July 15, 9pm
Basement Revolutionaries
Screening curated by Amber Christensen and Clint Enns
at CineCycle
$15; Free with Festival Pass
Turn On, Plug In, Opt Out. Sometimes we all just need to hide away from the rest of the world. Does the bomb have to drop in order to imagine the end of Capitalism? Or is your parent’s basement the only safe place left? The mall is nothing but corporate logos and ERRORs, and while hair plugs might offer a temporary solution, what happens when even those fall out? When covert operatives become collateral damage, what’s left except for existential crises and poker? When cultural imperialism distorts our past and the same tiresome misrepresentations reinforce themselves are the only real choices Karl May’s “das Halbblut Apanatschi,” Virtual Fighter’s “Wolf Hatfield” or VR pr0nography? Cataclysm has arrived, are you prepared?
In a time and place awash in the detritus of early 21st capitalism, we look to our basement revolutionaries to lead us not upwards but downwards into a bunker of safety to wait it out. Duck and cover, and grab a snack…it may be your only way to survive.
Vapor Mall – Samantha Noseworthy (London, Canada, 2016, 2 minutes)
Plugs – Kathleen Daniel (Berlin, Germany, 2015, 3 minutes)
HOTEL – Benjamin Nuel (France, 2008, 13 minutes)
Hymn of Reckoning – Kent Lambert (USA, 2006, 7 minutes)
The Basement Girl – Midi Onodera (Toronto, Canada, 2000, 12 minutes) on 16mm
The Story of Apanatschi and Her Redheaded Wrestler – Bear Witness (Ottawa, Canada, 2008, 7 minutes)
Psytrance Sucks/Anti Matter – Tasman Richardson with Elenore Chesnutt (Toronto, Canada, 2004/2010, 5 minutes)
Watch Out for Invisible Ghosts – Kristin Lucas (USA,1996, 5 minutes)
The Plastic Garden – IP Yuk-Yiu (Hong Kong, China, 2013, 13 minutes)