Attached is the link to all my film essays on CURNBLOG- we believe in cinema and share our views on it. I began in 2016 submitting and reviewing articles about classic science-fiction, fantasy and horror films to this site, run by James Curnow – more are yet to follow.
http://curnblog.com/author/jeffrey-decristofaro/
(Paramount Pictures and Walt Disney Productions, 1981)
Directed by Matthew Robbins
Written by Hal Barwood and Matthew Robbins
CAST: Peter MacNicol, Caitlin Clarke, Ralph Richardson, John Hallum, Albert Salmi, Chloe Salaman
Ah 1981 – four years before I first came into the world, and one that was filled with exciting fantasy-themed films on the big screen that have ended up in my 300 favorites list (which I am still composing): Raiders of the Lost Ark, Heavy Metal, Excalibur, Knightriders, Time Bandits… and to that end I’m recommending another particular favorite of mine that seems to have gotten more attention than it did during its initial release 35 years ago, and was actually a straightforward take on Anglo-Saxon mythology that most films seem to merely reference or incorporate into other genres, with then-groundbreaking visual effects, strong performances and consistent characterizations. Now I shall celebrate, and scrutinize as my first review for my blog, the 35th anniversary of the cult fave Dragonslayer (1981).
There are many other reasons to watch this film, of course. While the plot is your standard sword-and-sorcery fare, it’s handled in an intelligent, adult manner that’s actually surprisingly poetic, partially profound and even dark – perhaps too dark even for the family audiences for which it was made, and may have been part if not the only reason why it failed at the box office. But the film has grown to become a cult favorite and is acknowledged by quite a substantial number of viewers as one of the best fantasy films ever made, even holding a current 86% rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
The plot is set in a fantasy kingdom called Urland in post-Roman Empire Briton prior to the turn of the millennium. A fierce 400-year old dragon, Vermithrax Pejorative (try saying that five times fast!) is terrorizing Urland, so its cowardly king has made a pact with the creature to hold a lottery from which a young female virgin – selected from those from the peasant class in order to protect the children of the ruling class – is offered to the monster twice a year in exchange for peace. One peasant virgin, Valerian (Caitlin Clarke), who has been sheltered from the lottery via disguise as a boy by her father, boldly embarks on a journey to enlist the aid of the kingdom’s last sorcerer, the elderly Ulrich of Craggenmoor (the legendary Sir Ralph Richardson in one of his last great roles and performances prior to his death in 1984) and his young apprentice, Gaylen Bradwarden (Peter MacNicol) to destroy the monster before the next lottery is held. But complications emerge when a rather brutal centurion under the king’s service, Tyrian (John Hallum, who apart from the dragon is the film’s best scene-stealing villain and true monster whenever he appears), attempts to stop them at every turn. To make matters worse, Gaylen’s training as a sorcerer is incomplete, Valerian’s true gender identity is about to be revealed, the king’s own virgin daughter Princess Elspeth (Chloe Salaman) has become only recently aware of the shady nature of the lottery and intends to sacrifice herself, and Vermithrax already has a progeny of dragon babies waiting to follow in its stead!
The film is unique in that it was a co-production between rivals Paramount Pictures and Walt Disney Productions (their 2nd shared effort after Popeye, and they split the then-hefty $18 million budget when it began to get too high). Unlike most of Disney’s fare, it is depicting in satirical (and darkly realistic) fashion, like John Boorman’s Excalibur, the uneasy transition of religion from old pagan faiths to Christianity, as well as the callous nature of the ruling class to sacrifice members of the lower class to save itself (keep in mind that this film came out during the first full year of the Reagan administration). It’s a bit uneven, with some of the pacing slow and a little dialogue flat, but despite these lulls, the film is otherwise superb.
Without a doubt, and deservedly, Dragonslayer has gradually earned a place in the cinematic fantasy pantheon for several stand-out elements. The characters are well constructed, namely Richardson’s sorcerer Ulrich and Hallam’s Tyrian (who have a pretty tense face-off early on), and the inevitable blossoming romance between Clarke’s Valerian and MacNicol’s Gaylen is more believable and mature than most stock romantic couples, and one which is bolstered by good chemistry between the two young leads. Some of the dialogue is actually quotable (“If it weren’t for sorcerers there wouldn’t even be dragons!”, as it is revealed that Vermithrax is the last of a dying tradition kept only alive by the practice of magic), and there’s an authentic sense of both past history and natural isolation within the settings, thanks to excellent use at Pinewood Studios for the interiors and several locations in the Isle of Skye, North Wales and Scotland (including Dolwyddelan Castle, standing in for Ulrich’s home). As a plus, you also get the Emperor from the Star Wars films himself, Ian McDermid, playing a Christian priest who meets an ill fate at the mercy of Vermithrax.
But, without argument, it’s the visuals that mostly carry the film. Derek Vanlint’s cinematography is gorgeous, capturing with wide scope the fog-shrouded mountains and rock outcroppings of the Isles and the reflections of forests in lakes and bubbling streams. The fire-breather Vermithrax itself, with the possible exception of Smaug from the more recent Hobbit Trilogy of Peter Jackson, is still possibly the best – and best-designed – dragon in the movies, a miracle of the “go-motion” photographic effects and animatronic models pioneered by Ken Ralston, Chris Walas, Phil Tippett, Bruce Nicholson, and other artists at Industrial Light & Magic. Although a tad dated, these effects of the dragon were state-of-the-art for the early 1980’s and went several steps beyond the conventional stop-motion methods used by King Kong‘s Willis O’Brien and Jason and the Argonauts‘ Ray Harryhausen. The fierce look and actions of Vermithrax – kept wisely off-screen during the beginning save for its tail, horns and clawed legs, but fierce and real during its full reveal – fits the true description of the dragon of European mythology, while also inspired by pterodactyl designs and took up a 25% chunk of the film’s budget. The practical effects work still largely holds up today and resulted in a well-earned Academy Award Nomination for Best Special Effects of 1981.
Alex North’s music for Dragonslayer, which also received one of the film’s two Oscar nominations, is another reason for the enduring appeal of the film. The composer of classic epics like Spartacus and Cleopatra (and his original score originally composed for Kubrick’s 2001, which wouldn’t be used in that film until its actual 2001 re-release), used the same avant-garde characteristics of his music for those sword-and-sandal spectaculars to enhance the emotionally atmospheric scenarios, while incorporating some old Celtic themes into the peasant rituals and otherworldly scales for the magic and dragon-battle scenes.
It all makes for a world that is so alien yet familiar, so fantastic yet undeniably real, so scary and unsettling but also universally entertaining. It all fits the conventions of a film that sets out to honor the conventions of Anglo-Saxon myth, and there’s no doubt that Dragonslayer will remain to inspire future generations of moviegoers, fantasy filmmakers and artists the world over. Don’t miss this one the next time it comes to the big screen!
Well that’s a wrap for now – see you at the cinema!
Wide panoramic shots of vast landscapes, real and imaginary. Close-ups of hands, eyes, and mouths. Battles to the death. Strange worlds of the past and future, of time and space, of our own Earth and the universe that surrounds it. Romance. Laughter. Hideous mutations. Showdowns in the desert. Musical fantasias of song and dance, image and sound. Guys, girls and monsters. The good, the bad, and the ugly. Black and white – and color. Shock cuts from earth to space, from blown match to an ocean of desert. Shock, scandal, intrigue and the ultimate reveal. Light and shadow, good vs. evil. And all that we can watch from the comfort of a center seat in a dimly-lit theater or from a sofa in a living room, from the opening credits to “The End.”
Yep, you heard me correctly – we’re going to the movies! Time to check the weekly showtimes and see which showings are in 2D or 3D (and decide whether the 3D is worth the price of admission). Time to look for the biggest possible screen you can get to with a minimum of traveling effort, be it by foot, bike, bus, or car. Time to purchase your tickets in advance, either in person or online. Time to grab a hold of a soda, candy and butter-saturated popcorn (or, if the selection is wider, alternatives including chips ‘n salsa, or more junk food like beer and pizza – hell, they even have organic options for health-conscious folks at some snack bars). Time to grab the center seat about three to four rows away from the silver screen before anyone else does. Time to fully immerse yourself in a totally intoxicating cinematic experience.
For more than a century, ever since the invention of the film camera and the beginning of the evolution of the art form known as the “motion picture” that was to follow – all which has preceded by the several millennia of established arts like drawing, painting, literature, poetry, dance, theater and photography that the movies would blend together – film audiences have been treated to the action, the spectacle, the romance, the unknown, the struggles, the climatic resolutions, and just plain sheer depiction of anything that took years to get from concept to the silver screen. Most of us go to the movies to seek a entertaining escape from the toil and troubles of the real world, still others go seeking answers they can’t find in the real world that only the movies can provide. And of course, a substantial number of members of both types of audiences have gone on to make films of their own, either onscreen, off-screen, or both.
Most of us take it for granted, and it is generally true that cinema is still a relatively infant art form. But ever since the 1890’s, when the Lumiere Brothers first demonstrated what power a single shot of an advancing locomotive can have on several people huddled in one room, the cinema has become, as pioneering successor D.W. Griffith hoped it would be, the greatest spiritual force the world has ever known. Throughout the decades – and I’m writing this knowing that we are more than halfway through the second decade of the first century of a new millennium – we have witnessed everything from heartbreaking romance to cowboys ‘n Indians, from the conflicts of past wars to the confrontation with alien species both benign and malevolent, from dance numbers beyond the limits of proscenium arch, to the spectacle of sheer slapstick. And all for less than the general ticket pricing of $8 to $10 per show! (As always, check for student/senior discounts and membership club deals.)
The cinema always has something for everyone, and what better way to see it than on a big screen? Yeah, we still have books, stage, TV, radio, music, and other entertainment mediums to choose from… and yes, there are people out there still who prefer the thrill of turning pages, tuning in to their regular radio programming and rocking out to their favorite bands (or streaming the Internet), but nothing – NOTHING – ever remotely comes close to the feeling one gets when encountering the wonderful possibilities of the human imagination like seeing it in a multiplex, drive-in or IMAX theater. And yeah, no matter how much space your widescreen TV takes up in the living room, you would be a sucker if you had to choose that over any presentation first beamed from a small booth above and behind your seat onto that behemoth sheet in front, in CinemaScope, Technirama or Panavision.
That being the case, you’re probably wondering at this point… what is worth watching anymore? With most films nowadays being dominated by loud and redundant comic book and graphic novel adaptations, raunchy rom-coms, animated vehicles and shaky-cam “found footage” movies with the nutritional equivalent of a Kraft mac-&-cheese – or the more dreaded high fructose corn syrup and genetically-engineered heat-up microwave dinners – either we have completely run out of ideas, or the audiences are just too hard to please. Is it possible that the cinema is on its way out?
I beg to differ… and, as a devout cinephile (minus most of the snarky nerd and fan-boy attitude that accompanies most cinephiles at screening conventions and YouTube channels), I have decided that now is the time to share my personal screening perspectives with those who are not only really looking for true films to watch, but also what it means to truly understand films. (For the record, I usually refer to film product as “movies” and rare, daring and undeniably visionary works of cinematic art as “films.”)
From my life journey as a native of Tennessee to a resident of North Carolina – including years as a home-schooled student, UNC-Asheville undergrad and Master’s grad student, and now local participant in the growing Asheville film screening and filmmaking scene – I have always found something to watch on the big screen, and have done my best to carry it home and replicate the experience within the comfort of my living room or bedroom.
I will admit that, like many other people, and thanks to various home video formats like VHS, laserdisc, DVDs and Blu-Rays, and TV channels like American Movie Classics and Turner Classic Movies, I had seen many of my top favorites and highly recommended notable guilty pleasures at home and therefore missed the chance to see them when they were first released. As my maturing appreciation of film grew, so filmic vernacular including idioms and terms such as “auteur”, “mise-en-scene” and “Pudovkin theory” entered my vocabulary, much of what was learned at first from a five-week summer filmmaking course at NC-School of the Arts in Winston-Salem in 2003 (before it joined the UNC system) and at UNC-Asheville prior to and during my Mass Communication minor days. Watching these movies at an early enough age, many of which I saw in “pan-and-scan” format on VHS, as well as those that have been given recent high-definition transfers and some which have ended up being added to the growing spine numbers of the world-revered Criterion Collection (begun in 1984, just one year before I was born!).
But I have been lucky in having seen several film “events” from an early enough age during their initial big-screen presentations (from 35mm negatives) that have now since become the new “classics.” In Tennessee, they included 1991’s Beauty and the Beast (at age 6), 1993’s Jurassic Park (age 7 going on 8), and 1994’s The Lion King (age 8 going on 9). In South Carolina, they included 1996’s Independence Day (on my 11th birthday). And in North Carolina they included the Lord of the Rings Trilogy from 2001 to 2003 (age 16-18) and Pan’s Labyrinth in 2006 (age 21), just to name a few.
And thanks to numerous re-releases of classic films, my wish to see my favorites on the big screen is being gradually granted. Some of them were actually being screened for new generations of moviegoers and aspiring filmmakers, critics and historians alike, in courses devoted to film appreciation and video production. For example, at NC-School of the Arts in 2003, I saw Orson Welles’ Citizen Kane (1941), David Lean’s Doctor Zhivago (1965), Milos Forman’s Amadeus (1984), and Mike Nichols’ Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966) screened from their original negatives in the three-theater complex as training prior to my making my first short film as writer and director, Spared From The Wheelchair, as well as rotating tasks as actor and crew member for the other students’ shorts. And even for fun, they screened movies like my favorite Alfred Hitchcock film, North by Northwest (1959); James Cameron’s Titanic (1997), not a favorite of mine but which I finally saw six years after it was released; Ron Howard’s Apollo 13 (1993, also not a favorite but screened as an introduction to the entire course) and the original theatrical cut of my Top Favorite Film of All Time, George Lucas’ Star Wars (1977). (Hell, I even remember how packed the 946-seat mega-theater there was, and that the disco theme rendition of John Williams’ Star Wars theme was play as the curtains rose!)
Back at home, we continue to have screenings of classic films. Some of them are released for one-time showings, usually to commemorate filmmakers’ passing or birthdays or special-themed occasions. I remember seeing a number of favorites at the Asheville Pizza & Brewing Company on Merrimon Ave. not far from home – they used to show original 35mm negative presentations of Quentin Tarantino’s Pulp Fiction (1994), which I saw in 2008 prior to graduating with a BA in Literature; Tim Burton’s Sleepy Hollow (1999) in October shortly afterward the same year; and Alan Parker’s Pink Floyd The Wall (1982) in 2010, all before converting to the new hi-def digital projection format. And even in that format I got the chance to see more favorites like John Milius’s Conan the Barbarian in January 2013, and the “Final Cut” of Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner in 2015, both films from 1982. (Side note, I actually also saw the more recent Blade Runner cut from a 35 mm negative at the Fine Arts long before that, also in 2008 before my graduation, so it’s an added pleasure seeing these favorites on the big screen again more than once.)
Other Asheville-based screenings – most if not all done in hi-def projection now – are happening thanks to emerging local film-watching collectives. In 2010, the Asheville Film Society (founded and hosted by Mountain Xpress critic Ken Hanke) and the WNC Film Society (founded and hosted by filmmaker husband-and-wife team Tom and Sandi Anton, originally called the Asheville Cinema Society) were founded to give local movie crowds introductions to classics, a portion of funds from the ticket sales going to finance local film festivals. Now we have more classic film screenings taking place in bars, restaurants, libraries and arts-related complexes, including Classic Cinema From Around the World at the Courtyard Gallery of the Phil Mechanics Studio in the River Arts District.
The Asheville Film Society alone (for me at least) has given me many great moments, some shown in either film negative or hi-def projection formats. Not only have we screened some old films like Howard Hawks’ 20th Century (1934) and Brian De Palma’s The Phantom of the Paradise (1974) in the Cinema Lounge above the regular theaters (complete with bar and couches!). We also have had big-screen showings of Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) for its 45th anniversary in 2013, and his The Shining (1980) prior to that in either regular theaters six or eight. And we’ve had a screening of Merian C. Cooper and Ernest B. Schoedsack’s King Kong (1933) and a 35th Anniversary presentation of Nicolas Roeg’s The Man Who Fell To Earth (1976) both in 2011; a showing of William A. Wellman’s Wings (1927, the first Academy Award winner for Best Picture) in 2012; and Ken Russell classics like The Devils (1971) and Lisztomania! (1975) in 2014 and Mahler (1975) in 2015. OK, so there have been a few I’ve missed, like the ultimate original full cut of Fritz Lang’s Metropolis (1927) and David Lynch’s Blue Velvet (1986), but they show these masterpieces more than once, so there’s still a chance to catch them. And it isn’t just classics, but sometimes new films about to be released into theaters – for example, I attended a pre-release screening of Canadian “body horror” master David Cronenberg’s A Dangerous Method (2011) a couple of months prior to its general release in Asheville theaters in 2012, the first film I ever saw by that legend on the big screen.
But enough about my big-screen viewing moments and the Asheville Scene. I have decided to take it upon myself to write my own reviews, which also serve as recommendations to classic films that I have grown up with. I’m hardly prolific when it comes to writing in general, as I have many other commitments and obligations demanding attention, including a part-time job, volunteer community work, my own film projects still in development, assistance with other current local projects by other filmmakers, participation in festivals… and of course, my own family, who has encouraged my interest and support in filmmaking and film appreciation (and who have put up with my ravings on the subject for quite a long time now.) But with each review – most of these reviews concentrating on films released in the past, with only a few for new releases if I find them worth recommending, not easy these days – I hope to introduce to online readers interested in film what it means not only to see films and understand them, but also the reasons why and how films become classics – or at the best, cult gems and guilty pleasures – and why “movies” are only interesting if viewed in a certain light, which is a subjective call in most cases whether assessing the quality of the work, or genres, casts, filmmakers and the subject matter behind each film in general.
I will not give a lettered or numbered or star grade to each review. Rather, I will present in a essay format, mostly films I love or really like or at the very least are unique and interesting, occasionally marking some which are having anniversary celebrations. Don’t be surprised if a number of the films reviewed are mostly in the science-fiction, fantasy, horror, epic, war, foreign, and thriller genres – those are among my favorites. Some of them may actually contain genre content that the more conservative viewer might find subversive or depraved, for which I will give a logical, unbiased scrutiny and defense. For any flaws, I will write out what they are, but keep in mind that even films with many shortcomings (in regards to how the film has aged, for example) still are not without merit.
In addition, I will also write tributes (some which may also be obituaries in the event of any one of my movie idols’ passing) to some of the actors, actresses, directors, writers, producers, music composers, cinematographers, special effects artists and many others who have contributed to the cinema I review and who I have made a part of my life within and outside the film world. And of course, there will be my own past reflections on the films I have watched, some which holds relevance to certain issues outside the cinema that either affected society during the time of the movie’s release or just me in particular during my life. Perhaps maybe upon reading these, your perspective on cinema will change and you will be compelled to follow a similar approach, or one entirely your own.
Well, that’s a wrap for today. See you at the cinema!
– Jeffrey DeCristofaro, 2016.
Fire, fury, foresight and flight are in its words as it coasts
Through currents strong enough to start a tempest
And keeps clear and cloudy skies lit long after the sun has set,
Writing histories that have yet to or may not be written,
Striking the clouds with outstretched tail of flame
Expiring faster than every second of its countless lives.
It hurtles through space, spreading words of solution
To dilemmas not so quickly resolved after they emerge,
To arguments both trivial and severe, some which spark wars,
And to mere questions of life, fulfilling certain conclusions.
When it falls and mates with the ground, the sun rises twice,
The land and air flaring into sudden apocalypse of anger,
More than enough heat and light to consume armies whole.
Within the crater’s epicenter lies the nest of the feathered god,
Within the ashes lies the seed that will sprout into another age,
Building and rising until newly-born heir breaks free and caws,
A successor to its father, which it will remain to bear the next,
And continue to rule with the divine couple of fire and wisdom,
Spreading faster than floods and horses upon the open plains,
Forever grasping the heavens with its claws, minds with its wings.
– Jeffrey DeCristofaro © 2008
With my teeth, I duel in chomps.
With my eyes, I gleam bloody pours.
With my legs, I perform with stomps.
With my hooves, I dance on boars.
With my tail, I render souls lost
With my nose, I smell all fears.
With my hair, I shine holocaust.
With my venom, I weep fatal tears.
With my rampage, I compose woe.
With my reign, I won’t subside.
With my opponent, I find worthy foe.
With my challenge, I expand pride
With my fault, I become mere casualty.
With my death, I shall rule eternity.
Jeffrey DeCristofaro © 2008
When the desert sands of Libya mated with the drops of blood leaked,
From the head of conquered Gorgon slain by Perseus as he soared,
It came, and still remains, preying upon the ants that are civilization.
The great serpent abides, striking without remorse and with haste,
Both its front and rear not without a mind, conceived and living as one,
For where the tail ends, another dragon’s head can be found hissing,
Dissolving its prey in saliva while the front exhales unparalleled flame,
Both heads producing, sharing enough poison to end other dragons’ lives.
Like a scorpion it poses, the tail head rears up upon moment of attack,
Yet keeps equal attention to the rear while the front is engaged,
And how it rolls for miles, the rear head’s jaws lock-kissing the front,
Only to release from embrace and soar onto food fit for its stomach.
The full moon anoints its eyes with the power to petrify all those,
Who dare to stare directly at the great reptile and fall, never to rise again.
It never stops hoarding treasures, only survivor of vanquished kingdoms,
And lies sleeping within caves beneath the sea, under new cities to burn,
Some which it makes with its own claws, architect of most unusual sort.
Only its scaly hide, when completely devoid of moisture, can cure those,
Bound to their beds and chairs by all afflicted curses released by Pandora,
That strain all mortals’ joints and render numb all appendages in youth.
Only a few can find and sneak into the creature’s lair while it slumbers.
And not one pure human soul but many, a handful of sacrifices for one kill.
© Jeffrey DeCristofaro 2016
It pretty much goes without say that one of the the worst, if not the worst, problem our world faces today is, of all things, apathy. How a single word could come to stand for so much (namely self-concern and self-sustainability for the individual at the expense of others’ lives and dignity), I find both baffling and shocking.
But it is a fact, and so are the many cases in history where anything or anyone has suffered and/or perished. In the past, it was largely on account of people who were unaware of what was happening, or had a limited perspective of the world, or knew completely what was happening but were helpless to do anything about it, or could do something about it (perhaps a whole lot) but didn’t show enough concern to take action to do what was right.
We do not have those options, and neither can we afford to have them. Since the emergence, and continuous maturation, of media in all its mediums (and most particularly the World Wide Web), our miniscule (perhaps invisible) sphere in the vast gulf of space has grown even smaller. Through media, we have become more aware of events happening at daily intervals – both the good and the bad. We have learned how to preserve history, advertise and even create new events, make new discoveries and inventions, and even record and share our lives and perspectives on audio and video online for the whole world to see. We have proven ourselves capable of progress, and particularly at times when it has become necessary to ensure that in moving forward, we don’t allow the same mistakes of the past to be repeated.
And yet still, many of those bad things continue to happen, usually on the basis of barbaric philosophies and practices that should have been abandoned in the past – and are still kept alive by such collectives as corrupt politicians, religious fundamentalists and economists – and only used for reference in the hopes that such beliefs and actions be kept permanently obsolete. What is more, because of media, many (if not all) who have become aware of all the evils in the world that still continue (destruction of the environment, the continuing use of non-renewable resources, excessive conservatism, fundamentalist religious actions that include the culling and even purging of minorities, etc.), feel overwhelmed and miserable, feeling that they are insignificant and that no matter what they do that’s good, things will still continue to get worse.
That is not true, and because that is not true, I have reason to believe that everyone has an obligation, regardless of their backgrounds, preferences, limitations, setbacks and so forth, to allow our world to progress than fall behind.
I have lost track of all the petitions I have signed online at Care2 (and for that matter, TakePart, Causes and MoveOn), but so far I have had a few shared successes, both domestically and internationally, and what a relief it is to know that it only happens to be one of several ways of not only letting people know what is wrong with the world, but also encouraging those same people to do something about it, regardless of all obstacles that stand in their way (namely corruption in politics, the world economy, religion, etc.). Please join me in helping our world move forward, and for the better.
– Jeffrey DeCristofaro.
Hello, Hallo, Hola, Ciao, Bonjour, Konnichiwa… Welcome to my new site!
My name is Jeffrey DeCristofaro, aka JeDeC the Alienscribe, aka the American Roman Samurai, aka the Ghost of Flesh and Blood. I am a freelancing multi-artist and multi-activist diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder, and all-around lover of Asheville, the arts and life in general. It has been a while since I have collected enough to start my own blog/site, and I would like to thank WordPress for all the help it has given to independent artists, authors, activists, commentators and all other contributors to human civilization.
My intro will be brief. I am a Tennessee native currently residing in Asheville, North Carolina. Formerly home-schooled up to and including the end of high school, with the exception of a few dual-enrollment courses at Asheville-Buncombe Technical Institute and a summer filmmaking course at UNC-School of the Arts in 2003 (where I wrote and directed my first short, SPARED FROM THE WHEELCHAIR, while rotating acting and crew tasks for other student projects), I later enrolled at the University of North Carolina – Asheville and eventually graduated with a BA in Literature (Concentration Creative Writing, Minor Mass Communications) and a Master’s Degree in Liberal Arts. A former retail clerk at Target, now currently working as a production assistant at Centering on Children, I have done my best to live a full and productive life.
Prior to, during and following my enrollment at UNC-Asheville and part-time job status, I have been involved in Asheville’s local arts and causes scene, usually on a freelancing/volunteering basis. Already a published online model/photographer/poet/videographer, I have also done acting and/or production crew work in features, shorts, music videos and promos, including work as a prisoner extra in MASTERMINDS and as an audience member for the Western North Carolina AIDS Project promo DINING OUT FOR LIFE WITH MONDO, featuring celebrated judge and AIDS activist Mondo from Bravo’s PROJECT RUNWAY, and co-directing credits for shorts in the 2008 and 2014 Asheville 48 Hr. Film Projects. My volunteer work includes Manna Food Bank, Rotarians Against Hunger, and Disability Partners. Currently I am working to build Asheville’s art scene while advocating for causes locally, nationally and internationally, and working on pet projects of my own that now include invention and songwriting.
As I build my blog, I will be inviting those who have subscribed to share with me my achievements, my joys and disappointments, discoveries and lessons about life, and pretty much anything I have proven myself capable of doing so far. I hope that not only are you entertained and educated by my experiences, but also inspired to set an example for their friends, family members, and future generations.
That’s all for now folks – till next time!
–
Jeffrey DeCristofaro 