Hunka Junk’s odd movie treasures are reel fun

By ANDY GRAY Tribune Chronicle
Dion Conflict isn’t sure what started his obsession with oddball films.

Maybe it was the lazy teachers in the Canadian town where he grew up who filled class time with poorly made educational films.

Maybe it was finding that first film — a promotional short about Super 8 cameras from Kodak — in a suitcase at a flea market when he was 16 years old.

Maybe it’s the lure of the hunt, tracking down these forgotten film reels like an ‘‘X’’ on a treasure map.

Whatever the reason, Conflict has amassed a huge collection of these oddities, and he’s discovered he’s not the only one who finds them entertaining.

Conflict started creating programs around these movies in the early ‘90s at Toronto’s Rivoli Club, the same venue that spawned the comedy troupe Kids in the Hall. Now he takes his Hunka Junk Film Festivals to various locations, including a stop Wednesday at Butler North sponsored by Youngstown Film.

Conflict will be in Youngstown with his movies, where he will play the showman, encourage audience participation and give away thrift store prizes.

‘‘I don’t know what audiences in Youngstown are like, but hopefully they lean more toward the poorly behaved side,’’ Conflict said during a telephone interview.

Hunka Junk 5, the program he is bringing to Youngstown, features about 20 films in a two-hour program.

‘‘I call it a pot luck of film,’’ he said. ‘‘There’s no format at all. I always try to look for obscure kinds of commercials, strange educational films. I always throw in a musical performance. Sometimes I have spliced in stuff blindly, just because I like that element of surprise.’’

The Youngstown audience can expect such bits as ‘‘You’re the Salesman,’’ designed to teach service station workers how to get customers to buy items they don’t need; an instruction film telling women how to look prettier for their boss; and at least one clip with a northeast Ohio connection.

‘‘The longest film is 15 minutes,’’ Conflict said. ‘‘If you’re part of that Web surfing generation and there’s something you don’t like, you won’t have to sit there are wait for long for the next film to come up.’’

Hunka Junk 5 had its U.S. premiere in February at the Cleveland Cinematheque, and it has played about 10 cities so far, Conflict said. In addition to his native Canada, Hunka Junk has had its greatest success in Finland. Hunka Junk 5 outgrossed Quentin Tarantino’s and Robert Rodriguez’s ‘‘Grindhouse’’ when both were playing in the country, and Conflict was interviewed on major television talk shows.

Conflict is looking at releasing some of the films he owns on DVD, and he will be pitching a reality series for Finnish television when he returns to Finland later this year with Hunka Junk 6.

The festival is getting popular enough that Conflict may have to quit his day job working on sports television in Toronto in order to devote more time to his hobby. But for now he is working extra hours in Toronto so he can get the time off to play movie host in cities like Youngstown.

‘‘I really the showmanship, the whole presentation,’’ he said. ‘‘I look forward to seeing the audience and hope they will look forward to seeing a lot of odd, odd films that you can’t download online and can’t rent at Blockbuster.’’