Lights, camera, action: Latest Be Kind festival 'a celebration of overused film clichés'

It's showtime at the Red Rooster Coffee House.

Dan Cleberg, owner of the coffee shop, has organized a series of Be Kind Film Festivals in recent years. They're based on the movie "Be Kind Rewind," a 2008 film written and directed by Michel Gondry and starring Jack Black and Mos Def.

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In the film, a VHS rental store employee and his friend must come up with a way to save the failing business after erasing all of the VHS tapes. They begin to recreate the films themselves, popularizing the store again. They then begin to enlist other townspeople to star in the films.

Cleberg said the first Be Kind Rewind Film Fest was similar to the movie: participants were asked to recreate a film of their choice. Through time, the film fest has expanded to include different themes. Participants have been asked to create short films based on a video game, TV show or board game.

Films from the latest competition, called the Be Kind Trop Shine, will be shown at 5 p.m. Sunday at the Red Rooster, 218 S. Main St.

This festival is billed as "a celebration of overused film cliches." Work on the films is under way.

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Participants were able to choose two clichés from a list, which included at least two lines they must use in the film that are associated with the cliché. Some examples include the interrupted first kiss and a car not starting while being chased, Cleberg said.

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In addition to the film fest having several judges, the audience will be able to vote on the films. The top films will be screened at the South Dakota Film Festival in September.

The main goal of the festival is to have fun and build community around film, said Cleberg, and even those who are not film connoisseurs can enjoy the festival.

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Gondry had a studio in 2008 where people could make their own films and rent them out, just like at a video store. It was inspired by "Be Kind Rewind." He then wrote a book that chronicles those films titled "You'll Like This Film Because You're In It: The Be Kind Rewind Protocol."

That idea is what inspired the local Be Kind festivals, said Cleberg. People enjoy watching the films because they're in them or they have a friend who is.

This article originally appeared on Aberdeen News: Films based on "Be Kind Rewind" to be shown at Red Rooster in Aberdeen