by RUPERT BOTTENBERG

The question burns in the minds of Montrealers: who is the mightiest of our fair town’s VJs? In a knock-down, drag-’em-out, no-holds-barred battle royale, who would leave the rest of the herd packing up their laptops and wiping away tragic tears of defeat? The opportunity to witness the majesty and the mayhem is upon us. Eight local VJs or VJ teams, those creative characters who supply club culture’s rapid-fire visuals, are going head to head at Lumen.

The week-long event is a collaboration between the World Film Fest and Elektra (in off-season mode - the avant-tronic fest returns November 12). It’s broken down into quarterfinals, semifinals and the apocalyptic, blood-soaked "final confrontation." Seven nights, seven clubs, seven hot name DJs and seven films, chosen by the VJs as the raw material for their competition mixes. The winner walks away with a cool grand in cash and a presentation slot at Elektra in November. The losers walk away with their tails between their legs as small children hurl rocks at them and wizened babushkas cackle insults in obscure Slavic dialects. Ha, ha - losers! Let’s take a look at the contenders, shall we?

Moment Factory

From: "The members hail from exterior skating rinks around the world. Others have tap-dancing backgrounds. We actually all met at a figure skating competition in Alberta."

Began VJing: "Some started 10 years ago doing Powerpoint presentations in Palestinian camps, others were found ditching class or sleeping on the beach."

Previous gigs: "Too many shows in NYC, Paris, Miami, Helsinki, Barcelona and a few in Montreal."

Inspirations: "Life, human beings, David Bowie, all art forms and our trusty friend Intuition."

Movie of choice: Dirty Dancing

Strategic advantage: "Steroid-packed pixels and sleepless nights on the beach. Our muscles are big and our asses tight. We train on hardwood floors. We mainly rely on our looks. The rest is just for fun. Tag teams and wrestling rinks, we are using plywood technology. There is no business like art business."

Pillow

From: "Came to Montreal by boat from Vietnam."

Began VJing: "Two years ago after a three-month trip into the subway of Tokyo. Needless to say that my first set was about being trapped in the subway of Tokyo."

Previous gigs: Aria, Black & Blue, Bal en Blanc, SAT

Inspirations: "Baraka and Koyaanisqatsi - those movies give a profound view of the world we are living in through only pictures and music."

Movie of choice: Reservoir Dogs

Strategic advantage: "During my last trip to Asia, a Buddhist monk taught me a special way to breathe which will give me the ability to control the light and do incredible live visual effects."

Johnny Ranger

From: "From Montreal. Past lives: Rio, Kyoto, Bora Bora."

Began VJing: 2000

Previous gigs: SAT, Passage 1 and 2, Aria, Unity, Epsilonlab and Moment Factory parties

Inspirations: "All my psychedelic experiences that helped me get at ease with non-linear thinking, nature, spontaneous people, improvised music, Eno, the visual arts, design, Web sites, Fellini, Godard, Greenaway, video art, video clips, graffiti, publicity and basically anything I lay my eyes on."

Movie of choice: Existenz

Strategic advantage: "To compete in an honest manner, I will use all the science, love and charm I can deploy on that unpredictable night, but if I start to notice it’s not enough, I may become ruthless and could subtly inseminate a few subliminal messages here and there. How bad could a little session of hypnotherapy be in this era of shameless media contamination?"

Cinetik

From: Montreal

Began VJing: 1998

Previous gigs: Swirl 1999, Cream 1999, Arrival 2000, Sona, Aria

Inspirations: Nam June Paik

Movie of choice: Requiem for a Dream

Strategic advantage: "I will use a special interference weapon to blow people’s eyes and will make crazy compositions using three different video mixers all linked together."

Many-2

From: "Videogameland."

Began VJing: 1998

Previous gigs: AVIT UK and US, Aria, Stereo, SAT, Mixmania, ECM, local raves and more. "My visuals are also used by other VJs all around the world."

Inspirations: Norman McLaren, Peter Molyneux, Piet Mondrian, Friedrich Nietzsche, Philip K. Dick, Yan Breuleux

Movie of choice: Blade Runner

Strategic advantage: "Riding my Hippotizer, wearing my Visual Jockey Armour and my Alpha Mask, swinging my MIDI Sword and holding my Pixel Shield, I’ll Lumakey my enemies to nothingness."

Ian Cameron

From: "Montrealer for the last eight years, formerly from a town which no longer exists - Aylmer, Quebec (now Gatineau)."

Began VJing: 2000

Previous gigs: "Bal en Blanc, Black & Blue, Divers Cité, MEG, Om Festival and Jazz Fest. Currently one of Aria’s resident VJs."

Inspirations: "I got started when Sydney Oliver encouraged me to step out of the editing room and help with the Bal en Blanc 2000. He taught me to be patient and to listen to the music. London’s Light Surgeons are also an inspiration - rockin’ it old-school analog style."

Movie of choice: Crash

Strategic advantage: "That would be telling!"

Khrystell E. Burlin

From: Bordeaux, France

Began VJing: "I started with video two and half years ago, and started playing live several months ago."

Previous gigs: "Elektra 2002, Aria, Antimatter, Syntheses 2002 in France, Emergeandsee in the U.K., Germany and Hungary."

Inspirations: "Jean Piché (with whom I studied for two years) as well as the directors Wong Kar Wai, Peter Greenaway and Abel Gance."

Movie of choice: Pi

Strategic advantage: "I won’t open my mouth all night and I’ll keep my day-to-day grim expression on. If you look dejected and say nothing, others have a tendency to drop their guard, confident that they’re up against a loser."

Les Passagers

From: "Multipleland. There are two of us - Jean-Sébastien Baillat and Mathieu Bélanger, also makers of the Passage events."

Began VJing: "JS started two years ago at Passage 2, Mathieu started five years ago."

Previous gigs: "Magnetik, Elektra closing night 2002, Aria, some Epsilonlab and SAT parties."

Inspirations: "Norman McLaren, David Lynch, Plastikman, graphic design in general, Marc-Antoine Mathieu, the comics of Schuiten & Peeters, les 12 Poissons and Anita Blond."

Movie of choice: The Man Who Wasn’t There

Strategic advantage: "We will put all other VJs under hypnosis. We will call all of them before their night and use our deepest voices to convince their minds that they should be DJs instead of VJs, so during the competition they will try to take the places of the DJs in the Lumen lineup."

Ian Cameron vs. Cinetik, with DJ Sasha, at Aria on Saturday, Aug. 30, 1am, $45. Moment Factory vs. Many-2, with DJ Tom Stephan, at Unity II on Sunday, Aug. 31, 10pm, $5. Khrystell E. Burlin vs. Johnny Ranger, with DJs Parks & Wilson, at B-Bops on Monday, Sept. 1, 10pm, $10. Pillow vs. les Passagers, with DJ James Zabiela, at Upperclub on Tuesday, Sept. 2, 10pm, $10. Semifinals at Newtown on Thursday, Sept. 4, 10pm, $10, with DJ Max Graham, and at Living on Friday, Sept. 5, 10pm, $10, with DJ Behrouz. Finals at Central Station on Sunday, Sept. 7, 10pm, $12, with DJ John Acquaviva

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