Populated with devils, witches, monsters and freaks, this year’s James River Film Festival is awash in horror.
“The theme was accidental, as with all of our festivals” laughs Michael Jones, the co-founder of Richmond’s longest-running cinematic confab, which celebrates its 31st annual run on area screens March 19-23. “It’s not like we said, ‘Let’s do horror.’ It’s always about who’s available, or what can fall into place. We do try to bring something for everyone,” Jones says.
Curated by Jones and a small staff of dedicated volunteers at the James River Film Society, the JRFF schedule boasts another smartly assembled array of classic films, hard-to-find cult obscurities, avant-garde works and independent documentaries—this year with a strong emphasis on the macabre.
At the center of the schedule is a special Saturday, March 22 Byrd Theatre showing of the controversial 1932 film, “Freaks,” with a live score by guitarist Gary Lucas, known for his work with Captain Beefheart and Jeff Buckley. “This is the world premiere of the score,” says Lucas, calling from his home in New York. “Every [soundtrack] I’ve done for solo guitar is 50% composed and 50% improvised … In a way, it’s a reactive score that I’ll never play the same way twice.”
Lucas has appeared at the James River Film Festival a half dozen times in the past, providing live music alongside everything from vintage Betty Boop cartoons to the Spanish version of “Dracula” to the lost Orson Welles film, “Too Much Johnson.” It’s a passion project to accompany “Freaks,” a notorious pre-code Hollywood film featuring real circus sideshow attractions appearing as themselves. “I saw the film as a boy and it’s one of my favorites,” he says. “The code of the freaks in the film got to me and scared me … you offend one and you offend them all.”
It’s the kind of movie that could never be made today, he offers (and if it was, the ‘freaks’ in the film would no doubt be CGI rendered). “But it’s not exploitative,” says Lucas. “In a way, the sideshow artists are like innocent children and are treated quite reverently.” Still, he says. “Freaks” is a movie—at a lean 65 minutes—you aren’t likely to forget. “It’s horrifying. Tod Browning, who also did ‘Dracula,’ is one of my favorite directors and, in this one, he pulled out all the stops.”
Speaking of garish thrills, there will also be a reprise of “Bava Fest,” last year’s double feature of Italian horror films directed by low-budget horror maven Mario Bava (Saturday, March 22 at the Byrd Theatre). “‘Hercules in the Haunted World,’ with Christopher Lee, is a so-called ‘sword and sandal film, immersed in intense pre-psychedelic Technicolor,” says Jones. “And ‘Lisa and the Devil’ stars Elke Sommer and Telly Savalas, with Savalas as the devil. It’s a Satanic nightmare with a cooly horrific ending.” Bava biographer Tim Lucas, who suggested the double feature, will appear in a taped segment discussing the two films. Of “Lisa and the Devil,” he writes that “It works as a contemplation on death, destiny, art and beauty, while also serving up any number of stunning shots and sequences.”
Of course, no macabre-focused Richmond festival would be complete without some Edgar Allan Poe. Jean Epstein’s surrealist take on the author’s “The Fall of the House of Usher,” from 1928, will be screened, for free, at the Richmond Main Public Library on Friday, March 21. And Jones is particularly excited by the scheduling of “The Love Witch,” a 2016 fantasy-horror-comedy about a stylish and deadly conjurer, directed by Anna Biller, who also wrote, edited, produced, designed sets and props, composed music and crafted handmade costumes for the colorful movie (Thursday, March 20 at Studio Two Three).
“It’s one of the most intriguing indie films ever,” Jones says of Biller’s film.
Style Weekly’s Editor Brent Baldwin, who suggested the filmmaker to the festival a few years ago, offers his recollections in this year’s festival guide. “No simple parody,” he writes. “’The Love Witch’ is a sly feminist film that explores the ‘sexy witch’ stereotype from the inside, embracing a (sociopathic) female gaze while brimming with ideas about how women negotiate gender politics and heartbreak. You’ll laugh, you’ll think, you’ll want to know when Anna Biller’s next movie is coming out.” [Festival organizers checked to see if Biller was available as a guest artist this year, but she was busy shooting her next film, a “woman in peril” movie based on her own novel, “Bluebeard’s Castle.” She lives in Los Angeles with her partner, international best-selling author Robert Greene, whose cult book “The 48 Laws of Power” is often cited by major rappers and celebrities; and has made him one of the most banned authors in the American prison system.]
Beyond the terror, the festival will present documentaries on jazz saxophonist and trumpeter Ornette Coleman (“Ornette: Made in America,” Mar. 21 at Grace Street Theater), and artist Georgia O’Keefe (“The Brightness of Light,” March 19 at VMFA). Director Paul Wagner and producer Ellen Wagner will be in attendance for a Q&A following the screening of the latter, a brand new film just making the festival circuit.
There will also be curated assemblies of avant-garde short films from the traveling Ann Arbor Film Festival (March 21 at GST) and a compilation of vintage animated TV commercials (March 23 at VMFA). A free screening of a legendary 1942 docudrama about violence against labor unions (“Native Land” at the Richmond Main Public Library on March 21) will also be featured. Narrated by Civil Rights icon Paul Robeson, “it’s more relevant now than ever,” Jones says.
The festival concludes on Sunday, March 23 with a VMFA screening of selected films from Appalshop, a Kentucky-based collective that began as a film workshop in 1969 and is now an expansive nonprofit that documents the culture of Appalachia through a variety of media. Appalshop filmmakers Madison Buchanan and Aaron Asbury will be in attendance. There will also be two finale screenings on Sunday at Shop Two Three that share a river theme. “All Forward” is a short doc from director Justin “Saw” Black that combines a whitewater rafting tutorial with an environmental message, and The Silent Music Revival makes its return with a 1931 Portuguese documentary, “Labor on the Douno River,” with a live soundtrack by Zinia, a jazz group fronted by Maya Walters, who is also a James River guide. Space is limited, but the event is free (while donations are strongly encouraged).
After more than three decades, hundreds of screenings, and multiple collaborations and guests, Jones says that the James River Film Festival’s mission remains the same.
“When we started, we were kind of the alternative to the Virginia Film Festival in Charlottesville, which was then called the Virginia Festival of American Film. They would bring Gregory Peck and Robert Mitchum and the Hollywood films, and we would bring the independents, the cult movies and the D.I.Y. documentaries. We’re still doing that, offering up to Richmond audiences films that wouldn’t otherwise be shown.”
The James River Film Festival runs March 19-23 on various screens across Richmond. Show tickets range from $5-$12 with some free screenings. For a complete schedule with dates and times, and to buy tickets, go to https://www.jamesriverfilm.org/
