David Redmon and Ashley Sabin are releasing their second feature, Kamp Katrina, on DVD today via their Carnivalesque Films imprint. I wrote about the film nearly two years ago when it screened in New York, and described the film’s exploitation of the odd beauty of low grade imagery, a stylistic trope which the directors have expanded on in ther subsequent features, Intimidad and Invisible Girlfriend:
Kamp Katrina is shot cinema verite style on prosumer digital video. The roughness inherent to the format produces unexpectedly exciting effects. As co-directors Ashley Sabin and David Redmon buzz like flies around the action in the tent city, their handheld cameras are set to low shutter speeds to compensate for a lack of natural light.The resulting image is slightly slowed, tinted neon pink, and at times, it almost seems to float off the screen. The hallucinogenic spin brought by the video amplifies the feeling that post-Katrina New Orleans might as well be on another planet, in as much as it resembles the “normal” American city.
The DVD package includes two essays: one on the movie itself by Stuart Klawans of The Nation, and another byJeff Ferrell on the notions of “cultural criminology” and the “carnivalesque.” The latter doesn’t directly reference the movie in the case, but instead provides theoretical backup for Redmon and Sabin’s wider project.
You can buy Kamp Katrina at Amazon or via the Carnivalesque web site.
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SpoutBlog » Karina Longworth