HAPPY LIFE
dir. Michael M. Bilandic, 2009
73 mins. United States.
In English.

FRIDAY, JANUARY 17 – 10 PM w/filmmaker Michael M. Bilandic for Q&A
ONE NIGHT ONLY!
(This event is $10.)

“Culture is like a pendulum… statistically, it’s going to swing back in my direction.”

Bilandic’s first feature outing is a portrait of the artist as an aging trance DJ that predates the inevitable revival of this head-crushing dance genre by a good decade. Released in 2009 to considerable acclaim – including glowing reviews from Variety and the New York Times – the swift and scrappy dark comedy follows schlubby record store proprietor/mixmaster Keith as he attempts to save his business from the gaping maw of hyper-gentrification. Shot on bleeding, beautiful digital video by cinematographer Sean Price Williams, and executive produced by Abel Ferrara, HAPPY LIFE is a film about nostalgia that, in the ten years since its release, has matured into a document of a recent past gone by.

From Mike Madness: Three Films by Michael M. Bilandic.