Episode #46  INT. COFFIN – NIGHT

A long time ago… six feet under…

Released November 25, 2020 •  Poster by Brian Level

for more TALES physical media, info and Swag, visit
www.talesfrombeyondtheplae.com

Glass Eye Pix invites you to count down 25 Days till Christmas
with this creepy Advent Calendar.
Order your calendar today to be ready for December 1st!

What better way to celebrate the season than with a daily peek
behind the doors and windows, nooks and crannies of this mysterious doll village
assembled by artist and stop-motion animator Beck Underwood?

Vintage dolls, stuffed critters and misfit toys,
all to tease and delight in this celebration of holiday mischief.

$10.00 USD per calendar
plus $3.00 for shipping.
Get yours TODAY

Birdthrower (aka Robert O Leaver) tells Relix, “’Medication’ was the song of mine that caused Ben to phone me up and suggest working together.  It was a quirky version of the song done on a Kaos pad with me doing some demented background vocals. Ben heard the humor, but I think he also recognized the real human struggle that found its way into the vibe of the song.  Ultimately in the studio we steered the song in a more acoustic slinky funky direction which ended up being just right. He has an uncanny ear and sense of what is authentic and true in music.  His intense focus on helping each song realize itself was something to behold, and I was sad when our time in the studio was over.”

As for the video, he adds, “Never in the history of music videos has a song and an outfit been so right for each other. We are all struggling through a desperate and absurd time. Laughter is always the right medication.”

Relix has the scoop

The Pale Men discuss Simon Rumley’s gruesome tale, BRITISH AND PROUD on its release to the TALES FROM BEYOND THE PALE podcast.

Larry Fessenden: Well, Glenn, we’ve come full circle with today’s Tale: BRITISH AND PROUD by Simon Rumley. This is the last tale we have archived, the last of the old tales we’ll be presenting on the podcast (we still have some new tales coming up so stay tuned). And so we end where we began, because Simon’s recording was the vey first Tale we ever listened to! For season one, we had some of our collaborators produce and submit finished pieces. That’s how we got Graham Reznick’s THE GRANDFATHER and Paul Solet’s THE CONFORMATION and Jeff Buhler’s THIS ORACLE MOON, and that’s how Simon’s tale came to us. I recall we both listened to it separately and we were both aghast! The end of the tale is truly horrifying in the way of the most extreme pulp comics I read when I was young, but with a cultural overtone that makes one feel unwashed. I remember we discussed putting a warning label on it and in fact we did.

Glenn McQuaid: Yes, we added a warning to this as well as Paul Solet’s THE CONFORMATION. I was indeed quite shocked by BRITISH AND PROUD but essentially saw it as a satirical look at modern day British xenophobia that taps into a history of pulpy comic-book stories about colonial fears of Africa. It’s still a tough one for me to listen to, it’s well made and Simon is very talented but the story bothers me, I felt it was too much when I heard it first but Simon does go for the jugular with his work, so…

LF: This was ten years ago and we knew that Simon was going to push some buttons with his work, that is what he has always done, with films like RED, WHITE AND BLUE, and the short BITCH, which is very potent. Now 10 years later, in the midst of Me Too and BLM awareness, we are again challenged by this tale. Still, I think self-censhorship is a troubling response to difficult work; art is meant to be confrontational and horror as a genre is supposed to shock. BRITISH AND PROUD demands we react and invites us to examine our reaction.

GM: These are interesting times. In the face of such great threats to democracy and with the rise of neo-facsistic racist bone-heads embracing the most embarrassing conspiracies of all time, and, more importantly, with minority people losing their lives because of biogoted policies, profiling and governing, I think it’s understandable for anyone with a soul to draw a line in the sand and implement a zero-tolerance attitude towards anything that is not clearly anti-racist, or anti-bigotry in genreal. I am a great believer in being anti-racist and that includes reflecting on one’s own institutionalised racism and, at every turn, questioning the privilege that comes with being a white dude. Of course, art that tackles these subjects in any kind of way can be misconstrued.

LF: It brings to mind the role of horror, as there are legions of films with women being tormented by serial killers, chainsaw-weilding maniacs, perverts and monsters. Is this exploitation or is this a glimpse into the perils of being a woman? BRITISH AND PROUD can be seen as a portrait of the smug, clueless colonialist getting his own comeuppance, almost a revenge fantasy of sorts. Or it can be seen as a paranoid reactionary shocker about threats from the Dark Continent. It seems to me to be in the interpretation of the listener.

GM: And I think it’s important to consider what the artist is trying to do. Was Simon just pushing buttons with this piece? If so, is it enough for him to do that without giving a concrete explanation as to why? Would the piece be any less powerful if the writer exercised a moral authority over the material? I’m not sure, it would be a different piece if he did though. If only he were still alive to answer these questions, oh wait… Simon is alive!

LF: Art should challenge, not conform, which is why we’ve put this out. And now we leave it to audiences … if they dare.

Episode #45  BRITSH AND PROUD

A young British fellow marries an African woman
and gets a lot more than he bargained for when he travels to meet her family for the first time…

writer & director: Simon Rumley
Featuring: Gareth Bennett-Ryan, Jenny Wambaa, Zack Momon
Tobin Alase, Jonathan Hansler, Mark Joseph, Lucien Morgan,
Osi Ikhile, Jacqui Shaw

Released November 2, 2010 •  Poster by Gary Pullin

* RATED X: This Tale Contains Scenes Which Some Listeners May Find Offensive *

for more TALES physical media, info and Swag, visit
www.talesfrombeyondtheplae.com

Glass Eye Pix is pleased to announce the release of
a documentary directed by Matt Kliegman. 
MARKIE IN MILWAUKEE unspools virtually at BAM,
this FRIDAY November 20, 2020

Get your ticket HERE

When fundamentalist Baptist minister Mark Wenzel decides at age 46 to come out as a transgender woman named Markie, it ends her 20-year marriage, estranges her three children, and sees her dismissed from her beloved church and exiled to the margins of her community. Markie’s aim is simple: to be a good person and lead a devout life. Her struggles reveal the depth of our country’s fixation on identity—political, spiritual and personal—and an acute fear of those who don’t fit neatly within their own communities. When those around you won’t accept you for who you are, how do you find a way to accept yourself?

Drawing on over a decade of vérité footage and interviews, director Matt Kliegman makes his feature debut with a Diane Arbus-inspired observational style: at once intimate and voyeuristic, tragic and hopeful.

Also opening across the country!
Check listings for cities and  showtimes!

Distributed by Icarus Films