Foster on Film

Fantasy (of which Science Fiction is a sub-genre) is belittled by supporters of the “mainstream,” both in literature and in film. This is a strange, modern development as the greatest works of literature are fantasies. The Iliad, Beowulf, and Hamlet are all works that shaped the arts, and all are fantasies (some people try to ignore the ghost as a fantastical element in Hamlet, but then some people are very silly). In the last 75 years, the mainstream has become more and more, “slice of life” pieces, reflecting everyday life. In general, you could gain the same meaning by going down to the corner store and watching someone shop. It isn’t just by tradition that fantasies tend to say more about the meaning of life – the genre was made for it. Fantasy allows the reader/viewer to step away from his beliefs and preconceived notions and look at the world in a new way. That gives it an ability to change people that no other genre has. Continue reading »

I know the MEIC was a full convention, with panels and concerts and workshops.  It said so in the guide and on the radio.  But for me, there was only film.  Nine features and thirty-six shorts, and I was there to watch them all.  Stephen Zimmer, the lord and master of the MEIC, asked me to be a festival judge, and I must applaud his wisdom.

So I sat, first in an old-style downtown theater (damn, I wish they still built them like that) for a few 35mm prints along with the standard video projections, and then in a theater at the local university.  Apparently, left on my own, I will sit and watch movies indefinitely, never eating and drinking only coffee.  Somewhere in there, I was rescued by director Devi Snively and her partner Agustin Fuentes, who managed to move me into a restaurant where there was real food.  I can’t say that the switch from coffee to bad beer and a fruity rum drink was better for me, but sometimes change is good.  Now I’m pretty fanatical about film, but Devi and Agustin were so inhumanly interesting and pleasant that I was quite happy to take time away from the flickering projectors.  Of course, I made it to the “big screen” showing of Devi & Agustin’s Teenage Bikini Vampire. Continue reading »