Swerve Festival last weekend September 28-30, initiated by Fuel TV, in many ways reminded us of what the Sundance Film Festival used to be like when it was fresh and exciting with the anticipation of seeing creative new works before it became celebrity-riddled and bloated. Like the Sundance Film Festival located in the beautiful location of Park City, Utah, the Swerve Festival is also a beauty located at the hidden treasure-of-a-park in East LA the Barnsdall Art Park. The irony here is that while Sundance became tabloid fodder for Hollywood celebs and wannabees, the Swerve Festival, located right in Hollywood, is without that pretension. Instead, The Swerve Festival at the Barnsdall Art Park offered up a 3-day film, music, and art festival in a rare and much-needed celebration of West Coast culture mixed with spectacular panoramic views of the Hollywood sign, Griffith Observatory, and downtown LA, the legendary Frank Lloyd Wright Hollyhock House (where yes, you could get a tour), plus a 299-person theatre, and nearby locations at the Vista Theatre and Echoplex in Silverlake.
With so much attention often given to places such as New York, London, Paris, Berlin, and Tokyo, it’s about time that a celebration of the vibrant west-coast gets noticed. Undeniably, this culture, particularly around Los Angeles, the OC, and San Diego were the main factors for launching action sports such as skateboarding, surfing, and snowboarding. Its bohemian vibe is copied all over the world today. It’s also where many graffiti and street artists got their start, as well as indie record labels, music videos, underground films, online films, and new entertainment in general. With the Swerve Festival, not only were attendees able to check out an excellent selection of films, curated by Jonathan Wells, the former director of the alternative film festival ResFest (which is unfortunately no longer), but Fuel TV’s initiative with Swerve took action to create much deserved attention to the West Coast vibe. And it’s going to be an annual thing.
“So many influential cultures, from action sports to art and music started here on the West Coast,” explains Fuel TV General Manager, CJ Olivares about creating the Swerve Festival. “We’ve always talked about doing a film festival because we’ve come across such talented filmmakers and artists, inspired by this culture which inspired us to create this showcase.”
The showcase included a selection of excellent youth + street culture + action sports-inspired films including the premiere of “Surf wise” directed by Hype! and Scratch director Doug Pray; “Control” by Anton Corbijn, “Beautiful Losers” by Aaron Rose; and Mike Hill’s documentary about Steve Rocca in “The Man Who Souled the World.” In addition was an excellent Shorts Series, Artistic Music Videos genre, and a unique field called Art in Action which were shorts about graffiti and street artists such as “Creative Life Store” by Cheryl Dunn. The Festival was also surrounded by other aspects such as musical performances by We Are Scientists, The Black Angeles, Snowden, and NASA. On site were activities such as Hit + Run live screenprinting, a Pinwheel exhibition created by artists such as Thomas Campbell, Mike Mills, and Ed Templeton, murals by Chris Pastra, Jesse Spears, and Sage Vaughn, and “Listening Trees” curated by Aaron Rose with various music playing into attached headphones hung on all of the trees in the park. The festival was rounded out with a Sharpie Tattoo tent, requisite photobooth, CreateASkate where you could make your own deck, the Energy FACTory for charging your cell phone by hopping on a stationary bike, Get Trashed recycling bins painted by top graffiti artists such as Kofie, and an entire non-profit area including SurfAID, Keep-a-Breast, Surfrider, and of course, the top sponsor introduction of Tony Hawk’s proving Ground with video gaming kiosks.
Jason Lee and Chris Pastras were the Swerve Award Show hosts held at the Echoplex on the last night of the festival (to air on Fuel TV November 9th) where prizes were given out in categories for best Emerging Filmmaker, Best Short Film, Best Music Video, Fuel TV Life + Style Award, State of the Art Award, and Making a Difference Award. Proceeds for the festival were distributed to support GlobalInheritance, Surfrider, SurfAID, and the LA County Bike Coalition.
Highlights from the Swerve Festival will air on Fuel TV November 5-9. Stay tuned for Label Networks’ movie review of “Beautiful Losers” by Aaron Rose next week.
