FEATURED MOVIE:
DOWN & OUT WITH THE DOLLS

the flick: A clever look at the rise and fall of an all girl Portland punk band, "Down and Out with The Dolls" follows our streetwise and opportunistic heroines through the struggles of balancing day jobs with musical aspirations, balancing egos with dreams...opens Friday, March 21, 2003 NATIONWIDE. KALI (Nicole Barrett), LAVENDER (Melody Moore) and REGGIE (Kinnie Starr) get the jump start they need when local legend FAUNA (Zoe Poledouris), singer for the seminal Goth band THE SNOGS, joins them as lead singer after being ousted from her home and her band by her erratic, Eurotrash boyfriend PAULO (Mikael Jehanno). Fauna recognizes the usefulness of a ready-made and pliable supporting band with which to launch her umpteenth campaign for stardom, and the girls see her as a leader who might carry them out of Portland. Of course, as every musician knows, success is never simple, and the band begins to disintegrate as soon as Portland starts to pay attention. the team: KURT VOSS (Director) began writing and directing movies immediately upon graduating from UCLA Film School. The first, "Border Radio" (1988), he co-wrote and directed with schoolmate Allison Anders. Made for a mere $50,000, the picture was released theatrically and received such accolades as "one of the best movies ever made about the world of rock music" (LA Times). Voss also wrote and directed the comedy/drama "Genuine Risk" (1990), a theatrical release starring Peter Berg and Terrence Stamp, and shortly thereafter teamed with director Carl Colpaert to write "Delusion" (1991). Next, Voss teamed with director Marc Rocco to script "Where the Day Takes You" (1992), starring Dermot Mulroney, Kyle MacLachlan, Lara Flynn Boyle, Will Smith, and Christian Slater. Working consistently since then, he reunited with Allison Anders in 1999 to co-write and co-direct "Sugar Town." He has also directed "The Heist" and numerous other HBO and Showtime original movies. DD CHERIEL(Story/Associate Producer/Production Designer) began playing in bands in 1988. Her first band, Out of Order, was formed with Gilly Hanner, pioneer of the all-girl grunge rock movement with her band Calamity Jane, and Kathy Wilson, later a founding member of riot-girl band Bikini Kill. While enrolled at the University of Oregon, Cheriel formed the three-piece powerful girl rock combo, Adickdid, with Kaia Wilson on guitar and vox and Sarah Bellum on bass. In 1993, Cheriel moved to Seattle to play alongside Leslie Hardy (Hole, Murder City Devils) and Dale Balenseifen (Kill Sybil) in the band Juned. In 1994, also in Seattle, Cheriel formed The Teen Angels with the infamous Kelly Canary of the early 90s girl rock band Dickless. Cheriel has had 14 solo performances in cities across the Pacific Northwest since 1991. Next, Cheriel has work coming out in a group show of female artists, performers and musicians in Los Angeles. ZOE POLEDOURIS (Music Composer/Fauna) was named by Filmmaker Magazine as one of the "25 New Faces in Filmmaking." With her recent leading roles, Zoë is adding to the creative repertoire she has been building since childhood, when she had her first on-screen credit: as a film composer for a melody in "Conan The Barbarian," thus becoming one of the youngest members of BMI. Her musical talent is clearly inherited from her father, veteran film composer Basil Poledouris, who has collaborated professionally with his eldest daughter on a number of compositions, including John Waters' recent film "Cecil B. Demented." Returning to a milieu familiar to her as a musician and singer, Zoë both leads the Dolls on screen and reprises her role as film composer and writer of the songs performed by the on-screen band. •••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• Where did the story come from? How much is based on real people? KURT: The story for "Down and Out With The Dolls" originated with my friend (and co-writer) Deedee Cheriel, who served tenure in a couple all-girl rock bands in the Pacific Northwest in the 90's. Deedee kept telling me these outrageous, true-life tales of the hilarity and indignity of being an indie rocker, and it gradually dawned on me that it would make for a most entertaining movie... While the story of "Down and Out With The Dolls" is a fiction, much of the detail is taken from situations and events which Deedee herself experienced. Moreover, I would say the film, while extremely stylized, nevertheless approaches something like verisimilitude where the Portland "slacker" lifestyle is concerned: I spent New Year's Eve in Portland, and the house party I attended ran until the next morning, at which point the floor was littered with fallen punks -- almost exactly like the climactic raver in the movie! It was uncanny! DD: I was talking to my friend Selene, about doing a script about fellow girl rocker Mia Zapata. (She was murdered in Seattle when I was playing in a couple girl rock bands and living there. Her murderer was found last week after 10 years. ) But that idea morphed into a script based on my own personal experiences in Girl Rock bands, many of the stories I had told Kurt about. We pitched the idea to Matt Hill and wrote it in 3 weeks. The story is mostly fictional, but the characters are types of people I knew in that scene. What inspired you to make movies? KURT: I was in film school in the mid - 80's, and thus my formative influences were the filmmakers of the German New Wave -- Fassbinder, Wenders and Herzog specifically. I was impressed with the speed with which these young Turks churned out their works (Fassbinder once did four features in one year!), and loved how their films had such singular and uncompromising visions. Of course, idealizing such artists, who were able to produce their work largely because of the financial subsidies offered by the German government, hardly grounded me for the brutal realities of making films in Hollywood. But then if you are a realist, you would never go into movies in the first place! What inspired you to get involved in this particular film? DD: I worked on a few films before this project. I really enjoyed the creative input as a writer, and because it was a personal project I got to be more deeply involved The film was shot in my house in Portland, and I borrowed a lot of the locations from my friends. I also had a hand in casting and did the Production Design. So it became my love child. It was great tapping the local community for creative input. Musicians in Portland were not only extras, but had a lot of their music in the film. ZOE: I was hired as the composer first, and since I had just scored John Waters' "Cecil B. Demented," I was excited about doing another punk film. What do you hope to express through this film? Is there anything you want people to take away from it? KURT: One reason I'm proud of "Down and Out With The Dolls" is because audiences really grow found of the characters; numerous viewers have told me that, weeks after seeing the film, they will find themselves, say, reflecting on "Something Reggie said." Comments such as these make me appreciate that my actresses and I have done the job of making these characters come alive for people, and that is very cool... More specifically, so far as the "message" of the film goes -- I would hope that it leaves people feeling hopeful about the value of creative expression, which I do genuinely believe is of great value in and of itself (the end of the movie supports this intention, as idealistic young Kali, who goes on to make heartfelt music in uncompromising fashion is most clearly the "winner" of the piece). As the world continues to get more and more corporate and monolithic, I think it bears repeating that the DIY ethic is a viable and underappreciated option. And that goes doubly for film, where DV and video are making the tools more accessible than ever. Don't like what they are programming at the multiplex? Fine -- make your own flicks! DD: The idea of this film was not to convey a moral message. I think a lot of women are in bands for different reasons. Even if one person considers their agenda political or feminist, I don't think it would necessarily make you get along in a band. I think we just wanted to make a fun movie about a relatively under examined genre in music. I really related to the Kali character, and her persistence, despite everything that can pull you down. that is the positive, that I hope one would take away from the film.