community-based, non-corporate, participatory media
DC Activist Film to Screen in Pittsburgh
by Karen Zamperini
Thursday, Apr. 03, 2003 at 9:53 AM
kzamperini@hotmail.com (email address validated) 202-361-7372
For Pittsburgh Indymedia-DC Activist Film, Washington Interns Gone Bad Pittsburgh dates with DC Indymedia Review.
Washington Interns Gone Bad, the political comedy by DC indy filmmaker Jason Buckley will screen in Pittsburgh this weekend:
Saturday, April 5th at 3:30 pm in Pitt Posvar Hall 1P56
Sunday, April 6th at 7pm in Pitt Posvar Hall 1P56
Monday, April 7th at 7pm in Pitt Frick Arts Auditorium
After an un(fortunate) run-in with Pennsylvania's own Sen. Rick Santorum (see website for details) and a controversial sell-out opening in DC, Producer Karen Zamperini, a.k.a, Mistress Bridgette, is bringing WIGB home to Pittsburgh.
http://www.washingtoninternsgonebad.com
Read the DC Indymedia Review from our Visions Premiere:
Washington Interns Gone Bad: Rough but Funny Parody that Hits Close to The Hil
by mjb 3:34pm Fri Mar 7 '03 (Modified on 2:00pm Sat Mar 8 '03)
On Fat Tuesday, independent film director by night and web developer by day, Jason Buckley debuted his film (for like the billionth time) Washington Interns Gone Bad at Visions Cinema. This time, however, it was done. Until a studio picks it up for distribution and throws some more money at it for post-production polishing, that is. For me, this was the first time I saw the film in its entirety. Teasers and other previews have been shared with IndySEE audiences at Visions film showings before, and a previous edit was shared at the Art-O-Matic exhibition this past October.
On Fat Tuesday, independent film director by night and web developer by day, Jason Buckley debuted his film (for like the billionth time) Washington Interns Gone Bad at Visions Cinema. This time, however, it was done. Until a studio picks it up for distribution and throws some more money at it for post-production polishing, that is. For me, this was the first time I saw the film in its entirety. Teasers and other previews have been shared with IndySEE audiences at Visions film showings before, and a previous edit was shared at the Art-O-Matic exhibition this past October.
So... Mardi Gras, Interns, and they've gone bad!
Well, no, it's not quite what you might be thinking after you try to string those dots together. But it gets a little close here and there. When questioned about the premise of the film, Jason Buckley said "I was at the Common Share [and] there were these drunk-ass Republican interns dancing on the bar... like out of those 'Girls Gone Wild' videos... I began writing and well, it's come out a little bit different." That's accurate, if not precise: For one, in most of the movie there's only one intern and how bad she gets, well - that's entirely up to you and your personal moral or qualitative spectrum. But it sure is twisted and funny.
The film opens with Becky, a new congressional intern, leaving her parents. Right off the bat the Chandra Levy and Monica jokes kick-in. Once Becky gets away from her parents she goes on a dizzying ride through... well, allegedly New Jersey, but it's really just an out-of-sequence jaunt around the beltway. Don't use WIGB for driving directions, kids.
It turns out Representative Richard Ford-Brainston, aka "Dick For Brains", is pretty whacked. He's both a sexual predator and has a foot fetish. Not too mention something else nearly as bad as all of that: a constant craving for Starbucks coffee. Becky, of course, is subjected to his attempts to satisfy all these desires.
On top of all of this, "despite" being a Democrat, the congressman is bought out by the Big Corporations and is trying to keep his Anti-Fast Track constituency at bay. All while sucking down his near-slave-labor coffee and sniffing pumps.
This all comes back to haunt the Congressman later in the film.
There's a "rumble" too - a death match scene on a roof. I couldn't help but think of (I'm sorry to admit I've seen this) the Mortal Kombat movie, only this time I laughed. Becky accidentally strays from the advice to stay at out of the way and ends up delivering the final blow, and this gets her in deep. Almost too deep to back out (if it weren't such an every day event).
As Becky learns to deal with the "reality" of the Hill, a love interest steps in. He's a summit-hopping anti-globalization protester and grassroots activist trying to lobby Congress on Fast Track Trade-Promotion legislation. He sweeps Becky off her feet (figuratively) to the point that she accidentally hands him the Congressman's private schedule. This entanglement with an "outsider" trying to participate in "democracy" makes for a twisted subplot of romance, especially with the meddlings of Elizabeth, the Congressman's complicit and controlling Chief of Staff lurking about.
Washington Interns Gone Bad isn't your normal Independent Film. At least not if you're expecting the kind of production you might find over at Dupont Circle or other Visions showings. For one, it wasn't even shot on film. Rather, Buckley worked with what he could and that meant a consumer-grade digital video camera and about a thousand dollars for a budget.
Buckley, although engaged in his film pursuits and a day job, has been a supporter and contributor to independent media in more serious forms as well. And he shows this by plugging the global Indymedia site blatantly while spoofing the mainstream media with a FOX-like "Corporate Media Conglomerate" channel in the film.
The short of it all is this: this is a not a film for you if you're looking for something "pretty" or if you can't suspend disbelief and enjoy a few stereotypes in the context of fiction (stereotypes often have their root in some small kernel of truth somewhere, after all). Below all the cheap-shots and parody of Capitol Hill lifestyle, is a subtext that my Republican great-uncle would call "subversive." A particular sense of humor, irony, and a deep appreciation of the style and grade of IMC newsreels might be considered prerequisites for watching WIGB.
My only suggestion is that maybe they could have taken a cue from Rocky Horror, and turned it into a musical, just to add to all the cheesiness. However, the soundtrack is another tribute to independent production. Maybe it was largely influenced by a lack of budget for royalties, but the soundtrack was entirely made up of local music. Many of the artists were friends of the director. Washington Interns Gone Bad is a CD I would buy (or look for a friend's copy of).
All of these qualities have brought the film to the Barebone International Film Festival. The next local showing of the film will be at the Black Cat on March 17th at 9pm. More information, from mouths of those with vested interests in making you go, can be found at http://www.washingtoninternsgonebad.com.
From now on, I'm wearing a hard hat to protect myself from stray bullets falling from roof-tops as congressional staffers duke it out over the mantras they tell themselves and the public while they do the same damn thing.
The author apologizes for this less than timely review. His day job(s) involve(s) aiding various kinds of independent media and news efforts and those doofuses Colin Powell, George Bush and Ari Fleischer kept ruining my week.
www.washingtoninternsgonebad.com
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