Gainesville residents laughed hard, clapped hard and sometimes gasped hard over the crackle of projectors Sunday night to watch “The Gong Show,” a collection of short films that showcased UF’s Curation as Production class.
The class, which is being offered for the first time this Fall, was created to bolster Gainesville’s vibrant film scene and to teach students how to organize and curate their own shows.
Students will plan their own shows throughout the semester, but “The Gong Show” was a collective effort to kick off the class’ events.
The class picked 111 16mm short films from a collection in the Turlington Hall basement and showed them at The Backyard at Boca Fiesta and Palomino. The audience chose the lineup by voting and by striking a gong to move to the next film.
The idea is based off of a 1970s comedy show by the same title, said Roger Beebe, professor of the class and Florida Experimental Film and Video Festival artistic director.
While most films were struck down quickly, audience members saw “Kama Sutra Rides Again” until the end, watching as an animated mustached man and his wife had sex in contorted positions.
Attendees smiled until the end of “The Most Wonderful Egg in the World,” which was about three chickens who were competing for their kingdom’s crown by laying the most perfect egg.
English senior Sarah Keenan, 21, said her favorite film was “Bill Cosby on Prejudice,” which showed Cosby smoking a cigar and throwing insults at various demographics. It got gonged fairly early amid an uproar of boos, but Beebe, who was running the projectors, decided to keep playing the film.
There will be events almost every week until the end of the semester, Beebe said.
The next show will be Experimental Karaoke on Sept. 12 in the same location. The event will feature “end-of-the-spectrum” films with karaoke jams, he said.
While the films in Sunday’s event were vastly different in nature, Beebe said he was happy with the result and that it helped set the tone for the rest of the semester.
“I wish I’d seen a little more of some,” he said. “I wish I’d seen a little less of some. But it turned out well.”
