"bizarre, funny, Andy-Kaufman-like"

I'd like to start with something that there is much too much of: commercials!
Imagine if we commercialed for things we want and need instead of things that are just there to make us want more things...

Hi! I'm Fritz!
I make performances for different media: film, video, the written word, the street, the stage, museums, closets, in and out of a movie screen.
Today I feel overwhelmed by all the movies that are out there. "We're supposed to spend more time with eachother not watching screens. Why should I make more screenthings?"
That's how I hit on the idea of doing a VIDEO REFRESHMENT. This is a kind of anti-movie.
Here's the first episode of season 1:

TV on the Fritz

Become a Patron!

I have a patreon page to support the filmmaking. If you like what I do in a live or mediated context, please subscribe. I think if we all subscribe to a handful of artists we like we can break the corporate stranglehold on entertainment production. The more we support people doing dreamjobs the more dreams become real.

Recently I've been doing short films in one hour with friends or strangers who'd like to get together and make something.
Filmmaking can be such a drawn-out arduous process with pre, pro, and post planning and so many stages and licenses and logistics. So here the license is for fun and the logistics are simple. Some great stuff has come out of it. The trilogy below done with Matthew Silver has been viewed over half a million times (mostly on facebook).

---NOTE: Scroll down to number one if you'd like to watch them in chronological order.---

We're Animals: We're Connected!
with Matthew Silver, Fritz Donnelly (me), Claudia
#4 in series

We're Evolving: Stick Together!
with Matthew Silver, Fritz Donnelly (me), Matteo, Kat, Nia, Marylyn
#3 in series (of 4 so far)

This Could be You: Join the Revolution!
with Matthew Silver, Fritz Donnelly, and Matteo
#2 in series (of 4 so far)

Outside in Underwear: You're Invited!!!
with Matthew Silver, Fritz, and Patrick
#1 in series (of 4 so far)

The public camera is an extension of something we've all had for a long time: memories and imaginations.

The videos lead to a workshop that lead to an idea: looping. A lot of what we did was to repeat one another but in our own way, and as those repetitions mount and the misinterpretations and reactions layer, something unexpected comes out of it, that's the magic. Like in the videos above, we invite people to join us. Some of it happens on the spot and some ahead of time. It's improvisation, play.

I think people want a chance to play again, to let ideas under the surface come out in action and movement and statements, in this case, while wearing costumes or something strange or just underwear! Performance artists performing together is like a convention of carnivores, everyone is hungry and wants to eat something. But somehow the free-for-all and chaos allow a few simple principles to shape the performance: listen and lead and do what you feel with good intentions. You're invited!!

Looping!

Here's one of my short films. I shot, wrote and directed Final Request as part of a series about "Death" that a festival programmer was going to show to Spike Lee. I don't know if that happened but it screened in 2013 at Slamdance Film Festival. I don't usually try to make movies about death as there are so many real deaths that are distrubing enough. So this is my way of approaching the topic.

"I'm a filmmaker," I used to say. Now I say "performance artist" too. Times change,
people fall in love, babies are born... well maybe we're getting ahead of ourselves.

This is a recent experiment in a sustainable structure for interacting with people and making films, called SECRET DOOR

Secret Door is an experience that comes out once a week.
This is the future!!! Join by donating any amount.

tangent:

Shared experience... is one thing that makes it easy to talk
to strangers. That's why weather is such a popular topic, or what
clothes someone's wearing. But there are shared experiences
we never talk about. Like having hot nostrils. You know sometimes you
breathe in and the insides of your nostrils are hot like a desert!

back on track:

This is the movie that I've just finished. Here's the trailer:

Lots of people have helped make it. I've always thought of filmmaking
as a good excuse to do something wild that you'd normally shy away from
doing. We can do crazy things on camera that we'd never do in real life!

I LIKE YOU was funded partially by a kickstarter campaign

reflection:

Multiples... have you heard of the multiple languages of love,
or multiple intelligences, or multiple explanatory styles?
It's good to know them for different situations, but for every
situation multiple pairs of colorful leggings is essential.

Who is Christina? Like you, she came to this website and
watched some of my movies. Then she watched all of them
from all over the interwebs. And luckily for me, she liked them,
or I wouldn't be living this wonderful life in quite this wonderful
way, with such colorful clothing choices. Together we started
a participatory, interactive, creative experience called HiChristina.

name it:

Are you friends with ... a Raymond, a Raoul, a Rachel, a Racine?
How many friends do you have who start with the letter 'r'. What if
instead their names started with the letter 'grrrrr'!

'To the Hills 2' is a collection of shorts that I present as a continuous movie.
For some people this idea makes it a bad movie, for other people
it makes it one of the BEST, MOST UNIQUE movies they've ever seen!

"you might think you know a lot of people... I know more people"

useful:

Life as experiment... everybody wonders, how do you get
people to see your movie? and how do you make money doing it?
My life has been a sort of experiment in this regard.
See the video below for one answer that worked for me
and it's worked for others too.

Before 'To the Hills 2' there must have been a To the Hills 1.
Yes! I even sold it on the street!

Do you want your own copy on DVD? EMAIL ME

tidbit:

I had a public access show in New York City,
where I still am now. Yes it's tough but oh the water
tastes good! (really, it's the only thing,
besides pizza and bagels, that tastes better here
than what's going on in California).
But actually there's lots of good food in New York.
You know all about it, you've seen the movies.

The first 'To the Hills' focused on the idea of strange characters.
We've been going back in time as we roll down the page. And now
we've reached the beginning. One of my first films in New York.

"anybody watching you?"

"How Drive the Car" is one of 24 'short films about strange characters'
that make up To the Hills, in a way my first film 'album'.
(Excessive use of 'apostrophe's' noted.)

That's all for now. There are many more of my movies online. Search 'fritz donnelly' or 'tothehills' or 'hichristina' or combos of those to turn up more stuff.

Slamdance Film Festival, IFC, Anthology Film Archive, Rooftop Films, The Disposable Film Festival, The New Museum of Contemporary Art, and of course my favorite venue Manhattan Neighborhood Network (MNN) have all shown my films. And my movies and shenanigans have been written up in Black Book Magazine, Women's Wear Daily, TimeOut New York, The Washington Post, as one of the faces that launched Halloween or Williamsburg, in the Huffington Post, and other places including ye old New York Times.

If you see me on the street, or waiting for a train, say hi. I make movies because I have these viewpoints or notice these little ironies that I want to share with you.
I'd like to see your art too.
-Fritz WRITE ME HERE - ON TWITTER /tothehills - ON INSTAGRAM: funwithfritz