By Michael Knox, mknox@modernfilmzine.com

WILMINGTON, NC — Danny McBride may have won fans over playing a frumpy stoner in “Pineapple Express” but his latest role will see him as a school teacher of all things.

McBride will star in the HBO series “Eastbound and Down,” playing a burned-out major league ballplayer who returns to his hometown to teach physical education at his old middle school.  The first episode airs on HBO in February.

The show recently wrapped its first season production at EUE Screen Gems studios in Wilmington, N.C.

“Step-Brothers” actor Will Ferrell will act as the show’s executive producer.

…continue reading “Pineapple Express” star to get own series

By Michael Knox, mknox@modernfilmzine.com

As a filmmaker, I’m one of the many people who can appreciate trying to make a movie for as little money as possible and still try and create a great project.

That’s why I’ve spent many hours looking up budgets, and watched films that were shot with very little money to see what those producers did right and learn from them.

Which is why many of the films that will be written about on this blog site will include micro budget movies, shot for $50,000 or less. Over time, I plan to find new films, as well as review older movies that have been made for little money and found success.

…continue reading Micro budget movies

By Michael Knox, mknox@modernfilmzine.com

This year’s Asheville Film Festival brought out thousands to the downtown area, with several shows selling out.

Here is a rundown of the 2008 Asheville Film Festival winners:

…continue reading Asheville Film Fest winners

Looking at the upcoming year, and since we are a small group here at Modern Film Zine, I have begun planning for some of the film festivals we will intend on covening next year. Here is a list of what is scheduled, and if you know of any others in the North Carolina or Georgia area, please let me know.

1. Full Frame Documentary Festival, April , Durham, N.C.

2. River Run International Film Festival, April, Winston-Salem, N.C.

3. Dragon Con, September, Atlanta, Ga.

4. Asheville Film Festival, November, Asheville, N.C.

These four events should yield plenty of celebrity interviews and behind the scenes comments as we begin our first year of film reporting while we also pursue our own filmmaking ventures.

Full Frame Documentary Festival is an event I’m looking forward to, since we will be able to attend the event before we submit our movie, “Tearing Down the Tent.” It is also one of the largest gatherings of documentary makers, which is one of my favorite forms of filmmaking.

Asheville Film Festival is a nobrainer since I live in Asheville and am a film recruiter for the festival. This past festival I recruited, “Sita Sings the Blues,” “Bart Got a Room,” “Lioness,” “Being Michael Madsen” and others. With Modern Film Zine now launched I will be able to interview industry insiders that I meet, such as Frank Pierson, who wrote the scripts, “Dog Day Afternoon” and “Cool Hand Luke.” I hated the fact that I met him this year and did not have an outlet for the wonderful stories he told. That is a mistake I do not intend to make at this year’s Asheville Film Festival.

Dragon Con may seem like a strange choice, but as far as pursuing celebrity interviews you get the biggest bang for you buck for our area. The 2009 festival already has guests scheduled including:    Mike Mignola
Mike Mignola is best known as the creator of the Hellboy comics. Michael Welch
Michael is part of the ensemble cast of the mega blockbuster “Twilight”, based on the successful of novels by Stephanie Meyer. Doug Bradley
Doug Bradley is probably most famous for his role as Hellraiser’s Pinhead – Dark Prince of Pain, Angel of Suffering, Leviathan’s Lord of the Damned.                                                                                                           Dean Haglund
Dean is probably best known for his nine seasons playing Langly, one of the computer geeks known as “The Lone Gunmen” from the hit FOX TV series The X-Files. He also starred in the The X-Files spin-off series The Lone Gunmen. His character is so popular that Dean is a main attraction at X-File and Sci-Fi conventions all over North America. He appears on trading cards, T-Shirts and even has his own comic book (“The Lone Gunman” published by Dark Horse Comics). 

With those festivals lined up, it also makes sense to hit the River Run Film Festival, since it is right in Winston-Salem, N.C., which included a good line up. The festival included public conversations with with veteran actors Bill Pullman ( “Independence Day” and “Bottle Shock”); Pam Grier ( “Jackie Brown” and “John Carpenter’s: Ghosts of Mars”) and directors Les Blanks (“All In the Tea” and “Smitten”) and John Dahl ( “Rounders” and “Joy Ride”).

As the year develops I will make sure I include updates on film festivals as well as any interviews we get along the way. One interview includes a write up of “Being Michael Madsen,” focusing on the director working with its star. Bear with me as I begin to form this zine and thanks for everyones help.

Michael Knox, publisher

By Michael Knox, mknox@modernfilmzine.com

Standing in the moto-globe of death, with a motorcycle racing around my head at 35 miles an hour, I realized that I had the chance to direct a really fun film that people could enjoy.

As a child I traveled with the Clyde Beatty Cole Bros. Circus, where I had a chance to ride elephants barebacked, work as a cotton candy vendor and help the clowns.

But over the years the circus has struggled, with the cost of gasoline rising, issues with immigrant acts being held up by problems with their visas, as well as PETA putting pressure on circuses to stop using animal shows, the circus industry has changed over the years.

I didn’t know that these issues even existed until I talked to my mother, Kathy Knox, who works for Cole Bros. Circus, handling press kits and such.

After talking to her I had the idea of doing a documentary about the circus. I had worked as a reporter for 10 years, covering cops, courts, business, government and entertainment articles and my news background taught me how to look out for a good story.

The story of the Cole Bros. Circus, the largest traveling tent circus in America, facing struggles that could possibly shut it down made me realize this is a piece of American history that needs to be recorded.

My nostalgic memories were the germ of an idea for this story. Then I discovered my friend Jamie Reel, a bartender in Asheville, wanted to run away and join the circus. The perfect addition to our documentary.

With Reel onboard, we were able to interview the performers and weave their stories through the adventures of Reel runnin away to join the circus. During his week with the Cole Bros. Circus, he was able to perform as a clown, work with camels, ride an elephant and stand in the moto-globe of death.

But I wasn’t about to allow Reel to do something dangerous without me at least trying it first. Which is how I found myself standing isnide a metal cage, shaped like a globe, as the driver raced around my head. The perfect beginning to our first day of filming.

Filming took place in Wilmington, N.C. and Asheville, with the total shooting schedule lasting a little over two weeks. We are now in the process of wrapping up our editing and will be having a private screening of the documntary, “Tearing Down the Tent,” to tweak the film.

This is the first in a serious of blogs that I will update as we begin our journey through the editing process and starting the film festival circuit.

Michael Knox, director of “Tearing Down the Tent”

By Michael Knox, mknox@modernfilmzine.com

Walking into a sold out theater I was amazed at how many people discovered “Sita Sings the Blues” at this year’s Asheville Film Festival. More than 200 people came out for the movie shown at the Fine Arts Theatre.

I first discovered this movie as a film recruiter for the Asheville Film Festival. The movie has been an official selection at Tribeca, Athens International Film Festival and a winner Annecy Animation Festival and Avignon Film Festival.

According to the movie’s Web Site,” Sita is a goddess seperated from her beloved Lord and husband, Rama. Nina is an animator whose husband movies to India, then dumps her by email. Three hilarious shadow puppets narrrated both ancient tragedy and modern comedy in this beautifully animated interperatation of the India epic Ramayana. Set to the 1920’s jazz vocals of Annette Hanshaw, ‘Sita Sings the Blues,’ earns its tagline as ‘The greatest break-up story ever told.’

…continue reading “Sita Sings the Blues”