This is a hand-painted film whose emotionally referential shapes and colours are interwoven with words (in English) from the first “Hymn to the Night” by the late 18th century mystic poet Friedrich Philipp von Hardenberg, whose pen name was Novalis. The pieces of text which I’ve used are as follows: “the universally gladdening Light…As inmost soul…it is breathed by stars…by stone…by suckling plant…multiform beast…and by (you). I turn aside to holy Night…I seek to blend with ashes, Night opens in us…infinite eyes…blessed love.” (SB)
Filter Films
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ANONYMOUS is a half-hour fictional narrative which explores the accidental meeting of two men. One is an aged veteran of the streets. The other is an overweight shoe salesman in his early 40’s. The two men end up spending an evening together. They share beer, conversation and the pirating of pornographic videos. It seems they had more in common then anyone would have guessed.
Anonymous
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An animated journey through the lands of the dead. Using collage and multiple exposure, “First Dispatch …” creates a dryly humorous but subtly menacing environment, with references to ancient civilizations, religion, and war. Related to the work of Max Ernst, Joseph Cornell, and Larry Jordan.
First Dispatch from Atlantis
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“First Comes Love” is somewhat like an extended musical number, with perfectly choreographed scenes of four traditional wedding ceremonies accompanied by a schizophrenic but amusing medley of popular love songs. The celebratory atmosphere is interrupted midway through to remind us that there are still a few countries in the world that refuse to legitimize homosexual unions. The film doesn’t attempt to defend – or discredit – the institution of marriage. Instead, it reveals many subtle emotions surrounding the events and raises questions about how the double standard regarding marriage affects both gay and straight couples.
First Comes Love
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“Fires of Transformation” is a documentary about a unique women’s theatre troupe called VOICE (Violence Overcome in Creative Ensemble), who have collectively written and performed an original play based on their own experiences as survivors of wife assault and other forms of violence against women and children. The film chronicles VOICE’s 1990 National Tour, taking its viewers on an emotional and triumphant journey across Canada. Utilizing interviews, audience discussions, and scenes from VOICE’s powerful play the film celebrates the courage and strength of the women who created it and documents a process of empowerment and transformation.
Fires of Transformation
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One of three films made in conjunction with the Boulder “Sunday Associates” production of Jane Brakhage’s story of Caesar’s invasion of Britain, Caswallon the Headhunter … “Fireloop” is a hand-painted loop used as part of the special effects in the final Caswallon production, a closed-eye envisionment of “a fire in the mind,” with accompanying soundtrack by Joel Haertling.
Fireloop
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In this film, one evening’s TV news broadcast from an American channel is juxtaposed with the soundtrack of daily game shows, commercial messages and other found sounds from television viewing. How and what events get capsulated into the 30-second clip? What are the messages of such reductions? Certain themes of militarism, arms use, and the deployment of new weapons recur as symbols of American manhood and popular culture. The film suggests that the choice of news events and the way they are reported reveals more than mere facts. This reductive process necessarily contains the hidden ideology of our times, how we see ourselves, and larger social issues.
Final News Report
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“La Fin” is a first film. It’s an exercise in style where metaphors are mixed freely to create, from a banal morning scene, a world increasingly surreal and unusual. By a wink of an eye, the film then liberates itself from its own symbolic collar to envisage, if not going beyond the limits set by and for the individual, at least a sense of humour that exorcises us from the traditional themes of alienation in our modern world.
Fin, La
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A document of what happened when a group of radical “Jesus freaks” from Berkeley met conservative Christians in seminaries and colleges across the U.S. “He manages to set off a uniquely hypnotic experience. The viewer discovers the possibility of looking at the film like a ‘winkie’ toy, seeing first one view then flashing to another. Because all footage is sound sync, this screening process hones our responses, until we see more in Land’s three-frame sequences than we would in hour-long doses of ‘normal’ time. Like the study of signs, this study of seconds yields a knowledge of people and truth inaccessible to more common observation.” – B. Ruby Rich
Film of Their 1973 Spring Tour
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A short drama about loss, friendship and memory. This film presents a crucial fragment from the connecting lives of two characters. Anna is an elderly woman of European Jewish origin, who as a child witnessed a family tragedy. Over time she has learned to conceal her sadness from everyone including herself. Ariel is a young Canadian-born woman who has recently moved into Anna’s building. When Ariel comes across a hidden item from Anna’s childhood, Anna must acknowledge her past. This discovery leads to a breakthrough in the friendship between the two women.
Anna and Ariel
