An early casualty of Trump-Epstein's America: "Hollidaysburg"

I spoke with "Hollidaysburg" director/co-writer A. M. Lukas about how her Thanksgiving cult classic!

“He panders to the same ideology as the elephant in the room, pun intended, President Donald Trump,” I told director A. M. Lukas. “He panders to the same idea that if you present racist, homophobic — and by the way, he’s on the LGBTQ spectrum himself — but he still traffics in homophobia. In my opinion, his material is homophobic. In my opinion, it is racist. In my opinion, it has very disturbing views about [child pornography] and about animal [abuse]….” Like Trump’s buddy Jeffrey Epstein did with pedophilia, this person “normalizes those ideas by presenting them as ironic. It’s irony poisoning at its most insidious,” playing into America’s collective id.

I won’t name the filmmaker referenced in that monologue. Indeed, if I could avoid mentioning him at all, I would. Alas, I must allude to him for the sake of providing this article with essential context. I happen to be a big fan of an indie cult classic, and it only exists because this cinematic equivalent to Trump made a dumpster fire of a movie alongside her own.

From here until the conclusion of this review, though, I want to focus on the cool indie flick that inspired this review: “Hollidaysburg”

Released in 2014, “Hollidaysburg” tells the story of several teenagers as they celebrate Thanksgiving weekend in their small Pennsylvania town. Helmed by Anna Martemucci (who now goes by A. M. Lukas), “Hollidaysburg” mixes local color and quirky comedy with deep dish character study. This is a movie that quotes John Updike and references marijuana culture with equal aplomb. Loosely adapted from a script by Dan Schoffer, “Hollidaysburg” has Lukas’ creative fingerprints all over it, comfortably intellectual/heavy and chill/silly as the characters’ narratives require. Since I was raised in Pennsylvania like Lukas, I could practically feel the industrial dust and chilly autumn wind on my skin, and savor the multi-flavored pumpkin pies and other rich Thanksgiving fixings.

And those aforementioned characters’ narratives? All of the protagonists in “Hollidaysburg” struggle in distinctly recognizable ways with the constraints of life in modern America. Tori (Rachel Keller) worries about how women are exploited for profit, and by extension whether she will be taken advantage of in romantic relationships; Heather (Claire Chapelli) fears that college is a waste of time and money, and that it prepares students for lives without meaning; Scott (Tobin Mitnick) is adjusting to the painful emotional reality of losing social status from no longer being the “cool” guy in his high school, needing instead prove his worth without the safety nets of childhood; and Petroff (Tristan Erwin) defiantly refuses to go to college, despite his Mom jacking up his rent so he won’t waste his potential.

On some level, every major character in “Hollidaysburg” questions their new purpose in life as they transition from the relative innocence of high school to the cutthroat world of surviving in capitalism. As Lukas tells her film’s simple story with quiet and compassionate conviction, the audience gets engrossed. On the surface, “Hollidaysburg” is a standard coming of age dramedy, but it sticks in one’s memory because its themes are universally relevant. Even though coming of age dramedies are a dime a dozen, “Hollidaysburg” stands out as unusually heartfelt, smart and — most important of all — real.

This, I suspect, is why “Hollidaysburg” gets glowing reviews from those who see it. Influential YouTubers like Brie Cheese and Nick DiRamio (who made three great videos apiece on this subject) have promoted “Hollidaysburg” as a quality work of art. I also owe a personal debt to “Hollidaysburg” for being an informal therapy tool. When I suffered a personal trauma in March, getting laid off from a job I loved covering the climate crisis, I turned to “Hollidaysburg””s verdant Keystone State imagery, dulcet ballad rock and fast-paced witty dialogue for comfort and catharsis. Like a much more expensive movie, “Avatar,” rewatching “Hollidaysburg” is therapeutic for me.

Only a handful of movies pass this re-watchability test, for most people as well as myself. That “Hollidaysburg” does this for me, and when I need it most from a work of art, speaks to how it is a truly special moviegoing experience.

And on a shoestring budget!

“It’s not ‘Avatar,’” I said to Lukas on October 24th as we spoke about her cult classic film “Hollidaysburg.” “It was made for $250,000 as opposed for $250 million!”

I used the number “250” twice for the sake of rhetorical repetition, but it isn’t precisely accurate. Technically the first “Avatar” cost roughly $237 million to make while “Hollidaysburg” cost $800,000. Yet the number “$250,000” is relevant here for a different reason — it’s the financial award Lukas would have received if “Hollidaysburg” had won a filmmaking contest called “The Chair” (as depicted in the titular 2014 reality TV series) instead of its competitor, He Who Shall Not Be Named’s entry “Not Cool.”

More importantly, it illustrates that you don’t need a lot of money to make a great movie; you need talent. Money clearly can’t buy talent, because if it could, “Not Cool” would have at least been good, instead of (like Trump) merely able to buy unfair advantages and “win” through direct and indirect use of financial resources. Unlike “Not Cool,” “Hollidaysburg” doesn’t have that kind of money behind it, but it has plenty of talent. That’s why I recommend “Hollidaysburg” to everyone who identifies with or knows people like Tori, Heather, Scott and Petroff.

If “Hollidaysburg” was made for me, it was made for you too.

Back Seat Socialism Podcast Episode 5

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Back Seat Socialism

Back Seat Socialism is a column by Matthew Rozsa, who has been a professional journalist for more than 13 years. Currently, he is writing a book for Beacon Press, “Neurosocialism,” which argues that autistic people like the author struggle under capitalism, and explains how neurosocialism - the distinct anticapitalist perspective one develops by living as a neurodiverse individual - can be an important organizing principle for the left.