Indie Success Story: "Tarnation"
I was stunned by the movie when I watched it on videotape shortly before its Sundance debut. While some have trouble defining it, it is clearly a highly personal documentary that offers a window into a fascinating family, and more specifically it is the story of a boy and his mom. Caouette began gathering footage of his life 20 years ago, and just over a year ago started assembling it into a film. Hedwig's John Cameron Mitchell and filmmaker Gus Van Sant caught wind and they, along with New York producer Stephen Winter, would shepherd it to Sundance, along with publicist/insider Mickey Cottrell. [He and co-conspirator Jonny Leahan both insisted that I see it.] Caouette may have only spent about $200 to make the movie, but like some of the best indie filmmakers, he risked so much more by investing himself wholeheartedly into a work that exposes his own life and experiences in such moving way. I've invited the "Tarnation" team to blog about their upcoming experiences here at indieWIRE, here's hoping they agree!
|