Sugar Tuesday

The Vancouver International South Asian Film Festival (VISAFF) kicks off next month and we're stoked to bring you some highlights from the festival.

There's a stellar lineup of amazing South Asian film makers, who ST will feature each Tuesday leading up to the festival slated for June 26th. First up - 'The Battle of the Album Covers' directed by Rohitash Rao of Curious Pictures. 'The Battle of the Album Covers' has over 700,000 views on Youtube and has been seen in 25 festivals around the world. It's a clever and brilliant short animated film that plays out an epic battle between some of best Rock & Roll albums of all time. ST caught up with New York based director to see how the heck he came up with the idea.

Weezer

ST: So, what’s the inspiration behind 'Battle of the Album Covers'?

RAO: The inspiration for this idea came to me in high school when I had a bunch of records lying on my bedroom floor and imagined the covers fighting with each other. I thought 'What would happen if Billy Joel actually threw that rock at that glass house?'.

Billy Joel

ST: How did you figure out the strong vs. weak in each battle?

RAO: As far as who won or lost, it was purely a math problem. Like 'What could we have coming out of the zipper on the Rolling Stones 'Sticky Fingers' album cover that will lead to the next album? The answer was obvious: the banana from Velvet Underground. Who else can kill Ozzy but Ozzy….as for the Dead Kennedy's vs Van Halen, well, there's no surprise there.

The Rolling Stones

ST: Why Metallica?

RAO: Metallica won out only because it's album cover is of a cemetery. How can you pass that up?

Metallica

ST: That sounds too easy but definitely clever. What's your favorite kill?

RAO: I'm not sure I have a favorite kill as much as I have a favorite weapon. That happens to be the power saw blades that one of the Roxy music girls throws out from her crotch.

Roxy Music

ST: Did you run out of Rock & Roll albums…because I think I saw 50 Cent up in this?

RAO: Same with Coldplay and Eminem, I was just trying to find iconic-looking album covers.

ST: If there was a battle of the Hip Hop album covers, who would be the last album standing?

RAO: Oh, I’d love to do a Hip Hop version - LL Cool J vs. Ludacris vs. Run DMC. It would be hilarious. Can you green light that? And can you write me a check?

ST: We’ll work on that for you. Do you own all the albums listed in your film?

RAO: I do now.

ST: Have any of these bands ever reached out to you?

RAO: No, none of them. But I did get a call from Poison and I ended up doing two videos for them.

ST: What did you grow up listening to?

RAO: I grew up listening to Black Flag, The Smiths, Oingo Boingo, etc. Pretty much Southern California in the late 80s.

ST: What are your top 3 favorite albums out currently?

RAO: LCD Soundsystem - This Is Happening; The Tallest Man On Earth - Shallow Grave; Casiotone For The Painfully Alone - Advance Base Battery Life.

ST: What was the first festival this was seen at?

RAO: I think the first festival was Annecy and it was dubbed in French.

ST: How’s the festival response been? Are you excited about including this at VISAFF?

RAO: I think this film has played in about 25 festivals thus far. And yes, I’m very excited about VISAFF!

ST: Will we be seeing more shorts from you?

RAO: Yes! I just finished a new short last month. I’m entering it into festivals now.

ST: What’s next?

RAO: I’m currently directing an animated micro-series for the NFL and Nicktoons. It's basically football players fighting evil robots. It'll run for 22 weeks during football season starting in September and ending on the Superbowl.

ST: Dope! We’ll look out for it. Thanks Ro!

RAO: Thanks Sugar.

Sugar Tuesday is a proud sponsor of the vancouver international south asian film festival taking place at Vancity Theatre June 26th, 2010. Check out the full line up and get ticket info here!