Interview by Geno McGahee
A few years ago, I became aware of filmmaker Andrew Bard and his film “HYPNAGOGIC.” The film was dark and created a great atmosphere that is rare in indie film. I was impressed with his original product and expected some big things from him in the future. Bard now has two large projects currently. An ambitious TV program DYSTOPIA: CAPITAL CITY is being produced and it is creating quite a buzz, bringing a new, well-written sci-fi, gritty drama to the fans.
The other project is the RUGGED PHOENIX UNDERGROUND FILM FESTIVAL. This weekend is the maiden journey (10/23-10/25) of this new fest and who better to run one than a filmmaker? Bard’s love of film and film festival experience has led to his contribution to indie film with this new fest and it’s being received very well.
Scared Stiff Reviews caught up with Andrew to discuss his projects and overall journey into the film business…
GM: What inspired you to get into film? What was your first filming experience?
I’ve always (seriously always…) had a love for film and would write little stories and edit little videos together with two VCR’s at an early age. My dad and I used to watch tons of movies together and I always said I’m going to do that. In late 2006 I met a guy through an ex-girlfriend who was making a resident evil fan film. It was a pretty fun experience. I did a ton of things on it from writing the score, doing sound design, acting, shooting b-roll sitting in on editing etc. It was very low budget and had an extremely small crew which was great for me because I was forced to learn how to adapt and handle a lot of different roles. I didn’t mind, I loved the entire experience. Staying humble but driven and being willing to take on whatever task needed to be handled gave me a strong appreciation for what it took to make a film and that lead to me producing my own films.
GM: After being a part of one film festival, you started your own. What prompted you to start the festival and what makes it different than others?
I actually had quite a few conversations with my partner in Neo Phoenix Studios Janet Llavina about making our own festival back in 2012 and began researching it. She had previous experience working at the Boston International Film Festival and I have done marketing and event planning a few times organizing concerts, premiers and events for films. When the opportunity arose for us to film our short film “Dystopia” (which is a sort of prelude to Dystopia: Capitol City) we decided to hold off on taking on a film and festival. In 2014 we were shopping Dystopia around and that’s when Janet was introduced to James Harmon the director of the Sanford International Film Festival. We submitted Dystopia to him then joined the festival board to help make the first year a success. Janet created the facebook page and did online marketing and promoting and I was the marketing and promotions person offline, contacting the media, making press releases and designing flyers getting the festival out there by getting coverage on the news, in the papers and magazines. After being involved with the second year of the SIFF Janet and I decided it was the right time to make our own festival after solidifying SIFF making a successful second year. Ricky Dunton (owner of Rugged Sound) and Stephanie Brock (Neo Phoenix team member and graduate in film production) joined in very early on and we created the Rugged Phoenix Underground Film Festival. Before going public with it I called James Harmon and wanted to meet with him so we had coffee and I asked him for his blessing for the festival and invited him to be a board member though he declined he did gave us his support.
GM: What has your experience been with the submissions and what is the largest factor in succeeding your festival?
I absolutely love viewing all the submissions and speaking with the filmmakers. Some of the submissions have absolutely blown us away! It’s amazing seeing films from all over the world and watching them where as if we hadn’t made this festival we probably would not have the opportunity to see them and that excitement I got from seeing these films is exactly what I want our audience to feel. I will say Indie film is definitely a gem and with all the convoluted products Hollywood is putting out its so refreshing watching original well produced movies!
Dystopia: Capitol City
GM: How do you weigh production value against story? What’s more important?
In truth production value or “Budget” which is typically what that means holds less meaning to me than other factors. I’ve seen some truly fantastic films with very low budgets where you could tell they weren’t running around with an ARRI with $50K worth of prime lenses etc. but it was better written, acted and overall crafted so the lower budget films may get in where a huge budget may not and the reverse is also true. There are some factors that even if the story is good if it has really bad sound that is hard to get through or if the acting isn’t great or the edits are jumpy but again to a degree those are not budget specific issues and if the filmmakers have passion and talent and tell an entertaining story that will draw in an audience and not make them sigh or look at their watch that is what we look for and I feel we have definitely succeeded in that department with our festival!
GM: As a filmmaker, what has your experiences been with festivals and what are your overall thoughts of them?
To be truthful I haven’t submitted my stuff all too often. I will say I can understand both sides of the coin. On one hand as a filmmaker it can get annoying and cause ill feelings towards festivals because of submission fee’s and getting rejected or seeing in some cases there are politic’s that play a big part of who gets in, who doesn’t, who wins etc. As a festival director I can say in truth and I hope this doesn’t sound bad is my biggest annoyance when submissions were open was the countless emails asking for submission waivers to get into the festival for free some of those emails had absolutely zero information on the film they wanted to submit (which a little advice if you’re going to write festivals and ask for that at least give them something to chew on, don’t just ask for a waiver and give nothing to look at). I can say that we tried our best to make the submission fee’s affordable because as a filmmaker it does suck seeing submission fee’s for $50 and up sometimes. Our late submission was only $15 and our earlybird/regular was only $5. Every submission fee helps us create a great festival so those funds do go back into the festival to create a great experience for our guests. My overall thoughts are that I love festivals, they’re a great way to share films people might otherwise not get a chance to see with an audience of film lovers and get an opportunity to meet the people who made the films.
GM: What has been the biggest headache in putting on a festival and what has been the biggest reward?
I will be very diplomatic and say every event planning comes with its fair share of headaches some are easier to deal with than others. I can’t really think of any real negative situations that have come up during this whole process. The reward has definitely been getting the chance to watch all the movies.
GM: Do you plan to make this a yearly event?
Absolutely. Our plan is to not only make this a yearly event but have it take place in different locations to create the first (to my knowledge) traveling film festival. We have a few plans we’re keeping a secret at this moment.
GM: You are currently involved in a TV series. Can you talk a little bit about that. What’s going on with it and where you see it going?
Yes Dystopia Capitol City is a dramatic scifi steampunk/Mad Max sort of inspired show. We currently have 2 full episodes in the bag and are working on a few more plus some offshoot shorts following one or two of the characters specifically highlighting who they are and their place in the world. We have some fantastic talent involved in this series and are excited for its release in early 2016!
GM: What is your end goal as a filmmaker and as a festival director? Do you feel that your film festival experience has helped you as a filmmaker and if so, how?
My end goal is just to be blessed enough to continue the path and have it be my career. As fas far as the festival helping me as a filmmaker I don’t really know how to answer that. As I said before it has made me more aware of films from around the world and gave me a deeper appreciation for independent films as a whole but I don’t know how it helped me specifically as a filmmaker.
GM: Any closing thoughts and where can they find out about your fest, series and films?
Facebook is a great way to keep in the loop with our projects at:
facebook.com/neophoenixstudios
facebook.com/RuggedPhoenixUndergroundFF