Dir: The Meerkat Media Collective, New York, 2012,
fine cut version sneak preview!
8/12 (sun), 16:00 ~ Sangyo-Shinko Bldg 3F,
8/14 (mon), 22:00 ~ Uno Port Pier#2 Trailer Theater
Tagline:
An eccentric NYC band, a tiny Balkan village, and half a million fans transcend borders at the world’s largest trumpet festival.
Synopsis:
Once a year, a tiny Serbian village explodes with brass cacophony and riotous celebration as half a million fans descend upon Guča, the world’s largest trumpet competition. On the 50th anniversary of the festival, an unlikely American brass band undertakes a journey to the source of their inspiration, barely a decade after NATO bombs rocked Belgrade.
The citizens of Guča prepare for the oncoming hordes with a mix of national pride and nervous energy. The older generation has lived through world war, socialist rule, national fragmentation, and ethnic cleansing – all of which has given way to a festival at the center of a evolving national identity. Middle-aged business owners hope to capitalize on a growing festival and huge influx of cash. The youngest watch the best trumpeters in the world play their country’s traditional music; some yearn to play on that stage, while others throw on their headphones to pump Metallica and Lady Gaga.
Brasslands explores the moment when cultural appropriation confronts its origin – in this war-scarred landscape, disparate societies find common ground in a joyous, deeply transcendent music that leaves no ear unaffected.
This is a sneak preview screening of a film in its fine cut version. UPAF predicts that this film will draw attention of the world very soon. A world premiere! It is a deep film with life drama, world politics, and boy, amazing music!!
The newest work of the Meerkat Media Collective, a unique filmmaking community in Brooklyn NY in which 12 co-directors share the ideas and equipment and produce works based on the “consensus” system. If you want to learn more about them, watch “Consensus” in Short Program I.
About the Meerkat Media Collective
The Meerkat Media Collective is a self-organized community of makers committed to creating innovative and thought-provoking films through shared authorship and consensus process. Since 2005, the collective has produced and distributed over twenty short films and two features. Their first feature documentary, Stages, won Best Documentary and Audience Award at the HBO New York International Latino Film Festival, their short Brooklyn Boondoggle won Best Documentary of the 2009 Red Hook International Film Festival and How Wal-Mart Came to Haslett and Every Third Bite were both featured in Art’s Engine’s Media That Matters Film Festival.
Inspired by the communal nature of meerkats, we value shared authorship and consensus process in our day-to-day operations as well as in our artistic endeavors. Under a cooperative model, our members give creative and administrative time to the collective in exchange for material and non-material support. We share skills, equipment and ideas with a firm belief that a healthy, inclusive process is as important as crafting quality work.