The Party began with a script. It is a work of imagination, like a short story. But I'd also like to believe that it's true.
The writer Andre Dubus once remarked that short stories are the way we communicate the events of our lives. They're how we tell each other things: what just happened at the grocery store checkout or the amazing turn of events at the bar last night.
Making The Party was an attempt to create such an event. I wanted to find out what would happen if a lonely middle-aged man decided he could speak honestly with an adolescent woman at a company party. Even more, I wanted to evoke the "vivid, continuous dream" of fiction.
But a filmmaker trying to describe his intent is a bit like a filmmaker offering an excuse. Still, one can hope, and hope is the antidote to loneliness. And that's a story worth telling. – Eric Maierson
A middle-aged man tries to share his sadness with an adolescent woman - a colleague's daughter - at a company party. A short, fictional film about honesty and everything that gets in the way, written and directed by Eric Maierson.
Note: Not all comments will be posted due to space and time constraints.
Anne -- San Franicsco, CA, USA
Jan 21, 2008 at 6:26 PM
I found this to be trite, oversimplified and unoriginal. Perhaps this this could be a common conversation with a middle-aged man and teenage girl in America, but I'd like to think that the majority of society isn't quite this masochistic, selfish and lecherous. Even if so, aren't we familiar enough with this dynamic and these characters? I'm disappointed to see this here as if it was illustrating something new or remotely positive.
john brown wayne -- san jose, ca, usa
Jan 11, 2008 at 2:48 AM
Well, done. I love the tension.
Piter -- Lisbon, Portugal
Jan 7, 2008 at 5:33 AM
Wonderful. A good short story. I wish a lot of short moovies were like this one.
M. Rankin -- Kailua, Hawaii
June 1, 2007 at 9:43 AM
Great casting, solid acting, and the pure essence of what filmmaking is about. For a moment I felt like the fly on the wall in a most surrealistic way.
Al Vigil -- Albuquerque, NM, USA
May 19, 2007 at 10:01 AM
Two strangers living a short visual tag - that losses, his girl, her rape - and leave one forever changed. Great sensative presentaion of pain and lost youth! Deserves great applause for creativity.
JB -- Texas, USA
May 3, 2007 at 1:52 PM
This seems to be a cheap student film knock off of part of American Beauty... not great storytelling... mediastorm seems to have dropped the ball here...
Julie -- Montclair, NJ, USA
Apr 26, 2007 at 8:24 PM
I finally took a moment to breath the other night and I watched The Party. I found it incredibly unsettling, so much so that I had to wait a couple of days to drop you a note. I suppose my reaction is testimony to the film's success, but it touched a raw nerve. I'm sure that being a mother with a daughter who will soon enter puberty fueled my discomfort, but it was also such a strong commentary on the confusion, lovelessness, and desperation of a whole generation. It spoke to the unsatisfied need of young people to be loved and how neglected they feel by parents who are too busy to notice. Congratulations on creating a film of substance. I hope you're getting a lot of response.
Holden -- New York, NY, USA
Apr 25, 2007 at 5:14 PM
I have to say, this short is great! The script to the post production. The camera angles are very well thought out, the lighting is great and teh editing is soo fluid! It is an amazing short. I wonder what greatness you could do with a longer one? GREAT JOB ERIC!!!! You make us little people proud!
Ellen -- Brooklyn, NY, USA
Apr 24, 2007 at 2:18 PM
If I were married to the guy who made this film, I'd be proud. Or maybe I'd be terrified.
Eric Hegwer
Apr 19, 2007 at 2:07 PM
I just watched your new project "The Party". It captures, more effectively than "the Sandwich Generation" the gap between generations.
I wish I could state in writing, how good this short is. I've been sitting here for 30 minutes writing paragraphs and deleting them. None of my writing can capture what I want to say.
Halfred -- Colombo, Sri Lanka
Apr 20, 2007 at 12:23 PM
Ok, short stories are a fine thing. Doesn't mean they're all good. This one is highly pretensious. Uhhh, "marijuana", "under-age sex"... blablabla
Writer & Director: Eric Maierson
Producer: Gabe Hakvaag
Ken: Ken Forman
Valerie: Emma Galvin
Director of Photography: Ben Wolf
Production Designer: Gaylia Wagner
Set Decorator: Dori O'Dea
Key Makeup Design: Ingrid Okola
Makeup Assistant: Ken Shupe
Sound: Nara Garber
Gaffer: Sanjay Singh
Second A.D.: Jose Esquea
Script Supervisor: Ellen Tarlin
Set Photographer: Roy Jakubowski
Craft Services: Sharon Abbott
Partygoers: Robert Arcerno, Laura Jean Francis, Rhonda Keyser, Chris LaPanta, Paolo Nigris, Marla Reyes, Juliette Pagano, Julia Santana & Ray Wineteer
Produced by: Fast Buck Films in association with Topiary Productions
I wish I could state in writing, how good this short is. I've been sitting here for 30 minutes writing paragraphs and deleting them. None of my writing can capture what I want to say.