A brand new documentary, followed by a live performance by Negativland, with video design & production by Sue-C.
Early in the career of Bay Area experimental musicians Negativland, Mark Hosler recalls declaring, “Let’s just pretend we’re a band.” Using the safe familiar concept of “a band” as cover for their culture-jamming mayhem, the multimedia collective went on to test the limits of composition, sound, and copyright laws, while gathering more members and ardent fans along the way.
Filmmaker and frequent Negativland collaborator, Ryan Worsley has amplified, expanded, and recontextualized sounds and images from the band’s 40-plus year career into a documentary that breaks free of the typical Behind the Music narrative. Pulling from a wealth of recordings, home movies, performances, news reports, interviews, and intercepted radio signals, Stand By for Failure is a riptide collage of media about media about media.
After the movie, Negativland and “real-time cinema” visual artist SUE-C (appearing virtually) collaborate to bring you their latest audio-visual performance about our minds, our realities, and the evolving forms of media and technology.
In general, the Hollywood Theatre does not provide content advisories about the subject matter shown in our theatre. Films exhibited don’t necessarily reflect the views of the Hollywood Theatre. Information about content and age-appropriateness for specific films can be found on Common Sense Media and DoesTheDogDie.com.