From: weekly listing (email suppressed)
Date: Sun Oct 22 2006 - 07:16:01 PDT
This week [October 22 - 29, 2006] in avant garde cinema (part 2 of 2)
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FRIDAY, OCTOBER 27, 2006
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10/27
Buffalo, New York: Hallwalls
http://www.hallwalls.org
8pm, 341 Delaware Ave.
PIONEER OF THE MINIMAL: TONY CONRAD RETROSPECTIVE
"Pioneer of the Minimal: Tony Conrad Retrospective" concludes on Friday,
October 27th with an evening of films/video. The screening will be
followed by a presentation by Branden W. Joseph, Associate Professor at
Columbia University, who will discuss Conrad's Flicker films and lead a
conversation with Conrad about his work. The program features: THE
FLICKER (1966, 30 min), Conrad's seminal experimental film, exploits the
strobing effect of the cinematic image. Considered a cornerstone of
structural filmmaking. STRAIGHT AND NARROW (1970, 10 min), made with
Beverly Conrad, sound by Terry Riley and John Cale. An extension of the
flicker film phenomenon. "Straight and Narrow is a study in subjective
color and visual rhythm. Although it is printed on black and white film,
the hypnotic pacing of the images will cause viewers to experience a
programmed gamut of hallucinatory color effects. Straight And Narrow
uses the flicker phenomenon not as an end in itself, but as an
effectuator of other related phenomena. In this film the colors which
are so illusory in The Flicker are visible and under the programmed
control of the filmmaker. Also, by using images which alternate in a
vibrating flickering schedule, a new impression of motion and texture is
created." Filmmakers Cooperative FILM FEEDBACK (1972, 14 min), an effort
to display the "essential" property of video i.e.: feedback, in terms of
film. "Made with a film-feedback team which I directed at Antioch
College. Negative image is shot from a small rear-projection screen, the
film comes out of the camera continuously (in the dark room) and is
immediately processed, dried, and projected on the screen by the team.
What are the qualities of film that may be made visible through
feedback?" – Tony Conrad CYCLES 3s AND 7s (1977, 12 min.), "a story:
about numbers, the kind machines should like to hear and tell, if they
liked." – Tony Conrad This screening will take place at 8pm in the
Hallwalls cinema, 341 Delaware Ave, Buffalo NY. Tickets are $7 general,
$5 students/seniors, $4 members. "Pioneer of the Minimal: Tony Conrad
Retrospective" has been funded in part by the New York State Council for
the Humanities.
10/27
Chicago, Illinois: Chicago Filmmakers
http://www.chicagofilmmakers.org/
8:00 pm, Chicago Filmmakers (5243 N. Clark St.)
HALF-COCKED - A RARE SCREENING OF THE LEGENDARY ROCK 'N ROLL ROAD MOVIE!
Michael Galinsky in Person! We are pleased to present a special
screening of Suki Hawley and Michael Galinsky's (Radiation, Horns and
Halos) first feature, Half-Cocked (1995), a film that has become an
indie-rock legend. "Life among would-be rockers gets a strikingly
true-to-life treatment in this deadpan road movie. Living in a crash
house with too many spongers, Tara and her lazy friends need a way out
of their going-no-where jobs. Relief of sorts arrives one night at a gig
by a band featuring her brother, a posturing rock-star-in-his-own-mind.
Annoyed by his antics, Tara impulsively swipes his equipment-filled van,
inviting her friends along for the ride. The joyride ends with the gang
nearly broke in Chattanooga. After an inept attempt at shoplifting, they
stumble into a music store where they announce themselves as a band and
score a gig as openers in a show that night. Since none of the party can
play, they simply turn up the volume and distortion to create a grating
cacophony that alienates most clubgoers but wins admiration from the
headliners, who hand them the night's profits. Thus is Truckstop, as the
band dubs itself, launched on an impromptu, illegal tour of the South.
We follow the group, tired, hungry, and broke, through sleazy clubs,
crowded hotel rooms, and broken-down transportation. Half-Cocked is a
serio-comic look at low-rent rock-and-roll on the road" (Godfrey
Cheshire). Tonight's screening is in support of the upcoming DVD
releases of Hawley and Galinsky's films Radiation and Half-Cocked in the
winter of 2007.
10/27
London, England: London Film Festival
http://www.lff.org.uk
1:45pm, NFT 2, National Film Theatre, Waterloo, SE1
ANGER ME
ANGER ME (Elio Gelmini/ Canada 2006 / 72 mins) A portrait of Kenneth
Anger, legendary pioneer of independent film-making. Raised in
Hollywood, a spell as the Changeling Prince in A Midsummer Night's Dream
(1935) provided his first taste of the fantasy world of the movies. The
nine films Anger made between 1947 and 1980 are shown together as the
'Magick Lantern Cycle', emphasising his belief in cinema as magical
weapon. An authority on Aleister Crowley, his dazzling montage invokes
myth and ritual, exploring taboo subjects and popular culture with a
complex iconography. From the homoerotic fantasy Fireworks to the
transcendental Lucifer Rising, his influence reaches beyond the
avant-garde and into the mainstream, touching the work of Jarman, Lynch,
Scorsese and countless others. Anger's fascination with film history,
memorabilia and scandal eventually led to the bestseller Hollywood
Babylon, a dark exposé of Tinseltown's seamy side. He inadvertently
invented the music video with Scorpio Rising, and his acquaintances
ranged from Anaïs Nin and Alfred Kinsey to the Rolling Stones. Anger Me
takes the form of an extended monologue, in which this visionary artist
talks at length about his extraordinary life and remarkable body of
work.
10/27
London, England: London Film Festival
http://www.lff.org.uk
11:15pm, NFT 1, National Film Theatre, Waterloo, SE1
THE HOLY MOUNTAIN
THE HOLY MOUNTAIN (Alejandro Jodorowsky / Mexico-USA 1973 / 114 mins) A
limbless man laughs as a gang of naked boys throws stones at a
Christ-like figure hanging from a cross. A firing squad shoots a line-up
and birds fly out of the hole that appears in the chest of one of their
victims. An old man gazes longingly at a pre-pubescent prostitute,
before taking out his glass eye and placing it in her hand. Welcome to
the world of Alejandro Jodorowsky, one of modern cinema's true
visionaries. He followed the midnight movie milestone El Topo (1970)
with this hallucinatory masterpiece, financed by John Lennon and Yoko
Ono, and recently colour-corrected and restored under Jodorowsky's own
supervision (in collaboration with ABKCO, the films original producers).
Based on The Ascent of Mount Carmel by St. John of the Cross and Mount
Analogue by René Daumal, the plot concerns a thief who becomes caught up
with a group of society's most powerful people (industrialists,
financiers, politicians, police, arms dealers) who set out on a mission
to find immortality. A dubious guru, played by the director himself,
leads them. Jodorowsky clearly had satirical intentions, though it is
the barrage of images, often playful, occasionally horrible, frequently
beautiful, but always fascinating, which still leaves viewers dazzled.
10/27
London, England: London Film Festival
http://www.lff.org.uk
6:30pm, NFT 3, National Film Theatre, Waterloo, SE1
ARKANSAS AUTEUR: THE FOLK ART FILMS OF PHIL CHAMBLISS
What if Howard Finster had expressed himself with a home movie camera
instead of a paintbrush, or if Fellini had lived in a trailer in rural
Arkansas? Phil Chambliss just might be the answer. With the help of his
co-workers at the gravel depot, this self-taught 'folk art filmmaker'
has created, for over 25 years, an alternate reality where deer hunting
is the sport of choice and phones only work when under water. Influenced
only by the Westerns he saw at the drive-in, Phil wrote, directed, shot
and edited these films. He also created the titles and the original
scores, writing and performing all the music. Like folk art, these truly
unique, hilarious films depicting life in the Arkansas outback (and
conveying a strong sense of place in the process) may not appeal to
everyone, but the discerning will, like us, become fans. THE DEVIL'S
HELPER (Phil Chambliss / USA 1986/ 14 mins) In this short that can count
Eric Idle among its fans, two men cut a deal with the devil for expanded
deer hunting privileges. PINK CHRISTMAS (Phil Chambliss / USA 1993/ 58
mins) The story of a barber's love, lust, loss, redemption and just
enough greed and blackmail to obtain the best damn deer dog in El
Dorado. SHADOW OF THE HATCHET MAN (Phil Chambliss / USA 1982 / 26 mins)
An early classic about a rampaging hatchet killer, an inept sheriff and
a relentless TV reporter, complete with spaghetti western motifs and
lesbian overtones.
10/27
New York, New York: Millennium Film Workshop
http://www.millenniumfilm.org/
8pm, Friday evening, 66 East 4th Street (Between Bowery & 2nd Avenue)
HALLOWEEN SPECIAL 1ST OF 2 SHOWS
Jack Stevenson, Americsan writer, achivist, distributor and curator, has
been living in Denmark since 1993. His specialties include vintage
American exploitation films and Danish cinema. Many of his programs
include compilation film-talks. OCTOBER 27 (Fri)- MOVIES WITH ROOTS IN
HELL- The Effects of Drugs on American Cinema. (90 min.) 16mm film."This
film compilation documents almost 60 years of drug depictions in
American film.The material, which spans the years from 1916 to 1972,
consists of a variety of genres and formats, including short
(exploitation} shorts from the '30s as well as trailers, a silent film,
an underground film. military educationals and extracts from at least
one feature film. This diversity of genres, period and styles
distinguishes the program from recent documentaries or DVD releasaes on
the same subject, and screenings at the 2006 Rotterdam Film Festival.
Based in part on my book, ADDICTED: THE MYTH & MENACE OF DRUGS IN
FILM."- J.S. Jack Stevenson will be present to discuss the film.
10/27
New York, New York: Images Festival
http://www.imagesfestival.com/
2000, Anthology Film Archives, 32 Second Avenue @ 2nd Street
ON THE THRESHOLD: VIDEOS BY LESLIE PETERS
October continues the 6-month screening series of Canadian artists' film
and video organized by Anthology and The Images Festival, Toronto. Many
of the works to be screened will be New York City and US premieres while
others have rarely shown more than once in New York since they were
first made. To celebrate the occasion, a 12-page monograph featuring
essays, stills, descriptions and interviews will be published and freely
distributed. In addition, many of the artists will be with us to present
their programs. October 27, 2006 at 8:00 pm On The Threshold: Videos by
Leslie Peters The youngest artist to be spotlighted at the Images
Festival, video artist Leslie Peters, who makes both single-channel
videos and video installations, has been quietly building a subtle and
impressive body of work since she appeared on the scene in the late 90s.
Peters is one of the first of a new generation of video artists to
create works that demand to be seen projected, rather than on a monitor
– notably in her 400 series (1998-99) – while her installations make
careful use of the sculptural qualities of the video image in space. In
a video art context where the image often serves as a foil for
linguistic, social and theoretical concerns, Peters practices video as a
truly visual art, investing images of the urban environment and
landscape with metaphoric power. Program includes: theory, 1997, 2:30
minutes, video excerpts from the 400 series (1999): 401:01, 1:30
minutes, video for ever more, 2:30 minutes, video thinking of you, 3:00
minutes, video more and more, 3:30 minutes, video cheatin heart, 2:30
minutes, video 100 Prince Charles Street, 2005 11 minutes, video seed,
2002, 4:20 minutes, video basin, 2002, 4 minutes, video interference,
2003, 17 minutes, video divine, 2003, 5:30 minutes, video beautiful
lies, 2004, 12 minutes, video Series made possible thanks to the
gracious support of the Canada Council for the Arts, (Media Arts
Section) and the Canadian Consul General of New York City. Special
thanks to Anthology Film Archives http://www.anthologyfilmarchives.org
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SATURDAY, OCTOBER 28, 2006
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10/28
Greenbelt, MD: utopia film festival second annual experimental film/video
festival
http://http://www.utopiafilmfestival.org/program.shtml
6;00pm, Greenbelt Municipal Building
URBAN/ RURAL LANDSCAPES EXPLORED IN VIDEO AND FILM
Utopia's Second Annual Experimental Film/Video Festival. Saturday,
October 28, 2006. Time: 6:00 PM Location-Greenbelt Maryland's Municipal
Building. Go here for more details Urban/Rural Landscapes explored in
Video and Film 1.Boulder/Brooklyn (Nicole Koschmann) A correspondence
through images from Brooklyn, NY to Boulder, Colorado. 2. Flow (Scott
NYERGES)-A meditation on the creeks and rivers of Austin, Texas during
the spring and summer rendered in paint and pixels. 3.The Lights and
Perfections (Paul Clipson) A bug's eye view of the world, mysterious and
wonderful-plant studies and urban landscapes woven into soft focus home
movies. 4. Clouds and the Docklands (Chris Lynn)Vignette 4 in the London
series is an examination of the of the Docklands in London juxtaposed
with rain and clouds. 5. Tide mills (Nick Collins)The poetry of the UK
seacoast on any given day. 6.(rock/hard place)(Roger Beebe)A film that
attempts to bring the Urban and rural landscape together in one frame,
so the viewer can question the significance. Shot in Morro Bay,
California 7.The Taste of the South (Mar Solis) Shot in Spain this is a
vivid portrait of Easter week. 8. Translumination (Craig Herndon) An
abstract journey in sound and colour. Last year's festival included
films and videos by: Robert Robertson; Lynn Loo; Jud Yalkut; Simon
Morgan; Michael Yarochevsky.
10/28
London, England: London Film Festival
http://www.lff.org.uk
2pm, NFT 3, National Film Theatre, Waterloo, SE1
GAMES PEOPLE PLAY
YOU MADE ME LOVE YOU (Miranda Pennell / UK 2005 / 4 mins) 'Twenty-one
dancers are held by your gaze. Losing contact can be traumatic.'
OLYMPICS 2005 TRACK AND FIELD (Shannon Plumb / USA 2005 / 18 mins) From
the opening ceremony to awarding the medals, Plumb plays all the
characters in this burlesque of the trials and triumphs of the summer
games. Rooted in silent comedy, its homespun style references equal
parts Keaton and Riefenstahl, and is the vehicle for a series of witty
observations. SWEET NIGHTINGALE (Victor Alimpiev / Russia 2005 / 7 mins)
In a theatre, a crowd perform a series of choreographed gestures facing
the stage. Left unexplained, this mysterious ceremony appears more
symbolic than absurd. PROPRIO APERTO (Judith Hopf, Nayascha Sadr
Haghighian, Florian Zeyfang / Germany 2005 / 6 mins) An off-season
stroll through the temporary ruins of the Giardini, home of the national
pavilions at the Venice Biennale. UNTITLED (FOR DAVID GATTEN) (Phil
Solomon & Mark LaPore / USA 2005 / 5 mins) Made as a 'get well card' for
a friend, this uncharacteristic work invokes a sense of absence, and
ultimately loss. BLOCKING (Pablo Marin / Argentina 2005 / 3 mins) By
contravening archival guidelines on water damage, the original image is
erased from a 'mistreated' filmstrip, to be replaced by an organic
explosion of colour. KRISTALL (Matthias Müller, Christophe Girardet /
Germany 2006 / 15 mins) Shards of emotions from Hollywood melodrama are
combined in a Chinese box of reflection and refraction. Kristall is a
cinematic hall of mirrors, which ruptures and multiplies the anxieties
of narcissistic, star-crossed lovers. CONTEMPLANDO LA CIUDAD (Angela
Reginato / USA 2005 / 4 mins) 'Perfectly without affect, a girl sings
along with a pop tune, transporting herself through space and time to
Mexico City circa 1978.'
10/28
London, England: London Film Festival
http://www.lff.org.uk
4pm, NFT 3, National Film Theatre, Waterloo, SE1
DISTANCE AND DISPLACEMENT
LET THERE BE WHISTLEBLOWERS (Ken Jacobs / USA 2005 / 18 mins) Advancing
the techniques of his 'Nervous System' performances, Jacobs now treats
archival film footage with electronic means, shifting his exploration of
visual space into the digital domain. All aboard the mystery train for a
journey from actuality to abstraction. Steve Reich's 'Drumming' provides
added momentum. UNFINISHED PASSAGES (Brett Kashmere / Canada 2005 / 17
mins) Archival images and a contraflow of texts trace the migration of
the artists' grandfather from London to Saskatchewan. 'Using the shadow
play of light and darkness as a metaphor for human memory Unfinished
Passages reframes his forced immigration/orphan experience through the
developing lens of the cinema.' THIS IS MY LAND (Ben Rivers / UK 2006 /
8 mins) A portrait of Jake Williams, who lives a hermetic lifestyle in a
remote house in the woods of Aberdeenshire. Folk film for the new
millennium. THE OTHER SIDE (Bill Brown / USA 2006 / 43 mins (In this
rich and revealing essay film, Brown shares his experiences of
travelling from Texas to California, recounting a history of the
landscape, its inhabitants and those that pass through. The border
between Mexico and the USA is crossed by thousands of undocumented
persons each year, and hundreds do not survive the journey through the
desert to the other side. Incorporating a personal voiceover and
interviews with migrant activists, this visually striking film examines
the border as a site of aspiration and insecurity.
10/28
London, England: London Film Festival
http://www.lff.org.uk
6:30pm, NFT 3, National Film Theatre, Waterloo, SE1
ONE WAY BOOGIE WOOGIE / 27 YEARS LATER
ONE WAY BOOGIE WOOGIE / 27 YEARS LATER (James Benning / USA 1977-2005 /
120 mins) In 1977, concerned about the decaying nature of his native
Milwaukee, Benning shot One Way Boogie Woogie, an hour long film
composed of 60 shots of industrial urban landscape: smokestacks,
sidewalks, three Volkswagens, people few and far between, an animal here
and there. In characteristic fashion, Benning's apparently simple,
static shots are exercises in meticulous painterly composition, and
their careful sequencing ensures that the director's playful humour is
given full expression. For 27 Years Later, Benning returned to Milwaukee
to shoot 'the same film again'. The shot by shot re-staging uses very
obviously different stock – the colours are brighter, there's a
distinctly modern tone. Buildings are showing their age, or gone; people
likewise. Seen together, these two films offer a cogent illustration of
how America has changed in the intervening years, fraying in places,
gentrified in others. Benning's method, and his affinity with his
subjects is extraordinary – as if he completely absorbs the landscape,
imbues it with geo-political and cultural relevance, and re-presents it
to us in a unique mix of formal rigour and mischievous invention.
10/28
London, England: London Film Festival
http://www.lff.org.uk
9pm, NFT 3, National Film Theatre, Waterloo, SE1
JACK SMITH & THE DESTRUCTION OF ATLANTIS
JACK SMITH & THE DESTRUCTION OF ATLANTIS (Mary Jordan / USA 2006 / 96
mins)' The only person I would ever copy. He makes the best movies.'
(Andy Warhol) Diving headlong into the exotic world of Jack Smith, this
is a ravishing celebration of a seminal figure of contemporary art,
experimental theatre, fashion, film and photography. A devotee of 'moldy
glamour', Smith was shooting fanciful tableau vivants in 1957, later
naming his ensemble the 'Superstars of Cinemaroc' way before Warhol had
a Silver Factory. His ethereal masterpiece Flaming Creatures is an epic
fantasy, featuring blonde vampires and bohemians cavorting amid a tangle
of naked bodies. Fêted by Fellini, but denounced by Playboy for
'defiling at once both sex and cinema', the film was became a totem in
the battle against censorship. Dismayed and resentful, Smith reacted to
this unwanted attention by never completing another film. To become a
product was to be embalmed. Returning to the ephemeral medium of
performance, he appeared amongst piles of meticulously arranged garbage
with Yolanda, a toy penguin with jewel-encrusted brassiere. Utterly
opposed to the concept of rented accommodation, Smith railed against
'landlordism', transforming his dilapidated apartment into an homage to
Babylonian architecture. This documentary opens up Ali Baba's cave,
mixing commentary from friends and enemies with the glistening treasures
of Smith's own creation. An abundance of rare photographs, footage and
audio bear testament to his uniquely baroque vision.
10/28
New York, New York: Millennium Film Workshop
http://www.millenniumfilm.org/
8pm- Saturday evening, 66 East 4th Street (Between Bowery & 2nd Avenue)
HALLOWEEN SPECIAL 2ND OF 2 SHOWS
Jack Stevennson, American film writer, archivist, distributor, curator,
has been living in Denmark since 1993. His specialties include vintage
American exploitation films and Danish cinema. OCTOBER 28 (Sat.)
WITCHCRAFT THROUGH THE AGES (Balch/ Burroughs Version) (75 min.) 16mm.
"This macabre 1922 masterpiece stands as the most extreme and
controversial work of silent cinema- and one of the most visionary. A
perennially revived cult favorite, it often materializes around
Halloween and still manages to enchant modern viewers. It was the work
of obsession created in mysterious circumstances and its Danish director
Benjamin Christensen led a life that was almost as mysterious. This
lecture is based on my book THE LIFE AND TIMES OF BENJAMIN CHRISTENSEN
which draws on research into original Danish source material and which
brings to light heretofore unexamined aspects of the story."- J.S>
10/28
New York, New York: Images Festival
http://www.imagesfestival.com/
2000, Anthology Film Archives, 32 Second Avenue @ 2nd Street
LET ME START BY SAYING (SHORTS PROGRAMME)
Let Me Start by Saying… With the ease of video and the beauty of small
format film, Canadian artists have long found themselves through their
stories and histories. Lisa Steele, The Ballad of Dan Peoples (1976, 8
min, video) "I made this tape shortly after my grandfather's death as a
memory of his voice and speech patterns. The tape is a woven song of
sorts, made up of many stories that he told and retold to me when I was
a child. The stories were about his childhood; the tape is more about
how memory is transmitted and retained than about the specifics of any
one particular narrative".–Lisa Steele Zachary Longboy, The Stone Show
(1999, 9 min, video) Visually poetic, this video diary explores the
artists reunion with his family and his culture after years of
separation. Raphael Bendahan, Le Jardin [du Paradis] The Garden (1982,
20 min, 16mm) Stories in English and French oscillate in this
examination of the life of an immigrant in a land (Québec) where the
definition of home is deeply contested. Mary J. Daniel, Confessions of a
Compulsive Archivist (2004, 7 min, video) One day, Mary J. Daniel finds
her mother's collection of dress patterns, arranged in a peculiar way.
Alexandra Grimanis, Mothers of Me (1999, 15 min, 16mm)"'Mothers of Me'
is a visually glorious, abstract study in which the filmmaker explores,
partly out of fear, the women in her family, their history of insanity
and their response to a repressive environment. Through the use of
close-ups and fragmented composition we are compelled to participate in
her examination." -Stacey Donen, Toronto International Film Festival,
1999 Robert Cowan, Remembrance and Goodbye (1968, 9 min, 16mm) A
personal melancholia concerning the death of my mother with my own
personal memory images of school, home, lost first love and fears of my
own obliteration. –Robert Cowan Mike Hoolboom, Jack (2002, 15 min, 16mm)
Six months after his long voyage into this world, Jack takes his place
in the high chair. While reproduction is his birthright, he is puzzled
by a strange creature with glass eyes, with a motor in place of a heart.
For months there was only sound and now there are only pictures. Series
made possible thanks to the gracious support of the Canada Council for
the Arts, (Media Arts Section) and the Canadian Consul General of New
York City. Special thanks to Anthology Film Archives
http://www.anthologyfilmarchives.org
10/28
San Francisco, California: Other Cinema
http://www.othercinema.com/
8:30pm, 992 Valencia
LAITALA’S HALLOWEEN SPOOKTACULAR!
Cooked up by the Kat's meow, filmmaker Kerry Laitala stirs her cauldron
of cinematic treats to offer a spine-tingling spook frolic of scary
shorts in our annual celebration of All-Hallow's Eve. Those who dare to
enter our haunted house will be delightfully frightened by the Mistress
Kat's eerie ambience of vintage sound-effects vinyl, whilst a
phantasmagoria of lurid 16mm imagery dances devilishly across our
screen. Sorceress' apprentice Katherin McGinnis slithers through the
assembled Guignol enthusiasts with a litany of horror shorts, including
Mary Ellen Bute's Spook Sports, Clifton Childree's She Sank on Shallow
Bank, David Cox' Dr. Yes, Scott Beach's World of Wax, excerpts from the
Addams Family, Psychorama, and the jaw-dropping slow-mo driver's-ed
grotesque, The Day I Died. After a few of the Kat's own gothic
film-poems, the show grinds to a gruesome end with the climactic reel of
Robert Gaffney's Frankenstein Meets the Spacemonster. Mulled wine for
all souls!
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SUNDAY, OCTOBER 29, 2006
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10/29
Chicago, Illinois: Chicago Filmmakers
http://www.chicagofilmmakers.org/
7:00 pm, Chicago Filmmakers (5243 N. Clark St.)
INCENDIARY VIDEO: SELECTIONS FROM THE MEDIA BURN ARCHIVE
Tom Weinberg in Person! The Media Burn Independent Video Archive,
located here in Chicago, is quite likely the most important and
comprehensive collection of independent non-fiction videotapes in the
US. Comprised of more than 3000 works produced from 1972-2002, it
reflects the unique and vital vision of alternative media makers as they
address the critical historical, political, and social issues of the
past 30 years. Media Burn is the project of Tom Weinberg, one of the
pioneers of guerilla video and independent television production.
Weinberg was one of the co-founders of TVTV, formed in 1972 to provide
alternative coverage of the presidential conventions that year, the
creator of the still-running WTTW independent film showcase Image Union,
and producer of the landmark non-fiction series The '90s for PBS. For
tonight's program, Weinberg will present a "guided tour" of the Media
Burn archive, with both clips and complete works representing the
diversity of the archive's holdings.
10/29
London, England: London Film Festival
http://www.lff.org.uk
2pm, NFT 3, National Film Theatre, Waterloo, SE1
WITHIN YOU, WITHOUT YOU
SONG AND SOLITUDE (Nathaniel Dorsky / USA 2006 / 21 mins) As a guest of
the Festival in 2004, Nathaniel Dorsky gave an inspirational
lecture-screening on 'Devotional Cinema'. His new film is a sombre work,
which further refines his vision of an intimate, poetic cinema that
creates a space for personal reflection. 'Its balance is more toward an
expression of inner landscape, or what it feels like to be, rather than
an exploration of the external visual world as such.' MURIEL'S SONG
(Grant Wiedenfeld / USA 2006 / 3 mins) 'A hand-painted, hand-processed
film only bent thru the lens of the projector and your pearly-crowned
pair. Never before have light and shadow sung so well without a camera.'
ACROSS THE VALLEY (Nick Collins / UK 2006 / 20 mins) Across The Valley
is a beautifully photographed response to the landscape and environment
of the Cévennes Mountains in Southern France. Employing time-lapse and
other techniques, the film charts variations in the distant and
immediate surroundings over a range of seasons. KOLKATA (Mark LaPore /
USA 2005 / 35 mins) This luminous study of North Calcutta is one of the
last completed films by the American film-maker who died last year. It
combines personal and ethnographic elements in an experimental
documentary that looks at, and into, another culture with empathy and
fascination. 'This film searches the streets for the ebb and flow of
humanity and reflects the changing landscape of a city at once medieval
and modern.'
10/29
London, England: London Film Festival
http://www.lff.org.uk
4pm, NFT 1, National Film Theatre, Waterloo, SE1
KENNETH ANGER 35MM PRESERVATIONS WITH KENNETH ANGER IN PERSON !
'Kenneth Anger is a unique film-maker, an artist of exceptional talent."
(Martin Scorsese) Kenneth Anger's iconic films are an extraordinary
demonstration of the transformative power of cinema. With support from
The Film Foundation, the UCLA Film Archive has recently made glorious
new 35mm prints of four of Anger's works. This special screening offers
aficionados and the uninitiated an opportunity to see these landmark
films as they have never been seen before. We are delighted to welcome
Kenneth Anger to the Festival to present this screening. FIREWORKS
(Kenneth Anger/USA 1947/15 mins) The rarely seen original version,
featuring a spoken prologue by the film-maker. 'A dissatisfied dreamer
awakes, goes out in the night seeking a 'light' and is drawn through the
needle's eye. A dream of a dream, he returns to a bed less empty than
before.' LA LUNE DES LAPINS [Rabbit's Moon] (Kenneth Anger/USA-France
1950-71/16 mins) The only Anger film shot on 35mm has never been printed
on that format until now. This is the longer edit from 1971,
synchronized to haunting doo-wop ballads. 'A fable of the unattainable
(the Moon) combining elements of Commedia dell'Arte with Japanese myth.
A lunar dream utilizing the classic pantomime figure of Pierrot in an
encounter with a prankish, enchanted Magick Lantern.' SCORPIO RISING
(Kenneth Anger/USA 1963/29 mins) Immensely influential for its use of
pop music, Anger's ironic critique of motorcycle gangs invokes Scorpio,
the sign that rules machines, sex and death. 'A 'death mirror held up to
American culture' - Brando, bikes and black leather; Christ, chains and
cocaine. A 'high' view of the myth of the American motorcyclist. The
machine as totem from toy to terror. Thanatos in chrome and black
leather and bursting jeans.' KUSTOM KAR KOMMANDOS (Kenneth Anger/USA
1965/4 mins) A slow and sensuous study of the hot rod craze. 'To the
soundtrack of 'Dream Lover' a young man strokes his customized car with
a powder puff.'
10/29
London, England: London Film Festival
http://www.lff.org.uk
7pm, NFT 3, National Film Theatre, Waterloo, SE1
ANGER ME
ANGER ME (Elio Gelmini / Canada 2006 / 72 mins) A portrait of Kenneth
Anger, legendary pioneer of independent film-making. Raised in
Hollywood, a spell as the Changeling Prince in A Midsummer Night's Dream
(1935) provided his first taste of the fantasy world of the movies. The
nine films Anger made between 1947 and 1980 are shown together as the
'Magick Lantern Cycle', emphasising his belief in cinema as magical
weapon. An authority on Aleister Crowley, his dazzling montage invokes
myth and ritual, exploring taboo subjects and popular culture with a
complex iconography. From the homoerotic fantasy Fireworks to the
transcendental Lucifer Rising, his influence reaches beyond the
avant-garde and into the mainstream, touching the work of Jarman, Lynch,
Scorsese and countless others. Anger's fascination with film history,
memorabilia and scandal eventually led to the bestseller Hollywood
Babylon, a dark exposé of Tinseltown's seamy side. He inadvertently
invented the music video with Scorpio Rising, and his acquaintances
ranged from Anaïs Nin and Alfred Kinsey to the Rolling Stones. Anger Me
takes the form of an extended monologue, in which this visionary artist
talks at length about his extraordinary life and remarkable body of
work.
10/29
London, England: London Film Festival
http://www.lff.org.uk
9pm, NFT 3, National Film Theatre, Waterloo, SE1
SHINE ON
SAME DAY NICE BISCOTTS (Luther Price / USA 2005 / 6 mins) A bleak but
touching incantation composed from 13 identical prints of an early 70s
documentary on elderly Afro-Americans. Time has taken its toll on the
raw material too: now faded and worn, it is steeped in pathos. KRYPTON
IS DOOMED (Ken Jacobs / USA 2005 / 34 mins) The original Superman radio
play from 1940 accompanies the mind-bending 'Nervous Magic Lantern,' a
filmless projection system that twists light into a perpetually
throbbing mass of impossible depth. Presented by the film-maker as a
metaphor for the onset of WWII, the apocalyptic narrative could be read
as allegory for the present, a world of instability with the potential
of environmental collapse. THE COUNTER GIRL TRILOGY (Courtney Hoskins /
USA 2006 / 6 mins) In an inventive response to the cosmetics industry,
Hoskins has created imagery from some unusual materials discovered while
working as a sales assistant on a make-up counter. BLAH BLAH BLAH
(Dietmar Brehm / Austria 2006 / 13 mins) Hotwiring history, the
film-maker excavates his image bank of 16mm footage to reveal an
archaeology of clandestine pursuits that hovers between ennui and
agitation. Brehm's week beats your year. SURFACING (Barbara Sternberg /
Canada 2005 / 10 mins) An exodus of ghostly footsteps pass through the
frame beneath layers of scratched emulsion, suggesting the transience of
being and a state of emergence beyond the everyday. AND WE ALL SHINE ON
(Michael Robinson / USA 2006 / 7 mins) 'An ill wind is transmitting
through the lonely night, its signals spreading myth and deception along
its murky path. Conjuring a vision of a post-apocalyptic paradise, this
unworldly broadcast reveals its hidden demons via layered landscapes and
karaoke, singing the dangers of mediated spirituality.'
10/29
Los Angeles, California: Filmforum
http://www.lafilmforum.org/
7:00 pm, Egyptian Theatre, 6712 Hollywood Blvd.
INWARD & OUTWARD JOURNEYS - FILMS BY SARAH MILES AND LAURA WADDINGTON
Filmforum continues our 30th anniversary series with former director
Mark Rance hosting INWARD & OUTWARD JOURNEYS - films by Sarah Miles and
Laura Waddington – recent work from the UK. Sarah Miles's film "No
Place" (2005) combines personal memories with documents of popular and
contemporary culture to explore notions of femininity. Waddington's
films "Cargo" (2001) and "Border" (2004) are visually stunning and
atmospheric documentaries of remote peoples. General admission $9,
students/seniors $6. Cash and check only
10/29
San Francisco, California: San Francisco Cinematheque
http://www.sfcinematheque.org
7:30, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, 701 Mission Street at Third St.
WINTER FIRE: SWISS FILMMAKER HANNES SCHUPBACH IN PERSON
San Francisco Cinematheque @YBCA presents Winter Fire: Films by Hannes
Schüpbach Hannes Schüpbach In Person Sunday, October 29, 7:30 pm $8
regular /$6 Cinematheque members, students, seniors /$6 YBCA members
With a meticulous attention to detail and exquisite sensuality, Hannes
Schüpbach's beautifully photographed films are elegant weaves of color
and light, forming meditative and precisely timed tapestries of wonder
and revery. Similar to the rigorously lyrical works of Robert Beavers
and Nathaniel Dorsky, Schüpbach's films transcend their diaristic
origins and present the world anew, as luminous silent mystery. He joins
us tonight from his native Switzerland to present Toccata, Falten and
Winter Feuer.
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For info on FrameWorks, contact Pip Chodorov at <email suppressed>.