Part 2 of 2: This week [November 14 - 22, 2009] in avant garde cinema

From: Weekly Listing (email suppressed)
Date: Sat Nov 14 2009 - 09:10:51 PST


Part 2 of 2: This week [November 14 - 22, 2009] in avant garde cinema

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11/20
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: Film @ International House
http://www.ihousephilly.org/hollisframpton.htm
7pm, 3701 Chestnut Sreet

 HOLLIS FRAMPTON’S HAPAX LEGOMENA
  Film @ International House Friday, November 20 + Saturday, November 21
  Hollis Frampton's Hapax Legomena Introduced by Rebecca Sheehan, The
  University of Pennsylvania and Haverford College Hapax Legomena are,
  literally, 'things said once'. The scholarly jargon refers to those
  words that occur only a single time in the entire oeuvre of an author,
  or in a whole literature. – Hollis Frampton Hollis Frampton –
  photographer, theoretician, philosopher and, above all, filmmaker – is
  one of the towering figures of American avant-garde cinema. Possessed of
  a frighteningly prodigious and wide-ranging intellect, he was a
  voracious reader from childhood, and his films abound with evidence of
  his fascination with linguistics, science, mathematics and philosophy.
  Frampton was active as a filmmaker for only a decade-and-a-half (his
  career cut tragically short by his death from cancer in 1984). But in
  that brief time he created a breathtakingly ambitious body of work,
  whose range and inventiveness are unsurpassed. Frampton's seven-part
  Hapax Legomena is arguably his greatest completed achievement. While its
  various parts can each stand alone, together they form a complex and
  quasi-symphonic whole – an enigmatic structuralist 'autobiography', a
  series of investigations into the possibilities of filmmaking, and a
  playful and dazzling encyclopedia of the cinema that is perhaps the
  closest thing avant-garde film has to Bach's "Well-Tempered Clavier".
  Puzzling, conceptually daring, and at times disarmingly comic, Hapax
  Legomena is one of the pinnacles of experimental film. Hapax Legomena
  was preserved through a major cooperative effort funded by the National
  Film Preservation Foundation and undertaken by the Museum of Modern Art,
  Anthology Film Archives, the New York University Moving Image Archiving
  and Preservation Program and Bill Brand, professor in the NYU program
  and project conservator. Friday, November 20 at 7pm Hapax Legomena
  Program I Nostalgia - Hapax Legomena I dir. Hollis Frampton, US, 1971,
  16mm, 36 mins, b/w [T]he time it takes for a photograph to burn (and
  thus confirm its two-dimensionality) becomes the clock within the film,
  while Frampton plays the critic, asynchronously glossing, explicating,
  narrating, mythologizing his earlier art, and his earlier life, as he
  commits them both to the fire of a labyrinthine structure; for Borges
  too was one of his earlier masters, and he grins behind the facades of
  logic, mathematics, and physical demonstration which are the formal
  metaphors for most of Frampton's films. – P Adams Sitney Poetic Justice
  - Hapax Legomena Il dir. Hollis Frampton, US, 1972, 16mm, 31 mins, b/w,
  silent Frampton presents us with a 'scenario' of extreme complexity in
  which the themes of sexuality, infidelity, voyeurism are 'projected' in
  narrative sequence entirely through the voice telling the tale – again
  it is the first person singular speaking, however, in the present tense
  and addressing the characters as 'you,' 'your lover,' and referring to
  an 'I'. We see, on screen, only the physical aspect of a script, papers
  resting on a table…and the projection is that of a film as consonant
  with the projection of the mind. – Annette Michelson Critical Mass -
  Hapax Legomena Ill dir. Hollis Frampton, US, 1971, 16mm, 26 mins, b/w As
  a work of art I think [it] is quite universal and deals with all
  quarrels (those between men and women, or men and men, or women and
  women, or children, or war. It is war!... It is very funny, and rather
  obviously so. It is a magic film in that you can enjoy it, with greater
  appreciation, each time you look at it. Most aesthetic experiences are
  not enjoyable on the surface. You have to look at them a number of times
  before you are able to fully enjoy them, but this one stands up at once,
  and again and again, and is amazingly clear. – Stan Brakhage Free
  admission IHouse members above Internationalist level; $5
  Internationalists; $6 students + seniors; $8 general admission. In
  advance at TICKETWEB or 1/2 hour before showtime at The Ibrahim Theater
  Box Office.

11/20
San Francisco, California: Artists Television Access
http://www.atasite.org/
Galley at 12Pm,screening at 7:30 pm, 992 Valencia St. at 21st

 EXHIBICION LUMINOSA
  The potential of light will be explored in a variety of ways at this
  day-long exhibition and nighttime performances curated by Luis Garcia
  and Cyrus Tabar. Harnessing the energy of the Sun, ATA goes off the grid
  by powering the show via solar panel and rechargeable batteries! Enjoy
  the works of Luca Antonucci, Nick Cope, Luis Garcia, Hailey Loman,
  Harvey Newman, Kathy Nguyen, Daniel Small and Cyrus Tabar in an
  open-gallery setting from 12pm-7pm. Then brace yourselves for an evening
  of optic and sonic mind-melting marvels! Shimomitsu and Softserve's
  aural soundscapes push things forward from 7:30pm------

11/20
San Francisco, California: San Francisco Cinematheque
http://www.sfcinematheque.org
5:00 pm, San Francisco Art Institute -- 800 Chestnut (between Jones and Leavenworth)

 “ONE DAY WHEN I WAS GROWING UP IN THE ‘60S…”: A LECTURE BY YVONNE RAINER
  Uncertain Relations: Yvonne Rainer in Residence -- Yvonne Rainer
  in-person. Presented in collaboration with the San Francisco Art
  Institute Graduate Division, Spheres of Interest: Experiments in
  Thinking & Action, the graduate lecture series, directed by Renée Green,
  Dean of Graduate Studies. ---- Distinguished Professor in the Claire
  Trevor School of the Arts at UC Irvine, Yvonne Rainer began her career
  as a dancer and choreographer in the 1950s. In the early '70s, after
  nearly twenty years working in modern dance, she turned her attentions
  to filmmaking. Over the subsequent twenty-five years, she made seven
  experimental feature films, including Lives of Performers, The Man Who
  Envied Women and MURDER and murder. Encouraged by a commission from the
  Baryshnikov Dance Foundation, she returned to choreography in 2000 for
  the White Oak Dance Project. Recent work includes choreography on AG
  Indexical, with a little help from H.M. (a revision of Balanchine's
  Agon), RoS Indexical (a revision of Nijinsky's Rite of Spring) and
  Spiraling Down (a meditation on soccer, aging and war), as well as a
  video installation for a traveling solo gallery exhibition comprising
  dance and texts that touch on art and politics in fin-de-siècle Vienna.
  Rainer published a memoir, Feelings Are Facts: A Life, in 2006.

11/20
Smithfield, NC, USA: Ava Gardner Independent Film Festival
http://www.myspace.com/AvaGardnerFilmFestival
noonish till midnight, 109 South Third Street

 AVA GARDNER INDEPENDENT FILM FESTIVAL
  The Third Annual Ava Gardner Independent Film Festival celebrates Ava's
  passion for the Arts with Independent Films, live music, parties, and so
  much more. November 18-21, 2009

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SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 21, 2009
---------------------------

11/21
Chicago, Illinois: White Light Cinema
http://www.whitelightcinema.com
8:00pm, The Nightingale (1084 N. Milwaukee Ave.)

 THE SEARCH: NEW VIDEOS BY KYLE CANTERBURY
  For the past several years Kyle Canterbury has been quietly, in the
  shadows, creating a stunning body of work. His videos are among the
  richest expressions of cinema of the last several decades. His eye for
  color and texture, rhythm and composition, rival many of the masters of
  experimental film. But comparisons are facile - Canterbury is working
  different terrain. He is rooting to the primal essence of the video
  medium unlike anyone before. ***** In the last year or two, Canterbury
  has moved from a more formal exploration of video specificity to
  something less definable. His recent landscape works (for lack of a
  better description) are ineffable, hauntingly beautiful pieces that
  frequently operate at the margins of movement. Tiny, almost
  imperceptible, gestures create micro-rhythms and call for an actively
  engaged viewer. ***** Whether it is the Utah desert, a formal garden, or
  the screen of a window, Canterbury is not so much concerned with what we
  see as he is with how we see it. ***** Program: On the Ground (2008, 9
  min, video); The Search (2008, 19 min, video); From Fragments (2009, 6
  min, video); Screen (2009, 4 min, video); Chair (2009, 6 min, video);
  January (2009, 11 min, video); Gardens (2009, 24 sec, video); Utah
  (2009, 10 min, video); Garden (2009, 10 min, video). Program approx. 76
  minutes. Admission: $7.00-10.00 sliding scale.

11/21
New York: Anthology Film Archives
http://www.anthologyfilmarchives.org/
4:00 pm, 32 2nd Avenue

 STAN BRAKHAGE PROGRAM
  All films are silent. LOVING (1956, 4 minutes, 16mm) THE WEIR-FALCON
  SAGA (1970, 29 minutes, 16mm) THE MACHINE OF EDEN (1970, 11 minutes,
  16mm) SEXUAL MEDITATION #1: MOTEL (1970, 7 minutes, 16mm) DOOR (1971, 4
  minutes, 16mm) SEXUAL MEDITATION: ROOM WITH A VIEW (1971, 4 minutes,
  16mm) THE SHORES OF PHOS: A FABLE (1972, 10 minutes, 16mm) THE RIDDLE OF
  LUMEN (1972, 14 minutes, 16mm) A selection from some of Brakhage's most
  densely mysterious works. "Have you seen a falcon stoop / accurate,
  unforeseen / and absolute, between / wind-ripples over harvest? Dead /
  of what's to be, is and has been – / were we not better dead? / His
  wings churn air / to flight. / Feathers slight / with sun, he rises
  where / dazzle rebuts our stare, / wonder our fright." –Basil Bunting,
  "The Spoils" Total running time: ca. 90 minutes.

11/21
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: Film @ International House
http://www.ihousephilly.org/hollisframpton.htm
2pm, 3701 Chestnut Sreet

 HOLLIS FRAMPTON’S HAPAX LEGOMENA PT. 2
  Saturday, November 21 at 2pm Hapax Legomena Program 2 Introduced by
  Rebecca Sheehan, The University of Pennsylvania and Haverford College
  Hapax Legomena are, literally, 'things said once'. The scholarly jargon
  refers to those words that occur only a single time in the entire oeuvre
  of an author, or in a whole literature. – Hollis Frampton Hollis
  Frampton – photographer, theoretician, philosopher and, above all,
  filmmaker – is one of the towering figures of American avant-garde
  cinema. Possessed of a frighteningly prodigious and wide-ranging
  intellect, he was a voracious reader from childhood, and his films
  abound with evidence of his fascination with linguistics, science,
  mathematics and philosophy. Frampton was active as a filmmaker for only
  a decade-and-a-half (his career cut tragically short by his death from
  cancer in 1984). But in that brief time he created a breathtakingly
  ambitious body of work, whose range and inventiveness are unsurpassed.
  Frampton's seven-part Hapax Legomena is arguably his greatest completed
  achievement. While its various parts can each stand alone, together they
  form a complex and quasi-symphonic whole – an enigmatic structuralist
  'autobiography', a series of investigations into the possibilities of
  filmmaking, and a playful and dazzling encyclopedia of the cinema that
  is perhaps the closest thing avant-garde film has to Bach's
  "Well-Tempered Clavier". Puzzling, conceptually daring, and at times
  disarmingly comic, Hapax Legomena is one of the pinnacles of
  experimental film. Hapax Legomena was preserved through a major
  cooperative effort funded by the National Film Preservation Foundation
  and undertaken by the Museum of Modern Art, Anthology Film Archives, the
  New York University Moving Image Archiving and Preservation Program and
  Bill Brand, professor in the NYU program and project conservator.
  Traveling Matte -Hapax Legomena IV dir. Hollis Frampton, US, 1971, 16mm,
  34 mins b/w, silent Traveling Matte is the pivot upon which the whole of
  Hapax Legomena turns. – Hollis Frampton This film metaphors an entire
  human life: birth, sex, death – the framing device is the fingers and
  palm of the maker's hand, wherein others only attempt to read the
  future. – Stan Brakhage Ordinary Matter - Hapax Legomena V dir. Hollis
  Frampton, US, 1972, 16mm, 36 mins, b/w A vision of a journey, during
  which the eye of the mind drives headlong through Salisbury Cloister (a
  monument to enclosure), Brooklyn Bridge (a monument to connection),
  Stonehenge (a monument to the intercourse between consciousness and
  LIGHT)… visiting along the way diverse meadows, barns, waters where I
  now live; and ending in the remembered cornfields of my childhood. –
  Hollis Frampton Remote Control - Hapax Legomena VI dir. Hollis Frampton,
  US, 1972, 16mm, 29 mins, b/w "[In Remote Control], the images speed up
  to the point where every successive frame is different from every
  previous frame, so that if there is an image in it, it's a kind of inner
  voice within the images, as sometimes music will have many voices that
  can be written out on the paper, and then in the listening the real
  shape of the music is to be found in the voice that is generated among
  them… It was shot in a single evening, off the tube, right off the
  ordinary TV set, in the course of an evening.– Hollis Frampton Special
  Effects - Hapax Legomena VII dir. Hollis Frampton, US, 1972, 16mm, 11
  mins, b/w I wanted to affirm and honor the film frame itself. Because so
  much of what we know now, so much of our experience is something that
  comes to us through that frame. It seems to be a kind of synonym for
  what we are conscious of. I have only seen the pyramids of Egypt within
  that frame. I have only seen – endless things – most of what I believe I
  have experienced I have in fact seen at the movies. I've seen it inside
  that frame. – Hollis Frampton Free admission IHouse members above
  Internationalist level; $5 Internationalists; $6 students + seniors; $8
  general admission. In advance at TICKETWEB or 1/2 hour before showtime
  at The Ibrahim Theater Box Office.

11/21
San Diego, California: Carousel Microcinema San Diego
http://carouselmicrocinema.wordpress.com/
7:00pm, 2031 El Cajon Blvd., San Diego, CA 92104

 CAROUSEL MICROCINEMA #1: TREE CLAPS HAND: GENTLE FILMS FOR TOUGH TIMES
  The inaugural program for Carousel Microcinema has been set. The videos
  and films in this program place the maker and the viewer in
  confrontation with the natural world. Each artist of course has their
  own peculiar approach towards the environments that receive their
  cameras. Some are elemental, wild, and natural. Others emphasize the
  clumsiness of human interventions upon the landscape. All of these
  films, I think, share a certain tension between wonderment and
  disassociation, romance and horror. These are generous, sensitive works
  for these crass drylongso days we're living through. The best thing
  about these pieces is that each artist knows when to step back and let
  nature take its course. I look forward to writing more about them as the
  screening date approaches. And I thank all of the film/videomakers for
  their generous participation. –CAULEEN SMITH

11/21
San Francisco, California: Other Cinema
http://www.othercinema.com/
8:30, 992 Valencia St.

 OTHER CINEMA: ALCATRAZ ANNIVERSARY
  A daring episode in San Francisco history that turned the country upside
  down: the occupation of Alcatraz Island by "Indians of All Tribes." In
  the opening half, shorts by Ohlone makers, first-ever viewing of slides
  from the Alcatraz Newsletter, and films about ancient villages, sacred
  sites, and endangered species. After intermission, director James
  Fortier introduces his inspirational Alcatraz Is Not an Island, a
  stirring record of the epochal event, told with sharp-spoken verse,
  superb cinematography, an incredible Native soundtrack, with major
  appearances by John Trudell, and Richard Oakes. PLUS poetic pieces by
  Ben Wood, Chris Kennedy, and Jesse Drew, representatives from the Int'l
  Treaty Council, and a display of rare period posters.

11/21
San Francisco, California: San Francisco Cinematheque
http://www.sfcinematheque.org
7:30 pm, San Francisco Art Institute -- 800 Chestnut (between Jones and Leavenworth)

 YVONNE RAINER: JOURNEYS FROM BERLIN/1971
  Yvonne Rainer in-person -- Uncertain Relations: Yvonne Rainer in
  Residence -- Presented in collaboration with the San Francisco Art
  Institute Graduate Division, Spheres of Interest: Experiments in
  Thinking & Action, the graduate lecture series, directed by Renée Green,
  Dean of Graduate Studies. -- [members: $5 / non-members: $10 / SFAI
  students & faculty: free] ----- The films of Yvonne Rainer confront the
  personal implications of social and political issues with a keen wit,
  inventive sensibility and uncompromising voice. Interweaving narrative
  and non-narrative elements while challenging expectations of fact and
  fiction, Rainer deconstructs cinematic conventions and creates
  subversive filmic explorations that further the immediacy, corporeality
  and emotional complexity of her dance and performance work. "Journeys
  from Berlin/1971", Rainer's fourth feature, is a groundbreaking
  exploration of the personal and political realms of psychiatry,
  feminism, terrorism and power. Annette Michelson's psychoanalytic
  sessions provide the framework for theoretical and visual
  deconstructions -- and a new filmic choreography.

11/21
San Francisco, California: Yerba Buena Center for the Arts
http://www.ybca.org/tickets/production/view.aspx?id=9666
2-4pm, 701 Mission Street

 TROPICAL VULTURE: YBCALIVE! GEORGE KUCHAR & MIGUEL CALDERON
  Tropical Vulture is a cross-generational project which highlights the
  artistic influences between Bay Area artist George Kuchar, a Bay Area
  legend of independent filmmaking, and Mexican artist Miguel
  Calderón. The exhibition features an experimental narrative video
  titled Conversations with a Tropical Vulture. The exhibition features a
  preview of the feature length film Conversations with a Tropical Vulture
  which will premiere at YBCA in the Fall of 2010. The film, scripted by
  both artists with Calderón as the director and Kuchar in the role
  of lead actor, blends Hollywood glamour and drama with an all too
  real-life approach, which creates and inspires a counterpoint of
  unattainable desire against unbearable actuality. Shot on location in
  Acapulco, the film utilizes a "low-fi" aesthetic and playful use of
  non-professional actors. Photographs and sculptures related to this
  commissioned project and earlier videos made by each artist will also be
  on view including the US premiere of Calderón's latest video Best
  Seller and the world premiere of Kuchar's Burrito Bay, a video diary
  about the making of Tropical Vulture. While the artists are in residence
  at YBCA, a series of artist talks are planned, moderated by both
  Calderón and Kuchar, with Bay Area video and filmmakers. All
  events free with gallery admission. Nov. 21: Sam Green Lecture, Gallery
  3. As part of Miguel Caldéron and George Kuchar's Tropical Vulture
  lecture series, join Academy Award nominated film maker Sam Green as he
  lectures and performs several personal key moments—based in film and
  visual and performance art that relate to influences within his own film
  practice.

11/21
Smithfield, NC, USA: Ava Gardner Independent Film Festival
http://www.myspace.com/AvaGardnerFilmFestival
noonish till midnight, 109 South Third Street

 AVA GARDNER INDEPENDENT FILM FESTIVAL
  The Third Annual Ava Gardner Independent Film Festival celebrates Ava's
  passion for the Arts with Independent Films, live music, parties, and so
  much more. November 18-21, 2009

-------------------------
SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 22, 2009
-------------------------

11/22
Los Angeles, California: Filmforum
http://www.lafilmforum.org/
7:30 pm, Egyptian Theatre, 6712 Hollywood Blvd. at Las Palmas

 LOS ANGELES FILMFORUM PRESENTS THE ANN ARBOR FILM FESTIVAL TOUR – PROGRAM
 2
  The Ann Arbor Film Festival is the original and longest running
  independent film festival in the United States, recognized as a premiere
  showcase for risk-taking, pioneering and art driven cinema. This program
  explores themes of a changing globalized world through personal,
  existential journeys and includes films from Paris, London, Winnipeg,
  and the U.S. Films: "Cattle Call" (Mike Maryniuk & Matthew Rankin, 4
  min); "Utopia, Part 3: The World's Largest Shopping Mall" (Sam Green &
  Carrie Lozano, 12 min); "Quiero Ver" (Adele Horne; 6 min); "Skhizein"
  (Jeremy Clapin, 14 min); "Retouches" (Georges Schwizgebel, 5 min); "Más
  Se Perdió"( Stephen Connolly, 15 min); "Nora" (Alla Kovgan & David
  Hinton, 35 min); "Blue Tide, Black Water" (Eve Gordon & Sam Hamilton, 10
  min) General admission $10, students/seniors $6, free for Filmforum
  members. The Egyptian Theatre has a validation stamp for the Hollywood &
  Highland complex. Park 4 hours for $2 with validation.

11/22
New York: Anthology Film Archives
http://www.anthologyfilmarchives.org/
4:00 pm, 32 2nd Avenue

 TEXT OF LIGHT
  THE TEXT OF LIGHT by Stan Brakhage 1974, 67 minutes, 16mm, silent.
  Brakhage's tour-de-force exploration of refracted light in an ashtray.
  "All that is, is light." –Dun Scotus Erigena

11/22
New York: Anthology Film Archives
http://www.anthologyfilmarchives.org/
5:30 pm, 32 2nd Avenue

 CLAIR/PICABIA/BUNUEL PROGRAM
  René Clair and Francis Picabia ENTR'ACTE (1924, 22 minutes, 35mm) A
  masterpiece of Dada and a feat of cinema magic. Made as intermission
  entertainment for the Ballet Suédois from an impromptu scene by Francis
  Picabia. Luis Buñuel and Salvador Dalí UN CHIEN ANDALOU (1928, 22
  minutes, 35mm) Twenty-two minutes of pure, scandalous dream-imagery, a
  stream of images from which anything that could be given a rational
  meaning was rigorously excluded. It's still the unsurpassed masterpiece
  of the surrealist cinema. Luis Buñuel LAND WITHOUT BREAD / LAS HURDES:
  TIERRA SIN PAN (1932, 28 minutes, 35mm. With English narration.) "A
  documentary describing, matter-of-factly, a region of Spain so ravaged
  by epidemic poverty that there our worst fantasies find their objective
  correlative." –Raymond Durgnat Total running time: ca. 75 minutes. .

11/22
New York: Anthology Film Archives
http://www.anthologyfilmarchives.org/
7:30 pm, 32 2nd Avenue

 LOS OLVIDADOS
  LOS OLVIDADOS by Luis Buñuel 1950, 88 minutes, 35mm. In Spanish with no
  subtitles. English synopsis available. Buñuel's unsentimental view of
  Mexico's poor, with equal parts of cruelty and surrealism. A sort of
  sequel to LAND WITHOUT BREAD

11/22
San Francisco, California: San Francisco Cinematheque
http://www.sfcinematheque.org
7:30 pm, San Francisco Art Institute -- 800 Chestnut (between Jones and Leavenworth)

 YVONNE RAINER: PRIVILEGE
  Yvonne Rainer in-person -- Uncertain Relations: Yvonne Rainer in
  Residence -- Presented in collaboration with the San Francisco Art
  Institute Graduate Division, Spheres of Interest: Experiments in
  Thinking & Action, the graduate lecture series, directed by Renée Green,
  Dean of Graduate Studies. -- [members: $5 / non-members: $10 / SFAI
  students & faculty: free] ----- "Who else could spin hot flashes, Lenny
  Bruce, Carmen Miranda and [Eldridge Cleaver's] Soul on Ice into such a
  pungent brew?" (The Village Voice) ----- In "Privilege", Rainer takes on
  the rarely explored subject of menopause and constructs a fascinating,
  witty and complex social critique of empowerment and class while delving
  into issues of age, sexuality and race. Rainer plays with narrative
  conventions and simultaneously disrupts notions of continuity and
  identity, weaving the emotional and fictive realms of melodrama,
  documentary, text and archival imagery into a richly textured and
  compelling work.

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For info on FrameWorks, contact Pip Chodorov at <email suppressed>.