the tube: Folk Films
A new monthly roundup of feature films and cinematic oddities you can stream on YouTube and such for FREE!
Welcome to the tube, where we highlight movies you can access for free on the internet // Today we’re looking at independent films from Dan Lotz’s “Folk Filmmaking Feature Films” playlist on YouTube //
Listen, I wouldn’t be clackin’ away at this thing week after week if I didn’t love Hollywood movies. Despite an overwhelming legacy of abuse and greed at every turn, Hollywood has and continues to release some of the most rewarding expressions of cinema thus far. As long as they need artists to make their shit, art will continue to squeeze through the spackle of industry, even against increasingly hostile odds.
But that’s not to say we need Hollywood for good movies to exist. I mean, we don’t even need a “film industry” anymore, really. The technology to make a film and release it oneself, for pennies, for all the world to see, is literally in everyone’s hands now. We can make movies, ethically, for ourselves.
If you’ve been reading this newsletter for a while you’ve already heard me sing the praises of YouTube filmmaker Joel Haver and his film Pretend That You Love Me. Haver’s work is an alchemic case for what’s possible for movies in the user-generated content space—a beautiful expression of an electric creative proletariat that Hollywood couldn’t match with all the money and power in the world. What’s really cool though is Haver is one of several microbudget guerilla filmmakers who’ve formed a sort of loose collective over the past year or so, all making movies at a rapid-fire pace and putting them out on the internet for all to see. A few different names have floated around to describe this group and what they do, but the one that’s stuck is “The Folk Filmmaking movement.” Here’s a quick explainer on folk filmmaking and what you might call the basic tenets of the group:
The term “Folk Filmmaking,” coined by filmmaker Dan Lotz, is meant to differentiate from “independent film” because the word “independent” is pretty much devoid of all meaning in the film industry at this point. Like, I love A24 movies or whatever as much as the next film bro on your block, but anything you’ve ever seen in a theater or on a major streamer is still funded and distributed within the industry framework, even if they put the “independent” label on it. Folk filmmakers are self-funded and self-distributed, taking up the John Cassavetes model of actual independent filmmaking in a way that very few (if any) filmmakers in the industry have. William Friedkin agrees with me:
What’s really great about the Folk Filmmaking movement is there’s no barrier to entry. As Dan Lotz has said, “If you make a movie and put it on the internet, you’re a folk filmmaker.” And Lotz means it, which is why he’s curated the Folk Filmmaking Feature Films playlist on YouTube. At well over a hundred entries and counting, this playlist is, as I understand it, an exhaustive collection of every self-distributed “folk film” Lotz has come across online, and it includes a wealth of films that expand well beyond the core group of folks who actively call themselves “folk filmmakers.” Seeing all these films from artists all over the world in one infinitely accessible place should be a genuine thrill if you love movies. Think of the implications. Technically you could make something right now using nothing but your phone and put it on the internet and it would be just as much a movie as anything coming out in theaters or on Disney+ or whatever else this weekend. Shit, I know my phone feels like it’s burning a bigger and bigger hole in my pocket the longer I go without using it to make a movie, and I really appreciate this group of artists for making me feel that way.
If you’re reading this, I’d love it if you perused the Folk Filmmaker playlist and discovered something exciting for yourself, but I also wanna throw y’all a bone and provide some recs to get you started. Here are a handful of ones I enjoyed…
Chlorine (2020)
If you like Cassavetes’ crime-genre films (The Killing of a Chinese Bookie, Gloria), you’ll probably vibe with this one. Chlorine is one of playlist curator Dan Lotz’s “improv features,” which as far as I can tell means it was not only made without a script, but basically written as production went along and narratively formed through the editing process.
Lotz plays a hitman pulled out of retirement to kill his estranged sister’s fiancée—a clean, pulpy premise that allows the small cast and crew to excavate some strong, palpable emotion out of the exercise. The subtext of this film is the creators dealing with the loss of a loved one as they make it, and having lost a loved one last year I was floored by the communal grief and emotional truth translated in the third act.
You can watch Chlorine and the rest of Dan Lotz’s work on his YouTube channel.
Forget About Everything for Awhile (2020)
This was the first work of Joel Haver’s I ever saw, shot with such a strong intention and ingenuity of emotion that I had to see what else this dude was up to. It’s a one-location joint shot during the pandemic about two strangers who wind up house sitting for a mutual acquaintance. Haver and co-star/director Mason Carter create an incredibly engaging, heartfelt, high-tension atmosphere together on screen. Deceptively mesmerizing stuff.
You can watch Forget About Everything for Awhile and the rest of Joel Haver’s work on his YouTube channel. In addition to making great films, Haver puts out comedy shorts every week and they’re real good. Subscribe to keep up with his rapid-fire output of awesome shit.
Girlz Night (2020)
What can I say except this one rips, man. An absurd, Lynchian (excuse the overused and virtually meaningless term) Adult Swim-esque sitcom-slasher fever dream, performed and executed with infectious dedication by everyone involved, with a shot-on-video aesthetic that really unifies the whole thing visually.
You can watch Girlz Night on YouTube.
House (2020)
One of three films released by Jordan Ross and Ethan Hansen on their channel Doomed Productions last year, House was my first foray into their work and I couldn’t have been more impressed. This is nobudget quarantine filmmaking ingenuity at its finest. Great atmosphere, and some camera tricks that had me oohing and awwing out loud as I watched. I second Dant Lotz’s review where he says, “the fucking balls to title your film House when one of the best horror films is called house gives this a 5 out of 5 for me.”
The premise is simple: A man is trapped in a seemingly endless house with only a lighter, a map, and something unknown lurking in the dark. In end effect, this is a great little “spatial horror” film about physical, mental, and metaphysical isolation, and having no other choice in these interesting times but to face yourself.
You can watch House on YouTube, as well as the latest Doomed Productions feature Video Carnage, which I included in my Best of 2021 So Far roundup.
Spiral Drive (2020)
Spiral Drive is a super fun, inventive little found-footage joint that taps into current UFO paranoia and the paranormal investigation show craze and all that. It’s slow going at first but only 70 minutes and well worth the watch if you’re into found-footage horror and want a quick-hit caught-in-the-woods scare. I’m mad impressed with its particular cocktail of low-budget effects. They feel fresh and new which in turn makes the whole thing pretty exhilarating.
You can watch Spiral Drive on YouTube.
Ramekin (2018)
I was introduced to Cody Clarke’s work through his old podcast/webiste Smug Film, which I’ve referenced before on here as having a huge impact on the way I think about movies. Clarke’s 2018 film Ramekin is an absurd, parodic horror flick about a college girl who gets terrorized by a Ramekin that’s animated by benevolent, supernatural forces. Clarke’s ability to take, like, “silly” high concepts and turn them into visually compelling, idiosyncratic narratives is quite a thing to behold (see also Clarke’s most recent film Attack of the Giant Blurry Finger, which currently sits in my top 10 of the year for being as delightfully batshit as it sounds). I’m also perpetually compelled by Clarke’s oeuvre of New York City interiors—spaces turned into fractal universes and claustrophobic, shrinking hellscapes at the same time.
You can watch Ramekin and other free Cody Clarke films on his YouTube channel. Also, Clarke just wrapped filming on Ramekins: Ramkin II, so stay tuned for that!
Relics (2017)
Relics is a South African film directed by and starring Greg Bakker as an ex-pat on his way home after a year abroad, spending his last day in Tokyo connecting with friends and acquaintances, and visiting the apartment where his parents lived 30 years earlier. It’s a quiet, resonant, deeply human film with a strong emotional point of view, and it’s a wonderful example of the visual power of black & white in the digital age.
You can watch Relics on YouTube.
Loon (2017)
Loon is underground director and provocateur Fabrizio Federico's experimental, ultra-grimy, cinematically transgressive Trainspotting for the Brexit era—a bad acid trip through the ruins of the ever-crumbling British empire.
From what I gather, the cast is made up of real people playing only slightly fictionalized versions of themselves, including lead Charlie Williamson, who may or may not have been institutionalized after this picture wrapped. Frankly, I’m still unsure about and deeply uncomfortable with the potential lack of ethics in making this film, but there’s no doubt it does what all the best movies should do — jolts you out of sensory and perceptive complacency and makes you feel a sense of urgency about the people and places on screen. It’s offensive in the best sense, in that it’s an “offense” to your senses, something unexpected and jarring in its capture of uncomfortable realities. It’s also pretty masterfully (albeit chaotically) constructed.
You can watch Loon and other Fabrizio Federico films on YouTube.
…that’s it for now. Next time on the tube we’ll be lookin’ at lesser known, half-forgotten, or cult films of the ‘70s floating around the internet, waiting to be rediscovered.
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