Annual Philum Festival

The author with his Nikon R10 super 8 movie camera.
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It has already been reported at some earlier stage in this ongoing blogorama, about my brief but prolific career in the mid-70s as a writer/director of low budget, cornball homemade super 8 movies - and how I would enlist the acting services of friends and neighbors (at zero cost to me of course) in the completion of one hairbrained mini-epic after another.










But I think it's important to also mention how I was not completely alone in this hobby of creating nonsense for the screen. Much like the rival cross town studios of 1930s Hollywood, my friend Don (pictured above) would also put on a director's hat now & then (hat missing in these photos) to produce some cornball movies all his own.

In fact, there was a real concern at one time that the two of us would be facing a serious shortage of actors/actresses now that there were TWO competing studios picking from the same limited resource.

What was eventually spawned from all this homemade movie making madness was the first (and only) Annual Philum Festival - a chance to salute each other's cinematic efforts and present awards of recognition to the performers; sorta like our very own, invitation only Oscar© night.

Artsy posters and programs were drawn up, listing the evening's film showings (I think there were 9 in all) and Don's sister Brenda designed promotional t-shirts in an attempt (no doubt) to sway the judges into selecting her brother's madcap murder mystery: 'Why Did They Do What They Did' as the best super 8 movie of the year. This title was a phrase Don later told me he'd seen in newspaper ads being used to plug a real movie downtown; a phrase he then just HAD to use as the title for one of his own movies. And we're glad he DID - because it's given us plenty of laughs over the years. (Referred to nowadays in it's simpler form: WDTDWTD.)

Here's Bill, manning the tiny snack bar (located by the back door) during the intermission portion of the gala event. The poster behind him, while listing a wide range of edible options, also points out that Bill himself would be making an appearance in one of the evening's films - a bizarre existential romp called 'Billy's Epic Journey'... which is probably better remembered today as Billy's Epic Waste Of Time.

Sadly, Don and I were unable to continue our healthy rivalry as the top super 8 film studios in town any further than this. Within a year of the Philum Festival, Don would accept a teaching position in Australia (where he remains to this day) and the old pool of grubby actors we'd both been dipping into for our goofy films would also shuffle off to more important affairs and more important hobbies; like moving, marriage, and making a living. In fact, it turned out that I wouldn't make contact again with a couple of these 'actor types' for more than 30 years!

Above: a scene from the classic tale: "Farm News" starring Big Dan. Below: a scene from the classic (they're ALL classics) drama: "I Love To Walk" starring Hanklin Snowden. Is there ANYone who wasn't a fan of Hanklin's films during the mid-70s? He was the closest we would ever get to having our own Jimmy Stewart or Randolf Scott.

So I guess we all look back now a bit wistfully on those fuzzy old memories of making blockbuster super 8 movies around the neighborhood. Heck, we're looking back wistfully on everything from the past - such is the habit of elderly people when they get to 'that certain age'. But while the labourious task of making all these flickering images didn't seem to last very long in hindsight (it was only 1974-1976), the actual films themselves, with their bad fashion statements, crazy long sideburns, and historic value, just keep on going and going as if they were all up on the same level as 'Citizen Kane' or something.

Above: an outake from the closing chase scene of "Esther; Teenage Runaway". Trivia note: the second of these four thugs would eventually grow up and marry the lead actress, Esther. (I feel personally responsible for initiating that union!)

Why not click on the link below to watch a short but dull scene from this exciting 1975 motion picture production. You'll be glad you did.

SHORT SCENE