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SXSW Review: Blip Festival: Reformat the Planet

Filed under: Documentary », Music & Musicals », SXSW », Theatrical Reviews »



I have no idea why the word "documentary" has somehow been connected with the word "boring" over the past several decades, but I see lots of VERY entertaining docos as part of my festival exploits. Oh sure, the Oscar-givers like to focus on the "important" documentaries that deal with stuff like war, sex, religion, abortion and the Holocaust, but if you know where to look, you can find stacks of docos that are more than content to focus on issues that are A) light, B) amusing, or C) musical. (Here's a hint on where to look: Film festivals like SXSW.)

Paul Owens' Blip Festival: Reformat the Planet covers A, B and C, although it's focused mainly on the third option: Music. Specifically, music that is created by a small but passionate group of misfits who create some fantastic tunes using nothing but (ready for it?) old-school video game consoles! Yep, that goofy old Super Mario Bros. jingle can be turned into one kick-ass techno tune in the right hands, and these unapologetic gaming geeks seem to be having a great time turning great old games into funky new tunes.

SXSW Watch: 'Reformat the Planet' Trailer

Filed under: Documentary », SXSW », Moviefone Feedback », Trailers and Clips »




Yesterday we brought you the trailer for Second Skin, a new documentary premiering at the South by Southwest Film Festival in early March. To continue our pre-coverage of that festival, above you'll find the trailer for Reformat the Planet -- yet another documentary premiering at SXSW that, like Second Skin, deals somewhat in the world of video games. This one, however, is a tad different, as it follows several people who use their old Nintendo systems to create some pretty amazing music. How do they do it? I'm not entirely sure, but I do know that they use the actual music from, say, the Nintendo Game Boy, and transform it into these epic tracks.

It's definitely very cool, and I'm real interested in the film itself, yet I couldn't help but laugh watching these guys absolutely rock out while jamming on the buttons of a Game Boy. It's just comical, I don't know -- I mean these guys get REALLY into it. And their audience -- all sweaty and whatnot -- get REALLY into it. It's pretty awesome, I guess, and it just blows my mind to stumble upon these little worlds of art you never knew existed. Anyway, check out the trailer above and let us know what you think.

[via Matt Dentler's Blog]

 
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