From: MadCat Women's Film Festival (email suppressed)
Date: Tue Sep 06 2005 - 10:32:50 PDT
The 9th Annual MadCat Womenıs International Film Festival
Cutting-edge films from around the globe
Dates: September 13 September 27 in San Francisco
October 6 and 13 in Berkeley
SF Venues: Artists Television Access, El Rio and Yerba Buena Center for the
Arts
Berkeley Venue: Pacific Film Archive
MadCat is back with 89 films and videos by women directors from South Korea
to Israel, Sweden to Portugal, and the Philippines to Australia. All in all
there are 16 countries represented and over 50 premieres highlighted at
this, the Ninth Annual MadCat Womenıs International Film Festival. Mining
selections from the more than 1,300 filmmakers is a process that takes many
months. We present the cream of the crop and have curated eleven
thematically programmed evenings of film.
MadCatıs screenings include diverse thematically-curated shorts programs,
trailblazing documentaries from the 1970s, and slide presentations by local
artists. Embracing silent-era presentation MadCat presents Shhh I and II:
Silent Films set to Live Music, which will begin and end the San Francisco
portion of the Festival. The Secrets of Family Happiness, Dear Nora, Tartufi
and Paper Boats among others musicians lend their wonderful compositions to
stunning 16mm works such as Behind This Soft Eclipse by Eve Heller and
Bouquets 1-10 by Rose Lowder. Continuing the Festivalıs long running
commitment to cinema of the past, we present Women Speak Up, documentary
films from the 1970s. The filmmakers in this program were trailblazers,
allowing women to speak for themselves through verité and first person
storytelling. MadCat also presents three unique programs of animated films
including Documation I and II, a series of animated documentaries that blow
open the genre will be presented at Pacific Film Archive. There are many
filmmakers in attendancewe are thrilled to have award-winning filmmaker
Jennifer Reeves in person to present The Time We Killed her meditative first
feature and Caroline Martel travels from Montreal to screen her found
footage opus Phantom of the Operator. Inventive and witty, this labor
history uncovers the century-long story of female workers rarely given
credit for their essential role in the development of global communications.
Premieres of new and intriguing works by Vivian Ostrovsky, Martha Colburn
and Cade Bursell will also screen.
FULL PROGRAM LISTING at http://www.madcatfilmfestival.org
Please see below for 2005 Festival Highlights
Highlights 2005
Shhh I Silent Films Set to Live Music
Sept 13 * El Rio * 8:30 pm * Free BBQ at 6:30 pm
Contemporary silent films by Rose Lowder, Kerry Laitala, among others. With
live musical accompaniment by Paper Boats, Kate Klaire, and Tartufi.
Amok-imation
Sept 14 * El Rio * 8:30 pm * Free BBQ at 6:30 pm
Wry, dark and painfully humorous, these animated works from Sweden, Mexico
and the Philippines are not your typical Saturday morning cartoons.
Media Remix
Sept 16 * ATA * 7:30 pm
Filmmakers reinterpret media and create humorous, touching, politically
relevant works. Premieres by local makers, plus Paris-based Vivian
Ostrovskyıs Ice/Sea, an ode to sun and beach starring suicidal skiers,
soaking wet tigers, plunging mermaids and more!
City Nights
Sept 20 * El Rio * 8:30 pm * Free BBQ at 6:30 pm
Portraits of unseen San Francisco. Take a peek at pot dispensaries, sidewalk
poets, strip clubs and forgotten graveyards. With films by Trina Lopez,
Katherin McInnis, Erica Filanc and Ashley Tindall.
Women Speak Up
Sept 21 * El Rio * 8:30 pm * Free BBQ at 6:30 pm
This program of 16mm documentaries from the 1970s captures the intimate
world of women, revealing a time when they were wriggling out of traditional
female roles. Geri Ashurıs Janieıs Janie follows the daily routine of a
single mother of three. Betty Tells Her Story, by Liane Brandon, is a direct
address diptych of a working-class woman recounting a funny and illuminating
incident of buying a new dress. Girls at 12, by Joyce Chopra, chronicles the
sleepovers and dance parties of three girls growing up in an industrial
suburb near Boston.
Unpacking Histories
Sept 23 * ATA * 7:30 pm
A prostitute reveals her daily routine, Russian nomads in Armenia keep cool
during a drought, and Indian women recall the effects of a flood in 1968.
Ariana Hamidi presents the World premiere of A Covenant Adam. An expression
of memory and the loss of memory, this documentary subtly navigates a family
history filled with violence and fear. Home movies, interviews with children
about god, trust and safety are combined with manipulated Incredible Hulk
comic strips as fragmented texts float across the screen. Also screening the
West Coast premiere of Leslie Thorntonıs Let Me Count the Ways. Juxtaposing
aerial military footage, scientific data on genetic mutation, audio
testimony about the bombing of Hiroshima, and a home movie of her father, a
World War II Air Force pilot, Thornton creates a dense and compelling
critique of violence. In addition premieres of work by Cade Bursell,
Christine Khalafian and Andaleeb Firdosy.
The Phantom of the Operator
Sept 25 * Yerba Buena * 7 pm
A found-footage opus chronicling the feminist history of the once-ubiquitous
telephone operator, rarely given credit for her essential role in the
development of global communications. Director Caroline Martel in person.
Also screening at PFA on Sept 20 at 7:30pm.
The Time We Killed
Sept 25 * Yerba Buena * 8:30 pm
Weaving experimental and documentary elements, this film portrays the inner
life of a writer unable to leave her apartment on the brink of the US
invasion of Iraq. Fipresci calls it ³a beautiful, impressionistic and deeply
personal cinematic poem.² Director Jennifer Reeves in person. Also screening
at PFA on Sept 27 at 7:30pm.
Shhh II Silent Films Set to Live Music
Sept 27 * 8:30 pm * Free BBQ at 6:30 pm
Contemporary silent films by Eve Heller, Mary Beth Reed, among others. With
live musical accompaniment by The Secrets of Family Happiness, Julianna and
Seth of The Quails, and Dear Nora.
Docu-mation I: Drawn and Reported
Oct 6 * PFA * 7:30 pm
This program features surprising hybrids that reveal that ³animated
documentary² isnıt a contradiction in terms. Territory covered includes the
history of witch-hunts, early treatments for hysteria, and art by women with
mental disabilities.
Docu-mation II: History, Redrawn
Oct 13 * PFA * 7:30 pm
A chalk animation exposé of corporate corruption; a pencil-rendered,
death-defying journey during World War II; a clay-mation peek at child
migrant workers; and a charcoal-drawn saga of slavery and freedom; and
others.
Ninth Annual MadCat Womenıs International Film Festival
Venues
El Rio
3158 Mission St. @ Precita in SF
Tues and Weds, Sept 13, 14, 20, 21 & 27
Movies 8:30 pm; Free BBQ at 6:30 pm
Rain or Shine. Dress warmly! 21 and over.
Tix: $7$20. (415) 282-3325
Tickets available in advance or at the door. There will always be tickets at
the door!! Cash only.
TICKETS ON SALE NOW at the Bar 5pm to 2am daily.
Artistsı Television Access (ATA)
992 Valencia St. @ 21st in SF
Fri, Sept 16 & 23. Movies 7:30 pm
Tix: $7$20. (415) 824-3890
Tickets available at the door. Cash only.
Yerba Buena Center for the Arts
701 Mission St. @ Third in SF
Sun, Sept 25. Movies 7 pm & 8:30 pm
Tix: $7/$12. (415) 978-2700
Tickets available in advance or at the door. Cash or credit cards.
Pacific Film Archive (PFA)
2575 Bancroft Way in Berkeley
Thurs, Oct 6 & 13. Movies 7:30 pm
Tix: $8. (510) 642-5249
Tickets available in advance or at the door. Cash or credit cards.
MadCat Women's International Film Festival
639 Steiner Street
San Francisco, CA 94117 USA
Phone: 415 436-9523
Fax: 415 934-0642
email suppressed
http://www.madcatfilmfestival.org
__________________________________________________________________
For info on FrameWorks, contact Pip Chodorov at <email suppressed>.