From: Weekly Listing (email suppressed)
Date: Sat Nov 14 2009 - 09:10:20 PST
Part 1 of 2: This week [November 14 - 22, 2009] in avant garde cinema
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NEW FILM/VIDEO: NON-FEATURE:
============================
"le haricot bleu" by pierre villemin
http://www.hi-beam.net/cgi-bin/ann.pl?type=newwork&readfile=402.ann
"Elements of TIME" by David Montgomery
http://www.hi-beam.net/cgi-bin/ann.pl?type=newwork&readfile=403.ann
NEW CALLS FOR ENTRIES:
=====================
Bicycle Film Festival (New York, NY, United States; Deadline: February 17, 2010)
http://www.hi-beam.net/cgi-bin/ann.pl?type=calls&readfile=1094.ann
The Lab (San Francisco, CA 94103; Deadline: March 31, 2010)
http://www.hi-beam.net/cgi-bin/ann.pl?type=calls&readfile=1095.ann
Toronto Student Film Festival (Toronto, Canada; Deadline: March 22, 2010)
http://www.hi-beam.net/cgi-bin/ann.pl?type=calls&readfile=1096.ann
Manipulated Image #12 @ the Santa Fe Complex In cooperation with VideoChannel NewMediaFest'2010: 10 Years [NewMediaArtProjectNetwork]:||cologne (Santa Fe, NM, USA; Deadline: December 21, 2009)
http://www.hi-beam.net/cgi-bin/ann.pl?type=calls&readfile=1097.ann
DEADLINES APPROACHING:
======================
One Minute Challenge (London; Deadline: November 30, 2009)
http://www.hi-beam.net/cgi-bin/ann.pl?type=calls&readfile=1046.ann
Go Short (Nijmegen, The Netherlands; Deadline: December 01, 2009)
http://www.hi-beam.net/cgi-bin/ann.pl?type=calls&readfile=1053.ann
Strange Beauty Film Festival (Durham, North Carolina USA; Deadline: November 15, 2009)
http://www.hi-beam.net/cgi-bin/ann.pl?type=calls&readfile=1057.ann
12th Wisconsin Film Festival (Madison, WI, USA; Deadline: December 01, 2009)
http://www.hi-beam.net/cgi-bin/ann.pl?type=calls&readfile=1068.ann
29th Black Maria Film + Video Festival (Jersey City, NJ, USA; Deadline: November 27, 2009)
http://www.hi-beam.net/cgi-bin/ann.pl?type=calls&readfile=1074.ann
International film competition - "Intervideo Talent Award" (Mainz, Germany; Deadline: November 30, 2009)
http://www.hi-beam.net/cgi-bin/ann.pl?type=calls&readfile=1078.ann
Beaufort International Film Festival (Beaufort, SC. USA; Deadline: November 15, 2009)
http://www.hi-beam.net/cgi-bin/ann.pl?type=calls&readfile=1081.ann
Tregor Film Fest (Lannion, Tregor, France; Deadline: November 20, 2009)
http://www.hi-beam.net/cgi-bin/ann.pl?type=calls&readfile=1082.ann
Experiments in Cinema (Albuquerque, NM, USA; Deadline: December 10, 2009)
http://www.hi-beam.net/cgi-bin/ann.pl?type=calls&readfile=1083.ann
The LAB (San Francisco, CA, USA; Deadline: November 21, 2009)
http://www.hi-beam.net/cgi-bin/ann.pl?type=calls&readfile=1086.ann
Free to Be..US! (Orono, ME, USA; Deadline: November 23, 2009)
http://www.hi-beam.net/cgi-bin/ann.pl?type=calls&readfile=1090.ann
$100 Film Festival (Calgary, AB CANADA; Deadline: December 01, 2009)
http://www.hi-beam.net/cgi-bin/ann.pl?type=calls&readfile=1091.ann
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THIS WEEK'S PROGRAMS (SUMMARY):
==============================
* The Time We Killed [November 14, Houston, Texas]
* Los Angeles As A Character [November 14, Los Angeles, California]
* Immokalee, My Home [November 14, New York, New York]
* Perestroika: Reconstruction of A Flat [November 14, New York, New York]
* How I Am and Speech Memory [November 14, New York, New York]
* Babaji, An Indian Love Story [November 14, New York, New York]
* The Living [November 14, New York, New York]
* Wondrous World of Laundry [November 14, New York, New York]
* Mediamodes [November 14, New York, New York]
* Ventana Al Sur: An Evening of Argentine Experimental Films [November 14, New York, New York]
* J. Kroot's 'it Came From Kuchar,' With George & Mike! + [November 14, San Francisco, California]
* Los Angeles Filmforum Presents D.W. Griffith In California, With Talk By
Tom Gunning [November 15, Los Angeles, California]
* Dj Spooky and the Science of Terra Nova [November 15, New York, New York]
* Blind Loves [November 15, New York, New York]
* Performa: Futurist Life Redux [November 16, New York]
* Early Monthly Segments #9 = Robert Todd In Person [November 16, Toronto, Ontario, Canada]
* Jesters and Gestures: Performing Yiddish Culture From Silent Cinema To
Avant-Garde Film [November 17, Berkeley, California]
* By the Waters of Boston [November 17, Jamaica Plain, MA]
* Orphee [November 17, Reading, Pennsylvania]
* The Hydroacoustic Show [November 18, Chicago, Illinois]
* Orange Alternative: Screening & Discussion Nov 18 & 19 [November 18, New York, New York]
* Free Form Film Series Lay Down Tracks [November 18, San Francisco, California]
* Ava Gardner Independent Film Festival [November 18, Smithfield, NC, USA]
* Look For Me: Animated Films By Laura Heit [November 19, Chicago, Illinois]
* Open Screening: the West We Won [November 19, San Francisco, California]
* Deborah Stratman: O’Er the Land [November 19, San Francisco, California]
* Ava Gardner Independent Film Festival [November 19, Smithfield, NC, USA]
* Hollis Frampton's Hapax Legomena [November 20, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania]
* Exhibicion Luminosa [November 20, San Francisco, California]
* “One Day When I Was Growing Up In the ‘60s…”: A Lecture By Yvonne Rainer [November 20, San Francisco, California]
* Ava Gardner Independent Film Festival [November 20, Smithfield, NC, USA]
* The Search: New videos By Kyle Canterbury [November 21, Chicago, Illinois]
* Stan Brakhage Program [November 21, New York]
* Hollis Frampton's Hapax Legomena Pt. 2 [November 21, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania]
* Carousel Microcinema #1: Tree Claps Hand: Gentle Films For Tough Times [November 21, San Diego, California]
* Other Cinema: Alcatraz Anniversary [November 21, San Francisco, California]
* Yvonne Rainer: Journeys From Berlin/1971 [November 21, San Francisco, California]
* Tropical Vulture: Ybcalive! George Kuchar & Miguel Calderon [November 21, San Francisco, California]
* Ava Gardner Independent Film Festival [November 21, Smithfield, NC, USA]
* Los Angeles Filmforum Presents the Ann Arbor Film Festival Tour – Program
2 [November 22, Los Angeles, California]
* Text of Light [November 22, New York]
* Clair/Picabia/Bunuel Program [November 22, New York]
* Los Olvidados [November 22, New York]
* Yvonne Rainer: Privilege [November 22, San Francisco, California]
Events are sorted by CITY within each DATE.
---------------------------
SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 14, 2009
---------------------------
11/14
Houston, Texas: Cinema Arts Festival
http://www.cinemartsociety.org
1pm, Rice Media Center
THE TIME WE KILLED
The Time We Killed is the first feature by avant-garde filmmaker
Jennifer Reeves, who had been generally known for her formal
experimentation with optical printing and painting directly on film (as
in the extraordinary When It Was Blue, screening Friday) and her
exploration of a range of topics including women's sexuality, mental
health and recovery, poetry, and dogs. The Time We Killed is a
surprising departure, a remarkably assured narrative feature. The film's
title has a double meaning, signifying both the boredom and isolation of
the protagonist and her country's run-up to the Iraq war. It has the raw
intimacy of a filmed diary as it focuses on the daily life of Robyn, an
agoraphobic writer who shuts herself in her Brooklyn apartment after the
events of September 11, 2001. It is a visually stunning and evocative
meditation on Robyn's inner world filled with memories, past loves,
childhood visions, and life failings. The imagery is beautiful,
capturing the light reflecting on the East River and the nature
surrounding Robyn, reflecting Reeves's avant-garde experience as a
cinematic painter of light. The film won multiple awards at the Berlin
Film Festival (2004), New York's Tribeca Film Festival (Best NY
Narrative Feature 2004), and screened at the Whitney Museum, and at the
Rotterdam, Sundance, and New York film festivals. —MDH
11/14
Los Angeles, California: Echo Park Film Center
http://www.echoparkfilmcenter.org/
8:00 PM, 1200 N. Alvarado Bl.
LOS ANGELES AS A CHARACTER
The 2nd annual Los Angeles as a Character screening will be showcased on
Saturday, November 14, 2009, at the Echo Park Film Center. A mixture of
narrative, experimental and documentary short films and videos with the
city of Los Angeles as a peripheral or central theme, backdrop or
character will be shown. 10 films were chosen ranging from acclaimed
urban journalist Mike Sonksen's (aka, "Mike the Poet") "I Am Alive In
Los Angeles!!" (2008) - a vibrant look at the multi-faceted character of
Los Angeles; "Dichotomy" (2009) - a short documentary by Laotian-born
Van Veng reflecting the disparities between two distinct types of urban
dwellers in downtown LA; Teenager Stephanie Cisneros' acclaimed "Echo
Park: A Different View" (2005) captures a specific moment in time when
gentrification began in Echo Park; film fest favorite "Homeless in
Hollywood" (2009) by Hollis McLachlan follows an Australian emigrant who
refuses to abandon his dream of acting despite having to live on the
streets and curator Charles Doran screens his award-winning narrative
"Ennui," described as "a horrific and comedic pastiche of the
pretensions of the art school crowd, white guilt, and the 'posthuman
condition." Other films include: "The New Los Angeles"(2009) – dir. Will
O'Loughlen – a two minute field guide to making a better city, shot
entirely on a Flip HD Camera. "Sunset to Sunset"(2009) – dir. Kent
Hayward – a Super-8 mm time-lapse walk across LA starting at Sunset
Junction in Silverlake, down Santa Monica Blvd. to the beach. "Los
Angeles Through the Looking Glass"(2008) – dir. Jonathan Emrys – A photo
essay, put into video format, attempting to characterize Los Angeles
from the point of view of its relationship to the motion picture capitol
of the world, Hollywood. "Naked Slave 4 Art Infomercial #2"(2009) -
Johnny Naked. An infomercial soliciting the viewer to be part of the Los
Angeles/Hollywood dream by inviting them to participate in the sale of a
human being to be used as a personal art object/slave. "Misanthropia"
(2009) - Jackie McBride. A timely story (told in depressingly grainy
Super-8 b&w), about one man's downward spiral after being laid off and
forced into a dispiriting temp job at the college he got his degree
from. More information on the films and filmmakers can be found here:
www.LAasaCharacter.org The Echo Park Film Center is located at: 1200 N.
Alvarado Street, (@ Sunset Blvd), Los Angeles, CA 90026 Tickets are
$5.00 and are available on the evening of the show
11/14
New York, New York: Margaret Mead Film & Video Festival, American Museum of Natural History
http://www.amnh.org/programs/mead/2009/
4:30pm, 77th Street between Central Park West and Columbus Avenue
IMMOKALEE, MY HOME
Immokalee, Florida, is at the heart of industrial agriculture in the
United States. It also has the largest population of migrant farm
workers in the state. These workers live in slave-like conditions: some
are beaten, not given food or water, or not paid. Yet they continue to
come from their homes in Mexico, Guatemala, and Haiti to earn money on
these modern-day plantations. Visiting tomato fields, workers' homes,
carnivals, and churches, the documentary recounts the community's
struggle for farm workers' rights. What ultimately emerges is a tale of
persistent hope for a better life. Directors Kevin T. Allen and Jennifer
Heuson in person. World Premiere. Film precedes The Unforbidden City --
A beer peddler bikes through the narrow alleyways of Beijing's
fourteenth-century neighborhood known as Source Street. As he rides,
collecting empties and delivering full bottles, he introduces us to
other area residents. The grumpy Dong Tongju works in central heating.
Gao Li fantasizes about a life as a lady of leisure, with the time to
have her nails done and find just the right sofa. Old Wang meticulously
records in his diary the banalities of each day, including the high
temperature. Just beyond the tightly packed warren of single-story
houses stands the gleaming National Grand Theater and the wide, freshly
paved road leading out to the modern high-rises that represent the
future of this forever expanding city. As a steady beat of pick axes,
sledge hammers, and bulldozers closes in on their homes, the residents
alternately prepare and despair for the day when Beijing's historic
heart has no more room for them.
11/14
New York, New York: Margaret Mead Film & Video Festival, American Museum of Natural History
http://www.amnh.org/programs/mead/2009/
4PM , 77th Street between Central Park West and Columbus Avenue
PERESTROIKA: RECONSTRUCTION OF A FLAT
Once the seat of the Russian Empire, the Baroque historic center of St.
Petersburg is up for sale. Having had its architectural jewels hacked up
into komunalka during the Communist era, the city is now experiencing
the wake of perestroika reforms, where communal property promises
capitalist-sized profits. In one flat on Marat Street, each of the four
rooms is inhabited by a different family, all of whom share the bathroom
and kitchen. When one owner decides to put her room on the market, she
must also convince the others to sell. Enter the self-interested real
estate agents and impatient buyers, and a frenzied unraveling of the
already tenuous relationships ensues. As witness to the many intrigues
involved in the sale, filmmaker Christiane Büchner brings us along for a
sardonic ride with intractable neighbors through the cramped quarters,
peeling-paint hallways, and water-damaged ceilings of Russia's new
economy, which in the end head-butts against its Byzantine past.
Director Christiane Büchner in person.
11/14
New York, New York: Margaret Mead Film & Video Festival, American Museum of Natural History
http://www.amnh.org/programs/mead/2009/
5:30pm, 77th Street between Central Park West and Columbus Avenue
HOW I AM AND SPEECH MEMORY
HOW I AM"I'm like a hermit on an island," is how Patrick, an autistic
teenager, describes himself. Trapped in his own body, he attempts to
reach others with "talk written down," his own poetic prose, which acts
as a free-form guide through this intimate portrait of a disability.
With a delicate hand, the filmmakers show Patrick's discomfort with the
outer world of family and school as well as his affinity for the natural
world. As the camera tries to reach through his disability, Patrick
himself reveals the limitations of language as an expression of an inner
life. SPEECH MEMORY Father and daughter try to build a posthumous
portrait of the filmmaker's Korean grandfather. Born deaf in Japan
during its occupation of Korea, Key Jin Yun was raised learning only to
write and sign in Japanese. After Japan's defeat in 1945, the occupation
ended and the boy and his family returned to Korea. Through the details
of Key Jin Yun's life, Speech Memory examines the impact of immigration
and cultural assimilation, revealing the shifting complexities of
language, national identity, and memory. Filmmakers in Person
11/14
New York, New York: Margaret Mead Film & Video Festival, American Museum of Natural History
http://www.amnh.org/programs/mead/2009/
6:30pm, 77th Street between Central Park West and Columbus Avenue
BABAJI, AN INDIAN LOVE STORY
Baba Basant Rai buried his wife nine years ago, and yet still grieves.
Prescribing and preparing traditional remedies, Babaji, as he is
affectionately called, attends to the community outside Hazaribagh, in
Jharkhand, India, curing fevers and stomach ailments as well as
exorcising the malevolent ghosts that walk among them. As knowledgeable
and accomplished as he is in using the natural world to help the sick,
Babaji was unable to save his beloved wife. Digging a grave next to
hers, he lies down in it and waits for death. Meanwhile, the people of
the town depend on Babaji, who is rumored to be more than 100 years old.
They marvel at his eccentricity and longevity, regarding him as a "star"
and their road to possible notoriety. A portrait of one man's sorrow,
the film is also a window into traditional Indian culture, its beauty
and limitations, and how it struggles to accommodate, and resist,
modernity. Director Jiska Rickels in person. US PREMIERE
11/14
New York, New York: Margaret Mead Film & Video Festival, American Museum of Natural History
http://www.amnh.org/programs/mead/2009/
6:30pm, 77th Street between Central Park West and Columbus Avenue
THE LIVING
Fed by four major rivers, Ukraine is a land of fertile steppes that used
to be known as the Breadbasket of the Soviet Union. A Slavic culture
that was once the hub of Europe, 20th century Ukraine has been carved up
and dominated successively by Russians, Austro-Hungarians, and Soviets,
all of whom recognized its strategic value. When Stalin implemented
forced collectivization as part of his Five Year Plan to industrialize
and de-privatize the USSR, he ordered Communist officials in the Ukraine
to starve the resistant rural population. The resulting Holodomor was
witnessed by few outsiders; one of these, British journalist Gareth
Jones, left behind evidence in his personal diaries. While sharing
entries of these piercing, first-hand accounts, director Sergiy Bukovsky
juxtaposes propaganda cinema of the era showing a happy, productive
peasant population against snippets of testimony of Holodomor survivors.
Children at the time, these witnesses' scattered remembrances slowly fit
together to complete a horrific chapter in Soviet history, which cost
the lives of 25,000 Ukrainians each day. Filmmaker in person, US
PREMIERE
11/14
New York, New York: Margaret Mead Film & Video Festival, American Museum of Natural History
http://www.amnh.org/programs/mead/2009/
8:30pm, 77th Street between Central Park West and Columbus Avenue
WONDROUS WORLD OF LAUNDRY
Freshly laundered sheets, crisp tablecloths, and fluffy bath towels
adorn the bedrooms, dining rooms, and bath racks of Berlin's finest
hotels. Surprising at it seems, those clean white linens are washed,
dried, and pressed not at a nearby Berlin laundry but across the River
Odra in a small town in neighboring Poland. Taking his camera to
Widuchowa, German filmmaker Hans-Christian Schmid tours the border town
where Fliegel Textile provides 24-hour turnaround service to its hotel
clients. By meeting some of the female employees and their families, the
film quietly exposes how the global marketplace is affecting small-town
eastern Europe, where labor is cheaper and life is harder. Working
shifts on a rotating seven-day, 24-hour schedule interferes with family
life, so everyone, including the children, pitch in to ensure the
housework and the cooking get done. But nurturing relationships with
wives, husbands, and children requires more than paying the bills and
ticking off chores, and as the lure of better-paying jobs calls more
townspeople abroad, these workers struggle to keep their families
together. US PREMIERE
11/14
New York, New York: School of Visual Arts
http://www.mediamodes.com
10 a.m. - 5:30 p.m., School of Visual Arts
MEDIAMODES
The School of Visual Arts presents MediaModes, an interdisciplinary
graduate conference on critical thinking at the intersection of art and
technology, with a keynote address by noted critic and scholar Jonathan
Crary. The conference will be held Saturday, November 19th at the SVA
Theatre, 333 West 23 Street, New York City. All events are free and open
to the public. For more information and a schedule of events, please
visit www.mediamodes.com.
11/14
New York, New York: Millennium Film Workshop
http://www.millenniumfilm.org/
8 PM, 66 East 4th St
VENTANA AL SUR: AN EVENING OF ARGENTINE EXPERIMENTAL FILMS
This rollicking evening of challenging, expressive and oppositional
Argentine cinema offers a window onto makers shredding formal niceties,
relishing in risk and daring to access the sublime. From an achingly
beautiful evocation of an hourglass to a darkly humorous evisceration of
the tenets of the stock market, this program will take us to the land
where summer is winter and winter is summer and render our souls
topsy-turvy for a bit too. For the last two summers NYC experimental
filmmakers Mark Street and Lynne Sachs immersed themselves in the Buenos
Aires film community through a variety of collaborative cinematic
endeavors. In addition to shooting Super 8 movies with their artist
peers in town, Street and Sachs spent time meeting and watching the
works of local moving image makers – some young bucks and some veterans
who have been expanding the parameters of the medium since the early
1960s. Tonight's artists include: Ernesto Baca, Enrique Bernacchini,
Macarena Gagliardi., Ruben Guzman , Narcisa Hirsch, Leandro Katz,
Leandro Listorti, Pablo Marin, Liliana Porter, Tomas Rautenstrauch,
Sergio Subeero, and Diego Trerotola. We will serve sweet dessert churros
and other Argentine delicacies in the lobby before the show. Contact:
Mark Street at email suppressed or Lynne Sachs at
email suppressed
11/14
San Francisco, California: Other Cinema
http://www.othercinema.com/
8:30, 992 Valencia St.
J. KROOT’S 'IT CAME FROM KUCHAR,' WITH GEORGE & MIKE! +
Two legends of underground filmmaking—twin brothers George and Mike
Kuchar—are the subjects of Jennifer Kroot's new doc, affording a
hilarious and at times bittersweet intro to these Mission-based
kitsch-meisters. Since the '50s, when the teenaged twins wowed the art
world with their 8mm extravaganzas, they have continued their
low-budget, totally idiosyncratic pursuit of cinematic expression.
Alongside Warhol and Anger, the Kuchar brothers were pioneering members
of the '60s New York underground, and they've since inspired John
Waters, Guy Maddin, Pedro Almodovar, Todd Solondz, and thousands more.
Director Kroot is here in the flesh to present her stars and answer
questions, before the show climaxes with the '65 'Sins of the
Fleshapoids.' Free wine, $8.
-------------------------
SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 2009
-------------------------
11/15
Los Angeles, California: Filmforum
http://www.lafilmforum.org/
7:30 pm, Echo Park Film Center, 1200 Alvarado Street (at Sunset)
LOS ANGELES FILMFORUM PRESENTS D.W. GRIFFITH IN CALIFORNIA, WITH TALK BY
TOM GUNNING
For fans of early film, and of Southern California history! We're
delighted to host the internationally-renowned film scholar Tom Gunning,
who will talk about Griffith's time in California, and these selected,
rarely screened films made in So Cal in the years before World War I.
All in 16mm with live musical accompaniment by Cliff Retallick. Films:
Man's Genesis (1912, 17 min); The New Dress (1911, 17 min.); The
Massacre (1914, 20 min); The Unchanging Sea (1910, 14 min.); The Sands
of Dee (1912, 17 min); The Female of the Species (1912, 17 min) Los
Angeles Filmforum, at the Echo Park Film Center, 1200 N. Alvarado Street
(@ Sunset Blvd), Los Angeles CA 90026. 213-484-8846. Sunday November 15,
2009. 7:30 pm. General admission $10, students/seniors $6, free for
Filmforum members.
11/15
New York, New York: Margaret Mead Film & Video Festival, American Museum of Natural History
http://www.amnh.org/programs/mead/2009/
4pm, 77th Street between Central Park West and Columbus Avenue
DJ SPOOKY AND THE SCIENCE OF TERRA NOVA
Join us for a behind-the-scenes peek of the latest multimedia creation
by Paul D. Miller, aka DJ Spooky, whose Rebirth of a Nation redefined
D.W. Griffith's racist 1915 film about the American Civil War. With
Terra Nova: Sinfonia Antarctic, he turns his attention to global climate
change, specifically its effects on the world's only uninhabited
landmass, Antarctica. Using sounds recorded during a visit to the frozen
continent and images culled from AMNH archives, DJ Spooky demonstrates
how he created Terra Nova, discussing his project with Heidi Cullen,
director of communications and senior research scientist at Climate
Central, a nonprofit foundation created to provide science-based
assessments of climate change and options for addressing it. Andrew C.
Revkin, an environmental reporter for The New York Times, whose Dot
Earth blog examines efforts to balance human affairs with the planet's
limits, will moderate the event.
11/15
New York, New York: Margaret Mead Film & Video Festival, American Museum of Natural History
http://www.amnh.org/programs/mead/2009/
6pm, 77th Street between Central Park West and Columbus Avenue
BLIND LOVES
Sitting around the parlor one afternoon in their home in Levoča,
Slovakia, Peter and Iveta imagine an underwater world, him noodling on
the piano, her knitting vigorously. Director Juraj Lehotský obliges the
married couple's fantasies, rendering them in a fanciful vignette. But
neither Peter nor Iveta can see it. They are both blind. Combining
moody, low-light cinematography, an artist's eye for composition, and a
sharp ear for quotidian sounds, Blind Loves depicts the day-to-day world
of the blind, rich in other sensory experiences. NY Premiere
-------------------------
MONDAY, NOVEMBER 16, 2009
-------------------------
11/16
New York: Anthology Film Archives
http://www.anthologyfilmarchives.org/
8: 00 pm, 32 2nd Avenue
PERFORMA: FUTURIST LIFE REDUX
FUTURIST LIFE REDUX Commissioned by Performa with SFMOMA. Co-presented
by Performa and Anthology Film Archives for Performa 09. The only
officially 'Futurist' film ever made, VITA FUTURISTA (FUTURIST LIFE) was
devised in 1916 by a committee of Futurist artists including Arnaldo
Ginna, Giacomo Balla, Remo Chiti, Bruno Corra, and F.T. Marinetti.
Comprised of eleven independent segments conceived and written by
different artists – with the whole film shot, edited, and generally
overseen by Ginna – FUTURIST LIFE directly took up several ideas
proposed in "The Futurist Cinema" manifesto written earlier in the same
year, contrasting the spirit and lifestyle of the Futurist with that of
the ordinary man in a series of humorous sketches, many of which used
experimental techniques such as split screens and double exposures. The
final, 40-minute FUTURIST LIFE premiered at the Niccolini Theatre in
Florence in 1917, as part of a program with four sintesi (very short
plays) by Emilio Settimelli and Corra, and live poetry readings by
Settimelli and Chiti of the works of several Futurist writers. It was a
failure with the audience, who threw stones and other objects at the
screen, and was generally forgotten soon after it came out. The only
known copy of this film was lost several decades ago, and now all that
remain are written accounts by Ginna and the journal L'ITALIA FUTURISTA,
as well as a few still images. Now, for the Performa 09 biennial,
Performa and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA) have joined
together to commission a diverse group of thirteen contemporary American
film and video artists – Trisha Baga, Chamecki-Lerner, Martha Colburn,
Ben Coonley, Lynn Hershman, George Kuchar, Shana Moulton, Shannon Plumb,
Aida Ruilova, Matthew Silver & Shoval Zohar (The Future), and Michael
Smith – to create their own, 3-5 minute versions of the eleven segments
in VITA FUTURISTA, re-imagining this film in relation to our own future.
These shorts will then be compiled into one, all-new version of FUTURIST
LIFE for the 21st century, making its New York premiere at Anthology on
this evening. Curated by Lana Wilson (Performa) with Andrew Lampert
(Anthology). Special thanks to RoseLee Goldberg (Performa) and Frank
Smigiel (SFMOMA).
11/16
Toronto, Ontario, Canada: Early Monthly Segments
http://earlymonthlysegments.org/
7:30 PM, Gladstone Hotel Art Bar, 1214 Queen Street West
EARLY MONTHLY SEGMENTS #9 = ROBERT TODD IN PERSON
Robert Todd is the most prolific of filmmakers, completing forty films
in the last ten years alone. Trained as a painter, Todd carefully
observes his Boston surroundings and re-presents them to us with an
astute sense of form. His films are works of magnification, employing
macro-focus lenses, and an eye for detail that bring us closer to levels
of reality we often miss. His films can reveal the forgotten beauty of
the natural world or the hidden stillness in busy parts of the city. The
works in this program date from the last three years and wrestle with
themes such as the corporeal elements of the body; places and moments of
passage; and the fleeting glimpses of, or hauntings by, spirit. *Special
thanks to Ben Donoghue and LIFT for helping to make this event possible*
Programme: Interplay, Robert Todd, 16mm, 2006, USA, 6.5 min. Qualities
of Stone, Robert Todd, 16mm, 2006, USA, 11 min. Dig, Robert Todd, 16mm,
2007, USA, 3 min. Passing, Robert Todd, 16mm, 2008, USA, 4 min.
Antechamber, Robert Todd, 16mm, 2008, USA, 12 min. Rose, Robert Todd,
16mm, 2008, USA, 9 min. Repair, Robert Todd, 16mm, 2009, USA, 15 min. @
the Art Bar, Gladstone Hotel | 1214 Queen St West Tuesday November 17,
2009 | 7:30pm screening, $5 *Robert Todd's Stable will be showing at a
LIFT screening November 21 at Trash Palace, 89-B Niagara Street (Just
West of Bathurst). More info at www.lift.on.ca
http://www.earlymonthlysegments.org
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TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 17, 2009
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11/17
Berkeley, California: Pacific Film Archive
http://www.bampfa.berkeley.edu/
7:30 PM, 2575 Bancroft Way
JESTERS AND GESTURES: PERFORMING YIDDISH CULTURE FROM SILENT CINEMA TO
AVANT-GARDE FILM
Films by Abraham Ravett: Everything's For You ( 1989) , 58 min., 16mm
----- The March ( 1999). 25 min., 16mm--- "non-Aryan" ( 2009) 12 min.,
16mm
11/17
Jamaica Plain, MA: JP Tuesday Club
http://www.loring-greenough.org
7:30 pm, Loring Greenough House, 12 South St
BY THE WATERS OF BOSTON
A night of film and video by Saul Levine and Adam Paradis. If you like
challenging cinema and cozy atmosphere, we'd like to see you at the
third monthly film screening at the Loring-Greenough House in JP. The
doors open at 7pm, and the show begins at 7:30. Admission is $4. Bring a
friend and pass it on.
11/17
Reading, Pennsylvania: Berks Filmmakers, Inc
www.berksfilmmakers.org
7:30 pm, Albright College
ORPHEE
Orphee (1947, 95 min.) by JEAN COCTEAU In this, the second of Cocteau's
Orpheus trilogy, Cocteau employs his unique blend of French classical
and surrealist/modernist mise-en-scene. The filmmaker (artist, poet,
novelist, playwright) described the ideal viewer of his films as one
"open to my dream and agree[ing] to be put to sleep and to dream it with
me (accepting the logic by which dreams operate, which is implacable,
although it is not governed by our logic). I am only talking about the
mechanics, since Orphée is not at all a dream in itself: through a
wealth of detail similar to that which we find in dreams, it summarizes
my way of living and my conception of life."And in the same text :
"Mirrors: we watch ourselves grow old in mirrors. They bring us closer
to death." -Jean Cocteau, The Art of Cinema
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WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 18, 2009
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11/18
Chicago, Illinois: Gallery 400
http://gallery400.blogspot.com/2009/10/hydroacoustic-show.html
7:00pm, 400 S. Peoria Street
THE HYDROACOUSTIC SHOW
At 20,000 leagues below the sea everyone can hear you scream – that's
the nature of sound and water after all, and (maybe) that's why we call
all those vibrations dazzling our skulls by the oceanic descriptor
WAVEFORMS. Just ask Alex Halsted – she was born into water, under water,
knows wet and sound better than all of us combined. For the last month
in Gallery 400 she's been humoring our earth-ears with her rhythmic
pulses, and now it's time to return the favor. And so, submitted for her
approval: an aqua-opera in 7 stanzas, a capital-SEA-composition in as
many verses. From that silent surface (Hutton) to the scratch and curl
of the fevered deep (Gatten); betwixt a siren-spongebob-song (Best) and
a flicker score for the Red Sea (Holthuis); with whale chorus (Clark),
octo-electronica (Painleve), and gurgling pop tune (Rist) – this is a
kino-song for the best Nigerian Elephant-nosed Fish we'll ever know.
Here's To You, Alex. FEATURING: Study of A River by Peter Hutton (16:00,
16mm, 1996-97), What the Water Said Nos 4-7 by David Gatten (17:00,
16mm, 2007), Crank Dat Soulja Boy Spongebob by Masta Best (3:46, video,
2007), Amours de la pieuvre (Love Life of the Octopus) by Jean Painleve
(14:00, 16mm on video, 1965), I'm a Victim of This Song by Pipilotti
Rist (5:06, video, 1995), Marsa Abu Galawa by Gerard Holthuis (15:00,
35mm on video, 2004), Sound Over Water by Mary Helena Clark (6:00, 16mm,
2009)
11/18
New York, New York: Bluestockings & Change You Want to See
7:00, Bluestockings, 172 Allen Street
ORANGE ALTERNATIVE: SCREENING & DISCUSSION NOV 18 & 19
Each event will include a presentation, film/video screening, and
discussion. Different films will be screened each night. Wednesday,
November 18, 2009, 7:00 pm Bluestockings Bookstore 172 Allen Street @
Stanton, NY, NY Films: The Orange Alternative, 1989, Mirosław
Dembiński (21 min.) Dwarves go to Ukraine, 2005, Mirosław
Dembińskim (on the OA action in the Orange Revolution in 2004)
Thursday, November 19, 2009, 7:30 pm The Change You Want to See 84
Havemeyer Street, Storefront, Brooklyn, NY Films: Major or the
Revolution of Dwarves, 1989, Maria Zmarz-Koczanowicz (40 min.) Dwarf for
the Mayor, 2003, Mirosław Dembiński (36 min.) (on the OA's
election campaign for the City Council in Warsaw) About the Orange
Alternative: The Orange Alternative is an underground anarchic movement,
which was started in 1981 in Wroclaw, south-west Poland, by Waldemar
Fydrych aka "Major." Somewhat inspired by Provos, and strongly
influenced by Dadaism and Surrealism, it painted absurd graffiti dwarfs
on city walls, which became its symbol and organized massive happenings
oftentimes with participation of thousands of people wearing dwarf hats.
It was one of the more picturesque elements of Eastern European
opposition against communism. website: www.orange-alternative.org
Waldemar "Major" Fydrych was born in Torun, Poland on April 8, 1953.
Graduated in History and Art History at the University of Wroclaw.
Founder of the Orange Alternative. In March 1988, he was arrested for
distributing women's hygienic napkins in the street. Sentenced to three
months of prison but released following public uproar.
11/18
San Francisco, California: Artists Television Access
http://www.atasite.org/
8pm. $6., 992 Valencia St. at 21st
FREE FORM FILM SERIES LAY DOWN TRACKS
Five American nomads "hit the road" in this sprawling 16mm documentary
feature. A beautiful and remarkable love letter to travel. Dir: Danielle
Lombardi and Brigid McCaffrey Additional Films: Fledgeling - Tony Gault,
Elizabeth Henry (Denver, Co) Faces on Mars - David Borengasser (San
Francisco) CLOSING PERFORMANCE: Live Performance by Add Oil
11/18
Smithfield, NC, USA: Ava Gardner Independent Film Festival
7:30m, 109 South Third Street
AVA GARDNER INDEPENDENT FILM FESTIVAL
The Third Annual Ava Gardner Independent Film Festival celebrates Ava's
passion for the Arts and her love for Independent Films, live music,
parties, and so much more. November 18-21, 2009
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THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 19, 2009
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11/19
Chicago, Illinois: Conversations at the Edge
http://www.saic.edu/cateblog
6pm, 164 N. State St
LOOK FOR ME: ANIMATED FILMS BY LAURA HEIT
Laura Heit in person! Poignant and smart, the animated films of puppet
artist and SAIC alumna Laura Heit employ stop-motion, live action
puppetry, hand-drawing, and computer animation. Heit is the co-director
of the experimental animation department at CalArts and her
award-winning work has screened extensively at museums and film
festivals around the world. This program showcases her films from the
last twelve years and features a special live performance of her
acclaimed puppet-show-in miniature, The Matchbox Shows. Films include:
Parachute (1997), an allegory following a young woman as she leaves
home; Collapse (2002), a 2D computer animation tracing a single tragic
moment; The Amazing, Mysterious and True Story of Mary Anning and Her
Monsters (2003), about the little-known paleontologist Mary Anning; and
Look For Me (2005), a Channel 4 UK television commission imagining one's
own invisibility. 1997–2005, USA, multiple formats, ca. 65 min.
11/19
San Francisco, California: Artists Television Access
http://www.atasite.org/
7pm Door, 8PM $5, 992 Valencia St. at 21st
OPEN SCREENING: THE WEST WE WON
ATA's open screening is the only monthly open submissions screening in
the Bay Area. Get your work out there! Get feedback! Or just come and
take it all in! One hour of shorts are accepted monthly on an open
revolving basis, anything goes with the screened work, and the
refreshments are pretty good too. $5, FREE admission for contributing
artists. Door:7:30pm Projector: 8pm Not a filmmaker? Come and hang out
with us anyway: Enjoy the atmosphere, the art, the movies, the people,
the refreshments Submissions: Label all tapes w/ name, contact, title
and length. Mail to: Openscreening, 992 Valencia, SF, 94110 1-2 week
advance submissions strongly recommended. If not. . . it is all good.
Max length: 15 min. Formats: DVD, miniDV/DVcam, VHS, beta, 8mm and 16mm
All genres. More Info: contact Katy at email suppressed
11/19
San Francisco, California: San Francisco Cinematheque
http://www.sfcinematheque.org
7:00 pm, SFMOMA -- 151 Third Street (between Mission and Howard)
DEBORAH STRATMAN: O’ER THE LAND
Deborah Stratman in-person -- [members: $7 / non-members: $10] ----- A
committed cinematic explorer, Deborah Stratman's essayistic film work
resembles that of James Benning and Vanessa Renwick in its examination
of landscape and locale as well as its poetic contemplation of ideology
and belief. Presented as a series of patient observances of competitive
spectacle and masculine display, her epic "O'er the Land" channels the
dark side of the American psyche, presenting a savagely poetic
meditation on the contemporary culture of violence, territoriality and
patriotism through studies of gun culture, war reenactments and border
conflicts. Including a telling of the story of Lt. Colonel William
Rankin -- a USMC pilot who survived being trapped in the updrafts of a
thunderstorm for forty-five minutes following an emergency ejection at
48,000 feet -- O'er the Land describes a stark and disturbing world of
survivors and warriors. Yet against this grim backdrop, a rich, even
redemptive exposition of the American landscape emerges. Also screening:
Stratman's Paranormal Trilogy ("How Among The Frozen Words", "It Will
Die Out in the Mind" and "The Magician's House") and her 1993 film
"Palimpsest."
11/19
Smithfield, NC, USA: Ava Gardner Independent Film Festival
http://www.myspace.com/AvaGardnerFilmFestival
noonish, 109 South Third Street
AVA GARDNER INDEPENDENT FILM FESTIVAL
The Third Annual Ava Gardner Independent Film Festival celebrates Ava's
passion for the Arts with Independent Films, live music, parties, and so
much more. November 18-21, 2009
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FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 2009
(continued in next email)
__________________________________________________________________
For info on FrameWorks, contact Pip Chodorov at <email suppressed>.