16 years of BUTT-NUMB-A-THON… That represents 15 years of 24+ consecutive hours spent at the altar of film worship.
17 years ago, Tim League asked me to come up with some film event for the Alamo Drafthouse. I knew I wanted to set it up as a Birthday/Film celebration… pretty much, because ever since I was a little boy, my birthdays were film celebrations, using the family’s 16mm film collection, to project all sorts of films, cartoons and crazy shorts to entertain the adults and kids that would spread out in the upstairs of my childhood home. But Tim asked me where I wanted the profits from the event to go… and when I was growing up in Austin, on the University of Texas’ campus was the Texas Union theater, which a group of students turned into the SATURDAY MORNING FILM CLUB – showing classic cool cinema to kids, letting them throw paper airplanes and there was free popcorn. That’s what I wanted my Birthday event to sponsor… the exact same concoction of WOW that I grew up with for other kids.
What is BUTT-NUMB-A-THON? Well, the word was created by GSD&M here in Austin, Tx to describe the event I was playing. Initially it was being advertised as an event of such grotesque mediocrity, that nobody could stand to take it. But that was never my plan for programming.
BUTT-NUMB-A-THON is the best of me. On my best day of the year, it is what I do. This post is the start of BNAT SEASON… Christopher Cargill calls it GEEK CHRISTMAS… and I get that.
As Adults, the world is not that very surprising. We buy tickets to films we have seen advertised, the TV Schedule spoils every twist and turn of the TCM schedule… But BNAT (short for BUTT-NUMB-A-THON) is a surprise. It’s a delicious crazy 24 hour + Mix Tape of Film Premieres and Vintage Film Programming… And if that was all it was, I think it’d be pretty damn spectacular. I mean, I could… just program the event, put tickets up for sale – and they’d sell out as fast as FANTASTIC FEST does each year, but… It isn’t that easy to get into BUTT-NUMB-A-THON.
There’s a process. If you follow the steps I lay out below with passion, honesty and a sense of genuine fun… you might find yourself with the right to purchase a ticket to what many consider the best damn day of cinema in the world each year.
Film isn’t just what’s coming out this week in theaters, it’s everything that has come before our time on this planet and everything that lays ahead of us. My job as the programmer for BNAT, is not only to put together a line up of cinema that kicks ass… but to give the audience the most unique experience with those films I can possibly give them.
That’s why this process is here, because I can’t make a great event, if the audience isn’t great too! Each year, I struggle to find a balance between those people I love in this world, the BNAT Vets that have mastered the application process and the Virgins… the folks, that are hoping to get in to their first BUTT-NUMB-A-THON.
Why? Because going to “storied events” can feel intimidating, but not with this crowd. Here… ALL ARE WELCOMED. Not only do I read every application personally, but once I’ve chosen the audience, I do the seating chart… Making sure that you are sat with the person(s) you applied with, but also – the stranger next to you, I guarantee you have loads in common with. These people could very well become amongst your favorite people on the planet. They’re mine.
I also look to have around 50% of the Audience to be made up of locals and the other 50% to be from outside the borders of my fair city.
I work to put together an audience that will be profoundly affected by the experience of BUTT-NUMB-A-THON. You will bond with people over the course of this event – and you will miss them if anything bad were to happen to them. This is a chosen audience.
DETAILS:
WHEN? BUTT-NUMB-A-THON will begin sometime upon the morning of SATURDAY, December 13th, 2014 and end sometime early afternoon upon SUNDAY, December 14th, 2014. And you may find, you’re not even tired. Sometimes quite wired and giddy and elated. If I do my job right.
WHERE? BUTT-NUMB-A-THON 16 will take place at the newly refurbished ALAMO DRAFTHOUSE on SOUTH LAMAR in Austin, Texas!!! Physical address is 1120 SOUTH LAMAR BLVD, Austin, Tx 78704.
WHAT? The event will play usually between 11 to 14 feature films from the mysterious future and the glorious past. The people that know that list of films can be counted upon perhaps 4 fingers – and that’s if I’m feeling generous.
HOW? To cross the threshold of BUTT-NUMB-A-THON – you must fill out to completion the application, which will be due by MIDNIGHT (Central Standard Time) upon HALLOWEEN, October 31st, 2014. I will be notifying winners upon DIA DE LOS MUERTOS, November 2nd, 2014 via Email… and with the list upon Aintitcool.com!
Now… prepare thyself, the Application appears:
- List your full name, then a comma, then the worst name you’ve ever been called as an insult.
- How many seats in your party? List the names of your hopeful co-attendees that you’re applying with. (NOTE: Each attendee must fill this application out too, no exceptions, if you list someone and they don’t get their app in, that’s a strike against you, so choose your partners carefully!)
- What is the date & location of your BIRTH & the best b-day present you ever got?
- Your desired T-Shirt Size?
- Your Email Address?
- Your Twitter ID? (this is how we organize a BNAT Twitter Group)
- TOPAZ is a good 16th Anniversary type of thing… So, watch Alfred Hitchcock’s TOPAZ… then contemplate the perfect double feature for it, watch that… NOW – tell me what about TOPAZ made you choose that film and… what’d you think of TOPAZ?
- The number 16 is impossible to divorce from the thoughts of John Hughes. He’s gone now, but his work lives in many of us. What’s your favorite John Hughes movie and what life parallels does it hold for you? Explain.
- Since this is THE SWEET BUTT-NUMB-A-THON, what is your favorite sweet and what’s your worst SWEET story of excess?
- We recently lost one of our sweetest BNATTERS, her name was Holly Blaine… in my wacky mind, I always thought of Holly as a distant relative of Rick Blaine, Humphrey Bogart’s brilliant character from CASABLANCA. God I love CASABLANCA, it has so many great character actors that I’ve followed off in a ton of directions. Who is your favorite character actor from CASABLANCA and what’s your fave film of theirs that isn’t CASABLANCA?
- Now tell me something about yourself – how did you come to love film?
- Describe your favorite lonely day in a theater discovering a movie that you’ve been obsessed with ever since!
- Outside of BUTT-NUMB-A-THON, what is the craziest thing your love of cinema has led you on? An Adventure? A Romantic moment? A near life-threatening act of stupidity? Dish…
- What classic film have you never seen, that you don’t want anyone to know about? Watch it. How was it?
- BUTT-NUMB-A-THON is often about the hopes and dreams you have for the event… the films you hope for… but occasionally in the past… a nightmare has shown. Looking forward over the next 7 months of cinema ahead of us… What film would you absolutely fucking vomit if it played at this year’s BNAT?
- People apply to attend BNAT for all manners of reasons… what’s yours?
- A profound influence on my life, Producer JAMES JACKS passed away this year. He took me under his wing and taught me more about the film industry than any other human being. Look him up, what’s your favorite JACKS produced movie and why?
- This year, I got cast in an AT&T GIGAPOWER Commercial with Dale Watson, but they took some still photos, which they used in BANNER ADS online. In this photo, I’m making an O-FACE. I don’t want to see your WAR FACE, show me your O-FACE!!! (This picture will likely be your YEARBOOK & BADGE photo – So Make it the best O-FACE of your life!!!
- 16 years of BUTT-NUMB-A-THON… Look over all the films that have played (found here on Wikipedia) and recreate your favorite memory out of that movie that most leaps out at you from that list. (This picture will likely be the most fun!)
- If you could enhance the ALAMO DRAFTHOUSE’s Menu for BUTT-NUMB-A-THON 16 – what would you have on it?
- (BONUS OPTIONAL VIDEO CHALLENGE) – The Alamo Drafthouse has some of the best “NO TALKING, TEXTING, TWEETING” PSAs in the world. Shoot your own. What behavior annoys you in a theater and what would the punishment be if you wouldn’t go to jail for doing it. This video should be uploaded to YOUTUBE. A Link should appear as the answer to this BONUS QUESTION. You can apply without this question… but c’mon… go for it! You can parody films, it can be stop-motion, it can be whatever you make of it – but it must be no longer than a minute, but can be as short as you wish.
That’s the App – You can send it to me at hk @ aintitcool dot com with the following EXACT SUBJECT LINE:
I Can’t Believe I Shaved My Eyebrows For BUTT-NUMB-A-THON 16!!!
It must be exactly like that, or your BNAT APP will not be considered. It won’t filter into the correct email box – and I may never discover your genius – and that would be terrible.
Try not to stress, have fun with the application… I’m very happy with how the line up is shaping up thus far! I continue to meet the best people I meet all year at BUTT-NUMB-A-THON – often, they’re shy folks working in a job that is there to feed their habit of film. If you love film in a way that nobody you know has ever understood…. We will. This is your MIDIAN. Your OZ. Your HOME. So come home and watch some cool movies and discover your favorite day of the year!
OH – We usually have a party on the night before BNAT, and many BNATTERS open their homes and lives to the out of town BNATTERS so if you can stay a couple days either side of the weekend, the kindest group of folks you’ll ever know will make you think about moving!
OK – I should stop finger vomiting and let you folks engage! OH SHIT! Here we go!!!
