Ele conseguiu

Aos 45 do segundo tempo, Chicken conseguiu levantar os 5000 dólares que ele precisava para colocar o nome dele na cédula eleitoral da eleição para prefeito de San Francisco. E foi entregar o “chequinho” dele em pessoa na prefeitura, onde encontrou o atual prefeito e candidato à reeleição, Gavin Newsom. Diálogo entre os dois:

Gavin: Oi Chicken, beleza? Mas o que você está fazendo aqui?

Chicken: Fala Gavin, tudo bem? Vim ver o meu futuro escritório…

Gavin (em tom professoral): Chicken, não conte o ovo no cu da galinha… (OK, tradução livre mas foi esse o espírito da coisa)

Eu também estava lá. Suando dentro de uma fantasia de gorila. Mas ninguém tirou foto. Chuif…

Comentário do meu amigo Bud Ugly sobre essa foto:

“É por coisas como essa que eu não quero ter uma TV de alta definição. Mas pelo menos agora eu tenho o número da conta dele.”

E o Chicken, sobre a experiência:

Last Friday was the deadline to file for mayor. I barely made the money. I barely figgered out (with 3 lawyers helping me) how to file the paperwork. I woke up early, washed my body, said my prayers, ate a good breakfast and rushed like a madman for the rest of the day. I filed at 4:45. The news cameras waited for me. It was odd. Pretty cool, though. I walked through city hall with an entorage of reporters that I mostly ignored. Friends were waiting at the election office and cheered. I kissed babies. I spoke in soundbites. I made eye contact. I was a screen that everyone projected their Amercia on. OK, maybe not, but I just wanted to see if you were paying attention. I walked into city hall and wanted to see Gavin’s office. I don’t know why, I just wanted to. I didn’t even know where it was, I had to ask directions. Room 200. The walls were cherry hardwood. The rug was like a casino. The confluence of colognes and perfumes in the office was surreal. It’s a stunning building. Marble everywhere. Polished. Cavernious. Vapid. It was like the ceilings were designed to maximize the sound of people screaming. I thought of a concert of bassoons playing on the steps, with old ladies tap dancing up and down the marble dias. I dressed wrong. I wore dark, should have worn light. Light is taller. I filed the papers and took everyone out for a drink. Drinks. Drunk. Fall down. Exausted. Mentally spent. Very emotional. Couldn’t sleep. Read Huck Finn. Again. How words can jump off the page like that and dance in front of your eyes. How little blips of ink on paper can create charicters so complex. Crazy people are starting to write me email. And call me. Angry people. Bizzarre people. Bring it on, city of freak flags flying high…

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Independente Futebol Clube

Há duas semanas, quando eu fiz a última exibição do Cine Fiasco aqui em casa, levei os dois diretores do filme Plagues and Pleasures on the Salton Sea , Chris Metzler e Jeff Springer para jantar. Conversamos sobre um monte de coisas, propriedade intelectual , técnicas de filmagem e roteiro e sobre a dificuldade que é fazer cinema independente, mesmo nos Estados Unidos.

É um documentário muito interessante sobre o Salton Sea, um lago de 56 km de comprimento por 24 km de largura e um desastre ambiental de 100 anos de idade no deserto do Sul da Califórnia, gerado por um acidente durante uma tentativa de desviar o Rio Colorado para irrigação. No começo o Salton Sea virou um balneário para os ricos e famosos de Los Angeles, mas com o aumento da salinidade da água (que hoje é mais salgada que a do mar) devido ao escoamento de resíduos de irrigação e ao descaso das autoridades, o lago virou um problemão que poucos se atrevem a tentar resolver.

Fiquei muito impressinado com os dois, super acessíveis e entusiasmados sobre o projeto e com muito gás para correr atrás. Até então eles já tinham mostrado o filme em 225 (isso mesmo) festivais de cinema, tendo ganho uns 30 prêmios. Até ao Brasil eles foram, mostrar o filme num festival de filmes sobre o meio-ambiente em Goiânia. Para variar, adoraram caipirinha e feijoada. Eu fiquei me perguntando por que raios eles tinham se dado ao trabalho de vir mostrar o filme na minha modesta série mas não perguntei, vai que eles mudavam de idéia e iam embora. O filme aborda não só o ângulo ambiental, mas também a subcultura de excêntricos que se estabeleceu às margens do lago e o impacto da política pública (ou falta de) sobre a região.

Num desses festivais eles encontraram John Waters, o legendário diretor de Pink Flamingos, que topou fazer a narração do filme (que até então era narrado pelos dois). A voz e o cinismo cavernosos de John Waters ficaram perfeitas no filme.

Os dois levaram cinco anos fazendo o documentário sem um centavo, nada de verba de estatais, Lei Rouanet e o escambau. Fizeram tudo com dinheiro próprio, fazendo comerciais e vídeo clips para pagar as contas. E sem equipe. Os dois fizeram tudo: roteiro, pesquisa, fotografia, som, edição, pós-produção. A equipe inteira eram os dois. Eu quero ser que nem eles quando eu crescer.

Eles me deixaram um DVD do filme e me liberaram para fazer cópias. Quem quiser ver, me mande um email no kiko@alum.mit.edu que eu mando uma cópia.

Cine Fiasco Proudly Presents

Uma das coisas que eu faço é organizar exibições de filmes, preferivelmente de diretores locais da Bay Area, aqui no galpão com a presença dos diretores para bater um papo com o público depois do filme. Semana que vem tem Cine Fiasco. Ueba.

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Cine Fiasco Proudly Presents
Tuesday, 7/24
8:30 PM : PLAGUES & PLEASURES ON THE SALTON SEA Directed by Chris Metzler and Jeff Springer, followed by Q&A with the directors

At The ChickenPlex, 3359 Cesar Chavez, San Francisco
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Cine Fiasco Proudly Presents is a whimsically-scheduled movie night. Roughly every couple of weeks or so, or whenever I feel like it, whichever comes first. Or vice-versa. So you may ask, “what kind of movies are you going to show?”, to which I’ll reply, “movies that I think are worth your while to come watch them, even if you have to put up with Chicken John”. And let me tell you, now that the man is on campaign, it’s like living with Mussolini continuously letting it fly out of the window, so it has to be an extra fine super high quality ludicrously great movie, aged in oak barrels for 25 years and whatnot. I think I have one of those this time.

John Waters has recently said that the growth industries of the future are gay divorce and tattoo removal. John Waters is rarely wrong, so there’s your financial advice straight from the horse’s mouth. John Waters has also lent his voice as narrator of Plagues & Pleasures on the Salton Sea, a documentary about the rise and fall of this man-made accident then touristic resort then very stinky very large body of water. So it must be good. Not convinced yet? This film features HUNGARIAN REVOLUTIONARIES, CHRISTIAN NUDISTS, POP STARS, LAND SHARKS, HARD DRINKERS, EMPTY CITIES, FAILED RESORT TOWNS, TONS OF DEAD FISH, A DYING CAFE, & A MAN WHO BUILT A MOUNTAIN.

What’s not to like?

We’ll have a raffle to benefit Chicken’s political machine. First place gets to spend a weekend with me at my beachfront estate on the Salton Sea. Second place gets to spend two weekends with me at my beachfront estate on the Salton Sea

I am always interested in showing local filmmakers’ works, especially if they can come and have a little chat with the audience after the showing, so if you are a filmmaker or know one, do get in touch with me ( kiko@alum.mit.edu) and we’ll work out something.

Bring your own whatever, I may make some popcorn if I feel like it.

http://www.saltonseadoc.com
PLAGUES & PLEASURES ON THE SALTON SEA
Directed by Chris Metzler and Jeff Springer
Narrated by John Waters
Music by Friends of Dean Martinez
contact: metzler@rocketmail.com

“Weird and wonderful.” – The New Times

“A heartbreaking, sidesplitting parade of humanity.” – Village Voice

“Historically thorough and thoroughly hysterical.” – L.A. Weekly

“An interesting, disturbing, and humorous look at environmental
disaster.” – The Berkeley Daily Planet

“A hilarious and kindly ode to a fallen paradise.” – SF Weekly

“Four stars! Offering you a vacation like you’ve never had before…
in this charming, yet sad documentary.” – Film Threat

Fabulously offbeat and refreshingly upbeat, this lovable film gets
friendly with the natives of the Salton Sea, an inland ocean of
massive fish kills, rotting resorts, and 120 degree nights located
just minutes from urban Southern California. This award-winning film
from directors Chris Metzler and Jeff Springer details the rise and
fall of the Salton Sea, from its heyday as the “California Riviera”
where boaters and Beach Boys mingled in paradise t o the present state
of decaying, forgotten ecological disaster. From wonderland to
wasteland, PLAGUES & PLEASURES ON THE SALTON SEA captures a place far
more interesting than the shopping malls and parking lots of suburban
America, a wacky world where a beer-swilling Hungarian Revolutionary,
a geriatric nudist, and a religious zealot building a monument to God
all find solace and community.

Crisply and hilariously narrated by oddball auteur John Waters, and
featuring music by desert lounge rockers Friends of Dean Martinez,
PLAGUES & PLEASURES ON THE SALTON SEA melds high camp with stark
realism, offering both a sobering message about the consequences of
tampering with nature and a heart-warming tale of individualism.

—————————————————————————————————————————————————-
Cine Fiasco Proudly Presents
Tuesday, 7/24
8:30 PM : PLAGUES & PLEASURES ON THE SALTON SEA Directed by Chris Metzler and Jeff Springer, followed by Q&A with the directors

At The ChickenPlex, 3359 Cesar Chavez, San Francisco
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