The First Cut of JUSTINE

The First Cut of JUSTINE is down to 1 hr 50 min of screen time. The edited part is at 1 hr 20 min. 30 min left to cut down. The idea is to have a 90 min film, but if it comes down to 85, it is, still, acceptable. I’m betting that the First Cut of the entire film will be ready by the 21st of this month. After that, a little break to get some distance and on to the final cut, mix, color correction and voila, JUSTINE will be ready. I can also bet that the possibility of getting the film at a discount price will be over before the 21st. Just sayin’ Get JUSTINE in advance of its release for a discount price and get some perks too before the offer ends this week!

It’s no surprise to any of us that red feline/pachamama/other names is going through a period of multiple personality. Read Margot’s posts and what you see is how excited they are to have cameras and lights and computers and editing suites. They are going to festivals and getting the message with some regularity: if you want to be mainstream, you have to dump the gimp–or tone it WAY down.
A fan

The equipment is not what we’re excited about. I was simply observing that in the last few years we have experienced a growth that is very, very positive. We can produce with high quality sound and image. That’s a plus in a competitive world, regardless of content. Going to festivals is also a plus, we get to be in the news and more public exposure translates in new fans, new fans that buy our films which translates in more income for our cast and crew. The comments about cutting down the GIMP have to do with reaching a larger audience, one that will not sit down to a looooong scene of torture, to then watch another looooong scene of torture.

That should be pretty obvious to us on the board–especially those of you who comb through TV shows and commercial releases for 2-3 seconds of non-nude, non-specific “pretty-girl-who-MIGHT-have-something-bad-happen-to-her-probably-offscreen”. Even in the heyday of Jess Franco, no-one really confused his drive-in fare with Martin Scorcese. And when guys like Kubrick did Clockwork or Eyes Wide Shut, he got beat up and a lot of his public wouldn’t go see them, and he was a recognized cine genius. It’s not those days anymore. We can see MUCH better gimp (in many flavors) on the internet in our own homes for not a lot more than the price of a couple movie tickets. The drive-in is dead. Those who try to make the old B-movies with a bit more freedom (though not much) often go straight to video.
Same fan

We live new times now, yes. We’re part of that new world. We started Red Feline in 1998 when a lot of the new ways of producing and watching movies were in their earlier stages. In the times of Jess Franco, there were producers, mostly in Germany, who were willing to shell out a few hundred thousand dollars to make films like Justine, with Klaus Kinsky or Fu Manchu, with Christopher Lee, and sure, Kubrik had a lot more cash to do Clockwork Orange, in both cases, that of Franco and Kubrik, there were well defined styles in filmmaking and both had their fans. We produce with a lot less now, a lot less; but in many cases the production values are a lot better than some of Franco’s films, the cheaper ones. In other words, we do a lot more with 10,000 than producers of old did with 300,000. And the Straight to VHS market is over. There are many more ways of viewing films now, DVDs, Downloads, Streaming … options that have created new markets, wide audiences, but also a huge load of choices. It also increased piracy, unfortunately. It’s a competitive market, one we have to deal it and take advantage of.

Amy and Jac want the holy grail. They want to be in the metroplex theaters, sweating out the oscars, hitting the homerun. Yes, their roots are more in the area of Red Feline, but everyone they really respect is telling them they have to shed that–or tone it way down. And they’re right. During this period of trying to be two different things at the same time, they are testing us–the gimp audience–to see how well we will support them. Maleficaram and Marquis, okay. The others, not so much. Justine is clearly their last major test of a “gimp” movie–and I suspect it may disappoint those who want pure gimp, just as Jac’s whipping technique disappoints fans of whipping. But it hopefully will help them upgrade their production facilities as Mal did. I expect that DBD and Olalla and the others are the step toward their own brand of flash-gimp moments in “serious” films, and that’s perfectly appropriate. How you gonna keep em down on the farm, after they’ve seen New York?!
Same fan

We’re not really testing the GIMP audience. We’ve been making GIMP movies for over 16 years. I think we measured all possible ways of getting our productions out there. Even Maleficarum ended up in Multiplexes, and no one in our group is actually interested in an Oscar. Amy is not listening to people she really respects. She’s getting some feedback from some people that she does not really respect but who have some info as to how to navigate the big markets if she or Jac want to have some security in their old age, right now they have none. From the beginning Amy made clear what her preferences were as far as the subjects she wants to write and direct. She directed Sirwiñakuy long before Jac directed her in Maleficarum. In fact, Sirwiñakuy was on its 5th month on the big screen when she started directing Barbazul and by that time Jac already knew what the response to an “artsy” film with GIMP content would be when he released Martyr, a film that didn’t win the hearts, minds and groins of the GIMP crowd. We know what a film like Maleficarum can do and how far it can go. We can expect that JUSTINE will have a decent run in the world of GIMP, it might be well received in Amazon and it might even end up in some weird film festivals. There are other issues that both Jac and Amy are confronting at this point. Jac is a true New Yorker, btw, he lived there 40 years and still, he ended up going back to the farm.

Red Feline and Paintoy are two companies who have started from some of the same roots–both having made major improvements in production values, but PT has no desire to move out of its niche. Jac and Amy do. Both the images above have beautiful women suffering, both have quality production. You won’t likely see much more of the Marquis with Mila stuff coming from Pachamama, but you can count on PT to bring you more of their product. I wish them both the best on their paths and hope that Justine will be good enough that I can buy it.
Same fan

Jac’s roots go way back before the Red Feline experience, he dedicated years to produce an amazing docudrama that put his name up there in Cannes and international film festivals, it was shown in PBS and international television like Ch 4 in England and NDR in Germany. He did other documentaries and a TV series, where he joined forces with Carmen/Camille. Red Feline was a little experiment that became something larger, a brand name of sorts. It had more to do with Jac’s preferences in GIMP. He’s very much into this as anyone here, so he knows what he wants from a film like that, the problem is how to get what he wants, what he really wants, and there are so many variables, but the main one is and it always will be, the resources, all the resources. He would prefer to dedicate most of his time and talents to make films like Maleficarum, he has a lot of fun doing that. Jac’s niche is even more limited, and he’s still dreaming of that huge budget crucifixion movie but fears that he’ll never have the big bucks for it.

I sense a tension between aspiring to great film making a la Kubrick and what mostly seems to appeal to GIMPERS, which is a GIMP scene pure and simple. Great movies have great plot, photography and music. GIMP movies can have good photography and don’t necessarily need a plot an music. But, on the other hand, a lack of plot or dramatic tension makes for quick boredom. For example, I like whipping scenes as much as anyone here, but after about two minutes of flogging with nothing else it gets boring and tedious no matter how gorgeous the GIMP is. There is always the Salomonic solution, if it is a cinematic production enjoy the film with all its elements. You can always go back to the “good” parts. Best to Amy, Queen Margot, and Jac on their new adventure. I am enclosing a photo manip I just finished with a story line to aid the imagination in completing what is missing.
Frog

I don’t think that there’s tension. I think it’s the process taking place now. After 5 years of high production films, 7 in total, that’s a lot of big movies in 5 years, the time has come to decide where to go next. Where to put the big efforts and who to work with. An example: If we were to produce Maleficarum II, we can expect that it will be as popular as Maleficarum just because of the title. But it could also be only half as popular, in which case it would not be a good idea to produce it. Why? Because Maleficarum II requires a lot more production values than the first. It would be expected of us to make a film far superior to the first. A second inquisition movie cannot be a repetition of the first. If there’s a BATS scene it would have to be seriously better than the first one. The dungeon scenes would have to be a lot better than anything we did so far and not the same as before. More exotic locations, a large cast, new torture instruments, and so on. But most importantly, the leading ladies. The demands on them would be very, very big and extreme and they would demand a big payback for their efforts. Furthermore, we would need more than 2 victims. 3 or 4 might be enough or maybe not. And not to mention a whole bunch of extras. That’s the issue now.

What Reine Margot just said (posted) I’m think the problem is the Plot of their Gimp movies should be about torture and merciless peril like Maleficarum and Justine is about. Forget vampires and go with witches which were real in the fact they were really tortured and after confessing roll eyes (sarcastic) my favorite burn at the stake. The TV show Salem would prefect plot example to go with. Through out the medieval times there are hundreds of real gimp tells of torture and merciless peril. Think of Jac as the new improved Vincent Price and poor nude Amy tied to a latter being slowly… lowered into a fiery pyre. After being tortured and raped of course. Just a Plot idea I think will still work the same as it did in the Vincent Price Gimp movie era in mainstream theaters should work better now. Bill K.

And that’s what I’m discussing here. A great GIMP movie with everything that it deserves and with all the means possible. Unfortunately, we’re simply not getting enough to do justice to a film like that. Jac has reached the point where he will not go into a film without all he needs for it. That’s where the documentaries and the TV series come in. He can accept a low budget production for someone else, like Erix, who is going to shoot an adventure film with Amy and Mila in leading roles. Or an intriguing story set in a hotel, more in tone with Sirwiñakuy and directed by Amy… but another Maleficarum film… that will require a lot of cash. So, we’ll have to wait until JUSTINE is released and see how it goes to find out what will Jac decide to do next. I’ll let you all know in May.

I’m simply voicing those thoughts that are flying around in our little world. I was referring to changes before, and they are here, they are happening, which is normal. We had changes before and a lot of good came out of them. One big change was going from two person cast/crew mode of production to big crew, big cast, big budget, high production values and it worked for the last 5 years. We have higher demands we must face those changes and make them work.

If the future of Pachamama Films is to produce mainstream fare, you have a choice to make another film like Maleficarum or Justine, in other words, movies full of GIMP, or a movie that might have one or two GIMP scenes, like Dead But Dreaming or Olalla. Assuming Jac likes GIMP and wants to put some in every movie, I guess your choice would be a little or a lot. If you go all out, we’ll likely support your efforts. What is your top selling movie? The very GIMP-friendly Maleficarum. But if too much GIMP is gonna be a hindrance to you, you have to look at the big picture. Unless you’ve got deep pockets, the idea of making movies is to make money. If the plan is to make another vampire movie (a hot genre) and too much GIMP is an audience killer, to me, it’s pretty obvious what you should do. But I think if you go that way, it’s not realistic for us to put up big $$$ for a film that has one or two scenes. Face it, the only ones who actually LIKE movies that are full of nudity and torture are the pervs and sick fucks who inhabit this forum. For most of the movie-going public, they’re a turn-off. And we are a very small percentage of the movie-going population. I don’t think you’ll be able to stay in business if you’re mainly planning on relying on Kickstarter campaigns from GIMPers.
Ralphus

There’s a limit to how much we can raise with a campaign as we did with JUSTINE. And there’s a limit to how much an individual is could contribute to a GIMP-friendly movie. Individual contributions and two campaigns made three films possible and freed resources to make two more. So, I’m not complaining, in fact I don’t think any of our work would exist if it wasn’t for all the support we received through the years since the old days of Red Feline on The Cross. As everything in life, things change with time. People change. We changed. We’re facing those natural changes that come from time to time, like they did after Martyr was completed. Back then there were not too many people involved in a full time basis. For Martyr and Nocturnia Jac got together a crew and cast, there was some money available and he made those two features. That was the end of that era. Amy joined up, because of Martyr, and a new era began. We’re facing a new cycle. But it’s not only one or two people, we have a bunch of full time cast and crew with experience, enthusiasm and needs. The price of growth. Needs.

We need to increase our yearly budget to keep this going and one way of doing that is producing more mainstream fare. Something that was difficult to do in the past because we didn’t have what we have now, lots of equipment, an experienced crew and a very talented and enthusiastic cast. Even if we stick to produce horror movies, with some erotica, they have to be the kind that will end up in big stores, if we make a TV series, it has to be one that will go into cable TV, or streaming channels like Netflix. That’s the dilemma. There’s one way of keeping the work we do the way we do it, and that’s reaching out to a lot more people to get our movies. We always find our films pirated, so we know that a lot more people see our films that way and we should be able to find more people willing to pay for them. Unfortunately there are too many sites, that charge, where people can download our films and we don’t get anything. Piracy does affect us. We fight pirates, but there are too many, they are a plague. That’s why it would be nice if we get a pay check for a TV series and let them worry about pirates.