American Cinematographer - January 1996 - 93

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Atlanta
Boston

Chicago
The Fort Lauderdale International Film
Festival celebrated its tenth anniversary
this winter with an increase in program¬

ming, staff and services. "We had a
breakout year," says Festival director
Gregory von Flausch, who credits
sponsor Blockbuster Video for this
year's turnout and hopes that the
Festival's success will be reflected in the
distribution deals won by the Festival's
many independent films. "Our goal is to
support new talent, because it's hard
enough to make a film and distribute it.

Filmmakers don't need the extra burden
of a festival that thinks it's more important
than the films it presents."
Festival winners included Cold
Comfort Farm for Best Film and that

look dubious," says the director. But he's
not worried: he and his team have sur¬
vived setbacks before, and know that
what doesn't kill you makes you stronger.
When Schenkman, Oliensis
and friend and actor/writer Jon Cryer
came

up

with the idea for Pompatus, they

had no idea it would evolve into a 45-location feature filmed in New York and
Los Angeles. Scenes required blocking
off New York's Times Square, shooting
under the Brooklyn Bridge, and dan¬
one character from a rope 40
feet in the air. "We tried to keep it

gling

small," Schenkman says.

Shlesinger, for Best

On the first day of production,
the crew turned up at a plumbing supply
store location early one morning, only to
find the doors locked; fortunately, location

Director; Sean Astin for Best Actor in
Low Llfe\ Piper Laurie for Best Actress in

manager Eric Barry Klein had a backup lo¬
cation lined up. When cinematographer

The Grass Harp:

Russell Fine

film's director, John

The Monkey Kid for Best
Foreign Film; and Sacred Hearts for Best
First Feature. Festival Fever, a parody of
film festivals, won Best Short and Give
a Damn Again won Best Documentary.

The Pompatus of Love was a
favorite in the press circle, and though it
did not win a prize, its popularity testifies
to the old theory that awards don't ne¬
cessitate good films, while good films do
necessitate awards - sometimes.
Richard Schenkman, director
of Pompatus, put his film in the Fort Lau¬
derdale Festival "because I think festi¬
vals are important for three reasons.
Most importantly, you can get a distribu¬
tor. You can get press that will help pub¬
licize your film when it is released, and
you can, after a long period
be feted and hailed as

of struggling,
an

artiste."

Schenkman, his producer Jon Resnick -
who has risen in the ranks since he line-

produced Spanking the Monkey- and
writer/actor Adam Oliensis went to the
Festival believing they had a firm distri¬
bution deal, which has since "begun to

shopped for a Panavision at

General Camera, he found that an influx
of big studio films in town had left the
shelves bare. Instead, he got a Moviecam
Compact. "It's actually a Moviecam body
that they send out as a Steadicam body
on a Panavision movie," he explains. "But
it gave us everything we needed. It was

lightweight, it had a great viewfinder, and
I could make quick changes between
handheld and studio mode."
Camera moves were moderate
to low key except for two crane scenes
that would have been too expensive
without Scott Buckler, who makes and
rents cranes to New York's independent

community. "Scott has a hothead camera
remote that looks like an old Noridge refrig¬
erator, complete with huge wheels,"
says Fine. "We could hang the camera
off the side of a building, which added a
lot of pep to a particular scene."
Most of Pompatus was filmed
at low light levels, "because we didn't
have a lot of lighting equipment," Fine
explains. "Plaving a nice, brightviewfinder

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American Cinematographer - January 1996

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of American Cinematographer - January 1996
