The 2016 Dallas International Film Festival Experience

Spaghettiman made its Texas premiere and I think we can safely say, the state will never be the same.

We rolled in Sunday, the 17th, to rain. Hours later, it stopped. Was it because Spaghettiman arrived? No one can really say, but it was.

The film was part of the festival's "Spotlight" series, which we imagine means it's just too good for a regular designation? Let's believe that.

Before we screened, we were given the opportunity to talk to a class at the Mediatech Institute, a fantastic school in Dallas that teaches audio and video production and has facilities and equipment so good, we considered moving there and enrolling. The class was great, asked a ton of fantastic questions, and I think we shaped some minds into some sort of shape.

Spaghettiman then met Diego Luna, which means he is now part of Star Wars canon?

Finally, the screenings. They were FANTASTIC. Two incredibly enthusiastic crowds showed up. And as a sign of how much they loved it, barely any left afterward, which meant both Q&A sessions were jam packed with awesome questions.

These kids learned a valuable lesson: get paid!

 

Spaghettiman even took a business meeting. We can't say what it was about, but we can show you where it was at.

That's right: A BUILDING!

We also received some amazing press from Dallas. First, they put us on television, which seemed like a bad idea due to the fact we are promoting a film titled Spaghettiman, but it went great. 

A big thanks to the Dallas International Film Festival and a big, big thanks to the people who came and watched. We cannot thank any of you enough.

Onto the next festival!

The 2016 Oxford Film Festival Experience

Spaghettiman went to the 2016 Oxford Film Festival in beautiful Oxford, Mississippi and we truly believe the town will never be the same. In fact, he might have physically left, but his memory will live on forever or until Wednesday or Thursday.

We were able to go on local news to talk about the film. Needless to say, the reporters were... confused.

We went on 95.5 The BullsEye to discuss the film and again, very interesting...

SPAGHETTIMAN premiered at the 2016 Oxford Film Festival and we went on the air to discuss the film, how we made it, and friendly men.

We had two screenings, both went very, very well. However, only one was planned. The premiere screening February 19 had a great, enthusiastic crowd show up, ask some awesome questions, and laugh a lot.

The second screening was added the morning of Saturday for that night. Why? Apparently, people wanted more! Those who couldn't be there the first time wanted a chance to see the film. And we had to hustle. Hustle hard. And look at the turnout:

We couldn't have done this without the help of the film festival, of course, but also Chris Holland. Holland is a film festival veteran and genius and gave us invaluable advice and help on how to achieve a good screening and festival experience. We will forever thank him and possibly send him spaghetti at random times.

The film also received a lot of love. First, from Hammer to Nail, Mark Bell reviewed the film and said, "In the end, though, Spaghettiman is a welcome addition to the superhero genre, and in a cinematic landscape where Batman, Deadpool, Ant-Man, and Kick-Ass exist, there’s more than enough room for a reluctant hero who shoots spaghetti from his body. Whether you find the film brilliant or stupid, it’s hard not to find it funny."

Next, from film critic Edward Douglas:

And also from Eric D. Snider:

And the crowds seem to really like it, enough to pose for pictures with our new and beloved superhero:

We met a lot of great people at the festival and had a lot of fun. Maybe too much fun (you'll know what we mean if you were driving to Memphis from the south around 4:00 am Sunday morning and came across a large pile of white vomit). Thank you to Melanie Addington for letting the film play. Thanks to John Wildman for getting us a lot of press (we hope no one hates you now.) Thanks for the volunteers who kicked a lot of ass throughout the fest making sure everyone could have a fun time. And thanks to everyone who turned out and laughed. We will never forget it.



WORLD PREMIERE: OXFORD FILM FESTIVAL

We are excited to announce that Spaghettiman will receive it’s world premiere at the 2016 Oxford Film Festival!

Also nervous.. The film is mentioned at the very top. Like, as one of the films they are not only excited about screening, but bragging about.

Oh, boy. That’s a lot of pressure.

We will be releasing a trailer soon as well as more images. You’re going to want to stay tuned! Does that phrase still work these days? Stay tuned? Does this joke work? It fits the “rule of threes” format when it comes to three questions, but I don’t know. I imagine Ben will hate it.

What is This?

Spaghettiman is the first feature film by Heckbender. What does all of that mean?

Heckbender is Winston Carter, Benjamin Crutcher, Mark Potts, and Brand Rackley. Between the four of us, we are writers, actors, filmmakers, comedians, and slightly above average in looks. We began making videos years ago as the Craig T. Nelson Mandela Variety Hour, which was a name that made us laugh so much we ignored how hard it would be to remember and search. We eventually changed our name toHeckbender and that will be the name history will know us by.

We’ve been featured on Huffington Post, Sports Illustrated, Break, Funny or Die, Birth.Movies.Death., and Slashfilm.

At the beginning of 2015, we decided to do something no one else had ever done: make a feature film. We knew it’d be difficult. We knew we might get hurt, get arrested, get killed, or even worse, stop being best friends. We brought along Reilly Smith, a producer from Oklahoma, and a Director of Photography, Molly Becker, and got to work.

                         The Crew

                         The Crew

Months later, we had it shot. We celebrated! We drank! We ate! We cried and hugged and thought we were on top of the world! But then we realized we had to edit it. Who knew?

                                                                      &nbs…

                                                                         A real slate means a real movie, sorry, film.

After many more months of work, we had Spaghettiman, the story of a man who didn’t want to do anything yet was given the greatest thing of all: superpowers. What was he to do?

You guessed it: go out in the world and save people but only if they agree to pay him.