Banger Films Official Blog

Our US theatrical premiere was at the South by Southwest Festival in Austin, Texas. A festival that is a little short on Metal but long on good BBQ and good times. We were more than a little startled to be greeted by a stretch limo courtesy of our US distributors, Warner Bros. Oh well, you only live once eh?

We caught The End Records showcase with Norway’s own Green Carnation – it was good to see Andreas and Adrian from The End out in full force. We also checked out the Relapse Records party and chowed down on some killer Mexican grub with the Relapse and Century Media folks.

But the hands down highlight was the arrival of Eric Bryan, one of the fans who appears in the film. He traveled all the way from Riverside, California to Austin just to see the film’s premiere. His parents paid for his trip for his graduation present! He did the Q&A after the film with us and dropped some hilarious comments about downloading and Metallica. Eric is a young metal fan who really knows his stuff and will have a very bright future in whatever he sets his sights on.

What else did we do? Well, let’s just say that our final night concluded with Scot drinkin’ bourbon out of a glass pistolero, fer chrissakes! Need I say more?

Now, prior to being invited to the Bermuda International Film Festival, my only reference for this out-of-the-way island nation were “The Triangle”, rum smuggling and cheesy rattan furniture. You know, a place that would resemble the set for the TV crime drama series, Fantasy Island, minus the crime and the drama.

Little did I know that Bermuda would have it’s own, full fledged metal scene! Granted, the entire scene could fit into one row of a theatre (!), but it was great to see Bermuda’s metallers out in full force for both of our screenings. At one screening a whole group of kids had been given the weekend off of school to watch the film. This really got us thinking about the spread of metal to all corners of the globe, which will be the focus of our next film.

Apart from the screenings, well, we hung out ath some crazy mansions, stayed at Michael Douglas’ mom’s resort (weird), took a bike tour down the center of the island, and visited Bermuda’s oldest graveyard. But to be honest, most of our time was spent sucking back “Dark ‘n’ Stormys”-the local specialty drink consisting of rum and ginger beer. Let’s just say hangovers were taken to a whole new level. Ouch!!