Course News

Video Screening: Mon Feb 4, 7pm

// For-Educational-Use-Only: a Series of Video Screenings //
-- UIUC School of Art and Design, New Media Program --

On Mondays this spring, in room 229 of the UIUC Art and Design building, we'll be screening videos at 7pm. This un-themed series will simply screen works that are sometimes hard-to-come-by, restricted in circulation, or perhaps "overlooked." Not all works will be screened in their intended format (i.e., works shot for film will be screened as videos) or even in pristine form; the idea is to get at least some experience of these often hard-to-find works out into circulation of our educational communities.

Monday, February 4th: "Light and Shadow"

Maya Deren
Meshes of the Afternoon, 1943, 14:00, film, b+w

Meshes of the Afternoon is one of the most influential works in American experimental cinema. A non-narrative work, it has been identified as a key example of the "trance film," in which a protagonist appears in a dreamlike state, and where the camera conveys his or her subjective focus. The central figure in Meshes of the Afternoon, played by Deren, is attuned to her unconscious mind and caught in a web of dream events that spill over into reality. Meshes of the Afternoon established the independent avant-garde movement in film in the United States, which is known as the New American Cinema. It directly inspired early works by Kenneth Anger, Stan Brakhage, and other major experimental filmmakers. (ubuweb)
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Stan Brakhage
Anticipation of the Night, 1958, 42:00, film, color

In Anticipation of the Night, Brakhage created a film of self-exploration and psychological revelation that did not depend on a journey metaphor, a linear narrative structure, or an on-screen protagonist. Brakhage strove to communicate a "totality of vision" (what he saw, perceived, felt, imagined, and dreamt) through a complete identification between himself and a "liberated camera." Brakhage uses a constantly moving hand-held camera, unfocused images, under- and over-exposure, random compositions, distorting lenses and filters, flash frames, varying camera speeds, and fragmented time and space.
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Linda Montano
Mitchell's Death, 1977, 22:20, video, b+w

Using performance as a means of personal transformation and catharsis, Mitchell's Death mourns the death of Montano's ex-husband. Every detail of her story, from the telephone call announcing the tragedy, to visiting the body, is chanted by Montano as her face, pierced by acupuncture needles, slowly comes into focus then goes out again. (vdb)
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Shuji Terayama
Shadow Film: A Woman with Two Heads, 1977, 15:00

Terayama's work is at once haunting and beautiful. Using visual expectation as a means of simultaneously disorienting and enchanting the viewer, the film never settles into a concrete narrative or even definitive symbolism. Much like the shadows Terayama employs to achieve these filmic and psychic effects, the film's underlying meaning is perpetually out of reach--it oscillates from childhood innocence to the throes of sexual passion with little more than a cryptic stare and a plodding musical score as interpretive devices.
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Peter Tscherkassky
Dream Work, 2001, 10:00, film, b+w

A woman goes to bed, falls asleep, and begins to dream. This dream takes her to a landscape of light and shadow, evoked in a form only possible through classic cinematography. "Dream Work" is the third section of the CinemaScope Trilogy. The film was made with a process called contact printing, by which found film footage is copied by hand and frame by frame onto unexposed film stock. (tscherkassky.at)
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Deborah Stratman
In Order Not to be Here, 2002, excerpt, film, color

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. By examining evacuated suburban and corporate landscapes, the film reveals peculiarly 21st century hollowness--an emptiness born of our collective faith in safety and technology. (vdb)
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Guy Maddin
Cowards Bend the Knee, 2003, excerpt, film, b+w

This surrealist film is divided into ten short sections. It was initially conceived as an installation consisting of 10 peep holes each showing one section of the film. Maddin fuses the asthetics of silent film with contemporary installation art in this story of murder, abortion, revenge, amnesia, and ice hockey. (imdb)

posted by ryan griffis at 9:40 PM Wednesday, January 30, 2008

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Video Screening: Mon Feb 4, 7pm

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