Anarchy in the U.S.S.A.

Five Dollar Buzz

Episode 310 - Special Guests: Noel Lawrence and Burke Roberts Cinema is pretty close to being dead. We've hit a stalemate where multiplexes only play caped crusader films, the streamers love their ripped-from-the-headlines docuserials, and network television is a vast wasteland of mundane competition reality shows. Lots of vacuous, hollow paeans to escapism and vanity. Warhol was not wrong, every asshole is getting their fifteen minutes. Somewhere in this miasma of dreck exists the blistering heart of the pure, the transfixed, the recalcitrant filmmaker feverishly concocting pieces of art in direct opposition to the moribund mainstream. Utilizing the short form, these artists showcase more demonstrative depth of depraved deliciousness in less than a quarter of the experience than their overstuffed audience-baiting counterparts. The Slamdance Film Festival itself has always been the thorn in the side of Sundance. It's the bastard stepchild the predominant festival never asked for but reluctantly shares in the same time and place. As Slamdance secured its rightful place in film festival legitimacy it was always looking for new ways to demonstrate their outsider existence. In steps our two guests; filmmakers Noel Lawrence and Burke Roberts. Ten years ago, Burke and Noel, two very different humans, shared a love of film and art of an unnatural order and somehow convinced those at Slamdance to start their own short film series. They called it the Department of Anarchy and within that span of time it became the most popular and raucous event of the whole festival each year screening the vanguard of modern short form cinema. So, pull down that bottle of Jame-o, have your pack of American Spirit Yellows ready, chew on some shrooms, top it off with Special K and molly and inhale the history of the Department of Anarchy with our very special guests Burke and Noel. These rat bastards know how to throw a party on this episode of FIVE DOLLAR BUZZ. And remember, please, hit "like" for this episode and "subscribe" to our channels on our current platforms; YouTube, iTunes and Spotify. You can email us with questions, comments, possible topics or guests at [e-mail]. We'll get back to you as soon as we finish slicing up donkey eyeballs in the name of cinema.