In a stunning collage of hundreds of borrowed film clips, Soda Jerk dissect American society and politics between 2016 and 2021. Taking the form of a suburban musical, the years of Donald Trump’s presidency become a psychotropic horror spectacle. Conspiracy theories take over, hotdogs discuss the clash of civilisations, waste bins preach QAnon, zombies rally for revolution and real-life events are refashioned as Broadway musicals. The cast of characters include Tom Hanks, Annette Bening, Bruce Dern, Ice Cube, Wayne and Garth, Maya and Ana, Rue and Jules, Seth Rogen and Reyn Doi. American politicians play themselves, Jesse Eisenberg is in the role of Mark Zuckerberg and Vladimir Putin appears as the Phantom of the Opera.
In this cinematographic spectacle, the pop-cultural archive turns out to be a harbinger of a hysterical society. Real-life events, advertising clips, TV adverts, series, zombie films and blockbusters create a cinematic grotesque that eerily echoes the corrupting phenomenon that is Trump. Hello Dankness was edited during the COVID pandemic. Fuelled by political madness, the narrative lurches into a contemporary hellscape, bringing sense to a flood of nonsense with a revolutionary and uncompromising attitude.