Speaking of bluegrass in the movies…
The History of Future Folk is set to premiere in New York at the end of the month. It’s a science fiction comedy about a pair of aliens who come to Earth to destroy humanity, but who fall in love with Earth music in the process.
The movie is real, though the story is fictional, but there really is a band called Future Folk who have been performing for several years in and around New York. Nils d’Aulaire plays banjo and Jay Klaitz guitar, and they take the stage attired in their spaceman suits to tell their story of alien invasion in song. A debut album, Future Folk Vol 1, was released last year.
The film plot surrounds the plan by residents of the planet Hondo to use Earth as their new home, which will necessitate the destruction of human civilization. They send out a scout in the person of General Trius, whose discovery of music, which is alien to his people, inspires him to abandon his mission, fall in love with an Earth woman, and start performing as a banjo player in a local club.
When another Hondonian is sent down to investigate, he is likewise smitten with bluegrass and folk music, and the two outer space pickers form a duo to try and save both Earth and Hondo, and find an intergalactic audience for their music.
If it all sounds pretty silly, that may be because it is. But that doesn’t mean it can’t make for an enjoyable hour and a half in the theater.
Have a look at the trailer.
The History of Future Folk was written by J. Anderson Mitchell, who also directed with assistance from Jeremy Kipp Walker. This will be their first feature film, though the pair have won awards for their previous short films, Good Night Bill and Super Powers.
A release on May 31 is scheduled through Variance Films, with wider distribution to follow.
