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Last Updated:
Mar 19th, 2008 - 07:43:02 |
"Did ya hear about it?"
"Did you see that one?"
"I thought the one about the bus driver was pretty cool."
"Yo, that was an ill show, those jams were tight!"
"Did you go?"
These could be something along the lines of what people might be saying or asking themselves after this year's 555 5th Annual Sound & Video Festival.
You might ask what is the 555? What is this annual film fest that's been going on there for the past 5 years? Well, the 555 is a non-profit art gallery that started out in Ann Arbor and has been through the trials and tribulations of three different locations. But it has made its way to what is called "home" over the past couple of years — right at Warren and Grand River in downtown Detroit. This is a place where D.I.Y. can truly exist. Over the past five years the 555 has hosted countless exhibits and shows by artists and bands from all over the world.
"The mission of 555 is to provide space for community-based arts and arts education projects and activities, including classes and workshops, to provide low cost studio and exhibition space, as well as establish an Artist Residency Program for emerging and professional artists," says Visual and Performing Arts Coordinator Dan Gay. "The 555 is also dedicated to enhancing public awareness of the arts through collaborative projects with other non-profit arts and community organizations."
This year’s fest plays for a two-day engagement. Filled with shorts films done by local and national filmmakers that range from experimental to music videos to stop-motion. The fest will also include performances on March 2 by Das Chritz, Ambit and Charlie Slick. Anyone looking to get some fresh original electronic beats into their ears and looking to get their "dance on" should take notice. And on the evening of March 3, the short films will continue, with a special performance by Dog On Wheels, an ecstatic septet from Brooklyn, Ann Arbor and Minneapolis, that will be coming together for the first time as a seven-piece for a seven-date tour of the Midwest and New York. Not to be missed!
Viewing some of the short films, my mind and heart is filled with all kinds. Thoughts of Stan Brakhage, shyness, bagpipe music, religion, loneliness, race struggle and my parents, to name a few. And even one of the short films, entitled Carwash, (made by New York filmmaker Sharon Mooney) happened to turn me on a little with its comic and unique take on sex in car washes. Let's not forget the plethora of contributions that Dirty Bros. Productions will be providing for this year’s fest. The Dirty Bros. are a creative company who do everything from organizing art and music shows to making music videos. They will be contributing their own compilation of selected submissions from the film portion of their m.i.n.i. SHOW.
What I appreciate most of events of this sort is the rawness of the films. In a format like this, most budgets are low. So the filmmaker has no place to go or show but deep down and what they have inside. They are stripped bare and have nothing to reveal but one’s true self. All in all, definitely the spot to be this weekend with two helluva evenings packed with arts of all sorts to fill your body, mind and soul with. | RDW
555 5th Annual Sound & Video Festival • March 2-3 • 555 (4884 Grand River Ave.)
More info: www.555arts.org or 313.894.4202
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