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Jonathan Rich, Asheville’s “karaoke superstar,” showed up dressed as a ninja, Colin handed me an Action Fest sign, and we marched. Everyone had a sign, with each sign having taken pieces of the poster designed by Canadian artist Kagan McLeod, acclaimed for his martial arts graphic novel Infinite Kung-Fu (his brother also animated the trailer for the festival).
Tiffany Narron (dog), Colin Geddes and Ian Caldwell (gorilla) are all dressed up with somewhere to go. Action Fest opens tonight for a 4-day run in Asheville, N.C.
Jonathan Rich (ninja) and Ian Caldwell create a ruckus in Asheville while promoting Action Fest.
Colin Geddes (with sign) and Tiffany Narron spent time demonstrating their passion for the action film festival this weekend.
The square in downtown Asheville is a meeting place for all walks of life.
We marched to Haywood and Patton, a square occupied by a smorgasbord of bohemian types and curious Easter tourists. Cars honked and people cheered; it’s obvious that Action Fest, although only two years old, is well beloved by Asheville’s occupants. People ask, “What are you protesting?” and Leah responded, “We’re protesting peace.” At the square, those in costume quickly fanned out, passing out flyers and joining a spontaneous game of hacky sack. Rich told me, “never give flyers to kids, always to the parents.” Two fans, Debbie and Andy, volunteer on the spot to pass out flyers, saying their son worked for Action Fest last year and loved it.
Geddes and I sat on a rock and hashed out the current state of Hollywood. “There needs to be a return to more practical FX,” Geddes said, lamenting the oversaturation of computer-generated imagery in movies today. “And hold the camera still. Let the actors and stuntmen work. Stop cutting away and shaking the camera!” Geddes said. He was on the jury for Action Fest its first year and took over as Festival Director last year. Geddes emphasized how Mickey Gilbert has been advocating for the Academy Awards to recognize stunt people, who weren’t even in film credits until about 1970, for years. “They give awards to computers before people,” Geddes said.
Action Fest’s answer to this is the “30 Seconds of Action Film Challenge”, in which local filmmakers put together a thrilling action scene, which can be anything, with jurors focusing on choreography and staging. The details of the grand prize are still mysterious, but finalists get two free VIP badges for the festival. In terms of game changers, Geddes also emphasized Manborg, a tribute to ‘80s sci-fi epics produced for $2,000 by Canadian filmmaker Steven Kostanski. Geddes showed me the preview and the movie looks like a Japanese Anime come to life, but surprisingly all the special FX were done with a combination of miniatures, stop-motion animation, and computer manipulation. It looks like a lot of fun because it has something big, soulless blockbusters lack: energy and ambition.
Along with movies, Rocket Man, rocket belt pilot Dan Schlund, will fly across Pack Square at 7:45 tonight, as well as over the Carolina Cinemas on Saturday during the stunt show at 2 p.m., a live stunt show featuring some of the top stuntmen in the movie business. T-shirts featuring the Action Fest logo and poster are available, including a run of 150 shirts available online from local T-shirt shop MIA (Made in Asheville), who hopes to have Action Fest shirts in the shop all year. Action Fest’s schedule is available online athttp://actionfest.com/2012-schedule/, and tickets can be purchased athttp://www.movietickets.com/house_detail.asp?house_id=1824&rdate=4%2F13%2F2012&sortid=1.
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