BEHIND the BELLOWS

Premiere at the 2009 Cotati Accordion Festival

Over the weekend of late August 2009, I quietly gave the first public screenings of "Behind the Bellows" at the yearly 2 day Cotati Accordion Festival. Shown for free across the street from the main event, the Cotati crowd was really the perfect audience for this movie and the viewers surprised me by staying through the entire hour-long production and provided some great encouragement and feedback. Of course I was asked "what are you going to do with this," and I still had no easy answer. Yes, I'd like to screen it on television and distribute DVDs but legal questions persist. Also, though the movie is essentially done, I keep seeing sections that need improving. After 7 years of working on this though, there comes a time when it has to be declared "finished." I'm not there yet, but it's getting awfully close.

There will be other free public screenings of the current version of "Behind the Bellows" and I'll post the time and place of such screenings as they're arranged. I suggest patience to those eager to get a DVD as funding for mass copies, packaging and such provide a hurdle for me, not to mention the legal issues regarding the historic clips and background music within the movie.

At the screenings, I provided clip boards for comments and suggestions. Here are some remarks:

"I'm a bit of a documentary aficionado; I've seen lotsa docs -- yours is a 1st class example of doc-making. The way you put together the talking heads, archival footage and photos with perfect rhythm and clarity, your little jokes, your "special effects" and your framing sequence (very touching) -- everything was extremely well done. I say add about 30 minutes of material and get it distributed as a "feature length" film." — Dixon Wragg

"Excellent! The history, visual value, music and coverage of the technical elements of manufacturing an accordion are superb." — G. Mott

"Great start, great topic, great footage and info." — Ben Paulos

I was also given some suggestions for what some viewers would like to see. I'm taking all these compliments and suggestions seriously and plan to polish this movie over the next months. Since I have 2 full boxes of mini DV tapes that I've shot over the years — the DVD release will contain many "extras" such as longer interviews with several of the participants (Hussong, Contino, Piatanesi, Carrozza, Klucevsek, Van Damme, Marocco, Nunzio and others). These will most likely be pretty raw but will be of interest to some who can't get enough accordion info.

Stay tuned for more!

See the official movie POSTER

— Steve Mobia