featuring a
screening of selected films and videos by emerging queer filmmakers PJ Raval and
Veronica Majano. There will be a post-screening conversation with theartists moderated by filmmaker-writer Kirthi
Nath.
As part of Asian Improv aRts’
3rd Annual Asian Pacific American Arts & Heritage Festival, Alliance of
Emerging Creative Artists (AECA) presents an
evening of short films by Veronica Majano and
PJ Raval. Majano and Raval are two emerging queer filmmakers of color
whose works address the process of location through cinematic and narrative
experimentation. Both filmmakers bring the spectator back to a place where
the interior of emotions and experiences are
revealed through the inquiry of what is around
them -- Raval’s film net06 scan close ups of circuit boards and Majano’s Two
Four lingers nostalgically on an aging tattooed male body.
The theme of AECA’s program "Moving Still" explores the
contradictions in the immediate environments around the camera’s eye. A
man's obsession with being clean turns into an absurdly futile action as he is
covered with band-aids, couples are stuck in holding patterns, and memory is
revealed as simultaneously present and fading.
"Moving Still" also describes the exceptional cinematography and tight editing
apparent in each frame. There are no extraneous or indulgent moments in
these films. Majano and Raval are skilled and talented filmmakers. Their
understanding and imaginative use of cinematic language offer viewers a truly
enjoyable experience. What emerges from their experiments are fresh,
creative voices innovating new modes of
film.
The Program:
Films by Veronica Majano:
She Said, Video, May
2003
Majano will world premiere her latest video “She Said”. Shot on the
streets of Oakland and set to a poem
by Juicy, Majano continues to explore and further
develop her vision of abstracted portraits of a
neighborhood.
Two Four, Video, 2002, 2
min
“Two Four” as in 24th Street in San Francisco’s Mission District,
explores the fragile decay of memory in this short hand-processed super eight
color film. Seeping and rich with images that fade in and out of perception and
abstraction, "Two Four" articulates emotional
and nostalgic experiences of home and memory.
Calle Chula, 16 mm color film, 1998, 12
min.
“Calle Chula” explores the effects of re-colonization on memory and
memory loss. With Calle Chula (Chula
Street), Majano tells the story of 15-year old Calle,
a mixed Salvadoran and Ohlone girl. Calle leads us through her San Francisco
Mission District neighborhood memories on a search to understand the changes
brought by colonization, dislocation, and more recently "gentrification". Her
journey traces a history of this neighborhood dating back to its first
residents, the Ohlone Indians. >From the perspective of this 15-year old girl
we hear the sounds disappear, see the walls change, and witness the people move
as she makes sense of her native land.
Films by PJ Raval:
Holding Patterns, 16 mm, 2002, 9
min
Departures, arrivals, delays. In a
world full of unrequited love, two strangers manage to make a connection.
Shot and produced entirely in
Austin,
Texas.
net06, dv and film animation, 2002, 5
min
A non-camera made analog digital
collision.
A boy’s mouth, dv and text, 2002, 5
min
The power of one boy's speech.
Clean, dv, digital live action animation, 2002, 4
min
A brief look at one man's obsession with
cleanliness
100% Cotton, 16 mm, 2000, 5
min
A male couple questions love and light bulbs over
laundry.
A Conversation with the
artists hosted by Kirthi
Nath:
After the screening of films, audience members are invited to some
concessions and to meet the AECA member
artists. Then filmmaker/writer Kirthi
Nath will host a conversation between the
artists discussing how the films produce
complex expressions through the use of setting
and landscape and why the filmmakers are drawn to “alternative” modes of
storytelling. We will explore in what ways being queer or a person of
color influence artistic productions and
perspectives. The filmmakers will also be asked to share the ideas and
motivations behind their work and style and the evolution of an
artist philosophy that is experimental in
relation to mainstream film. Audience members are encouraged to ask questions
and speak candidly about their ideas – an effort in activating an audience to
better understand challenging artistic
work.
Artist Biographies:
Veronica Majano is a San Francisco-based
filmmaker. She is the recipient of the Film Arts Foundation's STAND Grant,
the Film Arts Foundation's Personal Works Grant, an Astraea grant and a grant
from the Serpent Source Foundation for Women Artists. Majano's films have
shown at the Cuban Film Festival, Women in the Directors Chair, Talking Pictures
and the Guggenheim
Museum. Currently, Majano is an
artist in residency at
Mexican
Museum in San
Francisco and teaches video to junior high school kids.
Veronica says, “My work never turns
out to be what I think it is going to be, that’s the beauty of
imagination”.
PJ Raval has written, directed and edited
several short films and is currently working
towards an MFA at the University of
Texas at Austin
Department of Radio-Television-Film as a Jacob
K. Javits Scholar. His film, 100% cotton, is currently playing
at film festivals around the United States, and has won
several awards, including "Best
Narrative Short" at the Chicago Gay and Lesbian International Film
Festival 2000, and “Best Screenplay” honorable mention at the
Cinematexas 5 International Short Film Festival. An enthusiast of film
experimentation, PJ’s latest experimental animation, net 06,
recently won the Betty Nowlin Award for Excellence in Student
Filmmaking at the 2002 Cinematexas International Short Film Festival in
Austin,
Texas. In addition to writing and
directing his own films, PJ also works extensively as a cinematographer. He has
shot numerous award-winning short films.
PJ stumbled, tripped, and fell into the pit he calls filmmaking. He
is currently looking for a shovel.
Kirthi Nath is a writer, filmmaker, educator and
curator. Her writings and films reveal her
intrigue and obsession with questions of the self, boundaries, memory and
desire, and how this cross-sects with the sensual experience of a moment. Nath’s
work speechlessly widens gestures of love. Her writings have appeared in
several publications, including Interlope,
Berkeley Poetry Review, and 30 ft. Honey Slick. Her films have shown in
several festivals including Moondance
International Women's Festival, San Francisco Asian American Film Festival,
Berkeley Women of Color Festival and Ladyfest
(Olympia, WA,
Scotland and Bay Area). She
completed her MFA in the Visual Arts graduate program at the
University of
California, San
Diego and currently lives in S.F. In addition to writing
and making films, Kirthi is also an active member in the
art community. She has appeared on
several panels, been guest juror for film
festivals and is currently an organizing member and programmer for AECA.
Kirthi also has an intense passion for ladybugs and swimming.
Info:
www.ThisIsAECA.org
