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Banging the gong slowly

If you bring it, they will show it.

That was the motto at Reilly’s on Monday for the AntiSchmooze Video Slam, an event that invites all local filmmakers, whether their films are professionally made or just home videos, to come together and share their work. They hang a screen at the front of the bar to show the films, and a gong right beside it, to bang in case the films suck.

The Tieu, an organizer of the event, says there seems to be a need for this type of collaboration.

“We are film makers in the area and one thing we found is that there wasn’t a casual place to showcase our work,” he said.

The AntiSchmooze, which has been held three times already this year, offered local artists a laid-back environment where they can bounce ideas off one another while largely avoiding the eyes of critics.

The only requirement is that you must bring a VHS tape with some sort of recorded material on it, be it a home video, a professionally made demo tape or a recording made at a booth set at the front of Reilly’s.

AntiSchmooze started because Tieu believed that there was a need for a place where people can show their work without being corporate.

“The objective of this event is not to promote yourself, just to show your work to others,” says Tieu.

At AntiSchmooze, the audience decides whether or not your film is worth viewing, if you don’t like someone’s material all you have to do is walk right up to the front and hit the gong. Once you do, the next film will be played.

Everyone at Reilly’s on Monday was too polite to “Gong” their fellow artists though, even when one young filmmaker elected to play a tape of two men in pink bunny suits pounding back shots with strippers in a nudie bar.

Musicians are also encouraged to take part in the AntiSchmooze event, and Tieu has made an exception for them, live performance music is not gongable.

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