What the heck is “found footage”? Well, in the simplest terms, it’s any film or video footage that someone has—through their vast pop cultural archaeology skills—collected, stumbled across or otherwise unearthed from the trash bin of time. Now, for the first time ever, The Found Footage Film Festival is making a stop in New Mexico. This acclaimed touring showcase of odd and hilarious found clips is curated and hosted (live and in-person) by Joe Pickett and Nick Prueher, whose credits include The Onion , “The Late Show With David Letterman” and “The Colbert Report.” Among those contributing garage sale finds, warehouse excavations and prized dumpster dives are comedians David Cross, David Wain and Kumail Nanjiani. Weird old TV commercials, bizarro PSAs, freaky home movies, indecipherable Saturday morning cartoons and one-of-a-kind exercise videos featuring the likes of Dolph Lundgren, Milton Berle and WWF’s The Bushwhackers are just the tip of the iceberg! The Found Footage Fest rolls into UNM’s Southwest Film Center on Sunday, Sept. 27, at 7 p.m. for one must-not-miss screening. Check out foundfootagefest.com for more info.
Reel World Dome Sweet Dome
UNM’s ARTS Lab is hosting its sixth annual DomeFest this weekend, a global showcase of cutting-edge artistic and technological innovations for large-format digital dome theaters. Among the public screenings at the New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science are: “Touching the Edge of the Universe,” a full-fledged, multimedia documentary on the history of astronomy (Friday at noon, 1 and 2 p.m.); “Fragile Planet,” a 30-minute round-trip to the outer reaches of the universe narrated by Sigourney Weaver (Sunday at noon, 1 and 2 p.m.); and “The Omnicentric Universe,” a work of “performance animation” from interactive designer, filmmaker and graphic artist J. Walt (Sunday at 8 p.m.). For complete program details, log on to domefest.org.
Reel World Hang With Hong
The name James Hong might not ring an immediate bell, but you’ve seen the venerable character actor’s work in countless films from Blade Runner to Big Trouble in Little China to Balls of Fury —not to mention, oh … roughly every TV show ever made . Hong will be the guest of honor at a special Art Has Heart Foundation dinner Monday, Sept. 28, from 6 to 8 p.m. at Lin’s Buffet (10100 Coors NW). Video clips, door prizes, a Q&A and some stand-up comedy from Hong are just part of the evening’s festivities. Tickets for this charity event ($25 general admission, $50 VIP) are available by contacting Bob Nuchow at (310) 562-4578 or bnuchow@earthlink.net. If you can’t catch the big dinner, Hong will make two public appearances on Sunday, Sept. 27: a DVD signing at Hastings (6501 Winter Haven NW) starting at 7:30 p.m. and a cocktail reception at Jinja Bar & Bistro (5400 Sevilla NW) starting at 10 p.m.
