February 15, 2008
VSA North Fourth Art Center
(Keif Henley)

Keif: Those are reels that are on disengaged arms from 16mm projectors that broke from the junkyard. I always like to introduce the show with just a little showmanship. William Castle, baby.  Something between William Castle and Craig Baldwin.I remember what I picked to show was one of my favorite found films, and I didn’t even find it. Heather Iger, who was (then) a manager at the Guild Cinema, found this reel at the Flea Market and it was all haircutting. It’s just one of my favorite industrial films, because you looked at it and it suddenly became abstract, like people pulling up their hair and looking into the mirror. I mean, it became a weird pageant or some kind of weird ritual. 

This show was a coming together amongst the old crew and the new crew.  I wanted to give a sense of time and connectivity and that this just didn’t start yesterday. There’s a whole connection going on for years and years. I kind of wanted to bring that sense to it. I also did it as a bit of a pep rally for the group. And it’s just like, Hey, we’re not just people running to projectors. We also mess around, we also get into the mix.

Bryan: There was a lot of conversation, and I think it continues at Basement Films. How much do we support our own creative projects versus how much do we support traveling filmmakers, et cetera?