Bowl of Oatmeal

Bowl of Oatmeal
File:Bowl of Oatmeal cover art.jpg
Directed by	Dietmar Post, Lawrence Gise, Matthew Bezanis, Leslie Hucko, David White, Hsia-Huey Wu
Produced by	Dietmar Post, Lawrence Gise, Matthew Bezanis, Leslie Hucko, David White, Hsia-Huey Wu
Written by	Lawrence Gise
Starring	Pietro Gonzales, Will Bartlett
Cinematography	Dietmar Post, Matthew Bezanis
Edited by	Dietmar Post, Karl-W. Huelsenbeck
Distributed by	Play Loud! Productions
Release dates	September 1996 at UFVA Student Film and Video Festival in Philadelphia (USA)
Running time	10 min.
Country	United States
Language	English

Bowl of Oatmeal is a 1996 film directed & produced by a group of six students at New York University - School of Continuing Education. Among this group was the award winning German-American film director Dietmar Post. The American-Chilean theatre actor Pietro Gonzales played the key character. Gonzales appeared later in many plays, TV series and also in Sidney Pollack's The Interpreter.

Cast

• Pietro Gonzales - The Man
• Will Bartlett - The Oatmeal

Synopsis

A lonely man on the brink of emotional desolation talks to his Oatmeal. His need for friendship compels the man to a bizarre act.

Critical reception

The film premiered at UFVA Student Film and Video Festival in Philadelphia (USA), September 1996.

Bowl of Oatmeal was well received by critics and gained recognition among lovers of underground movies. Especially underground film festivals, such as, the ones in Chicago and New York were very supportive of this film.

Michael Simmons of L.A. Weekly writes: "Bowl of Oatmeal, a rare group effort led by Dietmar Post, is the tale of a hermit in the throes of a nervous breakdown who receives advice from a sly, articulate bowl of oatmeal with a Bostonian accent."

British critic Rob Daniel writes: “Bowl of Oatmeal serves as a dress rehearsal for the final film, but in its own right stands as unsettling cinema. An agoraphobic loner inexorably loses his mind within the confines of a bed-sit. Not even the revelation that a bowl of unappetizing oatmeal is taunting him alleviates the gloom. As the high fiber breakfast continues its needling, the man develops a keen interest in dead meat, but the film takes this into an area unexpected and haunting.”

Awards

• 1996 Winner of the Director’s Choice Award at the UFVA Student F&V Festival in Philadelphia (USA)
• 1998 3rd Winner of the Audience Award “eject” at 14.Intern. Short Film Festival Berlin (Germany)

External links

• Bowl of Oatmeal Official movie site
• Bowl of Oatmeal at IMDb