The Lollipop Generation
Encyclopedia
The Lollipop Generation is the first feature film by G.B. Jones.
The Lollipop Generation premiered as the Gala Feature presentation of the Images Festival
in Toronto on April 3, 2008.
The film stars 'underground superstars' Jena von Brücker, Mark Ewert
, Jane Danger, KC Klass, Vaginal Davis
, Calvin Johnson, Jen Smith
, Joel Gibb
, Scott Treleaven
, and Anonymous Boy
.
As well, The Lollipop Generation features original music written for the film by The Hidden Cameras
, Anonymous Boy and the Abominations
, Jane Danger
, Swishin' Duds
, Bunny and the Lakers, and Mariae Nascenti
.
The Lollipop Generation is an underground
experimental film
. "Shot on Super 8
and video
, The Lollipop Generation takes these tools of the traditional home movie and uses them to make a fucked up family film." The film was made over a period of 13 years, "one Super-8 reel at a time", whenever the director could afford to buy another cartridge of film. In the end, the Toronto band Kids on TV
organized a benefit so that GB Jones could finish it.
The Lollipop Generation tells the story of 'Georgie', a runaway teenager played by Jena von Brücker, and the people she meets on the "...outlying streets with no name..." At the same time, the film serves a diaristic function, documenting the people the director has met and the cities she travelled to, capturing an entire generation of underground performers. It has been described by the Buenos Aires International Festival of Independent Cinema
as, "...a trip through epileptic shots of documentary ugliness that go right to the origins and essence of sexually anarchic cinema..." . However, Peter Keough of The Boston Phoenix insists, "There's a fine line between the trash of early John Waters and just plain garbage. G.B. Jones, perhaps to her credit, ignores it completely."
. Using Canadian reference points, Toronto's Eye Weekly
calls it, "Scrappy as hell, yet often charming, it's a lost Degrassi High
episode remade as an amateur porn flick and sometimes as sweet as all that candy."
The program notes for the screening at Denmark's CPH:DOX documentary film festival proclaim; "If film is a language, The Lollipop Generation uses only swear words and dirty slang".
G.B. Jones' previous films include The Troublemakers and The Yo-Yo Gang
.
The Lollipop Generation premiered as the Gala Feature presentation of the Images Festival
Images Festival
The Images Festival is a yearly event devoted to independent and experimental film, video art, new media and media installation that takes place each spring in Toronto. It was founded in 1987, originally conceived as an alternative to the Toronto Film Festival...
in Toronto on April 3, 2008.
The film stars 'underground superstars' Jena von Brücker, Mark Ewert
Mark Ewert
Marcus Ewert, previously known as Mark Ewert, is an American writer, actor and director, living in San Francisco.Marcus Ewert began making and appearing in films in the 1990s. He has appeared in the Gus Van Sant short film Four Naked Boys and a Gun, in Sadie Benning's Flat Is Beautiful, and the...
, Jane Danger, KC Klass, Vaginal Davis
Vaginal Davis
Vaginal Davis is an American genderqueer performing artist, painter, independent curator, composer, and writer. Davis's name is a homage to activist Angela Davis.-Life and career:Davis is often associated with the formation of the Queer-Core Zine Movement...
, Calvin Johnson, Jen Smith
Jen Smith
Jen Smith is an artist, musician, zine editor, and activist from the United States.Jen Smith is credited with being the inspiration behind the term Riot Grrrl and being one of the architects of the movement...
, Joel Gibb
Joel Gibb
Joel Gibb is a Berlin-based Canadian artist and singer-songwriter who leads the "gay church folk" group The Hidden Cameras. He was born in Kincardine, Ontario.-Career:...
, Scott Treleaven
Scott Treleaven
Scott Treleaven is a Canadian artist whose work employs a variety of media including collage, film, video, drawing, photography and installation.-Artwork:...
, and Anonymous Boy
Anonymous Boy
Anonymous Boy is the pen name of Tony Arena, an artist, writer and filmmaker who resides in New York City. Anonymous Boy is also the title of his self-published comics zine.- Comics and Artistic Work :...
.
As well, The Lollipop Generation features original music written for the film by The Hidden Cameras
The Hidden Cameras
The Hidden Cameras are a Canadian indie pop band. Fronted by singer-songwriter Joel Gibb, the band consists of a varying roster of musicians who play what Gibb once described as "gay church folk music"...
, Anonymous Boy and the Abominations
Anonymous Boy
Anonymous Boy is the pen name of Tony Arena, an artist, writer and filmmaker who resides in New York City. Anonymous Boy is also the title of his self-published comics zine.- Comics and Artistic Work :...
, Jane Danger
Three Dollar Bill
Three Dollar Bill is a band founded by Jane Danger and Chris Piss, in Chicago, Illinois in 1998. The name comes from the expression "Queer as a three dollar bill". The Bureau of Engraving and Printing has never been authorized to print a $3 note. However, before the Civil War, banks operating...
, Swishin' Duds
Sta-Prest (band)
-Biography:The band first made its appearance on the queercore record label Outpunk Records, on its compilation Outpunk Dance Party. Soon afterwards they released their first EP, Vespa Sex, also on Outpunk, followed later by a 7" single...
, Bunny and the Lakers, and Mariae Nascenti
Mariae Nascenti
Mariae Nascenti is a one-man industrial music project from Milan, Italy.The creation of Ango Visone, Maria Nascenti has been described as 'dark ambient', 'harsh electronics' and 'ambient industrial'. Songs consist of soundscapes, sometimes employing "found sound", and are frequently accompanied by...
.
The Lollipop Generation is an underground
Underground film
An underground film is a film that is out of the mainstream either in its style, genre, or financing.-Definition and history:The first use of the term "underground film" occurs in a 1957 essay by American film critic Manny Farber, "Underground Films." Farber uses it to refer to the work of...
experimental film
Experimental film
Experimental film or experimental cinema is a type of cinema. Experimental film is an artistic practice relieving both of visual arts and cinema. Its origins can be found in European avant-garde movements of the twenties. Experimental cinema has built its history through the texts of theoreticians...
. "Shot on Super 8
Super 8 (film)
Super 8 is a 2011 American science fiction action film written and directed by J. J. Abrams and produced by Steven Spielberg. The film stars Joel Courtney, Elle Fanning, and Kyle Chandler and was released on June 10, 2011 in conventional and IMAX theaters...
and video
Videotape
A videotape is a recording of images and sounds on to magnetic tape as opposed to film stock or random access digital media. Videotapes are also used for storing scientific or medical data, such as the data produced by an electrocardiogram...
, The Lollipop Generation takes these tools of the traditional home movie and uses them to make a fucked up family film." The film was made over a period of 13 years, "one Super-8 reel at a time", whenever the director could afford to buy another cartridge of film. In the end, the Toronto band Kids on TV
Kids on TV
Kids on TV are a punk-house queercore band based in Toronto.The group consists of John Caffery on bass and vocals, Minus Smile on drums, electronics and vocals, Wolf on guitar and vocals, and Roxy on keyboard and vocals. The band is known for performing outside of the usual venues, such as bars,...
organized a benefit so that GB Jones could finish it.
The Lollipop Generation tells the story of 'Georgie', a runaway teenager played by Jena von Brücker, and the people she meets on the "...outlying streets with no name..." At the same time, the film serves a diaristic function, documenting the people the director has met and the cities she travelled to, capturing an entire generation of underground performers. It has been described by the Buenos Aires International Festival of Independent Cinema
Buenos Aires International Festival of Independent Cinema
The Buenos Aires Festival Internacional de Cine Independiente is an international festival of independent films organized each year in the month of April, in the city of Buenos Aires, Argentina.The festival is managed by the Ministerio de Cultura del Gobierno de la Ciudad de Buenos Aires, it is not...
as, "...a trip through epileptic shots of documentary ugliness that go right to the origins and essence of sexually anarchic cinema..." . However, Peter Keough of The Boston Phoenix insists, "There's a fine line between the trash of early John Waters and just plain garbage. G.B. Jones, perhaps to her credit, ignores it completely."
. Using Canadian reference points, Toronto's Eye Weekly
Eye Weekly
Eye Weekly was a free weekly newspaper published in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It was owned by Torstar, the parent company of the Toronto Star, and was published by their Star Media Group until its final issue on May 5, 2011. The following week, Torstar launched a successor publication, The Grid.-...
calls it, "Scrappy as hell, yet often charming, it's a lost Degrassi High
Degrassi High
Degrassi High is the third television show in the Degrassi series of teen dramas about the lives of a group of kids living on or near De Grassi Street in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It first aired from 1989 to 1991 and followed the kids from Kids of Degrassi Street and Degrassi Junior High through...
episode remade as an amateur porn flick and sometimes as sweet as all that candy."
The program notes for the screening at Denmark's CPH:DOX documentary film festival proclaim; "If film is a language, The Lollipop Generation uses only swear words and dirty slang".
G.B. Jones' previous films include The Troublemakers and The Yo-Yo Gang
The Yo-Yo Gang
The Yo-Yo Gang is a thirty minute 'exploitation movie' about girl gangs released in 1992 that has become a cult film.Directed by G.B. Jones, this 'no budget film' follows the exploits of two girl gangs, the "Yo-Yo Gang" and the "Skateboard Bitches", as a gangwar erupts between them...
.
Cast
- Jena von Brücker
- Mark EwertMark EwertMarcus Ewert, previously known as Mark Ewert, is an American writer, actor and director, living in San Francisco.Marcus Ewert began making and appearing in films in the 1990s. He has appeared in the Gus Van Sant short film Four Naked Boys and a Gun, in Sadie Benning's Flat Is Beautiful, and the...
- Jane Danger
- Vaginal DavisVaginal DavisVaginal Davis is an American genderqueer performing artist, painter, independent curator, composer, and writer. Davis's name is a homage to activist Angela Davis.-Life and career:Davis is often associated with the formation of the Queer-Core Zine Movement...
- Calvin Johnson
- Joel GibbJoel GibbJoel Gibb is a Berlin-based Canadian artist and singer-songwriter who leads the "gay church folk" group The Hidden Cameras. He was born in Kincardine, Ontario.-Career:...
- Jen SmithJen SmithJen Smith is an artist, musician, zine editor, and activist from the United States.Jen Smith is credited with being the inspiration behind the term Riot Grrrl and being one of the architects of the movement...
- KC Klass
- Johnny Noxzema
- Rachel Pepper
- Mitchell Watkins
- Torry Colichio
- Becky Palov
- Andrew Cecil
- Scott TreleavenScott TreleavenScott Treleaven is a Canadian artist whose work employs a variety of media including collage, film, video, drawing, photography and installation.-Artwork:...
- Paul P.
- Anonymous BoyAnonymous BoyAnonymous Boy is the pen name of Tony Arena, an artist, writer and filmmaker who resides in New York City. Anonymous Boy is also the title of his self-published comics zine.- Comics and Artistic Work :...
- Gary Fembot
- Ian Philips
- Christy Cameron
- Stevec
- Helen Bed
- G.B. Jones