Pixel Pirates Strike Back

What a wonderful world the web can be. In an instant, talent scouts can discover the next big thing in Shanghai, Paris, Istanbul, or for that matter, Sydney, Australia, home to remix artists Dan and Dominique Angleoro a.k.a. "Soda_Jerk" and one of their chief collaborators Sam Smith.

Creators of "Pixel Pirate II: Attack Of The Astro Elvis Video Clone," an hour-long mash-up that combines Moses, Elvis, The Incredible Hulk, Lara Croft, the Ghostbusters, Indiana Jones and a host of characters into a completely "pirated" feature, Soda_Jerk and Smith have crafted a work of art that deals with issues explicit to creating media in the digital age. (The Daily Reel hosted a short trailer for the longer film back in August.)

"Of course, this way of working clashes with copyright law and we have emphasized this battle within the plot of the video itself," explain the Angleoros by email. "So one of the main intentions with 'Pixel Pirate II' was to create a critique of copyright law that operates on the level of both form and content. But most of all, our video is meant as a goodtime," they add. "A sci-fi, biblical epic, action movie and cheesy romance where Elvis gives the finest performance of his film career."

Dominique, 26, Angeloro, 28 and Smith, 26, have worked together on other tantalizing projects, including "The Phoenix Portal," an 8-minute remix that features a young River Phoenix traveling into the future to visit his older self (from My Own Private Idaho). The piece explores how "video can be understood as a time capsule that allows viewers to revisit the past," they explain. There was also "The Last Sessions," a program of video art that traveled around the world curated by Soda_Jerk that featured Smith's "Passage," an experimental work that includes "a reconstruction of the spacecraft that carries Dr. Heywood R. Floyd from the Earth to the Moon in 2001: A Space Odyssey," explains Smith.

Keep on the look out for more news from Soda_Jerk and Smith: Soda_Jerk's website www.sodajerk.com.au will be expanded this fall, and the world premiere of "Pixel Pirates II" is scheduled for September 25^th at Sydney's Chauvel Cinema.