THE HIGDEN MAN (70 min., ©2004) is a story about two small-town grifters (played by Steve Gillard and John Barnum)) trying to convince Heber Springs, Arkansas landowners to sell their lakefront property, running the story that the local dam will soon raise the water level and flood surrounding property. It was shot in one-and-a half days (1 1/ 2}, on-location in Heber Springs, Arkansas, for a $39 budget (the cost of three mini-DV tapes & a multi-colored mumu dress for the sister of woman who tells the ‘BABYSITTER” story (see trailer). It’s the 3rd/final 'Steve Gillard TRILOGY' that begun with CHETZEMOKA'S CURSE, & RELEASE THE HEAD.
RELEASE THE HEAD is about a new-age drifter (also played by Steve Gillard) who returns to his hometown where his ex-wife still resides, to try and start a new religion, called "Sol-Luna,” with Barnum as a gullible sidekick .
CHETZEMOKA’ CURSE (Dogme #10) is about a young, twenty-something woman, Maya (played by Maya Berthoud), who is haunted by the memory of her first love and her subsequent betrayal. She still feels the pain, works to exorcise it as she wiles away her life as a maid in a small town hotel. Steve Gillard plays her lawyer/future lover.
Those movies, as was ‘Higden,’ were collaborations between myself and Stephen W. Gillard (also John Barnum, in all but ‘Curse.) Release the Head holds a lot of great memories of Port Townsend, Washington, USA, where we shot in 2002. So many amazing people and musicians helped us pull it off. It was finally cut and released in 2004. CAST: Katrina Eggert (the “Indian girl” in AMERICAN ORPHEUS), performed beautifully as a perfect disaffected maid at the Waterstreet Hotel. And the Gillard family went all-out again for me (as they did for Chetzemoka's Curse). And THANKS AGAIN Joe, Jessica, Steve, Sue, Jennifer and Margaret Rickard! For those who desire more behind-the-scenes info, I gave it a good nine-page case-study in my book “Extreme DV” (Penguin/Random House Books, ©2004).
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All these TRAILERS/FULL FEATURES can be seen as FEATURES at my youtube channel:
The movie was shot with a 1-chip video camera; SONY TRV-10. Check out EXTREME DV book here, for more info on the production. -------- Here's a list of the PORT TOWNSEND collaborators; musicians and actors/non-actors who made this movie possible. Please let them know you appreciate their fine efforts (find them on fb, or..?): MUSICIANS Before I get to thanking CAST, I want to highlight the work of Marc Gizzi, singer, songwriter and performer of the title track, "Second Coming's Coming." His assembled band included Bret Pemberton (drums), Todd Fisher (bass), my son Marlon Schmidt (organ and piano solos), plus beautiful vocals by Sylvia Heins in the end credit melody. "Like a Ship" and "Very Best Night of the Year," by legendary duo Robert Force and Albert D'Ossche, were a great gift, as was the original poem-songs by Jabez Richard and Silas Holm serenading tourists (and our co-lead actor John Barnum) out on the PORT TOWNSEND, WA pier. CAST: Katrina Eggert (AMERICAN ORPHEUS), performed beautifully as a perfect disaffected maid at the Waterstreet Hote
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