From: 40 Frames (email suppressed)
Date: Thu Aug 25 2005 - 10:09:18 PDT
Fred Camper wrote:
>>> The filmmakers who created the American avant-garde cinema did not
have grants or, for the most part, teaching positions. They didn't have a
tradition to build on as easily as later generations have. They didn't
gripe about lack of attention from existing institutions -- oh, well, they
did, but they also did something about it. They made their own scene. If
you and others feel that insufficient attention has been given to any
artist or group of artists, do what we did -- or what Brian Frye did when
he founded the Robert Beck Memorial Cinema:
program shows, write articles, give talks, get together with others in a
spirit of friendly cooperation to try to expand interest. <<<
Fred,
I appreciate your taking the time to share this bit of history. I believe
having this perspective adds a great deal to the conversation. One of the
things I enjoy most about having an older generation of filmmakers visit
Portland is getting the opportunity to hear some historical background to
the scene which they help contribute to and/or initially inspired them.
Scott MacDonald, David James, Paul Arthur, Patricia Zimmerman, and others
are doing a great deal to fill in the historical blanks by writing about
these past movements (Cinema 16, Collective For Living Cinema, amateur
filmmaking, etc). If one lives outside of art/filmmaking centers then much
of this historical backdrop is restricted to what one can discover from
reading new scholarly books or old film journals like Canyon Cinema News.
Discussions like this on Frameworks help bring to life film making/viewing
experiences from the past. Not to mention these discussions are archived
thanks to Pip.
Though I find your sole example of how much a small group can accomplish a
little NY-centric (Robert Beck), your point is well taken. I might add
Andy Ditzler/Eyedrum (Atlanta), Chris Chase, Andy Spletzer and Adam Hart
who all programmed at the now-defunct film/video screening series at
ConWorks (Seattle), The remarkable five-years of The Blinding Light!
(Vancouver BC) thanks to the work of Alex MacKenzie, Andrea Grover/Aurua
Picture Show (Houston), The volunteer efforts that drive Cine-X at the
Olympia Film Festival (Olympia, WA) now increasing it's programming under
the guidance of Bridget Irish, Adam Hyman/LA Film Forum which has I've
noticed been stepping up programming from previous years, Basement Films
(Albq) which now runs films in an old art cinema and has a very nice FP-16
in their booth, Greg Pierce/Orgone Archive who just past through town with
a program, Austin Film Society (TX), Cinema Project (Portland), Squeaky
Wheel hanging on in Buffalo despite the city going (almost) bankrupt and
arts funding disappearing, MiniCine (Shreveport, LA), and many more that
I'm leaving out or am simply not aware of yet.
Programming film screenings, writing articles about films, and giving
talks about films will help to expand the interest as well as work to
effectively preserve the film medium. All are a means to build a
sustaining audience. And many people outside of New York contribute to
that work.
--Alain
================
40 FRAMES
Alain LeTourneau
Pamela Minty
425 SE 3rd, #400
Portland, OR 97214 USA
+1 503 231 6548
email suppressed
http://www.40frames.org
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For info on FrameWorks, contact Pip Chodorov at <email suppressed>.