From: Weekly Listing (email suppressed)
Date: Sat Oct 18 2008 - 08:02:01 PDT
Part 2 of 2: This week [October 18 - 26, 2008] in avant garde cinema
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FRIDAY, OCTOBER 24, 2008
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10/24
Barcelona: Amalgama. Sesiones de Cine Experimental y Videoarte
http://amalgamacine.blogspot.com/
21h, Plaça Rovira i Trias, 9
RESONANCIAS, PRáCTICAS DE DESMONTAJE
- El Año en el que el Futuro Acabó (Comenzó), de Marcelo Expósito
(2007), 12 min. - Profanacions, de Oriol Sánchez (2008), 22 min. -
Abismo Próximo, de Reivaj Yudato (2008), 16 min. "El año en que el
futuro acabó (comenzó) (2007) responde a la conmemoración del
trigésimonaniversario de la primeras elecciones generales democráticas
después del franquismo, celebradas en junio de 1977. Lo hace mediante
una interrogación acerca del relato instituido sobre el proceso de
democratización de nuestro país que supuestamente culminaría en dichas
elecciones, entendidas como momento ritual clave de la instauración de
un sistema democrático cuya arquitectura se erige sobre el progresivo
sofocamiento de la actividad democrática externa o crítica respecto a la
centralidad absoluta y excluyente que el rito delegativo del voto y el
imperativo del "consenso" detentan en nuestro régimen político".
http://www.hamacaonline.net/obra.php?id=592 "Profanaciones parece partir
de la sospecha de que se puede oír lo que se ve: un piano, un follaje
movido por el viento, el golpear de una puerta, pero que, al mismo
tiempo, no se puede ver lo que se oye, de que la mirada puede escuchar,
pero el oído no puede ver, algo que expresa directamente en el
subtítulo, Las orejas no tienen párpados. Es decir, parte del
presupuesto de que "entre la vista y el oído no hay reciprocidad". De
ahí que, generalmente, haya mucha más música que se crea alrededor del
cine o de la imagen que su contrario, cine que se engendre a partir de
la música. En un primer momento esto parece contradictorio pues el vídeo
de Oriol Sánchez es un trabajo que surge en secuencia de la pieza
electroacústica Campanes de llum de Juan Riera Robusté, como una especie
de banda de imagen creada a partir de esta composición."
http://www.blogsandocs.com/?p=276 "Hablaremos del titulo: Abismo, como
precipicio, despeñadero, sima, profundidad, hundo, fosa o vacío y
Próximo como cercano, inmediato, adyacente, rayano, en los limites,
parecido, afín, similar, adjunto o pegado. De alguna forma, el titulo
nos permite hablar del proceso de montaje, de la articulación de esos
abismos, diferentes secuencias, trabajadas entre imágenes, para hacerlas
próximas. Esto ocurre en cualquier montaje, pero aquí es algo muy
significativo. Se trata de adjuntar secuencias de imágenes de
telediarios, con representaciones cristianas, intervenciones
quirúrgicas, partidos de fútbol o fragmentos de filmes en su semejanza.
De tal forma que, aunque sean imágenes totalmente distantes y que entre
ellas haya un abismo, aquí se trabajan en sus límites y se intenta
establecer entre ellas analogías y relaciones afines". Celeste Araújo
10/24
New York, New York: Anthology Film Archives
http://www.anthologyfilmarchives.org/
7:00 PM and 9:00 PM , 32 Second Avenue
ZIDANE, A 21ST CENTURY PORTRAIT
by Douglas Gordon & Philippe Parreno 2006, 90 minutes, 35mm. With
Zinédine Zidane. Music by Mogwai. Special thanks to Douglas Gordon, Gary
Rough, Mar-tina Aschbacher, Victorien Vaney and Anna Aquistapace (Anna
Lena Films). ?Exclusive engagement at Anthology and BAM Cinematek only!
Presenting a radically new approach to the sports film, artists Gordon
and Parreno have created a real-time portrait focusing on one of the
greatest soccer players of the century, Zinédine Zidane. Their
remarkable film – shot before the World Cup head-butt heard around the
world – places viewers right in the action, as no less than 17 cameras
(both 35mm Scope and High Definition video, all supervised by
cinematographer Darius Khondji) track Zidane's every move and glance one
day in April 2005, when Zidane's Real Madrid club battled Spanish La
Liga opponent Villareal. Comprising something in between an art
installation and a sports documentary, Gordon and Parreno thrust the
viewer into all facets of the experience, the psychology, and the body
of an athlete in action – an incomparable and breathtaking experience.
10/24
San Francisco, California: Artists Television Access
http://www.atasite.org/
8 pm, 992 Valencia Street
POLITICAL ADVERTISEMENT VII (1952-2008)
Political Advertisement VII (1952-2008) / By Antoni Muntadas and
Marshall Reese / 2008 / 70 min. / Revised and updated prior to each US
presidential election since 1984, the pioneering Political Advertisement
traces the evolution of the campaign TV spot for both primary and
general elections. Starting with the first "Eisenhower Answers America,"
this fascinating compilation of campaign ads draws attention to
political marketing strategies. Compared to other television
appearances, the spot encapsulate how the image of each candidate is
crafted, controlled, and ultimately sold like commercial products. Video
artists Muntadas and Reese have edited these ads back-to-back without
commentary, offering a direct look at the stylistic techniques and
recurrent messages of hope and fear. The current campaign ad war has
been unprecedented in terms of quantity, cost, and rapid-response; with
the advent of viral videos, the game keeps on changing. Introduction by
Tanya Zimbardo.
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SATURDAY, OCTOBER 25, 2008
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10/25
Chicago, Illinois: Chicago Filmmakers
http://www.chicagofilmmakers.org/
8:00pm, Chicago Filmmakers (5243 N. Clark St.)
WHO BY WATER, WHO BY FIRE: NEW EXPERIMENTAL CINEMA
Curated and Introduced by Patrick Friel. Light and water have long been
two favorite subjects of experimental filmmakers. Tonight's program
features an outstanding international selection of new work riffing
directly and indirectly on these themes. Bill Morrison (Decasia)
continues his investigations of early archival footage in Who by Water
(2007, 18 min., USA), here exploring the faces of ship passengers; In
Studies in Transfalumination (2008, 5 min., US) Peter Rose uses
"modified flashlights and stripped down video projectors to explore the
visual complexities of the ordinary world." (PR); Christian Lebrat's V1
(Vortex) (2007, 11 min., France) moves the tradition of filming light
reflections on water into the digital age; this is not an anchor, this
boat is not an anchor (2007, 11 mins, Canada), by Marianna Milhorat, "is
the internal journey through a magical and mysterious landscape, where
romanticism is continually disrupted" (MM); Takashi Ishida's Film of the
Sea (2007, 12 min., Japan) playfully moves the sea into the gallery
space; In Kerry Laitala's Orbit (2006, 9 min., 16mm, USA) carnival
lights swirl and merge into a colorful illuminated dance; Sanctuary
(2008, 8 mins., 16mm, USA) by Vanessa O'Neill: "Breath in response to
the colors of air, an emergence to the moving light within" (VO). Total
running time: 73 mins. All video except where noted.
10/25
Greenbelt Maryland: Utopia film festival
http://www.utopiafilmfestival.org/
12 noon, Greenbelt Community Center room 114 (near the Greenbelt Library across the parking lot from Greenbelt’s Roosevelt Center); 15 Crescent Road
URBAN/RURAL LANDSCAPES (EXPERIMENTAL)
August-Vanessa O'Neill-(4min 30)-Impressions and presences evocated
through a hand-working of glimpses, of lighted moments. Polar-Scott
Nyerges-(1min 35)Apocalyptic inner visions of the polar ice caps plight.
All that Remains-Ryan Marino(8:25)A study in Light, textures and ghosts
that make up the abandoned. Nanjing Sunday-Chris Lynn(5:00min)-Nanjing,
China is explored through fragments of sound and light. Glimpses of the
everyday are revealed Tower-Roger Beebe-(5min)A world of wonders lies
just a glance away from the famous tower. Bus Stop-Chen
Sheinberg-(2.5min)-A fascinating bus ride through Tel Aviv edited in the
camera while shooting. Deconstruction Sight-Dominic
Angerame-(14min)Angerame begins an investigation into the excavations
that are supposed to help the city into the twenty-first century. The
'time lapse' images radiate a pre-cinematographic purity that sharply
contrasts with the industrial hell evoked by the excavators. Ghosts and
Gravel Roads-Mike Rollo-15.45-An inventory of lost memories and places,
the sun bleached landscape of Saskatchewan serves as a metaphor for
displacement, a framing of emptiness and absence.
10/25
London, England: BFI London Film Festival
http://www.bfi.org.uk/lff
12pm to 7pm, BFI Southbank, Belvedere Road, South Bank, SE1
STUDIO: PNEUMA MONOXYD
PNEUMA MONOXYD (Thomas Köner, Germany-Serbia, 2007, 10m) Merging
surveillance images of a German shopping street and a Balkan
marketplace, Köner's darkly abstract work, with its spatially evocative
soundtrack, generates a muted sense of spectral dystopia. Continuous
Projection. Free Admission.
10/25
London, England: BFI London Film Festival
http://www.bfi.org.uk/lff
2pm, BFI Southbank, Belvedere Road, South Bank, SE1
A SENSE OF PLACE
FOUR TORONTO FILMS (Nicky Hamlyn, UK, 2007, 18m) During a residency in
the Canadian city, Hamlyn made this suite of films that explore a direct
relationship between subject matter and camera apparatus. Three
scrutinise aspects of the urban locale, the other an accelerated view of
Koshlong Lake. 21 ALLEYS (Robert Todd, USA, 2007, 9min) A residential
street, seen through the passageways that separate its dwellings, is the
focus of this understated study of gentrification in a Boston
neighbourhood. LAST DAYS IN A LONELY PLACE (Phil Solomon, USA, 2007,
22m) Solomon has created a sombre elegy for a departed friend from
fragments of movie soundtracks and anomalous images liberated from Grand
Theft Auto. A soul drifts through unpopulated (virtual) spaces and we
see absence. LOSSLESS #2 (Rebecca Baron, Douglas Goodwin, USA, 2008, 3m)
Witness the dematerialization of an avant-garde standard as incomplete
digital files, downloaded from file sharing networks, induce trouble in
the image. TRILOGY: KETTLE'S YARD (Jayne Parker, UK, 2008, 25m) Linear
Construction, Woman with Arms Crossed and Arc refer back to a quartet of
films made with musician Anton Lukoszevieze almost a decade ago. This
new anthology for solo cello was shot at Kettles Yard and incorporates
items from the museum's collection which open up metaphorical space and
meaning. THE MIRACLE OF DON CRISTOBAL (Lawrence Jordan, USA, 2008, 12m)
An alchemical melodrama composed of engravings from 19th century
adventure stories. The illustrations are conjured into motion as
improbable sounds collide with a Puccini aria.
10/25
London, England: BFI London Film Festival
http://www.bfi.org.uk/lff
4pm, BFI Southbank, Belvedere Road, South Bank, SE1
GUY DEBORD
'The cinema, too, has to be destroyed.' (Guy Debord) An extremely rare
opportunity to see new 35mm prints of films by French writer and
theorist Guy Debord, best known for The Society of the Spectacle. Debord
was a central figure of the Situationist International (SI), a
nihilistic band of agitators whose harsh critiques of capitalist
society, inspired by Marxism and Dada, were conveyed through
publications, visual art and collective actions. Articulated primarily
in the French language, Situationism was relatively ineffective in
Britain and America in its time, and though numerous translations are
now available, Debord's radical films remain unseen. Far ahead of its
time, his technique of 'détournement' assimilates still and moving
image-scraps from features, newsreels, printed matter, advertisements
and other detritus to satisfy the viewer's 'pathetic need' for cinematic
illusion. Propelled by a spoken, monotonous discourse, the images do not
so much illustrate the text as underpin it, often maintaining a
metaphorical relationship that may not at first be apparent. The two
films showing here effectively bookend Debord's involvement with the
Situationists, whose politically subversive practice aspired to provoke
a revolution of everyday life. SUR LE PASSAGE DE QUELQUES PERSONNES À
TRAVERS UNE ASSEZ COURTE UNITÉ DE TEMPS (Guy Debord, France, 1959, 18m)
In the dingy bars of St-Germain-des-Prés, Debord and his associates
formed a bohemian underground for whom 'oblivion was their ruling
passion.' This anti-documentary captures the SI close to its moment of
inception, following their separation from the Lettristes two years
prior. IN GIRUM IMUS NOCTE ET CONSUMIMUR IGNI (Guy Debord, France, 1978,
105m) 'I will make no concessions to the public in this film. I believe
there are several good reasons for this decision, and I am going to
state them.' And state them he does. Debord's final film is a
denunciation of cinema and society at large, an unremitting diatribe
against consumption. The SI is equated to a military operation (charge
of the light brigade, no less) as its members are presented alongside
images of the D-Day landings, Andreas Baader, Zorro, a comic strip
Prince Valliant and quotes from Shakespeare, Ecclesiastes and Omar
Khayyám. Debord takes no prisoners in this testament to his anarchistic
vision.
10/25
London, England: BFI London Film Festival
http://www.bfi.org.uk/lff
7pm, BFI Southbank, Belvedere Road, South Bank, SE1
ALINA RUDNITSKAYA
Alina Rudnitskaya's humanistic approach to documentary filmmaking often
brings out the humour in her chosen subjects. As an introduction to her
work, this programme depicts three diverse groups of contemporary
Russian women. AMAZONS (Alina Rudnitskaya, Russia 2003, 20m) A sensitive
portrait of an unusual urban phenomenon: a troupe of independent and
strong-minded girls who keep horses in the heart of St Petersburg.
Amazons follows a new volunteer as she tries to find her place within
the group dynamic. BESAME MUCHO (Alina Rudnitskaya, Russia 2006, 27m)
With music providing an escape from their duties as veterinarians,
nurses and cleaners, the amateur chorus of a provincial town rehearse
songs from Verdi's 'Aida'. Close bonds are formed, but in true diva
style, relationships within the choir are frequently inharmonious. BITCH
ACADEMY (Alina Rudnitskaya, Russia, 2008, 29m) An improbable symbol of
modern Russia is displayed in this tragicomic verité on the aspirations
of young women. In a progressive twist on assertiveness training, a
middle-aged, paunchy Casanova (who surely loves his job) gives classes
on how to seduce the male using role play, styling critiques and sexy
dancing. The ultimate goal is to hitch a millionaire, and though there's
much humour in the situation, occasional tears and telling looks remind
us that the insecurities of real lives are being laid bare.
10/25
London, England: BFI London Film Festival
http://www.bfi.org.uk/lff
9pm, BFI Southbank, Belvedere Road, South Bank, SE1
WHEN LATITUDES BECOME FORM
IN THE KINGDOM OF SHADOWS (Francisca Duran, Canada, 2006, 6m) Set in
metal type, a passage from Maxim Gorky's review of the Lumières melts
into a pool of molten lead. HOW TO CONDUCT A LOVE AFFAIR (David Gatten,
USA, 2007, 8min) 'An unexpected letter leads to an unanticipated
encounter and an extravagant gift. Some windows open easily; other
shadows remain locked rooms.'(DG) THE PARABLE OF THE TULIP PAINTER AND
THE FLY (Charlotte Pryce, USA, 2008, 4min) A saturated cine-miniature
inspired by Dutch 17th Century painting. DEEP SIX (Sami van Ingen,
Finland, 2007, 7m) The film image of a loaded truck, careening free of
its position in the frame, speeds along a mountain road towards an
inevitable fate. DE TIJD (Bart Vegter, Netherlands, 2008, 9m) Computer
animated abstraction in three dimensions. Slowly evolving geometric
forms suggest sculptural figures and waning shadows. HORIZONTAL
BOUNDARIES (Pat O'Neill, USA, 2008, 23m) O'Neill's dizzying deployment
of the 35mm frame-line is intensified by Carl Stone's electronic score.
A hard and rhythmic work, thick with superimposition, contrary motion
and volatile contrasts, reminiscent of his pioneering abstract work of
prior decades. EASTER MORNING (Bruce Conner, USA, 2008, 10m) Conner's
freewheeling camera chases morning light in a hypnotic blur of colour
and multiple exposures. This final work by the artist and filmmaker
rejuvinates his rarely seen 8mm film Easter Morning Raga (1966). With
music by Terry Riley.
10/25
Los Angeles, California: Echo Park Film Center
http://www.echoparkfilmcenter.org/
7 PM, 1200 N. Alvarado Street (@ Sunset Blvd)
MARK STREET & LYNNE SACHS AT THE 8TH ANNUAL HUMAN RIGHTS FILM FESTIVAL
Investigation of a Flame: a documentary portrait of the Catonsville 9 by
Lynne Sachs 7:00 - 8:00 PM On May 17, 1968, three Catholic priests, a
nurse, an artist and four others walked into a Catonsville, Maryland
draft board office, grabbed hundreds of selective service records and
burned them with homemade napalm. Their poetic act of civil disobedience
helped galvanize an increasingly disillusioned American public against
the Vietnam War. Investigation of a Flame is an intimate look at this
Sixties protest within our current times, when foes of Middle East
peace, abortion, and technology resort to violence to access the public
imagination. Filmmaker Lynne Sachs combines volatile, long-unseen,
archival footage with interviews with Daniel and Philip Berrigan and
other members of the Catonsville Nine, encouraging viewers to ponder the
relevance of civil disobedience and the implications of personal
sacrifice today. HIDDEN IN PLAIN SIGHT by Mark Street - 8:30 - 10 PM In
Hidden In Plain Sight, Mark Street and his camera travel to five major
cities in different nations-- the United States (New York City), Vietnam
(Hanoi), France (Marseilles), Senegal (Dakar) and Chile (Santiago). At
each stop, Street observes the people, the traffic patterns and the
scenery while looking for evidence of revolutionary political thought as
the principles of Ho Chi Minh and Salvador Allende pop up in unexpected
places. Featuring a score by noted cellist Jane Scarpantoni, Hidden In
Plain Sight was an official selection at the 2008 Tribeca Film Festival,
was it was screened as part of the "Progressive Landscapes" series. ~
Mark Deming, All Movie Guide FREE! FILMMAKERS IN ATTENDANCE!
10/25
San Francisco, California: Other Cinema
http://www.othercinema.com/
8:30pm, 992 Valencia Street
SCHNEIDER'S 1, 2, 3 WHITEOUT + ARCHIMEDIA +
Longtime OC ally James June Schneider has managed a prolific rate of
output even after moving to Paris for an advanced degree. He's bringing
back a 16mm print of his exquisitely stylized sci-fi feature 1, 2, 3,
Whiteout, an allegorical, speculative, late New Wave take on human
trajectories through the City of Light. Extrapolating on the
architectural, David Cox and Molly Hankwitz of Archimedia present Guy
Debord's Paris -obsessed short On the Passage of a Few Persons Through a
Rather Brief Period of Time, towards an understanding of both the
Situationists and the Schneider. ALSO: Caspar Stracke's Rong Xiang, on
the (de)construction of the Chinese copy of Le Corbusier's iconic Notre
Dame du Haut.
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SUNDAY, OCTOBER 26, 2008
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10/26
London, England: BFI London Film Festival
http://www.bfi.org.uk/lff
12pm to 7pm, BFI Southbank, Belvedere Road, South Bank, SE1
STUDIO: KEMPINSKI
Continuous Projection. Free Admission. KEMPINSKI (Neil Beloufa,
Mali-France, 2007, 14m) Whilst challenging our stereotypical view of
Africa, Kempinksi also blurs the lines between documentary, ethnography
and science fiction. Asked to imagine the future but to speak in the
present tense, the protagonists describe extraordinary and unexpected
visions.
10/26
London, England: BFI London Film Festival
http://www.bfi.org.uk/lff
2pm, BFI Southbank, Belvedere Road, South Bank, SE1
NATHANIEL DORSKY IN PERSON
In his search for a 'polyvalent' mode of filmmaking, Nathaniel Dorsky
has developed a filmic language which is intrinsic and unique to the
medium, and expressive of human emotion. Seeking wonder not only in
nature but in the everyday interaction between people in the
metropolitan environment, Dorsky observes the world around him. Free of
narrative or theme, his films transcend daily reality and open a space
for introspective thought. 'Delicately shifting the weight and solidity
of the images', a deeper sense of being is manifest in the interplay
between film grain and natural light. Dorsky returns to London to
introduce two brand new films and Triste, the work that first intimated
his sublime and distinctive 'devotional cinema'. These lyric films are
humble offerings which unassumingly blossom on the screen, illuminating
a path for vision. WINTER (Nathaniel Dorsky, USA, 2007, 19m) 'San
Francisco's winter is a season unto itself. Fleeting, rain-soaked,
verdant, a brief period of shadows and renewal.'(ND) SARABANDE
(Nathaniel Dorsky, USA, 2008, 15m) 'Dark and stately is the warm,
graceful tenderness of the sarabande.'(ND) TRISTE (Nathaniel Dorsky, USA
1978-96, 19m) 'The sadness referred to in the title is more the struggle
of the film itself to become a film as such, rather than some pervasive
mood.'(ND)
10/26
London, England: BFI London Film Festival
http://www.bfi.org.uk/lff
3:45pm, BFI Southbank, Belvedere Road, South Bank, SE1
THE FEATURE
THE FEATURE (Michel Auder, Andrew Neel, USA, 2008, 177m) In Michel
Auder's case, the truth is certainly stranger than fiction. One of the
first to compulsively exploit the diaristic potential of the Sony
Portapak, he was right there at the heart of the Warhol Factory and the
Soho art explosion. This fictionalised biography draws on his vast
archive of videotapes, connecting them by means of a distanced narration
and new footage, shot by co-director Andrew Neel, in which Auder
portrays his doppelganger, an arrogantly successful artist who may or
may not have a life-threatening condition. Resisting nostalgia through
wilful ambiguity, The Feature remains raw and brutally honest as Auder
displays the best and worst of himself. Taking in his marriages to both
Viva and Cindy Sherman, and affiliations with Larry Rivers, the Zanzibar
group and the downtown art scene, this is necessarily a tale of epic
proportions, chronicling an amazing journey through art and life whilst
providing access to a wealth of fascinating personal footage.
10/26
London, England: BFI London Film Festival
http://www.bfi.org.uk/lff
7pm, BFI Southbank, Belvedere Road, South Bank, SE1
THE WORD FOR WORLD IS FOREST
SMALL MIRACLES (Julia Hechtman, USA, 2006, 5m) Sci-fi hallucinations
seem commonplace as Hechtman invokes mysterious natural phenomena: an
extreme case of mind over matter. KEMPINSKI (Neil Beloufa, Mali-France,
2007, 14m) Speaking in the present tense, interviewees describe their
idiosyncratic notions of the future. To the western viewer, the unlikely
subjects, stylized settings and atmospheric lighting impart a strange
disconnect between science fiction and anthropology. TJÚBA TÉN (THE WET
SEASON) (Brigid McCaffrey, Ben Russell, USA-Suriname, 2008, 47m) 'An
experimental ethnography composed of community-generated performances,
re-enactments and extemporaneous recordings, this film functions doubly
as an examination of a rapidly changing material culture in the present
and as a historical document for the future. Whether the record is
directed towards its subjects, its temporary residents (filmmakers), or
its Western viewers is a question proposed via the combination of long
takes, materialist approaches, selective subtitling, and a focus on
various forms of cultural labour.'(BR) REMOTE INTIMACY (Sylvia
Schedelbauer, Germany, 2008, 15m) Cast adrift in the collective
unconscious, Remote Imtimacy constructs an allegorical collage from
found footage and biographical fragments, exploring cultural dislocation
using the rhetoric of dreams.
10/26
London, England: BFI London Film Festival
http://www.bfi.org.uk/lff
9pm, BFI Southbank, Belvedere Road, South Bank, SE1
BEN RIVERS AT THE EDGE OF THE WORLD
An intrepid explorer, Ben Rivers toys with ethnographic tropes whilst
roaming free from documentary truth. Encountering those who choose to
live apart from society, his nonjudgmental approach presents 'real life,
or something close to it.' The Edge of the World features several recent
works with other films of his choice. AH LIBERTY! (Ben Rivers, UK, 2008,
19m) In the wilderness of a highland farm, a bunch of tearaways joyride,
smash up, tinker and terrorize the way that only children can.
Assimilating landscape and livestock, this poetic study contrasts the
languid setting with the youngster's restless energy. RECORDANDO EL AYER
(Alexandra Cuesta, USA, 2007, 9m) In the shadow of an elevated subway
line in Queens, New York, the residents, streets and stores of a Latino
community evoke a sense of transience and displacement. ASTIKA (Ben
Rivers, UK-Denmark, 2007, 8m) Danish recluse Astika has allowed nature
to run wild, overgrowing his own habitat to the point that he has no
option but to move away. The film is a hazy arrangement in green and
gold, all rich textures and lush foliage. SINGING BISCUITS (Luther
Price, USA, 2007, 4m) A gospel cry rings out across the decades,
disrupted in space and time, fading but resilient. NEW SURPRISE FILM
(Ben Rivers, UK, 2008, c.7m) A little anticipation never did anyone any
harm; you'll have to be there to find out what it is. ORIGIN OF THE
SPECIES (Ben Rivers, UK, 2008, 17) 'A 70-year old man living in a remote
part of Scotland has been obsessed with 'trying to really understand'
Darwin's book for many years. Alongside this passion, he's been
constantly working on small inventions for making his life easier. The
film investigates someone profoundly interested in human beings, but who
has decided to live separately from the majority of them.'(BR)
10/26
Los Angeles, California: Film Forum
http://www.filmforum.com/
7:00 PM, The Egyptian Theatre, 6712 Hollywood Blvd
LYNNE SACHS AND MARK STREET PRESENT "XY CHROMOSOME PROJECT #3"
Garden of Verses: An Evening of Cinematic Seeds and Mordant Vines From
archival snips of an educational film on the weather to cine poems in
full blossom, New York film "avant-gardeners" Mark Street and Lynne
Sachs create their 3rd XY CHROMOSOME PROJECT. This program of 10 short
films on both single and double screen gleans audio-visual crops from
the dust of the filmmakers' fertile and fallow imaginations. In this
avalanche of visual ruminations on nature's topsy-turvy shakeup of our
lives, Street and Sachs ponder a city child's tentative excavation of
the urban forest, winter wheat, and the great American deluge of the
21st Century (so far).
10/26
San Francisco, California: San Francisco Cinematheque
http://www.sfcinematheque.org
7:30 pm, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts
LESLIE THORNTON: TUNED ALWAYS TO A SHIFTING GROUND
Program Three: Peggy and Fred in Hell: The Expiration Peggy and Fred in
Hell (1984–2008), Leslie Thornton's major work, is a serial epic akin to
the works of Craig Baldwin and Alan Curtis in its ravenous appropriation
of disparate archival footage, radical use of diverse genre forms and
embodiment of media history. Variously documenting and dramatizing the
lives of two children adrift in a post-apocalyptic, yet media saturated,
wasteland, Peggy and Fred… is equal parts ethnography, science fiction
and horror film. Issued episodically and long considered to be
perpetually "incomplete," The Expiration marks the approach of its
unexpected conclusion: "I would say it has been a quest which began to
close down after 9/11, when the pretense of the work's 'future tense'
(its undefined apocalypse) dissolved into a more disturbing present and
then even a past. Peggy and Fred… was set in the detritus of the Cold
War. In the last few episodes, the serial project finds its narrative
arc, ending on a note strangely optimistic, though post-human." Thornton
will end the event with a reading of text from The Eradication, the
final episode in progress of Peggy and Fred in Hell.
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__________________________________________________________________
For info on FrameWorks, contact Pip Chodorov at <email suppressed>.