You can see the best films of the Greensboro 48 Hour Film Project Friday (July 21, 2017) at 7 p.m. at the Carolina Theatre in Greensboro. Tickets are $10 and can be purchased online for an additional fee.

Full disclosure, I served as one of three judges of the films submitted, which means I can speak with some authority about the quality of the work – it’s high – and I’m looking forward to audience reaction at the screening.

There have been some surprises for me through my involvement with the program, namely, the joy so many of the teams have for film, which is evident in Q & A sessions after preliminary screenings and in some of the actual films.

Of course, working together with such a tight time limit – 48 hours! – to produce a 4-7 film that falls into an assigned genre (not known before the drawing right before production begins)  and includes a designated prop, line of dialogue, and character (also not known in advance) is a daunting task that demands camaraderie to pull it off and still have fun in the process.

Continue reading “48HFP Greensboro Style”

Del Shores released his campy comedy Sordid Lives in 2000 to showcase three generations of a “trashy” Texas family and neighbors gathered to bury their matriarch amid secrets, shenanigans, and conflict over conservative religious values.

Sordid Lives is cult classic.

Seventeen years later, Shores revisits many of the same characters as they reunite for another family gathering in A Very Sordid Wedding.

Marriage equality and religious hypocrisy are themes that run through the film, and recent political events in America heighten the resonance of certain characters and situations.

As hard-won political rights for members of the LGBTQ community are threatened or even rolled back, I experienced a certain urgency watching A Very Sordid Wedding that I might not have otherwise felt.

Continue reading “A VERY SORDID WEDDING”