Boulder International Film Festival hosts air guitar documentary
Spawning from dark basements and crawling to the surface is the competitive world of air guitar.
That’s right, air guitar is more than an entertaining party pastime. It’s a competitive event with a worldwide following.
The Boulder International Film Festival will show the story of the U.S. air guitar team at 9:15 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 17. This detailed documentary takes viewers deep into the world of air guitar.
The documentary focuses on the two founding years of the American Air Guitar Association. Some of the important events are the New York birth of the Association and the world air guitar championship that is held in Oulu, Finland. The documentary also touches on the real-life side of air guitar and is based around a storyline of two rival air guitarists and their adventures.
When first approached with this documentary, Kathy Beeck, festival director, didn’t know exactly how to react.
“We’ll just take a look,” Beeck said. By the end, she was a believer and found herself rooting for certain competitors at the film’s finish.
Beeck and the rest of the Boulder International Film Festival committee came across this unique documentary partly because of Alison Moore, executive director of the Boulder County Art Alliance. Moore went to Beeck after viewing “Air Guitar Nation” in Los Angeles and found out that Beeck had already been acquainted with the idea.
“Eighty-one minutes of the most entertaining and hilarious documentary filmmaking” was how the film was described to Moore by the curator of the American Film Festival in Los Angeles.
The Boulder International Film Festival was lucky to get “Air Guitar Nation” because it was set to be pulled off the film festival circuit. Now, the Boulder International Film Festival is the last stop for the documentary.
Moore and the BCAA got involved with this through Kriston Rucker, one the film’s executive producers and Moore’s son.
Rucker jumped into the project in 2003 after he and friend Cedric Devitt went to Finland to see the world air guitar championship competition and had their interest sparked. Now, the two are the founders of the U.S. Air Guitar championship.
When Rucker first had this project in mind, it was for a TV show. After gathering footage, he realized this was a lot bigger than just a TV series.
“You get sucked into the story,” Rucker said about the finished product.
Rucker, the film’s Director, Alexandra Lipsitz and others from the film will be attending the showing on Saturday night. Beeck said there will also be a “special guest” who she could not reveal until the night of the show.
Part of the ticket sales will be going to the BCAA, which is dedicated to “providing leadership, resources and advocacy for Boulder County artists and cultural organizations,” according to its mission statement.
On top of all the excitement of “Air Guitar Nation’s” showing, there will be an “airoke” after party. This gives fans and viewers of the documentary a chance to show off their own air guitar skills. The gutsy participants will be able to pick from a list of over 100 songs ranging from songs by The Ramones to Dr. Dre.
A panel of judges will be there to see who strums the best air, and contestants will need to get the crowed into a rocking frenzy and show that they really have what it takes to be an air guitar champ. People competing in the airoke will not labor in vain because there is rumor of prizes for the winners. Someone might just walk away with their very own air guitar – priceless.
For those who feel their air guitar skills are not up to par, they can kick back and watch the airy spectacle.
Contact Campus Press staff writer Emilie Johnson at esjohnso@thecampuspress.com.
