IFFR TO FETE THE CULTURAL IMPACT OF VHS HEYDAY

In the long history of the entertainment sector in its many forms - theatre, film, radio, the internet - few technological developments have flown so high and plummeted so uniquely as the VCR. 

                                                                                     (Credit: Alex Ross Perry / Instagram)

The legacy left behind from the boom years of VHS domination (and, early on, the fleeting companion format, Betamax) is only just now coming into a sharper focus; what has long been dismissed as an artefact of ‘80s ephemera is now being reconsidered as a vital and complex piece of film culture history.

The changing attitudes to the impact of the home video decades can be found in the announcement that the International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR) will be dedicating a strand in the 2025 program to the VHS heyday. As conversations evolve around streaming platforms and their impact on cinema going, IFFR presents HOLD VIDEO IN YOUR HANDS, a timely exploration of VHS culture, deeply rooted in community, creativity and unique viewing practices.

Central to the sidebar will be the World Premiere of Alex Ross Perry’s documentary Videoheaven (pictured, top), a three-hour voiceover meditation on the history of video stores in Hollywood cinema that has been a decade in the making. 

In a 2023 interview with website Cinema Scope, Perry (pictured, above), who worked at the iconic Kim’s Video Store in New York, said “Social relationships in video stores as depicted on-screen show that for about ten years, basically the entire ’90s, the video store was an inherently social space. Pre-internet, pre–message boards, like the record store or whatever, you had to go to learn and discuss, with employees, customers, friends.”

Rotterdam filmmaker Gyz La Rivière (pictured, left) returns to the IFFR with the World Premiere of his video store love letter, Videotheek Marco, a rose-coloured recollection into local video store history and connected audiovisual activities like community television. 

In a similar vein is Jagannathan Krishnan cinema-verite documentary Videokaaran (2011; pictured, right), which will have a retrospective screening at IFFR. The acclaimed feature is a handheld odyssey through the world of underground video parlours, where audiences would gather in makeshift cinemas to watch videos projected on whatever flat, upright wall was available. 

Confirmed for the sidebar is The Shrouds, the latest from celebrated Canadian auteur David Cronenberg. Starring Vincent Cassell, Diane Kruger and Guy Pearce, the narrative utilises home video technologies in its depiction of an industry that offers customers unique in-coffin coverage of their late loved ones. 

Also a vital element of the ‘Hold Video in Your Hands’ initiative, the IFFR will launch interactive projects inviting Rotterdam citizens to share their personal home video stories, creating a communal cinematic experience.

The 2025 International Film Festival Rotterdam will run Thursday 30 January to Sunday 9 February. Program details and official announcements will be posted at the event's official website.