'American Movie' filmmakers visit this Saturday

Mark Borchardt's efforts to become a film director are chronicled in the award-winning documentary "American Movie." Borchardt, at left above with Mike Schank, will appear at Cornell Cinema with producer Sarah Price Saturday, April 29, at 7:15 p.m. in Willard Straight Theatre.

This Saturday, April 29, at 7:15 p.m. in Willard Straight Theatre, Cornell Cinema welcomes producer Sarah Price and Mark Borchardt, a filmmaker and the subject/star of the recent hit documentary "American Movie." Winner of the Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival, "American Movie" has been called "the documentary sensation of the year" by the Toronto Film Festival.

Price and Borchardt will appear at Cornell Cinema to discuss the making of "American Movie" and the effect the film and its success has had on everyone involved. Admission to this special screening is $6 general/$5 students and seniors. No passes, comps or discount cards will be accepted. "American Movie" also will be shown May 1 at 9:30 p.m. in Willard Straight Theatre.

Director Chris Smith and producer Price followed Borchardt, a long-haired, hard-drinking, heavy metal enthusiast and aspiring filmmaker from the suburbs of Milwaukee, as he tried to finish his homegrown horror movie, "Coven." Borchardt's tale of botched film shoots, financial desperation and crises of faith rings true to the experience of filmmakers everywhere, but what makes this documentary both hilarious and heartbreaking are the personalities that get caught up in Borchardt's madness: his aging uncle who lives in a trailer and serves as the film's executive producer; his best friend, Mike Schank, a musician and recovering alcoholic who's now addicted to lottery scratch-off games; a host of dazed actors and relatives; and Borchardt himself, whose aspiration to transform his life through the making of "Coven" is the American Dream in action.

The New York Times called the film a "rare documentary that combines a wildy charismatic subject with an elegant structure ... it has blossomed wonderfully into much more than a portrait of one fiendishly determined filmmaker."