Fun is definitely a priority in Stingray Sam, the campy science-fiction cowboy film that McAbee wrote, directed and starred in. But it's also irreverent and subversively absurd — not that it makes the fantastic elements any less eye-popping or giddy. “When I wrote Stingray Sam,” McAbee says, “we had just come through seven years of Bush, and the future was looking bleak. I wanted to write a story that embraced American culture, criticized it and featured a character who, through the worst of circumstances, remained youthfully optimistic.” Sounds like there might be a bit of McAbee in his own creation.
McAbee will present and discuss his film tonight at 7 p.m. at Muenzinger Auditorium on the University of Colorado at Boulder campus, and on Saturday at Starz FilmCenter on the Auraria campus. Admission is $5 to $6 at CU — where Stingray Sam will screen — and $13 to $15 at Starz, where Sam will be joined by McAbee's prior space Western, The American Astronaut. For tickets and info, visit www.internationalfilmseries.com and www.denverfilm.org.
Fri., Sept. 18, 7 p.m., 2009
