July 27th: MIRROR & MISSAL, PART 1 (Emett Casey, 2014)

The full moon has been stolen from the sky by the power hungry Francesca, who plans to transfer its power to herself through a dance ceremony. But when a stranger wanders into the bohemian town of Echo Park, plans go awry, driving the town’s many colorful characters into a mad, magic series of events.

Emett Casey is a local LA filmmaker whose works range between traditional narrative to abstract avant-garde, but generally land somewhere in between. His style tends to be humorous, working within sub-genres, with heavy film, music and literary references hidden within each film. 

Having completed his first feature Glorious Caravan (2009) independently while attending college, a series of shorts to follow, and Well of the Beast (2011), a “VHS horror film concerning poets”,  Emett began working on an ensemble film in August of 2011. Crowd and self-funded, the initial film was shot over five months, with the prologue filmed in the fall of 2013.

Casting local actors and non-actors, the film features several faces that have since become known, including actor/director Morgan Krantz, producer and actor Nicole Disson, musician Eddington Howard, actress Sam Qaurtin, photographer Austin Irving, and several other creative personalities. The movie also features body-building champion Lauren Powers, and the original Scooby-Doo’s Daphne, Indira Stefanianna as the Moon.

Working with his regular cinematographer, Colin Trenbeath, the film was shot digitally, using DSLRs for the majority of the project. Trenbeath and Casey used adapted vintage lenses to give a soft, dreamy look to the black and white image they were going for. Splashes of color were done in various areas of the film, creating a magical and at times humorous play on films that use similar techniques. 

The film pulls on a variety of other works, playing at times with mythology and literature, as well as cinema history. The use of the name Echo Park in the film has been described by the director as, “a cinematic Echo Park – one conscious of the use of the park through film history, not necessarily as the real neighborhood as it stands today”.

Mirror & Missal Part 1: The Magical Women of Echo Park premiered at Cinefamily’s Silent Movie Theater in 2014, and was received warmly at various screenings, but failed to gain traction in the festival circuit. Hoping for a broader appeal online, the movie will be made available August 1^st On Demand via Vimeo On Demand.  

Running time is 96 minutes.