Joel Potrykus
@joelpotrykus
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Spaghetti Midwesterns. Vulcanizadora Relaxer The Alchemist Cookbook Buzzard Ape
Michigan, USA
Joined November 2010
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Sean Baker just won the Palme d’Or.
No more excuses about your budget being too low, your camera being too old, your actors not being famous, not having what you need.
Congrats,
@Lilfilm
!!
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Hi Twitter. My big news for the year (life) is that the
@criterionchannl
will be streaming all four of my features (Ape, Buzzard, Alchemist Cookbook, Relaxer) plus the premiere of my latest short, Thing from the Factory by the Field.
On May 1 I exist.
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To expand, indie filmmakers can function the same as a garage band. Stick together. Pay everyone the same. Avoid following exec producers and trends. Style is big (you it’s the Ramones after 3 seconds). Make loud movies.
Don’t start a production company, start a band.
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Likely not working with A24 any time soon.
Joel Potrykus talks with
@cj_prin
about
#Vulcanizadora
, the darkness of parenthood, true independent filmmaking, A24's house style, and misreading Gus Van Sant's
#Gerry
:
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I made four features 2012-2018, but got exhausted.
The industry thinks short filmmaking is a step down. Nah. It's a chance to experiment with storytelling and get away from certain structure.
I made a short this year and felt liberated again.
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Friends, I will be politely escorted out of the Criterion building at the end of this month. It's been an awesome six months of sharing my scuzzy cinema. Please spread the word.
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Okay, Buzzard talk.
It's based on my time as a temp at a mortgage company, and seeing what I could get away with.
crew of 6, shooting on the run, finding locations as we went.
Budget: $12k
camera: 50D
It's on
@criterionchannl
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BUZZARD was shot on a 50D, bought off eBay, then sold on ebay to recoup.
The lighting set-up was two of these little LEDs. ($20 each on Amazon). Otherwise, ambient.
(Now streaming on
@criterionchannl
)
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BUZZARD's spaghetti scene was one take. The script called for
@JMBurge
to take ONE bite of "the best spaghetti he's ever eaten." Josh started shoveling it in. I stood back in awe.
A studio wouldn't allow that shot to stay. Indie forever.
90% of directing is casting.
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Nice words from a longtime champion.
Few American directors to emerge in the past decade have consistently made work as thrilling in its humor, originality, and surreal shock value as
@joelpotrykus
, and his brilliant VULCANIZADORA takes those impulses to unexpected emotional heights.
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Some people hate the ending of ALCHEMIST COOKBOOK. I get it. Obviously, it's ripped from 400 Blows (and Body Snatchers remake). I stick by it.
All I try to do is make a movie that I would love. I love this movie. Best viewed at night with substances.
Now on
@criterionchannl
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More on APE.
Mostly just
@JMBurge
and me. I was working a 9-5. We shot one scene every Saturday, one scene every Sunday. At the end of the summer we had a feature.
Edited on iMovie.
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I’m a filmmaker and a dad. Not sure in which order.
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RELAXER was shot in a single set built by
@MikeLSaunders
and me in his parents' 2-stall garage in Belmont, Mich. We'd never built anything before.
The house was our production hub and actors slept there.
Funded by
@OscopeLabs
Now on
@criterionchannl
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With this
@criterionchannl
drop, I figured I'd talk about the stuff that no filmmaker likes answering during a Q&A.
My first feature is APE. Originally distributed by
@factory_25
It was made for $2500 with a Canon 60D.
Stay tuned.
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THE ALCHEMIST COOKBOOK was originally called AM I DEMON. Test audiences came in expecting lots of demons. I want them to come in with zero expectations or hype.
Budget: $65k
crew: 25
(We'll get to that ending later on.)
Watch it on
@criterionchannl
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I don’t take this movie lightly and I’m glad and sad it’s connecting.
Extremely affected by Vulcanizadora. Joel Potrykus’ blackly funny Midwestern malaise gives way to, really, the only logical conclusion of drifting through life. I had a best friend like Marty through the most formative part of my teens and 20s and fuck, this one just hurt, man.
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Major congrats to
@JMBurge
!
Special Jury Mention for Performance in a U.S. Feature: Joshua Burge for Vulcanizadora (United States) – World Premiere. Jury statement: “For his impact at showing moments both heart-wrenching and soulful, we were impressed by his depth and
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Final word on RELAXER.
For about a week, instead of the unseen dad at the end, we were going to see the actual Billy Mitchell. He was on board. But it felt like stunt casting and Relaxer wasn't that kind of movie.
Still amazed it's on
@criterionchannl
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I always wanted a filmmaking band, not a production company. That came together for BUZZARD.
We rehearsed once a week for 6 months, writing, blocking, experimenting.
We're called Sob Noisse.
(Budget = 10 people gave us $1000 for 1% of the profit. Sob Noisse split the rest.)
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I've been working on a movie that comes out next year. It will be my best work.
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Come @ me Cassavetes!
Explore our Microbudget Movies collection—featuring amazing films by:
John Cassavetes
Barbara Loden
Satyajit Ray
David Lynch
William Greaves
Mani Kaul
Jia Zhangke
Melvin Van Peebles
@joelpotrykus
Allison Anders
Eagle Pennell
Pedro Costa
Wayne Wang
& more!
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Somehow these movies are still streaming on the greatest channel since MTV.
@KMiltz7
Check out the films of Joel Potrykus! Working defiantly out of Grand Rapids, Michigan, the underground auteur makes scrappy, darkly comic portraits of losers, slackers, metalheads, outcasts, and weirdos raging against the system.
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Doubt it.
QUENTIN TARANTINO explains how to make a good movie.
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Filmed Relaxer 5 years ago. Whoop whoop!
Now streaming on the
@criterionchannl
#juggaloaintcrime
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Last word on APE.
The film played festivals for a full year with no music clearance.
It won Best New Director at Locarno not because of me, but because of
@JMBurge
. 90% of directing is casting.
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Don’t normally feel anything when people die that I don’t know, but feeling this one.
RIP Mike Schank. Watch him in AMERICAN MOVIE and learn how to be a good friend.
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Quarantine sucks. My dudes in BUZZARD, ALCHEMIST COOKBOOK, & RELAXER are as socially distant as it gets. So I'm issuing a challenge.
Recreate one of these stills for a sweet prize, and maybe my friends will chip in prizes too. What say you,
@OscopeLabs
@sxsw
@BAMfilmBrooklyn
?
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VULCANIZADORA premieres at Tribeca on June 8.
First poster, first images, and words drop on Tuesday.
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3 reasons BUZZARD landed a deal with
@OscopeLabs
1. SXSW
2. New Directors/New Films proved it could play to SX punks and opera types
3. I'd been emailing their info@ address for years, letting them know I existed and wanted to join their scene
Watch:
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It's here. You can all watch RELAXER!
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Incredibly stoked to present the first physical release of APE!
Includes new essays by
@JMBurge
and me. Also, a list of jokes I wrote many moons ago. Tons more!
Mega thanks to
@factory_25
And
@VinegarSyndrome
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BUZZARD free with Prime
(also on Pirate Bay)
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THE ALCHEMIST COOKBOOK was shot on an Arri Alexa. Two weeks at an old Girl Scout camp in Allegan, Mich. (corner of Highland Ave and Riverview Park)
A guy offered us $250k to make it but he wanted it to look like $1 mil. I politely said no. ($60k budget)
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VULCANIZADORA
Sept 21 Wealthy Theatre (Grand Rapids, MI)*
Sept 27 & Sat. Sept. 28 Hell's Half Mile FF (Bay City, MI)*
Oct 5 Duluth Superior FF (MN)
Oct 10 Buffalo International FF
Oct 19 New Hampshire FF
Soon in Chicago Baltimore Denver UK Mexico Spain and Australia
*I’ll be
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I'd be fine if I just made this
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Warms my heart to see so many Relaxer torrents out there.
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Sorry.
the scene where he eats the Totino’s pizza sandwich is something I’ll think of on my deathbed
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Lots of BUZZARD questions. I'll answer all.
Treadmill scene: Not in the script. We shot the in
@MikeLSaunders
parents' basement. His mom had a treadmill. "We could do some cool stuff with that." Bugles made the cut. Derek on rollerblades did not. You just stand in one spot.
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Yes, the films are leaving Criterion, but they’re always waiting at home.
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RELAXER is so close to playing everywhere. More news tomorrow.
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Feedback from a festival programmer.
“I had to shut if off cause I was about to puke”
RELAXER
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The new short THING FROM THE FACTORY BY THE FIELD was DP'ed by
@adamjminnick
, sound by
@KukuLeleStudio
I teach at
@GVSU
and the rest of the crew was made up of fearless young filmmakers.
If you wanna learn how to make movies, come to Michigan.
Streaming on
@criterionchannl
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10 Year Anniversary. The production of this blu ray cost more than the production of the movie.
So damn excited to have this amazing blu-ray of APE. The first Sob Noisse feature film by
@joelpotrykus
. Thank you so much
@factory_25
and
@VinegarSyndrome
for making this happen. It’s beautiful.
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Festival premiere for the new short at one of my absolute favorite festivals!
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I probably talk about RELAXER too much here, but fuck it.
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Accidentally spent a lot of time talking about A Serbian Film, so I ended the lecture with a photo of my baby boy to cleanse the palate/contexualize the lesson.
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Actually, it's up...now. The movie is officially all yours. Pay what you want.
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Festivals are important.
@AndreHyland
's short film FUNNEL played before BUZZARD at
@AFIFEST
. We hung out backstage the entire runtime and cracked up. I cast Andre in RELAXER to riff. Most of Dallas' dialogue is Andre making us laugh.
Dallas is named after a kid from Ossineke MI.
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When we took Buzzard to Locarno, we found an Ape sticker from our first trip.
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You hear that, Malaysia!
An unnerving and wholly original indie comedy about a bitter, broke, pyromaniac comedian. Joel Potrykus remarkable feature debut.
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Pretty sure a filmmaker's biggest influence is the last thing they watched.
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Where's VULCANIZADORA playing next?
Sept. 27 & 28 Hell's Half Mile Film Festival, Bay City, MI*
Oct. 3 & 5 Montana Film Festival
Oct. 4 New/Next Film Festival, Baltimore*
Oct. 5 Duluth Superior Film Festival, MN
Oct. 10 Buffalo Int'l Film Festival
Oct. 11 Desmond Demon District,
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VULCANIZADORA at Tribeca this June.
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The only film I've made that I'm too uncomfortable to watch.
featuring
@JMBurge
@Lilfilm
@Dastmalchian
@erickohn
@factory_25
@OscopeLabs
@CinemaScopeMag
@jaygiampietro
@chadhartigan
@RileyStearns
@NeonIndian
@AndreHyland
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Inspired by
@RileyStearns
bc BUZZARD dropped the same day as his FAULTS.
30-day shoot (most days = 4-8 hrs). 112 page script. Longest scene was 10 pgs. 6 on-set crew members. Lens used most was 50mm (85mm close 2nd). Played in 20ish theaters. Budget was (come on, Riley)...
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First watch of Gone Girl. The most obnoxious junk I've ever seen.
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Chicago turned out! Thank you
@chifilmfest
and
@musicboxtheatre
That was sick.
VULCANIZADORA plays once more on Saturday.
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@rebfive
I think the Cassavetes Award should go to the best feature made under $50k. Seriously.
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Talking with someone yesterday who kept saying Jim Jar-moosh and I kept saying Jim Jar-mish and neither of us budged or even acknowledged.
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I'll be driving to Montreal for the int'l premiere of VULCANIZADORA on July 19 at
@FantasiaFest
!
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Why support smaller companies?
@OscopeLabs
continues to carry that torch of love created by
@beastieboys
' Adam Yauch.
#stinkydadsunite
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I'm back to say today I learned the title of Radiohead's first record is a Jerky Boys reference.
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If you haven't seen The Alchemist Cookbook yet, it's yet time.
Looking to get your adrenaline pumping without a workout this weekend? These are the best horror movies on Amazon Prime
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