The Peterborough Vampire, teaser (30 sec. 2007) Edited by Lester Alfonso from a film by Brian Mitolo for a rare screening with live score performance.
Only collaborative fervor can get a big project done. As someone from a recent film meetup in town said to me, “We’re more confident when we work together.” It takes a lot of confidence, yeah. Especially these days, when you can always Google someone who’s doing whatever-it-is better than you. Banding together creates an excitement that transcends comparison and fuels everybody with free energy. That tireless quote by Margaret Mead comes to mind.
“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed, citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.”
Margaret Mead
Fifteen years ago, in Peterborough, there was actually a burgeoning film scene made up of a few individuals who were buoyed in part by the Peterborough Arts Umbrella which hosted the town’s first media centre.
PAU provided the space in which artists ran into each other and spontaneous collaborations could happen. There was a significant body of independent music, film/video work produced ranging in genres including Chronic directed by Brian Mitolo and Rigoletto…in Bluegrass directed by Rob Swales.
At the time, Brian Mitolo was one of the most active members of the community. Fiercely original, a maverick independent filmmaker, he was the first to see the potential of videotaping bands in town. This eventually led to the making of the film Bad Road about a Silver Hearts band tour out East.
We worked on several other projects together including The Peterborough Vampire (I acted in his movie,) The Gold Rushes (he acted in my movie,) and The Maximum Marmora Phenomenon (He shot, I edited Hoagy’s movie.)
Day 62 of digging through the archives unearthed this file I’d forgotten about from February 2007. It’s a YouTube teaser I put together from Brian Mitolo’s film The Peterborough Vampire. We had set up a screening at Artspace to be accompanied by a live performance of the soundtrack. Using only sound samples from the TV show Lost, I performed the soundscape live for the audience. I programmed different sounds into individual keys on a keyboard and played the samples like a pianist in super slo-mo.
I’d like to rewatch that performance someday. I’ll keep digging; maybe I’ll find it. And, I think it’s time for a retrospective of the Peterborough lost films soon. Stay tuned! —LA
P.S. If you’re liking these daily posts, perhaps you can consider becoming a monthly donor for a year or making a one-time contribution. It would seriously help a lot. Your money goes directly into supporting an artist committed to continually become the best version of himself. Thank you so much! Much love, LA