The fourth annual New England Underground Film Festival will take place on Oct. 11 at the University of Hartford, presenting eight short films and two feature-length movies. The shorts are a mixed bag of dramas, documentaries, music stories and comedies, some intentionally weird, some grave and sincere.
The two feature films couldn’t be more different.
“The Lives of Hamilton Fish” is a bizarre rock opera about two real-life men named Hamilton Fish, one a politician and the other a mass murderer. Both died in 1936. Their obituaries were printed on the front page of a New York newspaper on the same day. The film tries to tell their stories, with music and lyrics by the film’s writer/producer/director Rachel Mason. It was shot in historical locations that apply to the lives of the real men.
“Raising Matty Christian” is a sad and touching documentary about a Canton, Mass., man born without full limbs. Growing up, Matthew Christian hated his prosthetics and tried to do as much as he could without them. He became a swimmer and wrestler in school and was popular in his community, but crashed and burned at age 25 by self-medicating to deal with his frustrations.
Christian de Rezendes, the North Smithfield, R.I., filmmaker who made “Matty Christian,” makes his living creating corporate and commercial films. He found out about Christian from his friend Paul Plotkin, who was hired by the Christian family to transfer some old videos to DVD for preservation.
“He was so captivated about what he saw that he thought, ‘someone has to make a film about this kid’,” de Rezendes said. “He told Matty’s parents about me.”
The movie shows Christian’s development from a lively child, running around on his short limbs as easily as his able-bodied brother, to a young baseball player using a specially made prosthesis in the shape of a lacrosse basket, to a teen swimmer, a Bryant University wrestler, to a young businessman.
De Rezendes interviewed 31 people for the film, friends, relatives and coworkers of Christian as well as other members of the Canton, Mass., community. Among them was Christian’s brother, Michael, who said he never knew Matty was different from other kids until the family went to Walt Disney World and other park guests stared at him.
All the people interviewed in the movie loved Christian, so editing the film was interesting, de Rezendes said.
“I wanted the good and the bad. … If all you have is people saying nice things about someone, that film belongs in a living room. If you really want to share this with the world … you have to find the drama behind the story, the struggles they may have had. … You want it to be as human as possible.”
He weaved in segments from TV news stories marveling at the unstoppable kid who, in the end, was stopped by a lethal combination of alcohol and oxycodone.
Making the film, de Rezendes said, taught him a lot.
“Every time you lok at Matty you realize what you take for granted on a daily basis. Here was somebody who got up and did his best and didn’t complain and didn’t take any excuses from anybody,” he said. “After a while the not complaining took a toll. He internalized so much. But when you look at him and what he did you realize you don’t have anything to complain about.”
Movie Lineup
The lineup of the festival, following a noon introduction, is as follows:
“To Touch a Nerve,” a short doc on Mike Hawkins, a New Britain poet and AIDS awareness activist, directed Michael Finnegan.
“Bottles,” a sci-fi short about a doctor who can bottle other people’s memories, directed by Daniel Kuriakose of Woodbridge.
“We’re Goners Relax It’s Fine,” a surreal short musical about an erupting volcano directed by Samuel B. Russell of Connecticut.
“Not Anymore,” a short doc about a rebel and a photojournalist in Syria.
“Raising Matty Christian,” a short doc about a man born without full limbs.
Intermission
Approximately 3 p.m.: “Boomer’s Story — A Celebration of Ry Cooder,” a short homage to the musician directed by Pete Bell.
“Alone,” a dramatic short about a homeless woman in Rhode Island.
“Deflower,” a short drama about a woman who wants to lose her virginity.
“Transsexuals from Space,” a cheesy short sci-fi parody, about “transsexual troublemakers from Transmotivia.”
“The Lives of Hamilton Fish,” a bizarre rock opera about two real-life men named Hamilton Fish, one a politician and the other a mass murderer.
NEW ENGLAND UNDERGROUND FILM FESTIVAL will be on Saturday, Oct. 11, from noon to 6 p.m. at Wilde Auditorium in the University of Hartford’s Gray Conference Center, 200 Bloomfield Ave, West Hartford. Admission is $10, $5 students; newenglanduff.webs.com.
