The Night of the Iguana, John Huston, Fritz Lang, Hitchcock, The Fountainhead, among others
Directors
Fritz Lang, Hitchcock, among others ...
Awards
Steve Balderson's work is presented in part by the Kansas Arts Commission, a state agency, and the National Endowment for the Arts, a federal agency, which believes that a great nation deserves great art.
People who take responsibility for themselves. People who understand that everything that happens in their life is their fault. People who don’t hold other people accountable for their less than desirable situation. People who know that the world doesn’t owe them something. People who treat others with kindness no matter how they are treated. People who have drive and determination to accomplish goals and dreams. People who spend more time working, accomplishing goals and dreams, and living, than they do sitting on their asses in front of the computer on the internet or playing a childish video game. People who are doers – not talkers. People who admit there is no right way to see something. People who ask questions when they don’t understand something. People who want to learn and grow, and reach enlightenment and clarity.
California Institute Of The Arts
Valencia,California
Graduated: N/A
Student status: Alumni
Degree: Other
Major: Film
Clubs: I co-wrote the gossip column "Pussy Smoking Barbie" in the school paper: The Moon.
STUCK! -- COMING FEBRUARY 2010. STUCK! is director Steve Balderson’s homage to film noir women-in-prison films. Faithfully re-producing the genre with a modern, tongue-in-cheek twist, expect all the hallmarks of a classic prison movie complete with a wrongly accused heroine, hard boiled dames, diabolical alliances, forbidden love, cat-fighting cuties, a sadistic warden, and corrupt prison guards. STUCK! stars Karen Black, Susan Traylor, Jane Wiedlin, Mink Stole, Stacy Cunningham, Starina Johnson and Pleasant Gehman. It’s the story of Daisy, an innocent young woman framed for killing her mother. Condemned by the press and the public, Daisy is found guilty of murder and sentenced to die by hanging. This jazzy, finger-snapping, broads-behind-bars film is a throwback to another era, with terse Tennessee Williams-style verbal sparring, non-stop action and enough bad-girl jailhouse hi-jinks to make the audience lose the distinction between good and evil.
WATCH OUT -- WORLD PREMIERE / RAINDANCE. DVD re-release Nov 24, 2009. The story of Jonathan Barrows, a man who falls in love with himself, literally. He is attracted to his own body, carries out an erotic relationship with a blow-up doll that resembles him, and takes pleasure in rejecting the advances of his many admirers. He descends into a world of carnivorous priests and Prozac-popping Polish prostitutes and eventually assassinates the world's most popular pop-diva. "You strange creatures," Barrows declares, "you are nothing more to Me than a meal at the fast-food restaurant of life." But who will end up being devoured? Written in an eye-popping style that will shock the most jaded of viewers, WATCH OUT is based on the best-selling novel by Dr. Joseph Suglia and is destined to become a cult classic. Starring Matt Riddlehoover! "Most directors would not have the balls to show this… The combination of Steve’s direction and Riddlehoover’s performance… It’s masterful film-making. It leaves you in awe. One of the great cult films of all time.” - MJ Simpson, UK
NOW ON DVD:
UNDERBELLY -- Belly dance… sensual and mystical, it’s origins shrouded in mystery, is the world’s oldest form of dance, one of the most pleasurable to watch and probably the most fulfilling to learn and practice. Through a fortuitous chance meeting at the age of thirty-two, mutli-faceted artist, best-selling author and rock and roll icon Pleasant Gehman discovered belly dancing. After years of punk rock rebellion, debauched cross-country indie- band tours, substance abuse, low self-esteem and bulimia, this twist of fate literally changed her life. Embarking on a dance career with no training at an age when many professionals are considering retirement, she reinvented herself as Princess Farhana, and became an international belly dance star. Candid interviews with stars and well-known authorities in the field such as Rachel Brice, Tonya & Atlantis, Rachel Lazarus Soto, Marta Schill, Samantha Riggs and Kajira Djoumahna bump up against the opinions of starry-eyed students and hobbyists. Performances by Princess Farhana, John Compton, comedian Margaret Cho, Blacksheep Belly Dance and Tempest illuminate the range of styles and how each artist puts a personal signature on the world’s oldest dance, as it’s performed today.
FIRECRACKER -- Steve Baldersons award-winning second feature film, FIRECRACKER was released theatrically in 2005 to sold out audiences in a first-ever Freak Show Tour supervised by Landmark Cinemas, the nations largest art house chain. Preeminent film critic Roger Ebert called it Brilliant and named FIRECRACKER on his list of the years best films. Billed as a surrealist crime drama, the breathtaking imagery in FIRECRACKER pushes through the limits of cinema, establishing Balderson as one of todays finest visual storytellers. Hailed as a masterpiece (Film Threat) and 'told by a story teller who has a nascent finger on the pulse of contemporary cinema' (Aftertaste magazine), FIRECRACKER features the acting debut of Mike Patton and Academy Award nominee Karen Black in her finest performance. FIRECRACKER premiered at Londons Raindance Film Festival, to sold out crowds, where it won a Jury Prize nomination for Best Picture. It also won numerous awards on the festival circuit worldwide: Best Picture, Best Cinematography, Best Actress for Karen Black, and Steve Balderson won the 2005 Domani Vision Award for emerging talent at VisionFest.
PEP SQUAD -- a lurid trip through the lives of a handful of students attending a seemingly average High School. But what might have been a pleasant little tale about teen life in the Midwest quickly turns rotten. The student body is uniformly jaded, obsessed with sex, drugs and suicide, the parents are clueless, self-involved and thoughtless, the principal is a lecherous bum who gets a well-deserved comeuppance, the cheerleaders are a bunch of drunked sluts in short-skirts and pompoms who can be easily bought off and the coveted title of Prom Queen is something the candidates would kill for... literally! PEP SQUAD pays homage to everything from fifties juvenile deliquent flicks to Fellini, Warhol, Waters and Roger Corman, while still retaining its own individuality. Written and directed by (then) twenty-three year old Steve Balderson, with a score by Johnette Napolitano, PEP SQUAD combines the best aspects of action-flick excitement, hip wit, darkly brilliant noir and a satirical tongue-in-cheek post modern view of what adolescence in pre-millenium Middle America is all about. Full of gorgeously color coordinated scenes, snappy and sickly funny one-liners, nonstop stunts and action scenes and with enough plot twists to keep the audience on the edge of their seats, PEP SQUAD is a 90's classic.
PHONE SEX -- Filmmaker Steve Balderson has just one question - But those three small words, 60 seconds of tape, and a cast of porn stars, punk rockers and pop culture psychos spouting some of the most prophetic and profane possibilities imaginable converge to address an immortal paradox - What is sexy? PHONE SEX is a bit pop art mixed with NPR and a dash of naughtiness -- part art installation and part documentary. It’s a feature-length anthology of intimate telephone calls that 'range from the poetic to the vulgar to the humorous, and it's always interesting to see what the next person is going to say!' (DVD Snapshot) 'Like featured caller Penn Jillette’s 2005 orgy of obscenity THE ARISTOCRATS - Balderson has created a raucously witty and terrifyingly insightful look into the comic eyes of human sensibility, or lack thereof - and that’s something that fringe film fans and sociology students alike should find pretty fucking sexy' (TW Anderson). Ron Jeremy, Margaret Cho, Christian Campbell, Susan Traylor, Edie McClurg, Jane Wiedlin, Tura Satana, Penn Jillette, Iris Berry, Pleasant Gehman, Deadlee, Josie Cotton, Jackie Beat, Mario Diaz, Lloyd Kaufman, Eric Himan and Chi Chi La Rue are just a few of the featured callers. Official Selection 2007 Miami Underground Film Festival.
WAMEGO: MAKING MOVIES ANYWHERE -- From the majestic prairie fires of Kansas, through the neon glow of a carnival, to a year-in-the-life journey on making a dream come true, this documentary follows The Balderson Family on their pursuit to prove anyone can make motion pictures anywhere. 'Both entertaining and also highly inspirational,' (planB magazine) this movie reveals independent cinema as it really is, on the set and off - a family of artists, celebrities and icons taking part of the process. 'WAMEGO isn't just about dreams though, it's a statement to people that think movies can only be made in Hollywood. It's proof that the same product, if not better, can be made in Wamego, KS or Fayetteville, AR or even Xenia, Ohio.' (All About Town magazine) The documentary won Best Film at the 2005 Fox Film Festival.
WAMEGO STRIKES BACK -- The sequel to the award-winning documentary WAMEGO: MAKING MOVIES ANYWHERE. Both films reveal the seldom considered tribulations of making an independent feature film, but WAMEGO STRIKES BACK illustrates that making the movie is only the first part of a long process - and maybe the easiest step. 'A must-see for any filmmaker. It's not the happiest, but it might be one of the most informative films about DIY filmmaking you'll ever see' (Independent Filmmaker's Coalition). Over an hour of bonus features including never-before-seen FIRECRACKER outtakes and deleted scenes. Official selection 2007 San Antonio Underground Film Festival.
WAMEGO: ULTIMATUM -- The final installment in the award-winning WAMEGO trilogy. Follow a year-in-the-life of director Steve Balderson and actors Matt Riddlehoover, Peter Stickles, Jeff Dylan Graham, Starina Johnson, Gaea Gaddy, McQueen, Timmy Red, Joseph Suglia, and the entire cast/crew of WATCH OUT, as they prove once and for all that "you don’t need to live in or anywhere near Hollywood to make movies. Places like Wamego, Kansas work just fine." (Film Threat); "ULTIMATUM is much, much more than a Making Of. There is no doubt in my mind that every independent film-maker should watch all three of the WAMEGO films. Every film-making class should show these movies to its students... They show you why you should make films." (MJ Simpson)
More information about Steve Balderson can be found on his website www.DIKENGA.com or by searching his name on the internet.
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I think your next oeuvre should be a tribute to the late Hedy Jo Star and how she changed her sex. Nothing has really been done with Hedy Jo although there are a few net tribute sites. Out of print copies of her 1950s bio “How I Changed My Sex” now sell on Amazon for about 60 bucks. Her old National Tattler columns “Both Sides Of Love” sometimes can be purchased on eBay. You’re always looking for new ideas. Hedy Jo would be a natural and you’d have a ball with it.
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