Francophrenia
(or: Dont Kill Me, I Know Where the Baby Is)
Directed by Ian Olds and James Franco
June 24, 2010. James Franco (the actor) prepares to film the climactic episode of his stint on the daytime dramaGeneral Hospital. “Franco” (his serial-killer character on the show) readies a murderous art installation at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles. The day begins like any other for James – hair and makeup, interviews, hugs and autographs for the fans. But as night falls and the shoot begins, James becomes increasingly unhinged as “Franco’s” nefarious work becomes indistinguishable from his own. An experimental narrative comprised of repurposed documentary footage shot behind the scenes at the museum, Francophrenia (or: Don’t Kill Me, I Know Where the Baby Is) tells the often comic, frequently horrifying story of the labor behind the television spectacle and the glorification – not to mention the destruction – of the celebrity at its center.
“…a true marvel of the doc/fiction hybrid, a slender and seductive treatise on the edges of madness that may one day compare favorably with other works of American filmic experimentation as masculine meltdown, such as Jim McBride’s “David Holzman’s Diary” or Moses Milton Ginsburg’s “Coming Apart.“
- BRANDON HARRIS, IndieWire
“Deliberately oddball doc takes the form of experimental cinema while amusing fans who’d watch James Franco do anything”
- John DeFore, Hollywood Reporter
Session one:
Time: 4:00pm
Location: Main Cinema
Date: Saturday 8 September
Venue: The Factory Theatre
Session two:
Time: 1:00pm
Location: Fusebox Cinema
Date: Sunday 9 September
Venue: The Factory Theatre
