“Pez: it’s like printing cash,” rejoices Steve Glew, the self-designated Pez Outlaw, in a brand new trailer for the directorial debut of Amy Bandlien Storkel. Winner of a Particular Jury prize at SXSW 2022, “The Pez Outlaw,” co-directed by Bryan Storkel, traces the sweet dispenser craze, a gold rush within the ’90s collector neighborhood. On the time, Pez U.S.A’s CEO would singlehandedly gatekeep which Pez dispensers would enter the American market, inflicting collectors to covet the extra elusive varieties from Europe, the trailer reveals.
On the middle of this frenzy is Glew’s formidable enterprise of smuggling and peddling 1000’s of probably the most coveted Pez dispensers from Japanese Europe. “However he gained an enemy alongside the best way: the CEO of Pez USA, The Pezident,” Storkel advised us. “Steve’s newfound archnemesis was decided to destroy him, but Steve was equally decided to win.”
Glew made a killing from these colourful plastic curiosities – to place the Pez mania into perspective, one collector reveals that she paid a stunning $11,000 for a single dispenser. Fairly profitable for a toy that sometimes goes for lower than $3 immediately, proper?
Capturing Glew’s infectious allure and resilience, Storkel hopes that viewers stroll away from “The Pez Outlaw” spellbound by the identical joie de vivre that Glew impressed in her whereas she documented his story. “That is a kind of movies that ought to depart you feeling glad and hopeful about life on the whole,” she shared. “It’d make you imagine in love or have conversations about lifelong objectives or simply go purchase some Pez. As Steve would say, having a superb story and telling it to the world makes all of it value it.”
Storkel is finest recognized for co-producing “The Legend of Cocaine Island” and the Emmy Award-winning documentary “Alabama Snake.” Lately, she was supervising producer on “Butterfly within the Sky,” a documentary exploring the legacy of “Studying Rainbow,” the beloved youngsters’s TV program from the ‘80s and ‘90s.
You possibly can catch “The Pez Outlaw” in choose theaters and on VOD October 21.
Supply: Women And Hollywood