Drib

In 2014, an American advertising agency came up with a daring campaign for an energy drink. The idea was to make films about a young guy who, pepped up on the cocktail of sugar and caffeine, provoked fights and got beaten to a pulp. The images would be leaked and result in an avalanche of free publicity, before the manufacturer of the drink publicly distanced itself from the whole affair. Amir Asgharnejad, a Norwegian performance artist who had become a YouTube sensation with just these kinds of films, was recruited to play the young man in question. But what the advertising men didn’t know was that Asgharnejad had faked all his films. What’s more, he turns out to be a world-class disruptive force who causes the entire production to be a huge disaster. Drib tells this story through a hybrid form of fiction and documentary. The name of the energy drink is fictional, but once again Asgharnejad plays the lead role, and again he sabotages the whole undertaking. The film switches effortlessly between a smooth advertising style, hyperbolic reenactment and classic talking heads. It's a story about art becoming commerce, and then being transformed into art again.