This week [January 21 - 29, 2012] in avant garde cinema To subscribe/unsubscribe to the weekly listing, go to http://www.hi-beam.net/cgi-bin/mailto.pl?mailto=subscribe or send an email to [email protected].
Enter your announcements (calls for entries, new work, screenings, jobs, items for sale, etc.) at: http://www.hi-beam.net/cgi-bin/ann.pl MISCELLANEOUS: Articles on Experimental cinema http://www.hi-beam.net/cgi-bin/ann.pl?type=misc&readfile=121.ann JOB AVAILABLE: LAXART http://www.hi-beam.net/cgi-bin/ann.pl?type=jobs&readfile=11.ann NEW CALLS FOR ENTRIES: ===================== SFC - Shoah Film Collection (Cologne, Germany; Deadline: July 01, 2012) http://www.hi-beam.net/cgi-bin/ann.pl?type=calls&readfile=1389.ann Australian International Experimental Film Festival (Melbourne, Australia; Deadline: February 03, 2012) http://www.hi-beam.net/cgi-bin/ann.pl?type=calls&readfile=1390.ann ARTErra rural artistic residency (Tondela,Portugal; Deadline: March 09, 2012) http://www.hi-beam.net/cgi-bin/ann.pl?type=calls&readfile=1391.ann Cologne International Videoart Festival (Cologne, Germany; Deadline: May 01, 2012) http://www.hi-beam.net/cgi-bin/ann.pl?type=calls&readfile=1392.ann Videoex Festival (Zürich , Switzerland; Deadline: January 30, 2012) http://www.hi-beam.net/cgi-bin/ann.pl?type=calls&readfile=1393.ann DEADLINES APPROACHING: ====================== Media City (Windsor, Ontario, Canada; Deadline: February 24, 2012) http://www.hi-beam.net/cgi-bin/ann.pl?type=calls&readfile=1370.ann 360 | 365 Film Festival (Rochester, NY USA; Deadline: February 01, 2012) http://www.hi-beam.net/cgi-bin/ann.pl?type=calls&readfile=1376.ann EFF PORTLAND (Portland; Deadline: February 15, 2012) http://www.hi-beam.net/cgi-bin/ann.pl?type=calls&readfile=1377.ann Montreal Underground Film Festival (Montreal, Quebec; Deadline: January 31, 2012) http://www.hi-beam.net/cgi-bin/ann.pl?type=calls&readfile=1384.ann Australian International Experimental Film Festival (Melbourne, Australia; Deadline: February 03, 2012) http://www.hi-beam.net/cgi-bin/ann.pl?type=calls&readfile=1390.ann Videoex Festival (Zürich , Switzerland; Deadline: January 30, 2012) http://www.hi-beam.net/cgi-bin/ann.pl?type=calls&readfile=1393.ann Enter your event announcements by going to the Flicker Weekly Listing Form at http://www.hi-beam.net/cgi-bin/thisweek.pl Also available online at Flicker: http://www.hi-beam.net THIS WEEK'S PROGRAMS (SUMMARY): ============================== * Stranded In Canton [January 21, Ann Arbor, Michigan] * Paul Clipson & Mark Cunningham [January 21, Barcelona, Spain] * Proximity of Standing Stones Robert Lowe (Aka Lichens) & MóNica Baptista Film/Sound Live Performance [January 21, Brooklyn, New York] * Los Angeles Observed [January 21, Los Angeles, California] * Lithuania and the Collapse of the Ussr [January 21, New York, New York] * Essential Cinema: Kino Eye [January 21, New York, New York] * Essential Cinema: Forward, Soviet! [January 21, New York, New York] * A Grin Without A Cat [January 21, New York, New York] * Essential Cinema: A Sixth of the World [January 21, New York, New York] * Blinding By Steve Sanguedolce, In Person! Toronto Premiere [January 21, Toronto, Ontario, Canada] * The Compilation Film: Shorts Program [January 22, New York, New York] * A Grin Without A Cat [January 22, New York, New York] * Tentatively A Convenience Program 1 [January 22, New York, New York] * Tentatively A Convenience Program 2 [January 22, New York, New York] * Sublimated violence & visual Excess - Films By James Fotopoulos & Laura Parnes [January 23, Brooklyn, New York] * Santiago Alvarez Program [January 23, New York, New York] * Breathing A Fatal Stillness: A visit From DaïChi SaïTo [January 24, Cambridge, Massachusetts] * 50th Ann Arbor Film Festival Retrospective Screening Series [January 25, Ann Arbor, Michigan] * Dirty Looks: Charles Atlas! [January 25, New York, New York] * Three Chicago Filmmakers [January 26, Paris, France] * On Photography: Elisabeth Subrin's the Fancy and Other Works [January 26, San Francisco, California] * Sf Cinematheque Screens On Photography: Elisabeth Subrin's the Fancy [January 26, San Francisco, California] * Thye 8 Fest - A Festival For Small-Gauge Film [January 27, Toronto, Ontario, Canada] * The 8 Fest - A Fesfival For Small-Gauge Film [January 27, Toronto, Ontario, Canada] * Visions, Memory, and A Machine: Optical Manipulations [January 28, Los Angeles, California] * Essential Cinema: the Eleventh Year [January 28, New York, New York] * Essential Cinema: Three Songs About Lenin [January 28, New York, New York] * Mi_losangeles2012: "A Curious Sense of Calm" [January 28, Torrance] * Essential Cinema: Enthusiasm [January 29, New York, New York] * Experimental Films By Walter Ungerer-50 Years of Filmmaking [January 29, Portland, Maine] * Croatian Animation [January 29, San Francisco, California] Events are sorted by CITY within each DATE. -------------------------- SATURDAY, JANUARY 21, 2012 -------------------------- 1/21 Ann Arbor, Michigan: Studies and Observation Group http://aafilmfest.org 3 pm, 327 Braun Ct STRANDED IN CANTON In 1973, America's greatest living photographer William Eggleston shot 30 hours of video in and around Memphis. Recorded in ghostly black & white video in the city's bars and streets, Stranded in Canton Stranded in Canton (1973-2005, 77 min) is an extraordinary and deeply personal vision of the Memphis demimonde. Preceded by Danish artist Eva Marie Rødbro's video Fuck You Kiss Me (2008, 6 min), a portrait of youth in the isolated towns of Greenland./// Studies and Observation no.5. Organized by The Studies and Observation Group; Co-presented by The Ann Arbor Film Festival 1/21 Barcelona, Spain: Festival Play https://www.obrasocialcajamadrid.es/Ficheros/CMA/ficheros/OBSCultura_EspaiBarnaPlayEnero2012.PDF 8pm, Espai Cultural Plaça de Catalunya PAUL CLIPSON & MARK CUNNINGHAM Multi-layered Super 8mm film collages in performance with sonic trumpet soundscapes. 1/21 Brooklyn, New York: Microscope Gallery http://www.microscopegallery.com 7PM, 4 Charles Place (at Myrtle btwn Bushwick & Evergreen Aves) PROXIMITY OF STANDING STONES ROBERT LOWE (AKA LICHENS) & MóNICA BAPTISTA FILM/SOUND LIVE PERFORMANCE w/ Super8 and 16mm films. Admission $6. Portuguese filmmaker Mónica Baptista and Brooklyn multi-instrumentalist Robert Lowe, aka Lichens, perform their first collaboration "The Proximity of Standing Stones". The images of ancient and contemporary constructions interact with the visceral experience of Lichens' vocals and electronic music, connecting in a spontaneous way the different expressions of power throughout time. Following the performance there will be a screening of Baptista's "Diary", a simply edited work of more than 4000 photographs taken over 4 years which moves us through a diverse collection of situations, trips, places, and people. Bios: Robert Aiki Aubrey Lowe is an artist and multi instrumentalist who works with voice in the realm of spontaneous music. Most recently, creating patch pieces with modular synthesizer and singing to them has been a focus of live performance and recordings. Performances including "Certain Distinctions" PS1; All Tomorrow's Parties Festival, UK; Doug Aiken's Frontier happening in Rome; "Get Weird" New Museum; "Visiting Tarab" commission for Performa 11. Lowe has worked with Ben Russell, Ben Rivers, Genesis P-Orridge,Rose Lazar, Ben Vida, Mark Borthwick, Lucky Dragons, Alan Licht, Michael Zerang, Patrick Smith, Lee Ranaldo, White/Light and many others. Mónica Baptista is a Portuguese visual artist and filmmaker. She studied painting and has in the last five years delved into experimental cinema and documentary, using mainly analog formats such as Super8, 16mm and 35mm while also employing video and photography. She directed the documentary TERRITÓRIOS (TERRITORIES, 2009), which premiered at Critics' Week at Cannes Film Festival (France) and earned Baptista the Best Director award at Visions du Réel (Switzerland). DIÁRIO (DIARY, 2011) received the Best Revelation award in Portugal and was shown in the Serralves Museum. tel: 347.925.1433. J/M/Z Myrtle/Broadway Ave; L Morgan Ave or Jefferson Street, B54 Myrtle/Willoughby stop is across the street. 1/21 Los Angeles, California: Filmforum http://www.lafilmforum.org/ 5:00pm, Cinefamily, 611 N Fairfax Avenue LOS ANGELES OBSERVED In person: Thom Andersen, more to be announced! If Thom Anderson's 2003 celluloid essay Los Angeles Plays Itself explored the way Hollywood trained thousands of lenses upon its fragmented topography over the course of a century, tonight's program uncovers how alternate visions of L.A. were executed by several generations of experimental filmmakers. Apt that Anderson's own contribution to the oeuvre, 1966's Olivia's Place, will be screened alongside a saturated roster of unconventional documentaries, avant-garde ethnographies and rare films that capture landscapes turned on their fractured heads. 1/21 New York, New York: Anthology Film Archives http://www.anthologyfilmarchives.org/ 2:30 pm, 32 2nd Avenue LITHUANIA AND THE COLLAPSE OF THE USSR by Jonas Mekas 2008, 4 hours and 46 minutes, video This screening is part of: THE COMPILATION FILM "This video is made up of footage that I took with my Sony from the television newscasts during the collapse of the USSR, with the home noises in the background. It's a capsule record of what happened and how it happened during that crucial period as recorded by the television newscasters. It can be also viewed as a classic Greek drama in which the destinies of nations are changed drastically by the unbending, bordering-on-irrational will of one small man, one small nation determined to regain its freedom, backed by Olympus in its fight against the Might & Power, against the Impossible." J.M. 1/21 New York, New York: Anthology Film Archives http://www.anthologyfilmarchives.org/ 5:15 pm, 32 2nd Avenue ESSENTIAL CINEMA: KINO EYE by Dziga Vertov 1925, 70 minutes, 16mm, b&w, silent. 1/21 New York, New York: Anthology Film Archives http://www.anthologyfilmarchives.org/ 7:00 pm, 32 2nd Avenue ESSENTIAL CINEMA: FORWARD, SOVIET! by Dziga Vertov With Russian intertitles, English synopsis available;, 1925-26, 73 minutes, 35mm, b&w, silent 1/21 New York, New York: Anthology Film Archives http://www.anthologyfilmarchives.org/ 8:00 pm, 32 2nd Avenue A GRIN WITHOUT A CAT by Chris Marker 1978/93, 180 minutes, video This screening is part of: THE COMPILATION FILM (LE FOND DE L'AIR EST ROUGE) Marker's epic film-essay on the worldwide political wars of the 1960s and 70s: Vietnam, Bolivia, May '68, Prague, Chile, and the fate of the New Left. Released in France in 1978, and restored and 're-actualized' by Marker fifteen years later (after the fall of the Soviet Union), it is a sweeping, global contemplation of a critical era in political history. 1/21 New York, New York: Anthology Film Archives http://www.anthologyfilmarchives.org/ 8:45 pm, 32 2nd Avenue ESSENTIAL CINEMA: A SIXTH OF THE WORLD by Dziga Vertov With Russian intertitles, English synopsis available, 1926, 74 minutes, 35mm, b&w, silent 1/21 Toronto, Ontario, Canada: Pleasure Dome http://www.pdome.org/ 7pm, Innis Town Hall, 2 Sussex Ave. BLINDING BY STEVE SANGUEDOLCE, IN PERSON! TORONTO PREMIERE Pleasure Dome is pleased to present the Toronto premiere of Steve Sanguedolce's fifth feature film, Blinding (2011, 72 min.) Vision, in all of its manifestations, permeates the disclosures of the three characters that journey us through the film: Jackie, a lesbian police officer grappling with corroding forces of perception both within and outside her profession; Jamie, for whom the horrors of the Rwandan genocide are tempered by the distance offered by technologies of the military industrial complex; and Ryan, who has progressively lost his sight, retaining just one per cent of vision in one eye. In attending to vision and its primacy in Western society, Sanguedolce materializes the traumas it inflicts, whether through the imperceptibility of truth and its subjective red herrings, obfuscations and blind-spots, or the moment where recognition changes you foreveroften for the worse. Blinding couples the confessional intimacy of a documentary with a hypnotic panoply of hand dyed images, luring its audience into a compromise between visual skepticism and optical sumptuousness. Winner Special Mention Award for Feature Length Documentary at plus Camerimage International Film Festival of the Art of Cinematography in Bydgoszcz, Poland. Toronto-based filmmaker Steve Sanguedolce has always been interested in home movies. Only during his tenure at Sheridan College was he given the tools to grant expression to this interest. Trained in the personal documentary ethos of the Escarpment School, Sanguedolce has created a body of work that peers relentlessly into the darkest and most private moments of the self. Sanguedolce has been an active member of Toronto's independent film community for over thirty-five years winning numerous international awards. His work has screened at several prestigious international film festivals including Rotterdam, Toronto, Mannhiem-Heidelberg, Oberhausen, Montreal's World Film Festival as well as several others. Over the past 15 years he has been hand developing and hand colouring motion picture film to great acclaim. Much of his time has been spent teaching at local universities, community colleges or conducting independent filmmaking workshops around the world. His work incorporates documentary, narrative and experimental genres. ------------------------ SUNDAY, JANUARY 22, 2012 ------------------------ 1/22 New York, New York: Anthology Film Archives http://www.anthologyfilmarchives.org/ 3:00 pm, 32 2nd Avenue THE COMPILATION FILM: SHORTS PROGRAM Henri Storck L'HISTOIRE DU SOLDAT INCONNU (1930, 17 minutes, 16mm, b&w, silent) A montage of newsreel clips satirizing ceremonies commemorating the war dead and indicting world rearmament. It is an ancestor of many subsequent compilation films. Alberto Cavalcanti YELLOW CAESAR (1941, 24 minutes, video, b&w) Cavalcanti ingeniously edits newsreel and propaganda footage of Mussolini to portray the despot in the most absurd and unflattering light. Ken Jacobs PERFECT FILM (1986, 22 minutes, 16mm, b&w) "TV newscast discards from 1965 relating to the assassination of Malcolm X, out-takes of history reprinted as found in a Canal St. bin (with the exception of boosting volume second half). A lot of film is perfect left alone, perfectly revealing in its unconscious or semi-conscious form." K.J. Total running time: ca. 65 minutes. 1/22 New York, New York: Anthology Film Archives http://www.anthologyfilmarchives.org/ 4:30 pm, 32 2nd Avenue A GRIN WITHOUT A CAT See notes for Jan. 21, 8 pm. 1/22 New York, New York: Anthology Film Archives http://www.anthologyfilmarchives.org/ 4:30 pm, 32 2nd Avenue TENTATIVELY A CONVENIENCE PROGRAM 1 This screening is part of: NEW/IMPROVED/INSTITUTIONAL/QUALITY Film Notes tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE was born at age 21 in 1975 Era Vulgari in BalTimOre, usa. It was at this time that he decided that he was a Mad Scientist/d-composer/Sound Thinker/Thought Collector. Since then he has been active with the Krononautic Organism (a time travelers' society), Nuclear Brain Physics Surgery School, the Neoast?! 'Patanational Cultural Conspiracy', the Church of the SubGenius (in which he's a saint), etc. Whenever he has the energy he devotes himself to "undermining 'reality' maintenance traps" through attempting to apply the maxim "Anything is Anything." These days this is usually manifested by being a Psychopathfinder & a Jack-Off-Of-All-Trades. We will be presenting two programs of his work, one devoted to a selection of recent short films, and the other featuring his epic documentary on the work of avant-garde composer, musician, and writer Franz Kamin. PROGRAM 1: DEFENDERS OF GOOLENGOOK (2000-04, 17.5 minutes, video) I.A.C. DEER HEAD SCULPTURE @ FORMER RANKIN STEEL MILL (2000-04, 8.5 minutes, video) LEDGER OF ST DERMAIN (2004, 7 minutes, mini-DV/slides/slidestrip/Super8mm-to-video) HAIRCUT PARADOX (2005-06, 14 minutes, video) CAPITALISM IS AN ISM (2006, 6.5 minutes, video) the ballad of CodyodeeodoooO (2006-07, 13 minutes, video) SUBTITLES (CLOSURE VERSION) (2005-08, 12 minutes, 8mm/Super-8mm/16mm/VHS/image data files/mini-dv-to-DVD) TV 'NEWS' COMMITS SUICIDE (2009, 6 minutes, video) ROBOTIC (for YouTube) (2009, 7 minutes, video) COLONY (2010-11, 9 minutes, video) Total running time: ca. 105 minutes. 1/22 New York, New York: Anthology Film Archives http://www.anthologyfilmarchives.org/ 7:00 pm, 32 2nd Avenue TENTATIVELY A CONVENIENCE PROGRAM 2 This screening is part of: NEW/IMPROVED/INSTITUTIONAL/QUALITY Film Notes PROGRAM 2: DEPOT (wherein resides the UNDEAD of Franz Kamin) 2011, 220 minutes, video. A 3 hour and 40 minute documentary about the life and work of composer, writer, performer, and pianist Franz Kamin, who was born in 1941 and studied piano in Oklahoma and Indiana in the 1960s. His extensive compositions and texts were influenced by topology as well as by alcoholism and other difficult personal battles. Despite a fantastically large and substantial body of work, he remained largely unknown, except to specialists in the esoteric, all the way up to his death in a car crash in 2010. Himself a student of the avant-garde and a composer, writer, performer, musician, and moviemaker, tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE is uniquely qualified to pay tribute to Kamin. Familiar with Kamin's work since 1974, he befriended him in 1977, performed in his pieces in 1992 and 1993, and stayed in touch with him until shortly before Kamin's death. ------------------------ MONDAY, JANUARY 23, 2012 ------------------------ 1/23 Brooklyn, New York: Microscope Gallery http://www.microscopegallery.com 7PM, 4 Charles Place (at Myrtle Ave btwn Bushwick and Evergreen) SUBLIMATED VIOLENCE & VISUAL EXCESS - FILMS BY JAMES FOTOPOULOS & LAURA PARNES In connection with the current exhibition "Dreamful Slumbers" drawings and videos by James Fotopoulos, we present a unique screening and visual dialogue between Fotopoulos' 16mm film "The Nest" (2003) and the video "Blood and Guts in High School" (2006) by Laura Parnes. The two acclaimed filmmakers have never before screened together, but have over the years recognized their shared interest in themes and approaches including formal film, narrative structures and genre. In these earlier works "The Nest" and "Blood and Guts in High School" both employ stylized dialogue and acting to create highly charged worlds of psychosexual drama, sublimated violence and visual excess. The two are now collaborating on a feature, "Ten Ways of Doing Time", which resurrects these concepts. BIOS: Laura Parnes has screened and exhibited at: MoMA; Pacific Film Archives; Berkeley Art Museum; Cinematexas; Reina Sofia, Madrid; Whitney Biennial, PS1; Light Industry and Gene Siskel Film Center, etc. James Fotopoulos' films and videos have been screened internationally including the International Film Festival Rotterdam, the New York Underground Film Festival, the Sundance Film Festival, the Walker Art Center and the Andy Warhol Museum, among others. His works have also been featured in a retrospective at Anthology Film Archives, Whitney Biennial, and at MoMA. More info at microscopegallery.com; tel. 347.925.1433 - J/M/Z Myrtle Ave, L at Morgan Ave or Jefferson Street 1/23 New York, New York: Anthology Film Archives http://www.anthologyfilmarchives.org/ 7:00 pm, 32 2nd Avenue SANTIAGO ALVAREZ PROGRAM "The basic elements of an Alvarez film are essentially the same as in many television documentaries: still photos edited to a soundtrack. In fact, Alvarez announced his aesthetic credo in this way: 'Give me two photos, music, and a moviola, and I'll give you a movie.' But it would be hard to find a style of cinema more removed from the niceties of American television documentary than Alvarez's remarkably dynamic and bracingly radical montage constructions." Adrian Martin, CINEASTE NOW (1965, 6 minutes, 16mm-to-video) HASTA LA VICTORIA SIEMPRE (1965, 28 minutes, 16mm-to-video) L.B.J. (1967, 20 minutes, 16mm-to-video) 79 SPRINGTIMES OF HO CHI MINH (1969, 25 minutes, 16mm-to-video) THE PONGO'S DREAM (1970, 11 minutes, 16mm-to-video) Total running time: ca. 95 minutes. ------------------------- TUESDAY, JANUARY 24, 2012 ------------------------- 1/24 Cambridge, Massachusetts: Balagan http://www.balaganfilms.com Doors at 7pm, films at 8pm., Brattle Theatre, 40 Brattle Street BREATHING A FATAL STILLNESS: A VISIT FROM DAÏCHI SAÏTO Balagan proudly presents seven short film works by Daïchi Saïto, the acclaimed experimental filmmaker and co-founder of the Double Negative collective in Montreal. The filmmaker will be present for a discussion of his work and a post-screening Q&A. Program: Chiasmus (16mm / b&w / sound / 8 min. / 2003), Chasmic Dance (16mm / b&w / silent / 24fps / 6:30 min. / 2004), Blind Alley Augury (super-8mm / color / silent / 18fps / 3 min. / 2006), All That Rises (16mm / color / sound / 7 min. / 2007), Green Fuse (super-8mm / color / silent / 18fps / 3 min. / 2008), Trees of Syntax, Leaves of Axis (35mm / color / sound / 10 min. / 2009), Never a Foot Too Far, Even (double-projection 16mm / color / sound / 14 min. / 2011). The screening is partially funded with the generous help of the Quebec Government Office in Boston. --------------------------- WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 25, 2012 --------------------------- 1/25 Ann Arbor, Michigan: Ann Arbor Film Festival http://aafilmfest.org/ 7:30 PM, Michigan Theater 50TH ANN ARBOR FILM FESTIVAL RETROSPECTIVE SCREENING SERIES Portraits, the fourth AAFF 50th Retrospective Screening, curated by Toronto filmmaker, critic and author Mike Hoolboom, features three past AAFF award winners. Films programmed include: Asparagus (19 min, 35mm, 1979); Suzan Pitt's celebrated cult animation, a moving meditation on art and the cost of reproduction, Meditations on Revolution Part One: Lonely Planet (12 min, 16mm, 1997); Robert Fenz's stunning silent poetic vision of Cuba and Al Neil: A Portrait (40 min, 16mm, 1979); David Rimmer's exquisite depiction of jazz iconoclast Al Neil- poet, recluse and shaman. Curator Mike Hoolboom in attendance. 1/25 New York, New York: Dirty Looks @ Judson Memorial Church http://dirtylooksnyc.org 8:30 PM, 55 Washington Square South DIRTY LOOKS: CHARLES ATLAS! Program: Son of Sam and Delilah, Video, 27min., 1991 Butcher's Vogue, Video, 5min., 1990 Staten Island Sex Cult, Video, 10 min. (excerpt), 1999 Instant Fame: Donald, Video, 5min., 2005 Mrs. Peanut Visits New York, Video, 6min., 1992-99 The Draglinquents, Video, 7min., 1990 I Fell In Love With A Dead Boy (from Turning), Video, 4min., 2012 Dirty Looks, a monthly platform for queer experimental film and video, presents an evening of video work by Charles Atlas. With a career that spans 30-years, Atlas is one of the world's most stalwart and vibrant videogrpahers of queer cultures and contemporary dance. This program will host a premiere of material from Turning, a feature-length collaboration between Atlas and Antony Hegarty, on the eve of the Museum of Modern Art commissioned Antony and the Johnsons' Swanlights performance at Radio City Music Hall. Turning will receive its premiere in early 2012. Atlas will also be featured in the upcoming 2012 Whitney Biennial. With special performances from Leigh Bowery, Antony, and Carlos Morales (via Atlas' rarely screened porn film, Staten Island Sex Cult), the works in this program cover more than twenty years of portraiture and collaboration at the vanguard of queer artistic practice. "New York City 1988. Raging homophobia. A killer on the loose. Disco dancing till dawn. Performers struggle to survive. Delilah seduces Samson in song. Gender illusionists go shopping. Samson and Delilah, 1991." -------------------------- THURSDAY, JANUARY 26, 2012 -------------------------- 1/26 Paris, France: Collectif Jeune Cinema http://www.cjcinema.org/ 8pm, La Clef, 34 rue Daubenton THREE CHICAGO FILMMAKERS Eleftheria Lialios, Tom Palazzolo, Michele Fleming A CJC screening presented by Eleftheria Lialios and Pip Chodorov. Avant-garde film is like life. Indescribable, unpredictable, and more strange than mere words can explain. As in life, its scenario is confusing, its voice sometimes shattering, its editing chaotic. The absence of a linear narrative gives it the power that linear narratives cannot claim. It comes from the same mysterious source that life comes from. The films of Michelle Fleming, Eleftheria Lialios, and Tom Palazzolo show the inherent beauty that can only be found on 16mm film. The uniqueness of each filmmaker is marked by hand and by experience. This is the first screening for all three filmmakers together and in Paris. --- LIFE/EXPECTANCY, Michelle Fleming, USA, 1999,16mm, n/b, 30' --- JERRY'S, Tom Palazzolo, USA, 1967, 16mm, 9' --- LOVE IT OR LEAVE IT, Tom Palazzolo, USA, 1970, 16mm, 14' --- O, Tom Palazzolo, USA, 1967, 16mm, 12' --- IF I PROFANE, Eleftheria Lialios, USA, 2001, 16mm, 7' --- AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF A GREEK WOMAN PART 2, Eleftheria Lialios, USA, 1999, 16mm, 8' --- I HAD THIS DREAM LAST NIGHT..., Eleftheria Lialios, USA, 1998, 16mm, 17' 1/26 San Francisco, California: San Francisco Cinematheque http://www.sfcinematheque.org 7PM, SFMOMA - 151 Third Street (between Mission & Howard Streets) ON PHOTOGRAPHY: ELISABETH SUBRIN'S THE FANCY AND OTHER WORKS In association with SFMOMA's exhibition Francesca Woodman, San Francisco Cinematheque is proud to present The Fancy, Elisabeth Subrin's oblique portrait of the late photographer. Writes Subrin: "The Fancy is a speculative, experimental work that explores the short life of Francesca Woodman, culled only from the public record of published catalogues of and about her photographs. Structural in form, the video radically reorganizes information from the catalogues in order to pose questions about biographical form, history and fantasy, female subjectivity, evidence and issues of authorship and intellectual property." With the filmwhich never depicts Woodman or her workbased largely on explorations of sites in which the artist lived and worked and on haunting reenactments and verbal descriptions of her photographs, the film's ostensible subject is kept at tantalizing distance, emerging as a mysterious, ultimately unknowable presence haunting the present. Subrin's provocative portrait will be screened with additional works exploring topics of photographic representation, gendered portraiture, gender performance and the aesthetics of institutional exhibition, including the vision machine by Peggy Ahwesh, miniatures by Stephanie Barber, (If I Can Sing a Sing About) Ligatures by Abigail Child, Photography is Easy by Leslie Thornton and four works by Hester Scheurwater: Lisa, Heal Me, I Must Be Beautiful Too and I Wanted You. (Steve Polta) [members: $7 / non-members: $10] 1/26 San Francisco, California: San Francisco Museum of Modern Art http://www.sfmoma.org 7pm, 151 Third Street in the Phyllis Wattis Theater SF CINEMATHEQUE SCREENS ON PHOTOGRAPHY: ELISABETH SUBRIN'S THE FANCY The Fancy, Elisabeth Subrin, 2000, 36 min., video In conjunction with the exhibition Francesca Woodman, SF Cinematheque presents Subrin's oblique portrait of the late photographer. Based on explorations of places where the artist lived and worked and on reenactments and verbal descriptions of her photographs, the film never depicts Woodman or her work, keeping its ostensible subject at a tantalizing distance as a mysterious, ultimately unknowable presence haunting the present. Subrin's portrait will be screened with additional works exploring topics of photographic representation and gendered portraiture, including Photography Is Easy by Leslie Thornton and (If I Can Sing a Sing About) Ligatures by Abigail Child. (Steve Polta) $10 general; $7 SFMOMA and SF Cinematheque members, students, and seniors. ------------------------ FRIDAY, JANUARY 27, 2012 ------------------------ 1/27 Toronto, Ontario, Canada: The 8 Fest 7 PM, 89B Niagara St. THYE 8 FEST - A FESTIVAL FOR SMALL-GAUGE FILM From Friday Jan. 27 to Sunday Jan. 29, the 8 Fest Toronto will be holding its fifth edition. Highlights include a programme of Super 8 films by German artist Milena Gierke, a showcase of Super 8 films from Winnipeg titled Notes From Nowhere curated by Shawna Dempsey and Lorri Millan, a unique programme titled Adventures in Animationland featuring recent and newly-commissioned films by Leslie Supnet, Robbie Land, Tanya Read, Daryl Vocat and others, our annual HomeMovie History Project presentation which this year will offer Bush Films, and five other programmes of both new and historical small-gauge film works. This is the only festival in Canada which exhibits films on their source stocks. The 8 Fest is the little festival that could, and then so much more. 1/27 Toronto, Ontario, Canada: The 8 fest 7: 00 PM, 89B Niagara St. THE 8 FEST - A FESFIVAL FOR SMALL-GAUGE FILM FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Media Contact: Andrew James Paterson, 416-703-2236, [email protected] FULL SCHEDULE AND DOWNLOADABLE PROGRAMME AVAILABLE AT the8fest.com The 8 fest 2012 - 5th ANNUAL FESTIVAL SAVE THE DATES - Friday, January 27 to Sunday, January 29 "a little festival for small films" The 8 fest returns to Toronto for its fifth year for three nights of screenings and also live performances. This year will again find the festival at Trash Palace Cinema (89B Niagara Street. at Tecumseth, just west of Bathurst). The 8 fest is North America's only festival devoted to all forms of small-gauge film, including Super 8, 8mm, 9.5 and loops, shown in their original formats. The 8 fest showcases the 70+ history of small gauge film - from contemporary artists' work in the form, to its wider cultural use in home movies, instructional loops and beyond. This year's edition of the 8 fest consists of eight programmes, one regular 8mm workshop, and one artist's talk. The eight programmes include: A spotlight on Berlin-based Super 8 filmmaker Milena Gierke who will be visiting the festival courtesy of The Goethe Institut Toronto ( and who will be presenting an artist's talk at The Goethe on Saturday afternoon January 28th at 4:00 PM). Gierke has developed a strong body of work exclusively on Super 8 through her methods of observing and detailing both everyday gestures and unusual occurrences in the moments of their reception. Notes From Nowhere: Super Winnipeg Super 8 - a survey of recent Super 8 activity in Winnipeg curated by renowned performance-art duo Shawna Dempsey and Lorri Millan. Artists include Noam Gonick, Deco Dawson, Heidi Phillips, and Ed Ackerman, among others. Adventures in Animationland - a programme mixing recent animations received by the 8 fest with commissions in collaboration with Toronto Animated Image Society (TAIS). Artists include Julie Voyce, Daryl Vocat, Tanya Read, Leslie Supnet, and others. Bush Films - a presentation by HomeMovie History Project in which small gauge film stocks are used for documentary and instructional purposes and which permit audiences to see themselves and their relatives and their ancestors and descendants and their communities in a social setting. These screenings are remarkable for their mixed audiences - youth looking at what preceded their lives and times and citizens of many ages sharing memories. At HomeMovie History Project screenings the audience truly becomes performers. Zinger Vol. 3: More Tales from The Funnel - further exploration of the histories and mysteries of Toronto's legendary underground Funnel Experimental Film theatre. Including work by Eldon Garnet, Sandra Meigs, FASTWURMS, Edie Steiner, and a live performance by John Porter to name a few. A sneak peak at Eldon Garnet's Super 8 portraits reveals artists Michael Snow, Andy Fabo and Tim Jocelyn and so many more. First Films: even filmmakers start small - a programme of first films by a collection of artists who have now moved on to very different practices than those of their original forays. First Films catch one's interest, as this is the departure point of creativity, the juncture that is a starting point. Some of these first gems are films by Dot Tuer, Louise Noguchi, Jeannie Mah, Lisa Steele and a special sci-fi by 7 year old Kevin Creson. Bagerooo, five! 1 and Bagerooo, five! (Part 2) - our surveys of recent and commissioned small-gauge works from artists across Canada, across the United States as well as Spain and Germany. The 2012 8 fest will also host a regular 8mm workshop with filmmaker John Kneller at Trash Palace on Saturday afternoon from 2:00 to 5:00 PM. It will be limited to a maximum of ten participants. Registration fee is $25 and includes all materials. Email [email protected] to register. The full programme for the 2012 8 fest can be viewed as of January 5th at the8fest.com. The 5th edition of the 8 fest takes place from Friday, January 27 to Sunday, January 29, 2012. Main venue is the venerable Trash Palace (89B Niagara St., rear unit, just west of Bathurst). Tickets: $5 per event/ $25 festival pass For more info: [email protected] www.the8fest.com The 8 fest is made possible through the generous support of: The Canada Council for the Arts, The Ontario Arts Council and the City of Toronto through the Toronto Arts Council as well as our sponsors and community partners: Art Gallery of York University, Canadian Filmmakers Distribution Centre, Niagara Custom Lab, FADO Performance Art Centre, The Goethe Institut Toronto, Home Movie History Project, The Images Festival and Trinity Square Video ### For more information including interview opportunities, press stills, and promotional DVD compilations of festival selections, Please contact Andrew James Paterson at 416-703-2236, [email protected], www.the8fest.com -------------------------- SATURDAY, JANUARY 28, 2012 -------------------------- 1/28 Los Angeles, California: Filmforum http://www.lafilmforum.org/ 4:00pm, Cinefamily, 611 N Fairfax Avenue VISIONS, MEMORY, AND A MACHINE: OPTICAL MANIPULATIONS In person: Beth Block, Pat O'Neill The optical printer played a crucial role not only in the Hollywood special effects industry, but in certain strains of experimental cinema as well. Perhaps because of its co-habitation with America's commercial film production center, Los Angeles artists, more than those of any other experimental film community, produced a substantial body of work that engaged with this versatile and powerful rephotography device. Screening will include work by Adam Beckett, Fred Worden, David Wilson, Beth Block, Pat O'Neill and more. 1/28 New York, New York: Anthology Film Archives http://www.anthologyfilmarchives.org/ 3:30 pm, 32 2nd Avenue ESSENTIAL CINEMA: THE ELEVENTH YEAR by Dziga Vertov With Russian intertitles, English synopsis available, 1928, 60 minutes, 35mm, b&w, silent 1/28 New York, New York: Anthology Film Archives http://www.anthologyfilmarchives.org/ 5:00 pm, 32 2nd Avenue ESSENTIAL CINEMA: THREE SONGS ABOUT LENIN by Dziga Vertov In Russian with no subtitles, English synopsis available, 1934, 60 minutes, 35mm, b&w 1/28 Torrance: Torrance Art Museum http://manipulatedimage.com/LosAngeles2012.html 5pm-7pm, Torrance Art Museum, 3320 Civic Center Drive, Torrance, CA ,90503 MI_LOSANGELES2012: "A CURIOUS SENSE OF CALM" --------Manipulated Image in cooperation with TAM presents "A Curious Sense of Calm" -------- MI's inaugural Los Angeles Screening of video art curated by Alysse Stepanian -------- Invited video artists: Gerald Guthrie (Illinois, USA), Adnan Hussain (Los Angeles, USA), Kika Nicolela (São Paulo, Brazil), and Yuko Takemura (London, UK). Guthrie's digital animations are philosophical inquiries into a man-made world of artificiality and alienation. Hussain's hope is that his work will encourage people to "think for themselves." Kika Nicolela uses the natural expressions of body and movement to explore the connection between the self and society. Yuko Takemura creates sensuous settings that draw the viewer into her mysterious world of perceptions. This is the first screening of LA-based artist, Adnan Hussain's work by Manipulated Image. Adnan will be present at the event to talk about his award-winning animated film, "Gul (flower)." Adnan was born in the US and lived in Pakistan for several years. On this very special evening at TAM, Adnan will share with the audience the process of creating his film and stories from behind the scenes of working with very accomplished Pakistani folk musicians. The music was composed for "Gul (flower)" by Ustad Amb Jogi, and recorded in Sindh, Pakistan. -------- FREE and open to the public ------------------------ SUNDAY, JANUARY 29, 2012 ------------------------ 1/29 New York, New York: Anthology Film Archives http://www.anthologyfilmarchives.org/ 4:45 pm, 32 2nd Avenue ESSENTIAL CINEMA: ENTHUSIASM by Dziga Vertov In Russian with no subtitles, English synopsis available, 1931, 67 minutes, 35mm, b&w 1/29 Portland, Maine: St. Lawrence Arts Center http://www.stlawrencearts.org/ 7:00 pm, 76 Congress Street EXPERIMENTAL FILMS BY WALTER UNGERER-50 YEARS OF FILMMAKING On Sunday, January 29, 2012, St. Lawrence Arts will present a program of recent short films by renowned filmmaker Walter Ungerer. In the 1950s 60s he was a fixture in The Village art community and underground film scene in New York City, which included such names as Ed Emshwiller, Bob Lowe, Jonas Mekas, Tony Montanaro, and Stan Vanderbeek. His work spans fifty years of filmmaking, from his cinema verité documentaries (THE TASMANIAN DEVIL, KEEPING THINGS WHOLE), to narrative films (THE ANIMAL, THE WINTER THERE WAS VERY LITTLE SNOW), to more recent DSLR computer generated works (KINGSBURY BEACH, BLUE PARROT, MONARDA). Ungerer learned his basic filmmaking skills working on various productions: THE COOL WORLD, a theatrical film directed by Shirley Clarke; and FREEDOM FOR THY PEOPLE, a United Church of Christ documentary shot in Nigeria. He produced his own experimental films MEET ME, JESUS and A LION'S TALE soon after. Then came the OOBIELAND films, which gave him wide recognition. The Museum of Modern Art included UBI EST TERRAM OOBIAE?, Part Two of OOBIELAND, in a program that toured the world for one year, representing experimental filmmaking in the United States. In the next few years the OOBIELAND films (there are five parts), received awards at such experimental film festivals as Ann Arbor, Foothill, Bellevue, and Baltimore. In 1969 Ungerer left New York for Vermont and a job teaching filmmaking at Goddard College. He tapped into resources at the college, namely personnel for cast and crew (including BREAD AND PUPPET THEATRE) for the longer narrative films he was beginning to produce. For thirty-three years he lived in Vermont creating feature length experimental narrative films: THE ANIMAL, THE HOUSE WITHOUT STEPS, THE WINTER THERE WAS VERY LITTLE SNOW and LEAVING THE HARBOR; always using the talents of local actors. In the late twentieth century several factors changed Ungerer's way of working. He was no longer able to find funding for his projects, though he was the recipient of national and regional awards: American Film Institute filmmaker grant, National Endowment on the Arts grant, National Endowment of the Humanities grant, and several Vermont Council on the Arts grants. The world was beginning to accept video as an alternative to film. Lack of funding and a curiosity about the creative potential for video and the computer, was the incentive for Ungerer to shift from film to video, and from the Moviola or Steenbeck film editing machines to the Amiga computer and non-linear editing. What occurred with this shift was a change in the look and duration of the projects that Ungerer began to create. They became much shorter in length from the 75 to 90 minute narrative films, to the 5 to 15 minute computer generated works. It was a move from the long form to the short form, much like the difference between prose and poetry in literature. The projects were also more frequently produced. Ungerer moved to Maine in 2003. His methods are now different, methods he began to accept at the end of the twentieth century, working on computer editing systems and shooting with digital cameras. Nonetheless he still relies on an intuitive approach to decision making with a predilection for the themes of nature, earth, the unknown and unknowable. Please note: Q&A with Walter Ungerer at the end of the showing. Contact: Whitney McDorr, Theater Manager; St. Lawrence Arts Center, 76 Congress Street, Portland, ME (207) 347-3075. 1/29 San Francisco, California: Artists Television Access http://www.atasite.org/ 8pm, 992 Valencia Street CROATIAN ANIMATION The Croatian Animation Cultural Exchange presents an evening of historical animations from Croatia (1957-1978) with works by Nikola Kostelac, Vatroslav Mimica, Z l a t k o G r g ic and more. The program is presented by Vanja Hraste who is a visiting program director of the film-club association of Croatia. Enter your event announcements by going to the Flicker Weekly Listing Form at http://www.hi-beam.net/cgi-bin/thisweek.pl The weekly listing is also available online at Flicker: http://www.hi-beam.net
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