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Fabulous flicks

Our third short-film festival crowns all new winners

By JEFF INGLIS | November 21, 2008

Best Comedy: Myth Perceptions: The Sheriff’s Tale
Directed by Matt Power

Filmed as a segment for his monthly public-access television show, Liberty News TV (which airs three times each Saturday, Sunday, and Thursday on Portland's Channel 2; three times on Sunday on Portland's Channel 4; and on community stations around the country), Myth Perceptions: The Sheriff's Tale is the first in what may be a series of old legends reinterpolated to make political points.

"I love this concept of taking myths and retelling them in ways that are so absurd," says director Matt Power. Myth Perceptions in effect "swiftboats" Robin Hood, recasting him as an evil, cop-killing thief, and the Sheriff of Nottingham as a benevolent dictator who is, among other things, "a dedicated family man" who loves babies. (On the other hand, the film depicts a messenger being hauled off for punishment, screaming "Don't flay me, bro!" So not all is light and sweet.)

Next up for swiftboating: FDR, or maybe even JFK. (No word on whether those efforts will include, as this one did, Phoenix staff writer Deirdre Fulton in a supporting role.) Power says he enjoyed the screening, which let him experience the audience reaction — something impossible in television — but wants to "tie in more modern references" in future episodes, to let people who might not be intimately familiar with the actual legends be "in" on the jokes all the same.

Watch the video: Myth Perceptions

_Jeff Inglis

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