Latest / Anomaly Presents: / Anomaly is for Everyone (with Matt DeTurck & Dan Howell) - It's a Lot

Transcript

Anomaly is for Everyone (with Matt DeTurck & Dan Howell) - It's a Lot · Anomaly Presents:

• 0:35
  We try to make sure that, like, oh, you're going to have an experience when you come and see something at Anomaly.
• 0:39
  There's all sorts of freebies.
• 0:41
  It's a weird, wild, decorated lobby and you're certainly going to get.
• 0:44
  You're certainly going to have a time.
• 0:50
  Hello and welcome to It's A Lot, a podcast about things that are a lot.
• 0:54
  On this show we have honest conversations about the highs and lows of social media, parenthood and more.
• 0:58
  When it comes to complex topics, online discourse can lack nuance and empathy.
• 1:02
  That's why we're leaning into deep conversations, making space for conflicting, messy feelings and keeping it real about how we feel.
• 1:08
  We could all use a little more of that sometimes.
• 1:10
  I'm your host, Emily Hessney Lynch, and today I'm looking forward to chatting with Matt DeTurck and Dan Howell.
• 1:15
  Matt and Dan work together on Anomaly, the Rochester genre film festival.
• 1:19
  Matt is the artistic director at the Little and he's the producer and creative director of Anomaly.
• 1:24
  He likes movie scores, puppets, potatoes and autumn.
• 1:27
  Dan works at RIT by day and is the producer and logistics director for Anomaly by Night.
• 1:32
  He's an avid film lover, especially horror, and he and his husband reside in their home run and managed by two demanding shih tzus, Albus and Percy Dumbledog.
• 1:39
  I'm really looking forward to talking, so welcome to the show, Matt and Dan.
• 1:43
  Thanks for having us.
• 1:44
  Thank you.
• 1:45
  Yeah, I think it'll be a fun one.
• 1:47
  I want to start off by just hearing a little bit about your relationship with movies, each of you, and what kinds of movies you gravitate toward in general.
• 1:54
  I feel like it's one of those things where we each have a certain art form that kind of like imprints on us and, like, is something that either is like, both comforting or is just something that draws us,
• 2:03
  draws us to it.
• 2:04
  I like the communal aspect of it.
• 2:06
  Like, I like watching things with other people so we can talk about it.
• 2:09
  But I also like the fact movies have that balance of pop culture and high art, I think, at their best.
• 2:16
  And so I like that we can mix all the different kind of art forms together to make something.
• 2:19
  I'm a big fantasy fan,.
• 2:22
  As my bio states gravitate towards horror.
• 2:24
  Always have since I was little.
• 2:26
  So it's just kind of my thing.
• 2:28
  It's my jam.
• 2:30
  Were you ever scared of horror when you were little or...?
• 2:33
  Petrified!
• 2:34
  Yeah.
• 2:34
  Which I think was part of it, where I was like, this is a weird feeling that I kind of like.
• 2:38
  This is fun.
• 2:39
  But yeah, it's always kind of been,.
• 2:42
  I wonder if that's the direction my son is going.
• 2:44
  Because we love watching Frozen and his favorite.
• 2:46
  One of his favorite parts is Marshmallow the big Snowman.
• 2:49
  He goes, big snowman!!!
• 2:52
  Yeah, could be.
• 2:54
  He doesn't wear Ghostbusters, so it's like, oh, stay puffed in the library, Ghost.
• 2:59
  So yeah,.
• 3:00
  That's fun.
• 3:00
  Maybe.
• 3:01
  Was that...But like in Ghostbusters you were scared and excited at the same time?
• 3:06
  Yes.
• 3:06
  Okay.
• 3:07
  Yeah, yeah, that was definitely a gateway where I was like, is.
• 3:09
  There any like horror movie that traumatized you as a kid?
• 3:13
  No.
• 3:13
  Which sounds concerning.
• 3:18
  But no, I think it like they petrified me, but it was never like, oh, I can't revisit this or oh, I can't go in the dark or I can't go.
• 3:27
  I mean I didn't like the basement, but because it was damp and nothing else was down there.
• 3:33
  But it was never like, oh, I can't do this thing now where it was like, oh, that was scary.
• 3:38
  Okay, anyway, now I'm gonna go outside and play and then I'm gonna watch another one and it's.
• 3:42
  Yeah, it's.
• 3:42
  Yeah, it's weird.
• 3:43
  But like that I would watch like a scary movie and then I'd be like, can we watch Muppets Take Manhattan?
• 3:47
  It's about balance.
• 3:48
  Yeah, I'll forever laugh.
• 3:50
  That my brother was.
• 3:52
  My mom showed us Signs when I was 11 and my brother was 6 because she heard at church that it had a nice message about faith and he was petrified and slept in their room for weeks.
• 4:02
  Oh no...
• 4:04
  Not a six year old friendly movie.
• 4:05
  No!
• 4:06
  No, no, that's fair.
• 4:07
  Pretty good movie though.
• 4:09
  I love Signs.
• 4:10
  It's my favorite M.
• 4:10
  Night Shyamalan film.
• 4:11
  I think it's great.
• 4:12
  That's my favorite.
• 4:13
  What?
• 4:14
  We don't talked about this.
• 4:17
  Twins!
• 4:18
  But like I think that that's a great.
• 4:19
  Signs is a good example.
• 4:21
  Not good for kids.
• 4:22
  But at the same time in that case, like I think that I don't need every horror film or genre film which we'll get into but like to have like a message or something.
• 4:32
  But I think that signs work so well because it's not just an alien film.
• 4:37
  It actually has it's uses as a gateway to talk about other things.
• 4:40
  Sorry, I think I'm jumping the gun a little bit.
• 4:42
  No,.
• 4:42
  No, that's great.
• 4:43
  I was just going to ask, with genre being in the subtitle of Anomaly, what, what does genre mean in that context?
• 4:50
  And what's our little elevator pitch?
• 4:52
  For Anomaly, for folks who haven't heard of it.
• 4:54
  So genre films are.
• 4:56
  Most people think we're a festival that just deals with, oh, every year you pick a different genre.
• 5:00
  Like this year is comedy.
• 5:01
  And we're like, no, no.
• 5:02
  Genre film is actually a term meaning films that are pulpy in that case.
• 5:07
  So usually sci fi, fantasy, horror things if you think about like dime store novels, because I'm from the 1950s, so that's a good reference.
• 5:16
  Very relevant.
• 5:17
  Modern, yes, but like that kind of a thing.
• 5:20
  Genre films are like pulpy things like Indiana Jones, Star wars, but then also things like Poltergeist.
• 5:26
  So those are genre films.
• 5:27
  I was just gonna ask if Star wars counted because you've said sci fi, but that seems so mainstream, so I wasn't sure.
• 5:33
  That's the thing is genre films are kind of like an overall just way of grouping those kind of things that aren't just straight up like your dramas or your comedies.
• 5:41
  In that case, it's getting in when we start adding those fantastical elements in that case.
• 5:47
  So whether they're scary or excitable.
• 5:49
  Or both.
• 5:50
  Oh, yeah, that's a good descriptor because it is.
• 5:53
  It's always a challenge when people are like, oh, genre, which one?
• 5:57
  Like, well, that fantastical piece is the through thread for what?
• 6:02
  And.
• 6:02
  Pulpy doesn't necessarily mean like low budget in this context?
• 6:05
  Right.
• 6:05
  Right, yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 6:07
  I think in that case that it's also.
• 6:09
  It's that sense of.
• 6:11
  We specifically for Anomaly are showing new independent genre movies.
• 6:17
  So yes, we're not playing the new Star wars in that case.
• 6:21
  So we're not operating on the budget of the multimillion dollar sort of a things.
• 6:25
  But no Star wars counts in theory, within genre, but we're very much looking for internationally, what are the cool new independent genre films?
• 6:35
  What are the directors that you will be talking about or your friends will be talking about?
• 6:39
  Our goal is to kind of be right on the cutting edge of.
• 6:42
  These are new and exciting voices in genre film that are happening now that we really want to highlight.
• 6:48
  Very cool.
• 6:49
  Along those lines too is we can program things that might not get a wider release and things that will take time to build up an understanding.
• 6:59
  But we've shown things that have gone on to win awards, big ones like Oscars and just do like gangbusters.
• 7:07
  We showed Skinama Rink three years ago.
• 7:10
  Number of times irrelevant.
• 7:12
  And then that went on and has a huge cult following now.
• 7:15
  We showed Flow, which won the.
• 7:18
  It.
• 7:18
  Won the animated feature Oscar.
• 7:19
  Animated feature, yeah.
• 7:21
  So things that relatively unknown outside of the festival circuit, but then go on to have a really good life on their own, which is exciting to see.
• 7:29
  It's kind of like sending our little ones off into the real world and they do good jobs.
• 7:34
  That's amazing.
• 7:36
  What were some of the first genre movies you each saw as kids?
• 7:39
  Well, Ghostbusters, as previously mentioned, which again I think is that it's scary, but it's funny and it's fantastical where it's got these weird, unrealistic elements.
• 7:48
  And I thought, I always loved that because it was so weird to me as a kid.
• 7:54
  Like, obviously I didn't understand 90% of what was happening, but it was just, it was so different than the traditional kids movies we were watching at that point because I only came out when I was 2, but like
• 8:08
  that I watched it when I was like four and then finally watched it without a pillow in front of me by the time I was like seven.
• 8:14
  But it just one of those that like imprinted it was like, oh, this is different.
• 8:20
  Why do I like this so much?
• 8:21
  This is great.
• 8:22
  But just, yeah, that kind of offbeat, weird, grungy, dirty looking New York in the early 80s, which it was just cool.
• 8:32
  I think that that's like again, without going back through like a definition thing.
• 8:36
  I think what's interesting in that case is that if we, if we look at like a lot of like, you know, Grimm's Fairy tale things like technically there's easy arguments to make that those are genre stories in that
• 8:46
  case.
• 8:46
  So I feel like whether we know it or not, we're growing up a lot of that fantastical stuff.
• 8:51
  So if we pick first thing that terrified as a kid, mine was Ursula in the Little Mermaid.
• 8:58
  Absolutely terrified.
• 9:01
  Had to be removed from the theater, was very upset.
• 9:05
  But then similarly then at a sleepover at way too young an age, saw Poltergeist 2.
• 9:10
  And I have never gone back to it since.
• 9:12
  And now I need at this point.
• 9:14
  But like, I think that yes, the Little Mermaid, since now I love is amazing.
• 9:19
  Like, but like very formative at this point.
• 9:21
  But like, but at the same time formative also for fear.
• 9:24
  And that's where we hope generally that like, you know, let's call it a better story, not a better story for like your own self, that you'll be like, oh, I'm excited and terrified.
• 9:34
  Not just terrified because Ursula's amazingly animated, amazingly performed, but at the time was very scary and I'm still scared of tentacles.
• 9:42
  So there's a lot of like things that overlap here.
• 9:44
  So.
• 9:45
  Yeah, that where that started.
• 9:46
  Yes, it is absolutely 100%.
• 9:48
  Yeah.
• 9:48
  Yeah.
• 9:48
  Which is interesting so.
• 9:50
  Because now I'm just like, oh my God, look at the line work.
• 9:53
  Look at the paint.
• 9:54
  Like, so it's just funny.
• 9:56
  But she still has tentacles.
• 9:57
  She still does.
• 9:58
  So.
• 9:59
  It is interesting looking back at older Disney stuff like that on a total tangent.
• 10:03
  Like, I was showing some of those videos to my son and he had been watching like Frozen and Cars and like the newer animation and stuff.
• 10:11
  And it's so striking.
• 10:12
  Like, it feels like such a slower pace and the animation style is so different.
• 10:15
  Oh, yeah.
• 10:16
  Just how much it's changed, but it's like it holds up.
• 10:18
  But I feel like it moves just slowly enough that kids today get bored a little quicker with.
• 10:23
  It.
• 10:24
  That's something I think is also really.
• 10:26
  Again, still on that tangent, but is interesting about when you look at the live action remakes now and everything.
• 10:30
  Beauty and the beast, the 90s animated one, is Oscar nominated best picture.
• 10:38
  I don't remember the runtime on it, but I think it's under 90 minutes.
• 10:42
  Oh, yeah, it's a.
• 10:44
  Short movie.
• 10:44
  I love a good short movie.
• 10:46
  Oh, yeah, 100%.
• 10:48
  But like, that is so.
• 10:49
  That one's so economical in its storytelling and its visual representation of things.
• 10:55
  The live action remake or whatever with like Emma Watson is like two and a half hours or whatever, you know, like, don't quote me on that.
• 11:00
  But like, the point is, is that like, it's so interesting in that case that it is like, I think a slower, more relaxed pace, but at the same time it's.
• 11:09
  The storytelling is so well thought out and so pointed out.
• 11:14
  And I think that, like, I find that very exciting in that case to be like, not a moment is wasted.
• 11:20
  I think that's really cool.
• 11:22
  Yeah.
• 11:22
  I'm finding myself paying a lot more attention to storytelling watching these animated movies with my toddler now and just seeing like, oh, they're using this song to establish all the characters.
• 11:29
  They're hiding this fact until the end.
• 11:31
  But there's a reveal through the musical storytelling.
• 11:34
  And like, oh, that was really creative.
• 11:35
  And the stuff I didn't pick up on before.
• 11:37
  It's cool.
• 11:38
  Yeah.
• 11:38
  Then revisiting some of those, it's like, oh, this is.
• 11:41
  This is not what I remembered.
• 11:42
  And there is so much packed in.
• 11:44
  We rewatched Sleeping Beauty recently and I was like, I'm like, well, you know, it's restored and it's so gorgeously animated.
• 11:52
  But then watching it as an adult for the first time in oh long, I was like, oh, there's a lot of story in this.
• 11:58
  But again, it's not long, but there's a lot packed in it and you get a lot out of it.
• 12:03
  But it is.
• 12:04
  It's a much slower pace, which is fascinating.
• 12:06
  But it's like, oh, yeah, they just didn't jam as much in there in a longer time.
• 12:11
  But it works so efficiently.
• 12:14
  It's.
• 12:14
  A rewatch.
• 12:16
  So good.
• 12:17
  So not to belabor the Disney stuff, but would like Encanto or Moana count as genre because there are like fantastical magical elements?
• 12:25
  Yeah.
• 12:26
  Yeah.
• 12:26
  I honestly, like, I would say almost, almost all Disney animation technically would count for genre.
• 12:33
  Like the.
• 12:33
  Talking cars in cars.
• 12:35
  That's the thing.
• 12:36
  Like, yeah, even when we get into something that like is more traditional comedy or something, I feel like Oliver and Company is still more borderline in that case, but it still has talking singing animals.
• 12:52
  Cars still has talking cars in that case.
• 12:54
  But I think that that's also why when we were putting Anomaly together and we were like, the term genre film is itself confusing within the industry.
• 13:02
  It's confusing to anybody else in that case.
• 13:04
  But that's why when we were listing, like, here's all the various pieces that are part of that we ended up tacking on at the end and the indescrib.
• 13:11
  Because ultimately we wanted to be like, this is weird and we don't know what this is, but we want to show it.
• 13:15
  So therefore, now it falls within the per diem of our festival.
• 13:19
  Perfect.
• 13:19
  Yeah, yeah, it's weird.
• 13:21
  And we're gonna sell you tickets to it.
• 13:24
  You gotta deal with it too.
• 13:28
  I know in your bio, Matt, you mentioned that you love film scores.
• 13:31
  So are there any all time favorite film scores?
• 13:33
  Since we were just talking about music a little bit too.
• 13:35
  Okay, so I'm gonna now take the next three hours.
• 13:40
  I feel like saying, John Williams is hanging fruit.
• 13:43
  There's a reason that he is the master.
• 13:44
  But my favorite score of all time is Hook by John Williams, which I think for me is a representation of a lot of what I like.
• 13:56
  In a very bold in your face score, there's absolutely a million amazing minimal scores.
• 14:01
  But Hook as a movie, whether you like it or not, I feel like within a millennial audience, it's generally beloved, but not everyone.
• 14:09
  I'm looking at my spouse who's not here, but I feel like Hook, more than half of the reason that movie succeeds is because the score is so magical and so gorgeous.
• 14:21
  So.
• 14:22
  But like James Newton Howard, Danny Elfman, like, I love Daniel Pemberton who's doing the Spider Verse films right now.
• 14:28
  Just did project Hail Mary.
• 14:30
  I think Daniel Pemberton is really, like, just does gorgeous work at the moment.
• 14:34
  I love, like, Joe Hiashi that does the Ghibli movies.
• 14:37
  Like Howl's Moving Castle is such a beautiful score.
• 14:39
  It's one of my favorites.
• 14:41
  Amazing.
• 14:41
  Just all the time.
• 14:42
  That's like a nice, safe comfort, like, on repeat.
• 14:45
  I'm just like, great.
• 14:46
  If I just need gorgeous classical music.
• 14:48
  And I'm not going to classical.
• 14:50
  Classical.
• 14:51
  I'm like, absolutely.
• 14:52
  Joe Hisaishi is absolutely who I'm going towards.
• 14:54
  And I know spooky season will technically be over when we release this, but.
• 14:57
  Dan, what are some of your, like, top favorite horror movies?
• 15:00
  If people are looking for horror.
• 15:01
  Ooh, that's so hard.
• 15:05
  Up on the top of the list would be the others.
• 15:07
  With Nicole.
• 15:08
  Yeah, with Nicole Kidman.
• 15:10
  Very atmospheric, very quiet, very weird.
• 15:12
  I mean, it's long, but I love the Shining so much.
• 15:16
  It's so good.
• 15:17
  I always think I'm crazy when I say I watch it like three to four times a year, but it's that good.
• 15:25
  Yeah, right?
• 15:26
  I mean, it's so good.
• 15:28
  And the novel's really good.
• 15:29
  You should also read the book because the book is.
• 15:30
  Gonna ask how you thought the two compared.
• 15:32
  Banger.
• 15:33
  I think they are excellent in their own rights.
• 15:35
  Shift wildly from each other, but they're both so good.
• 15:39
  And then, like, weird, sad.
• 15:40
  I love Christine.
• 15:41
  I love Stephen King.
• 15:42
  I watch almost anything.
• 15:48
  Those would be top of the list.
• 15:49
  I don't think I realized you watched the Shining that often.
• 15:51
  Oh, yeah.
• 15:52
  I love the Shining.
• 15:53
  That's amazing.
• 15:54
  Nice little summer rewatch.
• 15:55
  Yeah.
• 15:56
  Once a quarter.
• 15:57
  Kind of.
• 15:57
  Yeah.
• 15:57
  Yeah.
• 15:58
  Like quarterly and straight up.
• 15:59
  Just had to buy it eventually.
• 16:00
  I was like, they keep moving the streaming rights.
• 16:02
  I've only seen it once.
• 16:04
  Like, one time.
• 16:05
  It was like seven years ago for the first time ever.
• 16:08
  What?
• 16:08
  And I didn't know what it was about.
• 16:10
  Like, No,.
• 16:10
  I remember that because I was like,.
• 16:12
  Amazing happening.
• 16:13
  Yeah.
• 16:14
  Yeah, it was amazing.
• 16:14
  But I didn't realize you watched it that.
• 16:16
  Oh, yeah.
• 16:16
  Oh, yeah.
• 16:17
  So for a long time,.
• 16:20
  When I need to rewatch it, I'm calling you.
• 16:22
  Just.
• 16:22
  Let me know.
• 16:23
  I might already be watching.
• 16:25
  Just jump in.
• 16:28
  I went to that hotel as a kid on a family vacation.
• 16:32
  Super chill.
• 16:33
  That's awesome.
• 16:33
  The one that they filmed, the outer shots.
• 16:36
  Yeah, it was cool.
• 16:37
  That's so cool.
• 16:39
  So Anomaly's been around for eight years now.
• 16:42
  Let's do a little flashback.
• 16:43
  What was it like when you first started anomaly.
• 16:46
  I know it's a larger group of you, but what prompted you all to start a genre film festival here in Rochester?
• 16:51
  So my spouse, Adam Lubitow, was constantly frustrated that more genre films were not being shown in town.
• 17:00
  Which is interesting because it was also eight years ago.
• 17:01
  We had a whole bunch of more movie theaters at that point, also in town fair.
• 17:05
  So, yeah, then the pandemic.
• 17:08
  But so he in effect started looking into, like, other genre film festivals, what they looked like, how they operated.
• 17:14
  He had been a volunteer programmer for the Image Out LGBTQ film festival.
• 17:19
  And so then he just started adding people, just asked them, do you want to start a shutter film festival with me?
• 17:25
  And we spent about a year and a half actually doing the initial setup of what does this look like?
• 17:33
  How do we do this?
• 17:33
  How do we play movies?
• 17:36
  It was really very fascinating looking back on the fact that I was like, oh, yeah, now I'm just chasing DCPs and film rights every single day, multiple times a day.
• 17:46
  And I was like, oh, yeah, Eight years ago.
• 17:48
  I didn't know anything about that.
• 17:50
  It was super.
• 17:51
  It was really interesting to be like, this was really such a formative, foundational piece of like, now what my day to day life is.
• 17:58
  It's really interesting.
• 17:59
  Anyway.
• 18:00
  But we ended up doing the first one at the cinema, now Roc Cinema.
• 18:04
  And it was amazing.
• 18:05
  We had such a great time and we, I feel like, immediately found some great audience members and had like just a fantastic time and have kept it going.
• 18:14
  I wasn't there at the beginning, so.
• 18:18
  But we have an amazing photo of you there.
• 18:20
  That is true.
• 18:21
  That is true.
• 18:21
  I've been there every year.
• 18:23
  But then I was like,.
• 18:24
  God, it was at the cinema back then.
• 18:25
  Yeah, yeah,.
• 18:26
  Yeah, yeah.
• 18:27
  Year one at the cinema.
• 18:28
  Year two, 2020.
• 18:30
  Oops.
• 18:32
  Virtual plus a drive in.
• 18:34
  That was the year I saw the most movies at a lot of.
• 18:38
  We watched a ton of.
• 18:39
  Yeah.
• 18:40
  Yeah.
• 18:40
  And then we moved into the little theater in the back theaters.
• 18:44
  And then the year after that we've been in the front and then we've tried to keep adding little bits of elements.
• 18:50
  We try to have a balance of stability and then also add some things.
• 18:54
  And so a couple years ago, we added the Dryden Theater at the George Eastman Museum, which we now do one screening at, which is a real fun additional flavor to it.
• 19:03
  So it's great.
• 19:04
  And it's gotten longer.
• 19:05
  Also true.
• 19:06
  We've.
• 19:06
  Added days.
• 19:07
  You're right.
• 19:07
  To.
• 19:08
  It.
• 19:08
  I mean, it wasn't always five days.
• 19:10
  No true point.
• 19:11
  I was gonna ask how it's changed in that time.
• 19:13
  Yeah, yeah.
• 19:14
  So number of days has expanded and length of those days has continued to expand.
• 19:20
  We're like, where do we fit this in?
• 19:22
  Friday afternoon?
• 19:23
  Yeah, yeah, let's do it Saturday at 11:30 at night.
• 19:26
  Sure.
• 19:27
  So we just also just keep expand, which is, I think, is a testament to the quality of the films that are being produced, that we're like, we have to show this.
• 19:37
  We're going to add another slot, which is terrifying and exciting at the same time.
• 19:41
  We're like, oh, God, are we going to be.
• 19:43
  Are we going to convince people to just look for one more five in a day?
• 19:47
  And they do.
• 19:49
  But, yeah, it's.
• 19:50
  It's grown significantly.
• 19:52
  And I think what's been awesome in that case is that, like, the audience also, that we have managed to cultivate through the process.
• 20:00
  I feel like as the Katamari Damacy rolls along and we keep picking people up and things, like, we.
• 20:08
  I feel proud of myself for knowing that reference, because I probably wouldn't have a few years ago.
• 20:12
  That's a great way to describe the people that give us money.
• 20:17
  The katamari damacy of misfit toys.
• 20:21
  Yeah, yeah, that's.
• 20:23
  Yeah, yeah.
• 20:24
  Because I feel like that's that balance.
• 20:26
  I feel like if people have heard of us and haven't been.
• 20:30
  I feel like generally people are like, oh, you're a horror festival.
• 20:32
  And I don't like scary movies, so I don't want to come.
• 20:35
  And I'm like, well, we do so much more than horror.
• 20:37
  We love horror.
• 20:38
  Horror is amazing.
• 20:39
  But we do so much more than that in that case.
• 20:41
  But I think that that's the thing is, as we've continued to roll along, as we roll over people or they get in the path of the festival and we pick them up, if people come and have a good
• 20:53
  time, generally they come back in that case.
• 20:56
  And I think that's been a real huge testament to the vibe we've been able to create, is that it's very much, come as you are, have a good time.
• 21:05
  We try to, like, be a festival that is, like, you are welcome if these movies are for you and if you see something that is for you.
• 21:12
  That's why we do content warnings and stuff, so that we can try to give people a sense of.
• 21:16
  We don't.
• 21:17
  If you don't want to be scared, we do not want to jump out and scare you.
• 21:20
  We are not a haunted hayride.
• 21:24
  Yet.
• 21:24
  No,.
• 21:25
  True.
• 21:26
  We.
• 21:26
  Have no loose person with a chainsaw that's going to.
• 21:28
  Jump out no, no, no, no, no.
• 21:30
  We're more likely to have you chant for a potato than we are for anything else.
• 21:34
  So it's generally like we.
• 21:37
  I feel like our audience, as we've expanded, in that case, we've tried to be like, okay, look, we can't tell you yet exactly what we're gonna put on Friday afternoon, but if you like our vibe, take Friday off.
• 21:48
  And so many people have now, which I think is really gratifying and inspiring.
• 21:54
  Yeah, yeah.
• 21:54
  And as you said earlier, you know, the community aspect of watching movies is a foundational piece, piece of the festival where we know these people also enjoy watching movies and talking about movies.
• 22:06
  They want to watch it and then they want to stay in the lobby and talk about what they just saw, for better or worse.
• 22:12
  Sometimes they're like, what did you just make us watch?
• 22:14
  We're like, you're welcome.
• 22:16
  You're not going to see it anywhere else.
• 22:17
  But they like the vibes we're putting out there.
• 22:19
  They like that.
• 22:20
  We also just want to watch movies and talk about them with other people.
• 22:24
  That community we've kind of built that keeps coming back and they keep asking like, oh, when are you going to announce something?
• 22:29
  When are you going to put stuff on sale?
• 22:32
  Sometimes they sneak in and buy passes before they're even available to purchase publicly.
• 22:38
  Wow.
• 22:39
  Still not sure how they did it, but they did it last year and it's impressive.
• 22:42
  But people just want to come together and see these things and experience them and that they understand that this isn't always something that's going to get a wider release.
• 22:53
  There are still films that we've shown.
• 22:55
  And I'm like, I still want to buy this movie, but you can't buy it anywhere because it's a Japanese time travel film that probably isn't going to get a wide release.
• 23:05
  So it.
• 23:06
  Lives.
• 23:07
  That.
• 23:07
  Japanese time travel film, that was so good.
• 23:10
  I remember it vividly because that was the night I found out I was pregnant.
• 23:14
  Like, we saw that movie at Anomaly.
• 23:16
  I came home and I was like, I'm just going to take a pregnancy test at like midnight.
• 23:19
  And I was pregnant.
• 23:20
  Oh, my God!
• 23:21
  That's amazing.
• 23:22
  Anomaly memory, yay.
• 23:26
  And I made a TikTok about that and told people to go watch it.
• 23:28
  And then everyone yelled at me because they couldn't find it anywhere.
• 23:32
  Yeah, because, I mean, those are the ones where I'm like, some of these films are amazing.
• 23:36
  And that's it.
• 23:37
  We had a film, our Virtual Year, which was about the making of Gremlins as the making of film was, like, made by the puppeteer and character designer of the original Gremlins.
• 23:47
  And we had that our virtual year.
• 23:49
  We had a really great Q and A.
• 23:50
  The Q and A is up on our YouTube, but the comments is just filled with people going, where can I watch this movie?
• 23:56
  And we're like, it never got a release.
• 23:59
  You can't.
• 24:00
  Which is still crazy to me that.
• 24:02
  That one didn't.
• 24:03
  Yeah.
• 24:03
  It's just insane.
• 24:04
  Cause the footage of the behind the scenes of making Gremlin puppetry was extraordinary.
• 24:09
  Yeah.
• 24:10
  So cool.
• 24:11
  I'm curious to learn more about what goes into the behind the scenes of actually planning this whole festival, because I think if anyone's wondering why this is a lot, this episode, like, I'm sure it's a lot.
• 24:20
  So can you tell us about all the work?
• 24:24
  It's a lot.
• 24:25
  So we.
• 24:26
  It takes place in November.
• 24:28
  We do an annual retreat in January.
• 24:31
  That's a full day of planning how we're gonna tackle the year.
• 24:35
  And then we usually start regular meetings, like, two weeks later.
• 24:39
  So we partner with the Little to Do January Giallo, where we show Giallo films.
• 24:44
  And, like, as soon as that's done, we start planning for the festival.
• 24:49
  So it's opening submissions for filmmakers to put things in so we can start watching films.
• 24:54
  We start watching things in, like, mid February until last week.
• 25:01
  So we watch stuff throughout the year.
• 25:03
  And then it's figuring out, are we adding a slot, are we adding another outing?
• 25:07
  And then it just continues to snowball.
• 25:10
  And how many films do we need to chase down?
• 25:13
  How many filmmakers are going to come into town?
• 25:16
  Are we going to get in trouble for changing all the light bulbs and the little.
• 25:20
  Haven't yet.
• 25:20
  I keep trying.
• 25:22
  What do you do to the light bulbs?
• 25:26
  Or should we not be discussing this on a recorded podcast?
• 25:29
  No, it's fine.
• 25:31
  Stop it.
• 25:34
  Sorry, Jim.
• 25:35
  No.
• 25:36
  I'm the man of many light bulbs for Anomaly, and every year I try and change more and more of the light bulbs to be colored to match our theming here.
• 25:47
  There's gonna be more.
• 25:48
  It is one of the unique things that we do that a lot of other film festivals don't do in that case is.
• 25:53
  Change light bulbs.
• 25:55
  Yes, Definitely, yes.
• 25:57
  How many film organizers does it take to change light bulbs?
• 26:01
  But we.
• 26:02
  Not only do we change our branding and our theming every year, which a lot of other film festivals do, but we also decorate the lobby in that case.
• 26:09
  So we in effect, take The Art Deco 1929 Glory of the Little in that case.
• 26:15
  And then one year it was a forest.
• 26:17
  One year it was a haunted carnival.
• 26:19
  We just, we definitely, we do all sorts of different things to it.
• 26:22
  So this year it is a retro video store is what we're building.
• 26:27
  So with people will be able to come in and browse VHS tapes and be able to take them home.
• 26:31
  That is amazing.
• 26:32
  Yeah, people will love that.
• 26:34
  Yeah.
• 26:35
  But as a result, Dan needs to get lots of good bright colored light bulbs in that case.
• 26:41
  So we can really lean into that video store somewhere through the 70s through 90s vibe in that case.
• 26:47
  It's a very loose timeline.
• 26:48
  You mentioned Matt chasing a lot of things to get rights and stuff.
• 26:52
  So how does that all work?
• 26:53
  Like, are you having a hard time getting rights to certain movies or how does that all unfold?
• 26:59
  It's an interesting balance of both.
• 27:02
  People do submit things to us through we have a platform that's called Film Freeway, where a lot of other festivals also people can submit their films.
• 27:10
  They submit features and shorts from all over the world.
• 27:13
  So it's really always interesting when we find out that like, oh, another filmmaker who got in, recommended their friend and like, they were like, I had a great time, you should submit to this festival.
• 27:21
  But it's also really interesting when like someone from China just found us and submitted their film and they were like, this might be a good vibe, like in Rochester, New York, and is like super fun and crazy and
• 27:32
  like always great when that happens.
• 27:33
  But then also Adam, who is our programming director also then goes after and chases other films down.
• 27:39
  And that's a mix of what has played other festivals, what has been picked up for distribution, what has not been picked up.
• 27:45
  Sometimes he's DMing people on Instagram and being like, I see your film.
• 27:49
  Can we get a screener so we can watch it?
• 27:51
  So everything that we show gets pre screened and watched by our team.
• 27:56
  So we're not just subjecting everyone to something we haven't actually like seen and stood by.
• 28:01
  But it's a balance because the film distribution ecosystem has changed.
• 28:06
  So much goes through every 10 years, goes through a big change in that case.
• 28:10
  Like sometimes distributors are still like, remember when TV caused all these problems?
• 28:16
  But then streaming now in that case causes lots of different issues about when things are released.
• 28:21
  And so one of our big tenets of seeing cool, interesting things before they're out there is that we're not playing things that are currently playing in the multiplexes and they're not currently on streaming.
• 28:31
  So the idea is you can see it first with us and then you can see it again later.
• 28:35
  Somewhere else.
• 28:36
  It's a long, tangled process.
• 28:38
  Film distribution is the most nonsense industry I have ever been a part of in my entire life.
• 28:44
  It is weird and wild,.
• 28:46
  So bizarre.
• 28:47
  It's.
• 28:48
  Yeah.
• 28:48
  I don't know how anyone gets to see anything.
• 28:50
  No.
• 28:51
  It's so confusing.
• 28:52
  It's so weird.
• 28:53
  And especially now, like, compounding that with, like, my film festival work and then like, my day job at the Little Work.
• 28:58
  In that case, I'm just like, this is weird.
• 29:02
  It's a lot.
• 29:04
  It's.
• 29:04
  Yeah.
• 29:05
  Because it's so.
• 29:05
  It's more hands on than you would think it would be in terms of, like, being like, can I do this?
• 29:10
  Can I not do this?
• 29:11
  Are you okay with this?
• 29:12
  How will I get this?
• 29:13
  Like, you'd think it would be more streamlined, but aside from, like, just the largest of distributors, Warner Brothers is very streamlined.
• 29:21
  Ones you might.
• 29:22
  Other ones you might think would be.
• 29:23
  Are not.
• 29:26
  Have you ever gotten submissions, like, randomly that are awful and you watch it and you're like, yikes.
• 29:30
  Or are you mostly getting pretty good quality stuff that is coming into you?
• 29:34
  Or maybe you cannot say,.
• 29:37
  I think just the nature of art and the nature of people being creative and making things.
• 29:44
  There are always things that if that brought them joy or that was a good outlet for them instead of therapy, then, like, that's.
• 29:55
  Then that is worthwhile for them.
• 29:58
  And sincerely, that's awesome.
• 30:00
  But that doesn't mean that everything is for everybody.
• 30:05
  And so that's why it's important to have a programming team in that case who watches things.
• 30:09
  Because definitely we end up with things where.
• 30:11
  Oh, it's not that all of us who are organizing the festival all agree on every film.
• 30:16
  Like, definitely.
• 30:17
  That's a good point.
• 30:18
  It's not like everything we program is not unanimous.
• 30:21
  This where we're like, oh, okay, we're gonna show it.
• 30:23
  All right.
• 30:24
  I'm not doing the intro or maybe I should.
• 30:28
  But yeah, it's.
• 30:29
  It.
• 30:30
  It is good that there.
• 30:31
  There is a group of us that.
• 30:32
  That can all screen things and kind of validate.
• 30:35
  Like, was I having an off day when I watch this?
• 30:37
  Or is this not quite right?
• 30:40
  And it's allowed us to kind of set kind of baselines for what we expect in terms of pieces of the quality.
• 30:47
  Like, it's gotta.
• 30:48
  It's gotta look a certain way.
• 30:50
  It's gotta.
• 30:51
  The sound has to be consistent.
• 30:52
  There's gotta be good solid performances in it.
• 30:56
  So we can filter out things based on uncertain aspects where we're like, you did a good job.
• 31:01
  This is great.
• 31:02
  You should continue pursuing this, but it's not a fit for our festival.
• 31:06
  We get more submissions than we could ever possibly program.
• 31:11
  So we do also have to not accept things that could be in the festival but don't fit based on timing, based on what else.
• 31:21
  We already have to kind of round out to make sure we've got good representation from filmmakers of color, from female filmmakers, from international releases.
• 31:31
  We make sure we're covering as many bases as we can.
• 31:35
  So there are great things that we just can't find fit into five days, which is partially why it's gotten longer, is to fit in more of these amazing pieces of work that, that we get.
• 31:47
  And it's great.
• 31:48
  I think there was a short a couple years ago that was like, we loved it, we thought it was awesome.
• 31:52
  And it was by filmmakers who we'd already had their film before.
• 31:55
  And we literally were like, oh my.
• 31:56
  So like, we had a good relationship.
• 31:57
  We knew we liked their vibe and everything.
• 31:59
  But it was like 35 minutes long for a short.
• 32:02
  And some other festivals can program those in that case.
• 32:06
  But that's.
• 32:06
  Every festival has its own flavor based on its own organizers.
• 32:09
  And for us at that time, we didn't feel like we could take a 35 minute short based on what our lineup looked like at that time.
• 32:16
  That changes year to year.
• 32:17
  We're constantly reevaluating it.
• 32:19
  That whole old adage about, like, this is how we've always done it.
• 32:22
  I think that's interesting is that we try to like, build off of things so we don't have to redo the whole festival every single year in terms of from the ground up.
• 32:31
  But otherwise, no, it's new films every year.
• 32:34
  The timing changes, we expand.
• 32:37
  So every year it is a new festival.
• 32:40
  So it's an interesting balance in that case.
• 32:42
  And that's, I think both really why it has been so successful is because we have a great team.
• 32:50
  We have a great group of people who have like really good sensibilities and good taste.
• 32:55
  And we have found audiences who also are game for things and have good taste, even if they, again, don't agree with everything each of us wants.
• 33:02
  Because there's plenty of things that we all, again, disagree on.
• 33:05
  But I think that that has made it so good and work so well.
• 33:11
  In that case, it's like we just kind of.
• 33:12
  We have found a vibe and have been able to find other people with similar vibes.
• 33:32
  Well, it's been great getting a little peek behind the scenes.
• 33:34
  I think we'll take a quick break and then we'll Talk more about this year's festival.
• 33:42
  So I want to hear all about this year's festival.
• 33:44
  Can you share the dates for our listeners?
• 33:47
  And then what are some of the movies you're really excited to share with our audiences?
• 33:50
  Yeah.
• 33:51
  So we are November 11th through the 15th at the Little and the Dryden Theater, our Thursday night outing to the amazing Dryden Theater.
• 34:01
  In terms of films, in that case, we end up with, like, a whole mix of things.
• 34:06
  Again, primarily new independent genre films.
• 34:08
  But.
• 34:09
  But the one at the Dryden is a fun partnership that we do with the Dryden where we get to explore things that are in their archives in the film vault and get to pull something out that hasn't seen
• 34:20
  the light of day either in a very long time or at least not in the near recent past.
• 34:26
  And so this year I'm really excited that we are showing a movie called warriors from the Magic Mountain, which is amazing.
• 34:36
  Yeah, like when he said there's some that don't get shown.
• 34:38
  Like, we saw one, what, two years ago that legitimately probably hadn't been seen by any person in 30 years.
• 34:47
  It had no digital release, it had no physical release.
• 34:50
  And as far as anybody could tell, there was like two total reviews of the movie online.
• 34:56
  It's crazy.
• 34:57
  Yeah, the ones from the Dryden.
• 34:58
  Yeah, we pulled them up on our letterbox accounts.
• 35:02
  It's like, oh, four people saw it or at least rated it or have a letterboxd account.
• 35:06
  They are unique.
• 35:07
  It's very cool.
• 35:09
  Zu is super cool because it's.
• 35:10
  It's a kung fu martial arts film, but it influenced Big Trouble in Little China, Cartoon Tiger, Hidden Dragon.
• 35:17
  But it also, I think, is interesting within our lineup this year because it's also, we mentioned in the past we've had a bunch of family friendly things and we've tried to make sure because, like, fantasy for kids is
• 35:27
  important.
• 35:27
  Horror for kids, I think, is.
• 35:29
  Is important.
• 35:30
  Zu is the.
• 35:31
  The only thing we have this year that is even remotely younger, person appropriate and even that I'm gonna be like, that's 13 and up in that case.
• 35:40
  So we have nothing this year whatsoever that is family friendly, which is kind of the nature of just how things shake out in that case, like...
• 35:47
  I'm super excited about.
• 35:50
  I sent the announcement when you announced the first three films to a friend of mine and I was like, oh, let's see this one.
• 35:56
  Wait, no, this one.
• 35:56
  Wait, no, this one.
• 35:57
  Because they all sounded so good.
• 35:58
  Yeah, yeah.
• 35:59
  The first three announcement, I was like, oh, this is exciting.
• 36:02
  But yeah, I'm very excited about.
• 36:03
  You are the film, which I think it was the first group screening we did this year.
• 36:11
  I haven't seen it.
• 36:11
  I was gonna say, oh, yes.
• 36:12
  You weren't there for it.
• 36:15
  Occasionally we get to watch things as a group.
• 36:18
  So when Adam gets certain screeners, they all vary on the rules on how you're able to watch them.
• 36:24
  So sometimes we can only play a screener once.
• 36:27
  So we'll get together and watch it as a group.
• 36:30
  Other things we can watch on our own or in smaller groups.
• 36:33
  But you are.
• 36:34
  The film is.
• 36:36
  It's such a great.
• 36:37
  It's made by some of the same team that did beyond the Infinite Two Minutes.
• 36:43
  So it's another Japanese kind of time loop scenario.
• 36:48
  And it's.
• 36:49
  It's just one of those where you watch and you're like, there's no way you can carry this idea for a full feature film.
• 36:55
  And they do, and it's amazing.
• 36:58
  I'm very excited for people to see this one.
• 37:00
  That sounds awesome.
• 37:02
  I'm super, super jazzed on a weird little dark comedy surrealist film called the Peril at Pincer Point, which is about a guy who is a boom operator and then also a sound recordist for films.
• 37:17
  And he is sent out to try to find the perfect sound.
• 37:22
  And he's sent to this island where there's mysteries and things are going on and people are disappearing.
• 37:27
  And there's also lots of crabs, really big crabs, and they just keep following him around.
• 37:33
  And it's got this very, like, silent movie aesthetic.
• 37:37
  It looks a lot like Guy Madden mixed with maybe a little bit of Hundreds of Beavers for surrealism and for, like, it's silent movie comedy influences.
• 37:45
  You're not really sure what's going on for most of it, but it's very bizarre and I love it.
• 37:51
  I just think it's such a good time.
• 37:52
  That sounds excellent.
• 37:54
  Is there anything more you want to say about the...?
• 37:56
  I mean, we could.
• 37:57
  We could just keep going through movies.
• 37:58
  I don't, you know, like, that's the thing.
• 38:00
  Like, I.
• 38:01
  I'm a big animation fan and like.
• 38:03
  So this year we have a title called Light Pillar, which is from China.
• 38:07
  Most of our animation offerings in the past have been more on a heartwarming end of things with a little bit of bittersweet because, you know, again, independent animation.
• 38:16
  So Light Pillar is leaning far more into the bittersweet and melancholy about it.
• 38:20
  But it is.
• 38:21
  It's about a guy who works at a dilapidated film production studio, and he ends up being given a virtual reality headset.
• 38:30
  In lieu of payment.
• 38:31
  Because his boss is like, why would I pay you anymore?
• 38:35
  Here, just have this gizmo.
• 38:37
  Against his will, he would rather have money.
• 38:39
  But in that case, then he uses the VR headset to kind of escape what's going on in his life.
• 38:44
  But what's really unusual in the way this film presents it is that the animation is real life.
• 38:50
  And when he puts on the VR goggles, that part is live action.
• 38:53
  And so the live action is the fantasy non real part of it.
• 38:58
  So it's really cool.
• 38:59
  It's beautiful.
• 39:00
  It's a really interesting, very quiet little animated film.
• 39:05
  I think it's really cool.
• 39:06
  I like it a lot.
• 39:07
  Also.
• 39:07
  It's a sci fi.
• 39:08
  It's also about a time when space travel exists.
• 39:10
  It's a commonplace.
• 39:11
  So.
• 39:11
  That sounds really neat.
• 39:12
  And there's a lot of really cool stuff.
• 39:14
  And again.
• 39:14
  And I'm very excited that this year we again have two shorts programs.
• 39:19
  So we had two full shorts programs.
• 39:21
  Full shorts.
• 39:22
  That sounds like an oxymoron that I don't fully understand.
• 39:25
  Plus a short before every feature.
• 39:27
  And this year I.
• 39:29
  We had so many amazing shorts submitted to the festival and we, when we went through our like internal rating system and we like told it up and we're like, oh, okay, we would need to add like two more
• 39:44
  days to the festival to show everything we want to show.
• 39:47
  And we're like, oh, gotta make some cuts.
• 39:49
  But there are so many really, really great short films this year.
• 39:53
  I'm very excited about this.
• 39:55
  I'm saying that as someone who has seen, I think, all but two of the short films...
• 39:59
  Which is because you were.
• 40:01
  That.
• 40:01
  Were submitted.
• 40:02
  Yeah, right?
• 40:02
  Yeah.
• 40:04
  I feel like shorts are so like overlooked to some extent.
• 40:07
  Why do you think that shorts are still like worth showing and caring about?
• 40:11
  I love them because I, I see them as such an artistic challenge for a creative person to do.
• 40:18
  If you're like, oh, I'm gonna make a feature.
• 40:19
  I'm not saying that making a feature film is easy, but when you're like, I've got 90 plus minutes to tell one story and then some of the shorts we've received over the years, I am still amazed that people
• 40:31
  can tell an entire succinct story well in like two and a half to three minutes.
• 40:37
  Some of these shorts that are really, really short, it is amazing what they get done.
• 40:43
  We have a 60 second one.
• 40:44
  This.
• 40:45
  One, that's 60 seconds.
• 40:47
  I clicked on that submission and I was like, that must be wrong.
• 40:49
  And I watched it and I was like, book it.
• 40:51
  This is.
• 40:52
  I was, like, great, but like, that.
• 40:55
  I think it's.
• 40:56
  It's amazing to see people just explore a concept in a.
• 41:00
  In a tight time frame.
• 41:03
  Still produced incredibly well.
• 41:06
  Great performances, great production values.
• 41:09
  But one of those.
• 41:09
  You watch it and you're like, that doesn't need to be 90 minutes.
• 41:13
  It doesn't need to be two hours.
• 41:14
  It would.
• 41:15
  The story would fall apart if they kept going with it.
• 41:18
  And I think it's just.
• 41:19
  It's kind of like, am I gonna read a really long book or am I gonna read a novella that tells the same story in the right format where it doesn't need to be fuller?
• 41:30
  And some of them go on to use them as, like, a concept for a feature film.
• 41:34
  But I just think it's so cool that they can tell a story and it looks like a feature film, but it's like, three minutes.
• 41:41
  I love reading short stories, and it's a similar concept that you can, like, experiment so much in a short space and just do something really weird that might not work as a full novel.
• 41:50
  Yeah.
• 41:50
  I think that chance to, like, experiment, and I don't mean it's.
• 41:54
  I mean, yes, sometimes it's experimental, but I mean, like, that chance of being like, oh, can I take a chance on this?
• 42:00
  And it is maybe a more limited budget.
• 42:03
  Not all of them, like, but, like.
• 42:05
  And be like, let me try some things out.
• 42:07
  And I think that that really gives you even more inventiveness.
• 42:11
  And I feel like it's both the challenge of the time and the challenge of, like, the budget of it.
• 42:16
  Like, really makes for some of the most creative aspects.
• 42:19
  And I think that that's what is so exciting about shorts, is that by us being like, we've cast a net across the world for only what's available within the last year.
• 42:28
  I feel like we're just, like.
• 42:29
  We get such interesting points of view and, like, such cool, really neat concepts from a minute to 30 minutes or whatever.
• 42:37
  I feel like they can often, both short stories and short films have more of a gut punch, too, because in a short amount of time, they just really hit you at the end and it's like, oh...
• 42:47
  Yeah, some of these really heavy ones, you're like, oh, okay, that was an intense five minutes.
• 42:52
  Oh, all right.
• 42:54
  Oh, no.
• 42:57
  There's no time to hit pause and walk away and come back to this.
• 43:00
  I also think it's been really cool because while I keep talking about, like, international submissions in that case.
• 43:04
  But what's also been really great is that we have gotten more and more Student submissions every year.
• 43:10
  Sometimes again from not in Rochester, but also definitely from Rochester based students in that case.
• 43:15
  And so I think that that's also very exciting to like look at it and be like, oh, what did this student who's like very early in their filmmaking career, you know, and just trying to like, try out some
• 43:26
  ideas and then if we watch it and we're like, this is really good.
• 43:30
  Oh, and it was made locally by a local student is like so exciting in that case.
• 43:35
  Like,.
• 43:36
  That's really cool.
• 43:37
  Yeah, we won this year.
• 43:38
  I watched it and I got to the end and I was like, oh, that was a student submission.
• 43:42
  And then I, I try to.
• 43:43
  In the system we use, there's the, the, the submission we can watch.
• 43:47
  And then like they can choose to add in a cover letter or a bio and a couple of other pieces.
• 43:53
  I try not to read them before I watch it.
• 43:55
  And I was like, oh, that was really great.
• 43:56
  And at the end, it's got that school information.
• 43:58
  I was like, oh, it's a student film.
• 43:59
  Great.
• 44:00
  And then I scrolled down and I was like, they're a sophomore.
• 44:03
  I was like, oh, it's like, holy mackerel.
• 44:07
  I was like, this, if they stick with this, they should stick with it.
• 44:10
  They will have an excellent career ahead of them.
• 44:11
  I was like, this is an incredibly crafted piece of artwork for a second year college student.
• 44:17
  I was like, oh, my God.
• 44:18
  I was like, my second year of college, I was not producing anything that good.
• 44:23
  Good for you.
• 44:24
  So it is, it's, it's amazing to see especially these students that.
• 44:27
  And then when they can come, when they're local, they are just sweet, sweet baby angels that are so excited to be there, so excited to see their work in a theater, on a big screen with an audience.
• 44:37
  It's, it's really, really cool to watch.
• 44:40
  That sounds really special.
• 44:41
  Yeah,.
• 44:41
  Well, we touched a little bit on some of the themes.
• 44:43
  Like Matt, you were talking about the one that is about like the bad boss that doesn't pay someone in real money.
• 44:49
  Like there are themes about like capitalism, loneliness.
• 44:52
  I remember there was one I saw the year it was all virtual where like, it was about misogyny and like the female journalist who was like murdering people who criticized her or something, like a lot of dark things.
• 45:02
  But we're also living in a time when the world is a lot and things are really dark.
• 45:07
  So what do you guys think about the balance between when do you lean towards movies that are a lot or more intense versus escapism?
• 45:15
  And do you program both of those within the festival.
• 45:18
  Yes.
• 45:21
  Next question.
• 45:22
  We think about it and we do it.
• 45:23
  Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 45:25
  I think we.
• 45:25
  We do try to strike a balance of.
• 45:28
  Not like, hey, not only is the world on fire, but we're gonna reinforce it over five days.
• 45:33
  So we try and have those breaks where we're like, okay, we gotta work in, like, a dark comedy in here.
• 45:38
  We're an action film that isn't set in the current climates to still provide some escapism.
• 45:45
  But then I think it's.
• 45:46
  I've always seen it as an important part of art to reflect current situations and be like, this is what's happening.
• 45:54
  And there does need to be discussion.
• 45:56
  Even if it is difficult and it's challenging to kind of face the reality of if it's misogyny, if it's racism, you know, whatever.
• 46:04
  Whatever the category might be, it's still an important story to tell and represent those voices, especially when the filmmakers have a vested interest in it and it's impacted their own lives.
• 46:15
  You know, it's a great opportunity for us to help amplify those voices.
• 46:19
  But, yeah, we don't want it to all be like, oh, everything's doom and gloom.
• 46:22
  So here's more.
• 46:23
  Especially because we often end up with the festival being right around elections.
• 46:28
  Yeah, that can be some tough timing sometimes.
• 46:33
  I think that we briefly mentioned before that, like, I think Husera, I thought was like, a good example of a movie that, like, tackled, like, dealing with motherhood and, like, dealing with, like, what a woman felt like she
• 46:43
  was having to be perceived by society while she was also then dealing with the horrors of, like, early childhood and everything.
• 46:51
  But I think that, like, that's, again, where, like, not everything needs to be issue driven.
• 46:56
  It definitely can just be fun and exciting and cool.
• 46:58
  But I think that that's where we talk about, like.
• 47:00
  But technically, stories are about issues.
• 47:03
  Stories are about human connections.
• 47:05
  Stories are about things that people are dealing with.
• 47:07
  And so I feel like you can never really fully get away from it unless it's really the most abstract of abstract things in that case.
• 47:16
  But even that, I guarantee that's where people look at abstract art and people are like, this is what this is about sort of a thing.
• 47:22
  When we showed After Blue, and we were all like, this is weird.
• 47:28
  This is really weird.
• 47:29
  We thought it was weird.
• 47:30
  We watched some weird stuff.
• 47:32
  But even.
• 47:32
  What.
• 47:33
  Is that one about?
• 47:33
  Or give us a little taste of.
• 47:39
  Imagine a world where there are no men, but everything is also covered in, like, goo and glitter and there's, like, Factions of groups of female that it is a very odd, very French film.
• 47:56
  This is amazing to witness,.
• 47:57
  But.
• 47:58
  What was the description?
• 47:59
  It was like a western sci fi, neon dripping lesbian adventure story.
• 48:09
  Yep.
• 48:09
  Yep.
• 48:10
  Ish.
• 48:12
  But also one of the truly oddest movie experiences I've ever had.
• 48:17
  Like, it's off the wall.
• 48:18
  Like it's bonkers, but does focus on the way women are treated and how women treat other women and how society treats their role as females in society.
• 48:31
  And it was like, it was so crazy, but at its core it focused on current issues facing women and their rights.
• 48:40
  And I was like, oh, this movie is nuts, but I see what they're, they're bringing up here.
• 48:46
  And it was, it was fascinating because the first time I watched it I was like, this is.
• 48:51
  I don't know what I just watched.
• 48:52
  And then I watched it again.
• 48:53
  I was like, oh, this is digging into these topics that are relevant and important and current.
• 49:00
  Just wrapped in a lot of glitter and neon lighting.
• 49:04
  And I do have to point out every weapon in the movie.
• 49:07
  They all had guns, but they were all named after either female musicians or designers.
• 49:13
  So the main character spent the entire movie with her gun, Kate Bush.
• 49:17
  And it still cracks me up every time someone mentions Kate Bush.
• 49:20
  Weird, but still dealt with current, current topics.
• 49:23
  I think that the one in the current lineup that I like immediately am thinking of, like, in terms of, is called I Love Paris.
• 49:32
  And it is about a woman who's a musician in Paris, but her name's also Paris and it is her.
• 49:40
  She becomes a vampire and then it's about the price of fame.
• 49:45
  And so it's about like, what lengths are you willing to go to?
• 49:49
  But she also, at the beginning of it as a musician, hires a camera crew to come follow her around because she wants to document the process of her becoming a popular musician, but then they end up documenting her
• 50:02
  becoming a vampire.
• 50:03
  And so it's dealing then with like a lot of our issues of what imagery are we putting out about ourselves on social media, Any sort of recordings in that case, how do we want to be perceived?
• 50:16
  And then when our life takes a turn that isn't what we expected, how are we pivoting, but also how are we reacting because there's a camera crew following us in that case, or there's a camera in our pocket,
• 50:27
  what do we want to be seen?
• 50:29
  I don't have to tell you, we deal with that all the time with social.
• 50:32
  So I think it's really interesting, but it's very funny.
• 50:36
  It's really interesting.
• 50:37
  If I compare it to what we do in the shadows.
• 50:39
  I feel like that's not fair because that's like, again, mockumentary vampire sort of a situation.
• 50:43
  But it's kind of that vibe, but also very French.
• 50:49
  That's so interesting to use that as an example, because just hearing you talk about it, I'm like, oh, that sounds like a silly escapist thing.
• 50:54
  But you're also talking about the current issues that I can totally see how it connects to all those things.
• 50:58
  And it's really funny, and it's actually the music, and it's really lovely, really great and everything.
• 51:03
  But it's also.
• 51:04
  That is one where I'm like, oh.
• 51:05
  But that's also not on our slightly safer track, in that case.
• 51:09
  That one is definitely a horror movie.
• 51:11
  That one's.
• 51:12
  It's a vampire film.
• 51:14
  So looking back at past years of Anomaly and things that are a lot.
• 51:17
  Are there things that have gone wrong in the past that, like, you've learned a lot from or are hoping to avoid?
• 51:23
  Everything goes.
• 51:24
  So smoothly all the time.
• 51:33
  It's funny.
• 51:33
  So I.
• 51:34
  I joined the team three years in, and I previously worked in local theater producing seasons.
• 51:43
  And there's a lot of commonalities.
• 51:46
  There's always that nervousness of, like, is this.
• 51:49
  Is the studio gonna get back to us and, like, send us the final version of this film?
• 51:53
  Are we gonna have enough volunteers to check people into the movie?
• 51:57
  You know, so there's always things that we're anxious about, and there are times things will go wrong, and we're like, here we go.
• 52:04
  We're gonna pivot.
• 52:05
  We're gonna figure this out.
• 52:06
  You know, the Q and A isn't gonna work.
• 52:07
  Someone doesn't show up that we thought was gonna be there to participate in a Q and A because of extenuating circumstances.
• 52:14
  But I think we've got such a solid crew that it's not like one person is left to figure it out.
• 52:20
  We all kind of just make a decision and go from there.
• 52:23
  And we always try to.
• 52:25
  I'm probably tired of me saying we're gonna future proof this, but we do our best.
• 52:31
  I think it's considering the amount of pieces that are involved in it.
• 52:34
  And again, it's like planning.
• 52:36
  I don't wanna say it's like planning a wedding that you're inviting the public to, but it's like, there's so many pieces, like all of those other aspects, but it's doing it every year.
• 52:45
  And then also, it's just at some point you just gotta pivot and Some of those things, you are like, this is an interesting story.
• 52:51
  And other things, you're like, I will never own this, because no one knows anything went wrong.
• 52:56
  And so it's fine.
• 52:57
  Which is always one of the few pieces I carry over from the theater world was, audience is never gonna know.
• 53:04
  Yeah.
• 53:04
  Like, unless it's catastrophic.
• 53:07
  Yeah.
• 53:07
  This is what we had always planned, and we just roll with it and smile and talk about it later.
• 53:16
  That said, like, sincerely, based on what Dan is saying, like, always, small things of course, go wrong.
• 53:21
  But, like, in terms of, we have been, I think, very fortunate, lucky.
• 53:25
  And also, we have such a good group who has done so much planning that, knock on wood, we have never had any major catastrophes.
• 53:31
  It's a fair point.
• 53:32
  Oh, now I'm really nervous.
• 53:33
  I know.
• 53:34
  I was like, that's why.
• 53:35
  I'll just.
• 53:35
  Edit that out.
• 53:36
  Perfect.
• 53:36
  Thank you.
• 53:36
  I appreciate it.
• 53:37
  I appreciate it.
• 53:39
  I appreciate it.
• 53:40
  But you know what?
• 53:40
  This is where we always talk about, like, if needed, like, if something happened, we'll go outside and we'll act it for everyone.
• 53:46
  We'll give you an experience.
• 53:47
  Yes.
• 53:47
  We do say every year, if the film does not play, we have seen everything.
• 53:53
  So we will get up there and act out a movie.
• 53:55
  I.
• 53:55
  Believe in your ability to do that.
• 53:59
  We're weird enough.
• 54:00
  We will do it.
• 54:00
  Yeah.
• 54:01
  There's one part in the Frozen cinematic universe where Olaf reenacts what happened in the previous movie.
• 54:06
  And it's very funny.
• 54:07
  It is.
• 54:08
  That is one of my favorite parts of those movies, but that is hilarious.
• 54:13
  So with the economy being kind of rough these days, how has that impacted running a small local film festival?
• 54:20
  And what can people do to support you guys?
• 54:23
  We are not a nonprofit, but we are entirely volunteer run.
• 54:28
  And we sell passes, we sell tickets.
• 54:31
  There are ways to donate in that case.
• 54:34
  Every literal penny goes literally into making the festival.
• 54:38
  So we really appreciate that this community has been so supportive in that case.
• 54:42
  But on our end of things, I feel like from the film distribution side, it's as things get tighter for everyone, in that case, it means that also films technically get more expensive because people are like, oh, no, I
• 54:56
  need every dollar of this to count.
• 54:59
  And trying to, like, make money back on selling the film, having festivals play it.
• 55:03
  So films have definitely gotten more expensive.
• 55:06
  But then on the flip side, we have tried very, very, very, very hard to make the festival accessible financially, in that case.
• 55:13
  And so we've.
• 55:14
  When we've raised prices, it has only been by, like, a dollar or a couple dollars in that case.
• 55:19
  And so We've tried to make sure that we're not underpricing it so that we can't continue to do it, but we're also trying to make sure that because there's so much that goes into festival production, and we give
• 55:32
  so much back to the audience from weird tchotchkes and handouts and pass holders get, you know, popcorn coupons and all sorts of stuff that we try to make sure, in that case, that people feel like there should be
• 55:44
  no point where you feel like your money was not well spent, in that case, by coming to see something with us.
• 55:49
  If you don't like the film, I can't help that.
• 55:51
  But, like, that's taste.
• 55:54
  But beyond that, we try to make sure that, like, oh, you're gonna have an experience when you come and see something at Anomaly.
• 55:59
  You're gonna have a time.
• 56:00
  There's all sorts of freebies.
• 56:01
  It's a weird, wild, decorated lobby, and you're certainly gonna get.
• 56:05
  You're certainly gonna have a time.
• 56:06
  Mm.
• 56:11
  I think you just figured out what's going on.
• 56:13
  This year's staff shirt.
• 56:15
  But, yes, I think that's.
• 56:17
  That's an.
• 56:17
  That's an excellent part of it is we do our best to create an environment for people to come.
• 56:22
  So you're not just going to see a movie.
• 56:24
  You're going to see a movie everyone else there wants to see.
• 56:29
  Whether they like it or not.
• 56:30
  Again, is.
• 56:31
  We'll find out in an hour and a half.
• 56:32
  But that's.
• 56:33
  The art.
• 56:33
  But even when people.
• 56:35
  It's not their favorite or they don't enjoy it at all, they still want to talk about it.
• 56:39
  And they are in a place where they can stand in the lobby with other people that were like, I didn't love this, but we're gonna talk about it anyway.
• 56:47
  And they're like, well, it is 13 programs that we put on over five days.
• 56:53
  So someone's like, I didn't like that one, but I'll probably like the next one.
• 56:57
  And that's always amazing to hear because it's an investment on their part, and we recognize that.
• 57:02
  But we do try to make sure that they're getting their money's worth out of it.
• 57:05
  And it's not like, oh, I went to this thing and it was okay, where it's like, oh, I went.
• 57:09
  And, like, I didn't love everything, but I still had a great time, and I want to tell other people about it.
• 57:13
  Every time I've gone.
• 57:14
  It's like, the best vibes.
• 57:16
  Like, the audience is so fun.
• 57:17
  I see like, 15 people I know.
• 57:19
  Like, there were skeletons in the audience last year.
• 57:21
  That made me giggle.
• 57:23
  Real people, too, of course, but also skeletons, not just skeleton.
• 57:27
  Skeletons.
• 57:28
  Have been waiting a long time to watch that movie.
• 57:33
  We have a pink skeleton at home, and it has a wrist fracture right now.
• 57:36
  And my son keeps going, where's Mommy's skeleton?
• 57:40
  Sits in the basement getting a repair.
• 57:42
  Oh, I'm gonna say all the skeletons.
• 57:44
  I think almost.
• 57:45
  Almost every single one except one.
• 57:47
  I.
• 57:47
  Said, we have one.
• 57:47
  That's all we have in, like,.
• 57:49
  They're all mine, but they're all currently all over our house.
• 57:53
  So I broke one this year playing it up.
• 57:55
  I cracked him right in the middle of his back.
• 57:56
  He was stuck to the gutter.
• 57:57
  It was a whole thing.
• 57:59
  But I was like, this is fine.
• 58:00
  So now the top half sits on top of a bush, and the bottom half is sticking out the bottom of the bush.
• 58:05
  And I was like.
• 58:06
  He was always like this.
• 58:08
  It happens.
• 58:09
  Pivoting in the face of problems.
• 58:12
  Pivoting while you're standing on the roof in the baking sun.
• 58:17
  Well, this has been really fun, guys.
• 58:18
  Is there anything else people should know about Anomaly?
• 58:24
  We've touched on it a whole bunch, but I just want to reinforce the biggest thing that we feel like we have tried to make for a genre festival, which, again, I feel like has a little bit of an
• 58:33
  uphill battle in terms of what it is, is people are welcome to come.
• 58:37
  They're welcome to, like, come and try stuff out with us.
• 58:40
  We are not a soulless corporation.
• 58:42
  We are absolutely a group of people living, breathing, working here in town.
• 58:47
  And the conversations are great, the vibes are great, and we try to make sure that the audience just comes and, like, has a good time.
• 58:54
  But we very much are, like, whoever you are, whatever you're interested in.
• 58:57
  Like, just check out the website, look at the content warnings.
• 59:00
  We would love to have you, I promise, somewhere in the lineup, there's something for you, unless you're younger than 13, and then.
• 59:06
  Not this year.
• 59:06
  Yeah, not this year.
• 59:08
  Definitely not this year.
• 59:09
  The most recent episode of It's A Lot was about Shirley Jackson, and a lot of her writing is about, like, being an outsider and feeling like you don't belong.
• 59:17
  And I feel like Anomaly is the place for, like, weirdos and outsiders to come together and be, like, insiders in a community of, like, joyful weirdos.
• 59:26
  So I really love that about Anomaly.
• 59:27
  Because we're also those weirdos.
• 59:30
  Thank you guys for joining.
• 59:31
  This was really fun.
• 59:32
  Yeah,.
• 59:32
  Thank you.
• 59:33
  Thanks for having us.
• 59:36
  This has been a presentation of the Lunchador Podcast Network.
• 59:46
  If you like fun movies like Nightmare Before Christmas or Wallace and Grimer, you should see another movie in the same style called Stopmotion.
• 59:54
  It's for all ages!