We're baaaaaaaaaaaack! Schlepping reels of 16mm film to Foothill College this Saturday to sully Room 5015's hallowed halls yet again. . .
With a brand spanking-new KFJC Psychotronix Film Festival, our first for 2018!
Saturday's program shall include the usual suspects, all on 16mm film, the vinyl of visuals.
That means trailers from schlocky drive-in movies (featuring guys in robot and gorilla suits, well-meaning but inept educational films and public service announcements, cheesy "snack bar" ads. . .
As well as Scopitones, Soundies, cartoon rarities, campy 1950's commercials. . .
And bizarro comedy shorts, kidvid and the inevitable "thunder lizards."
Also serial chapters, puppet animation, and whatever else on celluloid we can dredge up for the occasion.
Archivist-producers Bob Ekman, Scott Moon and this blogmeister create the program on the fly, responding to audience reaction and choosing films accordingly.
Host for the evening's celluloid festivities: expert on all things involving film and TV soundtrack music, Mr. Robert Emmett of KFJC-FM's "Norman Bates Memorial Soundtrack Show."
The all-16mm celluloid extravaganza is a reaction against the standard rules of film programming, which didn't interest us. Instead of devoting a screening to one director, one genre or one series, our celluloid concoctions throw a wide variety of films from different places, genres, techniques or time periods together. As far as content goes, the more obscure, the lower the budget, the more under-the-radar, the better.
Sometimes this writer gets asked just what "Psychotronix" is or means. The word "Psychotronix" is a variation on Michael Weldon's The Psychotronic History Of Cinema and The Psychotronic Video Guide the book which remains the encyclopedia of all varieties of non-Gone With The Wind style extravaganzas and that means B, C, D, F and Z-films.
These would include monster movies, horror, science fiction, "guilty pleasure" comedies (Bela Lugosi Meets A Brooklyn Gorilla), rock 'n' roll flicks, any film featuring "Queen Of Scopitones" Joi Lansing, etc.
While both Psychotronix and Psychotronic present a unique and hallucinatory excursion through the irritated bowels of popular culture, the KFJC Psychotronix Film Festival programs extend much farther back into film history than the grindhouse and exploitation film (from Dwain Esper to Herschel Gordon Lewis to Doris Wishman) focus of The Psychotronic History Of Cinema and Psychotronic magazine. RE: H.G. Lewis, the super gory stuff is generally not in the mix, even in trailers. Also, Ms. Wishman's gleefully filthy XXX stuff - while entertaining - is not represented, either.
While are "coming detractions" trailers from all sorts of low-budget movies - that's for sure - our m.o. is to take all the genres the 16mm guys love, throw 'em in a blender, push "frappe" and see what the heck comes out.
So what we do at the KFJC Psychotronix Film Festival encompasses psychotronic movies but also includes silent movies (especially early cartoons and oddball short subjects such as the Snub Pollard comedy with the "magnet car"), varied material from television, musical films and animated cartoons from all eras.
If the evening's celluloid cornucopia can establish a subject link or a Monty Python-esque visual or verbal link between the various short segments, great, but this is not absolutely necessary.
Or, to make a further Monty Python reference, this could be called the "And Now For Something Completely Different" approach to film programming - A.K.A. bring a bunch of reels of film, two projectors and yell "KAWABUNGA!"
The KFJC Psychotronix Film Festival
When: Saturday, March 31, 2018: 7:00 PM to 11:00 PM
Where: Room 5015, Foothill College campus
12345 El Monte Road, Los Altos Hills (El Monte exit off 280)
Why: We like cheesy movies.
How Much? $5 Donation Benefits KFJC. Bring $3 for Parking!
Parking: Lot #5
Public Transit: Cal Train and VTA
Info: Foothill College Transportation & Parking.
Arrive early, as the shows often sell out. Doors open at 6:00 PM.
Be there or be a trapezoid!.
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