About Bill Pierce

Bill has been covering independent film since 2010. A frequent guest at film festivals, Bill also judges several film competitions. Bill also provides a weekly radio segment "Piercing Reviews" on Independent Artists Radio hosted by Windy West.

Phoenix Film Festival World Cinema Shorts: Love, death and a three-headed dog

Melodi - Michael Kam (Singapore) In a tiny downtown apartment, a young man listens intently to his old, wheelchair-bound neighbor angrily berate the young servant girl that sadly cares for him. He peeks inside her apartment before being chased away by the old man and follows her to the bird store after she accidently releases [...]

By |2019-04-14T20:41:59-07:00April 14th, 2019|Independent Film, Movie Reviews|0 Comments

ASU Fall 2017 Capstones: Dogs and drunks, heroes and harlots

The ASU Fall 2017 Senior Film Showcase took place on December 2, 2017 and featured twelve examples of student work from the ASU School of Film, Dance and Theater that included a music video and two demo reels. After enduring the Spring 2017 Senior Capstone films way back in May, I had considered skipping the [...]

By |2019-03-11T17:02:52-07:00March 8th, 2018|Independent Film, Movie Reviews|0 Comments

Experimental films find a home in Jerome

The 5th annual Jerome Indie Film and Music Festival wrapped up another successful weekend of independent film, indie music, art and trains. Returning to the hills of Jerome Arizona, the festival recaptured the magic of its very first incarnation from years ago. Returning for my fifth straight year at the festival, I took a different [...]

By |2019-03-11T17:03:32-07:00September 17th, 2017|Independent Film, Movie Reviews|0 Comments

Arizona Filmmaker Showcase May: Film festival rewind

The May Arizona Filmmaker Showcase presented three films that had previously screened at the Phoenix Film Festival in April, along with two other films that were screened only the night before at the Short Shorts with Short Leash outdoor film festival. The Amazing Mortimer – Directed by Phil Wilson Old ventriloquist Mortimer (Greg Joseph) entertains an audience [...]

By |2019-03-11T17:03:54-07:00July 16th, 2017|Independent Film, Movie Reviews, Reviews|0 Comments

2017 Phoenix Film Festival – Arizona Shorts A

Disciple - Directed by: Bob Reynolds A boy gets his soccer ball stolen by bullies, and his abusive dad is having none of it. He takes the tyke out back and using a baseball bat on a tree, demonstrates how to effectively beat the crap out of a bully to get his stuff back. With [...]

By |2019-03-11T17:04:23-07:00April 19th, 2017|Independent Film, Movie Reviews, Reviews|0 Comments

‘IMperfect’ – Peering through the microscope of life with visceral scrutiny

Local filmmaker Ryan Thomas Andersen has completed his long anticipated feature ‘IMperfect’ and premiered his film to a sold out audience at the 2017 Phoenix Film Festival. If you’re not familiar with Andersen’s story, he is the filmmaker who won the 2014 ‘Crash The Super Bowl’ commercial competition with his ‘Time Machine’ entry. After writing [...]

By |2019-03-11T17:04:23-07:00April 15th, 2017|Independent Film, Movie Reviews, Reviews|0 Comments

2017 Phoenix Film Festival Live Action Shorts Program A

The Phoenix Film Festival is still underway, but before too much time passes, here are some of the films I've seen over the past weekend. My schedule was jam-packed with short films from all over the world as well as two programs of Arizona made indies. The short films presented this year look very promising, [...]

By |2019-03-11T17:04:26-07:00April 11th, 2017|Independent Film, Movie Reviews, Reviews|0 Comments

Michael S. Rodriguez – The restless spirit of indie horror

Indie horror director Michael S. Rodriguez isn't looking for controversy, it just seems to find him on it's own. He isn't looking for easy ways to shock an audience, he's working really hard at it; presenting the scary stories and legends that adults shared as children, reminding everyone that the most basic things that scare [...]

By |2019-03-11T17:04:33-07:00March 26th, 2017|Independent Film, Interviews|0 Comments

‘Car Dogs’ – Arizona made feature film nips at the heels of Hollywood

The Arizona made feature ‘Car Dogs’ is finally hitting the theaters today. The film opens valley wide at select Harkins Theaters. Directed by ASU film instructor Adam Collis, ‘Car Dogs’ is the first-of-its-kind feature film created in conjunction with the ASU Film and Media Program. Car salesman Mark Chamberlain (Patrick J. Adams) has just been [...]

By |2019-03-11T17:04:34-07:00March 24th, 2017|Independent Film, Movie Reviews, Reviews|1 Comment

Arizona Filmmaker Showcase January – Shady shaved innocence bleeds alone

The first Arizona Filmmaker Showcase of 2017 took place the last Sunday of January with five films screening at Filmbar Phoenix. If there was any underlying theme tying these films together it was too subtle for anyone to notice. Some films never die while others find new life at the Arizona Filmmaker Showcase. Be sure [...]

By |2019-03-11T17:05:04-07:00February 11th, 2017|Independent Film, Movie Reviews, Reviews|0 Comments