Colouring Outside the Lines (13 min. 2005) Directed, shot, and edited by Lester Alfonso in 24 hours it was projected at the main stage of the Peterborough Folk Festival.

Check out also: a showcase of videos featuring collaborations with Peterborough-based musicians.

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This short documentary was an endurance challenge. From the first shot to its premiere, the movie took 24 hours to make. I filmed musicians performing during the annual club crawl that happens the night before the Peterborough Folk Festival’s main event at Nicholls Oval park.

Karyn Ellis by anonymous

We went bar to bar with our overhead projectors. We projected onto the musicians while they performed and filmed them. We brought some of them back to the studio for interviews.

We encouraged random strangers to colour our colouring book featuring images of the Peterborough musicians like Washboard Hank, Rick Fines, Beau Dixon, The Silver Hearts, Willie P. Bennett, and the more. We collated the community colouring contributions and shot them all overnight.

The next day, before the final act performed on the main stage, a makeshift screen was quickly held up while I projected this 24-hour project from the hillside with a very long extension cord.

Karyn Ellis by anonymous

Later, we would create an exhibit of the coloured pages at Artspace. Enjoy the digital world premiere of this historical slice of the Peterborough music scene in the mid 2000s. Previously unseen on the internet…

The colouring book features The Silver Hearts among many others and a space to draw your own Peterborough musician or band.

With special thanks to Michael Martyn (who connected me to the Peterborough Folk Festival), Brion Wagner (who came with me and lent me his vintage travel overhead projector), David LaRiviere (who assigned this project to me to spearhead for Artspace), Julia Fenn (who was co-producer and muse), Emmie Tsumura (who designed the book), Nathan Reeves (who wrote the text), and Rob Viscardis (who assisted.) With help from Candace Shaw and Powerhouse Digital Video Arts.

Washboard Hank in the Colouring Book

with appearances by
Nashville Lotus, Jill Staveley, Ian Osborn, Karyn Ellis, and more.

Stay tuned! More soon! —LA