Sunday, September 14, 2014, 8:00 pm, $7-$10
Paper Circus is a 45 minutes screening of Luca Dipierro’s cut-out animations, with a live soundtrack performed by Italian experimental band Father Murphy. Dipierro’s animations, described as “a perfect mix between creepy and charming” by the Huffington Post, are carnivalesque tales of acrobacy and death, both sorrowful and comical. The texture of the images is enhanced by the texture of Father Murphy’s music, sonic blocks echoing the flow of the film, almost shot by shot. It makes for an extremely visceral and fun viewing.” OR ALTERNATIVELY, BUT LONGER “A night of cut-out animations with live soundtrack showcasing the work of Luca Dipierro, Italian illustrator and animator living in Portland, OR, and Father Murphy, one of the leading bands of what Simon Reynolds has termed “new Italian occult psychedelia.” The music is neither improvisation nor a collection of songs, but rather a soundtrack echoing and transfiguring the flow of the film, shot by shot, with a technique reminiscent of cut-up and sound collage. Dipierro’s short films, called “a perfect mix between creepy and charming” by The Huffington Post, are carnivalesque tales of acrobacy and death that draw from the traditions of Italian commedia dell’arte and Sicilian teatro dei pupi (marionette theater). Sorrowful and comical at once, Dipierro’s animations tell stories of aged infants, screaming rocking horses, puppet funerals, monkeys, prestidigitators, ghosts, and a woman birthing a fish. Father Murphy’s music—described by Carla Bozulich as “a window into many minds all at once”—will haunt you, move you, paint you black.”