2013: The End of an Era (Catharsis, be my valentine)

So, you're wondering about the title? What I mean is the end of an era of emotional pain and suffering. In real life, not on screen. No worries.

Between 2010 and 2013 I had a lot of suck¹ happening in my life. Those three years were like a crash-course in hard knocks. What my mother calls, "An abrupt loss of innocence". I experienced a personal loss. I ended a long relationship. And my dad got sick, and suddenly I was entirely responsible for him.². In February of this year, my father died. Now I'm learning to live with my 50% chance of not going out like a zombie far before my time. Thanks, genetics. Hooray to living on the edge! Every day is a gift! Yay!

But there's good news: people heal, and they actually have a bottomless pit of innocence, and strength, left if they know how to look for it, deep inside. Artists need their innocence, believe me. It's there, I looked for it and found it. Pure magic.

Between those years a lot of great things also happened, namely that my output as a filmmaker has been exponential, or at least it feels that way. The production company, in which I'm a partner, is going strong and we're making new movies all the time. I'm actually able to make the films I want to, with little compromise. Seriously? Yes. This is the most awesome thing ever, short of actually having lots of money to produce those films.

He meows like a tiny dinosaur. I'm not kidding.

This year Dead But Dreaming had its theatrical run and pre-release, I had a great interview published in Fangoria Magazine, lots of interviews in other magazines and blogs, traveled from coast to coast, went to the PollyGrind Film Festival³ with Barbazul, met some great people, had good times with old friends, a fantastic time with a new friend, helped out my mom with lots of manual labor, shot about 2/3 of my fourth film as director, Olalla, ran a pretty successful IndieGoGo campaign to raise funds for the other 1/3 of Olalla, and now have a distribution deal in the works for all of the films. And last, but not least, I found a very cute kitten in my garden, named Mitsou, after the Balthus drawings. When I only focus on the positive, it was a complete and utter blast.

Look at all the pretty awards!

On Saturday the 21st, I threw a party for much of the cast and crew of Olalla. We celebrated the Solstice (at least I did, having been raised by a pagan goddess (my mother)), and we found out at 6PM PST that we won a huge amount of lovely awards from The Beverly Hills Outlook!

Among them, I won Best Director (Gold) for Le Marquis de la Croix, Best Actress (Gold) for Dead But Dreaming, and Barbazul won Best Film (Gold). I really could not be more pleased! You can see all of them at this link right here.

It was wonderful to share that with the people who make everything happen, who believe in what we do, and put their hearts and souls into their work with us. I love them dearly.

I'm very excited to start 2014 with even more projects. We'll be shooting the 1880s sequence for Olalla, including the big scene, it looks like Jac Avila has an adaptation of the Marquis de Sade's Justine in the works, Erix Antoine has a great script we'll be shooting (I finally get to kick ass in an action movie!), there's a good chance I might be heading into the jungle to shoot something (huge insects! pretty birds!), I have a script for a horror film, and I'm making a horror short in collaboration with some PollyGrinders.

This year is ending well.

This is fantastic!

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1 For my non-English-speaking readers (who may be using Google Translate) "suck" = bad (mal)^↩

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Nonsensical ledge, be gone!
I will take out my wrath upon thee.

2 100 painful pages of the ups and downs of that story could be put right here. It would read like a horror soap opera.

The past few days I've been really angry, and didn't know why. I gave it some thought, and realized that this time last year was the last time I saw my father alive. I think he recognized me, he smiled a lot. I felt guilty for not doing more. I still feel guilty, even though everyone tells me I did a great job with him. Someday, I wish to feel at peace about that.

I cried, I smashed a ledge off of a wall that didn't need to be there. I feel better now. And have about 5 inches more space in that room. ^↩

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Barbazul in Las Vegas, baby!

3 I just realized that I'm a silly person for not writing about the PollyGrind Film Fest before now?! Chad Clinton Freeman has organized pure AWESOME there in LV! I went for the entire 5 days, watched tons of films, had my picture taken with Ilsa: She Wolf of the SS (Dyanne Thorne), was completely dazzled by the weirdness of Las Vegas (my 2nd visit), and most importantly, connected with a bunch of very cool people. It's what a film festival should be, well-organized, well-curated, lots of fun. I got to Q&A after the screening of Barbazul for a whopping 25 minutes, probably to the utter consternation of the kind director, Chad, who had another film scheduled after mine. I loved every minute of PollyGrind... except for that wicked hangover I had one day out of the five. But, I cured it by watching more films.^↩

That's yours truly with Dyanne Thorne and Howard Maurer of "Ilsa" fame. Pretty sweet.

Olalla: The IndieGoGo Campaign

Just a few days ago, we began shooting the contemporary scenes for Olalla, my fourth feature film as director. I also am the protagonist in this film. Cool beans! You can read more about the shooting of the film on the Olalla Facebook Page.

So, last week we launched the IndieGoGo campaign to raise funds for the scenes set in the late 1800's. In particular a huge blow-out AWESOME scene in which Olalla is dragged out of her home by a mob of angry villagers, chained to a cross, whipped, and burned at the stake. Intense, I know. And that scene involves a ton of extras in period costume, a great location, and a lot of production. So, we're trying to raise funds to make it the most awesome, intense scene ever!

We've kept the cost low for the contemporary scenes by working with a small crew, sourcing a great location from a friend, and cutting corners where we could. Even as such, those scenes still look big-budget! Because we're that good. See for yourself in this production still, below. Awesome, right?!

Notice the nice lighting here. And this is raw, without post-production.

We really want to make the huge cross/whipping/burning-at-the-stake scene the best ever to be seen on the big screen, so please consider helping us do that by taking a look at the campaign! We have tons of perks for your contribution, like a pre-sale of the Download/DVD (at a discount), autographed photos, the book (by Robert Louis Stevenson) signed by Amy Hesketh (me), t-shirts, copies of the script signed by Amy Hesketh (me) and other cast members, an Associate Producer credit, an opportunity to have Amy Hesketh (me) shoot an interview just for you (answering your questions), the chance to be an extra in the big "burning at the stake" scene, an Executive Producer credit, and much more! It's all really good stuff. Seriously, there's something for everyone, for every budget.

So far we've reached over 10% of our goal. You can help us reach 100%!!!

Here's a link to the campaign right here!

And here's the pitch video below, telling you more about what we're trying to do. 

It's also funny, so I urge you to watch it.

The Premiere of Dead But Dreaming

I'm late? It's because I spent 45 minutes applying this red lipstick.

Last night's premiere of Dead But Dreaming (Muerta Pero Soñando) in the Multicine movie complex in La Paz, Bolivia was a complete success! Lots of people loved the film and I received many big hugs and congratulations afterward for my acting, and production work/costumes/etc, in the film.

Before the premiere. With some sexy stockings.

Many people told me that they were astounded by the movie, and completely taken with the new, fresh, original vampire myth that Jac has created, the production values, and the acting in the film.

Strangely enough I don't usually have an opinion of my own acting in many films. I figure I did my best, it's cool, I'm fine with it, satisfied with what's there. Sometimes surprised that I managed to pull it off, in the case of Maleficarum.

It's different with Dead But Dreaming. I'm extremely proud of my acting, I found my performance convincing, moving even. That's interesting to me.

I'm very proud of the work that everyone put into the film, my fellow actors, crew, and especially Miguel Inti Canedo, our cinematographer. The images are so beautiful to be overwhelming, almost unreal.

I put together a little video showing the crowds before the premiere, and the party afterward for your viewing enjoyment!

An Inspired Review of Barbazul!

(Veronica) "portrays death throes with disturbingly believable authenticity"

Yesterday a very positive and insightful review was published in The Beverly Hills Outlook by editor Charles Lonberger. To say the least, it was well received by yours truly. The reviews says many complimentary things about the film and the acting of Veronica Paintoux, Mila, Joya, Jac Avila. Well, everyone in the cast. And this is what it says about me:

"The most interesting role, an otherwise minor part, of Jane, is assumed by director Hesketh, slyly referencing an inside joke by assigning the role to herself. It is a self-portrait of the Artist as masochist, handcuffed and whipped. In this role, as a fictional author of S&M novels, Hesketh wants to be hit “harder,” and ends up buried beneath, and thereby literally lower, than dirt. The assignment of this role to herself is transparent. Her interpretation of this very dark role is as girlish as it is disarmingly and deceptively casual. Most importantly, it voices the central dialectic of Hesketh's creative self: as filmmaker, she is very much in control, yet the fiction she imagines, as in a dream, celebrates control being forcibly taken from her, here in the form of her own death, which she eroticizes, due to the manner in which it is realized.

Extremely dark, ultimately introverted and intelligent entertainment, Barbazul is distributed by Vermeerworks."

You can read the whole review at this link right here!

Me, celebrating my loss of control.

Fantastic Review of Le Marquis de la Croix in the Beverly Hills Outlook!

Mila Joya and Jac Avila in Le Marquis de la Croix

"(Le Marquis de la Croix)... is a master class in film direction, courtesy of Hesketh herself.". Nice! Right?

You can read the full review by clicking right here!

I'm very pleased with this review, it really could not be better. A big thank you to Charles Lonberger for this. Quite frankly, he understands my films 100%.

Haven't gotten your copy of the movie yet? You can find the DVD Here, or the Download Here!

A fabulous review of Barbazul will be coming out in the same publication very soon, I can't wait to share the link!

The Official Theatrical Trailer of Dead But Dreaming!

The 25th of July Dead But Dreaming (Muerta Pero Soñando) hits Bolivian movie theaters! Below is the fantastic trailer of Jac Avila's latest masterpiece, featuring yours truly and many other talented actors, such as Veronica Paintoux, Mila Joya, Jac Avila, Jorge Ortiz, Claudia Moscoso, Rhobess Pierre, Beto Lopez, Eric Calancha, and many more!

Use the toggles below to watch it in HD, it's worth it!

Dead But Dreaming: Official poster designed by moi, plus a release date

Fantastic poster, yes?!

Yes, as some of you may know, I don't just sit around eating bonbons and drinking champagne. (I wish).

Instead, I'm hard at work editing the "making of" Dead But Dreaming, doing the graphic design and various and sundry other very important tasks to do with the impending rlease. It would be nice to have at least one clone of myself.

Big news, Dead But Dreaming, the first vampire film ever made in Bolivia (!!!), will hit theaters here down South July 25th. I'm very excited, as I always am. It'll be great to see it on the big screen!

Don't forget to go to the Facebook Page for Dead But Dreaming and give it a like. And check out all of the great photos from the making of the movie!

Father's Day

My dad, Dennis, looking very handsome.

This is the first year that I haven't been able to wish my dad a happy father's day, since his passing this February.

He was an exceptional person, and I miss him a lot.

He was a very supportive person in my life, always quirky, always thinking outside of the box. There are always things that we could be angry at our parents for, but at the end of the day, I would prefer to remember what I take away from the experience of being parented by such a an offbeat man. Many good memories, and lots of knowledge.

My father had an avid appreciation for nature and one of my favorite things to do with him was to go birding out on the land in back of the house. He would point out to me the different types of trees, we would be very quite in order to see animals, and look up the birds in his Audubon book. We found an Elm tree once, deep in the woods, untouched by Dutch Elm disease (this is actually something special as there aren't many Elms left in New England).

Another time we found a tiny fawn nestled in a field. We had to grab the dog, Dinah, and carefully back away in case we contaminated its scent. My father explained that fawns don't have their own scent, as a method of protection from predators. I'll never forget the way its sleepy eyes innocently blinked up at us. Magical.

I still enjoy taking walks with my mom, also an amateur naturalist, in her woods. I hope to for years to come.

Superfan!

Adrian Brown, from California, sent me this picture. I'm soooo pleased!!!

"MALEFICARUM in Indian Country, Southern California. Thanks for a 'killer' film, Amy!"

Interview on Monsterdiggare & News

A great Swedish horror site did an interview with yours truly, you can read it right here! I talk about the films, horror movies, my favorite music, lots of great info there!

And in other news, after 7 days of bronchitis, I finally finished the artwork for Dead But Dreaming, so have a look-see at the new official poster! No sparkly vampires for us. The theatrical release date for Bolivia is set for July 25th, hooray!

News, porn actors' genitals, unethical journalism, etc.

Wow, it's been a while since I've posted here. Horrible, horrible, me. I've been crazy busy lately, what with the remaining scene of Dead But Dreaming, the pre-production of Olalla, and more interviews coming my way. Hey, it takes time to think up those scintillating answers!

Below all of my text is a little tidbit of the Fangoria interview, with yours truly. Even if this issue has flown off the newsstands in your area, you'll still be able to get a copy of #323 on Fangoria's website! I love the tag lines, "The Passion of Amy Hesketh", and "An American filmmaker pushes bloody boundaries in Bolivia". Seriously love this (as well as the alliteration)!

I read an article today (click here for the link) about how Lars von Trier is super-imposing the genitalia of porn actors over his own actors for the sex scenes in his new movie, Nymphomaniac.

Is this cowardly, and done just for shock value, as my friend @alanbnogueira tweeted? Or was this a compromise made in order to have the scenes he wanted, with the cast he wanted? With names like Charlotte Gainsbourg involved, it begs the question.

This was rather prevalent to me since, last week, the Bolivian TV station ATB interviewed us about the "type of films we make". We asked what the show was about, they waffled around a bit and said something about "erotism in film". We did the interview, talked a bit about the erotic scenes in our movies, how we feel about that, how others feel about that, etc. Basically, I told them that we make art, artists/actors use their entire bodies as their "medium". Therefore, nudity is not the subject, nor the object, but the vehicle for expression. I was stating the obvious.

So, later that night Jac and I sat down to watch the show, and lo and behold, the feature was about pornography. Due to the shoddy journalism involved many viewers were left with the impression that we were making pornographic films. This would not bother me if we were actually making porn.

What bothered me is the fear the TV people apparently had at coming out and telling us about the content of the show. That was cowardly and unethical. They attempted to clear it up the following night with a statement basically saying that "(the filmmakers) in last night's feature contacted us to say that they don't make pornography". Whatever.

Was this just shoddy journalism, or are people here really that intimidated and unable to understand the movies we make? I'm not talking about all people, there are many educated, intelligent people in this country.

The only intelligent speakers on the show were three women who were very good at defining what pornography is and isn't. Citing Georges Bataille, and the Marquis de Sade, among others, as examples of eroticism, not pornography. Better.

This does bring up that age-old question, though: How far will (or should) an actor go in the name of art? Personally, the only reason I would be opposed to an actual pornographic scene in one of my movies is what most people fear with any casual sexual contact with someone else, disease. I do not demonize sexual acts. Sex is part of who we are as human beings, and quite often the motivating factor for many of the zany things we do in life.

Other than my neurotic fear of disease, I don't see why it's such a big deal. I enjoy portraying, whether as an actor or director, realism in my films.

According to TV and some movies, one would think that men never touch women's breasts, and that women never take their bras off during sex.

So including real sex acts in a film about one woman's sexual journey, is completely justifiable. What would have happened if some of Lars von Triers actors had said, "Sure, ok, let's do it!". Would the world have ended? No. Would some closed-minded people have thereafter demonized these actors? Perhaps, but we also would have gotten over a huge (pardon the pun) hump in filmmaking. And I don't know why Lars would be worried, because many people already think he's crazy. There's a certain freedom in that.

When I saw Catherine Breillat's Romance, which has real sexual penetration, I was intrigued. But not scandalized. Was it important for the film, or did the director do that just because she could? I certainly don't remember the film for the sex, but, instead, the acting and character arc of the lead protagonist.

Perhaps this has something to due with how I view the medium of film. Cinema, to me, is a medium for making conceptual art. It is a translation of the story, and of the self.

I think we have a long way to go before real sex in film is no longer shocking and can be seen a simply part of the storytelling.

Fangoria Magazine

I'm super happy and excited to tell you that there's an interview with yours truly in the current issue of Fangoria Magazine, #323!

Fangoria was my favorite magazine when I was a kid, I had a stack of them at my dad's house, because my mother thought they were a "bad influence". Thank goodness for dads with different "rules", or lack thereof.

FIY, I'm in the "Latin Horror".

You can buy the current issue of Fangoria right here!

An Interview, and Review of Le Marquis de la Croix

What was in that tea?

I am so pleased to see today that an interview with yours truly about Le Marquis de la Croix has been published on Obscure DVD and Video Blog!

But that's not all, there's a fantastic review of Le Marquis de la Croix there as well, in which I'm again called the "female Jess Franco", and Jac Avila is compared to the late Klaus Kinski!

To read the interview with moi click here!

To read the fabulous review, click here!

Mila Joya and Jac Avila in Le Marquis de la Croix

My First Video Blog Post: Location Scouting for Dead But Dreaming

Cliffs outside of La Paz

I had a great time yesterday location scouting for the remaining scene for Dead But Dreaming. The fresh air was wonderful.

Over the past few months, Jac was editing Dead But Dreaming, made his first cut, and decided that something was missing. Yesterday we made the first step in filling in that fantastic puzzle piece.

The scene will be somewhat elaborate, it's the story of how Mila Joya's character, a slave who is falsely accused of theft, whipped and crucified for the enjoyment of her mistress's guests, becomes a vampire.

The location we found is about an hour outside of La Paz, in a beautiful valley. You can watch the video below, right here:

Death, Maleficarum, Reviews, Olalla

As some of you may already know from my posts on Facebook, my father passed away not long ago. Although I was supposed to be prepared for it, I wasn't. So, I took an emergency trip up to the great white North, saw friends and family, and slogged through a bunch of bureaucratic paperwork. Why does death involve so much paperwork? Incredible.

Robert Louis Stevenson, my new BF

I'm back in the South now, where the water goes down the drain the other way, and am getting back to the project at hand, my next movie, Olalla, in the midst of mourning. My next movie involves death. And a strange family.

I was perusing the interwebs and found that someone had written a review about Maleficarum recently on horrornews.net. You can read it right here!

I also received some spectacular reviews of Le Marquis de la Croix and Barbazul from the Beverly Hills Outlook, which will be published this year. Here are a couple of excerpts below:

Le Marquis> "This intense and focused Bolivian production, handsomely mounted by Amy Hesketh and Jac Avila with just the right visual accents and splashes of color for Decadent Cinema, is a master class in film direction, courtesy of Hesketh herself."

Wow, "masterclass in film direction", thanks!

Barbazul> "This Latinization of Bluebeard is the most successful adaptation of that fairy tale to the cinema to date, as, in it, cineaste Amy Hesketh subtly expands her thematics from her already established central concern of Control (of one being over another) to Complicity."

Again, seriously, thanks!

A bit of Inspiration

Olalla also includes themes of Control and Complicity. I do seem to like those themes, don't I? I'm also including Incest, Genetics, Vampirism, the Victorian, and the Gothic. Just to round things out.

More Inspiration

Review of Barbazul by Dean Andersson on IMDB

What joy to wake up this morning and find a great review of Barbazul (Bluebeard) by the renowned horror writer Dean Andersson on IMDB!

Here's the link to the original or you can read it here below:

Amy Hesketh's BARBAZUL is an effective horror film of great style and insight that would give Hannibal Lecter the creeps!, 12 February 2013

Author: C Dean Andersson

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

One of the love scenes in Barbazul

Based upon the classic serial killer horror of Bluebeard, BARBAZUL presents a new and chillingly effective original version of the tale. Jac Avila skillfully plays Barbazul/Bluebeard with a charming sophistication that seduces innocent and worldly victims alike. As the advertising promo for the film says, he loves women, he just can't stop killing them. And some of those murders in the film are written, staged, and directed by Hesketh in such a way that they crawled under my horror movie radar and jumped me from the inside. I have seen so many scary movies, but the kind that play it easy, using gore and jump-out-at-you scenes, fade as soon as the film is through. Others, like the suspense classics of Hitchcock or the shadowy mood pieces produced by Val Lewton, slip up on you and instead of making you react by looking away, keep you watching, even when it begins to feel like you are intruding on something very private that you would really rather not see. But then it's too late. You saw. It's in your mind. And it keeps coming back to you at odd moments the next day, and afterward. It is obvious Hesketh impressed me, again.

Amy Hesketh's character getting the treatment in Barbazul

Each of her films thus far, Le Marquis de la Croix and Sirwiñakuy, have been a unique and strong example of how entertaining artistic films that break the mold and defy convention can be. Being a writer myself, of course I credit the way Hesketh creates the underlying story with how effective the work becomes. And her character in BARBAZUL is a writer whose demise is every writer's nightmare! "Come on, just give me another minute to finish this, I'm almost done, just a moment more, don't interrupt me right now, come back later, let me finish!" It is a diabolical scene for a writer to watch. But at least, all of us who have been interrupted while trying to write do not, hopefully, have happen to us what Hesketh has happen to her character! And then, of course, it gets worse.

Beto Lopez as the sinister butler, Walter

All of the actors turn in excellent performances. Jac Avila's stylish interpretation of Bluebeard was aristocratic and cultured even as the sociopath within him does cold-blooded Evil, reminding me of Vincent Price's best performances. Roberto Lopez's Walter is one of the creepiest butlers on film, sinister without being overt, very subtle and effective, one of those "there's something wrong here but nothing I can put my finger on so it's probably just my imagination, but--" kind of things...if there were an anti-Batman, this is the anti-Alfred,or even more, "Klove" in the second Christopher Lee Dracula film Hammer Films made, Dracula Prince of Darkness. Come tothink of it, this could almost have been Bluebeard Prince of Darkness!

The very long journey

Mila Joya as Soledad

The ride to get to Barbazul's plantation (castle) over the twisting, turning road (like the one leading to Castle Dracula) emphasizes how far from any kind of help the women he takes there are. And the countryside through which the road passed reminded me of the beautiful, vast emptiness of the high desert of Northern Arizona where I once lived. Mila Joya's innocent and noble character totally sells her growing unease and alarm as she becomes more and more aware that she has been trapped by a monster (like Jonathan Harker in Castle Dracula!--and it just occurred to me that Hesketh's Dracula, if she ever chooses to do one, might finally nail Stoker's classic better than anyone ever has...). Another "victim," convincingly portrayed by Veronica Paintoux as an aggressive and worldly counterpart to Joya's character's helpless innocence, makes you believe she can damn-well take care of herself, which makes it even worse, for her, when she suddenly discovers that, no, not really, she can't handle Barbazul, either.

Veronica Paintoux as Annabelle

Original music by Brad Cantor and La Negra Figueroa added just the right touch to the film, reminding me, somewhat, in the best way of a Goblin score for an Argento classic. Finally, "Superb" does not really do this film justice. "Eros and Thanatos" writ large might be a better description, "Sex and Death," "Beauty and Horror," like the face of the great Barbara Steele's "Muriel" at the end of NIGHTMARE CASTLE, or the visage of the Norse Goddess Hel, half beautiful and seductively alive, half dead and nightmarishly decayed. In BARBAZUL, you can't have one without the other, see? As if you'd want to, right? And one extra bonus--if you happen to have seen Richard Burton's portrayal of Bluebeard in that famous old film, Jac Avila will finally make Burton's face stop flashing into your mind at the mention of the name, "Bluebeard." So, in addition to this great new film, thank you, Amy and Jac, for that!

Jac Avila as Barbazul, effectively erasing Burton's face from your memory

1st Review of Barbazul

From http://www.searchmytrash.com/movies/barbazul(2012).shtml

Barbazul

Bolivia 2012
produced by
Amy Hesketh, Roberto Lopez L., Jac Avila for Pachamama Films, Decadent Cinema
directed by Amy Hesketh
starring Jac Avila, Veronica Paintoux, Mila Joya, Paola Terán, Erika Saavedra, Amy Hesketh, Mariela Salaverry, Roberto Lopez L., Erik Antoine
written by Amy Hesketh, loosely based on La Barbe Bleue by Charles Perrault, music by Brad Cantor, Andrea Figueroa (La Negra)

review by
Mike Haberfelner

Barbazul (Jac Avila) sits in on a photoshoot with young model Soledad (Mila Joya), and while the photographer (Erik Antoine) proves to be a perfect arsehole, Barbazul befriends the young woman, soon takes her on dates, proposes to her - and promises to take care of her student sister Ana's (Mariela Salaverry) tuition and stuff.
Soon, Soledad moves in with Barbazul in his remote wine plantation, and he gives her all the keys of his vast farmhouse, but warns her to never use the key to his study ... but of course, at the first opportunity - when he's gone to fetch Ana for a visit, actually - Soledad enters the study ... a rather uninteresting room actually, if it wasn't for Barbazul's diary, which Soledad soon starts to read ...
The diary starts with the story of Barbazul's first wife Annabelle (Veronica Paintoux), a still very pretty model at about the end of her career. Just like Soledad, Barbazul had met Annabelle at a photoshoot, befriended her, datedher, proposed to her, married her, and taken her to his plantation. However, she soon felt like a prisoner in his remote farmhouse and because of his refusal to take her anywhere, so she wanted to seperate ... and he strangled her.
Not too long after that, Barbazul met singer Maga (Paola Terán) at a concert. The two soon fell in love, and he took her to his farmhouse to keep her - but she didn't want to give up her music career, so he knifed and strangled her.
Art lover Agatha (Erika Saavedra) was just a bossy bitch who wanted to take over too much of Barbazul's life ... but she found it rather sexy of him to tie her to a bed in the nude - her bad judgement and her demise!
Erotic novelist Jane (Amy Hesketh) was really creative when it came to their sex life, and the handcuffs and whips were actually her idea ... and also her end.
Soledad has just finished reading the diary when Barbazul returns with Ana, as promised, and of course knowing all this she's scared shitless. And of course Barbazul finds out she has been to his study and read his diary, and ...

Based on a fairytale, this starts like a rather typical (if impressively shot) romance, and only the murder (of Amy Hesketh) at the beginning of the movie suggests there is something wrong - which of course creates just the right atmosphere of unease for the film to never lose its edge. Add to this a directorial effort that's subtle enough and lets the film flow at a fittingly moderate pace, but doesn't shy away from more extreme images when needed (like in most of Amy Hesketh's own scenes of the rather shocking finale), a uniformly very competent cast, and wonderful locations, and you've got yourself a pretty impressive film.
Recommended, actually!

Oh, and if my review at all got you interested, you may want to get the movie from here:http://movies.vermeerworks.com or http://vermeerworks.com/store/dvds/

review © by Mike Haberfelner

The Release of Barbazul

I am very happy to announce the release to Download and DVD of my film Barbazul!

Below is the Official Trailer, the naughty bits are blurred out so your eyes don't bleed from shock...

You can see the uncensored version on vermeerworks.com.

Download the Movie Here or Get the DVD Here!

Maleficarum in the Top 40

Well, while I was busy stacking firewood up in Maine and avoiding porcupine attack, it seems that Maleficarum was listed in the Top 40 Movies of 2012 on the Obscure Video and DVD blog!

We're number 12, very nice if I do say so myself!

Here's what it says:

12. Maleficarum (Pachamama Films) The most talked about movie on my blog and certainly the most bizarre. This stars the lovely Amy Hesketh as a young woman tortured, along with her friend after they are accused of being witches. Amy is the modern Jess Franco!! Not to be missed.

Indeed!

You can read the original post right here.

2012

2012 was a year full of changes and packed with work. It was also a year of personal stress for me. Only now am I climbing out of that darkness into a better place. It's been a year of growth, that's for sure.

My dad and I

In 2011 I had to put my dad into assisted living because he was diagnosed with fronto-temporal dementia (Pick's disease). Over the span of 12 months he deteriorated fast and I was faced with the task of finding a home with more care for him, from several thousand miles away. In September of 2012 he moved to his new home and now has the care he needs along with a loving staff to help him. They're very accommodating and set up times when I can video Skype with my dad. I was able to visit him during the holidays and was pleased when he recognized me. Although he could not say it out loud, his smile said it all. Though I feel guilty much of the time that I'm so far away, I know that my dad would be proud of me for doing what I love to do, make movies.

This holiday season I also had a good visit with my mother and we baked cookies together, just like we did when I was a little girl. My mom was really sweet and told me how proud she is of me for doing what is in my heart and putting myself into what I do. I stacked a lot of firewood for her. It was a very special time, and I'm grateful for it.

My favorites, molasses cookies

This was also a year chock full of movie releases and screenings; Sirwiñakuy in CineKink 2012 (NYC, Las Vegas, & Chicago), Maleficarum and Barbazul (Bluebeard) in movie theaters in Bolivia, and Le Marquis de la Croix on DVD and Download.

We received lots of great reviews, interviews, made friends, and connected more with the world and our fans. A positive year overall!

So, what's up for 2013? We'll be releasing Barbazul (Bluebeard) to DVD and Download, Dead, but Dreaming will come after that. We're planning to shoot the second chapter of Dead, but Dreaming, and my fourth film (4th!) as director, Olalla. So, stayed tuned for the flurry of activity that we have planned for this new year!

Le Marquis de la Croix, a review by Dean Andersson

Dean has been so very wonderful in his reviews of Maleficarum and Sirwiñakuy, and now he has turned his literary hand to a review of Le Marquis de la Croix. It's simply marvelous, and you can see it on IMDB right here or read it below!

Dean has been so encouraging with these reviews, and I'm really glad we connected. In an abundance of reciprocity he has sent me several of his amazing books, which I am reading now and will comment on in different posts here on my blog, so stay tuned!

You can Download Le Marquis or Buy the DVD at VermeerWorks!

Amy Hesketh creates pull-no-punches art undared by ordinary filmmakers., 15 December 2012

Author: C Dean Andersson

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

Amy Hesketh's Le Marquis de la Croix impressed me on many levels. Her extraordinary, pull no punches approach to filmmaking creates stories the timid would never dare and the ordinary could never conceive.

Le Marquis de la Croix captures a pure essence of the Marquis DeSade's defiant, revolutionary writings. Its challenging subtexts worked subconscious magic to remind me both of a personal experience of death and the disturbingly innocent opening scene in Sam Peckinpah's The Wild Bunch where "innocent" children gleefully torture a scorpion.

Hesketh gives the reality of a single death more potent impact than a hundred slash and burn action film deaths shown in forget-'em quick video cuts, sudden, violent, and gone. Yes, prolonged violence in the form of torture causes death in Le Marquis de la Croix, but that death is shown to be defiantly slow in coming. It forces viewers to realize that, given the chance, Life makes Death work hard for its victory, the way I remember death coming to a friend at whose bedside I once waited.

Jac Avila's chilling performance as the Marquis makes clear the imprisoned aristocrat's clinical detachment as he scientifically records his observations of the young woman's suffering. But in contrast, Avila also drives home the intimate involvement of a torturer with his victim.

Mila Joya's Zinga is poignantly believable as the helpless victim whose initial hope that she can escape public execution by surviving the Marquis' private depredations slowly fades, forcing her to reluctantly accept that death alone awaits her, an end to all her hopes and dreams, an outcome not unlike that of the doomed protagonist at the end of DeSade's Justine.

Another nice touch is Hesketh's selection of background music, including the ironic choice of an historical chant-song voiced by revolutionary French peasant-citizens while they executed aristocrats—as the sadistic aristocrat in her film executes his peasant-victim.

But wait! There's more! Hesketh adds a wonderful and unexpected Twilight Zone ending that would make Rod Serling proud. In an IMDb review of Hesketh's film, Sirwiñakuy, I compared her direction to Hitchcock's, who famously appeared in cameos in his films. Hesketh does more than a mere cameo in Le Marquis de la Croix. Her performance in the framing sequences at the beginning, middle, and end makes dear Uncle Alfred's cameos pale by comparison and zaps viewers with a viewpoint revelation, casting the entire cinematic narration into an unexpected context.

Then, too, there is a commentary track by Hesketh and Avila that you can activate, containing fascinating, informative, and entertaining information.

I have no idea what Amy Hesketh is going to create next, but folks, if you've got any sense left at all, you'll fight me for first place in line to see!