The 11th annual Annapolis Film Festival announced its award winners. Maryland Hall held the glamorous ceremony. Festival co-founders Lee Anderson and Patti White gave opening remarks. They spoke about the value of independent award shows and the importance of films. This film festival enticed diverse community members.
I was able to sit down and talk with Claudia Zevallos who has appeared in such films as ‘A Better Place’, ‘Day of Days’ and ‘Tyson’s Run’. She currently stars as Angelica in the new film ‘A Snowy Day in Oakland’.
The Knockturnal sat down and to have a chat with Heidi Arnesen, who happens to be the producer of the Oscar-nominated short LGBTQ+ film ‘Night Ride’.
A powerful and emotional historical drama that tells the true story of Jan Karski, a Polish resistance fighter during World War II, and his efforts to bring the atrocities of the war to the attention of the Western world. It is a powerful and impactful film that highlights the bravery and sacrifice of those who fought against tyranny during the war.
Wide shots of a rustic reservoir appear on the screen. Peaches dangle from the trees. The film cuts to medium shots of children playing in a car. One girl pretends to drive fast down the road. Off screen, a mysterious crane engine startles them. The children alert their aunt of the sighting. This incident drives Alcarras’s rich plot surrounding place, identity, and family.
For any film lover, buff or critic, we all know that 1939 was largely considered to be the greatest year for film releases. When we think of that year, most people usually think of The Wizard of Oz or Gone with the Wind. However, there is another film that proves to be a classic but doesn’t get the credit that it deserves. That film is Gunga Din. The film starred Cary Grant, Victor McLaglen and Douglas Fairbanks Jr. as three hapless soldiers of the British Indian Army.
A group of film industry members were invited to a special screening of All That Breathes at the Metrograph on New York’s Lower East Side. The screening was followed by a Q&A between the film’s director Shaunak Sen and film critic Jordan Hoffman, then a reception in the Metrograph’s stylish lobby bar.
The Knockturnal was able to sit down with actress Breeda Wool who is currently in the newest Disney+ series National Treasure: Edge of History.
The Knockturnal: Where did you grow up?
Breeda Wool: “I grew up in Champaign-Urbana Illinois. I was a child of two professors. One in science, one in art and I think I lived around Europe when I was a kid. I lived in Paris and Italy and I had dreams of going to NYC, smoking clove cigarettes and wearing a black beret turtleneck and being arty. I did a Psychology and theater degree in Wagner College and then I became a performance artist and a street performer and I did a lot of weird movement dance theater and at some point my manager was like ‘I’m going to L.A. You wanna come?’ and I said ‘Yeah,’ and so then I came out here and I’ve just been trying to figure out the roads, ever since. I did a film called AWOL and it went to Sundance and now I’m on Disney [National Treasure: Edge of History]….with Catherine Zeta-Jones.”
Credit: Courtesy of Disney
The Knockturnal: So what was that like? Do you play her [Jones] right-hand woman or second-in command?
Breeda Wool: “I’m second-in command, right-hand woman, bad guy #2. It’s magical. We shot it in Baton Rouge. Growing up, I always thought of her [Jones] as being this person who had great, wide, populous appeal but also tremendously deep and resonant art, which those two things combined is a very amazing thing to achieve, as any performing artist and she lived up to all the hype.”
The Knockturnal: Can you tell me more about the character you play in the show?
Breeda Wool: “Well, I’m Casey in the series and I am a part of the Billie family who is played by Catherine Zeta-Jones, and we are pursuing, viciously, a thing called the Pan-American Treasure. Mayan, Incan and Aztec women would protect all the gold in Mexico from Cortez and from the invading Conquistadors. As the story goes, in National Treasure: Edge of History, there’s this incredible Pan-American treasure, So, there’s a group of young, in-college, out of high school people who are, basically, going against a giant, private jet plane, secret society organization that I am a part of, but in this story I am also her [Billie’s] family. We are dedicated to a cause.”
Credit: Courtesy of Disney
The Knockturnal: ‘Mr. Mercedes’, as I heard from your interview with KTLA 5, is about a killer who controls people with his mind. You played Lou Linklatter.
Breeda Wool: “Yeah that story is based on a Steven King book trilogy called Mr. Mercedes of the same name and Steven King came and did a cameo in the first season and that series is brilliant. It was a magical mystery tour and that finished in 2019 and then a wild global pandemic happened and then I had a baby.”
The Knockturnal: This past year you starred in the films ‘The Collection’, ‘Ultrasound’ and ‘Mass’ and won the Robert Altman award at the Indie Spirit Awards. Tell me about your time on those films.
Breeda Wool: “Mass is an incredible portrait of these four parents. One parent’s child was a victim of a mass shooting and the other parent was the shooter and they meet in a church basement to have a discussion. That premiered in 2020 at Sundance. My role in that film is I am the woman that works at the church who is sort of setting the stage and I think one thing that I explored in that film was the absolute awkwardness of regular people trying to hold space for deeply tragic events. How do people who aren’t involved in these extreme moments of tragedy able to create space for the people who are attempting repair. Fran Krantz who directed and wrote that film was inspired by the reparative justice system in South Africa and he was just so shocked and alarmed how people, after such an intense act of violence, move forward in the aftermath. That film, I think, is one of the greatest films I’ve ever seen or been a part of.”
The Knockturnal: What about ‘The Collection’ and ‘Ultrasound’?
Breeda Wool: “We shot it [Ultrasound] two years ago and it came out last year. The Collection hasn’t come out yet, but I also made a film called Seven Faces of Jane and that’s coming out next month.”
The Knockturnal: Where do you see yourself in 5-10 years?
Breeda Wool: I’ve co written and produced a film but I really would like to make more of my own shit. I feel like I might do a lot more action.
As a young filmmaker that just recently graduated from Howard University, has made a number of short films, interviewed celebrities like Akon and has been working in the business of multimedia for a number of différent outlets like The Daily Caller and one America News, it can be hard, exhausting and draining for me to keep track of what I want from a shot, scene, actor, or screenplay when I am developing a story.
So, how do I figure out what tickles my fancy in the film department? It’s usually something dark, ethereal and fantastical. I am the type of director that likes macabre-like films with a soft center and movies that are, likewise, visually stimulating. Basically, if Tim Burton and Robert Zemeckis had a baby, that would be me.
Anyway, I have gotten off track. When I was a kid I grew up watching a lot of horror films and dark cinema. When I went to grad school at Howard University, I began to study films that were in the era of German Expressionism. They have included F.W. Murnau’s Nosferatu and Fritz Lang’s Metropolis.
I noticed that the films had a certain unique quality about them. For starters, they make for some incredible vintage viewing and they are a great teacher for how films were made back in the day. These films dazzled and terrified me at the same time. It was like being a little kid again and watching all my favorite monster movies like I did when I was growing up.
German Expressionism has cast such a long shadow that it seems impossible to imagine what life would be without it. I remember getting older and being more interested in gory, dark films like Sweeney Todd. I took that stylistically darker approach to filmmaking and made darker films in college and grad school and I never noticed that I was making some really haunting films.
I definitely see myself making darker films in the future and I have always been interested and inspired by the genre and I’m always going to look back on the films of the genre and think about the magic that it captured in its prime.
About four years ago, legendary director Robert Zemeckis released a new film entitled Welcome to Marwen and looking back on it now, it seems like the precursor to the Pinocchio remake.
The film follows the life of aspiring artist Mark Hogancamp after he is savagely beaten nearly to death by five white supremacists outside of a bar. As a way to cope with the trauma, Mark uses doll figures and builds a miniature town to vent his rage and frustration at his attackers. Mark uses the dolls to illustrate all of the people that are relevant in his life and creates his fantasy to escape the reality that he has been accustomed to.
First of all, when this movie came out, a lot of people thought of this film as a weird science experiment that was conjured up by Robert Zemeckis and, don’t get me wrong, it is at times. However, it remains as something of a next level up for the director, in terms of technological advancements.
Zemckis has always been a fanatic of performance-capture since the olden days of The Polar Express and that feeling has not waned at all. The visuals remain as magical as the story that inspired it.
Speaking of the story, the film is based on a true story where Mark Hogancamp was at a bar and began to talk with a few strangers at said bar. However, things took a turn for the worse when he mentioned to the men that he was a crossdresser. As a result, the men beat him within an inch of his life and he was in a coma for nine days.
After waking up from his coma, he was forced to relearn everything that he had known, which included eating, writing and even readjust to his own life.
This film works as a modest homage to Hogancamp’s struggles and illustrates those struggles with his CGI dolls coming to life. Zemeckis has had a propensity to use visual thrills to create a magical film. This Steve Carell movie is no exception. The film is an assessment into a tortured man’s mind and how he copes with hsi trauma and whether it comes off as corny or strange is all a matter of perspective. Art is always subjective and that’s all that matters.