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Last year’s True/False Film Festival ended on a point of pride for Missourians, with "Homemade Hillbilly Jam" closing out the third installment of Columbia’s documentary showcase in grand fashion.
Rick Minnich’s film lovingly chronicled the lives of members of Springfield-area band Big Smith, giving us an excellent account of our region’s music, its landscape and the significance of family, history and home.
With close-to-complete lineup details for the 2007 edition of True/False leaking my way, it looks as if we’ll have more to brag about in early March.
Filmmaker AJ Schnack has returned to town on a couple of occasions since graduating from the University of Missouri in 1990 - to present his They Might Be Giants documentary, "Gigantic (A Tale of Two Johns)," in 2003 at Ragtag Cinema and to experience, blog about and moderate a panel discussion for True/False last year.
This time, Schnack will be back with his latest project, "Kurt Cobain About a Son," in tow. – read more
From Columbia Daily Tribune – Posted on January 18 2007
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Filmmakers Zack Godshall and Barlow Jacobs had thoughts of a movie about an insurance adjuster working in a hurricane-ravaged city. Producers normally would have to pay millions to construct such settings.
But Hurricane Katrina and New Orleans provided a background that was all too real.
"It was a real life setting with a lot of people who actually lived through the storm," said Godshall, a Lafayette native and resident. "They were literally trying to rebuild or do whatever they could to get their lives back in order.
"The setting was so immediate. It didn't exist before when it was regular old New Orleans and St. Bernard Parish. It's kind of like a documentary of that time and place."
Godshall and Jacob's product, Low and Behold, was impressive enough to be accepted at the 2007 Sundance Film Festival, the premier showcase of new work by American and international independent filmmakers. The movie will premiere Jan. 21 as part of the festival's American Spectrum section. – read more
From theadvertiser.com – Posted on January 05 2007
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Sidetrack Films, producers of AJ Schnack's new doc, "Kurt Cobain About A Son" have signed on as co-producers of Zack Godshall's "Low and Behold," premiering in the Spectrum section at the 2007 Sundance Film Festival later this month. Described by the company as "the first narrative feature about Hurricane Katrina," the film is further described as:
"A blend of documentary and fiction...the film was written by and stars Barlow Jacobs, who evacuated New Orleans when Katrina hit before returning to work as an insurance claim adjuster. He then wrote a script based on those experiences and used the money he made to finance the film."
– read more
From indieWIRE – Posted on January 03 2007
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Tell us about Low and Behold—what is the movie about?
Low And Behold is about Turner Stull, an aimless young man who arrives in New Orleans ready to work for his Uncle Stully, a seasoned pro in the claims business. But the shy, reticent Turner is unprepared to deal with people who have lost everything and feels overwhelmed by the utter devastation and personal loss everywhere around him. In a moment of crisis, Turner agrees to help a boisterous, freespirited local man, Nixon, search for his lost dog. In exchange, Nixon lends his comedic charms and people skills to helping the bewildered young adjuster complete his insurance claims. Their informal partnership grows into an unlikely friendship as they navigate their way through the storm-damaged city on a journey that will change Turner's life.
The film grew out of your experiences working a short-term job as a claims adjuster in the Coastal South area after the Katrina disaster. What prompted you to open up your laptop and start writing the film script?
New Orleans was my home. After Katrina I was broke, homeless and asking the same question so many other people in the city were asking, ‘What now?’ I got a call from a family friend who suggested I drive to Texas and get a temporary claim adjusters license and come work for him in South Florida. Though I was a little skeptical, I didn’t know what else to do, so I drove to Texas. I went through five days of intensive training and was baptized into the world of claim adjusting. It was an insane week and I filled up an entire notebook of stories- quotes- conversations- character descriptions.
After Katrina, I was asking a lot of questions, trying to grasp the enormity of the events that were unfolding around me. I believed a story about a young claim adjuster would be the perfect way to wrestle with those questions. So I moved to South Florida and became a claim adjuster. I worked twenty hours a day- seven days a week for three months. By the time I returned to New Orleans I had enough experience and money to make Low And Behold.
While I was claim adjusting I was faced with moments extreme tragedy, but was surprised to find that there were also moments of profound comedy. Zack and I wanted to flesh that out in Low And Behold. We were not using comedy as a form of relief from the world that surrounded us, but as a form of redemption. We also found much of this ‘comedy’ when working with the non-actors while shooting unscripted scenes that make up a large portion of the film. Life in post Katrina New Orleans is extremely complex it is those complexities that made Low And Behold such an intriguing film to write and make. – read more
From ActorsLife.com – Posted on December 28 2006
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2006 spawned a wealth of excellent documentary films, a high percentage of which dealt with either matters of music or politics--and many even combined the two themes. But high quality and critical praise did not necessarily translate into huge box office numbers. Four of the year's most lauded music-related docs took in a combined total of just under 5 million dollars: Barbara Kopple and Cecilia Peck's Oscar short-listed "Shut Up & Sing" ($1.01 M), Lian Lunson's "Leonard Cohen, I'm Your Man" (1.04M), David Leaf and John Scheinfeld's "The U.S. vs. John Lennon" ($1.1 M), and Jonathan Demme's "Neil Young: Heart of Gold" ($1.83 M). Those films, incidentally, represent four of only seven documentaries to break the million-dollar mark for domestic box office in 2006. – read more
From indieWIRE – Posted on December 26 2006
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NEW YORK, NY and NEW ORLEANS, LA -- Low And Behold, a narrative film about a shy, aimless young man transplanted into post-Katrina New Orleans in the unlikely role of an insurance claims adjuster, has been selected for the 2007 Sundance Film Festival, the premier showcase for the best new work of American and international independent filmmakers. Low and Behold will premiere on January 21 as part of the festival’s American Spectrum section, which presents more adventuresome genres of independent filmmaking.
– read more
From IndependentFilm.com – Posted on December 15 2006
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