--->BEHIND THE SCENES ~
director's vision, crew, soundtrack, screening history
Antero Alli & Joshua Bewig set up a shot with Joe Estlack & Alaska Yamada
photo by SYLVI ALLI.
Director's Vision
on the making of...
THE MUSES
My tenth feature underground movie, "FLAMINGOS", returns to my inexhaustible fascination with the overlays between daytime realities, the dreamtime, and their shared influences. As with my previous film, “To Dream of Falling Upwards” (2011), FLAMINGOS was also inspired by potent currents and seed ideas bubbling in the crucible of my paratheatre work with the Muse archetype, a process that informed the story's triptych zones of a seedy motel room, an attorney's office, and a metaphysical bardo.The actual physical locations (the sets) were chosen for their specifically restrictive limitations to convey the pressures I felt in my attempt at containing the anarchic, unpredictable dictates of the Muses.
Madeline H.D. Brown and Joe Estlack
THE ACTORS
Based on my initial character ideas of Ray and Zoe and pre-shoot discussions, all the Motel scenes and dialogues were then improvised by Madeline H.D. Brown and Joe Estlack -- while I shot them (handheld) on the fly. Though I wrote the dialogue for all the attorney's office scenes, I did not rehearse the actors; Madeline H.D. Brown andRobert Hamm met for the first time on set. The nonverbal Bardo scenes were all developed on site - at Hawk Hill @Marin Headlands - with Ilya Parizhsky, Joe Estlack,Alaska Yamada, and a dozen extras. I did not audition any actors for this movie but chose each one for my knowledge of their specific talents, skills, presence, and their openess to collaboration.
THE CREW
A crew of one, two, or three. The Motel scenes were crewed by myself alone (camera, microphone, motel lighting). The Attorney scenes were crewed by myself (camera, microphone, lighting) and Jeffrey Fisher as Script Supervisor. The Bardo scenes were crewed by myself (Canon XL-2), Joshua Bewig (in his glidecam harness & Canon35mm DSLR camera) and Sylvi Alli as Assistant Director. I shot all the Motel and Attorney scenes (and some of the Bardo scenes) with a Canon XL-2 dv-camera. I edited the final cut with Chris Odell, my online editor since the year 2000.
THE SUBTEXT
My fantasy with "FLAMINGOS" was to fashion an “outlaw romance noir” as a crescendo of swoon spiraling out of control in a world where mysterious, nonlocal entities act on the time-bound fates of doomed lovers and where these lovers impact those entities in return. In the end, it's all about love -- how we rush towards it, flee far away from it and how sometimes, when we stop rushing and fleeing, we find it within ourselves. And for those who cannot stop rushing or fleeing, love swoons and crashes through torrents of terrible longing. -- Antero Alli
WHAT THE PRESS SEZ ABOUT "FLAMINGOS"
Click this for Media Reviews and Stories about this movie
Extras in the Bardo wait as Antero and Joshua review the scene they just shot.
photo by SYLVI ALLI.
"SOULS IN PASSAGE" (The Bardo Extras):
JEFFREY FISHER, DEVIN TRIANTOS, BARBARA MARTIN, JOSH WILLS,
MORGAN REILLY, DR. WENDY CLUPPER MEIER, ZACHARY CULBERTSON,
DENNIS OWENS, ALLEGRA H. GIBSON, J. DUNCAN COOK,
MICHELLE CAREY, and LIAM PATRICK CAREY.
with
TINO RODRIGUEZ as the bank teller
and JEFFREY FISHER as the newscaster
The Feminine Entity (ALASKA YAMADA) guides "Ray" (JOE ESTLACK) in the Bardo
(in the water's reflection, Antero can be seen giving direction). Photo by SYLVI ALLI.
THE CREW
ANTERO ALLI, writer/director/cinematographer
VERTICAL POOL, executive producer
JENNIFER BRUCE, producer and production manager
CHRIS ODELL, online editor; ANTERO ALLI, offline editor
JOSHUA BEWIG, 2nd unit camera (the Bardo)
SYLVI ALLI, music composer, audio engineer, A.D. on Bardo set
DEAN MERMELL, post-producton tape capture
THE LAW OFFICES OF ELENA CONDES, Lester Beringer's office
J. DUNCAN COOK, properties (the loot)
LEIGH MERRITT, weapons consultant (the gun)
PETER L. BALOGH, legal terminology consultant (the legalese)
CHRIS RASMUSSEN, microphone/boom advice and use
JEFFREY FISHER, script supervisor (Attorney's Office)
SYLVI ALLI, script supervisor (Beatrice's home)
HANNAH BATES, audio/boom op (Beatrice's home)
MADELINE H.D. BROWN, hair and make-up (Beatrice and Zoe)
Assistants to MADELINE H.D. BROWN: Julia Lynton, El Beh,
Misti Boettiger and Daniel Barton
THE SOUNDTRACK (click above image to order CDs)
With songs and music by SYLVI ALLI, MICHELLE BELLEROSE,
SANAA TAHA, ARTEMESIA-BLACK, SHAKE-WELL and MATT BALDWIN.
Also featuring Sylvi Alli's performance of classic songs from the forties and
fifties: "Fever", "Fly Me to the Moon", "I Put a Spell on You", "You Go to My Head"
"I Put Spell on You" sung by Sylvi Alli
(from FLAMINGOS' soundtrack)
THE MASCULINE ENTITY (Ilya Parizhsky) reading in the Bardo
SCREENING HISTORY
2012
Wednesday February 29th: The Humanist Hall, Oakland
Wednesday March 7th: The Lost Church, San Francisco
Friday March 16th Anno Domini Gallery, San Jose
Saturday April 28th Blazing Star Temple, Oakland
Thursday May 31st, Sekhet-Matt Temple, Portland OR
Friday June 1st, Northwest Film Forum, Seattle WA
Saturday June 2nd, Horizon Oasis Temple, Seattle WA
Wednesday September 19th: The Lost Church, San Francisco
2013
Tuesday June 11th: Clinton St. Theater, Portland OR
Friday October 18th: The Dream Institute,Berkeley CA
ABOUT THE FILMMAKER; CONTACTS
ANTERO ALLI
FLAMINGOS is Antero's tenth underground feature fiction movie (since 1993). Though none of his works have seen wide theatrical release , they continue garnering critical praise for their originality, insight, and depth of imagination. Alli personally screens his films in rare, limited runs on the west coast arthouse circuit. Antero is the founder/director of ParaTheatrical ReSearch (since 1977), a center for group paratheatre work and performance in Portland, Oregon, where he resides with his wife, the singer/composer Sylvi Alli. (click above photo for I.M.Db. profile)
CONTACTS
verticalsource@gmail.com
Click this for Alli's Filmography
Phoeni-cop-ter-us; the Latin name for 'flamingo'
The flamingo has been known as the inspiration for the mythical Phoenix bird,
the ancient symbol for transformation and rebirth. At the end of its life,
the Phoenix is consumed by fire and reborn from the ashes.