FILMS/
ALTERNATE GEOGRAPHIES
Shorts
75 minutes
SHOWTIMES
Sat, Apr 26 / 12:45 / Kabuki / ALT26K
Fri, May 2 / 3:45 / Kabuki / ALT02K
CREDITS
- source
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Download a pdf of Short Film Print Sources
WATCH CLIPS FROM SELECTED PROGRAM SHORTS
When asked once about his orchestral work Skies of America, avant-garde jazz musician and composer Ornette Coleman explained, “I was trying to describe something that has no territory.” Along the way, through Skies and other ambitious works, Coleman changed the potentialities of music itself. It’s in that spirit—of figuring the unimaginable and reworking both the subject and practice of art—that the films in this program invent new ways to map real and imagined landscapes.
On the Assassination of the President
They say that the conspiracy theory is the worldview of the disenfranchised. We aren’t sure who says that. But, whoever they are, they might tone it down and take a page from Adam Keker. This astonishing “exposé” reveals the top-secret dossier to be viewed only in the event of the president’s death. (Adam Keker, USA 2007, 6 min) In GGA competition.
Number One
If the operation of the human mind were visualized, one version might look like this sublime video. Pierce presents thinking as a multivalent mechanism, continuously attracted to multiple thresholds of the concrete and abstract. (Leighton Pierce, USA 2007, 10 min) In GGA competition.
Energy!
This video is amazing! But what is it? The producers say it depicts “an uncontrolled electrical discharge of 30,000 volts that exposes photographic paper, which is then arranged in time to create new visual systems of electron organization.” We’re inclined to agree. (Thorsten Fleisch, Germany 2007, 5 min) In GGA competition.
Cabinet
A hand on the shoulder. A deep breath. An empty room. Todd Herman’s fragile video presents a conceptual space between aging and expiration. (Todd Herman, USA 2007, 16 min) In GGA competition.
The Drift
The song came from outer space and sparked a devolution. Everything falls apart . . . and floats away. (Kelly Sears, USA 2007, 9 min)
Easter Morning
Shot in 1966 and rediscovered by Conner, this (originally) 8mm beauty includes effects and editing performed in camera and a score by Terry Riley. This is a completely different, re-imagined and reconfigured work than Conner’s classic Easter Morning Raga (1966). (Bruce Conner, USA 2008, 10 min)
Observando el Cielo
The absolutely breathtaking Observando won a prestigious Tiger Award at the Rotterdam Film Festival for being, as the RIFF jurors described it, “unafraid of beauty.” The film comprises seven years of astrological field studies figuring Earth itself as a giant recording device. (Jeanne Liotta, USA 2007, 19 min) In GGA competition.
—Sean Uyehara
Total running time 75 min. Presented in association with San Francisco Cinematheque. Sponsored by Stella Artois.
