From: Weekly Listing (email suppressed)
Date: Sat Feb 20 2010 - 11:05:26 PST
Part 2 of 2: This week [February 20 - 28, 2010] in avant garde cinema
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2/25
Amsterdam, The Netherlands: Sonic Acts
www.sonicacts.com
18:00, Heemraadsplein 16 B
SONIC ACTS FESTIVAL
SONIC ACTS - THE POETICS OF SPACE Spatial explorations in art, science,
music and technology 25 � 28 February 2010, Amsterdam
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------------------------------------------------ � Highlights live
performances & films � New festival website with complete programme
online � Tickets for all Sonic Acts events available now
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------------------------------------------------ � Highlights live
performances & films DEEP SPACES - 25 February 2010 The opening event
Deep Spaces presents a selection of audiovisual adventures in spaces
defined by sound, light, smoke and lasers. Immerse yourself in Thomas
K�ner's mesmerizing spatial sound tapestries, while his colleague,
J�rgen Reble, takes you on a visual journey through the darker side of
his alchemical chemograms. Haswell & Hecker will perform their radical
UPIC Diffusion Session, an infinity of extreme sound and engulfing
lasers. And Monolake and Tarik Barri will transport you through their
spatial audiovisual universe.
http://2010.sonicacts.com/programme/thursday/deep-spaces EXPANDED SPACE
- 26 February 2010 The Expanded Space programme revisits the heyday of
Expanded Cinema. The magnificent film Color Sound Frames by Paul Sharits
is dusted off for the big screen, Bruce McClure will show us a new
performance he made with beautiful 16mm recordings of pelicans, from a
1950s nature documentary, and Greg Pope en Gert-Jan Prins will join
forces to bring an homage to the 70s solid light film Line Describing A
Cone by Anthony McCall.
http://2010.sonicacts.com/programme/friday/expanded-space ACOUSTIC
SPACES - 27 February 2010 This more than four-hour-long programme is
devoted to various approaches to soundscape composition and features
works produced by several generations of composers and musicians. From
acoustic ecology to extreme field recordings: BJ Nilsen will present his
latest thunderstorm recordings, Booming dunes from the Oman deserts by
Jacob Kirkegaard, and Gilles Aubry will take us on a sonic journey
across european airports.
http://2010.sonicacts.com/programme/saturday/acoustic-spaces BEYOND
SPACE - 28 February 2010 An extraordinary programme in a remarkable
location: the Beyond Space event in the Artis Planetarium includes the
international premiere of a composition by the recently deceased
innovative composer Maryanne Amacher, a new audiovisual work by the
Italian multi-talent TeZ; Evelina Domnitch and Dmitry Gelfand will
explore the space with laser and soap bubbles, accompanied by live audio
by Francisco L�pez; and the British designer Paul Prudence brings a
visual spectacle specially designed for the Planetarium dome.
http://2010.sonicacts.com/programme/sunday/beyond-space � New festival
website with complete programme online As of this week the new festival
website is online with the complete programme, background information, a
timetable and much more. http://2010.sonicacts.com Also now available
for download the programme booklet as PDF.
http://2010.sonicacts.com/SA13_programme.pdf � Tickets for all Sonic
Acts events available now Ticket pre-sale for all Sonic Acts events has
started via de Balie, Paradiso, Ticket Service, and other regular
pre-sale addresses. For an overview of all available tickets visit the
ticket page: http://2010.sonicacts.com/ticket-information/
2/25
Chicago, Illinois: Conversations at the Edge
http://www.saic.edu/cateblog
6p.m., 164 N. State St.
DUST: VIDEOS BY MOYRA DAVEY
Moyra Davey in person! New York-based photographer and writer Moyra
Davey is known for her finely observed photographs of domestic
interiors. Her graceful, straightforward images catalog life's
in-between moments and overlooked objects--vignettes of crowded
bookshelves, empty whiskey bottles, and dust. In recent years, Davey has
turned to video, combining her eye for the everyday with a literary
voice. This evening, she will present two of these works. In Fifty
Minutes (2006), Davey uses the standard length of a therapy session to
examine her own history with psychoanalysis while also raising questions
about autobiography, nostalgia, and the ways we come to know and invent
ourselves. In My Necropolis (2009), she explores notions of history,
biography, and the memorial, by pairing images of Parisian gravesites
(Gertrude Stein, Simone de Beauvoir, and others) with a lively,
open-ended interpretation of an enigmatic letter written by Walter
Benjamin from 1931. Davey, writes admirer John Waters, "will catch you
off guard with her smudged, elegant, low-tech intelligence." Moyra
Davey, 2006-09, USA, Beta SP video and DVD, ca. 90 min (plus
discussion).
2/25
San Francisco, California: San Francisco Museum of Modern Art
http://www.sfmoma.org
7 p.m., Phyllis Wattis Theater, SFMOMA, 151 3rd St., San Francisco, CA 94103
75 YEARS IN THE DARK: A PARTIAL HISTORY OF FILM AT SFMOMA
In 1937, Grace McCann Morley set up a screen and some chairs in the
rotunda of the War Memorial Veterans Building (SFMOMA's first home) and
showed films: D. W. Griffith, Walt Disney, The Jazz Singer, All Quiet on
the Western Front, and the first ever Movietone newsreel featuring
George Bernard Shaw. She believed that film, the 20th century's very own
visual art form, should have a place in a museum of modern art. From the
beginning, it's been an eclectic and inclusive mix: high- and lowbrow;
shorts and features; fiction and documentary; studio, independent, and
artists' films; video and digital media. For our anniversary, we invited
three guest curators to explore film in the context of the history of
modern visual arts and assemble programs from three successiveeras. In
Programs 1, 2, and 3, Scott MacDonald, one of the country's foremost
film historians, looks at 1937 through 1960. Steve Anker, dean of the
School of Film/Video at the California Institute of the Arts, covers
1960 to 1985 in Programs 4 through 6 (screening in March and April).
Former SFMOMA Curator of Media Arts Benjamin Weil selects from 1985 to
the present in Programs 7 through 9 (May). The Bay Area Arrives Mother's
Day, James Broughton, 1948, 23 min.; No. 2 and No. 3, Harry Smith, 1947,
5 min.; Sausalito, Frank Stauffacher, 1949, 10 min.; Lead Shoes, Sidney
Peterson, 1949, 17 min.; Notes on the Port of St. Francis, Frank
Stauffacher, 1952, 20 min.; Mandala, Jordan Belson, 1953, 7 min.;
Allures, Jordan Belson, 1961, 8 min. For more information:
http://www.sfmoma.org/events/series/1319
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FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2010
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2/26
Kansas City, Missouri: Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art
http://www.nelson-atkins.org
7:00 p.m., 4525 Oak Street
ELECTROMEDIASCOPE
"The film and videos in 'Shifting Frames of Reference' navigate new
narrative pathways and inventive cinematic experiences without relying
on text or dialog. Instead, framing, cinematography and editing are used
by these artists to emphasize more liminal and connotative forms of
observation and empathetic awareness at the thresholds of perception. Lu
Chunsheng and Seoungho Cho's video works examine and call into question
local experiences that ultimately have to do with how we know and
re-imagine the world, and how our bodies know and respond to both inner
and outer space. Ken Kobland and Ernie Gehr explore beauty and the
pleasure of shifting visual perceptions of places that have been
constructed and inhabited over time." �Patrick Clancy. "History of
Chemistry 2 � Excessively Restrained Mountaineering Enthusiasts," Lu
Chunsheng (China), 2006, 95 min., digital video shown on DVD. Additional
screenings that are part of this program were on February 12 and 19.
2/26
Los Angeles, California: Redcat
http://www.redcat.org/
Noon, 1:30pm and 3pm, 631 W. 2nd St., Los Angeles, CA 90012
REDCAT INTERNATIONAL CHILDREN'S FILM FESTIVAL
Presented in partnership with Northwest Film Forum and Cinema K.Now in
its fifth year, this audience favorite offers a treasure trove of
cinematic delights for filmgoers of all ages. Two weekend programs bring
wondrous animation, exhilarating live action, and rarely shown classics.
The festival also includes a very special Nickelodeon Family Fun
Day.Curated by Elizabeth Shepherd.Funded in part with generous support
from Virginia and Austin Beutner and Nickelodeon. Program runs Feb. 26th
and 27th and the following weekend Saturday, Mar. 6th and Sunday, Mar.
7th. There is a special Nick Family Fun Day on Sunday, April 27th
2/26
New York, New York: Millennium Film Workshop
http://www.millenniumfilm.org/
8pm, 66 East 4th Street
OPEN SCREENING
DVD, Mini-DV, Videotape, 16MM, S8MM. All works are shown on a
first-come-first-served basis. Bring films, videos and/or come as a
viewer. (Finished works only, limited to a maximum of 20 minutes per
person). Refreshments will be available. Doors open at 7pm. Screening
begins at 8pm and ends at 10:30pm. Admission by contribution.
2/26
New York: Anthology Film Archives
http://www.anthologyfilmarchives.org/
8:00 pm, 32 2nd Avenue
MASSILLON
by William E. Jones 1991, 70 minutes, 16mm, color. In his first feature
film, Jones returns to his hometown to construct an unconventional and
moving autobiography. Challenging some of the most firmly entrenched
notions of filmmaking, MASSILLON tells its story without a single human
actor, by combining beautiful images with a seductive voice-over
narration. "Jones's MASSILLON is that rarity that eluded the queer new
wave, a homo road movie in which gay icons are nowhere to be seen.
MASSILLON uses the quiet landscapes of the American Midwest to look at a
history disfigured by myths of the family, patriotism, and religion."
�Lawrence Chua, ARTFORUM Screening as part of the series THE FILMS OF
WILLIAM E. JONES
2/26
San Francisco, California: Artists Television Access
http://www.atasite.org/
7pm. $10, 992 Valencia at 21st.
ROCK PROPHECIES: NOISE POP FILM FESTIVAL
Imagine seeing bands like Led Zeppelin or the Rolling Stones long before
they became famous. Legendary Rock photographer Robert Knight did just
that, and has the photos to prove it. ROCK PROPHECIES explores Robert's
amazing career and follows him on his quest to help the bands of today
become the Rock legends of tomorrow, whether promoting Panic at the
Disco before anybody has heard of them, or convincing Aussie band Sick
Puppies to sell everything and move to the United States. When Robert
stumbles upon Tyler Dow Bryant � a 16-year old guitar phenom from Texas
� he's convinced he may have found the next Stevie Ray Vaughan. Robert
risks his reputation and career and takes a chance on Tyler. The two
then set off on an unbelievable journey to take their own shot at making
history. The film also features local rock photographer legend Jim
Marshall. Directed by John Chester, (TRT 79 mins). info:
http://www.rockprophecies.com Ticket Link:
http://www.ticketfly.com/purchase/event/4357
2/26
San Francisco, California: Artists Television Access
http://www.atasite.org/
9pm. $10, 992 Valencia at 21st.
DOWNTOWN CALLING: NOISE POP FILM FESTIVAL
"In the late 1970s, the "greatest city in the world" was teetering on
the edge of total chaos. A failed economy, crime and en masse housing
corruption gave way to a city in crisis. Yet out of the economic and
social strife that held the "Big Apple" hostage, a family of homegrown
cultures that would forever change the world began to emerge. Downtown
Calling not only documents, in detail, the evolution of New York City's
fertile music and art subculture during this period, but how its
collective output continues to play a prominent, driving role in the
international fashion, art and music industries today." Featuring Fab 5
Freddy, Bobbito Garcia, Jazzy Jay, Mos Def, TV on The Radio, DJ AM
(RIP), James Chance, and many more. Narrated by Debby Harry. Directed by
Shan Nicholson (TRT 76 mins) Info: http://downtowncalling.com/site/
Trailer: http://downtowncalling.com/site/trailer/ Ticket Link:
http://www.ticketfly.com/purchase/event/4359
2/26
San Francisco, California: San Francisco Cinematheque
http://www.sfcinematheque.org
7:00pm, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, 701 Mission St. (at 3rd St.), San Francisco, CA 94103
DARKEST AMERICANA & ELSEWHERE I: FILMS, VIDEO & WORDS OF JAMES BENNING
presented in association with the Film Studies Program at the University
of San Francisco and the Exploratorium's Cinema Arts Program: Since the
early 1970s, James Benning has created a body of formally innovative,
long-form film works which use duration, understated camera work and (at
times) elliptical narrative to examine cultural assumptions and
contradictions with American culture and history, often revealing
darkness or ideological conflict lurking beneath the surfaces of
everyday appearances. This three-program series presents two early
films, two new video pieces and a detailed artist presentation that
trace these threads in Benning's work. The weekend of works by James
Benning commences with two mid-'80s films exploring the dark alliance
between the American landscape and the U.S. psyche. Incorporating
biographical presentations of Hank Aaron's spectacular baseball career,
would-be assassin Arthur Bremer's drive toward murder (which culminated
in the shooting of George Wallace) and aspects of James Benning's own
life, American Dreams is a thorough examination of obsession and drive.
(STEVE POLTA & JONATHAN MARLOW) James Benning: American Dreams (1984),
58 min. TICKETS: members: $6 / non-members: $10 Advanced tickets can be
purchased at http://www.sfcinematheque.org
2/26
San Francisco, California: San Francisco Cinematheque
http://www.sfcinematheque.org
8:15pm, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, 701 Mission St. (at 3rd St.), San Francisco, CA 94103
DARKEST AMERICANA & ELSEWHERE II: FILMS, VIDEO & WORDS OF JAMES BENNING
presented in association with the Film Studies Program at the University
of San Francisco and the Exploratorium's Cinema Arts Program: Since the
early 1970s, James Benning has created a body of formally innovative,
long-form film works which use duration, understated camera work and (at
times) elliptical narrative to examine cultural assumptions and
contradictions with American culture and history, often revealing
darkness or ideological conflict lurking beneath the surfaces of
everyday appearances. This three-program series presents two early
films, two new video pieces and a detailed artist presentation that
trace these threads in Benning's work. A bleak companion to American
Dreams (Lost and Found), Landscape Suicide finds parallels of isolation
between infamous mass murderer Ed Gein's life in 1950s Wisconsin and
that of teenager Bernadette Protti, convicted of killing a classmate in
mid-'80s Orinda, California, as reconstructed from the substantive
details of each "true crime" case. (STEVE POLTA & JONATHAN MARLOW) James
Benning: Landscape Suicide (1986), 95 min. TICKETS: members: $6 /
non-members: $10 Advanced tickets can be purchased at
http://www.sfcinematheque.org
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SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 27, 2010
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2/27
Los Angeles, California: Redcat
http://www.redcat.org/
Noon, 1:30pm and 3pm, 631 W. 2nd St., Los Angeles, CA 90012
REDCAT INTERNATIONAL CHILDREN'S FILM FESTIVAL
Presented in partnership with Northwest Film Forum and Cinema K.Now in
its fifth year, this audience favorite offers a treasure trove of
cinematic delights for filmgoers of all ages. Two weekend programs bring
wondrous animation, exhilarating live action, and rarely shown classics.
The festival also includes a very special Nickelodeon Family Fun
Day.Curated by Elizabeth Shepherd.Funded in part with generous support
from Virginia and Austin Beutner and Nickelodeon. Program runs Feb. 26th
and 27th and the following weekend Saturday, Mar. 6th and Sunday, Mar.
7th. There is a special Nick Family Fun Day on Sunday, April 27th
2/27
Melbourne, Australia: One Minute Programme
http://www.kerrybaldry.moonfruit.com/#/one-minute/4530939672
8.30pm, The BAck doOR @ suek-artist entry off back lane 658 Plenty Road, Preston, 3072, Melbourne, Australia
ONE MINUTE VOLUME 3
suek-artist and cogcollective present: One Minute Vol. 3 curated by
Kerry Baldry One Minute Volume 3 follows on from One Minute Volumes 1
and 2 and features over 30 artists at varying stages of their careers.
An eclectic range of moving image and includes works whose original
formats include 16mm film, Super 8 film and video using approaches such
as stopframe animation, superimposition etc. Yet all the works have one
thing in common, they are constrained by a time limit of sixty seconds.
Artists include: Marty St.James, Louisa Minkin, Martin Pickles, Eva
Rudlinger, Emily Richardson, Gordon Dawson, Nick Jordan, Richard Tuohy,
Alex Pearl, Hollington & Kyprianou, Kayla Parker and Stuart Moore,
Katherine Meynell, Gary Peploe, Rose Butler, Leister/Harris, Kerry
Baldry, Stuart Pound, Samantha Clark, Tansy Spinks, Tony Hill, Steven
Ball, Virginia Hilyard, Dave Griffiths, Mark Wigan, Daniela Butsch,
Nynke Deinema, Claire Morales, Nicolas Herbert, Matthew Rowe and Tina
Keane.
2/27
New York, New York: Millennium Film Workshop
http://www.millenniumfilm.org/
8PM, 66 East 4th Street
PERSONAL CINEMA SERIES - CAULEEN SMITH
Program: IT'S NOT THE BLACK (2 min.-2008), CHRONICLES OF A LYING SPIRIT
BY KELLY GABRON (6.5 min.-1989), WHITE SUIT (4 min.-1994), THE CHANGING
SAME (9.5 min.-1998), RIGHT HAND ONLY, LEFT HAND LONELY (3 min.-2007),
THE GREEN DRESS (14.5 min.-2005), DARK MATTER (11 min.-2006) and other
works to be announced. "I've been making films that use literary
strategies of science fiction for quite sometime. I am now in the
process of assembling these short films. The term afro-futurism has been
applied to this type of work for about ten yeas now, but I've been
making this type of work since about 1991 with my second film CHRONICLES
OF A LYING SPIRIT BY KELLY GABRON. I've returned to both the philosophy
and the kitsch of sci-fi many times since then all the way up to the
last video I made, THE FULLNESS OF TIME. But really, as my critical
engagemen�t with sci-fi deepens, I've begun to realize that it's quite a
natural genre for someone like me who is very interested in history and
memory - and perhaps many more of my films create cognitive estrangement
the way sci-fi does but without the tropes of a technological novum like
the more playful self-conscious films I'm currently gathering." - C.S.
2/27
New York: Anthology Film Archives
http://www.anthologyfilmarchives.org/
4:00 pm, 32 2nd Avenue
FINISHED
by William E. Jones 1997, 75 minutes, 16mm, color. FINISHED is an
elegiac but analytic portrait of Quebec porn star Alan Lambert (Alain
Lebeau), who graced two dozen California porno films with titles like
BEACH DREAMER and WOLFBOY. Haunted by the image the 25-year-old Lambert
left behind upon his suicide in 1992, Jones borrows from biographical,
documentary, and experimental approaches to perform an emotional autopsy
of a life tragically cut short. FINISHED is a detective story and a love
story, a film noir bathed in sunlight. It's a film of contradictions:
pornographic yet chaste, distanced yet mesmerizing, reticent yet moving.
Screening as part of the series THE FILMS OF WILLIAM E. JONES
2/27
New York: Anthology Film Archives
http://www.anthologyfilmarchives.org/
6:00 pm, 32 2nd Avenue
WILLIAM E. JONES SHORTS
THE FALL OF COMMUNISM AS SEEN IN GAY PORNOGRAPHY (1998, 19 minutes,
video, color) Every image in this film comes from gay erotic videos
produced in Eastern Europe since the introduction of capitalism. The
video provides a glimpse of young men responding to the pressures of an
unfamiliar world, one in which money, power, and sex are now connected.
MORE BRITISH SOUNDS (2006, 8 minutes, video, color) Jones sets images
from THE BRITISH ARE COMING (1986) in collision with dialogue from SEE
YOU AT MAO (1969) also known as BRITISH SOUNDS, produced by the Dziga
Vertov Group under the direction of Jean-Luc Godard. ALL MALE MASH UP
(2006, 29 minutes, video, color) This film further reveals Jones's
fascination with the marginalia in porn films: establishing shots
revealing urban landscapes of the recent past, charmingly inept dialogue
scenes, and close-ups of performers, many now dead. This material, while
of no particular commercial use, can be seen as an invaluable document
of a lost world of eroticism and sociability. FILM MONTAGES (FOR PETER
ROEHR) (2006, 11 minutes, video, color) An appropriated video work that
also serves as a tribute to a great artist of the 1960s, this film takes
simple repetition as its first principle. Jones arranges fragments of
gay porn films into a musical composition at once austere and delirious.
Total running time: ca. 70 minutes.
2/27
New York: Anthology Film Archives
http://www.anthologyfilmarchives.org/
8:00 pm, 32 2nd Avenue
IS IT REALLY SO STRANGE?
by William E. Jones 2004, 80 minutes, video, color. As the foppish,
sexually ambiguous, brilliant singer/songwriter of the 80s music legends
The Smiths, Morrissey brought intelligence, wit, and mystery to pop
tunes still unmatched in their ability to make grown men cry. In this
intimate documentary, Jones interviews a new, but equally fanatical, fan
base of The Smiths and Morrissey: Latino youths in East Los Angeles.
Making the connection between The Smiths' working-class,
Manchester-raised, ethnic Irish experience and that of the sons and
daughters of Mexican immigrants in Los Angeles, it explores Morrissey's
enduring appeal among the pompadoured denizens of the Inland Empire who,
as one fan puts it, relate to Morrissey because "he always sounds sad
and depressed and lonely � all the good stuff." Screening as part of the
series THE FILMS OF WILLIAM E. JONES
2/27
San Francisco, California: Other Cinema
http://www.othercinema.com/
8:30 PM, 992 Valencia
OTHER CINEMA, 2/27: ROSS LIPMAN & BLF�S INQUIRY TOWARDS THE PRACTICE OF
SECULAR MAGIC
Enjoy pranks, hoaxes, forgeries, guerrilla theater, and social sculpture
in an empowering tapestry of transfiguring reality! Filmmaker/archivist
Ross Lipman and the Billboard Liberation Front's Jack Napier present an
evening of secular magic; the alchemical act of transmuting everyday
life into fiction�and vice versa. Their Inquiry examines actions,
including films, performances, essays, and rare archival documents, that
turn reality inside out. The line-up includes: a PowerPoint performance
on the birth of the TV Spectacle, Ferdinand Marcos hustling a tribe of
"cave people" to feed his wife's shoe habit, an enigmatic Butoh
performance in the streets of Brooklyn (by SF expat artist Leigh Evans),
and the latest breathtaking hijinks of the heroic Billboard Liberation
Front. Through a collaboration with the Pacific Film Archive, we've been
able to arrange this extraordinary return of Mr. Lipman, internationally
renown for his preservation projects at UCLA.
2/27
San Francisco, California: Artists Television Access
http://www.atasite.org/
2pm. $10, 992 Valencia at 21st.
UNUSUAL HEROES: JOHN DARNIELLE AND LOU BARLOW DOUBLE FEATURE NOISE POP
FILM FESTIVAL
Q&A with Director Adam Harding after the screening Lou Barlow: Goodnight
Unknown, Directed by Adam Harding (TRT 30 mins) A revealing and intimate
glimpse into the creative process of indie rock pioneer, Lou Barlow
(Dinosaur Jr, Sebadoh, Folk Implosion), chronicling the journey from
initial ideas to the eventual completion of his latest record,
'Goodnight Unknown'. Narrated by Lou himself, this film offers rare
insight into the fascinating mind of the influential artist. Featuring
never before heard demos as well as original music and soundscapes
recorded exclusively for this documentary. Also featuring appearances
from fellow musicians, Dale Crover (Melvins, Nirvana) and Imaad Wasif
(Folk Implosion, Alaska!, Yeah Yeah Yeahs). The Mountain Goats, "The
Life of the World to Come", A Film by Rian Johnson (TRT 51 mins In this
film by Rian Johnson (Brick, the Brothers Bloom), John Darnielle
performs "The Life of the World to Come" on piano and guitar. Shot in
the same building where, as an eight-year-old piano student and new
transplant to Claremont, he performed Bach minuets for the state
examiner, The Life of the World to Come takes the songs from the album
and restores them to their raw original states: skin, blood, and bone.
www.mountain-goats.com Ticket Link:
http://www.ticketfly.com/purchase/event/4361
2/27
San Francisco, California: Artists Television Access
http://www.atasite.org/
4pm. $10, 992 Valencia at 21st.
WOODSTOCK: NOW & THEN: NOISE POP FILM FESTIVAL
"Woodstock: Now & Then"explores the frenzied days leading up to the
festival, from how the planners scrambled to find a concert site and the
traffic jams that shut down the New York State Thruway to the notorious
"brown acid" to the thunderous rain and mud and, of course, the music.
Weaving together first-hand accounts with rare archival images and an
iconic soundtrack, the documentary allows those who were there a chance
to relive the experience and gives an entirely new generation an
opportunity to feel the magic of that time. The film also takes an
important look at Woodstock's legacy through the eyes of today's
musicians and activists, examining why Woodstock and all it symbolizes
is still relevant in today's culture. Directed by Barbara Kopple (TRT
120 mins) Info: www.cabincreekfilms.com,
www.history.com/content/woodstock/photo-galleries/woodstock-now-and-then
-part-1 Ticket Link: http://www.ticketfly.com/purchase/event/4363
2/27
San Francisco, California: San Francisco Cinematheque
http://www.sfcinematheque.org
7:30pm, Presentation Theatre at University of San Francisco, 2350 Turk Boulevard (near Masonic Ave), San Francisco, CA 94118
DARKEST AMERICANA & ELSEWHERE III: FILMS, VIDEO & WORDS OF JAMES BENNING
presented in association with the Film Studies Program at the University
of San Francisco and the Exploratorium's Cinema Arts Program: James
Benning in-person! After nearly three decades of creating films in U.S.
locations, James Benning's feature-length Ruhr is his first work shot
entirely outside of North America (and his first work on digital video).
Commissioned for German television, the film is an outsider's portrait
of Germany's Ruhr District. An industrial and working class
environment�recalling Benning's hometown of Milwaukee, Wisconsin�the
Ruhr is the center of Germany's coal and steel-making industries and the
site of massive Allied attacks during World War II. Consisting of only
six shots, the feature-length video provides lingering insight into the
filmmaker's exploration of an uncannily familiar foreign landscape. Ruhr
screens with the single-shot short Fire & Rain, an impressionistic
meditation on the four elements, created in the heart of a steel mill.
(STEVE POLTA) James Benning: Ruhr (2009), 120 min. � : Fire & Rain
(2009), 1.5 min. TICKETS: members: $5 / non-members: $10
2/27
Toronto, Ontario, Canada: Liaison of Independent Filmmakers of Toronto
http://www.lift.on.ca/
8pm, Cinecyle, 129 Spadina Avenue (down the alley)
STRATEGIES OF THE MEDIUM V: GO BIG OR GO HOME
This installment of the LIFT Strategies of the Medium series is
dedicated to artist film in 35mm. Often perceived as an inaccessible
format and/or one geared towards industry uses, there is a growing
circle of DIY filmmakers from around the world using 35mm in affordable,
creative and unexpected ways. This screening explores the diversity of
their practices from cameraless animation to sparse structural works.
The program complements 35mm courses offered in the LIFT winter 2010
workshop season: 35mm Filmmaking: An Overview and Introduction to the
35mm Animation Stand. The screening will be followed by a panel
discussion with filmmakers Kelly Egan, John Price and Steven Woloshen.
// PROGRAM: Three hours, fifteen minutes before the hurricane struck
(Christina Battle); C:won Eyed Jail (Kelly Egan); A Firefly (Kelly
Egan); Post Mark Lick (Sonia Bridge); Going Back Home (Louise Bourque);
ten thousand dreams (John Price); Love in the White City (Clive Holden);
Blue Tide, Black Water (Eve Gordon & Sam Hamilton); The Babble on Palms
(Steven Woloshen); View of the Falls from the Canadian Side (John
Price); Editorial (Steven Woloshen). Running time: 60:30 min.
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SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 28, 2010
-------------------------
2/28
Los Angeles, California: Filmforum
http://www.lafilmforum.org/
7:30 pm, Egyptian Theatre, 6712 Hollywood Blvd. at Las Palmas
BJ�RN MELHUS: OUT OF THE BLUE
Bj�rn Melhus in peson! He has developed a singular position, expanding
the possibilities for the critical reception of cinema and television.
His practice of fragmentation, destruction, and reconstitution of
well-known figures, topics, and strategies of the mass media opens up
not only a network of new interpretations and critical commentaries, but
also defines the relationship of mass media and viewer anew. BLUE MOON
(1997, Video, 4:00); OUT OF THE BLUE (1997, Video, 6:24); THE ORAL THING
(2001, Video, 8:00); AUTO CENTER DRIVE (2003, 16 mm film on video,
28:00); THE MEADOW (2007, video, 28:38)
2/28
New York: Anthology Film Archives
http://www.anthologyfilmarchives.org/
5:30 pm, 32 2nd Avenue
TEAROOM
by William E. Jones 1962/2007, 56 minutes, 16mm-to-video, color, silent.
TEAROOM consists of footage shot by the police in the course of a
crackdown on public sex in the Midwest. In the summer of 1962, the
Mansfield, Ohio, Police Department photographed men in a restroom,
filming from a closet through a two-way mirror. Their footage was used
in court as evidence against the defendants, all of whom were found
guilty of sodomy, which at that time carried a mandatory minimum
sentence of one year in the state penitentiary. The original footage
came into Jones's possession while he was researching this case for a
documentary project. The unedited scenes of ordinary men of various
races and classes meeting to have sex were so powerful that the director
decided to present it with a minimum of intervention. TEAROOM is a
radical example of film presented 'as found' for the purpose of
circulating historical images that have otherwise been suppressed. &
MANSFIELD 1962 (2006, 9 minutes, video, b&w, silent) Screening as part
of the series THE FILMS OF WILLIAM E. JONES
2/28
New York: Anthology Film Archives
http://www.anthologyfilmarchives.org/
7:30 pm, 32 2nd Avenue
V.O.
by William E. Jones 2006, 59 minutes, video, color. In a variation on
what DJs call a 'mash-up', Jones combines segments of sound from classic
foreign-language films with scenes from gay porn films produced before
1985, making decisions based upon the length of the segments rather than
their content. The somewhat arbitrary juxtaposition of diverse 'found'
materials often yields surprisingly appropriate results. v. o. suggests
a new narrative space and pays tribute to a former era of gay life and
cinephilia. Screening as part of the series THE FILM OF WILLIAM E. JONES
2/28
San Francisco, California: Artists Television Access
http://www.atasite.org/
2pm. $10, 992 Valencia at 21st.
SECRET TO A HAPPY ENDING: NOISE POP FILM FESTIVAL
This is a film about the redemptive power of rock-and-roll. It's a film
about the American South, where rock was born. It's about a band,
straddling the borders of rock, punk, and country. It's about making
art, making love and making a living. It's about the Drive-By Truckers.
"The Secret to a Happy Ending" documents the band and their congregation
of fans as they explore tales of human weakness and redemption. While
DBT songs are often dark, their whiskey-soaked concerts raise joyful
hell. With the filmmaker's unparalleled access, "The Secret to a Happy
Ending" documents three critical years of touring and recording � years
in which the band struggles to overcome the trauma of divorce and
survives a near breakup, as they persist in their search for a happy
ending. In February 2004 independent filmmaker Barr Weissman proposed
making the documentary. After several discussions with the band, filming
began in January 2005 and wrapped up in October 2007. Following a long
twisted road, editing was completed in November 2009. TRT 101 mins, Q&A
with director Barr Weissman following the screening. Direct Ticket link:
http://www.ticketfly.com/purchase/event/4533
2/28
San Francisco, California: Artists Television Access
http://www.atasite.org/
4:15, $10, 992 Valencia St, at 21st
ALL MY FRIENDS ARE FUNERAL SINGERS: NOISE POP FILM FESTIVAL
Q&A with the Director/Musician Tim Rutili following the screening. Zel
is a fortune teller. She works out of her century-old house removing
clients' aches and pains, advising gamblers and channeling cranky
spirits for a quick check-in with their loved ones. Zel is very good at
her chosen profession, but she also receives some unique assistance. For
as long as she can remember she has shared her home with a group of
ghosts � a priest, a bride, a mute child, some washed up vaudevillians
and a noisy group of sight-impaired musicians � who pass on incredible
knowledge and abilities from beyond the world of the living. All goes on
at the family homestead as it has for generations, until a mysterious
light appears in the woods. The ghosts suddenly realize they are trapped
and forge a rebellion, tormenting Zel with all the aggravation and
insanity they can muster. When Zel uncovers the origins of these
spirits, she is forced to choose between her comfortable if strange
existence and letting go of the only family she has ever known. Zel's
unique story is a lesson in hope, habit, and folklore. The atmosphere is
utterly enchanting, an odd realism tinged with humor and wonder. Angela
Bettis, respected cult actress known for roles in MAY and GIRL,
INTERRUPTED delivered an extraordinary performance as Zel. Superstition,
sound and the intricate details of the claustrophobic house feed the
film's construction, allowing the story to unfold like music. This is no
surprise, as writer/director Tim Rutili is also a founding member of the
band Califone, who appear in the film and provide the lush original
soundtrack. http://www.funeralsingers.com/ http://www.califonemusic.com/
Ticket Link: http://www.ticketfly.com/purchase/event/4873
2/28
San Francisco, California: Artists Television Access
http://www.atasite.org/
4:15pm, $10, 992 Valencia at 21st.
ALL MY FRIENDS ARE FUNERAL SINGERS: NOISE POP FILM FESTIVAL
Q&A with the Director/Musician Tim Rutili following the screening. Zel
is a fortune teller. She works out of her century-old house removing
clients' aches and pains, advising gamblers and channeling cranky
spirits for a quick check-in with their loved ones. Zel is very good at
her chosen profession, but she also receives some unique assistance. For
as long as she can remember she has shared her home with a group of
ghosts � a priest, a bride, a mute child, some washed up vaudevillians
and a noisy group of sight-impaired musicians � who pass on incredible
knowledge and abilities from beyond the world of the living. All goes on
at the family homestead as it has for generations, until a mysterious
light appears in the woods. The ghosts suddenly realize they are trapped
and forge a rebellion, tormenting Zel with all the aggravation and
insanity they can muster. When Zel uncovers the origins of these
spirits, she is forced to choose between her comfortable if strange
existence and letting go of the only family she has ever known. Zel's
unique story is a lesson in hope, habit, and folklore. The atmosphere is
utterly enchanting, an odd realism tinged with humor and wonder. Angela
Bettis, respected cult actress known for roles in MAY and GIRL,
INTERRUPTED delivered an extraordinary performance as Zel. Superstition,
sound and the intricate details of the claustrophobic house feed the
film's construction, allowing the story to unfold like music. This is no
surprise, as writer/director Tim Rutili is also a founding member of the
band Califone, who appear in the film and provide the lush original
soundtrack. http://www.funeralsingers.com/ http://www.califonemusic.com/
Ticket Link: http://www.ticketfly.com/purchase/event/4873
2/28
San Francisco, California: San Francisco Cinematheque
http://www.sfcinematheque.org
3:00pm, McBean Theatre at the Exploratorium, 3601 Lyon St. (near Marina Blvd)., San Francisco, CA 94123
DARKEST AMERICANA & ELSEWHERE IV: FILMS, VIDEO & WORDS OF JAMES BENNING
presented in association with the Exploratorium's Cinema Arts Program:
James Benning in-person! The figure of the artist, explorer or
philosopher working in contemplative isolation figures prominently in
the American narrative. In 2007 and 2008, in an act of private
contemplation of this archetype, James Benning constructed replicas of
two famous sites of this tradition: the cabin of Henry David
Thoreau�built in 1845 at Walden Pond�and contemporary radical
environmentalist Theodore Kaczynski's cabin near Lincoln, Montana.
Imagining these figures as the idealistic alpha and nihilistic omega of
the American hermetic philosophical tradition, Benning will discuss this
project as the centerpiece of an autobiographical presentation that
characterizes the evolution of his own work and thought as an artist
endeavoring to balance the introspective impulse with the urgencies of
social engagement. (STEVE POLTA) TICKETS: members: $5 / non-members: $10
Enter your event announcements by going to the Flicker Weekly Listing Form
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The weekly listing is also available online at Flicker:
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__________________________________________________________________
For info on FrameWorks, contact Pip Chodorov at <email suppressed>.