Thanks to Rabid Dog Press and Wicked Channel for their enthusiastic reviews of TRIPPIN’ and the compilation DVD (coming out soon!).  My Sundance report will have to wait until next week as I’m steeped in  production, writing deadlines AND finals for my last semester at the Academy for a spell (sad, but necessary with all the projects and upcoming travels, alas.  Professor Snively will return before too long, I hope.)  Suffice to say for now, the Sundance adventure was a fairy tale trip with some fun reality thrown in to keep the momentum going.   More soon…or later.  It’s hard to tell these days.  Thanks for your patience!

Thanks to R. O’Donnell for a super fun interview over at Static Multimedia where we delve into the story of my own personal zombie apocalypse and reflect upon the current state of the horror genre.  Check it out here:

http://staticmultimedia.com/movies/features-interviews-movies/zombies-are-taking-filmmaker-devi-snively-to-sundance

Happy New Year, All !  And a special thanks to Table Read My Screenplay and Fangoria for their generous support regarding my latest zombie adventure.  Details here:

http://www.fangoria.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=6374:zombies-go-to-sundance-filmmaker-talks&catid=1:latest-news&Itemid=167

For those planning to attend Sundance, please let me know so we can hang.  Always a fun time.

So, after putting a moratorium on Hollywood films earlier this year (in protest to all the soulless, unoriginal garbage I kept subjecting myself to), I finally ventured back to the Arclight to give her another chance.  I’m so glad I did!  THE ARTIST is a wonderfully successful black and white, silent film in this day and age.  That unto itself is a remarkable feat.  How grand to hear a packed theater laugh and cheer throughout this lovely anachronism.  And the tap dancing!  Not to mention the period clothes and my dream hat.  The female protagonist is marvelous and I’ll forgive the lack of character arc for the male protagonist because, otherwise, it’s nearly flawless.

HUGO, though a bit longish and inconsistent in tone, is a delightful love letter to early cinema and my beloved Georges Melies.  Like all love letters, it’s a bit sappy, but it’s also stunning (amazing production design and some great use of  3-D) and ever so moving.  Watching clips from old silent favorites on the big screen alongside lovingly recreated works from Melies’, literally, magical oeuvre was a real treat.  And for those not in the know, it’s a great history lesson.

For the crowning glory – in this academic nerd girl’s humble opinion: Cronenberg’s latest, A DANGEROUS METHOD.  Not a Kiera Knightly fan at all (for goodness sakes, Dear, eat a cookie!  And please stop treating every scene like high-stakes Shakespeare.  It’s overkill), I was a bit distracted by her performance in the first act.  I simply didn’t buy it.  But even she grows into her role beautifully (what a remarkable woman that  Sabine Spielrein!) and aside from this minor hiccup, I think this is one of the best films I’ve seen all year (alongside Miranda July’s THE FUTURE, Mork Sjeler’s DARK SOULS, Mona Achache’s THE HEDGEHOG, and Fred Cavaye’s POINT BLANK.  Oh, and Tom Tykwer’s 3 and Joann Sfar’s GAINSBOURG: A HEROIC LIFE.  And Mike Mills’ BEGINNERS.  It HAS been a good year for movies if you just know where to look.)

I am so thrilled that one of my favorite directors has not gone the route of so many that seem to become caricatures of their former glory, but instead continues to grow and become all the more clever in time.  I daresay, he’s one of the most intelligent seeming directors out there (read his book CRONENBERG ON CRONENBERG and see if you don’t agree.) It gives me great hope for Polanski’s new film, the trailer for which looks almost Altman-esque and back on track after the rather disappointing GHOSTWRITER. I haven’t lost faith, Roman.  Please come back to me!

Oh and, lest I forget, for lovers of guilty pleasures, by all means check out HAROLD & KUMAR’s 3D CHRISTMAS.  To date, it’s my favorite 3-D experience.  You just haven’t fully lived until you’re sitting in a theater, a storm of cocaine snowing all around you as Bing Crosby croons WHITE CHRISTMAS.  And though babies usually scare the crap out of me, the one in this movie finally reveals to me their allure.  Allow me to demonstrate…

THIS IS YOUR BABY…

THIS IS YOUR BABY ON POT, COKE & ECSTASY…

ANY QUESTIONS?

Yes, it’s sick, depraved and utterly irresponsible.  It’s also the most fun I’ve had in the 21-room at the Arclight in a long time.   There’s something to be said for filmmakers who know what kind of movie they’re making and unabashedly go for it, no-holds barred, full speed ahead (so to speak).  Thanks, Hollywood – now that’s  movie magic!  In fact, I think I may just give the new MUPPETS a chance…

It’s not ironic but, only weeks after I dissed Alanis Morissette and shared my student’s humorous essay on “irony”(found HERE), the L.A. Weekly has dissected her semantically offensive song line-by-line.  It’s a hoot.  Check it out: http://blogs.laweekly.com/westcoastsound/2011/1/the_worst_song_of_the_90s_a_li.php

I’m STILL catching up from an amazing trip to Berlin, but had to take a quick break to share the new trippin’ poster (courtesy of Camp Motion Pictures) and our interview with FANGORIA.  Check it out HERE (sorry, you may have to click on the image to see the whole thing – how maniacal does Zed look?  Too funny!)

One of the tracks written with Trippin’ in mind was “Don’t Waste My Time”. Originally demoed in Finland, but later re-record in the studio sessions in London. We had overrun our allocated time, but dedicated to the cause I made the engineer who seemed to have been named after a Nacho takeaway to stay for a little bit longer. I was determined that I had a great track in hand. Almost like a mellow AC/DC’s “You Shook Me All Night Long” reworked in a style the laid back approach Rancid had experimented with around their “Life Won’t Wait”-era. At the time little did I know that the completion of these tracks would take longer than expected…

Few years down the line after a couple of long train rides and a very persistent Scottish trainbunker later I found myself at the train platform in Whitby, Northern England in the birthplace of Dracula. I was trying to find my way to the Bram Stoker film festival for the UK Premier of Trippin’ with two fellow horror film fiends I had befriended on the way up on the train. Few familiar faces were found looking at the city map – Elisbeth and Brenda Fies. We’d met at Devi’s flat at a screening of Trippin’ in LA during my visit across the pond.

While the rain was beating the naked shores of Whitby Killing Joke echoed the Gothic landscape and set the soundtrack for the weekend. When not getting our headgear blown away by the wind we spent the long weekend watching great films from all around the world – including the Fies Sister’s cult film the Commune and Darin Read’s excellent Up Under The Roof along with eating the best fish and chips that the country has to offer, watching zombie strippers and sipping Butterscotch Martinis.

The Fies Sisters picked up one of my music samplers and not long after returning to the Big Smoke I received and e-mail from them saying that “Don’t Waste My Time” would fit perfectly their short “Faux”, which was part of a bigger piece called “I Hate LA”. I was of course more than happy to follow Danny P. Harvey’s footsteps, of Headcat fame, who had contributed amazing music for the Commune.

Watch “Faux” online

[opening with "Don't Waste My Time" (instrumental version) by Spider's Sideshow]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OzZo8X2_52Y

While majority of the London Trippin’ sessions still in the vaults the Rancidesque semi-love song “Punk Rock Girl” (Yours truly on guitar and backing vocals, Baz from Cavity Search doing lead vocals, Paul Maguire on drums [nowadays in Low Rollers], Mark Nicholls on bass and keyboards [formerly of the Hydropaths]) appeared on a punk and ska compilation titled “This is London”, which quickly disappeared after the few shows promoting it. Maybe we’ll hear some of these gems in the sequel… hint hint.

Hopefully in the not-so-distant future I’d be able to do some recording and writing focusing Devi Snively’s Paige and Hadley… and in case you’re a film maker and you feel a tingling sensation do not hesitate to get in touch (spideremail [at] googlemail.com or via facebook) in regards to working on your film.

My other work with the Fies Sisters

T is for Torture

[featuring music by "Spider" & Juha Kataja]

College Girls Road Trip

[featuring "Blind Scum" (instrumental version) performed by Condition:Dead]

PS. Why post this now? “Joining” the 27 Club.

I’ve another fun film to share.  Check out the delightful animated “Slimtime” HERE.

People had told me Berlin is magic.  Now I understand.  As I see the old, the new, the saved, and the mostly destroyed, I gain ever more insight into things I’d only previously read about.   The impact’s far greater than I ever could have imagined.   I daresay Berlin has already changed my life.  Who could have guessed?

On Day 2, Berlin-Greeter, this fabulous (and free!) service, set me up with a wonderful local hostess who gave me and new fest buddy, Abel, a 3-hour walking tour of the city.  I am in awe.  History is alive and all around us. I’ve found answers to questions I didn’t even realize I had.  And I’ve formed new questions for which I suspect there are no answers.  Above all, I understand the value of freedom like never before.   It is our most precious blessing.

Admittedly, I am getting to know mostly foreigners and Ex-Pats.  It’s such a wonderfully international city.  New friends from Turkey, France, Portugal, Norway and Italy regale me with stories and ideas that have my inner gypsy all aflutter.  Disney got it wrong.  It’s not such a small world after all, only sometimes we try to make it that way.

Above all, I have learned two valuable truths:  1)  I must come back and live here at some point.  2) I indeed want to make our next films in Europe.   There is a freedom here that I fear the U.S. filmmaking industry has misplaced.   Film is still a revered artform – not merely a business.  There seems to be less fear, less concern about tried-and-true formulas and marketing packages.    Interesting faces and original visions are valued above “safety”.  It’s liberating…and a relief.

But enough waxing philosophical.  There’s a festival on which to report…  I am increasingly humbled as I see the other films screened.  Where have these filmmakers been all my life?  Before coming here, I was beginning to feel like I’d seen it all.  After a hundred or so fests the past few years, it was becoming increasingly rare to find a truly original story told in a truly unique fashion.  Is there a point when there are simply no new ideas?  I now believe the answer is a resounding, “No!”  Phew!

We’ve had our first 2 screenings and I daresay we’ve never screened in a more impressive block of genre shorts.  There was not a cliché in the bunch.  To the contrary, they were some of the most original horror shorts I have ever seen.  The block is aptly named “Nightmares and Dark Tales.”  The nightmare imagery is stunning.  It’s a relief to go to brand new places.  Perhaps I’m too jaded for porn, but lately it’s felt like horror should go for a stroll on the beach with its mother and ask about that “not-so fresh feeling”, if you know what I mean.

There is simply no need for horror clichés.  I now have proof.  I hope these fine directors go on to make features as inspired as their shorts.  Our beloved  genre needs them.  It’s time to raise the bar.  For movie descriptions and links, click HERE.

The other shorts in various genres have also been remarkable.  I’m pleased to find Germans seem partial to dark comedy if the  films I’ve seen are any indication.  Some favorites have included:  Water Lilies in Bloom (a wonderful fairytale by the “Norwegian Paul Bartel” inspired by his time as the only man at a “fat camp.”) And  Out of Erasers which somehow reminded me of “classic noir meets Godard’s Alphaville meets A-ha’s TAKE ON ME video.”

There are too many more to mention at present.  It’s actually Day 5 already and my intention to blog daily proves to have been delusional.  There is simply no time.  However, I will try to recap some of the highlights tomorrow.  Last night I experienced one of the most delightfully weird and wonderful experiences yet and it has resulted in a new filmmaking goal for which I may just need some help from twisted kindred spirits.  But now, some underground bunkers beckon….

Perhaps I’ve been out of the loop, but I just discovered a wonderful Youtube gem that was screened as part of Interfilm’s opening night kick-off.  Watch it HERE.  You’ll thank me.  It’s even more fun on a giganto screen amidst an audience of thousands.  Scroll down for more awesome films and trailers below…

But first, a quick recap of Day 1 here at the Interfilm fest.  Berlin is like no city I’ve ever visited and Interfilm like no other fest.  It feels like a whole new world has opened up to me.  It’s been wonderful…and a little intimidating. Moments after I first arrived, I had little time to freshen up and find my way to the opening night kick off.  Interestingly, some street names seem to change at every block making it rather challenging to find one’s way about at first.

After a couple wrong turns, I found my way to the giant venue.  It was already packed with thousands of people, all speaking German, all in groups of friends.  In my jetlagged state and not knowing a soul or more than a handful of German phrases, I confess I had a minor case of ‘fish out of water’ syndrome.   I had no idea what was going on, nor where I was supposed to go.  Part of me wanted to retreat and hide in my hotel.   I quickly amputated that part and left her bloody carcass in an alley out back.  Life’s too short for such nonsense.

I then followed some folks into a giant auditorium and took a seat.  Mercifully, a fellow next to me made a remark in English and we fast became friends.  I marveled once again how film fests so easily unite kindred spirits.  A documentarian from the U.K. who currently resides in Portugal, he’s a lovely chap and a big horror buff.  And I was so grateful to have a buddy to muse about the weird goings-on onstage.  Most of the show was in English, but it was like some bizarre variety show you might see on TV in South America or Japan only with German humor and accents.

Our host was quirky to say the least .  He arrived on stage by bicycle (they’re everywhere here) and launched into an odd monologue at which I occasionally chuckled only to discover I was the only one to do so. I suddenly wondered if he had not intended to be funny.  I would later learn from a native that this is not uncommon in my fave quote thus far:  “German humor is awkward and we ourselves do not always know when it is funny or not.”   I like this place.

They showed a number of films and previews of films that will screen during the fest.  OMFG!  In all of my vast festival travels I have only seen a few shorts that compare in variety and scope as these.  Interfilm is celebrating its 30^th year and our host boasted “ This year, we received 7,000 entries.  We only accepted 500.  So, relax.   We weeded out all the riff-raff for you.”  Once again, I was the only one to chuckle.  Oops.  And yowsah!  7,000 short films?!  Can you imagine?  Congrats, Team – we beat amazing odds.

To give you but a hint at the range, a few highlights included:

Luminaris  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cjr_b-dh29I

Concerto Crasso http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RDYQSMXnw7g

Hambuster  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ARoLPibWAIk

Think  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=51r4lNX2tUQ

La Gran Carrera http://vimeo.com/27602618

It was all so inspiring.  Short films are truly revered here.   Such perfection in artistry can be achieved in this smaller, but remarkable format.  I have fallen in love with this wonderful medium all over again and can’t wait to shoot our next.  More info on that when I return.  I’m jumping on the transmedia bandwagon and it’s so wonderfully exciting.  Endless possibilities.  But I digress.

The program ended when a guitar accompanist who was present for the duration of the stage show jammed out an awesome rendition of Iggy Pop’s THE PASSENGER, a personal favorite, and our host sang just like Iggy himself.  There was an impromptu sing-along and then he rode off on the bike he’d ridden in on.  Nice!

There were both a ‘reception’ and a ‘party’ directly after.  The reception offered free champagne, wine and beer (no water anywhere – d’oh!).  I was so parched I had no choice but to down some champagne.  Oh darn.  Upstairs was the “party”, which consisted of wall-to-wall people. The only other difference I could discern from the downstairs “reception” was that there were some cubes of Swiss cheese piled on platters.  No other food – double d’oh!   I grabbed a few cheese cubes, chatted a bit more with my new bud, then went back to the hotel just before 1am.  After 24 hours of travel and no sleep, food or water in some time, I seriously needed some recupe time.

The walk home was bitter cold with an eerie but beautiful fog in the air.  I kept expecting Peter Lorre to come by whistling and offer me a balloon.  Inspired, I wrote some ideas down for my latest writing assignment then promptly conked out into the most peaceful sleep.  It seemed like only minutes later when my alarm so rudely woke me up.  Breakfast is only served at the hotel until 10.  Oy.

I think Berlin may just challenge New York as the town that never sleeps.  It’s been rather nonstop since my arrival.  Not that I’m complaining.  There’s a wonderful energy here – so vibrant, yet not at all stressed out like so many cities.  I’ve never been anywhere like this.  The history, the people, the love of art permeate the crisp air.  And let us not forget the beer.  Sublime.

Apparently there is little industry in Berlin, which is made up primarily of artists and academics.  My own personal Mecca.  Everybody’s so well traveled, educated and diverse.  I love how discussion seamlessly flows through a plethora of topics and languages.

Anyway, these are my first impressions.  More to come.  Now, I have more screenings to attend…

Wow!  Berlin is another world and DOLORES is in AMAZING company.  Last night I attended Interfilm’s wild kick-off party.  The films were positively mind-blowing!  I’ve also developed a new appreciation for SNL’s SPROCKETS after the delightfully bizarre opening ceremony.  What a wonderful world we live in! I’m off now to meet my personal greeter to give me a walking tour of the city.  They are so accommodating here.  It’s rather cold and there’s a spooky mist in the air which, particularly walking home after midnight, suggested I might run into Peter Lorre being pursued by an angry mob at any moment.  I think I’m gonna like this place.  More soon…