English - Rick Minnich
Transcrição
English - Rick Minnich
Press Kit A Film by Rick Minnich Produced by Olaf Jacobs A production of Hoferichter & Jacobs GmbH HotDocs Toronto 2005 Official Selection HOMEMADE HILLBILLY JAM Press Kit ‘‘A musical romp through the Ozark Mountains with a handful of rascally modern-day hillbillies’’ Hofericher & Jacobs GmbH | Film- und Fernsehproduktionsgesellschaft Alte Schönhauser Str. 9 | 10119 Berlin | Tel +49-30-3087-4560 | Fax +49-30-3087-4566 Riemannstr. 52 | 04107 Leipzig | Tel +49-341-9839-665 | Fax +49-341-2618-639 [email protected] | www.hoferichterjacobs.de | www.homemadehillbillyjam.com 2 HOMEMADE HILLBILLY JAM Press Kit CAST BIG SMITH Mark Bilyeu Mike Williamson Rik Thomas Jody Bilyeu Jay Williamson vocals, guitar stand-up bass, mouthbow, Sousaphone, vocals mandolin, electric guitar, drums, vocals keyboards, mandolin, vocals washboard, spoons, clackers, tambourine, drums, vocals THE BALDKNOBBERS Bill Mabe Tim Mabe Stubb Meadows co-founder of show, used to play the dobro Droopy Drawers, Jr. (comedian) comedian THE PINE RIDGE SINGERS Larry “Dupe” Brown Dottie Brown Dana Bilyeu Debbie Bilyeu Larry Bilyeu mandolin, vocals guitar, vocals guitar, vocals guitar, vocals banjo, electric bass HOSEA BILYEU FAMILY Rev. Hosea Bilyeu Joy Bilyeu-Steele Robin Rees Debbie Bilyeu guitar, vocals vocals vocals vocals THE WAYMAKERS (parents of Big Smith) Connie Bilyeu Mark’s mother Bobby Joe Bilyeu Mark’s father Gay Lea Thomas Rik’s mother Rick Thomas Rik’s father Hofericher & Jacobs GmbH | Film- und Fernsehproduktionsgesellschaft Alte Schönhauser Str. 9 | 10119 Berlin | Tel +49-30-3087-4560 | Fax +49-30-3087-4566 Riemannstr. 52 | 04107 Leipzig | Tel +49-341-9839-665 | Fax +49-341-2618-639 [email protected] | www.hoferichterjacobs.de | www.homemadehillbillyjam.com 3 HOMEMADE HILLBILLY JAM Press Kit Crew Writer/Director Co-Writer/Editor Rick Minnich Matt Sweetwood Director of Photography Axel Schneppat Sound Recordist Raimund von Scheibner Executive Producer Olaf Jacobs Sound Design Kai Schormann Hans Schumann Makks Moond Title Design Additional Editors Online Editor Salar Ghazi Nelia Ibeh Antje Wiechert Production Production Manager Production Accountant Hoferichter & Jacobs GmbH (Berlin/Leipzig) Sibylle Mansour Anne Stephan Hofericher & Jacobs GmbH | Film- und Fernsehproduktionsgesellschaft Alte Schönhauser Str. 9 | 10119 Berlin | Tel +49-30-3087-4560 | Fax +49-30-3087-4566 Riemannstr. 52 | 04107 Leipzig | Tel +49-341-9839-665 | Fax +49-341-2618-639 [email protected] | www.hoferichterjacobs.de | www.homemadehillbillyjam.com 4 HOMEMADE HILLBILLY JAM Press Kit Logline A musical romp through the Ozark Mountains with a handful of rascally modern-day hillbillies. Synopsis Hillbillies haven’t died off; they’ve simply become neo-hillbillies. Three families of musicians in the Ozark Mountains of Southwestern Missouri give new meaning to the word “hillbilly.” Float down the backwaters, soak up some old time religion, savor a washboard duel, and bask in the neon lights of the pseudo-hillbilly showtown Branson. Lean back and merge into hillbilliness. Hofericher & Jacobs GmbH | Film- und Fernsehproduktionsgesellschaft Alte Schönhauser Str. 9 | 10119 Berlin | Tel +49-30-3087-4560 | Fax +49-30-3087-4566 Riemannstr. 52 | 04107 Leipzig | Tel +49-341-9839-665 | Fax +49-341-2618-639 [email protected] | www.hoferichterjacobs.de | www.homemadehillbillyjam.com 5 HOMEMADE HILLBILLY JAM Press Kit Long Synopsis In the mid-19th century a scrappy group of Scotch-Irish immigrants settled in the Ozark Mountains of Southwestern Missouri. Stereotyped as poor, lawless degenerates, these isolated hill folk over time became the butt of countless jokes and earned themselves the name “hillbillies.” In his feature documentary, German-based American filmmaker Rick Minnich captures the rich and wonderful sounds of “neo-hillbilly” music by turning his camera on three families of modern-day hillbilly musicians, each with their own style and degree of success. Although the 80 minutes are almost continually filled with terrific music, this is not a concert doc, or even a historical one. The music and history are presented to us in naturally occurring situations of family gatherings, spontaneous jam sessions, kitchen talks, afternoon fishing trips, and bonfire chats. Minnich (with cinematographer Axel Schneppat and co-writer and editor Matt Sweetwood) constructs a unifying fabric of visual beauty with a rich mix of natural sounds that immerses us in a locale that for many will seem as familiar and yet as distant as the sound of the faraway train whistle that ends the film. Hofericher & Jacobs GmbH | Film- und Fernsehproduktionsgesellschaft Alte Schönhauser Str. 9 | 10119 Berlin | Tel +49-30-3087-4560 | Fax +49-30-3087-4566 Riemannstr. 52 | 04107 Leipzig | Tel +49-341-9839-665 | Fax +49-341-2618-639 [email protected] | www.hoferichterjacobs.de | www.homemadehillbillyjam.com 6 HOMEMADE HILLBILLY JAM Press Kit The story Everyone’s got a notion about hillbillies: hicks from the sticks, The Beverly Hillbillies, rednecks in beat up old pickups, illiterate in-breds. But what about neohillbillies - the offspring of the original pioneers who homesteaded the Ozark Mountains 150 years ago? HOMEMADE HILLBILLY JAM follows three such families of modern-day hillbillies in the Ozark Mountains of Southwestern Missouri back to the roots of their music-making heritage. Leading the pack is 34-year-old singer/songwriter Mark Bilyeu from the hillbilly band Big Smith (www.bigsmithband.com), who have been shaking up the music scene in MidAmerica with energetic, self-ironic tales of life along Bull Creek with their expansive hillbilly clan. All well-educated, modern-day hippies reared on gospel and folk music, Mark and his cousins from Big Smith are refreshingly anachronistic in today’s frenzied world, and a vivid reminder of the hellraising antics of their bootlegging ancestors. While their sharp tongues and leftist sympathies are an eyesore in this staunchly conservative, Baptist region, Big Smith’s firm commitment to preserving their family’s musical heritage has earned them accolades from fans of all persuasions. In the Ozarks, blood runs thicker than water, and everybody appears to be related to everybody else. Mark and his cousins are no exception. In 1959, their relatives, the Mabes, were the first to found a show in nearby Branson. Although The Baldknobbers started off as an authentic hillbilly show, the Mabes and their offspring have long since gone commercial, joining in the wave of flashy neon lights and stars and stripes that mark the Bible Belt show town Branson. For Mark and Big Smith, who have been courted by more than one Branson producer, The Baldknobbers represent their nightmare vision of selling their souls and stagnating in a musical routine few Branson musicians manage to escape. Today it is hard to imagine the tremendous influence The Baldknobbers had on Mark and his cousins while they were growing up; Mark claims to have seen the show over 100 times! Hofericher & Jacobs GmbH | Film- und Fernsehproduktionsgesellschaft Alte Schönhauser Str. 9 | 10119 Berlin | Tel +49-30-3087-4560 | Fax +49-30-3087-4566 Riemannstr. 52 | 04107 Leipzig | Tel +49-341-9839-665 | Fax +49-341-2618-639 [email protected] | www.hoferichterjacobs.de | www.homemadehillbillyjam.com 7 HOMEMADE HILLBILLY JAM Press Kit The Pine Ridge Singers could not be a greater contrast to The Baldknobbers. These distant relatives of Big Smith, who aren’t quite sure how exactly they’re related (“You just say Bilyeu around here and everyone’s related somehow …”) are clearly more hillbilly than anyone else in the film. Larry “Dupe” Brown, the patriarch of the family, was born and raised in a log cabin in the Ozarks, and is determined to keep the land in the family. When he’s not off feeding the cows, he plays Jimi Hendrix imitations on his electric mandolin. Together with his wife Dottie, daughter Debbie, son-in-law Dana, and grandson Larry, Dupe plays at monthly gospel services at Pine Ridge Church in the Mark Twain National Forest near the Taney / Christian County line. In their slightly awkward but heartfelt manner, the Pine Ridge Singers embody a rural gospel tradition which is becoming harder and harder to find. HOMEMADE HILLBILLY JAM avoids an historical or socio-economic approach to hillbilly culture in favor of an insider’s look at his family’s musical heritage. Mark’s reflective, at times laconic manner, dark humor, strong attachment to the land and his family, and his ambivalence about the times we live in set the tone for the entire film. Sumptuously shot on Super 16, and embellished by old photos and archival footage, HOMEMADE HILLBILLY JAM relishes the ethereal textures of the rural hillbilly world and the muted colors and ghostly bare trees of the hillsides in late autumn. For the most part, we have avoided sit-down interviews in favor of conversations and spontaneous exchanges before and after concerts, at Thanksgiving, during a jam session in an old country church, around a bonfire, etc. Although these conversations play an important role, it is the music which propels us through the film, taking us from a Big Smith concert to a family jam, into the world of gospel music, and off to the neon lights of The Baldknobbers and Branson. Songs are not explained, but experienced in the intensity of the musicians’ playing, in a fever-pitched washboard duel, in Cousin Jay’s frenzied spoon playing, in Mark’s trembling tongue and sundrenched face in an old schoolhouse while singing a folk song passed down through the generations, and through the lyrics, which span twisted tales of moonshining and adultery and heartfelt stories of faith and life as a modernday hillbilly in a rapidly changing world. HOMEMADE HILLBILLY JAM is a film for the soul, a celebration of intense yet fragile emotions, a salute to the hillbilly spirit, which refuses to die. Hofericher & Jacobs GmbH | Film- und Fernsehproduktionsgesellschaft Alte Schönhauser Str. 9 | 10119 Berlin | Tel +49-30-3087-4560 | Fax +49-30-3087-4566 Riemannstr. 52 | 04107 Leipzig | Tel +49-341-9839-665 | Fax +49-341-2618-639 [email protected] | www.hoferichterjacobs.de | www.homemadehillbillyjam.com 8 HOMEMADE HILLBILLY JAM Press Kit Director’s statement Although I am not directly from the Ozarks area, I spent my early childhood in nearby Kansas, and took many trips to Branson and the Ozarks. Since my parents relocated to Branson ten years ago, I have had numerous opportunities to rediscover the region, which also led to the shooting of my last film HEAVEN ON EARTH there. After immersing in the flashy lights of Branson, I became curious about the surrounding areas, which Branson seems to be slowly devouring. I also became intrigued by the close-knit family structures, and what I had always perceived as a clichéd image of so-called traditional values. Although HOMEMADE HILLBILLY JAM is clearly Mark’s story, the film is a vehicle for exploring a question which fascinates me more and more the longer I live outside the U.S.: What makes America so strong? The answer we found while shooting appears to have little to do with military might or the exaggerated displays of patriotism in Branson. Perhaps it is as radical as it is simple: God, family, love of the land - and in the case of our protagonists - music. In an increasingly complex, globalized world, where modernday communication is isolating individuals behind their computers, cell phones, and various gadgets rather than bringing them together, where transience is the norm, and where intact families have fallen out of fashion, the Bilyeus and Mabes are managing to transcend their very different world views and political and religious beliefs and keep three generations together in the Ozarks. Watching grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins singing together and playing five guitars and washboard after a hearty Thanksgiving meal is both oddly inspiring and anachronistic – like witnessing the last stand of a family on the brink of extinction. Rick Minnich Berlin, April 2005 Hofericher & Jacobs GmbH | Film- und Fernsehproduktionsgesellschaft Alte Schönhauser Str. 9 | 10119 Berlin | Tel +49-30-3087-4560 | Fax +49-30-3087-4566 Riemannstr. 52 | 04107 Leipzig | Tel +49-341-9839-665 | Fax +49-341-2618-639 [email protected] | www.hoferichterjacobs.de | www.homemadehillbillyjam.com 9 HOMEMADE HILLBILLY JAM Press Kit Production Notes When I set out to make a film about hillbillies, I had no real clue of what I was getting myself into. Most people I talked to about the project had at least a faint notion of what hillbillies are, but few could really put their fingers on them. Are they merely barefoot fat guys in overalls with long beards? Or is there more to them? From the numerous trips I’d taken to the Ozarks over the past decade, I had come to realize that the area offered a good amount of unexplored territory. My curiosity was tinged with a bit of fear: I wasn’t likely to find shotgunwielding bootleggers anymore, but I could stumble upon a methamphetamine lab and find myself in company whose acquaintance I would rather not make. But then again, I hadn’t really set out to make a socio-cultural study about hillbillies, but rather a music film. As luck has it, I met one of Big Smith’s cousins, Joy Bilyeu-Steele, during the shooting of my Branson film HEAVEN ON EARTH. She gave me a copy of Big Smith’s first album, which I listened to with mild interest before banning it to my shelf for nearly a year. When I gave it another listen, I was amazed at what I heard. I knew immediately that there was a story to be told. What struck me most about Big Smith is that they’re my contemporaries. I knew from the outset that I wasn’t interested in making a film about old hillbillies, but about my own generation. Here were five guys my own age (all cousins, including two sets of brothers), who had clearly chosen what in today’s world has become a radical path in life – to stick to their roots, and adapt them to the world around them. They seemed to have the same ambivalent attitude toward the past as I do: a longing for something enduring which transcends the latest fads. In some ways, HOMEMADE HILLBILLY JAM is a confession of my oldfashionedness. At 37, I’ve discovered that while I embrace a lot of modern technology, I’ve lost nothing of my fascination for classical black & white photography, for film grain, for the mechanics of film cameras, or – more importantly for HOMEMADE HILLBILLY JAM – my love of acoustic instruments. This very fascination turned out to be the dominant aesthetic element for this project: the decision to shoot on film, which has become virtually unheard of in today’s documentary world. It just felt right to use a dying, but vastly superior medium to portray a world which seemed to me to be waning. I was searching for rich, timeless, unsentimental images, and my cameraman and long-time collaborator Axel Schneppat delivered more than I could have ever imagined. It was he who insisted on waiting until the gorgeous autumn leaves Hofericher & Jacobs GmbH | Film- und Fernsehproduktionsgesellschaft Alte Schönhauser Str. 9 | 10119 Berlin | Tel +49-30-3087-4560 | Fax +49-30-3087-4566 Riemannstr. 52 | 04107 Leipzig | Tel +49-341-9839-665 | Fax +49-341-2618-639 [email protected] | www.hoferichterjacobs.de | www.homemadehillbillyjam.com 10 HOMEMADE HILLBILLY JAM Press Kit had all but vanished before shooting the landscape shots in order to avoid kitsch and to give the landscapes the ethereal quality I was looking for. Not only did I aim to tell a story, but also to create an atmosphere in which viewers could feel the crystal-clear waters of Bull Creek, smell the hay bales being unloaded on Brown Mountain, feel like they’re sitting around a campfire with Mark, etc. They should feel like they’re part of the family, and that the Bilyeu family’s Thanksgiving dinner is also being served for them. Thanks to Axel’s stunning camerawork, Raimund’s beautiful sound and Matt’s fine editing, I think we succeeded at this goal. At least the reactions of audiences so far suggest this. Time and time again I feel incredibly privileged when total or near strangers open up their lives to me, to the camera. While filming HOMEMADE HILLBILLY JAM, this feeling was especially strong and grew from week to week. At some point, Mark invited us to the family Thanksgiving at the “Mother Ruby” house in Spokane, where his mom grew up, and which is now the focal point of all family life. Thanksgiving has always been my favorite holiday, but this year, I was in for a special treat. Not only did we get to taste the deer Rik shot, along with countless other homegrown goodies, but we also got to spend the afternoon listening to some amazing music-making like nothing I had ever before witnessed. Everyone, literally everyone who walked through the door broke into song. The family’s playlist encompasses hundreds of songs which can be sung at the drop of a hat. The atmosphere was so cozy that we had to remind ourselves we were there to film, and not simply to stuff our faces and enjoy the music. It was a wonderful way to celebrate the end of our month’s worth of shooting. After seeing HOMEMADE HILLBILLY JAM at Lincoln Center last month, a wellknown documentary cameraman told me that I’m onto something, that I should continue to follow my nose and delve deeper into Ozarks culture. Maybe he’s right. In a sense, I feel like I’ve struck a goldmine in the heart of America. Why aren’t more films coming from here? Why have the Ozarks enveloped me to the extent that I continue to travel halfway around the world to make films there? Sure, I have other stories to tell in other places, but I have a feeling I’ll be returning to the Ozarks before long. Another story there seems to be calling … Rick Minnich Berlin, December 2005 Hofericher & Jacobs GmbH | Film- und Fernsehproduktionsgesellschaft Alte Schönhauser Str. 9 | 10119 Berlin | Tel +49-30-3087-4560 | Fax +49-30-3087-4566 Riemannstr. 52 | 04107 Leipzig | Tel +49-341-9839-665 | Fax +49-341-2618-639 [email protected] | www.hoferichterjacobs.de | www.homemadehillbillyjam.com 11 HOMEMADE HILLBILLY JAM Press Kit About the Filmmakers Rick Minnich, Writer/Director Rick Minnich was born in Pomona, California in 1968, and grew up in Kansas, Arizona, and California. After receiving his B.A. in English from Columbia University in 1990, he relocated to Berlin, where he studied directing at the former East German state film school HFF “Konrad Wolf.” His graduate thesis film HEAVEN ON EARTH won the Babelsberg Media Prize for the best thesis film (documentary) in Germany in 2001, the FIPA d’Or in Biarritz in 2002, and numerous other prizes in the US and Europe. It also screened at the 2001 IDFA. Rick Minnich’s films have been broadcast on public television stations throughout Europe, including ARTE, WDR, ORF, etc. HOMEMADE HILLBILLY JAM is his third long documentary. Olaf Jacobs, producer Born in Leipzig, Germany in 1972. Commissioning editor for public TV station MDR 1993-95. Writer, producer, and director of numerous reportage and TV documentaries. Co-founder of film and television production company Hoferichter & Jacobs, Inc. in 1996. Producer/co-director of TV doc. I NEVER WANTED TO BE SO OLD: LENI RIEFENSTAHL (ARD) 2002. Latest production BORDERLINE played at the Berlinale 2004. Executive Producer of the Master Class Film of the European Film Academy. Axel Schneppat, Director of Photography Born in Rostock, Germany in 1971. Cinematography studies at the HFF “Konrad Wolf” in Potsdam 1993-2000. German Cinematography Award 2000 for documentary HAVANNA, MI AMOR (Dir. Uli Gaulke). Numerous narrative and documentary films with Uli Gaulke, Michael Schorr (most recent film SCHULZE GETS THE BLUES won prize at 2003 Venice Festival and is being released theatrically by Paramount Classics), and Rick Minnich. His films have played at Cannes, Venice, Berlin, etc. Hofericher & Jacobs GmbH | Film- und Fernsehproduktionsgesellschaft Alte Schönhauser Str. 9 | 10119 Berlin | Tel +49-30-3087-4560 | Fax +49-30-3087-4566 Riemannstr. 52 | 04107 Leipzig | Tel +49-341-9839-665 | Fax +49-341-2618-639 [email protected] | www.hoferichterjacobs.de | www.homemadehillbillyjam.com 12 HOMEMADE HILLBILLY JAM Press Kit Matt Sweetwood, co-writer / editor Born in Kansas City, Missouri in 1971, currently lives in Potsdam, Germany. Undergraduate studies in film at California State University San Diego. Extensive experience as a writer / director in the US and Germany. Screenplays include “The Jewish Santa Claus” (Edgar Reitz Filmproduktion, Germany). Wrote and directed the documentaries “Liberty at War” (2003), “The Story of Liberty” (2004), and the narrative short “Short on Water” (2004). Raimund von Scheibner, sound Born in Berlin, Germany in 1966. Sound engineering studies at the HFF “KonradWolf” in Potsdam-Babelsberg. Production sound and sound design on numerous film and television projects including “Three Star Red” (Dir. Olaf Kaiser), “Heirate mich” (“Marry Me” – dir. Uli Gaulke). Hofericher & Jacobs GmbH | Film- und Fernsehproduktionsgesellschaft Alte Schönhauser Str. 9 | 10119 Berlin | Tel +49-30-3087-4560 | Fax +49-30-3087-4566 Riemannstr. 52 | 04107 Leipzig | Tel +49-341-9839-665 | Fax +49-341-2618-639 [email protected] | www.hoferichterjacobs.de | www.homemadehillbillyjam.com 13 HOMEMADE HILLBILLY JAM Press Kit Extended Bio-/Filmography of director Rick Minnich 14.6.1968 1988-90 1990 1991-1992 1995-2001 1993-97 since 1997 2002 2003 Born in Pomona, California Internship at film distributor Kino International, NYC B.A. in English literature from Columbia University, New York Internship as camera assistant for Latvian TV in Riga Graduate studies in the School of Film and Video at CalArts Graduate Studies in the directing program at the Hochschule für Film & Fernsehen “Konrad Wolf,” Potsdam-Babelsberg, Germany Free-lancer responsible for making documentary trailers for Deutsche Welle TV in Berlin Freelance film and translation work Director of the SAT.1 series “So gesehen” (German TV) 30 x 3’ Participant in the Berlinale Talent Campus Selected Filmography 1993 DELPHI 1830, experimental film, 16mm, color, 3' 1994 Next Time Everything Will Be Better ("Beim nächsten mal wird alles besser") fiction, 16mm, col., 9' 1993-96 The Book of Lenins, doc., 16mm, col. & b/w, 24’ 1996 Untitled Picture ("Bild ohne Titel"), fiction, 35mm, Dolby SR, color, 4’, ARTE/HFF 1997 Good Guys & Bad Guys, doc., S16, Dolby SR, col., 73’, HFF/ORB 2001 Heaven on Earth, doc., S16, Dolby SR, col., 52’, HFF/Hoferichter / Jacobs GmbH 2005 Homemade Hillbilly Jam, doc. S16, col., 80’, Hoferichter & Jacobs GmbH in prep. The journey through the invisible wall, doc. HD, col. & b/w (ZDF das kleine Fernsehspiel, Red. Christian Cloos / Hoferichter & Jacobs GmbH) Hofericher & Jacobs GmbH | Film- und Fernsehproduktionsgesellschaft Alte Schönhauser Str. 9 | 10119 Berlin | Tel +49-30-3087-4560 | Fax +49-30-3087-4566 Riemannstr. 52 | 04107 Leipzig | Tel +49-341-9839-665 | Fax +49-341-2618-639 [email protected] | www.hoferichterjacobs.de | www.homemadehillbillyjam.com 14 HOMEMADE HILLBILLY JAM Press Kit Awards, Grants, Residencies (selection) 1992 German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) grant 1995 Writer’s grant, Schloss Wiepersdorf, Germany; Best of Festival Award, Short Attention Span Film and Video Festival, San Francisco 1997 Honorable mention, Leipzig Documentary Film Festival; Rector’s Prize, HFF “Konrad Wolf” 1998 Jury prize, Cinarchea Int’l Archeology Film Festival Kiel, Germany; Bronze Plaque, Columbus Int’l Film & Video Festival (The Chris Awards) 2001 Babelsberg Media Prize–Best Graduation Film (doc.) in Germany Hans W. Geissendoerfer Young Talent Award (Ger.) Bronze Plaque, Columbus Int’l Film & Video Festival (The Chris Awards) Audience Award, Williamsburg Brooklyn Film Festival Special Prize of the European Film Schools Jury, SEE Docs in Dubrovnik Nominated for the IDA/David L. Wolper Student Doc. Achievement Award Nominated for the German Cinematography Award 2002 FIPA d’0r (1st prize), FIPA TV Festival, Biarritz, France 2005 Prize of the State Film Service Rheinland-Pfalz, 22nd Video/Filmtage Koblenz (Germany 2006 Artist residency at the Villa Aurora in Pacific Palisades, California Hofericher & Jacobs GmbH | Film- und Fernsehproduktionsgesellschaft Alte Schönhauser Str. 9 | 10119 Berlin | Tel +49-30-3087-4560 | Fax +49-30-3087-4566 Riemannstr. 52 | 04107 Leipzig | Tel +49-341-9839-665 | Fax +49-341-2618-639 [email protected] | www.hoferichterjacobs.de | www.homemadehillbillyjam.com 15 HOMEMADE HILLBILLY JAM Press Kit Production Facts Title: Homemade Hillbilly Jam (working titles: Neon Hillbillies, Neobillies) Shooting format: Screening format: Shooting ratio: Super 16 (Arri SR2) DigiBeta (PAL or NTSC), in planning: HDTV and 35mm 1:9 Length: 80 minutes (TV version: 52 minutes) Shooting location: Shooting period: Ozark Mountains, Southwestern Missouri and Lawrence, Kansas November 4-28, 2003 Sound: DAT, plus multi-track hard disk recordings of concerts Editing systems: Final Cut Pro HD (offline), AVID Adrenaline (online) World Premiere: 24 April 2005, HotDocs Film Festival, Toronto Hofericher & Jacobs GmbH | Film- und Fernsehproduktionsgesellschaft Alte Schönhauser Str. 9 | 10119 Berlin | Tel +49-30-3087-4560 | Fax +49-30-3087-4566 Riemannstr. 52 | 04107 Leipzig | Tel +49-341-9839-665 | Fax +49-341-2618-639 [email protected] | www.hoferichterjacobs.de | www.homemadehillbillyjam.com 16 HOMEMADE HILLBILLY JAM Press Kit Hoferichter & Jacobs Gesellschaft für audiovisuelle Medien und Kommunikationstechnologien mbH Profile Hoferichter & Jacobs Company for Audio-visual Media and Communications Technologies Ltd. was founded in 1996 by Matthias Hoferichter and Olaf Jacobs. The company produces audio-visual media starting from the first idea, up to the final master tape, ranging from TV and feature films to complete media packages. The focus lies on journalistic films, TV features, reportage and documentaries. It also produces image films and develops materials and concepts for ambitious documentary series. Following the establishment of a solid technological and economical basis, the development and production of fictional projects was added in 1999. In the future greater priority will be given to this area. Hoferichter & Jacobs owns modern production equipment and also functions as a service provider for other production companies, agencies and broadcasters. Clients include television broadcasters ARD, ARTE, 3sat, Deutsche Welle, ZDF, Sat 1, ProSieben, as well as local public German television broadcasters MDR, RBB. In addition to that Hoferichter & Jacobs has worked together with many international film and television production companies, publishing houses, distributors, advertising agencies and business enterprises. Olaf Jacobs functions as the executive manager of the company. Hofericher & Jacobs GmbH | Film- und Fernsehproduktionsgesellschaft Alte Schönhauser Str. 9 | 10119 Berlin | Tel +49-30-3087-4560 | Fax +49-30-3087-4566 Riemannstr. 52 | 04107 Leipzig | Tel +49-341-9839-665 | Fax +49-341-2618-639 [email protected] | www.hoferichterjacobs.de | www.homemadehillbillyjam.com 17 HOMEMADE HILLBILLY JAM Press Kit Press comment (selection) “… another quirky insight into an America that most Americans would barely recognize.” – Stephen Dalton, The Times (London): http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,14931-1801988,00.html “…as a film that documents, reveals and clarifies misconceptions through heart-felt portraits, Homemade Hillbilly Jam passes the test of a great documentary.” – Mike Armitage, Chart Attack (Toronto): http://www.chartattack.com/DAMN/2005/04/2711.cfm “Minnich (with co-writer and editor Matt Sweetwood) constructs a unifying fabric of visual beauty with a rich mix of natural sounds that immerses us in a locale that for many will seem as familiar and yet as distant as the sound of the faraway train whistle that ends the film.” – Milton Tabbot, Indielink: http://www.ifp.org/content/noncms/ny/nyindielinknov05.pdf “…the film depicts religion and family and the Ozarks in the most sympathetic, and least hokey way imaginable. Thank you, thank you, thank you.” – Paul Sturtz, Director, True/False Film Festival, Columbia, Missouri “… rich journey through a cultural legacy.” – Jonny Leahan, Indiewire http://www.indiewire.com/movies/movies_050407doc.html “…vibrant, well-shot doc …” (4 of 5 stars) – Jason Anderson, Eye Weekly, Toronto http://www.eye.net/eye/issue/issue_04.21.05/film/hotdocs.html “… Minnich’s beautifully shot film celebrates Missouri’s Ozark countryside and the way music can transcend confilicting attitudes, to bring and hold generations together …” – Friends of American Old Time Music & Dance “…an excellent documentary film …” – Dee Hallett, British Bluegrass Association http://www.eye.net/eye/issue/issue_04.21.05/film/hotdocs.html Hofericher & Jacobs GmbH | Film- und Fernsehproduktionsgesellschaft Alte Schönhauser Str. 9 | 10119 Berlin | Tel +49-30-3087-4560 | Fax +49-30-3087-4566 Riemannstr. 52 | 04107 Leipzig | Tel +49-341-9839-665 | Fax +49-341-2618-639 [email protected] | www.hoferichterjacobs.de | www.homemadehillbillyjam.com 18 HOMEMADE HILLBILLY JAM Press Kit Awards Prize of the State Film Service Rheinland-Pfalz at the 22nd Video/Filmtage, Koblenz, Germany, Nov. 2005 Festivals / Additional Screenings 2005 HotDocs, Toronto, Canada, April 2005 (world premiere) Sheffield International Documentary Festival, UK, Oct. 05 (european premiere) Hot Springs Doc. Film Festival, Hot Springs, Arkansas, Oct. 2005 (opening night film; U.S.premiere) Independents Night, Walter Reade Theater, Lincoln Center, Nov. 2005 Gene Siskel Film Center, School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Dec. 2005 2006 Reel Music Fest, NW Film Center, Portland, Jan. 2006 Big Sky Documentary Film Festival, Missoula, Feb. 2006 True/False Film Festival, Columbia, Feb. 2006 (Closing-Night-Film) Sheffield International Documentary Festival on Tour, Feb. – March 2006 Cleveland International Film Festival, March 2006 RiverRun International Film Festival, March 2006 Norwegian Documentary Film Festival in Volda, April 2006 Atlanta International Documentary Film Festival, April 2006 USA Film Festival in Dallas, Texas, April 2006 Trenton Film Festival, New Jersey, May 2006 Television Broadcasts YLE Teema, Finland (for 2006) Hofericher & Jacobs GmbH | Film- und Fernsehproduktionsgesellschaft Alte Schönhauser Str. 9 | 10119 Berlin | Tel +49-30-3087-4560 | Fax +49-30-3087-4566 Riemannstr. 52 | 04107 Leipzig | Tel +49-341-9839-665 | Fax +49-341-2618-639 [email protected] | www.hoferichterjacobs.de | www.homemadehillbillyjam.com 19 HOMEMADE HILLBILLY JAM Press Kit Contacts Production Company Hoferichter & Jacobs GmbH Alte Schönhauser Str. 9 D-10119 Berlin, Germany Tel. +49-30-3087-4560 Fax. +49-30-3087-4566 Riemannstr. 52 D-04107 Leipzig, Germany Tel. +49-341-9839-665 Fax. +49-341-2618-639 Email: [email protected] www.hoferichterjacobs.de World Sales Telepool GmbH Sonnenstr. 21 D-80331 München, Germany Tel. +49-89-558760 Fax: +49-89-55876188 www.telepool.de Internet www.homemadehillbillyjam.com www.hoferichterjacobs.de www.rickfilms.de Hofericher & Jacobs GmbH | Film- und Fernsehproduktionsgesellschaft Alte Schönhauser Str. 9 | 10119 Berlin | Tel +49-30-3087-4560 | Fax +49-30-3087-4566 Riemannstr. 52 | 04107 Leipzig | Tel +49-341-9839-665 | Fax +49-341-2618-639 [email protected] | www.hoferichterjacobs.de | www.homemadehillbillyjam.com 20