Discussed: pushing boundaries, distinct roles, Trevor Bazile, Peter Thiel, hype, clout, loss, funding, a Buzzfeed article, ANTIFA, Cinefamily, Dreamers, optics, etc.
Modern media has a fantasy sport for which DOWNTOWN NEW YORK and its inhabitants serve as avatars. The sport imagines, and to a degree manifests, a SCENE, one with coherent aesthetics and political agendas. The game involves, as players and characters: journalists, influencers, aspiring influencers, podcasters, venture capitalists, and more. This style of play is not new, it’s part of New York’s DNA, but today it works at speeds not seen before. For a brief period a couple of years ago, the film collective NPCC was at this sport’s center.
NPCC, the New People’s Cinema Club, made its first big splash in 2021 with an ambitious festival in Manhattan. The fest, nicknamed the “anti-woke film festival” by supporters and opponents alike, lasted four days and spanned several locations. The group showcased work by Kansas Bowling, Howard Kleger, Oliver Shahery, Alex Lee Moyer, Larry Clark, and many others. In addition to screenings, there were readings, performances, after-parties, and a 160-page, full-color coffee table book that was given away for free. The fest was financed, in part, by billionaire Peter Thiel.
Some physical and virtual controversy arose, maybe by design. A lengthy Buzzfeed article focused on Thiel’s involvement. (Thiel seemed to be doing a lot of “cultural investment” in NYC at the time, enough that “Thielbucks” became a Twitter neologism for a month or two.) ANTIFA protestors showed up to the fest, upset not only by the Thiel money, but that people like Curtis Yarvin, fka Moldbug, had been invited to read his poetry there.
The controversy would prove to be a double-edged sword, even for a group championing transgression.
The anti-woke film festival ended in tragedy. On its final night, artist and NPCC member Trevor Bazile died of what is presumed to be a drug overdose. He was 25.
The New People’s Cinema Club has continued organizing events in the couple of years since Trevor’s death. They hosted a screening and Q&A with Vincent Gallo in a synagogue, as well as several other mini-festivals and late night screenings. I attended a midnight showing of works by Jon Rafman, Petra Cortright, and Paul & Damon Mccarthy, in three separate theaters, simultaneously. The event recontextualized cinematic art pieces on big screens rather than laptops or museum monitors, unlocking their true power. The theaters were full.
New York’s tendency to self mythologize shows no indication of relenting, though NPCC may have distanced themselves from its spotlight, for now. What this means for them has yet to be seen. Just recently, a mass email from the group arrived in my inbox, proclaiming, “CINEMAS ARE USELESS. TURN THEM INTO GALLERIES.”
I spoke with NPCC’s Kate, Keenan, and Casey on a Zoom audio call. They did not acknowledge my requests for follow-up questions.
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What was the impetus for the group coming together? Was there a particular void you were trying to fill?
Kate: Hollywood has become pretty homogenous in terms of the kind of things they’ll depict on screen, and things that they aren’t allowed to show. [We] just [wanted] to create a space that embraces all kinds of ideas and isn’t afraid of controversial opinions or narratives. And not just controversial. We use the term transgressive a lot, but that doesn’t just mean transgressive ideologically, just something that wouldn’t typically be shown in a traditional cinema.
Movie theaters are dying and there are a million different streaming services now and new production companies popping up. It seems like indie cinema is gonna come back in a significant way. I think it’s kind of cool that we were one of the first organizations to go out and say, we don’t really care, we’re just gonna show whatever we think is awesome.
Keenan: For sure. Recently we’ve tried to focus a lot on bringing directors whose films typically wouldn’t be shown in a theater, like Ryan Trecartin or [inaudible.] A lot of what they’re doing would typically show in a museum. But when you’re in a cinema setting you’re really focusing on the work.
I saw one of the late night screenings you did at Cinema Village [with Jon Rafman, Paul Mccarthy, and Petra Cortright.] It was immersive in a way a museum or gallery experience often isn’t.
Kate: Yeah, totally. If you go see video art in a gallery you walk by it for two seconds. Maybe there’s a set of headphones you can put on, or some small way to hear what’s going on in a video. No one sits and watches a piece for an hour and a half. But we had people sitting and watching these films as though they were features, and they deserve to be watched that way.
How many of you are involved, and how did you connect initially?
Keenan: The core team is three people: me, Kate, and Casey. But we do have other members that come and go on different projects. Kate’s the original member; she’s been there since day one.
Do you wanna talk about what’s coming up? I’ve heard murmurs of an “anti-clout” film festival.
Kate: Yeah, we’re doing an anti-clout film festival. [Laughs] We’re screening every submission that’s been sent to us. A lot of people have been sending us their rejection letters from other festivals, too, which is awesome.
Keenan: If you were rejected by another major film festival, we’ll give you a laurel. We’re also trying to fuck with the art world a bit with a gallery show curated by different meme accounts. Memes have become a part of art, but the art world is not really accepting of memes. We’re trying to bring it all to a real gallery that has active shows year round. It’s gonna be a lot of fun. The creators we have are hilarious.
Kate: Social media is inherently not social. You use it on your phone by yourself. Every social media app has its own visual language and style. By re-contextualizing these artists in a group show in a gallery, it’s making social media actually social. Re-contextualizing things in that way is interesting.
Keenan: In between all of that we’re having a concert that we’re really excited for, with James Ferraro, Nate Boyce, and Brian Degraw. We’re finally catching our groove as a team. Before, we were still working out the kinks. There’s a nice rhythm to what we’re doing.
Could you expand on the “anti-clout” concept?
Kate: In recent years there have been a lot of inclusivity questions in the art and film worlds. But nothing’s inclusive. So, to do a film event that’s fully inclusive feels subversive in a weird way. Some of the movies are actually really good.
Keenan: It also gets to the crux of what we really hope to become. Ultimately, we want to fund filmmakers that can’t afford to produce their own films. It’s a good step in that direction.
Can you talk about your curatorial process? Do you guys ever butt heads?
Kate: I don’t think we’ve ever really butted heads.
Keenan: We all have pretty distinct roles, and that helps keep a healthy relationship between us.
Casey: As long as the creators are Republican, we’re down. [Laughs] I’m just kidding. I joined [NPCC] a little later, after the big festival that was put on. The early mandate that was set from before me coming on was this idea of doing things that were a bit transgressive, boundary-pushing, things other institutions, venues, programmers might be hesitant to show. But we look for quality work above all else. Obviously, art is so subjective. But the thing that binds us all on the NPCC side is a very similar taste as to what good art is. A lot of it is boundary-pushing, but we’ll show some wholesome, sweet animation as well, as long as it’s executed the right way and we all love it. And we’re getting more and more into juxtaposing ideas. Like, maybe we do a screening that’s violent, explicit, and intense, but we follow it with one that’s very soft and sweet.
The conversations between us are very quick and easy: “Hey, I’m into this thing. Check it out.”
I don’t think we particularly seek out transgression, so much as it’s an inherent thing that excites all of us.
Kate: I think that’s right.
Casey: From an early age I’ve been into art that felt dangerous, like nobody gave this person permission to do these things. Seeing G.G. Allin performances for the first time, or things like that. To a young person, it’s exciting. You would think at a certain point you get older and grow out of that, but I haven’t. [Laughs]
The first festival you did was colloquially referred to as the “anti-woke” film festival. Was that something you guys called it, or did it happen organically?
Kate: It happened organically.
How did the now infamous Thiel funding come about? Did the money come with any caveats?
Kate: I’m not going to get specifically into that question, but there were no caveats. No one ever said, you have to play this. There was never any superimposed agenda, if that’s what you’re asking.
Was there ever a worry about being beholden to a politically motivated donor?