2023 BUFF - Talking with Brian Lonano
Green’s Party is proud to be covering the 2023 Boston Underground Film Festival, which kicked off Wednesday at the Brattle Theatre (Cambridge, MA) and wrapped Sunday. I’ve been lucky enough to cover the festival since 2016 (the fest took off in 2020 and 2021, and I was unable to attend 2022).
One of the things I love about BUFF is that it gives me the chance to catch up with visiting filmmaker friends and make new friends! Filmmaker Brian Lonano, who has made several wild short films that fit in perfectly with BUFF’s emphasis on weird bizarre envelope-pushing films, is one of those filmmakers who was visiting BUFF. I, myself, first met Lonano when we both had short films at a film festival in 2006 and I am proud to call him a friend. I interviewed him in 2018 when his short BFF Girls was in the 2018 BUFF, but this actually marks the first time we have both been at BUFF in-person at the same time. This year, Brian and co-director Blake Meyers had the short CONTENT: The Lo-Fi Man featured in the Survival Is Insufficient shorts program. I caught up with Mr. Lonano at BUFF:
Brian Lonano
Me: How did CONTENT: The Lo-Fi Man come about?
BL: A streaming service that I will not mention, approached me to make a piece of content for their streaming service. So I said “how about I talk about a great cult movie like Tetsuo: The Iron Man?” Because in a complete glut of content, what is the complete opposite of what I think content is and I think Tetsuo: The Iron Man is a good example of a singular kind of film that cannot be and should not be categorized as content. Because lots of people love to call movies and television shows content. Something like Tetuo deserves to be called a film.
So I joked about talking about the film but being replaced by a hipper YouTube guy who may not know anything about Tetsuo: The Iron Man. And he has a short circuit in his brain and escapes into this post-apocalyptic world where guerrilla filmmakers from the underground recruit him to fight the machine, which is this literal content-seeking robot. Lots of gratuitous violence and gore ensues. Then it becomes a body-horror film where the fake Brian avatar becomes one with film, literally becoming a giant film monster made of film and cameras. He battles the robot to an explosive finish. He urges the underground filmmakers to keep fighting for cinema.
Me: I’m totally behind that mission! I am a big physical media guy. Not sure if you saw it but I made a short documentary Video Visions about one of the last video superstores in Upstate NY. One of the things we addressed in the doc is that there are so many movies that were released on VHS and DVD that never got released on streaming, so the role of video stores and physical media is a gateway to film history. It seems like from this film you are passionate about VHS as well.
BL: I’m passionate about physical media and the preservation of films. From the most important culturally significant films to regional films and obscure films to Z-grade movies with shoe-string budgets. I feel like if anyone committed their film to film, celluloid or VHS that it should be treated with respect. Some of that stuff is considered “trash films”, but you know it shouldn’t be treated like trash.
Me: I’ve seen a lot of your films and here you made something that is very meta and self-referential, where you are actually on-camera and then there is someone playing you. Was that kind of an out-of-body experience to make a film where you are the center of this?
BL: It’s like a Charlie Kaufman kind of a movie where I put myself into my own movie. It wasn’t something I set out to do like “I want to make a movie where I’m the character”. Because I try to be humble in presenting myself as a filmmaker. So for me to be the main character, I was like “I can’t make me the main character in this movie, so I need to replace myself”. So it was a way for me to be the main character without acting in it.
Me: This film just premiered and it has some film festivals coming up. What’s next for you in terms of films you are making?
Nothing right now, this one took two years. So I need to recoup and re-fill the well of inspiration. This one was a challenging production and it almost made me want to take an indefinite break from filmmaking. I know my body, mind and soul would fight that urge and say “no, keep creating”, but I may have to adapt how I make films from now on. But I have some things I want to do, including a documentary idea.
For info on Brian Lonano: http://www.brianlonano.com/
Sadly this is my last BUFF dispatch of 2023. This was a strong year for BUFF, especially The Unheard, Smoking Causes Coughing, and The Angry Black Girl and Her Monster. I want to thank the entire BUFF team especially Kevin Monahan, Nicole McControversy, and Kaila Sarah Hier! I always enjoy attending this festival and this year it felt good to be back!
For info on Boston Underground Film Festival: https://bostonunderground.org/
