Program 2
Narrative
87 min.
A
Sorcerer, Perhaps Max Joseph 11 min.,
2002
A desperate father resorts to black magic to wake his
daughter from her coma.
Second Prize, Narratives, Ivy Film Festival 2002
Horse
Girl Mary Billyou 8 min., 2000
Does freedom slip away with childhood?
Domov
David Duponchel 14 min., 35mm, color, 2002
(FAMU)
In a valley at the end of the world, soldiers are entrenched
in the undergrowth. They are hiding from helicopters,
which patrol the frontier. The only trace of human presence
in this valley is a house that has been destroyed by bombs.
It seems to be still occupied. A gun points out of what
is left of a window and aims at the soldiers. They fall
one after another; only one manages to reach the house.
A young girl is hidden behind a wall. The soldier does
not understand. She has the gun. She goes towards him.
Perhaps she was thinking that he was going to take her
in his arms after what she had done. But he was no angel.
Death is above all a picture, it stays a picture. It can
be conscious in our mind only if it is expressed, and
it can only express itself by metaphors? (G.Bachelard)
Konec sezóny / The End of the Season Tomáš Barina
8 min., 35mm, B&W, 1999 (FAMU)
Oscar student award 1999
In a hotel at the end of the season- a first love story.
(Nomination to students Oscars 1999. Best film, student
film competition, MFF Karlovy Vary 2001. 1st award - Silver
Hugo, The Chicago International Film Festival, USA. Best
fiction film, MediaWave 99, Majarsko. Award of Pavel Jurácek,
FAMU FEST 01. Hlavní cena, Cinemaiubit 99, Rumunsko. Silver
medal, The 42nd Brno Sixteen 2001. Forderpreis des FilmFernsehFonds
Bayern, Internationales Festival des Filmhochschulen Munchen.
Luca de Nigris Award for the best script, Bologna 98.
1st award - MAXIM, FAMU FEST 98. Main award of Václav
Krska, International student Film Fest Písek 98.
Světlo
/ The Light David Sukup 8 min., 35mm, color,
puppet animation, 2001 (FAMU)
What happens when two small kids break a bulb.
Pád
/ The Fall Aurel Klimt 15 min., 35mm,
color, puppet animation, 1999 (FAMU)
One day in Moscow, between two World Wars, where people's
behavior is as absurd as the times are. Based on Daniil
Charm's short stories.
Sunday,
September 14 8pm
Program 1
Experimental I
54 min.
Circumscriptions Lisa DiLillo 7 min.,
2000
The circle is both template and access point from which
to probe the concepts of perception, image making, and
collective memory. It is sometimes a metaphor for the
viewfinder and at other times a tunnel-like vehicle
transmitting ancient texts and icons. The images, abstractions
of zoetropes, film loops, perceptual devices, and the
interior of the body, contaminate each other in implosions
and explosions of cells and universes where social culture
is not distinct from biological culture. The visuals
are very closely edited with the sound collage/composition
of Stevie Wishart.
No Damage Caspar Stracke 13 min.,
DV, color, stereo
No Damage is a composition made out of fragments
from over 80 different feature and documentary films
that show the architecture of New York City. The work
investigates a number of cinematic clichés of architectural
presence captured on film. The failure of the camera
eye to grasp these high risen structures in its entirety
produces distorted views, such as steep camera angles,
fish eye distortion and fast zooms and pans. Especially
when lifted out of its original context, these scenes
reveal their emotional implications: grandeur, glamour,
the wake of modernism during the 60s, post-modernism
(Eighties and Nineties) but also menace, superiority
and anonymity. In between these extreme positions emerges
a new form of sentimentalism that is funneled by the
tragic events of September 11.
Window Jeanne Liotta 5 min., video,
2001
Five actual minutes as an elemental cure, journeying
yet standing still, completion.
Mutable Fire Bradley Eros 8 min.,
video, 1984
Erotic love is resistance to tyranny.
Konec / The End of Individuality Jan Zajíček
21 min., Beta, color, 2002 (FAMU)
"...Zajíček uses an animated mesh of what seems
like nerve cells to illustrate the interconnected fates
of at-first unrelated individuals in this riveting piece
from FAMU, the esteemed Prague film academy."
DIFF
Program 3
Experimental II
53 min.
Gone
Global Pam Kray 3 min., dv-super8, 2003
Appreciation of nostalgia for world history and geography
during the destruction of the globe. Music video for the
13th Floor Elevators.
March
of the Bees Justin Gorman 3 min., CD-ROM,
2002
It is the eve of the first frost. We join a group of bees
dutifully following their queen.
When she leaves, to bury herself and hibernate for the
upcoming winter the workers are thrown into despair, knowing
that tomorrow they will die. I ask, what would you choose
to do, knowing that this day would be your last?
We
Watch the Lemons Sing Justin Gorman 3
min., CD-ROM, 2003
Near the bottom of the rigid hierarchy of Jr. high school
social orders dwells the "Huffers".
We join our motley group as they cut class and embark
into the lemon groves to inhale solvents, paint thinners
and glues. Their goal: to huff an entire bottle of paint
before they have to go home for dinner. Half-way through
their endeavor, the group shares a hallucination of seeing
the lemons grow faces and start to sing.
History Lesson Part 3 Justin Gorman
3 min., CD-ROM, 2003
The
Spitters Paul Bishow 7 min., super-8,
1993
Spitting and live music.
Sugar
Lisa Barnstone 7:30 min., super-8, 2000
"Super pro big mountain snowboarder from B.C. teams
with Super eight stop motion animator from NYC to create
this tale of object love and identity in which Victoria
Jealousy carves the mountains of Alaska and the concrete
of NYC."
Lisa Barnstone
Barking-Tie
Promenade / Cravates aux abois Sophie Lagus
3:20 min., 16mm, color, animation (pixilation) 2001 (FAMU)
On a sunny spring afternoon in a beautiful park, a young
woman walks on a leash her...vacuum-cleaner. It is faithful
and obedient and fetches the doll that she throws away.
But other women walking in the park have... men on their
leashes; men shaking their tie-tails. Funny, original,
feminist, gently provocative, fresh pixilation.
Bazén
/ Swimming-pool David Duponchel 7 min.,
Beta, color, experimental, 2002 (FAMU)
A total improvisation that interprets the atmosphere of
a swimming pool as the borderline of dream and reality.
Velký
Kýchal / The Big Sneezer Noro Drziak 12
min., 35mm, color puppet animation, 2001 (FAMU)
Two crazy gangsters steal the mummy of the Great Sneezer
from a museum; a mummy that used to sneeze heaps of diamonds
for the Ancient Egyptians. After various escapades, they
manage to bring the Great Sneezer back to life. Howewer,
the mummy's magic doesn't work as they expected.
Program 6
Experimental III
Process Makes the Film
118 min.
Roll Over Hollis Paul Bishow 6 min.,
super-8 b&w, 1984
Upon hearing of Hollis Frampton's death of the day before,
this movie was shot and processed in Bishow's kitchen.
A look at ephemerality among other things.
Their Idols Disintegrate Jennifer Fieber
13 min., 16mm, color, 2001
"Using various filmic techniques---filters, hand-processing
and long exposures---I treated each section in order to
enhance the inherent 'personality' I felt each site contained.
Each site chosen expresses a mute dignity, impervious
to busy, oppressive or absurd surroundings. On these empty
stages, the concealed life of inanimate objects can reveal
itself."
Jennifer Fieber
Fear
of Blushing Jennifer Reeves 5 min., hand-painted
16 mm., 2001
Bleached, painted and optically printed, Fear of Blushing
combines alternating textures, irrepressible color and
corroded figures with menacing sound bites, effects &
rhythm. Fleeting visions and voices emerge in unusual
juxtapositions, suggesting a psycho-cinematic free-association.
As individual frames are never projected for more than
1/8 of a second this film discourages reflection and is
best experienced in the immediate present. Only after
the onslaught can you wonder what horrible thing was buried
there.
Pirát
/ The Pirate Jan Bubeníček 19 min., 35mm,
color animation, 2002 (FAMU)
Friendship sometimes overcome dead, but hunger and thirst
occasionally overcome friendship.
Mechanika
/ The Mechanic / La Mécanique David Sukup 8
min., 35mm, pixilation, 2002 (FAMU)
Wake-up !! And pay for everything !!!
4
Lásky/4 loves Pavel Koutský 7 min., 35mm,
color animation (pixilation), 2002 (FAMU)
"Inventive animation involving real objects animated
on top of simple ink-on-paper drawings tells the story
of one 'Everyman' character's obsessions as he travels
through life. Child becomes teen becomes middle-aged becomes
oldster in this surprising film, a highlight of the DIFF's
animation offerings this year."
DIFF
Analog
Dick Jay Rees and Steve Lewis 40 min.,
paint and woodcuts on 35mm, 2002
Narrative launched through the progressions of paintings
and woodcuts, not at 24 fps, but rather lurched along
at about 16 frames per second...to a carnival-like soundtrack,
also by Rees.
Archaeology
Pam Kray 20 min., super-8 to dv, 1999
Found pornography hand cranked and shot on digital auto-focus.
As an installation on porn-art. Like wallpaper.
Program 5
Robert Beck Memorial Cinema Presents
Occult of Personality
(New York 2003)
65 min.
The Robert Beck Memorial Cinema was started by Brian Frye and Bradley Eros in 1998 to screen Expanded Cinema in the Lower East Side of New York City. The screenings take place once a week at a storefront theatre called Collective Unconscious. This program represents a cross-section of films from the core group of filmmakers who are presenting works at RBMC.
The Legend of Robert Beck
Sanitarium Cinema
Brian Frye, Bradley Eros, Marie Losier 10 min. together,
DV, 2002
Brian Frye tells the legend of Robert Beck.
Marvelous
Creatures Wago Kreider 3:28 min., 2003
Zoo animals, wild creatures, celebrities.
2
Crimes Ghen Zando-Dennis 3 min., film-video,
2003
A bit of Anarchist history.
Endless
Obsession Glen Fogel 5 min., 2000
The image. The who in the image. The image.
Oona's Veil Brian Frye 8 min., 2003
The Birth of Eros Joel Schlemowitz 3 min., film, 2002
Reunion
Elle Burchill 5 min., DV, 2003
A New York filmmaker returns to his small, southern Illinois
hometown and is caught center stage in a rare photo opportunity.
Shot in Fairfield, Illinois (population 5000) at the 30-year
reunion of the high school class of 1971. I shot the footage
spontaneously and only later realized that I had captured
more than a homecoming.
Pyrotechnics Erotic Psyche 11 min., film, 1986
i,
of K (imitation of Kiss) Bradley Eros 3
min., 2001
Bradley Eros section of 13-part Ocularis Fabrica production.
Bioluminescence Marianne Shaneen 5 min., 2002
The
Touch Marie Losier 4 min., video, 2001
A scene from Ingmar Bergman.
Lennon/Howsen
Ian Caskey 3 min., super-8, 2001
Mind over matter.
Sunday,
October 5 8pm
Program 4
Documentary snapshots: Straight Ahead and with Peripheral
Vision, Too
103 min.
Real Time and Currency Exchange Lisa DiLillo 8 min. or continuous loop, video, 2001
This is a 2-channel installation. In Real Time, a cricket is trapped inside a clock. The internal timing of a cricket's song is juxtaposed with the mechanical ticking of a clock. A small drama ensues. The clock misses beats; the cricket song becomes more mechanical. Do you have counter-clockwise tendencies? In Currency Exchange, crickets consume $100 bills. The bill's symbolic value is meaningless to the crickets, which view them as a food source. In a world where green is disappearing every day, our abstractions and constructions are often at conflict with or irrelevant to the natural world.
Dead Deer Frances Myers 2:11 min.,
video, 2002
Follows stages of decay and invasion of insects (bees,
butterflies) on a dead deer after a road kill. Both
beautiful and horrific.
Struck by the Hand/Manifesto! Jeanne Liotta
(in collaboration w/ Andrew Castrucci) 10 min.,
video, 2001
April Fools Day - guerilla action performed on the steps
of the Met by Italo Zamboni, the last painter of the
20th century. 41 bottles of urine lined up in the sun
and spilled on the steps. High culture meets low in
the color of gold .
Saucisse James Schneider 4:20 min.,
dv, 2002
Through the thick smoke of grilling sausage appears
the decrepit image of the extreme right xenophobic Jean-Marie
Le Pen. Although he is one step from the French presidency
in May, 2002, his defeat is already visible through
the clandestinely filmed scenes of this rally.
"In France, a pseudonym was used ("Anon Emat")
for Saucisse in order to protect myself from
the Front National's thugs seeing as how I made sure
to send copies to their various headquarters and the
FN plumber in my building. One example of the FN's behavior
is the case of the legendary militant filmmaker René
Vautier, whose personal film archives were torched by
vengeful sausage eaters." JS
Some Scenes May Hurt Your Sensibility Nicholas
Foucher 8 min., Beta, color animation by Ouah
Ouah design, 2002 (FAMU)
Documentary animation made with the drawings of illustrator
Di Marco commissioned by French crime magazines. It's
an almost unbearable show (editing is also thought to
be at the limit of the insupportable). It reflects the
violence that TV, film and other media display in our
daily life.
Breakfast with Iraq Frances Myers 6:21
min., DV, 2003
The artist has set up her video camera In her kitchen
(March 27, 2003) and records herself cooking and eating
a lavish breakfast while watching TV. A mixture of war
reports, actual scenes of the Iraq war, deaths are mixed
with commercials and TV (CNN) small talk.
Flag City and Mexican Medley Ken
Brown 6:30 min. together, super-8, 2001 and 1995
It might seem unusual to put these single-frame works
into a night of documentaries, but each extremely bright
frame tells clearly the nature of the picture. Flag
City is New York after 9-11. Mexican Medley
offers the tourist's view of pottery stands in Mexico.
They are oddly similar in their hint of kitsch.
All Power to Imagination Mehdi
Zizi 25 min., Beta, color, 2002 (FAMU)
"Fans of the anti-corporate-culture magazine Adbusters
will enjoy this captivating, somewhat infuriating look
at how advertising has quickly transformed Czech culture,
now that communism's given way to consumerism. Watch
as leaders of some of the largest Czech ad firms admit
the job of advertising is to sell people things they
don't need by manipulating consumers' fears and hopes.
And take a gander at some of the outrageous (and, yes,
often inventive) commercials coming out of the Czech
Republic, some of which adorn this intellectual, fast-paced
documentary."
Dean Treadway, DIFF
Maj Kompjuter Jakub Sommer 32 min.,
Beta, color, 2002 (FAMU)
A documentary film about 3 friends addicted to computer-games.
The style of Jakub Sommer - a non-conventional and modern
style of documentary, close from the intimacy of diary,
light and with humor, at the frontier of the fiction.
Dog Park Frances Myers 6 min, video,
2003
An everyday look at the lives of city dogs seen in a
New Orleans park. The dogs behave like dogs but with
a veneer of their humans' personalities, even looks.
This
film and video series has been organized by word of mouth.
Curated and projected in two
countries, the net was barely thrown into the water and
what has come back is beautiful and, in
many cases, under the radar.
Cultural
exchange in a rather subtle form: in the documentary program,
we see snapshots that
tell more in a few minutes than long form docs may ever
expound. Extensive translation has
not been feasible, so that the narrative program is virtually
back to the days of silents, and not
lacking in storytelling because of it. Each of the "experimental"
programs carries its own
direction in the adventure of filmmaking, either through
techniques, vision, or attention to
the process itself.
The
New York screening group, Robert Beck Memorial Cinema, rounds
out the series with their
picks from the New York experimental film and video community.
The
following six programs of short films and videos will be
screened in the Czech Republic on
six consecutive Sunday evenings from September 14 through
October 19, curated by
Pam Kray. The organization, CESTA, will present the
series in Tábor, Czech Republic. Anthology Film Archives
is re-screening the programs in New York November 14 - 16,
2003.
The series is held in cooperation with the Czech
Center New York.
Thank you to Petra Podláhova for her tireless assistance
with translations.
Jacques Genot organized the FAMU films.