Steve Balderson

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Steve Balderson circa 2003
Steve Balderson circa 2003

Steve Balderson is a film director. He was born Stephen Clark Balderson on January 19, 1975, in Manhattan, Kansas, USA. He was raised in nearby Wamego until the age of twelve, when his family moved to Manhattan. Steve attended Manhattan High School. Though his class attendance was poor, Steve graduated a semester early, ahead of his peers. He refused to walk the stage and accept his diploma, opting out of the graduation ceremony altogether. The administration asked if he would like his diploma mailed to him. He responded, "I'll never need it."[1]

Balderson attended film school at California Institute of the Arts, where he directed six full-length digital movies, including a screen adaptation of Anne Rice's novel The Vampire Lestat. At the end of his third year at CalArts, Steve realized he'd never had a mid-residency review. When he asked his dean, Hartmut Bitomsky, Hartmut answered, "Master's students don't have mid-residency reviews." When Hartmut learned Steve was an undergrad, he instructed Steve to stop going to his classes and instead, to do independent study with him. Once a week the two would meet and dissect Alfred Hitchcock films and Steve learned how to focus his vision. After months of working one-on-one with his dean, Steve decided he was ready to leave CalArts without graduating.[2]



Contents

[edit] Pep Squad

After leaving CalArts in 1996, Steve returned to Kansas and directed his debut feature film. Pep Squad satirized and predicted American school violence prior to the horrific series of school shootings. After the era of school violence ended in the United States, Pep Squad was released on DVD.

[edit] Firecracker

Balderson’s award-winning second feature film, Firecracker, was released theatrically in 2005 to sold out audiences in a first-ever "Freak Show Tour" supervised by Landmark Cinemas, the nation’s largest art house chain. Preeminent film critic Roger Ebert called it "Brilliant" and named Firecracker on his list of the year's best films [Source].

Hailed as a "masterpiece" (Film Threat [Source]) and "told by a story teller who has a nascent finger on the pulse of contemporary cinema" (Aftertaste magazine), Firecracker features the acting debut of alternative music icon Mike Patton and the critically acclaimed comeback of Academy Award nominee Karen Black. Also starring are Susan Traylor, Pleasant Gehman, Jane Wiedlin, Selene Luna, The Enigma, George the Giant, Jak Kendall, Brooke Balderson, Amy Kelly, and Lobster Girl Cathy Berry, daughter of the infamous Lobster Boy Grady Stiles.

Firecracker premiered at London’s Raindance Film Festival, to sold out crowds, where it won a Jury Prize nomination for Best Picture. It also won numerous awards on the festival circuit worldwide including: Best Picture, Best Cinematography, Best Actress for Karen Black, and Steve Balderson won the 2005 Domani Vision Award for emerging talent at Tribeca’s Visionfest.

[edit] Watch Out

Currently in post-production, Watch Out is based on the controversial novel of the same name by Joseph Suglia.

Watch Out is the story of Jonathan Barrows, a man who falls in love with himself, literally. He is secretly attracted to his own body, carries out an erotic relationship with a blow-up doll that resembles him, and takes pleasure in rejecting the advances of his many admirers, both male and female. He descends into a world of carnivorous priests and Prozac-popping Polish prostitutes and eventually assassinates the world's most popular pop-diva. "You strange creatures," Barrows declares, "you are nothing more to Me than a meal at the fast-food restaurant of life." But who will end up being devoured?

The film was shot guerilla-style, without permits, in March and April on location in Wamego, Kansas. Starring Matt Riddlehoover (the actor/director and MySpace sensation best known for his award-winning comedy TO A TEE) and co-starring Peter Stickles (Shortbus), B-movie superstar Jeff Dylan Graham, Amy Kelly, Jon Niccum and burlesque sensation Lady Monster.

[edit] Misc

Steve is also the subject of a new book written and published by author Joe Schaefer.[3] In Conversations, the author writes, "Having a dream and actually sitting down and hashing out how one will achieve it are two different things. Steve Balderson longed to be a filmmaker, so he made it happen. This writer/director/producer just may be the personification of the new American dream."[4]

Balderson’s attention to detail and strong work ethic is chronicled in the award-winning documentary series WAMEGO. Wamego: Making Movies Anywhere was released in 2004 on DVD, Making Movies Anywhere won Best Film at the 2005 Fox Film Festival and the 2004 Kan Festival Award.[5] Wamego Strikes Back, the sequel to Making Movies Anywhere, was released in 2007. The third installment, out in 2009, chronicles the making of Watch Out.

[edit] Filmography

As film director

  • Watch Out (feature, 2009)
  • Underbelly (documentary feature, 2008)
  • Wamego Strikes Back (documentary feature, 2007)
  • Phone Sex (feature, HD, 2006)
  • Firecracker (feature, Super 35mm film, 2005)
  • Wamego: Making Movies Anywhere (documentary feature, 2004)
  • Pep Squad (feature 35mm film, 1998)
  • Eleven Eleven (feature digital film, 1996)
  • Pep Squad (feature digital film, 1995)
  • By the Light of the Moon (digital feature film, 1994)
  • Children of Darkness/The Vampire Lestat (digital feature film, 1993)
  • Videorotica (music video, 1992)
  • Bus Stop Goodbyes (video feature film, 1992)
  • The Visionaries (video feature film, 1991)

[edit] References

  1. ^ Schaefer Jr., Joseph (2006). Conversations-Steve Balderson, Dreams and Firecracker, 6–12. 
  2. ^ Schaefer Jr., Joseph (2006). Conversations-Steve Balderson, Dreams and Firecracker, 13–23. 
  3. ^ Schaefer Jr., Joseph (2006). Conversations-Steve Balderson, Dreams and Firecracker. 
  4. ^ Schaefer Jr., Joseph (2006). Conversations-Steve Balderson, Dreams and Firecracker, 6. 
  5. ^ Sterneker, Leah (April 22, 2005). "Film Fest". Hutchinson Collegian 45: 2. 

[edit] External links