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Gonzoriffic is Still Terrific
UNDERGROUND FILMMAKING COLLECTIVE CELEBRATES 20 YEARS
By Jessica Smith arts@flagpole.com
At the peak of their popularity in the 1970s,
“midnight movies” referred to low-budget,
avant-garde or otherwise non-mainstream
films relegated to the witching-hour mar
gins of theater and television schedules.
Despite their lack of commercial success,
these B movies often became endeared cult
classics among countercultural communi
ties who found value in all of their scrappy,
campy, offbeat glory.
Today, this spirit of a mostly bygone
era is carried forward by Athens’ one-and-
only underground filmmaking collective,
Gonzoriffic. Comprised of actors, musicians
and visual artists, the collective will cele
brate 20 years of producing experimental
videos with a feminist twist during a pair of
late-night screenings this weekend.
“My role in Gonzoriffic is to provide
an umbrella of support and safety for my
friends to make movies together,” says
founder Andrew Shearer. “Whoever has
an idea, we put our heads together as a
group to figure out how to make it. Since
I came into filmmaking from a DIY punk
background, I pretty much run things like a
band, but you don’t have to play an instru
ment to be in it. Gonzoriffic is kind of like if
Bette Midler fronted Minor Threat.”
A few years into making short films,
Gonzoriffic’s feminist ideology came into
clearer focus. Recognizing the widespread
gender inequality that permeates the film
industry, the collective’s mission became
dedicated to promoting progressive and
empowering roles for women. Storylines
center female characters, rape jokes and
fatphobic speech are not tolerated, and
Shearer prefers that no women are killed on
screen. Though elements of violence, hor
ror, sexuality and nudity might make their
way into a film, these films are simply not
intended for the male gaze.
“I think we are living in the absolute
best period of history for film, and women’s
contributions to the genre are moving it
forward in ways that are just as visible as
they are celebrated,” says Shearer.
“It’s no longer about showing that
women can do it just as well as men
can—directors like Doris Wishman,
Jackie Kong and Amy Holden Jones
did that decades ago. It’s about
Nia DaCosta’s Candyman being
made for a major studio and being
released worldwide. It’s about Julia
Ducournau’s Titane winning the
Palme d’or at Cannes. They do it bet
ter, and the receipts are there.”
Following Gonzoriffic’s pub
lic debut with a premiere of
PsychoVixens at the 40 Watt Club
during the AthFest Music & Arts
Festival in 2004, Cine began hosting
yearly showcases of the collective’s
latest creations in 2008. This tradi
tion continues with a 20th anniver
sary event on Friday, Nov. 12 and
Saturday, Nov. 13. After kicking off
with a retrospective slideshow of
behind-the-scenes photographs,
movie stills and posters at 10 p.m.,
the party will move into the screen
ing room for a 90-minute program at
11:15 p.m.
Teasing the creative freedom that
comes with the territory of DIY film-
making, Gonzoriffic film synopses
alone provide unusual fodder for the
imagination. Shearer contributed
three films to the lineup as a direc
tor: The Boogey Woman, in which a
“mysterious lady lowers her mask in public
and puts her boogers on random surfaces”;
Haunted Hotcakes, in which “a bubbly
YouTuber successfully communicates with
the spirit of a dead Hollywood sex symbol”;
and Three Hole Punch (co-directed by Dee
Flowered), in which “mercenary strippers
fight back when a villain tries to take their
luxurious tent.”
Appearing on the cover of Flagpole
this week, actress and burlesque dancer
Coquette de Jour will also share a set of
three shorts she directed. In addition to The
Incredibly True Adventure of Two Werewolves
in Love and Dead Stuff, Gonzoriffic will
include a tribute presentation of her 2015
film Bleeding Candy—in which “a family
bitten by a pinata at the Pendergrass Flea
Market causes havoc at a birthday party”—
to honor actress Stephanie Jordan, also
known as Leche Gaga of the Classic City
Rollergirls, who died in August after a long
battle with breast cancer.
Jennie Cain, director of The Marshmal
lows, first became involved in Gonzoriffic
in 2007 after meeting Shearer at a Jucifer
concert. Flash forward to this past year,
and Cain received an Arts in Community
Resilience Award of $2,000 from the Athens
Cultural Affairs Commission to support
the making of her short film, which had
been written and gently placed on the back
burner back in 2015.
“People involved in the films do what
they want to do, and don’t do what they
don’t want to do,” says Cain. “I’ve always
felt safe to express myself. One time for my
birthday Andrew and I went out to shoot
some pictures of me covered in
mud because I have never done that
before and I just wanted to, and we
shot a short film in one hour. It was
such a lovely way to spend my birth
day! And now I’m an Athens cryptid.”
Starring Tia Jackson, Nikki Garza
and Coquette de Jour as a fictional
femme band, The Marshmallows is
a tragedy and psychological hor
ror warning what can happen to a
friendship when stardom, patriar
chy, the male gaze and jealousy come
into play.
Working during the pandemic
presented several challenges, such as
re-writing certain scenes to follow
social distancing, but props offered
a creative solution for storytelling.
As a stylist and vintage clothing
connoisseur, Cain naturally incor
porated fashion, and there are even
two original songs co-created with
Brigette Adair Heron of Tunabunny.
“Gonzoriffic couldn’t have made
it 20 years in any town other than
Athens,” says Shearer. “I doubt we
would’ve made it five, honestly. Not
only is there room for art like this
here, but there’s also a huge amount
of support and enthusiasm for it.
But most important of all is the fact
that Athens is full of stars. Some
have been in movies, most have not,
but everyone is a celebrity to me.
You fit because you don’t fit, and you’re
important in this community because you
embrace that. I plan to continue doing
my part to keep Athens weird for as long
as I have breath in my body and a decent
feather boa within arm’s reach.” ®
Gonzoriffic founder Andrew Shearer models a T-shirt for Riot Grrrl
Press
NOVEMBER 10, 2021 | FLAGPOLE.COM 13
