NORTH SMITHFIELD - The irony is not lost on the filmmaker.
Christian de Rezendes, of 409 North Main St., has made a movie he calls
"Getting Out of Rhode Island," but the project might not have got off the
ground if it weren't for partial funding from the Rhode Island State Council
of the Arts. That reflects, perhaps, an open mindedness on the part of the arts
council,which is beginning to pay off. de Rezendes' film has been accepted at
three film festivals and recently got a glowing review from "Film Threat,"
an online publication geared to independent filmmaking.
If they want to, the arts council members - along with the public - can see
what they got for their money as de Rezendes premieres his movie Wednesday
night at 9 p.m. at the Castle Cinema, 1039 Chalkstone Ave., Providence.
The screening is made possible by the Speed of Thought Players, an improv
group that performs regularly at the cinema, which recently has been
revamped to the Castle Cinema and Café. Movies, live entertainment and food
all are available now at the location.
The Players, a couple of whom appear in the movie, gave up one of their
regular performance nights to allow for the screening. De Rezendes, 28, owns
CDR Pictures and makes his living as a videographer,
previously made movies about his grandmother that included a return to her
homeland in Portugal, and about his senior year at North Smithfield High
School. He said his latest film, which he dubs "GORI," was "done on a
shoestring but in an innovative way."
The premise for the film strikes very close to home. It's about a would-be
director and a wedding videographer who team up to turn their corner of New
England into a center for independent filmmaking. To kick-start the project,
they host a fund-raising party, to which they have invited a former local
who has achieved some success in the film business. They hope to capitalize
on that success, but their ace in the hole turns out to be drunk or stoned
and clearly disinterested.
The entire film was shot in about three hours and edited down to about an
hour and 45 minutes by de Rezendes, the producer, director, editor and chief
cinematographer. As in the film, everyone was invited to de Rezendes' home
for a party, but they weren't given a script.
"Everyone knew who they were (in the film) and why they were there, but it
was fully improvised," de Rezendes said. "I wanted it to be as fresh and
natural as possible, like the spontaneity of life." He recruited the cast
from "friends who are good actors or just good at being themselves," he
said.
The "Film Threat" reviewer, Phil Hall, noted that de Rezendes' approach
typically is a formula for disaster. He cited the film's "improvised
screenplay, which more often than not in films never clicks, its .
Dogma-inspired cinematography, which can induce queasiness in even the
strongest stomach . (and) the plot, which is normally the anathema of anyone
reviewing indie cinema: a movie about making a movie," as potential
drawbacks.
"But in a small miracle, all of these surefire problems blend into something
very different and devastating," Hall wrote.
"Getting Out of Rhode Island' is so wonderfully different from the majority
of films currently in release that some people may be confused on how it
should be presented. With good fortune, film festival organizers and
distributors will rise to the challenge that de Rezendes put forward here and
share this film with as many people as possible," Hall wrote.
Three festivals will have their chance: the Back Alley Film Festival in
Tucson, Ariz., beginning April 19; the Bare Bones International Film
Festival in Muskogee, Okla., on April 23; and the Black Point Film Festival
in Lake Geneva, WI, the weekend of April 26.
Nobody in the film was paid, de Rezendes noted, so their "payment" will have
to be the film's artistic success.
Tickets for Wednesday's screening of "Getting Out of Rhode Island" are $5
and available on a first-come, first-served basis for the 90-seat theater.
For directions, visit www.castlecinema.com.
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