CFUV @ VFF: Review of ‘Eccentric Eclectic’
Written by Festival Coverage on 02/09/2015
Each year at a private farm just outside Meaford, Ontario, devotees of the new and unorthodox in sound production converge for the Electric Eclectics festival. The three-day festival brings experimental musicians and sound artists together with those seeking noise that falls outside the mainstream. In her first feature-length documentary, Toronto-based director Nika Belianina gives those of us who have not yet camped out at the grounds of the festival a taste of what it has to offer.
Eccentric Eclectic premiered at the Victoria Film Festival this past Saturday. Belianina — an EE festival-goer herself — brought her crew to the field to give a sense of what the festival experience is like. Going off of about 40 hours of captured video, Belianina whittled it down to 87 minutes of sights and a whole lot of good sounds. Ranging from the carefully-choreographed to the spur-of-the-moment, featured musicians and sound artists can be heard throughout the film using traditional instruments, everyday objects, and childhood toys to create their work. By using short clips as well as longer performances, Belianina presents a diverse range of the types of music and sound installations that can be spotted at the gathering. The music and sound techniques range from the awe-inspiring to the wonderfully weird. The film is also interesting visually. From the farmhouse itself to the costumes worn by festival attendees, there are as many curiosities for the eyes as there are for the ears. The use of 16mm film also helps create appeal. The result is a fun documentary that sheds light on both the festival as a whole and the innovative approaches being used by its avant-garde stars. Belianina has presented to us an image of a music festival where ingenuity runs rampant and individual expression is the order of the day.
There was only one showing of Eccentric Eclectic at the festival this year, but be on the lookout for future chances to see this documentary if you’re music-minded and have a penchant for the offbeat.
— Linda
