said.
The film will show at the Salem Witch Board Museum in Salem,...
“My (Best Friend’s) Head Exploded” is a rebellious, existential, terrifyingly messy puppet feature made out of material things by actual people. It tells the story of Lydia, a coming-of-ageless vampire forced to deal with the loss of her best friend, Sam, after the pair conjures a moment of complete clarity which causes Sam’s head to explode.
In the aftermath, Lydia must contend with old ghosts, generational trauma, oppressive authority figures, and the confusing fear of infinity to set reality right and save her own sanity.
“I love making weird stuff that a studio would be afraid of and a computer couldn’t replicate,” Bryan said.
The film will show at the Salem Witch Board Museum in Salem,...
- 5/22/2023
- by Jonathan James
- DailyDead
Get in touch to send in cinephile news and discoveries. For daily updates follow us @NotebookMUBI, and sign up for our weekly email newsletter by clicking here.NEWSSpencer Bell, Nobody Knows My Name.Sight & Sound have shared the eclectic results of their annual video essays poll. The top pieces from 2022 "range from exceptional TikTok content (which doesn’t even take the title for brevity—competing against a 30-second montage) to short or feature-length essay films, documentaries, as well as art museum/gallery installations and live performances in academic contexts."The Berlinale has announced their Forum lineup, including world premieres from Claire Simon, Burak Çevik, and more.Recommended VIEWINGA24 have shared a trailer for Ari Aster’s new film Beau is Afraid ahead of an April US release. Joaquin Phoenix will star as the neurotic lead of the surrealist horror comedy from the “ingeniously depraved” mind behind Hereditary (2018) and Midsommar (2019).Third...
- 1/18/2023
- MUBI
New Release Wall
It’s possible that “Spider-Man: No Way Home” (Sony Pictures Home Entertainment) might have somehow been an even bigger box-office sensation had it not been released during a global pandemic, but all things considered, it still did pretty well for itself. Monetary success aside, this is a rousing and thrilling superhero tale that manages to feel self-contained as it compulsorily sets the stage for a whole bunch of upcoming MCU plot twists. The 4K and Blu-ray versions include a smattering of extras, including bloopers, panel discussions with the guest villains, and behind-the-scenes featurettes.
Also available:
“C’mon C’mon” (Lionsgate): Mike Mills’ disarmingly lovely look at family ties offers Joaquin Phoenix one of the more subdued and humane characters he’s ever played.
“Death on the Nile” (20th Century Studios): Toast Kenneth Branagh’s second Agatha Christie adaptation with enough champagne to fill the… oh, you know.
It’s possible that “Spider-Man: No Way Home” (Sony Pictures Home Entertainment) might have somehow been an even bigger box-office sensation had it not been released during a global pandemic, but all things considered, it still did pretty well for itself. Monetary success aside, this is a rousing and thrilling superhero tale that manages to feel self-contained as it compulsorily sets the stage for a whole bunch of upcoming MCU plot twists. The 4K and Blu-ray versions include a smattering of extras, including bloopers, panel discussions with the guest villains, and behind-the-scenes featurettes.
Also available:
“C’mon C’mon” (Lionsgate): Mike Mills’ disarmingly lovely look at family ties offers Joaquin Phoenix one of the more subdued and humane characters he’s ever played.
“Death on the Nile” (20th Century Studios): Toast Kenneth Branagh’s second Agatha Christie adaptation with enough champagne to fill the… oh, you know.
- 4/5/2022
- by Alonso Duralde
- The Wrap
Our annual tradition of Fantasy Double Features asks the year's Notebook contributors to pair something new with something old, with the only requirement being the films have to have been freshly seen this year.Part diary of memorable viewing during 2021, part creative prompt to think about how cinema's present speaks to its past (and vice versa), the 14th edition of our end of year poll weaves between theater-going and home-viewing so seamlessly as to suggest that early pandemic impediments from last year are now quite normal. Yet clearly that hasn't stopped us from watching, being delighted by, and thinking about movies, and the wonderful combinations below are testaments to the dynamic, idiosyncratic, and interactive vitality of moviegoing wherever and however its being practiced.CONTRIBUTORSJett Allen | Paul Attard | Jennifer Lynde Barker | Susana Bessa | Michael M. Bilandic | Ela Bittencourt | Johannes Black | Joshua Bogatin | Alex Broadwell | Celluloid Liberation Front | Lillian Crawford | Adrian Curry...
- 1/13/2022
- MUBI
Michael M. Bilandic's Project Space 13 is exclusively showing on Mubi in many countries starting December 10, 2021 in the series The New Auteurs, as well as in the series Anarchy in NYC: Michael M. Bilandic's Streetwise Cinema.Project Space 13When it comes to contemporary cinema, there arises the question of how to depict the breakneck present—in particular, a volatile and fast-paced internet culture indebted to the techno-apocalyptic strides of the 21st century. Some films confront it obliquely with the occasional meme reference or on-screen text, while others avoid it entirely by setting themselves in a world free of automated contrivance. A third increasingly prevalent tactic is to augur the dangers of “the online.” Films concerned with social media, in particular, almost uniformly denounce such platforms as soulless and exploitative. The films of Michael M. Bilandic offer a worthwhile alternative to this nihilism by embracing the Internet—and even the Post-Pandemic—Age with open arms.
- 12/13/2021
- MUBI
One of the final scenes of director Michael M. Bilandic’s fourth feature, Project Space 13, involves a delusional Manhattan gallerist wearing yellow knockoff Balenciaga sneakers and a ridiculous polka-dotted blazer at the shoreline of his beach house. He’s talking on the phone, via Airpods of course, to one of the two private security guards hired to protect the solo exhibition of an equally delusional artist named Nate in the midst of lockdown and protests. Throughout the night, every storefront on the downtown block has been looted except the eponymous white cube, where the artist and armed guards have been sitting […]
The post Michael M. Bilandic on His Unhinged Pandemic Satire Film, “Project Space 13” first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.
The post Michael M. Bilandic on His Unhinged Pandemic Satire Film, “Project Space 13” first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.
- 12/10/2021
- by Zach Sokol
- Filmmaker Magazine - Blog
Michael M. Bilandic's Project Space 13 is exclusively showing on Mubi in many countries starting December 10, 2021 in the series The New Auteurs, as well as in the series Anarchy in NYC: Michael M. Bilandic's Streetwise Cinema. I remember seeing Dušan Makavejev’s The Coca-Cola Kid back in the spring of 2020 at Anthology Film Archives in downtown Manhattan. It’s a satirical indictment of unhinged imperialist soft drink distributors wreaking havoc in the Outback. It’s also a pretty dumb romantic comedy starring Eric Roberts in full 1980s yuppie mode. It’s my favorite type of film: humorous, absurdist, yet grappling with serious issues in an entertaining, devil-may-care manner. I had no idea at the time that it would be the last 35mm print I’d see in a theater for well over a year. After the screening a bunch of us went to a bar down the street. There...
- 12/10/2021
- MUBI
Get in touch to send in cinephile news and discoveries. For daily updates follow us @NotebookMUBI.NEWSAbove: David Dalaithngu in Nicolas Roeg's Walkabout.Renowned Aboriginal film actor David Gulpilil Ridjimiraril Dalaithngu has died. David Dalaithngu was seen as a trailblazer for his early roles in Walkabout (1971) and Storm Boy (1976), and later performances in films like the semi-autobiographical Charlie's Country (2013). He rose to prominence as an actor and traditional dancer during a time in which Indigenous roles were frequently played by non-Indigenous actors, often in blackface. In his own words, he described acting as a "piece of cake." Steven Soderbergh, Channing Tatum, and writer Reid Carolin have joined forces for the next installment in the Magic Mike franchise, entitled Magic Mike's Last Dance. "The stripperverse will never be the same," Channing Tatum said. First Cow takes the number one in Cahiers du cinéma's top ten list for 2021! The list...
- 12/1/2021
- MUBI
Mubi is closing the year out on a high note with their December lineup, featuring some of 2021’s most acclaimed U.S. releases.
Highlights include Tsai Ming-liang’s Days (along with his previous feature Afternoon), Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s Wife of a Spy, Andreas Fontana’s Azor, Anders Edströ & C.W. Winter’s eight-hour epic The Works and Days (of Tayoko Shiojiri in the Shiotani Basin), Frank Beauvais’ Just Don’t Think I’ll Scream, and Michael M. Bilandic’s soon-to-premiere Project Space 13.
Also among the lineup is Arnaud Desplechin’s Esther Kahn, a quartet of Godard classics, Cristóbal León and Joaquín Cociña’s short The Bones, produced by Ari Aster, and much more.
Check out the lineup below and get 30 days free here.
December 1 | Pierrot le fou | Jean-Luc Godard | The Cinema of Marx and Coca-Cola: Jean-Luc Godard’s 1960s
December 2 | Le bel indifferent | Jacques Demy | Scenes from a Small Town:...
Highlights include Tsai Ming-liang’s Days (along with his previous feature Afternoon), Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s Wife of a Spy, Andreas Fontana’s Azor, Anders Edströ & C.W. Winter’s eight-hour epic The Works and Days (of Tayoko Shiojiri in the Shiotani Basin), Frank Beauvais’ Just Don’t Think I’ll Scream, and Michael M. Bilandic’s soon-to-premiere Project Space 13.
Also among the lineup is Arnaud Desplechin’s Esther Kahn, a quartet of Godard classics, Cristóbal León and Joaquín Cociña’s short The Bones, produced by Ari Aster, and much more.
Check out the lineup below and get 30 days free here.
December 1 | Pierrot le fou | Jean-Luc Godard | The Cinema of Marx and Coca-Cola: Jean-Luc Godard’s 1960s
December 2 | Le bel indifferent | Jacques Demy | Scenes from a Small Town:...
- 11/23/2021
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
"What just happened? Guys, what just happened?" Circle Collective has unveiled the official trailer for an indie film titled Project Space 13, an experimental, artistic feature from filmmaker Michael M. Bilandic, of the cult comedies Jobe'z World, Hellaware and Happy Life previously. An emerging performance artist finally gets a coveted show at a Manhattan gallery But right as he begins his durational, provocative piece, the entire city shuts down for Covid-19. Unswayed, he locks himself in a white cube space to continue his performance for an audience of none. "Project Space 13 is an irreverent satire of upper class dilettantism, desperate institutions and rampant paranoia in hyper uncertain times." Apparently most of the film is about the conversations he has with the security guards. A bit strange and clearly experimental, but perhaps that's the point! Starring Keith Poulson as Nate, Hunter Zimny, Jason Grisell, Theodore Bouloukos, and Kyle Brown. Not sure if...
- 11/11/2021
- by Alex Billington
- firstshowing.net
Get in touch to send in cinephile news and discoveries. For daily updates follow us @NotebookMUBI.NEWSAbove: Dean Stockwell in David Lynch's Blue Velvet (1986)The actor Dean Stockwell, remembered for his performances in films like The Boy with the Green Hair (1948), Paris, Texas (1984), Blue Velvet (1986), and many more, has died at the age of 85. As Sheila O'Malley mentions in her tribute, Stockwell's career was marked by numerous disappearances. He didn't always love acting, but "he lived long enough to be able to not just appreciate but feel the love that people had for him, the way audiences fell in love with him for 70 years." A newly discovered memoir by Paul Newman will be published next year by Knopf. Based on Newman's conversations with screenwriter Stewart Stern, the book aims to tell the legendary actor's story in his own words. Following the exit of Robert Pattinson and Taron Egerton, Joe Alwyn...
- 11/10/2021
- MUBI
Exclusive: New York-based consulting and distribution agency Circle Collective, in partnership with Mubi, is set to release feature Project Space 13, a pandemic-inspired satirical comedy whose team includes DoP Sean Price Williams (Good Time).
The film is the fourth feature by Michael M. Bilandic reuniting cast members from his previous comedies Jobe’z World, Hellaware and Happy Life. Craig Butta (The Birthday Cake) and Daniel Weissbluth (Hellaware) produce.
The movie follows Nate, an emerging performance artist, who finally gets a coveted show at a Manhattan gallery, but right when he begins his provocative piece, the entire city shuts down for Covid-19. Unswayed, he locks himself in the white cube space to continue his performance for an audience of none. As tensions flare outside, the gallery hires private security to watch over him and his art. Over the course of one night, two armed guards and Nate argue about everything, reveal their darkest secrets,...
The film is the fourth feature by Michael M. Bilandic reuniting cast members from his previous comedies Jobe’z World, Hellaware and Happy Life. Craig Butta (The Birthday Cake) and Daniel Weissbluth (Hellaware) produce.
The movie follows Nate, an emerging performance artist, who finally gets a coveted show at a Manhattan gallery, but right when he begins his provocative piece, the entire city shuts down for Covid-19. Unswayed, he locks himself in the white cube space to continue his performance for an audience of none. As tensions flare outside, the gallery hires private security to watch over him and his art. Over the course of one night, two armed guards and Nate argue about everything, reveal their darkest secrets,...
- 10/27/2021
- by Andreas Wiseman
- Deadline Film + TV
Get in touch to send in cinephile news and discoveries. For daily updates follow us @NotebookMUBI.NEWSAbove: David Fincher and Gary Oldman on the set of Mank (2020). David Fincher's Mank leads this year's nominations for the Academy Awards. A complete list of all nominations can be found here.Legendary actor Yaphet Kotto, best known for his charismatic presence in films like Alien, Blue Collar, and Live and Let Die has died.Spike Lee will be leading the 2021 Cannes Film Festival Jury, promising to return after the cancellation of last year's festival: "Book my flight now, my wife and I are coming!" After a months-long hiatus, Film Comment has announced its return, marked by a new weekly letter and two new episodes of the Film Comment podcast. Recommended VIEWINGAbove: Mark Rappaport's The Stendhal Syndrome or My Dinner with Turhan Bey. Today's the last day to watch two new essay films...
- 3/17/2021
- MUBI
Following its world premiere at last month’s IndieMemphis, Factory25 has released the first trailer for Jobe’z World, Michael M. Bilandic’s follow-up to his 2013’s art world satire Hellaware. This film looks to borrow from the After Hours formula of a New York City night gone wrong, as roller-blading, drug dealing Jobe (Jason Grisell) bares witness to the death of a celebrity client (Theodore Bouloukos). Featuring a robust ensemble and cinematography by Sean Price Williams, Jobe’z World is set for release on January 11.
- 12/12/2018
- by Sarah Salovaara
- Filmmaker Magazine - Blog
Following its world premiere at last month’s IndieMemphis, Factory25 has released the first trailer for Jobe’z World, Michael M. Bilandic’s follow-up to his 2013’s art world satire Hellaware. This film looks to borrow from the After Hours formula of a New York City night gone wrong, as roller-blading, drug dealing Jobe (Jason Grisell) bares witness to the death of a celebrity client (Theodore Bouloukos). Featuring a robust ensemble and cinematography by Sean Price Williams, Jobe’z World is set for release on January 11.
- 12/12/2018
- by Sarah Salovaara
- Filmmaker Magazine-Director Interviews
In today’s film news roundup, “The Wizard of Oz” leads off the 2019 TCM Big Screen Classics, “Jobe’z World” gets distribution, and Nrg and SAG-AFTRA make executive hires.
Classic Films
Fathom Events and Turner Classic Movies have unveiled 14 classic films that will be shown in theaters in 2019 in the TCM Big Screen Classics series, starting with “The Wizard of Oz” on Jan. 27, 29 and 30.
The other titles are “My Fair Lady,” “To Kill a Mockingbird,” “Ben-Hur,” “True Grit,” “Steel Magnolias,” “Field of Dreams,” “Glory,” “Hello, Dolly!,” “Lawrence of Arabia,” “The Shawshank Redemption,” “Alien,” “The Godfather Part II” and “When Harry Met Sally.”
Fathom specializes in event movies shown for one or two nights. It’s jointly owned by the AMC, Regal and Cinemark chains. The TCM Big Series titles will usually screen on Sundays and Wednesdays.
“Every year, more and more film fans have flocked to the TCM Big Screen Classics series,...
Classic Films
Fathom Events and Turner Classic Movies have unveiled 14 classic films that will be shown in theaters in 2019 in the TCM Big Screen Classics series, starting with “The Wizard of Oz” on Jan. 27, 29 and 30.
The other titles are “My Fair Lady,” “To Kill a Mockingbird,” “Ben-Hur,” “True Grit,” “Steel Magnolias,” “Field of Dreams,” “Glory,” “Hello, Dolly!,” “Lawrence of Arabia,” “The Shawshank Redemption,” “Alien,” “The Godfather Part II” and “When Harry Met Sally.”
Fathom specializes in event movies shown for one or two nights. It’s jointly owned by the AMC, Regal and Cinemark chains. The TCM Big Series titles will usually screen on Sundays and Wednesdays.
“Every year, more and more film fans have flocked to the TCM Big Screen Classics series,...
- 12/6/2018
- by Dave McNary
- Variety Film + TV
The new online issue of the multi-lingual La Furia Umana features dossiers on Yasujiro Ozu, Peter Hutton and Monte Hellman, Bani Khoshnoudi's personal remembrance of Harun Farocki, interviews with Lav Diaz, Anthony Stern, Naeem Mohaiemen and more. Also in today's roundup of news and views: Amelie Hastie in Film Quarterly on Maleficent, interviews with Jem Cohen, Jill Soloway and Michael M. Bilandic, Graham Fuller on Ann Sheridan, Doug Cummings on expressionism and Karina Longworth on Marlon Brando. » - David Hudson...
- 10/1/2014
- Keyframe
The new online issue of the multi-lingual La Furia Umana features dossiers on Yasujiro Ozu, Peter Hutton and Monte Hellman, Bani Khoshnoudi's personal remembrance of Harun Farocki, interviews with Lav Diaz, Anthony Stern, Naeem Mohaiemen and more. Also in today's roundup of news and views: Amelie Hastie in Film Quarterly on Maleficent, interviews with Jem Cohen, Jill Soloway and Michael M. Bilandic, Graham Fuller on Ann Sheridan, Doug Cummings on expressionism and Karina Longworth on Marlon Brando. » - David Hudson...
- 10/1/2014
- Fandor: Keyframe
Satirize This: Bilandic’s Scruffy Send-up of NYC Art Scene
Though starting off on a stronger note than where it eventually ends up, Michael M. Bilandic’s sophomore feature, Hellaware is an entertaining satire of the ultra-pretentious art scene in New York. Filled with sharp one liners and skewering observations of the self-important hipster scene, it’s a group that’s easy to target, which may explain why it eventually feels a bit inconsequential once it fosters its full circle treatment. But Bilandic’s acerbic, hilarious wit is often more than enough to carry the narrative through a slim manifestation.
While at a ridiculous and utterly pretentious art gallery of what looks like a variety of depraved children’s’ paintings, jaded struggling artist Nate (Keith Poulson) miserably shares his critical hatred for such types with tagalong friends Bernadette (Sophia Takal) and Gauguin (Duane C. Wallace), apparently taking the name of the famed artist.
Though starting off on a stronger note than where it eventually ends up, Michael M. Bilandic’s sophomore feature, Hellaware is an entertaining satire of the ultra-pretentious art scene in New York. Filled with sharp one liners and skewering observations of the self-important hipster scene, it’s a group that’s easy to target, which may explain why it eventually feels a bit inconsequential once it fosters its full circle treatment. But Bilandic’s acerbic, hilarious wit is often more than enough to carry the narrative through a slim manifestation.
While at a ridiculous and utterly pretentious art gallery of what looks like a variety of depraved children’s’ paintings, jaded struggling artist Nate (Keith Poulson) miserably shares his critical hatred for such types with tagalong friends Bernadette (Sophia Takal) and Gauguin (Duane C. Wallace), apparently taking the name of the famed artist.
- 9/30/2014
- by Nicholas Bell
- IONCINEMA.com
Music is at the core of two new Specialty features making their theatrical bows this weekend, albeit from rather different ends of the spectrum. XLrator Media will open Jimi: All Is By My Side focusing on the artist’s life in London in nearly three dozen theaters, while Samuel Goldwyn Films will bow faith-centered The Song in over 300 theaters, the biggest number of runs for a limited release newcomer this week. Magnolia Pictures will take thriller The Two Faces Of January starring Viggo Mortensen, Kirsten Dunst and Oscar Isaac to an initial half-dozen locations in the wake of its VOD release late last month and CBS Films is targeting the same number of runs for its Cannes ’14 feature Pride. Factory 25 is opening its art meets goth-rap thriller Hellaware and Cinema Libre will debut a former Swiss foreign-language Oscar contender The Little Bedroom in exclusive New York runs. The weekend is...
- 9/26/2014
- by Brian Brooks
- Deadline
Michael M. Bilandic’s “Hellaware” is cleverly, if absurdly, titled —the portmanteau of “Hell” and “Delaware” conjuring up the fiery depths into which this film's protagonist sinks after a fateful trip to The First State. But it also could be seen as a mashup of “hella” and “aware,” which could aptly describe the pretentious Brooklyn artsy hipsters that populate the protagonist’s milieu: highly self-conscious, self-styled individuals, whose “art” is all style and no substance. In reaction to that, “Hellaware” is a cynical, caustic, and often very funny send up of not only the current commercial art world but the entire borough of Brooklyn. In doing so, the film manages to make a very silly and stereotypical Insane Clown Posse-esque rap rock group look like the good guys. Nate (Keith Poulson) is our protagonist, and eventual anti-hero, a struggling artist frustrated by the successes of those around him who are celebrated for their gimmicky,...
- 9/25/2014
- by Katie Walsh
- The Playlist
Few things are more frustrating than being an aspiring photographer, unless it's being an aspiring photographer who just got dumped. In Nate's (Keith Poulson) case, the competition is an artist whose Manhattan gallery exhibit consists of his childish black-metal illustrations. Enter Young Torture Killaz, a teenage Icp analogue from Delaware whose song "I'll Cut Yo Dick Off" Nate stumbles across on YouTube. He rationalizes his interest in the trio as an attempt to escape the "incestuous socialite shit" that plagues the NYC scene (said non-ironically while wearing a cardigan and yellow ski cap). This is about the level of satire you can expect in Michael M. Bilandic's Hellaware, a broad and occasionally disjointed indictment of the New York art scene and horrorcor...
- 9/24/2014
- Village Voice
The world of pretentious NYC scenester artists is always ripe for a send up, and the new indie "Hellaware," from Michael M. Bilandic, mashes up that universe with a dose of reality from a band of rural Delaware rap rockers. Today we've got the exclusive trailer for the film, which stars Keith Poulson as struggling artist Nate, who seeks inspiration outside of the city when he discovers Icp-esque rap rockers (rock rappers?) Young Torture Killaz on YouTube, and sets off to find and photograph them. It's a bitterly funny and cynical take on the nature of commercial art, and Poulson is magnetic in his downward spiral. "Hellaware" also co-stars Brooklyn indie darlings Sophia Takal and Kate Lyn Sheil. Check out the trailer below. "Hellaware" opens in theaters and on VOD on September 26th.
- 9/19/2014
- by Katie Walsh
- The Playlist
Brooklyn-based distributor Factory 25 has acquired North American rights to Hellaware, writer-director Michael M. Bilandic’s indie satire about a wannabe photographer caught in the lowbrow-highbrow collision between the NYC art gallery scene and the grimy rapcore world of Juggalo culture. Keith Poulson stars as Nate, whose coked-up YouTube search leads him to a music video by Insane Clown Posse knockoff the Young Torture Killers. The fictional band drew free publicity for the film when online viewers took a controversial music video from the movie for the real thing. Factory 25 will open the film in NYC on September 26 and digitally on September 23.
DigiNext has pacted directly with indie shingle Vision Vehicle Productions for worldwide rights to two features from the label co-founded by actor Malcolm Goodwin (American Gangster, Leatherheads, Breakout Kings, iZombie). Faith-inspired flick Pass The Light stars Cameron Palatas as a 17-year-old high school student who runs for Congress to...
DigiNext has pacted directly with indie shingle Vision Vehicle Productions for worldwide rights to two features from the label co-founded by actor Malcolm Goodwin (American Gangster, Leatherheads, Breakout Kings, iZombie). Faith-inspired flick Pass The Light stars Cameron Palatas as a 17-year-old high school student who runs for Congress to...
- 8/15/2014
- by Jen Yamato
- Deadline
In Hellaware, a sly comedy written and directed by University of Texas graduate Michael M. Bilandic, a young New York City photographer stumbles upon a crude and downright terrible YouTube video made by a group of suburban Delaware rappers. Oddly intrigued, he tracks them down in the hopes they'll offer up enough perfectly edgy material to help him break into the fancy art world scene, but all he really ends up exposing is his own naivete.
Bilandic's second feature has already captured more attention than usual for an indie film thanks to a creative promotional strategy. Weeks before Hellaware's first screening, the filmmakers posted the music video featured in the movie (which they designed to be over-the-top and hilariously horrible), and sat back and watched as it amassed over 100,000 combined views. Commenters called it out for being vulgar and just plain bad, unaware they were critiquing something never meant to be taken seriously.
Bilandic's second feature has already captured more attention than usual for an indie film thanks to a creative promotional strategy. Weeks before Hellaware's first screening, the filmmakers posted the music video featured in the movie (which they designed to be over-the-top and hilariously horrible), and sat back and watched as it amassed over 100,000 combined views. Commenters called it out for being vulgar and just plain bad, unaware they were critiquing something never meant to be taken seriously.
- 10/21/2013
- by Caitlin Moore
- Slackerwood
Some filmmakers know how to make the most of an opportunity. The group behind "Hellaware," an independent comedy set to premiere at the BAMcinemafest on June 22, has released a YouTube video to promote their film. While not a revolutionary act per se, the execution has left many confused internet viewers wondering what, if anything, the video is about. Let's start at the beginning. The film itself focuses on an "aspiring but less than ambitious" New York City photographer who discovers the Young Torture Killaz — an extremely vulgar band sporting excess amounts of clown makeup — on YouTube. He becomes fascinated with them and hopes they'll prove to be his big break. Starring Keith Poulson ("Somebody Up There Likes Me") and directed by Michael M. Bilandic ("Happy Life"), "Hellaware" is meant to be a satirical take of New York City's underground art world. Meanwhile, in the real world, the fictional Young Torture...
- 6/20/2013
- by Ben Travers
- Indiewire
When it replaced Bam’s season of Sundance favorites some years ago, BAMcinemaFest emerged as a stronger and much more Brooklyn-centric event, a true festival rather than just a Park City greatest hits package. This year, it bookends proceedings with festival favorites from two our “25 New Faces” of previous years, David Lowery’s gorgeous period outlaw drama Ain’t Them Bodies Saints, and Destin Cretton’s SXSW-winning social worker drama Short Term 12. Michael M. Bilandic’s artworld satire Hellaware — which was featured in our Summer 2012 article “The Shooting Parties” — is the sole world premiere, however the focus here is on local …...
- 5/8/2013
- by Nick Dawson
- Filmmaker Magazine-Director Interviews
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