From: MadCat Women's Film Festival (email suppressed)
Date: Mon Jun 12 2006 - 08:51:29 PDT
What: MadCat Film Festival Tour (from the 2005 Fest!) screens at Ocularis
When: Tonight! Monday, June 12 at 8 PM
Where: Ocularis, 70 North 6th Street in Brooklyn, NY
Tix: $6
Contact: http://www.ocularis.net/, email suppressed, (718) 388-8713
The MadCat Womenıs International Film Festival is curated by Ariella J.
Ben-Dov
Mood Alterations
These alternately loving and disturbing 16mm portraits hail from Austria,
France, Germany, Mexico and the US. Filmmakers use editing, optical printing
and camera movement (or lack there of) to create an ethnographic study of
Romania, a musical peek at a girl on the verge of puberty and a pulsating
found footage bonanza among other stories.
donıt leave without news Christine Khalafian
2005 18 min Color 16mm Armenia
Russian children do cartwheels, men play soccer, nomads wander the land, a
tightrope walker impresses tourists, and villagers embark on a pilgrimage to
a buried relic. Shot in modern-day Armenia, the traveling filmmaker captures
chance encounters, conversations from field recordings, interviews, and
narrative insights offered on the way. No famous landmarks or distinct
ethnic symbols clue in the viewer. Eschewing the obvious relationship
between sound and image, this travelerıs fantasy creates an amalgam of the
harshness of life in a struggling post-Soviet republic.
Contemplating the City (Contemplando La Ciudad) Angela Reginato
2005 3:30 min B/W US/MX
Perfectly without affect, a girl sings along with a pop tune, transporting
herself through space and time to Mexico City circa 1978.
Picture Again Linda Christanell
2003 9 min, Silent, Color Austria
Barbara Stanwick and Fred MacMurray star in this sultry reframing of Double
Indemnity. Freed from the confines of the Billy Wilderıs narrative, the film
links this classic Hollywood film noir to her own stunning footage taken in
the streets of Berlin and Madrid.
The Influence of Ocular Light Perception on Metabolism
Stella Friedrichs & Thomas Draschan
2005 5 min Color Austria/Germany
A rhythmically edited found-footage celebration of nature. Set to a driving
beat with snippets of found sound, this is nature like you have never seen
it. Come and take a colorful, sexual five-minute ride.
Bubonic Prairie Mary Beth Reed
2005 3 min, Silent, Color US
An elegant hand-painted swath of color and texture.
Ice/Sea Vivian Ostrovsky
2004 32 min Color 16mm France
Ostrovskyıs latest tour-de-force combines her signature style of montage
cinemamixing found footage with her own shot footage. Ice/Sea offers a
hyperactive and hilarious seaside romp from Patagonia to Odessa, Rio to Viet
Nam, and elsewhere. The rollicking at a channel-surfing pace proves
experimental cinema can have a joyous edge and a sense of humor. The
soundtrack has an ingenious tidal flow of found and created sound that
propels this rambling document of sheer, sandy fun. Ostrovsky, who grew up
in Rio de Janeiro, has captured the essence of how life is a beachthe
commingling of families, couples and playmates, the languorous
sun-worshiping repose, the irresistible compulsion for leering, the
cavalcade of characters, and the surprises beyond the inevitable
sand-in-your-suit. The celebrated avant-gardist has wryly advised, ³Wear
your flip flops.² Watch for a cameo appearance by fellow filmmaker Ulriche
Ottinger.
For more information http://www.madcatfilmfestival.org
Mad Mission
Founded in 1996 the MadCat Womenıs International Film Festival (MadCat) is a
highly acclaimed international festival that exhibits independent and
experimental films and videos directed by women from around the globe. The
Festival emphasizes work that is inventive and visionary. Our annual
Festival takes place at select San Francisco and Berkeley venues throughout
the month of September.
The Festival was founded to create a forum the highlights women artists. The
Festivalıs primary goal is to bring these works to a range of San Francisco,
Bay Area venues and across the country to audiences who would not normally
be exposed to this kind of work. MadCat exhibits films by women that
challenge the use of sound and image and explore notions of visual
storytelling.
A New Look at the Curatorial Process
MadCat has established a strong reputation for programming series of acute
and insightful films audiences would be hard pressed to find anywhere else.
MadCat sets itself apart from other womenıs festivals by curating its
programs thematically as opposed to looking for films solely about womenıs
issues. Thus, with each year comes a completely new set of films and topics.
MadCat seeks to educate spectators about the art of cinema through
programming that incorporates both experimental films and more accessible
works. The Festivalıs distinct curatorial approach allows audiences to make
their own connections between films and aids them in developing a film
vocabulary by the mere act of watching a program. MadCatıs unique angle on
programming often refreshes and surprises its audiences. MadCat allows
viewers to look into the vast array of topics women film and videomakers are
wrestling with and expand traditional notions of ³womenıs issues². The
audience will not sit back and wait for the images to wash over them, nor
for a simple narrative to tell its story. Whether the audience is watching a
documentary, narrative, animation or experimental film they will be on the
edge of their seats grappling and participating with the visual texts set
before them. By providing a dedicated exhibition venue in the San Francisco,
Bay Area, MadCat encourages women and girls to take creative control behind
the camera, increasing visibility and opportunity for women in the arts.
³The MadCat Film Festival tests, expands, and evolves the traditional,
politically motivated, 20th Century definition of the womenıs film
festival." Independent Film and Video Monthly
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
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For info on FrameWorks, contact Pip Chodorov at <email suppressed>.