Swedefest 14

This past Sunday evening, our family enjoyed one of our favorite Fresno-born events, the Swedefest. This 14th installment of the semi-annual event, held at the Tower Theater and hosted by Dumb Drum website founders Roque Rodriguez and Bryan Harley attracted a huge crowd of all ages.

If you’re wondering what exactly a “swede” is, I’ve got you covered. A swede is a low-budget homemade recreation of a movie, movie preview or television show of your choice that lasts 4 minutes or less. Basically, swede directors persuade their friends and family to help them construct cardboard sets, don funny wigs and costumes and have a heck of a good time together recreating their favorite flicks. The swedes are sent in to Swedefest.com (typically due at least one week prior to the event) and shown in front of a live audience at Swedefest. The event is free and all swedes must be suitable for all ages, so yes, you can bring the whole family (or at least everyone capable of sitting in a theater for about an hour and a half).

Our little guy, ready to watch swedes in the beautiful Tower Theater

Bryan Harley and Roque Rodriguez kick off Swedefest 14

One of the highlights of Swedefest for us is always the swede created by Roque and Bryan. They go to great lengths to swede movie trailers in a way that is so well directed, that you can actually watch them side-by-side, shot-by-shot with the original trailer and see how well-matched they are. Yet, at the same time, the effects are so campy-yet-fantastic that you can look forward to things like a “molten hand” as shown in the Avengers: Age of Ultron preview, recreated with ranch dressing and nacho cheese pouring over someone’s hand, or toy cars being tossed by sticks and caught on fire with the narrator’s voice saying “car explosion” in the background (as seen in the original Avengers trailer, sweded).

What started in Fresno has kicked off swede events in cities nationwide!

Swedefest has also become a true community event that encourages young people to explore their talents in video production as several high school video production teachers have made creating a swede to enter into the festival a class assignment.

Thinking you’d like to try your hand at making your own swede? You should! It’s a ton of fun! My husband has played Captain America for Roque and Bryan for 3 Avengers trailers now (yup, that’s right – I married a superhero) and we’ve even done a swede with toddlers during our son’s “Top Gun obsession phase.” You can check out the archives of past swedes for inspiration online, then keep a watch on Swedefest.com or their Facebook page to find out when the next Swedefest event will be – it’s an event you won’t want to miss!

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Natali Carrera

Natali Carrera is a proud Fresno native and passionate advocate for her community. A Fresno State alum and lifelong cheerleader for all things local, Natali has been a featured blogger for FresYes for over 10 years, where she writes weekly about food, coffee, family fun, and shopping local. When she's not sharing her latest discoveries, you’ll find her cheering on her teenage son at his baseball games alongside her husband of 22 years. Natali is also the founder and CEO of Success Together, Inc., a nonprofit dedicated to empowering parents through education.

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