Broken SpecsReaders of online criticism probably know the name Ted Fendt for his invaluable French translation work—on this site alone he’s published English-language versions of interviews (with director Jean Eustache and cinematographer Caroline Champetier) and pieces on Straub-Huillet, Bresson, Grémillon, and others. He’s also offered his own perceptive analysis of Paris Goes Away, Rivette’s half-hour Le Pont du Nord rehearsal, and compiled theauthoritative bibliography to Godard’s Goodbye to Language. Less visible, though, has been Fendt’s own work behind the camera—he currently has five narrative shorts to his name, works at once delightfully shaggy dog and rigorously formalist, and they look and feel like little else happening in American independent cinema right now. We’re thrilled to finally present the online premiere of his films Broken Specs (2012) and Travel Plans (2013) on Mubi.Reviewing Fendt’s choice of translation work, you can trace the seeds...
- 3/16/2015
- by C. Mason Wells
- MUBI
The sixth edition of Brooklyn Academy of Music's Migrating Forms festival opens tonight, runs for nine days and, in his extensive overview at the House Next Door, Steve Macfarlane argues that it "remains The art-house event of the New York moviegoing calendar." Among the works he previews is Gina Telaroli's Here's to the Future!, which chronicles "a single day in the fall of 2011 wherein the filmmaker rounded up friends and collaborators to light, stage, and shoot a scene from Michael Curtiz's 1932 The Cabin in the Cotton." Caroline Golum's overview for the L Magazine begins with the retrospective of work by the late William Greaves. We've got two trailers and more notes. » - David Hudson...
- 12/10/2014
- Fandor: Keyframe
The sixth edition of Brooklyn Academy of Music's Migrating Forms festival opens tonight, runs for nine days and, in his extensive overview at the House Next Door, Steve Macfarlane argues that it "remains The art-house event of the New York moviegoing calendar." Among the works he previews is Gina Telaroli's Here's to the Future!, which chronicles "a single day in the fall of 2011 wherein the filmmaker rounded up friends and collaborators to light, stage, and shoot a scene from Michael Curtiz's 1932 The Cabin in the Cotton." Caroline Golum's overview for the L Magazine begins with the retrospective of work by the late William Greaves. We've got two trailers and more notes. » - David Hudson...
- 12/10/2014
- Keyframe
The 6th annual Migrating Forms will be returning to the BAMcinématek in Brooklyn, New York on December 10-18 for a full week of new and classic experimental media.
The fun kicks off with the lyrical portrait of North Korea, Songs From the North, for which filmmaker Soon-Mi Yoo compiled footage from popular films, state-organized demonstrations and home video from her own visits to the country.
Highlights of the fest include a three-film retrospective of documentarian William Greaves, Still a Brother, The Fight and Symbiopsychotaxiplasm: Take One; a new consumerist exploration by Cory Arcangel, Freshbuzz (www.subway.com); the oblique narrative Don’t Go Back to Sleep by Stanya Kahn; and the Hong Kong experimental post-apocalyptic The Midnight After by Fruit Chan.
The full lineup for the 2014 Migrating Forms is below:
December 10
8:00 p.m.: Songs From the North, dir. Soon-Mi Yoo. This portrait of North Korea has been crafted...
The fun kicks off with the lyrical portrait of North Korea, Songs From the North, for which filmmaker Soon-Mi Yoo compiled footage from popular films, state-organized demonstrations and home video from her own visits to the country.
Highlights of the fest include a three-film retrospective of documentarian William Greaves, Still a Brother, The Fight and Symbiopsychotaxiplasm: Take One; a new consumerist exploration by Cory Arcangel, Freshbuzz (www.subway.com); the oblique narrative Don’t Go Back to Sleep by Stanya Kahn; and the Hong Kong experimental post-apocalyptic The Midnight After by Fruit Chan.
The full lineup for the 2014 Migrating Forms is below:
December 10
8:00 p.m.: Songs From the North, dir. Soon-Mi Yoo. This portrait of North Korea has been crafted...
- 12/10/2014
- by Mike Everleth
- Underground Film Journal
We're very excited to bring you the trailer for the much-anticipated new feature by Gina Telaroli, Here's to the Future!, which is premiering at Migrating Forms this December at BAMcinématek in Brooklyn.
One a late-summer Sunday in 2011, a female director (Telaroli herself) gathers a team of filmmakers, writers, musicians, artists, critics and friends in an apartment to recreate a scene from Michael Curtiz's Depression-era drama The Cabin in the Cotton. Over plates of pasta and glasses of red wine, a round robin of non-professional actors take turns performing the same scene, again and again, in different permutations. With a freedom influenced by pre-Code Hollywood, cameras, phones, and laptops are scattered around the set at almost every possible angle, documenting the action - both in front of and behind the camera - as it unfolds, from rehearsals to equipment adjustments to the banter between takes. An intimate, playful, and spontaneous...
One a late-summer Sunday in 2011, a female director (Telaroli herself) gathers a team of filmmakers, writers, musicians, artists, critics and friends in an apartment to recreate a scene from Michael Curtiz's Depression-era drama The Cabin in the Cotton. Over plates of pasta and glasses of red wine, a round robin of non-professional actors take turns performing the same scene, again and again, in different permutations. With a freedom influenced by pre-Code Hollywood, cameras, phones, and laptops are scattered around the set at almost every possible angle, documenting the action - both in front of and behind the camera - as it unfolds, from rehearsals to equipment adjustments to the banter between takes. An intimate, playful, and spontaneous...
- 11/19/2014
- by Notebook
- MUBI
Above: the November/December issue of Film Comment is upon us, featuring pieces on Interstellar, Inherent Vice, and Adieu au langage. The full program for BAMcinématek's 6th annual Migrating Forms festival has been announced. Soon-Mi Yoo's Songs From the North will be the opening film (check out our interview with Soon-Mi here), and Notebook contributor and friend Gina Telaroli's Here's to the Future! has its world premiere on December 13th. The full details can be seen here. The first reviews are in for Clint Eastwood's American Sniper. Here's Justin Chang's take for Variety:
"Although Steven Spielberg was set to direct before exiting the project last summer (just a few months after Kyle’s death in Texas at the age of 38), “American Sniper” turns out to be very much in Eastwood’s wheelhouse, emerging as arguably the director’s strongest, most sustained effort in the eight years since his...
"Although Steven Spielberg was set to direct before exiting the project last summer (just a few months after Kyle’s death in Texas at the age of 38), “American Sniper” turns out to be very much in Eastwood’s wheelhouse, emerging as arguably the director’s strongest, most sustained effort in the eight years since his...
- 11/12/2014
- by Notebook
- MUBI
See You Next Tuesday is the debut feature film by underground filmmaker Drew Tobia. It stars Eleanore Pienta as Mona, a pregnant supermarket worker who is quickly losing her grasp on reality and is unable to find the support she needs from her alcoholic mother and party girl sister, Jordan.
The film has been a hit on the underground film festival circuit, having won the Audience Award at last year’s the Chicago Underground Film Festival and the Most Effectively Offensive Award at the Boston Underground Film Festival. It also screened at the Sydney Underground Film Festival, Arizona Underground Film Festival, Brisbane Underground Film Festival and Migrating Forms.
Next up, See You Next Tuesday will be getting an official theatrical release, opening at the Cinema Village in New York City on August 22nd; and will be available on multiple VOD platforms shortly after.
Previously, Tobia has directed numerous hilarious and...
The film has been a hit on the underground film festival circuit, having won the Audience Award at last year’s the Chicago Underground Film Festival and the Most Effectively Offensive Award at the Boston Underground Film Festival. It also screened at the Sydney Underground Film Festival, Arizona Underground Film Festival, Brisbane Underground Film Festival and Migrating Forms.
Next up, See You Next Tuesday will be getting an official theatrical release, opening at the Cinema Village in New York City on August 22nd; and will be available on multiple VOD platforms shortly after.
Previously, Tobia has directed numerous hilarious and...
- 8/20/2014
- by Mike Everleth
- Underground Film Journal
This year New York's Migrating Forms is presenting a double bill of two Johnnie To films: Running on Karma (2003) and Sparrow (2008). Placed next to each other, they reveal interesting convergences and divergences that help define the dual authorship of To and his frequent collaborator Wai Ka-fai (co-director, and a writer and producer on Running on Karma but not Sparrow). To is both an intellectual and emotional director capable of multifarious expressions. Wai is more cerebral, his projects characterized by conceptually dense and layered narrative detail. In the contrastive yet strikingly parallel endings of Running on Karma and Sparrow, hints of the nuances behind these filmmakers' work becomes evident.
The final sequence of Running on Karma:
The final sequence of Sparrow:
Each of these films arrive at two of the most ecstatic endings in To's cinema, in which the two respective male protagonists, left lonely by the absence of the woman they loved,...
The final sequence of Running on Karma:
The final sequence of Sparrow:
Each of these films arrive at two of the most ecstatic endings in To's cinema, in which the two respective male protagonists, left lonely by the absence of the woman they loved,...
- 12/17/2013
- by Adam Cook & John Lehtonen
- MUBI
Big changes are in store for the 5th annual Migrating Forms experimental media festival, which is set to run December 11-17.
Well, that’s the first change: Moving from its traditional spot in March to December. More importantly, though, the fest is moving physical locations. Instead of it’s usual home of the Anthology Film Archives in Manhattan, this year’s Migrating Forms will be screening at the BAMcinématek in Brooklyn.
The festivities will begin on Dec. 11 with the U.S. premiere of four new short films by media artist Ryan Trecartin. Each film involves a unique cast of characters, including Trecartin’s actual high school classmates and a group of reality TV show hopefuls, navigating their complex social strata.
The rest of the fest will screen challenging feature-length material, such as Drew Tobia’s outrageous See You Next Tuesday; the family drama The Unity of Things by Daniel Schmidt...
Well, that’s the first change: Moving from its traditional spot in March to December. More importantly, though, the fest is moving physical locations. Instead of it’s usual home of the Anthology Film Archives in Manhattan, this year’s Migrating Forms will be screening at the BAMcinématek in Brooklyn.
The festivities will begin on Dec. 11 with the U.S. premiere of four new short films by media artist Ryan Trecartin. Each film involves a unique cast of characters, including Trecartin’s actual high school classmates and a group of reality TV show hopefuls, navigating their complex social strata.
The rest of the fest will screen challenging feature-length material, such as Drew Tobia’s outrageous See You Next Tuesday; the family drama The Unity of Things by Daniel Schmidt...
- 12/9/2013
- by Mike Everleth
- Underground Film Journal
“When history is what it should be, it is an elaboration of cinema.” —Ortega y Gasset
“The key for me is finding some rhythm of the film, not so much in the plot from a traditional sense but, rather, from its internal rhythm.” —Matías Piñeiro
1
There are works of art that affect in bulk, all at once; these are the aesthetic experiences that unify, that impose boundaries on the license of eye and ear. Other works of art achieve a dissociated and dissociating stylistic program; these are the works that cannot be experienced or understood as feats of synthesis, or as products of a single point of view.
While much of the art of the past century might be described as an effort toward a radical disaffiliation of elements—word and image, depth and surface, form and content—awareness of a quarrelsome relationship between two presumably incompatible ways of making...
“The key for me is finding some rhythm of the film, not so much in the plot from a traditional sense but, rather, from its internal rhythm.” —Matías Piñeiro
1
There are works of art that affect in bulk, all at once; these are the aesthetic experiences that unify, that impose boundaries on the license of eye and ear. Other works of art achieve a dissociated and dissociating stylistic program; these are the works that cannot be experienced or understood as feats of synthesis, or as products of a single point of view.
While much of the art of the past century might be described as an effort toward a radical disaffiliation of elements—word and image, depth and surface, form and content—awareness of a quarrelsome relationship between two presumably incompatible ways of making...
- 8/20/2012
- MUBI
For various reasons, I don’t have too many links this week.
This first one is a Mus Read and I don’t know when it was written and it was probably a pretty long time ago, but I just stumbled onto it this week and it’s pretty interesting. Underground film reviewer and historian Fred Camper tackles the problem of “Naming, and Defining, Avant-Garde or Experimental Film.”If you haven’t noticed, Donna k. has quickly shifted from being an excellent film production blogger to being a fantastic writer of all the arts. In this article, she seeks to define the saying “All art aspires to the condition of music.” She also has lots of great music videos to watch, too. Plus, food!Former John Waters best buddy Robert Meier throws some cold water on the hot topic of the underground filmmaker’s “casual” hitchhiking across the country.BadAzz MoFo...
This first one is a Mus Read and I don’t know when it was written and it was probably a pretty long time ago, but I just stumbled onto it this week and it’s pretty interesting. Underground film reviewer and historian Fred Camper tackles the problem of “Naming, and Defining, Avant-Garde or Experimental Film.”If you haven’t noticed, Donna k. has quickly shifted from being an excellent film production blogger to being a fantastic writer of all the arts. In this article, she seeks to define the saying “All art aspires to the condition of music.” She also has lots of great music videos to watch, too. Plus, food!Former John Waters best buddy Robert Meier throws some cold water on the hot topic of the underground filmmaker’s “casual” hitchhiking across the country.BadAzz MoFo...
- 5/27/2012
- by Mike Everleth
- Underground Film Journal
Temple of Schlock has the skeevy ad mat for 1977′s Too Hot to Handle, of which I’ve appropriated part of the image just because I think the site needs a half-naked lady on it today.
More stories about the films and filmmakers at Migrating Forms this week: CinemaScope on Ben Rivers and Sylvain George; Jonathan Rosenbaum on Raul Ruiz; and n+1 on Harun Farocki.
Courtney Sell writes about his inaugural AssDance Film Festival.
Cartoonist Sam Henderson reprints an old review of his of Robert Downey Sr.’s Up the Academy, a film I really want to see again and see if deserves the maligning it typically gets.
Robert Koehler has several dispatches from the Post-Sarkozy Cannes: Moonrise Kingdom; After the Battle; Rust & Bone; Mekong Hotel; Paradise: Love.
The always awesome J. J. Murphy reviews Amy Seimetz’s Sun Don’t Shine, saying “the real surprise turns out to be...
More stories about the films and filmmakers at Migrating Forms this week: CinemaScope on Ben Rivers and Sylvain George; Jonathan Rosenbaum on Raul Ruiz; and n+1 on Harun Farocki.
Courtney Sell writes about his inaugural AssDance Film Festival.
Cartoonist Sam Henderson reprints an old review of his of Robert Downey Sr.’s Up the Academy, a film I really want to see again and see if deserves the maligning it typically gets.
Robert Koehler has several dispatches from the Post-Sarkozy Cannes: Moonrise Kingdom; After the Battle; Rust & Bone; Mekong Hotel; Paradise: Love.
The always awesome J. J. Murphy reviews Amy Seimetz’s Sun Don’t Shine, saying “the real surprise turns out to be...
- 5/20/2012
- by Mike Everleth
- Underground Film Journal
For this week’s Must Read, I don’t know if this is a one-off or a series, but I hope it’s a continuing series. Mike Plante of Cinemad has posted up an article from the old print version of the online zine — and it’s a doozy! Stan Brakhage meets Godfrey Reggio!I don’t know about anybody else, but I’m completely digging BadAzz MoFo’s poster hall of fame series of posts. Here’s a great one for The Land That Time Forgot and The People That Time Forgot, movies most people have probably forgotten since they suck so bad. Also, Slave Girls From Beyond Infinity, which apparently isn’t as sleazy as it sounds.Donna k. gushes over Troy, NY’s Empac again and perhaps for the last time.Migrating Forms is going on right now and there were lots of write-ups about the films and filmmakers,...
- 5/13/2012
- by Mike Everleth
- Underground Film Journal
May 7
7:00 p.m.
Microscope Gallery
4 Charles Place
Brooklyn, NY 11221
Hosted by: Microscope Gallery
In anticipation of the 4th annual edition of the experimental media festival that bears the film’s name, the Microscope Gallery will screen James Fotopoulos‘ feature-length Migrating Forms.
Migrating Forms is a modern underground film classic, having won the Best Feature award at the 2000 New York Underground Film Festival and the Made in Chicago award at the Chicago Underground Film Festival the same year. The movie uses a combination of classic experimental, minimalist techniques and a film noir vibe to tell the story of a doomed romance between a solitary man and the woman he has physical relationship with. Many critics have compared the pacing and awkward, painful sexuality of Migrating Forms to David Lynch’s seminal film Eraserhead.
While Migrating Forms has long been available on DVD, this special event will present the film in...
7:00 p.m.
Microscope Gallery
4 Charles Place
Brooklyn, NY 11221
Hosted by: Microscope Gallery
In anticipation of the 4th annual edition of the experimental media festival that bears the film’s name, the Microscope Gallery will screen James Fotopoulos‘ feature-length Migrating Forms.
Migrating Forms is a modern underground film classic, having won the Best Feature award at the 2000 New York Underground Film Festival and the Made in Chicago award at the Chicago Underground Film Festival the same year. The movie uses a combination of classic experimental, minimalist techniques and a film noir vibe to tell the story of a doomed romance between a solitary man and the woman he has physical relationship with. Many critics have compared the pacing and awkward, painful sexuality of Migrating Forms to David Lynch’s seminal film Eraserhead.
While Migrating Forms has long been available on DVD, this special event will present the film in...
- 5/4/2012
- by screenings
- Underground Film Journal
"With regard to longevity and productivity, not to mention talent, the only peers of the great Spanish director Luis Buñuel (1900–83) are his contemporaries Fritz Lang and Alfred Hitchcock," writes J Hoberman, opening a review of Román Gubern and Paul Hammond's Luis Buñuel: The Red Years 1929-1939 for the Nation. Read of the day, obviously.
More reading. Carlos Saura on the five films that have most influenced his own work (via Criterion Cast).
Ed Howard on four shorts by Maurice Pialat.
Pat Jordan for the New York Times Magazine on "How Samuel L Jackson Became His Own Genre."
For the Wall Street Journal, John Jurgensen talks with Sissy Spacek about her forthcoming memoir, My Extraordinary Ordinary Life (via Movie City News).
In Reverse Shot, David Ehrlich argues that Spielberg's Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008) is "a vital (if imperfect) chapter of this beloved saga, as...
More reading. Carlos Saura on the five films that have most influenced his own work (via Criterion Cast).
Ed Howard on four shorts by Maurice Pialat.
Pat Jordan for the New York Times Magazine on "How Samuel L Jackson Became His Own Genre."
For the Wall Street Journal, John Jurgensen talks with Sissy Spacek about her forthcoming memoir, My Extraordinary Ordinary Life (via Movie City News).
In Reverse Shot, David Ehrlich argues that Spielberg's Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008) is "a vital (if imperfect) chapter of this beloved saga, as...
- 4/27/2012
- MUBI
The fourth annual Migrating Forms media festival, which will run May 11-20 at the Anthology Film Archives in NYC, is a compelling mix of political films, pop culture explorations, ethnographic exposés and collections of new media art.
The fest begins and ends with political films directed and curated by Eric Baudelaire. His latest work, The Anabasis of May and Fusako Shigenobu, Masao Adachi and 27 Years without Images, opens the festival on May 11; while a pair of films – Masao Adachi & Kôji Wakamatsu’s Red Army/Pflp: Declaration of World War and The Dziga Vertov Group’s Ici et Ailleurs closes it on May 20.
Some of the special events sprinkled throughout the event include Ed Halter‘s survey of faux experimental films made for mainstream movies and TV shows that should prove to be an amazingly entertaining and enlightening discussion; a retrospective of the highly influential animation by Chuck Jones; the interactive...
The fest begins and ends with political films directed and curated by Eric Baudelaire. His latest work, The Anabasis of May and Fusako Shigenobu, Masao Adachi and 27 Years without Images, opens the festival on May 11; while a pair of films – Masao Adachi & Kôji Wakamatsu’s Red Army/Pflp: Declaration of World War and The Dziga Vertov Group’s Ici et Ailleurs closes it on May 20.
Some of the special events sprinkled throughout the event include Ed Halter‘s survey of faux experimental films made for mainstream movies and TV shows that should prove to be an amazingly entertaining and enlightening discussion; a retrospective of the highly influential animation by Chuck Jones; the interactive...
- 4/26/2012
- by Mike Everleth
- Underground Film Journal
It might seem like an obtuse question, but does a film festival that puts “underground” in its name under any sort of obligation to screen only “underground films”? And — as Bad Lit, the self-proclaimed Journal of Underground Film asked a few years ago — who’s deciding what’s an underground film, anyway?
First popularized in the 1960s, the term “underground film” was typically applied to the movies coming out of the New York City avant-garde and experimental scene. More importantly, the term implied that these films had elements that were dangerous to normal society.
Watching an underground film, it was assumed one could witness degenerate acts such as the queer vamping of Jack Smith‘s Flaming Creatures or the black mass rituals of Kenneth Anger‘s Invocation of My Demon Brother, or — hopefully — bare boobs.
Eventually, though, the degeneracy of the ’60s underground film scene gave way to the more formal,...
First popularized in the 1960s, the term “underground film” was typically applied to the movies coming out of the New York City avant-garde and experimental scene. More importantly, the term implied that these films had elements that were dangerous to normal society.
Watching an underground film, it was assumed one could witness degenerate acts such as the queer vamping of Jack Smith‘s Flaming Creatures or the black mass rituals of Kenneth Anger‘s Invocation of My Demon Brother, or — hopefully — bare boobs.
Eventually, though, the degeneracy of the ’60s underground film scene gave way to the more formal,...
- 3/29/2012
- by Mike Everleth
- Underground Film Journal
Migrating Forms
Migrating Forms, the premiere festival for experimental media, is now open for entries for their fourth annual edition that will run at the Anthology Film Archives in New York City on May 11-20.
Each year, Migrating Forms programs the most innovative, challenging, medium-defying, unique and flat-out unidentifiable films and videos from all over the world. Work ranges from the artistic documentary to the completely non-narrative filmic experiments to genre-bending narratives and more.
If you feel your film or video belongs in the upper echelon of experimental media-making, then this is the fest to try to get in to.
Early Deadline: Feb. 15, 2012
Entry Fee: $30
Regular Deadline: Mar. 1, 2012
Entry Fee: $40
Final Deadline: Mar. 15, 2012
Entry Fee: $50
Please visit the official Migrating Forms website for more info!
B-movie, Underground and Trash Film Festival
On the other side of the world is one of the more outrageous cult movie fests, the B-movie, Underground...
Migrating Forms, the premiere festival for experimental media, is now open for entries for their fourth annual edition that will run at the Anthology Film Archives in New York City on May 11-20.
Each year, Migrating Forms programs the most innovative, challenging, medium-defying, unique and flat-out unidentifiable films and videos from all over the world. Work ranges from the artistic documentary to the completely non-narrative filmic experiments to genre-bending narratives and more.
If you feel your film or video belongs in the upper echelon of experimental media-making, then this is the fest to try to get in to.
Early Deadline: Feb. 15, 2012
Entry Fee: $30
Regular Deadline: Mar. 1, 2012
Entry Fee: $40
Final Deadline: Mar. 15, 2012
Entry Fee: $50
Please visit the official Migrating Forms website for more info!
B-movie, Underground and Trash Film Festival
On the other side of the world is one of the more outrageous cult movie fests, the B-movie, Underground...
- 2/9/2012
- by Mike Everleth
- Underground Film Journal
Experimental Cinema is reporting the sad news that structural film pioneer Owen Land died last month on June 8. The cause of death isn’t being reported, but he was found dead in his Los Angeles apartment.
Born in New Haven, Connecticut in 1944, Land was born as George Landow. Land described his initial approach to filmmaking as applying a “painterly way of thinking” to film production in an interview with P. Adams Sitney in a 1969 issue of the magazine Film Culture. However, that style soon also incorporated Land’s spiritual and philosophical interests.
His most popular early works are 1963′s Fleming Faloon, in which Land attempted to create the illusion of depth on the movie screen’s flat surface; 1967′s Bardo Follies, a meditative film in which Land created the illusion of a burning movie screen; 1968′s The Film That Rises to the Surface of Clarified Butter, in which an animator...
Born in New Haven, Connecticut in 1944, Land was born as George Landow. Land described his initial approach to filmmaking as applying a “painterly way of thinking” to film production in an interview with P. Adams Sitney in a 1969 issue of the magazine Film Culture. However, that style soon also incorporated Land’s spiritual and philosophical interests.
His most popular early works are 1963′s Fleming Faloon, in which Land attempted to create the illusion of depth on the movie screen’s flat surface; 1967′s Bardo Follies, a meditative film in which Land created the illusion of a burning movie screen; 1968′s The Film That Rises to the Surface of Clarified Butter, in which an animator...
- 7/14/2011
- by Mike Everleth
- Underground Film Journal
Happy almost Independence Day! Hope everybody is having a great holiday weekend. This first link should put you in the mood. Or not.
This is a little different than my typical Must Reads, but I thoroughly enjoyed Jack Sargeant reprinting his history and analysis of the ’80s “death film” genre, most famously epitomized by the film Faces of Death. I’ve never seen any of these films — nor do I want to — but Jack’s conclusion is fabulous.Filmmaker Waylon Bacon has written a fantastic overview of the Berkeley film scene for CineSource Magazine.Fangoria interviews director Rona Mark on the eve of her awesome Strange Girls finally getting a DVD release. Finally!GorePress.com has a really nice interview with Paul Campion about his first feature film, The Devil’s Rock.IndieWIRE interviews Mike Plante about his new Cinemad distribution venture, who, strangely enough, isn’t in it for the money.
This is a little different than my typical Must Reads, but I thoroughly enjoyed Jack Sargeant reprinting his history and analysis of the ’80s “death film” genre, most famously epitomized by the film Faces of Death. I’ve never seen any of these films — nor do I want to — but Jack’s conclusion is fabulous.Filmmaker Waylon Bacon has written a fantastic overview of the Berkeley film scene for CineSource Magazine.Fangoria interviews director Rona Mark on the eve of her awesome Strange Girls finally getting a DVD release. Finally!GorePress.com has a really nice interview with Paul Campion about his first feature film, The Devil’s Rock.IndieWIRE interviews Mike Plante about his new Cinemad distribution venture, who, strangely enough, isn’t in it for the money.
- 7/3/2011
- by Mike Everleth
- Underground Film Journal
This week’s Absolute Must Read is Robert Koehler’s mind-blowing essay on film criticism and film advocacy. Structured around the offerings of the Los Angeles Film Festival, Koehler really hits on the core problem about film writing on the web. Here’s the key part of the article: “This is ideology, all right: The Ideology of advertisers, the force that most fundamentally drives ‘their’ criticism. It informs movie websites and blogs as much as the papers, by the way, as more and more websites are propelled forward by the hits metric that advertisers gauge in order to determine whether or not they want to invest in a given site.” (For the record: “A criticism of advocacy” is a good description of Bad Lit. And I run tons of ads!)A great “must read” contender is this funny Pittsburgh City Paper article about the FBI releasing — then retracting — their report...
- 6/26/2011
- by Mike Everleth
- Underground Film Journal
Tonight marks the end of the 3rd annual Migrating Forms experimental media festival in NYC at the Anthology Film Archives. Films run all afternoon and evening, concluding with the meta-documentary You Are All Captains directed by Oliver Laxe. If you’re in NYC today, go check it out!
Richard Brody gave a glowing review of the film for the New Yorker, as did Lexie Delaney for VoxTalk.
The full lineup of films screening at Migrating Forms today is below. If you check out some films today, why don’t you come back here and leave a comment below about what you saw!
May 29
1:30 p.m.: “Group Program 8″
A Movie, dir. Jennifer Proctor
Coming Attractions, dir. Peter Tscherkassky
Despair, dir. Stephen Sutcliffe
Misty Suite, dir. James Richards
These Hammers Don’t Hurt Us, dir. Michael Robinson
3:15 p.m.: “Group Program 9 ”
Brune Renault, dir. Neil Beloufa
Rosalinda, dir.
Richard Brody gave a glowing review of the film for the New Yorker, as did Lexie Delaney for VoxTalk.
The full lineup of films screening at Migrating Forms today is below. If you check out some films today, why don’t you come back here and leave a comment below about what you saw!
May 29
1:30 p.m.: “Group Program 8″
A Movie, dir. Jennifer Proctor
Coming Attractions, dir. Peter Tscherkassky
Despair, dir. Stephen Sutcliffe
Misty Suite, dir. James Richards
These Hammers Don’t Hurt Us, dir. Michael Robinson
3:15 p.m.: “Group Program 9 ”
Brune Renault, dir. Neil Beloufa
Rosalinda, dir.
- 5/29/2011
- by Mike Everleth
- Underground Film Journal
Happy Memorial Day Weekend! Go grill and chill with some great links:
I’ve been beating people over the head with this all week, but in case you missed it, I participated in an online roundtable discussion instigated by the Edinburgh International Film Festival all about film writing on the web. Go check out my essays and the ones by my fabulous co-panelists! (Best if you start at the bottom and work your way up.) (And thanks to the fest for making the awesome above image based on my idea.)The Migrating Forms fest ends tonight. Here’s CinemaScope on one of the films that screened over the past week: Liu Jiayin’s Oxhide.Travalanche has a long, lovely profile of underground film star the Rev. Jen.For Moving Image Source, Tom McCormack has a detailed history of the “supercut,” i.e. media montage making, from the films of Bruce Conner to Lost cut-ups.
I’ve been beating people over the head with this all week, but in case you missed it, I participated in an online roundtable discussion instigated by the Edinburgh International Film Festival all about film writing on the web. Go check out my essays and the ones by my fabulous co-panelists! (Best if you start at the bottom and work your way up.) (And thanks to the fest for making the awesome above image based on my idea.)The Migrating Forms fest ends tonight. Here’s CinemaScope on one of the films that screened over the past week: Liu Jiayin’s Oxhide.Travalanche has a long, lovely profile of underground film star the Rev. Jen.For Moving Image Source, Tom McCormack has a detailed history of the “supercut,” i.e. media montage making, from the films of Bruce Conner to Lost cut-ups.
- 5/29/2011
- by Mike Everleth
- Underground Film Journal
This week’s Must Browse link is the new Cinemad Presents website for Mike Plante’s distribution arm of his legendary zine and blog. He’s currently representing some amazing films, including perennial Bad Lit hits Heavy Metal Picnic and Gravity Was Everywhere Back Then.Not sure when this happened, but the Video Data Bank completely revamped their website and it looks amazing! They’ve also made it easier to watch lots of clips of videos in their collection, so go browse around.Migrating Forms is happening right now this week in NYC and the fest got a ton of press. First up, for the Brooklyn Rail, Aily Nash interviewed organizers Nellie Killian and Kevin McGarry.For the Village Voice, Nick Pinkerton wrote a nice Migrating Forms fest overview.For The L Magazine, David Phelps considers the notion of what’s “experimental” in the context of Migrating Forms’ offerings.Art...
- 5/22/2011
- by Mike Everleth
- Underground Film Journal
We already have entries rolling on Midnight in Paris and Pirates 4, both updated through today, and, as the Playlist puts it in a headline today, there's "Not Much Else" opening in the metroplexes today. Otherwise, though, there's plenty going on.
Migrating Forms opens at Anthology Film Archives today and runs through May 29. You may remember how promising that lineup is. "Forms grew out of the New York Underground Film Festival," writes Tom McCormack in a terrific overview at Alt Screen, "and it expands upon that fest’s interest in bringing together heterogeneous material: the celluloid revival of the American avant-garde, the rough-hewn outer edges of the European art-house, old curios, New Media, the academy, the grindhouse, and the gutter. As a result, Forms has some of the most unpredictable and interesting — and some of the best—programming of any Us festival." Further recommended reads, even if you're nowhere near New York and can't attend,...
Migrating Forms opens at Anthology Film Archives today and runs through May 29. You may remember how promising that lineup is. "Forms grew out of the New York Underground Film Festival," writes Tom McCormack in a terrific overview at Alt Screen, "and it expands upon that fest’s interest in bringing together heterogeneous material: the celluloid revival of the American avant-garde, the rough-hewn outer edges of the European art-house, old curios, New Media, the academy, the grindhouse, and the gutter. As a result, Forms has some of the most unpredictable and interesting — and some of the best—programming of any Us festival." Further recommended reads, even if you're nowhere near New York and can't attend,...
- 5/20/2011
- MUBI
Once again, in a perfect blend of Canadian and U.S. experimental film harmony, the cities of Windsor, Ontario and Detroit, Michigan are teaming up for the 17th annual Media City. It’s four nights of great experimental videos and films from all over the world that will run on May 24-28.
Special events this year include a retrospective of the work of Dutch filmmaker Jaap Pieters, which opens the fest. Pieters specializes in shooting 3-minute reel Super 8 films of the interesting people and events that pass by his apartment window, which he has been making for three decades.
There will also be a retrospective of the films of William Raban, who has been making experimental documentaries about the changing face of east London over the past 25 years. Plus, artist Silvi Simon will host a discussion of her sculptural film projections, which will be on display at the Art Gallery of Windsor.
Special events this year include a retrospective of the work of Dutch filmmaker Jaap Pieters, which opens the fest. Pieters specializes in shooting 3-minute reel Super 8 films of the interesting people and events that pass by his apartment window, which he has been making for three decades.
There will also be a retrospective of the films of William Raban, who has been making experimental documentaries about the changing face of east London over the past 25 years. Plus, artist Silvi Simon will host a discussion of her sculptural film projections, which will be on display at the Art Gallery of Windsor.
- 5/20/2011
- by Mike Everleth
- Underground Film Journal
Tonight marks the opening of the 3rd annual Migrating Forms experimental media festival. This year, the fest is opening with Melanie Gilligan’s Popular Unrest, a sci-fi thriller that takes place in an alternate future where humans no longer interact openly with each other. In this world, innocent victims are being slaughtered in the streets by invisible assailants.
Gilligan’s film is inspired equally by the “body horror” films of David Cronenberg and the CSI TV forensic series.
Once again, Migrating Forms is taking place at the Anthology Film Archives in NYC. It runs every night from tonight, May 20, to Sunday, May 29. The full lineup of films and videos screening at Migrating Forms can be found on Bad Lit here.
Some highlights of the fest include Jacqueline Goss‘ meteorology meditation The Observers, Liu Jiayin’s two-part family drama Oxhide and Oxhide II, Madison Brookshire’s light processing experimentation Color Series,...
Gilligan’s film is inspired equally by the “body horror” films of David Cronenberg and the CSI TV forensic series.
Once again, Migrating Forms is taking place at the Anthology Film Archives in NYC. It runs every night from tonight, May 20, to Sunday, May 29. The full lineup of films and videos screening at Migrating Forms can be found on Bad Lit here.
Some highlights of the fest include Jacqueline Goss‘ meteorology meditation The Observers, Liu Jiayin’s two-part family drama Oxhide and Oxhide II, Madison Brookshire’s light processing experimentation Color Series,...
- 5/20/2011
- by Mike Everleth
- Underground Film Journal
May 22
7:30 p.m.
Egyptian Theater
6712 Hollywood Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90028
Hosted by: L.A. Filmforum
For “Triumph of the Wild: New Experimental Animation,” filmmaker Eric Leiser has curated a selection of 10 short animated films from around the world, including his own film, Forest. At the screening, Leiser and filmmakers Alice Cohen and Gina Marie Napolitan will be in attendance.
Included in the lineup are films from the U.S., Ireland, the Netherlands and Germany. Cohen will be screening her 13-minute film Mirror Moves for Private Eyes, which “explores the idea of The Mirror as a psychic receptor; a magical portal to visionary and ecstatic states, through self-reflection and visualization. Napolitan will screen her 5-minute film Demons and Cathedrals, which features “amnesia and childhood, spooky synthesizers, pod people.”
Also in the lineup are Martha Colburn‘s Triumph of the Wild, an ecstatic, animated examination of the U.S.’ history of...
7:30 p.m.
Egyptian Theater
6712 Hollywood Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90028
Hosted by: L.A. Filmforum
For “Triumph of the Wild: New Experimental Animation,” filmmaker Eric Leiser has curated a selection of 10 short animated films from around the world, including his own film, Forest. At the screening, Leiser and filmmakers Alice Cohen and Gina Marie Napolitan will be in attendance.
Included in the lineup are films from the U.S., Ireland, the Netherlands and Germany. Cohen will be screening her 13-minute film Mirror Moves for Private Eyes, which “explores the idea of The Mirror as a psychic receptor; a magical portal to visionary and ecstatic states, through self-reflection and visualization. Napolitan will screen her 5-minute film Demons and Cathedrals, which features “amnesia and childhood, spooky synthesizers, pod people.”
Also in the lineup are Martha Colburn‘s Triumph of the Wild, an ecstatic, animated examination of the U.S.’ history of...
- 5/19/2011
- by screenings
- Underground Film Journal
This week’s Absolute Must Read is a career overview of Spanish surrealist Carlos Atanes by Rob Smart for Bright Lights Film Journal. I’ve been touting Atanes’ work for years, so it’s really nice to finally see a much more respected film website than Bad Lit also champion him. His films are rarely seen — and that’s wrong! So, after you read the article, go Netflix the film Faq.For Filmmaker, Lauren Wissot interviews Zach Clark about his subversive feature films, Vacation! and Modern Love Is Automatic. Also on Filmmaker, Nicholas Rombes proves that Paranormal Activity 2 is an avant-garde film. Hey, he convinced me!For his latest Motion Picture Purgatory, Rick Trembles tackles the Jodie Foster cult classic The Little Girl Who Lives Down the Lane. (Coincidentally, I just saw this film for the first time recently and immediately fell in love!)Candlelight Stories has some short...
- 5/15/2011
- by Mike Everleth
- Underground Film Journal
The 3rd annual Migrating Forms is set to run on May 20-29 at the Anthology Film Archives with yet another stunning lineup of current and classic experimental and avant-garde films and videos.
New work includes the U.S. premiere of Melanie Gilligan’s experimental sci-fi feature Popular Unrest for the fest’s Opening Night event. Then, throughout the fest, will be Jacqueline Goss‘ meteorology meditation The Observers, Liu Jiayin’s two-part family drama Oxhide and Oxhide II, Madison Brookshire’s light processing experimentation Color Series, Oliver Laxe’s meta-documentary You Are All Captains for the Closing Night event, and more.
New short works in the group programs include films and videos by Adele Horne, Andrew Lampert, Kevin Jerome Everson, Shana Moulton, Fern Silva, Olga Chernysheva, Dani Leventhal and more.
Classic retrospectives include Brazilian films by Glauber Rocha and French films written by Georges Perec. Electric Arts Intermix presents little-seen personal videos by L.
New work includes the U.S. premiere of Melanie Gilligan’s experimental sci-fi feature Popular Unrest for the fest’s Opening Night event. Then, throughout the fest, will be Jacqueline Goss‘ meteorology meditation The Observers, Liu Jiayin’s two-part family drama Oxhide and Oxhide II, Madison Brookshire’s light processing experimentation Color Series, Oliver Laxe’s meta-documentary You Are All Captains for the Closing Night event, and more.
New short works in the group programs include films and videos by Adele Horne, Andrew Lampert, Kevin Jerome Everson, Shana Moulton, Fern Silva, Olga Chernysheva, Dani Leventhal and more.
Classic retrospectives include Brazilian films by Glauber Rocha and French films written by Georges Perec. Electric Arts Intermix presents little-seen personal videos by L.
- 5/10/2011
- by Mike Everleth
- Underground Film Journal
Migrating Forms has just revealed the full program for its third edition, running May 20 through 29 at Anthology Film Archives in New York. And it's pretty impressive, so we're going to go the quickest route here and reproduce the release below the jump.
Special Events
Georges Perec Double Bill
Serie Noire Dir Alain Corneau (1979)
Georges Perec wrote dialogue made up almost entirely of cliches and aphorisms for this adaptation of Jim Thompson's A Hell of a Woman. "The only Thompson adaptation to truly express the author's deeply personal darkness." - Moving Image Source
Un homme qui dort (The Man Who Slept) Dir. Georges Perec and Bernard Queysanne (1974)
Adapted from Georges Perec's novel of the same name. Structured as a filmic sestina, Perec and Queysanne reimagine the framework of the novel while maintaining much of the original narration (read by Shelly Duvall in the English version!).
The Art of the...
Special Events
Georges Perec Double Bill
Serie Noire Dir Alain Corneau (1979)
Georges Perec wrote dialogue made up almost entirely of cliches and aphorisms for this adaptation of Jim Thompson's A Hell of a Woman. "The only Thompson adaptation to truly express the author's deeply personal darkness." - Moving Image Source
Un homme qui dort (The Man Who Slept) Dir. Georges Perec and Bernard Queysanne (1974)
Adapted from Georges Perec's novel of the same name. Structured as a filmic sestina, Perec and Queysanne reimagine the framework of the novel while maintaining much of the original narration (read by Shelly Duvall in the English version!).
The Art of the...
- 5/9/2011
- MUBI
Update: Check out the full 2011 Migrating Forms lineup here!
The 3rd annual Migrating Forms media festival in NYC, which will run on May 20-29, has announced that its opening night film will be Melanie Gilligan’s experimental sci-fi thriller Popular Unrest. Plus, the fest will feature retrospectives of the late Brazilian filmmaker Glauber Rocha and Los Angeles-based Cynthia Maughan; a special North Korean musical program by Jim Finn; videos charting the career of legendary rock band Destroy All Monsters and more.
Inspired by the early films of David Cronenberg and the “forensic porn” found in the CSI TV show franchise, Gilligan has crafted a five-part drama in Popular Unrest that is set in an alternative future where all human social interaction is overseen by a mysterious system known only as “the Spirit.”
In this world, first, a series of bizarre murders take place where the victims are killed in public,...
The 3rd annual Migrating Forms media festival in NYC, which will run on May 20-29, has announced that its opening night film will be Melanie Gilligan’s experimental sci-fi thriller Popular Unrest. Plus, the fest will feature retrospectives of the late Brazilian filmmaker Glauber Rocha and Los Angeles-based Cynthia Maughan; a special North Korean musical program by Jim Finn; videos charting the career of legendary rock band Destroy All Monsters and more.
Inspired by the early films of David Cronenberg and the “forensic porn” found in the CSI TV show franchise, Gilligan has crafted a five-part drama in Popular Unrest that is set in an alternative future where all human social interaction is overseen by a mysterious system known only as “the Spirit.”
In this world, first, a series of bizarre murders take place where the victims are killed in public,...
- 5/4/2011
- by Mike Everleth
- Underground Film Journal
Now that it’s officially 2011, the underground film festivals are really opening up for their calls for entry. Some deadlines are creeping up already, while a few are still a ways off. Plus, all the fests that I’m listing below are pretty different from each other. So, really study what they’re looking for and figure out if your own underground film fits into their mission.
Migrating Forms is one of the premiere experimental media festivals in the world, screening some of the best medium-pushing and unexpected films and videos being made today. This year, Migrating Forms is screening on May 20-29 at its regular home, the legendary Anthology Film Archives in NYC.
Migrating Forms is one of the more difficult festivals to describe exactly what they’re looking for as they present a really varied lineup every year. Plus, the work they tend to show is never anything that’s very easy describe,...
Migrating Forms is one of the premiere experimental media festivals in the world, screening some of the best medium-pushing and unexpected films and videos being made today. This year, Migrating Forms is screening on May 20-29 at its regular home, the legendary Anthology Film Archives in NYC.
Migrating Forms is one of the more difficult festivals to describe exactly what they’re looking for as they present a really varied lineup every year. Plus, the work they tend to show is never anything that’s very easy describe,...
- 1/7/2011
- by Mike Everleth
- Underground Film Journal
Erie, a compelling looking experimental film from long-time experimental filmmaker Kevin Jerome Everson is playing tonight in NYC, Brooklyn specifically, at Bam Rose Cinemas as part of their ‘Migrating Forms’ series of avant-garde and experimental cinema and video. So, all the locals interested in such should check it out.
Quoted from the filmmaker himself…
Erie consists of a series of single take shots in and around communities near Lake Erie. The scenes relate to a Black migration in the USA, contemporary conditions, folks concentrating on the task at hand, theater and famous art objects.
The subject matter is the gestures or tasks caused by certain conditions in the lives of working class African Americans and other people of African descent. The conditions are usually physical, social-economic circumstances or weather. Instead of standard realism I favor a strategy that abstracts everyday actions and statements into theatrical gestures, in which archival footage is re-edited or re-staged,...
Quoted from the filmmaker himself…
Erie consists of a series of single take shots in and around communities near Lake Erie. The scenes relate to a Black migration in the USA, contemporary conditions, folks concentrating on the task at hand, theater and famous art objects.
The subject matter is the gestures or tasks caused by certain conditions in the lives of working class African Americans and other people of African descent. The conditions are usually physical, social-economic circumstances or weather. Instead of standard realism I favor a strategy that abstracts everyday actions and statements into theatrical gestures, in which archival footage is re-edited or re-staged,...
- 10/25/2010
- by Curtis the Media Man
- ShadowAndAct
And on the eighth day, God created virtual reality. Take a trip to a brave unreal world in Peggy Ahwesh‘s ode to primitive virtual reality, The Third Body. Combining some sort of minimalist Adam & Eve recreation with promotional footage of people wearing giant Vr glasses on their head looking at blocky CGI graphics with awe and wonder, Ahwesh casts humans as the new gods — and creating a world that looks really, really ugly. (This film isn’t quite Nsfw, but the partial nudity may cause co-workers to look at you funny.)
My favorite part of this film is just the simple shots of a beige virtual reality living room while Morton Feldman‘s ominous soundtrack drones on. Set some good, creepy music to make any visuals seem disturbing. Actually, it was driving me nuts thinking the soundtrack was borrowed from some horror movie I couldn’t place, but I...
My favorite part of this film is just the simple shots of a beige virtual reality living room while Morton Feldman‘s ominous soundtrack drones on. Set some good, creepy music to make any visuals seem disturbing. Actually, it was driving me nuts thinking the soundtrack was borrowed from some horror movie I couldn’t place, but I...
- 9/8/2010
- by Mike Everleth
- Underground Film Journal
I’m working on another big, site-wide project that I haven’t come up with a snappy name for yet, but it’s another type of project I can work on in mini-chunks that will eventually add up to a major positive development for the site. (Knock on wood.)
The project involves making Bad Lit’s archives more accessible and search friendly, as well as better spotlighting more filmmakers. This doesn’t involve creating new pages. Instead it’s making the filmmaker index pages more useful with more detailed information.
For any filmmaker that’s covered in-depth on Bad Lit, I create a “tag page” for them, which is a handy index linking to every article that mentions that filmmaker’s name, including film reviews, embedded videos, film festival lineups and more. An example of this would be for James Fotopoulos, which if you click his name there you’ll...
The project involves making Bad Lit’s archives more accessible and search friendly, as well as better spotlighting more filmmakers. This doesn’t involve creating new pages. Instead it’s making the filmmaker index pages more useful with more detailed information.
For any filmmaker that’s covered in-depth on Bad Lit, I create a “tag page” for them, which is a handy index linking to every article that mentions that filmmaker’s name, including film reviews, embedded videos, film festival lineups and more. An example of this would be for James Fotopoulos, which if you click his name there you’ll...
- 9/4/2010
- by Mike Everleth
- Underground Film Journal
Update: Cuff has announced their feature award winners. Congrats to everyone!
Best Documentary Feature
Scrappers, dir. Ben Kolak, Brian Ashby, and Courtney Prokopas
Best Narrative Feature
Stay the Same Never Change, dir. Laurel Nakadate
Honorable Mention
Modus Operandi, dir. Frankie Latina
The 17th annual Chicago Underground Film Festival wraps up on July 1, but they’ve already announced their award winners. Although, as of right now, they’re still determining the Best Narrative Feature and Best Documentary Feature winners, but all the rest of the winners are listed below. I’ll update this post when the last two awards are announced.
And the winners are:
Made in Chicago Award
Fantasy Suite, dir. Kent Lambert
Best Animation
Everybody, dir. Steve Reinke and Jesse Mott
Best Experimental Film
L’Internationale, dir. Marianna Milhorat
Best Documentary Short
Sincerity: The Character of Ronald Reagan, dir. Chris Royalty
Best Narrative Short
Home Movie, dir. Braden King
Audience Award
Scrappers,...
Best Documentary Feature
Scrappers, dir. Ben Kolak, Brian Ashby, and Courtney Prokopas
Best Narrative Feature
Stay the Same Never Change, dir. Laurel Nakadate
Honorable Mention
Modus Operandi, dir. Frankie Latina
The 17th annual Chicago Underground Film Festival wraps up on July 1, but they’ve already announced their award winners. Although, as of right now, they’re still determining the Best Narrative Feature and Best Documentary Feature winners, but all the rest of the winners are listed below. I’ll update this post when the last two awards are announced.
And the winners are:
Made in Chicago Award
Fantasy Suite, dir. Kent Lambert
Best Animation
Everybody, dir. Steve Reinke and Jesse Mott
Best Experimental Film
L’Internationale, dir. Marianna Milhorat
Best Documentary Short
Sincerity: The Character of Ronald Reagan, dir. Chris Royalty
Best Narrative Short
Home Movie, dir. Braden King
Audience Award
Scrappers,...
- 6/30/2010
- 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
In honor of both Lost and 24 going up into TV heaven this year, here’s an oldie, but a goodie. It’s Kent Lambert’s hypnotic and unsettling 2006 video Hymn of Reckoning that repositions the two popular television series as an extension of ’80s 8-bit video games. Lambert mixes audio from both shows with classic game graphics, then rapidly cuts together some of the shows’ brutal torture scenes.
Film critic Roger Ebert has famously — or infamously depending on your point of view — stated that video games can’t be art. But, I personally wonder how much of video game “plotting” has unconsciously seeped it’s way into other forms of popular, mainstream culture.
For example, there were times when an episode of 24 felt very much like a live-action video game, where the goal was to get Jack Bauer (Kiefer Sutherland) into a confined area where he would have to run...
Film critic Roger Ebert has famously — or infamously depending on your point of view — stated that video games can’t be art. But, I personally wonder how much of video game “plotting” has unconsciously seeped it’s way into other forms of popular, mainstream culture.
For example, there were times when an episode of 24 felt very much like a live-action video game, where the goal was to get Jack Bauer (Kiefer Sutherland) into a confined area where he would have to run...
- 6/7/2010
- by Mike Everleth
- Underground Film Journal
I think this is my longest collection of links yet. Enjoy!
Professor Chuck Tryon is working on a new book, which should be awesome since his first one was so great. In preparation, he’s interviewing indie filmmakers about their experiences working in our new digital culture and posting the results online. His first interview is up and it’s with fellow professor Chris Hansen, whose films are routinely reviewed on Bad Lit. Hansen provides some great, insightful answers about the challenges of still getting one’s films in front of viewer eyeballs amid the deluge of video online these days. The interview is up in two parts, and you should read them both: Part One and Part Two. In a vaguely related link, the Film Doctor linked to a superb article by Caitlin Kelly on True/Slant called appropriately enough “Why Crap Gets Read And Real News Doesn’t:...
Professor Chuck Tryon is working on a new book, which should be awesome since his first one was so great. In preparation, he’s interviewing indie filmmakers about their experiences working in our new digital culture and posting the results online. His first interview is up and it’s with fellow professor Chris Hansen, whose films are routinely reviewed on Bad Lit. Hansen provides some great, insightful answers about the challenges of still getting one’s films in front of viewer eyeballs amid the deluge of video online these days. The interview is up in two parts, and you should read them both: Part One and Part Two. In a vaguely related link, the Film Doctor linked to a superb article by Caitlin Kelly on True/Slant called appropriately enough “Why Crap Gets Read And Real News Doesn’t:...
- 6/6/2010
- by Mike Everleth
- Underground Film Journal
Windsor, Ontario and Detroit, Michigan are transformed into an united experimental film mecca when the 16th annual Media City blows into those towns on May 25-29.
The fun kicks off with a (now) familiar face: It’s Kevin Jerome Everson’s 4th feature film, Erie, which has already screened at Migrating Forms and Images Festival this year. The movie is drawing rave reviews for its unique look at the communities in and around the Lake Erie region.
The rest of the festival contains lots of experimental short films and videos from Canada, the U.S. and around the world — there are lots of international programming blocks. There will be films by Robert Todd, Jem Cohen, Ben Rivers, the legendary Michael Snow and many more.
Plus, there are two retrospectives. One is of the late Dutch documentarian Johan van der Keuken, featuring many of his films from 1960 to 2000. The other is...
The fun kicks off with a (now) familiar face: It’s Kevin Jerome Everson’s 4th feature film, Erie, which has already screened at Migrating Forms and Images Festival this year. The movie is drawing rave reviews for its unique look at the communities in and around the Lake Erie region.
The rest of the festival contains lots of experimental short films and videos from Canada, the U.S. and around the world — there are lots of international programming blocks. There will be films by Robert Todd, Jem Cohen, Ben Rivers, the legendary Michael Snow and many more.
Plus, there are two retrospectives. One is of the late Dutch documentarian Johan van der Keuken, featuring many of his films from 1960 to 2000. The other is...
- 5/25/2010
- by Mike Everleth
- Underground Film Journal
We’re going to start off with links to several film still galleries, which seemed to be all the rage this week:
Filmmaker Phil Solomon put up a quartet of B&W film stills from his 2002 Psalm III: “Night of the Meek” in anticipation of a new screening. Enter the very colorful mirror world of Harry Smith via 7 film stills found by Dinca. Making Light of It has a selection of screen captures from Brakhage’s Love Songs, plus scans from Emmett Williams’ experimental poem Sweethearts. Bob Moricz put up a single still of the legendary — and his personal mentor — George Kuchar from Moricz’s own film Brainbox. Bonus: A still of actor Jesse Stanowski, whose face you’ll never see again in film, from Palace of Stains. Not underground, but Candlelight Stories has a link to an awesome Ultraman painted art gallery featuring work from 1965 to 1972. Ok, that’s it for the galleries.
Filmmaker Phil Solomon put up a quartet of B&W film stills from his 2002 Psalm III: “Night of the Meek” in anticipation of a new screening. Enter the very colorful mirror world of Harry Smith via 7 film stills found by Dinca. Making Light of It has a selection of screen captures from Brakhage’s Love Songs, plus scans from Emmett Williams’ experimental poem Sweethearts. Bob Moricz put up a single still of the legendary — and his personal mentor — George Kuchar from Moricz’s own film Brainbox. Bonus: A still of actor Jesse Stanowski, whose face you’ll never see again in film, from Palace of Stains. Not underground, but Candlelight Stories has a link to an awesome Ultraman painted art gallery featuring work from 1965 to 1972. Ok, that’s it for the galleries.
- 5/16/2010
- by Mike Everleth
- Underground Film Journal
Migrating Forms opens today at Anthology Film Archives in New York and runs through May 23; in other words, practically concurrent with Cannes. "This is the second edition of the festival that rose from the grave of the New York Underground Film Festival, straddling the museum installation and movie-movie worlds — a dynamic epitomized by a screening of painter Ed Ruscha's 16mm works." Nick Pinkerton in the Voice: "Migrating Forms' 10-day lineup is fairly crammed with 'a broad spectrum of contemporary film and video projects,' including the annual Tube Time!, a team showdown of outré online found footage."...
- 5/14/2010
- MUBI
May 15
8:00 p.m.
Millennium Film Workshop
66 East 4th St.
New York, New York 10003
Hosted by: Millennium Film Journal
To celebrate the publication of the 52nd issue of the Millenium Film Journal, which has the theme “presence,” there will be a screening of classic and modern underground films that have been curated by Jessica Ruffin & Grahame Weinbren. The full lineup of films is below.
From the Journal’s Introduction: “Presence emphasizes the primacy of experience over analysis.” Articles in this issue are by Cathy Caplan, Roberta Friedman, Terry Flaxton, A. L. Rees, Jeremy Menzies; and a tribute to Chick Strand written by Pat O’Neill.
Suitably, there will be two films by Chick Strand, as well as Peggy Ahwesh’s classic porno-manipulation The Color of Love, Martha Colburn’s latest animated whirlwind Myth Labs; and work by Abigail Child, Phil Solomon and more:
Angel Blue Sweet Wings (1966), dir. Chick Strand
Anselmo (1967), dir.
8:00 p.m.
Millennium Film Workshop
66 East 4th St.
New York, New York 10003
Hosted by: Millennium Film Journal
To celebrate the publication of the 52nd issue of the Millenium Film Journal, which has the theme “presence,” there will be a screening of classic and modern underground films that have been curated by Jessica Ruffin & Grahame Weinbren. The full lineup of films is below.
From the Journal’s Introduction: “Presence emphasizes the primacy of experience over analysis.” Articles in this issue are by Cathy Caplan, Roberta Friedman, Terry Flaxton, A. L. Rees, Jeremy Menzies; and a tribute to Chick Strand written by Pat O’Neill.
Suitably, there will be two films by Chick Strand, as well as Peggy Ahwesh’s classic porno-manipulation The Color of Love, Martha Colburn’s latest animated whirlwind Myth Labs; and work by Abigail Child, Phil Solomon and more:
Angel Blue Sweet Wings (1966), dir. Chick Strand
Anselmo (1967), dir.
- 5/11/2010
- by screenings
- Underground Film Journal
The second annual Migrating Forms experimental media festival will descend on the Anthology Film Archives in NYC on May 14-23 featuring the world’s greatest experimental videos, cultural documentaries, some that are a little of both; plus, several filmmaker retrospectives, some classic films and the endearingly popular Tube Time! video tournament.
Migrating Forms is such an entirely different beast than its predecessor, the New York Underground Film Festival, that we don’t have to keep saying this new event arose from the Nyuff’s ashes, do we? Ok, we’ll just say that one more time. Next year we won’t mention it because, even in it’s first year, Migrating Forms proved itself to be a completely unique arena in the field of experimental media making.
A couple of highlights from the lineup below: The new feature film by cultural explorer Kevin Jerome Everson, Erie, which captures life in...
Migrating Forms is such an entirely different beast than its predecessor, the New York Underground Film Festival, that we don’t have to keep saying this new event arose from the Nyuff’s ashes, do we? Ok, we’ll just say that one more time. Next year we won’t mention it because, even in it’s first year, Migrating Forms proved itself to be a completely unique arena in the field of experimental media making.
A couple of highlights from the lineup below: The new feature film by cultural explorer Kevin Jerome Everson, Erie, which captures life in...
- 5/6/2010
- by Mike Everleth
- Underground Film Journal
"Political, subversive, wickedly funny, wildly imaginative — this doesn't even begin to describe the films and videos that Creative Capital has supported and nurtured over the past eleven years." MoMA's celebrating the tenth anniversary of the New York–based national nonprofit with a series opening today and running through June 9. Jesse P Finnegan in the L Magazine: "Fete-worthy as such an anniversary may be, one bundle of films from the characteristically inclusive 37-title series befits a more specific rubric: the best experimental work of the decade — or at least a bunch of it. While Migrating Forms kicks off the next ten years of avant-advances downtown, MoMA's program provides an opportunity to catch up on some strange trips you may've missed, and here — appropriately enough for a decade retrospective — meta-histories reign supreme. Robert Smithson wrote 'I am convinced that the future is lost somewhere in the dumps of the non-historical past' and...
- 4/30/2010
- MUBI
Impolex, directed by Alex Ross Perry, is a stripped down, intellectualized throwback to the classic midnight movies of the ’70s.
The defining characteristic of midnight movies is that they feature an overly determined, yet slightly befuddled main character wandering through an absurd universe, e.g. the great gunfighter El Topo taking on his spiritual betters; filthiest person alive Babs Johnson defending her title in Pink Flamingos; devoted lovebirds Brad and Janet having their relationship tested by Dr. Frank-n-Furter in The Rocky Horror Picture Show; and Henry Spencer trying desperately to hold onto his independence in Eraserhead.
In Impolex, Tyrone S. (Riley O’Bryan) is a World War II soldier wandering a forest, searching for unexploded ordinance. On his travels he runs into different odd characters, some Tyrone recognizes, but they feign ignorance of his existence; and others who claim they know him, yet Tyrone fails to recognize them.
Other than...
The defining characteristic of midnight movies is that they feature an overly determined, yet slightly befuddled main character wandering through an absurd universe, e.g. the great gunfighter El Topo taking on his spiritual betters; filthiest person alive Babs Johnson defending her title in Pink Flamingos; devoted lovebirds Brad and Janet having their relationship tested by Dr. Frank-n-Furter in The Rocky Horror Picture Show; and Henry Spencer trying desperately to hold onto his independence in Eraserhead.
In Impolex, Tyrone S. (Riley O’Bryan) is a World War II soldier wandering a forest, searching for unexploded ordinance. On his travels he runs into different odd characters, some Tyrone recognizes, but they feign ignorance of his existence; and others who claim they know him, yet Tyrone fails to recognize them.
Other than...
- 4/26/2010
- by Mike Everleth
- Underground Film Journal
So, with this week, I’m thinking up and trying to implement new ways to pull links from more diverse sources, so that I’m not just linking to the same types of posts. Although some of my “regulars” are posting consistently interesting things, too. Let’s start mixing it up!
You might have to register for these, but first here’s a classic review from the 1975 New York Times by Richard Eder for a re-release of Robert Frank and Alfred Leslie’s Pull My Daisy, the notorious 1959 Beat film. Then, more recently, Dave Itzkoff interviews Chuck Workman, the director of Visionaries, a documentary about Jonas Mekas and the history of avant-garde film. The site Guest of a Guest also reviews Visionaries and includes an early — and I mean early — acting clip of Robert Downey Jr. in one of his dad’s films. Another blast from the past, Making Light...
You might have to register for these, but first here’s a classic review from the 1975 New York Times by Richard Eder for a re-release of Robert Frank and Alfred Leslie’s Pull My Daisy, the notorious 1959 Beat film. Then, more recently, Dave Itzkoff interviews Chuck Workman, the director of Visionaries, a documentary about Jonas Mekas and the history of avant-garde film. The site Guest of a Guest also reviews Visionaries and includes an early — and I mean early — acting clip of Robert Downey Jr. in one of his dad’s films. Another blast from the past, Making Light...
- 4/25/2010
- by Mike Everleth
- Underground Film Journal
It’s a nature video! It’s an experimental video! It’s the official commissioned trailer for the 2010 Migrating Forms experimental media festival! That’s right, it’s all three!
The second annual Migrating Forms will run at the Anthology Film Archives in NYC on May 14-23 and, once again, the festival has asked a video artist to craft an official trailer. This year they chose Leslie Thornton, a filmmaker who has studied with the likes of Hollis Frampton, Stan Brakhage, Paul Sharits and Peter Kubelka. Her work has previously screened at the Museum of Modern Art, the Whitney Biennial, the Rotterdam International Film Festival, the Pacific Film Archive, last year’s Migrating Forms and other prestigious locations around the world.
Migrating Forms hasn’t released their official schedule yet, but as soon as they do, I’ll put it up on Bad Lit.
Read More:2009 Migrating Forms: Official...
The second annual Migrating Forms will run at the Anthology Film Archives in NYC on May 14-23 and, once again, the festival has asked a video artist to craft an official trailer. This year they chose Leslie Thornton, a filmmaker who has studied with the likes of Hollis Frampton, Stan Brakhage, Paul Sharits and Peter Kubelka. Her work has previously screened at the Museum of Modern Art, the Whitney Biennial, the Rotterdam International Film Festival, the Pacific Film Archive, last year’s Migrating Forms and other prestigious locations around the world.
Migrating Forms hasn’t released their official schedule yet, but as soon as they do, I’ll put it up on Bad Lit.
Read More:2009 Migrating Forms: Official...
- 4/22/2010
- by Mike Everleth
- Underground Film Journal
Migrating Forms, the avant-garde and experimental media festival, comes blasting into its second year on May 14 and runs through May 23 at the beloved Anthology Film Archives in NYC. While the full, official lineup is still weeks away from being announced, fest co-directors Nellie Killian and Kevin McGarry have teased what that lineup will bring with the announcement of the fest’s opening night film, plus a few, select special programs.
The opening night film on May 14 will be the fourth feature film by experimental documentary filmmaker Kevin Jerome Everson. Erie is comprised entirely of single take shots of communities around Lake Erie. Everson describes the film himself as:
I’m hanging out, coolin’, on the frames that connect the necessity and the coincidence. Formally, that is. With a sense of place and historical research, my films combine scripted and documentary elements with rich elements of formalism. The subject matter is...
The opening night film on May 14 will be the fourth feature film by experimental documentary filmmaker Kevin Jerome Everson. Erie is comprised entirely of single take shots of communities around Lake Erie. Everson describes the film himself as:
I’m hanging out, coolin’, on the frames that connect the necessity and the coincidence. Formally, that is. With a sense of place and historical research, my films combine scripted and documentary elements with rich elements of formalism. The subject matter is...
- 4/10/2010
- by Mike Everleth
- Underground Film Journal
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