Does the phrase ”digital film festival” leave you cold? Do you imagine three hours of Frankensteinian film clips, interspersed with clumsy effects designed to show how good the filmmaker is at operating a Mac?
Resfest Digital Film Festival is the kind of joyous celebration of creativity and passion that stops such cynicism dead. The festival’s eclectic mix of offerings covers everything from feature-length films to music videos. What ties them all together is their openness, their willingness to innovate, to push boundaries and to find new ways to tell their stories. Now in its seventh year, Resfest has grown into a global phenomenon, touring 18 cities in nine countries around the world.
In the run-up to the Cape Town leg of Resfest, organisers treated us to a screening of Spike Jonze Rarities — and I can hardly think of a more fitting prelude to the festival.
A collection of rarely seen projects from Jonze’s days as a music video director, Rarities embodies the ethics on which Resfest has built its global reputation.
The works burst with energy and courage, with fresh ideas and quirky humour. Jonze seems both blissfully unafraid of looking silly and acutely aware of the power of the ridiculous. The music video for Big Train, for instance, is shot almost entirely using a pair of model trains, while Weapon of Choice features an 86-year-old Christopher Walken sashaying around a deserted hotel lobby.
Rarities also betrays a deep fascination with the art of constructing meaning, and a hunger to explore, exploit and remodel that meaning. In the five-minute long Five Stop Mother Superior Rain Jonze takes about 20 seconds of news footage and stretches it into a gripping surrealist dance of fear and violence.
Perhaps the most inspirational ethic in Rarities is Jonze’s own ”can do” attitude. He repeatedly drives home the point that great ideas — not slick production — are the key to great films.
The best illustration of this ethic is the short documentary Torrence Rises. The film follows the unlikely story of a small community dance group preparing to perform live at the MTV Video Music Awards. Recruited by Jonze for Fatboy Slim’s Praise You video, the motley Torrence Dance Community is anything but cool. Its bearded, bespectacled leader looks — and dances — more like an escaped computer programmer than an MTV slickster. Yet he is undaunted by the challenge, and rises to it admirably. Torrence goes on to win two awards, and to steal the show.
Few people will have the time to catch every show at Resfest. There are some gems, however, that I will not be missing. The feature-length animated musical Interstella 5555 is a unique collaboration between French house music outfit Daft Punk and Japanese animator Leiji Matsumoto. Shorts #01 mixes animation with digital effects and traditional filmmaking techniques. By Design is a collection of broadcast design and motion graphic pieces, all of which explore urban space and modern civilisation. MTV junkies won’t want to miss Videos That Rock, featuring 20 of the most inventive rock and pop videos of the past year.
Despite the vast range of work, a central trait ties the films together. Like the Torrence Dance Community, these filmmakers are willing to dream big without fear or doubt — to act, not just talk. This is the heart of the message that Resfest hopes to spread. To be a filmmaker all you need is a camera, a laptop and a great idea. At Resfest ”digital” does not mean fancy effects and tired stock footage; it means possibility.
The details
Visit Resfest 2003 at the Cape Town International Convention Centre until November 15; in Johannesburg at Cinema Nouveau, Rosebank Mall, from November 21 to 27; and at Durban’s Umhlanga Gateway Cinema Nouveau from November 21 to 27.