NCIndieSeen

The 5th annual Charlotte Film Festival has been very fortunate to team up with numerous film sponsors to bring amazing films to the Charlotte region. AIGA Charlotte has been instrumental in teaming up with CFF to bring “Died Young, Stayed Pretty” that will play at Regal Park Terrace on Wednesday, September 22nd at 7 PM.

A candid look at the underground poster culture in North America. This unique documentary examines the creative spirit that drives these indie graphic artists. They pick through the dregs of America’s schizophrenic culture and piece them back together. What you end up with is a caricature of the black and bloated heart that pulses greed through the US economy. The artists push further into the pulp to grab the attention of passersby, plastering art that’s both vulgar and intensely visceral onto the gnarled surfaces of the urban landscape. The film gives us intimate look at some of the giants of this modern subculture. Outside of their own circle, they’re virtually unknown. But within their ranks they make up an army of bare knuckle brawlers, publicly arguing the aesthetic merits of octopus imagery and hairy 70s porn stars. They’ve created their own visual language for describing the spotty underbelly of western civilization and they’re not shy about throwing it in the face of polite society.

Along the way, they manage to create posters that are strikingly obscene, unflinchingly blasphemous and often quite beautiful. Yaghoobian shows these artists for what they are: the vivisectionists of America’s morbidly obese consumer culture. The film also has a North Carolina tie in by including work from poster designer Ron Liberti from Carborro NC. This documentary is a film that AIGA Charlotte has wanted to bring to the region for a while now. “AIGA Charlotte is thrilled to be a part of the 5th Annual Charlotte Film Festival. When we first initiated the partnership with CFF, our organization had been pursuing a film about rock posters for over a year but had no luck getting it booked. Through this union of creative forces, a screening of Died Young Stayed Pretty is becoming a reality.

This event is something we could not have accomplished without CFF's help and support. Plus, we are already lining up more exciting films to screen with CFF in the coming months. In the words of Humphrey Bogart, "I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship.” –AIGA Charlotte.



AIGA Charlotte was founded in 2000 as a chapter of the oldest and largest membership association for  professionals engaged in the discipline, practice, and culture of designing. Nationally, AIGA now represents 20,000 designers through 65 national chapters and over 200 student groups.