Sunday, October 11, 2009

COMMUNE

In the late 1960s, a few free thinkers cobbled together donations, primarily from Hollywood, to buy 80 acres at the end of a dirt road in Siskiyou County, California: Big Bear Ranch, a commune with the motto "free land for free people." Archival footage, photographs, documents and news articles, and interviews with people who lived or still live there tell the commune's history: the cold first winter, women and men doing the same work, communal decision making, emerging environmental politics, free love and family formation, child rearing and memories of growing up there, a late 70's crisis with a cult-like group that moved in, and assessment by those grown old of what Big Bear meant.

Saturday, October 10, 2009

BOMB IT


BOMB IT is the explosive new documentary from award-winning director Jon Reiss investigating the most subversive and controversial art form currently shaping international youth culture: graffiti.

Through interviews and guerilla footage of graffiti writers in action on 5 continents, BOMB IT tells the story of graffiti from its origins in prehistoric cave paintings thru its notorious explosion in New York City during the 70's and 80's, then follows the flames as they paint the globe. Featuring old school legends and current favorites such as Taki 183, Cornbread, Stay High 149, T-Kid, Cope 2, Zephyr, Revs, Os Gemeos, KET, Chino, Shepard Fairey, Revok, and Mear One. This cutting edge documentary tracks down today's most innovative and pervasive street artists as they battle for control over the urban visual landscape. You'll never look at public space the same way again.

BOMB IT has shot in Los Angeles, New York, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Tijuana, London, Paris, Amsterdam, Barcelona, Hamburg, Berlin, Cape Town, Sao Paulo, and Tokyo.

Wednesday, October 7, 2009

B3773R LIVING TROUGH CIRCUITRY



"Better Living Through Circuitry" is an insider's look at the electronic dance community and the culture it has spawned. A cross-section of the techno subculture is represented as ravers, DJs and musicians speak for themselves about their music and ideals. Insightful and entertaining, the film presents such dynamic aspects of rave culture as empowerment through technology, the DIY (do-it-yourself) ethic, and the flowering of a new spirituality embracing transcendence through sound and rhythm.

In-depth interviews document such diverse personalities as NY deconstructionist philosopher-cum-electronic mixmaster DJ Spooky, hedonistic streetsmart "Superstar" DJ Keoki, the Vegas-reared Big Beat sonic wizards The Crystal Method, Bristol, England's prophet of drum-and-bass Roni Size, and the ethereal desert tribalism of the Electric Skychurch. "Better Living Through Circuitry" equally emphasizes graphic designers, promoters, fans and other essential components of the scene, such as Mike Szabo whose NASA flyers are part of the permanent collection of the Smithsonian Museum and the Pure Children collective who work and live communally in a New York City loft space from which they create graphics, promote raves and run their own record label.

In keeping with the theme of "empowerment through technology" the production is "decidedly digital" utilizing some of the latest digital film-making equipment. It was all filmed on a tiny Sony VX1000 digital video camera which was usually taken by the director into raves in a backpack. Virtually all post-production including editing, on-line, titles and effects were all performed in a spare bedroom of the producer's apartment using the Media 100 non-linear digital editing system and utilizing Adobe After Effects software on a Power Macintosh compute
Provocative and insightful, "Better Living Through Circuitry" explores with a passionate intensity one of the most significant youth cultures of our time.

source & pass: Docs4you.org