If you’ve heard of Austin-based Alamo Drafthouse offshoot Mondo – you probably know them for their film posters. They’re artistic alternatives to the stuff pushed out by the film industry.
But Mondo has become much more than that as of late – also producing throwbacks with a focus on design including VHS tapes and vinyl records. Now, they’ve starting making toy collectibles.
They’re showing off all of this and inviting people to learn more about what they do in the first ever MondoCon. It’s this weekend in Austin.
Mondo CEO Justin Ishmael sat down with KUT's Laura Rice to talk about it.
On What's Special About Mondo's Posters:
"I think, first, the place where they're coming from is completely different from what's coming out of Hollywood. A lot of times, ours are not promoting a film that's actively trying to make money so I think there's a lot of liberties that we can take with them that studios can't... Some of our posters rely on having seen the movie to evoke an emotion."
On Expanding to VHS & Vinyl:
"I'm not going to sit here and defend VHS tapes at all – but I will put up a fight for vinyl records. There's something about listening to a vinyl record that something digital just can't touch. The packing is a big thing for us. DVD packaging is cool when done right but VHS big box packaging there's so many different ways, like the clamshell, so that's something that we've very adamant about doing is turning people on to new things."
On the 'Lost' Soundtrack to '2001: A Space Odyssey':
"Just for cinephiles this is one of those super interesting things that don't come often. This is a score that was intended for the classic Stanley Kubrick "2001: A Space Odyssey." The reason it's so interesting is that we've all seen this movie. Even if you haven't seen this movie, you've seen a parody of this movie... And to see it any different is shocking."
On What's Most Exciting About MondoCon:
"It's for the fans and it's for the people that are coming to have booths or to do a screening with us or to do a project or an event or whatever... The real, true magic or excitement that's going to happen is when you're there and you're interacting with your favorite artist or you're asking him to sign something or he gets in a good mood and does a commission for you – draws something for you and it makes your day. It's the little things that you're not anticipating that I think are really going to be the things that people remember."
