Permanent Side-Project :: view the trailer! (10 MB Quicktime file - not recommended for dial-up)
A hilarious, raucous retrospective of Idiot Machine's street theater, parties and other events, Permanent Side-Project is a pioneering experiment in interactive cinema. It is at once a documentary on do-it-yourself street art, a celebration of friendship, a manifesto for casual and public creativity and a first template for a new breed of film.
First and foremost, Permanent Side-Project is a documentary of Idiot Machine's first four years, featuring footage from events like 2002's Barbarian Raiding Party, 2001's Cardboard Limo and 2003's Recess. You will see a small apartment converted into an 85-degree beach (complete with sand, water and palms) on frigid late-December night and watch as a group of Pilgrims hunt a turkey through the public transportation and streets of San Francisco, finally catching it and giving away the turkey sandwiches inside it's belly. Permanent Side-Project is a celebratory portrait of our friends: creating exciting, ridiculous events and making it happen with only determination and no-resource creativity.
Permanent Side-Project, however, goes beyond the limits of traditional documentary. Informed by the same casual, inclusive values that created the documented events, the video is, in-and-of-itself, something new audiences can become a part of. Every screening features interactive multi-media segments in which a live performer dukes it out with his video-projected doppelganger, audience volunteers take directions from headphones while video moves in sync with their actions, and live, local musicians provide new scores for a lush, rhythmic montage. Every screening is different from the last.
Finally, Permanent Side-Project, includes a new collection of video graphics by Gavin Kroeber. Documentary sections and interactive sequences are blended together with stylish, musically-driven short videos. Ultimately, the video is best understood as a "visual album": a series of 5-minute video "songs" that flow from one to the next, touching on recurring themes, but ultimately more akin to a musical album than a narrative movie.
Permanent Side-Project toured the US in fall 04 and will be making the rounds in the festival circuit in 2005, with live musical guests augmenting an already incredible soundtrack with tracks by Logan Kroeber, The Mutaytor, 666gangstaz, MC Frontalot, The Coma Lilies, Stubborn Lights, Monkey Farm Frankenstein, Bonobo Project and more. Every stop will also feature a post-screening reception, often with live music and visual art. So freakin' check it out, yo.
Once again, here's the trailer.