Film Commissioner Tim Clark interviews legendary production designer and Buffalo native David L. Snyder. Known for his work on “Bladerunner”, “Demolition Man”, “Pee Wee’s Big Adventure” and more, David was in town to receive the first Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2024 Buffalo International Film Festival at the North Park Theatre.
Actor Gabrielle Nunzio with Director Geg Lamberson. (PHOTO: Nancy J. Parisi)
Principal photography on the horror thriller Frenzy Moon has wrapped in Clarence, New York. The film was written and directed by Buffalo-based filmmaker Gregory Lamberson, who produced it with Tamar Lamberson, Keith Lukowski and Chris Cosgrave.
This is Lamberson’s tenth feature film as a director, and his seventh filmed in Western New York. A member of the Producers Guild of America, some of his previous films include Johnny Gruesome, Widow’s Point and Guns of Eden.
Frenzy Moon tells the story of six college students and a mysterious hunter who spend a terrifying night battling werewolves in a remote cabin. Lamberson is the author of 15 books, including the novels The Frenzy Way, The Frenzy War and The Frenzy Wolves. He describes Freny Moon as “a cross between The Howling and John Carpenter’s The Thing.”
The film’s principal cast is primarily comprised of Western New York theater actors: Alyssa Grace Adams, Aaron Krygier, Kayla Walker, Gabrielle Nunzio, Harold Octavius Jacob, Steven Maiseke and Jacob Applegate. Lamberson cast many of them after scouting them in local stage productions.
(PHOTO: Nancy J. Parisi)
“The audience needs to believe the characters’ fear in a horror film. I wanted theater actors because they tend to have more training and discipline, and can better handle long, intense dialogue scenes. There was no need to look outside Western New York, because we have so many talented actors right here.”
The crew was also local.
“I’ve been shooting here for fourteen years. A lot of people have gotten their start with me, and I’ve learned from visiting producers and directors. I’ve surrounded myself with the best people I can, and as a team we provide training and mentorship to the next generation. We have everything we need right here – except for a local source of financing. This was an incredibly ambitious project to do on a low budget.”
Lamberson raised the budget for the film through a combination of crowdfunding, private investors, and a distribution advance; he expects the film to be released around September 2025.
“We’re always looking for new producers. People can back us through Frenzy Moon on Kickstarter and Indiegogo, receive certain reward perks, and see their name in the credits of a movie that will be seen around the world.”
Gregory Lamberson Film: https://www.gregorylambersonfilm.com/
Frenzy Moon Kickstarter: http://kck.st/3Xnn5Q4
Frenzy Moon Indiegogo: https://igg.me/at/FrenzyMoonFilm/x/25844736#/
Fall Guy/Gal Stunt Boot Camp this Saturday and Sunday
Robbins Stunt Team is holding their 2nd annual stunt boot camp. Fall Guy/Gal style stunt
bootcamp this Saturday(10/12)11:00 am to 3:30pm and Sunday(10/13) 8:45am-1:45pm.
In true stunt fashion we have added high falls to the already high-octane stunt bootcamp.
Greg Robbins and his professional stunt team will guide actors and stunt performers in Falls,
Fights, Prop Firearm handling and safety.
“Greg Robbins and his team are very knowledgeable, safe and are the go-to stunt team for the projects
that come to Buffalo.” said Buffalo/Niagara Film Commissioner, Tim Clark.
Mr. Robbins has been preforming stunts, stunt coordinating and armorer for decades with credits
that include, stunt coordinator on The Panic, The Cutman, Hello Beautiful, Hail Mary, Bad
Cupid, Givers of Death, Bunker, Bound and was a stunt performer on The Terminator, Clover
and Cabrini. Just to name a few.
“The film industry in Western New York needs more stunt performers” says, Greg Robbins.
“This is the perfect time to bring up the next generation of stunt performers, firearm safety
experts and future coordinators. We have wonderful support crews that complement the film tax
credit, and our beautiful city attracts the motion picture industry. We need more stunt people
here, so we don’t have to hire outside of our area. Our bootcamp will help with that need.”- Greg
Robbins.
Boot camp is held at The Sportsplex 90 Ridge Road, North Tonawanda, NY 14120.
To register email Greg Robbins: GregvRobbins@gmail.com
Website: www.robbinsstuntteam.com
YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCua29brLjU1tWsywsF-QTwg
18th Annual Buffalo Int’l Film Festival (OCT 10-17) ANNOUNCES OPENING AND CLOSING NIGHT FILMS + EXPANDED 2024 FESTIVAL RUN
Buffalo Int’l Film Festival to open w/ the North American Premiere of Phoebe Nir’s Eco Village (Starring Rising Buffalo Star Sidney Flanigan – in attendance) and closes with the Western New York Premiere of Marco Gianfreda’s Tre Regole Infallibili / Three Infallible Rules (Starring Mother Cabrini herself, Cristiana Dell’Anna – in attendance)
Buffalo, NY: Friday, October 4, 2024 – The Buffalo Int’l Film Festival announces an extended run (from 5 to 8 days) October 10-17th at venues throughout the City of Buffalo. The festival’s programming will include 220+ Western New York premiere films from 30+ countries, many with visiting filmmakers in attendance to present their films and participate in live audience Q+As and panels.
BIFF’s Lineup of Official Film Selections is composed of acclaimed hits from major festivals including Sundance, South By Southwest, Tribeca, Hot Docs, Cannes Film Festival, and more; alongside exciting discoveries from around the WNY region and the globe.
Some of films presented in this year’s lineup, including BIFF’s Decolonial Spotlights (Renowned Mohawk Director Katsitsionni Fox and Star/Documentary Participant Jessica Shenandoah in attendance), ၁၀ နှစ်အက ြာ မြန်ြြာ / Ten Years Myanmar, and Next Gen: Teen + Youth-Made Shorts are offered free of charge thanks to the generous support from The National Endowment for Arts, New York Council on the Arts, and Erie County Arts and Cultural Funding, and BIFF’s many amazing community partners and supporters. Shorts blocks, like Racial Justice in View, as well as BIFF’s Offscreen series of music, art, and performance; industry and academic panels; and other special events are free for the general public to attend as well.
Seats can be reserved for free programming, and tickets and passes can be purchased at buffalofilm.org or at each venue’s box office on the day of the screening. Tickets are $12 for all in person screenings, $8 for select matinees. BIFF also participates in Arts Services Inc’s Arts Access Program, which allows program participants to reserve free tickets to all festival events. Films are now on sale including BIFF’s Opening Night and Closing Night selections. BIFF’s popular All-Access Bison Pass is also on sale for $70 and provides access to the festival’s 220+ film screenings, official events, and more.
BIFF will also present screenings and panels at – the North Park Theatre (1428 Hertel Ave), Hallwalls Contemporary Arts Center (341 Delaware Ave), and Burchfield Penney Art Center (1300 Elmwood Ave), Buffalo Toronto Public Media (140 Lower Terrace St), and Journey’s End Cinema at the Tri-Main Center (2495 Main St #530).
All of BIFF’s programming will take place in person, with the exception of hybrid events like panels and Offscreen art and performances that will be presented live and also live streamed.
“We’re so excited to host some many incredible filmmakers here in Buffalo this October, and to celebrate these phenomenal films and bold cinematic works,” said Executive Director Anna Scime. “All are welcome and there’s a little something for everybody – we can’t wait to see you at the fest!”
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SPOTLIGHT + CENTERPIECE FILMS:
OPENING NIGHT GALA – Eco Village – Friday, October 11, 2024 – 7:15 PM – North Park Theatre
Phoebe Nir (Dir), 82 minutes, USA, North American Premiere
Director/Writer Phoebe Nir, Star Sidney Flanigan, Star Lindsay Burdge, Star Eric Austin, Producer Giovanni Labadessa and Editor/Co-Producer Linds Gray in attendance.
Songwriter Robyn (Sidney Flanigan of Never Rarely Sometimes Always + Only the Good Survive) hitch-hikes her way to a commune. There, she meets an eccentric cast of characters, including commune founder Ursula (Lindsay Michelle Burdge) and handyman Jake (Alex Breaux), the later becoming her lover.
This relationship upsets the delicate equilibrium of the eco-village ecosystem, setting off a drug-addled frenzy of shifting power, manipulation, friendship and lust. Throughout these uncertain alliances and games, music remains Robyn’s salvation and structures the film.
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Related BIFF Panels (free!)
BIFF Panel: It Takes an Eco Village – Friday, October 11th, 4pm @ Buffalo Toronto Public Media + live streamed to social + website
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BIFF Panel: Buffalo’s Brightest – Sunday, October 13th, 5pm @ Buffalo Toronto Public Media + live streamed to social + website (Daniel Croix (Huli), Sidney Flanigan (Eco Village), Patrick Gallo (The Disinvited)
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CLOSING NIGHT GALA – Tre Regole Infallibili / Three Infallible Rules – Thursday, October 17, 2024 – 7:15 PM – North Park Theatre
Marco Gianfreda (Dir), 98 minutes, Italy, Western New York Premiere
Director Marco Gianfreda and Star Cristiana Dell’Anna in attendance.
In Italian w/ English subtitles.
Fourteen year-old Bruno (Guglielmo Aquaro) is in a state of panic: he finds out his first love is requited, but has no idea what to do next. He needs someone to teach him the ropes, and it just so happens that his best bet is the much detested Luca (Matteo Olivetti), the only man capable of making his hopeless mother Claudia (Cabrini Star Cristiana Dell’Anna) fall in love again.
Bruno must swallow his pride and accept his worst enemy’s advice. Little does he know that Luca and Claudia’s relationship is anything but exemplary.
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Related BIFF Panel (free!) Love (Italian Style) – Thursday, October 17th, 4pm @ Buffalo Toronto Public Media + live streamed to social + website
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SOCIAL JUSTICE SPOTLIGHT – Songs from the Hole – Sunday, October 13, 2024 – 7:15 PM – North Park Theatre
Contessa Gayles (Dir), 106 minutes, USA, New York State Premiere
Director Contessa Gayles in attendance. (Buffalo Native)
At 15, he took a life. Three days later, his brother’s life was taken. A documentary visual album, SONGS FROM THE HOLE follows James “JJ’88” Jacobs through a musical opus of Hip-Hop and Soul, inspired by his innermost struggles as both a person who has committed and experienced violent harm, as he serves a double-life prison sentence.
The film interweaves the collective storytelling of its non-fiction participants with imagined representations of memories, dreams and spiritual dialogues set to its protagonist/writer’s original music.
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ARTHOUSE CENTERPIECE – New Wave – Thursday, October 10, 2024 – 7:00 PM – Hallwalls Contemporary Arts Center
Elizabeth Ai (Dir), 89 minutes, USA, Western New York Premiere
Director Elizabeth Ai and Producer Rachel Sine in attendance.
A self reflexive story of joy and youthful defiance, filmmaker Elizabeth Ai explores a musical phenomenon in the 1980s known to Vietnamese American teens as new wave.
As she delves into the lives of family members and icons of the new wave scene, a surprising and powerful story emerges about lasting effects of the Vietnam War and displacement on the community’s mental health, and how that impact carries over generations.
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ARTHOUSE SPOTLIGHT –S/He Is Still Her/e – Sunday, October 13, 2024 – 7:15 PM – North Park Theatre
David Charles Rodrigues (Dir), 99 minutes, USA, Western New York Premiere
Pioneering electronic musician/avant-garde artist/spiritual explorer/gender revolutionary/cult leader(!?) Genesis P. Orridge has been featured in numerous films and videos, but never the full story…until now.
In this “authorized” but extremely raw and personal documentary, award-winning director David Charles Rodrigues (GAY CHORUS DEEP SOUTH) documents the final year of P-Orridge’s existence as they grapple with mortality and get ready to “drop [their] body.”
Featuring William Burroughs, Brion Gyson, Timothy Leary, Alice Genesse (PTV), David J (Bauhaus/Love and Rockets), Nepalese monks, African Witch doctors and a special cameo by her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth, plus never before seen archival treasures, performances from COUM Transmissions, Throbbing Gristle and Psychic TV. Very few artists lived their art, but Genesis died three times for it.
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DECOLONIAL SPOTLIGHT – BIFF Shorts: Decolonial Spotlights – Monday, October 14, 2024 – 7:15 PM – North Park Theatre
Anti-ethnographic works that provide windows into the lives, minds and cultures of some of the world’s most exciting, contemporary Indigenous filmmakers. Free screening! 62 minutes.
“Tentsítewahkwe”
Katsitsionni Fox (Dir) 18 minutes, Akwesasne / USA / Canada, New York State Premiere
Director Katsitsionni Fox and Star/Documentary Participant Jessica Shenandoah in attendance.
In Kanien’kéha and English w/ English subtitles.
Haudenosaunee people follow the season cycles of the earth – their mothers and grandmothers knew how to take what was harvested from the land to create what was needed for their families. Jessica Shenandoah is Wolf Clan from the Akwesasne Mohawk Nation and comes from a large family of knowledge keepers. As a young girl, she picked medicines, berries and wild food plants with her mother and grandmother. She is now a mother of four, seeking to bring back the land based practices that have been lost. Jessica reaches both inside and outside Haudenosaunee territories to find those who have reconnected this knowledge, so she can bring it back to her community and the future generations. She embodies Tentsítewahkwe, as she picks up knowledge of the old ways, these slow methods of creating and connecting in reciprocity with the earth reemerge.
LEGACY GALA – Demolition Man w/ Production Designer David L. Snyder – Wednesday, October 16, 2024 – 7:15 PM – North Park Theatre
DEMOLITION MAN, directed by Marco Brambilla (USA)
Followed by an extended conversation and live audience Q+A with BIFF’s inaugural Lifetime Achievement award winner, BAFTA Winning + Academy Award nominated Production Designer David L. Snyder (Buffalo Native)!
John Spartan (Sylvester Stallone) is a risk-taking LAPD police officer in 1996 with a reputation for causing destruction while carrying out his work. After a failed attempt to rescue hostages from evil crime lord Simon Phoenix (Westley Snipes), they are both sentenced to be cryogenically frozen. Phoenix is thawed for a parole hearing in 2032 but escapes into a society that has changed after all violent crime has seemingly been eliminated. This pacifistic future society is ill-equipped to deal with a criminal of Phoenix’s caliber, and Spartan is released from the cryogenic prison to pursue his old ultra-violent-nemesis. A Warner Brothers release.
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About Buffalo Int’l Film Festival:
Buffalo International Film Festival (est. 2006) champions regional, national, and international films that push the limits of independent cinema – presenting quality films from around the world to WNY residents and visitors. BIFF is committed to amplifying diverse voices and exhibiting cutting-edge programming in narrative, documentary and experimental film. A proud supporter of local filmmaking and the arts; BIFF also offers workshops, seminars, industry panel discussions, fiscal sponsorship and professional development opportunities, as well as an Offscreen series of art, music and performance.
For more info, please visit buffalofilm.org.
PPDI is a one-year program which prepares 18 participants from diverse backgrounds for entry level careers in video editing and audio mixing in the highly competitive music, video and media industries. It is free to qualified applicants. PPDI is designed to increase diversity, equity and inclusion in the post production workforce.
PPDI is currently looking for 18 people who would like to participate in this application-based program. We are looking for
Buffalo State students who are accepted to the program can receive 6 advanced level course credits to count towards their degree. Community members will receive a certificate upon completion of the program. Altogether, participants receive over 270 hours of instruction and mentorship. Childcare reimbursement provided. Participants must be at least 18 years old.
PPDI is scheduled to start in November of 2024 and has an anticipated ending date of August 2025. Planned activities include
Please visit https://communication.buffalostate.edu/ppdi for more information and to submit your application. You can also apply by scanning the QR code on the attached flyer!
Deadline for application is Friday, October 18th at midnight.
If you grew up in Buffalo or Southern Ontario during the twentieth century then you probably experienced the magic of Crystal Beach Amusement Park before its sad closing back in September of 1989. Yes, thirty-five years ago!
Multimedia artist and filmmaker Peter McGennis was fortunate to have known the park intimately from spending his childhood summers up in Crystal Beach and having a best friend whose step dad once owned the park. McGennis shipped off to the college that summer of ’89 and Crystal Beach became a memory.
That was until he wrote a song about Crystal Beach called “Sunshine Dream” and shared it with his friend’s step dad when he became ill back in 2015. McGennis told him that he was going to make a feature film about Crystal Beach before he sadly passed away.
Having plucked heartstrings and a creative wellspring, more songs continued to pour out of McGennis. He created a studio project band called Pete and the Amusements and began recording these original Crystal Beach songs starting with “Sunshine Dream.” There were thirty-two songs when all was said and done! In 2017, McGennis wrote the first draft of “Laff in the Dark” stitching together the songs into a movie script storyline. He had taken a similar approach to previous movies like “Queen City” where the songs guided the visuals. What was different this time was that Pete and the Amusements had become a narrating vehicle appearing in the film. The script was playing out in his head and ears as a vinyl record. McGennis had unearthed the rock opera in his own self-coined “movie album” way.
Filming began soon after deploying a stop-start strategy to ease logistics and to make it possible to film at different vintage amusement parks akin to Crystal Beach. The list included Seabreeze (Rochester), Sylvan Beach (Syracuse), Waldameer (Erie) and nearby Fantasy Island. Some of these parks had acquired rides from Crystal Beach or had similar vintage that could pass for Crystal Beach. And then came the hunt for actual Crystal Beach relics which proved highly successful. So successful in fact that McGennis and his Western New York crew was able to recreate “Laff in the Dark” ride in a Cheektowaga warehouse using dolly track and the actual rickshaw cars from the ride. Friends and collectors alike were open to letting their keepsakes bring McGennis’ film to life. And then came the pandemic…
For two seasons, McGennis was pretty much at a standstill unable to finish principal photography. He hunkered down and edited the film to note exactly what we needed. When McGennis finally came up for air, his dear friend and lead actor Vincent O’Neill was diagnosed with lung cancer and needed time to recover. The project continued marinate until 2023 when they were finally able to complete filming all of the connective tissue content of the film in an antique store in Elma, NY. Postproduction began this year which included some additional shots, animation and sound mixing. The result is an original rock opera about a magical place that meant so much to McGennis and generations on both sides of the border!
So c’mon and end the summer on a high and join cast, crew and fellow Crystal Beach lovers on the sandy red carpet for the world premiere of Peter McGennis’ rock opera feature film “Laff in the Dark” opening at the iconic North Park Theatre on Friday, September 13th!
Summary:
An annual pitstop at an antique shop uncovers the charm of legendary amusement park Crystal Beach and its mysterious matriarch. Join multimedia artist Peter McGennis on the red carpet as his musical ensemble Pete and the Amusements unearth the rock opera on the big screen and on the midway. Thirty-five years since Crystal Beach closed its doors in September of 1989. Get ready for suckers, shenanigans and a flood of memories. Was it all real or just a laugh in the dark? Starring Josephine Hogan, Vincent O’Neill and Peter McGennis and Laughing Sal. Running Time: 1h36min. NR. Brief nudity.
Tickets: https://ticketing.useast.veezi.com/sessions/9azqedb8634rh3y4a5rzc1z2km