NPR covers Swede Fest
Fresno’s creative community got a little boost this morning thanks to NPR (National Public Radio), who ran a segment on Swede Fest, our local festival for movie parodies.
We’ve covered Swede Fest pretty extensively on the Beehive, but for those who may not know, the festival was started by Dumb Drum’s Roque Rodriguez and Bryan Harley, who put the free event on twice a year. Wannabe moviemakers and film buffs (myself included) reshoot scenes from their favorite Hollywood movies and TV shows, and those four- to five-minute films are shown at the festival. Until recently, Fresno’s Swede Fest was the only festival for sweded films, but that changed in October when Swede Fest Tampa, started by former Beehive blogger Will Albritton, took place.
The name “swede” comes from the movie Be Kind Rewind directed by Michel Gondry. NPR asked Gondry what he thinks about the genre of sweding and the festival that was inspired by his film. You can listen to the interview, which also includes sound bites from co-founder Bryan Harley and my Scott Pilgrim vs the World swede (shameless promotion!), here.
In the last couple of months, Swede Fest has garnered more and more notice thanks to Dumb Drum’s Avengers swede getting covered extensively on TV and the Internet. NPR’s segment is the latest feature on the local festival, though it surely won’t be the last.
Responses to "NPR covers Swede Fest"
Thanks for the link. Yay for Fresno! And congrats to you Heather for being a part of the interview. Poor Roque, not even mentioned by name just Bryan Harley’s “friend”, what’s up with that?
So cool that they got this notice—and well-deserved. NPR should have a reporter on special assignment for all the cool stuff people get up to around here. Go SwedeFest!