About PXL THIS 13...

members.aol.com/bunchastuf/souvenir.html  Steve Rose's SOUVENIR (PXL THIS 13) website

Read praise from the press in THE BLACKBOARD article on the articles page.

The PXL THIS 13 DVD is available from Gerry Fialka, phone:310-306-7330 or pfsuzy@aol.com

"PXL This 13" DVD reviewed by Mike Langlie on liarsociety.com Feb, 2005

In 1987, Fisher Price released the PXL2000 Pixelvision camera, a toy that captured 5 minutes of grainy, low-res, black-and-white video and audio to a side of a normal tape cassette. A little too over-priced and under-sophisticated for its intended market, the toy was quickly killed. Not surprisingly, it became a much sought-after tool by experimental video artists and a steady cult of followers ever since. The PXL This film festival is now in its 14th year of presenting works made with the device by a wide demographic of amateurs and professionals. The films from the 13th year are collected on DVD, and as expected, it's a mixed bag. I'm a big fan of the quirky and obscure, but even I found a few of the titles unwatchable. But there are some short pieces here that even the most jaded and impatient viewer will find delightful.

My favorites include 8-year-old Juniper Woodbury's stream-of-consciousness visual essay About Flowers, Denny Moynahan's
moebius strip of a performance piece Kukulele Cubed, Stephen Rose's dreamy trip inside a snow-globe Souvenir, and festival coordinator Gerry Fialka's inventive DaDa mini-manifesto Double-Duty Interrobang.

The strengths and limitations of the PXL2000 are explored in some imaginative ways as the creators attempt to find their unique voices. John Humphrey's Pee Wee Goes to Prison makes entertaining use of dolls and miniatures as cast and set in a story that's hysterical but a little too long for the format. Tedi Tate and Eliot Fons' Horse contrasts ghostly long-range Muybridge-style footage with startling super-close-ups of equine facial features. It's an inspiring bunch, at least in that it's obvious how much fun these folks have making art on the cheap. Now to get my own Pixelvision running again...

PXL THS 13,  Midnight Special Bookstore,  Nov 15,2003
7:00pm
1-KUKULELE CUBED - Denny Moynahan, 3 minutes
2-THE STEPFATHER - Joe Gibbons, 8m
3- 30TH ST - Jason Bickford, 2m
4- ABOUT FLOWERS - Juniper Woodbury, 4m
5- WORDS - Walter Liggett, 1m
6- HORSE - Tedi Tate & Eliot Fons, 5m
7- DOUBLE-DUTY INTERROBANG - Gerry Fialka, 10m
8- POETRY WORKSHOP - Walter Liggett, 2m
9- MARKER - Juniper Woodbury, 2m
10- SPECIAL REPORT - Michael Possert, 2m
11- MOVING VIOLATION - Jason Britski, 6m
12- PATIENT - Doug Ing, 9m
13- DOWNTOWN ODYSSEY - Joe Golling, 4m
14- VICTIM! The AMY FISHER Story - Dwight Swanson, 7m
15- STAND UP - Martin Smith, 4m
16- ASSCROFT - Eli Elliott, 6m
17- THE GLUM WALTZ - Elric Kane, 22m
9:00pm
18- BURNT POPCORN - Eli Elliott, 20m
19- SOUVENIR - Stephen Rose, 5m
20- PEE WEE GOES TO PRISON - John Humphrey, 11m
21- PXL MANIFESTO - Ross Craig, 5m
22- FAMILIAR - Stacy Craft, 8m
23- NEO-CON HYBRIDS - Steve Craig, 4m
24- HIPPIES USE SIDE DOOR - Dahvi Bolog, 6m
25- THE SIMPLICITY OF FACELESSNESS - Kyzer McKinn, 4m
26- OUTSIDE THE LAW - Luci Westphal-Solary, 3m
27- ROOMATEY AGAIN: The Strange Case of the Gay Pirate Penguin - Nicholas Zeltzer, 9m
28- MEAT THE JOHNSONS - Chuck Perry, 6m
29- LAWN STATUES - Joe Frese, 19m

Clap Off They Glass is always acceptimg entries for future PXL THIS festivals. For info send SASE: PXL 2427 ½ Glyndon Av, Venice, CA,90291, 310-306-7330. Much thanks to everyone who helps. Vidiots(310-392-8508) rents PXL THIS compilations & will screen PXL THIS 13on Feb 20, 2004. Visit: www.indiespace.com/pxlthis
  Contact: Gerry Fialka 310-306-7330

PXL THIS 13, the annual festival featuring videos made with the PXL 2000 toy camera, will premiere on Saturday, NOV. 15 2003 at 7pm and 9pm (two different shows) at Midnight Special Bookstore, 1450 2nd St. in Santa Monica, CA.  310-393-2923. Free Admission. Visit:www.indiespace.com/pxlthis

PXL THIS 13 highlights include: Past PXL THIS favorite Joe Gibbons tries to quash Barbie’s romance with young beau Ken in THE STEPFATHER. Eli Elliott’s ASSCROFT highlights the absurdities of the US Attorney General. Eight-year-old Juniper Woodbury offers a detailed lesson ABOUT FLOWERS, and the poignant MARKER. Berkeley poet Walter Liggett gets energized in POETRY WORKSHOP. John Humphrey’s PEE WEE GOES TO PRISON explodes the myth of American justice through the window of Pee Wee’s Playhouse. Michael Possert’s SPECIAL REPORT is an urgent take on the state of the world, from the not-so-distant future. Tedi Tate & Eliot Fons’ HORSE utilizes Pixelvision’s unique close-up capabilities to survey ghostly and mythological equine details. Dahvi Bolog’s HIPPIES USE SIDE DOOR takes military recruiting to the top level. Joe Golling’s DOWNTOWN ODYSSEY documents a young man’s reaction to urban chaos. Dwight Swanson’s VICTIM chronicles the philosophical quest of Amy Fisher and her journey from malls to madness. Jason Britski’s MOVING VIOLATION examines the textures, rhythm and beauty that resides hidden within a community. Robert Dobbs reswindles Menippean memory with new punctuation, the DOUBLE-DUTY INTERROBANG. Eli Elliott’s BURNT POPCORN mixes mainstream culture with avant-garde mediums. A cop chases down four outlaws trying to escape to Mexico in Luci Wesphal-Solary’s music video OUTSIDE THE LAW. Chuck Perry’s MEAT THE JOHNSONS is the funny story of suburban zombie and his wife. Ross Craig's PXL MANIFESTO is a spoof on dogma filmmaking. Steve Craig's NEO-CON HYBRIDS concerns alien abductions. Steve Rose's SOUVENIR reveals a darkly mysterious world which exists within a souvenir snow globe.   Stacy Craft’s FAMILIAR explores the amorphous and dependency ridden space that is created by chronic illness. Nicholas Zeltzer’s ROOMMATEY AGAIN: THE STRANGE CASE OF THE GAY PIRATE PENGUIN is a Joycean tale of a stuffed animal.  Joe Frese’s LAWN STATUES is a surrealistic dark comedy about an ex-con whose life takes an unexpected turn. Also works by Pixelators Kyzer Mckinn, Martin Smith, Elric Kane. Jason Bickford, Doug Ing and the Ernie Kovac’s of Pixelvision, Denny Moynahan.

The PXL-2000 toy camera, made in the late 80's by Fisher-Price, records sound and image directly onto audio cassettes. This failed toy continues to empower artists. RES magazine praised PXL THIS as “a welcome highlight in the Los Angeles media scene celebrating the rich lexicon available in a tool which might seem rather limiting.” Film Threat’s Chris Gore declares PXL THIS as one of the top ten video festivals. “All the PXL THIS videos reflect festival organizer Gerry Fialka’s commitment to the freedom produced by making art without financial constraints.”-Holly Willis. “PXL THIS videos are admired for their characteristic spontaneity, highly personal perspective, visual uninhibitedness and raw, grainy truths.”-LA Weekly.   “Gerry Fialka’s PXL THIS festival snaps, crackles and pops off the screen with the funky, user-friendly energy of real first-person cinema. Goofy, gorgeous, and altogether groovy, his provocative program of pieces produced with the Fisher-Price PXL 2000 toy video camera is not only downright entertaining, but more, its blipping and buzzing black’n’white picture-bits coalesce into a veritable inspiration to all those who cherish the playful, spontaneous gestures and low-cost of electronic folk art.” -Craig Baldwin
 

Mary Beth Crain wrote in the LA WEEKLY, "The power of PXL is somehow indisputable. The medium becomes a means of alchemically altering the most mundane realities. Blurred, off-kilter black-and-white images transcend mere out-of-focus mediocrity to become captivatingly surreal. Body parts (eyes and mouths are favorites with beginning PXL artists) acquire personalities of their own. Virtually every selection on the PXL THIS program evidences an undeniable charm and talent." Jean Cocteu said, "It is vital that the camera become a pen and that everyone should be able to express themselves through this visual medium." 

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