Spring Break
Alumnus creates and stars in movie to be screened tonight
JULIE LEUNG
Issue date: 3/23/09 Section: Variety
William Goss is somewhat of a quadruple threat.
A 2006 University graduate with a degree in English, the 25-year-old plays in local band Plume, wrote a screenplay, directed it and starred as the main role.
Tagged as "an experimental soap opera about an illegal cabaret," Goss' brainchild, "Magenta's Caress" will be screened at Cine tonight.
"You have this family, the Deans. In that family you have Robbie, Terri, his sister, and Preston, his brother. Their father is dead; their mother is dying in a hospital of cancer, and Robbie is supporting the family by his job at the casino," Goss said.
Robbie eventually strikes it rich and starts his own business, an underground cabaret, Magenta's Caress.
Where: Athens Cine
Price: $5
More Information: www.williamcgoss.com
Despite this bleak setup, the young filmmaker insists that the film is driven by humor.
"It's like if someone saw a really nice burlesque show and came back to their small town and recreated it with no money and no professional talent." Goss said. "The way he talks about it makes it seem like it will be the nicest cabaret ever."
Goss was inspired to write the screenplay during a sleepless night on an overnight train from Memphis, Tenn., to Chicago, where he studied at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago after graduation.
"All the images of the seedy night life sort of were swirling around in my head. For me, growing up in Mississippi, in a very conservative town, it just seemed like out of my experience. That's what made me want to do it, make art out of something you don't anything about,"
Recruiting friends from Chicago to work with initially, Goss had to put his film on hold as medical reasons forced him to return to the South to recuperate.
"Being an independent filmmaker with no economic resources, it's really difficult to do anything of any magnitude film-wise in a traditional sense. So I decided just to start using a different actors for the characters," Goss said.
Thus, the same character may be portrayed by two different actors.
The result is an episodic film that, by necessity, rejects conventions.
"It's absurdist comedy - sort of David Lynch meets Douglas Sirk, a classic Hollywood director who made really melodramatic movies," Goss said.
"['Magenta's Caress'] is about the minutia that goes into planning an event, but that sort of becomes the most important part of the movie."
Copies of "Magenta's Caress" will be available for $7 at the screening.
"It's an explosion of [Goss'] mind," said Mary Dodson, a third year English major who plays the Athens version of Terri.
"It's bright, it's funny and its smart. It's not your normal student film and doesn't take itself too seriously."
A 2006 University graduate with a degree in English, the 25-year-old plays in local band Plume, wrote a screenplay, directed it and starred as the main role.
Tagged as "an experimental soap opera about an illegal cabaret," Goss' brainchild, "Magenta's Caress" will be screened at Cine tonight.
"You have this family, the Deans. In that family you have Robbie, Terri, his sister, and Preston, his brother. Their father is dead; their mother is dying in a hospital of cancer, and Robbie is supporting the family by his job at the casino," Goss said.
Robbie eventually strikes it rich and starts his own business, an underground cabaret, Magenta's Caress.
MAGENTA'S CARESS
When: 9 p.m. tonightWhere: Athens Cine
Price: $5
More Information: www.williamcgoss.com
Despite this bleak setup, the young filmmaker insists that the film is driven by humor.
"It's like if someone saw a really nice burlesque show and came back to their small town and recreated it with no money and no professional talent." Goss said. "The way he talks about it makes it seem like it will be the nicest cabaret ever."
Goss was inspired to write the screenplay during a sleepless night on an overnight train from Memphis, Tenn., to Chicago, where he studied at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago after graduation.
"All the images of the seedy night life sort of were swirling around in my head. For me, growing up in Mississippi, in a very conservative town, it just seemed like out of my experience. That's what made me want to do it, make art out of something you don't anything about,"
Recruiting friends from Chicago to work with initially, Goss had to put his film on hold as medical reasons forced him to return to the South to recuperate.
"Being an independent filmmaker with no economic resources, it's really difficult to do anything of any magnitude film-wise in a traditional sense. So I decided just to start using a different actors for the characters," Goss said.
Thus, the same character may be portrayed by two different actors.
The result is an episodic film that, by necessity, rejects conventions.
"It's absurdist comedy - sort of David Lynch meets Douglas Sirk, a classic Hollywood director who made really melodramatic movies," Goss said.
"['Magenta's Caress'] is about the minutia that goes into planning an event, but that sort of becomes the most important part of the movie."
Copies of "Magenta's Caress" will be available for $7 at the screening.
"It's an explosion of [Goss'] mind," said Mary Dodson, a third year English major who plays the Athens version of Terri.
"It's bright, it's funny and its smart. It's not your normal student film and doesn't take itself too seriously."
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Valentuna
posted 3/23/09 @ 4:22 PM EST
Go Will go!
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