A Room with a Coconut ViewThere’s always a pang of irony when noting the milestones accomplished by venerable avant-garde institutions. Some seem to hold fast to the idea that institutionality itself is the enemy of experimentation, and that a “true” avant-garde showcase or entity ought to burn hot, bright, and fast, and then fizzle out before it is invaded by the mundanes. This is the Jack Smith Theory of Art, and while I am certainly sympathetic, I am not a subscriber. I, alas, am much more of an Uncle Fishhook. I compile lists, hoard tapes and digital files, keep manila folders full of old program notes, and generally try to think both historically—noting what develops from the ongoing wreckage of the past—and geometrically—observing how forms and concepts can develop webs of connection through time and across culture and nation. Institutions, or at least archives of one sort or another,...
- 6/19/2019
- MUBI
Eye of the NeedleThe 2018 Nyff Projections series included six features, four featurettes, and 22 short films. That’s a grand total of 1,051 minutes of programming, or just over 17 and ½ hours of experimental cinema. Obviously, in that amount of time, one could watch a Lav Diaz film. But Projections offered considerably more variety, with highlights that included a sexually ambiguous footballer given to hallucinations of giant Pekingese puppies (Abrantes and Schmidt’s Diamantino); a corpulent French monarch writhing on the floor (Albert Serra’s Roi Soleil); two restored feminist classics from the 1980s that borrowed liberally from the aesthetics of children’s TV and classic game shows (Ericka Beckman’s Cinderella and You the Better); and an unconventional documentary about the legacy of radical psychoanalysis in Argentina (Dora García’s Segunda Vez). As one might expect, certain thematic similarities began to emerge among the various films, but those are probably as much...
- 10/23/2018
- MUBI
Há Terra!I want to apologize for providing this Wavelengths avant-garde preview a little later than I might've liked. Hell, given that it's been over a week since movies died, I'm not exactly sure how much more kindling I can chuck onto the pyre. But I should remark that compared with previous years' iterations of the Tiff Wavelengths series, 2016 does feel a bit...off. I'm chiefly referring to the experimental short films here. (My second part, addressing the Wavelengths features, will be along in a matter of days.) Make no mistake. There's plenty of great work in this year's programs. But I do feel that the disparity this year between the truly exceptional films and the mediocre-to-not-very-good ones is markedly high.I enjoy films, and more than this, I enjoy enjoying them. I hardly get my kicks by being a nattering nabob of negativity. But programmers have to work with what is available to them,...
- 9/13/2016
- MUBI
The Film Society of Lincoln Center has announced the complete lineup for the Projections section of the 54th New York Film Festival. Heading into its third year, the annual celebration will take place October 7 through October 9 and include 44 films in 11 programs with 10 world premieres, five North American premieres and 13 U.S. premieres.
The slate features “experimental narratives, avant-garde poetics, crossovers into documentary and ethnographic realms, and contemporary art practices,” per the festival’s press release. The Projections section will bring together a diverse offering of short, medium, and feature-length work by some of today’s most vital and groundbreaking visual artists.
Read More: Nyff Reveals Main Slate of 2016 Titles, Including ‘Manchester By the Sea,’ ‘Paterson’ and ‘Personal Shopper’
Among the films which will be highlighted is Eduardo Williams’s “The Human Surge,” winner of the top prize in Locarno’s 2016 Filmmakers of the Present section and called “the most ambitious...
The slate features “experimental narratives, avant-garde poetics, crossovers into documentary and ethnographic realms, and contemporary art practices,” per the festival’s press release. The Projections section will bring together a diverse offering of short, medium, and feature-length work by some of today’s most vital and groundbreaking visual artists.
Read More: Nyff Reveals Main Slate of 2016 Titles, Including ‘Manchester By the Sea,’ ‘Paterson’ and ‘Personal Shopper’
Among the films which will be highlighted is Eduardo Williams’s “The Human Surge,” winner of the top prize in Locarno’s 2016 Filmmakers of the Present section and called “the most ambitious...
- 8/17/2016
- by Liz Calvario
- Indiewire
As with their Convergence section, the New York Film Festival offers an expanded view of the current cinema with yet another installment in their Projections series, a showcase of recent developments in and classic examples of experimental work from around the globe. These are hard to pin down as fitting particular types, and the only qualifier I can give is that whatever I manage to see from Projections stands as some of the most fascinating, enriching work I encounter at Nyff every given year.
I’m particularly excited about a few things here: two new Nathaniel Dorsky shorts, for one thing, and The Human Surge, a Locarno title and recent Tiff selection that we (positively!) assessed as being “pretty much a film that, by nature, is unlovable.” But that’s a very small pack that stands out, not least of which is because they have individual program slots. Read a...
I’m particularly excited about a few things here: two new Nathaniel Dorsky shorts, for one thing, and The Human Surge, a Locarno title and recent Tiff selection that we (positively!) assessed as being “pretty much a film that, by nature, is unlovable.” But that’s a very small pack that stands out, not least of which is because they have individual program slots. Read a...
- 8/17/2016
- by Nick Newman
- The Film Stage
Nigerian metropolis Lagos is the focus of the eighth City To City showcase at the Toronto International Film Festival (Tiff) as top brass anoint two international Rising Stars.
Tiff’s latest line-up announcement also featured extra selections in Galas and Special Presentations, among them Walter Hill’s (Re)Assignment, Philippe Falardeau’s The Bleeder, David Leveaux’ The Exception (pictured), Ken Loach’s Palme d’Or winner I, Daniel Blake and Terry George’s drama The Promise.
A vibrant crop of Contemporary World Cinema entries includes Kleber Mendonça Filho’s Aquarius, Danis Tanović’s Death In Sarajevo, Marie Noëlle’s Marie Curie, The Courage Of Knowledge and Akin Omotoso’s Vaya.
Hirokazu Kore-eda brings After The Storm to the Masters showcase, alongside Marco Bellocchio’s Sweet Dreams, Pedro Almodóvar’s Julieta, Cristian Mungiu’s Graduation, Gianfranco Rosi’s Berlin Golden Bear winner Fire At Sea and Adoor Gopalakrishnan’s Once Again.
Rounding out the...
Tiff’s latest line-up announcement also featured extra selections in Galas and Special Presentations, among them Walter Hill’s (Re)Assignment, Philippe Falardeau’s The Bleeder, David Leveaux’ The Exception (pictured), Ken Loach’s Palme d’Or winner I, Daniel Blake and Terry George’s drama The Promise.
A vibrant crop of Contemporary World Cinema entries includes Kleber Mendonça Filho’s Aquarius, Danis Tanović’s Death In Sarajevo, Marie Noëlle’s Marie Curie, The Courage Of Knowledge and Akin Omotoso’s Vaya.
Hirokazu Kore-eda brings After The Storm to the Masters showcase, alongside Marco Bellocchio’s Sweet Dreams, Pedro Almodóvar’s Julieta, Cristian Mungiu’s Graduation, Gianfranco Rosi’s Berlin Golden Bear winner Fire At Sea and Adoor Gopalakrishnan’s Once Again.
Rounding out the...
- 8/16/2016
- by jeremykay67@gmail.com (Jeremy Kay)
- ScreenDaily
Nigerian capital Lagos is the focus of the eighth City To City showcase at the Toronto International Film Festival (Tiff) as top brass anoint two international Rising Stars.
Tiff’s latest line-up announcement also featured extra selections in Galas and Special Presentations, among them Walter Hill’s (Re)Assignment, Philippe Falardeau’s The Bleeder, David Leveaux’ The Exception (pictured), Ken Loach’s Palme d’Or winner I, Daniel Blake and Terry George’s drama The Promise.
A vibrant crop of Contemporary World Cinema entries includes Kleber Mendonça Filho’s Aquarius, Danis Tanović’s Death In Sarajevo, Marie Noëlle’s Marie Curie, The Courage Of Knowledge and Akin Omotoso’s Vaya.
Hirokazu Kore-eda brings After The Storm to the Masters showcase, alongside Marco Bellocchio’s Sweet Dreams, Pedro Almodóvar’s Julieta, Cristian Mungiu’s Graduation, Gianfranco Rosi’s Berlin Golden Bear winner Fire At Sea and Adoor Gopalakrishnan’s Once Again.
Rounding out the...
Tiff’s latest line-up announcement also featured extra selections in Galas and Special Presentations, among them Walter Hill’s (Re)Assignment, Philippe Falardeau’s The Bleeder, David Leveaux’ The Exception (pictured), Ken Loach’s Palme d’Or winner I, Daniel Blake and Terry George’s drama The Promise.
A vibrant crop of Contemporary World Cinema entries includes Kleber Mendonça Filho’s Aquarius, Danis Tanović’s Death In Sarajevo, Marie Noëlle’s Marie Curie, The Courage Of Knowledge and Akin Omotoso’s Vaya.
Hirokazu Kore-eda brings After The Storm to the Masters showcase, alongside Marco Bellocchio’s Sweet Dreams, Pedro Almodóvar’s Julieta, Cristian Mungiu’s Graduation, Gianfranco Rosi’s Berlin Golden Bear winner Fire At Sea and Adoor Gopalakrishnan’s Once Again.
Rounding out the...
- 8/16/2016
- by jeremykay67@gmail.com (Jeremy Kay)
- ScreenDaily
The New STYLEThis is the second year that the New York Film Festival has presented Projections, its extensive showcase of experimental film and video that for years had been called Views From the Avant-Garde. The name change (or "rebranding," in the parlance of our ugly times) corresponded, of course, to the departure of longtime programmer Mark McElhatten. Under his stewardship, Views became one of the premiere experimental film festivals in the world, a long weekend of high caliber dispatches from established masters, alongside bracing discoveries by up-and-coming makers whose work somehow caught Mark's eye. His programming partner, Film Comment's Gavin Smith, often brought along selections that complemented Mark's, even as they were out of his usual bailiwick.The Views era was not without its dissenters. Some complained that McElhatten rounded up the usual suspects year after year, sometimes without regard to the relative quality of their latest offerings. Others, most prominently Su Friedrich,...
- 10/2/2015
- by Michael Sicinski
- MUBI
The Onion City Experimental Film and Video Festival will be celebrating its 26th spectacular edition in the great city of Chicago on January 28-31. The fest’s opening night will take place at the Gene Siskel Film Center, while the other nights will play out at Columbia College Chicago’s Ferguson Theater.
Typical of many recent previous editions of Onion City, this will be a showcase of international avant-garde and experimental cinema that includes 46 short films and one feature from eight different countries, including the U.S., France, Portugal, Italy, Turkey and more.
The fest opens on the 28th with films such as the 4th entry in Phil Solomon‘s acclaimed machinima musings project, Psalm IV: “Valley of the Shadow;” a new animation by Janie Geiser, The Hummingbird Wars; plus films from experimental stalwarts like Robert Todd and Fern Silva.
The one feature screening will be on January 31 at 3:00 p.
Typical of many recent previous editions of Onion City, this will be a showcase of international avant-garde and experimental cinema that includes 46 short films and one feature from eight different countries, including the U.S., France, Portugal, Italy, Turkey and more.
The fest opens on the 28th with films such as the 4th entry in Phil Solomon‘s acclaimed machinima musings project, Psalm IV: “Valley of the Shadow;” a new animation by Janie Geiser, The Hummingbird Wars; plus films from experimental stalwarts like Robert Todd and Fern Silva.
The one feature screening will be on January 31 at 3:00 p.
- 1/26/2015
- by Mike Everleth
- Underground Film Journal
Jodie Mack is a relatively young filmmaker. She has emerged as a significant force on the experimental scene only in the last few years. She is a professor at Dartmouth, where she teaches filmmaking. Part of what is truly remarkable about Mack’s work is the sheer volume of high-quality films and web-based imagery she has produced in a relatively short time (around thirty films in eight years), including the recent karaoke-based featurette, Dusty Stacks of Mom: The Poster Project. In the midst of this flurry of activity, Mack has developed and refined a highly idiosyncratic approach to animated imagery. Her work builds on the legacy of such masters as Robert Breer, Lawrence Jordan, Janie Geiser and Lewis Klahr, while at the same time locating a highly personal and humorous style of handmade formalism.>> - Michael Sicinski...
- 9/16/2014
- Keyframe
Jodie Mack is a relatively young filmmaker. She has emerged as a significant force on the experimental scene only in the last few years. She is a professor at Dartmouth, where she teaches filmmaking. Part of what is truly remarkable about Mack’s work is the sheer volume of high-quality films and web-based imagery she has produced in a relatively short time (around thirty films in eight years), including the recent karaoke-based featurette, Dusty Stacks of Mom: The Poster Project. In the midst of this flurry of activity, Mack has developed and refined a highly idiosyncratic approach to animated imagery. Her work builds on the legacy of such masters as Robert Breer, Lawrence Jordan, Janie Geiser and Lewis Klahr, while at the same time locating a highly personal and humorous style of handmade formalism.>> - Michael Sicinski...
- 9/16/2014
- Fandor: Keyframe
In place of the formerly titled "Views from the Avant-Garde", The Film Society of Lincoln Center has announced the lineup for Nyff's new "Projections" section. Dennis Lim and Aily Nash join Gavin Smith in curating an international selection of experimental short, medium and feature length films:
Old Growth (Ryan Marino, USA)
Babash (Lisa Truttmann & Behrouz Rae, USA/Austria/Iran)
Wayward Fronds (Fern Silva, USA)
Theoretical Architectures (Josh Gibson, USA)
Canopy (Ken Jacobs, USA)
Under the Heat Lamp an Opening (Zachary Epcar, USA)
Against Landscape (Joshua Gen Solondz, USA)
Night Noon (Shambhavi Kaul, Mexico/USA)
Ming of Harlem: Twenty One Storeys in the Air (Phillip Warnell, UK/Belgium/USA)
Berlin or a Dream with Cream (Marcel Broodthaers, Germany)
Mr. Teste et la Lune (Marcles Broodthaers, Belgium)
Things (Ben Rivers, UK)
Depositions (Luke Fowler, UK)
a certain worry (Jonathan Schwartz, USA)
The Dragon is the Frame (Mary Helena Clark, USA)
Fe26 (Kevin Jerome Everson,...
Old Growth (Ryan Marino, USA)
Babash (Lisa Truttmann & Behrouz Rae, USA/Austria/Iran)
Wayward Fronds (Fern Silva, USA)
Theoretical Architectures (Josh Gibson, USA)
Canopy (Ken Jacobs, USA)
Under the Heat Lamp an Opening (Zachary Epcar, USA)
Against Landscape (Joshua Gen Solondz, USA)
Night Noon (Shambhavi Kaul, Mexico/USA)
Ming of Harlem: Twenty One Storeys in the Air (Phillip Warnell, UK/Belgium/USA)
Berlin or a Dream with Cream (Marcel Broodthaers, Germany)
Mr. Teste et la Lune (Marcles Broodthaers, Belgium)
Things (Ben Rivers, UK)
Depositions (Luke Fowler, UK)
a certain worry (Jonathan Schwartz, USA)
The Dragon is the Frame (Mary Helena Clark, USA)
Fe26 (Kevin Jerome Everson,...
- 8/21/2014
- by Notebook
- MUBI
Sudabeh Mortezai’s Macondo won the Firebird Award in the Young Cinema Competition of this year’s Hong Kong International Film Festival (Hkiff), while Tetsuichiro Tsuta’s The Tale Of Iya took the Jury Prize.
The jury praised Macondo, an Austrian drama centring on an 11-year-old Chechnyan refugee, for its “simplicity and humanity [which] show great sensitivity to universal human problems”. Ayumi Sakamoto’s Forma received a special mention in the Young Cinema Competition.
The Firebird Award in the Documentary Competition went to Farida Pacha’s My Name Is Salt, while the Jury Prize went to Gu Tao’s The Last Moose Of Aoluguya and Bernard Bloch’s Meat And Milk received a special mention.
Hu Wei’s The Butter Lamp, about Tibetan nomads, won the Firebird Award in the Short Film Competition. The Jury Prize went to Leo Woodhead’s Cold Snap, while Janie Geiser’s Kriminalistik won the Internet Audience Award and Reka Bucsi’s [link...
The jury praised Macondo, an Austrian drama centring on an 11-year-old Chechnyan refugee, for its “simplicity and humanity [which] show great sensitivity to universal human problems”. Ayumi Sakamoto’s Forma received a special mention in the Young Cinema Competition.
The Firebird Award in the Documentary Competition went to Farida Pacha’s My Name Is Salt, while the Jury Prize went to Gu Tao’s The Last Moose Of Aoluguya and Bernard Bloch’s Meat And Milk received a special mention.
Hu Wei’s The Butter Lamp, about Tibetan nomads, won the Firebird Award in the Short Film Competition. The Jury Prize went to Leo Woodhead’s Cold Snap, while Janie Geiser’s Kriminalistik won the Internet Audience Award and Reka Bucsi’s [link...
- 4/8/2014
- by lizshackleton@gmail.com (Liz Shackleton)
- ScreenDaily
The Ann Arbor Film Festival, having survived their half-a-century blowout in 2012, is back with another rip-roarin’ 51st edition in 2013, which will run from March 19-24, screening a mind-boggling amount of experimental short films and a few features.
Highlights of the fest include:
Special presentations by this year’s jurors, including Marcin Gizycki round-up of Polish animation from the 1950s to the present; Laida Lertxundi’s selection of some of her films as well as her biggest influences; and Kevin Jerome Everson’s mini-retrospective of his own films.
There’s also special tributes to Pat O’Neill, including a retrospective of his short films from the ’70s to the present as well as a screening of his 1989 35mm experimental epic Water and Power; Suzan Pitt, with selections of short films from her career; and a screening of Ken Burns’ latest doc The Central Park Five, co-directed with his daughter Sarah Burns and son-in-law David McMahon,...
Highlights of the fest include:
Special presentations by this year’s jurors, including Marcin Gizycki round-up of Polish animation from the 1950s to the present; Laida Lertxundi’s selection of some of her films as well as her biggest influences; and Kevin Jerome Everson’s mini-retrospective of his own films.
There’s also special tributes to Pat O’Neill, including a retrospective of his short films from the ’70s to the present as well as a screening of his 1989 35mm experimental epic Water and Power; Suzan Pitt, with selections of short films from her career; and a screening of Ken Burns’ latest doc The Central Park Five, co-directed with his daughter Sarah Burns and son-in-law David McMahon,...
- 3/19/2013
- by Mike Everleth
- Underground Film Journal
This Week’s Must Read: Nelson Carvajal wrote a very nice piece about a typically neglected subject: Women of the Avant-Garde, covering the work of Germaine Dulac, Maya Deren, Shirley Clarke, Janie Geiser and others.Speaking of Maya Deren, Making Light of It scanned and posted her “Notes, Essays, Letters.” Also, Ron Rice’s “Diaries, Notebooks, Sketches.”Donna k. reviews the acclaimed Holy Motors by Leos Carax, calling it the “best film I have seen in a loooong time … that explores the complications of the current cinematic landscape.”
J.J. Murphy reviews Tim Sutton’s debut feature Pavilion and praises it for the unexpected directions the narrative springs off to.I’m sure most of you reading this know all about Herschell Gordon Lewis, but Michael Varrati has an extremely nice profile the notorious horror filmmaker.Most people don’t write about the soundtrack to the infamous Cannibal Holocaust, but Electric...
J.J. Murphy reviews Tim Sutton’s debut feature Pavilion and praises it for the unexpected directions the narrative springs off to.I’m sure most of you reading this know all about Herschell Gordon Lewis, but Michael Varrati has an extremely nice profile the notorious horror filmmaker.Most people don’t write about the soundtrack to the infamous Cannibal Holocaust, but Electric...
- 2/3/2013
- by Mike Everleth
- Underground Film Journal
The 8th annual Brakhage Center Symposium has been programmed by curator Kathy Geritz and will examine the concept of experimental narrative over three days of screenings and lectures on March 16-18 at the University of Colorado, Boulder.
Geritz has pulled together a program in which experimental films explore notions of narrative through diverse means, whether combining with documentary or animated elements, or through nonlinear structure, or through the direct experience of time. As Geritz hopes: “In these different ways, the films presented will challenge and expand our expectations as they push the boundaries of storytelling conventions.”
Some of the filmmakers who will be present at the symposium are animators Stacey Steers and Chris Sullivan, experimental documentary filmmaker Amie Siegel and Cannes Film Festival Palme d’Or winner Apichatpong Weerasethakul, who will be screening his 1987 acclaimed feature film Syndromes and a Century and the more recent short film Emerald (2007).
Also, film critic and historian J.
Geritz has pulled together a program in which experimental films explore notions of narrative through diverse means, whether combining with documentary or animated elements, or through nonlinear structure, or through the direct experience of time. As Geritz hopes: “In these different ways, the films presented will challenge and expand our expectations as they push the boundaries of storytelling conventions.”
Some of the filmmakers who will be present at the symposium are animators Stacey Steers and Chris Sullivan, experimental documentary filmmaker Amie Siegel and Cannes Film Festival Palme d’Or winner Apichatpong Weerasethakul, who will be screening his 1987 acclaimed feature film Syndromes and a Century and the more recent short film Emerald (2007).
Also, film critic and historian J.
- 3/12/2012
- by Mike Everleth
- Underground Film Journal
It’s the 50th anniversary of the Ann Arbor Film Festival and they’re preparing an all-out blowout on March 27 to April 1 to celebrate! The fest is crammed to the gills with the latest and greatest in experimental and avant-garde film, in addition to a celebration of classic work from Ann Arbors past.
Filmmaker Bruce Baillie was there at the first Aaff — and numerous times since. He’s back this year with a major retrospective of his entire career that spans three separate programs. Baillie, who’ll be in attendance of course, will present a brand-new restored version of his epic pseudo-Western Quick Billy, plus screenings of his classic short movies such as Castro Street, Yellow Horse, Quixote, To Parsifal and more.
There’s also a program dedicated to the films of the late Robert Nelson, including Bleu Shut and Special Warning, as well as sprinklings of underground classics throughout...
Filmmaker Bruce Baillie was there at the first Aaff — and numerous times since. He’s back this year with a major retrospective of his entire career that spans three separate programs. Baillie, who’ll be in attendance of course, will present a brand-new restored version of his epic pseudo-Western Quick Billy, plus screenings of his classic short movies such as Castro Street, Yellow Horse, Quixote, To Parsifal and more.
There’s also a program dedicated to the films of the late Robert Nelson, including Bleu Shut and Special Warning, as well as sprinklings of underground classics throughout...
- 3/7/2012
- by Mike Everleth
- Underground Film Journal
The 23rd annual Onion City Experimental Film and Video Festival presents four nights of international avant-garde and experimental media from all over the world. The fest runs June 23-26 with the Opening Night festivities taking place at the Gene Siskel Film Center and the rest of the screenings held at the venerable Chicago Filmmakers, which has been behind the event for the past 11 years.
The Opening Night presentation begins with the new short film from the Brothers Quay, Maska, which was produced in Poland and based on a short story by Polish author Stanislaw Lem (Solaris). Also included in the opening screening are films by Thom Anderson, Mati Diop, Christopher Becks, Milena Gierke and more.
The Closing Night film is the much anticipated new feature by former Chicagoan James Fotopoulos. He will be screening Alice in Wonderland, an adaptation of an 1886 musical based on the classic children’s book. The film features hundreds of drawings,...
The Opening Night presentation begins with the new short film from the Brothers Quay, Maska, which was produced in Poland and based on a short story by Polish author Stanislaw Lem (Solaris). Also included in the opening screening are films by Thom Anderson, Mati Diop, Christopher Becks, Milena Gierke and more.
The Closing Night film is the much anticipated new feature by former Chicagoan James Fotopoulos. He will be screening Alice in Wonderland, an adaptation of an 1886 musical based on the classic children’s book. The film features hundreds of drawings,...
- 6/10/2011
- by Mike Everleth
- Underground Film Journal
The 24th annual Images Festival is once again overstuffed with experimental and avant-garde media goodness. From March 31 to April 9, Toronto will be overrun with film & video screenings, live cinema performances, artist talks, gallery installations, forum discussions and more.
The fest opens with Rivers and My Father — a documentary and fictional narrative blend that explores the family stories of filmmaker Luo Li — and ends with a live hardcore music soundtrack accompanying Todd Brown’s classic silent movie West of Zanzibar.
In between that, there are artist talks with John Gianvito, Paul Clipson, Mario Pfeifer, Beatrice Gibson, James MacSwain, Steve Reinke and others; several programs exploring the state of cinema in Africa; live cinematic performances by Andrew Lampert, Ellie Ga, Lindsay Seers, Icaro Zorbar and more.
Plus, don’t forget the experimental film & video screenings, including John Gianvito’s documentary essay Vapor Trails (Clark); and short works by Jodie Mack, Lewis Klahr,...
The fest opens with Rivers and My Father — a documentary and fictional narrative blend that explores the family stories of filmmaker Luo Li — and ends with a live hardcore music soundtrack accompanying Todd Brown’s classic silent movie West of Zanzibar.
In between that, there are artist talks with John Gianvito, Paul Clipson, Mario Pfeifer, Beatrice Gibson, James MacSwain, Steve Reinke and others; several programs exploring the state of cinema in Africa; live cinematic performances by Andrew Lampert, Ellie Ga, Lindsay Seers, Icaro Zorbar and more.
Plus, don’t forget the experimental film & video screenings, including John Gianvito’s documentary essay Vapor Trails (Clark); and short works by Jodie Mack, Lewis Klahr,...
- 3/31/2011
- by Mike Everleth
- Underground Film Journal
The 49th annual Ann Arbor Film Festival is an epic celebration of experimental media that runs for six days on March 22-27. There’s so much great stuff screening this year, it makes one wonder what they’ll have left for their 50th anniversary next year!
A couple of the highlights include the highly anticipated feature-length documentary The Ballad of Genesis and Lady Jaye by Marie Losier, which chronicles the pandrogynous love story between industrial music pioneer Genesis P-Orridge and his late wife. The film already made a big splash at the Berlinale earlier in the year and looks to be a major hit on the festival circuit this year.
Also not to be missed is a special retrospective of one of this year’s festival jury members, Vanessa Renwick, a longtime favorite on Bad Lit: The Journal of Underground Film. Renwick will screen 10 of her quirky and artistic documentary portraits,...
A couple of the highlights include the highly anticipated feature-length documentary The Ballad of Genesis and Lady Jaye by Marie Losier, which chronicles the pandrogynous love story between industrial music pioneer Genesis P-Orridge and his late wife. The film already made a big splash at the Berlinale earlier in the year and looks to be a major hit on the festival circuit this year.
Also not to be missed is a special retrospective of one of this year’s festival jury members, Vanessa Renwick, a longtime favorite on Bad Lit: The Journal of Underground Film. Renwick will screen 10 of her quirky and artistic documentary portraits,...
- 3/7/2011
- by Mike Everleth
- Underground Film Journal
The 22nd annual Onion City Experimental Film and Video Festival is set to run in Chicago on June 17-20. That’s four nights of some of the best short-form experimental video from all over the world.
The festival opens with a real bang this year as it screens the 2010 Cannes Palme d’Or prize winner, A Letter to Uncle Boonmee, directed Thai filmmaker Apichatpong Weerasethakul, who actually studied filmmaking at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Other opening films are by Daïchi Saïto, Michael Robinson, Sharon Lockhart and more.
Throughout the fest there are also new works by several longtime experimental filmmakers, including Kenneth Anger, Dominic Angerame and Lewis Klar; as well as films by media artists such as Stephanie Barber, Deborah Stratman, Thorsten Fleisch and Robert Todd. Plus, on the 20th, there will be a special tribute screening to the late JoAnn Elam, Chick Strand, and Callie...
The festival opens with a real bang this year as it screens the 2010 Cannes Palme d’Or prize winner, A Letter to Uncle Boonmee, directed Thai filmmaker Apichatpong Weerasethakul, who actually studied filmmaking at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Other opening films are by Daïchi Saïto, Michael Robinson, Sharon Lockhart and more.
Throughout the fest there are also new works by several longtime experimental filmmakers, including Kenneth Anger, Dominic Angerame and Lewis Klar; as well as films by media artists such as Stephanie Barber, Deborah Stratman, Thorsten Fleisch and Robert Todd. Plus, on the 20th, there will be a special tribute screening to the late JoAnn Elam, Chick Strand, and Callie...
- 6/15/2010
- by Mike Everleth
- Underground Film Journal
IFC Films
Inspired by the plays of Euripedes, Jessica Yu brings a fresh and bracing slant to the psychology of personality in Protagonist, her documentary look at four lives defined by fanaticism.
Although it takes a while for Yu's thesis to jell, the film makes a lasting impression as it delves into an unfashionable territory: character as fate rather than a function of pharmaceuticals. Through the prism of its central quartet -- an "ex-gay" minister, a bank robber, a German terrorist and a martial arts devotee -- the docu lays bare the delusions and dangers of extremism, a timely subject in this age of black-and-white thinking.
A selection of the International Documentary Assn.'s DocuWeek theatrical showcase, Protagonist is slated for release Sept. 26. Its stylized aesthetic touches are best appreciated on the big screen, but the docu's intellectual sheen and unwillingness to pander will probably make it a stronger performer on DVD than as a theatrical title.
To structure the dramatic arcs of her central quartet's stories, Yu -- whose In the Realms of the Unreal dared to animate the paintings of outsider artist Henry Darger -- uses striking visual motifs. Robert Conner contributes elegant title animation sequences to announce thematic chapters that include Provocation, Turning Point, Fever and Catharsis. Supplementing the talking-head interviews, home movies, news footage and stills and serving as a true Greek chorus are puppets designed by Janie Geiser. The muslin-clad wooden creations of primitive, intricate beauty perform excerpts from Euripedes, with voice-over performance in ancient Greek. The puppets also enact some of the more crucial, often brutal scenes from the protagonists' sagas, their masked faces hauntingly expressive.
After considering hundreds of potential subjects, Yu selected four men whose stories' connective threads might at first seem elusive. But the film builds a compelling composite portrait of obsessive, all-or-nothing allegiance to a chosen pursuit, and the eventual embrace of uncertainty as a truer -- and less destructive -- approach. Outcasts during often devastating childhoods, they channeled primal rage into transgression and power over others, only to find themselves living a lie or having become precisely what they set out to oppose. That they found the strength to leave the fold -- whether revolutionary cells or an evangelical church -- is extraordinary. In Yu's nimble narrative, their disparate experiences of struggle, triumph, collapse and rebirth overlap and parallel one another in increasingly fascinating ways.
Inspired by the plays of Euripedes, Jessica Yu brings a fresh and bracing slant to the psychology of personality in Protagonist, her documentary look at four lives defined by fanaticism.
Although it takes a while for Yu's thesis to jell, the film makes a lasting impression as it delves into an unfashionable territory: character as fate rather than a function of pharmaceuticals. Through the prism of its central quartet -- an "ex-gay" minister, a bank robber, a German terrorist and a martial arts devotee -- the docu lays bare the delusions and dangers of extremism, a timely subject in this age of black-and-white thinking.
A selection of the International Documentary Assn.'s DocuWeek theatrical showcase, Protagonist is slated for release Sept. 26. Its stylized aesthetic touches are best appreciated on the big screen, but the docu's intellectual sheen and unwillingness to pander will probably make it a stronger performer on DVD than as a theatrical title.
To structure the dramatic arcs of her central quartet's stories, Yu -- whose In the Realms of the Unreal dared to animate the paintings of outsider artist Henry Darger -- uses striking visual motifs. Robert Conner contributes elegant title animation sequences to announce thematic chapters that include Provocation, Turning Point, Fever and Catharsis. Supplementing the talking-head interviews, home movies, news footage and stills and serving as a true Greek chorus are puppets designed by Janie Geiser. The muslin-clad wooden creations of primitive, intricate beauty perform excerpts from Euripedes, with voice-over performance in ancient Greek. The puppets also enact some of the more crucial, often brutal scenes from the protagonists' sagas, their masked faces hauntingly expressive.
After considering hundreds of potential subjects, Yu selected four men whose stories' connective threads might at first seem elusive. But the film builds a compelling composite portrait of obsessive, all-or-nothing allegiance to a chosen pursuit, and the eventual embrace of uncertainty as a truer -- and less destructive -- approach. Outcasts during often devastating childhoods, they channeled primal rage into transgression and power over others, only to find themselves living a lie or having become precisely what they set out to oppose. That they found the strength to leave the fold -- whether revolutionary cells or an evangelical church -- is extraordinary. In Yu's nimble narrative, their disparate experiences of struggle, triumph, collapse and rebirth overlap and parallel one another in increasingly fascinating ways.
- 8/28/2007
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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