2016 was a year of big changes for us!
The biggest being that we left our many-year home Boston for Los Angeles. You can read about why we chose to move here.
We headed out in the Summer and went on a cross-country adventure. We took what we could fit in our van, visited family, Gen Con, and saw the Southwest for the first time!
We have also maybe stalked Jeff Goldblum a little since coming here!
Besides getting photos with JG, here’s what we worked on all year…
Films
Blood of the Tribades
Blood of the Tribades had a great year.
We screened at many awesome festivals, won a bunch of awards, got a number of great reviews that really understood what we were trying to do with the film, and we even just got released on VOD.
The film will also be released on Blu-Ray and other physical media soon!
The release hasn’t been without hiccups. We got banned in Japan and placed under an archaic “mature” label on Amazon for insisting that male-nudity should be treated the same as female nudity. Amazon disagrees.
We also had the honor of having our special exclusive grindhouse extended trailer for the film included on the anthology, Grindsploitation 2.
We recorded a bunch of lipsyncs for Kickstarter backers!
Some of our festival visits…
Magnetic
Magnetic was released on VOD and DVD this year! Here’s how to watch!
Here’s a great review from The Outre Eye of Daniel VIII, “…MAGNETIC is what low budget genre film making should be; unique, challenging, and over flowing with big ideas, money limitations be damned. For the same cost as your now bog-standard 80’s slasher throwback, these folks have created an entire world unto its own, populated by bizarre characters, a near fetishistic infatuation with outdated technology, and rad concepts the likes of which you have never seen before…”
More reviews…
Magnetic
After failing in NYC, Alice grabs her mixtapes and returns to her desolate hometown. Alice must piece together her memories, her dreams, and the space-time continuum itself to find out why she is so essential to the preservation of all life on Earth.
Short Films
Weekend Vampire (Watch – IMDb)
This was a short created by Sophia with Allix Mortis, star of Magnetic, for the Women in Film / Flicks4Chicks contest. It won two awards at the fest: Best Comedy (as chosen and presented by the Women in Comedy Festival) and Best Costumes! You can watch Weekend Vampire free for subscribers (or with ads otherwise) on Amazon Prime!
Thirteen (Watch – IMDb)
Thirteen is also available for free on Amazon Prime! Thirteen was commissioned by the Boston Museum of Fine Arts for a show about Friday the 13th. The film was written and directed by Sophia and starred Sophia and her mother. It explored dreams and the push and pull of dream forces trying to possess the dreamer’s mind. It is very gothic and has a lot of skeleton keys.
El Loco Nihilismo
The Michael J. Epstein Memorial Library participated for our fifth (and presumably final time) in the Boston 48-Hr Film Project. This year we took on the meaning of life itself!
El Loco Nihilismo (Boston 48 Hour Film Project 2016)
El Loco Nihilismo: a film for the 48 Hour Film Project 2016 Boston by The Michael J. Epstein Memorial Library | Sophia Cacciola & Michael J. Epstein
Playlist of all of our 48 Hour Films: Playlist of all of the 48hfp Boston 2016 films (will add more as we find them): Various Original Scores by Catherine C …
Anthology Shorts
We shot a number of films for anthologies, including: 60 Seconds to Die, 60 Seconds 2 Die, 2 Die For, and Conspiracy X.
60 Seconds to Die! – Watch in HORROR, the Final Seconds of your LIFE!
60 Seconds to Die! – Tick Tock Goes the Clock! – Watch in HORROR, the Final Seconds of your LIFE! – WATCH
The Existential Dread and Friendship of Phantasm
Thanks to our friends at Without Your Head Horror, we got to go on the press day for Phantasm RaVager, and we got to interview Phantasm (one of our all-time favorite movies/franchises) cast and crew to discuss what the film series means and how it has evolved over the years.
Work on Other People’s Films
Sophia and Michael had the pleasure of interviewing John Sox (of The F.U.’s and Straw Dogs) last year for The Return of the Living Dead collector’s edition Blu-ray bonus featurette Party Time! The Music of Return of the Living Dead.
The Straw Dogs song “Young, Fast Iranians” appears in the film as the radio track at the introduction of the gang of punks, a pretty iconic moment in the film.
Michael had the pleasure of appearing in Friday Night Films’ Idiom Origins Volume One!
IDIOMS ORIGINS VOLUME ONE
According to the legend each and ever idiom came to be after happening in real life. These stories have never been told… Until now.
Princess Rap Battle – we got to be PAs on the set of the Anna vs. Rapunzel PRB starring Eliza Dushku!
RAPUNZEL vs ANNA: Princess Rap Battle (Eliza Dushku James Maslow Tom Lenk Whitney Avalon) *explicit*
✨ Secret stuff here: https://whitneyavalon.com/secrets ▶ Behind the scenes: https://youtu.be/81CJ5SkOZvw ▶ Anna bonus song: https://youtu.be/F5aGkiTrWkk ▶ Princess Rap Battle shirts: https://shop.spreadshirt.com/whitneyavalon/ ▶ Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/album/0S4CsGp0lO2fublsO868ZI ▶ Apple Music: https://music.apple.com/bs/album/rapunzel-flynn-vs-anna-kristoff-princess-rap-battle-single/1183690911 ▶ Karaoke: https://youtu.be/e-XfMK7X1lU Rapunzel & Flynn (Eliza Dushku & Tom Lenk) return to Arendelle to take on Anna & Kristoff (Whitney Avalon & James Maslow) in a no-holds-barred rap battle.
Witchworks Films asked us to run for Overlords of Earth!
“Consent” [Sophia Cacciola and Michael J Epstein for Joint Overlord of Planet Earth] – Official
Manufacturing consent for an illusion of global democracy! With props to Noam Chomsky.
We shot a little tiny bit of b-roll for Traceroute
Traceroute (Trailer)
Theatrical trailer for “Traceroute” (2016), voiced by Jeff Ricketts. Artist and life-long nerd Johannes Grenzfurthner is taking us on a personal road trip from the West Coast to the East Coast of the USA, to introduce us to places and people that shaped and inspired his art and politics.
Sophia had some fun taking on camera work as a main interest and has already worked on a few features since moving to LA!
First, she went off to the mountain town of Idyllwild, CA for two weeks to be a camera operator on a haunted house/satanic possession film called, Wiles.
She also went off to Roswell, NM for three weeks to be assistant camera on an alien film called, Astro!
Photo: Sophia with stuntman, Dave Reaves on the set of Astro. Photo by Felix Sauermann
Sophia‘s voice also can be heard as part of In the Dark!
In The Dark
Three coeds take on a masked killer in this humorous short film. Animated, NSFW. More information at http://www.timmorgan.us/dark
Michael also worked on a 15-s horror short.
The Women of Rock Oral History Project for the Smith College Archives
Filming has continued for the Women of Rock Oral History Project that Sophia has been helping out with Tanya Pearson.
This year, we interviewed Gail Ann Dorsey (David Bowie, Lenny Kravitz), Patty Schemel (Hole), Allison Wolfe (Bratmobile), Phranc, Alice de Buhr (Fanny), Kira Roessler (Black Flag), Kat Arthur (Legal Weapon), Mish Barber-Way (White Flag), Michelle Gonzales (Spitboy). Sophia also cut together teasers from some of our previous interviews, Lydia Lunch, Alice Bag, JD Samson.
Music
Do Not Forsake Me Oh My Darling
DNFMOMD released three new songs this year – two more in our project to write songs for each episode of The Prisoner and a cover of “Working for the Weekend.”
This music went much more into the electro territory than our previous work.
Vanyaland wrote, “And as a parting gift, they’ve delivered maybe the best bit of music in either’s career here. The three-song In The Village EP is a departure from the pound-n-ground doom rock Do Not Forsake Me are known for; and instead opts for a darker, more hypnotic and mechanical brand of minimalized electronic-pop that’s seductive, smoky and full of loud empty spaces. There’s also a grinding cover of Loverboy’s ’80s hit “Working For The Weekend,” a grim, menacing rendition that borders on the industrial and feels like a Gary Numan and Nivek Ogre hybrid delivering downtempo brilliance in the verses. It’s also missing its famed chorus, and that’s by design.”
We also played a bittersweet final Boston show at the Middle East Downstairs. Coming up in 2017 we’ve been invited to be guests at PrisonerCon in Seattle in September- it’s a whole weekend celebrating the 50th Anniversary of The Prisoner! We’ll play multiple shows and be on hand all weekend.
Spider Cult the Musical
Sophia (on bass) joined Catherine Capozzi and Tamora Gooding in a temporary grindhouse garageband for the apocalyptic burlesque musical the Spider Cult! Here’s the soundtrack!
The Michael J. Epstein Memorial Library
MJEML were part of the final year of The Encyclopedia Show Somerville (here’s a write-up of the show), someday we’ll finish and release all of the crazy songs we wrote for that show!
Amylee appeared in the background of Player Style Files on CBS!
Player Style Files: Bronson Arroyo
Watch as Arizona Diamondbacks Pitcher, Bronson Arroyo talks about his hardcore training for the major leagues at a very early age. For more Player Style Files, go to http://sports.cbslocal.com/show/player-style-files/ SUBSCRIBE HERE: http://www.youtube.com/CBSLocalSports LIKE ON FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/CBSLocalSports FOLLOW ON TWITTER: https://twitter.com/CBSLocalSports CBS Local Sports features Local sports news from editors “On The Ground” at stations in major markets across the country!
Back in 2011, the Library was part of a documentary made by Berklee Pulse that followed several bands through the process of making a song, from nothing to jamming to the studio to playing it live! It’s a super interesting inside peek into the process, and it was finally just released!
BANDED: A Collaborative Songwriting Documentary
A Berklee PULSE Production How do musicians come together to create? BANDED is an experimental music documentary that chronicles the creative processes of five Boston bands as they take the spark of an idea and turn it into a reality. To capture the process, cameras followed the musicians as they wrote, reworked, recorded, and performed an original song.
Writing
Michael adapted the opening of a screenplay for the short story, “The Unnaturals,” published in the Dystopian Express anthology!
Michael wrote a book on crowdfunding for the In 30 Minutes series!
Crowdfunding book – Crowdfunding Basics In 30 Minutes
Crowdfunding sites such as Kickstarter, Indiegogo, and GoFundMe can not only help you raise money to fund your idea or cause, they can also help you establish a community of enthusiastic supporters. This crowdfunding book will show you how. Preorder it now for delivery on March 13!
Michael started the Filmmaking Fool to help people get started with filmmaking…
https://filmmakingfool.com/
Michael co-authors journal article on “hidden hearing loss”
PLOS ONE published the findings (full text available, open access) Additional Press: Wall Street Journal, Scientific American, ABC Action News, ASHA, Medical Daily, Science Daily, Neuroscience News, Pubniche, EurekAlert, Agein, Psypost, Ooyuz, Audiology World News, The Herald (UK), Express (UK), Hearing Like Me, The Doctor Will See You Now, Third
Podcasts / Interviews
Department of Tangents Podcast Ep5 – Filmmakers and Musicians Michael J Epstein and Sophia Cacciola
My guests for Episode 5 are filmmakers and musicians Michael J Epstein and Sophia Cacciola, who have been working at the hellish pace of writing, producing, and directing one horror film a year for…
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