Celebrate VHS Voyeurism

The Found Footage Festival, a screening of video oddities salvaged from the bowels of thrift stores, garbage dumpsters, and yard sales across the country, is coming to NYC this month. Watch the trailer here (Quicktime movie, not safe for work). Highlights include a totally radical Wendy’s training video, hypothetical accidents that come to life in a clip from an insurance company tape, and a prima donna RV informational video host with a potty mouth. The festival comes to Galapagos Art Space (Brooklyn) on Fri. 3/25, 8pm.

Thanks to Irwin for passing the info along.

Comments

[Oscar]

Oh wow. Actual video footage of the Wendy's Grillin' Rap, as heard on Kenny G.'s show, among others: http://www.wfmu.org/listen.ram?show=5484&starttime=02:26:12

[Oscar]

Okay, more like http://www.wfmu.org/listen.ram?show=5484&starttime=02:30:42

[Jake]

The same show was in Boston this past weekend. The training video is great but everything else was disappointing. Mostly technical glitches that are less then interesting. This is a far cry from a video version of the Audio Professor's show.

There is a guy from North Carolina who has several thousand 8mm and 16mm training, education, and industrial films and he screens the better ones in Boston and NYC once or twice a year. I forgot the name of the show, but it is truly excellent and something to never miss. Call "the found footage festival" when it comes to the Coolidge theater in Boston. It taught me the meaning of "assembly line porn".

[pampelonne]

... still at work so the shock will have to wait a few more hours (thanks for the warning, btw) ...

one of my all time fave found sounds (like I know of so many) is "the cat"!
hear is here: http://wfmu.org/listen.ram?show=7521&starttime=0:9:19
courtesy of Stochastic Hit Parade with Bethany Ryker - May 18, 2003 (http://wfmu.org/playlists/shows/7521)

[Tom J.]

FYI - This is not the same show as the Boston Found Footage Festival! It's a live comedy show/screening featuring odd and hilarious clips from found video tapes. No 16mm classroom films, as in Skip Elsheimer's excellent "A/V Geeks" show. We're talking the cream of the crop from the Golden Age of Home Video (1980s and '90s). The curators of the upcoming Found Footage Festival in Brooklyn are former writers for "The Onion," so expect another hilarious show.

[residentClinton]

I know this has been a while, but I thought I'd clarify. The show in Boston that Jake didn't care for was the FOUND MAGAZINE VIDEO SHOW, presented by the, duh, Found Magazine people. It was a little dry, which is why the Wendy's Grill Skills video was added as a bonus short.

The other found footage show in Boston, called THE FOUND FOOTAGE FILM FESTIVAL, was started in 2000 at the Coolidge Corner Theatre by, well, by me! It's actually pretty good (not to get all ego on you), very much along the lines of what the NY crew is doing. Also in Boston is the STRANGE FINDINGS VIDEO SHOW. How do we keep them all straight.

By the way, neither of us ripped off the other's names, we just both happened to come up with the same title (rather obvious why). I've abandoned the moniker and are letting these guys run with it - even brought them up to Boston to do a show!