`Ruta Wakening' debuts at Worldfest

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by Noelle Berryman

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Ruta Wakening , a dynamic comedy written and directed by Steve Bilich of Austin, makes its Houston debut at the Worldfest Industry & Market Room at the Omni Hotel in the Montrose area on April 20, at 2 p.m. The festival cut of the film has sold out theaters all over Texas, and Bilich hopes to take the original director's cut to the U.S.A. Film Festival in Dallas, the Orlando International Studios Film Festival and the International Feature Project Film Festival held in New York and Toronto later this year.

The comedy, conceived in a Cuban-owned coffee/tobacco shop in Austin called Ruta Maya, is organized around a fantastical plot in which dramatic interludes are protracted from six relationships during a 36-hour period. Bilich describes his work as "Shakespeare's A Midsummer's Night Dream , in and out of a coffee shop."

Bobby, portrayed by Martin Burke and Rick, played by Lane Orsak, try to deal with Bobby's full-blown AIDS. The Scotsman, Sinvin (Euan MacDonald), decides whether to commit to Sydney (Cynthia Wood) and be deported, or lose her forever. Angie (Naomi Riley) doubts the love of her boyfriend Gavin (Joey Walden) and has a lesbian fling with her best friend, Dee (Nancy Reed). Over 50 Austin-area poets, musicians, comedians, actors and characters make up this magical montage which addresses real-life issues in an unconventional and uplifting style.

Working on Ruta Wakening has inspired Bilich to coordinate the International Film Cooperative, a non-competitive film festival that Bilich describes as "the visual Peace Corps of the world, through film."This non-profit cooperative plans to subsidize trips for young Texas filmmakers to visit seven countries to interview native storytellers and shoot short films. The cities which will initially be hosting the young directors are Koblenz, Germany; Lima, Peru; Maseru, South Africa; Oita, Japan; Saltillo, Mexico; and Tai Chung, Taiwan.

Bilich feels that his job through the cooperative is to create a cultural exchange to raise the level of awareness of the society in which we live. The project's goal is, in effect, to establish a collaborative film think tank which would incorporate acting, directing and production crew talent from Dallas-Fort Worth, Austin and Houston.

The project is non-profit, yet it does not rely on funds government subsidies. Bilich stresses that the project coordinators are working hard to create their own corporate-sponsored endowment through grants and resource donations from sources like the University of Texas at Austin and Apple Computer.

An additional goal of the project is to allow visiting lecturers the opportunity to educate the public on their areas of expertise. Bilich's personal stance is that neither age nor education should be a factor in determining who has the opportunity to lecture. The only requirement is that their life experience, by being shared, might enlighten society about humanitarian issues.

Bilich has set up a World Wide Web site that offers information about the International Film Collective, Ruta Wakening and Bilich's upcoming film, Cigarettes, Vitamins, & Borrowed Time . The information can be found at http://www.zilker.net/spb .

This item appeared in the Arts & Entertainment section of the April 19, 1996 issue.

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