Send your event announcements and subscription requests to Craig Fischer at fischercj@conrad.appstate.edu. Events are sorted alphabetically BY CITY within each DATE.
SUNDAY, APRIL 23, 2000 ^ 4/23 ^ Berkeley, California: Pacific Film Archive
http://www.uampfa.berkeley.edu/pfa/
APPRECIATING THE UNIVERSE: A TRIBUTE TO FAITH HUBLEY ^ 5pm: Faith Hubley is being honored with this year’s Golden Gate Persistence of Vision Award. These animated films will take you on a heavenly dance through thirty years of celebrated dreamscapes by the Hubleys, Faith, John, and Emily. SEERS AND CLOWNS (1994) erases the line between crackpots and prophets in a celebration of crazy wisdom. In THE HAT (1964) Dizzy Gillespie and Dudley Moore supply the voices for two lonely border guards. WITCH MADNESS (1999), Faith’s newest film, is the stark, brutal 300-year history of the European witch-hunts. In WINDY DAY (1967) the private world of children is presented with insight and humor. STEP BY STEP (1979): childhood through the ages. MOONBIRD (1959) was the Hubleys’ first Oscar winner. AFRICA (1998) sings the praises of centuries of African art and culture. TENDER GAME (1958) is a witty love story set in Central Park, with Oscar Peterson, Ella Fitzgerald on the soundtrack. HER GRANDMOTHER’S GIFT (1995) connects the moon, menstruation, and a grandmother’s tales. The Pacific Film Archive is located at 2575 Bancroft Way, Berkeley. For more information, call (510) 642-5249.
4/23 ^ Boulder, Colorado: University of Colorado, Boulder ^ SUNDAY EVENING WITH BRAKHAGE ^ 7:30pm: Each Sunday evening Stan Brakhage is host for a gathering of friends and film buffs to view films and videotapes from his incredible collection. Often viewers will see a world premiere of the latest Brakhage film. Most evenings those in attendance stay after the showing to talk about a wide variety of subjects with Stan. These gatherings are held in room N141 of the Fine Arts building on the Boulder Campus of the University of Colorado. All are encouraged to attend and the showings are free.
4/23 ^ New York, New York: Whitney Museum Film and Video Department ^ http://www.sirius.com/%7Esstark/org/whitney ^ WHITNEY BIENNIAL FILM PROGRAM: SUNDAY ^ At noon: Sharon Lockhart’s TEATRO AMAZONAS (1999): Lockhart filled the seats of a 19th-century opera house in Manaus, Brazil, and from a stationary camera position photographed the reactions of the audience to a choral mass. At 3pm: Errol Morris’s FAST, CHEAP AND OUT OF CONTROL (1997): Morris and his Oscar-winning cinematographer, Robert Richardson, use diverse film formats as well as stock footage and clips from old films to create this multinarrative work of subtly related common themes, with characters who include a lion tamer, a topiary expert, and robotics specialist. For full details and program schedule, or further information, contact the Film and Video Department at the Whitney Museum of American Art at (212) 570-3617 or (212) 570-7754.
4/23 ^ Northfield, Minnesota: Carleton College ^ http://www.somaglow.com/madcat/ ^ MADCAT FILM FESTIVAL ^ The MadCat Film festival presents two programs, LOST IN TRANSLATION and INTERIOR WORLDS, at Carleton College in Northfield, Minnesota. For more information, contact Ariella Ben-Dov at alionbear@earthlink.net.
4/23 ^ Vancouver, British Columbia: The Blinding Light ^ http://www.blindinglight.com/ ^ IDERA PRESENTS DEADLY EMBRACE WITH GUEST SPEAKERS ^ 8:30pm: DEADLY EMBRACE: NICARAGUA, THE WORLD BANK AND THE INTERNATIONAL MONETARY FUND (Elizabeth Canner, 1996) describes the current neo-liberal economic order as it “embraces” Nicaragua. The video combines outstanding footage of people’s lives and their struggle to survive with a text-book clear analysis of structural adjustment, the debt crisis and free trade that applies to most Third World countries. The new (1990s) economic order has again placed Nicaragua at the mercy of its historical nemesis, the United States. With guest speakers. This event is at the Blinding Light, 36 Powell Street, Vancouver, BC, Canada; for more information, call (604) 878-3366.
4/23 ^ Williamsburg, Brooklyn, New York: Ocularis ^ http://www.billburg.com/ocularis/ ^ SINGSONG AND LES ENFANTS TERRIBLES ^ 7 and 9:30pm: A screening of SINGSONG (Pat Doyen, 1999), followed by LES ENFANTS TERRIBLES (Jean-Pierre Melville, 1949). Ocularis is at Galapagos Art and Performance Space, 70 North 6th Street (between Wythe and Kent Avenues) in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. For more information, call (718) 388-8713.
MONDAY, APRIL 24, 2000 ^ 4/24 ^ Boulder, Colorado: First Person Cinema ^ http://www.colorado.edu/FilmStudies/ifs ^ PHIL SOLOMON IN PERSON ^ Phil Solomon returns to First Person Cinema with all new work completed during his sabbatical last year, including a new series (in progress) entitled THE TWILIGHT PSALMS and two new collaborations with filmmaker Stan Brakhage. THE TWILIGHT PSALMS (1999-2000) is a series of short visual tone poems, a personal history of the Twentieth Century at closing time. Series dedicated to Rod Serling of Binghamton, N.Y. Films to be screened include OVERTURE: THE LATENESS OF THE HOUR, PSALM I: WALKING DISTANCE, PSALM II: NIGHT OF THE MEEK (1999-2000), SEASONS (with Stan Brakhage, 1999), ALTERNATING CURRENTS (with Brakhage, 1999-2000) and YES, I SAID YES, I WILL YES (1999). First Person Cinema takes place at the Muenzinger Auditorium on the University of Colorado-Boulder campus. For more information, contact healer@colorado.edu.
4/24 ^ New York, New York: Anthology Film Archives ^ http://www.anthologyfilmarchives.org/ ^ PS2000 SHORT FILM FESTIVAL ^ 8pm: PS2000, the fifth year of the short film festival formally known as Phat Shorts, kicks off April 3 and runs every Monday night in April. Featuring some of the best short films of the year, such as Peter Sollett’s Sundance Grand Jury Prize Winner 5 FEET HIGH AND RISING, PS2000 promises to deliver 4 nights of pure viewing pleasure. Get there early as there are no reservations; check out the website at www.ps00.com. Anthology is located at 32 2nd Avenue, New York; for more information, call (212) 505-5181.
4/24 ^ New York, New York: Museum of Modern Art/Cineprobe ^ http://www.sirius.com/%7Esstark/org/moma/moma.html ^ BRUCE ELDER ^ 6pm: This forum with independent and/ or avant-garde filmmakers is in its thirty-second season. The series introduces audiences to short films spanning several years of an artist’s work, or presents the artist’s most recent films. Filmmaker Bruce Elder will introduce A MAN WHOSE LIFE WAS FULL OF WOE HAS BEEN SURPRISED BY JOY (1998). Having recently completed his monumental film cycle THE BOOK OF ALL THE DEAD, Elder begins a new cycle, THE BOOK OF PRAISE, with this new film. Elder depicts forms of life that have grown increasingly out of touch with the body, and attempts to elicit an experience of the delight that results from reconnecting with our natural being. This screening will take place at the Titus 2 Theater, the Museum of Modern Art, 11 West 53 Street, New York City. For more information, call (212) 708-9400.
4/24 ^ Williamsburg, Brooklyn, New York: Ocularis ^ http://www.billburg.com/ocularis/ ^ GASH ^ 8:30pm: A screening of GASH (Tracey MacCullion, 1998). A relentless, highly-charged punk trance film, GASH depicts the feral, traumatized psychic landscape of a young girl caught between her grotesquely abusive family and the out-of-control, sexually aggressive crowd she hangs out with on the streets of Boston. This raw, intense plunge into regressive abjection has the shattering, uncanny power of a living nightmare and the ferocity of a fight to the death and puts filmmaker Tracey MacCullion on the maps as one of the most exciting young talents around. Preceded by IT FELL POSSUM (Stephanie Barber, 1999), THE TANTI MAN (Robert Abate, 1999), CHISHOLM (Robert Abate, 1999) and ALTER (Tracey MacCullion, 1998). Ocularis is at Galapagos Art and Performance Space, 70 North 6th Street (between Wythe and Kent Avenues) in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. For more information, call (718) 388-8713.
TUESDAY, APRIL 25, 2000 ^ 4/25 ^ Berkeley, California: Pacific Film Archive ^ http://www.uampfa.berkeley.edu/pfa/ ^ BREAKING POINTS: NEW EXPERIMENTAL FILMS ^ 7pm: An image can be a fragile thing. Just as extreme experiences can provoke extreme emotions, an image can rupture, fragment, and break apart to release reverberating associations. MUKTIKARA (Jeanne Liotta, 1999) is a haunting cinematic meditation on a subtly shifting landscape. Still images of an urban landscape break into motion in the lively animation FLIP FILM (Alfonso Alvarez and Ellen Ugelstad, 1999). NOTES, LETTERS (Stephanie Barber, 2000) conjures up forgotten lives and abandoned narratives. A mother’s fragmented memories of the death march from Auschwitz make an emotional document in Abraham Ravett’s THE MARCH (1999). In MIRACLE ON 34TH STREET (Jim Jennings, 2000) shadows of a New York sidewalk fracture the screen into surprising abstract patterns. DOMAIN (Julie Murray, 1999) is a disturbing look at the violence inherent in the notion of motion. In Phil Solomon’s TWILIGHT PSALM II: WALKING DISTANCE (1999) barely discernible figures and unstable landscapes are freed from the tyranny of the realistic. The Pacific Film Archive is located at
2575 Bancroft Way, Berkeley. For more information, call (510) 642-5249.
4/25 ^ Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard Film Archive ^ http://www.harvardfilmarchive.org/ ^ A WALK THROUGH H AND HOUSE ^ 6:30pm: A WALK THROUGH H (Peter Greenaway, 1978): Alternately titled THE RE-INCARNATION OF AN ORNITHOLOGIST, this eccentric film is based on an ornithological treatise by Greenaway’s fictive alter-ego, Tulse Luper, that describes a mystical journey through the land of H. As TIME OUT’s Tony Rayns has noted: “You could call it across between a vintage Borges fiction and a Disney True Life Adventure, but that wouldn’t get close to its humor or to the compulsiveness of its Michael Nyman score.” Shown with HOUSE (Charles and Ray Eames, 1955): One of a dozen or so films created by the modern design team of Charles and Ray Eames, known for their bold experiments in furniture design,
architecture, and multimedia, HOUSE is a portrait of the structure the couple built in 1949 on a cliff overlooking the Pacific Ocean. The emphasis is less on architecture or film than on the sense of space and intimate relationship between building and site. Composed entirely of stills, the film blends individual fragments to form a cohesive whole, with color, reflections, light, and the pattern of shadows as recurring motifs. This screening will take place at the Archive, the Carpenter Center for the Visual Arts, 24 Quincy Street, Cambridge. For more information, call the Archive at (617) 495-4700.
4/25 ^ Ithaca, New York: Cornell Cinema ^ http://www-cinema.slife.cornell.edu/ ^ THEY DON’T MAKE ‘EM LIKE THEY USED TO: WORKS FROM THE NEW YORK VIDEO FESTIVAL ^ 7:30pm: Tonight’s program: MARK ROTH AND MARBLES (Animal Charm), a Washington-Behind-Closed-Doors suspenser and a summer camp frolic from found footage tricksters Rich Bott and Jim Fetterly; ALL SMILES AND SADNESS (Anne McGuire), featuring a haunting performance by George Kuchar in a disembodied daytime TV show as written by Dr. Seuss and directed by Guy (CAREFUL) Maddin; 2 SPELLBOUND (Les LeVeque), a Hitchcockian Rorscharch test; and ODE (Kelly Reichardt, 50 min), a modern update of the Billy Joe McAllister legend. This screening will be held in Center for Theatre Arts, just outside the entrance to the Cornell campus on College Avenue, Ithaca. For more information, call (607) 255-3522.
4/25 ^ New York, New York: Anthology Film Archives ^ http://www.anthologyfilmarchives.org/ ^ EAT-MATE-DIE: THE LIVES OF INSECTS ^ 9pm: The New York premiere of Daniel Breton’s EAT-MATE-DIE: THE LIVES OF INSECTS (1999), a film which takes viewers deep into the insect’s realm, as stunning photography captures the details of their struggles and triumphs. Anthology is located at 32 2nd Avenue, New York; for more information, call (212) 505-5181.
4/25 ^ New York, New York: Robert Beck Memorial Cinema ^ http://www.crosswinds.net/~rbmc ^ MR. DEATH REDUX ^ 9pm: Our favorite New York personality, Nick Zedd, returns to the RBMC with a selection of scabrous films and tapes to “put on a show,” as it were. This illustrated history of trangressive cinema is likely to include titles like: XXX TRIPPING, INCIDENT IN GRUNEWALD (Otmar Bauer), PULSIONS SCOPIQUES (Yves Pierog), FEMMINIST FATALES (Mohawk Beaver), PUKE MAN, SMILING FACES TELL LIES (Nick Zedd), DEATH NURSE 2000, HARMFUL OR FATAL IF SWALLOWED (Manuel DeLanda), films by Stefan Harshman, WORM MOVIE (Lung Leg), T,V. MINISTRY (Mark Hejnar), HELZAPOPPIN (Gray Miller), FABULOUS DISASTER (Scott Free) and NATURAL BORN KILLERS rip-off footage (Oliver Stone/Nick Zedd). Mr. Zedd will be accompanied by his backing band, the Zyklon Beatles review. This program will take place at Collective Unconscious 145 Ludlow Street, New York City. For more information, contact Brian Frye at fryekino@redconnect.net or (718) 622-5360.
4/25 ^ New York, New York: Whitney Museum Film and Video Department ^ http://www.sirius.com/%7Esstark/org/whitney ^ WHITNEY BIENNIAL FILM PROGRAM: TUESDAY ^ At noon: OBSESSIONS, including: Les LeVeque’s 2 SPELLBOUND (1999), a condensation of SPELLBOUND (from 111 minutes to just under eight minutes) that transforms Hitchcock’s trademark slow-paced suspense-building into a rushing sense of the inevitable; and Rolf Belgum’s DRIVER 23 (1998), a video that follows Dan Cleveland, an obsessive Minneapolis-based musician, through a three-year struggle to become a star as the front man for a progressive rock band called Dark Horse. At 3pm: Joe Gibbons’s MULTIPLE BARBIE (1998), a short shot with a Fisher-Price PXL2000 “Pixelvision” camera where Gibbons plays a psychiatrist treating a Barbie doll afflicted with multiple personality disorder; Tran, T. Kim-Trang’s OCULARIS: EYE SURROGATES (1997), an experimental video that examines the presence and effects of surveillance technology; Jennifer Reeder’s NEVERMIND (1999), where Reeder lip-syncs to “Smells Like Teen Spirit,” an anthem for so-called Generation X-ers, in grainy, highly colored images and slow-motion speed, as she seizes the conventionally male power of the rock star; and Nathaniel Dorsky’s VARIATIONS (1999): Dorsky aims to bring cinema back to “a direct connection with the visual world,” rather than its typical, mainstream function as a secondary language that substitutes for the verbal. For full details and program schedule, or further information, contact the Film and Video Department at the Whitney Museum of American Art at (212) 570-3617 or (212) 570-7754.
4/25 ^ Reading, Pennsylvania: Berks ^ http://www.elecsp.com/bfminc/bfminc.htm ^ SALO: THE 120 DAYS OF SODOM ^ A screening of SALO (Pier Paolo Pasolini, 1977): The ultimate in transgressive cinema by one of Italy’s greatest directors. Naomi Greene: “A re-reading of the Marquis de Sade’s LES 120 JOURNEES DE SODOME, SALO places people and actions imagined by Sade against a background informed by Dante and by modern history. Set in the last days of the Republic of Salo, the northern Italian town where Mussolini set up a short-lived republic, Salo echoes the theological verticalism of THE INFERNO as, like a descending spiral, it takes us from one circle of horrors to the next.” This event will be held in Klein Hall, the Albright College Center for the Arts, Reading, Pennsylvania. For more information, contact administrative director Jerry Orr at yeager@ix.netcom.com or call (610) 921-7713.
4/25 ^ Vancouver, British Columbia: The Blinding Light ^ http://www.blindinglight.com/ ^ SUPERSTAR: THE KAREN CARPENTER STORY PLUS: A HISTORY OF BARBIE COMMERCIALS THROUGH THE AGES ^ 8:30pm: The return of this long-banned underground classic from the director of POISON, SAFE and VELVET GOLDMINE, Todd Haynes’s SUPERSTAR chronicles Karen Carpenter’s rise to stardom and untimely death from a heart attack due to anorexia and bulimia using Barbie dolls as characters. Video footage played through television backgrounds and brilliant collisions of documentary and fiction lend to the layered meanings of this film. Haynes juxtaposes this American dream gone wrong with the bubble gum soundtrack of the Carpenter’s pop music. While this sing-along audio resonates in the viewer’s mind, it ultimately led to litigation by the Carpenter family, preventing this film from ever being released. Using the life of a popular icon to discuss a multitude of issues (the problem of star making in the United States, the political context of artistic endeavors, the family as a structure of tyranny, and the complexity of internalization from the female who is acting out) SUPERSTAR manages to be simultaneously heart wrenching, touching and funny. The film will be preceded by early commercials from the sixties and seventies for Mattel’s Barbie doll…dig those styles! Note: This is a superior underground dub to the last one we showed! This event is at the Blinding Light, 36 Powell Street, Vancouver, BC, Canada; for more
information, call (604) 878-3366.
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 26, 2000 ^ 4/26 ^ Brooklyn, New York: Pratt Film Series ^ http://www.pratt.edu/prattfilms/news ^ CAMP, FIRE ^ 8:30pm: In THE APPARENT TRAP, Julie Zando investigates the submerged issues of sexuality and subjectivity in the 1961 Walt Disney film THE PARENT TRAP. Summer camp is the site of adolescent sexual experimentation and initiation into adult social roles. Jennet Thomas’ 4 WAYS HE TRIED TO TELL YOU is about “the thing that won’t go away, it has been trying to contact me by altering bits of my reality for several years now and this 7 minutes is a clear demonstration of that…I’m not sure if it’s dead now, we’ll just have to see.” The soundtrack of Bjorn Melhus’ NO SUNSHINE is derived from the childhood voices of early Michael Jackson and Stevie Wonder songs. Also: Cathy Cook (A*S DANCE, THE MATCH THAT STARTED MY FIRE, BUST UP); Kirsten Stoltmann (SELF REFLECTING); J. Thomas (GORGEOUS OPERATION). Pratt Institute, Engineering Building (Dekalb Avenue, between Hall and Classon Streets), Room 371, Brooklyn. For more information, contact Astria Suparak at Asuparak@pratt.edu or at (718) 636-3422.
4/26 ^ Chicago, Illinois: School of the Art Institute of Chicago ^ http://www1.artic.edu/saic/art/filmcntr/ ^ WHITNEY BIENNIAL: OBSESSIONS FILM PROGRAM ^ 7:30pm: Rolf Belgum’s DRIVER 23 follows Dan Cleveland, an obsessive Minneapolis-based musician, through a three-year struggle to become a star as the front man for a progressive rock band called Dark Horse. Nathaniel Dorsky’s VARIATIONS brings cinema back to a “direct connection with the visual world,” rather than its typical mainstream function as a secondary language that substitutes the verbal for the visual. Note: Nathaniel Dorsky will be presented in lecture on Wednesday, May 3 at 6pm in The Film Center Auditorium. This screening will take place at the Film Center for The School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Columbus Drive at Jackson Boulevard, Chicago, IL. For more information, call (312) 345-3588.
4/26 ^ Chicago, Illinois: School of the Art Institute of Chicago ^ http://www1.artic.edu/saic/art/filmcntr/ ^ WHITNEY BIENNIAL: OBSESSIONS VIDEO PROGRAM ^ 6pm: The works in this program embody a particularly intense exploration of subject matter, imagery, and the filmmaking craft itself. A complex array of imagery examines the artists’ preoccupation with form, technique, and visual impact. Les LeVeque’s 2 SPELLBOUND compresses Hitchcock’s 1945 suspense thriller into just under eight minutes, transforming its relatively slow pace into a rushing sense of the inevitable. In Joe Gibbon’s MULTIPLE BARBIE, Gibbons plays a psychiatrist treating a Barbie doll afflicted with a multiple-personality disorder. Tran T. Kim-Trang’s OCULARIS: EYE SURROGATES exposes the presence and effects of surveillance technology in contemporary society. Nirvana’s Generation-X anthem “Smells Like Teen Spirit” is given new gravity in a grainy, slow-motion lip-sync in Jennifer Reeder’s NEVERMIND. JennifeR Reeder will host the screening for the video program: a short dialogue will follow. Note: Les LeVeque will be presented in lecture on Monday, April
24 at 6:00 in the Film Center Auditorium. This screening will take place at the Film Center for The School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Columbus Drive at Jackson Boulevard, Chicago, IL. For more information, call (312) 345-3588.
4/26 ^ London, England: The Lux ^ http://www.lux.org.uk ^ DEREN, MENKEN, TAIT ^ 9pm: A screening of work by Maya Deren, Marie Menken, and Margaret Tait. The programme includes THE VERY EYE OF NIGHT and AT LAND by Deren, NOTEBOOK by Menken, and PLACE OF WORK and TAILPIECE by Tait. Programmed by Peter Todd. This event will be held at the Lux Centre for Film, Video and Digital Arts , 2-4 Hoxton Square, London N1 6NU; for more information, call the Lux Centre at 020 7684 0200.
4/26 ^ Los Angeles, California: BlueStudio ^ http://www.cine-nites.com/ ^ CINE NITES ^ 7:30pm: Cine-Nites, a weekly screening of works on VHS, is held every Wednesday at the Century City Playhouse located at 10508 W. Pico Boulevard (between Beverly Glen and Overland) in Los Angeles.
4/26 ^ New York, New York: Anthology Film Archives ^ http://www.anthologyfilmarchives.org/ ^ NEW FILMMAKERS SERIES: NEW QUEERMAKERS ^ 7pm: Short films include: WEEKI WACHEE GIRLS (Kim Cummings, 1999), D**E RAT (Tony Nittoli, 1999), SINK OR SWIM (John McCabe, 1998), and KINSEY 3 (Angela Robinson, 1998). The feature presentation is ISLE OF LESBOS (Jeff B. Harmon, 1996): In the minority-lynching town of Bunfuck, Arkansas, pretty young lady April Pfferpot is set to marry High School football champ Dick Dickson. But instead of saying “I do” she swallows a bullet and is magically transported to the fantastical Isle of Lesbos. Lorded over by the beer-guzzling Ralph Kramden/Rosie O’Donell mutation Blatz Balinsky, the Sapphic Isle offers a haven for all dykes…and a prison for gay slave boy Lance. But when Ma, Pa, and Dick find out what’s happening, war erupts between the two worlds, threatening freedom for everyone! Filmmakers and their casts and crews will attend. Anthology is located at 32 2nd Avenue, New York; for more information, call (212) 505-5181.
4/26 ^ New York, New York: Guggenheim Museum ^ http://www.guggenheim.org ^ NEW LATINO FILMS AND VIDEOS PROGRAM: STACCATO PURR OF THE EXHAUST ^ 6pm: The Guggenheim’s NEW LATINO FILMS AND VIDEOS program continues with STACCATO PURR OF THE EXHAUST (Luis Meza, 1996). This event will take place in the Peter B. Lewis Theater at The Sackler Center for Arts Education at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, 1071 Fifth Avenue (at 89th street), New York City. For more information, please call (212) 360-4321.
4/26 ^ New York, New York: Whitney Museum Film and Video Department ^ http://www.sirius.com/%7Esstark/org/whitney ^ WHITNEY BIENNIAL FILM PROGRAM: WEDNESDAY ^ At noon: TRANSFORMING PERSONAE, including: Mandy Morrison’s DESPERADO (1997), where video and installation artist Morrison, dressed in cowboy gear, a John Wayne mask, and a gender-bending prosthesis, rides a mechanical bull and dances in a highly artificial Western landscape, simultaneously engaging and resisting the objects of her critical investigation; Ayanna U’Dongo’s ABORIGITRON: AFFAIRS OF THE HYBRID HEART (2000), an exploration of what the artist
perceives as complexities of love among African-Americans, which reflects on the connections between love, hate, powerlessness, and expressions of frustration; Theresa Duncan and Jeremy Blake’s THE HISTORY OF GLAMOUR (1998), a short, animated fiction film about teen singer-songwriter Charles Valentine and her meteoric rise to celebrity; and Sadie Benning’s FLAT IS BEAUTIFUL (1998), a look at the experiences of Taylor, an androgynous 12-year-old girl who is undergoing a painful transition from childhood to adolescence. At 3pm: WARS OF OUR TIME, including: ®Tmark’s BRINGING IT TO YOU! (1998): ®TMark ‘s (pronounced “art-mark”) aim is to enable the “creative subversion” of the
dominant corporate structure by exposing how corporations enjoy the legal rights of individuals, but function without many of the individual’s legal responsibilities; Tran, T. Kim-Trang’s EKLEIPSIS (1998), a study of a group of Cambodian women, living in California, who form the largest group of hysterically blind people in the world; Walid Ra’ad’s THE DEAD WEIGHT OF A QUARREL HANGS (1999), a short, faux documentary presenting imaginary events that investigate the possibilities and limits of writing a history of the Lebanese civil wars (1975-91); and Rebecca Baron’s OKAY BYE-BYE: With a series of photographs of the victims of a Cambodian concentration camp that begin as mug shots and are ultimately commodified as part of a gallery exhibition, Baron explores the relationship of history to memory. For full details and program schedule, or further information, contact the Film and Video Department at the Whitney Museum of American Art at (212) 570-3617 or (212) 570-7754.
4/26 ^ Toronto, Ontario, Canada: Cinematheque Ontario ^ http://www.bell.ca/filmfest/cinematheque/independents.htm ^ CIPRÃŒ AND MARESCO’S CINICO TV ^ 6:30pm: Daniele Ciprì and Franco Maresco are probably the most notorious filmmakers to emerge from Europe in recent years. Before they moved into feature films with THE UNCLE FROM BROOKLYN (1995) and TOTO WHO LIVED TWICE (1999), they were known for a scandalous series of short videos produced for local public television in Palermo. It was in these works, most just a few minutes in length, that Ciprì and Maresco formed their alliance with the grotesque, the blasphemous, the deviants, and the outcasts who inhabit their imaginative world (which also includes the occasional chat with Martin Scorsese or Samuel Fuller). Ciprì and Maresco have developed a decidedly new voice in film and television, one deeply rooted in the blasted landscape and the subcultures of their native Sicily and identifying with the most despised elements of society. Their videos play with television conventions (especially the interview format), duration, immobility, and composition in ways that test the limits of patience and good taste. San Francisco Film Festival: “For some viewers, these works…are perceived only as bizarre, intermittently comic freak shows displaying the grotesque and the ostracized; others, seeing more than just amusement, will be moved by the directors’ embrace of their nonconformist heroes as their comrades, co-creators of strange, oddly beautiful works distinctly…incompatible with the aesthetic rules of the market and the mass media.” CINICO TV (Daniele Ciprì & Franco Maresco, 1989-1996). All Cinematheque Ontario screenings are held at Jackman Hall located in the Art Gallery of Ontario, 317 Dundas Street West, Toronto. For more information, call the Cinematheque at (416) 968-3456.
4/26 ^ Vancouver, British Columbia: The Blinding Light ^ http://www.blindinglight.com/ ^ SUPERSTAR: THE KAREN CARPENTER STORY PLUS: A HISTORY OF BARBIE COMMERCIALS THROUGH THE AGES ^ 8:30pm: The return of SUPERSTAR, a long-banned underground classic from the director of POISON, SAFE and VELVET GOLDMINE. For more information, see April 25.
THURSDAY, APRIL 27, 2000 ^ 4/27 ^ Chicago, Illinois: School of the Art Institute of Chicago ^ http://www1.artic.edu/saic/art/filmcntr/ ^ 27TH ANNUAL STUDENT ACADEMY AWARDS REGIONAL WINNERS ^ 6:30pm: Celebrate with us tonight as the regional winning student films are presented before proceeding to the final stage of the competition in the 27th Annual Student Academy Awards, sponsored by The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. This year our region covers forty states and the District of Columbia, and the winners screening on this program have just been selected by a panel of Chicago-area film professionals from over one hundred entries in this region. The films will be judged against other regional finalists in Hollywood next month, and the Academy announces the national winners in late May. Films in dramatic, documentary, animated, and alternative categories represent the best in student filmmaking at a college level in the U.S. Because our schedule goes to press before the judging takes place, the program will not be available in advance. Complete program notes will be distributed at the door. Don’t miss this opportunity to see the work of talented young filmmakers! Stop in to support these students and their work, and enjoy complimentary soft drinks and hors d’oeuvres at the reception in our lobby at 6pm, prior to the screening. This screening will take place at the Film Center for The School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Columbus Drive at Jackson Boulevard, Chicago, IL. For more information, call (312) 345-3588.
4/27 ^ New York, New York: Museum of Modern Art ^ http://www.sirius.com/%7Esstark/org/moma/moma.html ^ SILENT CINEMA: EXPERIMENTAL FILM PROGRAM ^ 6pm: Screenings of A BRONX MORNING (Jay Leyda, 1931), CITY OF CONTRASTS (Irving Browning, 1931), DE BRUG. (THE BRIDGE, Joris Ivens, 1928), MANHATTA (Paul Strand and Charles Sheeler, 1921), REGEN. (RAIN, Joris Ivens, 1929) and THE ENCHANTED CITY (Warren A. Newcombe, 1922). This screening will take place at the Titus 1 Theater, the Museum of Modern Art, 11 West 53 Street, New York City. For more information, call (212) 708-9400.
4/27 ^ New York, New York: Museum of Modern Art ^ http://www.sirius.com/%7Esstark/org/moma/moma.html ^ BIG AS LIFE: AN AMERICAN HISTORY OF 8MM FILMS ^ 6pm: ALIENS (Michael Almereida, 1993), GARBAGE, ETC. (Bill Creston, 1991), HOURS OF THE IDOLATE (Anie Stanley, 1995), THE P-38 PILOT (Bruce Baillie, 1990) and THE STORY OF A MAN (GOING DOWN IN FLAMES) (Lenny Lipton, 1975). Whether purely fictional, objectively true, or fantasized reality, these portraits of people are all politicized statements using video or film and employing simple, direct strategies and editing. Framed in an idyllic setting of farmland and friends, Lipton’s uses a narrated soundtrack to create a tale of paranoia and evil in the midst of paradise. Baillie’s dreamy visual essay is formed of an audio monologue by a World War II war hero set to abstract imagery. Almereida’s off-kilter video-interview with a teenager and a small boy illuminates contemporary notions of heroes. In contrast, Creston’s various personae cope with life on the street and in the country. Stanley’s all-female cast serves as both playful and ironic critics of the Western. Program screenings are held in The Time Warner Screening Room, Museum of Modern Art, 11 West 53 Street, New York City. Seating is limited to fifty; admission is free after 5:30. For more information, call (212) 708-9400.
4/27 ^ New York, New York: Whitney Museum Film and Video Department ^ http://www.sirius.com/%7Esstark/org/whitney ^ WHITNEY BIENNIAL FILM PROGRAM: THURSDAY ^ At 2pm: AMERICAN LIFE, including: Nic Nicosia’s MIDDLETOWN (1997), an extended, single-shot digital video in which the camera repeatedly loops around Nicosia’s suburban Dallas neighborhood, taking in events both mundane and slightly bizarre; Robin Bernat’s EFFORTLESS: THREE PRELUDES BY CHOPIN (1998), a beautiful portrait of an oscillating lawn sprinkler that through manipulation of form and image takes on a heightened significance; Chris Sullivan’s CONSUMING SPIRITS: PART ONE (1997-2000), an exploration into the artist’s roots, which shifts between aural and visual vignettes to create an overwhelming atmosphere of loss and inevitability; and Yvonne Welbon’s LIVING WITH PRIDE: RUTH ELLIS @ 100 (1999), a biography of Ruth Ellis, a centenarian African-American lesbian, covering a time span from World War I through the Civil Rights movement to the women’s and gay and lesbian liberation movements. At 6:10pm: Harmony Korine’s GUMMO (1998): Shot in Tennessee, where Korine grew up, and using mostly family, friends and local residents, GUMMO presents a series of dispassionate vignettes that explore the historical identity and daily concerns and desires of its working- class characters. For full details and program schedule, or further information, contact the Film and Video Department at the Whitney Museum of American Art at (212) 570-3617 or (212) 570-7754.
4/27 ^ Portland, Oregon: Portland Art Museum ^ http://www.nwfilm.org/exhibition_nowplaying.html ^ 2000 ACADEMY STUDENT FILM AWARDS JURYING ^ 6pm: Tonight the Film Center hosts the regional finals of the 27th Annual Student Academy Awards, presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Cheer and jeer (quietly of course) alongside the jurors as they view the top entries from film school students in nine western states, selecting the best animation, documentary, dramatic and alternative films, which will be forwarded to Los Angeles for the final national competition in May. This screening will take place at the Guild Theater of the North West Film Center, SW 9th and Taylor, Portland. For more information, call (503) 221-1156.
4/27 ^ Portland, Oregon: Portland Art Museum ^ http://www.nwfilm.org/exhibition_nowplaying.html ^ CHRISTO’S VALLEY CURTAIN AND RUNNING FENCE ^ 7pm: CHRISTO’S VALLEY CURTAIN (David Maysles, Albert Maysles, Ellen Hovde Giffard, 1973): Five hundred feet high and a quarter of a mile long, Bulgarian-born American artist Christo’s bright-orange curtain, strung across Rifle Gap, Colorado, captured the imagination of art and non-art audiences in a way no work before it ever had. Unfurled only briefly before the wind ripped it away, the intertwined process and product of his artistic and engineering feat was captured by the Maysles with savvy zest. Chronicling not only Christo’s conceptual vision, but the range of reactions of the engineers, construction workers and students who implemented the project, the film also captures the bemused reactions of the locals, who stand in for people everywhere who have suddenly had their idea of what art is redefined. Followed by RUNNING FENCE (Albert Maysles, David Maysles, Charlotte Zwerin, 1976): Taking the experience of THE VALLEY CURTAIN and running with it, Christo’s next major project was RUNNING FENCE, an eighteen-foot high white nylon curtain fence that ran twenty-four miles across the undulating Sonoma and Marin county hills in Northern California before plunging into the sea. Wryly capturing multiple points of view on the definition of art, artists, creativity, perception, values, bureaucracy and the American political process, the Maysles document all phases of the ephemeral project with delightful results. This screening will take place at the Whitsell Auditorium of the North West Film Center, 1219 SW Park, Portland. For more information, call (503) 221-1156.
4/27 ^ Rochester, New York : George Eastman House ^ http://www.eastman.org ^ MIGRATION MOVIES ^ 8pm: URBICIDE: A SARAJEVO DIARY (1993) is Bill Tribe’s disturbing document of his return to the ravaged streets of Sarajevo, where he taught for 26 years. Plus: RESIDENT EXILE (Ross McElwee, 1981): Critically acclaimed documentarian Ross McElwee brings his camera to Houston during the hostage crisis, where a young Iranian woman is tormented by citizens who see her as a conspirator. Preceded by a panel discussion at 6:30pm. This event will take place at the Dryden Theater at the George Eastman House, 900 East Avenue Rochester, NY. For more information, call (716) 271-4090.
4/27 ^ San Francisco, California: San Francisco Cinematheque ^ http://www.sfcinematheque.org ^ FROM DARKNESS LIGHT: THE TRANSFIGURED SPACES OF JIM JENNINGS ^ 7:30pm: Jim Jennings in person. New York filmmaker Jennings has been making lyrical, contemplative films since the early 1970s, several of which have screened at the Cinematheque. Combining an abstract and richly textural exploration of space (the two-dimensional space of the frame as well as the three-dimensional space seen through it) with the poetic evocation of place (in and around New York, Mexico, Rome, San Francisco), Jennings’ films are always delicate and delightful adventures in seeing. In the subtle and suspenseful interplays of light and dark, flatness and depth, the abstract and the manifest, Jennings’ camera transforms the banal into the sublime and us along with it. Tonight’s screening will include films made over 33 years, from the early LEAVES, WALLSTREET and SAN CRISTOBAL through the more recent BYE BYE BOB, POEMS OF ROME, THE SCHOOL OF ATHENS, INTRIGUE and PAINTING THE TOWN. This event will take place at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, 701 Mission Street, San Francisco. For more information, call the Cinematheque at (415) 558-8129.
4/27 ^ San Jose, California: Cine16 ^ http://www.cine16.com/ ^ BEYOND BELIEF: EXCLUSION AND ORGANIZED RELIGION ^ 7pm: Tonight, Ciné16 looks at three important groups that make up a significant percentage of those who identify themselves as members of an organized religion: the evangelicals, the bigoted, and the progressives. As we will discover, some of their harshest battles are not fought with the character they call Satan, but among themselves. A TIME FOR BURNING (Barbara Connell and William C. Jersey, 1966): In this “direct cinema” style documentary, Pastor Bill Youngdahl of the Augustana Lutheran Church attempts to get other white churches in Omaha to agree to join him in a program to promote racial
understanding that would, in cooperation with black churches, coordinate home visits between parishioners of different churches and races. Youngdahl’s efforts represented a small battle that turned into philosophical warfare between him and more conservative members of the white church council, who feared that blacks would then take the step of attending white churches, resulting in the loss of white members. WITH GOD ON OUR SIDE (Alexander von Wetter, 1981): This important film traces the beginning of the evangelical movement, concentrating on some of the major names that, during the next twenty years, would change the public face of religion, and the money-making activities that would cause it to become a significant force in American politics and public policy. Von Wetter refuses to use cinematic tricks to poke fun of people such as Jerry Falwell, Pat Robertson, Jim Bakker, Robert Schuller, and Reverend Ike, preferring instead to allow them to explain their grandiose schemes in their own words (the visit to Falwell’s money-counting office is memorable). The film also provides an even-handed look at evangelical rock, mass baptisms, drive-in churches. Cine16 is held at the Agenda Restaurant and Lounge, 399 South First Street, San Jose, California, and admission is free.
4/27 ^ Seattle, Washington: Blackchair Productions ^ www.microcinema.com ^ INDEPENDENT EXPOSURE: APRIL SHOWERS ^ 7:30pm: Blackchair Productions’ fifth season April Showers Edition of Independent Exposure will include short film, video and digital works from all over the globe including work by Stefan Gruber (Seattle), Genevieve Anderson (Los Angeles), Matthew McCormick (Portland), Andrea Alvarez (Toronto, Canada), Sumio Ito (Japan), and many others. This event will be held at the Speakeasy Cafe’s Backroom Microcinema, 2304 2nd Avenue in Belltown, Seattle. For more information, contact Joel S. Bachar at info@blackchair.com or (206) 568-6051.
4/27 ^ Toronto, Ontario, Canada: Cinematheque Ontario ^ http://www.bell.ca/filmfest/cinematheque/independents.htm ^ GLENN GOULD: OFF THE RECORD, GLENN GOULD: ON THE RECORD, LONELY BOY ^ 6:30pm: Wolf Koenig and Roman Kroitor, among the leading directors of the NFB’s Candid Eye series, have been described as filmmakers of “rich, diverse accomplishments” (Richard M. Barsam). The pair of documentaries Koenig and Kroitor made about Glenn Gould in 1961 stand among their best work. The first shows us Gould in private, playing his piano only for his dog, speaking about his dislike of concerts and tours, and arguing with a guest about modern music. The second film is a fascinating look at a New York recording session at which Gould recorded Bach’s Italian Concerto, and includes a humourous sequence involving Gould discussing the chairs of great pianists with the proprietors of a piano store. The programme concludes with LONELY BOY (1961), Koenig and Kroitor’s extraordinary profile of another Canadian musician, then-teen idol Paul Anka. Today LONELY BOY seems as fresh, intelligent, and poignant as it did when first released, and “takes its place with such similar cinéma-vérité studies… as DON’T LOOK BACK” (Barsam). All Cinematheque Ontario screenings are held at Jackman Hall located in the Art Gallery of Ontario, 317 Dundas Street West, Toronto. For more information, call the
Cinematheque at (416) 968-3456.
4/27 ^ Toronto, Ontario, Canada: Cinematheque Ontario ^ http://www.bell.ca/filmfest/cinematheque/independents.htm ^ THE MILLS OF THE GODS: VIET NAM (1965) ^ 8:30pm: Beryl Fox has been called “one of the best documentary directors in North America” (Alan Rosenthal). Her classic study of American soldiers and native civilians during the Viet Nam war reminds us why the direct cinema style had such a powerful impact during the sixties, especially in the context of television. (MILLS OF THE GODS was made for CBC TV and subsequently aired in the UK and in the US, with a disclaimer added before the film to assure audiences that the film did not represent the position of the network!) Candid interviews with gung-ho, callow young GIs and pilots are intercut with devastating footage of the destruction wrought by them; particularly terrifying is a jubilant pilot engaged in napalming a tiny village. “This penetrating, perceptive and deeply felt portrait… is unquestionably the most insightful document produced while the war was in progress” (Peter Morris). Wrenching and unforgettable. Tonight we present a version impressively restored by the CBC Archives using digital technology. All Cinematheque Ontario screenings are held at Jackman Hall located in the Art Gallery of Ontario, 317 Dundas Street West, Toronto. For more information, call the Cinematheque at (416) 968-3456.
4/27 ^ Vancouver, British Columbia: The Blinding Light ^ http://www.blindinglight.com/ ^ CINEWORKS PRESENTS JUST SAY NO ^ 8:30pm: Just say no to art films about drug culture! This disturbing selection of Canadian shorts takes an unflinching look at addiction and its consequences, both personal and political. These films are harrowing, intense and sometimes perversely funny. Just some of the media works we will show include John L’Ecuyer’s USE ONCE AND DESTROY, which introduces us to Red Theo, Nice Guy Nelson and Brenda: faces from an ex-junkie’s past; East Coast filmmakers Walter Forsyth and Doug Karr’s LSD 25 is an innovative freakadelic experimental documentary which recounts the story of a young woman’s journey through Montreal’s mental heath system during a summertime LSD binge; Vancouverite James Dunnison offers up CRACK DOLL HOUSE, a very strange puppet animation about dolly crack addicts who can’t pay the bill when the teddy bear dealer and his floozy come by the dollhouse to collect on their debt; and filmmaker Craig Berggold’s hauntingly beautiful HEROINES combines Lincoln Clarkes’ unforgettable portraits of women addicts living on the downtown Eastside with an original song performed by Suzanne Wilson. This event is at the Blinding Light, 36 Powell Street, Vancouver, BC, Canada; for more information, call (604) 878-3366.
4/27 ^ West Hardford, Connecticut: University of Hartford ^ JIM LANE IN PERSON ^ 7:30pm: Jim Lane, Asstistant Professor in the Department of Visual and Media Arts at Emerson College, Boston has been working in the autobiographical mode since the early eighties. He is currently completing a book entitled THE AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL DOCUMENTARY IN AMERICA: AN ANALYSIS OF SELF-INSCRIPTION IN FILM AND VIDEO. Jim Lane will be present at the screening of his latest and various earlier films. This event will take place in Hillyer Hall, Room 303 of the University of Hartford, 200 Bloomfield Avenue, West Hartford. For more information, call David Woods at (860) 768-5179.
FRIDAY, APRIL 28, 2000 ^ 4/28 ^ Dunkerque, France: Studio 43 ^ CINÉMA EXPÉRIMENTAL ET AVANT-GARDES MUSICALES À NEW-YORK ^ 10pm: Le cinéma et la musique n’ont, au cours du vingtième siècle, cessé de collaborer. Les deux disciplines sont déjà proches par leurs techniques respectives. Elles ont les mêmes impératifs de composition temporelle induisant les notions de rythme. Elles nécessitent d’autre part l’intervention d’équipements similaires en tous points quant à leur enregistrement, leur montage ou encore pour leur diffusion au public. Depuis John Cage et Fluxus et jusqu’à la fin du siècle dernier, New-York fut le théâtre d’une création déterminante où sont nées et se sont développées bon nombre d’esthétiques dites d’« avant-gardes » telles les expériences de La Monte Young, le jazz de John Zorn, Fred Frith ou le renouveau du rock new-yorkais avec par exemple Sonic Youth pour la musique mais aussi leur équivalents plastiques et cinématographiques. Ce parcours filmique ne se veut pas un choix d’exemples marquants d’illustration musicale. Elle se veut plutôt un exemple de création cinématographique expérimentale ainsi qu’une redécouverte de l’histoire des liens qui unissent les deux disciplines à travers différents moments de son élaboration. En choisissant des films de Tony Conrad à Richard Kern, la programmation respecte un parcours chronologique. Les films: Tony Conrad: CYCLES OF 3 S AND 7S et CONCORD ULTIMATUM (1977). Robert Withers: 16 MILLIMETER EARRINGS (1979-80). Henry Hills: MONEY (1985). Richard Kern: THE RIGHT SIDE OF MY BRAIN (1984). La projection aura lieu au STUDIO 43 (cinéma art et essai classé recherche) à Dunkerque. Les programmations de cinéma expérimental ont lieu au Studio 43 avec le concours de l’école de la rue et la MJC Terre Neuve, l’école des Beaux-arts, le Fond régional d’Art Contemporain et Lézart Bizart. Celle-ci est une association entre le Studio 43 et l’association SPASM.
4/28 ^ Durham, North Carolina: Duke University ^ http://www.somaglow.com/madcat/ ^ MADCAT FILM FESTIVAL ^ LOST IN TRANSLATION: Filmmakers from around the world explore the gap between history and memory, between language and communication. Films include: THE WHOLE HISTORY OF THAT by Jenny Perlin which turns documentary filmmaking on its head and humorously examines the filmmakers’ failed search for her family origins; Austrian filmmaker Elke Groen’s TITO MATERIAL, which un-earths film fragments featuring Field Marshall Tito, found in the rubble of a defunct theatre in Yugoslavia, which take on an almost iconic significance with the magnification of every scratch and tear; THE TONGUE, which follows the animated adventures of a charismatic but avaricious tongue; LECHE, a non-traditional documentary detailing daily farm life; and EGYPT, a film about the sign language of deaf mutes that links the symbolic terminology of words with the mimetic and analogous representations of graphic gestures. This event will take place at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina; for more information, e-mail Ariella Ben-Dov at alionbear@earthlink.net.
4/28 ^ Madison, Wisconsin: University of Wisconsin Cinematheque ^ http://www.wisc.edu/commarts/cinema.htm ^ LOCAL FILM PREMIERES ^ 7:30 pm: Madison’s Independent Film and Video Collaborative presents new film and video work from Madison and Milwaukee, including the IFVC Super 8mm WATER project, and a new film by Austin Alward. This event will take place at the University of Wisconsin Cinematheque, 4070 Vilas Hall, 821 University Avenue, Madison, Wisconsin. For more information, call (608) 262-2277.
4/28 ^ New York, New York: Anthology Film Archives ^ http://www.anthologyfilmarchives.org/ ^ ATOMIC CINEMA: 8MM FILMS ^ 10pm: Curated by Bradley Eros and Brian Frye. George Kuchar: “Yes, 8mm is a tool of defense in this society of mechanized corruption because through 8mm and its puny size we come closer to the dimensions of the atom.” A small survey of small gauge films, format of the maverick, the intimate and all things marginal. By pioneer regular-8mm and super-8mm filmmakers, from the archives of the Essential Cinema and its satellite collections, in Anthology’s vaults. These programs are meant to supplement, extend, or encore the ongoing series “Big as Life: A History of 8mm Film” at MOMA, and run parallel to “Intimate Cinema: A History of 8mm Film” being taught this semester at The New School by Eros and Frye. Many of these rare works are best viewed in an intimate environment with a small, concentrated projection for a jewel-like image. Bruce Conner’s COSMIC RAY I, II, III (Three screen projection, 1965), Wallace Berman’s ALEPH (1965), Stan Brakhage’s SONG 14 (1965), Greg Sharits’ ODE TO COMMUNISM (1980) and No. 10 (1977), Storm de Hirsch’s HUDSON RIVER DIARY AT GRANDVIEW (PUDDLES) (1974-76) and TREE (1974-76), and Paul Sharits’ BRANCUSI’S SCULPTURE ENSEMBLE AT TIGRU JIU (2 projectors, 1977-84). Anthology is located at 32 2nd Avenue, New York; for more information, call (212) 505-5181.
4/28 ^ New York, New York: Anthology Film Archives ^ http://www.anthologyfilmarchives.org/ ^ AUDIO PROGRAM ^ 8:30pm: From the archives: Bruce Baillie talks, Sergei Paradjanov sings. Also: the last conversation between Barbara Rubin and Jonas Mekas; Peter Kubelka talks to Jack Smith; and others. Anthology is located at 32 2nd Avenue, New York; for more information, call (212) 505-5181.
4/28 ^ New York, New York: Guggenheim Museum ^ http://www.guggenheim.org ^ NEW LATINO FILMS AND VIDEOS PROGRAM: POWER TO THE CHICAS! ^ 7pm: The Guggenheim’s NEW LATINO FILMS AND VIDEOS program continues with the POWER TO THE CHICAS! program, featuring PERIOD (Maria Teresa Murillo, 1998), CALLE CHULA (Veronica Majano, 1998) and PRETTY VACANT (Jim Mendiola, 1996). This event will take place in the Peter B. Lewis Theater at The Sackler Center for Arts Education at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, 1071 Fifth Avenue (at 89th street), New York City. For more information, please call (212) 360-4321.
4/28 ^ New York, New York: Whitney Museum Film and Video Department ^ http://www.sirius.com/%7Esstark/org/whitney ^ WHITNEY BIENNIAL FILM PROGRAM: FRIDAY ^ At noon: RE-THINKING DOCUMENTARY, including: Ruth Leitman’s ALMA (1998), a film essay about disavowal and discovery through the portrait of an idiosyncratic Southern woman, Alma Thorpe, her daughter, and their learning of dark family secrets. At 3pm: Elisabeth Subrin’s SHULIE (1997), a precise shot-for-shot, line-for-line re-creation of a little-known 1967 documentary on Shulamith Firestone, a pivotal feminist writer; and Anne Makepeace’s BABY, IT’S YOU (1998), a document of an emotionally and physically painful year in which Makepeace and her husband try to have a baby. For full details and program schedule, or further information, contact the Film and Video Department at the Whitney Museum of American Art at (212) 570-3617 or (212) 570-7754.
4/28 ^ Seattle, Washington: 911 Media Arts Center ^ http://www.911media.org/ ^ GUYS AND DOLLS ^ 8pm: Is beauty really in the eye of the beholder or is there something more institutionalized that sculpts the way we think about appearance? Tonight’s films address the commodification of beauty in two cultures. Both works are distributed through New Day Films, an artist run film collective dedicated to bringing high quality social issue media to audiences worldwide. I, DOLL: THE UNAUTHORIZED BIOGRAPHY OF AMERICA’S 111/2 SWEETHEART by Tula Asselanis: So what’s the deal with Barbie? Is she Satan in a plastic case or the most beautiful girl in the world? Tula Asselanis debates this question in her unauthorized biography of the doll whose 30 year reign has spawned bulimics, artists, collectors and young women (and men) forever altered by her image. BEAUTY BEFORE AGE by Johnny Symons: This film Beauty Before Age explores the power of youth and beauty and the fear of growing older in gay culture. Through the eyes of men ages 19 to 77, the film critically examines the pressure to look young and attractive, the lack of positive older role models, and the ways in which AIDS intensifies the fear and process of aging. The film offers a male perspective on a historically female issue, and illuminates the larger societal obsession with physical appearance. This event will be held at 911 Media Arts Center, 117 Yale Ave N., Seattle; for more information, call (206) 682-6552.
4/28 ^ Vancouver, British Columbia: The Blinding Light ^ http://www.blindinglight.com/ ^ CAN THIS CEILING FIXTURE SUPPORT MY WEIGHT? ^ 8:30pm: Paul Kincaid Jamieson assaults the audience (in the friendliest of ways) with this no-holds-barred mad rant integrating film, video, slides and spoken word in a “Spalding Gray on Acid” autobiographical performance. Ranging in subject from drug overdose to bank robbery, military school and bomb hoaxes, Jamieson will stun and amaze with his now infamous PAUL’S PATIO video series, as well as brand new film and video pieces, and much more. In his own words: “I am in the process of coalescing the separate elements into a cohesive whole, through which I can create a conduit for the visceral experience to rise through the kundalini and emerge, a phoenix of the human mystery. A magical wondrous journey that audiences will compare with Michael Flately’s LORD OF THE DANCE. There will not be any dancing in my show however. In fact, I may even call this show…Paul Jamieson…LORD OF THE RANTS. Or not. I never want to confine myself to one thing. I don’t want to pigeon hole myself.” Due to the exhaustive and physically demanding nature of this show, this is a three night only limited performance! Don’t miss out!! This event is at the Blinding Light, 36 Powell Street, Vancouver, BC, Canada; for more information, call (604) 878-3366.
SATURDAY, APRIL 29, 2000
4/29 ^ Buffalo, New York: Hallwalls ^ http://www.hallwalls.org ^ PROMINANCE 2000: 3RD ANNUAL STUDENT MEDIA SHOW ^ 8pm: Once again curated by Alfred University students, this program will feature new media works by video, film and digital arts students from Alfred, Colgate University, Ithaca College, and Syracuse University. This program showcases emerging talents on subjects ranging from body work to abstract non-narrative work, light-hearted to serious subject matter. Participating artists are Dan Fuller, Ryan Prince, Tom Rogers, John Scannel, Bethany Carlson, Sarah Mamet, Mike McGrath, Jimmy Rahn, Pete Schirmer,and others. Hallwalls is located at 700 Main Street, Buffalo. For more information, call (716) 835-7362.
4/29 ^ Chicago, Illinois: School of the Art Institute of Chicago ^ http://www1.artic.edu/saic/art/filmcntr/ ^ SLEEP ^ 12:30pm: Few films have been so notorious, so influential…and so unseen as Andy Warhol’s legendary masterpiece, which scandalized the establishment when first screened in 1963. Long thought to have been lost or stolen, and recently available only in a surviving fragment, the film’s unavailability has only added to its legendary status. Although it is reputed to be a single unchanging shot of a sleeping man (poet John Giorno), SLEEP is actually very much an assemblage, composed of a series of three-minute takes showing different angles of the subject and incorporating such manipulative devices as zooms, loop printing, slowed motion, and a climactic freeze frame. SLEEP is now widely seen by chroniclers of the American avant-garde cinema as a seminal work, representing both an ironic inversion of the dream tradition of early avant-garde filmmakers such as Maya Deren and Kenneth Anger, and an anticipation of the later structural-film movement of Michael Snow and Hollis Frampton. It has also been cited for its eroticism, self-reflexive voyeurism, and lyrical tenderness. Stephen Koch, in his book on Warhol, has written of SLEEP, “The film entirely modifies the very nature of film viewing,” challenging one’s perception of a movie as a unified experience that commands the viewer’s undivided attention from beginning to end. As Koch recounts, audience members at the first screenings drifted in and out at will, so that the viewer’s time and the film’s time became detached from each other. We would like to note that this option is also available to SLEEP’s latter-day viewers, who may wish to join the film at midpoint or leave and come back when they choose. The box office will remain open throughout the showing. This screening will take place at the Film Center for The School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Columbus Drive at Jackson Boulevard, Chicago, IL. For more information, call (312) 345-3588.
4/29 ^ Dallas, Texas: USA Film Festival ^ http://www.somaglow.com/madcat/ ^ MADCAT FILM FESTIVAL ^ The MadCat Film festival presents INTERIOR WORLDS, a program of films which take a humorous and sometimes shocking look at the human psyche. Taiwnese filmmaker Charlene Shih’s animated film WOMEN follows the journey of a modern Chinese girl as she grows up. Barbara Albert’s stunning first narrative THE FRUIT OF THY WOMB takes an unflinching look at a world of mainly catholic imaginations and symbols, “a world between frightening bogey men and flying Christ childs.” CARS WILL MAKE YOU FREE is a hilariously deadpan take on America’s favorite addiction. Kimi Takasue’s ROSEWATER explores one man’s struggles to cultivate beauty in a desolate urban world. Lonely and dislocated, he drifts in and out of a dream state envisioning the promise of regeneration. CORPORATE SPONSORSHIP PARADE takes a stop motion look at the sometimes horrific contents of one woman’s medicine cabinet. And Amy Harrison, the famed director of GUERRILLAS IN OUR MIDST, presents her newest piece SAFETY IN NUMBERS. This event will take place at the USA Film Festival in Dallas, Texas; for more information, e-mail Ariella Ben-Dov at alionbear@earthlink.net.
4/29 ^ Houston, Texas: Aurora Picture Show ^ http://www.aurorapictureshow.org ^ A/V GEEKS COMES TO HOUSTON ^ 7 and 9pm: Skip Elsheimer of Raleigh, North Carolina’s AV/Geeks comes to Houston with selections from his amassed collection of education and training films. Including: PAMELA WONG’S BIRTHDAY FOR GRANDMA, Skip’s absolute favorite film about a Chinese girl preparing for her grandmothers birthday; SQUEAK THE SQUIRREL, a film for 3rd graders about how animals learn or a fable about the bourgeoisie oppressing the proletariat, you decide; THE LOTTERY, a film based on the Shirley Jackson short story, gave nightmares to one viewer when she was in the sixth grade; KNOW FOR SURE, an amazing film about syphilis from the A/V Geek’s VD film archive; SHAKE HANDS WITH DANGER, a safety film made by heavy machinery manufacturer Caterpillar is filled with mayhem, lots of fake gore and a really catchy theme song; and SANTA CLAUS AND PUNCH AND JUDY. The Aurora Picture Show is located at 800 Aurora Street, Houston, Texas 77009. For more information, contact Andrea Grover at grover@aurorapictureshow.org or (713) 868-2101.
4/29 ^ Iowa City, Iowa: Light Reading ^ GEHR, KRUMINS, MURRAY, STARK HIRSCH, EXPORT, POTLUCK ^ 8pm: Light Reading’s April screening presents a potluck/ group programmed show which includes Ernie Gehr’s MORNING, Daina Krumins’ THE DIVINE MIRACLE, Julie Murray’s IF YOU STAND WITH YOUR BACK TO THE SLOWING OF THE SPEED OF LIGHT IN WATER, Scott Stark’s BACK IN THE SADDLE AGAIN, Storm de Hirsch’s PEYOTE QUEEN and Valie Export’s REMOTE… REMOTE. This screening will take place in Room 101 of the Becker Communications Building of the University of Iowa, Iowa City. Admission is free. For more information, contact curator Rebecca Meyers at (319) 358-1033.
4/29 ^ London, England: Exploding Cinema ^ http://www.backspace.org/exponet ^ FILMS, VIDEOS, PERFORMANCES ^ 8pm: The EXPLODING CINEMA, London’s premier eyegarden for low/no budget work, will hold a show featuring films, videos, performances and all the usual shenanigans. The Exploding Cinema is a wilfully unfunded collective of film and video makers who’ve been running open access shows over the past eight years. Each one incorporates 15-20 short films, videos and related performances (gathered together through open submission), unrelated competitions and prizes, an MC, a plethora of slides and loops projected hither and thither, and refreshments aplenty. Tonight’s fun will be held at 1001’s, No. 1 Dray Walk, The Old Truman Brewery, 91 Brick Lane, London E1 6QN. For more information, e-mail Paul Tarragó at mistralstudios@hotmail.com.
4/29 ^ New York, New York: Anthology Film Archives ^ http://www.anthologyfilmarchives.org/ ^ ESSENTIAL CINEMA: COCTEAU / CROCKWELL / DEREN ^ 9pm: Screenings of Jean Cocteau LE SANG D’UN POÈTE (1930), Douglass Crockwell’s GLENS FALLS SEQUENCE (1943) and THE LONG BODIES (1949), and Maya Deren’s MESHES OF THE AFTERNOON (1943), AT LAND (1944), A STUDY IN CHOREOGRAPHY FOR CAMERA (1945) and RITUAL IN TRANSFIGURED TIME (1946). Anthology is located at 32 2nd Avenue, New York; for more information, call (212) 505-5181.
4/29 ^ New York, New York: Anthology Film Archives ^ http://www.anthologyfilmarchives.org/ ^ ESSENTIAL CINEMA: EGGELING, CAVALCANTI ^ 4:30pm: Screenings of Viking Eggeling’s SYMPHONIE DIAGONALE (1924) and Alberto Cavalcanti’s RIEN QUE LES HEURES (1928), a “city symphony” interweaving documentary, experimental, and narrative elements that provide vivid images of Paris in the mid-‘20s. Anthology is located at 32 2nd Avenue, New York; for more information, call (212) 505-5181.
4/29 ^ New York, New York: Guggenheim Museum ^ http://www.guggenheim.org ^ NEW LATINO FILMS AND VIDEOS PROGRAM: STACCATO PURR OF THE EXHAUST ^ 3pm: The Guggenheim’s NEW LATINO FILMS AND VIDEOS program continues with STACCATO PURR OF THE EXHAUST (Luis Meza, 1996). For more information, see April 26.
4/29 ^ New York, New York: Guggenheim Museum ^ http://www.guggenheim.org ^ NEW LATINO FILMS AND VIDEOS PROGRAM: TALES FROM THE CIUDAD ^ 7pm: The Guggenheim’s NEW LATINO FILMS AND VIDEOS program continues with the TALES FROM THE CIUDAD program, featuring THE MANHATITLÃN CHRONICLES (Felipe Galindo-Feggo, 1999) and LA CIUDAD (THE CITY) (David Riker, 1998). This event will take place in the Peter B. Lewis Theater at The Sackler Center for Arts Education at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, 1071 Fifth Avenue (at 89th street), New York City. For more information, please call (212) 360-4321.
4/29 ^ New York, New York: The Kitchen ^ http://www.thekitchen.org ^ DANCE DOCUMENTARY MINI-MARATHON ^ 1pm: This screening offers an opportunity to watch new video and film dance documentaries about extraordinary artists and dance styles. Following the screening, join the filmmakers, artists, and producers for a panel discussion, THE MAKING OF A DANCE DOCUMENTARY, moderated by Andrea Snyder of NIPAD. Films to be screened include BESSIE: A PORTRAIT OF BESSIE SCHONBERG (Chris Hegedus & DA Pennebaker), BOMBA: DANCING THE DRUM (Ashley James), CHECK YOUR BODY AT THE DOOR (Charles Atlas) and FROM THE HORSE’S MOUTH, THE DOCUMENTARY (Sharon Kinney). The Kitchen is located at 512 West 19th Street, New York City. For more information, call (212) 255-5793.
4/29 ^ New York, New York: Whitney Museum Film and Video Department ^ http://www.sirius.com/%7Esstark/org/whitney ^ WHITNEY BIENNIAL FILM PROGRAM: SATURDAY ^ At noon: RE-THINKING DOCUMENTARY, including: Jill Godmilow’s WHAT FAROCKI TAUGHT (1998), a re-enactment, in color and English, Harun Farocki’s original 1969 black-and-white, German-language documentary, INEXTINGUISHABLE FIRE, about Dow Chemical’s development of napalm B during the Vietnam war; and Craig Baldwin’s SPECTRES OF THE SPECTRUM (1999), the story of the Hacker family and their role in the underground rebellion against the New Electromagnetic Order. At 3pm: Jem Cohen and Fugazi’s INSTRUMENT (1999), a portrait of the politically progressive punk band Fugazi, a group that relentlessly refuses to work within the mainstream of the music industry. For full details and program schedule, or further information, contact the Film and Video Department at the Whitney Museum of American Art at (212) 570-3617 or (212) 570-7754.
4/29 ^ San Francisco, Cal, ifornia: Other Cinema ^ http://www.othercinema.com/ ^ STONE, SARAF AND SNIDER ON OUTSIDER ART ^ 8pm: Melinda Stone’s whirlwind tour of roadside attractions, VISIONARY ENVIRONMENTS AND AMATEUR ADVENTURES introduces us to the inspired artists behind these idiosyncratic sites. With music by Beth Custer, who also opens our show. Irving Saraf and Allie Light’s GRANDMA’S BOTTLE VILLAGE is a loving 16mm look at the obsessive glass edifices of T. Prisbrey. Greta Snider’s outrageous URINE MAN. This screening will take place at Artists’ Television Access, 992 Valencia, San Francisco; for more information, call (415) 824-3890.
4/29 ^ Tempe, Arizona : Arizona State University Art Museum ^ http://asuam.fa.asu.edu/filmfest/2000.htm ^ FOURTH ANNUAL SHORT FILM AND VIDEO FESTIVAL ^ 8pm: Bring your own chair and join us outside under the stars on the Arizona State University Art Museum’s back plaza for this free event. Works to be screened include Ana-Victoria Aenlle’s BONES, Matthew Ehlers’ THE ALIBI, Don Hertzfeldt’s BILLY’S BALLOON, Ann La Vigne’s WHERE MONSTERS LIE, Humberto Ra
