(Published in SB Indie August 9, 2006)
Top Five Flicks at the Popcorn Film Festival
One of the best things about college was exposure to random art, especially short indie films. Lucky for Santa Barbarians, we needn’t be in college to see this weird and wonderful art form. That’s because the Contemporary Arts Forum is bringing the Popcorn short film and video festival to town on Saturday, August 12, from 6-8 p.m., in the parking lot of Samy’s Camera at 614 Chapala Street. (Visit sbcaf.org or call 966-5373 for more info.) And thanks to curators Bob Pece and Jon Spiak, your chances of catching wacky and enjoyable films are pretty good. Here are highlights:
1} Springtime for Eva: A collection of home-movie footage of a young, happy German girl on an eternal sunny vacation, made more profound by the fact that the boyfriend accompanying her is Adolf Hitler.
2} Updebum: Worth watching for its title alone, this piece gives a list of actual items that have been retrieved from people’s you-know-whats, complemented by illustrative X-rays.
3} Back Seat Bingo: Charmingly animated senior citizens (based on real people) discuss sex after middle age with candor and personality.
4} La Leyenda del Espantapajaros (The Legend of the Scarecrow): A delightfully dark, Tim Burton-esque fable about a lonely scarecrow who tries to befriend the very birds he was built to terrify.
5} Pilgrim’s Progress: Uses the language of early Atari computers to turn the story of America’s early colonization into a hilariously accurate multiple choice-style video game.
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