Found Footage Festival in Calgary - 11/13 & 11/14

FOUND FOOTAGE FESTIVAL COMES TO CALGARY WITH ALL-NEW SHOW

New York, NY ’Äî The Found Footage Festival, the acclaimed touring showcase of odd and hilarious found videos, will make a special two-night appearance in Calgary next month as part of its 2008 North American tour. Hosts Joe Pickett and Nick Prueher, whose credits include the Late Show with David Letterman and The Onion, are excited to present their new lineup of video clips and live comedy at the Plaza Theatre (1133 Kensington Rd. NW) on Thursday, Nov. 13th and Fri., Nov. 14th (7 pm both nights). The event is being sponsored by the Calgary Underground Film Festival (calgaryundergroundfilm.org). Tickets are $15 ($12 for students) and are available in advance at Bird Dog Video (1333 16th Ave. SW).

The Found Footage Festival is a one-of-a-kind event compiles more than an hour's worth of footage from videos that were found at garage sales and thrift stores and in warehouses and dumpsters throughout the country. Curators Pickett and Prueher host each screening in-person and provide their unique observations and commentary on these found video obscurities. From the curiously-produced industrial training video to the forsaken home movie donated to Goodwill, the Found Footage Festival resurrects these forgotten treasures and serves them up in a lively celebration of all things found.

Among the new clips to be featured in the 2008 show:

-17 workplace sexual harassment videos, edited down to three minutes of just the best reenactments
-A brand-new collection of exercise videos featuring Playgirl's 1985 Man of the Year, a scantily-clad Angela Lansbury, and a guru who calls himself "The Laughing Yogi."
-An instructional video on how to toilet train cats

The Found Footage Festival was founded in New York in 2004 and has gone on to sell out hundreds of shows across the U.S. and Canada, including the HBO Comedy Festival at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas and the Just For Laughs Festival in Montreal. The festival has been featured on National Public Radio, ABC World News, Jimmy Kimmel Live, and G4 TV's Attack of the Show, and has been named a "Critic's Pick" in dozens of publications, including The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, San Francisco Chronicle and The Chicago Tribune.

To set up an interview with the curators, please contact Nick Prueher at 347-255-7350, or via email at foundfootagefestival@yahoo.com. Screeners and high-resolution images from the festival are also available upon request. Additional information can be found on the festival's website: www.foundfootagefest.com.

ABOUT THE CURATORS

Nick Prueher and Joe Pickett began collecting found videotapes in 1991 after stumbling across a training video entitled, "Inside and Outside Custodial Duties," at a McDonald's in their home state of Wisconsin. Since then, they have compiled an impressive collection of strange, outrageous and profoundly stupid videos. Pickett, a former Minnesota film technician, and Prueher, a former segment producer at the Late Show with David Letterman, have written for The Onion and Entertainment Weekly and recently directed the feature-length documentary, "Dirty Country" (www.dirtycountrymovie.com), which won the Audience Award at the 2007 South By Southwest Film Festival.

ABOUT THE CUFF

The Calgary Underground Film Festival is a not-for-profit organization dedicated to programming films that defy convention. The CUFF elevates Calgary's cultural landscape with the best in local and international independent cinema, challenging and entertaining audiences with boundary breaking films, compelling artist showcases and engaging events. More information about the CUFF can be found at www.calgaryundergroundfilm.org.

ABOUT THE VENUE

Built in the late 1920s, the Plaza Theatre is Calgary's last operating neighborhood theatre, offering first run art house cinema since 1995. The venue is located at 1133 Kensington Rd. NW (between 10th & 14th Streets). For detailed directions to the theatre, visit www.theplaza.ca. Tickets to the Found Footage Festival are $15 ($12 for students) and are available at Bird Dog Video (1333 16th Ave. SW).