Film-Makers’ Cooperative Holiday Benefit 2005

 

All the works in this program are new to the Coop’s collection this past year.
Program curated by Coop board members, Anne Hanavan and Rohesia Hamilton Metcalfe

The Seen and Unseen by Paul Gabel (2004) DVD, color, 7 min
This video surveillance of a cast shadow, seen advancing along the face of a window, is directed toward the ocular phenomena clarified in Merleau-Ponty’s work. As the centered window frame marks the video screen into sections, they are also perceived by us as “anchored” objects. Part of a larger unfolding, these anchors and points of reference are amongst a series of other elements that comprise this perspective. Some, although out of sight (such as the shadow-producing sun) are nevertheless present before the viewer’s eye.

Rite Of The Black Sun by Bradley Eros (2005) digital video from HD, color, sound, 10:40 min
(originally 16mm projector & colored gels)
“Life is a process of involuntary oxidations.” (Novalis) Rite is an alchemical process reflecting decay and regeneration in the solar realm: metaphors and abstractions for manipulated plastics burning in the gate. Sound by David Shea: “Elegy for Mario Bava”. Digital camera and co-editing by Lili Chin. Produced by Lab HD.

La Belle Fleur by Carl Michael George (1984) VHS, color, sound, 14 min
A Naked Eye trip in the style of Bradley Eros with music by Barry Friar and Samoa Featuring a Japanese tea ceremony with Jack Waters, Peter Cramer, and Gordon Stokes Kurtti.

King Richard by Henry Hills (2005) DVD, color, sound, 20 min
King Richard is a portrait of New York avant-garde playwright Richard Foreman in his Ontological-Hysteric Theatre. Focusing on the periphery of a recent production—the elaborate set design and lighting, the non-speaking supporting cast (the so-called “stage crew”) with their frantic movement patterns, props and recurrent imagery, removed from their specific context; i.e., those elements that are “typical” of his recent work, rather than the principals & texts which distinguish one play from the next—Hills utilizes a range of disruptive shooting & editing techniques (as well as color & density alterations) which mimic disruptive theatrical tropes Foreman frequently draws upon to emphasize his non-narrative bias and humorously aggressive relation to his audience. This strand interweaves with a charming yet revealing interview on the set by pre-teen protagonist Emma Bernstein around which the piece is structured. Music is arranged using a selection of Foreman’s sound loops.

Cosmetic Emergency by Martha Colburn (2005) Made on 35mm (will be shown on DVD), 9 min
Cosmetic Emergency explores the idea of beauty through a collage of lyrical animations and live action. A free-form interpretation on the current trend of cosmetic obsession and the immortal quality of painting, the film searches for “what’s on the inside.” Topical news stories (such as the US military offering free cosmetic surgery) and musical film sequences are created with paint-on-glass animation, found footage and documentary techniques.

Yoko Ono: This Is Not Here by Takahiko Iimura (1971) DVD 19 min
A document of the Yoko Ono retrospective art show with John Lennon as guest artist, “this is not here” held at Everson Museum, New York, 1971. The film begins with Yoko’s speech at the press conference that continues throughout the film as she talks about “radical art”, a non-violent one, and advocates “total communication”. Many important art objects and installations of Yoko’s are seen as the camera goes along with Yoko and John through the installations. Allen Ginsberg and George Maciunas were among two of many guest artists who participated in the exhibition. At the end a “piano piece” by Yoko in which people including John and Yoko are just continuously hitting the surface of a closed piano is overwhelming.

Joe’s Maison by Tom Chomont (1984) 16mm, silent, 6 min
A film based on 22 paintings by Joseph Glin for “La Maison Des Mortes” by Guillaume Apollinaire. Glin planned to destroy his paintings.

Black & White Study 1990 by Peter Cramer (1990) 16mm, b&w, silent, 8 min
An exploration of chiarusco, nudes, movement and film techniques in constantly shifting fields of perception. Eroticism and humor highlight an interracial couple engaged in a tableau vivant of opposites and attractions.

What Goes Up by Robert Breer (2000) 16mm, color, sound, 4 min
What Goes Up cycles through several intervals framed by the drawn animations of an ascending plane and a variety of images that offer a succinct summary of the joys of being alive — photographs of the artist’s family, home and studio, food, drink, the changing leaves, and a drawing of a voluptuous woman. Breer gives us his personal take on the everyday in images that zoom past us like a flashback of a thousand perfectly lived moments rolled into one four-minute epic. The final scene of a derailed train provides a metaphor for the absurdity of the notion that a big, beautiful, well-lived life simply runs out.

 

This event is funded in part by a grant from The New York State Council on the Arts, a state agency.