Blasted!!! Premiers in Rotterdam

Blasted!!! will be premiering to it's proper audience of hashish-loving free-thinkers at the International Film Festival Rotterdam. I am assuming that we will all have a superior time in the Netherlands as I have heard that many dead folks seem to like vacationing there…it’s homey for them. Let’s put that aside for a moment and talk about the basic logistics of the thing. At any given moment of this Rotterdam Fest there are at least ten films showing at the same time! Whatever Sundance is, it is surely not a film “festival.” The word “festival” is supposed to impart the idea of a celebration, of joyousness, of putting aside all other things and focusing on the wonderful delights of life such as: Wheat, or Love, or the Sun, or Birth…or Films. Why not? Well, Rotterdam seems, at face value and since it is 36 years old, to actually still be a FILM FESTIVAL. I am looking forward to it with a happy heart.

Blasted!!! will also have the honor of showing double feature with Laura Kraning's new documentary, American Parade, which is about the first year in recent ecological history that it rained on Pasadena's Rose Parade…a truly apocalyptic treat!

We will show our films three times at the International Film Festival Rotterdam...

Friday January 26 (evening) at 20:00 hour in Lantaren
Saturday January 27 (afternoon) at 12:00 hour in Venster 2
Wednesday January 31 (evening) at 22:45 hour in Lantaren 2

And so there should be chocolate for all of us, is what I have been trying to say.

-Blue Kraning

Blasted!!! Screens at the Denver Press Club

The screening of Blasted!!! went great, it was upstairs in the Denver Press Club (the oldest press club in the USA) and one of Hunter's old haunts. The film was screened out of competition and only once as part of a special series of films that were tributes to HST at the Denver International Film Festival, including Wayne Ewing's new film. The room was really cool--an old, fairly small meeting hall with chairs set out in rows and a bar at the back (from which to order Chivas). The crowd was made up of a handful of the kind of local rabid fans that would get up early on a Saturday to go see a film about Hunter, as well as local friends of Hunter from Owl Creek. A lot of folks from the film made it to the screening: Paul Stone and several of the Swabettes, Steve Harris and his son, Daniel, as well as Jack Stone, Lynne Lawlor and Mark Bosler--who all came in full dress Civil War uniforms. It was sort of like a cast and crew party, so it was a lot of fun...we all stood up at the end and bowed.

The most wonderful thing about this unforgettable day was that Juan Thompson, Hunter’s son, as well as his wife Jennifer Winkel Thompson and their son, Will Thompson, were there to share in the fun and this was an honor of the highest kind. What a totally amazing guy Juan is and it was nice to find that we are both akin to a little black powder experimentation once and awhile. It was an Honor to have these guys at the screening so, all in all, it was one of the best days of my life. Thank you Hunter!

Blasted!!! Screens at Owl Farm

Here is the story of my visit to Hunter's well fortified and hard to find home near Owl Creek. Blasted!!! was shown there and we all had a hell of a time. It was a birthday party for Hunter’s 69th and he was there in the form of a powerful storm that formed over the valley and blew us all inside—but not before Jimmy Ibbotson serenaded him in the darkness, lit by strobes of lightning bolts and backed by peals of rolling thunder.

Showing the film was a strange and wonderful experience. Screening a film at a party that is in full swing is not an easy thing. Anita wanted to put the film on and sort of let it play in the background. I asked if I could go around the party and very politely, person by person, let it be known that the film was playing. She said that was OK. I completely understood her not wanting to interrupt people who were having a good time. But I knew that Blasted!!! was exactly the kind of film that one could enjoy while drinking, eating, talking and smoking various substances. So when the rain came and everyone was forced to seek shelter, I went around and informed folks that a movie was showing in the kitchen.

Anita started the DVD and turned the volume up half way-as one would when there is a party going on. But when it got to the section where every cannon owner started talking about what Hunter meant to them...there was a “click” and soon everyone was in the kitchen and watching. I was crouched down behind an end table next to the couch-seeking cover. Then I remember Anita laughing and cheering then there was some strange moment where she said, “OK Blue,” and she turned out the lights and turned up the volume and we all watched and laughed and talked and had a good time as cannons roared and echoed along with the thunder outside.

Later, I passed around a bottle of Laphroaig that I had buried in my yard for Hunter after he died…in case he needed it. When I dug it up, I found that quite a bit was missing, yet the cork was intact.

It was one of the best nights of my life and I wouldn’t trade it for a screening at Sundance or an Oscar or a fucking Three Picture Deal. I made this film for Hunter, with my own money and my own time and it’s a tribute to him and how his legacy continues to live on in the lives and actions of his fans. I made a promise to Hunter when I buried that bottle: I vowed that it would not be sullied by profit driven interests, or even the need to recoup its costs. He meant the world to me and still does and he deserves to be remembered as one of the greatest, strangest and most original creatures that ever walked the Planet Earth and therefore no film about him should be any different. He was a man of his time who continues to be timeless.

When the film was over, Anita lit Hunter’s Birthday candles, which were two big numbers (a 6 and 9), and she told me that I had won the honor of blowing them out.

I nearly fainted, or cried, or puked…but instead I blew them out.

Happy Birthday Hunter.

Slainthe,

Blue

PS-Pictures to follow in a couple of days.