De-Evolution Is Real: The Restored Films of DEVO

When Don Joyce and Negativland discovered their mutual love for “found” sounds, an intensely collaborative creative partnership was cemented. It continued non-stop for the ensuing decades, with Don endlessly scanning the airwaves of radio and television, along with his massive LP collection, for new material, day by day, week by week. “It was Don who took the idea of reshaping previously recorded words – in a pre-sampling age – and ran with it to an extent and depth never before heard, and never equaled. ‘Recontextualization’ became his weapon, with the 1/4” tape machine and razor blade his ammunition, and the radio ‘cart player’ – an entirely forgotten piece of broadcast history using endless-loop tape cartridges, which he used until he death – his delivery system.” -Negativland

This collection of short films represents a hint of the tectonic shift in the underground film world in connection with the punk rock “movement.” Restored from original negatives, it showcases the reasonably well-known alongside the extremely rare, from music shorts to impressionistic documentary.

The granddaughter of original El Santo producer Jorge Garcia-Besné and the archivist behind the restoration of the first two El Santo pictures travel to Havana, Cuba, to clandestinely visit the locations where the original films were made, and granddaughter Viviana realizes the trip was as much of a journey to chart her family evolution as of historical cinema exercise. Filmed almost entirely on iPhones to avoid drawing the attention of the authorities, it is also a brief portrait of a resilient population faced with a daily struggle to feed themselves under a severe embargo from the West.