Dan Anderson’s Cinesplosion cinesplodes on to Madison.
Six years ago, in the unlikely city of Grand Rapids, Minnesota, a high school-aged Dan Anderson started one of America’s quirkiest cinema events. The Bearded Child Film Festival, still nestled away in that town of 8,000, is one of only a handful of festivals devoted to experimental cinema. Now, Anderson plans to bring a sampling of his show to Madison.
Anderson will present a selection of Bearded Child’s submissions tonight at the High Noon Saloon, movies that Anderson says range from the artistic to the wacky.
“There are independent festivals that show the normal movies that don’t get into Hollywood. Our stuff is a little more obscure,” said Anderson.
He’ll show a selection of work, prominently featuring a collage of 1950s stock footage of Coney Island arranged by members of the Montreal-based art collective Volatile Works. He’ll also show “Auto Domestication,” which he wrote and directed.
“I’m an actor in the movie,” said Anderson. “The other actor is a gorilla. It’s an id and ego film.”
Anderson has been making experimental films just as long as he’s held his film festival. His interest formed when he started watching David Lynch films and grew as he began renting more obscure directors’ work – something particularly difficult, as the experimental film selection in Grand Rapid’s small town video store is limited to Lynch. To see less mainstream work, Anderson was forced to make twice-monthly trips to a specialty shop in Minneapolis, the nearest major city, a four hour drive away.
The Bearded Child Film Festival makes it easier for Grand Rapids to see more artistic (and more bizarre) pieces.
It was a city craving someone like Anderson. The community arts center had a 600-seat theater that went unused because artists refused to perform so far from a major city. When Anderson started the festival, he received 28 submissions and had time to show them all. Now the Bearded Child fields 150 applicants a year to present films in a small Midwestern town.
“The first year someone came from Japan – he had never been to another American city than L.A – and as soon as he got off the plane there was a real culture clash,” Anderson said.
“We don’t even have an airport anymore,” he continued. “But we used to.”
As the Bearded Child Festival has grown so has Anderson’s film resume. It’s a time consuming vocation – one that doesn’t allow him to have a full time job for fear of a set schedule. But it’s that dedication that makes the medium so appealing to him.
“To make experimental films you need a passion for it,” he said. “A lot of times you can get a grant to make a film, but once it’s completed, it’s hard to get any return. It’s hard to get anybody to see them, so you have to do it for yourself. But that’s sort of the charm for me, the personal aspect.”
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What: Cinesplosion (Bearded Child Film Showing)
Where: The High Noon Saloon
When: July 25 at 6 pm
How Much: $3