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LOS ANGELES — January 1, 2010 — Faire: An American Renaissance is now available on DVD.
Faire: An American Renaissance (2010) is released. The film presents the creation of the Faire and its metamorphosis to present day - the good and the bad, the pure and the bawdy, the struggles and the solutions. A vibrant cast of characters shares their stories about the Faire and how the movement informed their lives. The documentary blends archival footage provided by many of those featured, with candid contemporary interviews and scenes from recent Faires. Familiar faces include Emmy Award-winning actress, Camyrn Manheim (The Practice), who looks to her involvement with the Faire as an integral element in her personal and professional development.
The story begins in 1963 when the “Renaissance Pleasure Faire” was born as a class project by a history teacher on a small field on Haskell’s Rascals Ranch in Los Angeles. The idea quickly caught fire, as a place to critique, mock or escape the turbulent times of the Vietnam War, the civil rights movement and the 1960s. The namesake historical era in Europe actually parallels the change and rebirth that was also happening in America at that time. The film chronicles how Ron and Phyllis Patterson took a weekend event and turned it into a worldwide phenomenon, and how the Faire’s counter culture blossomed into now familiar mainstream events like guerilla street performance, living history reenactments, Reduced Shakespeare, and the hand craft movement.
Faire: An American Renaissance marks Director Doug Jacobson’s third investigation into the counter culture scenes that make up the fabric of America. Jacobson first became noticed for his festival favorite Secret Lives of Adult Stars (2004), a behind the scenes look into porn industry culture.
He also directed Journey to the Flames – 10 Years of Burning Man (2007), a documentary that takes viewers into the heart of one of the world's most influential art festivals. Jacobson sees the subcultures of America as a place rich with stories and patterns. "I had never been to a Renaissance Faire before and had all these pre-conceptions. But once I started realizing the deep roots this event had, its crazy and wild history, I knew this would be a great sequel of sorts to 'Journey to the Flames', my Burning Man documentary. Both scenes actually come from the same spirit."
Jacobson considers Faire to be a warning to other scenes and counter-cultures, and notes there are hard lessons to be learned. "There are many things that the Faire did that I see already happening to other events like Burning Man. Maybe you can't keep something fully authentic forever, but you can avoid the common mistakes by studying the patterns of other scenes." The film shows how the Faire is adapting, and changing. It ends on an upbeat note, chronicling the evolution of the Gilroy Faire, the original offspring of the first Faire in Los Angeles, that has now re-risen from being shut down to becoming the first participant-owned democratically run Faire which many think re-captures the “old time” authentic Faire feeling.
Faire: An American Renaissance (2010) is released. The film presents the creation of the Faire and its metamorphosis to present day - the good and the bad, the pure and the bawdy, the struggles and the solutions. A vibrant cast of characters shares their stories about the Faire and how the movement informed their lives. The documentary blends archival footage provided by many of those featured, with candid contemporary interviews and scenes from recent Faires. Familiar faces include Emmy Award-winning actress, Camyrn Manheim (The Practice), who looks to her involvement with the Faire as an integral element in her personal and professional development.
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