ParaTheatrical ReSearch and The Televisionary Oracle
presents
A Cyber-Fi Feature by Antero Alli
in association with Rob Brezsny
"...a sensory cocktail with a stinging aftertaste...in The Drivetime, Alli's eye
has redefined a visually intoxicating, thematically sobering world..."
The Stranger (Seattle)
click this to watch an excerpt
"Alli is extremely effective at portraying a technocratic world without
excessive use of effects or over dramatization. The devices he uses to
reveal the technology - bites of commercial entertainment services,
hidden rituals in the Oddfellows Temple, and people huddled alone
in their rooms speaking to monitors - is emotionally
evocative and probing." -- The Seattle Rocket
Michael Donovan | Kristen Kosmas
...Riots...
Susan Mansfield | Michael George
.
"Seattle
1999"
"ZOOMING IN ON THE
DRIVETIME"
Review
by WIRED Magazine, October 1996
One
of the most chilling yet innovative cinematic essays
on the flaws of today's technology-obsessed society
is Antero Alli's videofilm, THE DRIVETIME.
This iconoclastic view of a future world projects
a dazzling stream-of-consciousness skein of technical
wizardry and provocative wordplay.
THE
DRIVETIME follows a bemused time-traveling librarian
named Flux from the serenity of 2023 to the chaos
of Seattle in 1999, where he uncovers video footage
from a riot that triggered the city's collapse. Society's
obsession with communications technology has created
the near-extinction of conversation. People communicate
via e-mail and videofax; the film's few face-to-face
encounters have a sourish, sitcom-type sting. On top
of this jolting social examination, THE DRIVETIME
presents police procedure as entertainment (a
la programs like COPS) and disturbing abuses of police.
THE
DRIVETIME forces viewers to think about where
our world is heading. This work should be seen by
anyone who mistakenly believes that all's calm and
well in our little digital sphere.
--
Phil Hall
It's 1999 and a virtual bureaucracy
has enveloped Seattle in a seamless web of infomercials,
propaganda, and manipulated fantasies. But there
are glitches inside this techno-tyranny. "The
Televisionary Terrorist Net Web" has broken
from governmental control and is dispersing counter-info
to the cocooned populace. Vid (Michael George),
a stringer for the official network, has defected
to make oppositional tapes with his lover Zola (Susan
Mansfield), a devout member of Telepathics Anonymous.
Meanwhile, Flux (Michael Douglas), a time-traveling
librarian from 2023, infiltrates their dream-life
in search of subversive video footage. Antero Alli's
cautionary tale portrays a convincing technocratic
future by submerging the story in a tantalizing
visual scrap heap. A saturated mix of nomadic broadcast
tags, hyper-layered audio detritus, and graphically
fractured images conveys the smothering grip of
dystopia. Provocative visuals aside, The Drivetime
is at its best when plying its "televisionary" speculations about a spiritual resurgence that will
overwhelm virtuality.
--
STEVE SEID, program director
Pacific Film Archive,
Berkeley CA (April 1996)
CREDITS
With
Michael George, Susan Mansfield, Michael Douglas,
Kristin Kosmas, Joel Gilman, Michael Donovan,
Camille Hildebrandt, Jim Jackson. Soundtrack
by Rob Brezsny & World Entertainment War,
Sylvi Alli,
Contraband, and Jules Beckman. Sound design
by Jim Jackson. Additional text by Rob Brezsny.
Narratives by Antero Alli and Michael Douglas.
Edited by Antero Alli and John Comerford. Produced
by
ParaTheatrical ReSearch and Televisionary Oracle.
Photographed and directed by Antero
Alli. (1995; 86:00. Color, BetaSP video, stereo)
"THE
DRIVETIME" ON DVD
"THE DRIVETIME" -- PRODUCTION DETAILS
THE DRIVETIME -- MAIN PAGE
Antero
Alli, filmography
more reviews, pix,
credits
