"I once watched a low rent tranny do her full makeup in the bathroom of a Popeyes Chicken restaurant on Hollywood and Cahunenga over the course of 2 hours and thought what a great piece of cinema that would be..."
LATEST PROJECTS:
(updated 6-28-09)
Apollo is currently working on a loose script for a 16mm silent film entitled "Whores of Babylon", a visually surreal expressionist take on the relationship between famous historical women of pleasure and Goddesses in mythical folklore.
ART DIRECTED MUSIC VIDEOS:
Artist: N-Force
Song: All or Nothing
Art Director: Apollo Staar
May, 2009
Artist: Molly Jensen
Song: Give It Time
Art Director: Apollo Staar
March, 2009.
FILMMAKING AND DIRECTING:
(updated 11-30-08)
What do you consider to be 'Underground'?
"Anything that is hated by the establishment because of its thought provoking nature as well as anything considered unconstitutional and deemed sinful or immoral by any religious right" --A.Staar.
Photo by Nick Bohn, in San Francisco, 1994.
UNDERGROUND FILM:
Apollo first began to make Super 8 and 16mm films in his teens and while attending courses at Pasadena City College in the early 90s. He had his first public screening in 1991 and then put together his first Film Collective known as 'Cinema Nouveau' at 19 and had a public screening at TROY CAFE in 1993, a local downtown artist cafe run by Bibbe Hansen(singer Beck's mother) and her husband Sean Carillo.
1991
"Back in 1991, I had made a my first series of Black & White experimental and underground films and was given the opportunity to have a short screening hosted at TROY Cafe. I had never shown anything outside of my classes or my garage to friends of mine who wondered what they looked like on screen. All of these films where shot on Super-8 and for the split screen film 'Paul-Anthony Presents...'. For that particular film we used 2 projectors to screen both reels of the film, side by side, simultaneously. I remember getting them both second hand at various Pasadena thrift shoppes and one of them ran slightly faster than the other one, so I had to add extra footage at the last minute so that they would end at the same time. The only thing I had was this 3 minute reel of circa 1970s softcore porno that I just cut up and threw at the end. This made for a very interesting finale, to say the least." -Apollo Staar, 2007
The following are some still photographs taken from that night.
(below) Here's the flyer that we distributed to all the lofts that were east and west of Alameda St., including The American Hotel, Al's Bar, and L.A.C.E. when it was down on Factory Pl.
(L to R) Apollo, Bibbe Hansen and husband Sean Carillo.
Actor Leo Suprenant welcoming the audience.
(L to R) Leo Suprenant, Apollo, and photographer/film collaborator Durmel DeLeon.
Apollo hooking up the sound that was played out of a SONY Walkman cassette player.
On the set of Apt. 18, with actors Andy Nunez, Emily Monagle(DeMilo), and Chad.
"In this scene, Emily had been cheating on her husband, Andy, and then when he comes home from work, as he gives her a hug and behind his back, the hustler, Chad, gets paid and splits." -A.S.
Shooting another makeout scene.
Apollo directs Andy Nunez where to drive off camera.
1993
CINEMA NOUVEAU: a film Co-operative formed by Apollo Staar in 1993.
"During my studies at Pasadena City College(1990-1993), which I was attending mutually with Art Center College of Design, I put together a film collective known as Cinema Nouveau. This group of young like-minded cinephiles was created for the purposes of showing our avante-garde, non-linear, non-narrative, subversive and experimental offbeat underground cinema because no one else would let us screen these films anywhere. The Co-operative was comprised of young filmmakers and students of the anti-establishment minded school of cinema. We had the first and only screening at Troy Cafe on July 18, in the summer of 1993. Most of the filmmakers were classmates of mine from the city college plus a few others that responded to our ads that we put up at laundry mats, coffee houses and in bathroom stalls of dive bars on Colorado Blvd."
The following are a selection of press items and photos from that evening.
"This was the flyer that I made to get submissions. It was the highest macintosh printer resolution at the time!" - A.S.
"It was this film, 'Beyond Flesh', that was the catalyst for my name change to Apollo Starr. In the end credits, the film is credited with "Directed by Apollo Starr". Following this film, I decided to keep the name for purposes of anononimity. I began to make slightly dark subversive films with adult themes and by having an alias, I realized that 'Paul Trevino' wasn't responsible or accountable for these dark experimental works. Creating Apollo Starr, the extroverted character, was primarily for the purposes of overcoming my shyness and heavy social anxiety. This new name and feeling was so liberating, that I've stuck with it for 15 years. Although, those who know me closely, know who I am vastly beyond all that is just surface. I like to keep it that way. Just for the special few." - A.S.
(Above) Cinema Nouveau Collective.
(standing, L to R)Cesar Hernandez, Paul Trevino(Apollo Staar), Leslie Ann Denny, Diane Malanovich, Nicole Sewell. (Kneeling, L to R) Sean Sprinkle, John McMullen.
(Above) Left: Paul Anthony/Apollo Staar and artist/filmmaker, Nicole Sewell. and the picture on the right:Filmmaker Leslie Anne Denny and Photographer Durmel DeLeon, who Apollo collaborated with on many of his films.
UNDERGROUND FILM: My first Film Retrospective when I was 19
Category: Art and Photography
Downtown Los Angeles, 1993.
"Before I became Apollo Staar. Before I was 21 and able to go to bars and clubs, we used to frequent Los Angeles Coffee Houses which at this time (1990-1993) were extremely popular and consistently packed, up and down La Brea(The Living Room, The Pik Me Up, etc..), Beverly Blvd. (Big & Tall Books) , Pico (Jabberjaw), Los Feliz(The Onyx/Sequel)....all the way to Pasadena (the E Bar, Equator, etc.) and countless others. This was a time waaaay before Starbucks and corporate chain coffee shops. These were intimately thrown together establishments run by young art kids and their Hippie parents who sought a way to divert them from the perils of LA Nightclubs and the drug life and to offer them an alternative nightlife of Art, cigarettes and a lot of Coffee! Which ultimately got them hooked on CAFFEINE! These establishments would constantly showcase art by the customers and friends that frequented these places. This was a time of art for art people."
"One of my favourite establishments was called TROY CAFE, located just in from the corner of 1st St. & Alameda in downtown LA. It was run by Bibbe Hansen, a screenwriter, who practically grew up in Warhols Factory in the mid 60s and whose father, Al Hansen, was the pioneer of the 60s art movement known as Happenings, and whose son, Beck, would later find success in offbeat musical styles. Over endless Cow-Cows(their version of a Mocha), Bibbe would tell me endless stories of things that occurred at the Factory in the mid 60s. Private moments and personal stories from all the major warhol stars that aren't documented anywhere. I was glued listening to her every word, every nite for the 3 years before I left to SF. Her husband was Sean Carillo, whose resume read like a Bible of rebellious acts in the art community in the 70s. Back then he used to be part of a underground art collective called ASCO ('Nausea' in spanish), which would stage protests and illegal art happenings bringing attention to the fact that Latinos were not represented by mainstream Galleries or Museums in the Los Angeles Art world. This was back in the late 70s."
"Anyways, long story short, the night before I left to San Francisco for school, they hosted a Film Retrospective of all my work up to that time and we held the screening outdoors, in the adjoining parking lot of the cafe. We somehow acquired a few dozen chairs and ran 300' feet of extension cords from some outlet we found near the back dumpster of this noodle house in Little Tokyo, to power the projectors. We projected the films on the west wall of the building that housed the cafe and even shot out the streetlight with a wrist rocket type slingshot, so that it was dark enough to see the dim super-8 thrift shop projectors that I had at the time. Fortunately the Eiki 16mm projectors were bright enough, they had Xenon bulbs in them!"
(Below Photographs)
"These are a few selections of photographs from that night. I'm the one running the projectors. This was my retrospective. I was 19." - Apollo Staar
*NOTE: All of the films from the retrospective as well as early works are currently being transferred for a forthcoming DVD entitled "Nothing Special: Diary of a Derelict".
(Below)Apollo and filmmaker Nicole Sewell(middle).
(In photo above are actress Emily Monagle, and sister Jennifer Monagle and friend)
(Below)
Jazz singer, Jack Wu II, opens the night with Jazz. (Right)-Apollo and friend.
1994
"After I was asked to leave Art Center College of Design in the spring of 1993, I migrated up north to San Francisco and was accepted into the SFSU film program, in fall of 1993. I turned every assignment I had into a social statement about alternative lifestyles, be it drug addicts trying to kick, or Drag Queens who ruled the nitelife circuit. I was obsessed with exposing this to whoever I could, and first and foremost it was my school teachers and classmates.
I shot a 15 minute documentary on Super-8 film called FEMME FATALE. It was a mini documentary on SF Drag Personality D'arcy Drollinger, who at this time clearly was the Ringleader in that club kid/drag queen world. She used to work the door at this dress up/drag queen/club kid club called SPREAD located at 1015 Folsom in the SoMa district of SF. I happen to live directly across the street in a cold water flat on the 3rd floor. I used to come by the club every week looking for interesting subjects to shoot, and eventually I met the people who ran the scene including Kenny Wonder, Mylar, (NY Designer)Richie Rich, Joseppy Golightly, filmmaker Nick Bohn(RIP), photographer Enrique Vargas, NY Drag performance artist *BOB* (before she was a performer), artist Jason Mecier(who at thet time was in this crazy 70s influenced band with D'arcy called Enrique 3)as well as many many other creative types that ran the colourful club kid/amphetamine fueled nightclubs.
The following are a small selection of photographs from 1993 or was it 1994...not sure..anyways these were shot during the time I was shooting the documentary, on location at D'arcys house in the Lower Haight. She was a consummate collector of ANYTHING AND EVERYTHING from the 1970s and the lower level of the victorian house she was renting was more of a museum than a living space, dedicated to that era. It was beautiful."
- Apollo Staar, 2006
D'Arcy all done up.
D'Arcy's walk in closet was the size of a small bedroom.
Manning the velvet ropes at Club SPREAD on Folsom @ 7th in SoMa. 1993
D'Arcy and Apollo.
2007
Currently, Apollo is working on a loose script (as he directs mostly thru the actors improvisations) for a feature length underground film. Here are a few samples of some short video projects he has recently made during some recent Photo Shoots.
MY DEATH(Digital Video, 2007)Starring Yveete Lera of the underground rock band 'Blood Doll'. Shot on location at Ultrastar Studio. This is real. Yvette survived with only minor lacerations that healed after a few weeks.
DEMOLITION DOLLS: Girls of the SS (Digital Video, 2007)Starring Yvette Lera. Shot on location at Ultrastar Studio.
NAZI GIRLS OF THE SS (digital Video, 2007) Starring Yvette Lera. Shot on location at Ultrastar Studio.
The following is a clip from the set of a music video for Blood Doll, shot by Apollo at Ultrastar Studio in 2007.
More pics and videos coming soon....
(updated 6-28-09)
Apollo is currently working on a loose script for a 16mm silent film entitled "Whores of Babylon", a visually surreal expressionist take on the relationship between famous historical women of pleasure and Goddesses in mythical folklore.
ART DIRECTED MUSIC VIDEOS:
Artist: N-Force
Song: All or Nothing
Art Director: Apollo Staar
May, 2009
Artist: Molly Jensen
Song: Give It Time
Art Director: Apollo Staar
March, 2009.
FILMMAKING AND DIRECTING:
(updated 11-30-08)
What do you consider to be 'Underground'?
"Anything that is hated by the establishment because of its thought provoking nature as well as anything considered unconstitutional and deemed sinful or immoral by any religious right" --A.Staar.
Photo by Nick Bohn, in San Francisco, 1994.
UNDERGROUND FILM:
Apollo first began to make Super 8 and 16mm films in his teens and while attending courses at Pasadena City College in the early 90s. He had his first public screening in 1991 and then put together his first Film Collective known as 'Cinema Nouveau' at 19 and had a public screening at TROY CAFE in 1993, a local downtown artist cafe run by Bibbe Hansen(singer Beck's mother) and her husband Sean Carillo.
1991
"Back in 1991, I had made a my first series of Black & White experimental and underground films and was given the opportunity to have a short screening hosted at TROY Cafe. I had never shown anything outside of my classes or my garage to friends of mine who wondered what they looked like on screen. All of these films where shot on Super-8 and for the split screen film 'Paul-Anthony Presents...'. For that particular film we used 2 projectors to screen both reels of the film, side by side, simultaneously. I remember getting them both second hand at various Pasadena thrift shoppes and one of them ran slightly faster than the other one, so I had to add extra footage at the last minute so that they would end at the same time. The only thing I had was this 3 minute reel of circa 1970s softcore porno that I just cut up and threw at the end. This made for a very interesting finale, to say the least." -Apollo Staar, 2007
The following are some still photographs taken from that night.
(below) Here's the flyer that we distributed to all the lofts that were east and west of Alameda St., including The American Hotel, Al's Bar, and L.A.C.E. when it was down on Factory Pl.
(L to R) Apollo, Bibbe Hansen and husband Sean Carillo.
Actor Leo Suprenant welcoming the audience.
(L to R) Leo Suprenant, Apollo, and photographer/film collaborator Durmel DeLeon.
Apollo hooking up the sound that was played out of a SONY Walkman cassette player.
On the set of Apt. 18, with actors Andy Nunez, Emily Monagle(DeMilo), and Chad.
"In this scene, Emily had been cheating on her husband, Andy, and then when he comes home from work, as he gives her a hug and behind his back, the hustler, Chad, gets paid and splits." -A.S.
Shooting another makeout scene.
Apollo directs Andy Nunez where to drive off camera.
1993
CINEMA NOUVEAU: a film Co-operative formed by Apollo Staar in 1993.
"During my studies at Pasadena City College(1990-1993), which I was attending mutually with Art Center College of Design, I put together a film collective known as Cinema Nouveau. This group of young like-minded cinephiles was created for the purposes of showing our avante-garde, non-linear, non-narrative, subversive and experimental offbeat underground cinema because no one else would let us screen these films anywhere. The Co-operative was comprised of young filmmakers and students of the anti-establishment minded school of cinema. We had the first and only screening at Troy Cafe on July 18, in the summer of 1993. Most of the filmmakers were classmates of mine from the city college plus a few others that responded to our ads that we put up at laundry mats, coffee houses and in bathroom stalls of dive bars on Colorado Blvd."
The following are a selection of press items and photos from that evening.
"This was the flyer that I made to get submissions. It was the highest macintosh printer resolution at the time!" - A.S.
"It was this film, 'Beyond Flesh', that was the catalyst for my name change to Apollo Starr. In the end credits, the film is credited with "Directed by Apollo Starr". Following this film, I decided to keep the name for purposes of anononimity. I began to make slightly dark subversive films with adult themes and by having an alias, I realized that 'Paul Trevino' wasn't responsible or accountable for these dark experimental works. Creating Apollo Starr, the extroverted character, was primarily for the purposes of overcoming my shyness and heavy social anxiety. This new name and feeling was so liberating, that I've stuck with it for 15 years. Although, those who know me closely, know who I am vastly beyond all that is just surface. I like to keep it that way. Just for the special few." - A.S.
(Above) Cinema Nouveau Collective.
(standing, L to R)Cesar Hernandez, Paul Trevino(Apollo Staar), Leslie Ann Denny, Diane Malanovich, Nicole Sewell. (Kneeling, L to R) Sean Sprinkle, John McMullen.(Above) Left: Paul Anthony/Apollo Staar and artist/filmmaker, Nicole Sewell. and the picture on the right:Filmmaker Leslie Anne Denny and Photographer Durmel DeLeon, who Apollo collaborated with on many of his films.
UNDERGROUND FILM: My first Film Retrospective when I was 19
Category: Art and Photography
Downtown Los Angeles, 1993.
"Before I became Apollo Staar. Before I was 21 and able to go to bars and clubs, we used to frequent Los Angeles Coffee Houses which at this time (1990-1993) were extremely popular and consistently packed, up and down La Brea(The Living Room, The Pik Me Up, etc..), Beverly Blvd. (Big & Tall Books) , Pico (Jabberjaw), Los Feliz(The Onyx/Sequel)....all the way to Pasadena (the E Bar, Equator, etc.) and countless others. This was a time waaaay before Starbucks and corporate chain coffee shops. These were intimately thrown together establishments run by young art kids and their Hippie parents who sought a way to divert them from the perils of LA Nightclubs and the drug life and to offer them an alternative nightlife of Art, cigarettes and a lot of Coffee! Which ultimately got them hooked on CAFFEINE! These establishments would constantly showcase art by the customers and friends that frequented these places. This was a time of art for art people."
"One of my favourite establishments was called TROY CAFE, located just in from the corner of 1st St. & Alameda in downtown LA. It was run by Bibbe Hansen, a screenwriter, who practically grew up in Warhols Factory in the mid 60s and whose father, Al Hansen, was the pioneer of the 60s art movement known as Happenings, and whose son, Beck, would later find success in offbeat musical styles. Over endless Cow-Cows(their version of a Mocha), Bibbe would tell me endless stories of things that occurred at the Factory in the mid 60s. Private moments and personal stories from all the major warhol stars that aren't documented anywhere. I was glued listening to her every word, every nite for the 3 years before I left to SF. Her husband was Sean Carillo, whose resume read like a Bible of rebellious acts in the art community in the 70s. Back then he used to be part of a underground art collective called ASCO ('Nausea' in spanish), which would stage protests and illegal art happenings bringing attention to the fact that Latinos were not represented by mainstream Galleries or Museums in the Los Angeles Art world. This was back in the late 70s."
"Anyways, long story short, the night before I left to San Francisco for school, they hosted a Film Retrospective of all my work up to that time and we held the screening outdoors, in the adjoining parking lot of the cafe. We somehow acquired a few dozen chairs and ran 300' feet of extension cords from some outlet we found near the back dumpster of this noodle house in Little Tokyo, to power the projectors. We projected the films on the west wall of the building that housed the cafe and even shot out the streetlight with a wrist rocket type slingshot, so that it was dark enough to see the dim super-8 thrift shop projectors that I had at the time. Fortunately the Eiki 16mm projectors were bright enough, they had Xenon bulbs in them!"
(Below Photographs)
"These are a few selections of photographs from that night. I'm the one running the projectors. This was my retrospective. I was 19." - Apollo Staar
*NOTE: All of the films from the retrospective as well as early works are currently being transferred for a forthcoming DVD entitled "Nothing Special: Diary of a Derelict".
(Below)Apollo and filmmaker Nicole Sewell(middle).
(In photo above are actress Emily Monagle, and sister Jennifer Monagle and friend)
(Below)
Jazz singer, Jack Wu II, opens the night with Jazz. (Right)-Apollo and friend.
1994
"After I was asked to leave Art Center College of Design in the spring of 1993, I migrated up north to San Francisco and was accepted into the SFSU film program, in fall of 1993. I turned every assignment I had into a social statement about alternative lifestyles, be it drug addicts trying to kick, or Drag Queens who ruled the nitelife circuit. I was obsessed with exposing this to whoever I could, and first and foremost it was my school teachers and classmates.
I shot a 15 minute documentary on Super-8 film called FEMME FATALE. It was a mini documentary on SF Drag Personality D'arcy Drollinger, who at this time clearly was the Ringleader in that club kid/drag queen world. She used to work the door at this dress up/drag queen/club kid club called SPREAD located at 1015 Folsom in the SoMa district of SF. I happen to live directly across the street in a cold water flat on the 3rd floor. I used to come by the club every week looking for interesting subjects to shoot, and eventually I met the people who ran the scene including Kenny Wonder, Mylar, (NY Designer)Richie Rich, Joseppy Golightly, filmmaker Nick Bohn(RIP), photographer Enrique Vargas, NY Drag performance artist *BOB* (before she was a performer), artist Jason Mecier(who at thet time was in this crazy 70s influenced band with D'arcy called Enrique 3)as well as many many other creative types that ran the colourful club kid/amphetamine fueled nightclubs.
The following are a small selection of photographs from 1993 or was it 1994...not sure..anyways these were shot during the time I was shooting the documentary, on location at D'arcys house in the Lower Haight. She was a consummate collector of ANYTHING AND EVERYTHING from the 1970s and the lower level of the victorian house she was renting was more of a museum than a living space, dedicated to that era. It was beautiful."
- Apollo Staar, 2006
D'Arcy all done up.
D'Arcy's walk in closet was the size of a small bedroom.
Manning the velvet ropes at Club SPREAD on Folsom @ 7th in SoMa. 1993
D'Arcy and Apollo.
2007
Currently, Apollo is working on a loose script (as he directs mostly thru the actors improvisations) for a feature length underground film. Here are a few samples of some short video projects he has recently made during some recent Photo Shoots.
MY DEATH(Digital Video, 2007)Starring Yveete Lera of the underground rock band 'Blood Doll'. Shot on location at Ultrastar Studio. This is real. Yvette survived with only minor lacerations that healed after a few weeks.
DEMOLITION DOLLS: Girls of the SS (Digital Video, 2007)Starring Yvette Lera. Shot on location at Ultrastar Studio.
NAZI GIRLS OF THE SS (digital Video, 2007) Starring Yvette Lera. Shot on location at Ultrastar Studio.
The following is a clip from the set of a music video for Blood Doll, shot by Apollo at Ultrastar Studio in 2007.
More pics and videos coming soon....
