Damon Packard (born May 4, 1967) is an underground American film director and actor. He currently lives and works in Los Angeles, California.
Packard first became seriously involved with film at the age of 11. His biggest inspiration was director Steven Spielberg. Packard spent his teens and twenties working on experimental shorts while supporting himself variously as a movie theater usher, security specialist and wrist-watch salesman. His early Super 8 efforts included The Afterlife and Amazing Stories (1982–84), starring his friend/collaborator Paul Trainor, son of producer/casting director Chris Trainor, who was partners with Miles O’Keeffe known for films such as Ator, The Blade Master, and Lone Runner. His first notable effort was Dawn of an Evil Millennium (1988) which he partly produced as a 30min short for a film class and featured Miles O’Keeffe in small role. This was followed by other shorts such as Apple (1992), an elfquest-inspired fantasy film made in Hawaii while… read more
Damon Packard (born May 4, 1967) is an underground American film director and actor. He currently lives and works in Los Angeles, California.
Packard first became seriously involved with film at the age of 11. His biggest inspiration was director Steven Spielberg. Packard spent his teens and twenties working on experimental shorts while supporting himself variously as a movie theater usher, security specialist and wrist-watch salesman. His early Super 8 efforts included The Afterlife and Amazing Stories (1982–84), starring his friend/collaborator Paul Trainor, son of producer/casting director Chris Trainor, who was partners with Miles O’Keeffe known for films such as Ator, The Blade Master, and Lone Runner. His first notable effort was Dawn of an Evil Millennium (1988) which he partly produced as a 30min short for a film class and featured Miles O’Keeffe in small role. This was followed by other shorts such as Apple (1992), an elfquest-inspired fantasy film made in Hawaii while living in a tent for two years. In 1999, he made The Early 70’s Horror Trailer, which included an early appearance by independent film actress Rachel Galvin
After struggling for years to complete films out of pocket, living in cars and tents, Packard received a large inheritance when a relative died. He spent the inheritance on Reflections of Evil (2002), a long treatise on contemporary American paranoia. The film featured Packard himself as an obese, overwrought watch salesman. Packard pressed 23,000 DVD copies of the film and made them available for free. He also sent thousands of them to celebrities, whose reactions were recorded on his website. In the January/February 2006 issue of Film Comment, “Reflections of Evil” made the Editor’s List for Best of 2005.
His Reflections spoof of a young Steven Spielberg, a director he claimed to admire, was matched by his later assault on George Lucas in Packard’s film The Untitled Star Wars Mockumentary (2003). The film intercut actual footage of Lucas with staged shots of disgruntled Lucasfilm employees.
Packard remains relatively obscure to the public. Packard is known for his sharp and highly pessimistic view of the movie business, often commenting on how directors have no control of their work and that artistic vision is sacrificed for profit. He also claims that creativity in film largely vanished after the end of the 1970s. Nevertheless, Packard says he admires the recent work of Lars Von Trier and Alexander Sokurov among others.
As of May 2007, Packard completed most recent film, SpaceDisco One. SpaceDisco One was screened at the New York Film Festival on October 6, 2007 and was also selected for the Hollywood Film Festival, The Lausanne Fest Switzerland, Lincoln Film Center NY, Berkeley Fest, Tulsa Overground, The Dark Room San Francisco, Il Corral L.A., Union Gallery London, and many other through 2007.
In 2008, Packard recorded a voice-over for the experimental short film Hallelujah! Gorilla Revival.
As of May 2009 Packard completed his latest,“Tales of the Valley of the Wind” based on Hayao Miyazaki’s Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind. At press time, the film will be screened at the 2009 Antimatter Fest in Victoria BC in addition to a 4 week week show at Union Gallery in London. —IMDb
