Cardiff screen festival November 11

[dbeefy]

http://www.cardiffscreenfestival.com/programme/1388.html

Oh yes. Oh yes. Oh yes. How chuffed am I ?

 

Not only that but I live 10 minutes walk from the venue where it's showing. Thank you to any and all concerned , whether from Chapter, Tartan, DJ Central in Texas etc...

**ok, the tickets are booked , I'm going anyone else who may be in Cardiff at that time feel free to get in touch. It's a Friday night too , going to be a good weekend ...

[Stress Records]

That's great news and you can probably thank Tartan.  Looking forward to hearing what you think of it and what the audience reaction is like.

Jeff

[dbeefy]

will definitely write it up..

[dbeefy]

1 day to go .. can't wait !
reactions will definitely follow ..

[dbeefy]

Oh wow. First of all I was really knocked for six, exhilirated, moved and ultimately proud to be a fan when I saw this on Friday night. The cinema can hold a couple of hundred and was about 75% full I'd say. I'll just copy my notes down (which I made yesterday, about a day later).

"Loved it. Scary, funny, disturbing, sweet, honest, powerful. Could relate to a lot of it, strip out the delusions and what we have here is a creative human being like we all are. Felt like it put the 'outsider' tag to rest.

Editorial perspective may have played down the recent resurgence in DJ's world(but maybe shooting stopped before things like the tribute album happened). Nice to see Matt Groening there as a big fan. Loved the old recordings, tapes being played. Super 8 film incredible esp. Laurie at the store. Was honest about the seriousness of DJ's mental condition - plane crash, New York and other incidents. The part with 'Kick Satan out' freaked me out.

Amazing to get all the people close to DJ involved. Great job by the director, keeping it neutral and presenting the facts. Not a love-in or a hatchet job either.

Left me walking out of the cinema dazed and grinning from ear to ear. Beautiful really. "

I could probably write a lot more but that's the heart of it. Will go again when it gets a limited cinema release in the UK (Feb 06 for some reason springs to mind.) And you know, will be getting the DVD as soon as it's available.

Great stuff once again. Also a big hand to my flatmate who I took to see this. He's not a fan by any stretch but can see that there's something there that people can relate to. 
 

[gina164]

It was SO nice to read your thoughts on the film - thanks for sharing all of that!
Very nice write-up - very interesting thoughts in there.

Myself, I had already become 'a fan' of his music and a collector of his art by the time I saw it at the SF Film Fest - which, btw, was the first film fest I ever went to...I went just to see 'Dan's story' ...

Well, seeing it made me into 'a complete fan' for the first time in my life. I believe that my having an older sis with manic depression (who was a professional modern dancer and show dancer before the illness set in) made the whole film and Dan's story that much more fantastic for me ...I loved learning from the film that Dan has been experiencing a happy ending, since he found some mental stability and continues to do what he loves

I, too, am SO looking forward to purechasing the DVD -  that film will be the only one in my DVD collection that I will just 'cherish,' and will watch over and over -

It's so wonderful for Dan, and for the mentally ill in general, that the film was made...and I agree, the Director did a great job...his award was well-deserved.




 

[dbeefy]

thanks Gina

Should also mention the audience reaction - maybe about 1/3 seemed to be familiar with DJ - there were definitely people singing along with some of the songs featured , and the new york footage , and the Laurie super 8, got an audible reaction.

Back to some of my thoughts, and the Austin state hospital stuff was especially poignant , tape recordings over the views of the decrepit ruined (?) buildings. Jeff F - if you're reading this , frigging Art man !

Also speaking of people called Jeff  - Jeff T , was great to see you in the film too ! Although can I venture that maybe there was a bit of my aforementioned editorial perspective at work there in the way you were portrayed (?)

[Stress Records]

Back to some of my thoughts, and the Austin state hospital stuff was especially poignant , tape recordings over the views of the decrepit ruined (?) buildings. Jeff F - if you're reading this , frigging Art man !

Also speaking of people called Jeff  - Jeff T , was great to see you in the film too ! Although can I venture that maybe there was a bit of my aforementioned editorial perspective at work there in the way you were portrayed (?)

Glad you enjoyed it! That decrepit hospital building was the now closed Weston State Hospital in Weston, West Virginia. The Austin State Hospital wasn't the greatest place in the world but it was certainly better than that hellhole in WV. I had forgotten how chilling that scene was.

It's hard for me to answer the question about editorial perspective since I wasn't involved with that aspect of the film.   I do know that when the interviews were being conducted the emphasis was on honesty and telling the true story.  If there is an "editorial perspective" it could be something that developed after all the research, interviews and fact-checking done by the director, producer and their staff. They were very thorough and meticulous when it came to getting things right and I can assure you that all claims and comments I made were carefully verified. The way I see it if there is an editorial perspective to the film it's synonymous with the truth.

 

[dbeefy]

Thanks for clearing that up Jeff, and one or two other things off the board which I completely understand. Maybe it was my own perspective on seeing the film, and how the whole thing about getting Daniel's music and art out there to the wider world. I agree that it came across as truthful above all else.

[dill]

Wow.. I cant wait to see this... 

[Stress Records]

Wow.. I cant wait to see this... 

http://www.upi.com/NewsTrack/view.php?StoryID=20051115-054403-5557r


http://www.variety.com/ac2006_article/VR1117932997?nav=news&categoryid=1983&cs=1&s=h&p=0