Variety's "The Circuit" column revealed the news that renowned animator and multimedia artist Takashi Murakami will show his short animation piece Planting the Seeds at Cinevegas on June 16th. Murakami is the man responsible for hundreds of wacky googly-eyed mushroom creations, including a 2003 installation at Rockefeller Center (pictured above).
What Variety didn't mention is that the piece will be screened on the Wynn's already surrealistic Lake of Dreams, a swirling cascade of water and lights that comes complete with animatronic puppets and an expanse of underwater LEDs. (Apple has a profile of Karin Fong, one of the creators of the Lake, and you can see some tortured cell phone videos of the show's singing frog at YouTube.) It's all set in the middle of the Wynn Casino, where you can see the show from the various game tables, bars, and restaurants that surround it. This is the kind of chocoloate-peanut butter mixture of venue and film that can separate a festival from the pack. CineVegas could lay back and let their location do more of the work to attract attendees, but they're aggressively pushing to add that little something more to the experience.
Cinevegas has a press release about the screening on their site, and you can view the full schedule in Cinevegas' B-Side festival community.
