Maybe you’ve got some hazy memories from a fateful night in Montrose long ago, or you think a “modeling studio” is a euphemism for something a bit more unscrupulous. This is the kind of stuff that ends up in T.I.T.S., a short film showcase for Texas-based filmmakers, videographers, independent curators and troublemakers – brought to us by the very talented, yet hard to describe, Stephanie Saint Sanchez. The self-described “media artist, movie maker, curator y instigator” is the founder of Señorita Cinema (an all-Latina film festival) and has been busy working on a “huge project” called Blood Bitch (a collaboration with the peeps at Mildred’s Umbrella and Riot Grrrl).
This will be the third time at bat for Twisted in Texas Shorts, and this year’s event is heading way out west, for a Monday night screening at Alamo Drafthouse Cinema (Mason Park). Sanchez says the festival is for the wilder stuff that’s “too crazy” for mainstream festivals, and sometimes incorporates B-roll footage or those shots that end up on the cutting-room floor after a paying gig.
T.I.T.S. III highlights – none of which are more than 15 minutes in length – include Sanchez’s Super Model Bar-B-Que a.k.a. The Slurty Tramp (a flashback to the ’90s), Catastrophic Theatre regular Walt Zipprian’s Swizzle (think puppetry meets Montrose bar scene), plus some surprises from Mel and Koomah. We’re super-interested in Rob Smith’s offering: He sliced and diced a supermarket chain’s training videos, “re-mixing and monster mashing” them into something, though we’re not quite sure what.
Sanchez’s Slurty Tramp is “sort of a take on the The Craven Sluck, an underground film of the Kuchar brothers,” which Sanchez describes as “crazy.” That 1967 camp film by Mike Kuchar and starring his brother George has been described as a “weird collection of short vignettes” with UFOs and cross-dressing men.
7 p.m. Monday, February 29 at Alamo Drafthouse Cinema (Mason Park), 531 South Mason, Katy, 281-492-6900, drafthouse.com/houston/theater/mason-park or on Facebook. Big love ticket price is $10, little hug ticket price is $5.
This article appears in Feb 25 – Mar 2, 2016.
