Found Footage Festival: Back to the Future

"Anything in the category of 'not meant to be shown in public' is what we're interested in," he says. "They're training videos you're meant to watch in the break room by yourself, or an exercise video you watch by yourself in your home." The festival, he says, "is a little bit subversive, since you weren't able to laugh at these things at the time. You're in a room with 300 other like-minded people and you're given permission to laugh at it."

These days, Prueher says, are rich ones for people like him. "People are a lot less selective about what they throw out now. Entire boxes are ending up at thrift stores."

Heavy Metal Parking Lot opens the Found Footage Festival at Largo.

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Largo at the Coronet

366 N. La Cienega Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90048

Category: Bars/Clubs

Region: West Hollywood

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• Joe Pickett
• Found Footage Festival
• Atlantic City
• Documentaries
• Arts, Entertainment, and Media

The bounty is bittersweet. "The last VHS tape rolled off the assembly line in 2008," he says. "It's totally dead now."

So what happens to the festival that has curated this dead medium's absurdities?

Prueher worries about that. The current festival draws about 5 percent of its material from DVDs, which are starting to show up in thrift stores in larger numbers, and the other 95 percent from videotapes. While he compares himself to a vinyl junkie who loves VHS for its imperfections and its lo-fi, analog charm, he hopes the festival can keep adapting to new technology.

"Every time we do a show," he says, "we think, that's it, we've found all the stupid videos. But then we'll find something like Rent a Friend. Someday we may be finding hard drives and SD cards."

For now, he's sanguine. "As long as people have bad ideas and access to video equipment," he says, "we'll be in business."

FOUND FOOTAGE FESTIVAL | Tues., March 1, 8 p.m. | Largo at the Coronet | foundfootagefest.com