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Finding hidden video gems

By Emily Hulme | STAFF WRITER

April 21, 2008

A still from a Chick-fil-A instructional video (April 21, 2008)

Watching your old home movies can be pretty embarrassing. But watching other people's discarded home movies, training videos, etc., can be hysterical.

That's the lesson that Nick Prueher and Joe Pickett, curators and hosts of the Found Footage Festival -- which, just like it sounds, features films and videos found in various locations -- are spreading across the country. amNewYork spoke with the guys about the origins of the videos they love, and how audiences have responded to the comedy gold they've mined.

What piqued your interest in collecting videos?
Nick Prueher: In high school, I found a training video called "Inside and Outside Custodial Duties" in the break room of the McDonald's where I worked. It was probably the single most ridiculous thing I had ever seen, so I smuggled it home and showed it to Joe, who loved it. We thought, if there are videos this dumb right under our noses, imagine what else is out there.

What's your process for finding these videos?
NP: We mostly just happen across these videos at thrift stores, garage sales, Dumpsters, and other out-of-the-way places. Occasionally, someone will tell us about a video they saw somewhere and we'll try to track it down, but it's usually just dumb luck.

How much of what you find is just awful?
NP: I would say that 99 percent of the videos we sift through are just plain bad. Boring, tedious, awful videos with no redeeming qualities whatsoever. But when we do find a video that's bad in just the right way, it makes it all worth it.
Joe Pickett: It's a needle in a haystack to find a really good (read: bad) video. I get really excited whenever we find home movies, but nine times out of 10, it's kids opening up Christmas presents. It's finding the home movie of a drunken house party that makes it all worth it.

When did you realize that other people might be interested in found videos?
JP: The FFF actually started about four years ago as a means to raise money for a documentary ["Dirty Country"] we were working on (and just recently completed). We had run out of money and were about to dip into credit cards; so we decided to rent a venue on the LES and show some clips from our collection, and put whatever money we made from that into the movie. When our very first show sold out, we realized we had something.

Were you surprised that the festival took off, or did you know you had comedy gold from the start?
JP: We knew we had comedy gold from the start, but we didn't know if anybody else would appreciate it. When it started to take off, we had to take a break from our documentary project to keep up with the demand.
NP: We had no idea that this silly little hobby of ours would strike such a chord with people.

What do you think makes found footage so appealing?
JP: What's most appealing, I think, is that these videos were never intended for a mass audience. Exercise videos, training videos and home movies were meant to be viewed by one or two people at a time. But when a room full of people get together to watch a video about how to toilet train your cat, something magical happens.

The Found Footage Festival
Anthology Film Archives, 32 Second Ave.
Thursday, Friday; 7, 9 p.m.
Tickets: $10, www.brown-papertickets.com/event/30151

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Finding hidden video gems

Related topic galleries: Festive Event, Movies, Joe Pickett

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