Night 8 of VIDEO CAPITAL OF THE WORLD: 45 YEARS OF EZTV IN LA, EZTV's The Big Scream Blues, presented by Hollywood Entertainment and Elizabeth Purchell at Whammy!
Founded by John Dorr in 1979, EZTV was created as an independent art space dedicated to video and, eventually, digital and performance art. Video Capital of the World is a weeklong screening and performance series honoring the diverse range of artists and communitites that have found a home at EZTV over the first 45 years of its existence and the global influence that it has had on the development of video, digital and performance art.
EZTV's The Big Scream Blues
Like many artistic collectives, EZTV had numerous sub-groups all devoted to producing different kinds of work. One of the most prolific of these was Mark Shepard and Patricia Miller’s Nightfall Productions, who specialized in horror, fantasy, and science-fiction. Getting their start producing a weekly video version of the popular Hour 25 interview show, Nightfall would eventually expand into making their own horror videos as part of a series they called The Big Scream Blues. They’d also begin working with others like Samuel Oldham, Bryan Moore, Geoff Watkins, Rodd Matsui, and scream queen Brinke Stevens on what was to be their magnum opus: the two-volume anthology Dark Romances, which was released in 1990.
As Nightfall was working on Dark Romances, EZTV assembled an anthology feature called Tales of the Unliving and the Undead, which was only ever released in Central and South America as part of its short-lived EZ FILMS label. Featuring shorts by Wallace Potts (Le beau mec), John Hays, and Samuel Oldham, as well as a shortened version of Robert Hernandez’s lost feature-length Santa Ana Winds, Tales of the Unliving and the Undead is a fascinating—and extremely rare—piece of shot-on-video horror history.
Join us for this one-night-only screening of Tales of the Unliving and the Undead from a rare Mexican VHS, along with selected shorts and trailers from Nightfall Productions.
7:30 PM DOORS
8 PM SCREENING
Co-presented by T.A.P.E. - a Los Angeles based 501(c)3 nonprofit dedicated to facilitating support for analog media through free digitizing, education, hands-on training, equipment rentals and volunteer opportunities. Teach, archive, preserve, exhibit.