FAME WHORE

FAME WHORE cuts between three interwoven stories examining our culture’s lust for that elusive state when everybody knows your name. The triptych includes an all-American tennis star hounded by rumors that he’s gay, a trust fund brat on a demonic quest for celebrity and an idealized innocent so isolated he’s created a six-foot Saint Bernard as an imaginary friend.
– FILMMAKER

1999 ACADEMY AWARD consideration

Winner of “Best Feature” Award at both New York and Chicago Underground Film Festivals.

Music by: Angry Samoans, Dub Narcotic Sound System, Emily’s Sassy Lime, Dixieland, Barbara Manning and Mel Davis

STARRING
Peter Friedrich, Amy Davis, Victor of Aquitaine, Jason T. Rail, Michael Fitzpatrick, Izabela Wojcik, Monte Cazazza, Jennifer Gentile, Danny Plotnick.

WRITTEN, DIRECTED & PRODUCED BY
Jon Moritsugu

PRODUCED BY Andrea Sperling
DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY Sarah Leech
PRODUCTION DESIGNER Jennifer Gentile
SOUND RECORDISTS Roko & Adrian Belic
SOUND DESIGNER Peter Steinbach

MUSIC BY Angry Samoans, Budderball, Mel Davis, Dixieland, Dub Narcotic Sound System, Emily’s Sassy Lime, Barbara Manning, No No Boy, Kat Thaxton.

FAME WHORE was supported in part by funding from the Rockefeller Foundation.

FAME WHORE is crude, edgy and energetic, and its stars throw themselves into their roles with welcome gusto.
LOS ANGELES TIMES, Kevin Thomas, 1-21-1999

With all its raw energy and savagery – as much the result of Moritsugu’s direction as the brilliantly outrageous performances of Friedrich and Davis – FAME WHORE targets not famous people but, more sharply, fame itself.
LA WEEKLY, Paul Malcolm, 1-1999

Luridly florid… like a porno flick with the fucking parts cut out.
THE VILLAGE VOICE, 3-1997

FAME WHORE… it’s just as ugly, mean, and dirty as the world we live in.
THE VANCOUVER SUN, 10-1997

Warhol used to slobber all over celebrities. Moritsugu prefers to spit on them.
THE ISTHMUS (Madison), Kent Williams, 2-1998

Filmmaker Jon Moritsugu is known best for his teen-angsty punk’n’roll pics MOD FUCK EXPLOSION and TERMINAL USA. With his latest, FAME WHORE, he graduates to adolescent hell… This film is even funnier and just as crazy as his previous ones.
JANE, Claudine Ko, 2-1998

BEST FEATURE & FESTIVAL CHOICE
N.Y. Underground Film Festival
BEST FEATURE
Honolulu Underground Film Festival
FEATURE COMPETITION SEMI-FINALIST
Austin Film Festival, TX

Fame Whore was considered for an
ACADEMY AWARD in 1999,
but was rejected because it was screened in 16mm and all Academy Award films must be 35mm.

Melbourne International Film Festival
Hawaii International Film Festival
USA Film Festival, TX
Mill Valley Film Festival, California
San Jose Cinequest
Bangkok International Film Festival
Singapore International Film Festival
Lincoln Center “Independents Nights”, NYC
Laemmle Sunset 5 + Laemmle 4-Plex, LA (5 week run)
Blinding Light!, Vancouver (1 week run)
Roxie Theater, SF
Musicbox Theater, Chicago
Grand Illusion Theater, Seattle
Pacific Film Archives, Berkeley
Clinton Street Theater, Portland (1 week run)
UC Theater, Berkeley
Victoria Film Festival, Canada
Brandon Film Festival, Canada
Pleasure Dome, Toronto
Central Florida Film Festival
Athens International Film Festival, Ohio
Film Arts Foundation Festival, SF
Freaky Film Festival (Champaign-Urbana)
Horse Hospital, UK
Go Films, St. Louis
Basement Films, Albuquerque
Actor’s Theater, Santa Cruz
Beyond Baroque, Venice, CA
University of CA, Santa Barbara
University of Wisconsin, Madison
University of Tennessee
Storyville, SF