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Post by schlager7 on Jun 16, 2005 10:19:38 GMT -6
I was recently contacted by a friend and former fencing instructor, Richard Alvarez.
Those who know him, know that Richard not only teaches modern, classical and historical fencing, but has done his share of acting, mime and fight choreography. For years he earned a living performing and choreographing mounted combat at Renaissance Faires.
Richard has always had an interest in theatre. (Theatre, fencing... did I mention he was a pupil of Claude Caux?)
Anyway, Richard is now working on a documentary called [shadow=red,left,300]American Jouster[/shadow]
He sent the following thumbnail synopsis:
"American Jouster" examines the motivations and lifestyles of modern-day knights who live a life of pain and glory on the road."
When I learn more about when/where/how it will be released, I will post more here.
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Post by schlager7 on Jun 18, 2005 22:06:38 GMT -6
Yesterday Nicole and I received our copy of (the not quite final cut of) American Jouster from its creator, Richard Alvarez.
Let me remark from the outset that I have NEVER attempted what these performers do. I know Richard as one of my former fencing masters and as a friend. We also both come from the Houston theatre background, but at different times (although I've heard him refer to people I also knew).
Modern-day performing knights I only know as a patron of Scarborough Faire and the Texas Renaissance Festival.
The piece consists of interviews and clips of three different jousting companies: Hanlon-Lees Action Theatre; the Free Lancers; and Noble Cause Productions.
It is structured by interview topic, so with each subject we cover all three companies and their knights (one being a woman). We cover the range of perspectives on everything from care of horses, interacting with the crowds, choreography/blocking, injuries, relationships, life on the road, how they got into the business, chivalry, working their way up (sometimes from squire), age and physical theatre.
While I am almost two decades removed from my involvement in theatre, I found most interesting the hassles of the logisitcs of a life on the road, their relationships with significant others (or lack thereof), and the issues of hiring horsemen who have never performed vs hiring performers who have never been on horse.
I realized one-third of the way into the dvd how much information I was being given by the video beyond the voice-over of those interviewed.
There are one dozen odd performers from three companies interviewed. Yet, I confess, with a knowledge most viewers would not possess, I was most interested in the remarks of Bryan Beard of Noble Cause, if only because I know that he began as a squire to Richard Alvarez.
Richard does not appear in any scene. His voice is never heard. He intrudes not at all. Yet his deep knowledge and familiarity with the topic and some of the persons interviewed no doubt accounts for their directness. They do not answer as though they feel they must explain every nuance of this topic to the uninitiated.
They are talking with one of their own. They do not need to "dumb it down" and that shows.
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Post by Elyse on Jun 19, 2005 19:50:58 GMT -6
Hi John. I hope you and Nicole are doing well. Nice website by the way. Richard let me know that part of the American Jouster will be featured in the Aurora Picture Show Extreme Shorts film fest in July 16-17. www.aurorapictureshow.org Elyse
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Post by schlager7 on Jun 21, 2005 9:52:24 GMT -6
Wow, extreme shorts is right. Three minutes?
Haiku documentary. That ought to stretch one's ability to compress a thesis to essentials.
On the topic of the documentary, itself, let me say it always leaves me with a feel-good moment when I watch people who clearly and deeply love what they do.
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Post by schlager7 on Jul 3, 2005 10:37:49 GMT -6
I have since stumbled upon this on the DV Info Net from Richard Alvarez: I'm close to finishing up a documenatary I started shooting last year.
"American Jouster" examines the motivations and lifestyles of modern day "Knights" who live a life of pain and glory on the road.
Here's how I came to pick this topic.
In 2004, I was attending SXSW film festival in Austin, promoting a short my creative partner and I were working on. ("After Twilight"
While I was there, I saw some docs. Some were good, some not so good. I thought to myself. "I can do this." On my way back home to Houston, I stopped at a small Renaissance Festival, where some friends of mine were jousting. (I used to own a jousting troupe, in an earlier lifetime). More than ten years after 'retiring' form that lifestyle, people still ask me what it was like.
It occured to me, that no one had done a documentary on this topic. This was a subject I understood completely. I had access to the companies who did it. (Many were still my friends, others were professional acquaintences). The idea began to form in my mind, that I could shoot three different companies at three different locations in Texas over the course of the year, and get some good footage. I could borrow my partners xl1, and sound and grip gear, and do it all by myself.
Easy peezy. Hardly any time or money needed.
Fast forward, exactly a year later. I have a 'rough cut' that runs about an hour and two minutes on my timeline right now. I need to cut another seven to eight minutes from it, to make it 'broadcast marketable'. In the course of that year, I relocated to Northern California, and had to fly back to Houston to shoot the footage I wanted. I also bought an XL2 to complete the task.
I am looking at buying some music rights, and doing an "online' edit to get everything up to broadcast levels. I am waiting on clearance rights to some still images, and some legacy footage to arrive to finish up a sequence.
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Post by fox on Jul 10, 2005 2:52:44 GMT -6
So, other than the 3-minute super short, has he said if this will be seen on TV or soemwhere else?
It sounds intriguing, but I've mixed reactions to the jousting I have seen. Some was quite believeable, others seemed to spend two minutes being unhorse by a single lance strike.
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Post by schlager7 on Jul 15, 2005 18:45:42 GMT -6
I found this on another forum. Richard posted this about June 18th:
"Cinema Guild" wants to distribute my doc, any comments?
Alright, I've just entered final post on my doc, "American Jouster". Sort of on a lark, I sent a fine cut out to some distribution companies, as a 'heads up - this is coming your way'. I got a response from one of them - Cinema Guild, that wants to distribute it.
Sounds promising, at least
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Post by schlager7 on Jul 30, 2005 10:42:30 GMT -6
I found another update from Richard on another board dated July 17th:
For what its worth, my documentary "American Jouster" was just accepted to the Breckendridge Festival of Film in Colorado. It runs 56:30, as I cut it to be 'broadcast length' for PBS. In some festivals, that's considered a short film, as it's under 60. In some fests, it's a feature doc because it's over thirty... so it's a toss-up.(Short and Feature being different for Docs and Films)
I also cut a three minute mini-doc out of the footage, and was screened this weekend at an "Extreme Shorts" festival at Aurora Picture Show in Houston, where the limit was three minutes. You see how it can work.
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Post by Richard on Oct 8, 2005 20:55:40 GMT -6
Okay John, here's the official announcement.
"American Jouster" will be carried in the Museum Replicas catalogue for Christmas. List price 24.95
I should also have a website up by then, with more info on the documentary, and other projects in the works. (Hint hint)
Y'all play nice, and "Break a Lance"
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Post by schlager7 on Dec 27, 2005 11:29:57 GMT -6
I wisely did not purchase this dvd since I had a pretty good idea my lovely wife would get it for me as a Christmas stocking-stuffer. I was right! Nicole ordered it from Museum Replicas, but Richard now advises he has a website from which it can be purchased directly. Go to American Jouster if you want to see the trailer. This is a rare look at one of the most unique subcultures in 21st century America, the working, professional knight. American Jouster lets us watch them practice and make mistakes. We hear their stories of why they chose this lifestyle. We learn about their injuries and why these men (and one woman) continue. The work is hard and frequently anything but glamorous. Yet for several hours each weekend, they become knights in armor, living a life most can scarely dream of. For me, the documentary had a lot of little treats: the female jouster who voices her hope that other young women may one day follow her; the families and loved ones who travel with these knights for as much of the year as they can; the knight whose responces carry a tinge of his recent service in Afghanistan; catching the honest eagerness of the new knights and the pragmatic romanticism of the experienced knights. The dvd contains three "extras." It contains the same trailer which you can also see on the website linked above. It has a delightful "music video" that should appeal to fans of renaissance faires (especially if you frequent the Texas Renaissance Festival, where it was shot.) Best of all, for those of us who remember Richard Alvarez from his years as a fencer and fencing instructor in Houston, we get an interview with him that is mixed with footage from his own years as a knight performing at festivals.
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