London Film Festival 2010

LONDON FILM FESTIVAL: EXPERIMENTA WEEKEND
London BFI Southbank
23-24 October 2010

The Experimenta Weekend is a rare opportunity to experience artist’s film and video within the concentrated space of the cinema. This annual survey brings together works that acknowledge a tradition of avant-garde filmmaking while taking us forward into the expanded field of contemporary moving image.

Eight curated programmes demonstrate the breadth and diversity of short-form practice and include works by Nathaniel Dorsky, Miranda Pennell, Ben Rivers, Peter Tscherkassky. Featured artist Lewis Klahr will introduce his evocative cut-out animations and Daniel Barrow performs live. Two installations by Emily Richardson and Martin Arnold, each memorialising very different cinematic institutions, will be shown continuously for one day each. An additional event at the Natural History Museum explores the legacy of Darwin and the Galapagos through a new film by David Gatten.

The Experimenta Weekend is curated by Mark Webber, with assistance from Melissa Gronlund.

Due to the popularity of the Experimenta Weekend over the past few years, we are introducing repeat screenings. Rather perversely, some of these additional screenings will take place before the weekend. If programmes are listed as "sold out", please keep trying as additional tickets are released in the days leading up to the weekend & limited numbers are usually available on the door immediately before each programme.

Outside the weekend programme, the Festival’s Experimenta strand also includes features by John Akomfrah, James Benning, Li Hongqui, Sharon Lockhart and Ben Russell. See The BFI 54th London Film Festival for full details.

The Futurist (Emily Richardson, 2010)

Saturday 23 October 2010, from 12-7pm, Studio, FREE
THE FUTURIST

THE FUTURIST
Emily Richardson | UK 2010 | 4 min (continuous loop)
Illuminated by the light of the projector, the interior of a large, 1920s picture house is documented from a central position in the stalls. Emily Richardson’s films record impressions of environments ranging from natural landscapes to industrial or urban spaces. The Futurist is the first of a series in homage to the cinema experience.

Why Colonel Bunny was Killed (Miranda Pennell, 2010)

Saturday 23 October 2010, at 2pm, NFT3
& Monday 25 October 2010, at 2pm, NFT3
READING BETWEEN THE LINES

THE INDIAN BOUNDARY LINE
Thomas Comerford | USA 2010 | 42min
Comerford’s essay maps a historical demarcation which originally divided Native American land from that which was ceded to white settlers in 1812. Modern life has obscured the traces of this history in the Rogers Park district of Chicago. Juxtaposing past with present, footage shot along this formerly disputed territory is matched with readings from official documents, fiction and quotidian accounts.

FLAG MOUNTAIN
John Smith | UK 2010 | 8 min
A view across the city of Nicosia, over the Green Line border, to an unusual spectacle on a hillside. Lives continue in its shadow, amongst the contrasting flags, anthems and calls to prayer.

WHY COLONEL BUNNY WAS KILLED
Miranda Pennell | UK 2010 | 28 min
An exploration of turn of the century colonial life along the Durand Line, the frontier between Afghanistan and British India (now Pakistan). Remarkable period photographs are closely analysed as we listen to reports of exchanges between westerners, natives and mullahs written by missionary doctor TL Pennell.

Total running time approximately 80 min

Blue Mantle (Rebecca Meyers, 2010)

Saturday 23 October 2010, at 4pm, NFT3
& Friday 22 October 201o, at 4:15pm, NFT3
SUBLIME PASSAGES

SHUTTER
Alexi Manis | Canada 2010 | 8 min
Shutter suggests the uncanny atmosphere and changing light on the day of a total eclipse.

DRIFTER
Timoleon Wilkins | USA 1996-2010 | 24 min
Fragments of the filmmaker’s life, home and travels, recorded over a 14-year period. “The glories of atmospheric light and colour, inward soul-drifting, and the literal sensation of drifting within and through each shot and cut.” (TW)

SHRIMP BOAT LOG
David Gatten | USA 2010 | 6 min
“300 shots, 29 frames each, alternating between a notebook listing the names of shrimp boats that frequent the mouth of the Edisto River and images of these same boats.” (DG)

BLUE MANTLE
Rebecca Meyers | USA 2010 | 35 min
Blending 19th century American literature with factual accounts, illustrations and music by Debussy and Wagner, this oblique portrait of a shipwrecked coastline conveys the vastness and majesty of the ocean. A song to the sea, and a commemoration of those who have risked their lives off the treacherous Massachusetts shore.

TRAVELLING FIELDS
Inger Lise Hansen | Norway 2009 | 9 min
In the third film of her ‘inverted perspective’ trilogy, Hansen turns her camera on the North West Russia, creating monumental and uncanny vistas from these barren wastelands..

Total running time approximately 85 min

Every Time I See Your Picture I Cry (Daniel Barrow, 2008)

Sunday 23 October 2010, at 7pm, NFT3
EVERY TIME I SEE YOUR PICTURE I CRY
A Live Performance by Daniel Barrow

EVERY TIME I SEE YOUR PICTURE I CRY
Daniel Barrow | Canada 2008 | 60 min

Daniel Barrow has developed an intimate mode of ‘manual animation’ using the antiquated technology of an overhead projector. From a position amongst the audience, he recites live narration while manipulating layers of transparencies in continuous motion. Accentuated by interference patterns and sleight-of-hand trickery, Barrow’s hand-drawn images contrive an absorbing tale of comic book grotesques. Every Time I See Your Picture I Cry is a bizarre confessional detailing the grand but hopeless scheme of an estranged garbage collector and failed art student. Unloved and rejected by society, the protagonist begins a universal art project in the form of a telephone directory of ‘profound and intimate insights’ to chronicle the lives of those around him. As he snoops through the windows and waste bins of fellow citizens, his survey is rendered futile by a maniacal killer who follows in his wake, picking off subjects one by one. Invoking introspection, pathos and dark humour, this award winning performance piece is accompanied by an unassuming Beach Boys-inflected score recorded by Amy Linton of The Aislers Set.

Get out of the Car (Thom Andersen, 2010)

Saturday 23 October 2010, at 9pm, NFT3
& Tuesday 26 October 2010, at 2pm, NFT3
HIT THE ROAD

MAKE IT NEW JOHN
Duncan Campbell | UK 2009 | 50 min
The story of the DeLorean car and its notorious entrepreneur’s Northern Ireland venture, assembled from found and reconstructed footage. During a momentous period in the province’s history, the manufacture of this futuristic vehicle was beset by its own troubles – governmental pacts, an inexperienced workforce and allegations of misconduct. This insightful film, with its Pinteresque finale concerning the plight of the workers, raises questions on documentary form and the representation of historical events.

GET OUT OF THE CAR
Thom Andersen | USA 2010 | 34 min
Andersen’s latest homage to Los Angeles takes time to stop and consider the temporary architecture of roadside billboards, community murals and hand-painted signs. A movie about the ephemeral sights of the city, with a rocking soundtrack of local music and the confused interjections of passers-by.

Total running time approximately 90 min

Shadow Cuts (Martin Arnold, 2010)

Sunday 24 October 2010, from 12-7pm, Studio, FREE
SHADOW CUTS

SHADOW CUTS
Martin Arnold | Austria 2010 | 4min (continuous loop)
Alternately consumed by darkness and blinded by the light, Mickey and Pluto are caught in an eternal embrace by a film that refuses to end. In his films and digital works, Martin Arnold uses intense repetition or subtle substitution to reveal subliminal nuances beneath the surface of pre-existing footage.

Hours for Jerome (Nathaniel Dorsky, 1966-70/82)

Sunday 24 October 2010, at 2pm, NFT3
THREE FILMS BY NATHANIEL DORSKY

Nathaniel Dorsky finds moments of profound beauty among the shadows, reflections and luminosity of city life and the natural world. His open form of filmmaking creates a space for the viewer’s contemplation amidst the subtle and astonishing images which radiate from the screen. This programme presents two new films together with a recent preservation of a formative early work.

COMPLINE
Nathaniel Dorsky | USA 2009 | 19 min
“Compline is a night devotion or prayer, the last of the canonical hours, the final act in a cycle. It is the last film I will be able to shoot in Kodachrome; a loving duet with and a fond farewell to this noble emulsion.” (ND)

AUBADE
Nathaniel Dorsky | USA 2010 | 12 min
“An aubade is a morning song or poem evoking the first rays of the sun at daybreak. In some sense, it is a new beginning for me.” (ND)

HOURS FOR JEROME
Nathaniel Dorsky | USA 1966-70/82 | 45min (restoration print)
“An arrangement of images, energies, and illuminations from daily life. These fragments of light revolve around the four seasons and are very much a part of the youthful energy and poignant joy of my mid-20s. In medieval European Catholicism, a ‘Book of Hours’ was a series of prayers presented eight times every 24 hours. Each ‘hour’ had its own qualities, from pre-dawn till very late at night, and these qualities also changed through the progressing seasons of the year.” (ND)

Total running time approximately 75 min

Hours for Jerome has been preserved by Pacific Film Archive with support from the National Film Preservation Foundation.

Sugar Slim Says (Lewis Klahr, 2010)

Sunday 24 October 2010, at 4pm, NFT3
& Thursday 21 October 2010, at 4:15pm, NFT3
LEWIS KLAHR PRESENTS PROLIX SATORI

Collage artist Lewis Klahr introduces Prolix Satori, an ongoing series which appropriates images from comics, magazines and catalogues. A filmmaker since the 1980s, his signature style is saturated in mid-century Americana but addresses universal experience and is resolutely contemporary. Retaining distinctive handcrafted qualities across a recent shift to digital, Klahr choreographs comic book characters in fractured landscapes of patterns, textures and architectural details. Going beyond abstraction and nostalgic cliché, he builds high melodrama from modest means, conjuring elliptical narratives that evoke complex moods and emotions. Within Prolix Satori, a new project of ‘couplets’ elicits different atmospheres through repetitions of soundtracks or imagery. An emotive mix of classical, easy listening and iconic pop music carries viewers through tales of lost love and wistful reverie. This screening is a chance to be immersed in the idiosyncratic world of a widely acclaimed artist making his first UK appearance.

FALSE AGING
Lewis Klahr | USA 2008 | 15 min

NIMBUS SMILE
Lewis Klahr | USA 2009 | 8 min

NIMBUS SEEDS
Lewis Klahr | USA 2009 | 8 min

CUMULONIMBUS
Lewis Klahr | USA 2010 | 10 min

SUGAR SLIM SAYS
Lewis Klahr | USA 2010 | 7 min

WEDNESDAY MORNING TWO A.M.
Lewis Klahr | USA 2009 | 7 min

LETHE
Lewis Klahr | USA 2009 | 23 min

Total running time c.80 min

Lewis Klahr will present a screening of his early films at Tate Modern on Monday 25 October.

Ghost Algebra (Janie Geiser, 2009)

Sunday 24 October 2010, at 7pm, NFT3
& Tuesday 26 October 2010, at 4:15pm, NFT3
BREAK ON THROUGH

GHOST ALGEBRA
Janie Geiser | USA 2009 | 8 min
“Under erratic skies, a solitary figure navigates a landscape of constructed nature and broken bones. She peers through a decaying aperture, waiting and watching: the fragility of the body is exposed for what it is: ephemeral, liquid, a battlefield of nervous dreams.” (JG)

STILL RAINING, STILL DREAMING
Phil Solomon | USA 2009 | 15 min
Videogaming was never meant to be this way: uncanny and elegiac in tone, poignant and considered in practice. By betraying the violent subtext of his source material, Solomon has found genuine poetry in the desolate spaces of digitally constructed worlds.

SO SURE OF NOWHERE BUYING TIMES TO COME
David Gatten | USA 2010 | 9 min
The windows of a small antique store in the Rocky Mountains displays carefully arranged curiosities – specific objects each with their attendant histories. Visible traces of past uses, previous lives, secrets and significance.

FORMS ARE NOT SELF-SUBSISTENT NUMBERS
Samantha Rebello | UK 2010 | 22 min
Words, concepts, things. Referencing Aristotle and illuminated manuscripts, Rebello asks ‘What is substance?’ Romanesque stone carvings are measured against latter-day beasts, seeking parity between medieval perception and a present-day embodiment.

FACTS TOLD AT RETAIL (AFTER HENRY JAMES)
Erin Espelie | USA 2010 | 9 min
“The author of The Golden Bowl acts as the confessed agent, and the glass through which every image is reflected or filtered takes on a kind of consciousness.” (EE)

COSMIC ALCHEMY
Lawrence Jordan | USA 2010 | 24 min
A voyage in the celestial realm, out beyond consciousness, steered by a master of mystical transformation. Wondrous visions are charted on star maps from the Harmonia Macrocosmica to a spellbinding drone track by John Davis.

Total running time approximately 90 min

Coming Attractions (Peter Tscherkassky, 2010)

Sunday 24 October 2010, at 9pm, NFT3
& Thursday 21 October 2010, at 2pm, NFT3
PEOPLE GOING NOWHERE

DE MOUVEMENT
Richard Kerr | Canada 2009 | 7 min
Kerr’s mind-bending trip through the wipes and dissolves of old feature films is an exhilarating demonstration of the power of cinema.

MAY TOMORROW SHINE THE BRIGHTEST OF ALL YOUR MANY DAYS AS IT WILL BE YOUR LAST
Ben Rivers & Paul Harnden | UK 2009 | 13 min
Female Japanese cadets patrol the woods and countryside where old men channel Futurist poets. Adjacent yes, but simultaneous?

BRUNE RENAULT
Neil Beloufa | France 2009 | 17 min
An abandoned car park is no substitute for the open road. Four characters find themselves in a looped fiction, replete with clichés, acting out cycles of heightened emotions. Like all teenagers, they think the world revolves around them – and in this film it almost does.

VOT
Victor Alimpiev | Russia 2010 | 5 min
As if suspended in limbo, or perhaps deep in rehearsal, five performers exchange glances, gestures and utter strange sounds.

KINDLESS VILLAIN
Janie Geiser | USA 2010 | 4 min
Two boys seem trapped inside their own imaginations, dreaming of naval battles and Egyptian exotica.

COMING ATTRACTIONS
Peter Tscherkassky | Austria 2010 | 24 min
With humour and materialist dynamics, Tscherkassky explores the direct relationship between actor, camera and audience. A meditation on the ‘cinema of attractions’; exploiting leftovers from the commercial industry to collide the intersecting forms of early film and the avant-garde.

Total running time approximately 75 min

Pony Glass (Lewis Klahr, 1998)

Monday 25 October 2010, from 10am to 5pm
BFI Learning Space & Studio
LEWIS KLAHR WORKSHOP: NARRATIVE COLLAGE

Drawing on his considerable experience as an artist, Lewis Klahr will lead a masterclass on how characters, stories and atmospheres can be developed with minimal resources. Following a participatory collage exercise using copies of the day’s newspapers, Klahr will illustrate his creative process through a detailed analysis of his film Pony Glass (1998), a coming of age drama in which Superman’s pal Jimmy Olsen undergoes a sexual identity crisis of epic proportions. The day will culminate in an exclusive preview of brand new works. Declared ‘the reigning proponent of cut and paste’ by critic J. Hoberman, Lewis Klahr has shown his films and digital at most major festivals and in three Whitney Biennials. He teaches directing and screenwriting at CalArts, has created effects and sequences for commercials and TV, and co-rewrote The Mothman Prophesies (2002). The workshop is a unique opportunity to explore collage, animation processes and narrative construction with a leading practitioner.

Workshop Fee: £25. Prior experience of filmmaking is not required.
Limited to 20 participants. Please book early to avoid disappointment.
Please note that an incorrect date for the workshop has been listed in the Festival brochure.

Lewis Klahr will present his Prolix Satori series of recent videos on Sunday 24 October.

Journal and Remarks (David Gatten, 2009)

Wednesday 27 October 2010, at 2:30pm
Natural History Museum
DAVID GATTEN’S JOURNAL AND REMARKS

David Gatten, one of the most accomplished young film artists to emerge in recent years, returns to London to discuss a visit to the Galapagos Islands and screen the film he photographed there. The journey was an opportunity to follow in the footsteps of the naturalist Charles Darwin, whose expedition in the 1830s shaped the theory of evolution. The islands off the west coast of Ecuador have changed little since that time and still sustain a unique array of endemic species. In the absence of predatory mammals, native animals do not fear humans, enabling Gatten to shoot in close proximity to such exotic creatures as giant tortoises and blue-footed boobies. ‘The sights I was able to see – and the images I was able to capture – are remarkably similar to the things Darwin saw.’ Shuttling between these observations and texts from an early edition of Voyage of the Beagle, the film is structured in accordance with Leonardo’s proposal to divide the hour into 3000 equal measures. Along with Shrimp Boat Log (also showing in the Festival), it forms part of a forthcoming cycle titled Continuous Quantities.

JOURNAL AND REMARKS
David Gatten | USA 2009 | 15min plus extended discussion

Presented as part of Nature Live, in association with the Natural History Museum.
This free event is at the Attenborough Studio, Darwin Centre, Natural History Museum, Cromwell Road, London, SW7 5BD. Nearest Tube: South Kensington. Please arrive early to avoid disappointment.


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Advance booking is highly recommended
Standard ticket price is £9.50

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