The RVA cinema community has gathered together for the second installment of the Direct-2-Video series, sponsored by Direct to Video. This Wednesday, you will be able to see a diverse range of videos, from the abstract to collage and no-wave films, all at the Byrd Theater.
The RVA cinema community has gathered together for the second installment of the Direct-2-Video series, sponsored by Direct to Video. This Wednesday, you will be able to see a diverse range of videos, from the abstract to collage and no-wave films, all at the Byrd Theater.
Direct to Video is an organization that promotes artistic auteurship and conversation between artists exploring different mediums. In addition, they aim to expand the community of artists and develop unique and original work by breaking the norms of the cinema world.
This will be their second installment of the Direct-2-Video series based on various mediums and diverse artists. “I am not so concerned with trying to constantly present something different or new; the process is way more organic than that,” said Dylan Languell, the curator and sponsor for Direct to Video, adding that “each installment changes depending on the amount of submissions as well as the sorts of videos presented. My main intent is to really create a platform that, in a sense, is an extension of the studio.”
This installment will include various artists and “non-artists,” which means that you do not have to consider yourself an artist in order to submit work. Languell said that he opposes the idea that you have to identify with a “certain medium and/or style both artistically and socially,” and that he thinks “it just produces restraints and stylistic burdens that automatically make you hypocritical if you attempt to break them.”
He hopes that the Direct-2-Video project will “break [these] identifications by joining all sorts of practicioners.”
This goes not only for the contributors, but for the audience as well. Languell said that he doesn’t think anyone needs to be “particularly schooled on the history of cinema to appreciate and/or even approach the shows,” and that viewers can “get anything form a great experience to a bag of popcorn.” But the idea is to inspire the audience to make something of their own.
One of the contributors will be Ariel Arakas, a recent film and photo graduate at Virginia Commonwealth University who had her work published in various places such as the Eat My Shorts short film festival in Dublin, Ireland and the James River Film Festival here in RVA.
Chino Amobi, a VCU painting and printmaking graduate who was published in ClusterMag and One Way Richmond, will also be featured in the show. It is his second time being featured in the Direct-2-Video installation. “It was great to be able to see my friends’ films on the big screen as well as my own, especially at such a great venue like the Byrd Theatre. It was very special,” Amobi said. He will be playing a film about relationships this time, called “Illuminazioni: Chapter II,” which is a collaboration with Arakas.
As for the future of the event, Languell hopes to expand his audience to various cities and change the location of the event to a more appropriate setting. “It may be that next year we receive more submissions and so have to program two screenings,” he said. “One thing that I have been adamant about since the beginning is the venue. It is important to me that the screening[s] happen in a theater, rather then in a gallery or online.”
Direct to Video will be hosting Direct-2-Video on Wednesday, April 23, at 3pm in the Byrd Theater in Carytown (2908 W. Cary St.). Admission is free and open to the public, and donations will be gratefully accepted.
