World’s only truly independent indie film fest, sponsored by Troma, celebrates 15th year on June 27-28, and it won’t cost you a dime.
Those fiercely, sometimes even obnoxiously independent souls over at Troma Entertainment are marking their 40th anniversary this year, and these first three months alone have been busy ones for Lloyd Kaufman, Michael Herz, and the whole darn Troma Team. Following the release of their heartrending extravaganza, Return to Nuke ‘Em High (Vol.1), they received some long-overdue recognition from both the American Cinematique and The Museum of Modern Art. Now they’ve announced the overwhelming number of submissions to this year’s TromaDance film festival has forced them to move to a larger venue and nudge the date bak a bit to give people time to make arrangements. So now the festival will be celebrating its 15th anniversary on the weekend of June 27th and 28th at The Paper Box, a performance and art space (with a really nice bar and backyard) in East Williamsburg, Brooklyn.
Sure, the whole damn world’s awash in film festivals. Swing a cat around and chances are good you’ll thwack some snooty critic or producer on his way to one or another. You got your Cannes, Venice, Berlin, New York, Tribeca, Sundance, SXSW, wherever the hell else. But every last one of them is owned and operated by giant corporations, big studios, and graphpaper heads with deep pockets and no sense of humor. As a result, those fancy, respectable festivals are no damn fun at all. Which is kind of a moot point anyway, considering schlubs like us aren’t exactly welcome.
Since its inception in 1999, TromaDance has been like no other film festival on earth, a truly independent festival focused on indie filmmakers and movie fans. True to the studio’s anarchist, anti-corporate, DIY sensibilities (and setting it far apart from the likes of SlamDance and even the NYUFF), TromaDance not only doesn’t charge filmmakers fees to submit their films for consideration, they don’t even charge admission to any of the screenings or panel discussions or parties. All you need to do is find your way there, get in line early (everything’s first come, first served), and maybe bring along a couple bucks for beers. Along that same thinking, given TromaDance also adamantly refuses to offer any VIP consideration of any kind to anyone, the filmmakers, musicians, and celebrities who attend (and they do) are forced to stand in line with the likes of us, sit next to us at screenings, and mingle with us at the parties, who knows? On top of seeing some swell new pictures you might get the chance to share your thoughts on global warming, proper brain splattering, and public nudity with Samuel L. Jackson. You probably won’t get a sneak peek at Mr. Jackson’s latest while you’re there, nor the new reboot of a film that was useless crap when Lion’s Gate released it originally five years ago, but chances are good you’ll end up seeing something you weren’t expecting.
Although the final screening schedule has yet to be announced, a rough overview of the festivities runs like this: On Friday the 27th, they’ll be screening films from 6-10 p.m., and on Saturday the 28th things get underway at noon, with films shown in blocks until 10 that night. After that is the afterparty (just like those fancy festivals, except it won’t cost anything to get in and it’ll be, y’know, FUN) with bands and performers and the typical sort of madness you can expect from Troma.
For more information on the TromaDance Film Festival please visit: http://tromadance.com
The Paper Box
17 Meadow Street
Brooklyn, NY
Phone (718) 383-3815
Like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter for all news updates related to the world of geek. And Google+, if that's your thing!