Product Description One Punk, One Concert Fanatic, One Filmmaker, One Goal...An activist music festival nine days before The Republican National Convention. Gonzo Music Diaries, NYC is a time capsule of the music and politics that shaped New York City in 2004. Music fanatic Concert Joe, punk rocker Tony Petrozza and the film's director, Roy Szuper, set out to create the First Annual Williamsburg Music Festival as a statement of protest against the incoming Republican National Convention. With interviews and performances by Tom Morello of Audioslave and Rage Against the Machine, rock legend and CBGB's founder Hilly Kristal, Agnostic Front lead guitarist and Hardcore Tattoo founder Vinnie Stigma, Yippies leader and activist Dana Beal, legendary TV/radio host Joe Franklin, and Dana Fuchs of Love, Janis and the critically-acclaimed feature musical Across the Universe, Gonzo Music Diaries, NYC is a visceral and poignant exploration of the historical relationship between the city, political activism, and music. Review ...bridges the gap between the grassroots activism of the hippie '60s and the DIY ethic that all but defined punk from the mid- '70's to about noon yesterday...a heartfelt look at the dedication, perseverance and (no pun intended) concerted effort it takes for a small group of driven, like-minded people to confront the powers that be - not on their turf, but on your own - while also examining the motivation it takes for someone to try it in the first place. --Eric Danville, Punk Magazine P.when('A').execute(function(A) { A.on('a:expander:toggle_description:toggle:collapse', function(data) { window.scroll(0, data.expander.$expander[0].offsetTop-100); }); }); About the Director Roy Szuper escaped from the confines of Fairfield University in 1993 and returned to his native New York City with a degree in Political Science. He began to work on documentary films and live music production. He directed and produced a sketch comedy pilot. All three of these elements would come into play in the making of his first film, Concert Joe: A New York Story. This film was a journey into the New York City music scene following one man's ridiculous quest to get into the Guinness Book of World Records for seeing the most concerts. His next film would be a more personal story based an event that actually happened to his family in the days after 9/11. An innocent barbeque in his grandmother's house turned volatile and the end result was a short film titled Charcoal. The film explored the ethnic and racial tensions following 9/11. Szuper's first feature, Gonzo Music Diaries, NYC started out as a documentary on subway musicians. During a three year period, it morphed into several forms before finally ending up as a political statement and music festival staged against the incoming Republican National Convention in New York. Szuper has since finished directing another short comedy titled Granny's Little Helper and is currently developing two projects. The first is a documentary titled ZCAT. ZCAT is the story of the development and imminent release of a revolutionary car that runs on compressed air. Due to be introduced to the Public on Earth Day in April 2008, the technology that makes ZCAT work can have other applications that can potentially change the way the world is powered. Szuper's other project is a narrative feature titled Spirits; a coming of age story set in New York in the 1980's. Two boys, one from Manhattan, one from the Bronx, grow up living parallel lives that include alcoholic households, street life, and the one element that helps them survive both: success as basketball players. Their eventual friendship leads to drug dealing, alcoholism, the police force, and eventually some sort of peace. Szuper graciously was invited to show Charcoal and Gonzo Music Diaries, NYC in Argentina in Cine-Club Santa Fe. MINI MOVIE, an international cross-media project headquartered in Luxembourg and dedicated to short films, expressed interest in Charcoal when it was showcased at the Cannes Film Festival in May and has since bought the film. Initial shooting for ZCAT began in nearby Nice. See more
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