Unsolicited Material
Filmed 24/7 over 20 years, an aspiring comedian's home movies create a real-life tragicomedy which asks if following a childhood dream is the meaning of life or an unrealistic waste of fucking time.
Made from the thousands of tapes Ed Surname left behind, this Grand Jury-nominated movie satirises the mask that comedians wear for their public personas and the resulting personal costs.
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Andre MuseDirector
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Ed SurnameDirectorLaugh or Cry TV, The StandUp SitDown, The School Projects
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Andre MuseProducer
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Ed SurnameProducerLaugh or Cry TV, The StandUp SitDown, The School Projects
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Ed SurnameKey CastLaugh or Cry TV, The StandUp SitDown, The School Projects
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Geoff WhitingKey CastRussell Brand's Ponderland
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Ed's NanKey CastGiving birth to Ed's dad
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Ed SurnameWriterLaugh or Cry TV, The StandUp SitDown, The School Projects
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Project Type:Documentary, Experimental, Feature, Web / New Media
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Genres:Comedy, Documentary, Satire, Reality, Biography
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Runtime:1 hour 37 minutes 30 seconds
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Completion Date:September 25, 2015
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Production Budget:47 USD
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Country of Origin:United Kingdom
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Country of Filming:United Kingdom
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Language:English
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Shooting Format:HD, Mini DV, 8mm, VHS
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Aspect Ratio:16:9
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Film Color:Black & White and Color
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First-time Filmmaker:Yes
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Student Project:No
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International Filmmaker Festival of World CinemaLondon
United Kingdom
February 25, 2016
World Premiere
Grand Jury, Best Documentary, Best Director of Documentary (nominated) -
IFF MadridMadrid
Spain
July 8, 2016
International Premiere
Best Editing of Documentary (nominated) -
Camden Fringe FestivalLondon
United Kingdom
August 12, 2016
Ed Surname is guerrilla filmmaker and satirist whose award-losing work involves psychoanalysis of why some humans feel compelled to perform comedy.
He created The StandUp SitDown radio show out of Riverside TV Studios where he introspected with fellow comics. The Grand Jury-nominated movie Unsolicited Material (2016) was made from his 1000s of home videos and is 51% funny, 49% psychoanalysis. His blog was misquoted in the national news. And his webshow Laugh or Cry TV was a real-life sitcom with public interactions, exploring the illusion of fame in society, the role of money in happiness and the personal cost of pursuing artistic ambition.
The Ed Surname project creates a new genre: 'reality-satire', where a real man's real life has been edited into a satire on show business.