Film fest celebrates music videos with local artists

Tangent Gallery will host the Second Annual Rock Hard Film Fest this week. No, that "rock hard" doesn't mean anything naughty; it's a film festival dedicated to the art of the music video, as well as live music from the Orbitsuns.

The evening will begin with local and international music videos, as well as short music documentaries and mockumentaries. But the second part of the night will be devoted to screening videos created in an unusual competition: Six Detroit independent videographers were given one weekend to shoot videos for artists prepared at random. A press release quotes festival director Kathi J. Moore saying, "We had some interesting combinations. One filmmaker, Diego Cruz, who works quite extensively with rap and hip hop musicians, ended up working with country musician, Austin Scott. Since the pairings are random, it could be mayhem or magic, but the resulting videos were pretty remarkable."

The results, in this case, seem to have leaned toward the remarkable, as we've heard from Austin Scott, who says he's really impressed with what came out of the endeavor.

Curious? Want to show up and see the music for yourself? It takes place at 7 p.m., Thursday, July 16, at Tangent Gallery, 715 Milwaukee St., Detroit. For more information, see rockhardfilmfast.com.