Mark Borchardt
Mark Borchardt | |
|---|---|
 Borchardt speaks at a preview screening of The Hagstone Demon at the Riverview Theater in Minneapolis on May 8, 2008. | |
| Born | August 20, 1966 |
| Occupations |
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| Children | 3 |
Mark Borchardt (born August 20, 1966) is an American independent filmmaker. 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).
Early life
[edit]Borchardt was born and raised in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. His mother, Monica, is Swedish.[1] He started making films at the age of fourteen with a super-8 camera that was given to him by a neighbor.[1] After serving three years in the military, he continued his cinematic endeavors at the local university. In the mid-nineties, he wrote and produced Halloween radio dramas which were broadcast annually and won a fellowship from the Milwaukee Art Futures Board.[2]
Career
[edit]Filmmakers Chris Smith and Sarah Price began filming Borchardt while he was attempting to put together funding for his unfinished feature Northwestern.[2] After the project collapsed, Borchardt decided instead to finish Coven, which he had started years earlier.[3] After Coven was completed, Smith and Price compiled their footage into American Movie, which was picked up by Sony Classics and won the Grand Jury Prize at the 1999 Sundance Film Festival.[3]
Since then Borchardt has been active appearing on television and in movies. Borchardt made five appearances on Late Show with David Letterman,[4] including serving as Letterman's 2000 election correspondent.[5] He made several TV appearances on The Show with No Name, a show in Austin, TX, between 2000 and 2003. In 2004, he played himself in a cameo appearance on the television cartoon series Family Guy,[6] along with friend and American Movie co-star Mike Schank. He and Mike also had their own series on Zero TV, Mark and Mike and, in 2006, Mark and Mike hosted a national television special called Night of the Living Dead: LIVE from Wisconsin on Halloween night.
Borchardt has appeared in several movies, including The One (2001), The Tunnel (2001), Abby Singer, & The Godfather of Green Bay (2005). Borchardt also starred in Modus Operandi (2009), played a gravedigger in the partially animated comedy Hamlet A.D.D. (2014), had a leading role in the horror feature The Hagstone Demon (2011),[7] and played Mr. Englan in the directorial debut of fellow Milwaukee filmmaker Jozef K. Richards, The Amateur Monster Movie (2011).[8] In addition, Borchardt also made a cameo in the music video for the Leslie and the Ly's song "Zombie Killer" featuring Elvira, Mistress of the Dark on guest vocals.
He has contributed to Kevin Lindenmuth's 2001 book, The Independent Film Experience (ISBN 0786410752 ) and had his short stories published in magazines. Borchardt is one of a trio of hosts on "Cinema Fireside,"[9] a weekly film discussion show on WXRW 104.1 in Milwaukee.
In 2004, he announced he would direct Scare Me and sent out casting calls.[10] In 2008, he announced a 2009 release date, which was originally slated for a 2005 release. As of Summer 2010 the movie was still in production and as of 2023, it still has not been released.[11] In April 2012, Borchardt stated that about 65% of the film had been shot, and that he was happy with the first forty pages of the script. However, he maintained parts of the script needed to be revised and while he had rough-cut some of the footage, there was no completion date in place for the project.[12] In a March 2013 update for the Scare Me IMDb page, the release date was set for April 1, 2014.[13]
In 2018 he directed a documentary called The Dundee Project, which focused on attendees of a UFO festival in Wisconsin. The film premiered at Slamdance Film Festival (Park City), then played at Fantastic Fest (Austin), Nighthawk Cinema (Brooklyn), and the Chicago Critics Film Festival.[14]
Personal life
[edit]Borchardt has three children.[15][16]
Filmography
[edit]As writer/director
[edit]| Year | Film | Role |
|---|---|---|
| 1997 | Coven | Writer/director/producer |
| 2000-present | Northwestern (In-production) | Writer/director |
| 2004–present | Scare Me (In-production) | Writer/director |
| 2018 | The Dundee Project | Writer/director/producer |
As actor/subject
[edit]| Year | Film | Role |
|---|---|---|
| 1999 | American Movie | Self |
| 2000 | Coven | Mike |
| 2001 | The One | Cesar |
| 2001 | The Tunnel | Lincoln |
| 2002 | Britney Baby, One More Time | Dude Schmitz |
| 2003 | Living Dead Girl | Jesus |
| 2005 | The Godfather of Green Bay | Skeeter |
| 2005 | Zombie Island | Al the drunk at the bar |
| 2006 | Family Guy (TV) | Himself |
| 2007 | Confession Stand | Theatre Manager |
| 2007 | The Devil's Muse | Floyd |
| 2008 | First Bass | Principal Papalschmeck |
| 2009 | Living Arrangements | Paul |
| 2009 | Unholy Reunion | Douglas - Interviewee |
| 2009 | Tapioca | Harve |
| 2009 | Dozers | Gawker |
| 2009 | Modus Operandi | Dallas Deacon |
| 2009 | Cabin Fever 2: Spring Fever | Herman |
| 2011 | The Amateur Monster Movie | Mr. Englan |
| 2011 | The Hagstone Demon | Douglas Elmore |
| 2012 | Heavy Hands | The Mechanic |
| 2014 | Hamlet A.D.D. | Gravedigger |
| 2014 | Two Rivers | Dirke |
| 2016 | Here Comes Rusty | Oren |
| 2016 | I Am an Alien | Mark |
| 2019 | Black Licorice | Martin Milo |
| 2020 | Faith Based | Mark |
| 2020 | Small Town Wisconsin | Store Clerk |
| 2004–present | Scare Me | Jeff Lavelle |
| 2018–present | Joe Pera Talks with You | Gordy/Guy at Bar |
Music videos
[edit]| Video | Band |
|---|---|
| "Dead Pan" | Big D and the Kids Table |
| "Garden of Secrecy" | Tenement |
| "Semantics" | Tapebenders |
| “Band Practice/ Uptowner Girl” | SOUP MOAT |
References
[edit]- ^ a b "The Screens, Limelight: A Brush With Mark Borchardt". Austin Chronicle. November 26, 1999. Retrieved 2009-09-15.
- ^ a b "Cutting to the chase as a filmmaker Falls man focuses on his dream". Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Feb 1, 1996. Retrieved 2009-09-15.[permanent dead link]
- ^ a b Morrow, Fiona (Jun 23, 2000). "The loser who made Milwaukee famous". The Independent. London. Archived from the original on January 1, 2010. Retrieved 2009-09-15.
- ^ Season 7: episodes 49, 83 and 132. Season 8: episodes 44 and 193.
- ^ "Milwaukee Talks: Mark Borchardt, 2000". OnMilwaukee.com. Sep 12, 2000. Retrieved 2009-09-15.
- ^ "Borchardt and Shank make cameo on "Family Guy"". OnMilwaukee.com. Jan 8, 2006. Retrieved 2009-09-15.
- ^ Smith, Zack. "Nevermore curates the latest in cinematic horror, along with a few classics". Retrieved 13 August 2011.
- ^ The Amateur Monster Movie (2011), retrieved 2017-02-06
- ^ "Cinema Fireside". Riverwest Radio WXRW 104.1. Retrieved July 17, 2016.
- ^ "Casting call, Milwaukee style". Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Jan 25, 2004. Retrieved 2009-09-15.
- ^ "Vanishing Act: Mark Borchardt". Nerve. Feb 2, 2008. Archived from the original on 2009-09-24. Retrieved 2009-09-15.
- ^ "Movie Geeks United Interview: Mark Borchardt (YouTube video)". Movie Geeks United. April 30, 2012. Archived from the original on 2021-12-12. Retrieved 2012-10-22.
- ^ "Scare Me". IMDb. Retrieved 2020-01-12.
- ^ "From Mark Borchardt to Bon Iver, Wisconsin Film Festival achieves peak Wisconsin". madison.com. 31 March 2017. Retrieved 2020-01-12.
- ^ Alesia, Tom (November 12, 1999). "'American Movie' making a splash". Wisconsin State Journal. Madison, Wisconsin. Retrieved October 16, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "American Movie". Sight & Sound. Vol. 10, no. 7–12. British Film Institute. 2000. p. 38.
He still lives with his mother while working a paper round and trying to scrape together money for his films. Among his debts is child support for his three children from a relationship with an ex-girlfriend.
External links
[edit]- Mark Borchardt at IMDb
- Northwestproductions.com Borchardt's former production website
- (At the Internet Archive, 2003 and earlier; extensive use of Java applets for navigation.)
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