MindFlesh Premiere and CineXS – a match report

So this was the week when we finally showed MindFlesh to a paying public!

I arrived in the UK at the start of the week and spent a couple of days with my mum checking through her bills, adjusting timers, fixing clocks and replacing her toilet seat – oh the showbiz lifestyle I lead ;)

On May 1^st I travelled into London on a delayed train from the south coast and registered for Cine-Excess II the second international conference on cult films. Having been at the World Horror Con just a month earlier it was inevitable that I was going to be comparing the two. I have to say that this year CineXS won out by a long way: the speakers had prepared professional presentations, Roger Corman was guest of honour and the atmosphere was friendly and welcoming.

For most, the climax of the conference would most probably have been Kim Newman on stage interviewing Roger Corman at the end of three days of cult discussion. For me I’m afraid, my sights were on the MindFlesh world premiere – our first exposure to a paying public audience!

I have to say that the projectionists at the ICA were fantastic fellas and took the time to finesse the projection image and sound until even the most perfectionist director would be happy. So, even though we were screening from a digiBeta copy of the film (rather than the HDCAM SR master), the movie looked and sounded great.

Ok so here’s the truth: MindFlesh can be quite an assault on the viewer’s mind and body so I wasn’t expecting air-punching and cheers as the first end credit hits the screen ;) But as the lights came up and I made my way back to the stage to answer questions, gauging from the volume of the applause and immediate feedback seemed to be overwhelming positive. I guess we’ll learn more about the audience reaction as time rolls on.

The clip below is the 15 min Q&A after the premiere screening. It naturally contains spoilers because we’re discussing a film the audience has seen but if you’re someone that likes to know as much as you can about a movie before seeing it, or, if you’re someone from my future that has seen MindFlesh as screenings yet to be held when I wasn’t present then here’s what I might have said. [Apologies for the poor sound and picture quality]

A huge “thank you” to all the people that came to the screening!

I wasn't able to attend all presentations as there were always two parallel sessions in progress and I often got engrossed in conversation that carried on long after lunch had finished. The Saturday night conference party at the Curzon soho was cool too as I managed to snag a table close to the bar and close to free grub! ;) If we hadn’t been kicked out then I suspect that Stephen Parsons, long-time composer and recently the director of Wishbaby, and I would have still been there at daybreak.

Comments

[thepaddedcell]

I thoroughly enjoyed the movie on Saturday, congrats!

Thanks for the invite (through your brother Alan) :)