Wednesday, December 17, 2008

Who Killed the Underground Film?

Recently Rene brought German experimental filmmakers Wilhem Hein and Annette Frick to Zeitgeist. Hein’s film was appropriately called "You killed the underground film." The “you” ambiguously refers to Hein and of course you, the reader, who are both involved in doing in the underground. Judging from the usual small turnout at Zeitgeist, these endeavors are successful. As further evidence, the New York Underground Film Festival will shortly cease to exist. Of course the demise of underground film can be squarely put on the rise of cheap video tools. Also in terms of venues like Zeitgeist, home theatres, Netflix, and the internet have done their damage.
But has the underground really lost its potential? Is there an underground, or a need for one? One of the great things about the internet is that it has the potential, and the occasional effect of leveling the playing field. Every thing on youtube has the same potential of being watched, from the most highly budgeted production to the kids with a cell phone video camera.
written by d.s.

1 comment:

Mike Everleth said...

Underground film is not dead. NYUFF may be past, but there are dozens of underground fests still going all over the world and tons of filmmakers making challenging and provocative work that can be found if one knows where to look.