Wednesday, February 22, 2023

"A crazy tale..."


The Legend of MEXMAN screened last weekend at the Santa Barbara Film Festival. I was hoping to attend in person but my flight was canceled last minute (as in... 9PM the night before a 6AM flight). The window for the trip was so short I would have missed the first screening with no guarantee of making it to the second (or returning from California).

Sadly I missed out, but I've been able to live vicariously through director Josh Polon and producer Steve Bannatyne, who've kept myself and co-editor / co-producer Jason Wehling updated on the screenings and the response to the film. 

We've collected a few reviews so far, all positive. Alan Ng from Film Threat heaped effusive praise on the film, calling it "fascinating and heartbreaking." He writes:

Writer-director Josh Polon’s The Legend of MexMan is an incredible behind-the-scenes documentary, particularly for emerging filmmakers. It’s an essay, of sorts, about the war-like tension between art and the business of art. It also serves as a not-so-typical discussion on mental health.

Ng really nails what we were hoping to achieve with Legend of Mexman.

Unseen Films also review Legend of Merman, describing it as "a crazy tale of a filmmaker in over his head." 

The Santa Barbara Independent notes that "Polon concocts a hard-to-describe adventure in which documentary truth, neo-non-fiction and film-about-film qualities collide."

If you have some time, there's this video review by Team JVS:


It's always gratifying to see audiences connect with your work and see the intention so clearly. 



Wednesday, February 15, 2023

The Legend of MEXMAN


The Legend of MEXMAN is a madcap documentary about obsession, creativity and finding your voice. When director Josh Polon screened it for producer Steve Bannatyne, he told Steve he thought it was close to finished, but something was nagging at him. A sense that with some fresh eyes and one more pass on the edit, the film could reach new depths. 

Steve introduced Josh to my creative partner, Jason Wehling, and me in hopes we might become those fresh eyes. Jason and I provide story consultation to filmmakers and companies. We rely on our two decades of experience working in independent film, television, commercials and online content to help clients more effectively tell their stories. We thought Josh had an entertaining and engaging cut but we agreed we thought maybe there's more. 

So Josh, Jason and I notecarded his existing structure. We looked at some footage he hadn't found a way to use in the film but he always found compelling. We re-shuffled the cards and created new beats & scenes based off this raw material he showed us. Then we did what we do: we started editing.

Once Josh was happy with the changes, we helped manage his finishing and delivery. This February, The Legend of MEXMAN screens at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival and Big Sky Documentary festival over back-to-back weekends. And more festivals will follow from there.