American Movie

Director Chris Smith made this documentary about independent filmmaking which had its world premiere at the 1999 Sundance Film Festival, where it won the Grand Jury Prize. American Movie centers on a low-budget horror-film buff named Mark Borchardt, who grew up on such horror classics as The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Night of the Living Dead. Now in his late twenties, he has decided to make the ultimate horror opus in the form of an indie feature entitled Northwestern, the scariest film ever made in his Wisconsin town. Filled with determination and passion (and very little else), this documentary follows Mark for a year and a half in the making of Northwestern. The audience sees Mark fending off creditors, including the IRS, and avoiding child support payments so he can make this direct-to-video flick. His efforts to round up cast and crew are disastrous, as there is nobody in his town who shares his knowledge and passion for moviemaking. Eventually he decides to star in his film and wears a dozen crew members’ hats as writer, producer, director, cameraman, editor, and soundman. American Movie follows this man with a dream to his dying uncle’s trailer park, where he raises three thousand dollars. Unable to make an entire feature for that price, he scraps the idea in exchange for completing one of his many abandoned short films, Coven, which also premiered at the 1999 Sundance Film Festival. The end is a world premiere as satisfying as getting accepted into Sundance., Documentary about an independent film-maker whose passion for movie-making and dogged determination overcomes lack of funds, lack of actors and lack of crew. This bizarre but fascinating chronicle details the trials and tribulations of one man’s dedication to the horror genre and sees him roping in family, friends and other eccentrics in a small American town to realise his dream of making a short film., Simultaneously hilarious and sad, director Chris Smith’s documentary follows an enthusiastic Wisconsin filmmaker named Mark Borchardt as he tries to complete his first film, “Coven.” Also encountered are Borchardt’s family and friends—who range from supportive to disgusted. Mike Schank, Bill Borchardt, Monica Borchardt., Chris Smith’s moving and exceedingly funny documentary tracks the latest cinematic project from amateur film-maker Mark Borchardt. Ideally, Mark would be crafting his masterpiece, Northwestern, a feature based on his own life growing up in Wisconsin. But, as he has no money to sink into his prime ambition, he makes do with plan B: persuading his aging and fragile (but wealthy) uncle Bill to fund a 30-minute black and white horror called Coven, the profits from which will be poured into Northwestern. Smith follows Mark as he ropes those around him into this latest project. But he also widens his focus to probe the troubled lives of the seemingly irrepressible and hyperactive Mark and his near-constant side-kick, the stoner musician Mike Schank. There are also telling contributions from the family and friends who have, for many years, been co-opted as actors and production crew for the numerous shorts the thirty-something has shot since he was 14 years old., Trying to get his masterpiece, Northwestern, off the ground, but failing miserably due to lack of funding and support, struggling Midwestern filmmaker Mark Borchardt instead turns his attention to Coven, an abandoned 37-minute horror film that he began filming in 1990. His hopes are to sell enough copies of the video to enable him to clear his current debts and begin moving forward with his real baby, Northwestern.