Sunday, June 23, 2013

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!

Wednesday, June 19, 2013

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!

Monday, June 17, 2013

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!

Sunday, June 16, 2013

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.




Thursday, June 13, 2013

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!"

Wednesday, June 12, 2013

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!


Monday, June 3, 2013

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.