VHS, ghosts, and ‘Sexycises’: The Found Footage Festival returns to "haunted" Hyde Park Picture House
The curators of the world’s largest collection of "grimy" VHS oddities are returning to Leeds this May, choosing the historic Hyde Park Picture House as the "classy" backdrop for their latest collection of forgotten videotapes.
If ever there was a haunt in Leeds that would be befitting for a film festival such as the upcoming Found Footage Festival in May, then certainly it had to be Hyde Park Picture House, right?
“Oh man, we love the Hyde Park Picture House,” explains one of the festival’s founders, Nick Prueher. “Especially after the renovations. I think we first came to Leeds about 10 years ago and fell in love with the theatre and its staff.”
The appeal of a “classy cinema” is extra special to project what Nick describes as “our grimy VHS tapes on that beautiful screen.”
“It’s one of our favourite stops,” the other founder, Joe Pickett, agrees. “The staff are super cool, the programming is top-notch, and the theatre feels like a time capsule for another era.”
“Plus,” Joe adds, “it’s 100% haunted. We haven’t seen any ghosts there yet, but I know we will.”
The Found Footage Festival started life back in 1991, after the pair found a McDonald’s training video in Wisconsin. Having now made it to 10 volumes, with the 11th to be screened at the cinema, of all the weird-and-wonderful footage they’ve come across in their plundering, have any stood the test of time?
Actually, Joe reveals, Volume 11 boasts two videos that rival those original discoveries.
“My two favourite videos in this program happen to be homemade Bigfoot videos. They’re incredible, and I’m shocked it took me this long to find them. They’re great because it’s always a bunch of ambitious adult men (and a handful of women) going out into the woods with cameras to find bigfoots... or bigfeet, is it?
“The production values are low, but the entertainment level is through the roof.”
It happens to be the exercise videos that they unearth that are a “perennial favourite,” according to Nick: “There’s seemingly no end to that material. We keep finding new ones, and this year’s fitness montage is probably the best we’ve ever assembled.
“You’ll be glued to your seat for ‘Sexycises,’ and there’s seemingly a bottomless pit of them out there.
While the United States thrift stores are, by Nick’s admission, “filth and haphazardly put together,” the same cannot be said for their plundering when this side of the Atlantic - perhaps a testament to the quality of our high street charity shops?
“UK charity shops are way too clean and organised,” Nick states. “At most charity shops we’ve been to in England, there’s designer clothes neatly hanging on racks. The few VHS tapes we’ve found are usually cricket bloopers and Cliff Richard tapes.”
But they struck gold during one visit to a Nottingham charity shop, in which the team unearthed a tape called ‘Rugby Karaoke.’
“We got lucky with ‘Rugby Karaoke,” reveals Nick. “It’s not only rugby songs, but there’s full frontal nudity right out of the gate.”
“Where have all your VHS tapes gone?”
So, where are those spots in the UK where people can look to unearth their own weird-and-wonderful VHS finds?
“I wish I knew,” Nick retorts. “People have told us that car boot sales occasionally turn up tapes, but in our years of touring in England, we haven’t found much.
“Where have all your VHS tapes gone? Are they ending up in landfills? Let’s get to the bottom of this. I knew there was an election coming up, and this should be the number one issue.”
Perhaps equally as entertaining as the found footage itself is the ‘where are they now’ updates on those featured in the videos.
One of the most famous figures in their archive is the screaming pitchman known as “Dollar Bill”. The team eventually tracked him down in New Hampshire, hoping to explore his personal archive of old footage.
His response was short and to the point: “Gentlemen, I’m retired and very busy”.
For those Leeds film buffs who might be curious about heading along, Joe’s final pitch to the public is a simple one: “If you haven’t seen our show before and you like weird/fun/orphaned videos you can’t see anywhere else, take a chance on it.
“Some people may be deterred because the Hyde Park Picture House is haunted, but they shouldn’t be because the ghosts seem to be friendly.”
The Found Footage Festival: Volume 11 takes place on May 10, with tickets available now through the Hyde Park Picture House website and box office.