SxSW • _Reformat The Planet_ documentary film screening 2 of 3 March 10, 2008

Click image to view trailer

Documentary feature Blip Festival: Reformat The Planet examines the chiptune movement, an underground musical phenomenon in which early home computer and video game hardware is being re-cast into the unusual role of musical instrument and synthesizer. Familiar devices like the Nintendo Game Boy, Commodore 64, Atari 2600, and Nintendo Entertainment System are pushed in unfamiliar creative directions, often with startling results.

Using the upstart New York City scene as a microcosm for the global movement, Reformat The Planet charts the genesis of the first Blip Festival, a 40-artist chiptune event held in lower Manhattan in late 2006. A defining moment in the movement, the festival drew both its performers and its audience from around the world to share the experience of forgotten technology roaring back to life, and to pen a new chapter in the history of electronic music.

The film's world premiere is scheduled for March 8th at the South By Southwest Film Festival, with subsequent screenings on March 10th and 13th.

Blip Festival: Reformat The Planet is also the only film at SxSW to be bolstered by a showcase performance of chip musicians from around the world, most of whom are featured in the film, at the SxSW 8bitpeoples Label Showcase on March 15th, featuring performances by Nullsleep, Bit Shifter, Anamanaguchi, Mark DeNardo, Tristan Perich, Tree Wave, Receptors, Bud Melvin, and Aonami, with live visuals by Voltage Controlled.

Blip Festival: Reformat The Planet is the fruit of over three years of research and labor by three-man independent production crew 2 Player Productions. Entirely self-financed and produced on shoestring budget, Reformat The Planet is the essence of true indie film making. Full of energy, humor, original music, memorable characters, and explosive live performances, Blip Festival: Reformat The Planet brings to the screen the most intense worldwide underground music movement you’ve never heard of.

http://www.reformattheplanet.com/

Blip Festival: Reformat The Planet trailer:
http://www.vimeo.com/665366

SxSW Blip Festival: Reformat The Planet film listing:
http://2008.sxsw.com/film/screenings/film/F9224.html

Sister event: 8bitpeoples Label Showcase @ Molotov Lounge, March 15th:
http://upcoming.yahoo.com/event/428312/

Official Website: http://www.reformattheplanet.com/