BIG EASY FILM FESTIVAL PROGRAM DESIGN

BIG EASY FILM FEST

Copyright © 2017 by Anna Benson

All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof BEFF may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher BIG EASY FILM FEST BIG EASY FILM FEST except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

Printed in the United States of America

First Printing, 2017

ISBN 6-0577060-1-9 FEB 9 – 11, 2018 E Benson Publishers B FF 123 Sesame Street BIG EASY FILM FEST CIVIC THEATRE Compton, CA 90059 Printed on 310gsm Linen Card stock 510 O’KEEFE AVENUE Type used is Trade Gothic LT Std , LA 70113 www.BensonPublishers.com 200 copies printed BIG EASY FILM FEST

FEB 9 – 11, 2018

CIVIC THEATRE ACKNOWLEDGMENTS WELCOME TO BEFF SCHEDULE

510 O’KEEFE AVENUE THE KID, 1921 Christina Knutson Welcome and thank for coming to New Orleans for the first 2/9/18 NEW ORLEANS, LA 70113 annual Big Easy Film Festival. AGNES VARDA, Beaches of Agnes ------5:00pm , 1923 Kristina Brunson In this autobiographical documentary, celebrated French filmmaker Agnes

Join us for a celebration of both modern and classic film like Varda provides a window into her eventful life as she revisits various locales

THE GOLD RUSH, 1925 MaddieMalat that have been important to her. 1 hr 50 min. Y AMAZING AMAZING Y L UDDER none other in the amazing city of New Orleans. This years festival takes place in the historic Civic Theatre located on THE CIRCUS, 1928 Kendra Buro O’Keeffe Avenue. The growing passion for diverse film festivals CHARLIE CHAPLIN, ------9:00pm makes the Big Easy Film Festival a destination for movie lovers Dictator Adenoid Hynkel tries to expand his empire while a poor Jewish , 1931 Brianna Borah of all kinds from around the globe. barber tries to avoid persecution from Hynkel’s regime. 2 hr 7 min. MODERN TIMES, 1936 This year’s theme, Drollness, Death, and Documentaries 2/10/18 THE , Fargo ------5:00pm will explore the unique films that delved into comedy, crime, THE GREAT DICTATOR, 1940 Jerry Lundegaard’s inept crime falls apart due to his and his henchmen’s drama, and the life of world renowned directors. We’re inviting bungling and the persistent police work of the quite pregnant Marge the family of movie lovers from around the world to join us MONSIEUR VERDOUX, 1947 Gunderson. 1 hr 38 min. for three unforgettable days. All of us at BEFF look forward to greeting and meeting new friends at the Festival! LIMELIGHT, 1952 DAVID FINCHER, ------9:00pm An insomniac office worker, looking for a way to change his life, crosses At BEFF we’ve reincarnated Charlie Chaplin to bring him to you , 1957 paths with a devil-may-care soap maker, forming an underground fight club as this year’s featured director. In addition, we present you with that evolves into something much, much more. 2 hr 19 min. A COUNTESS FROM HONG KONG, 1957 a line up one-of-a-kind guests and organize an assortment of special events to transform New Orleans into a movie lover’s 2/11/18 Film critic Andrew Sarris called Chaplin “arguably the single paradise. And don’t forget Club BEFF, where passholders can , Django Unchained ------4:00pm most important artist produced by the cinema, certainly meet, mingle and help celebrate the BEFF movies. With the help of a German bounty hunter, a freed slave sets out to rescue his its most extraordinary performer and probably still its most wife from a brutal Mississippi plantation owner. 2 hr 45 min. universal icon”. He was included in Time magazine’s list of We are truly excited to share this welcome you to BEFF and the “100 Most Important People of the 20th Century” for the hope you enjoy your time with us. , ------5:00pm “laughter [he brought] to millions” and because he “more or The infamous story of Benjamin Barker, a.k.a. Sweeney Todd, who sets up less invented global recognizability and helped turn an industry –Your friends at BEFF a barber shop down in London which is the basis for a sinister partnership into an art”. with his fellow tenant, Mrs. Lovett. Based on the hit Broadway musical. 1 hr 56 min

TIM BURTON SWEENEY TODD

Timothy Walter Burton was born in Burbank, California, to Jean Evil Judge Turpin (Alan Rickman) lusts for the beautiful wife of a Rae (Erickson), who owned a cat-themed gift shop, and William London barber (Johnny Depp) and transports him to Australia for T Reed Burton, who worked for the Burbank Park and Recreation a crime he did not commit. Returning after 15 years and calling Department. He spent most of his childhood as a recluse, draw- himself Sweeney Todd, the now-mad man vows revenge, applying ing cartoons, and watching old movies (he was especially fond his razor to unlucky customers and shuttling the bodies down to of films with Vincent Price). When he was in the ninth grade, his Mrs. Lovett (), who uses them in her meat- artistic talent was recognized by a local garbage company, when pie shop. Though many fall to his blade, he will not be satisfied he won a prize for an anti-litter poster he designed. The company until he slits Turpin’s throat. placed this poster on all of their garbage trucks for a year. After graduating from high school, he attended California Institute of STARRING: the Arts. Like so many others who graduated from that school,

Burton’s first job was as an animator for Disney. Johnny Depp ------Sweeney Todd Helena Bonham Carter ------Mrs. Lovett

Alan Rickman ------Judge Turpin Ed Sanders ------Toby S

THE COEN BROTHERS FARGO

Joel David Coen and Ethan Jesse Coen collectively referred to as Jerry works in his father-in-law’s car dealership and has gotten the Coen brothers, are American filmmakers. Their films span himself in financial problems. He tries various schemes to come C many genres and styles, which they frequently subvert or parody. up with money needed for a reason that is never really explained. Their best-reviewed works include Miller’s Crossing (1990), Fargo It has to be assumed that his huge embezzlement of money from (1996), The Big Lebowski (1998), No Country for Old Men (2007), the dealership is about to be discovered by father-in-law. When A Serious Man (2009),and True Grit (2010). all else falls through, plans he set in motion earlier for two men to kidnap his wife for ransom to be paid by her wealthy father The brothers write, direct and produce their films jointly. They (who doesn’t seem to have the time of day for son-in-law). From often alternate top billing for their screenplays while sharing the moment of the kidnapping, things go wrong and what was editing credits under the alias Roderick Jaynes. They have been supposed to be a non-violent affair turns bloody with more blood nominated for thirteen together, and individual- added by the minute. Jerry is upset at the bloodshed, which turns ly for one award each, winning Best Original Screenplay for Fargo loose a pregnant sheriff from Brainerd, MN who is tenacious in and Best Picture, Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay attempting to solve the three murders in her jurisdiction for No Country for Old Men. The duo also won the Palme d’Or for Barton Fink (1991) and were nominated for Fargo. STARRING:

The Coen brothers have written a number of films they did not William H. Macy ------Jerry Lundegaard direct, including the biographical war drama Unbroken (2014) Steve Buscemi ------Carl Showalter

and the historical legal thriller Bridge of Spies (2015). Peter Stormare ------Gaear Grimsrud Kristin Rudrud ------Jean Lundegaard F Harve Presnell ------Wade Gustafson

DAVID FINCHER FIGHT CLUB

David Fincher was born on August 28, 1962 in , Colorado. A depressed man () suffering from insomnia Fincher knew from a young age he wanted to go into filmmaking. meets a strange soap salesman named Tyler Durden (Brad D When Fincher was two years old, the family moved to San An- Pitt) and soon finds himself living in his squalid house after selmo, California, where filmmaker was one of his his perfect apartment is destroyed. The two bored men form an neighbors. During high school, he directed plays and designed underground club with strict rules and fight other men who are sets and lighting after school, and was a non-union projectionist fed up with their mundane lives. Their perfect partnership frays at a second-run movie theater, production assistant at the local when Marla (Helena Bonham Carter), a fellow support group television news station. Fincher likes to confuse audiences with crasher, attracts Tyler’s attention. his camerawork. Sometimes, it is difficult to determine whether a shot is human-controlled, motion-controlled or computer-gener- STARRING: ated imagery. He is known for having directed the psychological thrillers Seven, The Game, Fight Club, and , and the Edward Norton ------The Narrator

mystery thrillers Zodiac and The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. ------Tyler Durden ------Robert ‘Bob’ Paulsen

Zach Grenier ------Richard Chesler Richmond Arquette ------Intern F

The Following design was created as the final project for Concordia College’s Intermediate Graphic Design class. The assignment was to create a book with a minimum of 24 pages - using a bookbinding method of your choosing - for a fictional film festival. The book for the film festival needed to showcase the student’s chosen director and film, illustrate the title of the film festival, your director, and his/her film, and use your classmates' text on their directors and films for QUENTIN TARANTINO DJANGO UNCHAINED additional text matter. His career began in the late 1980s, when he wrote and directed In 1858 Texas, the Speck brothers, Ace and Dicky, drive a group Q My Best Friend’s Birthday, the screenplay of which formed the of black slaves on foot. Among the shackled slaves is Django, As a class we developed the name “Big Easy Film Festival” as the title of the festival. This celebration of film was to basis for True Romance. In the early 1990s, he began his career sold off and separated from his wife, Broomhilda von Shaft. as an independent filmmaker with the release of Reservoir Dogs The Speck brothers are stopped by Dr. King Schultz, a German take place in New Orleans, LA at the Civic Theatre located on 510 O'Keefe Avenue. in 1992; regarded as a classic and cult hit, it was called the dentist-turned-bounty hunter from Düsseldorf, who asks to buy “Greatest Independent Film of All Time” by Empire. Its popularity one of the slaves. He questions Django about his knowledge of was boosted by his second film, (1994), a black the Brittle brothers, a group of outlaws for whom Dr. Schultz is comedy crime film that was a major success both among critics carrying a warrant. When Ace becomes suspicious, Dr. Schultz, For the assignment I decided to think outside of the box for the design of a program that would be given out to and audiences. Judged the greatest film from 1983–2008 by a superior gunslinger, kills Ace with a fast draw, then shoots attendees of the Big Easy Film Festival. As my chosen director was Charlie Chaplin (a famed director/actor from the mid , many critics and scholars have named Dicky’s horse. Dr. Schultz insists on honorably paying Dicky it one of the most significant works of modern cinema. For his a fair price for Django before leaving him at the mercy of the 20th century) and his film “The Great Dictator” I decided to create a program that would be formatted like a deck of next effort, Tarantino paid homage to the blaxploitation films of newly-freed slaves, who kill him and follow the North Star to the 1970s with Jackie Brown (1997), an adaptation of the novel freedom. As Django can identify the Brittle brothers, Dr. Schultz cards (an item that was very popular by soldiers in World Wars - a war that “The Great Dictator” comically references). I Rum Punch. offers him his freedom in exchange for help tracking them down. chose to utilize a black and white monochromatic color scheme as Chaplin’s films all were produced in black and white Tarantino’s films have garnered both critical and commercial STARRING:

success. He has received many industry awards, including two and then illustrated and designed in a minimalist fashion to exhibit the popular design style enjoyed by modern culture. Academy Awards, two Golden Globe Awards, two BAFTA Awards Jamie Foxx ------Django

The cards in the event program each have an symbol illustrated for them that represents the signified film being and the Palme d’Or, and has been nominated for an Emmy and Chirstoph Waltz ------Dr. King Schultz Leonardo DiCaprio ------Calvin Candie D a Grammy. He was named one of the 100 Most Influential People presented at the Big Easy Film Festival - similar to how each card in a traditional deck is given a symbol (hearts, clubs, in the World by Time in 2005. Filmmaker and historian Peter Kerry Washington ------Broohilda von Shaft Bogdanovich has called him “the single most influential direc- Samuel L. Jackson ------Stephen diamonds, or spades). Further the letter that appears in the upper left hand corner of the cover of the card is the first tor of his generation”. In December 2015, Tarantino received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for his contributions to the letter of each directors name while the letter that appears in the lower right hand corner of the cover of the card is the film industry. first letter of the film being presented at the festival. I decided to illustrate the main character(s) of the film being showcased along with the face of the director(s) correspondingly to how the images would appear on face cards in a traditional deck of cards. In order to allow attendees to the event conveniently locate information on the event I crated a small booklet that included the welcome letter, copyright, schedule, advertisement card, acknowledgments, and colophon. In addition, for convenience of learning more about the films and corresponding directors I made each card CHARLIE CHAPLIN THE GREAT DICTATOR open up and display a page on the director and the film. Sir Charles Spencer “Charlie” Chaplin, was an English comic After dedicated service in the Great War, a Jewish barber actor, filmmaker, and composer who rose to fame in the era (Charles Chaplin) spends years in an army hospital recovering C of silent film. Chaplin became a worldwide icon through his from his wounds, unaware of the simultaneous rise of fascist The designed program gives attendees a fun and fashionable guide for the event that can be kept as a keepsake or screen persona “” and is considered one of the most dictator Adenoid Hynkel (also Chaplin) and his anti-Semitic reminder of the great times they had at the Big Easy Film Festival. important figures in the history of the film industry. His career policies. When the barber, who bears a remarkable resemblance spanned more than 75 years, from childhood in the Victorian era to Hynkel, returns to his quiet neighborhood, he is stunned by until a year before his death in 1977. the brutal changes and recklessly joins a beautiful girl (Paulette Goddard) and her neighbors in rebelling. Chaplin wrote, directed, produced, edited, starred in, and composed the music for most of his films. He was a perfectionist, STARRING: and his financial independence enabled him to spend years on the development and production of a picture. His films are Charlie Chaplin ------Hynkel / A Jewish Barber characterised by slapstick combined with pathos, typified in the Jack Oakie ------Napaloni Tramp’s struggles against adversity. Many contain social and Reginald Gardiner ------Schultz political themes, as well as autobiographical elements. In 1972, Paulette Goddard ------Hannah as part of a renewed appreciation for his work, Chaplin received Henry Daniell ------Garbitsch

an Honorary Academy Award for “the incalculable effect he has Billy Gilbert ------Herring had in making motion pictures the art form of this century”. He

continues to be held in high regard, with , City Lights, Modern Times, and The Great Dictator often ranked on G industry lists of the greatest films of all time.

AGNES VARDA THE BEACHES OF AGNES

Agnes Varda is a Belgian-born film director who has spent most In this autobiographical documentary, celebrated French A of her working life in France. Her films, photographs, and art filmmaker Agnes Varda provides a window into her eventful life installations focus on documentary realism, feminist issues, and as she revisits various locales that have been important to her. social commentary with a distinct experimental style. Interspersed between these trips are interviews with Varda’s collaborators and family members, as well as archive footage Film historians have cited Varda’s work as central to the and still photographs. This eclectic mix provides both a history development of the French New Wave film movement; her uses of of the subject and an illuminating tour of an artist’s mind and location shooting and non-professional actors were unconven- creative process. tional in the context of 1950s French cinema. STARRING: Varda uses a wide variety of techniques, combining still images of people, including her past friends, collaborators, lovers and Agnes Varda ------Herself family, with what Claude Lévi-Strauss might term bricolage of Andre Lubrano ------Himself garage-sale items, trinkets, and colorful memorabilia juxtaposed Blaise Fournier ------Himself in creative combinations, and combines beautiful images in a collage format which revolves around the theme of beaches. In

the opening shots, she has assistants film her bringing mirrors to a beach in Belgium which she used to visit as a young girl;

one mirror is on the sand as a wave washes over it. She captures a creative French artistic sensibility with a sincere and playful B appreciation for the beauty of film and art and a joie de vivre.