About the hi/lo Film Festival

"The avant garde never looked so cheap or so damn good." -- San Francisco Bay Guardian

Since 1997 the San Francisco production company and comedy collective Killing My Lobster has organized the hi/lo film festival. From humble beginnings at a sofa-saturated screening room in the city's North Beach District to the 500 seat Victoria Movie House in the Mission, the hi/lo film festival has evolved into a major West Coast showcase for independent low-budget film makers.

In the fall of 1997 Lobsters Paul Charney, Brian L. Perkins and Marc Vogl produced a short film called Space Chocolate and presented it at the group's first hi/lo film festival in conjunction with the works of other Bay Area and West Coast film makers who all had more ideas than they did money. The film was a success and has gone onto screenings around the world, and the festival sold out five times as well.

In its second year the festival expanded its mandate accepting films of any length, shot on any format, dealing with any subject. Several hundred films landed at Killing My Lobster headquarters and festival organizers Brian L. Perkins and Marc Vogl selected 18 shorts and one feature to screen over three days in November.

The 19 films presented at the 2nd annual hi/lo film festival were the works both of local San Franciscans and filmmakers from Spain, Serbia, England, New York, Los Angeles...and Kansas too. And while they varied wildly in style, subject matter, and format, they were all unified by their experimental spirit, and desire to challenge viewers in terms of form and content.

The films included animations, short narratives, abstract imagistic explorations, micro-features, documentaries, and uncategorizable creations but shared some important common ground. They were high concept works made on minimal budgets that sought, and achieved originality in the face of increasing industrial standardization in the movie business; they privileged ideas and creativity over imitation and slickness and each, in its own way, proves that talented, dedicated people can bring their visions to fruition in the film medium.

Over six hundred people attended the three-night festival (true to its low-budget ambitions tickets cost just $6 a show) and the festival received press coverage from numerous local and national magazines and newspapers. hi/lo film festival organizers Brian L. Perkins and Marc Vogl have appeared on local television and radio shows to talk about the festival and have explained to a very nice talk-show host in Australia why, when it comes to making movies, big ideas are more important than fat wallets.

The 3rd Annual hi/lo film festival will be held in San Francisco November 12-14, 1999. To receive info on submitting or attending the festival, email your street address here: hilo@killingmylobster.com

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