Filmmakers keep it simple
VENICE Sometimes, filmmaking is child’s play.
An event celebrating the simplicity and purity of a toy camcorder that has amassed a cult following in the 20 years since its debut, the 17th annual PXL This Film Festival will be held in Venice on Saturday, showcasing short films shot with the old Fisher Price PXL 2000.
The PXL 2000 — representing the number of pixels — was sold in stores from 1987 to 1989, created by James Wickstead Design Associates, in New Jersey, to inspire children by offering an affordable camcorder, priced at less than $100 back in the late-1980s.
Despite its old school appearance, the toy camera is even more popular today, available on eBay and other trade sites at prices averaging about $200. Professional filmmakers that occasionally use the PXL 2000 find it a refreshing break from the expensive high technology equipment they would use otherwise, finding the low resolution film — which produces a grainy black-and-white screen — a charming reminder of childhood creativity.
Venice resident Gerry Fialka founded the film festival in 1991, putting together a festival that strips away the exclusivity and pretentious environment he found at many festivals, opening the event to all filmmakers, charging no admission fee and making no judgment on the films or offering cash prizes.
“We’re celebrating creativity,” he said on Thursday.
A resident of Los Angeles for 27 years, Fialka helped run the Ann Arbor Film Festival, one of the oldest experimental film festivals in the world. After purchasing a toy camera and hearing about a filmmaker on the East Coast who had brought together fellow PXL 2000 fans for an event, Fialka decided to throw his own film festival.
More than 30 films will be screened at this weekend’s festival, directed by film-makers ranging in age from 4 to 59 years old, the youngest being Madeline Whitney, who tells a romantic tale in “Unicorny in Prehistoric Times.” The short films come from all over the world, varying in genre from cooking shows to documentaries, such as Koreatown resident Paul Bacca’s piece that examines the PXL 2000.
Michael Possert, a Highland Park resident who works in special effects for
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on November 16, 2007. Read the original PDF.