We find Borchardt in his hometown of Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin, in 1995, gathering cast and crew for a more ambitious feature project, 'Northwestern', to be his own 'great American movie'. American Movie, a documentary that charts independent writer/director Mark Borchardt's attempts to film an ambitious drama titled Northwestern, may be turning fifteen this year, but old age is having no ill effects on the movie's cult status.People continue to be drawn to this relentlessly enjoyable, oddly uplifting film, and it's not hard to see why. After serving three years in the military he continued his cinematic endeavors at the local university. Mark Borchardt was born and raised in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. In Mark we discover a young man filled with contrast. He doesn't have the money (or a particularly workable idea) but he does have lots of self-confidence and enthusiasm, as well as his mom, his 82-year-old Uncle Bill, and a cast of eccentrics. Spanning over two years of intense struggle with his film, his family, financial decline, and spiritual crisis, American Movie is a portrayal of ambition, obsession, excess, and one man’s quest for the American Dream. Written by Remember he has zero money shooting this stuff, and Coven was conceived as a money-making venture so he could make Northwestern. A documentary crew captures every moment of amateur filmmaker Mark Borchardt's tortured attempts to complete his short horror film, Coven. In moments of reflection, Mark sees his story as quintessentially American, and its the nature and nuance of his dream that this film explores. The film chronicles the real 1996–97 making of Coven, an independent short horror film directed by filmmaker Mark Borchardt. Lake Michigan Monster Available on Blu-ray From Arrow Video November 3rd, Sundance Grand Jury Prize-Winners Through the Years, True Minds and Eyes of the Greatest Souls in Cinema, Most Underrated Movies of the Last 20 Years, Joe Pera Talks To You About The Rat Wars of Alberta, Canada (1950 - Present Day), Leslie Hall Feat. Journalist David Farrier stumbles upon a mysterious tickling competition online. He started making films at the age of fourteen with a super-8 camera that he bought from a garage sale for $40. Man I love Mark Borchardt, I wish he was able to have a long storied career thanks to American Movie but unfortunately that just didn't work out. I'm sure most of the people making the comments consider themselves liberals too; as if they have any concept of what that word means. He is best known as the subject of the 1999 film American Movie, which documented three years he spent writing, shooting and editing his horror short, Coven (1997). American Movie ★★★½ 1999 (R)Would-be filmmaker Mark Borchardt's American Dream is to make his own independent film in his home of Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin. Looking for more? I love how as long as you're a poor, lower middle-class white in America people love to throw around terms like "white trash", "redneck", and other such pleasantries. Spanning over two years of intense struggle with his film, his family, financial decline, and spiritual crisis, American Movie is a portrayal of ambition, obsession, excess, and one man’s quest for the American Dream. Mark Borchardt may want to make a movie more than anyone else in the world. 87 of 96 people found this review helpful. But I've seen enough smug, superior, comments on here to make me want to puke. Clip from Chris Smith's American Movie (1999).Mark Borchardt and Robert Richard Jorge discuss the proper pronunciation. The IMDb rating plugin the subject of American Movie is the story of filmmaker Mark Borchardt, mission. 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