Hope Tarr to guest judge February 4th screening!

We're excited to announce that romance writer Hope Tarr will be gust judging our special romantic-themed February show!  Get your tickets now here -- we sold out last month and you won't want to miss out on this one.

Here's some info about Hope:

Hope Tarr is the award-winning author of fifteen historical and contemporary romance novels, including VANQUISHED (a Kindle Top 100 Bestseller) and TEMPTING, reissued this February 2012 as an audio and e-book. Hope is also a co-founder and principal of Lady Jane's Salon, New York City's first--and only--monthly romance fiction reading series, now in its third year. Find Hope online at www.HopeTarr.com, www.WriterNYC.com, www.LadyJaneSalon.com, www.Twitter.com/HopeTarr and www.facebook.com/HopeC.Tarr.

Notes from our January 7th screening

The audience gathered for a sold out show on an unseasonably warm evening at 92YTribeca and Jay and Victor took the stage to introduce two special guests: Victor brought out Charlie, the star of a movie he's working on, and then Jay introduced Lisa Baylin of iThentic.com, who came to town from Toronto to launch a partnership with Iron Mule, and also to serve as guest judge for the evening.

Victor and Charlie 

Jay, Victor, and Lisa Baylin

Lisa talked about iThentic's programming, and how we're going to be sharing content monthly at the Iron Mule shows and on their website.

First up were two iThentic.com originals, The Ascent of Man and World's Worst Golf Course from The World of Bruce McCall.  These are animated films adapted from New Yorker covers by the famed illustrator and writer Bruce McCall.  We're big fans, so it was a thrill to have Bruce there in person, where Jay and Victor discussed with him the process of having others animate his drawings, and the difference between humor and comedy.

Our next block of films included four excerpts from the webseries Naomi: The Show (which, unbeknownst to us when we programmed it, is also featured on iThentic.com).  Naomi: The Show tells the story of Naomi, who is hit on in the most disturbing of ways at the bus stop.  Next was Robert Mond's comedy thriller from Australia Reception, about a kidnapping in the age of cell phones.  Then The Sleepover Story, by Pete Lutz, which tells the story of a scary story come true.  Rounding out the block was Fergus Dingle's Total Insurance, a comedy-horror about insurance advertising that just won't stop.

We checked in with Lisa for her thoughts and waxed poetic about the short film format for a bit, before going on to our last block of films in competition.

The last two were Stephanie Argy and Alec Boehm's Gandhi at the Bat, a lost censored newsreel that tells the story of Mahtama Gandhi's top secret mission to the US in the 1930's, in which he accidentally winds up batting one game with the Yankees.  The last film of the night was The Wallet or the Watch by Jason Saenz and Robert Rugan, about two muggers who pick the wrong guy to mug.  The film could have just been a quick gag, but it was executed with a lot of style and a featured a great performance by comedianTom Shillue as the "victim." We spoke with Jason Saenz and producer Vincento about the challenge of making professional-looking short comedy films

Last up was our "Wanna Be a Star" film Russian Dressing, starring audience member Joy Shatz, who tore up the screen as a desperate and obsessive baker racing to get ready for a dinner party.  Joy and director Ryan Guiterman talked about the process of making the film, which, reflecting the star's namesake, sounded like a joy.

with Ryan and Joy

Then it was time for Lisa to announce the winners, who will go on for consideration for acquisition by iThentic.com.  It was a tough competition, but there can only be two winners.  This month it was a split: the audience voted for Gandhi at the Bat, while the judges' prize went to Total Insurance.

Lisa Baylin announces the winners

The audience filtered out to the cafe for an after party where they mingled with the filmmakers and regaled each other with the type of humor and charm that is unique to Iron Mule audiences.  Stop by our next screening at 92YTribeca on February 4th to see it for yourself!

The Iron Mule is now partnered with iThentic.com!

The Iron Mule has joined forces with the website iThentic.com to spread short comedy film magic across the globe!  Starting in January, 2012, the Iron Mule will have a designated slot for an iThentic.com film at each monthly screening in NYC.  In return, winning films from the Iron Mule will be automatically considered for hosting on the iThentic site.  iThentic hosts and produces all sorts of wonderful webseries (not just comedies) and is a showcase for some great short films from around the world.  Check them out now at ithentic.com.  And you'll be able to meet some of the iThentic.com team at our January 7th show at 92YTribeca.

Welcome, iThentic.com -- here's to the beginning of a beautiful friendship!*

*which may or may not involve fighting Nazis.

Notes from our December 3rd Screening

The crowd was out in force for another Iron Mule extravaganza on December 3rd at 92YTribeca.  Jay and Victor welcomed the crowd and then welcomed special guest judge, editor of Popular Photography, Miriam Leuchter.

Jay and Victor welcome the crowd
(photo by Tom Henning)

Jay and Victor welcome Miriam Leuchter
(photo by Tom Henning)

As a photographer, Miriam expressed her bias for nice-looking comedy films and planned to judge the night's selection on that merit.

First up was Dano Johnson and Tate English's Iron Mule classic holiday film White Blood Cell Saves Christmas.  We show this film each December and it never fails to please.  Following this was a longer film, Their Eyes Were Watching Gummy Bears, directed by Raafi Rivero.  The film tells the story of a college student on his last day at Princeton as he struggles to stay together with his girlfriend.  This was a very nicely shot film, to Miriam's delight, and Raafi was on hand to discuss the movie and his other work.

Raafi Rivero
(photo by Tom Henning)

Next up were two films; episode 1 of the web series Enter the Dojo by Matthew Page, and Adam Lerman's Help Wanted, also a beautifully shot film, and DP Josh Miller took to the stage along with director Adam Lerman for a brief interview.  This film was part of a 24-hour film challenge and Adam and Josh talked about the process of making the movie in such a short time frame.

Adam Lerman and Josh Miller
(photo by Tom Henning)

Next up was P.M.O., a hilariously dark Canadian political thriller by Daryl Cloran, followed by episode 2 of Enter the Dojo.  Matthew Page, the director and star of the movie, lives in New Mexico, so he couldn't attend the screening, but cast member Julie Lopez happend to be in NYC and she spoke with us about the series and her other work with Matt (including Delivery Date, which she co-starred in, and we showed at a previous Iron Mule).

With these strong (and nice-looking) contenders in mind, the audience and judges convened to vote for their favorite films.  But before we announced the winners, it was time for Shark Bite, our "Wanna be a Star" film, starring audience member Neslihan Özdemir and directed by Dan Simon.  Dan is an Iron Mule regular who has screened several films at our festival.  Neslihan is a faithful audience member who had never appeared on camera before and really shined in her role.

Neslihan Özdemir, star of Shark Bite
(photo by Tom Henning)

Dan Simon, director of Shark Bite
(photo by Tom Henning)

Then it was time to announce the winners, and bringing home both audience and judges' prize was Enter the Dojo!  Julie accepted the prize, a signed copy of Miriam Leuchter's new book on behalf of Matt Page.

Julie Lopez, proud winner (on behalf of Matthew Page)
(photo by Tom Henning)

Then it was off to our after party for celebrations into the wee hours.  Iron Mule will return on January 7th, so if any of you want to get your New Year off to a fabulous start, get your tickets now at 92ytribeca.org!

Notes from our November 5th Screening

Iron Mule was back in action on November 5th, with a new lineup of films.

The audience awaits the show!

The show began with a brief update of what hosts Jay Stern and Victor Varnado have been up to (Jay is busy editing his feature film, and Victor wrote for a comic book that just came out), which was followed by an interview with the night's guest judge, comedy writer Gary Apple.  Gary mentioned that he was mostly looking for quality in the night's lineup of films and Jay and Victor promised to deliver.

Victor and Jay

First up, from Canada, was Naomi Ward's movie The Wedding Gift -- a story of the lengths a man will go to in order to get out of an engagement.  This was followed by the Robin Reed / Will Shepard film Mommy Wars: Battle for the Playground.  Robin, who also starred in the film, was on hand to discuss her inspiration for the film (a nasty run-in with Brooklyn mommies at a restaurant she worked at).

The next block of films began with Bertie Peek and Fergus Dingle's (yes -- those are their real names -- they're British) CIA, one in a series of three shorts involving ice cream.  Following this was Nelson Cheng and Kate VanDevender's Will & Fiona, about a man who thinks he's just having dinner with a colleague, only to discover that he's on a date.  Nelson, who also co-starred in the movie, was in town from LA, and discussed how he came up with the project and also talked about his current work as a documentary filmmaker.  You can read his version of the evening's events here.

Victor and Jay with Nelson Cheng

Our third block of films was Bertie Peek and Fergus Dingle's Standoff, followed by our old friend Kevin Maher's Andrew 12-Sided Dice Clay.  Kevin was on hand to discuss his work, and promote his Kickstarter campaign, in which he's hoping to raise money to turn this short into a web series.  Take a look at his film and donate a few bucks!  This is the kind of series that no corporate entity will back, but the world needs to see it come to life!

Victor and Jay with Kevin Maher

Our final film of the evening was Frederick Soligan's The Girl Across the Hall, a charming movie about a stalker that relies purely on visuals to tell its story.  Fred (we call him Fred) has just moved to NYC from Boston and was at the show to discuss his movie and plead for editing work (anyone out there hiring?).

Fred Soligan: hire him!

The final film of the evening was our "Wanna Be a Star" film Lemon Tart, written and directed by Melinda Prom and starring lucky audience member Ben Roesch.  It was Melinda's first film (she's normally a theater director) and also Ben's first role on camera.  They clearly had a lot of fun, and, for the record, Ben looks really great in a hat.

Then Gary Apple came back to the stage and announced the audience winner and judges' pick.  It was a tough decision, but The Girl Across the Hall took home both awards.

Following the show, the filmmakers and audience went to the 92YTribeca cafe for the after party, that closed the venue and continued off in another Tribeca location until the wee hours.

Thanks to all who made it out, and we hope to see you back at 92YTri in December!

Gary Apple to Guest Judge November 5th Screening

We're excited to announce that writer Gary Apple will be joining us as guest judge at our November 5th screening!  Here's some info about Gary. (We left out his Nobel Prize since physics and comedy writing have very little to do with one another.)

Gary Apple is a professional comedy writer who has written for everything from greeting cards to television. He has worked on the writing staffs of four prime time sitcoms and has also written for many animated programs, including an episode of The Simpsons. As a playwright, his four one-act plays published by Samuel French have received hundreds of productions throughout the country. Gary is a current member of the BMI Musical Theater Workshop, where he’s developing musical comedies.

Gary created and ran the popular website Stupid.com for 12 years before selling it to a media company.  He’s currently developing a new site called Tastelsss.com, which he hopes will become the most offensive store on the internet.

Notes from our October 1st Screening

The Iron Mule was excited to be back after a month hiatus with a slew of short comedy films from across the English-speaking world.

Here's our happy audience filing in before the show.  We don't have the photographic evidence, but we can assure you that they were even happier after the show.

Jay and Victor began by filling in the audience about what they've been up to.

Jay and Victor fill the audience in about what they've been up to. 

Victor has a comic book he wrote for Marvel coming out in November and promises to bring a copy for us to look at at the November 5th show.  Jay is in the throes of editing his romantic musical comedy feature film The Adventures of Paul and Marian and showed another clip from the film.  If you weren't there, you weren't lucky enough to see this top-secret Iron-Mule-exclusive clip, but here's a tantalizing still.

Next, Victor and Jay introduced special guest judge Nick Nadel.  Nick is a writer, blogger, and raconteur who has been coming to Iron Mule screenings since before the invention of YouTube.  Remember those days when you couldn't just watch short films on the internet?  Nick talked about how much he prizes storytelling, and about how really good storytelling unfortunately isn't a given in short comedy films.  He was looking forward to seeing how our filmmakers would fare under his watchful eye.

Speaking with Nick Nadel

And then it was on to the films.  First up was a movie from Australia: Iron Mule alum William Crook's Night Shift of the Vampire, which details a particularly annoying night shift at a convenience store as seen through the eyes of the vampire who works there.  We followed that up with a new film from also-returning New York team Alexandra Eitel and Dan Simon, Alison's Problem with Women.  This movie tells the story about a woman who just can't connect with women and would rather hang out with the guys.  We interviewed Alexandra and Dan about their working relationship (she wrote and acted, he directed) and Victor noted how effectively Dan was able to simulate locations they couldn't afford to shoot in through smart and subtle sound design.

with Alexandra Eitel and Dan Simon

After the interview we checked in with Nick Nadel, who mentioned that while he enjoyed both films, he doesn't really like a movie which doesn't show the actual interior of a Forever 21.  Victor also mentioned that he discovered he is allergic to pears.  He ate one before the show, and his throat was starting to close up.

Next up were two more films.  First, from the UK, Scott Imren and Grant Fulton's delightfully silly and tense film Maltempi, about a amazingly poorly run product recall by a toy company.  It begins with a character shouting "lick the monkey!" and, not to spoil it, delivers on the promise.  Then we screened Elliot Lobel's Andrew: The Story of a Closet Monster, a touching story of a boy and his relationship with the not-very-scary monster in his closet.  This film was made with stop motion animation, and Jay and Victor spoke with Elliot about how he made this film, which took seven months to shoot.

with Elliot Lobel

Before introducing the next films, Victor noted that he was feeling considerably worse and in addition to his throat closing up, was now lightheaded.  So a good Samaritan in the audience unexpectedly threw a packet of Benadryl at him, luckily missing his head.  Victor thanked the audience member and complemented her on her arm.

Next up were our last two films in competition.  First was Domestic, another Australian film, written by Brett Snelgrove and directed by Katie Hide.  This film documents an argument between a couple that turns into a martial-arts battle between the sexes.  It drew as many gasps from the audiences as laughs, who were delighted by its combination of humor and brutality.  And rounding out the evening was David B. Levy's incredibly inventive and strikingly personal film Grandpa Looked Like William Powell.  David told the story of his relationship with his grandfather, who he hardly knew, through animated drawings superimposed over his grandfather's high school autograph book.

Jay and a now-recovered Victor (thank you Benadryl!) interviewed David about his process for making the film, and we were all surprised to hear it was shot on an iphone.  Ah, technology, how wondrous you are.

Then, while audience and judges votes were being tabulated, we premiered this month's "Wanna Be a Star" movie Garbage Dump, directed by Ryan Guitarman and starring Iron Mule audience member Ally Cunningham.  In true "Wanna Be a Star" fashion, the movie was completed at 4:00pm on the day of the show.  But last minute or not, the film didn't disappoint, with some of the finest sock puppet acting you're liable to see on the big screen.

We then chose next month's star from the audience, and the prize went to long-time fan Ben Roesch!  He'll be starring in Lemon Tart to be made by a director TBD (although one of the programmers was seen plying a certain theater director with glasses of wine at the after party so we suspect we'll have one in place really soon).

Then it was time for awards.  Although it was really tough to choose a favorite, when votes were tallied Andrew: Story of a Closet Monster won both audience and judge's prizes.  Great job Elliot, and thanks to him and the other filmmakers who contributed to such a great lineup.