Emerge Trends Weblog

Part Of The Weekend Never Dies

Emerge Trends — 2008-03-10T18:52:09Z

Several years ago, the cruelly underrated Belgian band Soulwax- led by the Dewaale brothers Stephen and David aka production/remix/dj aces 2manydjs- released an album called Any Minute Now, which they followed with a dancefloor remixes album called Nite Versions. Then they embarked on a number of tours around the globe bringing the Nite Versions to life by playing live at dance clubs and parties under the banner of Radio Soulwax, which also included 2manydjs sets behind the turntables. Also on tour was the always-popular-with-EMERGE filmmaker Saam Faramand, who documented all the hijinks along the way. The resulting film "Part Of The Weekend Never Dies" is making it's debut at London's Ether Festival at the Southbank Centre in April. Get thee to London and check this out. And in the meantime, here's our favorite Soulwax video. It's a riot...

Posted by James Friedman

The Referentialism Just Won't Stop

Emerge Trends — 2008-03-03T17:58:51Z

Here's a new video for Justice's "DVNO." It's not our favorite song by any stretch, but this video's riff on the awkward graphics before and after movies and tv shows is pretty well done by the folks from Machine Molle and co-director So Me:

Posted by James Friedman

A Day Of Dialogue With Documentarians

Emerge Trends — 2007-10-31T15:17:22Z

Los Angeles may be ground zero for Hollywood blockbusters, but New York has a pretty storied relationship with film as well. To prove the point, New York's Tribeca Cinemas will play host to a remarkable event organized by Current.tv and Fader Films. "A Day of Dialogue: The Future of Non-Fiction Film" is a rare symposium featuring some of the leading names in documentary filmmaking will be talking about their craft as well as sharing advice and insights with emerging filmmakers and attendees alongside industry personnel such as sales agents, festival programmers and distribution execs. In addition to networking opportunities, the event will feature small group discussions as well as an hour long discussion about the "process and challenges of documentary filmmaking" entitled Inside the Directors Studio. The keynote speech will be given by former Vice President and Current co-founder Al Gore. Also in attendance: Heidi Ewing & Rachel Grady (Oscar-nominees for Jesus Camp), Albert Maysles (Oscar-nominated Director, Gimme Shelter, Grey Gardens), Morgan Spurlock (Oscar-nominated Director, Supersize Me) Alex Gibney (Oscar-nominated Director, Enron: The Smartest Guys In The Room) Marc Levin (Emmy-Award Winning Director, Mr. Untouchable), John Sloss (Cinetic), Eammon Bowles (President, Magnolia Pictures) and Bimgham Ray (Founder of October Films)

Posted by James Friedman

Transformers, One More Time

Emerge Trends — 2007-07-16T18:04:13Z

When the teaser trailer for Transformers came out last year, it seemed like this summer's blockbuster success was going to be an epic robotic ass-whooping, but despite the direction of Michael Bay,the film really focuses on the human element, telling the tale of a coming-of-age guy trying to pick up a girl with his car. Sort of a buzz kill. However, the movie has put robots back on top of the pop-cultural dung heap, and if nothing else, the film is sparking lots of interesting and pretty comical debate about what robots should and shouldn't look like. Just check out this puff piece from CNN's Living section.

Would it have been so bad to just fill two hours with nothing but Autobots and Deceptacons duking it out, and the occasional car-bot dance party a la this amazing spot?

If nothing else, it would have made the film a whole lot more entertaining.

Not to harp on the aesthetics issue, but it is interesting to see how Transformers take the shape of current model cars and technologies like cell phones, whereas back in the B-Boy days, Blaster was a big hit. I guess its just a sign of the times, but given the futuristic slant of things, its strange to see the sensibility so linked with the current zeitgeist...

By the time Transformers gets remade again, the field of Roboethics will probably be more practice than theory. We'll have sorted out what we expect our machines to look like, and how we expect them to behave. And despite all the terrifyingly dystopic sci-fi out there, the future of our imagining is always bright, and if we have any say in the matter, there will be reinterpretations like these "real-life Transformers" all over the place very very soon...

Yes, its been everywhere on the web for a couple of weeks, but in recognition of their upcoming tour of the US (kicking off next week) and this peek into Transformer-mania, here is a bit of Daft Punk getting thrown into the mix with our old robotic friends.

Written by Vince Montelongo for EMERGE

Good Copy Bad Copy

Emerge Trends — 2007-07-11T16:47:24Z

Good Copy Bad Copy

???All mankind is of one author, and is one volume; when one man dies, one chapter is not torn out of the book, but translated into a better language; and every chapter must be so translated?????? ??? John Donne

Copyright has always been a fragile compromise between the needs of those who create and the cultural enrichment of the mass public. Enter the digital age and the line is more blurred than ever before. That???s why Good Copy Bad Copy, a Danish documentary on the current state of copyright, is such a critical and cultural phenomenon right now.

Does copyright law stifle creativity rather than encourage it? Apparently our founding fathers thought not. They thought people wouldn???t create unless their art was protected.

But they weren???t around to hear the Grey Album, or Girl Talk???s sample-based remixes from dozens of elements in pre-existing songs. Not only recent phenomena like this, but creations like the West Side Story show there???s an equally convincing argument that mixing and sampling have been human nature since the beginning of time.

Plus, as human beings, we are at the same time bombarded and inspired by various stimuli. Cryptomnesia, or "concealed recollection," is a theoretical phenomenon involving ???forgotten??? memories. So is it plagiarism if one does not remember from where or whom they were inspired?

Though the documentary is less about such theories and more about their implications on culture and commerce, you???ll inevitably start googling everything you can find ??? from silly court cases like Three Boys Music v. Michael Bolton to poststructuralist dissertations by Rosalind Krauss. And paradoxically, the more you learn, the harder it will be to fully establish your opinion, since each perspective is just one piece of an increasingly intricate puzzle.

Consensus? See it. Not to get up to speed on legal jargon or hear awful mash-ups of Gnarls Barkley, but to see how things are changing because of the digital era and to realize how big a role you play in it.

Because in all seriousness, even a base level of consciousness on this is crucial.
Take it from us. We didn???t even feel ironic downloading our copy of the film since the filmmakers are distributing it via torrent download off their site.

By Katie Facada for EMERGE

What Happened To Our Dreams

Emerge Trends — 2007-03-22T15:34:17Z

Hopefully, you have watched the acclaimed BAFTA-winning series from the BBC called The Power Of Nightmares. This was one of the most affecting pieces of documentary filmmaking EMERGE has ever seen.

Now filmmaker Adam Curtis is back with another three-part series for the BBC entitled The Trap: What Happened To Your Dream Of Freedom?, a similarly tough look at the socio-political foundations of Western society. Curtis' thesis is that "freedom" underpins so much of our notions of national and personal identity, yet there is little that is free at all. We live surrounded by social management systems in an unequal society. Using models developed during the cold war, "paranoid game theory" and models drawn from biology, anthropology, and econometrics, Curtis reveals new and subtle forms of control.

A bit frightening but absolutely riveting nonetheless, "The Trap" is must-see tv for anyone interested in the powers of persuasion, freedom and the changing dynamics of modern society.
If you don't live in England, some kind soul has put the first two episodes online as streaming files.
The third episode airs next Sunday, March 25 and should be online soon thereafter.
Check them out:
Part 1: F!@k You Buddy

Part 2: The Lonely Robot

Sipping Jetstreams

Emerge Trends — 2007-01-10T15:22:06Z

EMERGE is not much a beach bunny we must confess. We love the sunshine and the sand, and we're pretty nice with a boogie board as well, but that's as far as it goes for the most part. Deep down, in our heart of hearts, we wish we were the kind of surfer that spends 300 days a year catching waves, traveling around the globe to some of the most gorgeous beaches and meeting all kinds of exciting folks.

To get a sense of exactly what it is we're talking about, check out Sipping Jetstreams, a new book and film by Taylor Steele and Dustin Humphrey, two of the most devout documentarians of the surf scene. An acclaimed surf film producer and photographer, Steele and Humphrey travelled all across the globe for two years, shooting surfers and locals alike in Marrakech, Barbados, Cuba, Japan, Italy, Hong Kong, and Egypt and turning the journey into a singular peek into the thinking surfer's universe.

What distinguishes Sipping Jetstreams from your average surfumentary is it's attention to the locales and people they encountered along the way. Significant attention is paid to the places beyond the dunes, capturing locals and landmarks as well as bodacious waves. Photographically, it feels like a cross between Surfer magazine National Geographic.

Best of all, Slipping Jetstreams is hoping to raise money for one of the cooler environmental charities out there: Surfrider Foundation by organizing fund raising screenings. Next Wednesday, January 17, Jetstreams is being screened at Robert De Niro's Tribeca Cinemas in an event sponsored by the equally surf-oriented and ecoconscious fashion brand Loomstate. The event includes a screening of the film as well as an exhibition of the still photography that makes up the bulk of the Sipping Jetstreams book. Admission is a steep $25, but taking part in such an excellent event and helping to do something positive for the environment makes it all worth while.

Hope to see you there.

Foundations

Emerge Trends — 2006-11-27T16:37:30Z

It must be film day here at EMERGE HQ in Brooklyn because after a long weekend of turkey and pie and some of the most grotesquely unhealthy mashed potatoes on earth, all we can think about is watching movies and posting film-related items to this here blog.

Going through the virtual mountan of adoring emails this morning, EMERGE came across one about Foundations, a documentary exploring the cultural crossovers between Uptown and Downtown New York during the late 70s and early 80s. Treading on a path well-worn by the likes of Basquiat, Downtown 81, Nomi Song, and plenty of other films, Foundations manages to find a new angle on the subject by setting the sociopolitical climate and using it as a lens through which to view a uniquely vibrant and influential moment in popular culture.

The film examines how it is that breakdancing, graffiti, punk, art, and rapping collided at legendary clubs like the Roxy, Danceteria, and Mudd Club, and how they gave rise not just to hip-hop culture, but laid the groundwork for club culture, techno and house music, and the ubiquity of street style all over the world. Through the use of some very familiar seeming archival images and footage from classics like Style Wars as well as performance footage and interviews with the likes of Chris Klein of Blondie, Arthur Baker who helped produce "Planet Rock" for Afrika Bambaataa, Sal Principato of punk-funk legends Liquid Liquid, Michael Holman, Nelson George, and Bobbito Garcia, Foundations looks to be laying out a familiar story told by the actual particpants, which really hasn't been done adequately before.

In an era when old school revivalists like the "Retro Kids" are getting profiled in the Style section of the New York Times and so many facets of underground culture continue to draw inspiration from this golden age of New York's creative community, Foundations will undoubtedly make quite a splash once it's finished.

Not too much is known about how far along Foundations is, but EMERGE does know that the filmmaker is looking for "help" in getting things finished. Since we don't know what kind of help is needed, we've posted an email contact below at the end of this post. Get in touch if you can help bring this fascinating documentary to fruition.

Check the trailer here and email SHANBOOGIE718@aol.com if you can get involved.

Gondry Protege

Emerge Trends — 2006-11-27T12:38:15Z

EMERGE likes Michel Gondry something fierce. Which is why we were so excited to learn about Valerie Pirson, a young animator and director from France who got her start professionally by producing several animated sequences for Gondry's visionary but somewhat underwhelming film The Science of Sleep.

Apparently, Gondry saw Pirson's student film Pistache, which is animated in a fashion not dissimilar to his own animated video for Devendra Banhart's "A Ribbon," and hired her immediately.

What has followed is the stuff of film school fantasy. Pirson has been snatched up for representation by the massively respected Partizan and is currently directing music videos. Her first clip is for Olivia Ruiz's "Le Femme Chocolat," a rather saccharine love song that profits immensely from Pirson's direction. While the song itself is rather annoying, with lyrics that roughly translate to sentiments such as "my blood is hot chocolate," the video blends tastefully shot live action sequences with a truly superb animated segments full of humor and warmth. Fun to watch and expertly realized, the animations also manage to explore perennially relevant themes such as love, sex and vanity without ever getting heavy, preachy or cliched.

With two very cool student films and a brilliant music video to her credit, Pirson promises to be a director to watch in the coming years. Thanks for finding her Michel!

Nokia N93 Taps Tastemakers

Emerge Trends — 2006-10-06T17:56:28Z

To launch it's high end video phone, Nokia is not content to just tell the public about its many features, such as a 3.2 megapixel video and still camera. Instead, the Finnish company has opted to attract those ever-desirable tastemakers and influencers as consumers via an innovative and creative demonstration of the N93s capabilities.

Nokia Studio is an online showcase for a collection of films shot by an eclectic group of creatives, ranging from acclaimed actor Gary Oldman to Parisian PR and marketing guru Mimi Xu of EMERGE-approved fashion/music brand Kitsune as well as 35 other designers, creative directors, filmmakers, photographers and creatives. An addition set of four films centering on the city of London are to be added soon by Naomi Cleaver, Nigel Coates, Tom Dixon, and Dazed & Confused editor Jefferson Hack. Users are invited to submit films of their own as well, adding an element of meaningful interaction with Nokia's project for those who already have video-enabled mobile devices.

The films themselves run the gamut from fascinating to bizarre, experimental to more straight forward. What is most interesting is Nokia's decision to really collaborate with the kind of commercially-oriented creatives who drive the high end feature phone market (not to mention set the broader cultural tone for the rest of us). Without making a terribly aggressive push to drive traffic to the Studio website or to hawk the N93, Nokia has created a genuinely intriguing bit of soft sell marketing. For those that learn about the Studio or are referred there by someone in the know, finding your way to the "Spontaneous Stories" films feels like a discovery. Finding out that you too can participate alongside a legend like Oldman simply intensifies the sense of being part of something special. Thanks Nokia.

Saam's The Man

Emerge Trends — 2006-10-05T16:11:06Z

Saam Farahmand is the golden child of the UK music video scene at the moment. Just a few years out of university, he's already got clips for too-coo-for-school bands like Good Shoes, New Young Pony Club, The Klaxons, M.I.A., and Simian Mobile Disco under his belt.

A graduate of London's famed Goldsmith's College, Farahmand studied painting and sculpture and filmmaking. Upon graduation, he took a job at MTV where he produced dozens of bizarre station IDs and bumpers before tiring of the corporate grind and leaving to do live visuals for hipster rock acts like The Rapture and Zongamin. It was around this time that a silly clip Farahmand had cut of George Bush and Tony Blair lipsynching "Gay Bar" by Electric 6 became a viral sensation online. The clip wound up as part of a group show entitled "Oh What There Is" at London's Spectacle Gallery and even landed him representation by Partizan in 2004. Since that time he's been churning out infectious music videos and is currently working on a tour documentary about Soulwax, the rock band fronted by Belgian superstar DJs and mash-up maestros 2manydjs.

His most recent video for Simian Mobile Disco's "Huster" has become something of a viral phenomenon unto itself as well. It never hurts to devote your video to a handful of London it-girls making out while playing a game of "chinese whispers." Check the clip here

The Ultimate Viral Promotions Machine

Emerge Trends — 2006-08-10T12:46:47Z

Snakes On A Plane has to be the dumbest movie in the history of cinema. How could it not be? The concept is so completely bereft of inspiration, the trailer so cliche, and the ending such a foregone conclusion as to eliminate even the faintest whiff of drama from the picture.

Yet, it is one of the most potent memes on the internet- and has been for months now. With theatrical release a week or so away, all the viral action, from spoof trailers, mash up videos, YouTube clips, and old school online buzz are coming together to complement a traditional film marketing campaign. Without question, it's looking like the film Samuel L Jackson had to make upon seeing the name of the script is going to carry the box office next weekend.

The irony of course, is that so much innovative thinking has gone into the promotion of such a retarded movie. One of the simplest yet novel techniques they are using to build buzz and generate meaningful enthusiasm for SOAP is the use of customized phone and email messages from Jackson himself urging recipients to hit the local multiplex next week. If you are like EMERGE and have a grim fascination with pop culture- even the really dreadful stuff- then you might get a laugh out of having Samuel L Jackson call your girlfriend, mock her "wannabe prison tattoos," her "greasy bicycle," and then give a forceful endorsement for Snakes On A Plane. It's legitimately funny, it's really easy to do and it's yet another really brilliant way to sell a completely terrible product to the masses via the internet.

To send somebody you love (or hate) a personalized SOAP phone message, visit here

Converse Gallery Filmmaker On A Roll

Emerge Trends — 2006-08-10T12:00:20Z

Steve Daniels has made two hugely popular films for the Converse Gallery, the "Super 8 Bunch" and "The Amazing Russell." The two shorts, both made using the very "punk rock" looking Super 8 cameras and film, an antiquated amateur format familiar to most younger folks from the intro sequences of "The Wonder Years."

Thanks to a little article on Kodak's website, now the world can learn a bit more about Daniels's other work in this vanishing format, from his planned "Loftcraftian horror short" "Dirt Dauber," to his various entries to film festivals around the country.

Additionally, the article announces Daniels's victory at the Hi Mom Film Fest, a North Carolina tradition which he counts as his favorite film festival in the country. Must be gratifying then to have scored not just the Gold at the fest, but a Kodak Film Grant as well.

We all knew Steve Daniels was a talent to watch from his work for Converse, but it's gratifying to hear that the film establishment, from festivals to the manufacturers of the filmstock itself agree with us!

Rock Documentaries Go To Lincoln Center

Emerge Trends — 2006-07-27T17:52:25Z

Further proof that Rock N Roll's ascendency to the cultural canon: Lincoln Center is hosting an incredible program of rockumentaries this August.

Entitled, Play It Loud, the curated selection of films run the gamut from mass market success stories like Martin Scorcese's Starbucks-approved film about Bob Dylan No Direction Home to far more esoteric fare including a first time filmmaker's exploration of innovative pychedelic musician turned mental patient Roky Erikson (You're Gonna Miss Me), who's professional fortunes seem to have been revived thanks to a couple high-profile bookings at SXSW and the recent Intonation Festival by Vice Magazine. Occupying the middle ground are a tour film focusing on Boston's recently reunited Pixies, a look at fellow New Englanders Mission Of Burma, Olivier Assayas' Noise, Julian Temple's look at the long-running Glastonbury Festival in England, a rare indepth look at Europe's electronic underground entitled Between The Devil And The Wide Blue Sea, and perhaps most excitingly, an indepth look at The Police shot on super8 throughout the late 70s and early 80s by the band's drummer Stuart Copeland.

Running August 2 - August 10, Play It Loud's schedule and ticket sales can be accessed via Fim at Licoln Center's website.

Rock on...

Netflix's Roadshow Blog

Emerge Trends — 2006-07-28T19:03:54Z

Pioneering web-based DVD rental service Netflix is celebrating summer this August with a really cool series of ten film screenings called the Rolling Roadshow.

The idea is to provide free screenings of classic films in the locations associated with their creation. The series kicks off with a screening of cult classic The Warriors in Coney Island, New York with subsequent screenings around the country including Jaws on Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts and Escape From Alcatrax in the famed prison island in San Fransisco Bay.

Hosted by one-time musician and current reality-TV star Lisa Loeb, Netflix's Rolling Roadshow includes not just movie screenings but an "interactive event" including things like q&a sessions with cast and crew members, scavenger hunts, a high school prom and street hockey tournament.

This series is a great brand builder for the already ubiquitous Netflix not just because it helps promote the service, but because it helps bring consumers into the imaginary worlds created by the filmmakers, providing a participatory experience that any film fan would love to have while at the same time allowing Netflix to participate in the resurrection of a classic American tradition that has largely vanished with the drive-in movie theater: watching a film under the stars.

The series kicks off in Coney Island August 2nd. Who's bringing the popcorn?