Book Review - Chamberlain Bros. International Student Film Festival

Review by Ron Cotton - April 30, 2006

Edited By Kimberley Brown (Editor of http://www.realscreen.com/)
Introduction by Roger Corman (http://video.movies.go.com/rogercorman/index.html)
Published by Penguin Group (http://www.penguin.com/)
Approx. 170 pages, Copyright 2005.
ISBN 1-59609-090-1 (US Softcover - $14.95 Retail)

For students who soon aspire to bud into a future filmmaker, feast your eyes upon this otherwise unknown book. Chamberlain Bros. International Student Film Festival is a guide for the 117-minute DVD. The six short films were selected by a panel of media professionals at Tribeca Cinema (including Roger Corman).

Many just might question the reasoning behind a Book/DVD compilation rather than using existing DVD mastering techniques such as commentary tracks. Although feeling that commentary tracks should have supplemented in Chamberlain, I understood that the book was a necessary component. The book format has the advantages of being organized, allowing readers to make discoveries at their own pace, and Books offer information more dense than commentaries can offer. Also, depending on numerous elements such as the speaker’s speech and tempo, commentaries can become quite annoying.

The six shorts include: “Enlightenment”, “Perils in Nude Modeling”, “The Plunge”, “The Reunion”, “Toxin”, and “Zeke”. “Toxin” was the only short I felt lagged behind what the others have excelled at. “Enlightenment” is emotionally visual quest. “Perils in Nude Modeling” and “The Plunge” are male-centric shorts while “Zeke” and “The Reunion” are more female-centric. All and all, a great mix of shorts.

The DVD is held by a flimsy cardboard leaflet which can scratch the disc’s surface. The books soft cover status gives very little reinforcement. Penguin should have chosen a different package design, yet this practical method was probably to keep the printing costs of Chamberlain down. In this respect, I agree for Penguin Group’s decision to make this book more accessible. As a tradeoff, keep Chamberlain on your bookshelf whenever possible or use an extra case to keep the DVD safe.

Overall, this book shouldn’t be passed up. These Indy shorts are worth every penny that Penguin Group is asking. Charming to say the least.