From: Weekly Listing (email suppressed)
Date: Sat Nov 14 2009 - 09:10:51 PST
Part 2 of 2: This week [November 14 - 22, 2009] in avant garde cinema
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11/20
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: Film @ International House
http://www.ihousephilly.org/hollisframpton.htm
7pm, 3701 Chestnut Sreet
HOLLIS FRAMPTON’S HAPAX LEGOMENA
Film @ International House Friday, November 20 + Saturday, November 21
Hollis Frampton's Hapax Legomena Introduced by Rebecca Sheehan, The
University of Pennsylvania and Haverford College Hapax Legomena are,
literally, 'things said once'. The scholarly jargon refers to those
words that occur only a single time in the entire oeuvre of an author,
or in a whole literature. – Hollis Frampton Hollis Frampton –
photographer, theoretician, philosopher and, above all, filmmaker – is
one of the towering figures of American avant-garde cinema. Possessed of
a frighteningly prodigious and wide-ranging intellect, he was a
voracious reader from childhood, and his films abound with evidence of
his fascination with linguistics, science, mathematics and philosophy.
Frampton was active as a filmmaker for only a decade-and-a-half (his
career cut tragically short by his death from cancer in 1984). But in
that brief time he created a breathtakingly ambitious body of work,
whose range and inventiveness are unsurpassed. Frampton's seven-part
Hapax Legomena is arguably his greatest completed achievement. While its
various parts can each stand alone, together they form a complex and
quasi-symphonic whole – an enigmatic structuralist 'autobiography', a
series of investigations into the possibilities of filmmaking, and a
playful and dazzling encyclopedia of the cinema that is perhaps the
closest thing avant-garde film has to Bach's "Well-Tempered Clavier".
Puzzling, conceptually daring, and at times disarmingly comic, Hapax
Legomena is one of the pinnacles of experimental film. Hapax Legomena
was preserved through a major cooperative effort funded by the National
Film Preservation Foundation and undertaken by the Museum of Modern Art,
Anthology Film Archives, the New York University Moving Image Archiving
and Preservation Program and Bill Brand, professor in the NYU program
and project conservator. Friday, November 20 at 7pm Hapax Legomena
Program I Nostalgia - Hapax Legomena I dir. Hollis Frampton, US, 1971,
16mm, 36 mins, b/w [T]he time it takes for a photograph to burn (and
thus confirm its two-dimensionality) becomes the clock within the film,
while Frampton plays the critic, asynchronously glossing, explicating,
narrating, mythologizing his earlier art, and his earlier life, as he
commits them both to the fire of a labyrinthine structure; for Borges
too was one of his earlier masters, and he grins behind the facades of
logic, mathematics, and physical demonstration which are the formal
metaphors for most of Frampton's films. – P Adams Sitney Poetic Justice
- Hapax Legomena Il dir. Hollis Frampton, US, 1972, 16mm, 31 mins, b/w,
silent Frampton presents us with a 'scenario' of extreme complexity in
which the themes of sexuality, infidelity, voyeurism are 'projected' in
narrative sequence entirely through the voice telling the tale – again
it is the first person singular speaking, however, in the present tense
and addressing the characters as 'you,' 'your lover,' and referring to
an 'I'. We see, on screen, only the physical aspect of a script, papers
resting on a table…and the projection is that of a film as consonant
with the projection of the mind. – Annette Michelson Critical Mass -
Hapax Legomena Ill dir. Hollis Frampton, US, 1971, 16mm, 26 mins, b/w As
a work of art I think [it] is quite universal and deals with all
quarrels (those between men and women, or men and men, or women and
women, or children, or war. It is war!... It is very funny, and rather
obviously so. It is a magic film in that you can enjoy it, with greater
appreciation, each time you look at it. Most aesthetic experiences are
not enjoyable on the surface. You have to look at them a number of times
before you are able to fully enjoy them, but this one stands up at once,
and again and again, and is amazingly clear. – Stan Brakhage Free
admission IHouse members above Internationalist level; $5
Internationalists; $6 students + seniors; $8 general admission. In
advance at TICKETWEB or 1/2 hour before showtime at The Ibrahim Theater
Box Office.
11/20
San Francisco, California: Artists Television Access
http://www.atasite.org/
Galley at 12Pm,screening at 7:30 pm, 992 Valencia St. at 21st
EXHIBICION LUMINOSA
The potential of light will be explored in a variety of ways at this
day-long exhibition and nighttime performances curated by Luis Garcia
and Cyrus Tabar. Harnessing the energy of the Sun, ATA goes off the grid
by powering the show via solar panel and rechargeable batteries! Enjoy
the works of Luca Antonucci, Nick Cope, Luis Garcia, Hailey Loman,
Harvey Newman, Kathy Nguyen, Daniel Small and Cyrus Tabar in an
open-gallery setting from 12pm-7pm. Then brace yourselves for an evening
of optic and sonic mind-melting marvels! Shimomitsu and Softserve's
aural soundscapes push things forward from 7:30pm------
11/20
San Francisco, California: San Francisco Cinematheque
http://www.sfcinematheque.org
5:00 pm, San Francisco Art Institute -- 800 Chestnut (between Jones and Leavenworth)
“ONE DAY WHEN I WAS GROWING UP IN THE ‘60S…”: A LECTURE BY YVONNE RAINER
Uncertain Relations: Yvonne Rainer in Residence -- Yvonne Rainer
in-person. Presented in collaboration with the San Francisco Art
Institute Graduate Division, Spheres of Interest: Experiments in
Thinking & Action, the graduate lecture series, directed by Renée Green,
Dean of Graduate Studies. ---- Distinguished Professor in the Claire
Trevor School of the Arts at UC Irvine, Yvonne Rainer began her career
as a dancer and choreographer in the 1950s. In the early '70s, after
nearly twenty years working in modern dance, she turned her attentions
to filmmaking. Over the subsequent twenty-five years, she made seven
experimental feature films, including Lives of Performers, The Man Who
Envied Women and MURDER and murder. Encouraged by a commission from the
Baryshnikov Dance Foundation, she returned to choreography in 2000 for
the White Oak Dance Project. Recent work includes choreography on AG
Indexical, with a little help from H.M. (a revision of Balanchine's
Agon), RoS Indexical (a revision of Nijinsky's Rite of Spring) and
Spiraling Down (a meditation on soccer, aging and war), as well as a
video installation for a traveling solo gallery exhibition comprising
dance and texts that touch on art and politics in fin-de-siècle Vienna.
Rainer published a memoir, Feelings Are Facts: A Life, in 2006.
11/20
Smithfield, NC, USA: Ava Gardner Independent Film Festival
http://www.myspace.com/AvaGardnerFilmFestival
noonish till midnight, 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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SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 21, 2009
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11/21
Chicago, Illinois: White Light Cinema
http://www.whitelightcinema.com
8:00pm, The Nightingale (1084 N. Milwaukee Ave.)
THE SEARCH: NEW VIDEOS BY KYLE CANTERBURY
For the past several years Kyle Canterbury has been quietly, in the
shadows, creating a stunning body of work. His videos are among the
richest expressions of cinema of the last several decades. His eye for
color and texture, rhythm and composition, rival many of the masters of
experimental film. But comparisons are facile - Canterbury is working
different terrain. He is rooting to the primal essence of the video
medium unlike anyone before. ***** In the last year or two, Canterbury
has moved from a more formal exploration of video specificity to
something less definable. His recent landscape works (for lack of a
better description) are ineffable, hauntingly beautiful pieces that
frequently operate at the margins of movement. Tiny, almost
imperceptible, gestures create micro-rhythms and call for an actively
engaged viewer. ***** Whether it is the Utah desert, a formal garden, or
the screen of a window, Canterbury is not so much concerned with what we
see as he is with how we see it. ***** Program: On the Ground (2008, 9
min, video); The Search (2008, 19 min, video); From Fragments (2009, 6
min, video); Screen (2009, 4 min, video); Chair (2009, 6 min, video);
January (2009, 11 min, video); Gardens (2009, 24 sec, video); Utah
(2009, 10 min, video); Garden (2009, 10 min, video). Program approx. 76
minutes. Admission: $7.00-10.00 sliding scale.
11/21
New York: Anthology Film Archives
http://www.anthologyfilmarchives.org/
4:00 pm, 32 2nd Avenue
STAN BRAKHAGE PROGRAM
All films are silent. LOVING (1956, 4 minutes, 16mm) THE WEIR-FALCON
SAGA (1970, 29 minutes, 16mm) THE MACHINE OF EDEN (1970, 11 minutes,
16mm) SEXUAL MEDITATION #1: MOTEL (1970, 7 minutes, 16mm) DOOR (1971, 4
minutes, 16mm) SEXUAL MEDITATION: ROOM WITH A VIEW (1971, 4 minutes,
16mm) THE SHORES OF PHOS: A FABLE (1972, 10 minutes, 16mm) THE RIDDLE OF
LUMEN (1972, 14 minutes, 16mm) A selection from some of Brakhage's most
densely mysterious works. "Have you seen a falcon stoop / accurate,
unforeseen / and absolute, between / wind-ripples over harvest? Dead /
of what's to be, is and has been – / were we not better dead? / His
wings churn air / to flight. / Feathers slight / with sun, he rises
where / dazzle rebuts our stare, / wonder our fright." –Basil Bunting,
"The Spoils" Total running time: ca. 90 minutes.
11/21
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: Film @ International House
http://www.ihousephilly.org/hollisframpton.htm
2pm, 3701 Chestnut Sreet
HOLLIS FRAMPTON’S HAPAX LEGOMENA PT. 2
Saturday, November 21 at 2pm Hapax Legomena Program 2 Introduced by
Rebecca Sheehan, The University of Pennsylvania and Haverford College
Hapax Legomena are, literally, 'things said once'. The scholarly jargon
refers to those words that occur only a single time in the entire oeuvre
of an author, or in a whole literature. – Hollis Frampton Hollis
Frampton – photographer, theoretician, philosopher and, above all,
filmmaker – is one of the towering figures of American avant-garde
cinema. Possessed of a frighteningly prodigious and wide-ranging
intellect, he was a voracious reader from childhood, and his films
abound with evidence of his fascination with linguistics, science,
mathematics and philosophy. Frampton was active as a filmmaker for only
a decade-and-a-half (his career cut tragically short by his death from
cancer in 1984). But in that brief time he created a breathtakingly
ambitious body of work, whose range and inventiveness are unsurpassed.
Frampton's seven-part Hapax Legomena is arguably his greatest completed
achievement. While its various parts can each stand alone, together they
form a complex and quasi-symphonic whole – an enigmatic structuralist
'autobiography', a series of investigations into the possibilities of
filmmaking, and a playful and dazzling encyclopedia of the cinema that
is perhaps the closest thing avant-garde film has to Bach's
"Well-Tempered Clavier". Puzzling, conceptually daring, and at times
disarmingly comic, Hapax Legomena is one of the pinnacles of
experimental film. Hapax Legomena was preserved through a major
cooperative effort funded by the National Film Preservation Foundation
and undertaken by the Museum of Modern Art, Anthology Film Archives, the
New York University Moving Image Archiving and Preservation Program and
Bill Brand, professor in the NYU program and project conservator.
Traveling Matte -Hapax Legomena IV dir. Hollis Frampton, US, 1971, 16mm,
34 mins b/w, silent Traveling Matte is the pivot upon which the whole of
Hapax Legomena turns. – Hollis Frampton This film metaphors an entire
human life: birth, sex, death – the framing device is the fingers and
palm of the maker's hand, wherein others only attempt to read the
future. – Stan Brakhage Ordinary Matter - Hapax Legomena V dir. Hollis
Frampton, US, 1972, 16mm, 36 mins, b/w A vision of a journey, during
which the eye of the mind drives headlong through Salisbury Cloister (a
monument to enclosure), Brooklyn Bridge (a monument to connection),
Stonehenge (a monument to the intercourse between consciousness and
LIGHT)… visiting along the way diverse meadows, barns, waters where I
now live; and ending in the remembered cornfields of my childhood. –
Hollis Frampton Remote Control - Hapax Legomena VI dir. Hollis Frampton,
US, 1972, 16mm, 29 mins, b/w "[In Remote Control], the images speed up
to the point where every successive frame is different from every
previous frame, so that if there is an image in it, it's a kind of inner
voice within the images, as sometimes music will have many voices that
can be written out on the paper, and then in the listening the real
shape of the music is to be found in the voice that is generated among
them… It was shot in a single evening, off the tube, right off the
ordinary TV set, in the course of an evening.– Hollis Frampton Special
Effects - Hapax Legomena VII dir. Hollis Frampton, US, 1972, 16mm, 11
mins, b/w I wanted to affirm and honor the film frame itself. Because so
much of what we know now, so much of our experience is something that
comes to us through that frame. It seems to be a kind of synonym for
what we are conscious of. I have only seen the pyramids of Egypt within
that frame. I have only seen – endless things – most of what I believe I
have experienced I have in fact seen at the movies. I've seen it inside
that frame. – Hollis Frampton Free admission IHouse members above
Internationalist level; $5 Internationalists; $6 students + seniors; $8
general admission. In advance at TICKETWEB or 1/2 hour before showtime
at The Ibrahim Theater Box Office.
11/21
San Diego, California: Carousel Microcinema San Diego
http://carouselmicrocinema.wordpress.com/
7:00pm, 2031 El Cajon Blvd., San Diego, CA 92104
CAROUSEL MICROCINEMA #1: TREE CLAPS HAND: GENTLE FILMS FOR TOUGH TIMES
The inaugural program for Carousel Microcinema has been set. The videos
and films in this program place the maker and the viewer in
confrontation with the natural world. Each artist of course has their
own peculiar approach towards the environments that receive their
cameras. Some are elemental, wild, and natural. Others emphasize the
clumsiness of human interventions upon the landscape. All of these
films, I think, share a certain tension between wonderment and
disassociation, romance and horror. These are generous, sensitive works
for these crass drylongso days we're living through. The best thing
about these pieces is that each artist knows when to step back and let
nature take its course. I look forward to writing more about them as the
screening date approaches. And I thank all of the film/videomakers for
their generous participation. –CAULEEN SMITH
11/21
San Francisco, California: Other Cinema
http://www.othercinema.com/
8:30, 992 Valencia St.
OTHER CINEMA: ALCATRAZ ANNIVERSARY
A daring episode in San Francisco history that turned the country upside
down: the occupation of Alcatraz Island by "Indians of All Tribes." In
the opening half, shorts by Ohlone makers, first-ever viewing of slides
from the Alcatraz Newsletter, and films about ancient villages, sacred
sites, and endangered species. After intermission, director James
Fortier introduces his inspirational Alcatraz Is Not an Island, a
stirring record of the epochal event, told with sharp-spoken verse,
superb cinematography, an incredible Native soundtrack, with major
appearances by John Trudell, and Richard Oakes. PLUS poetic pieces by
Ben Wood, Chris Kennedy, and Jesse Drew, representatives from the Int'l
Treaty Council, and a display of rare period posters.
11/21
San Francisco, California: San Francisco Cinematheque
http://www.sfcinematheque.org
7:30 pm, San Francisco Art Institute -- 800 Chestnut (between Jones and Leavenworth)
YVONNE RAINER: JOURNEYS FROM BERLIN/1971
Yvonne Rainer in-person -- Uncertain Relations: Yvonne Rainer in
Residence -- Presented in collaboration with the San Francisco Art
Institute Graduate Division, Spheres of Interest: Experiments in
Thinking & Action, the graduate lecture series, directed by Renée Green,
Dean of Graduate Studies. -- [members: $5 / non-members: $10 / SFAI
students & faculty: free] ----- The films of Yvonne Rainer confront the
personal implications of social and political issues with a keen wit,
inventive sensibility and uncompromising voice. Interweaving narrative
and non-narrative elements while challenging expectations of fact and
fiction, Rainer deconstructs cinematic conventions and creates
subversive filmic explorations that further the immediacy, corporeality
and emotional complexity of her dance and performance work. "Journeys
from Berlin/1971", Rainer's fourth feature, is a groundbreaking
exploration of the personal and political realms of psychiatry,
feminism, terrorism and power. Annette Michelson's psychoanalytic
sessions provide the framework for theoretical and visual
deconstructions -- and a new filmic choreography.
11/21
San Francisco, California: Yerba Buena Center for the Arts
http://www.ybca.org/tickets/production/view.aspx?id=9666
2-4pm, 701 Mission Street
TROPICAL VULTURE: YBCALIVE! GEORGE KUCHAR & MIGUEL CALDERON
Tropical Vulture is a cross-generational project which highlights the
artistic influences between Bay Area artist George Kuchar, a Bay Area
legend of independent filmmaking, and Mexican artist Miguel
Calderón. The exhibition features an experimental narrative video
titled Conversations with a Tropical Vulture. The exhibition features a
preview of the feature length film Conversations with a Tropical Vulture
which will premiere at YBCA in the Fall of 2010. The film, scripted by
both artists with Calderón as the director and Kuchar in the role
of lead actor, blends Hollywood glamour and drama with an all too
real-life approach, which creates and inspires a counterpoint of
unattainable desire against unbearable actuality. Shot on location in
Acapulco, the film utilizes a "low-fi" aesthetic and playful use of
non-professional actors. Photographs and sculptures related to this
commissioned project and earlier videos made by each artist will also be
on view including the US premiere of Calderón's latest video Best
Seller and the world premiere of Kuchar's Burrito Bay, a video diary
about the making of Tropical Vulture. While the artists are in residence
at YBCA, a series of artist talks are planned, moderated by both
Calderón and Kuchar, with Bay Area video and filmmakers. All
events free with gallery admission. Nov. 21: Sam Green Lecture, Gallery
3. As part of Miguel Caldéron and George Kuchar's Tropical Vulture
lecture series, join Academy Award nominated film maker Sam Green as he
lectures and performs several personal key moments—based in film and
visual and performance art that relate to influences within his own film
practice.
11/21
Smithfield, NC, USA: Ava Gardner Independent Film Festival
http://www.myspace.com/AvaGardnerFilmFestival
noonish till midnight, 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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SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 22, 2009
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11/22
Los Angeles, California: Filmforum
http://www.lafilmforum.org/
7:30 pm, Egyptian Theatre, 6712 Hollywood Blvd. at Las Palmas
LOS ANGELES FILMFORUM PRESENTS THE ANN ARBOR FILM FESTIVAL TOUR – PROGRAM
2
The Ann Arbor Film Festival is the original and longest running
independent film festival in the United States, recognized as a premiere
showcase for risk-taking, pioneering and art driven cinema. This program
explores themes of a changing globalized world through personal,
existential journeys and includes films from Paris, London, Winnipeg,
and the U.S. Films: "Cattle Call" (Mike Maryniuk & Matthew Rankin, 4
min); "Utopia, Part 3: The World's Largest Shopping Mall" (Sam Green &
Carrie Lozano, 12 min); "Quiero Ver" (Adele Horne; 6 min); "Skhizein"
(Jeremy Clapin, 14 min); "Retouches" (Georges Schwizgebel, 5 min); "Más
Se Perdió"( Stephen Connolly, 15 min); "Nora" (Alla Kovgan & David
Hinton, 35 min); "Blue Tide, Black Water" (Eve Gordon & Sam Hamilton, 10
min) General admission $10, students/seniors $6, free for Filmforum
members. The Egyptian Theatre has a validation stamp for the Hollywood &
Highland complex. Park 4 hours for $2 with validation.
11/22
New York: Anthology Film Archives
http://www.anthologyfilmarchives.org/
4:00 pm, 32 2nd Avenue
TEXT OF LIGHT
THE TEXT OF LIGHT by Stan Brakhage 1974, 67 minutes, 16mm, silent.
Brakhage's tour-de-force exploration of refracted light in an ashtray.
"All that is, is light." –Dun Scotus Erigena
11/22
New York: Anthology Film Archives
http://www.anthologyfilmarchives.org/
5:30 pm, 32 2nd Avenue
CLAIR/PICABIA/BUNUEL PROGRAM
René Clair and Francis Picabia ENTR'ACTE (1924, 22 minutes, 35mm) A
masterpiece of Dada and a feat of cinema magic. Made as intermission
entertainment for the Ballet Suédois from an impromptu scene by Francis
Picabia. Luis Buñuel and Salvador Dalí UN CHIEN ANDALOU (1928, 22
minutes, 35mm) Twenty-two minutes of pure, scandalous dream-imagery, a
stream of images from which anything that could be given a rational
meaning was rigorously excluded. It's still the unsurpassed masterpiece
of the surrealist cinema. Luis Buñuel LAND WITHOUT BREAD / LAS HURDES:
TIERRA SIN PAN (1932, 28 minutes, 35mm. With English narration.) "A
documentary describing, matter-of-factly, a region of Spain so ravaged
by epidemic poverty that there our worst fantasies find their objective
correlative." –Raymond Durgnat Total running time: ca. 75 minutes. .
11/22
New York: Anthology Film Archives
http://www.anthologyfilmarchives.org/
7:30 pm, 32 2nd Avenue
LOS OLVIDADOS
LOS OLVIDADOS by Luis Buñuel 1950, 88 minutes, 35mm. In Spanish with no
subtitles. English synopsis available. Buñuel's unsentimental view of
Mexico's poor, with equal parts of cruelty and surrealism. A sort of
sequel to LAND WITHOUT BREAD
11/22
San Francisco, California: San Francisco Cinematheque
http://www.sfcinematheque.org
7:30 pm, San Francisco Art Institute -- 800 Chestnut (between Jones and Leavenworth)
YVONNE RAINER: PRIVILEGE
Yvonne Rainer in-person -- Uncertain Relations: Yvonne Rainer in
Residence -- Presented in collaboration with the San Francisco Art
Institute Graduate Division, Spheres of Interest: Experiments in
Thinking & Action, the graduate lecture series, directed by Renée Green,
Dean of Graduate Studies. -- [members: $5 / non-members: $10 / SFAI
students & faculty: free] ----- "Who else could spin hot flashes, Lenny
Bruce, Carmen Miranda and [Eldridge Cleaver's] Soul on Ice into such a
pungent brew?" (The Village Voice) ----- In "Privilege", Rainer takes on
the rarely explored subject of menopause and constructs a fascinating,
witty and complex social critique of empowerment and class while delving
into issues of age, sexuality and race. Rainer plays with narrative
conventions and simultaneously disrupts notions of continuity and
identity, weaving the emotional and fictive realms of melodrama,
documentary, text and archival imagery into a richly textured and
compelling work.
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__________________________________________________________________
For info on FrameWorks, contact Pip Chodorov at <email suppressed>.