The word “grail” means different things to different people. To Christian worshippers (and fans of Monty Python and Indiana Jones), the word is synonymous with the cup of Christ–a holy artifact said to have belonged to Jesus himself, which grants healing powers to those who drink from it. To sneakerheads, the term is bestowed upon any pair of shoes that are so sought after that they become virtually unattainable. Stefan Janoski, the creator behind this week’s Staff Pick Premiere has blessed the sneaker world with a few grails of his own, but he’s no stranger to religious iconography as evidenced by his new film ‘God I Need A Girlfriend’, a dark satire of the Abrahamic creation myth.
Janoski is tough to classify as an artist. His work spans sculpture, music, filmmaking, skateboarding and sneaker design. When asked about the sculpture that served as inspiration for ‘God I Need A Girlfriend’, Janoski responds with a nonchalance that belies the fact that he’s excelled at pretty much everything he’s tried: “I thought of an image of a guy with his rib pulled out and presenting it to God, and the name ‘god I need a girlfriend’ and I thought that was really, really funnny!” That was Janoski’s “let there be light” moment. After casting the sculpture, he then wrote a poem based on it, which turned into a song, which led to the eventual stop motion film.
For the film, Janoski teamed up with Foster Huntington (himself a three time Staff Pick recipient). “I was a fan of [Foster’s] after seeing ‘Pool Scum’… [A friend] put us on an email blind date. I told Foster my idea, he said let’s do it, and now it’s done! It was really great to see the visions in my imagination be brought to life in such a artistic, and skilled way.” The resulting film is the perfect synthesis of Janoski’s many talents. On display is the unique combination of Janoski’s visual, musical and comedic acumen, all brought to life through a collaboration born out of the skate world. Janoski takes a decidedly unusual path from script to screen, but then again, aren’t all creation myths equally unusual?
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