FAILED STATE
dir. Mitch Blummer and Christopher Jason Bell, 2023
United States. 85 min.
In English.

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 13 - 7:30PM w Q+A moderated by Bennett Glace
SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 14 - 5PM w Q+A moderated by Ted Schaeffer
SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 15 - 7:30PM w Q+A moderated by Kyle Turner
MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 16 - 7:30PM w Q+A moderated by Steve MacFarlane
TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 17 - 7:30PM w Q+A moderated by Jessie Rovinelli
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 18 - 7:30PM w Q+A moderated by Blair McClendon
THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 19 - 7:30PM w Q+A moderated by Stephanie Gross

Set during the height of COVID, Dale spends the majority of his time transporting various goods to people while attempting to carve out a social life in-between. Eventually the weight of work, his declining health and decaying social relations become too heavy to bear.

After an international premiere at the Torino Film Festival and a US premiere at the Sidewalk Film Festival, Spectacle is thrilled to welcome filmmaker Christopher Jason Bell (director of previous Spectacle-approved films (or mini-series) THE WINDS THAT SCATTER and MISS ME YET?) for a week long run of his new feature film, FAILED STATE, co-directed with DP Mitch Blummer.

It is all too-rare to see American filmmakers engaging so directly with politics in an increasingly bleak work-for-hire-gig-focused economy, especially in ways that don't involve 20-or-30-something's struggling to navigate their burgeoning adulthood.

FAILED STATE tackles uncomfortable conversations about work, aging, healthcare, and the limits of community - a master class in naturalism-turned-something-else, featuring a stellar lead performance by Chris Bell's regular collaborator Dale A. Smith (TRAMMEL, THE FINGER).