We are over the moon to be welcoming Soda Jerk back to Glasgow, four years after TERROR NULLIUS opened the festival. Once again comprised entirely of hundreds of film samples, their new film is a political fable that bears witness to the psychotropic spectacle of American politics from 2016 to 2021, and the mythologies and lore that took root around it.
Taking form as a suburban stoner musical, the film follows a neighbourhood through these years as consensus reality disintegrates into conspiracy and other contagions. What unfolds is a rogue retelling of history in which hotdogs debate the culture wars, trashcans preach QAnon, zombies rally for revolution, and real events are refashioned as Broadway bangers from Cats, Les Miserables, Annie, and The Phantom of the Opera.
There are songs and dancing, moments of menace and melancholy, shitposting and deep sincerity. Such janky weirdness is befitting of an era in which reality feels so bombastic and baked, but the film never loses sight of the way this unreality is tethered to the deep cultural fissures and devastating material conditions that characterise this moment.
Started in 2019 and laboured on throughout the Covid-19 pandemic, Hello Dankness is a record of the time, written from the time. The cast of characters include Tom Hanks, Annette Bening, Bruce Dern, Ice Cube, Wayne and Garth, Maya and Ana, Rue and Jules, Seth Rogan and Reyn Doi. American politicians play themselves, with Jesse Eisenberg in the role of Mark Zuckerberg, and The Phantom of the Opera as Vladimir Putin.
Soda Jerk will present the film and answer audience questions.
Due to the dense sample-based nature of this film, the filmmakers will not be presenting Hello Dankness with descriptive titling. Audiences who require audio captioning are invited to contact Soda Jerk for an accessible file.
