Part 2: 1708 Gallery, 8 p.m., Admission $7 Firehouse Theatre, 3:30 p.
m., Admission $7 Firehouse Theatre, 8 p.m.
Admission $7The avant-garde filmmaker, who received a Rolling Stone Hall of Fame Award for his 60-minute video LP "We're All Devo" and who many have deemed the "Godfather of Music Video," will be one of this year's featured guests at the James River Film Festival, which kicked things off Monday and continues with events throughout the week at several different Richmond locales before calling it a wrap on Sunday, April 15.
"In a sense he invented a language, a way to tell a film music story," said Michael Jones, co-founder of the Richmond Moving Image Co-op, which puts on the festival yearly. Statler has been the focus of several retrospectives across the county, and will participate in a two-parter this Saturday.
The pioneer director was among the last to use film to record music video, before cheaper, lower-quality videotape essentially wiped the practice out.
"That kind of imagery, and what [Devo and I] shared and thought was cool at the time and what had the most impact – that preceded the videos," said Statler, who focuses his energies these days on TV commercials as well as on documentaries and the occasional music video.
Now observing its 14th year, Richmond's film festival for those who consider themselves "independent-minded" has always managed to attract many talented directors, producers and others, whose names might not be thrown around as freely as Spielberg and Scorsese, but have usually had a prominent impact on both indie and mainstream media.
"He projects the originals [at screenings]. To see his films you kind of have to ask him to come, and finally we did.
He's made hundreds of films shown all around the world," Jones said.
Music in film is decidedly playing a large role in this year's festival. Besides the Statler retrospective that will give audience members a Q A session with the director, documentary filmmaker Jeff Krulik will also be in attendance at the Byrd Theatre on Saturday to present his newest creation, "The Legend of Merv Conn" – a light-hearted and genuine look at a "strolling, singing accordionist" from Washington, D.
C.
If Krulik's name doesn't immediately ring a bell, perhaps the title of his breakthrough (and arguably most famous) work does – the 15-minute "Heavy Metal Parking Lot," a 1986 look at a group of metal heads tailgating outside a concert arena while waiting for a Judas Priest concert.
Recently released on special edition DVD for its 20th anniversary, it's a documentary that's at once hilarious, fascinating and a bit unsettling – cult film director John Waters himself said he once got "the creeps" while watching it.
It's no fluke that both Krulik and Statler will be participating in this year's event. While attending high school in D.
C., Krulik saw a collection of Statler's films, and soon after he developed a relationship with Statler. They are still good friends to this day.
"He's a real filmmaking hero and inspiration to me…For several years, Chuck was the go-to guy (for music videos) – I think he was overlooked in the history books," Krulik, 46, said.
Statler said that if it weren't for Krulik, he would have never have decided to dust off his older videos and participate in film festivals. "[Krulik] really deserves all the credit – I'm just an innocent bystander in this whole process.
I applaud him, he's championed my work for over a decade now," Statler said.
Also helping flesh out the weekend portion of the festival are independent films that have gotten critical acclaim, but were perhaps not given the type of wide-release deserved. Such is the case with the 1977 film "Killer of Sheep," which Jones said is finally getting the audience size it should have from the get-go.
"It's a real classic. It's just a really beautiful, neorealist film," Jones said, adding that since music copyright issues prevented the film's wide release in the '70s, this year marks the first time it's being shown around the nation.
"It's just one of the best movies about the black experience; I think it's a real landmark of independent cinema," Jones said.
Several local filmmakers will also be premiering works throughout the week, all of which Jones says will pack a cinematic punch and be worth checking out.
"A lot of major critics have given ["Killer of Sheep"] five stars," Jones said. "I urge people to see this film.
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