16th annual Santa Fe Film Festival: Review of select festival films, by Michael Abartemarco, Santa Fe New Mexican, December 9, 2016.
ART OF THE PRANK, documentary, 82 minutes, not rated, 3.5 chiles.
Branded as the godfather of the media hoax, artist and activist Joey Skaggs satirizes social convention, often with hilarious results. Art of the Prank is a laugh-out-loud documentary with a pertinent message for our times, when fake and exaggerated news stories proliferate and people readily believe what they’re told instead of investigating and engaging in critical thinking. Written and directed by Andrea Marini, the feature details Skaggs’ previous fictions: a celebrity sperm bank, a mobile confessional called a “portofess,” a set of proposed rules for walking, and a brothel for dogs that led to Skaggs getting a subpoena from the New York attorney general after the story raised concerns at the NYPD, the mayor’s office, and the ASPCA. Journalists at ABC News and elsewhere ran the story as fact.
Read the full review here.