PERSONAL CINEMA SPRING SERIES 2009
ALL SHOWS START AT 8PM
APRIL 24 (Fri.) OPEN SCREENING
DVD, Mini-DV, Videotape, 16MM, S8MM. All works are shown on a first-come-first-served basis. Bring films, videos and/or come as a viewer. (Finished works only, limited to a maximum of 20 minutes per person). Refreshments will be available. Doors open at 7pm. Screening begins at 8pm and ends at 10:30pm. Admission by contribution.
MAY 2 (Sat.) NEW VIDEOS FROM GEORGE & MIKE KUCHAR
The Millennium is pleased To present its annual screening of new works by the irrepressible Kuchar brothers, both of whom now make their home in San Francisco.
They started out working together on 8mm parodies of Hollywood melodramas in the early 1960s. Soon they went their separate ways and began a series of 16mm films filled with outrageous characters, multi-faceted sexuality and hearty humor. They eventually moved into video and digital media and have explored whole new areas of narrative and diary cinema.
Program - COVEN OF THE HEATHENITES (2009) by GEORGE KUCHAR, Three works by MIKE KUCHAR- A MIDSUMMER'S NIGHTMARE (15 min.-2008) STOLEN SWEETS AND TATTLE TALES (10 min.-2009), IDYLL (20 min.-2009) and GEORGE KUCHAR's, THE UNMENTIONABLES (2009). On STOLEN SWEETS AND TATTLE TALES- "A bitter sweet frolic that reassembles the scattered pieces of 'Life's Puzzle.'" - M.K. On IDYLL- "… At the alter of a pagan god; I offer only gentle flowers of Spring and the diamonds and opals of dew strung on the threads of the spider… and fear the holy angels."- M.K. All works in the program are NY premieres.
ANOTHER TIME AROUND
The Millennium is pleased to report an outstanding, much discussed program from last year's Personal Cinema Series.
MAY 9 (Sat.) AS SHE LIKES IT: FEMALE PERFORMANCE ART FROM AUSTRIA
Films and videos by MARIA LASSNIG, HUBERT SIELECKI, MIRIAM BAJTALA, CAROLA DERTNIG, KERSTIN CMELKA, BARBARA MUSIL, KARO SZMIT, ULRIKE MÜLLER, FIONA RUKSCHCIO, MARA MATTUSCHKA, CHRIS HARING, and MICHAELA POSCHL.
"The AS SHE LIKES IT program is a collection of current works by Austrian videomakers which combine contemporary aspects with the tradition of performance art by women. The representation of the female body and feminine identity play a role in the electronic media also. With the aid of a mirror's glare Mirjam Bejtela saves herself from being captured by the omnipresent eye of the camera…In Ulrike Müller's MOCK ROCK a cover of a familiar pop song becomes a melancholy farewell to a 'desire for independence as well as the impossibility of achieving it.' (U.M.). In a very different mood Barbara Musil and Karo Szmit play carefree tourists in a world of kitschy portrayals of Austria's mountains. An austere hotel room serves Doris Schmid as the setting for a lonely woman's spectacular end. And last but not least Mara Mattuschka, the queen of self-representation in Austrian film, directs according to someone else's performance concept for the first time in a successful joint project with choreographer Chris Haring." - Brigitte Bauer-Utzer. A selected program from INDEX distributors.
LATIN AMERICAN INDEPENDENT CINEMA
April–June (Tuesdays) Videoteca Del Sur
There will be consecutive programs of recent and classic films from Mexico, Central and South America organized by the NYC-based group, Videoteca Del Sur, Pedro Zurita, Director. This is an ongoing series at Millennium. For information contact:
videlsur@mindspring.com.
Programs begin at 7:30pm. Films from Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Chile, Cuba, Argentina, Panama, Mexico, Bolivia, Columbia, Uruguay, Ecuador, Venezuela, Peru, Brazil, El Salvador.
MAY 22 (Fri.) OPEN SCREENING
DVD, Mini-DV, Videotape, 16MM, S8MM. All works are shown on a first-come-first-served basis. Bring films, videos and/or come as a viewer. (Finished works only, limited to a maximum of 20 minutes per person). Refreshments will be available. Doors open at 7pm. Screening begins at 8pm and ends at 10:30pm. Admission by contribution.MAY 23 .(Sat.) NEIL IRA NEEDLEMAN
Over the years Neil Ira Needleman has produced a large number of videos that exude a very special energy and humor combined with a truly innovative spirit. He will be present to show and discuss a program of new works.
Recent Narrated Videos (a compilation of 5 works): (22 min.), I KNOW WHO REALLY SENT THE ANTHRAX LETTERS (6 1/2 min.), MY FIRST CENSORED PORN MOVIE (4 1/2 min.), VISIONS OF WASTED TIME (4 1/2 min.), CELLULAR ACTIVITY: RESPECT FOR RED AND GREEN (6 1/2 min.), SECRET ZIONIST CONSPIRACIES THROUGHOUT HISTORY THAT YOU SHOULD KNOW ABOUT BECAUSE YOU MAY BE NEXT!!!!!!!! (7 min.), TWO JOURNEYS (5 min.) world premiere, MEESKEIT (8 min.) world premiere.MAY 29 (Fri) HOWARD GUTTENPLAN DIARY CINEMA
This program will feature some key works from Howard Guttenplan's DIARY FILM SERIES. This includes 16mm and Super 8mm films shot in NEW YORK CITY, CARACAS, VENEZUELA, SAN FRANCISCO and EUROPE.
"For the most part, a written diary records what we do, as well as attitudes towards those actions. But a film diary can only be a record of what is seen. This fact is the basic condition of the genre. In order to present us with a sense of who he or she is, the film diarist must work obliquely, portraying the whole person through only one aspect of life, perception. Each image is read as a decision or choice of where and how to look. The film is a string of such choices, from which the personalities of the diarist emerges through correspondences and regularities in the imagery." - Noel Carroll
"He (Guttenplan) creates a visual flow of rich impressions of singular intensity. There are always surprises. Is it a blue sky or merely a small patch of color on a wall? Real objects and their shadows intermingle to such an extent that it is difficult to tell where one leaves off and other begins. The compositional space of the framed image is shifted and divided in every possible way. At times close-up and far shot become interchangeable; small clusters of repeated patterns grow and develop into larger ones with the speed and nervous twitches of an artist's brush." - Bob Cowan (TAKE ONE magazine)MAY 30 (Sat.) JAY HUDSON
Jay Hudson is a Brooklyn-based, Super 8mm filmmaker who came to our attention at the Millennium's monthly open screenings. He has shown his work at various cinema venues and recently Collaborated with XYZeta Projects/Jimena Paz on Empty Lot, an interdisciplinary dance performance. "His work varies from complex studies in visual rhythms to simple explorations that emphasize the nature of celluloid." - J.H.
UNTITLED (7 min.), CHAOS (10 min.), CROSSES (HARLEM STEPS) (10 min.), BENCH (2min.), S21 (2min.), EXPOSURE #1 (7 min.), EXPOSURE #3 (COLORS) (5 min.), LIBERATION FROM BLINDNESS (7 min.), STEEL HOLLIS (20 min.), EXPOSURE #3 (5 min.), UNTITLED (2 min.), and others.JUNE 6 (Sat.) DAVID GATTEN
In his first one Person program at Millennium David Gallen will give a reading and screen the following 16mm films - Films from SECRET HISTORY OF DIVIDING LINE, A TRUE ACCOUNT TIN NINE PARTS, an Exploration of the Library and Life of William Byrd and his daughter Evelyn.
PART I: SECRET HISTORY OF THE DIVIDING LINE (20 min.-2002), PART II: THE GREAT ART OF KNOWING (37 min.-2004), from PART V (GADBURY'S DOCTRINE OF NATIVITIES): HOW TO CONDUCT A LOVE AFFAIR (8 min.-2007), from PART VI (LA PLUME VOLANTE): ADV. TYPING TIPS, PART 5 (4 min.-1940/2009), (followed by the non-SH films): FILM FOR INVISIBLE INK CASE NO. 142: ABBREVIATION FOR DEAD WINTER [DIMINISHED BY 1,794] (13 min.-2006), SHRIMP BOAT LOG (6 min.-2006/2009).
Over the last ten years David Gatten's films have explored the intersection of the printed word and the moving image, while investigating the shifting vocabularies of experience and representation within intimate spaces and historical documents. Through traditional research methods and non-traditional film processes, the films trace the contours of both private lives and public histories, combining elements of philosophy, biography and poetry with experiments in cinematic forms and narrative structures.
"Gatten's individual films, and the SECRET HISTORY project, ask for an unusual sort of film viewer. The films are simultaneously modern and postmodern; they ask viewers to consider the physical processes that resulted in the imagery we see and the ways in which these processes express the filmmaker's engagement with his medium…" - Scott MacDonald (from his forthcoming book ADVENTURES IN PERCEPTION: CINEMA AS EXPLORATION).JUNE 13 (Sat.) RIE SAKAGUCHI
A program of recent Super 8mm films by the Japanese-American artist will be presented this evening. She utilizes the positive advantages of small-format filmmaking with its portability, unobtrusiveness and vivid filmic colors. Her diaristic films are silent, edited in camera and employ rapid-fire cutting and camera movement. Her filmmaking has been influenced by her extensive painting background.
WATER (8 min.-2007), UME (8 min.-2007), RED (9 min.-2009), BIOLOGY (8 min.-2008), MORNING GLORY (6 min.-2007), DEMON (9 min.-2009), CHINA (8 min.-2006).
Moving images tend to have a story. however, to me, only details of everyday life 'exist. Because memories of them will fade and disappear, I film them as if taking notes. I film that which intrigues me. I film the forms that things have. I believe I can see something if I keep filming them. Everyday life may easily be interrupted and dissipate. A flow of consciousness, though I want it to continue, may sometimes be interrupted. To think about people, think about nature, think about history, think about the country. All exist in everyday life, sometimes inflected.by hope, joy, and love, but often by disappointment, fear, irritation, agony, desolation, and sadness … All these emotions continue to flow, but my film doesn't have a story." - R.S. (translation by Reiko Tomii).JUNE 19 (Fri.) OPEN SCREENING
DVD, Mini-DV, Videotape, 16MM, S8MM. All works are shown on a first-come-first-served basis. Bring films, videos and/or come as a viewer. (Finished works only, limited to a maximum of 20 minutes per person). Refreshments will be available. Doors open at 7pm. Screening begins at 8pm and ends at 10:30pm. Admission by contributionJUNE 20 (Sat.) ALAN SONDHEIM
The word prolific always comes to mind when describing Alan Sondheim who has produced an unending, constantly changing array of media works, writings, musical pieces and has given innumerable workshops and lectures around the world. He has been a regular participant in the Personal Cinema Series.
ADVENTURES IN THE SIM TRADE: ACCIDENTAL ART AND PERFORMANCE IN SECOND LIFE. "June 2006 through March 2009, I worked in an installation/performance space called Odyssey in the virtual world Second Life. I changed the environment daily, reflecting dynamic (moving, shuddering) complex spaces that were narratives in their own right, difficult to navigate, built on phenomenologies of being virtually real, really virtual. I will walk/work my way through these transformations, presenting videos and images of installations (with Azure Carter), dance (with Foofwa d'Imobilite and Sandy Baldwin), and performance (with Sandy Baldwin). This work is unique within and without Second Life. " - A.S.
George Kuchar
Mike Kuchar
Neil Ira Needleman
Howard Guttenplan
Alan Sondheim
