Anthology Film Archives

“Oh, if we could only take back with us the singing. Not the songs, but the singing.” –Frances Flaherty, Samoan Diary, 1924
Filmed in Samoa soon after the release of the classic NANOOK OF THE NORTH (1922) MOANA remains Robert Flaherty’s least-seen feature-length film. Despite finding critical support, it struggled to find audiences in the U.S., perhaps partly because of the heavy-handed musical score which featured excerpts from the music of Mendelssohn, Rachmaninoff, Tchaikovsky, and Grieg, among other representatives of the European classical tradition. Flaherty, as well as his wife and children, were fascinated by the songs of the Samoan culture, and when his youngest daughter Monica took charge of managing her father’s legacy in the 1970s, one of her first tasks was to work on the creation of a new soundtrack for MOANA. Traveling to Samoa, she recorded a wealth of material in the film’s original locations and in collaboration with the surviving members of the film’s Samoan cast, as well as in consultation with anthropologists, linguists, and filmmakers, including Richard Leacock and Jean Renoir. This remarkable new version of the film premiered at the Cinématheque Française in 1981, before screening around the world over the following 17 years.
Having receded from view once again in the years since, this screening of the film, presented by filmmaker Sami van Ingen (a great-grandson of Robert Flaherty), in concert with the Flaherty Seminar, is long overdue!

Special thanks to Sami van Ingen, and to Mary Kerr (Flaherty Seminar).

FILMMAKER IN PERSON!

Anthology presents a program of works by Finnish experimental filmmaker Sami van Ingen, who has created an impressive body of films and installations over the past two decades. Influenced both by documentary and experimental traditions (his great-grandfather was Robert Flaherty, whose 1926 film, MOANA, van Ingen will present earlier this evening) and by his own observations of cultural exchange as colored by his childhood growing up in both India and Finland, van Ingen makes moving-image works that examine the cinematic apparatus and its boundaries, even as they also raise questions about capitalism, colonialism, and power.

TEXAS SCRAMBLE (1996, 21 minutes, 16mm)
Based on the notion of memory as the basis for our perception.

DEEP SIX (2007, 7 minutes, 35mm)
This film has three starting points: a brief narrative re-edited from a Hollywood B-film (THE RAGE, 1998); the use of color photocopy as a cinematic aesthetic; and the desire to explore the frame line as a dynamic visual element.

THE SEQUENT OF HANNA AVE. (2006, 5 minutes, 35mm)
By combining found footage, hand processing, and high-end digital technology, I propose to elevate a few mundane gestures into a new perceptible wholeness.

EXACTLY (2008, 8 minutes, 35mm)
An attempt to combine some aesthetic aspects of a flicker film and three out-of-context narrative scenes with the concept of the ‘perfect film’.

FOKUS (2004, 40 minutes, 35mm)
In the early 50s, my grandmother made a home movie of Mysore’s Dasara festival, which was set up by India’s British rulers. By de- and re-constructing 512 frames of her movie, FOKUS examines the layers of power, display, and representation that lurk in the original material.

Total running time: ca. 85 minutes.

DOCUMENTARY SERIES
Michael Faron
THE PROBLEM OF EVIL
2011, 78 minutes, video.
An ex-seminary student abducts a priest, a pregnant girl, and her abortion doctor, forcing them to confront the morality of their choices.

SHORT FILM PROGRAM
Dimitris Tranos POSTMODERN TIMES (2010, 15 minutes, video)
Gabriel de Varona HONEYMOON’S OVER (2011, 15 minutes, video)
Soren Bailey POSTURES (2011, 15 minutes, video)

FEATURE PRESENTATION
Michael Melamedoff
THE EXHIBITIONISTS
2011, 85 minutes, video.
Fusing Greek tragedy with exploitation cinema and an infectious pop score, THE EXHIBITIONISTS follows 36 deadly hours in the life of filmmaker Walter Todd in a pulpy exploration of the boundary between documentary and pornography.

–Monday, July 2, Documentary Series at 6:00, Short Film Program at 7:30, and Feature Presentation at 8:30.

SUMMER FEST 2012
NewFilmmakers begins the season with its annual Summer Fest. This year’s Fest, which will run from July 2-11, will screen over 75 new films, and will include our Fourth of July Program.

FIRST SHORT FILM PROGRAM
Nathan Duncan GREAT OUTDOORS (2011, 8 minutes, 16mm)
Jared Greenwald FOREVER CHANGED (2011, 10 minutes, video)
Sergio Vaccaro NEW ENDING NEW BEGINNING (2012, 10 minutes, video)
Jon Sajetowski SHARP LOVE, SHARP KITTENS (2011, 16 minutes, video)
Ejaz Khan LEGACY (2011, 17 minutes, video)

SECOND SHORT FILM PROGRAM
Cornelius Murphy BREADWINNER (2010, 10 minutes, video)
Minji Kang THE UNPARDONABLE NIGHT (2012, 15 minutes, video)
Jonathan Finnigan THE VISITOR (2010, 15 minutes, 35mm)
Cornelis Murphy WRIGLEY AND KING (2011, 9 minutes, video)

FEATURE PRESENTATION
NewFilmmakers Film of the Month Screening
Each month, NewFilmmakers awards the Film of the Month prize to the film that sells the most downloads on NewFilmmakers Online. The NewFilmmakers Film of the Month award shows film fans, festival programmers, and distributors that your film is proven to sell.

–Monday, July 2, First Short Film Program at 6:00, Second Short Film Program at 7:15, and Feature Presentation at 8:30.

SPECIAL PROGRAM
Experimental Documentaries, curated by Tova Beck-Friedman
The Also Sisters RURAL PRETÉRITO (2012, 7 minutes, video)Jeremy Kelly CHIPPEWA LAKE PARK (2012, 6 minutes, video)
Liliana Orbach  DI LIBE BREANT A SHREK (2012, 11 minutes, video)
Caryn Cline COMPOST CONFIDENTIAL (2012, 4 minutes, video)
Muralla Media Works THE ISLAND IS RIDICULOUS (2012, 16 minutes, video)
Orkide Ünsür METRUK / THE ABANDONED (2012, 12 minutes, video)
SHORT FILM PROGRAM
Morgan Eschmann IN COMPANY OF MISFITS (2012, 12 minutes, 16mm)
Jose A. Venutolo TIED UP (2011, 29 minutes, video)

FIRST FEATURE PRESENTATION
William Cusick
WELCOME TO NOWHERE (BULLET HOLE ROAD)
2012, 55 minutes, video.
In a series of warped, image-driven episodes, five strangers in the American West navigate overlapping landscapes of paradoxical fantasy. Constantly shifting perspective, the fractured narrative revolves around a poet, a hitchhiker, and three motel rooms.

SECOND FEATURE PRESENTATION
Ray Karwel
TIME AGAIN
2011, 82 minutes, video.
After a young waitress receives strange coins for a tip, she inadvertently becomes embroiled in an underworld battle with a notorious criminal that leads to her death. With the help of a mysterious old lady, the waitress’s younger sister goes back in time to save her from being murdered.

–Tuesday, July 3, Special Program at 6:00, Short Film Program at 7:15, First Feature at 8:15, Second Feature at 9:30.

DOCUMENTARY SERIES
Fiore De Rosa THE VANISHING CITY (2010, 56 minutes, video)
Told through the eyes of city planners, developers, politicians, small business owners, landlords, and tenants, the recent development boom in NYC is analyzed through a mix of archival footage, interviews, and personal stories.

SHORT FILM PROGRAM
Ahmed Ziari TWO TYPES OF SEXISM (2012, 12 minutes, 16mm)
Patrick Liu MEATLOAF (2012, 14 minutes, video)
Tony Ducret I CAN SMOKE (2011, 18 minutes, video)
Michelle Chu MALISHKA (2012, 21 minutes, 16mm)

FEATURE PRESENTATION
Josh Wick
FRANCIS OF BROOKLYN
2011, 107 minutes, video.
A traumatized veteran’s vision of Jesus leads him to renounce everything he owns and form a fraternity of oddball eccentrics to join him in a Gospel of poverty and homelessness on the streets of Brooklyn.

–Tuesday, July 3, Documentary Series at 6:00, Short Film Program at 7:15, Feature Presentation at 8:30.

NEWFILMMAKERS’ ANNUAL FOURTH OF JULY CELEBRATION

ANIMATION SERIES
Brett Underhill THREADBARE (2012, 5 minutes, video)
Erika Yeomans BROWN DWARFS (2012, 9 minutes, video)
Michael Rader MAN VS ULTRAMAN (2012, 39 minutes, video)
John Goras CHIRPY (2001, 12 minutes, video)

SHORT FILM PROGRAM
Bradly Dever Treadaway BRAD’S BOOK (2012, 5 minutes, video)
Aaron C. Peer POOLSIDE (2012, 15 minutes, video)
Melanie Schiele ROCKAWAY (2012, 18 minutes, video)
Joel Johnstone THE PILGRIM & THE PRIVATE EYE (2012, 22 minutes, video)

FEATURE PRESENTATION
Antonio DiFonzo
THE BOYZ OF SUMMER
2012, 99 minutes, video.
Watch as the summer unfolds from the gritty city streets of Elizabeth, NJ to the Jersey Shore for childhood friends, Rocco, Drew and Sal. The bonds of friendship and love are tested as the boys struggle with the limits of their upbringing and the challenges at home.

–Wednesday, July 4, Animation Series at 6:00, Short Film Program at 7:15, Feature Presentation at 8:30.

FIRST SHORT FILM PROGRAM
Dan O’Connor ZEDIC AND THE CRIMSON BORN (2012, 8 minutes, video)
Shaul Halevy ACCEPTANCE (2011, 9 minutes, video)
William Holden THE DOG (2012, 10 minutes, video)
Zach Fleming OUTSIDE (2012, 15 minutes, video)

SECOND SHORT FILM PROGRAM
Praveen Durairaj INCOGNITO (2012, 12 minutes, video)
Lara Sfire THE DISARTICULATION OF SARAH DANNER (2011, 14 minutes, 8mm)
Elizabeth Page CAUGHT (2011, 20 minutes, video)

FEATURE PRESENTATION
Jeremy Garrett
THE RUBBER ROOM
2012, 87 minutes, video.
What happens when a teacher in NYC is accused of misconduct or incompetence in the classroom? They are sent to the ‘Rubber Room’ while an investigation is launched. They spend months or even years there getting full pay and doing nothing.

–Wednesday, July 4, Documentary Series at 6:00, Short Film Program at 7:00, Feature Presentation at 8:00.

DOCUMENTARY SERIES
Carole Ricciordelli STRANGELY BEAUTIFUL (2012, 8 minutes, video)
Catalina Santamaria LUMINESCENCE (2010, 23 minutes, 16mm)
Rati Oneli THEO (2011, 30 minutes, 16mm)

SHORT FILM PROGRAM
Travis Rex STRIDE (2011, 16 minutes, video)
Annalisa Vozza ALEX (2011, 19 minutes, video)
Juliet Lashinsky Revene STEFAN (2011, 16 minutes, video)
Mirto Ioanna Kassis DAY OFF (2011, 28 minutes, video)

FEATURE PRESENTATION
Laurie House
SKATOPIA: 88 ACRES OF ANARCHY
2011, 94 minutes, video.
Mercurial skateboarder Brewce Martin has built a ‘sovereign nation’ in Appalachia, but his radical twist on the American dream is challenged by bill collectors, a rag-tag labor force, and an unexpected stint in the regional jail.

–Thursday, July 5, Documentary Series at 6:00, Short Film Program at 7:15, Feature Presentation at 9:00.

Preservation print courtesy of The Flaherty Seminar, restored by the UCLA Film and Television Archive. Preservation funded by the Film Foundation.

“Flaherty’s last film is a fitting culmination to a long career. It is less a documentary about the Cajun people of Louisiana’s bayou country, than an autobiographical film about Flaherty himself. From the viewpoint of a Cajun boy the film reveals the mysteries of the bayou wilderness, portrayed as an enchanting world of fantasy, filled with beauty and danger. The film is a poetic reflection of Flaherty’s youth, in which he explores his own life-long relationship to the wilderness and natural environment, and to the people who live there.” –William T. Murphy

The most enduring of all Flaherty’s films for its simplicity of purpose, structure, and design. It ennobles its subjects rather than exploiting them. Sharp and uncluttered, the film relies on a few well-developed sequences which remain in the memory of the viewer.
“NANOOK is one of the most vital, dramatic and human films that has ever flashed across the screen.” –Rex Ingram

Written by Brian Winston. Distributed by Icarus Films.

Hailed as the father of the modern documentary film, the filmmaker behind the great NANOOK OF THE NORTH, MAN OF ARAN, and MOANA (all screening at AFA in early July), Robert Flaherty (1884-1951) was also a controversial figure. His filmed records of the everyday life of real people were molded into dramatic, entertaining narratives calling their authenticity into question. Flaherty included staged scenes, including during the production of NANOOK OF THE NORTH, and his later work in Samoa, the Aran Islands, and Louisiana raised questions of documentary ethics that persist to this day. Featuring fascinating archival interviews with Flaherty, as well as testimony from cinematographer Richard Leacock, filmmaker George Stoney, and descendants of real people who were filmed by Flaherty, this shrewd and entertaining portrait looks beyond conventional polemical positions to present a complex view of a man and his work.

Flaherty’s third major film portrays the lives of a family of fisher folk on the Aran Islands off the coast of Galway, Ireland. Flaherty selected this location and subjects because of their isolation as the westernmost outpost of European civilization. In addition, the daily struggle between the islanders and the sea perfectly suited his interests and concerns. The scenes at sea are breathtaking.
“His passionate devotion to the portrayal of human gesture and of a man’s fight for his family makes the film an incomparable account of human dignity. Better than anyone, Flaherty knew how to show the true face of Man.” –Georges Sadoul

Written by Brian Winston. Distributed by Icarus Films.

Hailed as the father of the modern documentary film, the filmmaker behind the great NANOOK OF THE NORTH, MAN OF ARAN, and MOANA (all screening at AFA in early July), Robert Flaherty (1884-1951) was also a controversial figure. His filmed records of the everyday life of real people were molded into dramatic, entertaining narratives calling their authenticity into question. Flaherty included staged scenes, including during the production of NANOOK OF THE NORTH, and his later work in Samoa, the Aran Islands, and Louisiana raised questions of documentary ethics that persist to this day. Featuring fascinating archival interviews with Flaherty, as well as testimony from cinematographer Richard Leacock, filmmaker George Stoney, and descendants of real people who were filmed by Flaherty, this shrewd and entertaining portrait looks beyond conventional polemical positions to present a complex view of a man and his work.

FIRST SHORT FILM PROGRAM
Kaye Hamilton THOSE FORGOTTEN (2011, 8 minutes, 35mm)
Kevin Slack THE DROUGHT (2011, 11 minutes, video)
Team Beideman MEN WHO DON’T WORK (2011, 13 minutes, video)
Richard Uhlig CAN’T DANCE (2011, 15 minutes, video)

SECOND SHORT FILM PROGRAM
Philip Gubert TO HERE KNOWS WHEN (2012, 3 minutes, video)
David Capurso DAS BOOTS (2010, 11 minutes, video)
Molly Fisher BAT (2012, 12 minutes, video)
Jeb Banegas CITY LIMITS (2011, 24 minutes, video)

FEATURE PRESENTATION
Matt Ruskin
BOOSTER
2012, 74 minutes, video.
When Simon’s brother is arrested for armed robbery, he is asked to commit a string of similar crimes in an attempt to get his brother acquitted, forcing Simon to examine his own life.

–Monday, July 9, First Short Program at 6:00, Second Short Film Program at 7:00, Feature Presentation at 8:15.

Written by Brian Winston. Distributed by Icarus Films.

Hailed as the father of the modern documentary film, the filmmaker behind the great NANOOK OF THE NORTH, MAN OF ARAN, and MOANA (all screening at AFA in early July), Robert Flaherty (1884-1951) was also a controversial figure. His filmed records of the everyday life of real people were molded into dramatic, entertaining narratives calling their authenticity into question. Flaherty included staged scenes, including during the production of NANOOK OF THE NORTH, and his later work in Samoa, the Aran Islands, and Louisiana raised questions of documentary ethics that persist to this day. Featuring fascinating archival interviews with Flaherty, as well as testimony from cinematographer Richard Leacock, filmmaker George Stoney, and descendants of real people who were filmed by Flaherty, this shrewd and entertaining portrait looks beyond conventional polemical positions to present a complex view of a man and his work.

FIRST SHORT FILM PROGRAM
Chris Trembath CASE #13: THE SEARCH FOR LOVE (2011, 13 minutes, video)
Nathan McCarthy & Keith Berecz UNDERCOVER INTERN (2012, 15 minutes video)
Eric Dickens TURN FOR THE WORST (2011, 25 minutes, video)

SECOND SHORT FILM PROGRAM
Maria Finitzo LIFE LESSON (2011, 19 minutes, video)
Jennifer Reeder AND I WILL RISE IF ONLY TO HOLD YOU DOWN (2011, 23 minutes, video)

FEATURE PRESENTATION
Dorian Tocker
EVERYDAY SATURDAY
2012, 104 minutes, video.
Evelyn, a recently retired widow, masks her paralyzing worry about the future with the comfort of routine. But when her son, Asher, moves back home after graduating from college, his parallel anxieties amplify Evelyn’s internal crisis.

–Tuesday, July 10, First Short Film Program at 6:00, Second Short Film Program at 7:15, Feature Presentation at 8:15.

FIRST SHORT FILM PROGRAM
Antonio Aguinaga BANANA MAN (2012, 2 minutes, video)
Zack Marotta WELCOME TO THE NEIGHBORHOOD (2012, 10 minutes, video)Seth Silverbush SUNDAY (2012, 12 minutes, video)
Bailey Scieszka BAILIONI (2011, 13 minutes, video)
Ljiljana Novakovic LITTLE BY LITTLE (2011, 15 minutes, video)

SECOND SHORT FILM PROGRAM
Alana McNair IMMINENT DANGER! (2011, 17 minutes, video)
Matthew Foster CLICKED (2011, 36 minutes, video)

FEATURE PRESENTATION
Simon G. Mueller
FATALIS
2010, 60 minutes, video.
Working as a late-night cab driver in 1990, Milo silently plays the hand that society deals him and drives the empty streets alone. While dealing with prejudices due to his Croatian roots, Milo struggles to improve his surroundings and avoid a life of crime. One night, Milo meets Alina, an all-American girl turned prostitute who takes a liking to him.

–Wednesday, July 11, First Short Film Program at 6:00, Second Short Film Program at 7:15, Feature Presentation at 8:30.


FIRST SHORT FILM PROGRAM
Judd Blaise PATIENCE (2011, 14 minutes, video)
Peter Valente THE VOYEUR (2012, 14 minutes, video)
Max Weinman APSIS (2012, 16 minutes, 16mm) 

SECOND SHORT FILM PROGRAM
Charlie Redd FRANK & CELESTE (2012, 6 minutes, 16mm)
Edward James Anderson THE TALENT (2012, 43 minutes, video)

FEATURE PRESENTATION
Sean Slater
RECRUITER
2012, 79 minutes, video.
An in-depth look into the trials and tribulations of Jeff, a street promoter living in NYC. As he works to recruit audience members for free movie screenings, he faces constant rejection and outright hostility from some of the people he encounters on the sidewalk.

–Wednesday, July 11, First Short Film Program at 6:00, Second Short Film Program at 7:00, Feature Presentation at 8:15.

NEWFILMMAKERS REGULAR SUMMER SERIES

NEWFILMMAKERS CELEBRATES BASTILLE DAY AND PRESENTS THE FILM OF THE MONTH

BASTILLE DAY PROGRAM
with Subtitles
Spencer Wolff PARIS, TU ME FAIS CHIER (2011, 17 minutes, video)Thomas Leisten Schneider SOUNDTRACK (2011, 18 minutes, video)
Max Weinman PORTIRAGNES (2011, 13 minutes, 16mm)

SHORT FILM PROGRAM
Henry Rembert UNFOLDING (2011, 7 minutes, video)
Beanie Barnes DADDY’S LITTLE GIRL (2010, 9 minutes, video)
Jesse Belodoff BETWEEN THE WISH AND THE THING (2010, 19 minutes, video)

FIRST FEATURE PRESENTATION
Ryan Boran
DEVILS AND DUST
2012, 84 minutes, video.
Follows a girl who whose journey in search of her father takes her by bike, bus, and boat through the U.S., Latin America, and the Caribbean.

SECOND FEATURE PRESENTATION
NewFilmmakers Film of the Month Screening
Each month, NewFilmmakers awards the Film of the Month prize to the film that sells the most downloads on NewFilmmakers Online. The NewFilmmakers Film of the Month award shows film fans, festival programmers, and distributors that your film is proven to sell.

–Thursday, July 12, Special Program at 6:00, Short Film Program at 7:00, First Feature at 8:00, Second Feature at 9:45.

“[LOURDES] takes a story of religious and spiritual import and casts that world and those themes down a gauntlet that suggests Hitchcock and Tati in its supremely calibrated conceptual suspense and encircling humor. The story finds a wheelchair-bound Sylvie Testud, whose character is suffering from multiple-sclerosis, traveling with a group of pilgrims to the French town of Lourdes. … [The film’s] beautiful pictorial precision, hushed weirdness, and human anchoring by the silent movie captivating power of Testud…makes for a strangely beguiling, austere experience of suspense, spirit, and comedy.” –Daniel Kasman, MUBI

(É NA TERRA NÃO É NA LUA)

Corvo, the smallest island in the archipelago of the Azores, is the westernmost point of Europe, a tiny speck of land in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, dominated by the immense crater of a volcano, and inhabited by a single village of 440 people. Accompanied only by his soundman/composer Dídio Pestana, filmmaker Gonçalo Tocha spent several years journeying back and forth between mainland Portugal and Corvo. Fueled by the impossible, quixotic desire to create an exhaustive record of the island and its inhabitants – their landscape, their daily lives, their industry, their pursuits, their stories, their memories – Tocha has created a poetic yet richly detailed portrait of a uniquely isolated community, one that has existed for 500 years but has rarely been documented. Combining anthropological records, literature, lost archives, and mythological and autobiographical stories, IT’S THE EARTH NOT THE MOON is a beautiful and astoundingly engrossing chronicle of a civilization stranded in the middle of the sea.

“[IT’S THE EARTH’s] frankly absurd goal is to ‘film everything we can, we will try to be everywhere at the same time and not miss a thing…we will try to meet everyone, to film every face, every service, every house, every street, every workplace, every corner of the island, every tree, every rock, every bird…’ Thus, a furtive satire of the anthropological documentary, the informational documentary, and the armchair adventure, but made at the same time with almost naïve sincerity.” –Robert Koehler, CINEMA SCOPE

(UNSER TÄGLICH BROT)
In a series of visually stunning, continuously tracking, wide-screen images, which seem right out of a science-fiction movie, Geyrhalter reveals the places where food is cultivated and processed: surreal landscapes optimized for agricultural machinery, clean rooms in cool industrial buildings designed for maximum efficiency, and elaborate machines that operate on a ‘disassembly line’ basis. Dispensing entirely with explanatory commentary or ‘talking-head’ interviews, OUR DAILY BREAD unfolds on the screen like a disturbing dream.

Photographed by Ed Lachman & Wolfgang Thaler.
Seidl’s film tells two stories that at first glance appear unrelated. One begins in the Ukraine and leads to Austria. In the other, the trajectory is reversed. Both protagonists are in search of work, a new beginning, an existence: Olga, from Eastern Europe, where unremitting poverty is the order of the day; Paul, from the West, where unemployment means not hunger, but a crisis of identity and a sense of uselessness. Both are struggling to believe in themselves, to find meaning; both travel to a new country, and thus into its depths.

“A work of the utmost political importance. It is also, in its rigor and fearlessness, its sorrow and pitilessness, an outstanding artistic achievement.” –Sukhdev Sandhu, THE DAILY TELEGRAPH

“[Tocha’s] personal odyssey in the Atlantic in the wake of his mother’s death forms the heart of the mesmerizing doc-meets-essay film, BALAOU. Tocha elegantly balances a first-person perspective with an adventurous documentarian’s curious eye toward the rest of the world – but the [film’s] major impact…is its overwhelming grandeur and sense of the poetic.” –Robert Koehler, VARIETY

“Directed with terrific control and economy of means by Spielmann – a film and theater vet who has had only one previous movie distributed in the U.S. – REVANCHE gets its hooks into you early and leaves them there, alternately suggesting a darkly romantic film noir in the vein of Nicholas Ray’s ON DANGEROUS GROUND (which navigates a similar journey from seedy urbanism to lyric countryside), a Strindbergian chamber play opened up for the great outdoors, and a Jacobean revenge drama stripped of its ceremonial bloodshed.” –Scott Foundas, VILLAGE VOICE

(É NA TERRA NÃO É NA LUA)

Corvo, the smallest island in the archipelago of the Azores, is the westernmost point of Europe, a tiny speck of land in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, dominated by the immense crater of a volcano, and inhabited by a single village of 440 people. Accompanied only by his soundman/composer Dídio Pestana, filmmaker Gonçalo Tocha spent several years journeying back and forth between mainland Portugal and Corvo. Fueled by the impossible, quixotic desire to create an exhaustive record of the island and its inhabitants – their landscape, their daily lives, their industry, their pursuits, their stories, their memories – Tocha has created a poetic yet richly detailed portrait of a uniquely isolated community, one that has existed for 500 years but has rarely been documented. Combining anthropological records, literature, lost archives, and mythological and autobiographical stories, IT’S THE EARTH NOT THE MOON is a beautiful and astoundingly engrossing chronicle of a civilization stranded in the middle of the sea.

“[IT’S THE EARTH’s] frankly absurd goal is to ‘film everything we can, we will try to be everywhere at the same time and not miss a thing…we will try to meet everyone, to film every face, every service, every house, every street, every workplace, every corner of the island, every tree, every rock, every bird…’ Thus, a furtive satire of the anthropological documentary, the informational documentary, and the armchair adventure, but made at the same time with almost naïve sincerity.” –Robert Koehler, CINEMA SCOPE

This episodic film describes the daily struggle for survival of modern nomads in Italy. Over the period of one year it follows the young Babooska, who runs a traveling circus with her family, on her odyssey through remote areas of the country. It is an unvarnished look behind the scenes of a microcosm on the fringes of society – beyond the usual stereotypes, without commentary, without interviews.

Distributed by Seventh Art Releasing.
“Takes a symphonic structure to document some of the ugliest and most dangerous shit work on the globe. […] Glawogger’s film may be thematically loose-jointed, but Wolfgang Thaler’s cinematography is the glue; the signature move – a flowing Steadicam track before or following a subject – blooms into variations on a visceral theme, especially as it rhymes the Nigerian butchers stalking through acres of red mud dragging bull heads with the Indonesians carrying rocks down smoking, tourist-littered mountain paths. John Zorn’s pensive electro-score ramps up the disquiet.” –Michael Atkinson, VILLAGE VOICE

“[Tocha’s] personal odyssey in the Atlantic in the wake of his mother’s death forms the heart of the mesmerizing doc-meets-essay film, BALAOU. Tocha elegantly balances a first-person perspective with an adventurous documentarian’s curious eye toward the rest of the world – but the [film’s] major impact…is its overwhelming grandeur and sense of the poetic.” –Robert Koehler, VARIETY

(DAS WEISSE BAND – EINE DEUTSCHE KINDERGESCHICHTE)
“A period piece set on the eve of WWI in an echt Protestant, still-feudal village somewhere in the uptight depths of Northern Germany, THE WHITE RIBBON is as cold and creepy and secretly cheesy as any of Haneke’s earlier films, if not quite as lofty. Instead of sermonizing, Haneke sets himself to honest craftsmanship. Detailed yet oblique, leisurely but compelling, perfectly cast and irreproachably acted, the movie has a seductively novelistic texture complete with a less-than-omniscient narrator hinting at a weighty historical thesis: it’s VILLAGE OF THE DAMNED as re-imagined by Thomas Mann after studying August Sander’s photographs of German types while perusing Wilhelm Reich’s ‘Mass Psychology of Fascism’.” –J. Hoberman, VILLAGE VOICE

(É NA TERRA NÃO É NA LUA)

Corvo, the smallest island in the archipelago of the Azores, is the westernmost point of Europe, a tiny speck of land in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, dominated by the immense crater of a volcano, and inhabited by a single village of 440 people. Accompanied only by his soundman/composer Dídio Pestana, filmmaker Gonçalo Tocha spent several years journeying back and forth between mainland Portugal and Corvo. Fueled by the impossible, quixotic desire to create an exhaustive record of the island and its inhabitants – their landscape, their daily lives, their industry, their pursuits, their stories, their memories – Tocha has created a poetic yet richly detailed portrait of a uniquely isolated community, one that has existed for 500 years but has rarely been documented. Combining anthropological records, literature, lost archives, and mythological and autobiographical stories, IT’S THE EARTH NOT THE MOON is a beautiful and astoundingly engrossing chronicle of a civilization stranded in the middle of the sea.

“[IT’S THE EARTH’s] frankly absurd goal is to ‘film everything we can, we will try to be everywhere at the same time and not miss a thing…we will try to meet everyone, to film every face, every service, every house, every street, every workplace, every corner of the island, every tree, every rock, every bird…’ Thus, a furtive satire of the anthropological documentary, the informational documentary, and the armchair adventure, but made at the same time with almost naïve sincerity.” –Robert Koehler, CINEMA SCOPE

(HAT WOLFF VON AMERONGEN KONKURSDELIKTE BEGANGEN?)
“The most remarkable discovery in recent German-language cinema. Friedl’s first feature is a hypnotic visual puzzle at the interface of documentary, essay film, and pulp fiction. On the soundtrack: an unflinchingly ‘objective’ account of the labyrinthine genealogies, criminal involvements and afflictions of Germany’s economic leaders in the 20th century. On the screen: pans and tracking shots through European financial centers, production sites and landscapes…. At times, image and sound are aligned, at others they just miss each other.” –DOCUMENTA12

“Looks even more visionary in the light of developments during the recent economic crisis, and may be one of the definitive films of the decade.” –Christoph Huber, CINEMA SCOPE

ZORROS BAR MIZWA
At the Wailing Wall or in the spotlight of a stage, wearing a Zorro costume or a designer dress, solemn or rollicking: crossing the threshold to the adult world can take place in very different ways. This film accompanies four 12-year-olds – Sharon, Tom, Moishy, and Sophie – as they prepare for their bar or bat mitzvot. It takes a critical and ironic look at Jewish tradition and its interpretations, questions the significance of initiation rituals, and attempts to explore the diffuse terrain of adolescence.

(É NA TERRA NÃO É NA LUA)

Corvo, the smallest island in the archipelago of the Azores, is the westernmost point of Europe, a tiny speck of land in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, dominated by the immense crater of a volcano, and inhabited by a single village of 440 people. Accompanied only by his soundman/composer Dídio Pestana, filmmaker Gonçalo Tocha spent several years journeying back and forth between mainland Portugal and Corvo. Fueled by the impossible, quixotic desire to create an exhaustive record of the island and its inhabitants – their landscape, their daily lives, their industry, their pursuits, their stories, their memories – Tocha has created a poetic yet richly detailed portrait of a uniquely isolated community, one that has existed for 500 years but has rarely been documented. Combining anthropological records, literature, lost archives, and mythological and autobiographical stories, IT’S THE EARTH NOT THE MOON is a beautiful and astoundingly engrossing chronicle of a civilization stranded in the middle of the sea.

“[IT’S THE EARTH’s] frankly absurd goal is to ‘film everything we can, we will try to be everywhere at the same time and not miss a thing…we will try to meet everyone, to film every face, every service, every house, every street, every workplace, every corner of the island, every tree, every rock, every bird…’ Thus, a furtive satire of the anthropological documentary, the informational documentary, and the armchair adventure, but made at the same time with almost naïve sincerity.” –Robert Koehler, CINEMA SCOPE

Scouring moving image archives throughout the world, Deutsch has assembled a vast collection of silent-film imagery, much of it buried in vaults for decades. From this incredible range of material, Deutsch has composed a highly suggestive, quasi-narrative, but essentially enigmatic mosaic which demonstrates both the wealth of fascinating early-20th-century documentation bequeathed to us from the silent era, as well as the sheer diversity of human experience reflected through the cinema.
“While the first six sections of my tableau film, FILM IST., are primarily concerned with the scientific laboratory as the birthplace of the medium, the six subsequent sections are dedicated to the variety theater and the studio as the cradle of cinematography.” –G.D.

(UNSER TÄGLICH BROT)
In a series of visually stunning, continuously tracking, wide-screen images, which seem right out of a science-fiction movie, Geyrhalter reveals the places where food is cultivated and processed: surreal landscapes optimized for agricultural machinery, clean rooms in cool industrial buildings designed for maximum efficiency, and elaborate machines that operate on a ‘disassembly line’ basis. Dispensing entirely with explanatory commentary or ‘talking-head’ interviews, OUR DAILY BREAD unfolds on the screen like a disturbing dream.

(É NA TERRA NÃO É NA LUA)

Corvo, the smallest island in the archipelago of the Azores, is the westernmost point of Europe, a tiny speck of land in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, dominated by the immense crater of a volcano, and inhabited by a single village of 440 people. Accompanied only by his soundman/composer Dídio Pestana, filmmaker Gonçalo Tocha spent several years journeying back and forth between mainland Portugal and Corvo. Fueled by the impossible, quixotic desire to create an exhaustive record of the island and its inhabitants – their landscape, their daily lives, their industry, their pursuits, their stories, their memories – Tocha has created a poetic yet richly detailed portrait of a uniquely isolated community, one that has existed for 500 years but has rarely been documented. Combining anthropological records, literature, lost archives, and mythological and autobiographical stories, IT’S THE EARTH NOT THE MOON is a beautiful and astoundingly engrossing chronicle of a civilization stranded in the middle of the sea.

“[IT’S THE EARTH’s] frankly absurd goal is to ‘film everything we can, we will try to be everywhere at the same time and not miss a thing…we will try to meet everyone, to film every face, every service, every house, every street, every workplace, every corner of the island, every tree, every rock, every bird…’ Thus, a furtive satire of the anthropological documentary, the informational documentary, and the armchair adventure, but made at the same time with almost naïve sincerity.” –Robert Koehler, CINEMA SCOPE

“Directed with terrific control and economy of means by Spielmann – a film and theater vet who has had only one previous movie distributed in the U.S. – REVANCHE gets its hooks into you early and leaves them there, alternately suggesting a darkly romantic film noir in the vein of Nicholas Ray’s ON DANGEROUS GROUND (which navigates a similar journey from seedy urbanism to lyric countryside), a Strindbergian chamber play opened up for the great outdoors, and a Jacobean revenge drama stripped of its ceremonial bloodshed.” –Scott Foundas, VILLAGE VOICE

NEWFILMMAKERS PRESENTS ITS COLLEGE SCREENING PROGRAM WITH THE DIGITAL FILM ACADEMY

WEB SERIES
Matt Kohn MORE THAN SNOW (2012, 35 minutes, video)
MORE THAN SNOW exists because Lior Rosenfeld introduced Tjasa Ferme to Matt Kohn after a screening at Anthology Film Archives. Kohn immediately realized they should work together. A few weeks later, as the snowstorm of 2010 trapped all New York, Kohn could not sleep. He wanted to shoot in the snow. In the middle of the night, he wrote Tjasa an email asking her to show up in Greenpoint the next day.

SPECIAL PROGRAM
with Digital Film Academy

FEATURE PRESENTATION
Tony Glaser
JUNCTION
2011, 91 minutes, video.
In the idyllic upscale neighborhood of Verterra Hill, a privatized community full of manicured lawns and sprawling colonials, four strangers make a choice that sets in motion a series of events that will forever change their lives, the lives of some not-so-innocent homeowners ,and a troubled police force.

–Wednesday, July 18, Special Program at 6:00, Digital Film Academy Screening Program at 7:00, and Feature Presentation at 9:00.

(É NA TERRA NÃO É NA LUA)

Corvo, the smallest island in the archipelago of the Azores, is the westernmost point of Europe, a tiny speck of land in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, dominated by the immense crater of a volcano, and inhabited by a single village of 440 people. Accompanied only by his soundman/composer Dídio Pestana, filmmaker Gonçalo Tocha spent several years journeying back and forth between mainland Portugal and Corvo. Fueled by the impossible, quixotic desire to create an exhaustive record of the island and its inhabitants – their landscape, their daily lives, their industry, their pursuits, their stories, their memories – Tocha has created a poetic yet richly detailed portrait of a uniquely isolated community, one that has existed for 500 years but has rarely been documented. Combining anthropological records, literature, lost archives, and mythological and autobiographical stories, IT’S THE EARTH NOT THE MOON is a beautiful and astoundingly engrossing chronicle of a civilization stranded in the middle of the sea.

“[IT’S THE EARTH’s] frankly absurd goal is to ‘film everything we can, we will try to be everywhere at the same time and not miss a thing…we will try to meet everyone, to film every face, every service, every house, every street, every workplace, every corner of the island, every tree, every rock, every bird…’ Thus, a furtive satire of the anthropological documentary, the informational documentary, and the armchair adventure, but made at the same time with almost naïve sincerity.” –Robert Koehler, CINEMA SCOPE

Distributed by Seventh Art Releasing.
“Takes a symphonic structure to document some of the ugliest and most dangerous shit work on the globe. […] Glawogger’s film may be thematically loose-jointed, but Wolfgang Thaler’s cinematography is the glue; the signature move – a flowing Steadicam track before or following a subject – blooms into variations on a visceral theme, especially as it rhymes the Nigerian butchers stalking through acres of red mud dragging bull heads with the Indonesians carrying rocks down smoking, tourist-littered mountain paths. John Zorn’s pensive electro-score ramps up the disquiet.” –Michael Atkinson, VILLAGE VOICE

(É NA TERRA NÃO É NA LUA)

Corvo, the smallest island in the archipelago of the Azores, is the westernmost point of Europe, a tiny speck of land in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, dominated by the immense crater of a volcano, and inhabited by a single village of 440 people. Accompanied only by his soundman/composer Dídio Pestana, filmmaker Gonçalo Tocha spent several years journeying back and forth between mainland Portugal and Corvo. Fueled by the impossible, quixotic desire to create an exhaustive record of the island and its inhabitants – their landscape, their daily lives, their industry, their pursuits, their stories, their memories – Tocha has created a poetic yet richly detailed portrait of a uniquely isolated community, one that has existed for 500 years but has rarely been documented. Combining anthropological records, literature, lost archives, and mythological and autobiographical stories, IT’S THE EARTH NOT THE MOON is a beautiful and astoundingly engrossing chronicle of a civilization stranded in the middle of the sea.

“[IT’S THE EARTH’s] frankly absurd goal is to ‘film everything we can, we will try to be everywhere at the same time and not miss a thing…we will try to meet everyone, to film every face, every service, every house, every street, every workplace, every corner of the island, every tree, every rock, every bird…’ Thus, a furtive satire of the anthropological documentary, the informational documentary, and the armchair adventure, but made at the same time with almost naïve sincerity.” –Robert Koehler, CINEMA SCOPE

“[LOURDES] takes a story of religious and spiritual import and casts that world and those themes down a gauntlet that suggests Hitchcock and Tati in its supremely calibrated conceptual suspense and encircling humor. The story finds a wheelchair-bound Sylvie Testud, whose character is suffering from multiple-sclerosis, traveling with a group of pilgrims to the French town of Lourdes. … [The film’s] beautiful pictorial precision, hushed weirdness, and human anchoring by the silent movie captivating power of Testud…makes for a strangely beguiling, austere experience of suspense, spirit, and comedy.” –Daniel Kasman, MUBI

This episodic film describes the daily struggle for survival of modern nomads in Italy. Over the period of one year it follows the young Babooska, who runs a traveling circus with her family, on her odyssey through remote areas of the country. It is an unvarnished look behind the scenes of a microcosm on the fringes of society – beyond the usual stereotypes, without commentary, without interviews.

CUT AND PASTE: CONTEMPORARY COLLAGE ANIMATION FROM NORTH AMERICA
These two evenings spotlight the best of contemporary collage animation works alongside an absolute classic of the genre and the world premiere of unseen footage from the enigmatic Harry Smith. For the first program, animator and curator Jodie Mack has assembled an incredibly diverse selection of 16mm and digital works which shatter post-modern assumptions that it’s all been done before. The second program features collage master Lawrence Jordan’s epically ethereal feature SOPHIE’S PLACE, with recently rediscovered outtakes from Smith’s abandoned OZ feature. Fast paced and far out, these cut-up, pieced-together films and videos are guaranteed to give you crazy dreams for years to come….

Special thanks to Jodie Mack, Jeremy Rossen, Colorlab, and all the filmmakers.

PROGRAM 1:
Illustrating the varying possibilities of forming new meanings via the pairing of found elements, this program explores the results of combination in 21st-century collage animation – from classical paper-based techniques to contemporary functions via mash-ups, samples, and digital manipulation. Nesting thirty-somethings, fluttering Viewmaster florals, re-imagined Muybridge icons, and bouncing DVD logos reveal themes of destruction and creation, waste and resourceful innovation.
Curated by Jodie Mack. Selected filmmakers in person!

Amy Lockhart THE COLLAGIST (2009, 2 minutes, video)
Shirin Mozaraffi THE STORY OF AMA AND BABA (2009, 7 minutes, video)
Gretchen Hogue WHERE’S MY BOYFRIEND? (2005, 2 minutes, video)
Stacey Steers PHANTOM CANYON (2006, 10 minutes, 35mm)
Kelly Lynn Sears PAPER MOUNTAIN MAN (2009, 3.5 minutes, video)
Jim Trainor LEAFY, LEAFY JUNGLE (2008, 3 minutes, 16mm)
Peter Burr GYLDEN LOAD (2007, 1.5 minutes, video)
Steve Cossman TUSSLEMUSCLE (2009, 5 minutes, 16mm)
Jo Dery PEEKS (2009, 2.5 minutes, video)
Charlotte Taylor LEAF (2004, 3 minutes, 16mm)
Adebukola Bodunrin EVEN WHEN LIFE IS SAD, PEOPLE STILL HAVE A GOOD TIME (2005, 4 minutes, 16mm)
Jon Satrom MEHOH01A (2009, 2 minutes, video)
Naomi Uman HAND EYE COORDINATION (2001, 10.5 minutes, 16mm)

Total running time: ca. 65 minutes.

Scouring moving image archives throughout the world, Deutsch has assembled a vast collection of silent-film imagery, much of it buried in vaults for decades. From this incredible range of material, Deutsch has composed a highly suggestive, quasi-narrative, but essentially enigmatic mosaic which demonstrates both the wealth of fascinating early-20th-century documentation bequeathed to us from the silent era, as well as the sheer diversity of human experience reflected through the cinema.
“While the first six sections of my tableau film, FILM IST., are primarily concerned with the scientific laboratory as the birthplace of the medium, the six subsequent sections are dedicated to the variety theater and the studio as the cradle of cinematography.” –G.D.

(UNSER TÄGLICH BROT)
In a series of visually stunning, continuously tracking, wide-screen images, which seem right out of a science-fiction movie, Geyrhalter reveals the places where food is cultivated and processed: surreal landscapes optimized for agricultural machinery, clean rooms in cool industrial buildings designed for maximum efficiency, and elaborate machines that operate on a ‘disassembly line’ basis. Dispensing entirely with explanatory commentary or ‘talking-head’ interviews, OUR DAILY BREAD unfolds on the screen like a disturbing dream.

ZORNS LEMMA
1970, 60 minutes, 16mm, color.
“A major poetic work. Created and put together by a very clear eye-head, this original and complex abstract work moves beyond the letters of the alphabet, beyond words and beyond Freud. If you don’t understand it the first time you see it, don’t despair, see it again! When you finally ‘get it,’ a small light, possibly a candle, will light itself inside your forehead.” –Ernie Gehr
&
HAPAX LEGOMENA I: (nostalgia)
1971, 36 minutes, 16mm, b&w.
“Nostalgia, beginning as an ironic look upon a personal past, creates its own filmic time, a past and future generated by the expectations elicited by its basic disjunctive strategy.” –Annette Michelson
“In nostalgia the time it takes for a photograph to burn (and thus confirm its two-dimensionality) becomes the clock within the film, while Frampton plays the critic, asynchronously glossing, explicating, narrating, mythologizing his earlier art, and his earlier life, as he commits them both to the fire of a labyrinthine structure; for Borges too was one of his earlier masters, and he grins behind the facades of logic, mathematics, and physical demonstrations which are the formal metaphors for most of Frampton’s films.” –P. Adams Sitney

Total running time: ca. 100 minutes. 

(HAT WOLFF VON AMERONGEN KONKURSDELIKTE BEGANGEN?)
“The most remarkable discovery in recent German-language cinema. Friedl’s first feature is a hypnotic visual puzzle at the interface of documentary, essay film, and pulp fiction. On the soundtrack: an unflinchingly ‘objective’ account of the labyrinthine genealogies, criminal involvements and afflictions of Germany’s economic leaders in the 20th century. On the screen: pans and tracking shots through European financial centers, production sites and landscapes…. At times, image and sound are aligned, at others they just miss each other.” –DOCUMENTA12

“Looks even more visionary in the light of developments during the recent economic crisis, and may be one of the definitive films of the decade.” –Christoph Huber, CINEMA SCOPE

CUT AND PASTE: CONTEMPORARY COLLAGE ANIMATION FROM NORTH AMERICA
These two evenings spotlight the best of contemporary collage animation works alongside an absolute classic of the genre and the world premiere of unseen footage from the enigmatic Harry Smith. For the first program, animator and curator Jodie Mack has assembled an incredibly diverse selection of 16mm and digital works which shatter post-modern assumptions that it’s all been done before. The second program features collage master Lawrence Jordan’s epically ethereal feature SOPHIE’S PLACE, with recently rediscovered outtakes from Smith’s abandoned OZ feature. Fast paced and far out, these cut-up, pieced-together films and videos are guaranteed to give you crazy dreams for years to come….

Special thanks to Jodie Mack, Jeremy Rossen, Colorlab, and all the filmmakers.

PROGRAM 2:
Harry Smith
[OUTTAKES FROM HARRY SMITH’S OZ]
ca. 1962, 23.5 minutes, 35mm.
Much to our surprise, Anthology recently recovered a number of original 35mm negative camera rolls by revered animator/alchemist/ethnomusicographer Harry Smith. The reels had been, unknown to all, sitting in a lab since 1967. The footage contains camera, focus, and exposure tests for OZ, Smith’s amazing, abandoned feature-length adaptation of L. Frank Baum’s classic tale. While Anthology has preserved and regularly presents Smith’s NO. 16: OZ, THE TIN WOODMAN’S DREAM (1967), which contains the completed excerpt THE APPROACH TO EMERALD CITY, much of the material in these two reels is different. Raw footage that was never intended to be viewed as anything other than dailies, these alluring outtakes are resoundingly beautiful, and like all things Smith, deeply mysterious.
&
Lawrence Jordan
SOPHIE’S PLACE
1986, 90 minutes, 16mm.
“[T]he greatest epic animation film ever, yr wondrous SOPHIE’S PLACE…” –Stan Brakhage
“Full hand-painted cut-out animation. … I call it an ‘alchemical autobiography.’ The film begins in a paradisiacal garden. It then proceeds to the interior of the Mosque of St. Sophia. More and more the film develops into episodes centering around one form or another of Sophia, an early Greek and Gnostic embodiment of spiritual wisdom. She is seen emanating light waves and symbolic objects. (But I must emphasize that I do not know the exact significance of any of the symbols in the film any more than I know the meaning of my dreams, nor do I know the meaning of the episodes. I hope that they – the symbols and the episodes – set off poetic associations in the viewer. I mean them to be entirely open to the viewer’s own interpretation.)” –L.J.

(DAS WEISSE BAND – EINE DEUTSCHE KINDERGESCHICHTE)
“A period piece set on the eve of WWI in an echt Protestant, still-feudal village somewhere in the uptight depths of Northern Germany, THE WHITE RIBBON is as cold and creepy and secretly cheesy as any of Haneke’s earlier films, if not quite as lofty. Instead of sermonizing, Haneke sets himself to honest craftsmanship. Detailed yet oblique, leisurely but compelling, perfectly cast and irreproachably acted, the movie has a seductively novelistic texture complete with a less-than-omniscient narrator hinting at a weighty historical thesis: it’s VILLAGE OF THE DAMNED as re-imagined by Thomas Mann after studying August Sander’s photographs of German types while perusing Wilhelm Reich’s ‘Mass Psychology of Fascism’.” –J. Hoberman, VILLAGE VOICE

“[LOURDES] takes a story of religious and spiritual import and casts that world and those themes down a gauntlet that suggests Hitchcock and Tati in its supremely calibrated conceptual suspense and encircling humor. The story finds a wheelchair-bound Sylvie Testud, whose character is suffering from multiple-sclerosis, traveling with a group of pilgrims to the French town of Lourdes. … [The film’s] beautiful pictorial precision, hushed weirdness, and human anchoring by the silent movie captivating power of Testud…makes for a strangely beguiling, austere experience of suspense, spirit, and comedy.” –Daniel Kasman, MUBI

MAYA DEREN
MESHES OF THE AFTERNOON
1943, 14 minutes, 16mm, b&w. Co-directed by Alexander Hammid. Music by Teiji Ito from 1959.
AT LAND
1944, 15 minutes, 16mm, b&w, silent. Photographed by Hella Heyman and Alexander Hammid.
A STUDY IN CHOREOGRAPHY FOR CAMERA
1945, 3 minutes, 16mm, b&w, silent. By Maya Deren and Talley Beatty.
RITUAL IN TRANSFIGURED TIME
1946, 15 minutes, 16mm, b&w, silent. Choreographic collaboration with Frank Westbrook. Photographed by Hella Heyman. With Rita Christiani and Frank Westbrook.
Total running time: ca. 55 minutes.

FORCES AND GAZES

One of today’s premiere moving-image artists, Deborah Stratman’s films and videos are wonderfully hard to pin down yet completely distinctive, no matter what approach she takes. Whether employing found footage or her own exquisitely crafted imagery, Stratman tends to show, not tell, and in doing so creates elaborate structures that leave viewers empowered to chart their own course. Fascinated by the politics and power struggles embedded in landscape, as well as underlying systems of control, Stratman’s experimental documentaries and meditations are formally challenging and exquisitely rewarding examples of socially and politically committed experimental cinema.

We are thrilled to have Stratman in-person for this mini-survey of works spanning her twenty-plus-year career. Each program mixes recent pieces, some of which are NYC debuts, with older works that have not been screened for many years. The third program is something of an experiment, an assemblage of works that, in the words of the filmmaker, “fall short.” Stratman considers failure an important part of her process, but it is up to you to decide whether these particular pieces miss the mark…or hit an entirely different mark than Stratman anticipated.

PROGRAM 1:
ON THE VARIOUS NATURE OF THINGS (1995, 25 minutes, 16mm)
HOW AMONG THE FROZEN WORDS (2005, 44 seconds, video)
IT WILL DIE OUT IN THE MIND (2006, 4 minutes, video)
THE MAGICIAN’S HOUSE (2007, 6 minutes, 16mm)
&
FROM HETTY TO NANCY
1997, 44 minutes, 16mm.
The stoic beauty of the Icelandic landscape forms a backdrop for a series of witty and caustic letters written at the turn of the century by a woman named Hetty as she treks with her companion Masie, four school girls, and their school marm.
Total running time: ca. 90 minutes

Photographed by Ed Lachman & Wolfgang Thaler.
Seidl’s film tells two stories that at first glance appear unrelated. One begins in the Ukraine and leads to Austria. In the other, the trajectory is reversed. Both protagonists are in search of work, a new beginning, an existence: Olga, from Eastern Europe, where unremitting poverty is the order of the day; Paul, from the West, where unemployment means not hunger, but a crisis of identity and a sense of uselessness. Both are struggling to believe in themselves, to find meaning; both travel to a new country, and thus into its depths.

“A work of the utmost political importance. It is also, in its rigor and fearlessness, its sorrow and pitilessness, an outstanding artistic achievement.” –Sukhdev Sandhu, THE DAILY TELEGRAPH

PROGRAM 2:
…THESE BLAZEING STARRS! (2011, 14 minutes, 16mm)
WAKING (1994, 7 minutes, video)
RAY’S BIRDS (2010, 7 minutes, video)
VILLAGE, SILENCED (2012, 7 minutes, video)
UNTIED (2001, 3 minutes, 16mm)
&
IN ORDER NOT TO BE HERE
2002, 33 minutes, 16mm.
An uncompromising look at the ways privacy, safety, convenience, and surveillance determine our environment. Shot entirely at night, the film confronts the hermetic nature of white-collar communities, dissecting the fear behind contemporary suburban design.

Total running time: ca. 80 minutes.

ZORROS BAR MIZWA
At the Wailing Wall or in the spotlight of a stage, wearing a Zorro costume or a designer dress, solemn or rollicking: crossing the threshold to the adult world can take place in very different ways. This film accompanies four 12-year-olds – Sharon, Tom, Moishy, and Sophie – as they prepare for their bar or bat mitzvot. It takes a critical and ironic look at Jewish tradition and its interpretations, questions the significance of initiation rituals, and attempts to explore the diffuse terrain of adolescence.

PROGRAM 3:
SHRIMP CHICKEN FISH (2010, 5 minutes, video)
ENERGY COUNTRY (2003, 14.5 minutes, video)
&
KUYENDA N’KUBVINA
2010, 40 minutes, video.
Looks at how thought and culture propagate in Malawi. The video was instigated by the filmmaker’s relative ignorance about the people and culture of southeast Africa, and accompanies her as she seeks out individuals and infrastructures that channel and articulate Malawian identity.

Total running time: ca. 65 minutes.

NEWFILMMAKERS PRESENTS NEW FILMS

DOCUMENTARY SERIES
About Andy Warhol’s Factory
Jeffrey Wengrofsky THE PARTY IN TAYLOR MEAD’S KITCHEN (2011, 11 minutes, video)
Mauro John Capece IN THE FABULOUS UNDERGROUND (2012, 50 minutes, video)

SHORT FILM PROGRAM
Silent Films
Hasan Can Dagli EVERYDAY (2011, 7 minutes, video)
Ann Kelly EMO (2011, 23 minutes, video)
Charles Di Meglio LORD ARTHUR SAVILLE’S CRIME (2011, 43 minutes, video)

FEATURE PRESENTATION
Terence Krey
OH, INVERTED WORLD
2011, 100 minutes, video.
A sci-fi comedy about four twenty-somethings who reluctantly return to their hometown after graduating college only to find out that the Moon is falling into the Earth.

–Wednesday, July 25, Documentary Series at 6:00, Short Film Program at 7:15, Feature Presentation at 8:45.

(DER PROZESS)

Anthology presents a special screening of the recipient of the Viennale Film Festival’s Vienna Film Award in the documentary film category. Filmmaker Gerald Igor Hauzenberger will be the artist-in-residence at NYU’s Deutsches Haus this summer, and will be here in person for the screening!

“Anti-terrorist squads descend upon animal rights activists as if they were the most dangerous enemies of the state. Although there is no concrete evidence against them, they are imprisoned for an alleged conspiracy and malicious injury of property. International media sarcastically report on this judicial farce, which would become one of the longest trials in Austrian history. The special authority granted by the so-called Mafia Paragraph 278a is still used against hundreds of individuals who take part in political rallies. The film follows the case as closely as possible from different angles – members of the police force were not allowed to speak about the proceedings while the trial still lasted – but its main focus lies on the fate of some of the defendants from pre-trial custody release to the financially and psychologically extremely challenging trial itself.” –VIENNALE

The Vienna Film Award is awarded by a five-person national jury of representatives from various film sectors. This honor was presented for the first time in 1991. The winner is selected from Austrian feature-length films and documentaries that have premiered or have been publicly screened since the last Viennale.

Dovzhenko’s second film, attacked by Soviet critics for being so beautifully rendered as to actually lessen its political impact, remains today a “cinematic poem” as the director named it. Episodic, folkloric, and allegorical, it is a mythic search for hidden treasure by two brothers. Dovzhenko wrote: “I did not so much make the picture as sing it out like a songbird.”

One of the finest of contemporary documentary filmmakers, Nikolaus Geyrhalter was the subject of an Anthology retrospective in 2010, and his extraordinary 2005 film OUR DAILY BREAD screens in early July in our series highlighting the 10 most important Austrian films of the past decade. Immediately following that series, we present this week-long run of Geyrhalter’s brand-new documentary, ABENDLAND. Characteristically penetrating, tough-minded, and masterfully composed, ABENDLAND is nevertheless distinguished by its wider focus and its associative structure: a portrait of Europe at night, it draws together glimpses of a wide range of locations, milieus, activities, and themes, under the umbrella of a continent after nightfall. A film of extraordinary beauty but sinister implications – amid its patchwork of passages encompassing birth, death, work, play, and religion, depictions of border controls, surveillance, and forcefully suppressed political protests predominate – ABENDLAND is, both literally and figuratively, a dark vision of 21st-century Europe.

“Training his wide-ranging eyes on Europe at night, Geyrhalter makes perhaps the most mordant statement of his fascinating career with ABENDLAND. Likely influenced by Harun Farocki’s numerous films on industrial, mechanical, and security systems as tools of social control, Geyrhalter’s characteristically ambitious if sometimes elusive work travels to 10 nations and 21 locations to capture nocturnal extremes, from border patrols to sex clubs, aerospace factories to raves.” –Robert Koehler, VARIETY

UNESSENTIAL CINEMA PRESENTS: THE SECRET CINEMA
The Secret Cinema is a floating repertory cinema series based in Philadelphia. For over 20 years it has brought hundreds of unique programs to nightclubs, bars, coffee houses, museums, open fields, colleges, art galleries, bookstores, and sometimes even theaters and film festivals. Drawing on its large private film archive as well as other collections, the Secret Cinema attempts to explore uncharted territory and the genres that fall between the cracks, with programs devoted to educational and industrial films, cult and exploitation features, jukebox films and other pop music cinema, cartoons, rare television, local history, home movies, erotic films, politically incorrect material, and the odd Hollywood classic, as long as it exists on celluloid – Secret Cinema screenings never use video projection. Unessential Cinema is proud to host this double-fisted, double-feature of Secret Cinema programs.
For more info visit: www.thesecretcinema.com or www.facebook.com/thesecretcinema.

Special thanks to Jay Schwartz, Secret Cinema.

PROGRAM 1: TOTALLY WIRED: THE FILMS OF BELL TELEPHONE
A program of short films from one of the major motion picture producers of the 20th century – the phone company! As the largest corporation in the world, Bell had unlimited resources, producing corporate films more skillfully and more entertainingly than most companies could. We will show an assortment of rare Bell sales films, in-house training films, commercials and public relations films, all on 16mm. As they depict the various missions and agendas of one business throughout the years, the movies also provide a revealing look at mid-century America in general.

Just a few of the highlights will be:
TELEPHONE HIGHLIGHTS (1947); WHAT’S IN A NAME? (1950S); DIAL “O” FOR OPERATOR (1965); INVISIBLE DIPLOMATS (1965); OPERATOR (1969); PICTURE PHONE (1970); and more!

Total running time: ca. 105 minutes.

UNESSENTIAL CINEMA PRESENTS: THE SECRET CINEMA
The Secret Cinema is a floating repertory cinema series based in Philadelphia. For over 20 years it has brought hundreds of unique programs to nightclubs, bars, coffee houses, museums, open fields, colleges, art galleries, bookstores, and sometimes even theaters and film festivals. Drawing on its large private film archive as well as other collections, the Secret Cinema attempts to explore uncharted territory and the genres that fall between the cracks, with programs devoted to educational and industrial films, cult and exploitation features, jukebox films and other pop music cinema, cartoons, rare television, local history, home movies, erotic films, politically incorrect material, and the odd Hollywood classic, as long as it exists on celluloid – Secret Cinema screenings never use video projection. Unessential Cinema is proud to host this double-fisted, double-feature of Secret Cinema programs.
For more info visit: www.thesecretcinema.com or www.facebook.com/thesecretcinema.

Special thanks to Jay Schwartz, Secret Cinema.

PROGRAM 2: CREEPY PUPPET FILMS
Puppetry is an age-old art-form that has charmed and delighted both children and adults for countless generations. And puppets have been a source of inspiration to filmmakers almost since the movies began. So why do puppets become so…creepy when filmed and projected on a giant screen? The Secret Cinema will attempt to answer that question – or at least show our favorite examples of this peculiar genre of cinema. Using assorted educational and entertainment shorts from past decades, we’ll show films using hand puppets, marionettes, and stop-motion animated figures and claymation. Some were made by great masters of special effects like George Pal and Ray Harryhausen. Others were made by nameless hacks for forgotten educational film mills. Yet, they are all creepy.

A few highlights include:
HANSEL AND GRETEL (1951, dir. Ray Harryhausen); PHILLIPS CAVALCADE (1942, George Pal); MAKING CHANGE (1970s, Unknown); GUMBY: HOT ROD GRANNY (1957, Art Clokey); PIRRO AND THE SCALE (1948, Alvin J. Gordon); and much more!

Total running time: ca. 100 minutes.

One of the finest of contemporary documentary filmmakers, Nikolaus Geyrhalter was the subject of an Anthology retrospective in 2010, and his extraordinary 2005 film OUR DAILY BREAD screens in early July in our series highlighting the 10 most important Austrian films of the past decade. Immediately following that series, we present this week-long run of Geyrhalter’s brand-new documentary, ABENDLAND. Characteristically penetrating, tough-minded, and masterfully composed, ABENDLAND is nevertheless distinguished by its wider focus and its associative structure: a portrait of Europe at night, it draws together glimpses of a wide range of locations, milieus, activities, and themes, under the umbrella of a continent after nightfall. A film of extraordinary beauty but sinister implications – amid its patchwork of passages encompassing birth, death, work, play, and religion, depictions of border controls, surveillance, and forcefully suppressed political protests predominate – ABENDLAND is, both literally and figuratively, a dark vision of 21st-century Europe.

“Training his wide-ranging eyes on Europe at night, Geyrhalter makes perhaps the most mordant statement of his fascinating career with ABENDLAND. Likely influenced by Harun Farocki’s numerous films on industrial, mechanical, and security systems as tools of social control, Geyrhalter’s characteristically ambitious if sometimes elusive work travels to 10 nations and 21 locations to capture nocturnal extremes, from border patrols to sex clubs, aerospace factories to raves.” –Robert Koehler, VARIETY

One of Dovzhenko’s few completely independent films, from script to screen. ARSENAL is a civil war epic envisioned in unusual, painterly images: a fallen soldier – drunk on the enemy’s laughing gas – his frozen body still baring its teeth long after the battle and his life are over.

AUDIO VÉRITÉ PRESENTS: THE MYTHOLOGY OF CON
Conrad Schnitzler (1937-2011) is legendary in the German electronic and avant-garde music scene as co-founder of Kluster and Tangerine Dream, but his intermedia work in the 60s and 70s is far less known. He studied sculpture with Joseph Beuys at the Düsseldorf Academy of Art, exhibited his black and white metal sculptures in Berlin, and participated in performances and ‘happenings’ in the same circles as many Fluxus artists, although he rejected membership in any group or movement. In the early 70s Schnitzler left all of his sculptures in an open field and abandoned the art world to devote himself to composing music. His self-produced, stark electronic music, often presented as multi-channel presentations using several cassette players, gradually found an international cult following, yet Schnitzler’s immense creative energy could not be limited to one medium. He continuously experimented with moving images to accompany his music by painting and scratching directly on 8mm film, shooting stop-motion animations and designing sets that he would film himself performing in. By the 80s, Schnitzler had become increasingly reclusive, shooting long meditative videos with his distinctive electronic musical scores. He composed multi-channel Cassette Concerts that could be sent by post for others to conduct in movie theaters or other venues without him having to leave his house. These two programs offer an eye- and ear-opening sampling of works from Schnitzler’s vast archive, much of which has never been seen or heard before in NYC.

THE MYTHOLOGY OF CON has been curated by Conrad’s friend and collaborator Ken Montgomery from Conrad’s archives. Montgomery will be present to introduce both screenings. These presentations coincide with a Schnitzler exhibition at Audio Visual Arts (AVA), a program of multi-channel Cassette Concerts presented by Harvestworks on July 27, 28 & 29, and a Schnitzler video evening at Clocktower. Special thanks to Wolfgang Seidel, Jin Kawai and Gillie Schnitzler.
For more information visit: www.CON-MYTHOLOGY.com.

Unless otherwise noted, all works are directed by Conrad Schnitzler.

PROGRAM 1: FILM/VIDEO (1970-1980)
Schnitzler’s early films explode with energy. During this time CON, as he liked to be called, was making intermedia art – street performances, gallery installations, and explosive new music – all influenced by free jazz and psychedelic rock. For these live actions, CON wore black and white make-up, dressed in white leather, and mounted a megaphone on a black motorcycle helmet. The films from this period are fast paced, high contrast, hypnotic explorations of energy with abstract imagery or CON the magician/performer as subject matter.

Jürgen Boettcher RÄUME INSZENIERTE UND GEFUNDENE ENVIRONMENTS (1970, 3 minutes, video)
Wolfgang Seidel FAHRSTUHL (1971, 3 minutes, video)
WALKMAN (4 minutes, video)
ZAUBERER  (7 minutes, video)
FORTSCHITT (3 minutes, video)
DIE NIE ALT WERDEN (4 minutes, video)
UNTITLED FILM #1 (6 minutes, 8mm, silent)
ZWOLF JAHR KUR FÜR MICHELANGELO (9 minutes, video)
SCHWARZER DOM (8 minutes, video, b&w)
ZYLINDER (2 minutes, video)
SCHWARZE HAND (3 minutes, video)
WER IM LADEN DIE SCHUHSCHACHTELN ZÄHLT (4 minutes, video)
MEHR SPASS (6 minutes, video)
UPER (8 minutes, video)
NATURLICH (5 minutes, video)
TAKE OFF (1980, 4 minutes, video)
Julien Perrin PREMIER CON/TACT (2009, 12 minutes, video)

Total running time: ca. 100 minutes.

One of the finest of contemporary documentary filmmakers, Nikolaus Geyrhalter was the subject of an Anthology retrospective in 2010, and his extraordinary 2005 film OUR DAILY BREAD screens in early July in our series highlighting the 10 most important Austrian films of the past decade. Immediately following that series, we present this week-long run of Geyrhalter’s brand-new documentary, ABENDLAND. Characteristically penetrating, tough-minded, and masterfully composed, ABENDLAND is nevertheless distinguished by its wider focus and its associative structure: a portrait of Europe at night, it draws together glimpses of a wide range of locations, milieus, activities, and themes, under the umbrella of a continent after nightfall. A film of extraordinary beauty but sinister implications – amid its patchwork of passages encompassing birth, death, work, play, and religion, depictions of border controls, surveillance, and forcefully suppressed political protests predominate – ABENDLAND is, both literally and figuratively, a dark vision of 21st-century Europe.

“Training his wide-ranging eyes on Europe at night, Geyrhalter makes perhaps the most mordant statement of his fascinating career with ABENDLAND. Likely influenced by Harun Farocki’s numerous films on industrial, mechanical, and security systems as tools of social control, Geyrhalter’s characteristically ambitious if sometimes elusive work travels to 10 nations and 21 locations to capture nocturnal extremes, from border patrols to sex clubs, aerospace factories to raves.” –Robert Koehler, VARIETY

(ZEMLYA)
A poetic expression of love for both nature and Ukrainian culture by the man who was alternatively branded a deserter by Ukrainians and a Ukrainian nationalist by Russian Soviets. Dovzhenko champions the progression of life, class struggle, and new attitudes for a town changed by a tractor and a fallen hero.

AUDIO VÉRITÉ PRESENTS: THE MYTHOLOGY OF CON
Conrad Schnitzler (1937-2011) is legendary in the German electronic and avant-garde music scene as co-founder of Kluster and Tangerine Dream, but his intermedia work in the 60s and 70s is far less known. He studied sculpture with Joseph Beuys at the Düsseldorf Academy of Art, exhibited his black and white metal sculptures in Berlin, and participated in performances and ‘happenings’ in the same circles as many Fluxus artists, although he rejected membership in any group or movement. In the early 70s Schnitzler left all of his sculptures in an open field and abandoned the art world to devote himself to composing music. His self-produced, stark electronic music, often presented as multi-channel presentations using several cassette players, gradually found an international cult following, yet Schnitzler’s immense creative energy could not be limited to one medium. He continuously experimented with moving images to accompany his music by painting and scratching directly on 8mm film, shooting stop-motion animations and designing sets that he would film himself performing in. By the 80s, Schnitzler had become increasingly reclusive, shooting long meditative videos with his distinctive electronic musical scores. He composed multi-channel Cassette Concerts that could be sent by post for others to conduct in movie theaters or other venues without him having to leave his house. These two programs offer an eye- and ear-opening sampling of works from Schnitzler’s vast archive, much of which has never been seen or heard before in NYC.

THE MYTHOLOGY OF CON has been curated by Conrad’s friend and collaborator Ken Montgomery from Conrad’s archives. Montgomery will be present to introduce both screenings. These presentations coincide with a Schnitzler exhibition at Audio Visual Arts (AVA), a program of multi-channel Cassette Concerts presented by Harvestworks on July 27, 28 & 29, and a Schnitzler video evening at Clocktower. Special thanks to Wolfgang Seidel, Jin Kawai and Gillie Schnitzler.
For more information visit: www.CON-MYTHOLOGY.com.

Unless otherwise noted, all works are directed by Conrad Schnitzler.

PROGRAM 2: FILM/VIDEO (1975-1986)
After leaving the art scene to focus on composing, CON’s musical scores take precedence. He is no longer the subject; the pieces become longer and more focused. CON produced hours of cinematic meditations using primitive computer graphics, dissolving shapes and abstract washes of color and light. One can imagine the reclusive CON sitting back in his chair, observing the transformation of a blowing curtain into an abstract landscape, as his wild symphony unfolds. In all his work, the precise tonalities sculpted by his electronic instruments inform the vision.

Erika Lippki DIE SPUR DIE KARAWANE (1977, 7 minutes, video)
UNTITLED FILM #2 (4 minutes, 8mm, silent)
LUX CONCERT (1979, 29 minutes, video)
SCHATTEN III (1982, 3 minutes, 8mm, b&w)
LICHTPUNKT UND SCHWARZE ZEICHEN (1978, 24 minutes, video, b&w)
DAS CAS CON VIDEO I (1986, 21 minutes, video)

Total running time: ca. 95 minutes.

One of the finest of contemporary documentary filmmakers, Nikolaus Geyrhalter was the subject of an Anthology retrospective in 2010, and his extraordinary 2005 film OUR DAILY BREAD screens in early July in our series highlighting the 10 most important Austrian films of the past decade. Immediately following that series, we present this week-long run of Geyrhalter’s brand-new documentary, ABENDLAND. Characteristically penetrating, tough-minded, and masterfully composed, ABENDLAND is nevertheless distinguished by its wider focus and its associative structure: a portrait of Europe at night, it draws together glimpses of a wide range of locations, milieus, activities, and themes, under the umbrella of a continent after nightfall. A film of extraordinary beauty but sinister implications – amid its patchwork of passages encompassing birth, death, work, play, and religion, depictions of border controls, surveillance, and forcefully suppressed political protests predominate – ABENDLAND is, both literally and figuratively, a dark vision of 21st-century Europe.

“Training his wide-ranging eyes on Europe at night, Geyrhalter makes perhaps the most mordant statement of his fascinating career with ABENDLAND. Likely influenced by Harun Farocki’s numerous films on industrial, mechanical, and security systems as tools of social control, Geyrhalter’s characteristically ambitious if sometimes elusive work travels to 10 nations and 21 locations to capture nocturnal extremes, from border patrols to sex clubs, aerospace factories to raves.” –Robert Koehler, VARIETY

One of the finest of contemporary documentary filmmakers, Nikolaus Geyrhalter was the subject of an Anthology retrospective in 2010, and his extraordinary 2005 film OUR DAILY BREAD screens in early July in our series highlighting the 10 most important Austrian films of the past decade. Immediately following that series, we present this week-long run of Geyrhalter’s brand-new documentary, ABENDLAND. Characteristically penetrating, tough-minded, and masterfully composed, ABENDLAND is nevertheless distinguished by its wider focus and its associative structure: a portrait of Europe at night, it draws together glimpses of a wide range of locations, milieus, activities, and themes, under the umbrella of a continent after nightfall. A film of extraordinary beauty but sinister implications – amid its patchwork of passages encompassing birth, death, work, play, and religion, depictions of border controls, surveillance, and forcefully suppressed political protests predominate – ABENDLAND is, both literally and figuratively, a dark vision of 21st-century Europe.

“Training his wide-ranging eyes on Europe at night, Geyrhalter makes perhaps the most mordant statement of his fascinating career with ABENDLAND. Likely influenced by Harun Farocki’s numerous films on industrial, mechanical, and security systems as tools of social control, Geyrhalter’s characteristically ambitious if sometimes elusive work travels to 10 nations and 21 locations to capture nocturnal extremes, from border patrols to sex clubs, aerospace factories to raves.” –Robert Koehler, VARIETY