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Show Page B1 0 0 Thursday, January 1 9, 1 995 The Park Record II Section B Radisson hosts filmmaker's feature by MARY BETH GELBUDA Record guest writer A review at the Sundance Film Festival can make or break a budding bud-ding filmmaker, as the story goes. As a haven for independent films, Sundance serves as a major source of exposure to producers, directors, distributors and studio heads. If all goes well and your independent film is accepted, you might get a shot at the big time, right? If you're lucky. If you're determined and motivated, motivat-ed, however, you'll find a place for your film anyway, even if it's not , within the lauded inner circle of Sundance Film Festival competitors. Your film will get seen by a fairly large group of people, some of whom probably have production and distribution connections, and will still get you the big deal, right? If you are Robert Hicks and Albert Kodagolian, writerdirector and producer of the independent feature fea-ture film, The Glass Chain, this is the plan. While 7716- Glass Chain is not being shown as an official entry in the Sundance Film Festival, it is being screened twice a day for free at the Radisson for the duration dura-tion of the festival. Radisson General Manager Paul Christensen explains their involvement involve-ment as entertainment-oriented, a "Originally the showing was orga- ' nized for the benefit of the guests at the hotel, so that they could get the feel of the Film Festival even if they didn't have tickets to other screenings." screen-ings." The Radisson has opened up the showings to the public, however, in hope of attracting as large an audience audi-ence as possible. The film is a light adventure following fol-lowing the activities of three retired members of Al Capone's gang when they discover shadows of their gangster gang-ster past resurfacing after 60 years. This is a family film with a comedic tone one laughs along with the geriatric heroes as they solve a vaudevillian mystery threaded with smugglers, treasure, and intrigue. Hicks and Kodagolian, attribute the tone of the film as what se&trates it from much of Sundance's fare. "People out there are hungryio be entertained in the way The Glass Chain does with wholesome entertainment, enter-tainment, " explains Hicks. "I'd rather push dramatic buttons than shock buttons." Also of interest to Parkites is the involvement of Park City winter resident res-ident and avid skier Jim Pickle, who plays a G.I. man in the film. "It was a kick to work in a real movie," says Pickle of his film (y iff ' ' I i debut. "I enjoyed the experience and was amazed at how large scale it was and how professionally everything every-thing was being done. When I realized real-ized that this was a serious venture, I asked if I was too late to invest in the film. There was one slot left in the partnership, which my wife and I took immediately. If we make a little lit-tle money, fine. If not, we've had a great experience and given a fine young man a good start in life. It's a win-win proposition." As the first feature film for USC film school grads Hicks and Kodagolian, "The Glass Chain" rep-' resents months of intense learning and discovery. "I learned more on the first day on the set than I learned in film school," says Hicks in an interview in his Illinois home town paper, The Daily Herald. "Every aspect was a challenge to overcome money, a grip truck, cameras, lights." The support of his local community commu-nity tipped the scales in his favor, however. Local businesses donated food, locations, props, and meals, and assistance from the fire and police departments helped filming and special effects run smoothly. The Glass Chain has been sponsored spon-sored by the Radisson and will be shown daily at 3 p.m. and 8:30 p.m. Although the film has not been rated yet, it will probably receive a PG or PG13 rating. Children under that age will be admitted with a parent or guardian. Plan 10 features Mormons, sex and aliefis says Utah writer and director Trent Harris by AMBER McKEE Record staff writer Plan 10 from Outer Space Starring Stefene Russell, Karen Black v Written and directed by Trent Harris Plan 10 Productions 1994 Take a mad feminist alien flying around in beehive-shaped saucer, an innocent young Utart and the great, great grandson of a Mormon prophet, throw them all into a giant blender and what do you get? , Well, probably something gross. But nevermind that, because when writerdirector Trent Harris shook all those ideas around in his head, what he came up with was the non-sequel non-sequel Plan 10 from Outer Space (despite any vague title resemblance resem-blance to the Ed Wood movie.) What's Plan 10 all about? "Mormons, sex and aliens! What more could you ask for?" the press information declares. "Polygamy and pioneers," Harris adds, but explains "I'm not really making fun of the church. The church becomes a kind of background for the action. There are no garment jokes, no Jell-o jokes in Plan 10. We've got better bet-ter things happening here. This is not the Rocky Horror Picture Show; it's more like Nancy Drew on acid." , To get inspiration for the movie, Harris says he drew the tales of the Daanites, Porter Rockwell and the Deseret Alphabet from Mormon doctrine and history. The press information informa-tion describes Plan 10 as the tale of a young girl named Lucinda Hall (Stefene Russell) who discovers dis-covers the Plaque of Kolob near the shore of the Great Salt Lake, more than 100 years after it was buried there by a mad Mormon prophet named Norman Talmage. She, with the help of Talmage's great, great grandson Guy Fonsbeck (Deva Cantrell), starts on a quest to understand the plaque and the secret of the bees. - Although Harris, who also wrote and directed Rubin and Ed starring Crispin Glover, says his sci-fi spoof is just in fun, he adds that early on in the production of the movie, some members of the cast dropped out, fearful of excommunication excom-munication from the Mormon Church. He is unconcerned, however that the church will take any drastic dras-tic action. "The church isn't gonna pay any attention to it. They are going to do their best to ignore it," Harris says. ;Wr The film is being screened only once at the Film Festival on ; Saturday, Jan. 21 as part of the "Park City at Midnight" portion, but is not involved in the competition, competi-tion, which Harris likens to "being invited to dinner but you have to eat at the little kids' table." Harris also hopes for more screenings because Plan 10 from Outer Space was one of the first to sell out at the festival. However, for those who miss Sundance's screening, the film does premiere at the Tower Theatre in Salt Lake in February. Hesse's Siddhartha has valuable lessons today Jim Pickle and John Wright star in The Glass Chain. by KAREN BERGER Record guest writer Siddhartha by Herman Hesse $ Siddhartha, written by Herman Hesse in 1922, could easily serve alongside the vast array of self-help guides available to us in 1995. Fortunately, Siddhartha comes complete without charts, figures or surveys. A few quick sittings and you'll have a fresh dose of encouragement, especially if you enjoy breaking break-ing your own trail. Don't get too excited; Siddhartha will not promise you a rose garden, but it will help you remember to bask in the glory of one, should it pop up at any given moment. I think the quality that I most admire in Siddhartha is his ability to see unity through diversity. Whatever sort of man or woman Siddhartha encounters from any walk of life is welcomed wel-comed as part of the necessary balance, which of course includes birds, stones, trees and all those other goodies of the earth. To Siddhartha, his wisdom and peace grow as he discovers his role as the ferryman, taking tak-ing folks back and forth across the beautiful and powerful river on whose banks he dwells. Here he can appreciate and draw what he will from the diversity of river crossers. Although Siddhartha gains much in the way of wisdom throughout his journey, he struggles to convey it in packaged form to his lifelong friend, Govinda (kinda like me writing writ-ing this review). He admits: "And yet it also pleases me and seems right that what is of value and wisdom to one man seems nonsense to another." , : During this busy time of the year, I once. Book Review again rejoice that I am merely wading at the soft shores of the Service Industry Sea; not skinny dipping as a waiter or waitress who could easily be branded with shame if they find themselves a few Prozac pills short of perky. Taking a lesson from Siddhartha, "being the ferryman" can be valuable to us all. Haggard service workers, travelers, mothers, moth-ers, businessmen; each has his or her role and deserves respect, not judgment. Besides, one never knows where two paths will cross again. What if the supermarket checker that you snapped at (because you, in a hurry, went shopping at 6 p.m. Friday night during the , Film Festival) one. day becomes your County Commissioner and you, the developer?, THELOUI J Free Delivery To Park City m ft CliRKIO m o mm mmmm o oc& mmm rrtrtKTirftmj .iWtfMifU ELEGANT CA5UAL CLOTHING X."" .ft , yvv ",IJ l vv"" : i X 693 Main Street M in inni i i in-. i i iniir wfiimJ y 647-S7&7 |