MERCURIAL MADNESS by Kerry Laitala

Below is the schedule for 2011 Chicago Underground Film Festival, which is this week, with opening night on Thursday, June 2. The 18th annual CUFF runs June 2–June 9 at the Gene Siskel Film Center.

The festival will screen new work from Deborah Stratman, Ben Russell, Jesse McLean, Ben Rivers, Kerry Laitala, Leighton Pierce, Michael Robinson, Jodie Mack, and many more.

Click here for the robust schedule with stills and synopses. Click here for ticket information. More information at the CUFF website.

THURSDAY, JUNE 2nd

8:00PM

OPENING NIGHT

SOME GIRLS NEVER LEARN
2011, Jerzy Rose, USA, 80 min.
Interdimensional premiere!

with:
MONICA PANZARINO SINGS THE STAR-SPANGLED BANNER
2011, Monica Panzarino, USA, 3 min.

FRIDAY, JUNE 3rd

6:00 PM

SHORTS PROGRAM: MY HEAD IS MY ONLY HOUSE UNLESS IT RAINS
2009-2010, Various directors, Various nations, 89 min.

TAMALPAIS Chris Kennedy, 14 min., 16mm, 2009, Canada
ANNE TRUITT, WORKING Jem Cohen, 13 min, 16mm on Video, 2009, USA
PERIPETEI’EM Andrew Mauset-Mooney, 3 min, 16mm on Video, 2009, USA
SECOND LAW: SOUTH LEH ST. Mike Gibisser, 14 min., 16mm, 2011, USA
RETROGRADE PREMONITION Leighton Pierce, 5 min,. Video, 2010, USA
PROJECTIONS Kendra Ryan, 3 min, Video, 2009, USA
ZEITRISS Quimu Casalprim i Suárez, 11 min,, Video, 2009, Germany
HOME MOVIE John Price, 27 min, 35mm, 2010, Canda

8:00PM
(Repeats Thursday, June 9th, 8:00PM)

THE BALLAD OF GENESIS AND LADY JAYE
Marie Losier, 75 min.,16mm on Video, 2010, USA

with:
IRMA Charles Fairbanks, 12 min., 16mm on Video, 2010, USA
LÁZSLO LASSÚ Ben Popp, 3 min., Video, 2010, USA

10:00 PM
(Repeats Wednesday, June 8th, 8:00PM)

PROFANE
2011, Usama Alshaibi, USA, 78 min.

with:
TEARS CANNOT RESTORE HER: THEREFORE, I WEEP 2011, Jennifer Reeder, USA 10 min.

SATURDAY, JUNE 4th

1:00 PM

AND AGAIN
2010, Adele Horne, USA, 56 min.

with:
DEVIL’S GATE 2011, Laura Kraning, USA, 20 min.
THE VOICE OF GOD 2010, Bernd Lützeler, India/Germany, 10 min.

2:00 PM

SHORTS PROGRAM: THE SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTE BLUES (OR THE BIG DIG)
2009-2011, Various directors, USA, 90 min.

CURRENT (REPRISE) Brian Doyle, 7 min., super 8 on Video, 2010, USA
HISTORY MINOR Ryan Garrett, 19 min., 16mm on Video, 2010, USA
ARSENIC Robert Todd, 11 min, 16mm, 2011, USA
BROAD CHANNEL Sarah Christman, 14 min., 16mm, 2010, USA
THE SOUL OF THINGS Dominic Angerame, 15 min., 16mm, 2010, USA
MEASURES KINDLING JB Mabe, 30 sec., 16mm, 2010, USA
TO ANOTHER JB Mabe, 57 sec., 16mm, 2010, USA
YOUNG BIRD SEASON Nellie Kluz, 19 min., Video, 2011, USA

4:00 PM

SHORTS PROGRAM: POMPADOUR SWAMP
2009-2011, Various directors, Various nations, 90 min.

HOW TO HAVE A SEIZURE Michael Wawzenek, 3 min., 16mm, 2011, USA
BLOOD & CINNAMON Jessie Mott and Steve Reinke, 6 min., Video, 2010, USA
UNCONTROLLABLE JOY FOR LIFE Kari Corbett and Crispin Rosenkranz, 7 min., Video, 2010, USA
CHAINSAW FOUND JESUS Spencer Parsons, 22 min., Video, 2010, USA
UNICORNHOLE Lucas Dimick and Dax Norman, 5 min., Video, 2011, USA
DARE DOUBLE James, N Kienitz Wilkins, Eugene Wasserman and Dan Fridman, 29 min., Video, 2010, USA
UNSUBSCRIBE #3: GLITCH ENVY Jodie Mack, 6 min., 16mm, 2010, USA
SECOND FIRING Kelly Oliver and Keary Rosen, 3 min., Video, 2010, USA
ZOLTAN: THE HUNGARIAN GANGSTER OF LOVE Justin Reardon, 14 min., 16mm on Video, 2010, USA

5:15 PM

(Repeats Tuesday June 7th, 6:00PM)

SHORTS PROGRAM: I’M GONNA BOOGLARIZE YOU BABY
2009-2011, Various directors, Various nations, 87 min.

SPACEBOY Mike Olenick Video, 2009, USA
MERCURIAL MADNESS Kerry Lataila, 7 min., Video, 2010, USA
THESE HAMMERS DON’T HURT US Michael Robinson, 13 min., Video, 2010, USA
AGAINST CINEMA Alberto Cabrera Bernal, 9 min., Video, 2010, Spain
THE PROGNOSTICATOR (OR WE ARE ALL PYTHAGOREANS NOW) Brent Coughenour, 26 min., Video, 2011, USA
CEIBAS EPILOGUE – THE WELL OF REPRESENTATION Evan Meaney, 7 min., Video, 2011, USA
THE BLOCKBUSTER TAPES Daniel Martinico, 6 min., Video, 2009, USA
LONG LIVE THE NEW FLESH Nicolas Provost, 14 min., Video, 2009, Belgium

6:00 PM

THE COLOR WHEEL
2011, Alex Ross Perry, USA, 83 min.

8:00 PM
(Repeats Wednesday, June 8th, 6:00PM)

BATTLE FOR BROOKLYN
2011, Michael Galinsky and Suki Hawley, USA, 93 min.

10:00 PM
(Repeats Tuesday, June 7th, 8:00PM)

SNOW ON THA BLUFF
2010, Damon Russell, USA, 79min.

with:
WE’RE LEAVING 2010, Zachary Treitz, USA, 12min.

SUNDAY, JUNE 5th

1:00 PM
(Repeats Thursday, June 9th, at 6:00 PM)

SHORTS PROGRAM: A CARROT IS AS CLOSE AS A RABBIT GETS TO A DIAMOND
2008-2011, Various directors, Various nations, 87 min.

THE MAN WHO WENT OUTSIDE Jennet Thomas, 10 min., Video 2008, UK
NEGATING THE INCREASING POWERLESSNESS OF THE MOST PHOTOGRAPHED THING IN AMERICA Olivia Ciummo, 5 min., Video, 2010, USA
POSTFACE Frédéric Moffet, 8 min., Video, 2011, USA
LIKE Luis Arnias, 3 min., 16mm, 2010, USA
ACCEPTING THE IMAGE Karel De Cock, 19 min., Video, 2010, Belgium
BATHING IN MILK Jenna Feldman, 18 min., Video, 2010, USA
SLIPSTREAM D. Rickman, 4 min., Video, 2010, USA
MAGIC FOR BEGINNERS Jesse McLean, 21 min., Video, 2010, USA

1:45 PM

TOTAL BADASS
2010, Bob Ray, USA, 91 min.

with:
THE FOREST 2010, Steven Summers, USA, 16 min

4:00 PM

THE OBSERVERS
2010, Jacqueline Goss, USA, 69 min.

with:
TRYPPS # 7 (BADLANDS) 2010, Ben Russell, USA, 10 min.
IMUM COELI (BOTTOM OF THE SKY) 2011, Mirka Morales, USA, 6 min.
EVERYTHING IS EVERYDAY 2011, Patrick Tarrant, UK, 10 min.

6:00 PM
(theater 1)

SHORTS PROGRAM: FLASH GORDON’S APE
2010-2011, Various directors, Various nations, 97 min.

THESE BLAZEING STARRS! Deborah Stratman, 14 min. 16mm, 2011, USA
BEADS Andrew Rosinski, 8 min., 35mm on Video, 2010, USA
A TIME SHARED UNLIMITED Zachary Epcar, 10 min., 16mm on Video, 2010, USA
ALTER HUMAN Lars Stiltberg, 20 min., Video, 2010, Sweden
SLOW ACTION Ben Rivers, 45 min., 16mm, 2010, UK

8:00 pm
(theater 2)

SHORTS PROGRAM: CARDBOARD CUTOUT SUNDOWN
2010, Various Directors, USA, 89 min.

THE GARDEN Ann Steuernagel, 10 min., Video, 2010, USA
DARLING Kate McCabe, 4 min., 16mm on Video, 2010, USA
HOPPER REPAIR Ross Nugent, 5 min., 16mm, 2010, USA
ILLNESS MAGNIFIED Julia Fuller, 17 min., Video, 2010, Video, USA
SHOALS Melika Bass, 52 min., 16mm on Video, 2011, USA

8:00 PM
(theater 1)

CLOSING NIGHT FILM!

HEAVY METAL PICNIC
2010, Jeff Krulik and John Heyn, USA, 66 min.

with:
HEAVY METAL PARKING LOT 1986, Jeff Krulik and John Heyn, USA, 17 min.
MOBY DICK 2010, Tony Balko, USA, 8 min.

MONDAY, JUNE 6th

6:00 PM

HALFLIFERS AND FRIENDS: REACTIONS IN REACTION
1991-2007, Various directors, Various nations, 75 min.
Curated by HalfLifers

8:00 PM

HORI SMOKU SAILOR JERRY: THE LIFE OF NORMAN K. COLLINS
2008, Erich Weiss, USA, 77 min.

More information at the CUFF website.

Related posts:

1. Experiments in Cinema v5.1 2010 Film Festival Schedule
2. Submit to the 2010 Chicago Underground Film Festival
3. SUBMIT: Call For Entries – 18th Chicago Underground Film Festival

AAFF DVD Collection: Volume 3

You know, a great many associate Christmas Day with opening gifts. This Christmas, sit down by the fire light with your kids and your cuddle-duds and give them the gift of avant-garde with the giving of the AAFF DVD Collection: Volume 3.

The first 200 DVDs come in a screen-printed matteboard case, printed by Michigan-based print-shop, VGKids (VGkids printed the dinca stickers as well), and include a set of five postcards with original artwork by filmmakers Martha Colburn, Lewis Klahr, Julie Murray, Michael Robinson and Deborah Stratman.

$18 plus shipping


NTSC DVD Region 0 (All)

Total Runtime: 106 minutes
BUY HERE

View film information here.

Related posts:

1. 48th Ann Arbor Film Festival Tour Visits Chicago: Columbia CC and SAIC
2. Criterion Collection + IFC Team Up for DVD
3. Experimental Film Achievements of the 21st Century: Avant-Garde Poll: Film Society of the Lincoln Center

Tactical Uses of a belief in the unseen, deborah stratman closes on 16 october 2010

“For those who have been curious, but not yet managed to make it out, and/or if you find yourself near Chicago in the upcoming days, my show TACTICAL USES OF A BELIEF IN THE UNSEEN will be closing on October 16th.” —D.S.

LOCATION

Gahlberg Gallery/McAninch Arts Center, College of DuPage, 425 Fawell Blvd, Glen Ellyn
(630) 942-2321
Metra:  Union Pacific to College Ave, then Pace Bus 715
Click here for more information.

PRESS/MORE

“Evocative landscape of sonic warfare,” Chicago Tribune
“Deborah Stratman’s Sonic Warfare,”  Chicago Reader
Artforum.com Critics’ Picks: Deborah Stratman

Related posts:

1. Deborah Stratman: Tactical Uses of a Belief in the Unseen
2. TU Van
3. O’er the Land | A Film By Deborah Stratman

No related posts.

30 SEPTEMBER–3 OCTOBER 2010

2010 is yet another fantastic year for avant-garde film; yet another fantastic New York Film Festival: Views from the Avant-Garde film program. With this post, I will try my best to provide an organized, comprehensive schedule for the 2010 NYFF: Views from the Avant-Garde.

Straight verbatim from the 2010 NYFF 2010 Views from the Avant-Garde Website:

Curated by Mark McElhatten and Gavin Smith. For its 14th year, Views offers an expanded edition, presenting four nights of New York and world premieres from the frontiers of innovative moving image making. Highlights include Robert Beavers’s The Suppliant, James Benning’s Ruhr, Nathaniel Dorsky’s Pastourelle, a restoration of Manoel de Oliveira’s Rite of Spring, and Phil Solomon’s three-screen American Falls. Also expect new work by Thom Andersen, Ute Aurand, Stephanie Barber, Mati Diop, David Gatten, Janie Geiser, Lewis Klahr, Dani Leventhal, Jeanne Liotta, Matt McCormick, Tomonari Nishikawa, Michael Robinson, Fern Silva, Deborah Stratman, Peter Tscherkassky and many others, plus nightly special Furman Gallery projection performances by Paul Clipson and Bruce McClure.

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THURSDAY SEPT 30

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6:30pm in the Furman Gallery
Pierre Clémenti: Inédite Bobines
“lost” reels from the 16mm films of actor-director Pierre Clémenti
France, c. 1965-75; 104m.

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FRIDAY OCT 1

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Noon
JEAN-MARIE STRAUB
O somma luce Jean-Marie Straub, France, 2009, 18m.
Corneille–Brecht Jean-Marie Straub & Cornelia Geise, France, 2009, 80m.

9:00pm
JAMES BENNING
Ruhr Germany/U.S., 2009, 120m.

2:00pm
HELGA FANDERL
Super 8 to 16mm blow-ups

//////// I ////////
Birds at Checkpoint Charlie (Vögel am Checkpoint Charlie)
East Berlin (Ostberlin)
Tunnel
From the Empire State Building (Aus dem Empire State Building)
Tortelloni
Wild Waters (Wilde Wasser)
Polar Bear (Eisbär)
18m.

//////// II ////////
Porte St. Denis
Columbus Circle
Rue Labat Mourning (Rue Labat in Trauer)
Mirrored Café (Spiegelcafé)
Hut (Hütte)
Tropical Garden in Spring Time (Jardin tropical im Frühling)
15m.

//////// III ////////
Portrait
Tea Time (Teetrinken)
Red Curtain (Roter Vorhang)
c. 7m.

//////// IV ////////
Dancing Water II (Wassertanz II)
For M. (Für M.)
Butterflies (Schmetterlinge)
After the Fire II (Nach dem Feuer II)
Sculpture and Water (Skulptur und Wasser)
15m.

//////// V ////////
Mist II (Nebel II)
Winklerweiher
Dancing Water I (Wassertanz I)
Mist I (Nebel I)
Künettegraben short (Künettegraben kurz)
Ingolstadt at Night (Ingolstadt nachts)
Oranges, Moon and Sun (Orangen, Mond und Sonne)
Cobwebs and Fishes (Spinnweben und Fische)
13m.

3.30pm

HISTORY IS HOMEMADE AT NIGHT: THE CRAZY, BEAUTIFUL WORLD OF JEFF KEEN

Marvo Movie, U.K., 1967, 5m.
Cineblatz, U.K., 1967, 3m.
Meatdaze, U.K., 1968, 10m.
White Lite, U.K., 1968, 3m.
Wail U.K., 1961, 5m.
Rayday Film U.K., 1968-1970/1976, 13m.
White Dust U.K., 1970-72, 33m.

phil solomon, American Falls USA, 2010, 55m.

7:30pm
PHIL SOLOMON (philsolomon.com)
American Falls U.S., 2010, 55m.
What’s Out Tonight Is Lost U.S., 1983, 8m.; new print – preservation by the Academy Film Archive

5.30pm
JENNIFER MONTGOMERY
The Agonal Phase U.S., 2010, 42m.
Transitional Objects U.S., 2000, 19m.

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SATURDAY OCT 2

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Photofinish Figures, Paolo Gioli, Italy, 2009, 9.12m., 16mm, b&w, silent

12 noon
MIRROR OF SHADOW AND CINDERS
Photofinish Figures (Il finish delle figure) Paolo Gioli, Italy, 2009, 9.12m.
A Thousand Julys Lewis Klahr, USA, 2010, 6.30m.
Marie Karen Yasinsky, USA, 2010, 5m.
Dissonant Manon de Boer, Netherlands/Belgium, 11m.
Ape of Nature, Peggy Ahwesh, USA, 2010, 24m. double-screen version
The Soul of Things Dominck Angerame, USA, 2010, 15m.
Destination Final Philip Widmann, Germany, 2010 9m.
Valleys of Fear Erin Espelie, USA, 2010, 22m.
SHU (Blue Hour Lullaby) Philipp Lachenmann, Germany, 2008, 12m.

Jeanne Liotta U.S., 2010, 19m.; 35mm, b&w/color, sound

2:30pm

STATION TO STATION
Crosswalk Jeanne Liotta, USA, 2010, 25m.
Servants of Mercy Fern Silva, Portugal/USA, 2010, 14m.
Rite of Spring (restoration) Manoel de Oliveira, Portugal, 1963, 99m
Print courtesy of Cinemateca Portuguesa-Museu do Cinema,
presented in cooperation with the Museum of Modern Art.

Trypps #7 (Badlands), Ben Russell, USA, 2010, 9.30m., 35mm, color, sound

5:30pm

VISIBILITY UNKNOWN
The Flight of Tulugaq (O Voo de Tulugaq) André Guerreiro Lopes, Brazil, 8m.
New Year Sun Jonathan Schwartz, USA, 2010, 3m.
Trypps #7 (Badlands) Ben Russell, USA, 2010, 9.30m.
Burning Bush Vincent Grenier, USA, 2010, 9.5m
Materia Obscura Jürgen Reble, Germany 11.29m.
a loft Ken Jacobs, USA, 2010, 16m.
Mamori Karl Lemieux, Canada, 2010, 7.44m.
Union Paul Clipson, USA, 2010, 10m.
Parties visible et invisible d’un ensemble sous tension Emmanuel Lefrant, France, 2010, 7m.
Drifter Timoleon Wilkins, USA, 1996-2010, 26m.

Cry when it happens, Laida Lertxundi, U.S., 2010, 14m., 16mm, color, sound

8:15pm
SINCE YOU WERE HERE …
Dust Studies Michael Gitlin, USA, 2010, 9m.
Washes Norbert Shieh, USA, 2010, 8.40m.
Get Out of the Car Thom Andersen, USA, 2010, 35m.
Obscurando el Apartiemento Rosario Sotelo, USA, 2010, 3m.
Cry When it Happens (Llora cuando te pase) Laida Lertxundi, USA, 2010, 17m.
Night Shift Gretchen Skogersen, USA, 2010, 5m.
Future So Bright Matt McCormick, USA, 2010, 30m.

10:30pm in the Furman Gallery
NIGHT GALLERY—TURN ON THE HIGH BEAMS I
two projection performances
Untitled Galaxy Paul Clipson & Jefre Cantu-Ledesma, 2010, 30m.
FIST I – IMPROPER FRICTIONS Bruce McClure, 2010, approx 30m

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Sunday October 3

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blue mantle, Rebecca Meyer, USA, 2010, 34m., 16mm, color, sound

12 noon
SEA SCROLLS
Atlantis Pieter Geenen, China/Netherlands, 2008, 11.18m.
Dining Cars Arianne Olthar, Netherlands, 2009, 15.5m.
Sea Series #7: Naufrage aux îles de Madeleine John Price, Canada, 2010, 3.39m.
Atlantiques Mati Diop, Senegal/France, 2009, 11m.
Distance Julie Murray, USA, 2010, 12m.
Travelogue Vincent Grenier, USA, 2010, 8.8m.
Shrimp Boat Log David Gatten, USA, 2010, 6m.
Blue Mantle Rebecca Meyer, USA, 2010, 34m.

Deborah Stratman, USA, 2010, 7m., 16mm, color, sound

2:30pm

LANDING ON THE EDGE (view website)
Place for Landing Shambavi Kaul, USA, 2010, 6m.
Hearts are Trump Again Dani Leventhal, USA, 2010, 14m.
Ray’s Birds Deborah Stratman, USA, 2010, 7m.
In the Absence of Light, Darkness Prevails Fern Silva, Brazil/USA, 2010, 13m.
Slave Ship T. Marie, USA, 2010, 4m.
Someone Should Be Happy Here April Simmons, USA, 2010, 5m.
THE HUNCH THAT CAUSED THE WINNING STREAK AND FOUGHT THE DOLDRUMS MIGHTILY Stephanie Barber, USA, 2010, 1.53m., 4.5m.
Razor’s Edge Stephanie Barber and Xav LePlae, USA, 2010, 44m.

Bust Chance, Stephanie Barber, USA, 2010, 7m.; DV, color, sound

4:30pm
SÉANCE (view website)
bust chance Stephanie Barber, USA, 2010, 7m.
Love Rose Bobby Abate, USA, 2010, 13.7m.
Kindless Villain Janie Geiser, USA, 2010, 5m.
So Sure of Nowhere Buying Times to Come David Gatten, USA, 2010, 9m.
April Snow Lewis Klahr, USA, 2010, 10m.
Facts Told at Retail (after Henry James) Erin Espelie, USA, 2010, 7m.
Ghost Algebra Janie Geiser, USA, 2009 7.5m.
Tokyo–Ebisu Tomanari Nishikawa, Japan, 2010, 5m.
Possessed Fred Worden, USA, 2010, 8m.
These Hammers Don’t Hurt Us Michael Robinson, USA, 2010, 13m.

Crescent, Paul Clipson & Jefre Cantu-Ledesma, 2010, 30m. Super 8, color, sound

10:30pm in the Furman Gallery
NIGHT GALLERY—TURN ON THE HIGH BEAMS
two projection performances
Crescent Paul Clipson & Jefre Cantu-Ledesma, 2010, 30m.
FIST II – INTO A SOTSPOT Bruce McClure, 2010, approx 30m.

Gestures, Peter Herwitz, USA, 2010, 7m., 16mm, 18fps, color, silent

6.30pm
SONG CYCLE (site)
Pastourelle Nathaniel Dorsky, USA, 2010, 16.5m.
Ouverture Christopher Becks, France, 2010, 5m.
The Suppliant Robert Beavers, USA/Switzerland, 2010, 5m.
Hanging upside down in the branches Ute Aurand, Germany, 2009, 15m.
Film for Invisible Ink, case no. 323: ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE WEST David Gatten, USA, 2010, 20m.
In a Year with 13 Deaths Jonathan Schwartz, USA, 2008, 3m.
One Eve Heller, USA/Austria, 2010, 4m.
Shibiyu-Tokyo Tomanari Nishikawa, Japan, 2010, 10m.
Beneath Your Skin of Deep Hollow Malena Szlam, Chile/Canada, 2010, 3m.
Gesturings Peter Herwitz, USA, 2010, 5m.
Day Dream Jim Jennings, USA, 2010, 7m.

Those Blaezing Starrs, Deborah Stratman, USA, 2010, 14.4m., 16mm, b&w, sound

8:30
FATAL ATTRACTIONS: AN INTRODUCTION TO BLACK AND WHITE MAGIC (site)
These Blaezing Starrs Deborah Stratman, USA, 2010, 14.4m.
Tranquility Sigfried A. Fruhauf, Austria, 2010, 6.30m.
To Another Josh Mabe, USA, 2010, 48sec.
Sugar Slim Says Lewis Klahr, USA, 2010, 7m.
Sorry Luther Price, USA, 2010, 14m.
Shutter Alexi Mani, Canada, 2009, 7m.
Floor of the World Janie Geiser, USA, 2010, 8m.
Toads Milena Gierke, Germany, 1997/2008, 6m.
Pigs Pavel Wojtasik, U.S., 2010, 7.45m.
Shadow Cut Martin Arnold, Austria, 2010, 4m.
Coming Attractions Peter Tscherkassky, Austria, 2010, 23.40m.
Total running time: 105.5m

More:

2010 NYFF Views from the Avant-Garde website

Related posts:

1. Experimental Film Achievements of the 21st Century: Avant-Garde Poll: Film Society of the Lincoln Center
2. Film Posters of the Russian Avant-Garde
3. Experiments in Cinema v5.1 2010 Film Festival Schedule

Deborah Stratman: Tactical Uses of a Belief in the Unseen
26 August to 16 October, 2010

Venue: Gahlberg Gallery McAninich Arts Center
Reception: 26 August 2010, 6:00pm–8:00pm
Address: 425 Fawell Blvd, Glen Ellyn, IL 60137

This installation draws upon the ecological effects of vibration and the history of sonic warfare. At root is an interest in the way sound both makes and disturbs place. Its very nothingness seduces us. Historically, sound has been an ideal medium for the performance of psychological warfare because of how efficiently it evokes events and locations. Whether declarative, as with anthems or artillery, or deceptive, as with sonic decoys or surveillance, the audiosphere is well disposed to militarization.

Inside the gallery, aural encounters occur in two strains: one territorial, where sound travels through the ground walked upon, as much felt as heard, the other aerial, as a sonic beam that occasionally sweeps the visitor unannounced like a wandering ghost. A third Aeolian harp element will occur outside the Art Center. This will be a wire made to resonate by the wind, and so aleatory by nature.

More:

Pythagoras Film

Related posts:

1. 7 Frames: Shrimp Chicken Fish by Deborah Stratman
2. O’er the Land | A Film By Deborah Stratman
3. 2009 Interview w/ Filmmaker Deborah Stratman

Seven frames from Shrimp Chicken Fish by Deborah Stratman

2010, video, 5:13 minutes

Synopsis: An homage to Chicago’s East 95th Street Bridge, Calumet Fisheries and to a couple of the city’s beloved brothers. The take out restaurant still operates, propped along the edge of a drawbridge, bounded by the infamous Chicago Skyway and the industrial Calumet Harbor.

found via pythagoras film.

Related posts:

1. 2009 Interview w/ Filmmaker Deborah Stratman
2. O’er the Land | A Film By Deborah Stratman
3. Translucent Jelly Fish

January 2010: The Film Society of the Lincoln Film Center conducts an avant-garde film and video poll:

FSLFC’s Preface: In the past decade, the making and showing of experimental film worldwide has gone from strength to strength, so much so that it can be categorically said that avant-garde cinema is as vital now as it has ever been. This addendum to our Jan/Feb end-of-decade wrap-up serves to acknowledge just some of the experimental film achievements of the 21st century’s first 10 years. The rankings on the three lists below were obtained through the tabulation of the number of mentions a given film or filmmaker received in poll responses from a 46-strong group of critics, programmers, and teachers.

Poll participants: Acquarello, Steve Anker, Thomas Beard, Ariella Ben-Dov, Amy Beste, Robin Blaetz, Nicole Brenez, Autumn Campbell, Fred Camper, Abigail Child, David Dinnell, Patrick Friel, David Gatten, Jacqueline Goss, Ed Halter, Alexander Horwath, Kristin M. Jones, Chris Kennedy, Nellie Killian, Lewis Klahr, Irina Leimbacher, Scott MacDonald, Matt McCormick, Mark McElhatten, Kevin McGarry, Don McMahon, Olaf Möller, Oona Mosna, Pablo de Ocampo, Susan Oxtoby, Andréa Picard, Tony Pipolo, Steve Polta, J.R. Rigsby, Jeremy Rossen, Lynne Sachs, Keith Sanborn, Michael Sicinski, Josh Siegel, P. Adams Sitney, Gavin Smith, Phil Solomon, Scott Stark, Chris Stults, Jim Supanick, Genevieve Yue

THE RESULTS

At Sea (2007) by Peter Hutton

BEST AVANT-GARDE FILMS & VIDEO 2000-2009

1. At Sea Peter Hutton, U.S., 2007 (18)
2. Pitcher of Colored Light Robert Beavers, U.S./Switz., 2007 (16)
3. ( ) Morgan Fisher, U.S., 2003 (15)
tie Ah Liberty! Ben Rivers, U.K., 2008 (15)
tie Observando el Cielo Jeanne Liotta, U.S., 2007 (15)
tie Star Spangled to Death Ken Jacobs, U.S., 1956-2004 (15)
7. Ten Skies James Benning, U.S., 2004 (14)
8. The Fourth Watch Janie Geiser, U.S., 2000 (13)
tie The Heart of the World Guy Maddin, Canada, 2000 (13)
tie RR James Benning, U.S., 2007 (13)
11. Black and White Trypps Number Three Ben Russell, U.S., 2007 (12)
tie The Decay of Fiction Pat O’Neill, U.S., 2002 (12)
tie The God of Day Had Gone Down Upon Him Stan Brakhage, U.S., 2002 (12)
tie An Injury to One Travis Wilkerson, U.S., 2002 (12)
tie Kolkata Mark LaPore, US/India, 2005 (12)
tie 13 Lakes James Benning, U.S., 2004 (12)
17. The General Returns from One Place to Another Michael Robinson, U.S., 2006 (11)
tie Song and Solitude Nathaniel Dorsky, U.S., 2006 (11)
19. False Aging Lewis Klahr, U.S., 2008 (10)
tie The Glass System Mark LaPore, U.S., 2000 (10)

tie Instructions for a Light and Sound Machine Peter Tscherkassky, Austria, 2005 (10)
tie A Letter to Uncle Boonmee Apichatpong Weerasethakul, Thailand, 2009 (10)
tie She Puppet Peggy Ahwesh, U.S., 2001 (10)
tie Skagafjördur Peter Hutton, U.S./Iceland, 2004 (10)
25. As I Was Moving Ahead Occasionally I Saw Brief Glimpses of Beauty Jonas Mekas, U.S., 2000 (9)
tie The Great Art of Knowing David Gatten, U.S., 2004 (9)
tie The Ground Robert Beavers, U.S., 1993-2001 (9)
tie The Hedge Theater Robert Beavers, U.S./Switzerland, 2002 (9)
tie Poetry and Truth Peter Kubelka, Austria, 2003 (9)
tie Sarabande Nathaniel Dorsky, U.S., 2008 (9)
tie The Visitation Nathaniel Dorsky, U.S., 2002 (9)
tie When It Was Blue Jennifer Reeves, U.S./Iceland, 2008 (9)
33. Arbor Vitae Nathaniel Dorsky, U.S., 2000 (8)
tie In Comparison Harun Farocki, Germany/Austria, 2009 (8)
tie It’s Not My Memory of It – Three Recollected Documents The Speculative Archive U.S., 2003 (8)
tie Meditations on Revolution, Part V: Foreign City Robert Fenz, U.S., 2003 (8)
tie Nest of Tens Miranda July, U.S., 2000 (8)
tie O’er the Land Deborah Stratman, U.S., 2009 (8)
tie Psalm III: Night of the Meek Phil Solomon, U.S., 2002 (8)
tie Winter Nathaniel Dorsky, U.S., 2008 (8)
41. California Trilogy: Los, Sogobi, El Valley Centro James Benning, U.S., 2000-01 (7)
tie *Corpus Callosum Michael Snow, Canada, 2002 (7)
tie Dream Work (for Man Ray) Peter Tscherkassky, Austria, 2001 (7)
tie Horizontal Boundaries Pat O’Neill, U.S., 2008 (7)
tie Let Each One Go Where He May Ben Russell, U.S./Suriname, 2009 (7)
tie Still Raining, Still Dreaming Phil Solomon, U.S., 2009 (7)
tie The Two Minutes to Zero Trilogy Lewis Klahr, U.S., 2003-04 (7)
tie What the Water Said, nos. 4-6 David Gatten, U.S., 2007 (7)

Filmmaker David Gatten, aka Number 8

TOP 50 FILMMAKERS

1. Nathaniel Dorsky (54)
2. James Benning (49)
3. Ken Jacobs (45)
4. Lewis Klahr (41)
5. Stan Brakhage (37)
tie Phil Solomon (37)
7. Robert Beavers (35)
8. David Gatten (32)
tie Peter Hutton (32)
10. Michael Robinson (30)
11. Ernie Gehr (29)
tie Ben Russell (29)
13. Mark LaPore (27)
14. Ben Rivers (24)
15. Janie Geiser (23)
tie Jeanne Liotta (23)
17. Luther Price (21)
18. Jennifer Reeves (20)
19. Pat O’Neill (19)
20. Apichatpong Weerasethakul (18)
21. Peggy Ahwesh (17)
tie Stephanie Barber (17)
tie Vincent Grenier (17)
tie Jim Jennings (17)
tie Peter Tscherkassky (17)
tie Fred Worden (17)
27. Guy Maddin (16)
tie Bruce McClure (16)
tie Julie Murray (16)
30. Morgan Fisher (15)
31. Scott Stark (14)
tie Deborah Stratman (14)
tie Travis Wilkerson (14)
34. Harun Farocki (13)
tie Jonas Mekas (13)
36. Bruce Conner (12)
tie Robert Fenz (12)
tie Michael Snow (12)
tie Leslie Thornton (12)
40. Heinz Emigholz (11)
tie Miranda July (11)
42. Eve Heller (10)
tie Michelle Smith (10)
tie The Speculative Archive (10)
45. Jacqueline Goss (9)
tie Nicky Hamlyn (9)
tie Peter Kubelka (9)
tie Sharon Lockhart (9)
tie Jean-Marie Straub & Danièle Huillet (9)
tie Jim Trainor (9)

25 FILMMAKERS FOR THE 21ST CENTURY

(emerging artists beyond the top 50)

1. Tomonari Nishikawan (23)
2. Jim Finn (15)
3. Daichi Saito (13)
4. Luis Recoder & Sandra Gibson (11)
tie Alexandra Cuesta (11)
tie Kevin J. Everson (11)
tie Laida Lertxundi (11)
8. Shiho Kano (10)
tie Vanessa O’Neill (10)
10. Paul Chan (9)
tie Paul Clipson (9)
tie Emily Richardson (9)
tie Sylvia Schedelbauer (9)
14. Minyong Jang (8)
tie Hannes Schüpbach (8)
tie Fern Silva (8)
tie Gretchen Skogerson (8)
tie Ryan Trecartin (8)
tie Soon Mi Yoo (8)
20. Bobby Abate (7)
tie Chris Kennedy (7)
tie Andrew Lampert (7)
tie Matt McCormick (7)
tie Rebecca Meyers (7)
tie Jonathan Schwartz (7)

© 2010 by the Film Society of Lincoln Center

More:

Film Society of the Lincoln Film Center: Avant-Garde Poll (official post)

The Film Society of the Lincoln Center

Related posts:

1. Film Posters of the Russian Avant-Garde
2. Introducing the Dinca Experimental Film Portal
3. Experiments in Cinema v5.1 2010 Film Festival Schedule

We love Deborah Stratman. 1) She’s from Chicago. 2) She experiments with film and other forms of media/technology. The following is a brilliant concept: 

Straight from Pythagoras Film:

In fall of 2003, business cards were freely dispensed at 30 pay phone booths around the city of Chicago. The cards invited participants to dial a toll-free number and describe what they were most afraid of. The toll-free number was operational for two months and resulted in over 200 responses, which were then compiled onto an audio CD and broadcast on WLUW (88.7fm).

The toll free FEAR number has since been reinstated and remains open for submission. Call now! 1 800 585 1078

The relationship between safety and fear is a cyclical one. Desire for safety leads us to build gated communities, post surveillance cameras and enlist security patrols to protect ourselves from breach by an unknown. In the process, we sever ourselves from the unexpected, from the accidental, from others not like us. The less we encounter them, the less we know and understand them. The less we know and understand them, the more we fear them. The more we fear them, the more we fortify ourselves. It is a fundamentally unhealthy relationship, as our fears so often animate our decisions.

As our administration employs increasingly reactionary policies, where a fearful, suggestible citizenry is desirable, it becomes more important to question what that fear is.

The calls are really interesting. The callers are candid; some are truthful and disclose their fear of bats, spiders, people lurking in the dark seeking to cut others, defaulting on loans, the abyss (like the ocean or outer-space), relationships, or swarms of insects and other species. Others joke around with it. Some talk about sports. Many say they’re afraid of failure.

Click here to listen to the phone calls.

And remember: The toll-free number has been reactivated

Call 1 800 585 1078 tonight.

No related posts.

Here is a nice lil review of Deborah Stratman’s O’er the Land:

O’er the Land (Deborah Stratman)

Another film of quotidian routines filmed as epic pageantry. Coming after Riff, which declares that the world’s bad and should be taken very seriously, O’er the Land, which in 50 minutes documents and restages a vet’s war story, a firefighter drill, a border patrol scouting, a Revolutionary War reenactment, and a football game, with occasional voice-over and anthems, works from the more honest premise that war’s a chaotic extension of neatly-staged rallies done for fun and practice, an idea familiar from Dr. Strangelove and Inglourious Basterds, the last chapter of The Iliad, and my own recent experience with kittens who show affection by playing training games for the hunts and murders they’ll perform as cats. So there’s a fun, invisible thesis, and an empirically justifiable one, to fit the pieces together into a compass of modern Americana dress-up cases doing what they can not to be modern. And of course Stratman’s in on it as a guerilla filmmaker. It’s never clear what’s theory and what’s practice, what she’s staged or her characters have staged, so that everyone becomes a performer, even as Stratman watches them fluidly switch in and out of roles, as a line of cheer-leaders exercising slowly falls into step at a game’s sidelines. Everyone, from football players to soldiers to officers, is a costumed professional. O’er the Land, like Tati’s films, is a documentary comedy, but one about war as a domestic routine to maintain borders and self-contained identities that Stratman for her own part slips between.

And like Tati’s films, it’s a hell of a work of cinematography, unrivaled by any of the webcam posers coming out of bedroom-box Europe. Stratman exploits 16mm’s deep-focus precision so that spectators half-a-mile from the camera can be seen acting with the characters in the foreground. As in Tati, everyone’s worth watching, and mills around the scene like pieces on a board. Stratman’s favorite Benning-like strategy is to film still lives in nature or a room, and then, when the space has settled as a blown-up photograph, to send in a character or two to interact with it. It’s like Bugs Bunny let loose in a Veronese. It’s not that the spaces suddenly seem real and livable but that the characters, all dolled up, seem faker than ever, accoutrements and companion-pieces to their room. It’s a documentary doll-house. The real laugh would be if some Hollywood insider like Gus Van Sant saw the movie and brought Stratman West as a cinematographer. Hollywood would quake. —Johnny Lavant, The Auteurs

You can read the entire post here.

More:

24 Hours of Avant-Garde: The Bad Hours

24 Hours of Avant-Garde: The Good Hours, Part I

24 Hours of Avant-Garde: The Good Hours, Part II

24 Hours of Avant-Garde: The Good Hours, Part III

Related posts:

1. O’er the Land | A Film By Deborah Stratman
2. O’er the Land Film Still
3. In Order Not to Be Here (2002)

O'er the Land (2008)

1.  You’ve been a successful filmmaker.  O’er the Land, your most recent film, was one of the few experimental films to screen at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival — O’er the Land also won Best Experimental Film at the 2009 Ann Arbor Film Festival and had its European Premiere at the Rotterdam Film Festival — in the past, your film In Order Not To Be Here won awards at the Humboldt International Film Festival, the Chicago Underground Film Festival, and (again) at the Ann Arbor Film Festival.

Has success altered your outlook and optimism as a filmmaker?  Creatively, does it affect your vision as filmmaker, knowing that your next film will be watched by the world?  How does success help you as a filmmaker; and, is it ever a hindrance, such as making you more self-conscious about the next film you are going to make?

I don’t think success is as much of a hindrance as the fact that when you gain knowledge and skill, you lose a certain naïve fearlessness.  This can be crippling. so I try to keep taking conceptual/aesthetic risks, and to shake the self-consciousness that comes with experience.  Public success might create obstacles in terms of the expectations you place on yourself to live up to some ephemeral bar set by whatever you last completed.  Personally, that kind of public scrutiny barely registers compared to what I manage on my own. The ‘we-are-our-own-worst-critics’ syndrome.

Has ‘success’ altered my outlook/optimism…sure.  Getting recognition for what you make is always encouraging.  But I also love my films that never received a peep of praise, and will keep starting projects no matter how they eventually land in the world.

In Order Not to Be Here (2002)

2.  Seemingly you prefer film.  Examining your filmography (pythagorasfilm.com), I counted a 9-7 tally in favor of film.  Some say HD video is becoming the new standard, and the cost of shooting a film on HD video is cheaper than shooting on 16mm film.

In the future, do you see yourself making more films with video vs. film?  If so, will you opt for HD or SD video?  What particular qualities, or pros/cons, do you associate with the two formats?

I prefer film, but not stridently.  I shoot an almost equal amount of video and 16mm.  The circumstances of each project prescribe its format.  I’ll adapt to mediums as they change, especially as it’s becoming harder and harder to get a decent 16mm print.  All of the great timers and printers and optical track technicians are retiring without being replaced.  By the time they’re all gone, I hope HD gear and post facilities will have plummeted in price and then I’ll switch over in earnest.  But if 16mm film remained accessible, or if I could afford to produce work in 35mm, I would stick with film.  I prefer the material over the virtual, I prefer the speed of cutting on film which is closer to my native thinking speed (slow), and I’ll always prefer rear-illuminated celluloid to projected electronic scanning.

On the Various Nature of Things (1995)

3.  Technology, it’s everywhere; humans are wired more than ever.  Stan Brakhage, to a certain extent, denounced technology, stating it had many negative side effects.

To quote Alan Beck, “At what point did our computers go from being a tool to enhance our lives to a medium through which to live our lives?”

Let’s say your strolling in the Lincoln Park neighborhood of Chicago — it’s very possible you might see some serious technology multitasking — a dude, bluetooth headset in his right ear, in the midst of a phone call; left ear, earbuds, rocking out to the new Katy Perry album.  In addition to that, in his right hand he holds his iPhone/Blackberry and  he’s looking up Katy Perry tickets with a 3G internet connection; left hand, he holds a idle netbook; under his arm he holds an idle Kindle.

Like it or not, the fact is us humans will share our future lives with technology.  How should we use it, how often should we use it, and when should we eliminate it from our lives?  And for artists and filmmakers, when does it hurt and help one’s art, and how do you think technology will it affect the future of filmmaking + art?

If you are an artist, you more than likely employ some form of technological interface. Wood, paint, metal, fiber, glass, instruments… even words can been understood as tools.  In this sense, technologies are bridges between minds (the artist’s and the observer/listener). So to me, utilizing technology is nothing new, it’s how art has always worked.  But certainly, the site and frequency at which our lives can be interrupted has changed radically since cell phones, portable computers and the like arrived on the scene.

As I see it, there’s been a major paradigm shift, on the same order as when radio and records first became available.  It was a big deal when sound first became disassociated with place (radio), and then later with place and time (records).  Before that, sound had for millennia been associated with something live, and something close enough to hear.  The sonic defined the ‘here and now’ in a concrete way.  The rise of spiritualism concurrent with the advent of radio and telephony was no accident.  Suddenly, the dead could return to life.  Distances collapsed.  Voices were being pulled from the ether.

The advent of the cell phone has meant not only that we can now walk freely in a HERE while talking into a THERE, but more radically, that our HERE can be interrupted at any time by a THERE.  And there’s always a strong desire to respond to that call, a sense that connecting to a THERE is more urgent, perhaps more LIVE than what surrounds one physically.  It’s a strange shift that I admit I’ve yet to acclimate to.  I resist the way these new technologies make us always reachable.  Personally, I enjoy being lost, or off the grid, or whatever you’d like to call it.  And no, I don’t have a cell phone. I know, it’s archaic, and a bit stubborn.  Maybe my genetic makeup is just better suited to a slower era.   All of this is not to say that I don’t absolutely enjoy the pleasure of working within a highly technological medium that allows me to manipulate time and space.  There’s no comparison.  It’s really a kind of magic.

The BLVD (2002)

4.  What is your favorite beer and why?

I like a good pilsner, the czech Urquell is nice, or Becks.  But I’m more of a whiskey/tequila supporter, Jameson/Cazadores, respectively.  I was just in Scotland this summer and bought some righteous single malts.

O'er the Land (2008)

5.  If you’re comfortable with sharing, please tell us about your future projects, what to expect from them, and what inspired each.

I’m in sub-saharan Africa right now, shooting a short experimental documentary that was a mini-commission for the Rotterdam film festival.  I’m focusing on Malawi, and how culture propagates here.  I’m guessing it will be around 15 or 20 minutes, shot hand-held on miniDV.  Apart from that, I’m mid-way through editing a short 16mm documentary portrait of a bird of prey facility in northern England that I shot this summer.  That will be around 6 minutes.  And I am supposed to be making a short video about comets for a DVD that Mike Plante (Cinevegas) and Mark Rosenberg (Rooftop Films) are putting together called ORBIT – basically a bunch of filmmakers making work about the planets using NASA footage.  There’s also a longer 16mm film about recondite Illinois history that I’ve been working on for a couple of years.  It keeps getting pushed aside for various reasons, but in the next few months I’ll try and get back to it, once all these little upstart films are out of the way…

O'er the Land (2008)

6. What is the key to an artist’s success:

A) Networking; who you know and who they know.
B) How much money you can acquire to fund a extravagant vision (e.g. Jeff Koons’ upcoming $25 million sculpture, where he’ll suspend a working locomotive a hundred or so feet in the air, dangling from a construction crane).
C) Sticking with your individual vision.
D)  Hard work.

E) For me, it comes down to RESILIENCE AND PASSION.

(stubbornness, curiosity, self-confidence, grace and entrepreneurial spirit don’t hurt either)

Energy Country (2003)

7.  Let’s say you’ve been stranded on a remote island for three years.  A genie appears and tells you he will take return you home only if you list your top 5 films in order.  How would you respond?

I’d say, “You’ve got to be kidding me.  That’s the worst question ever.  This island is actually not so bad”. Okay, then I might fumble around and try and come up with some films that maybe were at one time, under certain circumstances, my favorites, but will always fall short of representing a pantheon of ‘the best’.  And in no way can be listed in order.  Since you ask, here are five.  But if you ask me again tomorrow, I’d give you a different list:  Agnes Varda’s “Vagabond”, Barbara Loden’s “Wanda”, Bruce Conner’s “A Movie”, Jean Rouch’s “Jaguar”, Georges Franju’s “Judex”.

It Will Die Out in the Mind (2006)

8.  What visuals and/or animals come to mind when you hear the word Dinca?

Small African rodent with big ears.

◊

Stratman teaches in the School of Art & Design at the University of Illinois at Chicago.  Interviewed by Andrew Rosinski during the month of August, 2009.

More:

Pythagoras Film | Deborah Stratman’s Portfolio

Deborah Stratman’s Filmography

NY TIMES: ART IN REVIEW; George Kimmerling Deborah Stratman

Cinemad Interview with Deborah Stratman

Deborah Stratman Essay by David Clark

Related posts:

1. O’er the Land | A Film By Deborah Stratman
2. In Order Not to Be Here (2002)
3. O’er the Land Film Still

A Film by Chris Marker & Mario Ruspoli (1972, France, 17 min)

If you’re in Chicago today (4/15/09), don’t miss Chris Marker’s documentary Three Cheers for the Whale, a 17 minute film that will preface Deborah Stratman’s O’er the Land.

Everyone is welcome, the event is free, and the seating it limited.   Please pass the word to those who enjoy obscure documentary gems.  Here is the viva doc event schedule for today:

5:15 Three Cheers for the Whale

5:45 O’er the Land (on 16mm!)

7:00 Open discussion with filmmaker Deborah Stratman (discussion may start 5-10 minutes earlier than expected)

“Whales, I love you.”

Synopsis: Three Cheers for a Whale, the 17 min. documentary from Chris Marker (Sans Solei, La Jetee), is a melancholy ode to the whale —  part of Marker’s Bestiary series, the majority of Whale is driven by still images and mixed with sparse, but violent, live action footage of Whalers spearing whales.

Pondering the slaughter of this majestic giant is a female narrator whose voice resembles an NPR host on Mescaline; awash with meditative voiceover, metaphor, and abstractions — signature elements of a Chris Marker film — Three Cheers for the Whale recalls some of his best poetic moments in a film he would later make, Sans Solei (1982).

Related posts:

1. O’er the Land | A Film By Deborah Stratman
2. Bullfight in Okinawa
3. O’er the Land Film Still

Deborah Stratman, USA, 2008, 16mm, 52 min, color, sound

On April 15th, 2009, experimental filmmaker Deborah Stratman will visit Columbia College of Chicago to screen and discuss her latest work, O’er the Land — an acclaimed, experimental documentary which recently premiered at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival and Internationally premiered at the Rotterdam Film Festival — also, it should also be noted that O’er won best film at the Ann Arbor Film Festival a few weeks ago.  And the success continues.

The event is presented by the Columbia student organization Viva Documentary,  and admission is open to anyone with a strong interest in documentary filmmaking — be it a student from Columbia, the Art Institute, DePaul, UOC students — cinephiles of all shapes and sizes are welcome.  Seating is limited and is a first-come-first-seated system.

Admission is free and will be hosted in room 504 of Columbia’s 1104 S. Wabash Ave film building.  View the flyer

※ 1104 S. Wabash Ave, Chicago, IL, ※ RM 504 ※ 5:15pm ※ Free

Synopsis:

Deborah Stratman’s 2008 documentary considers the effect of technology on American history and the idea of freedom. The film is framed by the experiences of Colonel William Rankin, who was forced to eject from his fighter jet in 1959 only to be trapped in the whirling winds of a massive thunderstorm. 52 min. — Chicago Reader

Hope to see you there.  Bring your dearest friends (no enemies) and be sure to have your avant-garde-doc brain inserted and ready.  Also playing is Chris Marker’s Three Cheers for the Whale.

More:

Read the IFC Review of O’er the Land

Viva Documentary

Phythagoras Film

Deborah’s interview with the Cinemad Blog

Related posts:

1. O’er the Land Film Still
2. Bullfight in Okinawa
3. In Order Not to Be Here (2002)

A still from Deborah Stratman’s O’er the Land (2009).

No related posts.

In Order Not to Be Here is the inspired, award-winning vision from Chicago-based experimental filmmaker and artist Deborah Stratman. Rife with creepiness, In Orderfeels like a bad-dream—or a leaked surveillance video from a lurking shadow government—it’s a dreamy, objectively-haunting, quasi-surveillance video. It’s also a film that poses many questions, one being the inevitable query of categorization: docudrama or experimental narrative?

In Order opens with an aerial, infrared intelligence video of a k9-team, who is in the midst of a hunt; following radio command from a offscreen surveyor, the dog-team slogs through darkness to capture an unknown figure.

A more subdued middle-passage succeeds this gripping opening, shifting focus to an indexing of familiar suburban imagery (e.g. fast-food, fences, street-lights); alas, we confront the bleak reality of our consumer-driven milieu—and, yes, it’s also a reminder that we know the characteristics of a McDonald’s building far too well (!).

A memorable chase scene book-ends this and, again, Stratman experiments with the aerial point of view camera. In fact, Deborah employs a handful of experimental film techniques throughout, including modified usage of the Kuleshov Effect, which proves to be sharply effective in a small number of instances, the most notable being audio from a news report (or quasi-news report) detailing a fire, which plays over this concluding chase, and, in turn, bestowing new meaning upon the image—altering a unknown runner into a fleeing arsonist, adding a sense of suspense and story.

Subversive and soigne, subterraneous and shadowy, In Order Not to Be Here is trenchant proof that Deborah Stratman is a trail-blazer clearing her way to the forefront of contemporary experimental film. ▲

Deborah will screen and discuss her newest work, an 55 minute experimental doc, O’er the Land (2008), on 4/15/09, part of Viva Documentary’s Winter Film Series. Deborah’s doc, The BLVD (’99), examines Chicago’s the subterranean street-racing culture, and will screen at viva doc on 4/7/09).

Deborah Stratman’s website, Pythagoras Film

Related posts:

1. Interview with Tami Yeager of Tribeca