Formosa, the multi-award winning new comedy/drama from first time feature director Noah Kadner, whose filmmaking resume includes visual effects work on big budget films like X-Men and The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, has been selected to kick-off the opening night special event and awards ceremony at the upcoming 2005 FAIF Film Festival (Foundation for the Advancement of Independent Films) in Hollywood, Saturday October 8, 2005.
The selection of “Formosa” to kick off the FAIF Film Festival and the recognition of two of Formosa’s lead actors came as a complete surprise to Kadner. According to Pamela Peak, producer of the FAIF Festival Opening Night Event, after she saw a screening of Formosa, by chance, at the Big Bear Lake Film Festival in early September, she felt that Formosa displayed totally original thematic material in a creative and subtly comedic manner and its incredible craftsmanship and technical proficiency embody the maverick filmmaking spirit being saluted at the Festival.
Noah Kadner’s “Formosa” to Kick off FAIF Film Festival “The FAIF (Foundation for the Advancement of Independent Films) is dedicated to bringing to Hollywood the great works of up and coming filmmakers, directors and actors. The FAIF felt strongly that Formosa deserved that spotlight. The film stars veteran character actor Steven Gilborn with support from the great Geoffrey Lewis. What director Noah Kadner has done with this film represents a new breed of filmmakers who combine great talent along with technical proficiency,” said Peak.
Background on Formosa and Noah Kadner
Over the past few months Formosa has been racking up awards on the domestic film festival scene including 'Best Feature' at the just finished "Big Bear Lake Film Festival"; "Best Director" at the Tahoe Reno Film Festival which also took place earlier this month; "Comedy Feature" at the Garden State Film Festival; and "Feature" mention at the Reelheart Film Festival in Toronto.
By means of Kadner's directorial vision, Formosa distinguishes itself from the thousands of indie films on the market today in that it is a comedic ensemble period piece that delivers a charming almost old-fashioned story yet has a quasi-camp overtone that younger viewers can relate to.
Formosa is set in Albuquerque, NM in early 1950s and tells the story of Sid Silver (played by veteran character actor Steven Gilborn, Ellen, Law & Order, Doctor Doolittle), the owner of a struggling behavioral guidance film studio who opens his door to a mysterious stranger named Clay Crawford (Jamieson Stern) who he believes is a Method actor from the famed Actor’s Studio in New York and can help inspire his spiritless cast and crew to greatness. Clay is eventually exposed as a con man on the run from the law, but not until he touches the lives of everyone in town, including Sid’s beautiful daughter Anne-Marie (Jessica Kiper), becoming Formosa Studios’ lead actor in the process.
For Kadner, centering the film on a social guidance film studio was not only novel backdrop for the story but also an ironic one considering how drastically social mores have changed since the 1950s.
“I watched my first social guidance film in grade school in 1979,” Kadner reminisced. “I saw a kid from the early 1950s being ostracized by his lunchroom peers because he didn’t wash his hands with soap. This went on for years; as I sat through similarly incongruous films about etiquette, sex ed., dating do’s and don’ts and parental reverence. Formosa highlights the perception that the teen-age world depicted in those films is totally foreign and unrecognizable to any real adolescent.”
On another level, the actual social guidance films seen in Formosa http://www.formosamovie.com/behindthescenes/alookback/ – all of which are real and can be seen at www.archive.org – a website repository of thousands of ‘ephemeral’ films, serve as a Greek chorus of sorts to the film’s story. “The original films were not only a source of inspiration but provide a funny counterpoint or dramatic punctuation to surrounding scenes,” added Kadner.
3-3-3-3 Noah Kadner’s “Formosa” to Kick off FAIF Film Festival
Paradoxically, Formosa set in the 1950's at the dawn of the Television Age achieves a classic high-end Hollywood style due to its use of the latest digital technologies. Believing in the project and in Kadner’s ability as a director, Panasonic provided Kadner with its new SDX900 digital camera, which allowed him to shoot his film in the popular 24p HD format with a quality that is almost indistinguishable from 35mm, but available at a much lower cost.
“When budgeting the film I was very concerned about the costs involved in shooting 35mm – stock, processing, telecine, negative cutting, etcetera. I was intrigued by 24p but only if the quality could approach that of 35mm. I was not disappointed. In addition to the cost savings, the camera freed me creatively as well. Because we were constantly rolling tape, I could experiment and improvise with the actors and be confident I would be able to edit their performances into effective scenes. The actors loved it too, because it kept them on their toes. They had to be on their game because we constantly moved cameras around from character to character, catching moments of spontaneity. Were I shooting 35mm, the specter of money would color my work, causing me to cut at a moment’s notice and refrain from doing one more take for fear of wasting money.”
Following FAIF, the film continues its tour of leading nationwide film festivals this year with confirmed screenings at Bethel Film Festival October 25-30, Bethel, Conn.; St. Louis International Film Festival November 10-20; and the Santa Fe Film Festival December 7-11. The film will also screen in 2006 at the Sedona Film Festival February 23-26. More information can be found at www.formosamovie.com.
Chatelin Bruno 
