Ism, Ism, Ism: Sin Cámara / Cameraless

Los Angeles Filmforum and REDCAT present

Ism, Ism, Ism: Sin Cámara / Cameraless

At REDCAT, 631 West 2^nd Street, Los Angeles, CA 90012

https://www.redcat.org/event/camera-less-direct-animation-south-america

Surveying an extraordinary body of works produced since the 1950s, this program maps South American “camera-less” or “direct” filmmaking.”  In "direct animation” or “camera-less” filmmaking, figures are painted, scratched, or inked directly onto film leader. Highly tactile, textured and abstract, these films dramatize the essential properties of the medium of film itself. It's also a technique favored by many key figures of the avant-garde, from the Scottish-Canadian Norman McLaren to New Zealand's Len Lye and the legendary New Yorker Harry Smith. Less well known is the extensive filmography of the numerous Latin American practitioners. Based on extensive interviews, travels, and archival research by curator Antoni Pinent, this program introduces a handful of these shorts, from Argentine, Uruguayan, Brazilian, Peruvian, Colombian, Venezuelan, Mexican, and Chicana filmmakers who have chosen this most rudimentary (yet powerful) of film techniques. TRT: 90 min

The program will comprise 22 short films, including Abecedario / B, by Colectivo Los Ingrávidos (2013. México. 4’55”), Prueba, by Rosario Sotelo (2014. México. 1’), Breathe, by Leonardo Zito (2014. Argentina. 7’), Begin by Sameer Makarius (1953. Argentina. 1’), O Átomo Brincalhão, by Roberto Miller (1981. Brasil. 4’), Cocktail de rayas, by Eduardo Darino (1964. Uruguay. 1’41”), TM, by Pablo Marín (2008. Argentina. 2’10”), Abismo by Sebastian Wiedemann (2012. Argentina–Colombia. 3’35”), Ideítas, by Víctor Iturralde Rúa (1952. Argentina. 1’05”), Kimono, by José Castillo (1992. Venezuela. 3’56”), Al trance, by Guillermo Zabaleta (2013. Uruguay. 1’30”), Tourist Hitchcock by Marco Pando (2003. Países Bajos–Perú. 4’39”), On the Road by Jack Kerouac by Jorge Lorenzo (2013. México–Colombia. 14’), and more!

In Person: Curator Antoni Pinent

“In Ideítas Víctor Aytor Iturralde Rúa applies a divided flow of abstract paintings in colors directly to 16mm stock, which is transformed into a kind of fragmented canvas and articulates a minimal style of animation in which film and projector seem to combine forces to compose images that until then were virtual, mental phenomena."  – Pablo Marín

"In Jose Castillo’s work we find beautiful declarations in favor of peace, against the violation of men and women’s human rights, in defense of the oppressed, of the exploited, of the world’s downtrodden. Castillo’s cinema is a cinema in search of something, a cinema that negates stereotypes and we therefore find, in the intersection between his work’s major themes and the artist himself, a revolutionary who creates works that revolutionize art"

– Fundación Cinemateca Nacional de Venezuela

Los Angeles Filmforum is pleased to launch Ism Ism Ism: Experimental Cinema in Latin America (Ismo Ismo Ismo: Cine Experimental en América Latina) at REDCAT. Ism Ism Ism is an unprecedented, five-month film series —the first in the U.S.—that surveys Latin America’s vibrant experimental production from the 1930s through today. Revisiting classic titles and introducing recent works by key figures and emerging artists, Ism Ism Ism takes viewers on a journey through a wealth of materials culled from unexpected corners of Latin American film archives. This marathon opening weekend includes a panel with curators and scholars and six film programs: Latin American surrealist shorts; films made in Southern California by Latinas and Latin American women; a solo presentation by veteran Chicano filmmaker Willie Varela; “camera-less” films by artists from several countries; documents of diverse countercultural movements; and revelatory shorts regarding revolutionary icon Che Guevara.  The panel is free. 

Ism Ism Ism is accompanied by a bilingual publication (from University of California Press) placing Latino and Latin American experimental cinema within a broader dialogue that explores different periods, cultural contexts, image-making models, and considerations of these filmmakers within international cinema. 

Ism Ism Ism is part of Pacific Standard Time: LA/LA, a far-reaching and ambitious exploration of Latin American and Latino art in dialogue with Los Angeles. 

The film series will continue through January 2017 at multiple venues, organized by Filmforum.

Explore more at www.ismismism.org,  lafilmforum.org, and www.pacificstandardtime.org.

Major support for Ism Ism Ism is provided through grants from the Getty Foundation. Significant additional support comes from the Andy Warhol Foundation for Visual Arts, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the Mike Kelley Foundation for the Arts.
Pacific Standard Time is an initiative of the Getty. The presenting sponsor is Bank of America.

Jack H. Skirball Series

Tickets: $12 general; REDCAT members $9; CalArts students and Filmforum members $6.  Available in advance from Brown Paper Tickets at https://web.ovationtix.com/trs/pr/978462 or at the door.

REDCAT | THE ROY AND EDNA DISNEY/CALARTS THEATER 

is located at 631 West 2nd Street, Los Angeles, CA 90012 - at the corner of 2nd and Hope Streets inside the Walt Disney Concert Hall complex. Parking is available in the Walt Disney Concert Hall parking structure and at adjacent lots. Unless otherwise specified, tickets are $12 for the general public, $9 for members. Tickets may be purchased by calling 213.237.2800 or at www.redcat.org or in person at the REDCAT Box Office on the corner of 2nd and Hope Streets (30 minutes free parking with validation). Box Office Hours: Tue-Sat | noon–6 pm and two hours prior to curtain.

For more information:  https://www.redcat.org/event/crossing-paths-latina-and-latin-american-women-filmmakers-los-angeles or 323-377-7238