Current Schedule

The 49th Annual Ann Arbor Film Festival Tour – Program B

Sun, 11 Dec 2011 18:33:27 -0500

Sunday December 11, 2011, 7:30 pm

Los Angeles Filmforum presents
The 49th Annual Ann Arbor Film Festival Tour – Program B
Recent documentary, animation, independent and experimental films from the 49th Ann Arbor Film Festival. In person: Laida Lertxundi, Paul Gailiunas! (schedules permitting)
At the Egyptian Theater in Hollywood
Los Angeles Filmforum presents the 2011 edition of the 49th AAFF Traveling Tour, giving Los Angeles audiences a chance to see the best new experimental works from around the world! This program of short films includes recent experimental, narrative, documentary and animated films selected from the most recent Ann Arbor Film Festival. The program includes Fern Silva's 2010 film In the Absence of Light, Darkness Prevails (winner of Best Experimental Film at the AAFF), a journey through Brazil and a mystical tale of creation and destruction inspired by a prayer to the maternal ocean goddess Iemanjá.

Laida Lertxundi's 16mm film Cry When It Happens, "a restrained psychodrama of play, loss, and the transformation of everyday habitats" begins in a dingy motel room with a view of Los Angeles City Hall before traversing into an expansive California landscape (shot in the bucolic Montaña de Oro State Park) punctuated by the Blue Rondos' 1964 song "Little Baby." "Lertxundi probably has a better sense of bodily relations, suburban detail, and epic landscape, spaces rising deep in the frame instead of receding, than anyone in America, but her accumulation of precisions makes a through line of disembodied gazes, very much of 2011, in which each portal seems to lead forward or back to the next." -David Phelps, The L Magazine

The program concludes with the final film from the late animator Helen Hill (1971-2007), completed in 2010 by her husband Paul Gailiunas. Hill was one of the most well-regarded experimental animators of her generation and began The Florestine Collection upon her discovery of more than 100 handmade dresses in a trash pile one Mardi Gras Day in New Orleans. She set out to make a film about the dressmaker, an elderly seamstress who had recently passed away. Other works include Berlin Tracks 18h00-20h00, a mesmerizing and rhythmic view of railway tracks in Berlin, by Shiloh Cinquemani; Miramare, an animated look at life on the Mediterranean borders of Europe by Croatian animator Michaela Muller; Protoparticluas, a humorous science fiction film from Spanish filmmaker Chema García Ibarra; and Atlantiques, a documentary that recounts the odyssey of Senegalese friends who attempt a life-threatening boat crossing by filmmaker Mati Diop (lead actress in Claire Denis's recent 35 Rhums).

The Ann Arbor Film Festival is the leading experimental film festival in the United States, held each March. The Ann Arbor Film Festival is a pioneer of the traveling film festival tour concept, starting with film screenings in Paris, Los Angeles and Berkeley in 1964. Since that time, the AAFF Tour has presented hundreds of influential works, including films by Barbara Hammer, Gus Van Sant, Sally Cruikshank, Don Hertzfeldt, Bill Brown, Ross McLaren, Paul Winkler, James Duesing, Martha Colburn and Jay Rosenblatt. http://www.aafilmfest.org/ 
Films include:

Cry When it Happens by Laida Lertxundi (Los Angeles, CA | 14 min) Los Angeles City Hall is reflected onto the window of the Paradise Motel. It serves as an anchor for this traversal through the natural expanse of California. Here, we discover a restrained psychodrama of play, loss, and the transformation of everyday habitats. Music appears across the interiors and exteriors and speaks of limitlessness and longing. –LL  Berlin Tracks 18h00-20h00 by Shiloh Cinquemani (Cambridge, MA | 3 min) Los Angeles Premiere! Berlin Tracks 18h00-20h00 is a mesmerizing and rhythmic view of the railway tracks stretching out from under the Modersohnbrücke (Modersohn Bridge) towards Warshauer Str. S-Bahn Station in Berlin-Friedrichshain, Germany.

Miramare by Michaela Müller (CROATIA / SWITZERLAND | 2010 | 8 min | 35mm on video) Los Angeles Premiere!
A look at life on the Mediterranean borders of Europe, where tourists try to relax while "illegal" immigrants struggle to get a chance for a better life. – MM

Michaela Müller is a Swiss animator who has been living in Croatia since 2005. She is a recent graduate of aLu (Academy of Fine Arts) in Zagreb.; Miramare is her thesis film. triboje.net

Atlantiques by Mati Diop (SENEGAL / FRANCE | 2009 | 15 min | video) Los Angeles Premiere!
Sitting by the campfire, Serigne, a young man from Dakar, tells his two friends the story of his sea voyage as a stowaway. Not only he, but everyone in his surroundings seems to be continually obsessed by the idea of trying to cross the sea. His words reverberate like a melancholic poem. A story about boys who are continually traveling: between past, present and future, between life and death, history and myth. 
Mati Diop (b.1982, France) lives and works in Paris. In 2004 she directed her first short film Last Night. In 2007, she was the main actress of the film 35 Rhums by Clair Denis. Atlantiques is her fourth short film. Her work has been included in many international film festivals including Rotterdam, Toronto, New York and Cinema du Reel among others. lefresnoy.net (Atlantiques courtesy of Studio Le Fresnoy)

Protoparticulas by Chema García Ibarra (Spain | 2010 | 7 min | video) Los Angeles Premiere!
The experiment was almost a success: protomatter exists.

Chema García Ibarra (b.1980, Spain) has been making short films since 1997. His 2009 film Attack of the Robots from Nebula-5 screened at many international film festivals, receiving several awards including Funniest Film at the 48th Ann Arbor Film Festival. His other films include The Way of Flesh (2006), Miaau (2007), and Reverse Flashback (2007). Ibarra lives in Elche, Spain. chemagarcia.com

In the Absence of Light, Darkness Prevails by Fern Silva (Brazil / USA | 2010 | 13 min | 16mm on video) Los Angeles Premiere!
Best Experimental Film Award 49th AAFF

“O mother of waters! Great is your power, your strength, and your light...Let your greatness be the greatest wealth you dispense to me... surrounded by sweet melodies springing from your own self...” –prayer to Iemanjá

Fern Silva’s In the Absence of Light, Darkness Prevails suggests a future already arrived, merging the destruction with the creation of life as seen in the tiny turtles crawling their way to the sea, or heard in the crackling of a Geiger counter as a masked man sprays plants with pesticides. Though only 13 minutes, the film’s span is enormous. As revelers in Salvador, Bahia, parade through the streets, a gnat-sized Mercury passes across the surface of the sun, and men slowly make their way up the giant steps of an ancient temple; the film resides in a well of deep time, civilizational history swallowed by the life of the planet. –Genevieve Yue, Reverse Shot

Since 2005, Fern Silva has created a body of film, video, and projection work that has been screened and performed at various festivals, galleries, museums and cinematheques including International Film Festival Rotterdam, New York Film Festival, Anthology Film Archive, Images Festival, Antimatter Film Festival, PDX Film Festival, World Film Festival of Bangkok, Biennale Bandits-Mages, Roulette Gallery, Millennium Film Workshop, White Box Gallery, and MOMA P.S.1. Although Brooklyn based, Fern Silva is from central Connecticut, he received a BFA from Massachusetts College of Art and an MFA from Bard College. fernsilva.com
 The Florestine Collection by Helen Hill, Paul Gailiunas (South Pasadena, CA | 31 min)
AAFF Jury Award Experimental animator Helen Hill found more than 100 handmade dresses in a trash pile on one Mardi Gras Day in New Orleans. She set out to make a film about the dressmaker, an African-American seamstress who had recently passed away. The dresses and much of the film footage were later flood-damaged by Hurricane Katrina while Helen was still working on the film. Helen was murdered in a home invasion in New Orleans in 2007. Her husband Paul Gailiunas has completed the film, which includes Helen's original silhouette, cut-out, and puppet animation, as well as flood-damaged and restored home movies.

Tickets: $10 general, $6 students/seniors; free for Filmforum students.
Advance ticket purchase available through Brown Paper Tickets. Click here to purchase.

ABOUT THE ANN ARBOR FILM FESTIVAL:

TOUR - The Ann Arbor Film Festival is a pioneer of the traveling ﬁlm festival concept, having launched tour screenings in Paris, Los Angeles and Berkeley in 1964. Each year the AAFF exhibits ﬁlms around the world in art house theaters, museums, universities, cinematheques and media art centers. All ﬁlmmakers participating on the tour are paid to screen their work, providing direct support to these independent artists.

FILMS - A selection of ﬁlms from the AAFF Tour are made available on limited-edition AAFF DVD collections, which can be purchased online at: www.aaﬁlmfest.org/store.

FESTIVAL - The 50th Festival will take place March 27 - April 1, 2012 at the historic Michigan Theater, a 1920s era movie palace.
The Ann Arbor Film Festival is the longest-running independent and experimental film festival in North America, established in 1963. Internationally recognized as a premiere forum for independent filmmakers and artists, each year's festival engages audiences with remarkable cinematic experiences. The six-day festival presents 40 programs with more than 160 films from over 20 countries of all lengths and genres, including experimental, animation, documentary, narrative, hybrid and performance based works.

This screening series is supported, in part, by the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors through the Los Angeles County Arts Commission; the Department of Cultural Affairs, City of Los Angeles; and the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts. Special support provided by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Additional support is generously provided by the American Cinematheque.
Note that the Egyptian no longer validates for the Hollywood and Highland parking, although this garage may still be the best place to park (validation is still available from anywhere in the Hollywood and Highland complex). Street parking is still an option, as are the area parking lots (some of these are $5), and the Metro Red Line to the Hollywood and Highland stop.

Community Visionaries: Visual Communications

Sun, 4 Dec 2011 00:14:15 -0500

Sunday December 4, 2011, 2:00 pm

Los Angeles Filmforum, Visual Communications, the Japanese American National Museum, and the Downtown Independent present
Community Visionaries: Visual Communications and the Dawn of Asian Pacific American Cinema
In person: Robert Nakamura, Eddie Wong, Duane Kubo, and Alan Kondo (Schedules permitting)

At the Downtown Independent (click here for directions)
**NOTE THE CHANGE IN TIME AND LOCATION!**
Los Angeles Filmforum presents the tenth in our film screening series Alternative Projections: Experimental Film in Los Angeles, 1945-1980 on December 4th with Community Visionaries: Visual Communications and the Dawn of Asian Pacific American Cinema. The series will feature over 24 shows between now and May 2012.

CLICK HERE TO SEE THE FULL SCREENING DESCRIPTION AND LIST OF FILMS ON THE ALTERNATIVE PROJECTIONS WEBSITE.

Alternative Projections is Filmforum’s exploration of the community of filmmakers, artists, curators and programmers who contributed to the creation and presentation of experimental film and video in Southern California in the postwar era. Film series curated by Adam Hyman and Mark Toscano, with additional contributions by David James, Christine Panushka, Terry Cannon, Ben Caldwell, Stephanie Sapienza, and more.

Alternative Projections is part of Pacific Standard Time: Art in LA 1945 – 1980, an unprecedented collaboration of more than sixty cultural institutions across Southern California, coming together to tell the story of the birth of the L.A. art scene.

This screening series is supported, in part, by the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors through the Los Angeles County Arts Commission; the Department of Cultural Affairs, City of Los Angeles; and the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts. Special support provided by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Additional support generously provided by American Cinematheque.

Wallace Berman’s Underground

Sat, 3 Dec 2011 00:07:10 -0500

Saturday December 3, 2011, 8:00 pm

Los Angeles Filmforum and the Armory Center for the Arts present
Wallace Berman’s Underground
In person: Toni Basil, Tosh Berman, George Herms, Russ Tamblyn (Schedules permitting)

At the Armory Center for the Arts in Pasadena (click for a map)
**NOTE THE CHANGE IN DAY AND LOCATION!**
Los Angeles Filmforum presents the ninth in our film screening series Alternative Projections: Experimental Film in Los Angeles, 1945-1980 on December 3rd with Wallace Berman’s Underground. The series will feature over 24 shows between now and May 2012.

CLICK HERE TO SEE THE FULL SCREENING DESCRIPTION AND LIST OF FILMS ON THE ALTERNATIVE PROJECTIONS WEBSITE.

Alternative Projections is Filmforum’s exploration of the community of filmmakers, artists, curators and programmers who contributed to the creation and presentation of experimental film and video in Southern California in the postwar era. Film series curated by Adam Hyman and Mark Toscano, with additional contributions by David James, Christine Panushka, Terry Cannon, Ben Caldwell, Stephanie Sapienza, and more.

Alternative Projections is part of Pacific Standard Time: Art in LA 1945 – 1980, an unprecedented collaboration of more than sixty cultural institutions across Southern California, coming together to tell the story of the birth of the L.A. art scene.

This screening series is supported, in part, by the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors through the Los Angeles County Arts Commission; the Department of Cultural Affairs, City of Los Angeles; and the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts. Special support provided by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Additional support generously provided by American Cinematheque.

Alarms from the 60s: Political Expression

Sun, 20 Nov 2011 07:51:58 -0500

Sunday November 20, 2011, 7:30 pm

Los Angeles Filmforum presents
Alarms from the 60s: Experiments in Political Expression
In person: Stanton Kaye, Bill Norton, Penelope Spheeris (Schedules permitting)

At the Egyptian Theater in Hollywood
Los Angeles Filmforum presents the eighth in our film screening series Alternative Projections: Experimental Film in Los Angeles, 1945-1980 on November 20th with Alarms from the 60s: Experiments in Political Expression. The series will feature over 24 shows between now and May 2012.

CLICK HERE TO SEE THE FULL SCREENING DESCRIPTION AND LIST OF FILMS ON THE ALTERNATIVE PROJECTIONS WEBSITE.

Alternative Projections is Filmforum’s exploration of the community of filmmakers, artists, curators and programmers who contributed to the creation and presentation of experimental film and video in Southern California in the postwar era. Film series curated by Adam Hyman and Mark Toscano, with additional contributions by David James, Christine Panushka, Terry Cannon, Ben Caldwell, Stephanie Sapienza, and more.

Alternative Projections is part of Pacific Standard Time: Art in LA 1945 – 1980, an unprecedented collaboration of more than sixty cultural institutions across Southern California, coming together to tell the story of the birth of the L.A. art scene.

This screening series is supported, in part, by the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors through the Los Angeles County Arts Commission; the Department of Cultural Affairs, City of Los Angeles; and the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts. Special support provided by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Additional support generously provided by American Cinematheque.

Doin' It on Tape: Video from the Woman's Building

Sun, 13 Nov 2011 07:43:29 -0500

Sunday November 13, 2011, 7:30 pm

Los Angeles Filmforum and Otis College of Art and Design Present
Doin' It on Tape: Video from the Woman's Building
Jerri Allyn, Alexandra Juhasz, Susan Mogul, Cheri Gaulke, Sue Maberry, Kathleen Forrest, Suzanne Lacy, Leslie Labowitz-Starus (schedules permitting)

At the Egyptian Theater in Hollywood
Los Angeles Filmforum presents the seventh in our film screening series Alternative Projections: Experimental Film in Los Angeles, 1945-1980 on November 13th with Doin' It on Tape: Video from the Woman's Building. The series will feature over 24 shows between now and May 2012.

CLICK HERE TO SEE THE FULL SCREENING DESCRIPTION AND LIST OF FILMS ON THE ALTERNATIVE PROJECTIONS WEBSITE.

Alternative Projections is Filmforum’s exploration of the community of filmmakers, artists, curators and programmers who contributed to the creation and presentation of experimental film and video in Southern California in the postwar era. Film series curated by Adam Hyman and Mark Toscano, with additional contributions by David James, Christine Panushka, Terry Cannon, Ben Caldwell, Stephanie Sapienza, and more.

Alternative Projections is part of Pacific Standard Time: Art in LA 1945 – 1980, an unprecedented collaboration of more than sixty cultural institutions across Southern California, coming together to tell the story of the birth of the L.A. art scene.

This screening series is supported, in part, by the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors through the Los Angeles County Arts Commission; the Department of Cultural Affairs, City of Los Angeles; and the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts. Special support provided by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Additional support generously provided by American Cinematheque.

Asco: Chicano Cinema & Varda’s Mur Murs

Fri, 11 Nov 2011 21:23:44 -0500

Friday November 11, 2011, 7:30 pm

Los Angeles Filmforum and LACMA Present
Asco: Chicano Cinema and Agnes Varda’s Mur Murs

At LACMA’s Bing Theater
Los Angeles Filmforum presents the sixth in our film screening series Alternative Projections: Experimental Film in Los Angeles, 1945-1980 on November 11th with Asco: Chicano Cinema and Agnes Varda’s Mur Murs. The series will feature over 24 shows between now and May 2012.

CLICK HERE TO SEE THE FULL SCREENING DESCRIPTION AND LIST OF FILMS ON THE ALTERNATIVE PROJECTIONS WEBSITE.

Alternative Projections is Filmforum’s exploration of the community of filmmakers, artists, curators and programmers who contributed to the creation and presentation of experimental film and video in Southern California in the postwar era. Film series curated by Adam Hyman and Mark Toscano, with additional contributions by David James, Christine Panushka, Terry Cannon, Ben Caldwell, Stephanie Sapienza, and more.

Alternative Projections is part of Pacific Standard Time: Art in LA 1945 – 1980, an unprecedented collaboration of more than sixty cultural institutions across Southern California, coming together to tell the story of the birth of the L.A. art scene.

This screening series is supported, in part, by the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors through the Los Angeles County Arts Commission; the Department of Cultural Affairs, City of Los Angeles; and the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts. Special support provided by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Additional support generously provided by American Cinematheque.

Distributing the Avant-Garde: The CFS Collection

Sun, 30 Oct 2011 20:18:08 -0400

Sunday October 30, 2011, 7:30 pm

Los Angeles Filmforum presents
Distributing the Avant-Garde: The Creative Film Society Collection
At the Egyptian Theater in Hollywood
Los Angeles Filmforum presents the fifth in our film screening series Alternative Projections: Experimental Film in Los Angeles, 1945-1980 on October 30rd with Distributing the Avant-Garde: The Creative Film Society Collection. The series will feature over 24 shows between now and May 2012.

CLICK HERE TO SEE THE FULL SCREENING DESCRIPTION AND LIST OF FILMS ON THE ALTERNATIVE PROJECTIONS WEBSITE.

Alternative Projections is Filmforum’s exploration of the community of filmmakers, artists, curators and programmers who contributed to the creation and presentation of experimental film and video in Southern California in the postwar era. Film series curated by Adam Hyman and Mark Toscano, with additional contributions by David James, Christine Panushka, Terry Cannon, Ben Caldwell, Stephanie Sapienza, and more.

Alternative Projections is part of Pacific Standard Time: Art in LA 1945 – 1980, an unprecedented collaboration of more than sixty cultural institutions across Southern California, coming together to tell the story of the birth of the L.A. art scene.

This screening series is supported, in part, by the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors through the Los Angeles County Arts Commission; the Department of Cultural Affairs, City of Los Angeles; and the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts. Special support provided by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Additional support generously provided by American Cinematheque.

Early Abstractions of the 1940s and 1950s

Sun, 23 Oct 2011 20:14:00 -0400

Sunday October 23, 2011, 7:30 pm

Los Angeles Filmforum presents
Film/Music/Forms – Early Abstractions of the 1940s and 1950s
At the Egyptian Theater in Hollywood
Los Angeles Filmforum presents the fourth in our film screening series Alternative Projections: Experimental Film in Los Angeles, 1945-1980 on October 23rd with Film/Music/Forms – Early Abstractions of the 1940s and 1950s. The series will feature over 24 shows between now and May 2012.

CLICK HERE TO SEE THE FULL SCREENING DESCRIPTION AND LIST OF FILMS ON THE ALTERNATIVE PROJECTIONS WEBSITE.

Alternative Projections is Filmforum’s exploration of the community of filmmakers, artists, curators and programmers who contributed to the creation and presentation of experimental film and video in Southern California in the postwar era. Film series curated by Adam Hyman and Mark Toscano, with additional contributions by David James, Christine Panushka, Terry Cannon, Ben Caldwell, Stephanie Sapienza, and more.

Alternative Projections is part of Pacific Standard Time: Art in LA 1945 – 1980, an unprecedented collaboration of more than sixty cultural institutions across Southern California, coming together to tell the story of the birth of the L.A. art scene.

This screening series is supported, in part, by the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors through the Los Angeles County Arts Commission; the Department of Cultural Affairs, City of Los Angeles; and the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts. Special support provided by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Additional support generously provided by American Cinematheque.

Industry Town: The Avant-Garde and Hollywood

Sun, 16 Oct 2011 20:10:29 -0400

Sunday October 16, 2011, 7:30 pm

Los Angeles Filmforum presents
Industry Town: The Avant-Garde and Hollywood
At the Egyptian Theater in Hollywood
Los Angeles Filmforum presents the third in our film screening series Alternative Projections: Experimental Film in Los Angeles, 1945-1980 on October 16th with Industry Town: The Avant-Garde and Hollywood. The series will feature over 24 shows between now and May 2012.

CLICK HERE TO SEE THE FULL SCREENING DESCRIPTION AND LIST OF FILMS ON THE ALTERNATIVE PROJECTIONS WEBSITE.

Alternative Projections is Filmforum’s exploration of the community of filmmakers, artists, curators and programmers who contributed to the creation and presentation of experimental film and video in Southern California in the postwar era. Film series curated by Adam Hyman and Mark Toscano, with additional contributions by David James, Christine Panushka, Terry Cannon, Ben Caldwell, Stephanie Sapienza, and more.

Alternative Projections is part of Pacific Standard Time: Art in LA 1945 – 1980, an unprecedented collaboration of more than sixty cultural institutions across Southern California, coming together to tell the story of the birth of the L.A. art scene.

This screening series is supported, in part, by the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors through the Los Angeles County Arts Commission; the Department of Cultural Affairs, City of Los Angeles; and the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts. Special support provided by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Additional support generously provided by American Cinematheque.

Animation of the Unconsciousness: Jules Engel

Mon, 10 Oct 2011 19:52:46 -0400

Monday October 10, 2011, 8:30 pm

Los Angeles Filmforum and Film at REDCAT Present
Animation of the Unconsciousness:
CalArts and the Teachings of Jules Engel
Christine Panushka, Sky David (Dennis Pies), Lisze Bechtold and more in person!

At REDCAT, the Roy and Edna Disney/CalArts Theater

Los Angeles Filmforum presents the second in our film screening series Alternative Projections: Experimental Film in Los Angeles, 1945-1980 on October 10th with Animation of the Unconsciousness: CalArts and the Teachings of Jules Engel. The series will feature over 24 shows between now and May 2012.

CLICK HERE TO SEE THE FULL SCREENING DESCRIPTION AND LIST OF FILMS ON THE ALTERNATIVE PROJECTIONS WEBSITE.

Alternative Projections is Filmforum’s exploration of the community of filmmakers, artists, curators and programmers who contributed to the creation and presentation of experimental film and video in Southern California in the postwar era. Film series curated by Adam Hyman and Mark Toscano, with additional contributions by David James, Christine Panushka, Terry Cannon, Ben Caldwell, Stephanie Sapienza, and more.

Alternative Projections is part of Pacific Standard Time: Art in LA 1945 – 1980, an unprecedented collaboration of more than sixty cultural institutions across Southern California, coming together to tell the story of the birth of the L.A. art scene.

This screening series is supported, in part, by the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors through the Los Angeles County Arts Commission; the Department of Cultural Affairs, City of Los Angeles; and the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts. Special support provided by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Additional support generously provided by American Cinematheque.