Professional Motion Picture Production and Distribution NEWS

Ann Arbor Film Festival Presents "Tarnation"

By
posted Mar 17, 2004, 04:43

February 19th, 2004
The Ann Arbor Film Festival is pleased to be presenting the acclaimed new film TARNATION on Saturday March 20th 2004. Directed by Jonathan Caouette, the film will screen at 8pm in the Michigan Theater screening room.

More than a refreshing change, TARNATION might be thought of as a cinema landmark. With a budget of $300, the film was made using 20 years worth of personal footage and assembled on the iMovie program of the director's computer. The result is "a feverish collage" of still photographs, diaries, phone messages, dramatic reenactments, and 80's pop-culture samples. TARNATION defies easy categorizing, neither narrative nor documentary, but the filmmaker's naked revelations take the audience on an unforgettable journey.

Caouette's mother is schizophrenic, and he grew up in foster care. The product of a rape, he navigated the dark tunnels of abuse, promiscuity, drug addiction, and incest. Later he developed depersonalization disorder, an ailment that causes a person to feel like he is passively observing his own life. His 88-minute film is a searing autobiography shot through with the dark humor and love that sustain him through his complex existence to this very day. After viewing the rough cut, directors Gus Van Sant ("Goodwill Hunting") and John Cameron Mitchell ("Hedwig and the Angry Inch") signed on as executive producers. Sundance festival programmer Shari Frilot declared that TARNATION "announces the arrival of a new filmmaking talent, and establishes Caouette as a cinematic visionary to reckon with."

The Ann Arbor Film Festival runs March 16-21 2004.

aafilmfest.org