Slamdance Film Festival 2023 to Premier Doc on L’Orange: The Mad Writer
Slamdance Film Festival 2023 is celebrating twenty-nine years of indie films with its return to in-person after three years. The Mad Writer is one of nine feature documentaries and only one of two music documentaries accepted by the festival. The film festival will take place in person in Park City and Salt Lake City, Utah January 20-26. The festival will also screen virtually on the Slamdance Channel from January 23-29.
The subject of the documentary, rising Hip Hop phenom L’Orange is dealing with mysterious tumors in his ear canals, and the film takes us on his journey of fear of the unknown and what this could mean to him as a musician. We see L’Orange struggle with depression and anxiety as he undergoes several surgeries that threaten both his hearing and his career in music.
L’Orange is a recluse and being the subject of a documentary called “Mad Writer”, written, produced, and directed by a childhood friend, Zachary Kashkett is something to smile about. Clinically depressed, he rarely leaves the comfort of his Nashville home and initially stated he thought the documentary was a big mistake but he relented. We talk about the process of stepping out of the shadows and trusting a friend to lay bare his life over a more than eight-year period. It was cool to talk about communicating through music and leading from the front with respect to creating a rich and satisfying music bed to accompany some of the most recognizable names in Hip Hop. The Anti-meat community might not like my comparison but, both listening to L’Orange’s music and talking to him on the various subjects we touched on was like getting the perfect steak and we managed to get all the juice out of it as we chewed through a range of topics related to the documentary and his career in music. My writing may not be worthy, so just tune in to our conversation below
L’Orange – Mixing
L’Orange is a North Carolina-born beatmaker with a penchant for sampling early jazz records and vintage radio broadcasts, lending a nostalgic, time-worn quality to his music. Dedicated to originality, L’Orange imbues his smoky, soul-soaked tracks with lush texture through inventive mixing and psychedelic cuts from classic radio recordings. A shopworn MPC and vintage vinyl are essentially paintbrushes and palettes for L’Orange. He finds his signature samples from pre-1950s jazz, soul, and radio. He stitches together a sound that acknowledges his penchant for classic film noir and shadowy motifs.
L’Orange albums are often cinematic and narrative in structure, exemplifying the artist’s highly conceptual creative process. While L’Orange is an inspired beatmaker and highly capable producer, it is the perpetual search for beauty in the dark, unusual, and forgotten corners of music that make him a true artist. Every L’Orange production is a unique, organic, and undeniably original work of art, giving the listener a glimpse of the artist himself, even if obscured slightly by shadow.
Zach Kashkett
The 70-minute documentary feature is in the competition category at Slamdance 2023. Zach Kashkett (Shawn Mendes: In Wonder, Sins of our Mother, Always Jane) wrote, directed, and edited the film. I talked with Zach about his lifelong friendship with L’Orange, the difficulties of completing this almost 9-year work with someone suffering from some of the challenges L’Orange is enduring, and the central message for the project which highlights self-care and acceptance. Tune in!
The Team
Trevor Metscher (The Originals, The Accountant) served as Director of Photography. The film is produced by James Haygood (Fight Club, Panic Room, Tron: Legacy), Katherine LeBlond (Selena Gomez: My Mind and Me, Janis: Little Girl Blue, Prophet’s Prey), and Jon Webb of Westbrook Ent (The New Adult), as well as Kashkett and Metscher. Executive producers are Michael Tolle (Founder of Mello Music Group) and Michael Raimondi (A Beautiful Curse, Arctic, Always Jane), and Union Editorial, LLC.
Screening Dates During Slamdance Film Festival 2023:
Treasure Mountain Inn-Friday, January 20, 2023, at 2:45 pm with a Q&A to follow and Tuesday, January 24, 2023, at 1:00 pm.
Austin and Zach as kids
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About the Author
Dr. Jerry Doby Editor-in-Chief of The Hype Magazine, Media and SEO Consultant, Journalist, Ph.D. and retired combat vet. 2023 recipient of The President's Lifetime Achievement Award. Partner at THM Media Group. Member of the U.S. Department of Arts and Culture, the United States Press Agency and ForbesBLK.
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