Screening: Rewind This! + Q&A

The screening will be followed by a Q&A with director Josh Johnson via Skype.

Home video changed the way the world consumed films, it had an enormous cultural and historical impact. Low cost equipment and the rise of VHS tapes created unprecedented opportunities for the film industry. For the first time, video made it possible for small independent production companies to operate on an even playing field with the major film studios.

More movies were released on VHS than DVD could ever hope to see. A vast amount of culture seems to have been lost, with a huge number of films released during the VHS years that never transferred over to DVD. Rewind This! goes further than the discussions of those who fetishise obsolete technologies. Genre celebrities like Frank Henenlotter (whose film Basket Case became a VHS cult), Charles Band and Roy Frumkes discuss how VHS changed the ability to make and distribute films, in an enlightening and nostalgic look back at a now dead technology.

Through the rise and fall of VHS, director Josh Johnson discusses media consumption, zero budget filmmaking, unchecked global piracy and an exploding film industry where everything was possible – developments that laid the foundation for today’s digital culture.

Directed by Josh Johnson
Duration: 93′
Year: 2013

This screening is part of a summer season looking at the way technological changes are shaping the way we document the world and interact with it. See the full programme here.