[NEohioPAL] Have Accordion Will Travel For Moviemaking Minstrel

[Bob Abelman]

Have accordion will travel for moviemaking minstrel 

 

Bob Abelman

News-Herald, Chagrin Valley Times, Solon Times, Geauga Times Courier

Member, International Association of Theatre Critics 

 

This feature appeared in the Times paper on 5/14/09


Familiar sights and sounds introduce the arrival of each new season.   In Chagrin Falls, the first true sign of spring is the roar from the falls as it accommodates the thaw runoff.  Summer is introduced by the sight of cone lickers congregating in front of the Popcorn Shop.  Winter has become synonymous with the strains of accordion-generated polka music wafting through the snow-dusted streets.

                                                                                                                                          

At the keyboard is lanky, long-haired Jake Kouwe, 22-year-old polka aficionado and aspiring film maker.  Jake and his family moved to Chardon from Wilmington, North Carolina eight years ago.  While most of his peers in Wilmington were playing football or soccer, he was running around with a video camera creating bizarre sci-fi mini-movies. 

 

"No one really seemed to enjoy watching those productions," recalls Jake, "but I took my films extremely seriously." 



He still does.  After moving to Ohio, Jake managed to work his passion for filmmaking into a means for satisfying class assignments in environmental science and biology at Chardon High School.  "They were about lab safety, the scientific method and evolution," notes Jake, "but they were pretty off-the wall projects, with titles like Mitosis for Christmas."  

 

The accordion helped finance his films through gigs at nursing homes and other local establishments.  Eventually, Jake took his skills to the streets.  Despite bitter cold and the occasionally frigid reception by passersby, including a "disturbing the peace" complaint by a local resident several years ago (everyone's a critic), Jake made his music a going concern, which allowed his filmmaking to flourish.  

 

Although sci-fi is his forte, Jake also produces Christian-centered films.  They began as three- to five-minute shorts for the Fellowship Bible Church in Chagrin Falls, revolving around the same theme as his sci-fi films-good triumphing over evil.  They were created with his dad, Phil, a former local firefighter and actor who performed the role of Daddy Warbucks in several Chagrin Valley Little Theater productions of Annie.

 

Jake started distributing those films through an on-line service called Sermonspice, where pastors and church leaders from around the world can go to download video for services and community workshops.  Since 2006, 1,350 copies of Jake's films have been distributed throughout the U.S., Australia, the United Kingdom, and South Africa.  

 

His most popular film, Broken Down, is about a grungy looking guy whose '64 VW beetle breaks down on the side of the road.  Three different people pass him on their way to church, but none offer assistance.  The moral:  practice what is preached.   



His latest project is a History Channel-inspired mockumentary entitled Untold Stories of WW2, about Hitler's use of lizard people to help conquer Europe.  The film was entered into and won the recent "Battle of the Films" competition at the Cedar Lee Theater in Cleveland Heights. In addition to the notoriety, the film was featured in a subsequent screening at the theater. 

 

Jake Kouwe -the man, the music and the mad-scientist filmmaker-adds a unique dimension  to the local artisan landscape.   Come winter, listen for his signature sound in the streets.  Come Sunday, don't be surprised if some of his inspirational cinema has worked its way into your house of worship.

 
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.neohiopal.org/pipermail/neohiopal-neohiopal.org/attachments/20090514/cb0a5d29/attachment-0003.htm>