Tuesday 2 November 2010, 7pm
THE END
Christopher Maclaine, USA, 1963 16mm b/w & colour sound 35 minutes
The End follows the last day on earth for six of ‘our friends’ living in the shadow of the atomic
bomb. Cryptic camerawork and disjointed cutting conspire to salvage narrative from unrelated
images, accompanied by a barely coherent rant of existential despair. An anti-film infused
with dark, ironic humour; deliciously inept and inadvertently glorious.
Tuesday 30 November 2010, 7pm
ÄGYPTEN [EGYPT]
Kathrin Resetarits, Austria, 1997, 16mm, b/w, sound, 10 minutes
Ägypten takes viewers on a journey into the silent world of sign language, exploring visual
communication between people of all ages. Children recount movie scenes and an expedition
to the pyramids, a woman signs a traditional Viennese ballad and a group of pensioners
socialise. The film uses the power of cinema to explore this theme with humour and
compassion.
Kathrin Resetarits (born 1973) is a Viennese writer, actress and filmmaker. Her other films
include Fremde (1999) and Ich Bin Ich (2006). She played a leading role in Barbara Albert’s
Fallen (1997) and has worked as an assistant to Michael Haneke.
Tuesday 11 January 2011, from 7pm
COCULLO
Nino Pezzella, Italy, 2000-06, 16mm, colour, sound, 30 minutes
Snakes alive! For the annual Festa dei Serpari in Cocullo, a statue of San Domenico is
adorned with snakes and paraded through the village streets, escorted by bagpipes and a
marching band. Traditional foods are prepared using time-honoured methods. Pezzella’s
dynamic film collides sounds and images as it follows this extraordinary ritual and its
participants.
Painter and filmmaker Nino Pezzella (born 1961, Wiesbaden) studied film and cooking at the
Städelschule, Frankfurt, where he now teaches life drawing. His current work documents the
lives of the Femminielli in Naples.
Tuesday 8 February 2011, 7pm
BARBARA’S BLINDNESS
Joyce Wieland & Betty Ferguson, 1965, 16mm, b/w, sound, 17 minutes
Constructed from found and stock footage, Barbara’s Blindness is a meditation on vision and
adversity, drawing humour and pathos from a moralising educational film. “We started out
with a dull film about a little blind girl named Mary and ended up with something that made us
get crazy.”
Joyce Wieland (1931-88) was a pioneer of patriotic and feminist Canadian art. Though
primarily known as a filmmaker, she was also a distinguished painter and mixed media artist.
Wieland’s lifelong friend Betty Ferguson (born 1933) went on to make three found footage
films of her own in the 1970s.
Tuesday 8 March 2011, 7pm
O’ER THE LAND
Deborah Stratman, USA, 2009, 16mm, colour, sound, 52 minutes
Marine Corps pilot William Rankin ejected from his jet into a severe thunderstorm, surviving
lightening strikes in a 40-minute descent. 50 years later, his account is the starting point for a
contemplation of American national identity that takes in revolutionary war re-enactments,
high school football games, gun shows, firefighters and border patrols.
Deborah Stratman (born 1967) is a Chicago-based artist working in photography, sound,
drawing and installation. Her films use experimental and documentary techniques to explore
an interest in landscapes, mythologies and systems.
Wednesday 12 April 2011, 7pm
PLASTIC HAIRCUT
Robert Nelson, USA, 1965, 16mm, b/w, sound, 15 minutes
Two actors perform absurd actions in sets composed of geometric shapes. Two experts try to
explain what it all means. Goofing off in positive/negative space, Robert Nelson and
collaborators William T. Wiley, Ron Hudson, R.G. Davis and Steve Reich construct a spirited
work that invokes Alfred Jarry, Dada and improvised theatre.
“None of us knew anything about making movies, but we all knew about art (namely that it
had something to do with having a good time).” (Robert Nelson)
Robert Nelson (born 1930) was a key figure of the post-war independent film scene and one
of the founders of Canyon Cinema. His belief that filmmaking should be primarily a fun activity
created some of the most entertaining and infectious works of the American underground.
Tuesday 31 May 2011, 7pm
FILMMAKERS’ HOLIDAY
Johan van der Keuken, Netherlands, 1974, 16mm, b/w & colour, sound, 39 minutes
During a family holiday in the South of France, the filmmaker reflects on his life and career,
interweaving excerpts from previous works, fragments of poetry, and the wartime memories
of elderly neighbours. As he discovers the world through his son’s eyes, the film veers from
the intimate to explore the universal motif of the passage from life to death.
“One of those small masterpieces one encounters by surprise.” (Jean-Paul Fargier, Cahiers
du Cinéma)
The prolific documentary maker Johan van der Keuken (1938-2001) is also celebrated
photographer. His 55 films, which have been shown in major retrospectives around the world,
often explore themes of anthropology, ethnography and economics from a personal
viewpoint.
Monday 20 June 2011, 7pm
THE AVIARY / NYMPHLIGHT / A FABLE FOR FOUNTAINS
Joseph Cornell & Rudy Burckhardt, USA, 1955-57, 16mm, b/w & colour, sound, 19 minutes
A trilogy of films, united on a single reel, which offer a magical glimpse at New York long
since passed. In each, a young woman drifts through the city’s streets and parks, embodying
the artists’ distinctive qualities of melancholia and childlike wonder.
“Joseph Cornell describes the marginal area where the conscious and the unconscious
meet.” P. Adams Sitney, Visionary Film)
The artist Joseph Cornell (1903-72) is best known for his enigmatic box constructions. His
films likewise used found materials, but on occasion he employed filmmakers Rudy
Burckhardt, Stan Brakhage or Larry Jordan to photograph original footage under his direction.
Tuesday 26 July 2011, 7pm
BOUVIER AND PRUSAKOVA
Marya Alford, USA, 2005, 16mm, colour, sound, 25 minutes
To accompany images of cherry blossom against a radiant blue sky, a voice reads an
autobiographical account of a relationship. The text is excerpted from the Warren
Commission testimony of the wife of Lee Harvey Oswald, assassin of President John F.
Kennedy. Titled by the maiden names of their widows, the film parallels the lives of both
women.
Screening to coincide with the 70th birthday of Marina Oswald Porter.
Marya Alford (born 1979) studied at Otis College and USC, Los Angeles. She works primarily
in photography and installation. Bouvier and Prusakova is her only film to date.
Tuesday 30 August 2011, 7pm
UNNAMED FILM
Naomi Uman, Ukraine, 2008, 16mm, colour, sound, 55 minutes
Naomi Uman stepped into the Ukranian time machine in 2006. 100 years after her
grandparents emigrated to the USA, the filmmaker made the reverse journey and settled in a
remote village. Her film diary documents her assimilation into the customs of an ageing
community, and observes a rural way of life that has changed little over the centuries.
“A hybrid of lyrical and documentary forms, hers is a cinema equally attuned to the unique
textures of small-gauge celluloid and the subtleties of cultural difference.” (Light Industry)
Naomi Uman’s work addresses themes of labour, geography, immigration, language and
love. She continues to live in the Ukraine, where she makes films, paints, and grows
vegetables and flowers.