“The Vinyl Frontier” World Premiere at SFFFF
ROLL CALL. Who among our readers has a vinyl toy addiction? We know you’re out there, setting aside monthly Kid Robot allowances, religiously reading JUXTAPOZ, chuckling appreciatively at the inclusion of a Nathan Jurevicius figurine in Splice, etc.
You’ll be interested to know about an independent feature film exploring the American vinyl toy movement, its creators and collectors, called The Vinyl Frontier. Directed by Daniel Zana, it’s the first comprehensive documentary on the subject. Via Spread Art Culture:
Brilliantly shot on location [over the course of several years] in studios, homes, convention centers, and offices around the country, The Vinyl Frontier is sure to be a favorite in this year’s festival season. Featuring such heavy hitters as Tristan Eaton, Ron English, Gary Baseman, Dalek, Frank Kozik, Tim Biskup, and many more.
The Vinyl Frontier will be having its world premiere at the San Francisco Frozen Film Festival (July 2-3) at the Roxie Theatre. Tickets are available for Friday, July 2, 8PM (an array of artists involved with the film will be in attendance after screening to take part in an audience Q&A) or Saturday, Jul 03, 9:20 PM.
June 28th, 2010 at 4:27 pm
YES,…me!
I suppose this could be filed under my gradually accumulating list of “what made me weird” entrees.
My obsessive interest in vinyl toys in general all started before I had even entered Kindergarten. Some thoughtful relatives in Japan had sent my family an enormous package of gifts which included a bagged set of small colorful beasts arranged around a red, somewhat wobbly looking, replica of what my Dad told me was the Tokyo Tower.
The creatures themselves were visually fascinating to me.
Before me, I was presented with:
-A blue, fish-headed humanoid adorned with fins…
….a corpulent, brown, warty, tusked thing whose arms were thick, sagging drapes of wrinkled flesh…
….a white, mummified looking dinosaur who had forked antlers in place of eyes,..
….a green, scaly dinosaur monster with a flaring crest of spikes on it’s head, and a back studded with a rectangular grid of hornlets….
…and lastly, a grey robotic-looking spaceman with a serene, yellow insect eyed face, and arms raised in what would soon be a familiar crossed pose.
In a very short time, I became very familiar with the names and origins of each of these characters, but at first sight, these were totemistic icons from some alien planet.
What brings the memory together for me, however, was the distinctive smell of that plastic. It was unlike anything my four-year-old self had experienced
thus far.
I’m not quite certain what the hell it was about that smell. But for years afterwards, I would keep getting these Japanese monster toys that were all roto-cast in that same quasi-flexible, aromatic vinyl!
So, some many years later, I find that it remains one of the big obsessions of my life, and I’m delighted to see that the essential elements of the vinyl toy have mutated into such a dazzling variety of uber weirdness.
I find I’m partial to the toys based on the work of comic artist, Jim Woodring, myself.
The documentary looks cool as hell…thanks for the post, and an excuse to completely geek-out, Mer!