Hello Dankness
Described as a stoner musical set in the American suburbia and a meme drawn out to feature film length, unique HELLO DANKNESS is put together by hundreds of film clips telling a cohesive story about the American society in the period 2016 to 2021.
Reality is gradually corroding in an American suburb; sausages are discussing the culture wars, trashcans preach QAnon, zombies rally for revolution, all framed by Broadway bangers from Cats, Les Miserable, Annie and The Phantom of the Opera. The artist duo behind the film, Soda Jerk, impressively guides us through the most important events of the last half of the 2010s and early 2020s without ever losing the audience. The result is hysterical, but also serious. Soda Jerk is trying to explore and chart out the deep cultural fissures in today’s society in a way you never have seen before.
«There are cool directors, and then there are directors as cool as Soda Jerk, whose films are almost like forbidden fruits – never coming to your favourite streaming platform and very rarely screened in a cinema near you.»
– Luke Buckmaster, The Guardian –
Red.
Director
Soda Jerk is an artist duo who make sample-based films with a rogue documentary impulse. They are fundamentally interested in the politics of images; how they circulate, whom they benefit and how they can be undone. Formed in Sydney in 2002, they’ve been based in New York since 2012. They have exhibited extensively within the fields of art and experimental cinema.
This film is part of
Original title Hello Dankness
Country Australia
Year 2023
Director Soda Jerk
Screenplay Soda Jerk
Producer Soda Jerk
Cast Tom Hanks, Annette Bening, Bruce Dern, Ice Cube, Jesse Eisenberg, Vladimir Putin.
Runtime 1h 10m
Language English
Genre Comedy, Horror, Musical
Format DCP
Age limit 12
Links IMDb
This film is in competition for the Audience Award.