Balls Deep

Paul Isaac, of local New Wave-inflected foursome People From Venus, is best known around town as a rock frontman. But close followers of the band might have noticed that his and the other members' artistic aspirations have always seemed to extend beyond music. Everything People From Venus does is usually a big multimedia affair, from shows involving light and visual installations to short-form video experiments with their music as a soundtrack. So it's little surprise that the latest installation in the group's extended family oeuvre is a short narrative film, Ball of Love, starring Isaac and his girlfriend, writer/actress/fashion designer Tammy Aida Diaz, and shot entirely on iPhones. "I had been going out alone with my iPhone camera and a flashlight through alleys and inside clubs and kind of documenting emotions. It inspired me," Isaac says. When he and Diaz turned the lens on each other, Ball of Love was eventually born. The quarter-hour result is a sort of gonzo self-love story set on the streets of downtown Miami and South Beach and soundtracked by People From Venus, naturally. Its free-form spirit of experimentation struck a chord with the selection panel for the Raindance Film Festival, a huge alternative fest in the UK that has hosted the likes of Anton Corbijn, Iggy Pop, and Quentin Tarantino. Ball of Love will screen at the event in London in late September. But you can catch it this Saturday at O Cinema. The screening is a full-on event produced by Wasabi Fashion Kult and Mad Music, and features a full constellation of related artistic works. There'll be an iPhone photography show, children's coloring books, Krelwear-designed stuffed animals, and more in a free wonderland that brings the film to life.
Sat., Sept. 10, 11:59 p.m., 2011