Hamden | Movies | Arts, Culture & Community
Outside of Best Video & Coffee Bar in Hamden, the hosts of Best Fest
On October 18th, Best Video & Coffee Bar hosted a physical media festival celebrating the connection film lovers have shared across time.
In a world of AI slop and subscription psychosis, physical media reigns supreme.
VHS tapes and CD books remain the most credible sources validating our nostalgia. As a victim of the digital age, having watched everything switch from Blockbuster to Netflix, I've seen arguments play out online about the legitimacy of certain scenes from childhood movies. The most recent debate was about a leprechaun 2 stepping to Riff Raff, which, given the sheer absurdity, seems like an obvious AI fabrication. Still, as AI continues to scan and replicate our existing media, it becomes harder to detect.
Best Fest, hosted last Saturday by Best Video & Coffee Bar, was a breath of fresh air, a physical space with the express mission of letting attendees hunt for rare media in every format. Stacks and shelves of DVDs and VHS tapes line the walls, offering everything from foreign documentaries to beloved box-office hits. AI can't intrude here.
Eric Bruce, owner of Weirdo Wonderland, at Best Fest
Best Video and Coffee Bar isn’t a retro cash grab. Its original owner, Hank Paper, opened the store in 1985. After 30 years of collecting and giving back to the community, he sold the storefront and all its assets to the nonprofit group Best Video Film & Cultural Center to keep a space where movie buffs can come together and share their love of film.
After wandering around the festival in awe of the sheer amount of media on display, I asked a few vendors how important physical media felt to them in an increasingly digital world, and they all expressed a deep appreciation for tangible entertainment and what it represents.
Eric Bruce, owner of Weird Wonderland and host of Skulltastic Book Fair, got straight to the point: “F digital.” A Best Video veteran since the 90s, he spoke passionately as a vintage and collectibles enthusiast. “Streaming is BS; with physical media you own this moment in time,” and he’s right.
Patrons browsing Best Video stacks
Streaming and subscription services have turned cable into a relic of the past, all while costing three times more than the networks ever did.
Commercials suck, but so do inescapable ads on something you pay $27 a month for; something's got to give, and this event was made to fill that gap.
Seeing the admiration and dedication to preserving and sharing yesterday's media made me reminisce about CD books and digging through five dollar DVD bins at Walmart's checkout line. Having a collection meant you took the time to decide how well a new addition fit into your life, and what it meant to you.
Physical media offers something intimate to its buyers: a well-thought-out customer experience, like hidden bonus tracks on your CD or a listen-along version of the film with director's commentary.
David Pont, who collects and sells his VHS tapes via online video auctions, agreed. Nostalgia got him into collecting, but what keeps him excited is each tape's unique nature: “There are some things that never got a DVD release, [let alone be on] streaming.”
Best Fest allows the community to get a head start on the revival of physical media. True to its mission, the space closed out the evening with a screening of Midnight Visitors, a public access TV show made by a team of New Haven filmmakers.
The Midnight Visitor table at Best Fest
It's evident that Best Video cares deeply about creating meaningful experiences for the greater New Haven community, and I'd implore anyone who loves media to pop by. You never know what you’ll find.
