Infinite Battleground – Analog Artist Digital World

The last film to screen in the Mason City Community Theater was Stockton to Table Rock. the film was about a high school senior who faced her abusive mother hoping change was possible. The mother deflected and denied while claiming her daughter was manic depressive.

The entire film I felt myself urging the 18 year old to just leave, but relationships are complex and change is scary. There was love even in the alcoholism and abuse. The actress for the film was in the audience and was there for the question and answer session. She seemed so much older and mature in person. I guess that is the sign of a good actress. After the screening the theater had to be made ready for the awards ceremony. Stars had to be hung on the curtains. I stood outside and tried to recover from Stockton. It is a film that lingers and leaves you thinking. It was hard to shake.

The hosts for the awards ceremony where The Other Guys, a local comedy duo in red tuxedos. Most awards went to filmmakers who were not at the festival. Those awards were stacked up on an oval shaped table to the right. As I mentioned in a previous post the filmmakers for a music video called Infinite Battleground were seated next to me in the back row. Unfortunate they did not win, that honor went to Obsessed directed by Ashley Cherie Long. Obsessed got a good laugh when the singer suddenly woke up from a dream and found herself in a harvested cornfield.

Then came the Best Animated Film Award category. I was pleased to be nominated and they played what seemed like a good solid minute of the film. I kept sketching as the other animated films were shown. My fountain pen literally snapped in half over the movie screen in my sketch and a single blob of ink dripped on the screen before I could get a rag to stop the flow of ink. The winner of the best animated film category was Truth Detector, Directed by William Reliford. I finished this sketch in the airport with a sharpie, prismacolor pencil and watercolor.

COVID Dystopia screened of the first day of the Iowa Independent Film Festival. That evening there was a party for filmmakers at The Boulevard (1311 Bayou Road Clear Lake Iowa).

After COVID Dystopia screened I was approached by a crew of 5 filmmakers who had a music video in the festival. Their music video Infinite Battleground was about two men struggling to balance work with their passion for music. The production is as dark and sinister as my own film, so we hit it off. Director Kristopher J. Gathercoal is in my sketch holding a beer. He wasn’t actually playing pool but I put him in as the second player to fill out the scene. The drummer hooked me up to the groups Through the Darkness youtube page. One of their music videos featured a sketch of a classroom and he wanted me to check it out.

Most of the filmmakers crowded into a back room consuming flat bread and drinks while chatting. The seating arrangement made it so that you would stay with on click the whole time. Since I had to plan to eat indoors, I decided instead to sketch the music video filmmakers as they played pool. The pool table I drew had a definite slant to is so that the balls always rolled to one corner. After two games at that table they switched to the table to my right. I had to get up a couple of times to allow for clean shots. One played became unbeatable once he had a few drinks. He explained that the buzz made him focus extra hard. It was a fascinating use of beer to promote zen.

The bar owner came up to me while I was sketching to talk. He was also a graphic designer and had designed the blue and gold mural on the wall. He was quite pleased that I was sketching it. He took a few pictures as I sketched.

At the awards ceremony, the filmmakers from Infinite Battleground sat next to me in the back row. Their film was nominated for best music video and my film COVID Dystopia was nominated for best animated film. I had no expectations, but they had been at this festival multiple times before and were looking forward to their first win. I was pleased that a good chunk of the intro to my film was played. That was the most eyeballs to view my film in Iowa. I think there were about 22 people in the theater when the film first screened, but this theater was packed for the awards ceremony, so there were hundreds of eyeballs. I paused my sketching when the winner for best animated film award was about to be announced. My fountain pen snapped in half and a big blob of ink splashed on to the sketch. I got distracted and tried to clean up the mess.