New LUX DVDs and Launch events

From: Benjamin Cook LUX (email suppressed)
Date: Fri Nov 17 2006 - 07:32:38 PST


dear Friends
apologies for the shameless plug - but LUX is releasing two new DVDs
next week with accompanying events in London. The DVDs are Margaret
Tait, Selected Films 1952 - 1976, launching on 22nd November at
Curzon Soho and Shoot Shoot Shoot: British Avant-Garde Film of the
1960s and 1970s published with Re:Voir and launching at Candid Arts
on 24th November. More details on the DVDs and events below
best wishes
Ben/ LUX
www.lux.org.uk

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Wednesday 22 November 6pm, Curzon Soho, London
http://www.curzoncinemas.com/
ORIGINS AND ELEMENTS: MARGARET TAIT
A special screening of newly restored Margaret Tait films from  
Scottish Screen Archive to mark the launch of the new LUX DVD,  
Margaret Tait, Selected Works 1952 – 1976. Curated by Peter Todd for  
LUX the programme includes Calypso (1956), Rose Street (1956),  
Aspects of Kirkwall: Some Changes (1981) and The Leaden Echo and the  
Golden Echo (1955).
The DVD will be on sale on the night for a special reduced price of  
£15 (usually £19.99).
MARGARET TAIT, SELECTED FILMS 1952 - 1976
LUX is pleased to announce the release of a new DVD collection of key  
films by Orcadian poet and filmmaker Margaret Tait, produced from  
newly restored prints and available for the first time on DVD.
Margaret Tait was one of Britain's most unique and individual artist  
filmmakers. Over the course of 46 years she produced over 30 films  
including one feature, Blue Black Permanent (1992) and published five  
books of poetry and short stories, while living between the Island of  
Orkney and Edinburgh. Margaret described her life's work as  
consisting of making film-poems. She often quoted Lorca's phrase of  
'stalking the image' to define her philosophy and method, the idea  
that if you look at an object closely enough it will speak its nature.
This clarity of vision and purpose with an attention to simple  
commonplace subjects combined with a rare sense of inner rhythm and  
pattern give her films a transcendental quality, while still  
remaining firmly rooted within the everyday. Margaret once said of  
her films, with characteristic modesty, that they are born of 'of  
sheer wonder and astonishment at how much can be seen in any place  
that you choose...if you really look'.
DVD contains the following films: Portrait of Ga (1952), Aerial  
(1974), Hugh MacDiarmid: A Portrait (1964), Where I am is Here  
(1964), Place of Work (1976), Tailpiece (1976), John Macfadyen (1970).
DVD PAL Region free
Published by LUX
Order online from LUX SHOP
http://www.lux.org.uk/shop/video.htm
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Friday 24 November 2006, doors, 8pm
SHOOT SHOOT SHOOT DVD LAUNCH & EXPANDED CINEMA PERFORMANCES
A special expanded cinema performance event to mark the launch of the  
new LUX / Re:Voir DVD "Shoot Shoot Shoot: British Avant-Garde Film of  
the 1960s and 1970s". The evening will include two live performances:  
Guy Sherwin’s CONFIGURATION has not been shown since 1976, and  
William Raban’s WAVE FORMATIONS will be projected for the first time  
in its new arrangement.
CONFIGURATION (Guy Sherwin, 1976, 10 minutes) for 2 x Super-8  
projectors, live performer “In this film performance a hand-held  
projector and a stationary projector reproduce the movements of the  
two cameras used in making the film. The film was made outdoors in a  
clearing in a wood. The filmmaker held one camera and moved in a  
circle around the stationary camera while recording variations of
the same view. The two cameras occasionally cross each other’s path.  
In time we see the gradual approach of a figure towards the two  
cameras and her subsequent involvement in the act of filming. During  
the performance, the two films are projected together onto a screen.  
The performer holds one projector and moves in a circle around the  
stationary projector, echoing the original camera movements. At  
times, shadows of projector and projectionist are thrown upon the  
screen." (Guy Sherwin, 2006)
WAVE FORMATIONS (William Raban, 1978, 25 minutes) for 5 x 16mm  
projectors, 2 x strobe lights, live performer
"Part one: Variation in Density: The picture on each of the five  
screens are identical, seven second fades from black, through clear,  
to black again. The same fade is printed onto the optical sound track  
to synchronise with the picture. Then follow fades from light to  
dark. And from dark to light. Part Two: Intermittency: Relative  
patterns of occlusion and exposure occupy two screens. Each exposure  
fires a stroboscopic flash of colour: yellow for one screen; blue for  
the other, filling the centre of both screens with colour, haloed  
with after-image complementaries.” (William Raban, 1978)
The "Shoot Shoot Shoot" DVD will be on sale for a special discounted  
price of £15 at this event (RRP £19.99). See below for further  
information on the disc.
FREE admission - arrive early to avoid disappointment
at
Candid Arts Trust
3 Torrens Street
London
EC1V 1NQ
Nearest Tube: Angel
http://www.candidarts.com
SHOOT SHOOT SHOOT: BRITISH AVANT-GARDE FILM OF THE 1960s & 1970s
“Shoot Shoot Shoot: British Avant-Garde Film of the 1960s & 1970s” is  
the first time that works from this defining period in British  
artists’ filmmaking have been made available on video. The DVD  
release commemorates the 40th anniversary of the London Film-Makers’  
Co-operative, which was established on 13th October 1966.
“Shoot Shoot Shoot: British Avant-Garde Film of the 1960s & 1970s” is  
two hours long and contains 13 complete films: At The Academy (Guy  
Sherwin 1974), Little Dog For Roger (Malcolm Le Grice 1967),  
Shepherd’s Bush (Mike Leggett 1971), Hall (Peter Gidal 1968-69),  
Dirty (Stephen Dwoskin 1965-67), Marvo Movie (Jeff Keen 1967),  
Broadwalk (William Raban 1972), Fforest Bay II (Chris Welsby 1973),  
Slides (Annabel Nicolson 1970), Film No. 1 (David Crosswaite 1971),  
Dresden Dynamo (Lis Rhodes 1971), Footsteps (Marilyn Halford 1974),  
Leading Light (John Smith 1975).
The PAL format, region-free DVD is accompanied by a 48 page bilingual  
English / French booklet written by project curator Mark Webber, with  
a foreword by A. L. Rees (author of “A History of Experimental Film  
and Video” BFI, 1999).
Published by LUX in association with Re: Voir
www.lux.org.uk
www.re-voir.com
Order online from LUX SHOP
www.lux.org.uk/shop/video.htm
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For info on FrameWorks, contact Pip Chodorov at <email suppressed>.