From: MadCat Women's Film Festival (email suppressed)
Date: Sat Feb 17 2007 - 11:05:27 PST
Wisconsin Cinematheque presents two programs of the MadCat Women¹s
International Film Festival tour
http://cinema.wisc.edu/series.htm#
Sunday, February 18, 4:00 p.m.
MadCat Women¹s International Film Festival Program One
³Private Eyes,² the first program in curator Ariella Ben-Dov¹s series,
features an eclectic selection of experimental documentaries and animated
works from the UK, Czech Republic, Norway and the US. Highlights include The
Intimacy of Strangers, which follows a clandestine film crew that prowls the
streets, capturing phone conversations, and Deep Woods, which is a
performative video that lures male participants through evocative
advertisements.
Sunday, February 25, 4:00 p.m.
MadCat Women¹s International Film Festival Program Two
The second program in curator Ariella Ben-Dov¹s series ³Fools Tricks²
highlights experiments in 16mm avant-garde filmmaking. Optical printing,
painting on film, and other tricks of the cinematic trade are used to
present an abstracted lunar eclipse, the inner workings of a monastery¹s
bakery, and the re-creation of planets. Other highlights include Boll Weevil
Days, which re-conceptualizes the disaster narrative, and Tune-In, which
uncovers the world of amateur radio operators.
Wisconsin Cinematheque
4070 Vilas Hall
821 University Avenue
Madison, Wisconsin
http://cinema.wisc.edu/series.htm#
www.madcatfilmfestival.org
PROGRAM NOTES
Program 1
Private Eyes
Curated by Ariella Ben-Dov
Dear Bill Gates Sarah Christman
2006 € 16 min € Color € Mini-DV € US
A simple correspondence evolves into a poetic visual essay exploring the
well-documented co-optation of our visual history and culture. Combining
original and archival images, video and images from the internet, Dear Bill
Gates draws unexpected connections among mining, memory and Microsoft.
Deep Woods Alison O¹Daniel
2006 € 6 min € Color € Mini-DV € UK
Part of a series, this performative video lures its male participants
through the filmmaker¹s enticing yet vague Web advertisements.
Winter Return Chelsea Walton
2006 € 1 min € Color € Mini-DV € US
A moody stop-motion peek at a city.
The Intimacy of Strangers Eva Weber
2005 € 19:35 min € Color € Beta SP € UK
A clandestine film crew prowls the streets of London capturing phone
conversations that take place in public. Weber ³steals² these intimate
moments and explores the ever-shrinking gap between private and public
spheres. She weaves seemingly random exchanges into a modern-day love story,
from first attraction to bitter end, creating an anonymous dance of life,
love, loss and hope.
Human Nature Stine Gonsholt
2006 € 1:40 min € B/W € DVD € Norway
A stick figure runs, and runs, and runsŠ.
The Carnival of the Animals Michaela Pavlåtovå
2006 € 11 min € Color € Mini DV € Czech Republic
This erotic animated musical takes viewers on a sensual and obscene tour of
the lives of lascivious characters looking for love anywhere they can find
it. Men, women, birds and their prey roam parks, restaurants and back alleys
searching for pleasure in a fantastical world where genitals pop up in the
most unexpected places.
PROGRAM 2
Fools Tricks
Curated by Ariella Ben-Dov
Sheri Wills
Boll Weevil Days Susan Simpson
2005 € 7 min € Color € 16mm € US
Set against the background of real and imagined Southern California
disasters, Simpson¹s film re-conceptualizes the disaster narrative. The
safety and ease of home gives way to waves of devastation. In the midst of
repeated blows, two figures take turns rescuing and doctoring one another
with extreme care and tenderness. A fragile paper city and yellowing
pictures of rescue workers from the 1930s creates an elliptical portrayal of
intimacy in the face of oblivion.
Eclipse Jeanne Liotta
2005 € 4 min € Color € US
Using lush, light-sensitive Kodachrome film, Eclipse is an abstract
documentation of a lunar eclipse. Anticipation and fear grow as the
soundtrack evokes the rumble of unseen fighter jets overhead.
Tune In Esther Johnson
2006 € 14:30 min € Color € DVD € UK
Follow the fascinating world of amateur radio operators, better known as
Radio Hams. Dealing with the politics of space and social communication,
this film blends documentary and abstract audio to reflect a world that
bridges both do-it-yourself and state-of-the-art technologies.
Callisto Courtney Hoskins
2003 € 2:51 min € Color € 16mm € Silent € US
Temperature sensitive liquid crystal paints, a common ingredient in mood
rings, is used to create the outer space feel of Callisto. Hoskins uses an
air blower to create the bubbly molten lava look of this film.
Orbit Kerry Laitala
2006 € 7 min € Color € 16mm € US
Candy-apple light emissions create a series of stimuli that tickle the
retinas‹a playful pulsation of mis-registered images made when a lab
accidentally split the film from 16mm to Regular 8. Kodachrome color fields
create tremulous vibrations, which hypnotize with their flickering beauty.
Walk for Walk Amy Lockhart
2005 € 10 min € Color € 16mm € Canada
Enter a surreal, hyper-colorized, ever-changing world where something¹s just
not right, but, boy, is entertaining. A variety of babies lead us through
the story: Warm Baby, Mister Baby, Rich Baby, and others. Created using more
than 1,000 hand-painted paper cutouts, puppets and backgrounds.
Europa Courtney Hoskins
2003 € 7:18 min € Color € 16mm € US
The filmmaker animates dish soap with the grooves of her fingertips and
superimposes super-8 aquarium footage to generate a three-dimensional
underwater futuristic experience.
Corpus Christi Anna Lange
2006 € 7 min € B/W € DVD € the Netherlands
Inspired by a story told by an old nun about a monastery¹s communion host
bakery and the pig they fattened with the waste and later consumed. This
quasi-documentary collage plays subtly with associations on the theme of
give and take, which eventually approaches the secret of Holy Communion.
MadCat Women¹s International Film Festival
639 Steiner Street Unit C
San Francisco, CA 94117 USA
P. 415 436-9523
F. 415 934-0642
E. email suppressed
www.madcatfilmfestival.org
MadCat Women¹s International Film Festival
Screening the best films by women directors from around the world
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For info on FrameWorks, contact Pip Chodorov at <email suppressed>.