Above: Trailer for "Comic-Con Episode IV: A Fan’s Hope," a new film by Morgan Spurlock. Spurlock will screen the film and take questions tomorrow in Arkville at the MMMFestival.
Today and tomorrow, some big names in film and music are descending on the Arkville Cowdome in Delaware County for the first-annual Music, Movies and Mountains Festival. (For short, it's the MMMFestival -- no doubt pronounced "mmmm" Festival in homage to one of its sponsors, the Cha Cha Hut.)
Morgan Spurlock, the director of the fast-food takedown documentary "Supersize Me," will be screening his new film, "Comic-Con Episode IV: A Fan’s Hope." (It's a love letter to Comic-Con, the international fan convention held annually in San Diego. The movie follows everyday people pretending to be storm troopers and Batman and interviews fan darlings Joss Whedon (the creator of "Buffy the Vampire Slayer"), Seth Rogen (star of many a Judd Apatow movie), Matt Groening (creator of "The Simpsons"), and many more. Check out the trailer above for a glimpse.)
Karen Bernod, backup vocalist for the likes of Chaka Khan, Mary J. Blige, and Erykah Badu will be performing, as will Onree Gill, Alicia Keyes' music director. "W8" (pronounced "weight"), a short film starring Michael K. Williams (the actor who played Omar on the HBO series "The Wire"), will be screened. (It was an official selection at the Cannes Film Festival this year.) Catskills filmmaker Jessica Vecchione will be showing her new movie "Robert, Portrait of an Art-er."
It's quite a line-up for a little Catskills crossroads. Angela-Renee Coakley, the live events producer from New York who coordinated the event along with Cherie Davis of the Cha Cha Hut, says that she had booked many of the luminaries for a festival in Brooklyn that ended up being axed.
"So we thought, 'Why don't we take it [the festival] to somewhere where it's needed," she told the Watershed Post today. Arkville fit the bill.
Today, Coakley and Davis are setting up for the festival, and welcome any volunteers who want to help out in exhange for free tickets. Show up at the Arkville Cowdome at 43311 State Route 28 in Arkville.
I'll be moderating a Q&A panel of many of the filmmakers at the festival on Saturday at 7pm. Stop by and check it out.
Music, Movies and Mountains Festival. Kickoff reception 7:30pm Friday, August 17. Film and music festival noon to 10pm Saturday, August 18. Director's panel: 7pm Saturday, August 18. The Arkville Cowdome, 43311 State Route 28, Arkville, NY. Tickets $25.
