Albert Nerenberg
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Albert Nerenberg is a Canadian independent filmmaker, actor and documentarian. Nerenberg directed the feature documentary Stupidity, which according to the production company, Trailervision, is the first film to deal directly and formally with this subject.
Born in London, Ontario in 1962, Nerenberg studied English Drama at McGill University in Montreal, where he formed Theatre Shmeatre, an improvisational theatrical company. Plays such as Losers, 1987, and Boomers, 1989, drew heavily from influences as diverse at Dario Fo and Guy Debord and the Situationists. Despite some formal scripting, many performances featured improvised monologues and stage direction, and virtually no formal set.
Formerly a newspaper reporter with the Montreal Gazette and talk radio host, Nerenberg told the Montreal newspaper, La Presse, that he became a filmmaker after he smuggled a video camera through army lines during the 1990 Oka Crisis – a standoff between armed Mohawk Warriors and the Canadian military.
Among his early films was 1949, so-named because it cost only $19.49 to make, taking advantage of the sophistication of Super 8 video equipment at that time.
Nerenberg was recognized by the Cinémathèque Québécoise as an innovator for having had a role in some of the developments in contemporary filmmaking; including the hand-held revolution, the Truvie where fictional films are shot in real situations, and in creating the format of fictional movie trailers.
Nerenberg is the founder of Trailervision. Trailervision is the idea that movie trailers are their own artistic medium. CNN has profiled Trailervision, calling it an "international cult phenomenon."
Nerenberg has directed over 70 Trailervision trailers and over a dozen TV documentaries.
In 2005, Nerenberg directed Escape to Canada, a documentary about how Canada has unintentionally usurped America's place as the Land of the Free. [1]
In 2007's Let's All Hate Toronto, Mr. Toronto (Nerenberg's eye-patched co-director Rob Spence) embarks on a coast-to-coast Canadian tour to promote “the centre of the universe” by waving a banner that reads “Toronto Appreciation Day.”
Mr. Toronto starts in Halifax, where Maritimers spit on the banner. Then he travels to Montreal where a band “serenades” T.O. with nasty epithets. Next, our hero skips the Prairies (because “every Torontonian does”) to land in Edmonton, where Mr. Toronto risks his life by wearing a faux Gretzky Leafs jersey during the Oilers’ 2006 Stanley Cup run. And finally, he lands in Vancouver, which just might be the most virulent anti-Toronto city in the confederacy.[1]
He is also founder of the The World Stupidity Awards, an annual satirical awards show at the Just for Laughs festival honouring achievement in ignorance and stupidity. The awards are sponsored by Just for Laughs, one of the world's largest and most prestigious comedy festivals.
Nerenberg is also known for a widely publicized prank performed at the 2003 Toronto International Film Festival. The director orchestrated the red carpet entry of a group of Trailervision actors as major movie stars to a major premiere. According to The Hollywood Reporter, this was done by placing actors in the paparazzi who screamed the names of these fictional stars as they arrived by limo. The paparazzi responded by flashing their cameras frantically. The fake stars were rushed into the green room along with the real stars, "where they got drunk like showbiz kings" according to the Toronto Sun. The prank is described in the online Museum of Hoaxes as The Toronto Film Festival Hoax.
As an actor, Nerenberg is known for his portrayal of the Modeman character, a mentally disabled janitor, who can speak "modem" and create web pages with his mouth. He also plays a sermonizing priest in the popular Trailervision web trailer, Kung Fu Jesus.
Nerenberg frequently tours and speaks as a "Stupidity Expert", an appellation, he told the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, "that cuts both ways".
