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subscribe to style file blog via RSSBlasblog: Meet The (Up The) River Boys
January 16, 2009 11:51 am
Few people know the etymology of expressions they regularly bandy about. I often ask stutterers if a cat has gotten their tongue, with scarcely a clue as to whether it originated in medieval folk believing that a witch’s cat could indeed steal your tongue or Middle Easterners of yore legendarily feeding the tongues of liars to cats. (Both make equally charming fun facts to bring up over cocktails.) But Andrew Simkiss and Matt Creed, the young filmmakers behind www.uptheriverny.com, know exactly what they’re talking about. “Being sent up the river was common slang for going to prison when New York City prisoners would be sent up the Hudson to [Sing Sing],” explains Simkiss, a recent NYU film school grad. “The sound of the phrase just felt right for the site.” Incarceration references aside, the scripted and improvisational video shorts that the duo post are far from contained. “Sites like these are a good vehicle for getting work out to a lot of people, without having to go through festivals and distribution,” explains Creed, who graduated last year from The New School, his fifth university in six years. (For the latter four years, he focused on painting and acting.) The resulting celluloid works are a mix between short, art-house style pieces—like one that centers on the goofy, dazed wonder that a young adult could have with a simple toy—to slightly longer narrative pieces, like one reflecting on the very important metropolitan journey to a gallery opening. In theory, it’s all leading to something bigger: a feature film. There is one already in the works, set to take place on a farm during the Depression, that’s written and directed by Simkiss. The pair hopes to start filming in April. Until then, though, it’s work as usual, which, for Creed, in case you thought he looked familiar, means he’ll have to stick behind the DJ decks. “[Spinning[ has been like my day job, but at night,” explained Creed, a Beatrice Inn regular. “Hopefully, though, acting and making films will starting paying the rent.”
tags: Andrew Simkiss, Beatrice Inn, Filmmakers, Matt Creed, Uptheriverny.com
