January 2009 Archives
Proud and Passionate City
By Holly Willis
January 19, 2009
Billowing clouds of steam, masses of people scurrying through the streets, and buildings and bridges towering overhead are some of the iconic images that characterize a slew of early cinematic portraits of cities. Dubbed "city symphonies," these films pay tribute to the pace, beauty, size and scale of the then modern metropolis. More than that, however, they explore a non-linear visual language and often include avant-garde sonic experimentation, crafting some of the first art films in the history of filmmaking.
REDCAT will present a handful of the most celebrated city symphonies tonight. The most exciting film in the collection has to be Manhatta, a 12-minute tribute to New York City by Paul Strand and Charles Sheeler from 1920. Widely celebrated for its lyrical vision of the city, Manhatta deserves special attention in tonight's screening because it was recently completely restored by archivist Bruce Posner, working with Burbank's Lowry Digital; Posner has spent close to four years returning the film to its original glory.
Permalink DiscussPoetic License
By Holly Willis
January 11, 2009
"The look is much more important than the word. The look is always true, whereas words can be a string of lies."
That's one of my favorite lines from Chere Louise, the captivating portrait of artist Louise Bourgeois by filmmaker Brigitte Cornand that will screen at REDCAT on Monday night.
It is the opening segment of the 50-minute film, and Bourgeois sits at a small table, with a mirror. She will go on to speak about the differences between men and women, but her comments about looking versus speaking resonate with her sculptures, which center on the experience of being among them, with the relationship of space and time, rather than on analysis. A few other favorite lines:
Permalink DiscussVideo Is That Tool
By Holly Willis
January 10, 2009
The Sundance Film Festival kicks off next week, and this year's line-up includes a long list of social issue documentaries. Among these enlightening projects is a terrific film called The Reckoning, directed by Pamela Yates, which chronicles the recent efforts of the International Criminal Court, which was founded in 2002 to investigate and prosecute crimes against humanity. The Court's prosecutor is Luis Moreno Ocampo, and in writing about the film for Sundance's Daily Insider, I had a chance to talk to him briefly. The conversation was intriguing, and I was frankly surprised by his enthusiasm for video. Much of the investigative work done by the Court is taped for use as evidence, and the trials are taped and streamed online. More than that, however, Moreno Ocampo seems to understand a very important fact: how we experience events visually contributes to how we understand them, and how we experience events visually these days is not necessarily in a theater or on TV. "One in five people in the world has a cell phone that can be connected to the Internet with images," he explained, "so the judicial system we have today, which was born before TV and the Internet, which was born in the age of the telegraph, has to adjust." He went on: "Basically as a prosecutor, I have to serve a community, and as a global prosecutor, I need to serve a global community, and I need a global tool to do that - video is that tool."
Permalink Discuss
More KCET Local Blogs
404 City- Read Ophelia Chong's latest post, The Bespoke Book
Cakewalk- Read Erin Aubry Kaplan's latest post, It Can't Happen Here
Movie Miento- Read Adolfo Guzman-Lopez's latest post, Bloguero
Pixeltown- Read Gary Dauphin's latest post, VOD: MLK Online
Think Tank LA- Read Jeremy Rosenberg's latest post, Cars On Sidewalks Draw Parking Guru's Ire
Where We Are- Read D.J. Waldie's latest post, 22. Unsuitable art, unsuitable places
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