Exclusive: Docu-drama selected for BFI London Film Festival.
Artscope has taken on international sales of UK artist and experimental director Ben Rivers’ Morocco-set The Sky Trembles And The Earth Is Afraid And The Two Eyes Are Not Brothers, a picture which explores the act of film-making.
Shot against the backdrop of the Atlas Mountains and the Moroccan Desert, the multi-layered film combines an adaptation of the late Tangiers-based, Us writer Peter Bowles’s 1947 short story A Distant Episode with footage of contemporary films sets.
“Part documentary, part fiction, we believe the film will not only speak to audiences familiar with Ben’s work as an artist but also to cinephiles and festival-goers eager to be shaken by different forms of expression,” said Sata Cissokho, head of Artscope, the specialist art film label of Paris-based Memento Films International.
The BFI London Film Festival (Lff) announced on Tuesday that the film would screen in its line-up in October. The feature...
Artscope has taken on international sales of UK artist and experimental director Ben Rivers’ Morocco-set The Sky Trembles And The Earth Is Afraid And The Two Eyes Are Not Brothers, a picture which explores the act of film-making.
Shot against the backdrop of the Atlas Mountains and the Moroccan Desert, the multi-layered film combines an adaptation of the late Tangiers-based, Us writer Peter Bowles’s 1947 short story A Distant Episode with footage of contemporary films sets.
“Part documentary, part fiction, we believe the film will not only speak to audiences familiar with Ben’s work as an artist but also to cinephiles and festival-goers eager to be shaken by different forms of expression,” said Sata Cissokho, head of Artscope, the specialist art film label of Paris-based Memento Films International.
The BFI London Film Festival (Lff) announced on Tuesday that the film would screen in its line-up in October. The feature...
- 9/1/2015
- ScreenDaily
September is here again, and it's time to delve into the cinematic bounty of the Wavelengths section of the Toronto International Film Festival, that rambunctious and idiosyncratic corner of the Reitman Machine largely cordoned off from commercial concerns and set aside for lovely and sometimes difficult film art. Despite the ever-changing profile of Tiff, stalwart programmer Andréa Picard has [cue needle-scratching-record sound] What? Yes, last year at this time, the avant-garde community thought we were seeing Ms. Picard leaving this position behind. Fortunately for us all, Tiff won her back.
And this is where things get interesting. Starting with this 2012 edition of the festival, the Wavelengths section is a much more broadly based, festival-wide category. In essence, it now subsumes the old Visions designation, which was Tiff’s home for formally challenging, feature-length arthouse fare. This merger, which may seem like a bit of a shotgun wedding to some, does in fact make sense.
And this is where things get interesting. Starting with this 2012 edition of the festival, the Wavelengths section is a much more broadly based, festival-wide category. In essence, it now subsumes the old Visions designation, which was Tiff’s home for formally challenging, feature-length arthouse fare. This merger, which may seem like a bit of a shotgun wedding to some, does in fact make sense.
- 9/11/2012
- MUBI
Entering into its third year, Crossroads is the San Francisco Cinematheque‘s celebration of the best modern avant-garde and experimental film. Curated by Cinematheque Artistic Director Steve Polta, it will run on May 18-20 at the Victoria Theatre at 2961 16th Street (at Mission).
Some of the special programs this year include a tribute and retrospective to Cinematheque co-founder Chick Strand featuring three of her experimental works, Kristallnacht (1979), Soft Fiction (1979) and Angel Blue Sweet Wings (1966); plus, a screening of the complete works (so far) of young filmmaker Laida Lerxtundi, whose work explores “how filmic moments can be imbued with emotional resonance;” as well as a program of live expanded cinema performances by Kerry Laitala, Greg Pope and Gerritt Wittmer & Paul Knowles.
The rest of the fest consists of screening blocks of short experimental films, including Ken Jacob‘s latest, Seeking the Monkey King, plus new work by Jesse McLean, Paul Clipson,...
Some of the special programs this year include a tribute and retrospective to Cinematheque co-founder Chick Strand featuring three of her experimental works, Kristallnacht (1979), Soft Fiction (1979) and Angel Blue Sweet Wings (1966); plus, a screening of the complete works (so far) of young filmmaker Laida Lerxtundi, whose work explores “how filmic moments can be imbued with emotional resonance;” as well as a program of live expanded cinema performances by Kerry Laitala, Greg Pope and Gerritt Wittmer & Paul Knowles.
The rest of the fest consists of screening blocks of short experimental films, including Ken Jacob‘s latest, Seeking the Monkey King, plus new work by Jesse McLean, Paul Clipson,...
- 5/15/2012
- by Mike Everleth
- Underground Film Journal
Ben Rivers' film is about a man who lives in a remote Scottish house. We follow his daily life – but don't know why. Welcome to 'slow cinema'
This could be the least glamorous wrap party in the history of cinema. It is 2am, and we're sitting around a dying fire, sipping tea and whisky in the middle of a pine forest in Aberdeenshire, in the junk-strewn courtyard of an old farmhouse. The house belongs to Jake Williams, wiry, bright-eyed and with an impressive white beard. He's the movie's star; or, rather, he's the only person in it. Opposite him sit the crew: director Ben Rivers and sound recordist Chu-li Shewring. That's it. They have just finished shooting the final scene of Rivers' first feature: a close-up of Williams staring into the fire as it slowly dies. They've shot it twice tonight, adding bits of car tyre (it gives off a nice,...
This could be the least glamorous wrap party in the history of cinema. It is 2am, and we're sitting around a dying fire, sipping tea and whisky in the middle of a pine forest in Aberdeenshire, in the junk-strewn courtyard of an old farmhouse. The house belongs to Jake Williams, wiry, bright-eyed and with an impressive white beard. He's the movie's star; or, rather, he's the only person in it. Opposite him sit the crew: director Ben Rivers and sound recordist Chu-li Shewring. That's it. They have just finished shooting the final scene of Rivers' first feature: a close-up of Williams staring into the fire as it slowly dies. They've shot it twice tonight, adding bits of car tyre (it gives off a nice,...
- 4/26/2012
- by Steve Rose
- The Guardian - Film News
The fourth annual Migrating Forms media festival, which will run May 11-20 at the Anthology Film Archives in NYC, is a compelling mix of political films, pop culture explorations, ethnographic exposés and collections of new media art.
The fest begins and ends with political films directed and curated by Eric Baudelaire. His latest work, The Anabasis of May and Fusako Shigenobu, Masao Adachi and 27 Years without Images, opens the festival on May 11; while a pair of films – Masao Adachi & Kôji Wakamatsu’s Red Army/Pflp: Declaration of World War and The Dziga Vertov Group’s Ici et Ailleurs closes it on May 20.
Some of the special events sprinkled throughout the event include Ed Halter‘s survey of faux experimental films made for mainstream movies and TV shows that should prove to be an amazingly entertaining and enlightening discussion; a retrospective of the highly influential animation by Chuck Jones; the interactive...
The fest begins and ends with political films directed and curated by Eric Baudelaire. His latest work, The Anabasis of May and Fusako Shigenobu, Masao Adachi and 27 Years without Images, opens the festival on May 11; while a pair of films – Masao Adachi & Kôji Wakamatsu’s Red Army/Pflp: Declaration of World War and The Dziga Vertov Group’s Ici et Ailleurs closes it on May 20.
Some of the special events sprinkled throughout the event include Ed Halter‘s survey of faux experimental films made for mainstream movies and TV shows that should prove to be an amazingly entertaining and enlightening discussion; a retrospective of the highly influential animation by Chuck Jones; the interactive...
- 4/26/2012
- by Mike Everleth
- Underground Film Journal
Looking back at 2011 on what films moved and impressed us it becomes more and more clear—to me at least—that watching old films is a crucial part of making new films meaningful. Thus, our end of year poll, now an annual tradition, which calls upon our writers to pick both a new and an old film: they were challenged to choose a new film they saw in 2011—in theaters or at a festival—and creatively pair it with an old film they also saw in 2011 to create a unique double feature. Many contributors chose their favorites of 2011, some picked out-of-the-way gems, others made some pretty strange connections—and some frankly just want to create a kerfuffle. All the contributors were asked to write a paragraph explaining their 2011 fantasy double feature. What's more, each writer was given the option to list more pairings, with or without explanation, as further imaginative...
- 1/5/2012
- MUBI
"The second-to-last interview that Pier Paolo Pasolini gave before he was murdered in 1975 (a case that still remains mysterious) and that was long believed lost has turned up," reports the New Yorker's Richard Brody. "Eric Loret and Robert Maggiori tell the story in Libération — Pasolini was introducing his work in Sweden, a round-table discussion was recorded for broadcast, then held, then lost, until his Swedish translator, Carl Henrik Svenstedt, recently found his personal recording of the talk. The Italian weekly L'Espresso has published a partial transcript of the discussion, along with the audio recording." And he's got excerpts. For example: "I consider consumerism to be a Fascism worse than the classical one, because clerical Fascism didn't really transform Italians, didn't enter into them. It was a totalitarian state but not a totalizing one."
In other news. "This month Offscreen groups together (four of the five) essays that attempt to illuminate...
In other news. "This month Offscreen groups together (four of the five) essays that attempt to illuminate...
- 12/30/2011
- MUBI
The "Hammer Horror" on the cover of the new 49th issue of Cinema Scope refers to Kill List, "which strikes me as the key horror movie of the new century so far," writes Adam Nayman, introducing his interview with director Ben Wheatley. Before moving on to the rest of the issue, let me note that Marcus Hearn has a relatively new book out about the original Hammer, The Hammer Vault: Treasures From the Archive of Hammer Films and Kimberly Lindbergs talks with him about it for Movie Morlocks. It's one of her favorite film-related books of the year and, at the Playlist, Drew Taylor gives it an "A."
But back to Cinema Scope. Olivier Père talks with William Friedkin about Killer Joe and, in something of a coup, Jp Sniadecki scores an interview with Ai Weiwei: "He is not officially allowed to give interviews, nor to produce any films,...
But back to Cinema Scope. Olivier Père talks with William Friedkin about Killer Joe and, in something of a coup, Jp Sniadecki scores an interview with Ai Weiwei: "He is not officially allowed to give interviews, nor to produce any films,...
- 12/23/2011
- MUBI
Sack Barrow (2011)
In Monday's Briefing, I devoted a couple of paragraphs to Ben Rivers, and today sees a double bill of Sack Barrow and Slow Action, followed on Monday by a screening of Two Years at Sea, all, of course, as part of the New York Film Festival's Views from the Avant-Garde program.
"Ben Rivers makes work that celebrates the simplest virtues of craft, self-reliance, and the solitary life in the face of a future that may expunge all traces of humanity," writes Tony Pipolo for Artforum. "Sack Barrow, dedicated to the workers in a factory that had engaged in metal electroplating and finishing since 1931, was filmed during its last month of operation in 2010. Though the site appears old and grungy, the colors and compositions of every shot are anything but. To stress this painterly quality, Rivers inserts full frames of vivid red, yellow, green, and blue that also reflect...
In Monday's Briefing, I devoted a couple of paragraphs to Ben Rivers, and today sees a double bill of Sack Barrow and Slow Action, followed on Monday by a screening of Two Years at Sea, all, of course, as part of the New York Film Festival's Views from the Avant-Garde program.
"Ben Rivers makes work that celebrates the simplest virtues of craft, self-reliance, and the solitary life in the face of a future that may expunge all traces of humanity," writes Tony Pipolo for Artforum. "Sack Barrow, dedicated to the workers in a factory that had engaged in metal electroplating and finishing since 1931, was filmed during its last month of operation in 2010. Though the site appears old and grungy, the colors and compositions of every shot are anything but. To stress this painterly quality, Rivers inserts full frames of vivid red, yellow, green, and blue that also reflect...
- 10/7/2011
- MUBI
At the top of its roundup of all things Farocki, Alt Screen notes that MoMA will be hosting An Evening with Harun Farocki tonight in conjunction with the exhibition Harun Farocki: Images of War (at a Distance), on view through January 2. Farocki will then be at Anthology Film Archives tomorrow night for the launch of their retrospective, running through October 10.
Ben Rivers will be at the Harvard Film Archive this evening for a double bill: Slow Action (2010) and Sack Barrow (2011). His latest, Two Years at Sea, premiered in Venice, and Neil Young wrote: "This Is My Land (2006) was an intimate portrait of Jake Williams and his hermit-like existence in the middle of Aberdeenshire's forests, and Two Years at Sea, Rivers's first feature-length work, is a 90-minute variation on similar themes, with only one line of audible dialogue ('chesty cough,' mumbles Jake, examining a bottle of expectorant.) A hoarder of old photographs,...
Ben Rivers will be at the Harvard Film Archive this evening for a double bill: Slow Action (2010) and Sack Barrow (2011). His latest, Two Years at Sea, premiered in Venice, and Neil Young wrote: "This Is My Land (2006) was an intimate portrait of Jake Williams and his hermit-like existence in the middle of Aberdeenshire's forests, and Two Years at Sea, Rivers's first feature-length work, is a 90-minute variation on similar themes, with only one line of audible dialogue ('chesty cough,' mumbles Jake, examining a bottle of expectorant.) A hoarder of old photographs,...
- 10/3/2011
- MUBI
As has been noted many times before, by me and others, the Wavelengths series of the Toronto International Film Festival is like a festival unto itself. So far removed from the red carpet nonsense, the deal-making, and the me-firstism of web journalists hoping to hit the Web with their initial impressions of some new Bryce Dallas Howard vehicle, Wavelengths affords breathing room to cinema and video at its most formally adventurous and, yes, uncommercial. We come here to look and listen, not to look “at” or listen “to,” and if that sounds hopelessly pretentious, come on down to the Jackman Hall and see for yourself. It’s actually quite cleansing, often funny, and a guaranteed good time, at least in part. (Short films are like the weather in my hometown of Houston, Texas. Don’t like it? Wait a moment. It’ll change.)
Sadly, Wavelengths 2011 will be the final year for series curator Andréa Picard.
Sadly, Wavelengths 2011 will be the final year for series curator Andréa Picard.
- 9/8/2011
- MUBI
Future Projections is a program of moving-image artworks which will be on view throughout the city during the Toronto International Film Festival (September 9 through 18). Below is the festival's announcement of the program's lineup; it follows entries laying out the lineups for Visions, Wavelengths, Contemporary World Cinema and Galas and Special Presentations.
Mr. Brainwash: Mr. Brainwash in Toronto (2011). Made famous by the film Exit through the Gift Shop as legendary street-artist Banksy's alter ego, Thierry Guetta , aka Mr. Brainwash, has continued to produce provocative and playful Pop art. His work hungrily appropriates contemporary visual-art masters and cheekily tweaks the nose of gallery-based convention. He will be engaged in multiple projects during the Festival, including a significant, multiple-piece exhibition at Gallery One. His presence will also be felt outside Roy Thomson Hall, with his spray cans towering over the red carpet, providing emergency assistance for evenings requiring additional glamour and pomp.
Mr. Brainwash: Mr. Brainwash in Toronto (2011). Made famous by the film Exit through the Gift Shop as legendary street-artist Banksy's alter ego, Thierry Guetta , aka Mr. Brainwash, has continued to produce provocative and playful Pop art. His work hungrily appropriates contemporary visual-art masters and cheekily tweaks the nose of gallery-based convention. He will be engaged in multiple projects during the Festival, including a significant, multiple-piece exhibition at Gallery One. His presence will also be felt outside Roy Thomson Hall, with his spray cans towering over the red carpet, providing emergency assistance for evenings requiring additional glamour and pomp.
- 8/16/2011
- MUBI
The 23rd annual Onion City Experimental Film and Video Festival presents four nights of international avant-garde and experimental media from all over the world. The fest runs June 23-26 with the Opening Night festivities taking place at the Gene Siskel Film Center and the rest of the screenings held at the venerable Chicago Filmmakers, which has been behind the event for the past 11 years.
The Opening Night presentation begins with the new short film from the Brothers Quay, Maska, which was produced in Poland and based on a short story by Polish author Stanislaw Lem (Solaris). Also included in the opening screening are films by Thom Anderson, Mati Diop, Christopher Becks, Milena Gierke and more.
The Closing Night film is the much anticipated new feature by former Chicagoan James Fotopoulos. He will be screening Alice in Wonderland, an adaptation of an 1886 musical based on the classic children’s book. The film features hundreds of drawings,...
The Opening Night presentation begins with the new short film from the Brothers Quay, Maska, which was produced in Poland and based on a short story by Polish author Stanislaw Lem (Solaris). Also included in the opening screening are films by Thom Anderson, Mati Diop, Christopher Becks, Milena Gierke and more.
The Closing Night film is the much anticipated new feature by former Chicagoan James Fotopoulos. He will be screening Alice in Wonderland, an adaptation of an 1886 musical based on the classic children’s book. The film features hundreds of drawings,...
- 6/10/2011
- by Mike Everleth
- Underground Film Journal
The 18th Annual Chicago Underground Film Festival has handed out their annual awards. The big winner this year is filmmaker Jerzy Rose for his movie Some Girls Never Learn.
Rose’s debut comedy feature film won both the Made in Chicago Award and was voted the number one film amongst audience members.
Other feature films winning prizes are Best Documentary And Again, Adele Horne’s portrait of the unusual town of Playas, New Mexico; while the Best Narrative (feature) award was split between two films: Alex Ross Perry’s The Color Wheel, about feuding siblings; and Damon Russell’s Snow on tha Bluff, a fictional autobiography about an Atlanta crack dealer.
Short film winners include Ryan Garrett, John Price and Ben Rivers; while Nellie Kluz, Mike Gibisser, Spencer Parsons and Laura Kraning all received honorable mentions.
The jury selecting this year’s winners were Donald Harrison of the Ann Arbor Film Festival,...
Rose’s debut comedy feature film won both the Made in Chicago Award and was voted the number one film amongst audience members.
Other feature films winning prizes are Best Documentary And Again, Adele Horne’s portrait of the unusual town of Playas, New Mexico; while the Best Narrative (feature) award was split between two films: Alex Ross Perry’s The Color Wheel, about feuding siblings; and Damon Russell’s Snow on tha Bluff, a fictional autobiography about an Atlanta crack dealer.
Short film winners include Ryan Garrett, John Price and Ben Rivers; while Nellie Kluz, Mike Gibisser, Spencer Parsons and Laura Kraning all received honorable mentions.
The jury selecting this year’s winners were Donald Harrison of the Ann Arbor Film Festival,...
- 6/7/2011
- by Mike Everleth
- Underground Film Journal
The 18th annual Chicago Underground Film Festival is ready to have another monumental year at the Gene Siskel Film Center on June 2-9, featuring a killer lineup with new films from some true underground legends.
First, Usama Alshaibi will screen his latest, most visually stunning and conceptually innovative feature Profane, about a spiritually confused Muslim sex worker trying to recapture her lost jinn — a demon of smokeless fire — on streets of the Windy City.
Then, documentary filmmakers Jeff Krulik and John Heyn return to their hard rockin’ roots with Heavy Metal Picnic, which relives one of the most notorious ’80s weekend parties in the history of Maryland and the world — the Full Moon Jamboree, which if you can remember it means you weren’t there. Plus, Hmp will be screened with Heyn and Krulik’s underground classic Heavy Metal Parking Lot.
Also in the documentary vein, are Marie Losier‘s...
First, Usama Alshaibi will screen his latest, most visually stunning and conceptually innovative feature Profane, about a spiritually confused Muslim sex worker trying to recapture her lost jinn — a demon of smokeless fire — on streets of the Windy City.
Then, documentary filmmakers Jeff Krulik and John Heyn return to their hard rockin’ roots with Heavy Metal Picnic, which relives one of the most notorious ’80s weekend parties in the history of Maryland and the world — the Full Moon Jamboree, which if you can remember it means you weren’t there. Plus, Hmp will be screened with Heyn and Krulik’s underground classic Heavy Metal Parking Lot.
Also in the documentary vein, are Marie Losier‘s...
- 5/13/2011
- by Mike Everleth
- Underground Film Journal
The 49th annual Ann Arbor Film Festival is an epic celebration of experimental media that runs for six days on March 22-27. There’s so much great stuff screening this year, it makes one wonder what they’ll have left for their 50th anniversary next year!
A couple of the highlights include the highly anticipated feature-length documentary The Ballad of Genesis and Lady Jaye by Marie Losier, which chronicles the pandrogynous love story between industrial music pioneer Genesis P-Orridge and his late wife. The film already made a big splash at the Berlinale earlier in the year and looks to be a major hit on the festival circuit this year.
Also not to be missed is a special retrospective of one of this year’s festival jury members, Vanessa Renwick, a longtime favorite on Bad Lit: The Journal of Underground Film. Renwick will screen 10 of her quirky and artistic documentary portraits,...
A couple of the highlights include the highly anticipated feature-length documentary The Ballad of Genesis and Lady Jaye by Marie Losier, which chronicles the pandrogynous love story between industrial music pioneer Genesis P-Orridge and his late wife. The film already made a big splash at the Berlinale earlier in the year and looks to be a major hit on the festival circuit this year.
Also not to be missed is a special retrospective of one of this year’s festival jury members, Vanessa Renwick, a longtime favorite on Bad Lit: The Journal of Underground Film. Renwick will screen 10 of her quirky and artistic documentary portraits,...
- 3/7/2011
- by Mike Everleth
- Underground Film Journal
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