March 27, 2009

7:30 pm

FOUND FOOTAGE FESTIVAL
Friday, March 27th – 7:30 pm
Arlington Cinema & Drafthouse
2903 Columbia Pike
Arlington, VA 22204
www.arlingtondrafthouse.com

FOUND FOOTAGE FESTIVAL RETURNS TO WASHINGTON, D.C.

New York, NY — The Found Footage Festival, the acclaimed touring showcase of odd and hilarious found videos, will make its triumphant return to the D.C. area this month as part of a 2009 North American tour. Hosts Joe Pickett and Nick Prueher, whose credits include The Onion and the Late Show with David Letterman, are excited to present their new lineup of found video clips and live comedy in this one-night-only appearance at the Arlington Cinema & Drafthouse (2903 Columbia Pike Rd., Arlington) on Friday, March 27th at 7:30 pm. Tickets to the Found Footage Festival are $10 and are available at www.arlingtondrafthouse.com.

This 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. Joe Pickett and Nick Prueher, whose credits include The Onion and the Late Show with David Letterman, 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 found video clips to be featured in the show:

-An insurance video with graphic reenactments of on-the-job accidents, -A travel video for Brazil featuring a young and frisky Arnold Schwarzenegger, -Highlights from a cable access talent show called “Stairway to Stardom”
-Outtakes from an industrial film about RVs.

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.foundfootagefestival.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 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 VENUE

Recently voted the Best Movie Theater in the Washington D.C. area by the Washington Post’s Best Bet competition, the Arlington Cinema & Drafthouse is one of the most unique and exciting venues in the D.C. area. The theater is located at 2903 Columbia Pike Rd. in Arlington, Virginia and features a full restaurant inside a world-class movie theater/performance venue. Tickets to the Found Footage Festival are $10 and are available at www.arlingtondrafthouse.com