Michael Hurley (who's also a huge influence on Cat Power, Smog, Violent Femmes, Lucinda Williams, etc. incidentally...). I made this freebie 25 minute documentary for sheer amusement and spiritual exercizzze!
and Barkley The Cat!
Directors
Favorites: Todd Solondz, Werner Herzog, Mike Leigh, Joe Berlinger/Bruce Sinofsky, Ross McElwee, Harmony Korine
Awards
"A Balancing Act" - BEST COMEDY FEATURE at the Atlanta International Documentary Film Festival, BEST COMEDY FEATURE at Montezuma International Film Festival, STAFF CHOICE AWARD at Thin Line Film Fest, SHORTEST TRIP AROUND THE WORLD AWARD, Seattle True Independent Film Festival, HONORABLE MENTION at Bare Bones and Thin Line Film Fests, OPENING/CLOSING film at Sebastopol Documentary Film Festival and several others. "Nearer My God To Thee" - THE FILMMAKER WITH REELHEART and BEST FEATURE DOCUMENTARY (2nd Place) at the RHIFF Festival in Toronto.
Festivals
Atlanta International Documentary Festival, Film Pop Montreal, Rome International Film Festival, Jacksonville Film Festival, Thin Line Film Fest, ReelHeart International Film Festival, Slow Film Festival, Connecticut Film Festival, Utopia Film Festival, Sebastopol Documentary Film Festival, Sweet Onion Film Festival, Hell’s Half Mile Film & Music Festival, Montana Independent Film Festival, S.N.O.B. Film Festival, Northampton Independent Film Festival, Filmbiance, Mid-Valley Video Festival, Montezuma International Film Festival, Bare Bones International Independent Film Festival, Renderyard Film Festival, Over The Top Fest, Seattle True Independent Film Festival
Marc Israel's Interests
General
Love
Instability/Bravery
Joy
Music
Jelly Roll Morton, Michael Hurley, Bonnie Prince Billy, Danielson Family, Tom Waits, Memphis Jug Band, Sonic Youth, Daniel Johnston, King Oliver, Robert Crumb and His Cheap Suit Serenaders, Silver Jews, Ukulele Ike, Charlie Patton, Leonard Cohen, Sol Hoopii, McKinney's Cotton Pickers, Blind Willie Johnson, Hank Williams, Jonathan Richman, Carter Family, Belle and Sebastian, Patti Smith, Bob Dylan, The Fugs. M. Ward.
Movies
The Idiots (Lars Von Trier), East of Eden (James Dean), Adaptation, Jandek on Corwood, Brother's Keeper, Brazil, Funny HaHa, Even Dwarves Started Small, Deconstructing Harry, Sans Soleil, Life is Sweet, Downtown 81, Down By Law, Fire Walk With Me, How to Draw a Bunny, American Movie, Burden of Dreams, Midnight Cowboy, Lilya 4-Ever, Masked and Anonymous, What Dreams May Come, Old Joy, The Passion of Joan of Arc, Time Indefinite, Julien Donkey-Boy, Streetwise, On the Waterfront, Cleo from 5 to 7, Monkey Business, Trash, Storytelling, Symbiopsychotaxiplasm.
Television
America's Funniest Home Videos
Books
Charles Bukowski, Paul Auster, Mark Twain, Joe Matt, John Fante, Naomi Klein's "The Shock Doctrine"
About me:
PLEASE WATCH ALL THESE VIDEO FUNNIES IN THE FORMATS BELOW (Vimeo, better quality!), rather than Myspace versions posted up top.
I'm very interested in anything that's got to do with falling off a horse, especially if the person gets back on it. I wanna make films that make you wanna hug your hunny. I seem to only be able to make sense of something if I film it & watch it over & over again later while editing. It's definitely a form of therapy - and lord knows, I need it! Also, I make music. I've started to build a MUSIC PAGE at www.myspace.com/marcisraelmusic.
Also, check out some music videos, just left of this box.
My most recent feature-length film, "A Balancing Act", has been shown at several dozen film festivals and won awards! TO PROCURE THE THREE FEATURE-LENGTH DOCUMENTARIES MENTIONED BELOW (see previews): DVDs at present are just $12 each, or 2 for $22, 3 for $30, shipping included! You can send a check/money order/concealed greenbacks to:
Phenomenal World Cinema,
62 West St., Suite 3,
Northampton, MA 01060 USA
or use Paypal at phenomenalworld at gmail dot com. You can also purchase/download them at www.eztakes.com
ON A BALANCING ACT
"Delightful and enormously entertaining, A Balancing Act bursts with the energy and unexpected swerves of a motorcycle joyride. Marc Israel is a daring, imaginative filmmaker with a dazzling sense of play. His honesty, deep sensitivity, & intelligent humor make him one of my favorite filmmakers working today."
- Davy Rothbart, This American Life
"... captures the everyday beauty of friendship...a fantastical and fantastically funny self-reflexive ride that traverses the landscape of genuine emotion!" - Noralil Ryan Fores,
Short End Magazine
"...Quite brilliant, bizarre, and very much loved by Film Pop. Bravo!!!" - Ezra Soiferman, Producer of Film Pop Montreal
"One of the funniest films of the festival, a cross between Louie Theroux and Hunter S. Thompson!"
- Mark Reid, Director of Renderyard Film Festival
"...an hilarious epic documentary that keeps you laughing the entire time. One of the best films I've seen in a long while. We loved it!" -
Eric Panter, Director of The Atlanta International Documentary Festival
"...a document, a mosaic of the world, that still gives us reason to believe in America despite these dark days of freedom fries; that 'there's all kinds of awe-inspiring things occurring on macro and micro levels' no matter what your incarnation or residence on earth. You really must see it to believe it." - One Less Magazine
"A tremendous crowd pleaser and a film that deserves a wide audience....a rare gem." -
Barry Norman, Founder/Executive Director
Rome International Film Festival
"Marc Israel is a helluva storyteller!"
- Alan J. LaFave, Festival Director
Hell's Half Mile Film & Music Festival
"Director Marc Israel takes us along as he uncovers wild quirky wonders in the urban jungles of Austin and Los Angeles, and the tropical jungles of Vietnam and Cambodian while he searches for an elusive motorcycle balancing contest in A Balancing Act." - Sonoma West Times & News
HOW I SPENT MY SUMMER VACATION
By 1997, I'd been a traveling musician for 5 years. May thru October were spent on the road, hitchhiking, street-performing as a one-man-band, criss-crossing the USA & Europe dozens of times, In winters, I'd stay in New York City, often at the apartment of poet Allen Ginsberg. He was a good friend & teacher, & I'd accompany him on guitar for various performances. In April of '97 I witnessed his passing. With a mind now pondering Death (and my other usual obsession, sex!), I hit the road again, only this time I brought a videocamera! This was Phenomenal World Cinema's first feature-length documentary. I'm happy to now offer it on DVD!
ON NEARER MY GOD TO THEE
"Nearer My God to Thee is such a great, expressive, special film by a wonderful filmmaker. While it’s about the filmmaker himself it’s something very approachable for everyone - everyone learns something. It’s fascinating to me that he can turn his own life into a film and make it such a rich experience for everyone else.”
- Jean Tait, Former Sundance Film Festival Director
"Marc Israel's comedic documentary Nearer My God to Thee is one of the highlights of the Reelheart International Film Festival" - Liz Braun, Toronto Sun
Wow you're into such neat stuff! I want to see the museum of ephemerata and all the other things on your page. Good to see someone not into NASCAR, Britney Spears and the usual suspects.
Hey guy, wanted to let you know I just posted the photo of us (ya know the hot one back in the day) on my blog with a link to your myspace video page. I get about 4000 pageloads a month on my blog, I put a blurb about you on there. Cheers matey. btw, it's at www. floridagirlinsydney. com Don't know if I ever told you, we eventually watched the 2nd film (I think it was your earlier one)-- it was really cool. And you're still hot.
I managed to steal Chris Largen's copy of A Balancing Act but I still want the others. You should make them available on this site! Your road trippin footage was nice-sitting in a ma and pop hamburger shop yesterday we watched the cultural shift. I miss road trips.
Watching A Balancing Act is like hearing your new favorite band for the first time. It comes out of nowhere and reminds you that you can still get really excited about something, that maybe you don’t need to be so cynical. It has none of the elements that usually sell a film: no famous actors, no explosions, no special effects, no cheap morality lessons. And it has all of the elements missing from most films coming out today: honesty, curiosity, real human contact, meaning. Marc Israel has a grasp on the way that film can be poetry like few others do. In short, go see this movie.
