LONDON FILM FESTIVAL: AVANT-GARDE WEEKEND
London BFI Southbank27-28 October 2007The Festival’s annual celebration of artists’ film and video returns with an international programme of diverse and inventive work, featuring poetic journeys, materialist explorations and ambiguous histories. Artists
Carolee Schneemann and
Marina Abramovic are featured in special programmes, and
Peter Hutton will introduce his stunning new film
At Sea. Many artists will be present to discuss their work and Experimenta will occupy the Studio for two days of continuous installations. The ‘avant-garde weekend’ continues to be a unique occasion for London audiences to experience innovative new visions from around the world.
Curated by Mark Webber for
The Times BFI 51st London Film Festival.
Capitalism: Child Labor (Ken Jacobs, 2006)Ken Jacobs / USA 2006 / 14 mins (continuous loop)
Ken Jacobs continues his interrogation of archival sources by deconstructing a single stereoscopic photograph from the Victorian era. The image of barefoot children in a textile mill is spun into a critique of capitalism and the workforce of child labour which sustained the industrial revolution. With a dizzying array of visual techniques, space is condensed, expanded, flipped and cropped, accompanied by Rick Reed’s compelling soundtrack.
Seeing Red (Su Friedrich, 2005)Su Friedrich / USA 2005 / 27 mins
A video confessional in which the artist expresses her frustration with the onset of middle age, frankly declaring personal anxieties. Interspersed with observational vignettes edited to Bach’s Goldberg Variations (played by Glenn Gould),
Seeing Red is ultimately less an admission of crisis than a roar of defiance.
JE SUIS UNE BOMBE Elodie Pong / Switzerland 2006 / 7 mins
Unprecedented and absolute: The image of a young woman ‘simultaneously strong and vulnerable, a potential powder keg.’
I JUST WANTED TO BE SOMEBODYJay Rosenblatt / USA 2006 / 10 mins
American pop singer Anita Bryant, the face of Florida orange juice, led a political crusade against the ‘evil forces’ of homosexuality in the 1970s. Local success was short lived, and a national boycott of Florida oranges was the first sign of her loss of public approval.
REGARDING THE PAIN OF SUSAN SONTAG (NOTES ON CAMP)Steve Reinke / Canada 2006 / 4 mins
A journey from schoolyard to graveyard, with author Susan Sontag as philosophical guide.
PART TIME HEROES Mara Mattuschka, Chris Haring / Austria 2007 / 33 mins
Mattuschka’s second adaptation of a piece by Vienna’s ingenious Liquid Loft (following
Legal Errorist in 2004) exposes a trio of fractured characters. In the lonely hearts hotel of an unfamiliar zone, the amorphous heroes erratically construct and reveal their unconventional personas.
Total running time approximately 85 mins
Marguerite Duras/Alain Resnais (0.65, 0.85, 1.0 fps)
(David Dempewolf, 2007)Christina Battle / Canada 2006 / 4 mins
Through the manipulation of drawings of the Salem witch trials, using techniques which include peeling layers of emulsion from the filmstrip, oblique parallels are drawn with modern day hysteria.
DANGEROUS SUPPLEMENTSoon-Mi Yoo / USA-Korea 2006 / 14 mins
‘Is it possible to see the landscape of the past even though it was first seen by the other’s murderous gaze?’
Dangerous Supplement poetically appropriates footage shot by US military to explore the secrets of the mountain, and the legacy of the Korean War.
CATALOGUE OF BIRDS: BOOK 3Jayne Parker / UK 2006 / 16 mins
Following World War II, Messiaen’s fascination with birdsong inspired many compositions, and dominates the monumental ‘Catalogue d’Oiseaux’ of 1959. Jayne Parker has created a visual interpretation of the third movement – ’The Tawny Owl and The Woodlark’ – which evokes the habitat and symbolism of these nocturnal birds.
HIS EYE ON THE SPARROW Bruce Conner / USA 2006 / 4 mins
The power of music transports the founders of the Soul Stirrers gospel quartet back in time to the Depression Era. A poignant refrain by a master of found footage.
MARGUERITE DURAS / ALAIN RESNAIS (0.65, 0.85, 1.0 FPS)David Dempewolf / USA 2007 / 19 mins
The opening act of
Hiroshima Mon Amor has been condensed and structured, with urgent repetition, to reconstitute the dialogue between Duras’ text and Resnais’ vision. Words assume priority as potent images are crudely masked, emphasising details and inviting fresh analysis of this powerful sequence.
HELENÉS (APPARITION OF FREEDOM)Christoph Draeger / Switzerland 2005 / 18 mins
Helenés combines two examples of propaganda from East and West. A bleak Hungarian instructional film on nuclear attack is presented in its entirely, strategically subtitled with text from George Bush’s inauguration speech (an idiosyncratic interpretation of the concept of freedom).
Total running time approximately 80 mins
Fuses (Carolee Schneemann, 1964-67)Newly preserved prints.
Carolee Schneemann is a multi-media artist whose films, performances, installations and writings are a radical discourse on the body, sexuality and gender.
FUSESCarolee Schneemann / USA 1964-67 / 29 mins
Fuses is a vibrant celebration of a passionate relationship, openly portraying sexual intercourse without the objectification of pornography. To extend the tactile intimacy of lovemaking to filmmaking, Schneemann treated the filmstrips as a canvas, working by hand to paint, transform and cut the footage into a dense collage. The erotic energy of the body is transferred directly onto the film material. Recently preserved by Anthology Film Archives, this legendary work glows with a clarity unseen since its debut in the 1960s.
KITCH’S LAST MEAL Carolee Schneemann / USA 1973-76 / c.60 mins (double screen)
The moving conclusion to the autobiographical trilogy which began with
Fuses,
Kitch’s Last Meal documents the routines of daily life. It was shot on the Super-8 home movie format and is projected double screen (one image above the other) as an interchangeable set of 18-minute reels. The soundtrack mixes personal reminiscences with ambient sounds of the household, and includes the original text used for Schneemann’s 1975 performance ‘Interior Scroll’. Time passes, a relationship winds down and death closes in: filming and recording stopped when the elderly cat Kitch, Schneemann’s closest companion for two decades, died. Each performance of the film in its original state was a re-ordering of the visual and aural materials, arranged by the artist according to mood and environment. For the preservation print, three pairs of reels have been selected and blown up to 16mm.
Total running time approximately 80 mins
The preservation of Fuses was supported by the University of Chicago Film Studies Center and the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts. The preservation of Kitch’s Last Meal was supported by the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts.
Water Spell (Sandy Ding, 2007)Sandy Ding / USA 2007 / 42 mins
A journey from realism to a supersensory realm, slipping under the surface and between molecules at a microscopic scale. Channeling the subconscious,
Water Spell is both odyssey and invocation; a ritual of transformation and retinal blast. The film releases the energy locked within its frames through flickering pulsations of light.
BLUE MONETCarl E. Brown / Canada 2006 / 56 mins (double screen)
Rarely shown in the UK, Carl Brown is a long-established film artist whose practice is dedicated to the modification of images by chemical means.
Blue Monet is an homage to the French Impressionist, and an attempt to bring the Monet experience into the realm of cinema. Through the ebb and flow of intricate imagery, water lilies eternally blossom and fade with otherworldly grace. Brown has used his alchemical techniques to transfer Monet’s sense of colour, light, sky and water onto film. Viewed in spacious double-screen and enhanced by swathes of sound, this film is an immersive experience.
Total running time approximately 100 mins
Now Wait for Last Year (Rachel Reupke, 2007)Rachel Reupke / UK-China 2007 / 9 mins (continuous loop)
In response to the rapid pace of property development in Beijing, Reupke references the visual style of architectural practice and corporate videos to present a sequence of fixed views of urban landscapes. Buildings which share the characteristics of both traditional and futuristic design are displayed, but all is not what it seems. Digital images cannot be trusted: these could be plans for future structures or computer-aided fantasy.
The Ivalo River Delta (Patrick Beveridge, 2007)Patrick Beveridge / UK 2007 / 17 mins
Shot within the Arctic Circle in northern Lapland, the film documents the landscape and lively night sky of an icy wilderness. The Aurora Borealis and other extraordinary phenomena are captured through long exposures and stunning time-lapse photography.
AT SEAPeter Hutton / USA 2007 / 60 mins
Peter Hutton has modestly spoken of his work as being ‘a little detour’ from the history of cinema but perhaps he is following a path that others have neglected, or are yet to discover. Typified by fixed shots of extended duration, his concentrated gaze builds a bridge between early cinema, landscape painting and still photography, evoking Lumière, Turner and Stieglitz. Hutton’s camera often records the subtle changes of light and atmospheric conditions of rural and urban locations, and has frequently been directed toward nautical themes. This new film is essentially about the birth, life and death of large merchant ships. Following the construction of the vessels in South Korea and the passage of a massive container ship across the North Atlantic, it ends with images of shipbreaking in Bangladesh. At Sea is a real tour-de-force, in which the weight and scale of its subject is conveyed by masterful cinematography over a series of breathtaking compositions.
Total running time approximately 80 mins
Note: Peter Hutton will present a screening of his early work at Tate Modern on Monday 29 October 2007.
Pitcher Of Colored Light (Robert Beavers, 2007)Charlotte Pryce / USA 2007 / 4 mins
‘Three miniature, illuminated, hagiographic studies of plants observed and imagined, hand-processed and optically printed.’ (Charlotte Pryce)
THE SKY WALKS ME HOME Allen D. Glass II / USA-China 2005 / 24 mins
A journey through China, visiting northern provinces, Inner Mongolia, Tibet and Beijing. The filmmaker travelled alone, photographing the landscape and inhabitants of this extraordinary region with a keen and compassionate eye.
THE CROSSING Timoleon Wilkins / USA 2007 / 6 mins
Crowns of light and subtle gradations of colour are refracted through extreme close-ups of natural phenomena. Moments of sentience, an elevation of consciousness.
THE BREATH Minyong Jang / Korea 2007 / 10 mins
‘A respiratory exchange between me and a bamboo forest.’ (Minyong Jang)
PITCHER OF COLORED LIGHT Robert Beavers / USA 2007 / 24 mins
Following the completion of his 17-film cycle ‘My Hand Outstretched’, Beavers travelled to New England to photograph the solitude of his mother’s house. Employing a more intimate approach to filming, he created this tender portrait which contrasts a dark interior with the vibrancy of an abundant garden. As seasons pass, the camera searches through shadows, conveying the slowed pace of life in old age.
Total running time approximately 70 mins
Seven Easy Pieces by Marina Abramovic (Babette Mangolte, 2007)
Tuesday 30 October 2007, at 7:30pm, StudioSEVEN EASY PIECES BY MARINA ABRAMOVICSEVEN EASY PIECES BY MARINA ABRAMOVICBabette Mangolte / USA 2007 / 93 mins
For one week in November 2005, Yugoslavian artist
Marina Abramovic gave seven consecutive performances in the rotunda of the Guggenheim Museum in New York City, presenting her own works alongside interpretations of what are now regarded as seminal performance pieces by artists such as Joseph Beuys and Bruce Nauman. Actions that were once performed to select audiences in studios or small galleries were transformed into public spectacle. The artist’s own ‘Lips of Thomas’ is an intense ritual that repeatedly subjects the body to physical pain, being clearly related to her country’s war torn past. Other uncompromising works address sexuality (Vito Acconci, ‘Seedbed’), confrontation (Valie Export, ‘Genital Panic’) and suffering (Gina Pane, ‘The Conditioning’). The performances, executed with extraordinary discipline and composure, test the thresholds of endurance and determination.
Babette Mangolte’s mesmerising document of this event condenses the entire series into 90 minutes. The camera, cool and detached, rarely strays from the artists’ body, detailing mental and physical tension with the sharp clarity of high definition video. Live art, best experienced in the moment, has rarely been captured with such atmosphere.
The Object Which Thinks Us: OBJECT 1 (Samantha Rebello, 2007)David Gatten / USA 2006 / 10 mins
‘Just barely a whisper. The minimum density, the slightest shape. A series of measurements, an equation for living. The edge of what matters, the contours of an idea. A selection of coordinates for finding one’s way back.’ (David Gatten)
SHADOW TRAPGreg Pope / UK-Norway 2007 / 8 mins
Shards of emulsion produced during an auto-destructive film performance have been layered and structured onto clear 35mm. Extending across the soundtrack area, the synaesthetic image creates an intense volley of sound and light.
THE OBJECT WHICH THINKS US: OBJECT 1Samantha Rebello / UK 2007 / 8 mins
Utilitarian objects, related to health and hygiene, rendered in unconventional ways. This unsettling film questions the way that we relate to our surroundings by exploring the ‘radical otherness’ of things.
fugitive l(i)ghtIzabella Pruska-Oldenhof / Canada 2005 / 9 mins
Adrift on the mists of time, archival images of Loïe Fuller’s ‘Serpentine Dance’ shimmer forth and dissolve in folds of abstract colour.
SICK SERENA AND DREGS AND WRECK AND WRECKEmily Wardill / UK 2007 / 10 mins
A farce of fractures: part study of allegorical stained glass windows, part fiction of disparate doppelgangers.
VICTORY OVER THE SUNMichael Robinson / USA 2007 / 13 mins
Viewed through science fiction or scientific innovation, the future is as far away now as it ever was. Sites of past World’s Fairs witness battles between good and evil, the spirit world and the cold hard light of day.
TODAY!Jessie Stead, David Gatten / USA 2007 / 11 mins
‘Touch what you see when you find it or pick it up. Fall off tomorrow’s promise, not injured and again. In the woods there is snow, in the water there is sugar, bodies are made of salt and (yesterday is unaware).’ (Jessie Stead & David Gatten)
Total running time approximately 75 mins
Note: Festival guest David Gatten will lead a practical workshop on the use of text in 16mm filmmaking on Thursday 25 October 2007. See separate announcement.…
Standard ticket price is £8.50
Book online at
www.lff.org.ukTelephone Box Office: 020 7928 3232
Book in person at BFI Southbank
For full booking info see
www.lff.org.ukLabels: bfi, festival, lff, london
YYAA (Wojciech Bruszewski, 1973) Tuesday 30 October 2007, at 8pm
Foggy Mountains Breakdown More Than Non-Foggy Mountains (Jessie Stead, 2006)Tuesday 13 November 2007, at 8pm
Bogman Palmjaguar (Luke Fowler, 2007)Tuesday 20 November 2007, at 8pm
