After an Autumn Day That Felt Like Summer (2003)
DV/color/stereo/15:10
Cast
ellsworth
TIMUR KOCAK
anne
ANNA CURTIS
eleanor
NICOLE SEVERINE
bombshell! dancer #1
MELISSA KING
bombshell! dancer #2
RACHAEL C. SMITH
anne's cat
OLIVER
Crew
writer/producer/director/camera/editor
MARK L. FEINSOD
music
MARIO X.
bombshell! costumes
MELISSA KING
stills photographer
ROB WILLIAMS
Blue Sky
by RIVIERA (JULIA and ROLAND WOLFF)
© RIVIERA 2002
from the album Mood Bazaar
available from Philter Records, Inc. (Asia)
Thanks
GORDON ADAMS at FLOW
BOMBSHELL!
OLA BRATTÅS
PETE CAIGAN
WILL CARTER
JASON COTT
ANNA CURTIS
RICHARD M. FEINSOD, M.D.
FISHER PRICE
FRAMEWORKS
ERIC FROEHLIG
MIKE KERVEL
MELISSA KING
TIMUR KOCAK
OLIVER
BENSON SEBASTIAN
RACHAEL C. SMITH
AGNES VARDA
RYAN WERNER
JULIA WOLFF
ROLAND WOLFF
shot in New York City in spring 2002
© MARK L. FEINSOD 2003
Screenings
- Directors Lounge (Berlin, Germany: February 11th, 2005)
- An Evening With Mark L. Feinsod at the Pioneer Theater (New York, NY: January 9th, 2005)
- Arlene's Grocery Picture Show (New York, NY: April 23rd-26th, 2004)
- Palm Beach International Film Festival (Palm Beach, FL: April 15th-22nd, 2004)
- Monday Night Shorts First Year Anniversary screening series at Freight Film Salon (New York, NY: November 3rd, 10th and 17th, 2003)
- Bangbang with the Bombshell! Girls, a weekly party at the Pyramid Club (New York, NY: October 4th, 2003)
- Coney Island Short Film Festival (Brooklyn, NY: September 27th-28th, 2003)
- NewFilmmakers screening series at the Anthology Film Archives (New York, NY: September 10th, 2003)
- Monday Night Shorts screening series at Freight Film Salon (New York, NY: July 21st, 2003)
- Die Lounge (Mannheim, Germany: June 12th, 2003)
Press
Mark L. Feinsod’s position seems to be closest to classical feature film. The traditional plot, however, falls to pieces, splits into single visual, fictional or observant explorations, like the scene with the fan dance performance by the popular burlesque The Bombshell! Girls in his video After An Autumn Day That Felt Like Summer. The plot has been reduced to a mere framework, not without offering the opening for our interpretation: Loose ends instead of Happy End, also for human relations.
-Catalogue from Directors Lounge (Berlin, Germany: February 11th, 2005)
An uncommonly adult and uncomfortable dissection of human nature at its least attractive. Mark L. Feinsod's excellent short drama nails a New York heel who uses the 9/11 tragedy to rail against the Bush Administration while behaving poorly in his professional and personal responsibilities. Rather harsh food for thought, with a beautifully enigmatic conclusion.
-Phil Hall, the 10 Best Unseen Films of 2003, Film Threat (December 21st, 2003)
Top 25 Hot Shorts of 2003 [After An Autumn Day that Felt Like Summer listed at #1], Film Threat (August 28th, 2003)
[Four stars].... The question of responsibility is served in a most unusual and enigmatic manner within the 15 minutes' running time of Mark L. Feinsod's 'After An Autumn Day That Felt Like Summer'. The film takes place in New York in the days after the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Ellsworth (Timur Kocak) has been unable to return to his office job in the aftermath of the massacre at the World Trade Center and he complains, mostly to his long-time girlfriend Eleanor (Nicole Severine) of his views regarding the way that the Bush Administration handled the matter. But is Ellsworth's inability to return to work a genuine reaction to the carnage of that horrible event, or is that just an excuse for his to avoid a job which he grew to hate?
Ellsworth's behavior is complicated by his affair with Anne (Anna Curtis), a dancer in a burlesque revue. Whereas Eleanor can barely tolerate Ellsworth's anger towards Bush, Anna indulges him in role-play where he pretends to be Bush and she launches a vigorous prosecution of his alleged crimes and failings. But then, Anna might be too eager to please anyone -- especially in view of the erotic fan-dance number she later performs in rehearsal with members of her revue act.
Eleanor eventually trails Ellsworth to Anne's apartment and forces him to make a choice between the two. The film ends without the audience knowing who is chosen, but ultimately that is not the question at hand. "After An Autumn Day That Felt Like Summer" is a small scale drama that offers a chilling reminder of much of the obnoxious behavior which came about following the 9/11 tragedy: the wide scale racial profiling by law enforcement agencies of men of Middle Eastern and Islamic heritage, the airline industry's frenetic attempts to seek Congressional help in gaining immunity from lawsuits, the hemming and hawing by Congress and the White House to provide and delivery necessary funding to assist in the clean-up at Ground Zero, and the photo op appearance by the president with the Ground Zero rescue workers and his grand claim to send a message to those responsible for the attack (the fact Osama bin Laden is still at large and at least 90% of Al-Qaeda's operatives are still operating makes that promise seem fairly empty today). While nothing in this short film can match the miserable behavior arising from 9/11, it nonetheless juxtaposes a tiny slice of bad behavior that uses a national tragedy to fuel its selfishness and self-indulgence.
Feinsod wisely directed Timur Kocak's Ellsworth to be indifferent to those around him, which makes his nasty behavior all the more difficult to witness. The banality of his appearance and lack of emotion (even when making love to the lovely Anna Curtis) only enhances his status as a low-grade heel. Ultimately, it is meaningless for the audience to know which woman he will choose, as five-will-get-you-ten that he will be cheating on the remaining woman within a very short time.
To date, the 9/11 attack has baffled filmmakers, especially in view of the commercial failures of well-meaning films like 'The Guys' and '11'9'01 -- September 11'. Feinsod's 'After An Autumn Day That Felt Like Summer' may not be the message that movie audiences want to take away from that event, but it provides a much-needed rude reminder that tragedy can bring out the worst in some people.
Phil Hall, Film Threat (July 29th, 2003)
Mark L. Feinsod’s position seems to be closest to classical feature film. The traditional plot, however, falls to pieces, splits into single visual, fictional or observant explorations, like the scene with the fan dance performance by the popular burlesque The Bombshell! Girls in his video After An Autumn Day That Felt Like Summer. The plot has been reduced to a mere framework, not without offering the opening for our interpretation: Loose ends instead of Happy End, also for human relations.
-Catalogue from Directors Lounge (Berlin, Germany: February 11th, 2005)
An uncommonly adult and uncomfortable dissection of human nature at its least attractive. Mark L. Feinsod's excellent short drama nails a New York heel who uses the 9/11 tragedy to rail against the Bush Administration while behaving poorly in his professional and personal responsibilities. Rather harsh food for thought, with a beautifully enigmatic conclusion.
-Phil Hall, the 10 Best Unseen Films of 2003, Film Threat (December 21st, 2003)
Top 25 Hot Shorts of 2003 [After An Autumn Day that Felt Like Summer listed at #1], Film Threat (August 28th, 2003)
[Four stars].... The question of responsibility is served in a most unusual and enigmatic manner within the 15 minutes' running time of Mark L. Feinsod's 'After An Autumn Day That Felt Like Summer'. The film takes place in New York in the days after the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Ellsworth (Timur Kocak) has been unable to return to his office job in the aftermath of the massacre at the World Trade Center and he complains, mostly to his long-time girlfriend Eleanor (Nicole Severine) of his views regarding the way that the Bush Administration handled the matter. But is Ellsworth's inability to return to work a genuine reaction to the carnage of that horrible event, or is that just an excuse for his to avoid a job which he grew to hate?
Ellsworth's behavior is complicated by his affair with Anne (Anna Curtis), a dancer in a burlesque revue. Whereas Eleanor can barely tolerate Ellsworth's anger towards Bush, Anna indulges him in role-play where he pretends to be Bush and she launches a vigorous prosecution of his alleged crimes and failings. But then, Anna might be too eager to please anyone -- especially in view of the erotic fan-dance number she later performs in rehearsal with members of her revue act.
Eleanor eventually trails Ellsworth to Anne's apartment and forces him to make a choice between the two. The film ends without the audience knowing who is chosen, but ultimately that is not the question at hand. "After An Autumn Day That Felt Like Summer" is a small scale drama that offers a chilling reminder of much of the obnoxious behavior which came about following the 9/11 tragedy: the wide scale racial profiling by law enforcement agencies of men of Middle Eastern and Islamic heritage, the airline industry's frenetic attempts to seek Congressional help in gaining immunity from lawsuits, the hemming and hawing by Congress and the White House to provide and delivery necessary funding to assist in the clean-up at Ground Zero, and the photo op appearance by the president with the Ground Zero rescue workers and his grand claim to send a message to those responsible for the attack (the fact Osama bin Laden is still at large and at least 90% of Al-Qaeda's operatives are still operating makes that promise seem fairly empty today). While nothing in this short film can match the miserable behavior arising from 9/11, it nonetheless juxtaposes a tiny slice of bad behavior that uses a national tragedy to fuel its selfishness and self-indulgence.
Feinsod wisely directed Timur Kocak's Ellsworth to be indifferent to those around him, which makes his nasty behavior all the more difficult to witness. The banality of his appearance and lack of emotion (even when making love to the lovely Anna Curtis) only enhances his status as a low-grade heel. Ultimately, it is meaningless for the audience to know which woman he will choose, as five-will-get-you-ten that he will be cheating on the remaining woman within a very short time.
To date, the 9/11 attack has baffled filmmakers, especially in view of the commercial failures of well-meaning films like 'The Guys' and '11'9'01 -- September 11'. Feinsod's 'After An Autumn Day That Felt Like Summer' may not be the message that movie audiences want to take away from that event, but it provides a much-needed rude reminder that tragedy can bring out the worst in some people.
Phil Hall, Film Threat (July 29th, 2003)
At Freight Film Salon with Benson Sebastian, his girlfriend Amanda and Abby Fleischer.