(Posted Nov. 26, 2017)
Set for Nov. 27, the 3rd Annual London Film Festival at the State Theater will feature a documentary featurette, a visual tone poem, and an amateur horror short.
The London Film Festival, held in conjunction with downtown London’s Olde Fashioned Christmas, is a showcase for film and video with a Madison County connection of some sort.
This year’s selections are: “Brillo Box (3¢ Off),” “Nightwaves at New Town,” and “The Spooky Ghost Mansion.”
Brillo Box (3¢ Off)
In 1969, director Lisanne Skyler’s parents bought an Andy Warhol “Brillo Box” for $1,000. An exact replica of the popular Brillo soap pad product package, Warhol’s “Brillo Boxes were at first dismissed by the art world.” Forty years later, in 2010, the same sculpture sold for over $3 million at a record-breaking Christie’s auction.
Blending humorous family narrative with Pop Art history, “Brillo Box (3¢ off)” follows an Andy Warhol sculpture as it makes its way from a New York family’s living room to the contemporary global art market, exploring the ephemeral nature of art and value and the decisions that shape family history.
Scenes from the movie were shot in London’s Armaly factory, where actual Brillo boxes are filled and readied for distribution.
“Brillo Box (3¢ Off)” is an HBO Documentary Film and is distributed though Cinema Guild. The movie premiered on HBO on Aug. 7.
Nightwaves at New Town
London High School alumnus and current Emerson University senior T.J. Ruesch will debut his latest short during the London Film Festival.
One of Ruesch’s works has been selected at every London Film Festival.
“Nightwaves at New Town’ combines a musical composition by Ruesch with moody film-noir visuals of a tourist destination.
“I’ve been itching to capture one of my favorite atmospheres, the coastal beach town at midnight, and found its vibe is best expressed through both visual and audio mediums. The challenge was finding the right shots to pair with the synthesizer, and this pushed me to be more of a decoder than an artist,” Ruesch said.
The Spooky Ghost Mansion
London High School freshman Adam Siddiqi wrote, directed, edited and scored this 2017 short about a trick-or-treat visit gone awry.
The film, starring Luke Peart, Ben Treynor and Jaret Eisler, was shot in a single day and explores low-light filmmaking.
This is Siddiqi’s first submission to the London Film Festival.
The London Film Festival will be held at the London State Theater, 67 S. Main St., during London’s Olde Fashioned Christmas.
The festival begins at 7 p.m. with “Brillo Box (3¢ Off).” The other movies will follow immediately afterward. Upon completion of the three films, the show will repeat in its entirety.
The London Film Festival is run by State Theater co-owner Rob Treynor and is free and open to the public.
