From: Bruce Posner (email suppressed)
Date: Sat Jun 24 2006 - 05:10:50 PDT
Paris is not the center of the world, nor is NYC. Many of your
examples involve video or digital formats, not film as film. And as
JM's original post noted, they have everything to do with gender. My
point, which was preceed by "balh, blah, blah," was only to infer
that all that she mentioned (and now you too) is organized or fueled
by an informed and gender sensitive group of individuals. So I
viewed JM's comments as slightly unnecesary in the light of Onion
City's contributution and activitiy in the field.
re. hard to show films. My take on all that you mention, myself
included, is that only a few can make a reasonable living screening
their own films. Personally I have done very well presenting my
films, but more so presenting the work of others. I mean feed the
family, have health insurance, own a home, maintain a car, etc. All
of the burdens on middle-class life in the USA.
At this point in my life, the idea of free screenings or those for
little or no pay is not of any interests. Have you been to a film
lab recently Pip?
>>This is such a crazy dialogue for the year 2006. How many
>>filmmakers working in film are there? How much longer will they
>>work, no matter what their gender, etc. It is just hard to make
>>films and get them shown, no matter who you might be. Even if all
>>of the above was not the case, then as Standish Lawder recently
>>queried, why is that film and filmmakers are so quickly forgotten
>>no matter how significant their accomplishment. This only seems to
>>be the case with film not the other arts.
>>BP
>>
>
>There are more and more filmmakers in 2006; it is not hard to make
>work, no harder than it was in 1996 or in 1986; there are more and
>more venues and ways to get work seen than ever before.
>
>In Paris in 1986, there was one group holding weekly screenings,
>Tuesdays at midnight. Now there are screenings almost every day of
>the week organized by many different groups and institutions. Half
>of the groups currently active were created within the last ten
>years and are run by people under 35. All the groups make and show
>work on film.
>
>On a global level, acceptance of experimental film has risen
>tremendously over the past ten years. When I started Re:Voir in 1994
>it was difficult to convince even specialized bookstores to sell our
>tapes. Within five years they were in Virgin Megastore. In the past
>five years a dozen new publishers have sprung up, all making a
>living distributing experimental films to the home video market.
>Major festivals show avant-garde films now, not only Rotterdam but
>Venice, Cannes, Tribeca, London, Berlin, Montreal, New York, much
>more now than 10 or 20 years ago. Through cable, satelite, internet
>and other new technologies, the past ten years have seen an
>explosion of new and specialized television stations around the
>world, many of which show experimental film. Ipod, UMD, Blu-Ray and
>other cutting edge developments will only broaden access, interest
>and educational uses. Stan Vanderbeek could only dream in his day of
>such global accecss and interconnectedness.
>
>Universities, whose course descriptions have become more and more
>abstract and less and less practical over the years, have offered an
>ever-growing number of experimental film courses. It has become part
>of cultural literacy to know about avant-garde art. Museum shows
>have included early film work, and the past few years have seen
>major shows featuring experimental films: Sound and Light, Dada, Le
>mouvement des images, Into the Light, the Whitney Biennial, etc. How
>many tens of thousands of people were introduced to experimental
>film through these exhibitions?
>
>The only reason filmmakers are forgotten is because there is no
>commercial value in their work, neither in the film industry nor in
>the art market, but this is already starting to change.
>
>None of this, of course, has anything to do with gender.
>
>-Pip Chodorov
>
>
>__________________________________________________________________
>For info on FrameWorks, contact Pip Chodorov at <email suppressed>.
__________________________________________________________________
For info on FrameWorks, contact Pip Chodorov at <email suppressed>.