Sixty Seconds
WED 6/30
One minute is a lifetime with the right camera, the right ideas and the right editing system. Even if you lack all three, Wednesday’s One Minute Meltdown is at least the perfect excuse to show strangers the cute things your kitty does. Starting at 8:30 p.m. at the Westport Coffee House (4010 Pennsylvania), the Meltdown is a stampede of 1-minute movies. “A 1-minute movie isn’t quite a photograph, and it’s not quite a film. It occupies an odd space between the two,” explains organizer John Bergin.
Sponsored by the Independent Film Coalition of Kansas City, an organization dedicated to promoting and offering support to local filmmakers, the Meltdown doesn’t discriminate because of plot, content or talent. “It’s a challenge to capture just one thought, try an experiment or just point your camera at something. It’s about looking,” Bergin says. To participate in the free event, bring a maximum of three 1-minute films on VHS, 8-mm, DVD or mini-DV, cued up and ready to go. The more adult films will be screened last to maintain a parent- and prude-friendly atmosphere.
The IFCKC will hold its regular 7:30 meeting before the Meltdown, but the event is as much for people whose filmmaking begins and ends with home videos as it is for auteurs. See www.ifckc.com for more information.— Christopher Sebela
Bushwhack
These beauties think the right is way wrong.
SUN 6/27
Although Beauty Slays the Beast is a perfectly appropriate name, we really wish they’d gone with Bush Against Bush. We’ll forgive these activists, though, because we find their cause so noble: to oust the current White House administration. Their plan of action? For starters, Beauty Slays the Beast hosts an all-day festival Sunday, the proceeds of which benefit MoveOn.org. Bands providing live music are Alacartoona and Sister Mary Rotten Crotch, among others. Also slated are art exhibits, political speakers, voter registration and a silent auction. The all-ages festival takes place from 11 a.m. to 2:30 a.m. inside and outside Davey’s Uptown Ramblers Club (3402 Main). Tickets are $10. For a schedule, call 816-822-9373 or see www.beautyslaysthebeastkc.org.— Annie Fischer
