In the Kan

The first shot in Oratorio of the Grotesques, op. 7 depicts a beautiful blond male, naked and cut like steel, lying on his back on a public bathroom floor. From there, who cares where the film goes — but the writer and director, St. Charles High School senior Tristan Cook, takes his Kan Film Festival entry in several directions in as many interesting ways.

“He’s this lost soul looking for a force, but he’s also got choices,” Cook says of the uncredited Adonis in a 56-minute movie that the filmmaker admits “is heavily influenced by Jean Cocteau.” Experiments with film speeds and directions, hints of vampirism and Dali-like imagery contribute to the film’s heady message: that a director, like any artist, reigns over the finished product. “As an artist,” Cook says, “you can play God with your characters, deciding if they live or die.”

Cook’s film is one of four that will compete in the “Drama Comedy Over Thirty Minutes” category on Saturday. It was chosen from a record 206 entries in the tenth year of the festival, which showcases developing Missouri and Kansas filmmakers, video artists and documentarians. Seventy-six films will show in three venues at KU in Lawrence.

The day is capped by juried prizes in such categories as “Scariest Movie” (new this year with five entries, four of which were made by Overland Park residents) and “Original Film, Intermediate Division Grades Seven Through Nine.” That slate includes the work of young directors such as Shawnee Mission Northwest High School freshman Brenton Wheeler, who submitted Rhythm & Roll, a montage of skateboarders executing stupendous moves and doing untold damage to architecture around Kansas City. Those put off by lengthy documentaries might find comfort in choices such as Barbara Lindstrom’s The Great Pancake Race, which clocks in at three minutes flat.

Ultimately, each filmmaker could cite Cook, who tells his befuddled creation, “You had to reap what I sow, like Geppetto and Pinocchio.”