Cristaux (1978)Without warning, a brisk flurry of pulsing forward zooms turn light reflected on lapping water into violent streaks of explosive orange. When a human figure appears (Gaël Badaud), he smokes casually as the visuals continue to swirl around him with hectic persistence. Although the soundtrack is completely silent, there is noise enough in the image. Teo Hernández seems to observe and manipulate the surface of water in every conceivable way, hammering at it with the zoom lens lever, swinging the camera as if in a balletic trance, observing from a distance and in extreme close-up so as to capture individual flecks of light, even rapidly cutting between fleeting glimpses of the water’s surface from a (nearly) static viewpoint, animating it from cuts alone. The water’s surface is that of the Seine river, as made explicit in the title, L’eau de la Seine (1983). As the film progresses,...
- 10/8/2021
- MUBI
Here we go again. Festival time. Why do we put ourselves through this? All so we can make semi-coherent pronouncements on The Year in Film? So that when the Oscar bloggers come crawling out of their holes each September, hoping to see their gold-plated shadows, we can say that we were somewhere else, appreciating the true art of the medium? Why not? Someone has to hold fast against the all-consuming law of the market. Wavelengths is as good a place as any to make a stand in favor of the contrarianism of beauty and rage.But how do you define a year in cinema? Each year, film festivals, both major and minor, go through hundreds upon hundreds of selections and submissions, taking into account all sorts of criteria: relative importance of the films in question; the local taste of the audience; due diligence to certain studios, donors, and sales agents...
- 9/8/2018
- MUBI
Get in touch to send in cinephile news and discoveries. For daily updates follow us @NotebookMUBI.NEWSBrian De Palma's forthcoming film Domino has yet to premiere (and might not at all); and meanwhile he is preparing a new film, “a horror film, with a sexual aggressor,” apparently inspired by Harvey Weinstein. David Hudson has gathered the De Palma news at The Daily.Essential: The Austrian Film Museum has shared their restoration for Soviet filmmaking Dziga Vertov's 23-episode cinematic newsreel series known as Kino-Pravda. All available for your viewing pleasure at the museum's Collection Dziga Vertov.Recommended VIEWINGTo start with, this week has brought a slew of promising new trailers for films from Luca Guadagnino (remaking Suspiria!), Zhang Yimou (Shadow), Steve McQueen (Widows), David Lowery (The Old Man & the Gun), plus the directorial debut of Bradley Cooper (remaking A Star Is Born!): Notebook contributors Adrian Martin and Cristina...
- 6/11/2018
- MUBI
Get in touch to send in cinephile news and discoveries. For daily updates follow us @NotebookMUBI.NEWSThe Local has shared a statement from an anonymous victim of Korean film director Kim Ki-duk regarding his contentious presence at this years Berlinale. Recommended VIEWINGThe incomparably talented Liv Ullmann discusses her craft, career & life with the BFI.Notebook contributors Cristina Álvarez López & Adrian Martin's new video essay for Filmkrant finds the uncanny intersections between two truly singular works of the 21st century: David Lynch's Inland Empire & Gregg Araki's Smiley Face.We're ecstatic about Grasshopper Film's forthcoming re-release from cinema's finest filmmaking duo: Danièle Huillet & Jean-Marie Straub's Chronicle of Anna Magdalena Bach. Above: the new trailer.Recommended READINGDesign by Guy MaddinThe programmers of the Berlinale Forum have released their annual magazine, a portion of which can be read on the web, that "seeks to draw lines between the films in our programme,...
- 2/15/2018
- MUBI
Spectral Ascension by Paul Clipson (2017)
This film is a collaboration with experimental musician Byron Westbrook. It was filmed in 16mm with title and end credits added digitally.
It appears the film had its premiere at the Echo Park Film Center in Los Angeles on Friday, April 28, 2017 at a retrospective of Clipson’s work. The film was projected in 16mm; and Clipson was in attendance at the screening.
Clipson passed away on February 3, 2018 at the age of 53. The cause of death has not been publicly reported.
An incredibly prolific filmmaker, Clipson worked primarily in Super 8 and 16mm, crafting an intensely visual, poetic style. Many of his films were made in collaboration with musicians and bands, such as Jefre Cantu-Ledesma and his group Tarentel. Perhaps because of these collaborations, Clipson might be one of the most viewed experimental filmmakers ever with his films on Vimeo sometimes amassing tens of thousands of views.
This film is a collaboration with experimental musician Byron Westbrook. It was filmed in 16mm with title and end credits added digitally.
It appears the film had its premiere at the Echo Park Film Center in Los Angeles on Friday, April 28, 2017 at a retrospective of Clipson’s work. The film was projected in 16mm; and Clipson was in attendance at the screening.
Clipson passed away on February 3, 2018 at the age of 53. The cause of death has not been publicly reported.
An incredibly prolific filmmaker, Clipson worked primarily in Super 8 and 16mm, crafting an intensely visual, poetic style. Many of his films were made in collaboration with musicians and bands, such as Jefre Cantu-Ledesma and his group Tarentel. Perhaps because of these collaborations, Clipson might be one of the most viewed experimental filmmakers ever with his films on Vimeo sometimes amassing tens of thousands of views.
- 2/10/2018
- by Mike Everleth
- Underground Film Journal
Get in touch to send in cinephile news and discoveries. For daily updates follow us @NotebookMUBI.Newsi’m drawn to the physical beauty of celluloid, to its grain, texture, tactility, its colors and tones. I find film to be the most challenging and rewarding visual form to work in. Not only celluloid but the mechanisms and optics of film cameras and projectors as well. Zoom lenses, anamorphic and wide angle lenses present all sorts of directions in which to find images. There’s a very intense, emotional charge to shooting on film where there’s rarely a moment when one’s not aware of its fragility, a sense that everything could be for nothing, and certainly the serious cost of film also remains in one’s peripheral awareness. It makes the process feel both exciting and grave. We are heartbroken to hear of the death of San Francisco-based director Paul Clipson,...
- 2/8/2018
- MUBI
“Who could fail to sense the greatness of this art, in which the visible is the sign of the invisible?”—Jean GrémillonCinema is what you imagine, and what you imagine first, in the darkness where bundles of light thrown 24 times a second at a wall produce illusion, is movement, an electromagnetic record of the past conjured into motion by your mind’s eye. A vision. So cinema is alchemy, it’s mystery. Unlike television, which is ephemeral but endless, cinema is eternal yet ever ending. (Raúl Ruiz made an entire film from the short ends of another, and the studio system of Classic Hollywood was so dedicated to The End that it couldn’t go on.) Cinema is shadow, totality, the night.Not all film is cinema and not all cinema is poetry, but poetry in the movies is always cinema. And poetry is unknowable, like the films of Paul Clipson.
- 9/20/2017
- MUBI
Rushes collects news, articles, images, videos and more for a weekly roundup of essential items from the world of film.The biggest news of the week for us is the online release of new films by two Notebook contributors: Gina Telaroli's Here's to the Future! and Kurt Walker's Hit 2 Pass, two fundamentally undefinable and wildly adventurous movies made and released independently. (The two filmmakers discussed their independence in a conversation published on the Notebook.) Both films will be be available to stream through November 22, 2015, and all proceeds they make on the release will go towards their future film projects.The full trailer for Quentin Tarantino's The Hateful Eight has been released, above, and it looks like the man generally derided (unfairly, we must add) as a kind of adolescent film nerd has made a film that looks akin to Alain Resnais' late films—and we couldn't be happier.
- 11/11/2015
- by Notebook
- MUBI
The 3rd annual Winnipeg Underground Film Festival is a three-day showcase on of experimental short films from all over the globe, plus a screening of a locally produced feature film. The fest runs on June 5-7 at the Frame Arts Warehouse.
The sole feature film of the fest is FM Youth by Stéphane Oystryk, which captures the lives of three young Franco-Manitoban friends as two of them about to embark on a journey outside of their tight knit French community. FM Youth will screen at 11:30 p.m. on the opening night of June 5.
The rest of the fest is crammed full of short films, including two by the amazing analog experimentalist Christine Lucy Latimer; plus work by local filmmaking star Guy Maddin, prolific Winnipeg expat Clint Enns, Underground Film Journal fave Neil Ira Needleman, killer animator Leslie Supnet, Josh Weissbach’s Model Fifty-One Fifty-Six, which garnered an Honorable Mention...
The sole feature film of the fest is FM Youth by Stéphane Oystryk, which captures the lives of three young Franco-Manitoban friends as two of them about to embark on a journey outside of their tight knit French community. FM Youth will screen at 11:30 p.m. on the opening night of June 5.
The rest of the fest is crammed full of short films, including two by the amazing analog experimentalist Christine Lucy Latimer; plus work by local filmmaking star Guy Maddin, prolific Winnipeg expat Clint Enns, Underground Film Journal fave Neil Ira Needleman, killer animator Leslie Supnet, Josh Weissbach’s Model Fifty-One Fifty-Six, which garnered an Honorable Mention...
- 6/3/2015
- by Mike Everleth
- Underground Film Journal
Above: the 2015 Crossroads Film Festival kicks off on Friday, April 10th, and features Paul Clipson's Hypnosis Display with a live soundtrack by Grouper. Check out the rest of the amazing lineup here. Like everyone, we're devastated that David Lynch will not be directing the Twin Peaks revival season after all. Above: the latest issue of La Furia Umana is online now and includes an intriguing survey of "What's (Not) Cinema Becoming?"From the new issue of The Brooklyn Rail: pieces on Tsai Ming-liang's Rebels of the Neon God, J.P. Sniadecki's The Iron Ministry, and an interview with Xin Zhou.For Cinema Scope, Jordan Cronk writes on this year's True/False Film Festival. There are two incredible websites for you to browse from La Cinématheque Francaise: one on Pier Paolo Pasolini, and one on Michelangelo Antonioni. For his blog Following Film, Christoph Huber writes on "The Siodmak Variations":...
- 4/10/2015
- by Notebook
- MUBI
MoMA's retrospective Nelson Pereira dos Santos: Politics and Passion opens today and runs through April 17. Aaron Cutler has a quick primer on the Brazilian filmmaker in Artforum. More goings on: Barbara Stanwyck in Nashville, Wojciech Jerzy Has and Ben Rivers at Harvard, Paul Clipson and more experimental film at Crossroads in San Francisco, Paolo Gioli in New York and, in Los Angeles, Sam Fuller's cut of Dead Pigeon on Beethoven Street, screening with his daughter's documentary on him, A Fuller Life. » - David Hudson...
- 4/9/2015
- Fandor: Keyframe
MoMA's retrospective Nelson Pereira dos Santos: Politics and Passion opens today and runs through April 17. Aaron Cutler has a quick primer on the Brazilian filmmaker in Artforum. More goings on: Barbara Stanwyck in Nashville, Wojciech Jerzy Has and Ben Rivers at Harvard, Paul Clipson and more experimental film at Crossroads in San Francisco, Paolo Gioli in New York and, in Los Angeles, Sam Fuller's cut of Dead Pigeon on Beethoven Street, screening with his daughter's documentary on him, A Fuller Life. » - David Hudson...
- 4/9/2015
- Keyframe
Above: David Bordwell drops science on that horrific and longstanding practice we know as "Pan & Scan." Joining President Darren Aronofsky on the International Jury at the Berlinale next month are the following: Daniel Brühl, Bong Joon-ho, Martha De Laurentiis, Claudia Llosa, Audrey Tautou, and Matthew Weiner. For Grantland, Steven Hyden has written a wonderful article on Gene Hackman:
"He couldn’t have planned it this way, but Hackman had aged into a screen persona — he looked like he had spent years driving a truck or working as a doorman before lucking into the movies, because that’s basically what had happened. Hackman might’ve studied the Method under Lee Strasberg (“He played with people’s heads a lot,” he recalled derisively of Strasberg in 2001), but he could just be and be authentic onscreen."
Jafar Panahi's Taxi, the third film of his to premiere since he was banned from directing in Iran,...
"He couldn’t have planned it this way, but Hackman had aged into a screen persona — he looked like he had spent years driving a truck or working as a doorman before lucking into the movies, because that’s basically what had happened. Hackman might’ve studied the Method under Lee Strasberg (“He played with people’s heads a lot,” he recalled derisively of Strasberg in 2001), but he could just be and be authentic onscreen."
Jafar Panahi's Taxi, the third film of his to premiere since he was banned from directing in Iran,...
- 1/28/2015
- by Notebook
- MUBI
With so few events during which to premiere new and important avant-garde films in North America—among them, the recently wrapped Wavelengths section of the Toronto International Film Festival, the Ann Arbor Film Fest, and the San Francisco Cinematheque's Crossroads series—the shift that has occurred at this year's New York Film Festival is one well worth noting. This weekend, the inaugural Projects program will debut. Previously known as "Views from the Avant-Garde" and programmed by Mark McElhatten and Gavin Smith (though last year's titanic program was done by McElhatten alone), this sidebar more akin to a festival-inside-a-festival of film and video works has been re-named "Projections" and in its first year is programmed by a returned Smith, Film Society of Lincoln Center's Director of Programming Dennis Lim, and Aily Nash.
The section encompasses 13 programs over a single weekend during the festival, including a handful of feature length films and numerous shorts,...
The section encompasses 13 programs over a single weekend during the festival, including a handful of feature length films and numerous shorts,...
- 10/4/2014
- by Daniel Kasman
- MUBI
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
Issue 6 of The Cine-Files, on "Film Acting", is now online and features a dialogue between Jonathan Rosenbaum and James Naremore. In the latest Hello Cinema podcast, the first of a two-parter, Tina Hassannia and Amir Soltani talk to film critic Godfrey Cheshire about Abbas Kiarostami's early cinema.
Above: the trailer for Paul Clipson's Hypnosis Display, currently touring in the UK with musical artist Grouper. Check out Dummy's interview with Clipson and Grouper. For Film Comment, Fernando F. Croce writes on Agnès Varda: From Here to There:
"Varda’s curiosity about human beings is bottomless and unpredictable. (I can personally attest: I briefly met her at a screening of The Beaches of Agnès, and a question about my accent somehow led to a conversation about my grandmother’s days in Czechoslovakia and my brother’s passion for tubas.) From Here to There is an unabashed self-portrait in...
Above: the trailer for Paul Clipson's Hypnosis Display, currently touring in the UK with musical artist Grouper. Check out Dummy's interview with Clipson and Grouper. For Film Comment, Fernando F. Croce writes on Agnès Varda: From Here to There:
"Varda’s curiosity about human beings is bottomless and unpredictable. (I can personally attest: I briefly met her at a screening of The Beaches of Agnès, and a question about my accent somehow led to a conversation about my grandmother’s days in Czechoslovakia and my brother’s passion for tubas.) From Here to There is an unabashed self-portrait in...
- 6/4/2014
- by Adam Cook
- MUBI
This year’s student-run Milwaukee Underground Film Festival will screen on May 1-4 at various locations on the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee campus and off-campus at the Microlights Cinema. Once again, the festival will feature eclectic and amazing avant-garde and experimental short films in video, 16mm and 8mm formats.
The fest opens on May 1 with a screening of films made by this year’s three-member jury — David Witzling, Diane Kitchen and Scott Stark — followed by a special presentation of works from NYC’s Lgbt screening series, “Dirty Looks,” including Michael Robinson‘s hilarious The Dark, Krystle, Luther Price‘s recently restored Home and Michael Lucid‘s online video sensation Dirty Girls.
Other films to look out for are a pair of award-winning pieces: The May 2 at 2:00 p.m. shorts block will conclude with Jennifer Reeder‘s absolutely amazing A Million Miles Away, which took home the Best Short Film at the Chicago Underground Film Festival.
The fest opens on May 1 with a screening of films made by this year’s three-member jury — David Witzling, Diane Kitchen and Scott Stark — followed by a special presentation of works from NYC’s Lgbt screening series, “Dirty Looks,” including Michael Robinson‘s hilarious The Dark, Krystle, Luther Price‘s recently restored Home and Michael Lucid‘s online video sensation Dirty Girls.
Other films to look out for are a pair of award-winning pieces: The May 2 at 2:00 p.m. shorts block will conclude with Jennifer Reeder‘s absolutely amazing A Million Miles Away, which took home the Best Short Film at the Chicago Underground Film Festival.
- 5/1/2014
- by Mike Everleth
- Underground Film Journal
Experiments In Cinema v9.72 is running April 14-21 at several venues across Albuquerque, New Mexico, primarily the Guild Cinema, but with satellite screenings at the National Hispanic Cultural Center and the Southwest Film Center.
Special Programs: On April 16, there will be a selection of short films written, produced and directed by local students through Basement Films’ youth outreach endeavor. On April 17, there will be a program, curated by Antoni Pinent, of cameraless films from Spain. On April 18, first Stephen Kent Jusick will present short films from the Mix NYC queer film festival; then Greg DeCuir, Jr. will present films from Belgrade’s Ciné-club produced between 1960 and 1980. April 19 will host another night of films from Belgrade, this time curated by Miodrag Milošević.
After Festival Night: While film screenings end on the 20th, on April 21 Gerry Fialka will lead two discussions and screening/event programs, first on contemporary documentary films and then...
Special Programs: On April 16, there will be a selection of short films written, produced and directed by local students through Basement Films’ youth outreach endeavor. On April 17, there will be a program, curated by Antoni Pinent, of cameraless films from Spain. On April 18, first Stephen Kent Jusick will present short films from the Mix NYC queer film festival; then Greg DeCuir, Jr. will present films from Belgrade’s Ciné-club produced between 1960 and 1980. April 19 will host another night of films from Belgrade, this time curated by Miodrag Milošević.
After Festival Night: While film screenings end on the 20th, on April 21 Gerry Fialka will lead two discussions and screening/event programs, first on contemporary documentary films and then...
- 4/15/2014
- by Mike Everleth
- Underground Film Journal
The 52nd annual Ann Arbor Film Festival will be a jam-packed experimental feature and short film screening event running for six days and nights, this time on March 25-30.
Opening Night will feature a reception and an after-party, and stuffed between those will be a block of nine short films, including new ones by Bryan Boyce, Michael Robinson, Jennifer Reeder and Martha Colburn, as well as a never-before-released work by the legendary Bruce Baillie called Little Girl in which Baillie captured scenes of natural beauty.
Special Events scattered throughout the festival include a retrospective of indie filmmaker Penelope Spheeris that will feature her rock ‘n’ roll-based work, including the original The Decline of Western Civilization, plus The Decline of Western Civilization Part III, her influential punk film Suburbia (screening twice) and a collection of short films.
There will also be several films and presentations by filmmaking scholar Thom Andersen, such...
Opening Night will feature a reception and an after-party, and stuffed between those will be a block of nine short films, including new ones by Bryan Boyce, Michael Robinson, Jennifer Reeder and Martha Colburn, as well as a never-before-released work by the legendary Bruce Baillie called Little Girl in which Baillie captured scenes of natural beauty.
Special Events scattered throughout the festival include a retrospective of indie filmmaker Penelope Spheeris that will feature her rock ‘n’ roll-based work, including the original The Decline of Western Civilization, plus The Decline of Western Civilization Part III, her influential punk film Suburbia (screening twice) and a collection of short films.
There will also be several films and presentations by filmmaking scholar Thom Andersen, such...
- 3/18/2014
- by Mike Everleth
- Underground Film Journal
We wanted to give a heads-up for an exciting new publication by filmmaker, projectionist, and Notebook contributor Paul Clipson. Published by Land And Sea, Reel is a limited edition "287 page book collecting approximately 15 years of drawings and notes from his job as head projectionist/av tech at SFMoMA. The drawings illustrate the moment before the "cigarette burn" (a symbol used in film projection to indicate when to change the reel of film) shows as a reference intended to assist part-time projectionists."
Only 100 copies will be available, with 5 "artist edition" versions, which come with a DVD Clipson has made for this release of "cigarette" moments, a dust jacket of film stills, and a signed and numbered slip case. More information can be found here.
If you are in the San Francisco area, the gallery Will Brown will be hosting an event for the book release today, Sunday, March 9. If you are in the New York area,...
Only 100 copies will be available, with 5 "artist edition" versions, which come with a DVD Clipson has made for this release of "cigarette" moments, a dust jacket of film stills, and a signed and numbered slip case. More information can be found here.
If you are in the San Francisco area, the gallery Will Brown will be hosting an event for the book release today, Sunday, March 9. If you are in the New York area,...
- 3/9/2014
- by Paul Clipson
- MUBI
April 17
7:30 p.m.
Hokin Hall
Columbia College Chicago
623 S. Wabash Ave.
Chicago, Il 60605
April 20
7:30 p.m.
Chicago Filmmakers
5243 N. Clark St.
Chicago, Il 60640
Hosted by: Chicago Filmmakers
Two chances to see this charming collection of short films!
Official description by the Rural Route Film Festival:
Celebrating its 10th anniversary, engaging and melodic films about rural people and places have inspired this New York-based film festival since 2002. In this selection of highlights from 2012-2013 festival, small town life is treated with the same reverence as wonders of the natural world. A variety of genres, regions, and perspectives make this ideal for city slickers and country folk alike. The program includes:
Salt, dir. Robert Gardner
Painting John, dir. Audrey Hall
Crosshairs, dir. Mike Hoath
Compound Eyes #1, dir. Paul Clipson
The Water’s Edge, dir. Chris Thomas
George Thompson: Street Cleaner, prod. Mountain Community Television/Appalshop
Sacha the Bear, dir.
7:30 p.m.
Hokin Hall
Columbia College Chicago
623 S. Wabash Ave.
Chicago, Il 60605
April 20
7:30 p.m.
Chicago Filmmakers
5243 N. Clark St.
Chicago, Il 60640
Hosted by: Chicago Filmmakers
Two chances to see this charming collection of short films!
Official description by the Rural Route Film Festival:
Celebrating its 10th anniversary, engaging and melodic films about rural people and places have inspired this New York-based film festival since 2002. In this selection of highlights from 2012-2013 festival, small town life is treated with the same reverence as wonders of the natural world. A variety of genres, regions, and perspectives make this ideal for city slickers and country folk alike. The program includes:
Salt, dir. Robert Gardner
Painting John, dir. Audrey Hall
Crosshairs, dir. Mike Hoath
Compound Eyes #1, dir. Paul Clipson
The Water’s Edge, dir. Chris Thomas
George Thompson: Street Cleaner, prod. Mountain Community Television/Appalshop
Sacha the Bear, dir.
- 4/10/2013
- by Mike Everleth
- Underground Film Journal
News.
Above: documentary filmmaker Les Blank—perhaps best known for his two incredible Herzog-centric films Werner Herzog Eats His Shoe and Burden of Dreams—has passed away at the age of 77. It feels like the cinema is losing too many of its soldiers lately. In the past week, the sheer volume of impassioned remembrances of Roger Ebert has been overwhelming. David Hudson has done an admirable job of centralizing a great many of them, and rather than try to share them here I recommend heading over to Keyframe Daily and using it as a springboard (if you haven't already). Also of note: Roger Ebert's website has been lovingly redesigned in his memory. Now online from Lumière, an array of lists and writings on "Highlights" of 2012 from various contributors including Ken Jacobs, our own Daniel Kasman, David Phelps, Gina Telaroli, Boris Nelepo, and more. An amazing series begins next month...
Above: documentary filmmaker Les Blank—perhaps best known for his two incredible Herzog-centric films Werner Herzog Eats His Shoe and Burden of Dreams—has passed away at the age of 77. It feels like the cinema is losing too many of its soldiers lately. In the past week, the sheer volume of impassioned remembrances of Roger Ebert has been overwhelming. David Hudson has done an admirable job of centralizing a great many of them, and rather than try to share them here I recommend heading over to Keyframe Daily and using it as a springboard (if you haven't already). Also of note: Roger Ebert's website has been lovingly redesigned in his memory. Now online from Lumière, an array of lists and writings on "Highlights" of 2012 from various contributors including Ken Jacobs, our own Daniel Kasman, David Phelps, Gina Telaroli, Boris Nelepo, and more. An amazing series begins next month...
- 4/10/2013
- by Adam Cook
- MUBI
The 9th annual Florida Experimental Film/Video Festival, aka Flex, was held on February 15-17 in Gainesville, Florida. This year was one of the fest’s competitive years — (it alternates years with a curated event) – so they gave out 12 awards to 14 deserving filmmakers.
Awards were given out to both film and video artists and were broken up into both long form and short form categories. The film awards included projects in 35mm (Scott Stark), 16mm (Robert Todd) and Super 8 (Paul Clipson).
Below is the full list of winners. And below that is the full program lineup of the fest.
Film (long)
1. Scott Stark, Traces ($600 Kodak product grant)
2. Josh Gibson, Kudzu Vine ($200)
3. Shinya Isobe, Eden ($100)
Film (short)
1. Anja Dornieden and Juan David González Monroy, Awe Shocks ($600 Kodak product grant)
2. Robert Todd, Cove ($200)
3. Paul Clipson, Compound Eyes No. 1 ($100)
Video (long)
1. Ben Russell and Jim Drain, Ponce de León ($300)
2. Benjamin Pearson, Former Models ($200)
3. Paul Tarragó,...
Awards were given out to both film and video artists and were broken up into both long form and short form categories. The film awards included projects in 35mm (Scott Stark), 16mm (Robert Todd) and Super 8 (Paul Clipson).
Below is the full list of winners. And below that is the full program lineup of the fest.
Film (long)
1. Scott Stark, Traces ($600 Kodak product grant)
2. Josh Gibson, Kudzu Vine ($200)
3. Shinya Isobe, Eden ($100)
Film (short)
1. Anja Dornieden and Juan David González Monroy, Awe Shocks ($600 Kodak product grant)
2. Robert Todd, Cove ($200)
3. Paul Clipson, Compound Eyes No. 1 ($100)
Video (long)
1. Ben Russell and Jim Drain, Ponce de León ($300)
2. Benjamin Pearson, Former Models ($200)
3. Paul Tarragó,...
- 2/20/2013
- by Mike Everleth
- Underground Film Journal
Looking back at 2012 on what films moved and impressed us, it is clear that watching old films is a crucial part of making new films meaningful. Thus, the annual tradition of our end of year poll, which calls upon our writers to pick both a new and an old film: they were challenged to choose a new film they saw in 2012—in theaters or at a festival—and creatively pair it with an old film they also saw in 2012 to create a unique double feature.
All the contributors were asked to write a paragraph explaining their 2012 fantasy double feature. What's more, each writer was given the option to list more pairings, with or without explanation, as further imaginative film programming we'd be lucky to catch in that perfect world we know doesn't exist but can keep dreaming of every time we go to the movies.
How would you program some...
All the contributors were asked to write a paragraph explaining their 2012 fantasy double feature. What's more, each writer was given the option to list more pairings, with or without explanation, as further imaginative film programming we'd be lucky to catch in that perfect world we know doesn't exist but can keep dreaming of every time we go to the movies.
How would you program some...
- 1/9/2013
- by Daniel Kasman
- MUBI
Entering into its third year, Crossroads is the San Francisco Cinematheque‘s celebration of the best modern avant-garde and experimental film. Curated by Cinematheque Artistic Director Steve Polta, it will run on May 18-20 at the Victoria Theatre at 2961 16th Street (at Mission).
Some of the special programs this year include a tribute and retrospective to Cinematheque co-founder Chick Strand featuring three of her experimental works, Kristallnacht (1979), Soft Fiction (1979) and Angel Blue Sweet Wings (1966); plus, a screening of the complete works (so far) of young filmmaker Laida Lerxtundi, whose work explores “how filmic moments can be imbued with emotional resonance;” as well as a program of live expanded cinema performances by Kerry Laitala, Greg Pope and Gerritt Wittmer & Paul Knowles.
The rest of the fest consists of screening blocks of short experimental films, including Ken Jacob‘s latest, Seeking the Monkey King, plus new work by Jesse McLean, Paul Clipson,...
Some of the special programs this year include a tribute and retrospective to Cinematheque co-founder Chick Strand featuring three of her experimental works, Kristallnacht (1979), Soft Fiction (1979) and Angel Blue Sweet Wings (1966); plus, a screening of the complete works (so far) of young filmmaker Laida Lerxtundi, whose work explores “how filmic moments can be imbued with emotional resonance;” as well as a program of live expanded cinema performances by Kerry Laitala, Greg Pope and Gerritt Wittmer & Paul Knowles.
The rest of the fest consists of screening blocks of short experimental films, including Ken Jacob‘s latest, Seeking the Monkey King, plus new work by Jesse McLean, Paul Clipson,...
- 5/15/2012
- by Mike Everleth
- Underground Film Journal
The 7th annual Experiments in Cinema, or v7.9 if you prefer, will feature 7 days of fantastic experimental films from all over the world on April 16-22 at various locations across Albuquerque, New Mexico, including the Guild Cinema, the Southwest Film Center and the National Hispanic Cultural Center.
This year’s festival is jam-packed with a gaggle of short films, one feature and several workshops. It all kicks off on the 16th with an event devoted to films made with the Pxl 2000 video camera that was briefly produced as a kids toy, but has been adopted by visual artists. Pixel visionary Gerry Fialka will present films and a history of the camera’s use.
Some of the other special programs include a Cinegram Workshop taught by Kerry Laitala, another workshop taught by David Finkelstein on how to work with improvisational actors, a special screening of botanical-themed 16mm films curated by Caryn Cline and more.
This year’s festival is jam-packed with a gaggle of short films, one feature and several workshops. It all kicks off on the 16th with an event devoted to films made with the Pxl 2000 video camera that was briefly produced as a kids toy, but has been adopted by visual artists. Pixel visionary Gerry Fialka will present films and a history of the camera’s use.
Some of the other special programs include a Cinegram Workshop taught by Kerry Laitala, another workshop taught by David Finkelstein on how to work with improvisational actors, a special screening of botanical-themed 16mm films curated by Caryn Cline and more.
- 4/11/2012
- by Mike Everleth
- Underground Film Journal
The 20th annual $100 Film Festival, which was held over the weekend in Calgary on March 8-10, has announced their award winners. Since the fest is devoted solely to screening short films shot on actual celluloid, awards were given for Best 16mm and Best Super 8 films, as well as awards for Audience Favorite and the regional award Best of Alberta.
The Best Super 8 award went to San Francisco based filmmaker Paul Clipson, who works exclusively with this type of film. His winning Caridea & Ichtyes is part of his “Compound Eyes” series of films on aquatic life. The Best 16mm award went to another U.S. filmmaker, Ross Meckfessel, for his He, She, I, Was.
The local Best of Alberta winner, Contingency by James Beattie Morison, was actually a film made specifically for the festival chronicling its history. The $100 Film Festival is also a truly international event, highlighted by the...
The Best Super 8 award went to San Francisco based filmmaker Paul Clipson, who works exclusively with this type of film. His winning Caridea & Ichtyes is part of his “Compound Eyes” series of films on aquatic life. The Best 16mm award went to another U.S. filmmaker, Ross Meckfessel, for his He, She, I, Was.
The local Best of Alberta winner, Contingency by James Beattie Morison, was actually a film made specifically for the festival chronicling its history. The $100 Film Festival is also a truly international event, highlighted by the...
- 3/13/2012
- 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
This year mark’s the amazing 20th anniversary of $100 Film Festival, making it Calgary’s oldest film fests and one of the last ones devoted solely to film. The cinematic fun will run at the Stanford Perrot Lecture Theater on March 8-10 with three nights of short movies produced on 16mm and 8mm film.
What began as a modest affair simply to promote local filmmaking efforts, the $100 is now an international festival with movies this year from the U.S., Germany, Spain, Japan and, of course, Canada. The fest is also celebrating the work of American filmmaker Robert Todd, who will be on hand to screen some of his movies as well as host a workshop on experimental documentary filmmaking techniques.
Each night of the festival kicks off with a live music and film performance. The first night features the a jam film by local filmmakers Brenda Lieberman, Luke Black,...
What began as a modest affair simply to promote local filmmaking efforts, the $100 is now an international festival with movies this year from the U.S., Germany, Spain, Japan and, of course, Canada. The fest is also celebrating the work of American filmmaker Robert Todd, who will be on hand to screen some of his movies as well as host a workshop on experimental documentary filmmaking techniques.
Each night of the festival kicks off with a live music and film performance. The first night features the a jam film by local filmmakers Brenda Lieberman, Luke Black,...
- 3/5/2012
- by Mike Everleth
- Underground Film Journal
San Antonio Film Festival
The deadline for the 18th annual San Antonio Film Festival is fast approaching, but there’s still a few more days to get your films in. The actual fest will run on Jun. 18-24.
The fest is always a great, eclectic mix of international indie film that also heavily screens and promotes local talent. There does usually seem to be an emphasis on films with a political or social justice bent, but that doesn’t mean Saff will shy away from tossing in a straight-up thriller or comedy to mix things up.
For example, last year’s films ranged from the music doc Everyday Sunshine: The Story of Fishbone by Chris Metzler and Lev Anderson to the police thriller Disrupt/Dismantle by Jack Lucarelli to the Indian surrogate mother business Made in India by Rebecca Haimowitz and Vaishali Sinha to the comedy Lord Byron by Zack Godshall.
The deadline for the 18th annual San Antonio Film Festival is fast approaching, but there’s still a few more days to get your films in. The actual fest will run on Jun. 18-24.
The fest is always a great, eclectic mix of international indie film that also heavily screens and promotes local talent. There does usually seem to be an emphasis on films with a political or social justice bent, but that doesn’t mean Saff will shy away from tossing in a straight-up thriller or comedy to mix things up.
For example, last year’s films ranged from the music doc Everyday Sunshine: The Story of Fishbone by Chris Metzler and Lev Anderson to the police thriller Disrupt/Dismantle by Jack Lucarelli to the Indian surrogate mother business Made in India by Rebecca Haimowitz and Vaishali Sinha to the comedy Lord Byron by Zack Godshall.
- 3/3/2012
- by Mike Everleth
- Underground Film Journal
Peter Kubelka's Schwechater (1958)
Filmmaker Paul Clipson, profiled last month on the occasion of his winning a Goldie from the Bay Guardian, presents Commodified Cinema: Art, Advertising, and Commodities in Film today at noon at Sfmoma. Brecht Andersch: "Clipson is on to something here: from its inception, cinema has been seen by hoity toities as the commodified form par excellence, a cultural equivalent to advertising. As time rolls on, the bitter ironies of these notions become painfully evident: due to their relative fragility as art objects when run through a projector, celluloid artworks have never worked as collectible items of envy, and the on-going currency of critique in contemporary art has rendered much of it advertising for shallow, if politically correct ideology. In recent years, the ascendency of digital moving image technologies in all their many forms has been embraced by those with un- or semi-conscious resentment towards the photochemical...
Filmmaker Paul Clipson, profiled last month on the occasion of his winning a Goldie from the Bay Guardian, presents Commodified Cinema: Art, Advertising, and Commodities in Film today at noon at Sfmoma. Brecht Andersch: "Clipson is on to something here: from its inception, cinema has been seen by hoity toities as the commodified form par excellence, a cultural equivalent to advertising. As time rolls on, the bitter ironies of these notions become painfully evident: due to their relative fragility as art objects when run through a projector, celluloid artworks have never worked as collectible items of envy, and the on-going currency of critique in contemporary art has rendered much of it advertising for shallow, if politically correct ideology. In recent years, the ascendency of digital moving image technologies in all their many forms has been embraced by those with un- or semi-conscious resentment towards the photochemical...
- 12/8/2011
- MUBI
Go ahead and tell us you click it for the articles, but there's no shame in admitting that what you're really after are the book reviews. And the new issue of Scope, the online journal of film and TV studies from the University of Nottingham, has ten new book reviews. Sampling from one of them, Daniele Rugo writes, "As the title provocatively announces Dudley Andrew's book What Cinema Is! engages in the complex task of responding to André Bazin's attempt to identify the core of the cinematographic creation…. Andrew develops an inspired and insightful, if perhaps nostalgic, roadmap delineating how cinema should proceed to remain faithful to its origins (or to Bazin's original ideas)." Let Catherine Grant be your guide to the full issue.
The November/December 2011 issue of Film Comment is up, with nearly as many online exclusives as samples from the print edition: Peter von Bagh's uncut interview with Aki Kaurismäki,...
The November/December 2011 issue of Film Comment is up, with nearly as many online exclusives as samples from the print edition: Peter von Bagh's uncut interview with Aki Kaurismäki,...
- 11/9/2011
- MUBI
P. Adams Sitney writes a very moving obituary for his friend George Landow, aka Owen Land, for Artforum. Landow was a very mysterious person and if anyone got close to actually knowing him, it would be Sitney, who befriended the filmmaker when they were just teenagers. Landow’s history is a sad one, but Sitney sheds some light on it all, particularly on how Landow’s lifelong poor physical condition influenced his behavior.Experimental filmmaker Paul Clipson — a favorite around these parts — presents several of composer Bernard Herrmann’s most famous music cues with analysis.Congrats to the SnuffBox Films blog for still publishing after four years. Don’t see too many make it that long. So, how is publisher/filmmaker Rups celebrating? By putting together a new music video!Donna k. recounts her experience with filmmaker Werner Herzog in an elevator.Myriapod Journal has been posting updates on what they’re working on.
- 11/6/2011
- by Mike Everleth
- Underground Film Journal
Above: Portrait of Bernard Herrmann circa 1966. Courtesy Photofest.
A couple weeks ago I was talking to Notebook contributor Paul Clipson, who was in town to show some of his films at the New York Film Festival's Views from the Avant-Garde, about—what else?—film soundtracks. One of our favorite composers came up, John Barry, and the pleasure of his interstitial music for the James Bond films—not the main themes or title music, but just the little melodies and tones used to help the films express something in less direct moments. Paul had a wonderful phrase for this, a kind of "perfume," soundtrack music that despite its brevity and perhaps simplicity casts a lingering sense, an aural sense, a flavor, a suggestive, almost secretive and sidelong tone of atmosphere and emotion.
I immediately thought of my favorite interstitial piece by Bernard Herrmann, who is getting a retrospective at New York's...
A couple weeks ago I was talking to Notebook contributor Paul Clipson, who was in town to show some of his films at the New York Film Festival's Views from the Avant-Garde, about—what else?—film soundtracks. One of our favorite composers came up, John Barry, and the pleasure of his interstitial music for the James Bond films—not the main themes or title music, but just the little melodies and tones used to help the films express something in less direct moments. Paul had a wonderful phrase for this, a kind of "perfume," soundtrack music that despite its brevity and perhaps simplicity casts a lingering sense, an aural sense, a flavor, a suggestive, almost secretive and sidelong tone of atmosphere and emotion.
I immediately thought of my favorite interstitial piece by Bernard Herrmann, who is getting a retrospective at New York's...
- 10/29/2011
- MUBI
The 6th annual Ata Film & Video Festival will run on Oct. 19-21 with another edition of their typically outstanding selection of the best experimental media being produced around the world.
The fest’s opening night, the 19th, is a meet and greet with many of the filmmakers who will have their films screened over the next two nights. Plus, attendees will have the opportunity to check out the art installation Insecurity Booth by Sam Manera that combines live and collected feeds from numerous security cameras.
The festival is also mixing things up a little bit by including, along with the films, a couple live vocal performances. The night of the 20th will open with two performances by Tommy Becker, while the night of the 21st will close with a performance by Douglas Katelus.
As for the films, there will be one programming block of shorts each night. The Oct. 20 block...
The fest’s opening night, the 19th, is a meet and greet with many of the filmmakers who will have their films screened over the next two nights. Plus, attendees will have the opportunity to check out the art installation Insecurity Booth by Sam Manera that combines live and collected feeds from numerous security cameras.
The festival is also mixing things up a little bit by including, along with the films, a couple live vocal performances. The night of the 20th will open with two performances by Tommy Becker, while the night of the 21st will close with a performance by Douglas Katelus.
As for the films, there will be one programming block of shorts each night. The Oct. 20 block...
- 10/19/2011
- by Mike Everleth
- Underground Film Journal
Everyone's favorite bit of news of the past 24 hours or so has to be the casting of Werner Herzog as the bad guy in Christopher McQuarrie's upcoming Tom Cruise vehicle, One Shot. Also on board: Robert Duvall, Rosamund Pike, David Oyelowo, Richard Jenkins, Alexia Fast and Jai Courtney. At this point, there are only a few more details to know, but the Playlist's Kevin Jagernauth's got them.
Fox has greenlit an hour-long single-camera comedy by Joel and Ethan Coen and screenwriter Phil Johnston (Cedar Rapids). Lesley Goldberg in the Hollywood Reporter: "The Imagine TV project, the brothers' first foray into television, revolves around a touchy Los Angeles private investigator — and his deadbeat friends in El Segundo — whose cases frequently force him to cross paths with a who's who of Hollywood."
"Paramount is on board to co-finance Darren Aronofsky's Noah with New Regency, and shooting is set to kick...
Fox has greenlit an hour-long single-camera comedy by Joel and Ethan Coen and screenwriter Phil Johnston (Cedar Rapids). Lesley Goldberg in the Hollywood Reporter: "The Imagine TV project, the brothers' first foray into television, revolves around a touchy Los Angeles private investigator — and his deadbeat friends in El Segundo — whose cases frequently force him to cross paths with a who's who of Hollywood."
"Paramount is on board to co-finance Darren Aronofsky's Noah with New Regency, and shooting is set to kick...
- 10/5/2011
- MUBI
If it’s mid-summer, then it’s time for filmmakers to start thinking about their 2012 film festival runs. Yep, several fests are already opening up their submission process. A few weeks ago, Bad Lit: The Journal of Underground Film reported that the 50th annual Ann Arbor Film Festival was already looking for films. And now, two more unique fests have sent out their initial calls for 2012 already.
Boston Underground Film Festival
First up, the indomitable Boston Underground Film Festival will be celebrating their 14th raucous year in operation in late March of 2012 and they’re looking for outrageous, transgressive flicks to fill their programming slate.
Buff typically screens a ton of short films and several features. To get a feel for what types of films they’re looking for, check out last year’s lineup, which included lovely movies such as Usama Alshaibi‘s Muslim S&M meditation Profane, Jason Eisener...
Boston Underground Film Festival
First up, the indomitable Boston Underground Film Festival will be celebrating their 14th raucous year in operation in late March of 2012 and they’re looking for outrageous, transgressive flicks to fill their programming slate.
Buff typically screens a ton of short films and several features. To get a feel for what types of films they’re looking for, check out last year’s lineup, which included lovely movies such as Usama Alshaibi‘s Muslim S&M meditation Profane, Jason Eisener...
- 7/26/2011
- 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
On April 19 at the Roxie Theater in San Francisco, the Ata Film & Video Festival will be hosting a special springtime retrospective screening celebrating their 5th anniversary, pulling together films from each year they’ve been in operation. The festivities start at 7:30 p.m.
As a program of the Artists’ Television Access non-profit center, which began in the early ’80s, the Film & Video Festival was founded in 2006 and has always been run by co-directors and programmers Isabel Fondevila and Shae Green. In it’s brief history, the fest has quickly become one of the most significant experimental media events in the world. Each year, they screen a diverse range of cutting edge, avant-garde, playful and artistic short films and videos from an international pool of filmmakers.
In addition to the annual festival in San Francisco, held in October of every year, Fondevila and Green have also toured the world with...
As a program of the Artists’ Television Access non-profit center, which began in the early ’80s, the Film & Video Festival was founded in 2006 and has always been run by co-directors and programmers Isabel Fondevila and Shae Green. In it’s brief history, the fest has quickly become one of the most significant experimental media events in the world. Each year, they screen a diverse range of cutting edge, avant-garde, playful and artistic short films and videos from an international pool of filmmakers.
In addition to the annual festival in San Francisco, held in October of every year, Fondevila and Green have also toured the world with...
- 4/15/2011
- by Mike Everleth
- Underground Film Journal
Artists' Television Access (Ata) celebrates the first five years of the Ata Annual Film & Video Festival with a retrospective screening at the Roxie, Playback: 2006-2010, April 19th, 2011, a selection of local and international works, celebrating unconventional films that entertain and provoke audiences worldwide; what BadLit describes as "a real powerhouse of experimental media exhibition." The program includes works by Tommy Becker, Ariel Diaz, Paul Clipson, Zachary Epcar, Sam Barnett, Jibz Cameron & Hedia Maron, John Palmer, Rachel Manera, Carl Diehl, Martha Colburn, Guy Maddin, Clare Samuel & Candice Purwin, Olga Chernysheva, and Federico Campanale. I stopped by Ata to visit with festival directors Isabel Fondevila and Shae Green to talk about the upcoming retrospective screening and their collaboration with the Roxie....
- 4/11/2011
- Screen Anarchy
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
Calgary’s 19th annual $100 Film Festival, a three-day event that screens short films that are shot only on celluloid, was held on March 3-5. Today, they’ve announced the five films that won awards.
The fest screens movies shot on either 16mm or Super 8 film. A “Best” award is given to one film each shot in both those formats. The Best 16mm Film Award went to Ben Rivers and Paul Harnden’s May Tomorrow Shine the Brightest of All Your Many Days As It Will Be Your Last. For the Best Super 8 Film, Bad Lit is especially thrilled that the award went to Paul Clipson‘s brilliantly hypnotic Chorus, which was reviewed on this site back when it screened at the 2009 Ata Film & Video Festival.
Other awards went to Alexander Sakarev & Krasimira Sakareva’s Reminiscences for Best of Alberta, Magnus Irvin’s Spiral In, Spiral Out won the Jury’s Choice Award,...
The fest screens movies shot on either 16mm or Super 8 film. A “Best” award is given to one film each shot in both those formats. The Best 16mm Film Award went to Ben Rivers and Paul Harnden’s May Tomorrow Shine the Brightest of All Your Many Days As It Will Be Your Last. For the Best Super 8 Film, Bad Lit is especially thrilled that the award went to Paul Clipson‘s brilliantly hypnotic Chorus, which was reviewed on this site back when it screened at the 2009 Ata Film & Video Festival.
Other awards went to Alexander Sakarev & Krasimira Sakareva’s Reminiscences for Best of Alberta, Magnus Irvin’s Spiral In, Spiral Out won the Jury’s Choice Award,...
- 3/10/2011
- by Mike Everleth
- Underground Film Journal
Calgary’s $100 Film Festival is a celebration of film. Not “film” as a concept, but of actual celluloid. This year, their 19th, is three nights of strictly 8mm and 16mm films — No Video! — screening at the historic Plaza Theatre on March 3-5.
Each night starts off with a real bang: A unique live film and music performance by local musicians and filmmakers. Thursday features the combination of blues musician Erin Ross and a film by Farrah Alladin and Nathan Taylor; Friday is experimental indie band Axis of Conversation and a film by Alex Mitchell; and Friday is musician Kris Ip Ryzak and a film by Ben Tsui.
Also on Friday, mixed in with the regular lineup of films, is a mini-retrospective of Montreal-based experimental filmmaker Alexandre Larose, featuring four of his films — Artifices, 930, Ville Marie and Brouillard. Then, after all films have screened for the night, Larose will host a...
Each night starts off with a real bang: A unique live film and music performance by local musicians and filmmakers. Thursday features the combination of blues musician Erin Ross and a film by Farrah Alladin and Nathan Taylor; Friday is experimental indie band Axis of Conversation and a film by Alex Mitchell; and Friday is musician Kris Ip Ryzak and a film by Ben Tsui.
Also on Friday, mixed in with the regular lineup of films, is a mini-retrospective of Montreal-based experimental filmmaker Alexandre Larose, featuring four of his films — Artifices, 930, Ville Marie and Brouillard. Then, after all films have screened for the night, Larose will host a...
- 2/17/2011
- by Mike Everleth
- Underground Film Journal
It’s four days of experimental media madness in the Sunshine State when the 7th annual Florida Experimental Film/Video Festival — also known as Flex Fest — runs in Gainesville on Feb. 17-20. The majority of the festival will take place at the Top Secret Space, with the exception of a Saturday afternoon screening of all 35mm films at the Hippodrome State Theater.
This year’s judges for the festival are film preservationist Mark Toscano and filmmaker Vanessa Renwick, both of whom will open the fest with two curated programs. First, Toscano will be screening several rare underground films from the late ’50s to the early ’70s, from filmmakers such as Fred Worden, David Bienstock, Chris Langdon and more. Then, Renwick will screen several of her own short documentaries, including the wonderfully eerie Britton, South Dakota and the touching 9 is a secret. These are two events that really are not to be missed.
This year’s judges for the festival are film preservationist Mark Toscano and filmmaker Vanessa Renwick, both of whom will open the fest with two curated programs. First, Toscano will be screening several rare underground films from the late ’50s to the early ’70s, from filmmakers such as Fred Worden, David Bienstock, Chris Langdon and more. Then, Renwick will screen several of her own short documentaries, including the wonderfully eerie Britton, South Dakota and the touching 9 is a secret. These are two events that really are not to be missed.
- 2/11/2011
- by Mike Everleth
- Underground Film Journal
Calgary’s $100 Film Festival has announced the films selected to screen at their 19th annual event that will run on March 3-5 at the Plaza Theatre. The lineup includes 45 films by 39 filmmakers, including a retrospective of the work of Montreal-based Alexandre Larose.
What’s extra special about the $100 Fest is that, in this increasingly digital age, this event remains a steadfast celebration of celluloid. All films screening over the three days will be on film, either Super 8 or 16mm. In addition, Larose, whose work involves manipulating camera equipment and hand film processing, will be in attendance for an artist talk and an advanced workshop on optical printing.
Several of the movies screening have been reviewed previously on Bad Lit: The Journal of Underground Film and are highly recommended for those interested in attending the fest. They include Naomi Uman & Lee Lynch’s wonderfully disorienting Tin Woodman’s Home Movie...
What’s extra special about the $100 Fest is that, in this increasingly digital age, this event remains a steadfast celebration of celluloid. All films screening over the three days will be on film, either Super 8 or 16mm. In addition, Larose, whose work involves manipulating camera equipment and hand film processing, will be in attendance for an artist talk and an advanced workshop on optical printing.
Several of the movies screening have been reviewed previously on Bad Lit: The Journal of Underground Film and are highly recommended for those interested in attending the fest. They include Naomi Uman & Lee Lynch’s wonderfully disorienting Tin Woodman’s Home Movie...
- 2/3/2011
- by Mike Everleth
- Underground Film Journal
For the fourth year in a row, Isabel Fondevila of the Ata Film & Video Festival has sent me a complimentary screener of all the short experimental films playing at this year’s fest. Below are reviews for all the films being shown on the festival’s first night, which takes place on Oct. 21.
The individual films are all grouped under the heading “Human Nature,” which they all explore in their own unique ways. Each film could be characterized by how their characters communicate both to each other and to the audience. Viewers are typically pulled into the middle of intimate situations, even though that intimacy is sometimes being related through hearsay and anecdotal evidence.
Human interaction is sometimes a messy, complicated and sometimes downright ugly business and these films don’t spare us the grim details:
Union, dir. Paul Clipson. This is the fourth experimental film I’ve ever seen...
The individual films are all grouped under the heading “Human Nature,” which they all explore in their own unique ways. Each film could be characterized by how their characters communicate both to each other and to the audience. Viewers are typically pulled into the middle of intimate situations, even though that intimacy is sometimes being related through hearsay and anecdotal evidence.
Human interaction is sometimes a messy, complicated and sometimes downright ugly business and these films don’t spare us the grim details:
Union, dir. Paul Clipson. This is the fourth experimental film I’ve ever seen...
- 10/19/2010
- by Mike Everleth
- Underground Film Journal
The 5th annual Ata Film & Video Festival in San Francisco is just a brief two-night affair, but is packed with more experimental and avant-garde filmmaking power than can be imagined. The fest explodes this year on Oct. 21-22.
Once again, the fest is a heady mix of local Bay Area favorites with filmmakers from all over the world. As for the locals, Paul Clipson will screen his newest, most epic work, Union; along with new animated weirdness from Kathleen Quillian; work by political mixologist Bryan Boyce; and an astounding Film/Video hybrid by Kerry Laitala made in Chromadepth. (In case you were worried, Chromadepth glasses will be provided.)
Other films come from nearby locations, such as Sam Barnett and Vera Brunner-Sung of Los Angeles; and Jeff Guay and Karl Lind of Portland. But others come from such far-flung places, such as The Netherland’s Maite Abella and Brooklyn’s Whitney Horn and Lev Kalman.
Once again, the fest is a heady mix of local Bay Area favorites with filmmakers from all over the world. As for the locals, Paul Clipson will screen his newest, most epic work, Union; along with new animated weirdness from Kathleen Quillian; work by political mixologist Bryan Boyce; and an astounding Film/Video hybrid by Kerry Laitala made in Chromadepth. (In case you were worried, Chromadepth glasses will be provided.)
Other films come from nearby locations, such as Sam Barnett and Vera Brunner-Sung of Los Angeles; and Jeff Guay and Karl Lind of Portland. But others come from such far-flung places, such as The Netherland’s Maite Abella and Brooklyn’s Whitney Horn and Lev Kalman.
- 10/15/2010
- by Mike Everleth
- Underground Film Journal
Updated through 10/1.
Max Goldberg, writing for the San Francisco Bay Guardian, has seen Paul Clipson "project films on a billowing screen under the stars; in the squat confines of the Café Du Nord for the On Land music festival, where his work expanded several performances; and on the sides of a dome structure atop Yerba Buena Center for the Arts. There have been more traditional screenings as well, though Clipson's eclectic live projections are drawing attention — he's fresh back from a brief European tour and will be featured in New York's Views from the Avant-Garde this weekend. Before then, he'll present a ranging survey of his recent efforts at Sfmoma, where he works as head projectionist." Paul Clipson Presents the Elements happens tonight and Sfmoma's Brecht Andersch hollers: "Expect complete synesthetic-cinécstasy!"...
Max Goldberg, writing for the San Francisco Bay Guardian, has seen Paul Clipson "project films on a billowing screen under the stars; in the squat confines of the Café Du Nord for the On Land music festival, where his work expanded several performances; and on the sides of a dome structure atop Yerba Buena Center for the Arts. There have been more traditional screenings as well, though Clipson's eclectic live projections are drawing attention — he's fresh back from a brief European tour and will be featured in New York's Views from the Avant-Garde this weekend. Before then, he'll present a ranging survey of his recent efforts at Sfmoma, where he works as head projectionist." Paul Clipson Presents the Elements happens tonight and Sfmoma's Brecht Andersch hollers: "Expect complete synesthetic-cinécstasy!"...
- 10/1/2010
- MUBI
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