Description

DAMON PACKARD

Born in Akron, Ohio, Packard’s mother, actress Frances Pollock, was the daughter of long-time trade union leader Sam Pollock.

Packard first became seriously involved with film at the age of 11. 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 30-minute 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.

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