Re: [Frameworks] canyon in the news (bad news dept)
In a message dated 2/17/2012 10:01:56 P.M. Pacific Standard Time, djte...@gmail.com writes: And if you think things might get 'better,' I think you're kidding yourself. Because this is all about forces that are much larger than our little experimental film scene and have been rolling down the hills of history for well over 35 years. (Of course film prints wear out, fewer and fewer print stocks are available, labs are closing down...) So, what is too be done? It's time to think outside the box, go back to square one, ask ourself what REALLY matters here, and figure out how best to achieve those ends in the real world of America 2012... ___ Way too cynical. Plus, video isn't film, art has always needed benefactors, and who cares what students think today? Any film student who resents film is a moron. Let them study their videos.___ FrameWorks mailing list FrameWorks@jonasmekasfilms.com https://mailman-mail5.webfaction.com/listinfo/frameworks
[Frameworks] TODAY 18:45 | urban research program III | Activismo Experimental: Artists Involved!
URBAN RESEARCH AT DIRECTORS LOUNGE urban research special Saturday, 18 February 18:00 starting on time! Adam Kossoff UK Moscow Diary 46 min 30 2010 urban research program III: Activismo Experimental: Artists Involved! Saturday, 18 February 18:45 http://berlinlounge.tumblr.com/tagged/15th%20Feb%202012 Directors Lounge at Naherholung Sternchen Berolinastraße 7 10178 Berlin / Mitte (Ubhf- Schillingstraße hinter Kino International / Rathaus Mitte) In recent years, art has become increasingly political, again. The societies around the globe and even in Europe and the United States seem to wake up from the rigidity of the paralysing West-East conflict, and its aftermath, when there seemed to be no alternative to economic liberalism. Some artists take amazing risks to do public actions, others try to subvert written or unwritten laws in more subtle ways, however, in many ways, the society has become the material again for artists to experiment with. Furthermore, the cheeky and anarchist stance many artists have developed may have an influence on how the freedom to speech, which seems to be in jeopardy again, will be interpreted and used in the future. * Cesy Leonard DE Schuld. Die Barbarei Europas 16 min 00 2011 * Eduardo Srur BR Bandit Bull 3 min 22 2010 * Russell J. Chartier US Confined 3 min 34 * Daniel Künzler AT Inside Pockets Of The City 13 min 17 2011 * Diane Nerwen US Up On The Farm 16 min 2011 * Vladimir Turner CZ Dum Z Karet 2 min 36 * Sheldon Brown US The Scalable City 4 min 04 2007 * Matt Grau DE Lachen in der U-Bahn 2 min 59 2011 * Eduardo Srur BR Attack 3 min 34 2004 * Brandstifter DE Ein kleines Stück Papier 10 min 00 2008 77 min plus: OPENING OF THE SPECIAL EXHIBITION IN THE SCREENING THEATRE: With special guests: Frank Behnke, Klaus Beyer, Brandstifter, Tanja Roolfs, Carsten Wagner (Ein kleines Stück Papier) Brandstifter DE Asphaltbibliotheque Berlin 2011 Exhibition with lost and found sheets of paper The installation Asphaltbibliotheque Berlin 2011 at Directors Lounge works together with the screening of Brandstifter's documentation of his long term concept Ein kleines Stück Papier for Urban Art Research, displaying the gathered remains from Friedrichshain, Kreuzberg, Lichtenberg, Mitte and Neukölln from the lostfound art research tour Hannover-Berlin Easter 2011 as a brief sample of his huge collection that he archives from public space since 1998. The Poetry of Papers The Asphaltbibliotheque shows how poetic and many-layered artistic reordering can make an idea that is simple in itself. Brandstifter understands how to charge the profane with the poetic, and in so doing to provide playfully anarchic inspiration to conceive the everyday world as a freely formable work of art. (Martin Büsser, art critic, author, publisher, Testcard/Ventil Verlag) Find more infos on the films and the program at: http://www.richfilm.de/DL2012/framesUrbanResearch.html The 8th Berlin International Directors Lounge 2012 9-19 February 2012 open daily from 18:00 daily program, screening, installations, bar, lounge and music doors free until 10 pm http://berlinlounge.tumblr.com/ This message was sent to [email address]. If you would not like to receive further mail from Klaus W. Eisenlohr/ Directors Lounge, please give me a short reply, you will then be removed from my mailing list, immediately. Klaus W. Eisenlohr, Osnabrücker Str. 25, D-10589 Berlin eMail Adresse: off...@richfilm.de Homepage: http://www.kw-eisenlohr.de Film Produktion:http://www.richfilm.de Telefon:int.- 49 - 30 - 3409 5343 (BERLIN) -- Klaus W. Eisenlohr, Osnabrücker Str. 25, D-10589 Berlin, Germany email: kl...@richfilm.de and film production:http://www.richfilm.de phone: int.- 49 - 30 - 3409 5343 (BERLIN)___ FrameWorks mailing list FrameWorks@jonasmekasfilms.com https://mailman-mail5.webfaction.com/listinfo/frameworks
[Frameworks] The Horizontal Scratches.
Frameworkers, I just received a mess of telecine'd color super16mm footage from the lab and was more than a bit sad to see a long parade of emulsion-side horizontal blue scratches on the right 1/4th of the frame. I shot about 2.5 hours of footage with an Aaton Minima (a camera I wouldn't really recommend, either way) and the scratches are present throughout all the rolls - while they are not on every shot, when they do appear they happen just after the camera has started again. A tech suggested that it might be the film slipping in the gate at the end of a shot, making the loop too large on one side and scratching against the loop former. The place I rented the camera from says it's not their fault (and they've never seen such scratches produced by a camera in 15 years...) and the lab of course doesn't want to be responsible, so any words to the contrary would be appreciated. Have any of you run into this sad curiosity before? I'm happy to send a VIMEO link to anyone who wants to see support material. Thanks In Advance, BR ___ FrameWorks mailing list FrameWorks@jonasmekasfilms.com https://mailman-mail5.webfaction.com/listinfo/frameworks
Re: [Frameworks] canyon in the news (bad news dept)
Tetzlaff's remarks are not cynical, but realistic. Most of us who have lived through the period he outlines know that it's true. One element he doesn't account for is that experimental film screenings, as events, are significant art world social experiences. And where we still find regular screenings, it's almost always because there is a core of art world folks in that locale--be it urban area or college town or art school--who want that experience. But that's not enough to sustain the long standing coop rental system. The nutty purism of Canyon (a function of the voting members, not the staff necessarily) had its ups and downs, but those downs included not carrying video copies of films made by its members, then sort of allowing them when some of the Big Boys started to do it, but then closing down again, and on and on. Repeatedly the pigheadedness of some of the most vocal members kept things from moving forward. Sometimes it takes a crisis to make things clear to everyone concerned. I absolutely endorse David's conclusion: It's time to think outside the box, go back to square one, ask ourself what REALLY matters here, and figure out how best to achieve those ends in the real world of America 2012… Chuck Kleinhans ___ FrameWorks mailing list FrameWorks@jonasmekasfilms.com https://mailman-mail5.webfaction.com/listinfo/frameworks
Re: [Frameworks] TODAY 18:45 | urban research program III | Activismo Experimental: Artists Involved!
T On 2/18/12, Klaus W. Eisenlohr kl...@richfilm.de wrote: URBAN RESEARCH AT DIRECTORS LOUNGE urban research special Saturday, 18 February 18:00 starting on time! Adam Kossoff UK Moscow Diary 46 min 30 2010 urban research program III: Activismo Experimental: Artists Involved! Saturday, 18 February 18:45 http://berlinlounge.tumblr.com/tagged/15th%20Feb%202012 Directors Lounge at Naherholung Sternchen Berolinastraße 7 10178 Berlin / Mitte (Ubhf- Schillingstraße hinter Kino International / Rathaus Mitte) In recent years, art has become increasingly political, again. The societies around the globe and even in Europe and the United States seem to wake up from the rigidity of the paralysing West-East conflict, and its aftermath, when there seemed to be no alternative to economic liberalism. Some artists take amazing risks to do public actions, others try to subvert written or unwritten laws in more subtle ways, however, in many ways, the society has become the material again for artists to experiment with. Furthermore, the cheeky and anarchist stance many artists have developed may have an influence on how the freedom to speech, which seems to be in jeopardy again, will be interpreted and used in the future. * Cesy Leonard DE Schuld. Die Barbarei Europas 16 min 00 2011 * Eduardo Srur BR Bandit Bull 3 min 22 2010 * Russell J. Chartier US Confined 3 min 34 * Daniel Künzler AT Inside Pockets Of The City 13 min 17 2011 * Diane Nerwen US Up On The Farm 16 min 2011 * Vladimir Turner CZ Dum Z Karet 2 min 36 * Sheldon Brown US The Scalable City 4 min 04 2007 * Matt Grau DE Lachen in der U-Bahn 2 min 59 2011 * Eduardo Srur BR Attack 3 min 34 2004 * Brandstifter DE Ein kleines Stück Papier 10 min 00 2008 77 min plus: OPENING OF THE SPECIAL EXHIBITION IN THE SCREENING THEATRE: With special guests: Frank Behnke, Klaus Beyer, Brandstifter, Tanja Roolfs, Carsten Wagner (Ein kleines Stück Papier) Brandstifter DE Asphaltbibliotheque Berlin 2011 Exhibition with lost and found sheets of paper The installation Asphaltbibliotheque Berlin 2011 at Directors Lounge works together with the screening of Brandstifter's documentation of his long term concept Ein kleines Stück Papier for Urban Art Research, displaying the gathered remains from Friedrichshain, Kreuzberg, Lichtenberg, Mitte and Neukölln from the lostfound art research tour Hannover-Berlin Easter 2011 as a brief sample of his huge collection that he archives from public space since 1998. The Poetry of Papers The Asphaltbibliotheque shows how poetic and many-layered artistic reordering can make an idea that is simple in itself. Brandstifter understands how to charge the profane with the poetic, and in so doing to provide playfully anarchic inspiration to conceive the everyday world as a freely formable work of art. (Martin Büsser, art critic, author, publisher, Testcard/Ventil Verlag) Find more infos on the films and the program at: http://www.richfilm.de/DL2012/framesUrbanResearch.html The 8th Berlin International Directors Lounge 2012 9-19 February 2012 open daily from 18:00 daily program, screening, installations, bar, lounge and music doors free until 10 pm http://berlinlounge.tumblr.com/ This message was sent to [email address]. If you would not like to receive further mail from Klaus W. Eisenlohr/ Directors Lounge, please give me a short reply, you will then be removed from my mailing list, immediately. Klaus W. Eisenlohr, Osnabrücker Str. 25, D-10589 Berlin eMail Adresse:off...@richfilm.de Homepage: http://www.kw-eisenlohr.de Film Produktion: http://www.richfilm.de Telefon: int.- 49 - 30 - 3409 5343 (BERLIN) -- Klaus W. Eisenlohr, Osnabrücker Str. 25, D-10589 Berlin, Germany email:kl...@richfilm.de and film production: http://www.richfilm.de phone:int.- 49 - 30 - 3409 5343 (BERLIN) ___ FrameWorks mailing list FrameWorks@jonasmekasfilms.com https://mailman-mail5.webfaction.com/listinfo/frameworks
Re: [Frameworks] TODAY 18:45 | urban research program III | Activismo Experimental: Artists Involved!
On 2/18/12, Klaus W. Eisenlohr kl...@richfilm.de wrote: URBAN RESEARCH AT DIRECTORS LOUNGE urban research special Saturday, 18 February 18:00 starting on time! Adam Kossoff UK Moscow Diary 46 min 30 2010 urban research program III: Activismo Experimental: Artists Involved! Saturday, 18 February 18:45 http://berlinlounge.tumblr.com/tagged/15th%20Feb%202012 Directors Lounge at Naherholung Sternchen Berolinastraße 7 10178 Berlin / Mitte (Ubhf- Schillingstraße hinter Kino International / Rathaus Mitte) In recent years, art has become increasingly political, again. The societies around the globe and even in Europe and the United States seem to wake up from the rigidity of the paralysing West-East conflict, and its aftermath, when there seemed to be no alternative to economic liberalism. Some artists take amazing risks to do public actions, others try to subvert written or unwritten laws in more subtle ways, however, in many ways, the society has become the material again for artists to experiment with. Furthermore, the cheeky and anarchist stance many artists have developed may have an influence on how the freedom to speech, which seems to be in jeopardy again, will be interpreted and used in the future. * Cesy Leonard DE Schuld. Die Barbarei Europas 16 min 00 2011 * Eduardo Srur BR Bandit Bull 3 min 22 2010 * Russell J. Chartier US Confined 3 min 34 * Daniel Künzler AT Inside Pockets Of The City 13 min 17 2011 * Diane Nerwen US Up On The Farm 16 min 2011 * Vladimir Turner CZ Dum Z Karet 2 min 36 * Sheldon Brown US The Scalable City 4 min 04 2007 * Matt Grau DE Lachen in der U-Bahn 2 min 59 2011 * Eduardo Srur BR Attack 3 min 34 2004 * Brandstifter DE Ein kleines Stück Papier 10 min 00 2008 77 min plus: OPENING OF THE SPECIAL EXHIBITION IN THE SCREENING THEATRE: With special guests: Frank Behnke, Klaus Beyer, Brandstifter, Tanja Roolfs, Carsten Wagner (Ein kleines Stück Papier) Brandstifter DE Asphaltbibliotheque Berlin 2011 Exhibition with lost and found sheets of paper The installation Asphaltbibliotheque Berlin 2011 at Directors Lounge works together with the screening of Brandstifter's documentation of his long term concept Ein kleines Stück Papier for Urban Art Research, displaying the gathered remains from Friedrichshain, Kreuzberg, Lichtenberg, Mitte and Neukölln from the lostfound art research tour Hannover-Berlin Easter 2011 as a brief sample of his huge collection that he archives from public space since 1998. The Poetry of Papers The Asphaltbibliotheque shows how poetic and many-layered artistic reordering can make an idea that is simple in itself. Brandstifter understands how to charge the profane with the poetic, and in so doing to provide playfully anarchic inspiration to conceive the everyday world as a freely formable work of art. (Martin Büsser, art critic, author, publisher, Testcard/Ventil Verlag) Find more infos on the films and the program at: http://www.richfilm.de/DL2012/framesUrbanResearch.html The 8th Berlin International Directors Lounge 2012 9-19 February 2012 open daily from 18:00 daily program, screening, installations, bar, lounge and music doors free until 10 pm http://berlinlounge.tumblr.com/ This message was sent to [email address]. If you would not like to receive further mail from Klaus W. Eisenlohr/ Directors Lounge, please give me a short reply, you will then be removed from my mailing list, immediately. Klaus W. Eisenlohr, Osnabrücker Str. 25, D-10589 Berlin eMail Adresse:off...@richfilm.de Homepage: http://www.kw-eisenlohr.de Film Produktion: http://www.richfilm.de Telefon: int.- 49 - 30 - 3409 5343 (BERLIN) -- Klaus W. Eisenlohr, Osnabrücker Str. 25, D-10589 Berlin, Germany email:kl...@richfilm.de and film production: http://www.richfilm.de phone:int.- 49 - 30 - 3409 5343 (BERLIN) ___ FrameWorks mailing list FrameWorks@jonasmekasfilms.com https://mailman-mail5.webfaction.com/listinfo/frameworks
Re: [Frameworks] E6 Kit_Re-exposure
T On 2/17/12, Ken Paul Rosenthal kenpaulrosent...@hotmail.com wrote: Nicky, Are these the same kits we're talking about? You mentioned re-exposure at one point, but the current Tetenal four bath one litre kit: 1st Dev, Blix, 2nd Dev, Stabiliser, does not require re-exposure. This is the one I have used to do up to six rolls of Super 8 perfectly. Tetenal don't recommend extending dev time beyond the volume the kit is stated to be able to do. Re-exposure is necessary in any reversal process, so that the remaining halides that were not exposed/developed for the initial negative image, can be exposed to light, then processed to a positive image in the 2nd developer. The kits make the process simple and accessible for the average 35mm still photographer by combining the steps. So, the 2nd Developer step chemically 're-exposes' the remaining halides from the 1st Developer step, and *also* develops it. Similarly, the Bleach/Fix (Blix) step combines the Bleach and the Fix in one step. Hence, 6 steps become a more manageable 4. Kenwww.crookedbeautythefilm.com (Academic)www.crookedbeauty.com (Public)www.kenpaulrosenthal.com ___ FrameWorks mailing list FrameWorks@jonasmekasfilms.com https://mailman-mail5.webfaction.com/listinfo/frameworks
Re: [Frameworks] E6 Kit_Re-exposure
Thanks for the info: I'm no expert on chemistry! Nicky. -Original Message- From: Ken Paul Rosenthal kenpaulrosent...@hotmail.com To: Frameworks Postings frameworks@jonasmekasfilms.com Sent: Sat, 18 Feb 2012 4:21 Subject: [Frameworks] E6 Kit_Re-exposure Nicky, Are these the same kits we're talking about? You mentioned re-exposure at one point, but the current Tetenal four bath one litre kit: 1st Dev, Blix, 2nd Dev, Stabiliser, does not require re-exposure. This is the one I have used to do up to six rolls of Super 8 perfectly. Tetenal don't recommend extending dev time beyond the volume the kit is stated to be able to do. Re-exposure is necessary in any reversal process, so that the remaining halides that were not exposed/developed for the initial negative image, can be exposed to light, then processed to a positive image in the 2nd developer. The kits make the process simple and accessible for the average 35mm still photographer by combining the steps. So, the 2nd Developer step chemically 're-exposes' the remaining halides from the 1st Developer step, and *also* develops it. Similarly, the Bleach/Fix (Blix) step combines the Bleach and the Fix in one step. Hence, 6 steps become a more manageable 4. Ken www.crookedbeautythefilm.com (Academic) www.crookedbeauty.com (Public) www.kenpaulrosenthal.com ___ FrameWorks mailing list FrameWorks@jonasmekasfilms.com https://mailman-mail5.webfaction.com/listinfo/frameworks ___ FrameWorks mailing list FrameWorks@jonasmekasfilms.com https://mailman-mail5.webfaction.com/listinfo/frameworks
Re: [Frameworks] canyon in the news (bad news dept)
David, Well done, well said. David, I found your summation very comforting, not because of its prediction, but because it states clearly the situation at hand for us all to recognize. Recognition is the beginning of the way to a solution to my mind. Thanks. Walter Ungerer From: David Tetzlaff djte...@gmail.com Reply-To: Experimental Film Discussion List frameworks@jonasmekasfilms.com Date: Sat, 18 Feb 2012 01:01:42 -0500 To: Experimental Film Discussion List frameworks@jonasmekasfilms.com Subject: Re: [Frameworks] canyon in the news (bad news dept) With 20-20 hindsight, we can see that the writing has been on the wall for the end of the co-op system as a sustainable form of distribution since May 10, 1975: the release date of the first practical home VCR. Co-op distribution attempts to replicate in the fine-art world the business model of commercial entertainment. That is, the idea is to rent prints, and cover the cost of the exhibition by charging admission. (To simplify the argument, we could consider rentals for classroom use to be following this model as the rental fee could be considered to come from the tuition paid by the students taking the class.) This worked when there was no other way to view moving pictures other than projecting prints, but the economic foundation changed inexorably once there another way of reproducing, distributing and watching moving pictures became available: one that was not only far less expensive but via which 'unauthorized' copies could easily be made. Of course, this other means of sharing moving pictures (the VCR and CRT monitor) was originally vastly inferior technically, but the economic viability of a business model depends on the desires of the customers, not just the wishes of the producers. And way too much of the audience simply did not care about the technical issues (or the aesthetic principles that might attend them). So, a certain percentage of the audience who had been willing to pay to go to an experimental film screening decided to spend their time and budget on other things - renting a VHS of a foreign art film or whatever. As time goes on, the video options increase in both utility and availability of content, the technical quality improves, and so on, so the paying audience for experimental exhibitions continues to shrink. Eventually, the co-ops become highly dependent on the patronage of academia, which works for awhile since Cinema Studies was a growth industry at the time, and major universities could fund the desires of their new prize Film Professors. But then Prop 13 passed in California, the Reagan administration slashed education funding, and all but the most elite schools began facing harsh budget reversions. Furthermore, schools had been able to screen film prints in Cinema Studies classes in large part because 16mm was the default medium for educational media, and was thus well supported by college AV departments and the infrastructures (institutional AV dealers and repair services) upon which those departments relied. All of that changed rather quickly as video completely took over educational media. For over a decade now, most colleges not only no longer have working 16mm projectors, and no budget line to repair whatever's still stuck in a closet somewhere, but have no one in their network of vendors who can fix them. So if young faculty people in the 21st century want to screen prints, the WHOLE thing falls on them. They have to find the projector, keep it running, do the rental paperwork, cut something else from the operating budget to free up funds for the rentals, come in and project the prints themselves -- and by the way you better know how to fix a bad tape splice if you get prints from FMC, MOMA or even Canyon. And of course, none of this endears you to the dean or advances your tenure file. Your students are POed about the required screenings since every other professor requiring them to watch something has it on reserve in the library where they can access it at their leisure, and where the ambitious students can actually STUDY the thing in some detail as they write their papers. The library will buy any DVD under $200 if you're going to use it in class, because it builds the collection that can be used by the whole college. Good intentions to aesthetic celluloid rectitude only go so far as your head gets beat continuously against a variety of walls. Some people still manage to muddle through, but others fall away. So the college rentals decline too. Now, I would say this trajectory was clearly visible by 1985, and glaringly obvious by 1990. Yet, in a world where the general rule of survival is 'adapt or die,' the institutions of experimental film largely kept to business-as-usual, and now find themselves utter anachronisms whose continued operation depends almost entirely on 'the kindness of strangers.' (Not to mention that the print-rental system
Re: [Frameworks] What to do with one roll of nitrate film?
A silent musical comedy? Is there an optical soundtrack? Nitrate was common up until the early 50's, way past the silent era. If I were you I'd get rid of it. A funky looking roll of nitrate is no joke. But it sounds like it might be worthwhile to photograph those stalagmites on the reel. Just be careful with your lights! Perhaps you could ask PFA if they are interested in it, or could recommend someone who would be. If you don't mind sacrificing a few frames it's rather instructive to cut off a short bit, put it outside on the sidewalk and put a match to it, maybe with some kind of a short fuse. Now imagine 200' of tightly wound film. A nitrate fire is unstoppable. Good luck and be safe! - Tom From: frameworks-boun...@jonasmekasfilms.com [mailto:frameworks-boun...@jonasmekasfilms.com] On Behalf Of k. a.r. Sent: Friday, February 17, 2012 4:44 PM To: frameworks@jonasmekasfilms.com Subject: [Frameworks] What to do with one roll of nitrate film? hello. I have one roll of nitrate film in my collection. I recently looked at it for the first time in a year or so, I keep it stored in a drawer with more modern 16mm. The metal reel that it is on has started to grow these oxidized looking stalagmites and the whole reel is looking kind of funky. I wonder what I can do with it? The images are a partial reel of some musical comedy from the silent era. It is 35mm. Seems to be about 150-200' long. I'm assuming that if anyone wanted it, I can't mail it, due to it's extremely flammable nature. So any ideas or suggestions of what to do with this roll? thanks. Kristie Reinders, B.F.A. Director of Cinematography, Electric Visions Curator and Head Projectionist, Electric Mural Project The Mission, San Francisco, CA 'A first class technician should work best under pressure.' - - - Issac Asimov ___ FrameWorks mailing list FrameWorks@jonasmekasfilms.com https://mailman-mail5.webfaction.com/listinfo/frameworks
Re: [Frameworks] What to do with one roll of nitrate film?
Dear Kristie, In the case of nitrate (or any deteriorating film), it's always worth talking to your local archive. In your case, that would be the Pacific Film Archive and the best contact there would be Kathy Geritz. Best regards, Dennis Doros Milestone Film Video/Milliarium Zero PO Box 128 Harrington Park, NJ 07640 Phone: 201-767-3117 Fax: 201-767-3035 email: milefi...@gmail.com www.milestonefilms.com www.comebackafrica.com www.yougottomove.com www.ontheboweryfilm.com www.arayafilm.com www.exilesfilm.com www.wordisoutmovie.com www.killerofsheep.com http://www.killerofsheep.com/ Join Milestone Film on Facebook and Twitter! and the Association of Moving Image Archivists http://www.amianet.org/! Follow Milestone on Twitter! http://twitter.com/#!/MilestoneFilms *From:* frameworks-boun...@jonasmekasfilms.com [mailto: frameworks-boun...@jonasmekasfilms.com] *On Behalf Of *k. a.r. *Sent:* Friday, February 17, 2012 4:44 PM *To:* frameworks@jonasmekasfilms.com *Subject:* [Frameworks] What to do with one roll of nitrate film? ** ** hello. I have one roll of nitrate film in my collection. I recently looked at it for the first time in a year or so, I keep it stored in a drawer with more modern 16mm. The metal reel that it is on has started to grow these oxidized looking stalagmites and the whole reel is looking kind of funky. I wonder what I can do with it? The images are a partial reel of some musical comedy from the silent era. It is 35mm. Seems to be about 150-200' long. I'm assuming that if anyone wanted it, I can't mail it, due to it's extremely flammable nature. So any ideas or suggestions of what to do with this roll? thanks. Kristie Reinders, B.F.A. Director of Cinematography, Electric Visions Curator and Head Projectionist, Electric Mural Project The Mission, San Francisco, CA 'A first class technician should work best under pressure.' - - - Issac Asimov ___ FrameWorks mailing list FrameWorks@jonasmekasfilms.com https://mailman-mail5.webfaction.com/listinfo/frameworks ___ FrameWorks mailing list FrameWorks@jonasmekasfilms.com https://mailman-mail5.webfaction.com/listinfo/frameworks
Re: [Frameworks] canyon in the news (bad news dept)
Wow this is harsh and somewhat ridiculous. This reply, below, is the cynical one. David has it absolutely right, his assessment rings true and it is based in real world experience, not some pouting ideology. And he is a teacher, so I do hope he is one who cares what students think today. Jeez Louise, I hope not only film professors do, but physics and sociology and biomedical engineering profs, too. In my experience, lots of people care about what students (and other humans) think. I remember well the days (more than a decade, actually) when I was pro film which meant I was anti video but that was quite some time ago. Like most informed people in the field, I can appreciate the advantages, disadvantages, and compromises that each format embodies. With a special interest in early cinema, it is difficult to get many prints for my collection, but I sure as hell like all the DVD's that are available, it is absolutely fantastic. For shows I use film all the time, always have and always will. These days when I set up a 16mm projector for a public show people act as if I had driven to the place in a horse and buggy, they pull out their phones to take pictures of a Bell Howell autoload, I can't help but snicker. In November I had one guy come back the second night just to record the sound of the projector. So I realize and appreciate how exotic my chosen medium of 16mm film has become. Frankly, it is a good thing - it has allowed me to raise my fees! I think that film presentation on projectors will become somewhat akin to the performance of Baroque music on period instruments. My projectors (although some are perhaps only 30 years old) are period instruments. Perhaps I should project bewigged. Experimental film coops need someone to step up and start giving multi-million dollar support, art has always needed benefactors, you are right about that. Sorry, but it ain't going to be me. - Tom Way too cynical. Plus, video isn't film, art has always needed benefactors, and who cares what students think today? Any film student who resents film is a moron. Let them study their videos. ___ FrameWorks mailing list FrameWorks@jonasmekasfilms.com https://mailman-mail5.webfaction.com/listinfo/frameworks
Re: [Frameworks] canyon in the news (bad news dept)
One of the things that I find curious is that you can rent a film print for a fraction of the cost of renting a video copy. We were tracking down titles for the curated shows at FLEXfest 2012 (which starts tonight, by the way), and we discovered that we could get John Smith's Associations from Canyon for 1/3 of the price of a tape from VDB. There's something totally wrong in this picture. I actually really love the way films are priced for rental at the co-ops, because that means we can sometimes afford to throw together a program without putting us in debt forever, but I do wonder if pricing isn't also part of the issue. If VDB, EAI, Vtape, et al. are renting infinitely reproducible videotapes for those prices, presumably the film co-ops could jack up their prices as well. I really hope they don't and I hope that they find a way to continue to make these films available, but I wonder why that's not part of the discussion. (Of course, I'm not privy to the closed-door discussions, so maybe it is already part of the discussion. If so, I'd love to hear more about why that's been ruled out.) Off to pick up the programs for tonight's festival. (You can peruse the electronic version at www.flexfest.org/2012schedule.htmlhttp://www.flexfest.org/2012schedule.html.) Roger On Feb 18, 2012, at 1:01 AM, David Tetzlaff wrote: With 20-20 hindsight, we can see that the writing has been on the wall for the end of the co-op system as a sustainable form of distribution since May 10, 1975: the release date of the first practical home VCR. Co-op distribution attempts to replicate in the fine-art world the business model of commercial entertainment. That is, the idea is to rent prints, and cover the cost of the exhibition by charging admission. (To simplify the argument, we could consider rentals for classroom use to be following this model as the rental fee could be considered to come from the tuition paid by the students taking the class.) This worked when there was no other way to view moving pictures other than projecting prints, but the economic foundation changed inexorably once there another way of reproducing, distributing and watching moving pictures became available: one that was not only far less expensive but via which 'unauthorized' copies could easily be made. Of course, this other means of sharing moving pictures (the VCR and CRT monitor) was originally vastly inferior technically, but the economic viability of a business model depends on the desires of the customers, not just the wishes of the producers. And way too much of the audience simply did not care about the technical issues (or the aesthetic principles that might attend them). So, a certain percentage of the audience who had been willing to pay to go to an experimental film screening decided to spend their time and budget on other things - renting a VHS of a foreign art film or whatever. As time goes on, the video options increase in both utility and availability of content, the technical quality improves, and so on, so the paying audience for experimental exhibitions continues to shrink. Eventually, the co-ops become highly dependent on the patronage of academia, which works for awhile since Cinema Studies was a growth industry at the time, and major universities could fund the desires of their new prize Film Professors. But then Prop 13 passed in California, the Reagan administration slashed education funding, and all but the most elite schools began facing harsh budget reversions. Furthermore, schools had been able to screen film prints in Cinema Studies classes in large part because 16mm was the default medium for educational media, and was thus well supported by college AV departments and the infrastructures (institutional AV dealers and repair services) upon which those departments relied. All of that changed rather quickly as video completely took over educational media. For over a decade now, most colleges not only no longer have working 16mm projectors, and no budget line to repair whatever's still stuck in a closet somewhere, but have no one in their network of vendors who can fix them. So if young faculty people in the 21st century want to screen prints, the WHOLE thing falls on them. They have to find the projector, keep it running, do the rental paperwork, cut something else from the operating budget to free up funds for the rentals, come in and project the prints themselves -- and by the way you better know how to fix a bad tape splice if you get prints from FMC, MOMA or even Canyon. And of course, none of this endears you to the dean or advances your tenure file. Your students are POed about the required screenings since every other professor requiring them to watch something has it on reserve in the library where they can access it at their leisure, and where the ambitious students can actually STUDY the thing in some detail as they write their papers. The
[Frameworks] Part 2 of 2: This week [February 18 - 26, 2012] in avant garde cinema
Part 2 of 2: This week [February 18 - 26, 2012] in avant garde cinema - FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 24, 2012 - 2/24 Austin, TX: Experimental Response Cinema http://www.hi-beam.net/erc 7pm, Arthouse at the Jones Center, 700 Congress Ave. FILMS AND VIDEOS BY JEANNE LIOTTA Description New York artist Jeanne Liotta will be in-person to presentsa selection of various works in 16mm film and digital video in which appear transmissions of energetic and material subjects such as landscape, abstraction, the historical archive, science, natural philosophy, and the virtual sublim...e. Playful, chaotic, and intuitive miniature essays into the transitory perceptions of time and space sometimes called reality. Works include: Sweet Dreams, Sutro, What Makes Day and Night, Science's Ten Most Beautiful Experiments: #2 Galileo's, Eclipse, Observando el Cielo, Hymn to the Void, and others tba... 2/24 Kansas City, Missouri: Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art http://www.nelson-atkins.org 7:00 p.m., Atkins Auditorium, NAMA, 4525 Oak Street ELECTROMEDIASCOPE Alien Contact and Cultural Imagination. Gilles Deleuze elucidates an understanding of modern cinema as a conceptual practice contiguous with contemporary art in his book Cinema 2: The Time-Image. In the process he discusses modern political cinema and imagined communities and suggests that when considering the new basis on which they are founded in the third world and for minorities, art, and especially cinematographic art, must take part in a task that is not that of addressing a people, which is presupposed already there, but of contributing to the invention of a people. Alien Contact and Cultural Imagination exemplifies this process through diverse examples of aesthetic, sociocultural and political works that address aspects of imaginable worlds. They tell strange and beautiful stories through visual and audible means that are reverberating with geopolitical realities while bringing to life a missing past. Cinema plays an important role in contemporary art where its unique development of images of thought cause us to rethink notions of the experimental within the context of the emerging global cinema's emphasis on visual and media literacy, a tactile - sensory form of editing and imagistic use of sound. This work shares more with the connotative syntax of oral histories, poetry, performances and ritual traditions than with many established forms of western cinema that are more often grounded in textual literacy and a denotative narrative flow. The works in Alien Contact and Cultural Imagination take us out of our world of habitual experience as John Cage suggested and establish alternative ways of experiencing the past and imagining the future. These works extend media literacy to emphasize a greater intensity of visual and audible world sensations that are already known in the performance, song and storytelling of other cultures. They not only share and re-imagine older culturally specific myths of origin, sense of place and transformative identity, but invent new stories and parables that address current geophysical realities for a global world that is reconnecting through virtual contact. Myth and storytelling of third world cultures meet the science fiction, technology and cinematic subcultures of the developed world. This emerging cultural imaginary is not a utopia. The storytelling, myths and fables re-imagine an expanding present with past and future folds. We can see, feel and empathize with these inhabitants of other worlds and perhaps understand them in the context of our present culture with its disasters, suspicions of the alien other and the guarded stasis of citizens who have lost alien sensibilities and sensitivities. Artists are reawakening historical moments of alien contact by rethinking the past, subverting the present and subjectifying the future. Their new visual mythmaking and storytelling are contributing to the invention of a future where memes leak out and pollinate broader shared aspects of culture, and in the process enable global cultural exchange. Patrick Clancy. Cauleen Smith In Person. Artist Cauleen Smith presents and discusses her new work including Remote Viewing and Other Ways of Seeing, a series of films reenacting Land Art and recent but buried collective memories. Remote Viewing: Process Sculpture Film #1, Cauleen Smith (US), 2010, 15:40 min., digital video shown on DVD. The Grid: Process Sculpture Film #2, Cauleen Smith (US), 2010, 15:40 min., digital video shown on DVD. The Vanishing, Cauleen Smith (US), 2010, 8 min., digital video shown on DVD. The Solar Flare Arkestral Marching Band Project, Cauleen Smith (US), work in progress, multimedia. This program began on Feb. 10, continued on Feb. 17 and concludes tonight. 2/24 Los Angeles, California: Echo Park Film Center
[Frameworks] Part 1 of 2: This week [February 18 - 26, 2012] in avant garde cinema
Part 1 of 2: This week [February 18 - 26, 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 weeklylist...@hi-beam.net. Enter your announcements (calls for entries, new work, screenings, jobs, items for sale, etc.) at: http://www.hi-beam.net/cgi-bin/ann.pl NEW CALLS FOR ENTRIES: = The Valley Film Festival (Los Angeles, CA; Deadline: February 11, 2012) http://www.hi-beam.net/cgi-bin/ann.pl?type=callsreadfile=1402.ann Montreal Underground Film Festival (Montreal, Canada; Deadline: February 29, 2012) http://www.hi-beam.net/cgi-bin/ann.pl?type=callsreadfile=1403.ann 5th International Animated Film Festival ANIMATOR (Poznan, Poland; Deadline: March 15, 2012) http://www.hi-beam.net/cgi-bin/ann.pl?type=callsreadfile=1404.ann Video Art Festival Miden (Greece; Deadline: March 15, 2012) http://www.hi-beam.net/cgi-bin/ann.pl?type=callsreadfile=1405.ann Siciliambiente Documentary Film Festival (San Vito lo Capo, Tp, Italy; Deadline: April 30, 2012) http://www.hi-beam.net/cgi-bin/ann.pl?type=callsreadfile=1406.ann MisALT Screening Series Presents: Experiments with Science (San Francisco, CA, USA; Deadline: March 15, 2012) http://www.hi-beam.net/cgi-bin/ann.pl?type=callsreadfile=1407.ann MisALT Screening Series Presents: Vulgar Politics (San Francisco, CA, USA; Deadline: May 01, 2012) http://www.hi-beam.net/cgi-bin/ann.pl?type=callsreadfile=1408.ann MisALT Screening Series Presents: Conversations with the Mirror (San Francisco, CA; Deadline: February 29, 2012) http://www.hi-beam.net/cgi-bin/ann.pl?type=callsreadfile=1409.ann DEADLINES APPROACHING: == Magmart | international videoart festival - VII edition (Naples, Irìtaly; Deadline: February 29, 2012) http://www.hi-beam.net/cgi-bin/ann.pl?type=callsreadfile=1366.ann Media City (Windsor, Ontario, Canada; Deadline: February 24, 2012) http://www.hi-beam.net/cgi-bin/ann.pl?type=callsreadfile=1370.ann 19th Chicago Underground Film Festival (Chicago, IL USA; Deadline: March 01, 2012) http://www.hi-beam.net/cgi-bin/ann.pl?type=callsreadfile=1374.ann call for artists 2012 (Tondela, Portugal; Deadline: March 09, 2012) http://www.hi-beam.net/cgi-bin/ann.pl?type=callsreadfile=1380.ann ASsociety New Media Residency (Roxbury, NY, USA; Deadline: March 06, 2012) http://www.hi-beam.net/cgi-bin/ann.pl?type=callsreadfile=1388.ann ARTErra rural artistic residency (Tondela,Portugal; Deadline: March 09, 2012) http://www.hi-beam.net/cgi-bin/ann.pl?type=callsreadfile=1391.ann WAMMFest (Women And Minorities in Media Festival) (Baltimore, MD, USA; Deadline: March 09, 2012) http://www.hi-beam.net/cgi-bin/ann.pl?type=callsreadfile=1396.ann What The Festival (Alfred, NY, USA; Deadline: February 29, 2012) http://www.hi-beam.net/cgi-bin/ann.pl?type=callsreadfile=1397.ann Montreal Underground Film Festival (Montreal, Canada; Deadline: February 29, 2012) http://www.hi-beam.net/cgi-bin/ann.pl?type=callsreadfile=1403.ann 5th International Animated Film Festival ANIMATOR (Poznan, Poland; Deadline: March 15, 2012) http://www.hi-beam.net/cgi-bin/ann.pl?type=callsreadfile=1404.ann Video Art Festival Miden (Greece; Deadline: March 15, 2012) http://www.hi-beam.net/cgi-bin/ann.pl?type=callsreadfile=1405.ann MisALT Screening Series Presents: Experiments with Science (San Francisco, CA, USA; Deadline: March 15, 2012) http://www.hi-beam.net/cgi-bin/ann.pl?type=callsreadfile=1407.ann MisALT Screening Series Presents: Conversations with the Mirror (San Francisco, CA; Deadline: February 29, 2012) http://www.hi-beam.net/cgi-bin/ann.pl?type=callsreadfile=1409.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): == * We Are Cinema: Ken Jacobs Films Amp; 3d video [February 18, Brooklyn, New York] * BThe 8th Berlin International Directors Lounge [Dl8], Feb, 9 - 19 /B [February 18, Berlin, Germany] * Flexfest 2012, Night 1: Su Friedrich [February 18, Gainesville, FL] * Flexfest 2012, Night 1: Su Friedrich [February 18, Gainesville, FL] * Wooster Group Program 5 [February 18, New York, New York] * Wooster Group Program 3 [February 18, New York, New York] * Wooster Group Program 4 [February 18, New York, New York] * Pleasure Dome Art Gallery of Ontario Present the World Premiere of In the Nature of Things By Barbara Sternberg In Person! With Early Works By the 2011 Governor General's Award Recipients Barbara Sternberg and David Rimmer [February 18, Toronto, Ontario, Canada] * BThe 8th Berlin International Directors Lounge [Dl8], Feb, 9 - 19 /B [February 19, Berlin, Germany] * Flexfest 2012, Night 2: Steve Reinke [February 19, Gainesville, FL] * Flexfest 2012, Night 2: Steve Reinke [February 19,
Re: [Frameworks] What to do with one roll of nitrate film?
Hi, It might be risky to work with this film. Does it smell and is it already dissolving? If it just the metal casing then there should be no problem. I have restorated nitrate films from late Ottoman but they were kept in good condition and in new cases. If you can send a picture of it, the case and the film itself it might be easier to tell. And I'd like to have such a photo, too. tarik aktas 2012/2/18 eric stewart e.l.j.stew...@gmail.com Hi Kristie, I have access to an optical printer with a 35mm gate in San Francisco. I can help you print it down to 16 if you want. -Eric Stewart On Sat, Feb 18, 2012 at 8:31 AM, Dennis Doros milefi...@gmail.com wrote: Dear Kristie, In the case of nitrate (or any deteriorating film), it's always worth talking to your local archive. In your case, that would be the Pacific Film Archive and the best contact there would be Kathy Geritz. Best regards, Dennis Doros Milestone Film Video/Milliarium Zero PO Box 128 Harrington Park, NJ 07640 Phone: 201-767-3117 Fax: 201-767-3035 email: milefi...@gmail.com www.milestonefilms.com www.comebackafrica.com www.yougottomove.com www.ontheboweryfilm.com www.arayafilm.com www.exilesfilm.com www.wordisoutmovie.com www.killerofsheep.com http://www.killerofsheep.com/ Join Milestone Film on Facebook and Twitter! and the Association of Moving Image Archivists http://www.amianet.org/! Follow Milestone on Twitter! http://twitter.com/#%21/MilestoneFilms *From:* frameworks-boun...@jonasmekasfilms.com [mailto: frameworks-boun...@jonasmekasfilms.com] *On Behalf Of *k. a.r. *Sent:* Friday, February 17, 2012 4:44 PM *To:* frameworks@jonasmekasfilms.com *Subject:* [Frameworks] What to do with one roll of nitrate film? ** ** hello. I have one roll of nitrate film in my collection. I recently looked at it for the first time in a year or so, I keep it stored in a drawer with more modern 16mm. The metal reel that it is on has started to grow these oxidized looking stalagmites and the whole reel is looking kind of funky. I wonder what I can do with it? The images are a partial reel of some musical comedy from the silent era. It is 35mm. Seems to be about 150-200' long. I'm assuming that if anyone wanted it, I can't mail it, due to it's extremely flammable nature. So any ideas or suggestions of what to do with this roll? thanks. Kristie Reinders, B.F.A. Director of Cinematography, Electric Visions Curator and Head Projectionist, Electric Mural Project The Mission, San Francisco, CA 'A first class technician should work best under pressure.' - - - Issac Asimov ___ FrameWorks mailing list FrameWorks@jonasmekasfilms.com https://mailman-mail5.webfaction.com/listinfo/frameworks ___ FrameWorks mailing list FrameWorks@jonasmekasfilms.com https://mailman-mail5.webfaction.com/listinfo/frameworks ___ FrameWorks mailing list FrameWorks@jonasmekasfilms.com https://mailman-mail5.webfaction.com/listinfo/frameworks ___ FrameWorks mailing list FrameWorks@jonasmekasfilms.com https://mailman-mail5.webfaction.com/listinfo/frameworks
Re: [Frameworks] What to do with one roll of nitrate film?
Contacting a local film archive is the best thing. Its too dangerous to keep a nitrate if you don't have the right conditions. Still too risky if you have. There are ways of getting rid (destroy in a safe way) of a nitrate but you need someone experienced. I don't recommend transporting it. 'Because it releases it's own oxygen as it burns. The Fumes are toxic.' 2012/2/18 Steven Gladstone ste...@gladstonefilms.com On 2/18/12 11:25 AM, Tom Whiteside wrote: A nitrate fire is unstoppable. Because it releases it's own oxygen as it burns. The Fumes are toxic. I've a large roll I rescued from a film with a plot point of burning down an old film lab. How do I get it to someone who would like it? It's sealed and in the freezer. -- Steven Gladstone New York Based Cinematographer Gladstone films Blog - http://indiekicker.reelgrok.com/ http://www.blakehousemovie.com http://www.gladstonefilms.com 917-886-5858 ___ FrameWorks mailing list FrameWorks@jonasmekasfilms.com https://mailman-mail5.webfaction.com/listinfo/frameworks ___ FrameWorks mailing list FrameWorks@jonasmekasfilms.com https://mailman-mail5.webfaction.com/listinfo/frameworks
Re: [Frameworks] What to do with one roll of nitrate film?
Nitrate film can be dangerous, but if the film is in good condition, the dangers that the press talk about are greatly exaggerated. There is a great deal of nitrate film that has lasted over 100 years. If the reel of film looks like a solid hockey puck, is glue like or there's a great deal of dust (from the film, not the can), than there is reason for concern. Otherwise, if it looks like film, then it's a good chance it can last another 100 years under proper storage conditions. In New York, the best place to take film is to the Anthology Film Archives (Andrew Lampert, though he's only working part time these days while making his own films), the Museum of Modern Art (Katie Trainor is the head of the film vaults) and the George Eastman House (Jared Case) in Rochester. Dennis On Sat, Feb 18, 2012 at 1:27 PM, Steven Gladstone ste...@gladstonefilms.com wrote: On 2/18/12 11:25 AM, Tom Whiteside wrote: A nitrate fire is unstoppable. Because it releases it's own oxygen as it burns. The Fumes are toxic. I've a large roll I rescued from a film with a plot point of burning down an old film lab. How do I get it to someone who would like it? It's sealed and in the freezer. -- Steven Gladstone New York Based Cinematographer Gladstone films Blog - http://indiekicker.reelgrok.com/ http://www.blakehousemovie.com http://www.gladstonefilms.com 917-886-5858 ___ FrameWorks mailing list FrameWorks@jonasmekasfilms.com https://mailman-mail5.webfaction.com/listinfo/frameworks -- Best regards, Dennis Doros Milestone Film Video/Milliarium Zero PO Box 128 Harrington Park, NJ 07640 Phone: 201-767-3117 Fax: 201-767-3035 email: milefi...@gmail.com www.milestonefilms.com www.comebackafrica.com www.yougottomove.com www.ontheboweryfilm.com www.arayafilm.com www.exilesfilm.com www.wordisoutmovie.com www.killerofsheep.com http://www.killerofsheep.com Join Milestone Film on Facebook and Twitter! and the Association of Moving Image Archivists http://www.amianet.org! Follow Milestone on Twitter! http://twitter.com/#!/MilestoneFilms ___ FrameWorks mailing list FrameWorks@jonasmekasfilms.com https://mailman-mail5.webfaction.com/listinfo/frameworks
Re: [Frameworks] canyon in the news (bad news dept)
David has said the obvious--the "writing on the wall..."But hopefully, Canyon can find ways to stay viable--the idea that the most dependable distributor of 16mm prints of avant-garde films should be allowed to go out of business continues to seem to me a cultural disaster, and an unnecessary one. But as David says, "What is to be done?" I am beginning to look into the creation of (don't know what to call it) a consortium of colleges, universities, archives, etcetera--places that want to continue to have the option to show prints--who would, in addition to paying rentals for screening individual films, pay an annual fee to Canyon to make use of their services. Something of that sort. Anyone who is seriously interested in this idea and has practical suggestions or has other suggestions of what might work, please contact me directly. I'm less interested in talking about why this situation has evolved in the way it has--I have too many ideas about that--than in doing what can be done, as soon as it can be done, to insure that the prints at Canyon remain available for rental.Scott Original Message Subject: Re: [Frameworks] canyon in the news (bad news dept) From: David Tetzlaff djte...@gmail.com Date: Fri, February 17, 2012 11:01 pm To: Experimental Film Discussion List frameworks@jonasmekasfilms.com With 20-20 hindsight, we can see that the writing has been on the wall for the end of the co-op system as a sustainable form of distribution since May 10, 1975: the release date of the first practical home VCR. Co-op distribution attempts to replicate in the fine-art world the business model of commercial entertainment. That is, the idea is to rent prints, and cover the cost of the exhibition by charging admission. (To simplify the argument, we could consider rentals for classroom use to be following this model as the rental fee could be considered to come from the tuition paid by the students taking the class.) This worked when there was no other way to view moving pictures other than projecting prints, but the economic foundation changed inexorably once there another way of reproducing, distributing and watching moving pictures became available: one that was not only far less expensive but via which 'unauthorized' copies could easily be made. Of course, this other means of sharing moving pictures (the VCR and CRT monitor) was originally vastly inferior technically, but the economic viability of a business model depends on the desires of the customers, not just the wishes of the producers. And way too much of the audience simply did not care about the technical issues (or the aesthetic principles that might attend them). So, a certain percentage of the audience who had been willing to pay to go to an experimental film screening decided to spend their time and budget on other things - renting a VHS of a foreign art film or whatever. As time goes on, the video options increase in both utility and availability of content, the technical quality improves, and so on, so the paying audience for experimental exhibitions continues to shrink. Eventually, the co-ops become highly dependent on the patronage of academia, which works for awhile since Cinema Studies was a growth industry at the time, and major universities could fund the desires of their new prize Film Professors. But then Prop 13 passed in California, the Reagan administration slashed education funding, and all but the most elite schools began facing harsh budget reversions. Furthermore, schools had been able to screen film prints in Cinema Studies classes in large part because 16mm was the default medium for educational media, and was thus well supported by college AV departments and the infrastructures (institutional AV dealers and repair services) upon which those departments relied. All of that changed rather quickly as video completely took over educational media. For over a decade now, most colleges not only no longer have working 16mm projectors, and no budget line to repair whatever's still stuck in a closet somewhere, but have no one in their network of vendors who can fix them. So if young faculty people in the 21st century want to screen prints, the WHOLE thing falls on them. They have to find the projector, keep it running, do the rental paperwork, cut something else from the operating budget to free up funds for the rentals, come in and project the prints themselves -- and by the way you better know how to fix a bad tape splice if you get prints from FMC, MOMA or even Canyon. And of course, none of this endears you to the dean or advances your tenure file. Your students are POed about the required screenings since every other professor requiring them to watch something has it on reserve in the library where they can access it at their leisure, and where the ambitious students can actually STUDY the thing in some detail as they write their papers. The library will buy any DVD under $200 if you're going to use it in
[Frameworks] Tonight: Ken Jacobs films and 3D at Microscope Gallery in Brooklyn 7PM
*We Are Cinema: Ken Jacobs* *Saturday February 18, 7PM* Admission $6 – Artist in Person reservation recommended at at r...@microscopegallery.com In connection with the “We Are Cinema: 50 Years of the Film-Makers’ Cooperative” exhibit at Microscope Gallery, legendary filmmaker Ken Jacobs presents an evening of his works including his early film “Blonde Cobra” (1963) starring Jack Smith; “The Whirled” (1956-1963) also with Smith; and his recent anaglyph 3D video “America at War, The Home Front: Film Opening” (2011). Jacobs is one of the major forces in American avant garde cinema and has been working with the moving image in a variety of forms for over 50 years. “Blonde Cobra” is an “erratic narrative” as Jacobs has described it made with footage from two of Jack Smith’s early abandoned films. The 16mm film is a pivotal work in the history of independent film and Jonas Mekas declared it “the masterpiece of Baudelairean cinema. Jacobs recent work with digital anaglyph 3D relates to his more than 40 years exploration with the possibility of three dimensional cinema both through his Nervous Lantern System - involving 2 projectors each projecting the same film, a single frame apart - and his more recent Nervous Magic Lantern, a device that uses no film or video. Ken Jacobs was born in Williamsburg Brooklyn. He studied painting with the abstract expressionist Hans Hoffman in the mid-1950s before he began making films. Jacobs was an early member of the Film-Makers’ Cooperative; Co-Founder of Millenium Film Workshop and Professor of the Department of Cinema which he started at SUNY Binghamton in 1969. Jacob’s film, video and live performances are presented at film festivals, cinemas, and museums worldwide including retrospectives at MoMA, Whitney Museum of American Art, and the American Museum of the Moving Image. His groundbreaking Tom, Tom the Piper’s Son (1969-71) was added to the Library of Congress’ National Registry in 2007. The evening is presented with the Film-Makers' Cooperative. Upcoming: Jonas Mekas Brith of a Nation SAT 2/25 7PM New Additions to the Co-op SUN 3/4 7PM www.microscopegallery.com www.film-makerscoop.com MIcroscope Gallery 4 Charles Place (at Myrtle Ave btween Bushwick and Evergreen Aves) Brooklyn, NY 11221 Nearest subway: J/M/Z - Myrtle/Broadway or L Morgan or Jefferson Street tel: 347.925.1433 ___ FrameWorks mailing list FrameWorks@jonasmekasfilms.com https://mailman-mail5.webfaction.com/listinfo/frameworks
[Frameworks] What is to be done? was canyon in the news
I genuinely hope we can have a discussion, starting with the question of 'what really matters?' I have my own thoughts, but I want to hear what other people think and see if maybe some new ideas might emerge, you know, in dialogue. Why is 'experimental film' important? Why does 'the world' need it? What does it do? How are these OUTCOMES special and not served by other art forms? Who comprises the potential audience, the people who might appreciate, love, need this work? Chuck has already mentioned that cinema screenings are significant social experiences. I was thinking more about the cultural properties of 'the texts,' but of course exhibition matters as well. So what social functions or experiences are attendant to experimental screenings that are different from screenings of commercial cinema, or even documentary/art-house fare for that matter? My working assumption is that we have conflated physical forms with the value of the cultural material they have carried, and unwisely focused on the preservation of the former, rather than the preservation and _further dissemination_ of the latter. Even if you think the physical media and the cultural value are inseperable, IMHO it remains a worthwhile exercise, if only in an art historical sense, to clarify why this work matters, what it adds to the world. FWIW, I do not think such a discussion will proceed productively in the typical email mode of jotting off quick, one-line rejoinders. I suggest the signs of the times merit more considered replies. (I mean really, Kodak declares bankruptcy, Canyon declares they might go under, and there's another crisis at Millenium all within the space of a month or so?) ___ FrameWorks mailing list FrameWorks@jonasmekasfilms.com https://mailman-mail5.webfaction.com/listinfo/frameworks
Re: [Frameworks] What is to be done? was canyon in the news
People are not renting films or going to the theater in numbers that will help sustain these organizations, and i don't think we can turn back the tide.Don't mean to be so down, but i think we all know this. Matt http://www.youtube.com/user/oscarthepug1234 http://www.youtube.com/user/matthelme007 From: David Tetzlaff djte...@gmail.com To: Experimental Film Discussion List frameworks@jonasmekasfilms.com Sent: Saturday, February 18, 2012 12:00 PM Subject: [Frameworks] What is to be done? was canyon in the news I genuinely hope we can have a discussion, starting with the question of 'what really matters?' I have my own thoughts, but I want to hear what other people think and see if maybe some new ideas might emerge, you know, in dialogue. Why is 'experimental film' important? Why does 'the world' need it? What does it do? How are these OUTCOMES special and not served by other art forms? Who comprises the potential audience, the people who might appreciate, love, need this work? Chuck has already mentioned that cinema screenings are significant social experiences. I was thinking more about the cultural properties of 'the texts,' but of course exhibition matters as well. So what social functions or experiences are attendant to experimental screenings that are different from screenings of commercial cinema, or even documentary/art-house fare for that matter? My working assumption is that we have conflated physical forms with the value of the cultural material they have carried, and unwisely focused on the preservation of the former, rather than the preservation and _further dissemination_ of the latter. Even if you think the physical media and the cultural value are inseperable, IMHO it remains a worthwhile exercise, if only in an art historical sense, to clarify why this work matters, what it adds to the world. FWIW, I do not think such a discussion will proceed productively in the typical email mode of jotting off quick, one-line rejoinders. I suggest the signs of the times merit more considered replies. (I mean really, Kodak declares bankruptcy, Canyon declares they might go under, and there's another crisis at Millenium all within the space of a month or so?) ___ FrameWorks mailing list FrameWorks@jonasmekasfilms.com https://mailman-mail5.webfaction.com/listinfo/frameworks___ FrameWorks mailing list FrameWorks@jonasmekasfilms.com https://mailman-mail5.webfaction.com/listinfo/frameworks
Re: [Frameworks] canyon in the news (bad news dept)
I am beginning to look into the creation of (don't know what to call it) a consortium of colleges, universities, archives, etcetera--places that want to continue to have the option to show prints--who would, in addition to paying rentals for screening individual films, pay an annual fee to Canyon to make use of their services. A consortium seems like a good idea, but the annual fee on-top of rentals may be squeezing blood out of a turnip. The good thing about a membership plan is that it would offer Canyon a predictable revenue base to work from. But much more needs to be done. For starters, the problems I noted for small schools need to be addressed. Institutions that distribute prints can no longer just think of themselves as being in the print rental business. For one thing: some organization needs to begin working on projection support and maintenance: acquiring a stock of projectors, keeping them serviced, finding ways to make them available along with the prints. For another, everything needs to gets digitized, and made available in a medium rez form along with prints. So, when you rent a print of 'Cosmic Ray' from Canyon, you get an SD DVD of 'Cosmic Ray' to put on reserve in the library for the length of the term. Since these are 'study copies' they don't have to be made with high quality scanners or anything, and Canyon need not spend buckets of money getting this done at a quality lab. Members of the consortium could do the work, by taking rental prints, projecting them onto a small screen with a standard 16mm projector, and shooting the screen with a 24fps video camera, such as a Pana DVX100 or a Canon XG-A1, then capturing the data into FCP or a similar NLE, converting to .m2v and .ac3 with Compressor or MPEG Streamclip, and making a DVD image in DVD Studio Pro -- (or a similar workflow with Adobe, Avid or whatever). I used to have my students shoot a couple projects in 16mm, and that's what we did so they could edit and finish them. Works great. But a fundamental problem remains: the projection of prints is simply too costly and difficult to serve the breadth of the audience who wants or needs those things experimental film has to offer, which is why such imperfect institutions as UbuWeb and Karagarga exist. The only way to save celluloid projection is going to be to move beyond celluloid projection in some fashion where the parts work together instead of working against each other. ___ FrameWorks mailing list FrameWorks@jonasmekasfilms.com https://mailman-mail5.webfaction.com/listinfo/frameworks
Re: [Frameworks] What to do with one roll of nitrate film?
While its certainly flammable and should be treated with caution I think there is a lot of misinformation about the danger of nitrate film and people are equating it with nitroglycerin. As shown in this thread there are more occurrences of people storing this nitrate film 'improperly' for decades without harm. How many stories have we heard of a lost silent film being found in barn somewhere? Keep it in a can, put away your cigarettes when you look at it and you'll be alright. I think someone posted this link before but here is a good essay/book review on nitrate film: http://www.horschamp.qc.ca/new_offscreen/dangerous_film.html___ FrameWorks mailing list FrameWorks@jonasmekasfilms.com https://mailman-mail5.webfaction.com/listinfo/frameworks
Re: [Frameworks] What to do with one roll of nitrate film?
On 2/18/12 5:55 PM, John Woods wrote: While its certainly flammable and should be treated with caution I think there is a lot of misinformation about the danger of nitrate film http://www.horschamp.qc.ca/new_offscreen/dangerous_film.html My Uncle was a Union projectionist back in the day - mostly standby. He told me that one night he was going to project a roll of nitrate and was told that if it caught fire just to leave the booth. My understanding is that the fumes turn to Acid in your lungs. In any case, if you look at old projection booths, they are build to be fireproof, that is with fire doors and panels that slide over the projection windows. The idea being to contain the fire within the booth. This stems from the days of Nitrate - I believe. -- Steven Gladstone New York Based Cinematographer Gladstone films Blog - http://indiekicker.reelgrok.com/ http://www.blakehousemovie.com http://www.gladstonefilms.com 917-886-5858 ___ FrameWorks mailing list FrameWorks@jonasmekasfilms.com https://mailman-mail5.webfaction.com/listinfo/frameworks
Re: [Frameworks] What to do with one roll of nitrate film?
If the film looks to be in good shape, there is nothing to worry about. (My first reel of nitrate I took on the bus to NYC.) But I would call up the archives first, see who wants it, and arrange on where to meet there. As for nitrate films catching fire in projection booths, fire was actually the biggest concern. I'm sure the fumes aren't healthy, but inhaling smoke is never good for your health. And for anyone who wants to play mad scientist, professional ping pong balls are STILL made out of the same material as nitrate film. A fun trick archivists like to play is to hold the ball with long steel tongs, light it on fire, dunk it in a vial of water and show it burning underwater. OF COURSE, you need the proper equipment for this and probably not at home. Dennis On Sat, Feb 18, 2012 at 4:56 PM, John Matturri jmatt...@earthlink.netwrote: On 2/18/12 4:42 PM, Steven Gladstone wrote: On 2/18/12 1:39 PM, Dennis Doros wrote: In New York, the best place to take film is to the Anthology Film Archives (Andrew Lampert, though he's only working part time these days while making his own films), the Museum of Modern Art (Katie Trainor is the head of the film vaults) and the George Eastman House (Jared Case) in Rochester. Dennis Thanks Dennis, I'll contact them this week. I suppose I'll have to bike it there, isn't there a ban on using public transport with Nitrate, or was that only in a Hitchcock film? A friend called MoMA wanting to know if they were interested in what seemed to be a nitrate print of an Italian silent from the era of Cabiria. They told her to definitely not walk through their doors with a reel of nitrate. j ___ FrameWorks mailing list FrameWorks@jonasmekasfilms.com https://mailman-mail5.webfaction.com/listinfo/frameworks -- Best regards, Dennis Doros Milestone Film Video/Milliarium Zero PO Box 128 Harrington Park, NJ 07640 Phone: 201-767-3117 Fax: 201-767-3035 email: milefi...@gmail.com www.milestonefilms.com www.comebackafrica.com www.yougottomove.com www.ontheboweryfilm.com www.arayafilm.com www.exilesfilm.com www.wordisoutmovie.com www.killerofsheep.com http://www.killerofsheep.com Join Milestone Film on Facebook and Twitter! and the Association of Moving Image Archivists http://www.amianet.org! Follow Milestone on Twitter! http://twitter.com/#!/MilestoneFilms ___ FrameWorks mailing list FrameWorks@jonasmekasfilms.com https://mailman-mail5.webfaction.com/listinfo/frameworks
Re: [Frameworks] The Horizontal Scratches.
A horizontal scratch? Unusual! Please send me the link. Are you attempting to source the issue for an insurance claim? Since it seems to be related to the starting and stopping of the camera it does not sound like a lab problem (and the lab snips a few feet off the head of every roll to cover themselves that the scratches don't happen in their machine). If your scratch test during prep didn't turn anything up then it sounds more like a camera issue at the time of the shoot and the idea of the film rubbing against the loop former sounds like a good theory, maybe it was a case of bad loading. Any chance of the rental house letting you do another scratch test? As for a solution I've heard of impressive results for saving scratched film with a wet gate interpositive. Might be worth doing a test. John From: ben russell b...@dimeshow.com To: frameworks@jonasmekasfilms.com Sent: Saturday, February 18, 2012 3:20:23 AM Subject: [Frameworks] The Horizontal Scratches. Frameworkers, I just received a mess of telecine'd color super16mm footage from the lab and was more than a bit sad to see a long parade of emulsion-side horizontal blue scratches on the right 1/4th of the frame. I shot about 2.5 hours of footage with an Aaton Minima (a camera I wouldn't really recommend, either way) and the scratches are present throughout all the rolls - while they are not on every shot, when they do appear they happen just after the camera has started again. A tech suggested that it might be the film slipping in the gate at the end of a shot, making the loop too large on one side and scratching against the loop former. The place I rented the camera from says it's not their fault (and they've never seen such scratches produced by a camera in 15 years...) and the lab of course doesn't want to be responsible, so any words to the contrary would be appreciated. Have any of you run into this sad curiosity before? I'm happy to send a VIMEO link to anyone who wants to see support material. Thanks In Advance, BR ___ FrameWorks mailing list FrameWorks@jonasmekasfilms.com https://mailman-mail5.webfaction.com/listinfo/frameworks___ FrameWorks mailing list FrameWorks@jonasmekasfilms.com https://mailman-mail5.webfaction.com/listinfo/frameworks
[Frameworks] Kodachrome
Hello, I recently received some Kodachrome that belonged to my great grandmother and is very much past expiration date. It is regular 8mm, I have two reels, one says develop before 1948 and the other 1955. I was wondering if there were any labs that might still process the kodachrome...preferably in the US I know that I wont necessarily get amazing images but I still want to use the film to see what I get, which all hinges on processing... Thanks, Matthew Brown ___ FrameWorks mailing list FrameWorks@jonasmekasfilms.com https://mailman-mail5.webfaction.com/listinfo/frameworks
Re: [Frameworks] Kodachrome
http://www.filmrescue.com/ I think they are the only game in town, they are in Canada but have a U.S. mail box and they can only get a BW negative image from the film. From: matthew brown matthewfrancisbr...@gmail.com To: frameworks@jonasmekasfilms.com Sent: Saturday, February 18, 2012 6:39:52 PM Subject: [Frameworks] Kodachrome Hello, I recently received some Kodachrome that belonged to my great grandmother and is very much past expiration date. It is regular 8mm, I have two reels, one says develop before 1948 and the other 1955. I was wondering if there were any labs that might still process the kodachrome...preferably in the US I know that I wont necessarily get amazing images but I still want to use the film to see what I get, which all hinges on processing... Thanks, Matthew Brown ___ FrameWorks mailing list FrameWorks@jonasmekasfilms.com https://mailman-mail5.webfaction.com/listinfo/frameworks___ FrameWorks mailing list FrameWorks@jonasmekasfilms.com https://mailman-mail5.webfaction.com/listinfo/frameworks
[Frameworks] ECN-2 Process
Hi, Anyone tried the ECN-2 process? I believe it's quite complex, is there any alternative processing techniques. Super 8mm Colour Neg. Regards, Michael - Michael Higgins +353 85 719 6983 http://www.mgmh.me ___ FrameWorks mailing list FrameWorks@jonasmekasfilms.com https://mailman-mail5.webfaction.com/listinfo/frameworks
