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(Dedicated to the memory of Charlie Rymer)

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 23
9:00 PM @ THE CHATTANOOGA REGIONAL HISTORY MUSEUM
(Pavillion space - across from Lupi's on Broad Street)
$5 admission, $4 for SRLS members

OVERVIEW:
In 2002, a small group of Chattanooga filmmakers felt the need to find a public venue for their work, so they banded together and organized a do-it-themselves screening of four films made in this city. With the help of Free Film Club (www.freefilmclub.com), a loosely-organized microcinema dedicated to semi-regular screenings of rare, foreign, independent, and avant-garde films—as well as to supporting the work of local artists—these four filmmakers were able to find an audience for their work. Since that first screening, LOCAL YOKELS has become a “quasi-annual” event, taking place roughly every 10-18 months. Until very recently, with the arrival of the 1st Annual Firefly Film Festival, LOCAL YOKELS was the only organized program in which locally made films were presented to the public. Now in its third year, LOCAL YOKELS continues to serve as a democratizing force in the growing local cinematic community, making it clear that films don’t necessarily have to be made in Hollywood or with the help of multi-million-dollar budgets: the cinema is rapidly becoming an art form that can be practiced by anyone who has the desire to create and a few bucks to spend on a digital video camera. In 2004, LOCAL YOKELS became a collaborative project of Free Film Club and the Shaking Ray Levi Society (www.shakingray.com), a collective-run non-profit that supports, produces and presents diverse genres of music, film and performance art through festivals, recordings and the Internet.

SELECTED FILMS*, 2004 (by director’s name):
*This list has been compiled pending further submissions and may be amended before the screening, though all work listed here will definitely be screened.

DIRT - The Persistence of Uncle Jimmy’s Memory (0:35) [Première!]
One of two filmmakers presenting work in this program who have chosen to remain anonymous, Dirt presents a visual representation of what might be going on in a dog’s dreams. This short-short film was submitted by Possum--the other anonymous filmmaker presenting in this program—who states: “The Persistence of Uncle Jimmy's Memory is a production by an anonymous freelance ne'er-do-well and amateur snapshotter friend of Possum. Any resemblance to persons living or dead is coincidental except where it is intentional. If you need to know which, contact Dirt via Possum at possum@catt.com. The Persistence of Uncle Jimmy's Memory is included by permission. All rights reserved.”

MATT GREENWELL – Spectacle (6:23) [premièred at the 1st Annual Firefly Film Festival] Matt Greenwell is a graphic design professor in the Department of Art at UT Chattanooga. “Spectacle” was created as an attempt to somehow quantify the impact of media on post-consumer culture-to document what Guy Debord recognized as the artificial “spectacle” of our contemporary lives.

TYLER GRISHAM & CHRIS KORNMAN – Anecdote of a Jar (6:00) [premièred at the 2004 Covenant College Film Festival, subsequently screened at the 1st Annual Firefly Film Festival] Tyler Grisham is currently a UTC student and Chris Kornman is a graduate of Covenant College; the two have been working on film projects together for three years. Anecdote is their first co-production and is based on a poem by Wallace Stevens. It explores the idea of mankind’s interaction with nature and the environment.

THE MICROMOVIE COLLECTIVE - 3 Micromovies: #5, #8, & #10 (roughly 5 min each = 15 min) The MICROMOVIE Project, dreamt up by Chattanooga filmmakers Jim Burer and Jarrod Whaley, is an ongoing attempt to bring together established filmmakers and neophytes alike in a fun, relaxed setting on a monthly basis. On the second Saturday of every month, Whaley and Burer meet with whoever is interested in making a five-minute short film in the span of a single day. The participants brainstorm an idea for their film, and then hit the streets of Chattanooga to make their idea a reality. Open to the public, MICROMOVIES are an excellent learning and networking opportunity for filmmakers of all levels, and also a great way to get the community involved in the small but growing film scene in Chattanooga. The three films included in this program were made in this fashion.

MARK NORTHERN – Grace—Double Digital (0:18) [Première!] Mark Northern is Business Development Manager for Next Knowledge Software. His career path includes stints as Copy/Co-Creative Director at The Sullivan Company, Communications Director for the Electric Transit Vehicle Institute (ETVI) and Editor of Chattanooga Life & Leisure magazine. He is an advocate of creativity in all forms and a long-time evangelist for Atomic Films, the Shaking Ray Levi Society and anything else that, quote: “kicks the status quo in the nether regions.” He says, quite simply: “Grace - Double Digital was a test of the digital video capabilities of my Fuji FinePix 3800. It's essentially a shaky zoom into the screen of my Dell Inspiron 5150 that does a little drop-off to the bottom left after tightening in on my daughter's right eye.”

POSSUM - The Pecker Suite (3:30) [Première!] A series of super-short films (at durations ranging between 3 and 25 seconds each) shot by a local filmmaker who wishes to remain anonymous (and edited by an anonymous technician) The Pecker Suite traces the banalities of daily life as it is lived by chickens. Yes—chickens. Through its cunning use of double-entendre, static camera angles, humor, and image-association, The Pecker Suite draws parallels between the humdrum, bizarre lives of farm fowl and the humdrum, bizarre lives of modern human beings. Possum says: “These videos are the copyrighted property of Possum. No animals were harmed or mistreated before, during, or after filming 'cause that ain't right. (By animals I mean chickens, but not worms, scorpions, or other insects. Chickens eat that stuff.) For further information about dustbaths, chickens, etc., email Possum at possum@catt.com. All rights reserved.”

POSSUM – Tail: 12 Tales (3:30) [Première!] Another of Possum’s patented series of excursions into the bizarre and amusing lives of animals, Tail: 12 Tales makes use of many of the methods and themes of The Pecker Suite, but this time making use of a cast of dogs. Oddly, Possum chose to divulge the dog’s names, while keeping his own name a secret: these cinematically inclined canines are known as “Uncle Jimmy” and “Stella.” Possum says:
“These videos are the copyrighted property of Possum. No animals were harmed or mistreated before, during, or after filming 'cause that ain't right. (By animals I mean dogs.) For further information about dogs, etc., email Possum at possum@catt.com. All rights reserved.”

CHARLIE RYMER – Wake Up Now (15:50) [Première!] Friends of the Rymer family—the SRLS not being the least of which—were saddened to learn of Charlie’s death in an auto accident this summer. SRLS can think of no more fitting tribute to Charlie’s memory than to screen his short film, Wake Up Now, which is a lyrical and moving meditation on the irony of mankind’s violent nature in peaceful and tranquil world. Rymer’s very personal and subjective use of the camera explores the juxtapositions of private versus public, natural versus humanmade, and peaceful versus warlike, thus pondering the most essential questions of what it means to be a human being.

JEFF SHAFFER – Battle Brains (4:24) [Première!] This experimental short makes use of varied imagery and imaginative sound design (says the filmmaker: “The sounds were done with a rewired stereo console using AM bandwaves, broken records, and a lot of near electrocution) to create an abstract and unsettling portrait of a mind at war with itself.

JEFF SHAFFER - Beer, Cats, and Rock & Roll (16:27) [Première!]
WARNING: contains language that some may find objectionable.
A surreal and disturbing documentary probing into the life of Mr. Shaffer’s rather unsavory alcoholic and inexplicably-Elvis-impersonating neighbor (one John Hutchings), Beer, Cats, and Rock & Roll pushes the boundaries between the real and the nightmarish. Mr. Hutchings utters obscenities as if they were a language in their own right, and swills beer until he can barely see the electronic poker machine in front of him. The effect is at once disconcerting and humorous. One doesn’t know whether to pity or to loathe John Hutchings by the end of this film, but Shaffer laudably demonstrates this lowly character’s human qualities by contrasting them with his many repulsive traits.

SHAKING RAY LEVI SOCIETY FILM WORKSHOP – (Title to be determined) [Première!]
The result of a filmmaking workshop to be facilitated by Chattanooga filmmakers and SRLS Film Committee members Jarrod Whaley and Jim Burer, this film will be made entirely by members of the general public who wish to learn more about the filmmaking process. The film will be based upon an animated short by famed Czech filmmaker Jan Svankmajer; participants in the workshop will be called upon to adapt Svankmajer’s trademark stop-motion animation into a live-action short film, and the LOCAL YOKELS audience will be called upon to supply the filmmakers with feedback in the form of a questionnaire. This is truly democratic cinema.

JARROD WHALEY & KELLY MOORE – Comme Ci, Comme Ça (8:34) [Première!] WARNING: contains language that some may find objectionable
Chattanooga filmmaker Jarrod Whaley teamed up with University of Houston (TX) graduate student Kelly Moore to produce this absurdist narrative short that looks into the ways in which we are alone even when we are with others. When the protagonist (Moore) discovers that she has run out of the resources that her profession requires, she begins placing random telephone calls in an effort to find someone who can replenish her supplies. She eventually enlists the help of a wisecracking drunkard who is more interested in her Pabst Blue Ribbon than he is in helping her in any way whatsoever. Shot in a wide array of video formats—both digital and analog—Comme Ci, Comme Ça provides a rare glimpse at the comedic side of Whaley’s cinematic tendencies.

JARROD WHALEY - Rémy Brick-Head In Sour Sweetjuice (12:00) [Première!] ANIMATED. WARNING: contains language that some may find objectionable. Whaley’s first foray into the world of drawing-based animation premières right here at LOCAL YOKELS. With its hand-drawn aesthetic and desert-dry humor, Rémy Brick-Head In Sour Sweetjuice brings to life a very dreamlike day in the life of Rémy Brick-head. Rémy, a henpecked husband with an unfortunate cranial protuberance, is blissfully watching television one afternoon when his rather large and shrewish wife, Patapouf, sends him to the store to pick up a gallon of her favorite beverage: Sour Sweetjuice. After a slight mishap involving a severed hand and a glass convenience-store cooler, Rémy finally finds a chance to assert himself. See what happens at LOCAL YOKELS.