Yesterday, we introduced you to the world of “Bellflower“, an acclaimed independent film that will soon air on Astro B.yond’s Sundance Channel HD (Channel 436). It’s a film that has since gone on to win multiple awards and garner high praises from film critics and other filmmakers.
The fact that it was shot on a self-assembled camera (which has come to be known as the Coatwolf Model II Ultra Large Format) gave Bellflower its extraordinarily artistic edge and feel, winning the film a nomination for “Best Cinematography” in the 2012 Independent Spirit Award.
We (conveniently) forgot to mention that the film was also written and directed by Evan Glodell, who also has a role in Bellflower (as Woodrow). And since the debut of his work, he has been named a “one-of-a-kind filmmakers, a natural driven by wild energy like Tarantino“.
So, thanks to the wonderful people of Sundance Channel, we had the opportunity to dig deep into the inner workings of Evan’s mind, who sacrificed almost everything personally to complete the project – including selling off all his personal belongings and living in an abandoned wing of an office building to fund the movie. Are you impressed?
You ain’t seen nothing yet:
Bellflower is based on a lot of personal experiences. Do people in small American suburbs really spent their time waiting for the world to end?
“Oh! I mean I’m sure some people do, but I don’t think that’s very common. Playing with fire and building the car — that stuff is what me and my friends used to do when we were just messing around. But the stuff that’s more based on reality in the movie come from a break up I went through when I was a lot younger.”
Is it true you made the film with just $17,000?
“That is very true. That is even maybe a bit misleading because it makes it sound like at some point we actually had $17,000. But actually we never had it. We never had any money. Basically everyone who was working on the film, put in like little bit at a time — whatever they had. Like, “Oh, I have a couple of hundred dollars to help get gas and food to shoot this week.” And that went on for almost three years — until the movie was done. So $17,000 is an estimate, but it is pretty close to what everybody spent the whole time we were shooting.”
Have you been to Asia before?
“I would like to! The only place I’ve been is Japan. I was in Tokyo about two months ago to promote theatrical release, which just started over there. I was there for three days and they had me doing press the whole time. It was exciting to go there, but it happened in a flash and I was at home.”
How do you think your film will relate to Asian and Malaysian audiences?
“I am from (the United States) and I’ve been here most my life. Hopefully a lot of the ideas are universal and everybody goes through relationships and goes through having their heart broken and deals with that. All the stuff that happens in the movie, I imagine it happens everywhere. So hopefully that part will come through.”
We heard at some point Medusa was your regular ride. Where is she now?
“I have it! It’s my only car. I don’t drive it every day because it cost a lot of money in gas. But I still have it and it is running and we take it out sometimes.”
What are your favorite films? Are you watching any films right now?
“I’m really bad at this! Every time someone asks me this question I always draw a blank. I watch a lot of movies but I can never think of a crazy list. I don’t know. When I was younger I didn’t even realize there were independent films, so I grew up watching whatever the biggest movies were playing out here. In the last couple of years I have been devouring as much independent films as I can because I realized there were all these really good movies that you don’t hear about necessarily, but you’re looking for.”
We can’t help but giggle at his last answer. How is it that such talent can’t tell us what his favourite films are? His head must’ve been filled with too much film-making awesome for anything else. And “Bellflower” is the perfect, classic example of such Evan Glodell awesome!
Catch the acclaimed independent film when it premieres on 15th August 2012 (Wednesday) on Sundance Channel HD (Astro B.yond Channel 436) at 11pm.
For more information, visit their official website.
